I'm bad at goals. On the bright side, this chap is like 15k of words, so woo. Also for Big Al fans, he makes a one time mention in the story, but unless you know about him and his altered look then you probably won't get a that part. It's cause of that pic of him I saw made me use him for that small part.


The end of the first half of the first semester was right around the corner, and Kaito couldn't bear every time the clock ticked. It was as if it was teasing him, getting closer and closer, when it was so far away. It finally the bell rang, but it only signaled the start of lunch. He wasn't sure how much more torment he could take from this school, it kept waving his freedom in front of his face. He felt like a wild animal trying to break free from his cage.

Miku invited Kaito to the clubroom for lunch earlier today, telling him it was of the upmost importance to be there. He texted his usual lunch buddy, Neru, telling her that he was unavailable for lunch today, but would make it up to her soon. Flipping his phone shut, he headed off to Miku's clubroom. He felt he could locate it without his sister's help. Kaiko always asked him to walk with her and IA there before he left for work, so even with his terrible sense of direction, he thought he could remember which turns to take through the halls.

Eventually, he made his way to the room, only to find Luka sitting on a chair near the window, reading a book as per usual. "Hey, Luka! Where's Miku?"

Luka peered up from her book, greeting Kaito with a warm smile. Lately, Luka had enjoyed it when it was just her and Kaito. She enjoyed his presence more and more each day. They never did anything particularly special together. Their one-on-one interactions consisted of small talk, and their friends, but not much else. They were generally quiet around each other; Luka loved that though. She found that Kaito was a very calm and coolheaded person most of the time. Unless you brought up ice cream or he saw an opportunity to do something mischievous he hadn't done before, he was incredibly docile. That is, if he has spent enough time with you that is. Luka found hanging with Kaito was a nice break from her hyperactive friends. There was nothing wrong with them, but she liked to have someone around that didn't require the use of so much energy or interaction. They never hung out outside of school, except for the trip they had won, but she felt they were really were good friends nonetheless. "I'm not sure. She should be here soon though, it is pretty important."

Kaito chuckled softly. "So I heard." Kaito walked over and sat in Miku's spinning chair, which happened to be near Luka. Unbeknownst to Luka, Kaito felt the same way. Kaito was a very introverted person, so doing extroverted actions or large social gatherings drained his mental energy as opposed to just one other person. He enjoyed doing those things, but he'd need a lot of time to himself afterwards to recharge. This is why he liked Luka. With her, he didn't feel as if he was using much of his energy. He could just do simple chit chat and then just relax. Their conversations were always tranquil and flowed smoothly. He thought back when they were paired together for a class assignment. The teacher put them together since Luka had the highest grades in the class, while he was the only student that was failing. It was a bit rocky at first, but it smoothed out rather quickly. Normally, Kaito never listened to someone he didn't know well, but he had gotten used to Luka enough that he complied more often, following her instruction on how to do this and that correctly. Academic's wasn't his strong suit, so he was glad to have someone like Luka, who exceled at it. Sometimes, when they were working on it together, no words were exchanged the entire time. It didn't matter that they didn't speak, to Kaito, having someone there with you was all he desired. She could read, while he could do his own thing in the same room. "I guessing you know, so mind filling me in?" He asked.

Luka shook her head. "I think it'll be better to wait till Miku gets here, since she is the club president."

Kaito looked at her curiously. "So it has to do with the club, huh? Can't think a reason why you'd need me, but I guess I'll find out soon." Kaito began to study the room, noticing how much stuff they had in here. That only lasted a few seconds though, as only one thing really caught his attention and that was the violin. He could remember the sweet sounds and melodies he's made with his own. Nostalgia took over, his mind almost losing itself in the emotions you could feel when that instrument was played.

Luka took notice of Kaito's stare at the violin. "IA mentioned once that you used to play the violin quite a bit, but you don't really touch it anymore. By the way you're staring at it, you must have really like it."

"Can't say I didn't, but I threw it away a long time ago." He said nonchalantly.

Luka became stunned upon hearing that. 'IA said that he was extremely protective of it. Could he have really thrown it away?' "The way IA said it, it sounds like it was very dear to you. Did you not care much for it? Sorry; Am I asking too much about this? I don't want to tread on sensitive subjects." Luka asked cautiously.

Kaito held his hand up to her, showing her it's not a big deal. Exhaling first, he answered. "Nah, it's cool. It's nothing really, I used to play it a lot as a kid, though I did reject it at first. After learning it, I started feeling really good when I played it. Later, I just thought I didn't really need it or cared much for it anymore. I already mastered it, so I threw it out without a second thought. I didn't tell anyone I threw it away, so it makes sense that IA thinks I still have it. I was just thinking of the sounds I made with them, I really got lost in it sometimes. Sometimes, I go to the music store and play for a bit, so I don't get rusty. That's about it." Kaito finished, taking in a deep breath from all the talking he just did.

"So it wasn't that important to you then?" She asked, looking for confirmation on her previous thoughts.

Kaito placed a hand on his cheek, tapping it with only his index finger. "It sort of was, at first. But... after a while it turned into a keepsake. I don't need keepsakes though, I don't need them to remember the important stuff. What about you? You have your books, what do you like about them so much?"

Luka smirked at him. "Ohh, since you shared, I feel so compelled to share as well!"

Kaito brushed off her sarcasm. "You said it, not me. Go ahead miss smarty pants."

"Well, since you're so interested, I'll tell you. It's like experiencing different lives, viewing situations that your mind forms from what you read in your own unique way. When the main character is a female, I imagine it's me, following an unknown, but preset course that ends in just the right way." Luka said dreamily.

Kaito snapped his fingers in front of her face, preventing her from losing herself in her thoughts. "Sound's nice, but I don't have to attention span or time to make it past the first page. What's your favorite type of book then? You know, like funny, adventure, action?"

Luka turned her face away from Kaito, embarrassed to admit her favorite genre. Her cheeks heated up, she was afraid that he would tease her about her love for romance novels. She always dreamed that one day, a guy just like in her books would come for her, and sweep her off her feet. A guy that was intelligent, charismatic, handsome, mature, socialable, brave, confident, upstanding, and most importantly, had a kind heart. It was a silly dream, but everyone had their own fantasy, so she didn't see why she couldn't fantasize either. "F-favorite? I-I don't think I have one. T-there's just so many to chose from, I could never decide."

"Laaaiiiiirrrrr! You're not looking at me, I do the same thing, I can't look at someone when I lie! It's such a simple question. It's not like I'm asking about you're life story."

"Romance, okay!" Luka shouted sheepishly.

"Okay! I hear you loud and clear! Geez, didn't know it bothered you that much to say it... *snicker* Girly girl." Kaito added quietly, but still audible enough that she could hear.

Luka smacked his arm with her book. "I knew you were going to make fun of me, this is why I didn't want to tell you! You're such an immature kid!"

Kaito laughed, trying to block Luka's book from hitting him. "I won't make anymore comments about it, promise! That was the only one I had." Luka calmed down, giving him one last whack from her book before she began reading it again. "Besides, I'm use to it. IA likes those too that type of thing too, she watches anime about it all the time. Me and Kaiko have been begged to watch dozens of them with her, and it's not that bad either. *yawn* I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when Miku gets here." Kaito said as he stretched out and leaned back on his chair.

Only two minutes passed before a large slamming sound woke Kaito up. His eyes shot open, looking for the cause of the sound. He found Miku and Meiko locking the door, heavily panting, as if they had just been sprinting. Soon enough, you could hear multiple people banging on the other side. Miku wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Whew, we out ran them. Sorry guys, only third years allowed in right now. Wait till we're done talking, K?"

Outside Kaito could hear his sister, IA, Len, and Rin's voices on the other side. He leaned over to Luka and asked. "Should I be worried? I feel as if I should make a break for it while they're still catching their breath."

Luka closed her book and set it aside. "Probably not. Besides, Meiko will hunt you down if you do. Miku, mind explaining why he's here now."

"Right! But first, so they don't hear us." Miku grabbed one of the small handheld music players in the room and placed it in front of the door. She turned up the volume high, playing 'I'll Miku Miku you (For reals)' to cancel out any sounds from passing in or out of the room. She spun up and around, placing one hand on her hip and held a sheet with the other. "Kaito Shion! You have been selected to join the amazing, super talented... Project Diva! Just put your name on this paper right here and it's official! Hurry, right now! Don't even think about it!" Miku announced.

