Yomi, Tomo, and Osaka gathered just outside of the school grounds bathed in the eerie glow of a single streetlight as Yomi spoke on her cell phone. "All right… okay… okay…" she replied to Sakaki, leaving the other two girls in the dark. "Just take care of yourself… that's good to hear. Okay, bye," Yomi finished up before pocketing the phone with a sigh.
"What's going on? They… they're alive, right?" Tomo asked.
"The ambulance just got to the hospital," Yomi explained as she raised an eyebrow to Tomo's question. "It looks like they're both going to be okay, but Sakaki has a concussion and they're worried about Chiyo's eye."
"Does that mean they're gonna be all right?" Osaka fretted.
Yomi shook her head. "I don't know. I guess Sakaki will be okay, but Chiyo might have been blinded in that eye, or worse."
"Tha' sounds pretty bad," Osaka replied.
"Let's just hope for the best," Yomi sighed as the group started off.
While Yomi and Tomo started in one direction, Osaka turned in the direction of her own home. Osaka then turned back to the duo, unwilling to go it alone. "Um… ah live this way," she pointed out the obvious as she motioned down the street.
Yomi couldn't help but to chuckle a little. "I'm kind of glad to see that you aren't completely unfazed by what happened," she commented as she walked back towards Osaka alongside Tomo. "We can walk each other home, but someone will have to walk home by themselves in the end."
"At least it won't be me," Osaka expressed her relief as the group started towards her home. "It's pretty creepy out here."
"I don't… even wanna think about it," Tomo complained as she crossed her arms over her chest and unconsciously moved a bit closer to Yomi. "I've never been so scared in my life."
"We were all terrified," Yomi surmised as she cast a glance at the somber wildcat. "I don't even believe in the supernatural."
"How can ya say that after what just happened?" Osaka demanded with a hint of anger in her voice.
"I meant that I didn't used to," the brunette clarified. "After… that, I just… I'm pretty sure I'm a believer in ghosts, or spirits, or whatever that damned thing was. I mean, we were nearly just killed by magic flying furniture! I kind of wonder if this is all some kind of dream or horrible hallucination or something like that."
Tomo shook her head a bit as she hugged herself a bit tighter. "There's no way it could have been a dream," she refuted. "My imagination couldn't come up with something that scary. I-I really thought you all were dead."
"You should have come with us when we bolted," Yomi scolded.
"Hey, if there was a mummy in that closet, does that mean Yukari and Nyamo are killlers?" Osaka interrupted. "Now that we know tha secret, are they gonna kill us, too?"
"D-don't get ahead of yourself," Yomi urged. "They don't know that we know. And there isn't any proof that they did anything wrong. We just found a body in a secret clubroom that they used to run purposely boarded up and buried where no one would ever, ever find it…" The bespectacled girl fell silent as the group kept walking for several seconds. "They… might be murderers."
Osaka nodded in agreement. "It's dangerous!" she asserted. "Ah mean, if they already know that we know, then they're gonna kill us, right? Except that we know that they know that we know, so we've gotta be prepared."
Yomi struggled to keep up with Osaka's cyclical ramblings. "I really don't think that they know anything, yet. And besides that, we're not completely sure if they're the ones responsible for that corpse or not," the brunette claimed. "I kind of wanted to grill them about all of this, but I guess that we should keep our mouths shut, just in case."
"Can we talk about something else?" Tomo practically begged. "I don't… even want to think about it."
Osaka's idea of something else was still pretty much the same thing. "That thing tried ta kill us, but we never did nothin' to it," she pointed out. "Do ya think it holds a grudge against Nyamo and Yukari?" It could be a dangerous situation for 'em."
"So are they the dangerous ones, or the ones in danger?" Yomi quipped, rather displeased with the strange girl's abrupt change in stance.
Osaka looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "Both, maybe? It's kinda like that The Most Dangerous Game story. They might be tha prey, but they're tha predator, too."
"And that analogy just leaves us at the bottom of the food chain," Yomi pointed out. "Besides that, how are Yukari and Nyamo supposed to fight against a spirit, or poltergeist, or whatever that unholy abomination was?"
"They're tha ones that sealed up in the first place, right?" Osaka insightfully asked.
"Good point," Yomi admitted as the trio came to a halt outside of Osaka's place. "You'll be fine making it from here on your own, right?"
Osaka looked to her house, to Yomi and Tomo, and back. "Ah sure hope so. Ah don't wanna get haunted… or dead."
"We'll walk you to the door," Yomi offered. Once Osaka had safely made it inside, Tomo and Yomi found themselves at an impasse. "One of us is going to have to go home alone, you know," Yomi observed as the inseparable duo headed toward their part of the neighborhood.
"W-why don't I just spend the night at your place?" Tomo pleaded.
