Hikago Oneshots
Fandom: Hikaru no Go.
Rating: T
Warning: Humor, Horror.
Summary: Hikaru and Sai go to the school's summer festival. Who knows such simple activity could bring them a very memorable adventure?
Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no go, neither do I making any profit from this fic. This story is for fun only.
Beta Reader: forever-stained-crimson
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The Haunted Building
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"I still don't know why I'm here," Hikaru said moodily with his arms crossed.
He was walking down a familiar street with his childhood best friend, Fujisaki Akari, and his ghost companion, Fujiwara no Sai.
"Come on," Akari said. "It's gonna be fun."
"Yes, Hikaru! It's a summer festival~ It's going to be fun~," Sai said excitedly, unheard by everyone but the bleached bang boy.
"Fine, fine," Hikaru grumbled. "Remember, though, that I only came because you said it's your treat," he pointed to Akari.
The girl pouted. "I know. Geez… you're so cheap, Hikaru."
Sai nodded in agreement. "That's true. I'm so ashamed that you're making a girl to pay for you, Hikaru," The thousand-year-old ghost sighed, shaking his head behind his long, wide sleeve.
"Shut up, Sai. It's your fault I have to spend all my money on those kifu books you kept whining on and on about and now I'm broke. Maybe next time I'll just let you whine without buying any."
"Waaaaaa…! Hikaruuuuu…! I'm sorry! You're the best! Please don't say you won't buy any more books. There's a book I want that will come out next month!" Sai immediately latched onto his host, wailing for forgiveness.
If he wasn't so used to Sai's antics and his habit of suddenly hugging and latching on to him, Hikaru would have lost his balance and crashed into the girl in front of him. That said, Hikaru only planted his legs more firmly to the ground and tensed his muscles whenever this happened.
At first, he was annoyed and hated Sai's habit. But nowadays, his lips would unwittingly curl up into a fond smile and more often than not he would tease Sai just to get that reaction out of the childish ghost.
"So, tell me again about this festival," Hikaru said to Akari, ignoring the ghost who was still hanging on his shoulders. "Why is it held at night? I mean, this is our school's festival, right? How come the principal allows the seniors to use the school at night?"
"I don't know. With a lot of begging, I guess. It seems the third year students made the proposal and it was approved under several conditions. There would be many teachers to supervise everything and patrol around," Akari explained.
"And why do we have to come again?"
"Because it's Tsutsui-senpai's and Kaga-senpai's last festival at Haze. They going to graduate soon, remember? The Go club should come and give our support to Tsutsui-senpai," Akari said passionately.
"What is their class doing in the festival, then?" Hikaru asked again.
"Oh, that…" Akari's expression changed worried. "They're using the old school building to open a horror house."
"The old school building? There's such a thing?" Hikaru tilted his head in confusion.
"You mean you don't know?!" Akari asked in disbelief.
"What?"
"The old school building behind our school! Everyone knows about it. It is rumored to be haunted!"
"There's a haunted school behind our school?" Hikaru asked half-confused, half-incredulous.
"A haunted school? Hikaru, your school is haunted? How come we don't know this?" Sai asked as the conversation caught his attention.
"No! It's the old school building behind the current building we're using. The building hasn't been used for nearly twenty years but the building's never been destroyed because whenever they tried it in the past, there was always some freak accidents happening to the workers. In the end, they let it be. There are many scary stories about that building."
"Like what?"
"Well… There's a story that says if you walk down one of the east corridors, sometimes you will hear a creaking sound from the ceiling that'll come closer and closer to you. Most parts of the building are made from wood, you see."
"Are you sure it's not because the wood is old that it's creaking?"
"Well, they said that only happens if you're in that corridor during the day. When it is night time, you would see the creaking sound coming from an evil-looking long-haired woman crawling across the ceiling very quickly to whoever is unlucky enough to see her!"
"Gyaaaaaaaaaa!"
Spontaneously, they all screamed, Akari in fright from her own story, Sai in fright from the scary story and Hikaru in knee-jerk respond to their screams.