She walk over and started shoving the paper onto Kaito, while motioning Meiko to hand her a pen. Kaito tried fending off Miku, but the tealette didn't let up on trying to get him to sign that. "Um, I'm good. Besides, I have a job I go to at least three times a week. So I'd barely be here if I did. Do you really want someone like me in your club anyway? I'll only eat ice cream and nap all day when I do show up."

Kaito finally managed to push Miku off him, only to have Meiko put him in a headlock. "We just need the favor, don't make me abuse you more!"

Trying to pry the arm around his neck off, he shouted to Meiko. "So you admit you abuse me! Someone call the poli- wait, what am I thinking? They don't do anything in this town."

Luka sighed at this scene. She thought Miku would have explained why they needed Kaito immediately, but Miku would rather force it on him first and tell him later because she liked to rush things. As always, Luka would need to be the voice that wasn't shouting or making somewhat playful threats. "Miku, I said to explain, not pressure him. And Meiko, beating him isn't going to help either. You got to calm down your violence with him."

"Ah, I'm just playing around, you know, rough housing! Plus, he gets up every time! It's awesome having something you can go wild on!"

"Not for me!" Kaito yelled.

Luka sighed once more. She really wondered why Meiko enjoyed hitting Kaito more then anyone else. Sure, she was rough with her and Miku from time to time, but she really let loose her violent side around him. She guessed that Meiko thought Kaito could handle it, which he did, and he never retaliated either, making him an easy outlet. It made him seem slightly spineless and cowardly. "I'll explain since you two are acting like a pair of school bullies. We need you to join our club because it might get shut down due to the lack of members we have. The student council made two new requirements this year; One, that all clubs must have eight members to be official. If we don't submit that sheet by the end of the day, it's curtain call for us, so we're a little desperate to get someone. The other is that each club needs at least two of each gender. And you're the only male left that we know isn't already in a club. We already got Len to sign up, so you're all that's left."

Kaito scratched the back of his head. He still wasn't to sure he wanted to join. Juggling an afterschool club and a 'job' seemed challenging. Well, more like effort. Kaito just felt too lazy to add something else to do on his life, and he didn't even have to do anything but be there.

Miku grinned, having an ace in the hole to convince their blue haired friend. Pulling a small cup of ice cream with a spoon from behind her, she presented it along with the sign up sheet. "If you sign up now, I promise a cup of ice cream every time you co-"

Miku couldn't even finish, Kaito infatuation for ice cream made him sign his name and yank the cup from her hand, devouring it like a beast. "I'm in!"

'Maybe I should have done that first.' Miku thought in her mind.

Speaking in between bites, the ice cream lover asked. "Is that all you wanted to ask? I don't think you'd need to lock them out and turn on the music that loudly if it's just for that."

Miku folded up the signed sheet before answering. "Course not! We wanted to ask if you wanted to join us tonight, around say... ten-ish? We always do something different to kick off summer break, and we want you to join us, since you're old enough like us."

Kaito looked at Miku curiously. "Old enough for what?"

"Don't worry about it! Don't even worry about it! They're just, you know, kid-ish. This is just a thing for big kids! So, wanna come?" She asked again.

Kaito looked to Luka for a better explanation, but she didn't have an answer for him. "I usually let them pick it out, so I got nothing for you." She said simply.

Finding no reason to say no, and Kaito always having fun with them around, he shrugged and nodded. "So where are we meeting up?"

Meiko entered the conversation again putting her arm around Miku. "Right in front of the school! We'll head out after everyone shows up, k? And don't tell Kaiko, IA, Rin, or Len, got it? Third years only!" Meiko told him sternly.

Kaito nodded, but had one more thing to ask. "Since only third years are allowed, mind if I invite Neru? It won't a problem, will it?" He asked sincerely. Lately, Neru had been asking him to help her make friends with other girls her age. It wasn't that Kaito wasn't enough for her. She really cherished their friendship and had fun every time, but as a guy, Kaito couldn't do other things that girls did together simply because he was a guy. He didn't know what is was, but he sure wasn't interested in finding out.

Miku squealed at this. "Yeah, it fine! You can totally bring her! Oh my gosh, we're going to be hanging with Neru! Soon, we'll be one of the few people that school that she talks to! We'll be so popular, and then our club's going to attract so much attention!"

Kaito dropped a sweat hearing that statement. 'Right... she doesn't know her rep is only made up by other kids, and she's just super shy. Ah well, they'll all like her anyway. These guys... they're pretty accepting.'


Kaito grabbed his umbrella and started exiting his house. Well, at least he was trying to. His sister was clinging on to his leg, being dragged across the floor, as she begged him not to leave. "Oni-chaaaannn! Don't leave me! It's dark! What happens when the killer's come for me!? I don't want to die!" Kaiko cried as she struggled to stop her brother from leaving.

If Kaito wasn't already wearing his skates, it'd be a much easier task. "This is why I told you not to watch scary movies! It's been four days already!" Kaito, as much as he adored his little sister, was having his patience tested too much. Every time she watch a scary movie, she refused to be apart from her precious older brother when the sun set, thinking a killer or apparition would come for her at night. She would constantly text and call Kaito at work, asking him leave work early and come home, which he refused to do after the first time. And when he went to sleep, Kaiko didn't even bother sneaking in his bed later, no, she was already under the covers, waiting for him. He didn't have much of a problem with the last one since they had done it all the time when they were younger, but he was concerned that she'd lose all the progress she made on becoming less dependent on him. Looking over to IA, who was munching on cookies on the couch, for affirmation that she could keep Kaiko clam while he was gone. "Can you get her off my leg, you told me you had a plan for this."

"Kaiko, I bought a bag of popsicles at the store, they're in the freezer if you want some." IA said as she put another cookie in her mouth.

"Really!?" Kaiko released herself from her brother's limb and jetted toward the kitchen.

Kaito mentally smacked himself. 'How'd I forget that?'

With the cookie half sticking out of her mouth, IA frantically motioned Kaito to run now, as this was his only chance to escape. Not wasting another second, he opened his umbrella to shield him from the rain, sped out and slammed the door shut, causing Kaiko to pop her head out of the kitchen with a half eaten popsicle in one hand. "Oni-chan?" Seeing that he was gone, her eyes became misty and her voice turning more high pitch. "O-...oni-...chan? On-!"

IA covered her ears before Kaiko's usual wails started. 'This is going to be a long night.'


Neru rode piggy back on Kaito as he skated toward the rendezvous point. Neru held the umbrella above them to protect them from the rain. "Kaito, do you think they'll like me?" She asked softly, afraid of the answer.

"They'll love you, you're such a nice person. Don't get scared now, tonight's all about fun! Whatever it is we're doing, it'll be fine." Kaito responded confidently. He could understand her timidness, making new friends isn't the smoothing process when you've never had one to begin with. He was all she had as a friend, and he was determined help her on her quest for more.

"You sure? What if my voice won't come out or I stay on my phone too much or-" Neru continued to ramble on about possible things she could do to mess things up.

Eventually, Kaito put a stop to it. "If! You do any of that stuff, I'll cover you. Don't worry, I'll be real subtle about it." He assured her. "Hey, look! I see Luka there already! She'll be real easy to talk to, she's real cool about stuff." Kaito rushed over to the pinkette, who was reading a book under her pink umbrella at the school gates. Neru hopped off Kaito's back when they had made it to Luka, still holding Kaito's blue umbrella, shielding both of them from the rain while he took his skates off and talked to Luka. "Luka! How late am I?"

Luka gave him a small smile and answered. "Only by five minutes. At least you're not like Miku and Meiko, they won't be here for another half hour. Unlike them, you try to be on time."

"Really? They're always late like this? Why are you on time if you know that then?" He asked.

Luka nodded and sighed. "I wouldn't want you to think that we stood you up or anything like that. Miku and Meiko are just huge procrastinators."

Kaito laughed at the truth in her words. "Haha! True, true. By the way, you know Neru right?" Kaito pointed to Neru and stepped back behind her, still under the umbrella. He took his umbrella from her so he wouldn't have to crouch under the umbrella since she was much shorter then him, and gave her a light shove to Luka.

Luka talked to her in her usual calm, friendly tone she used when she meets new people. "Hi Neru. I don't know if you know me, but I'm Megurine Luka, nice to meet you. You're a very popular person here, I hope I'm not too much of a bore for you. Miku and Meiko are the more exciting one's." Luka extended her hand out for a handshake.

Neru stared at it, slowly and awkwardly shaking her hand. Neru tried to say something, but she felt her throat tightening up, barely allowing her to breath normally. Luckily for her, Luka spoke again, allowing her another chance to continue a conversation. "Sorry that we have to wait out here in the rain for my friends, they wanted us to be here for the meet up. I'm not sure what they have planned for us. Are you curious about it?"

