Chapter 3 - Encounter
...
"W-Where am I? What in hell is this place?!"
In the first floor was roaming another damned soul, trapped inside this dark place. He was one of the first to have mysteriously dissapeared. His name is Kyosuke Himonya. He only has woken up recently, after the huge this huge earthquake happened.
"Y-Yuuya! Where are you?" he yelled throughout the hallways, desperately searching for him.
As he continued to walk, still calling his friend's name, he gazed upon two very peculiar rooms.
"Security guards room? W-Why is this in an high school?!" said the glasses-wearing male. He wasn't understanding what was wrong with this place at all. He decided to breathe in and to look all around him.
"How have I... landed here? It's impossible... W-Why would there be an high-school buried in the ground of the city like this?!"
Kyosuke tried to remember how he ended here. He was thinking about the last events that led to Yuuya and his vanishing from the surface of the world. Then, he began to place every pieces of the puzzle together. He knew what caused him to wake up here !
"Damn, the rain's really heavy today... You were right, I should have left before instead of waiting for the usual meeting."
He remembered this happened after Yuuya and he were leaving Tendo High School.
"It's fine, you got lucky I thought about bringing an umbrella with me... and next time, don't forget your bag." he remembered having said to his friend, Yuuya, meere minutes after having left.
"Heh... I'll try..." said Yuuya with a faint smile.
"... anyway, since it's going to be quite long before finally reaching your home, how about I tell you a little story?" he said with a smile. He meant no harm, not realizing that this would bring his friend and himself into this whole mess.
"Hm? Is it another of your occult stuff? Heh, I'm used to it now, it doesn't scare me!" cockily said Kumada as Himonya let out a slight giggle.
"... have you heard about the 7 wonders from the Kisaragi Academy?" he asked.
"Ki... Kisaragi... Isn't that the academy which is, like, at the other side of the town?"
"It is... and one of its wonder is really a thing... some people even say it really happened~!"
"Haha! C'mon, tell me! I'm getting so excited for this!"
...
After he told the story, Yuuya looking a bit scared, the ground began to shake and swallowed the both of them, leaving no hint of what happened to them.
He gasped. "I-It was because of that stupid ghost story?!"
Even if he believed in the occult, he wasn't aware that a story could invoke some spirit's wrath to trap them inside a decayed high school. But it seems like it was what happened there.
"... Shit... W-Why... I... I didn't wanted to... "
He continued to explore the building because it was the only think he could do by now, instead of just blaming himself over and over.
Eventually, he met up with an unpassable gap and next to it ... a classroom.
"... The label says... 'Classroom 1-1'... "
His options being very limited at the moment, he headed inside the classroom, and ...
The classroom was completely broken. There were countless of big gaps of the floor, cabinets were split in half, laying on the ground, and the blackboard was completely broken.
"Wh... What in hell happened here?"
He reluctantly explored what lies in this room, and he managed to find a passage leading to another classroom.
"... I don't like this at all, but I don't have that many options either... "
He walked to this other room, and as the opposite of the room he just came from, this one didn't looked at broken as the other.
"... ".
This didn't prevented Kyosuke of staying on his guard if anything happened here.
He began to walk inside the Classroom 1-2
This classroom felt a bit ... off. It looked rather normal, but Kyosuke sensed something ... malicious.
"... I don't like this place at all... ". he tried to escape the classroom through the only door that is accessible, but it was closed. Or rather, it's like the door doesn't even want to open itself.
"... goddammit... ". He left the room through the passage he had found earlier and he left the other classroom as well. He found himself in the hallway once again. "... Yuuya... G-Gnn... If only I didn't told you that stupid story... ".
Having found nothing interesting from what he just did, he decided to backtrack a bit, until...
"*gasp*. T-The gap... it's gone ! I can finally go to the 2nd Floor!"
The gap that prevented Kyosuke from going to the 2nd Floor was now gone, and the glasses-wearing boy didn't hesitated climing those stairs.
"YUUUYA?! ANYONE?!"
"... h-huh... K-Kyosuke? KYOSUKE?!"
To Himonya's relief, another male voice was heard calling his name, and upon reaching the 2nd Floor, he saw ...
A hallway, with some crack on the floorboard, a Classroom, and ... Yuuya Kumada.
A tear to his eye, Kyosuke rushed towards Yuuya and hugged him tightly. "YUUYA!"
"H-Heh, c'mon, I'm fine! No need to start tearing up!"
Himonya finally met up with his friend after having griefed for what seemed like an eternity. He felt appeased.
After they both calmed down, they told each others what they had found, which was basically nothing since they have waken up only recently.
"Dammit, we're really trapped here?!" nervously said Himonya.