"Why the hell are you screaming?! You planning to kill me or something? God, I thought I was going to die from a heart-attack!" Hikaru shouted at them, holding his chest tightly where his heart was racing madly.
"I'm sorry!" Akari said, "It's just…that's one of the scariest rumors about the building. Nobody knows what happens after that. They said, no one ever returned after they saw her."
"I'm sorry, Hikaruuuuu…!" Sai sniffled, "The story is so scary. You're not planning to go there, are you?"
"You're scared because of the story? Sai, you're a ghost! Why would you be scared of a ghost?! Besides, it's just a story! A rumor at that!"
"I'm sorry! I can't help it if it scares me," Sai said again with tears welling up his eyes.
"God…sometimes, you can be so pathetic, Sai…"
"Hikaru! You're so mean…!" Sai whined loudly.
"Girls!" Hikaru scoffed. "You wanna tell the story but can't handle it yourself and end up nearly killing everyone with your screams."
"Hey! You're the one who asked!" Akari protested.
"You could've refused to tell me if you're such a wimp!" Hikaru shot back.
"Ugh, Hikaru! You're so mean!" Akari stomped off ahead of him.
The school gate was just a few meters in front of them. It was strange to see the school field so bright at night. The third year students were really serious about the festival. They built their stands at the field instead of the classrooms. There were string lights decorating the pathway between the stands. Seniors were bursting with energy, promoting their stands excitedly. Was that the PE coach at the shaved ice stand? Even some of the teachers were participating! The Haze Junior High's school field suddenly felt like a real fair.
"Fujisaki-san! Shindou-kun! Over here~!"
The childhood friends looked up to see the other Go club members waving at them. Mitani scowled as soon as he saw Hikaru and made an attempt to leave but wasn't quick enough as Kaneko grabbed the back of his yukata.
"Hey, how long have you guys been here?" Akari asked.
"Not long at all. Tsutsui-senpai has already been at the horror house since he's going to be one of the guides," Kumiko answered, "He said we can have fun first before going to the old building."
"That's great! I heard some of the teachers are going to open a stand of their own, too. It would be interesting if we visit their stands!" Akari said excitedly.
"Yes, I agree!" Kumiko replied cheerily.
"Let me go! Hey!" Mitani's loud protest was heard by them.
"Why? You were quite excited five minutes ago," Kaneko said.
"I'm not! Besides you didn't say that Shindou would come, too!"
Hikaru flinched a bit at that. "Maybe I should…"
"No!" Akari cut him off. "Mitani-kun! This is ridiculous! We came here to have fun together and show our support to Tsutsui-senpai since this is his last festival at Haze. Can't you forget your own problems for one night?"
"Hear that?" Kaneko raised an eyebrow at the cat-like boy.
Mitani humphed and turned away but didn't make any more attempts to leave. An awkward silence fell over them. Hikaru looked guilty while Sai tried to cheer him up.
"Ne, Hikaru… don't mind Mitani-kun, ne? We're going to have fun tonight!" Sai said consolingly.
Suddenly, Akari clapped her hands, snapping everyone out of the awkwardness. "Now, why don't we go to the shaved ice stand?" Akari suggested in a cheery voice.
"I agree. I've wanted to tease Fujimoto-sensei about his bandana since I saw him earlier," Kaneko nodded. Everyone laughed at that since they all agreed that the teacher did look ridiculous in his bandana.
Hikaru saw Akari looking at him. He smiled in gratitude at his friend. Akari winked at him.
So, the night went on. They bought shaved ice from the teachers and teased them only to earn a threat of a mountain of homework in return. They played goldfish scooping, which somehow turned into a competition between Hikaru and Mitani because of the animosity from the latter. None of them won, though. They were too impatient and too rushed to win any of the fish. Eating takoyaki, buying cute handmade souvenirs (girls) and wicked looking masks (boys).