There it was, a question. It was the perfect time to reply. Neru couldn't do it though, her shyness had to much inertia for any force she could muster up from her body to affect it. Luka looked at her with a small saddened expression. "Um, I guess you'd rather talk with Kaito, so I'll just go back to my book." Luka returned her attention to her novel.

'No!' Neru screamed in her head. Her window of opportunity was closing. She begged, she wished for some outside force to set the words stuck in her throat in motion. That's when she felt it, a force the struck her. Unfortunately, this was Kaito's elbow jabbing her back. "Ow!" She winced before turning around with an angered look on her face.

Neru saw Kaito pretending to look away, and balling a fist in front of his mouth. "Cough!" He shouted.

'Did... did he just say cough? Is he serious!? You're doing it wrong! You're supposed to actually cough, do you think we can't tell the difference!?' "Kaito-!" Neru stopped speaking when she saw Kaito pointing in Luka's direction. She turned to find Luka looking back up at her, curious about hearing Kaito say cough so loudly. She'd gotten another chance to say something, anything. Neru opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Then, another jab came to her back. "OW!"

"Cough!" Kaito kept elbowing her back somewhat lightly, yelling the word cough each time, for every five seconds she didn't say anything.

Neru had enough of Kaito hitting her and started yelling at him. "What is wrong with you!? Will you stop hitting me, it's not helping! And shouting 'cough' is not subtle!"

"Don't blame me! I can't think of anything else! This is mostly your fault anyway, just say one word, it's not that hard! Hi, is saying that so hard!?"

"You said that you'd help me, but your making it worse! I can't get anything out with you constantly hitting me and yelling 'cough' over and over!"

Kaito threw his one free hand up in the air. "I'm no better at being social then you, you know that! Plus, I didn't think it'd be that hard! I couldn't think of anything so I guess I'm full of crap!" Kaito argued back, poorly defending himself.

Luka decided to interject, hoping to find out what the heck was going on here. "Kaito, what dumb thing did you do now?"

Both of their bickering ceased when Luka spoke. Kaito leaned over and whispered to Neru. "Can I just tell her about your shyness and stuff? I mean, it'll be really awkward at this point for us if I don't." Neru nodded reluctantly, bringing out her phone for comfort. Kaito walked over to Luka and explained to her about Neru's shyness, how the status she had formed only on rumors and speculation, when in contrary, she was just another faint-hearted teenager.

"So that's all? You should have just told me from the get go, I would've understood. Neru, it's not a problem that you're like that. I used to be just the same before I met Miku, it'll take a while, but trust me, you'll get past it." Luka assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Neru nodded, relieved that Luka was such a empathetic person, and understood where she was coming from. "So tell me, how did end up being friends with Kaito? Knowing him, he must have done something really annoying and stupid!" Neru nodded happily, typing out her response on her phone and showing the screen to Luka. Luka giggled at what she read. "I can see him doing something like that, he's such a jerk sometimes, isn't he? Making some really mean comments too, being completely insensitive to others, am I right?" Neru giggled in agreement. "Such a baka!" Luka cupped her hand and whispered into the blondes ear. "But after being stuck with him all day, you end up thinking he's a pretty nice guy after all, because he does a few little nice things at the end, right?" Neru nodded again, the huge smile on her face proved how accurate Luka's statement was. "The same thing with me! What a baakaaa!" The two girls broke out in a fit of giggles.

Kaito, however, was getting annoyed. 'Did they forget I'm right here!? They're just insulting me over and over, it's not even that funny!' What frustrated him the most was the part when Luka whispered something into Neru ear. He had no idea what she said, but the desire to find out burned inside him. "Hey, what was that last part!? Stop laughing about me! What did you say!? Tell me!"

Luka held her hand out in front of his face. "Girl talk. No baka boys allowed."

Kaito's phone then went off. He opened his phone and read "And you're a Baaaakkkaaaa! lol!"

'I somehow screw myself over, didn't I?'


Neru and Luka had been chatting nonstop since then about Kaito's bad qualities and many flaws. Relief washed over Kaito when he saw Miku and Meiko had finally made it, he had grown tired all of the negative comments about him. "Miku, Meiko!" He called out to them.

Miku waved her hand back, rushing to his side. "Hey, you ready for awesomeness and fun!"

"Yeah! Bring it on! First off though, Miku, this is Neru. Neru, Miku."

"Neru! It's so awesome to finally talk to you! Are you excited for tonight?" Miku hugged Neru tightly, releasing her after a few seconds. She waited for some sort of reply, but none came from the blonde girl. "Yoo hoo! Neru, you in there?" All the tealette saw was a fidgeting girl in front of her. She was a bit disappointed, she was expecting her to be charming and cool, and she wasn't saying anything.

Luka pulled Miku to her side. "Miku, Neru is a bit... shy. Tone it down a bit for now."

"Whaaat? Whatcha mean?" Luka repeated back what Kaito told her previously. "Really? My bad then! Sorry, Neru! I guess I shouldn't have come on so strong, heh heh." She apologized sheepishly. Neru accepted her apology with a simple nod.

Meanwhile, Meiko had Kaito in a headlock for no reason whatsoever. "Help me! Why do you only do this to me?! I get the worst of it out of everyone here!"

Meiko laughed. "I don't know! Kinda feels like I've done it before though! What can I say, it feels! So! Natural!"

As entertaining as it was to see Kaito in pain, Miku wanted to get on with tonight. "Meiko, you can do that later. Now lets get on with tonight! Everyone, to the clubroom!" Miku announced, motioning everyone to follow her.

Kaito was happy to be released from Meiko's grip, but something seemed to plague his mind with bad feelings when she told him that they'd be going inside the school. 'Gah, my head hurts. It's like I'm trying to remember something or I'm getting Deja vu, but it I feel so weird going in now. Damn it! It feels like it's so obvious! I don't think I've ever been to a school at night before, so what is it?'


Upon entering the dark clubroom, Meiko shut the door behind them. Miku made everyone sit down and form a circle in the middle of the room. Kaito sat between Neru and Luka, still wondering what this strange feeling he was having. Then Miku grabbed a candle from inside her desk, placed it in the center of the circle and lit it.

The second the candle was lit, it finally hit him on what was off. In that instant Kaito got up and sprinted toward the door without any warning. He made it halfway out the door, but fell backwards into the room. Meiko, who was still standing in front of the door, had grabbed Kaito's scarf and yanked him back in. She shut the door once more, and locked it this time; just in case Kaito made a break for it again, him wasting time unlocking it in the panicked state he was in would give Meiko enough time to grab him again. Kaito squirmed around as Meiko wrestled him into submission, back into his spot.

She ended up having to sit on his back, Kaito flat against the floor, wailing his limbs around like a cockroach about to be crushed to death. "Let me go, let me go, let me go! Screw all of you! I don't want to die!" Kaito screamed at the top of his lungs.

Meiko did a small hop on her butt, the impact subduing Kaito a little. "What's you're problem? We're just going to tell a scary story. It's not like we're doing some sort of satanic summon ritual or anything."

"It might as well be! I set off a major red flag coming inside school at night while it's FUCKING raining outside and I need to get out of here while I still have the chance! There's a limited time frame of me getting the hell away from before my death is set in stone!" A lightning flashed and thunder followed right after his sentence ended. It rained even harder, the thousands of drops hit the windows harder and the sound of impact resonated louder and longer throughout the room. "Look! Now lightning and thunder! Let me go! If you all want to die, fine then, but let me live! Neru, help me!"

Neru typed on her phone and presented the screen to Kaito. "I kinda wanna stay, it really seems like fun! Sry, X)!"

"Neru, why!? You'll end up dying! Luka! You're the nicest person here, please help me! Tell Meiko to let me go!" Kaito begged.

Luka gave him a sympathetic look. "Maybe we should let him go. He really doesn't seem comfortable with this."

Meiko grabbed Luka and bent her over her lap. "I could sit on you too. It really won't be that hard, you are the weakest person here, I'll put you on top of him."

Luka whispered to Kaito. "Sorry, but I don't want to end up like you. Last year we took stuff from the astronomy club and stargazed on the roof, and nothing bad happened, so you should probably calm down. It'll be fine."

"Screw you for not helping! You want me dead, don't you!? I'm the only one that isn't insane, I should be allowed to leave!" Kaito yelled back. He was in a frenzic state of fear from his own phobia and paranoia that he lashed out at anything that prevented him from escaping into what he deemed safe, which was anywhere but there.

