Author's Note: It's been a long time! I've gotten side tracked several times with other projects, trying to work on my writing style which honestly didn't change that much- I've only streamline it... Anyway with Halloween a mere three months away I'm planning to finish the backlogs before Halloween- I estimate that's another 5 more chapters here, and 3 more chapters in [Original Sin]... So let's not waste time.

The background story has been revealed already, the history and culture of the Minakami village had been covered by the first half of this story, however that only laid the foundation of the story- It's time to dive into the reason why the ritual had failed, and the fate of the twin girls Yae and Sae. Also, rather than to leave around messages like the game, I've changed to a more 'integrated' form of writing. I've done some editing to the previous chapters as well.

Also, don't worry if you need a refresher, that's what Touma's for.


~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

{I want to see Itsuki...}

{I want to see him, and say I'm sorry...}

{It's all our fault...}

{If we hadn't run away...}

{Itsuki and the others...}

{It didn't have to be this way...}

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~


Boring.

Absolutely boring.

Kamijou Touma lamented as he bumped the back of his head against the book-shelf inside the cell where the folklorist was once imprisoned, but now it's his turn to get locked up. This wasn't his first time facing a four wall conference; more than once had he gotten into trouble with Anti-Skill and had to be placed in a holding cell or an interview room for the night- it wasn't anything really serious, but to be stuck not doing anything for twelve hours was just pure torture.

Of course, even though Academy City had its own fair share of dangers, Kamijou would rather face them than being trapped in a dirty, dusty cell once occupied by a long dead folklorist, and a haunted village full of psychotic killer ghosts that played by their own rules.

Yes, that's right- Ghosts.

This horror-slasher movie script started roughly four hours ago. Kamijou Touma and his companion Index chance upon a seemingly abandon rural village in the middle of "Nowhereland-Japan", but they soon found themselves trapped and separated by the haunted spirits of the place.

In some cosmic coincidence, a powerful magic had overwhelmed the village a long time ago. Index calls it a [Death Echo]; a magic array that imprinted the life force and memories of the village's inhabitants and replayed the scene of their final hours over and over again. These shades reenacting moments from their life had a ghastly pale appearance commonly associated with ghosts and spirits. Most of them are harmless visions, but occasionally there are some 'errors' in the array that can turn them violent.

"There's got to be a limit how much bad luck one gets..." Kamijou complained to the dusty old books surrounding him.

It took close to three hours of investigation and legwork, but the dynamic duo were able to piece together what the hell was going on.

In order to appease the [Hellish Abyss], which is basically their version of the Hellmouth, the people of the Minakami village held a dark secret. They would periodically sacrifice twin shrine maidens in a dark ritual whereby one of the twin must kill the other. The suffering and torment of the dying sibling would become the key to sealing the [Hellish Abyss].

That was the gist of things, but it was still only one part of the puzzle. In order to truly uncover what really happened that fateful night years ago, Kamijou Touma and Index seek out the key individuals who were involved.

Yae and Sae- The twin shrine maidens next to be sacrificed in the Ritual known as the [Crimson Sacrifice]. It required that one of the twins must kill the other. In an attempt to escape from this fate, Yae wanted to escape the village with her sister, but Sae seemed to have other plans...

The Ceremonial master- The man responsible for overseeing the ritual. As it turns out he was the father of the twin shrine Maidens. In order to save his village, he made the tough decision to find and bring back his daughters... Only Yae was able to escape...

Tachibana Itsuki- One of the previous twins meant to be sacrificed, but apparently something went wrong and his ritual failed... Despite being locked up in a cell, he's still trying to help people escape from this village...

The Folklorist- A long time ago, there was a man and his pupil that came to study the secret ritual of the Minakami village. But instead he was captured by the villagers who planned on turning him into a [Kusabi], some kind of living magic spell according to Index... Both Yae and Sae were attempting to rescue him.

But then what? Was it really okay to just follow the story to just find a way to escape? Kamijou Touma understood that nothing he do could ever bring those people back to life... The power he possess was not one that can perform such miracles- only destroy them.

Yet... It just doesn't sit well with him, there must be something else he could do...

While contemplating all this, out of the blue a thought had just occurred to the boy.

"Oh crap, did I give her directions?-!"

Somewhere outside the walls of the Kurosawa household, a young silver-haired nun exploded in frustration-

"TOUMA YOU IDIOT! YOU DIDN'T GIVE ME DIRECTIONS!"


THE FIFTH HOUR: Land of the Blind
=========================

The young girl wearing a causal white dress rather than her usual nun robes named Index found herself stuck outside the great gates of the Kurosawa house. She had used the [Hammer key] to escape through the underground cellar, but now she's unsure of how to proceed.

"Touma said to look for the white hair boy called 'Tachibana Itsuki', and that he'll know what to do... But where am I suppose to look?"