Yomi nodded in acceptance of the idea's merit. "That way no one goes home alone," she stated the obvious. "It's a good idea. You've still got pajamas at my house anyway."
"Right," Tomo mumbled.
The bespectacled girl cocked an eyebrow as she carefully took note of her friend's state. Tomo was acting so demure that it was downright surreal. "You aren't going to brag about it?" Yomi asked, actually hoping for some showboating from the normally wild girl. Tomo just thoughtlessly shook her head in response. "It's over now," the brunette assured Tomo. "It was really, really scary and it's still kind of creepy walking home in the dark, but it really is over. You don't need to still be so freaked out."
Tomo shook her head again. "It was really… horrible. I don't even wanna think about it," she claimed as she hugged herself.
Picking up on her friend's not so subtle hint, Yomi decided to change the subject. "I guess Kagura had the right idea," she stated in a forcibly upbeat tone. "She will never believe this one, huh?" This time, Tomo didn't make any effort to respond whatsoever. Yomi let out a frustrated sigh as she scratched her head. ""That's still talking about it, huh?" Yomi spoke what she figured was on Tomo's mind. "Sorry about that." Still not getting a rise even with an earnest apology, Yomi resigned herself to silence as they made their way to her house.
After a rather uncomfortable walk in complete silence the pair finally arrived at Yomi's residence. Instead of being comforting, the house seemed to be a bit foreboding. There didn't seem to be a single light on in the house and the only sounds that could be heard were the buzzing of the nearby streetlights. "Doesn't look like anyone is here," Yomi observed as she retrieved her house key from her pocket. Again Tomo made no effort to respond, but made sure to keep herself within a couple of steps of her friend. As Yomi opened the door and stepped inside she spotted a note hanging by the entryway that confirmed her suspicions. "Crap," she muttered aloud as she read the note. "It looks like it's just the two of us tonight."
"Oh," Tomo muttered as she mechanically removed her shoes.
Yomi had to force herself not to sigh at Tomo's dismally flaccid response. "Tomo, it's fine now," she affirmed as she put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We are perfectly safe here. You don't need to worry anymore."
Tomo's response was anything but expected. The normally hyper girl looked up at Yomi to reveal tears running down her cheeks. "It was horrible!" Tomo exclaimed as she latched onto her friend and buried her face into Yomi's shoulder.
Yomi had little choice other than to return Tomo's hug and try to comfort her friend, even though it seemed as though Tomo was blowing this thing completely out of proportion. "To-Tomo, what's gotten into you? I know it was bad, but this is…"
"Why don't you care?" Tomo snapped as she hugged Yomi tighter. "Everyone's acting like it was nothing! I'd rather die than experience that again!"
"Wha-?" Yomi mumbled aloud as she pondered the mystery behind Tomo's words. The worst part about the whole ordeal was the threat of death, but no one died. So why would Tomo rather die than experience it again? "Did… something else happen to you?" she asked as she remembered that Tomo was left alone for a minute or two. The only response she received was Tomo shaking her head. Yomi couldn't really tell if it meant that nothing had happened, or if it meant that Tomo couldn't muster the ability to talk about it. She suspected the latter.
It took several minutes before Tomo had calmed down enough to reluctantly release Yomi from the embrace. Although Yomi was tempted to press Tomo again about what had happened, she didn't want to risk upsetting her friend again. Instead she opted to change the subject and act like nothing had happened. "I'm hungry," the brunette announced to Tomo with a fake smile. "Why don't you watch TV or something while I make us something to eat?"
As Yomi headed for the kitchen, she noticed that Tomo wasn't headed for the living room or even Yomi's bedroom. The normally excitable girl was instead following after Yomi not even two paces behind her. Once they had arrived in the kitchen Tomo finally broke away. Tomo moved to a familiar spot next to a counter, hoisted herself up, and sat on the counter. Yomi had seen her friend sitting there at least a hundred times before. Usually Tomo would be leaning back with that stupid grin on her face freely swinging her legs and generally being loud. And, normally, Yomi would find herself uselessly scolding her about it. This time was definitely different, though. The once irritating and boisterous girl was just sitting there hunched over, motionless and silent. It was almost creepy.
"What do you want to eat? It's your choice," Yomi offered in hopes of getting a response, any response that echoed the energetic nature of her friend.
Instead Tomo only shook her head a little and muttered a barely audible, "Whatever."
"Tomo," Yomi mumbled with a little sigh. "Are you… you're okay, right?" Again Tomo shook her head as her shoulders shuddered a bit. Even though Tomo's slouched over posture successfully hid her face from Yomi's view, the brunette wasn't fooled and could easily tell that Tomo had begun to cry again. As much as Yomi wanted to comfort her friend, she knew full well that she was stumbling about in a figurative mine field. As long as they've been friends, Yomi couldn't recall more than a time or two that she had seen Tomo in this kind of condition and she honestly didn't know what to do. Tomo wasn't usually the one that needed cheering up, after all. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Yomi empathized as she carefully chose her words. "But if there is anything you need, I'll do whatever it takes." She comforted her friend as she put hand on Tomo's.