"Well fine then! Meiko can sit on you all night then! You big coward! I hope a ghost does shows up and spirits you away!" Luka yelled back, miffed at Kaito's harsh words. She picked herself off of Meiko's lap and sat back in her spot, crossing her arms and looking away from him.

Kaito began shouting out every profanity and curse he could think of, releasing his frustrations to everyone in the room, hoping they would release him. Miku, however, wanted to get on with the story she had prepared for tonight. So she raised her voice to speak over Kaito's swearing so it would come across more clear. "Okay guys I wanted to talk in a spooky voice, but I'm going to have to talk real loud like this till Kaito stops freaking out! I'm gonna start now!"

Kaito ceased his swearing when he heard Miku announce that. "Miku, don't! Don't do it! Once you start, it'll all be over! We'll all be screwed! You're gonna get all of us killed, spirited away, sent to hell, trapped in a torture chamber, get our souls devoured! Miku, don't set off another flag!" Kaito screamed his plea's at her, hoping she would listen to his request.

His heart sank when he saw Miku take in a deep breath. "About twenty years ago!" Miku yelled as loudly as she could.

'We're dead. Game over.' Kaito 's head hit the floor and lost consciousness.

Everyone looked to Kaito when they didn't hear him screaming anymore, they were all expecting him to match Miku's volume to prevent her from continuing. Instead, they saw a motionless blue boy under the brunette's rear end. Meiko bounced a bit on him to rile him up, but got no reaction. "Kaito? You okay? Guys, I think he passed out. Wow, what a wuss! Ha, this is hilarious already!"

"What a coward." Luka added bitterly. Neru tapped his head with her phone and got the same result as Meiko.

Miku just shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well! On the bright side, he can't get scared! Now, twenty years ago in this very clubroom, there was a guy named Big Al." Everyone decided to let forgot about Kaito and enjoy the night. They all leaned in as Miku went on with her tale.


"Big Al started a club like ours here. He wanted to be a famous like us, practicing his singing day in and day out. He loved music so much, but each day he got more and more obsessed with it. He started skipping all his classes to be in this clubroom, and sing for hours on end. Big Al would sing every second of the day. In the halls, in the shower, while he ate, even while he slept.

His friends within the club were concerned at first, but they all became jealous of him later on. He was getting more and more popular each day, to the point that a music company agent came down to the school and asked him to come with them sometime and record songs. When his 'friends' heard about it, there jealousy flared up. They had been trying longer than he had, and he got recognized before they did. So like what we're doing now, they invited him to sneak in the school with them at night, but to give him a farewell party before he left. They brought booze into the school, and drank the night away.

Big Al's 'friends' kept pressuring him to drink more and more with them. Unfortunately for Big Al, he didn't know that they had put small traces of poison in his sake. Each shot he took gave him a small trace of it, making him sicker and sicker. He figured that this was just how it felt to drink alcohol for the first time. So he kept on taking shot after shot, his stomach's pain became unbearable, and then he threw up. He wasn't surprised at first, throwing up was natural after so many drinks, but he soon became horrible at the sight at what he had thrown up.

It was blood. It was his blood. Then, he started cough uncontrollably. Each cough spewed blood at spattered on the ground, painting the floor a dark, dirty red. After losing so much blood, he collapsed in the pool of red liquid he coughed out. With only one eye opened, the blood repainted his vision red as it stained his eye, Big Al saw his three friends looking at him with contempt. 'You were so full of yourself, we'd thought we'd help empty you out. We got rid of a lot of your blood for you, and soon your soul will leave your body to. Have fun singing in hell. Don't worry, we'll go to the studio in your place.'

They said as they left him there to die. But that wasn't the end of it. Consumed with rage, Big Al didn't move on to the afterlife. His hate was so strong that the reaper who takes you're soul, came and made him an offer. 'You, whose emotions override all morals of a normal human being, work under me with the others I have gathered and collect all the excess souls in this world. Accept this E capsule from the underworld and become a reaper, who severs the last strand of life the dying hold on to.' The reaper told him as he held out the E capsule in front of him.

Big Al took it without a second thought. He only wanted to slaughter his friends, he didn't care about anything he have to do to get it. When he grabbed it, his body changed. His hair spiked back, lost two inches of height, his body became slimmer and tone, and the back of his coat grew down to his feet. For the final touch, a scythe, which looked like a gigantic musical note appeared in his hand. He stood up and looked to the reaper, who was fading away. 'Feel nothing but wrath as you take life.' Was it's parting words. This was the beginning for Big Al slaughter feast."

Miku's story was putting everyone on edge. Neru was clutching her phone tightly, holding it to her chest for comfort. Luka hugged herself, hoping she could get some solace like Neru did with her phone. The thundering outside grew more erratic and louder every second, and the rain hadn't let down in the slightest since it started. Luka honestly started wondering if she should have tried to leave like Kaito attempted. The weather, the dimly lit room; paranoia creped into her mind, believing every word Miku spoke to be true, terrifying her to no end. Meiko was the only one, besides Miku, who was excited to hear the story go on. As for Kaito, he was still a unconscious mat for Meiko.

"He didn't waste a second going after his friends. None of them made it past the school gate. He made sure to take his time with each kill, torturing them before raising his scythe for the final touch, a beheading. But Big Al wasn't satisfied with that. No, his wrath was far from over.

For the next few weeks, he continued to murder students in the school. They were completely innocent, but it didn't matter to him. The anger he held inside him hadn't faded away let. So he left the school and wandered around for more victim's. They mostly were adults and teenagers until one day, he came across a little blonde girl at the park. She was sewing back together a teddy bear that looked like it had been sewn together countless times before. She wore a large black and red hoodie with stitches all over it.

'Mister, can you help me? I need new things for my bear, the arms and legs keep tearing apart, even when I put them back together. I cut off the bad arm before and put on a new arm, but it fell off anyway. Was it not good enough?' The girl asked him with scissors in one hand and a needle and thread in the other.

Big Al knocked the teddy bear out of her hands and sliced off the bear limbs, and continued to hack away at it, till it's stuffing was littered all over the ground. 'Why'd you do that to my friend!? I worked really hard to fix him! You jerk!' The girl screamed at him.

Big Al cocked his head to the side, his eyes widened in anger. He raised his weapon up and brought it down, cutting off her right arm. The girl screamed in pain and fell on the ground. She cried and cried for help as Big Al cut both her legs off. She tried to crawl away with the one limb she had left on her, only to have her attacker hack it off. She trembled underneath the menacing figure towering over her. 'I hate that happy face you had. I should cut it off next.' He told her as he plunge the tip of his scythe into her heart. He waited till she was at the very brink of dying before he would slice her head off, but before he got the chance, the reaper who saved him appeared. It walked over to the dying girl and started speaking to her.

Big Al couldn't hear a thing though, as if only the person he talked to could. Then, her chopped off body parts slowly inched back to her body, reattaching themselves. The reaper looked at Big Al and told him. 'You have done well. One thousand souls have been returned in such a short time, you may move on to the afterlife anytime you wish, or you can continue to collect more souls for me, your choice. Worry not, I now have someone to take you're place if you do. Her mind has warped with the cruelty and great injustice you've done to her; She'll be the greatest collector of souls yet, and I won't have to trap her mind in that state like I did you. You are released from your rage. Goodbye.' And with that, it vanished again.

'What the- no... I... nooooo! Ahhh! I murdered those people! I can't- I-I- the corpses won't get out of my head! Stop screaming! I'm sorry, please stop screaming! I was crazy, I didn't want to do it! Shut up! Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!' Big Al's mind was controlled to do the reaper's work for him, and all of the horrible things he replayed in his mind. He would have kept freaking out, but his attention was drawn to the little girl he had just killed, who was standing in front of him, holding the teddy bear he destroyed. 'I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I know you can never forgive me, just know that I regret what I did! I'm a horrible person that should have never been born!'

The girl didn't care at all though. 'I need to find parts.' She said as she went toward a couple that just started passing by. 'Wait! Please let me make things right! I'll do anythi-" He stopped talking when he saw the child attacking the couple. She was cutting off their limbs and switching them around, stitching random body parts onto the other.

'None of these parts were any good for my friend. But you guys have better parts now, you have his and you have hers. It's like you're one. Maybe I should sew two people together next time hehehe!' The little girl ran off, leaving two dead corpses with mixed up limbs behind her.

Big Al chased after her. 'I caused this, I made her a monster. I need to make this right. I'll find you, I swear!' Big Al screamed. And that's was the end of Big Al killing spree. But... also the start of a worse one. Big Al followed the trail of corpses she left, always too late to catch up to her. And that's where the story ends. They say though, that if you cut off the limbs of a teddy bear, she'll come to take them, and some of yours. Then Big Al will appear afterwards to put you out of your misery."