Hikaru felt like laughing when he bought his scary mask, tapping a preoccupied Sai on the shoulder and making the ghost yelp in surprise when he turned. "Hikaru, you meanie…!" Sai shouted, trying to smack Hikaru with his fan, which the boy dodged.
Of course, they didn't forget pictures. Well, the girls didn't. They took many pictures, the good ones and the silly ones. Akari had just finished taking a picture of Hikaru trying to fish a beautiful ball out of the water with tiny hook attached to a thin string with Sai cheering him on beside him, not that she could see the ancient ghost, when Kaga came out of nowhere surprising them.
"So here you brats are!" Kaga said loudly. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Playing ball scooping," Hikaru replied annoyed, his hook snapped when he jerked in surprise, losing the targeted ball in the process.
"Oh, leave that pointless game alone! The real attraction is at the old building!" he sneered at the game, snapping his fan open and closed in agitation. "Why would I, The Great Kaga, have to come to get you anyway? Come on!" he ordered, gesturing with his fan.
"What a jerk!" Mitani grumbled under his breath. "Who does he think he is?"
"Apparently, he's 'The Great Kaga'," Hikaru answered with heavy sarcasm.
"Hikaru…" Sai looked warily behind him.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, both Hikaru and Mitani got a smack at the back of their heads with Kaga looming over them with a scary expression.
"What the hell are you bitches waiting for?" he growled.
So, just like that, Kaga scared all of them into following him to the old building, dragging a screaming and kicking Hikaru and Mitani behind him.
In front of the old school building was a bunch of seniors and several nervous but excited visitors with several traumatized ones on one side. The decoration was nice but gave a creepy feeling with the dimmed lighting, especially with the building already looking creepy itself.
"Kaga! Where the hell were you going? You're not planning to run away, are you?" Tsutsui ran to them the moment he saw Kaga.
"Who? Me? Run away? In your dreams," Kaga replied. "I went to fetch the brats," he said, pointing to the Go club members behind him.
"Shindou-kun! Fujisaki-san! And everyone is here too!" Tsutsui greeted them enthusiastically.
"Tsutsui-senpai," everyone greeted.
"You guys came for the attraction, right? Come on, then! I'll be your guide."
"Guide?"
"Yes. The principal only allows us to use the front part of the building. The rest is off limits because the building is old and accident prone so we have guides to give the tour so no one can get lost or wander off to where they shouldn't go," Tsutsui explained.
Everyone 'ooh'-ed.
"Oh, I'm so nervous," Akari said. "But it sounds exciting."
"Yes, isn't it?" the girls all giggled excitedly. The boys rolled their eyes. Just then, a scream was suddenly heard from the first floor.
The seniors at the ticket booth chuckled at the girls' suddenly scared expressions and the boys' nervous one, Hikaru and Mitani not included. They both looked bored. Sai looked quite scared himself, not that anyone but Hikaru could see him.
"Don't worry. It'll happen a lot tonight. Can't blame them, though. The building itself is scary enough with all of the rumors so everyone who goes inside expects something to happen and they get scared easily when the 'ghosts' come out of nowhere," Tsutsui explained with a quote gesture at the 'ghosts' word with his hands.
Everyone laughed nervously.
"This is boring," Hikaru thought to himself.
"You don't know that, Hikaru. You haven't even entered the building, yet," Sai said. "Besides…this place makes me nervous," the feminine looking ghost looked warily at the building, "It's emitting dark auras. Maybe we shouldn't go inside."
"Are you scared, Sai?" Hikaru asked teasingly.
"I'm not…!"
Sai's protest was cut off as they entered the building. The moment they stepped into the building, a chill ran down Hikaru's spine, making him shudder at the sudden coldness.
"Do you feel that, Hikaru?" Sai asked, more nervous than before.
"You too, Sai?" Hikaru asked in his mind.
"I have a bad feeling, Hikaru. Maybe we should leave," Sai suggested. Hikaru was about to reply when Akari called him.
"Hikaru, why are you just standing there? Come on," Akari called.
"Maybe he's scared," Mitani smirked. Hikaru glared at him.