Index only heard from Touma that he was locked up in a storehouse cell, behind a large house... It would take forever to search each and every one of them-

A flash of bright red.

"Oh." Index blinked. "That's convenient..."

At the corner of her eyes, a single glowing crimson butterfly caught her attention. Considering the nature of this particular the [Death Echo] phenomenon is Japanese, this is not completely surprising- Butterflies in Japanese mythology were said to lead to interesting things when they are followed.

And follow that butterfly she shall.

Through the 'L' shaped pathway, Index finds herself backtracking down the same route that she had taken to the Kurosawa main gates from the Osaka house. The village was completely silent, save for the sound of her breathing and the cracking of firewood being burnt for light- why would any ghosts need to burn for light was something beyond her, but she suppose it's another design of the [Death Echo]. The crimson butterfly continued to lead her down a straight and narrow path, passed the Osaka house, and a larger building with the 'Tachibana' name being hung on its doors. Index highly doubts it's a mere coincidence that it has the same family name as this Itsuki boy. A village this small would only have a handful of people living inside making it almost impossible for two people to have the same family name while having zero relationship with one ano-

{It's our fault for running away...}

{We should have done the ritual...}

By now Index should had been desensitized to the sudden haunting antics of this cursed village, but when a hollow voice pops out of nowhere accompanied by a sudden drop in the surrounding temperature, it still made her jumped. In front of the silver haired nun was the ash gray image of a girl wearing a pure white kimono, she was hunched over and crying in front of the storehouse as crimson butterflies circle around her. Index recognized her as the same girl she had saw in the Kurosawa house- Only not covered in blood or laughing like a lunatic.

{Yae... Why did you leave by yourself...?}

{It's our fault that this is happening to Itsuki...}

{You promised we'd always be together...}

"Yae? That must mean... This is Sae...?" Index whispered.

The young girl cautiously approached the ghost from behind with the Camera Obscura at the ready. This device was said to be one of the world's first successful hybridization of Science and Magic; a machine built by science that can reach out into the world of magic. Just as she was within 3 meters of Sae, the shade suddenly vanished into thin air.

Index tensed up as she prepared herself for a surprise attack just in case. She only relaxed after she caught the sight of crimson lights fluttering from the corner of her eyes.

The silver haired sister thought back to the diaries and notes that she and Touma had uncovered in the Kurosawa House; the twins Yae and Sae were the Crimson Sacrifices for this ritual and they planned to escape the village together, but Yae escaped alone leaving behind Sae... Why? What happened?


Index followed the crimson butterfly around the back to the storehouse cell where the white haired boy was being held prisoner behind bars. Itsuki was surprised by her appearance- he probably never seen a foreigner before in his life, let alone one with silver hair. Index wasted no time introducing herself and explained the situation to him. Itsuki patiently listened to the story without questioning Index about who she is or what she had been doing in the Kurosawa house, Index in turn tried not to mention anything that would sound suspicious to a person from that memory... There was no guarantee that they won't turn violent...

"...And now Touma is trapped in the Kurosawa house! What are we going to do?"

Itsuki closed his eyes, thought for a moment, before answering.

"Not to worry, the Kurosawa cell key... I believe they keep it at the Osaka House. In the past, the Osaka family were close to the Kurosawa's, but after the incident with the Osaka twins years ago... No, never mind... That's not important right now..." Itsuki shook his head. "Once inside the Osaka house, get to the basement and search the place for the family altar..."

"A family altar... I've seen that before when we entered the house last time... Is the key in the altar?" Index recalled using her perfect memory.

Itsuki shook his head.

"No- there is a pinwheel seal behind the altar. In order to unlock the mechanism, you'll have to make all four sections of the pinwheel the same color. Once you do that it'll open the secret door that leads to an underground cavern. The Osaka family used it to hide many of the family's secret items, if there's one place they would put the key, it's definitely there!"

"How do you know these things?"

"...Once upon a time, I tried to help two girls escape from their fate..." Itsuki smiled, "In order to do that, me and my brother studied the secrets of the four households and learn how to beat them."

"Yae and Sae?"

Itsuki looked surprised.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"What... Happened to them?" Index asked carefully.

Itsuki blinked, confused at her words.

"They escaped of course."


~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

{Please...}

{Come back now...}

{Don't leave me alone...}

{It's dark here...}

{I don't want to be alone...}

{Yae...}

{Yae...}

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~


The Osaka House.

When Index and Touma first arrived at the Minakami village this was the first building that they've entered. Even though it has only been four hours ago, the nun-in-training felt like she had left this place a life time ago.

Walking into the house for a second time again, Index instinctively projected in her mind a perfect floor plan of the house she has only been inside once with her photographic memories.