Miku exhaled, finishing her story. Then she pulled out a teddy bear with a pair of scissors from behind her. The pinkette's eyes exploded when her best friend brought those items. "M-Miku! W-what do you think you're doing!? Where did you get that?!"

Miku shook her head, chuckling at Luka's obvious anxiety. "I bought it at the store earlier and I grabbed it when you were bent over Meiko."

"Miku, y-y-you shouldn't be doing creepy stuff like that. Just put it down, ok? Meiko, you should tell a story now! Go on!"

Meiko grinned at her. "Nope! I want to see her cut up the bear! Let's see if she'll show up! What's wrong, Luka? Are you scaaaared?"

"No! It's just freaky to cut up stuff animals for no reason!" Luka shot back.

Meiko grabbed the scissors from Miku and placed them on Luka's hand. "Then you can do the honors. You're not scaaared, right? Unless... you really believe the story. Scared of little girls with ted-"

"I'm not scared! Hold the stupid bear on the floor, I'll d-do it!" Miku did as she asked and held down the bear in front of her. Luka pulled a leg up slowly and opened up her scissors. Her grip on them was loose and shaky as the leg stayed in-between the blade. Luka shut her eyes and cut it in one shot. Slowly, she opened one eye, and found that nothing had happen. She let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding in, in the first place. "No big deal, just a stupid story."

Meiko stood up and stretched out, walking around to loosen her stiff body. "Yeah, yeah. We believe you. Gimme a second to move, I really need to get my blood flowing again."

Miku started to tease her friend for the way she was acting. "Luka, you totally thought she was gonna show up. Your hand was spazing out, you big chicken! You too, Neru! I thought you both were gonna pee yourselves any second!"

Luka's face reddened at Miku's remarks. "I was not! My hand was just-" Before she could explain herself, dozens of bloody teddy bears fell from above, creating loud smacking sounds as they hit the ground. Luka and Neru screamed from the top of their lungs, scrambling backwards and up against the windows. Their hearts were practically jumping out of their chests, ready to burst out with each thump it made. Then a 'click' sound was heard, followed by a flash, then laughter. Miku had taken a picture her phone and was keeling over, clutching her sides, trying to subdue the pain at her sides. Meiko was in the same state as Miku, banging on a wall in the corner of the room, but instead of her sides, she held on to a rope that lead up to a hole in the ceiling, and a tile was hanging open where all the bears had dropped. Luka was fuming. Her friends planned to do this from the very beginning.

"You bastards!" Luka, and surprisingly, Neru, yelled as well. Miku managed to get on her knees, but still had to clutch her ribcage from all the laughter she was emitting.

"Y-our faces! Haha, your faces! I got it on camera! I wish Kaito would stayed awake so I could have got his face too! Best prank ever!"

Meiko made her way over to Neru and repeatedly smacked her back. "I like you! You're real easy to scare! From now on, you're on of us!"

As much as Neru was angered by Miku and Meiko's prank, it quickly subsided upon hearing that she was accepted among then. "T-thank you!"

Miku grabbed the bear that Luka had cut and swished it around the air. "Oh lookie here! This bear is missing the leg! I wonder where the little girl is? Oh, did you hear that? She's coming! She com-" Miku was cut off by the sound of hands smacking on the door's window, leaving red imprints all over. A figure that came crashing down from the open ceiling tile. Upon landing, the gust created from the drop blew out the candle, darkening the room. Miku's pigtails shot up as she lunged toward Luka, hiding her face in her chest. "Gaaaah! The heck was that?! Luka hide me!"

Everyone's eyes looked at what fell down. Lightning flashed, showing for only a second, a girl in a oversized red and black hoodie with a stitching patches on it. Her hood covered the upper portion of her face, leaving only a sinister smile to be seen. In one hand she held scissors coated in crimson liquid. In the another, a rundown, over-repaired stuffed bear. When she spoke, it sounded like there were multiple copies of herself all around the room, all of them speaking in sync. "Parts... there's so many parts for my friend... but... I need... your. Parts. Too..."

"W-why?" Everyone glared at Miku for asking such a stupid question in this kind of situation.

"... I! Don't! Know!" The girl screamed at them, laughing manically. She took one step forward, causing everyone to run out of the room. The girl titled her head and followed them slowly. She spoke again, her voice echoed through every hall, room, corner and crevice in the school. "I sealed all the doors to the outside. There's only one to open them. You need to borrow my friend. Are we playing hide-and-seek?"


A few minutes passed. Kaito finally shot up from the floor and sprinted out the door. 'Thank god! Pretending to be unconscious the entire time made everyone and the ghost forget about me! I got to get out of here before I lose my soul or lose my limbs! Gotta run!' Kaito kept zooming through the hall, literally leaping down the staircase, so he wouldn't waste a second going down a single step. He finally made to where they all entered. He grabbed the handle of the door and yanked it over and over, but it didn't budge one bit. 'What the hell!? Are the doors sealed!? What bull crap! There is no way I'm going anywhere near her for the 'key' out of here! Why won't the door ope- ... wait.'

Kaito grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. With his other free hand, he covered face in shame. "I'm so glad no one saw that." He extended his leg forward, ready to leave, but it stayed suspended in the air, unable to complete one step. "Eh? Eh? What's happening here? There's a evil spirit back there, I should be long gone by now. Oh right! Almost forgot my umbrella!" Kaito walked over to the shoe lockers and grabbed his umbrella. He noticed that the everyelse's umbrellas were still here. 'They all probably ran out and forgot their stuff. Yep, that's it! Well, time to go home!'

Back at the door, Kaito got stuck in the same spot again. "Move. Just move. Safety is right there! Come on, Kaiko and IA are waiting for you back home. Body, get in gear! Tell me why you won't move, we're going to die if we keep wasting time!" Kaito fought with himself for a while before he finally came to the conclusion on why he couldn't leave. 'I hate my soul. It can't go deciding things like this without me. Not like I was going to actually leave anyway, I have to go back for Neru, but I didn't know that I thought Luka, Miku, and Meiko were... my friends. Errrgh! Saving everyone; That's impossible in horror movies.' He dropped his umbrella and headed back in the school toward what he knew was basic suicide.

His mind had sense, it knew to run in this type of circumstance, but his soul, his very personality, denied him that. He could never forget about someone he cared about. No matter how much his logical mind screamed at him, if someone he cared about could be in danger, if something could cause them pain, a switch would flip off inside him. He valued their lives far more than his own, they're what made his life so much fun.

He finally made it to the hallway where the clubroom was located. Kaito knew that in horror movies, there is always that one person that comes back when someone, him, is forgotten about, left behind, or possibly dead but unsure about it. He expected to see Neru there looking for him, what he didn't see coming was both Neru and Luka sitting by the door. Neru was rapidly mashing buttons on her phone while Luka was rocking back and forth, hugging herself. "We left him. We left him and he's gone. I'm a horrible person, the last thing I told him was that I wanted him to disappear. I didn't think it actually come true." Luka was on the verge of tears.

Kaito examined them first to make that they weren't a trap. He had played pc games where this scene unfolds, only for the person to be a monster and kill them while the player comforts them. Then he remembered that it was always only one person, not two. Which meant they weren't death traps. Kaito, recalling putting his phone on silence in case his sister kept calling him to come home, checked his to see he had twelve missed calls from his sister, and two hundred and thirty-four missed texts from Neru. 'Yep, real deal.' Since it was safe Kaito jogged over and knelt down near them. "Are you two okay?"

They both looked up in disbelief, before lunging at him, hugging him tightly. "Kaito! Thank god you're okay! I thought I lost my best friend! We got separated from Miku and Meiko, I don't know where they are!"

"Kaito! I didn't mean it, don't ever vanish like that again! I'd never want that to happen to you, I was just mad!"

As sweet as the moment was, Kaito couldn't help but think how funny it would be to tell them that he was a spirit now, and he wanted to help them escape before the girl devours his soul. He waived off his mischievous thoughts and got back to his slightly more serious self. "I'm happy that you came back for me and all, but we should move now. Staying in one spot too long always makes the thing that's trying to kill you, find you really fast. Let's find Miku and Meiko as fast as we can and get out of here."

Both of them pulled themselves off Kaito and nodded. Neru got up fine, but Luka struggled, having Neru help lift her up halfway. "Luka, is there something wrong with you?" 'Please don't tell me...'

"Luka tripped before and hit her shin really hard. She can't walk to well." Neru told him.