"Hurry, Shindou-kun."
"Okay, okay. I'm coming," Hikaru replied. "Sorry, Sai. We can't leave now. At least, the tour will be a short one. It's only the front building after all and it only has two floors."
"But… If you say so, Hikaru…" Sai sighed. He still looked around nervously, though.
It was weird to see Sai so nervous and scared. He meant like really scared, not scared about being unable to play Go for a while or something but really, really scared of something, something unrelated to Go. Maybe this really was a bad idea. But they couldn't leave now, especially when Mitani accused him of being scared, which he definitely was not. Reaching his hand behind discreetly, he took Sai's hand in his and squeezed it in comfort.
"Come on, then. The faster we move, the faster we can leave this place, okay?"
Sai smiled gratefully at him. Everyone walked together and chatted, though a bit nervously what with the girls kept looking around as if expecting something to jump upon them. If Hikaru didn't take his hand off Sai's, the ghost didn't say anything. Suddenly, everyone jumped in surprise when the girls, Kaneko excluded (the girl was a tough one), screamed loudly.
There, looking out of the window of the old classroom on their right side was a very pale male student with a haunted look in his eyes and covered in blood. Slowly, his mouth lifted in a creepy grin. The screams got louder this time as the boys joined them.
To Hikaru, the loudest scream came from Sai as the ghost wrapped his arms around Hikaru's form from behind, screaming into his ear. Hikaru never knew a man could get his voice that high before. He was pretty sure he would be deaf by the end of this tour.
"Sai! Shut up! You're going to make me deaf!" Hikaru screamed in his mind.
Everyone was trying to scramble away but Tsutsui prevented them. "Hey, guys! Calm down," he laughed. "That's my classmate."
"Huh?"
"What?"
They heard a laugh and turned around to see the 'ghost' laughing freely. He stepped out of the classroom, shaking in laughter.
"I'm…sorry but…that reaction just…doesn't get old at all," the ghost gasped between laughter.
"Because it means you're good at what you're doing," Tsutsui smiled. "Guys, this is Sakurazaka Yuuto."
"Sakurazaka-senpai," some of them greeted after calming down a bit.
"Man, you sure look scary," Hikaru said grinning.
"Thanks. You didn't look scared, though. Just surprised," Sakurazaka grinned back at him.
Hikaru shrugged. "That's because my ghostly friend over here was busy screaming in my ear so I didn't have time to be scared."
"Huh?" Everyone looked at him.
"What? Hikaru?"
Hikaru laughed. "What? I'm kidding!"
"Right," Sakurazaka shook his head smiling, "Want to take a picture with the ghost? It's part of our show~"
"Sure!" Akari was quick to agree.
Soon, everyone was standing in front of the camera and posing, except for Tsutsui, he was the one who took the picture, Hikaru standing with Sai still hanging from his neck.
"Sai, how long do you plan hanging onto me like that?" Hikaru grumbled.
"I'm so sorry, Hikaru. But it was so scary. There's something evil here," Sai sniffled shakily.
"Sai, it's only Sakurazaka-senpai. He's not a real ghost like you."
"No. I didn't mean him, Hikaru. Yes, he looks scary but the one behind him…outside of the classroom window…"
"What? What do you mean? Sai?"
But Sai didn't say anything anymore. He was too busy being afraid. Hikaru was forced to drag him along as they continued the tour. At this rate, he was going to end up with a fit and muscular body for a Go player. Not that he was complaining if that was the result.
"So, who was the one outside the classroom? You never introduced her to us, Tsutsui-senpai. She didn't come to greet us, too."
That comment stopped them. Everyone, including Hikaru and Sai, looked at Mitani in surprise.
"What?"
"What do you mean, Mitani-kun? There's only Sakurazaka-senpai in that classroom. Isn't it, Tsutsui-senpai?" Akari asked.
"Yeah," Tsutsui also looked confused.