The place was a mess. The furniture was all over the place, the smell of dust filled the air, the wood supporting the stairs were practically rotting, and in the middle of the room sat a sunken fireplace. It was here that she and Touma found the notes left behind by Miyako Sudo, a woman who had came to this village looking for her boyfriend- the land surveyor Masumi Makimura. Interestingly enough, she knew about the village by rumors, but she risked it to find her lover. She had also displayed a slight sensitivity to the supernatural as she mentions repeating in her writings that she felt the presence of someone else in the house. As the notes continued, it revealed that she was trapped in the village for several days, possibly even weeks, and through her dreams, she begins to get visions of what happened in the village...

...And in the last entry, she found Masumi, or rather his vengeful spirit, and was strangled to death by him. Her life force became imprinted on to the [Death Echo] magic array, creating a 'ghost' image of herself with the memories of her life, which ended up haunting the Osaka House.

Using the Camera Obscura, Index was able to defeat her and hopefully let her memories rest in peace.

"Itsuki said to look in the Family Altar Room... If I recalled correctly... It's through the big Tatami Room, around the back room..."

The family Altar Room. It was in this same room where she found the camera and had her first encounter with Miyako Sudo. As if she was walking through her own house, Index effortlessly retraced her steps back to the big room full of Tatami. She found a small trigger mechanism against the wall facing the candle stick and with a simple tap on the wall revealed it to be hollow. Index press against the hidden door; it didn't take much effort for it to give way into another room. The first thing she saw was the very large and eye-catching Altar at the opposite end of the room, everything else about the place is no different from the previous gloomy, dark, and creepy ones.

As Index pressed her ear against the altar, she could make out some kind of hollow noises coming from the other side- it sounded like air passing through an empty space.

Looking around it, she saw five pinwheel stone tablets on the small door behind the family altar.

"An unlocking device?"

In a split-second, Index completed the analysis of the mechanism and had compared it to the knowledge of the 103 000 grimoires in her head. While it might seem like a strange thing to do, Magicians all over the ages had been using traps and special mechanism to hide their work and protect their secrets. Magic itself is like a machine with gears and locks to keep it functioning.

Of course, this was all before the electronic age.

The device was set up as such; 5 pinwheels round objects, 1 on the top and bottom left side, 1 on the top and bottom right side, and 1 in the center, the arrangement of all of them are similar to the positions of dots on the side of a gambling dice representing the number '5'. Within each individual pinwheels are 4 'blades' arranged in a diagonal fashion resembling an 'X', these blades could be any one of the following colours- red, blue, green and orange; the colours can be repeatable- meaning you could have up to two or three blades of the same colour on a pinwheel.

The first one on the top left hand side;

red, blue,
Blue, red

The second one on the top right hand side;

red, orange,
orange, orange

The third one in the center;

Blue, orange
green, red

The fourth one on the bottom left hand side;

green, red
green, green

The fifth one on the bottom right hand side;

Red, blue
blue, red

According to Itsuki, she would have to get the same color for all the sides to unlock it, meaning that the blade from the top left pinwheel that's facing the blade on the center pinwheel has to be the same colour, (green to green, red to red ) etc. She could only rotate the pinwheels in a clockwise direction- the catch was that each turn of any of the four outer pinwheel would also move the center pinwheel in a counterclockwise motion- that was the only way to move the center pinwheel. If that wasn't hard enough, Index found a counter on the device that is set to return all the pinwheels to its original positions after 4 turns.

"Alright... I can do this in no time!" Index's chest swell with pride.

...In the end, it took her fifteen minutes of trial and error.

Not that she was going to admit that to Touma.

*Click*

It seems to have unlocked. Now part of the wall can be slid to one side, revealing a hidden flight of stairs d-

The floor creaked.

"...!"

Slowly but surely, the sound of footsteps could be heard just on the other side of the wall, in the room that she was just in.

A low grunt, heavy breathing, and inaudible mumbles.

"This is strangely familiar..." Index gulped.

The temperature of the room drastically drops, Index could see her breath forming as she tried to steady her racing heartbeat.

Suddenly, the creaking stopped just outside the door, for the next few seconds nothing happened. No walking, no mumbling, no sound.

Inch by inch, the door begun to slide open and a set of pale bony finger appeared through the other side.

Cold, empty eyes stared back.

And that's when the realization hit her.

Miyako Sudo was looking for her lost lover and was killed by him in this house.

So the question is- What happened to her killer?

The answer of course; is that he's still here.

Masumi Makimura.

The man's face was horribly disfigured with multiple deep gashes across everywhere. He looked exactly like in the picture Index had taken before, but those slash marks meant nothing to her at that time. Now something had clicked inside her head as she realized where she had seen similar slash marks before.

Back in the Kurosawa house.

The room full of mutilated corpses with their faces carved up and their limbs hacked off.

She knew who had done this to him.

"You were killed by him weren't you... By the Kusabi."