'Aw man, that's really bad if it's Luka.' After their trip together, Kaito found out that Luka was very frail. She felt pain much more then the average person, and hurt herself much more from simple accidents like tripping. Kaito turned his back to her and positioned himself for her to climb on his back. "Get on."

"No, it's okay. I'll be fine." Luka told him unconvincingly.

"I know you'll be fine, so get on my back already so I don't have to worry."

"Kaito, I can han-"

"Luka, get on. Not trying to scare you, but the person who injures themselves and can't run usually ends up dying really fast. If I carry you the entire time, I don't have to worry about something happening to you. Now get on, I want you on my back, where it's safe."

Luka hesitated for a bit before complying. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and motion her legs so he could grab them and complete the piggyback. "Thanks." She mumbled onto his shoulder. Not responding to her gratitude, Kaito motioned for Neru to follow him. "Kaito?"

"It's really not a problem, Luka. Don't worry about it."

Luka shook her head. "No, that's not it. We abandoned you. You could have died because we left you, aren't you mad at us? Don't you hate us?" Kaito paused for a bit before bursting out in a fit of giggles, which slowly transformed into full out laughter.

Luka's heart started sinking. His reaction made her feel like he was ridiculing her cowardice, which she thought he had every right to. Kaito calmed down his laughter enough so he could speak clearly, but traces of laughter could still be heard while he spoke. "You know, technically I ditched you guys first."

"What?" Luka and Neru said.

"Remember when Miku started telling the story and you thought I passed out? Faked it. I thought if something did show up, it'd go after you guys since most things like that leave the unconscious person alone, thinking they'll stay there or something like happens all the time in games accept the main character isn't faking it; Once the coast was cleared, I made a mad dash for the exit." Luka and Neru couldn't believe what they we're hearing. He already had an escape route for himself and it involved them as decoys. "But even though I tried only to save myself, I couldn't do it. I wanted you all to leave with me. So I went back to look for you, like you did for me. Point is, we were all scared, and our fear was clouding up our normal thoughts. No one thinks all that clearly when they're scared unless; One, they've been through it before. Two, they don't really know how bad it can get, so they downsize how bad it is, and don't take it all that seriously. Or three, a mental breakdown. So it's not all that bad that you left. What matters is you came back, so I think we're even on the ditching and saving. Do you guys hate me?"

Both girls shook her heads, shocked, but at the same time, put their worries to ease. "Then I don't hate you. Simple as that. Besides, I don't think I have it in me to hate someone; I can get mad, but not hate." 'I definitely had a good reason to that one time.'

They started walking through the hallways, aimlessly looking around for their friends. Kaito decided to tell them a few rules they'll need to follow to not end up dead like all the characters in games and movies, and avoid doing all the stupid mistakes they did. "First off, no yelling. That always helps the killer, or in this case the ghost girl, find you. Second, never go off on you're own, no matter what you see, no matter what happens. That's how everyone gets picked off, even though we kinda already did that, so stay together. Third, if we hear crying, ignore it. That's an instant trap, it's just a fake sound trying to lure you in. Forth, don't hide, running until you lose them is always the best option unless the only way to run is past the ghost. Then, you can hid. Never inside somewhere like a locker though, you need to be able to run away easily if they find you. Those are the basics."

Neru nodded at Kaito. They began searching each and every classroom. With each empty room they searched, they're hope of reuniting with their friends and leaving here alive. Opening another door, they noticed something hiding inside the teacher's podium. Kaito motioned Neru to stick closely behind him as he made his way toward the podium.

Kaito and Luka's face turned completely monotonous at the slight of Miku's butt sticking out toward them while she buried her head inside the podium. 'Well, didn't think I'd see such a clear view of Miku's ass in my life. It's just sticking out to me too. If look any longer, I'll look like a huge perver- *Gasp* Wait!'

Luka opened her mouth to speak, but Kaito let go of her legs to cover it right away, muffling her voice. Luka wondered why he didn't let her speak, but she assumed he wanted to make sure that is was indeed Miku and not an illusion of some sort. Kaito moved his scarf up to cover up most of his face, stopping right below the eyes. Clasping both hands together, he form a hand sign and took a deep breath. 'I... will probably never get the chance to do this again. So I must take advantage of it, even if it the noise attracts the ghost and kills me! This is so gonna be worth it!' Kaito turned his head to Luka.

Luka only saw his eyes, but she found a glint of mischief in his eyes. 'What on earth is he doing? Why'd he cover up his face like that, there's no point. Weird, he kind of looks like a ninja like... that... with the hands...!' "Kaito, don't!"

"Luka?"

"ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!"

"Gu. Gaaah!" Miku screamed, jolted up and hit her head. "My butt! Ahhhh! Why, Kaito? Whhhyyy!"

"Because I've always wanted to do that ever since I saw that episode! My dream has finally come true! All I need is some ice cream and I can die happy!" Kaito laughed evilly, satisfied with his actions.

Miku finished recovering from his 'ninja technique' and started slamming her fists on his chest. "You jerk! We're being hunted by a psyhco dead girl and you stab me in the butt?!"

"Yeah! Funny, right?"

"You're messed up! I thought Kaiko and IA said you were a total chicken when it came to scary stuff! Be scared like us!"

Though Kaito phobia of supernatural things scared him half to death, the chance to scare someone else or copy something he'd seen on t.v. always overrode it. "Not when I can do the ultimate ninja jutsu! That is worth dying for! They thought it was hilarious too, right guys?"

Kaito looked at Luka, only to see a look of disdain directed straight at him. "I've lost all respect for you." Kaito winced at her harsh words and turned to Neru for support. Neru was shaking her head in shame, not even bothering to respond to Kaito.

"Neru! Come on, you're suppose to side with me! Best buds, remember?" He didn't get so much of a glance from her. "I'll get you next! I'm still in ninja mode!"

Miku went around Kaito to try to get even, but Luka being carried on his back got in the way. "Luka get off and let me get him!"

"I can't. I hurt my leg, and I can't walk too well. It's not a good idea for me to get off if we need to run in a hurry."

"Oh well... I'll get both of you then!" "What the- no! Kaito! Turn, turn, turn!"

"OK! OK! Please stop pulling my hair! It hurts, WHY ARE YOU PULLING HARDER?! I'M MOVING, SEE!" Kaito ran in circles as Luka pulled his hair, Miku chased them with her the hand sign ready, and Neru laughed at the scene in front of her. 'Why do my plans always back fire?!' Kaito did what he had done to Miku mostly for his own amusement, but partly to lighten everyone up from their anxiety. He wanted everyone to resume their usual playful selves. Luka and Neru had such a gloomy atmosphere around them the entire time they had been searching for the others. When he saw Miku's face, the tear stains on her cheeks was enough evidence that she had been crying. He couldn't blame her, anyone would be considering what was happening.

They were separated from their friends, inside a school at night while it was thunder storming; to top it off what started off as an innocent prank could end in the death of them all as a mental ghost child hunted them like game. Suffice to say, it was amazing they weren't mentally breaking down. A distraction like this was better than nothing. 'If we do all end up dying, at least we had a little fun to remember in our final moments.' Kaito spun around and got poked in the stomach by Miku. "Uff! Can you stop that, we still need to find Meiko, you know?"

"Right! Right! We gotta find her quick, she's the only one left!"

"Yeah... I couldn't find her either... she's the only good hider he-"

"RUN!" Kaito, carrying Luka; Miku, and Neru sprinted out the door and raced down the hall. All around them, the sounds of multiple scissors sniping all around them. Turning the corner, Miku hadn't slow down enough, causing her to fall and tumble into the wall. "Miku!" Kaito turned back, slid across the floor on his knees next to Miku. He found that she had lost conciseness when her head hit the wall. "Crap! She's out cold!"

"What do we do?!" Luka asked.

"You'll have to hold on to me by yourself, I'll use my arms to carry her, ok?" Luka nodded, adjusting her arms around his neck to lessen the effort she'll need to put in to hold on.

"Guys hurry up, she's gaining on us!" Neru shouted. Kaito picked up Miku and caught up to Neru. They made another turn, going down the the staircase. Unfortunately, Neru missed a step going down, making her lose her footing, propelling herself down the stairs.

"Neru!" Kaito dived down without thinking. 'Shit, how am I going to catch her?! I got Luka on my back too... I got it!' Kaito pulled Luka's arms off of him and twisted his body around, acting as a cushion, having his back hit the wall when he landed, holding on to Miku and Luka. Neru soon followed, landing on top of the three of them. Kaito checked his three friends for any kind of injury. Neru had passed out.