"Calm down, Kyosuke... We'll find a way!" said the baseball-player with a carefree smile.
"... You're right... We can't just give up already... There has to be... Some way of escaping wherever this is..."
"That's the spirit!"
They decided to explore thoughtfully the building again, hoping of finding a way of escaping this damned schoolhouse.
Meanwhile, on the 3rd Floor.
Kaori and Hideki were looking at the floor that was now accessible after the Earthquake.
It seems like this floor is the last one. There is no staircases leading to an upper floor and you can see outside for the first time since you got here.
Hasegawa and Tachibana both rushed towards the fences and decided to look outside.
It was nothing but a black void where it rains infinitely. You can't make head or tails of what you're seeing there. Only eternal blackness.
Hideki flinched slightly. "I-I don't think this is something normal there... " he said, completely bewildered. For someone like him who thought the occult was nothing but a huge hoax, it definitely make up quite a shock.
Kaori tried to remain as calm as she could and moved her hand beyond the fences as her hand touched one drop of rain "AHH-"
She felt a sharp pain crossing her hand, as she quickly removed her hand. It didn't felt like rain, nor water in that matter. It more felt like acid.
"K-Kaori!". The blue haired male rushed towards her.
On the other hand, Kaori tried to hide her pain, holding her palm against her uniform and smiling slightly at Hideki. "I-I'm fine, Tachibana! Don't worry, it was nothing!"
Hideki looked at the rain that was crashing into the void, then at Kaori's hand. "What did it felt?" he asked
"... this doesn't feel like water at all... but more like acid... "
Hideki gasped. "H-How ? Then... if we don't manage to leave within weeks... we can't even drink anything... except- hey, do you happen to have some holy water, by any chance?" he asked.
"... you can't drink this to relinquish your thirst... nor can you use it to purify the acid into something drinkable... " she explain softly, expecting Hideki's question.
"Oh... then we really need to escape as soon as we can. We need to find the other two, and then get out of this place!"
"That's the spirit!" said the oldest Hasegawa with a faint smile.
Having found nothing interesting aside from this fact at the 3rd Floor, they decided climb the stairs down to see if anything had changed somewhere.
Nothing changed in the 2nd Floor. Not a soul could be seen here.
Hideki proposed that they could go look at the 1st Floor, which the group did, before finding out that ...
"H-Huh ?
The floor wasn't destroyed by that violent Earthquake like Hideki initially supposed.
" ... this floor seemed to have resisted the quake..."
Kaori nodded to what Hideki just said.
"C'mon, Tachibana, let's explore this floor!"
She practically dragged him as they explored this floor again, except it wasn't very long before ...
"Huh?"
Another gap, preventing them from going further. Their only option further this floor was a small room in front of them, but they had to cross a small wooden plank. It didn't exactly made them exited about crossing this. Plus, just for a room
"... What else can we do now? Do you want us to go see what's inside this room?" asked Hideki.
"... SHIHOO! MASAYUKI!".
"K-Kaori, do you think it's a good idea of calling them?! We might attract ghosts here!"
Kaori sighed. "...I miss her... Please God, tell me that she's fine...".
She looked very concerned about her sister's safety.
Hideki walked towards her and flashed her a smile.
"She's going to be okay, Kaori! After all, she's with Hayashi!"
"...I-I guess you're right... T-Thanks, Tachibana!".
They both smiled sweetly at each others, forgetting about all the stress of being in a place like this for a quick moment.
Meanwhile, in the 2nd Floor, another group was about to make tons of discoveries, being close to 2 rooms unvisited rooms.
Shiho, walking beside Masayuki, was shaking a lot. "S-Sister d-dearest... I-I'm scared..." she said with a shaky voice. Hayashi sighed and looked at her. "Listen, Shiho... It's going to be okay ! We're all going to go back home as if nothing even happened!" he said with a big smile, trying to act carefree to calm her down. However, this didn't seemed to have worked.
"...H-How could I ever forget about the first time I saw... a-a dead body..."
Masayuki sighed. "... I guess you're right... but it's not a reason to be worried! Kaorry will definitively be fine! Hey, she's with that nerd of Tachibana!"
Masayuki saying that Hideki's a nerd made Shiho slightly smile, and soon after, giggle.
"You're calm now? Let's explore the rooms we haven't seen... I think I'd be useless to return to that room completely split in half..."
She shyly nodded to what he said.
As they approached the Classroom 2-3's door and tried to open it, it was shown that the door wouldn't try to open. It's like if she can't even be opened in the first place, like if painted against the wall.
"... well, I guess there's only one last room to visit, huh..."
The only room that was left unchecked was the classroom 2-4, and it seems like it could make they pass through a gap if they enter the room and exit from the other side.