"Really? Must've been my imagination, then," Mitani muttered and with that they started walking again. Though, Hikaru could see Mitani was throwing glances at his direction every now and then when he thought Hikaru wasn't looking.
"Sai, did Mitani ever give any indication that he could see you before?" Hikaru asked his companion.
"No, Hikaru. He didn't. But the ghost behind that senpai was a girl, though," Sai answered.
"There really was a girl ghost behind that senpai? Outside the classroom?" Hikaru asked incredulously and a bit alarmed.
"Yes…" Sai replied softly.
"Tsutsui-senpai," Hikaru called. "What is there on the other side of these classrooms?"
"Huh? It's a yard. The yard was surrounded by this building on three sides. The front, where we are now, the right and the left. Excluding this front part, the rest was considered the back side of the building and off limits."
"Why are you asking that, Hikaru?" Akari asked.
Hikaru shrugged. "Just curious," he said.
The next 'ghosts' were just as scary as the first one. Some more than others. It seemed someone in Tsutsui's class was a really good make-up artist. To Hikaru's relief, Sai didn't complain anymore about any ghost other than the seniors. The seniors still scared him, though. They were really creative.
Half way through the first floor, Akari stopped.
"Akari?" Hikaru looked at her.
"Fujisaki-san, what's wrong?" Tsutsui asked as everyone turned to look at her.
Akari blushed furiously. "Ehm…Ano…I really need to go to the restroom…"
"What?" Hikaru said, annoyed. "Now?"
Akari glared at him. "Well, I was about to go before but Kaga-senpai found us and it's not like he gave us any chance to protest before dragging us here!"
Tsutsui sighed. "That Kaga…" he shook his head. "Well, there's a girls bathroom on this floor. Just go around the corner near the stairs, you should find it with no problem."
"But…doesn't that count as the back side of the building?" Akari asked worriedly.
"It's okay. It's only a toilet. I'm sure the principal won't mind. It's not like anybody will tell him," Tsutsui assured with a smile. "We'll wait here."
"Uhmm…Hikaru, can you come with me?" Akari asked.
"What?" Hikaru asked in surprise. "Why me?! It's a girl's bathroom!"
"Just go with her, Shindou," Mitani smirked.
"I'll go with you, Fujisaki," Kaneko said, "The boys here are useless anyway. If a ghost suddenly appears I bet they would be the first ones to faint. Shindou wouldn't be any use if that happened."
"What?! What did you say?" Hikaru was clearly feeling insulted. "You stay here, Kaneko-san. Come on, Akari! The faster we go, the faster we leave!"
Hikaru stomped away in annoyance. Akari smiled gratefully at Kaneko who winked back at her. Everyone in the club knew about her crush on Hikaru. Sadly, said boy didn't have any clue about it.
-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-
Waiting in front of the restroom, Hikaru was grumbling and complaining. Sai was busy looking around in worry and confusion.
"What is it, Sai?" Hikaru asked in a whisper. Even though they were alone, the corridor was quiet enough that there was a possibility Akari could hear him talking.
"Hikaru, don't you think it's too silent all of a sudden?" Sai asked him. "It's too quiet here. Not even a sound from Tsutsui and the others and we could still hear them a bit when we came here."
Hikaru tried to listen. "Maybe they just ran out of topics to talk about," he said.
"But, still…not even the sound of the wind…"
"You worry too much, Sai…"
"Hikaru, who are you talking to?"
Hikaru and Sai yelped in surprise when they heard Akari's voice. "Akari, are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" Hikaru snapped as he grabbed his chest, trying to calm his racing heart.
"What? No…I just thought I heard you talking to someone," Akari frowned.
"I was talking to myself," Hikaru lied smoothly, "It just seems too quiet all of a sudden."
"Well, we can go back to the others now. Thank you for coming with me, Hikaru," Akari smiled shyly in thanks.
"Yeah, yeah," Hikaru waved off her thanks casually. "Come on."
They walked back to the corridor they came from but didn't find any of their friends.
"Huh? Didn't they say they would wait?" Hikaru frowned as he looked around.