Luka was the only other person that was still awake. "Kaito, are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've gotten hurt worse then this. Did the fall hurt you?"

"Not much, you cushioned the fall pretty well." The sniping sound grew louder and louder as foot steps could be heard at the top of the stairs. Luka looked up in that direction, but could only see a pair of scissors flung at her. It pierced the wall behind her, just a few inches to the left of her head. The terror of having a weapon hurled at you and almost hit you, made Luka faint.

"Luka! Luka!" The hooded girl giggled as she slowly descended down the stairs, making each step she took down echo with a *Clack* sound. 'She's getting closer, gotta move fast!'

In a struggle, Kaito managed to pull all three into his arms, and threw himself down the second set of stairs, using himself as a landing pad again. 'Ack! Ok, this one I felt! Focus, damn it! Ok, I can carry one in each arm, but what about the third? Errrgh! Think faster! Um, ah, ah, I'll just throw one over my shoulders and lean forward when I'm running. Yeah, that'll work! I just need to be careful so she doesn't fall off.' Kaito threw Luka over his shoulders, looped one arm around Neru's waist and the other around Miku's.

"Stop running from me."

He ran as steadily as he could, being careful not to have Luka slide off and fall. 'Seriously, do any of these girls eat? I'm surprised they don't float!' After a few turns, the door out of this hellish nightmare came into view. He closed the distance between them and the door in a matter of seconds. He kicked the door open so hard that it flew of the hinges. The heavy storm outside drowned out the constant giggling of the ghost girl that had been following them the entire time. Remembering his umbrella he left on the floor, he kicked it up, caught it with his mouth and safely made it out of the school.


Back at the clubroom, the ghost girl entered the room. Meiko was sitting in a chair next to the club's sound equipment. She held a microphone in one hand, and a remote in the other. "Hey, Rin! Great job out there. Did you remember to take pictures?"

Rin took off her hood, flashing the huge grin while holding up the stuffed animal. "You bet! Got in all in the teddy cam! Best. Prank. Ever!" Meiko and Rin laughed together at how well their plan had gone.

Meiko had orchestrated the entire thing with Rin. From helping Rin hid up into the ceiling, to the sound effects, the echoing voice, everything. Her and Rin had set up mini speakers all over the school, locked certain doors to prevent escape from anywhere else over than the front door, and programed the remote with prerecorded sentences and sounds. "You're coming along quite nicely, protégée! Soon, you'll be the next queen of pranks!"

"Thank you, sensei! Check out this picture! Kaito really got Miku good!" Rin took off the bears head and pulled out the camera stuffed inside it.

"Bwahahaha! I'll have to watch out for him, dude has no boundaries sometimes! Ahhh, alright, lets see if we can catch up with them." Meiko patted her yellow haired apprentice on the back and walked out the room. "You know what? As a reward, how bout I give you your first taste of sake? How's that sound?" She said, pulling out a mini bottle of sake from her pocket.

"Really? You'd really let me try something so grown up? You're the coolest mentor ever!"

"Yeah! I had my first taste at thirteen, it's like a rite of passage and you're way overdo!"

"Yay! Oh, but I gotta know, how'd you do that bloody hand trick on the door?" Rin asked.

Meiko laughed some more while slapping Rin harder on her back. "Nice try Rin! You're too much of a rookie to prank a hardened veteran like me! So, tell me how you did it."

Rin gave her a sincere look, clearing any further doubt Meiko would give her. "I'm serious, I didn't have anything to do with it! I thought we were a team! Come on, don't pull that stuff on me, you're suppose to teach me!"

"I'm serious too, Rin. I thought you just went down real quick and climbed back up on the other side." Both of them came to a halt when they felt like they stepped in something sticky. They both looked down to find more red handprints, trailing further down the hall, which turned into long messy streaks of red liquid, like something was being dragged. "Rin?"

"Wasn't me, wasn't me! Meiko, stop trying to scare me!"

"I'm not!"

"HELP ME!" Two hands shot out from the corner of the hall way, stained in blood. It dung it's fingernails on the floor, slowly returning back around the corner. "No! Please don't cut anymore o- GAAAH! AHAHAHA! I just want to go home!" Rin and Meiko continued to listen to the cries of agony and pleas of mercy until it came to an abrupt stop. Then two arms and a pair of legs flew and hit the wall hard.

At the sound of all the blood covered limbs smacking the wall, Rin and Meiko ran the other way. "She's real! Ahhhhhh!" They both screamed.

"... They're gone now." Said a voice that rounded the corner, belonging to none other than Gakupo.

Len followed soon after, with wet red hands. "Sweet! We actually got them! Thanks for helping, we finally did something fun together!"

Gakupo fiddled with wooden sword. He knew as far as mentor/mentee relationships went, his and Len's wasn't the most compatible. They were fine with each other, but they had almost nothing in common. Gakupo didn't care for Len's idea to frighten his sister when he overheard her on the phone talking to Meiko. He was more concerned with the fact that they were trespassing on school property after hours. So, instead of rounding them all up and scolding them, he found it more effective to make them feel fear rather then them brushing off his lecture, plus it compromised with Len's desires.

Unfortunately, he now had to clean up the mess they made in the process. Putting the anatomical model back together wouldn't be much of a problem, but cleaning the red paint off of it, the floors, door windows, and their hands would be hassle. "Now it's time to clean this up. Go grab some supplies from the janitors closet, I'll start the putting the model back together."

Len frowned at that. "And the funs over. Hope a ghost doesn't get me on the way there."

"Don't tell me you actually believe in ghosts. Ghost are just stupid, made u-"

A scythe came crashing down, cracking the floor around it. "Who are you calling stupid." Gakupo and Len stared wide eyed at the person who had struck the weapon into the ground. One glance at him and they knew immediately who it was. He was a dead ringer for the description of Big Al after he had died, and the scythe was the biggest give away. Not even bothering to question if it was real or not, Gakupo and Len bolted down the hall, both as pale as snow. "Bout time everyone left. Go grab what you need and let's go. Some old dude across town gonna kick the bucket any second."

A small figure wearing a red and black hoodie skipped out from behind him an went into the classroom. "Not my fault. They made my friends leg fall off, now I got to get the new one." She came out with the cut off leg and sewed in on the bear she had. "All done Big Al!"

"Good, let's hurry. Remember to look away and cover you're ears." He told her as he hoisted her on his shoulder. "Gotcha! I'm gonna be a good girl! No more bad stuff!"


Luka slowly opened her eyes, her vision slowly cleared up, showing Kaito holding an umbrella over her. He was soaked head to toe, and he was missing his jacket, leaving him in a drenched blue tank top. She looked to the left and right of her. Miku and Neru were both still asleep, and all three of them were covered by his coat to keep them warm from the small winds that were blowing. She found that she was laying against the tree across the school. "Finally, you woke up. I was worried about you."

Luka sat up straight. "Kaito? What happened?"

"We made it out alive. When I got us outside, I looked back at the school. The ghost just stood at the door for a while before heading back inside. I guess it knows someone's coming back."

"What? No way, that's crazy. We all just barely surv- Meiko! We forgot Meiko!"

"Yep. So, I don't have much a choice. I'm glad you're awake. When everyone wakes up, walk them back home. I'll make sure Meiko comes home." Kaito placed the umbrella in her hand.

"Wait, let me come! Going alone isn't safe!"

"And a bad leg is even worse." Kaito poked her bad leg on the shin area, making Luka wince.

"Fine, I get the picture. Promise you'll come back safe, okay?"

Kaito didn't answer her. "Hey, you said you really like Kaiko, right?"

"Kaito, don't ignore me."

"Do you like IA too?"

"Yes I do, but promise me-"

"So if I was gone, would you look after them for me?" Luka didn't want to answer him. She could tell that he felt like he wouldn't be lucky enough to escape again. Odds were, Kaito would end up sacrificing himself to help Meiko escape.

Reluctantly, she nodded. "That's great. I'm going now. I'll get Meiko back to everyone."

"Kaito! You're sister told us how scared you are of supernatural things, so why? Why aren't you acting like you scared? Why?"

Kaito ran a hand through his wet hair and sighed. "I was. Then I remembered about you guys. It didn't matter that I was scared, cause, you know... I had to make sure you're all safe. I can't not go knowing... you know..." Kaito didn't want to admit to Luka that he saw them all as close friends of his, but the sad yet curious look on her face made him blush and force out his answer. "...All of you are really good friends. So I don't know how I can be scared my friends are in trouble, I just gotta make sure you're all alright." Kaito stood up and turned away from her.