"Hey, Shiho, maybe we can go to the 1st Floor thanks to those stairs at the other side and meet up with Tachibana and Kaorry!"
Hearing that she could meet Kaori again filled Shiho's face with a big and sweet smile.
"Yay! What are we waiting for then?" she asked as she rushed inside the room.
"H-Hey, wait for me-"
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
As soon as Masayuki went inside the room, his gaze shifted to the very end of the room, showing another skeleton.
"AAAH! A-ANOTHER ONE?!"
Masayuki screamed a little before covering Shiho's eyes. "D-Don't look!"
She began to tear up a bit. "I-I can't take it anymore..."
The two classmates walked out of the room, finding themselves at the other side of the gap.
Shiho leaned against a wall and sunk to the ground, and she began crying.
"Uuuwaaaaaahhh... Why is this happening to us?"
Masayuki looked at her, feeling very sorry for her. He picked up a tissue from his pocket and gave it to her. "Here... "
She took it to wipe her tears and blow her nose.
The brown-haired male looked around, where they could go.
"... We need to find a way out before completely losing it... "
As Shiho continued to cry, slowly calming down, Masayuki was looking around where they were. "... we can't seems to go to the upper floor... but we can or go to the 1st Floor, or continue exploring this floor..."
The blue-haired girl stood up, looking at Hayashi, walking towards him. "L-Let's go to the 1st Floor... I... I want to see if sister dearest is okay..."
Hayashi nodded and smiled slightly. "Good... follow me, and stay behind me, but not too far away, got it?" he asked, to which she nodded.
They walked towards the staircase leading to the 1st Floor. Once they reached the 1st Floor, they saw a section of the school they haven't seen yet.
"... looks safe there, don't you think?" asked Masayuki to Hasegawa.
"... y-yes..."
They began to explore this section. Masayuki noticed some blood against the wall, but to make sure Shiho wouldn't see this, he acted as if he saw nothing at all and continued to walk forward. This floor looked surprisingly sturdy after the huge quake that happened a couple of minutes ago.
They found another staircase leading to the 2nd Floor, but unfortunately, this one was broken.
Hopefully, they managed to find a very important room : The infirmary.
"... M-Masayuki... Isn't that an infirmary?" she shyly asked.
The door was opened, so you could see some beds inside. the brown-haired boy looked at the label of the room, and it indeed was the infirmary. "Yes, it is... do you want to rest there for some ti-"
"N-No! N-Not before I find sister dearest..."
Masayuki sighed in relief. "Okay...".
They walked towards what seemed like a cross-walk, but upon approaching it, they saw that they wouldn't go any further. The floorboards connecting this part of the floor to the other were gone, nothing but a big gap showing nothing but a dark void.
"H-HEY, MASAYUKI, LOOK !"
Shiho pointed something afar with her finger ... and it looked like it was Kaori and Hideki.
"SISTER DEAREST! HIDEKI!
"H-Huh, that's them?! HEY, KAORRY! TACHIBANA!"
The two student council members turned around and looked at the two young students.
"SHIHO! HAYASHI!
"Are you two okay?" asked Tachibana as Kaori's right eye start to tear up from joy.
"We're... fine." said Masayuki, as Shiho didn't cared anymore about what happened while they were on their owns. She saw her sister dearest safe and sound and that was all that mattered at that point.
"Have you seen anything interesting?" asked Kaori with a soft smile.
"We've found an infirmary right behind us ! And in the upper floor, there is an even bigger part of floor we haven't explored yet because we wanted to meet you ASAP." replied Masayuki.
Tachibana smiled. "That's good... from our side, we have found that the outside is a black void, and that it's constantly raining acid... so even if we'd manage to get outside, it wouldn't be possible to survive the acid rain..." he added with a sigh.
As they were all very happy of finally having reunited themselves, a familiar voice could be heard.
"Hey, who's there?"
The 2 groups looked at the next part of the floor where no one was yet, and saw 2 persons.
Tachibana gasped. "K-Kyosuke!"
So did Masayuki. "K-Kumada!"
Kyosuke Himonya and Yuuya Kumada appeared at sight of everyone.
"H-Huh ? W-Why are you two... inside this damned place?" asked Kaori.
She asked herself : what brings peoples inside this place.
Could it be the ghost story ?
Also, it has been a few days since Kyosuke's and Yuuya's disappearance, how are they still alive in this place where you cannot drink, nor eat anything ? Were they prepared for it ?
So many questions were floating inside her mind, but for this moment, she decided to just relax and say that they managed to find 2 of their friends.
Chapter 3 - Encounter [ E N D ]
Heeey, yes I'm still alive ! Me too I didn't thought I would still be alive, tbh. Anyway, here's the newest chapter released for your beautiful eyes uwu.