"Yes, where are they?" Akari asked worriedly.
"Hikaru, look!" Sai tugged at his sleeve, "There's someone there. Maybe we can ask them where the others are."
Hikaru turned and looked at the direction Sai pointed. Around the corner of the corridor, a female student was standing with her back to them. She stood there looking down at her feet and didn't do anything.
"Hey, maybe we should ask that senpai," Hikaru said to Akari.
Akari looked uncertainly at the senpai Hikaru had pointed at. "I don't know, Hikaru. Something feels strange…"
"Oh, come on. Maybe this is just part of the show and they want to scare us. She can tell us where Tsutsui-senpai and the others are."
Together they walked down the corridor. The wooden floor creaked under their shoes as they walked. Hikaru felt shiver run down his spine. He noticed the closer they got to the senpai, the more uneasy he felt.
"Hikaru…" Akari held his arm tightly.
Hikaru looked at her and noticed that she was looking at the senpai worriedly. Maybe she felt something was wrong too. He glanced at Sai and noticed that the ghost was frowning.
"Hikaru, something is wrong," Sai said.
Hikaru gulped. "Ano…," he called the senpai. Akari's grip tightened on his arm.
"Senpai, have you seen our friends? Tsutsui-senpai said he would wait for us here with our friends when we went to the toilet. Did you happen to see them?" Hikaru asked, uncharacteristically soft and polite.
The senpai nodded lightly but didn't turn around.
"Where did they go?" Hikaru asked again.
The senpai raised her arm and pointed to a corridor to her left.
"Right. We'll be going then. Thank you."
The senpai nodded again. Both Hikaru and Akari walked past the senpai in the direction she pointed out to them. For some reason, they were trying not to turn and get a good look at the senpai. She was too creepy. All they wanted was to leave the place as fast as possible.
When they turned at another corner, out of sight from the senpai, Hikaru breathed a sigh of relief. "Man… That senpai sure is good. She really is scary and we didn't even look at her face close up!"
Akari laughed nervously. "You, you're right, Hikaru."
Speaking of ghost, Hikaru glanced over at Sai. The thousand years old ghost looked paler than his normal complexion. Something that Hikaru thought wasn't possible seeing as he was naturally pale and…well, ghosts were always pale, right?
"Sai, what's wrong?" Hikaru asked.
Just as Sai opened his mouth to answer, Akari's voice cut in. "Hi-hikaru, do you hear that?"
"What?" Hikaru turned to look at his friend on his other side.
"That!" Akari said softly but her voice and eyes were full of fright. "That sound!"
Hikaru strained his hearing. He didn't hear anything but their footsteps…wait a minute. It sounded like there was three pair of footsteps. How come? There was only Hikaru and Akari here, and Sai's footsteps were soundless.
It sounded like it came from behind them.
Hikaru gulped as he shared a look at Akari. "I swear if this is a prank against us, I'm going to kill Tsutsui-senpai and our friends," he said.
"I'll help you hide the bodies," Akari nodded.
Slowly they turned around together, preparing their heart for whatever trick that was playing on them. But they didn't see anything. Looking at each other in confusion, their turned to look again when they heard the footsteps came closer.
And they saw it.
A pair of feet was walking towards them.
And when they said a pair of feet, they meant it literally just the feet up to the ankles! The rest were chopped off! It was barefoot and bleeding!
At once, they both screamed at the top of their lungs. The volume increased when the feet walked faster towards them in reaction to their screaming.
"RUN!" Hikaru shouted.
He grabbed the still screaming Akari and Sai and ran as fast as he could. He could hear the feet running after them and sounded like it was coming closer and closer. Dammit! Hikaru could run faster if he didn't have to drag his friends with him. But there was no way he could leave them, dammit!
So, all he could do was run away screaming bloody murder with his friends in each hand.
Their screams turned more hysterical when suddenly something crawled across the ceiling in front of them! A creepy woman crawling on hands and legs, eyes wide with madness and hair pulled down by gravity. A wide, crazy smile was decorating her face.
