Author's Note: Each chapter will be precisely 1,000 words long, despite if it's in the middle of a sentence! I own not Corpse Party nor it's characters and themes...
The creaky floorboards beneath my feet give a small shake as a familiar yell is heard from the hallway. My teacher, slightly taller than me as I sit on a short desk, shifts her head around the room as though it came from it. Her eyes fill with anticipation as thoughts obviously cloud her mind. The tense silence is a bit too much to bear.
"What… what was that, just now?", I start, and a girl my age, on the ground, speaks afterwards. Her small frame shivers and shakes, and she breathes like there's no air left.
"It was, it was a human's…", she begins, and a faint whisper can be heard echoing throughout the area, telling us, ha, ha, as though it is some practical joke. "It sounds like a human's cry", the girl finishes, her voice cracking slightly. My teacher looks over to her horror ridden student, and begins the usual pep talk.
"I think it might be because of the building's unsturdy architecture." I sigh, knowing it clearly was not in fact because of the architecture, and I wasn't the brightest fish in the sea. "But I'm still worried. I'll go take a look. Can you two wait for me here?", she adds on, noticing quite well at me and the girl's reactions. This obviously upset my classmate, who was now standing with a look of horror plastered on her face. She takes a few slow steps back, and begins calling out our names. "Shinozaki-san… Kishinuma-kun", she coos softly, and Shinozaki returns the favor, with tears in her eyes. "Shishido-sensei…", Ayumi says quietly, and I lift myself off the rusty desk and take the odd silence and understanding between the two women to reflect on what had happened.
The scream, of course, was from another fellow classmate. Naomi Nakashima, her name is. I had never been close with any of my peers, of course, but the ear-piercing scream made it seem as though someone died in front of her eyes, or even, she was dying herself, which would upset anyone. The screams now almost seemed routine, for we had only been here roughly ten minutes and we had heard two, which were both spaced out quite evenly. It all melted in with the odd environment we were in, which I assumed to be an elementary school. The dusted and out-dated elementary school itself wasn't what confused me most, though, it was the fact that we were able to reach it. Only a quick fifteen minutes ago, we had been back in our own updated Kisaragi Academy, us all cleaning up the annual cultural festival, and saying our goodbyes to a fellow 2-9 classmate. There was a predicted cause, of course, that I'd never say out loud. We had been introduced to a charm, known as the Sachiko Ever After charm, in which to bring us all together as friends, forever. We had ripped a paper doll after repeated a phrase (Sachiko, we beg of you) nine times for each person, and just as we had planned to leave, an earthquake hit. I didn't consider it coincidence, but I had no other clues as to what the hell was happening. As the floor tiles beneath our school shoes fell, we found ourselves landing in this run-down school. Luckily, I had been with Ayumi Shinozaki, as well as our teacher, Yui Shishido, when our bodies hit the dusty, wooden floor. I'm not quite sure how I'd react if I hadn't been here with these two, the only ones who truly gave me, even if only the slightest, a fighting chance in school.
I shake my head, not allowing myself to be absorbed in thought and the past, and focus my eyes on Shinozaki, who was now breathing heavily. Mrs. Shishido places a hand on both of our shoulders and forces us down to the floor kindly, patting Shinozaki's back as she coughed and sputtered. She mouthed the word 'hyperventilation' sneakily to me as her eyes went soft and pointed to her female student. "It's alright, Shinozaki… just stay calm", our teacher begins, as Ayumi covers her mouth as she begins another breathless coughing fit. Shishido continues to rub her back, and I hesitantly (and very awkwardly) grab her shoulder. She tenses up, and does more especially as Shishido stands up.
"Yui sensei! Let us come with!", she says, wiping her eyes and looking up at her teacher in anticipation. A sad sigh and a look to the floor is what she gets in return. The two seem to be contemplating. I use my hands to bring myself back to my feet, and turn to my teacher confidently. If I wasn't to stand up now, I'd never be able to.
"I can take care of her, sensei", I say boldly, and watch as her frown turns into a slightly happier smile. Shinozaki, however, only looks more upset as she wails, "Sensei…!" Mrs. Shishido pats her skirt pockets lightly, pulling out a small gemstone necklace, and encases it within her student's hand.
"I will be back in a jiffy. You stay here and recover, alright?", she says, and my classmate sniffles and nods, mumbling about the precious gem. "Be careful", I say strictly, and my teacher turns to wave and smile, before leaving us two alone in the darkened classroom.
Shinozaki stares at me oddly, almost with grief, as silence refills the room. Her fists are balled up by her neck like a child awaiting a Christmas present, but they shake in fear. Soon, though, I realize it wasn't only her shaking, but rather, the whole room. I grab onto her shoulders and push both of us down, using my back as a shield of sorts, and listen to the cracking sounds outside of the room. I feel the ground underneath us getting unsturdy, and I manage to push both her and myself out of the way before it collapsed. With my arm still around her, I say, "It's over", as...