Luka felt a pit form in her stomach. It grew more and more as her sadness increased. She felt like she was saying goodbye. "Kaito... we all think you're a good friend of ours too. So please come back." Luka wished she wasn't holding the umbrella anymore, the rain could hide the tears that were dropping from her eyes, so she hung her head low instead.

"Thanks. It make's me pretty happy knowing tha- What the hell." Luka looked up, wondering why Kaito would say that out if the blue, and with that tone of voice. She soon found her answer as she saw Meiko and Rin, who was wearing exactly what the ghost was wearing, without the hood on this time; Dash to and past them, screaming at the top of their lungs. Not too long after, she found it even stranger that Gakupo, and Len went by next, with his hands colored red.

"... I'll fucking kill them." They both said in unison.


"I don't know, I think it was pretty good if you ask me. Are you two gonna look pissed all night?" Miku asked.

"Yes." Luka and Kaito droned out. They absolutely despised Meiko, Rin, Len, and Gakupo. They weren't too sure on the details, but they knew that those four had screwed with them all night, and they would give them hell for it later. Well, Rin and Len were safe from their rage. When they dropped Neru off at her house, the twins screams could be heard from a block away. Safe to say, Neru was handling it. Kaito was still caring Luka on his back, not wanting her to struggle walking home, and she held her umbrella over them.

Finally arriving at Miku's house, Luka got off of Kaito and leaned to Miku for support. "So you're sleeping over at Miku's tonight?"

"Yeah, I was planning to from the start."

"That's good, Miku can help heal your leg. I'll see you guys later then." Kaito waved, opened his umbrella, and walked off.

Miku and Luka went inside, not even bothering to tell Miku's parents they had returned, headed straight to her room, and laid down on the bed. "I'm so tired! Luka! Tonight was crazy, I really thought I was gonna die! Rin is a really good actor. It's kinda silly that we fell for it, but today was really fun."

"Maybe for you; You didn't get scissors hurled at your face."

"What!? When'd that happen?"

"After you smacked into the wall."

Miku buried her face in her pillow. "Can we forget about that part? You know, I'm happy Kaito was there. I was real scared, all alone in a dark classroom. I couldn't stop thinking about bad things happening to everyone. I was too scared to move from that spot. Every time I thought about getting up, I chickened out and kept hoping the ghost wouldn't find me. When he Kakashi'd me, my heart almost exploded, but I felt really relieved after that. He was being so fricken crazy doing something like that and I think that's just what I needed back there. Do I sound weird?" Miku asked.

Luka shook her head. "No, not at all. You taking things seriously is not you at all. It's better when you're playing around all the time, it's fits you. Actually, I'm glad he was there too."

Miku lifted her head from her pillow. "Really? Heh, I remember before when you didn't like standing near him too long."

"Well... things change. God, I felt so guilty when we left him back there. I can't believe we just forgot about him like that. Thankfully, none it was real or else I'd feel like complete scum. Even though he acted like a total wuss at the beginning, Kaito ended up being the one who took care of us and got us out safe. He even kept us warm and dry from the rain. For once, even if it was only for a moment, he was..."

Miku rolled over, gazing at her ceiling with starry eyes. "Mature."

"Yeah... who knew he could."


Kaito walked back in his house, tossing his umbrella to the side. He'd expected his sister to sack him on entry, whining about leaving her at night. Instead, it was dead silent. For a second, he actually thought Kaiko was growing up, not waiting all night to go to bed until he comes home. Then he remembered that if she wasn't here, odds were she was already sleeping in his bed. Before he could move, Kaito saw a head of pink hair peering from the hallway. "Kaito? Kaito! You're back! Kaiko, he's back!"

"Oni-chan!" IA and Kaiko ran toward Kaito, wrapping themselves around his waist.

"Okay, I know why Kaiko's hugging me, but what's up with you? What happened while I was gone?" Both girls stared at their feet.

After a short moment of silence, IA finally mumbled out at response. "We... did something we shouldn't have. We're sorry."

"And you did what exactly...?"

"We... we... went under you're bed and went through your special stuff and... we ended up taking that movie."

Kaito imaged himself being struck by lightning as punishment for keeping that god forsaken disc within human reach. "Why. Why would you two take that!? I told you never to watch that! You saw the news reports with me, what would've happened if you two got a heart attack!? You're lucky that was the watered down version or you would have died! And what were you two doing going through my stuff!?"

Kaiko tightened her grip around her brother. "Sorry, oni-chan! IA said that if I watched something that scary that it'd scare all scarediness in me away! It didn't work though!"

Kaito looked to IA and gave her a disappointing stare. "You just wanted to watch the movie and Kaiko freak out, didn't you? You're terrible, this is what you get you horror flick addict. I can't believe thought you could handle it."

Out of all the horror movies out there, 'Living in a manmade hell' was the only one in the history of movies to be banned from ever being played again only after a week of it's release. Too many people who watched it died from heart attacks. The majority that made it through that twelve hour mind breaker ended up having nightmares for the rest of their lives, or they ended up committing suicide. Kaito managed to acquire a pirated copy with most of the scenes edited out to not scar someone for life, but even hardcore horror movie fans would have a hard time finishing a movie like this, even with it being softened up.

"I'm sorry. C-can I stay here for tonight? P-p-please?" IA begged.

Kaito rubbed the top of IA's head lovingly, soothing her anxious mind. "Sure. I'm bet that movie wasn't easy to sit through. How far did you get?"

"About an hour." The small pinkette answered. Kaito winced at that. 'Maybe I should pass on watching it. Bad impulse buy, but I just had to get it. Maybe I should force Meiko to watch it, then well be even.'

"Oni-chan, why are you so wet?" Kaiko asked, strangely enough still clinging on to him.

"It's kind of a long story. I'll tell you tomorrow, k?"


After taking a shower to wash off all the dirty rain water, Kaito was in bed with his 'two' younger siblings. Kaiko, being his actaul blood sister and more openly affectionate one, placed most of her body on top of his chest, snuggling him.

IA, being more reserved then Kaiko, opted to lay by his side, her back facing him. "Kaito?"

"Go to sleep. I promise you're safe with me. Look, Kaiko's already passed out." Kaito droned out, rubbing the top of IA's head.

In response, she inched closer to him till her back made contact with his body. "I-I just want to say thanks for letting me sleep with you too, even though it's kinda weird."

"I don't see what's so weird about a girl sleeping with her big bro."

IA was glad he couldn't see her blush. "But only Kaiko has a one. Kaito?" IA twisted her head around, finding Kaito slumbering peacefully. Knowing that she couldn't continue talking to him, IA copied him and fell asleep.

'She didn't get the hint? Is my denseness infecting her? Eh, whatever.'


An hour later... "Achoo!" Went the blue haired boy. 'Random.' "Achoo!" 'Who the heck would be talking about me at this time? Kinda warm in here, wonder if they feel a little hot too?' Another sneeze forced itself out of Kaito. 'It must be mom! Yep, that's it! Must be daytime where she's working, telling everyone about her kids she loves so much! Can't be anything else! Why is it so hot in here!?' One more sneeze slipped out of Kaito, sending his mind into a frenzy of denial. 'Nonononononono! This is not happening now! I took a shower and everything! I should be safe!'

Then, an onslaught of coughs came on, stirring IA and Kaiko from their slumber. "Oni-chaaan... noisy... why are you making noise?"

"*Yawn* Kaito? What are you doing?"

Kaito ceased his coughing, holding back the rest from coming out. "Nothing! That was just- Mmm! Mmm!" Kaito leaped out of his bed covering his mouth, almost causing his sisters to fall of the bed. He reached for the knob of his door, but instead he collapsed on the floor, spewing out all the contents of his stomach.

"Oni-chan!"

"Kaito!"

Kaiko and IA rushed to his side. "Oni-chan, why didn't you tell us you got sick!?" Kaiko shook her brother vigorously, hoping to get some response back. All she received was heavy breathing and raspy coughs.

"I knew that shower wasn't enough you lair! Kaiko, get Kaito back in bed, I'll go get medicine and make cold wet towels!" Kaiko nodded at IA, dragging her brother back to his bed while she retrieved medicine.

Once she pulled Kaito onto his bed, she felt his fore head. It felt like heat radiating off a light bulb. "No... I don't like it when your sick... I don't want you to get sick... I don't want you to leave me... like daddy... Oni-chan..." Kaiko buried her face in his chest, softly whimpering her sorrows.


Probably not the best horror writer, but I'll improve on that another time. As for the next chapter's name it's: Temptation. I'll let you all think why I'd name it that.

Thanks to:

-MegurineKaiko

For reviewing! Xen out!