Hikaru felt his eyes water at his misfortune. Fortunately, there was a staircase in front of them. He thought he could reach them before the ceiling woman can came too close.
"Akari, the stairs!" Hikaru warned loudly.
Akari, whose attention finally snapped back, turned in time as Hikaru dragged her down the stairs. Otherwise, she would've lost her balance and toppled over.
She screamed when she heard high pitch laughter and turned to see that the ceiling woman was now crawling down the wall of the stairs.
"Hikaru, she's still following us!" Akari and Sai gasped at the same time.
"I really didn't wanna know that!" Hikaru shouted back.
"Hikaru, go inside the classroom!" Sai pointed to an open door.
"Akari, the classroom!"
They ran into the empty classroom. Hikaru slid the door closed and leaned his body against it to keep it closed. They heard the crawling woman got closer as loud as ever and then she kept going, crawling passed the classroom door and wall. Akari slapped her hands to her mouth to keep hold of her scream at the frightening sight. Hikaru could see the creepy woman's silhouette pass behind him on the floor. A moment later, she disappeared from sight.
Silence.
After he was sure it was safe, Hikaru sighed in relief and slid onto the floor. "Okay. That is frightening and I'm pretty sure our seniors are not that good with their tricks."
"I-I don't think this is part of the senpais' tricks, Hikaru. That woman's just like the one in the rumors. No way can they make someone crawl on the ceiling and walls," Akari said, her voice still shaking a bit. Sai voiced his agreement.
"I was afraid you were going to say that," Hikaru sighed.
They jumped when they heard a rattle sound from the corner of the room. They looked up and saw that it was not a classroom they were in. It was a lab. Their attentions were on the corner of the room as something moving out of the shadow. Something glinting in the moonlight near the window.
The unlucky trio watched with trepidation as someone stepped out of the shadow. No, not someone. Maybe once upon a time it was someone but now… The body moved with no problem despite losing its head, blood pouring out of the neck, hand lifted intimidatingly with a bloody knife in its grip.
It stepped closer. And they all screamed. Again.
The lab's door was slammed open in a flash as Hikaru, Akari and Sai ran for their life…err…for his soul in Sai's case. Despite being in a hysterical panic, they remembered to take the opposite route of the crawling woman and ran up the stairs.
"You kidding me! First, it's bodiless feet! Crazy wall-crawling woman! And now a headless body?! What have I ever done to deserve this?!" Hikaru cried in distress as he looked back and saw the headless body with knife still following them.
"Look! That's the senpai from before!" Akari pointed. "She could help us!"
"Senpai! Help!" Hikaru shouted.
"No, Hikaru!" Sai warned. "That senpai is…!"
The senpai, whom they asked for directions from before, was still standing with her back to them. But as Hikaru asked for help, she turned around slowly. Hikaru immediately regretted calling her as he took in all of the blood on the lower part of her face where her missing jaw should be.
They screamed again.
Finally, it became too much for the poor teenagers. As Hikaru felt his world turn dark, he could faintly heard Sai shouting his name.
-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-
"Shindou! Shindou, are you alright?"
"Hikaru!"
"Akari!"
"Hey, Fujisaki!"
Hikaru's head was pounding and the voices that keep shouting around him really did not help. He groaned and opened his eyes only close them immediately under the assault of a blinding flashlight.
"Ugh! Get rid of that, would you? My head hurts!" Hikaru complained.
"Hikaru!" came the relieved shout.
"Shindou! He's awake!"
"Oh, shut up!" Hikaru grouched as he tried to sit up. He looked up to find Tsutsui-senpai and everyone from Go club surrounding him. Sai was so relieved he hugged Hikaru tightly while crying. Beside him, Akari was laying out cold.
"Akari?" Hikaru shook her shoulder. "Akari!"
"Hikaru, what happened?" Tsutsui-senpai asked with a concerned face.
"Hi…karu?" Akari opened her eyes and got up immediately. "Hikaru!"
