This is from the viewpoint of one of the characters who didn't really have a role in the anime-Sachiko Nakajima. I thought it may be interesting to do something from such a perspective.

As usual , please leave feedback , and enjoy ^^

I remember hearing about the disastrous school trip on the first day back and feeling so glad that I hadn't gone. Arita-Chan and San had gone though, and San had been injured. It had been such a shock, as I'd been on holiday. At least they were alive, is what I told myself, at least the curse is over, and we could be like a normal middle school class.

Or not.

Because of the drastically reduced class size, and the inability to find a teacher, we had been split up between the remaining 4 classes. I was partially lucky, because Arita-Chan was with me in Class 4, but San had gone to Class others that had come to Class 4 happened to be Misaki-san and Sakakibara-kun, and I can't really remember where the others ended up. I was devastated , as I had started to like our class , curses and all , and everything was so shaky I'd have liked some stability , but it was no longer to be…The rest of our new class , although kind , were wary and tended to avoid us whenever possible. It was a lonely time. And despite having Arita-Chan and San as my friends, I found myself falling into a depression. I somehow muddled through each day , but it took the most superhuman effort. There were a couple of times I even attempted to end my own life….it never happened. Each time ,at the last moment, I chickened out.

Salvation came in a surprising place. There was one day , in December , where I'd needed to get out of the house. Arita-Chan and San were busy so I was on my own , so I'd eventually decided to go to the library. I was soon attempting to carry a large pile of 10 heavy books to the counter to borrow them out when I bumped into someone , and we fell.

"I-I'm sorry.." I stuttered , reaching to pick my books up. Then I looked at the other person.

"Sakakibara-kun?"

"Naka….jima-san , right? From my class. Both classes."

"Yeah. Yeah . Sachiko Nakajima."

"Kouichi Sakakibara. " he went to pick up his own books , a variety or revision guides and a couple of novels, then looked at mine.

"Hey! I've been looking for that book a while now!"

"You have?"

"Yeah."

I was surprised. "You're a horror-genre fan too?"

"I am."

"Wow." I couldn't believe it . "Wow. You can take it instead , it's just one that caught my eye."

"For real?"

"Sure."

"Thank you so much."

We ended up going together to borrow out our books , and afterwards , he asked me if I was doing anything in particular. I wasn't , and said so , so he asked me if we could have lunch together. I had to admit , I was sceptical. At this point , he and Misaki-san were already dating . I pointed this out to him.

"Actually , I'm going to see Mei-san this evening….and I'm meeting Teshigawara and Mochizuki later…I'm early , so this is more of a time filler-nothing dodgy , Nakajima-san , I promise."

That made me laugh , and I agreed.

We chatted a lot , about horror and school work and Christmas. And then our conversation turned serious all of a sudden.

"Have you….been okay?"

"Eh?"

"Are you all right? Did something happen?"

"Why would you ask such a thing?"

"You look out of the window a lot in class, yet you always seem vacant. And you sigh really heavy-like whenever someone talks to you, and your voice is slower than normal. Plus, I've rarely see you smile."

I blinked.

"Well , someone's observant." I wasn't about to reveal anything.

"Mei-san says that all the time. Apparently I'm too observant."

I didn't respond, but he was persistent.

"You don't have to go through it alone you know. Class 3 will always be Class 3. We'll look out for each other no matter what."

"Well….." I hesitated, and then I told him a little about what I'd been feeling. He didn't say anything through it all; just let me stumble along finding the words I'd needed. And then , after that , I told him about something else , something only my family , San and Arita-Chan had known about-my older brother , who had lost his life to cancer when he was 5 years old , a few weeks after I had been born. Despite having never known him, I missed my Ryou-nii-san, and it was the anniversary of his death in a weeks' time.

As soon as I'd told him, I'd expected to be told that I was being ridiculous, but instead he divulged that he'd never had a chance to know his mother. Somehow, the transfer student and I had something other than the class 3 curse in common. I was surprised, and touched.

"I..I…I…" I had no words.

"It's fine." He smiled at me , and at that moment , I thought he was the image of what a brother would be like.

"Thanks. Um…could I call you Onii-Chan ?" Even I was surprised at that , but he didn't blink. He seemed to get it. I breathed a sigh of relief –the situation could have been embarrassing. In return though, he wanted to call me by my first name. I agreed. After that , it was nearing his time to meet with Mochizuki-kun and Teshigawara-kun , so we parted ways.

As I walked home with my books, for the first time in a while , I was glowing.

…

Things didn't miraculously become better after that, but rather it slowly, slowly became less of an ordeal. There were more reasons to smile. With Onii-Chan, my circle of friends widened. Very often, we'd hang out as a group of 7 –me, San, Onii-Chan , Arita-Chan , Misaki-san , Teshigawara-kun and Mochizuki-san. I got better. Of course, we were still more-or-less excluded by our new classes , but we had each other.

I still have the photos from our middle school graduation. Although the official ceremony was done with our new classes , us survivors got together , all dressed in our best , and had our own ceremony. It was like a mini party, all fun and happy , and I'm making goofy poses with Arita Chan , San or both of them in quite a few pictures. We went to the cafe where Mochizuki-kun's sister works after, and I have a picture from in there with Onii-Chan in the middle , me on one side and Misaki-san on the other. We were his two favourite girls, he joked. It was the last time we were all together as a class.

One of the things us survivors all had in common were dreams to escape Yomiyama and never look back …..it's been so many years since then , and we all managed to-San's in England , Onii-Chan got married to Misaki and they live in Tokyo , and Arita-Chan moved to a town a few hours away-but only because she needed to be near to her ailing parents. I have no idea where the others went, but I went to Kyoto for university, and I stayed a few years, but today , I am coming back to Yomiyama. That's something I'd never expected to do, back then, I hated the place , and couldn't wait to leave , but time, and friendship, do surprising things to people- I still have flashbacks from the time we were cursed , and they still hurt , but I also have memories of the good times , of my enduring friendships , of the second family I found in Onii-Chan and Misaki-san , and I am now able to look at the graduation photos and think fondly of my youth.

Like I said , time and friendship do surprising things to people