Tomo nearly caused Yomi to jump when she suddenly put her free hand on top of Yomi's and gripped it. "Just… stay," Tomo choked out as she struggled to stymy her sobs.
Yomi couldn't quite follow what Tomo was asking for, but did her best to comfort her anyway. "I-I'm right here," she reminded Tomo. "I don't understand what you-"
"Don't leave me alone!" Tomo emotionally blurted out as she tightened her grip on Yomi's hand. "Just… don't ever go away… please."
Giving in to empathy and heavy dose of guilt, Yomi pulled Tomo off of the counter and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl. "This is… my fault, isn't it?" Yomi whispered. "I'm really, really sorry. I should have made sure that you were with us. I never meant to leave you behind. I'm so sorry."
Tomo shook her head while keeping it buried in Yomi's shoulder. "I-I'm just glad… you-you're okay."
"I was never in any more danger than anyone else," Yomi comforted Tomo after a few seconds of silence. "I should have stayed behind and protected you."
"No!" Tomo viscerally refuted.
"Wh-what?" a puzzled Yomi stammered. "You don't want me to protect you?"
Tomo shook her head as she kept an iron grip on the taller girl. "I-I can't… not again," she choked out as tears fell anew. "Pro-promise me…" Tomo begged, "promise me that… that if-if I'm ever in danger you-you won't… risk your life to save mine. Promise me."
"What are you saying?" Yomi puzzled. "You might drive me nuts, but you are still my friend… my most precious friend that I've known my whole life. So if there's anything I can do to save you, then of course I'll do whatever it takes. I'll protect you at any cost."
"No!" Tomo protested again as tears flowed anew. "You can't… you can't do that! I… I can't watch you die again! I-I would rather just… just die myself than to see-to see… that again! So please… don't die for me. Promise me… you wouldn't ever d-do that to me. Promise me you won't leave me all alone!"
"I-I promise," Yomi absentmindedly swore more to try to sate Tomo than anything else. The brunette's thoughts were still clogged up on making sense of Tomo's ramblings. "What exactly are you talking about, though? I don't understand."
"I want… I want to s-stop thinking about it," Tomo claimed in a slightly less distressed tone. "I just… I keep seeing it over and over. It won't stop! I want it to stop!"
Tomo's bizarre ramblings only seemed to drive Yomi closer to panic as she struggled to make any sense out of Tomo's ramblings and her increasingly erratic behavior. "Wh-what's gotten into you?" Yomi asked as gingerly as she could. "Why are you so upset?"
"It-it didn't really… happen. I know that," Tomo mumbled as she kept a fierce grip on Yomi. "Bu-but I still… I saw it. I saw it… kill you."
The pieces started to fall into place for Yomi, even if she still couldn't see the entire picture. "This happened while you were alone."
Tomo did her best to stymy her sobs as she nodded."T-to me it wasn't… I was never alone," she explained. "The door… wo-wouldn't open. Then… it came out after us. It-it was as strong as a monster… stronger."
"By 'it' you mean the mummy," Yomi guessed as she tried to follow Tomo's tale.
The distressed girl nodded again. "It-it… killed everyone. One by one. Ch-Chiyo… Sakaki… Osaka… then-then you tried… tried to-to protect me and-and…"
"I think I get the picture," Yomi interrupted her friend. Not only because talking about it was obviously taking its toll on Tomo, but because Yomi herself didn't want to hear the end. "Whatever that was… it had to be an illusion. A hallucination. I'm right here and we just walked Osaka home. Chiyo and Sakaki are more or less all right, too. I promise."
"I-I know that," Tomo claimed, "but I can't stop thinking about it. I just-I keep seeing it play over and over in my head."
"Maybe you'll calm down if you just get your mind off of things," the brunette suggested, unable to come up with any more comforting words. Fully aware of the fact that Tomo was not about to leave her side, Yomi was forced to make an offer that had quite literally blown up in her face before. "Wh-why don't you give me hand cooking? I'm starving and I know you have got to be hungry, too."
Tomo refused to let Yomi go. "I'm not hung-" she started to claim, only to be cut off by the sound of her own stomach growling.
Yomi couldn't help but to chuckle at the timing. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
"I don't even understand what you just said!" Tomo complained, with an obviously improved mood.
"Come on," Yomi urged as she pried Tomo away from herself. "You'll feel better if you just forget about everything for right now."
"Fine," Tomo submitted as she dried the last of her tears.
A/N: The story didn't progress much this chapter, but things get into full swing next chapter. The rating will also possibly change next chapter.