"Akari, calm down!" Hikaru said.
"Fujisaki, are you alright?"
"Yes, I…I think so…Oh my God, Hikaru! That was so scary! Tell me it was just a dream!" Akari said, nearly hyperventilating.
"Nope. I don't think so," Hikaru shook his head.
"Can you to tell us what happened that made you two faint in front of the restroom?!" Mitani snapped, running out of patience.
"Passed out!" Hikaru snapped back.
"Fainted!" Mitani taunted him.
"Yes, what happened?" Tsutsui-senpai asked, "We were looking for you when you took too long to come back but didn't find you. And just when we turned around, suddenly there were loud thumps and we came back and found you two unconscious."
"We're in front of the toilet?" Akari asked looking at the restroom sign in surprise. "I thought…Oh, it was so scary, Senpai! There were so many ghosts chasing us!"
"What?!"
-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-
A few days later…
"Fujisaki!"
Everyone turned around as the science classroom's door was slammed open and an excited Tsutsui burst inside. He had an envelope and was holding several pieces of papers, which they found out to be photos.
"Oh, Tsutsui-senpai, are those our pictures from the festival?" Akari asked excitedly.
"Really? Where? I want to see~" The girls immediately said.
"Yes, they're the pictures from the festival. Look!" Tsutsui spread the photos across the table as everyone began to surround said table. "Fujisaki, you and Hikaru said that you guys were chased by ghosts, right? See what I found in these pictures!"
Everyone looked at the pictures and was confused.
"What is it, senpai? They look pretty normal to me."
"No, wait. Look at that one and this one, too."
They looked at the pictures that were pointed out and saw what their senior meant. There. Standing either beside or behind Hikaru was a transparent blurry image. Sometimes, what looked like shadow of arms hugging him from behind. The shadowy figure was big and they could not get a clear image of it but it looked like it was wearing traditional robes or something.
And that figure only appeared in the pictures where there was Hikaru in them. Other pictures didn't have it. They all looked at each other.
"SHINDOU!"
"HIKARU!"
-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-
Meanwhile…
"But seriously, what happened that night in the old building after I passed out, Sai?" Hikaru asked as they walked their way to the Go Institute. "Do you know where the ghosts go?"
Sai shook his head. "I don't know, Hikaru. All I know is that suddenly you and Akari fainted…"
"Passed out! Chicks faint!" Hikaru protested loudly.
"And then they kept coming and I was so scared something happened to you and…and I felt so angry. I never felt so angry before and suddenly they ran away at the same time your friends came and found you," Sai tried to explain.
"Huh?" Hikaru looked confused. "So, we just need to get you angry to chase them off? Why didn't you say that?"
"You don't know that," Sai said to him. "I still don't know what happened. Maybe they just ran because your friends came."
"You know what? Maybe you're right. There's no way you could scare them off. You were too busy crying in fright to do anything," Hikaru said nodding his head.
"Hikaru!" Sai pouted.
"Besides, it's kind of unbelievable that you've never meet another ghost before the festival. Shouldn't the past be full of those things?" Hikaru said again. "Hopefully, we won't meet any ghost anymore, though. One ghost in my life is more than enough for me. Especially if said ghost is as pathetic as you."
"Hikaru!"
"What? It's true! You cried the first time Sakurazaka-senpai scared us, remember? You're just a scaredy-cat~," Hikaru teased.
"Hikaru, you're so mean!" Sai sulked in embarrassment because Hikaru was kind of right. Only kind of, though.
"Oh come on, it's the truth. Don't sulk. Ah, we've arrived," Hikaru said, as they got closer to the building.
"You know what, Sai? I'll let you play several games in a salon if you stop sulking," Hikaru promised.
"Huh? Really, Hikaru?" Sai brightened up immediately like a light bulb.
"I promise."
"Waaai~ Hikaru, you're the best!" And with that he threw himself at the young boy again in happiness, latching on like a leech and not letting go.
"Hey, watch it!"
~Fin~