As if the very name of his killer was a trigger, the disfigured ghost of Masumi Makimura flew into a rage and rush at the girl. Index was startled by his sudden burst of speed; he was a shockingly fast compared to the previous shades that she had faced and was barely able to avoid getting tackled by him. Index could imagine how Miyako Sudo was caught off guard by his sudden and violent action.

"That uncontrollable anger might also be due to the corruption of the life force that the Kusabi had imprinted onto you... Turning your love into hatred towards your cruel fate... You became blinded by the darkness..."

{I have to go back...}

"...And killed the love of your life."

{There's something I have to give her...}

It was already too late for him; he had became another tragic figure caught in this hellish nightmare story. Like the many other people trapped in this village, he was as much a victim as Miyako Sudo, as the folklorist, as Itsuki, as Sae and Yae... None of them wanted any of this, they never wanted people to get hurt, to be stuck in an endless night and forced to relieve the horror and pain of their last moments. Index understood all of this, she had seen her fair share of suffering in a one year of running around the world alone.

Nothing she say or do would change the fact that Masumi killed his lover.

There were no easy fixes.

No magic spells to make it all better.

But even so...

"This is the only thing I can do for you now, I'm sorry..."

Index raise the camera obscura and point it at Masumi.

A more powerful exorcism was require. the Camera Obscura would act as a tool, Index simply had to channel it in the appropriate technique that compliments the camera.

Similar to Miyako Sudo, the Nine Syllable Seals would do.

Masumi twisted his head- broken and hollow voice escape his lips, they were words he had held on to the end...

{I have to go back...}

{There's something I have to give her...}

{I have to go back...}

{There's something I have to give her...}


For some reason, one of the statues is in the form of twins.

I have also found a description of a "Twin Deities Statue" in the writings lying around the house.

In this region, twins serve an unusual purpose. Twin sisters or brothers perform a special ritual here.

Each time the ritual it completed, a new Twin Deities Statue is placed somewhere in the village.

The ritual occurs every few decades, and judging by the number if Twin Deities...

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I looked down into the old well but it was pitch black, and I couldn't see a thing.

If you listen closely, you can only hear wind blowing, and it seems that the water has all dried up.

I can't tell which was here first, the house or the well. Neither has been used in a while.

According to the records, this house used to belong to the powerful Tsuchihara family.

In this village, the Osaka, Kiryu, and Tachibana families were also influential.

Each house had its own crest, and help power in the village.

As a group they were also in charge of a special ritual.

Each was a branch of the Kurosawa family, who administered to the ceremony.

They performed the role of priests.

The Kurosawa name is scattered throughout the literature, but no concrete information is written.

I have no doubt that they held absolute power though.

Where in the world did the villagers go?

And how do you get out of this village?

The answers to these questions lie within the Kurosawa house.

I'm not sure how I know, but I have a strong feeling about this...

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I found a small shrine at the top of a long set of stairs, shrouded in mist.

It seems very old, but it is well-made, and has not fallen into disrepair.

The entrance has a large butterfly crest painted on it. It's the same as the one on the building beyond the large bridge.

Butterflies seem to have a special meaning, just like twins.

They are frequently mentioned in the ritual literature. "Butterfly" means something else to the villagers too.

I notice that the word always appears in writings about the ritual.

I may not know its exact meaning, but the fact that the butterfly crest is on a shrine indicates that it is very special indeed.

I should investigate further.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I came to this hill to take a look at the gate I passed through when I entered the village.

But when I tried to find it, the ruined gate was buried under trees and other flora.

I can't find the path that we used to come here...

This hill is called "Misono Hill". According to literature, this location plays a key role in the ceremony.

Right in the middle lies a massive rock, known as the "Offering Stone", and the surrounding area is protected by wards.

This "Offering Stone" also seems to be a "Cover" for sealing some kind of hole.

What sort of hole needs a gigantic stone like this for a cover?

Why does it need to be covered at all?

What if this is the very thing I've been searching for, the way out of the village?

I have to check this out more thoroughly.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

How many days have I been in the village? 2? Maybe 3?

It feels like I've been here for years.

In this village of endless night, it's easy to lose all sense of time.

Miyako is utterly exhausted.

Sometimes she manages to give me a weak smile, but it only makes me more uncomfortable.

Physically and mentally, she's running on empty.

I haven't found a out yet, but sifting through the material I gathered in the village again, I found a clue.

A gigantic underground tunnel, called a passageway, connects all the important locations in the village.

It is used for travel between the houses during the ceremony, and also store important items.

It's difficult to estimate the scale of the passages from the map, but there is sure to be a way out through there.

I didn't find any information about the entrance to a passageway.

However, there must be a clue somewhere in the Kurosawa house, as they presided over the ceremony.

I've decided to leave Miyako here and search the Kurosawa house alone.

I'll find a way out of the village and then come back for her...

I'll be nearby.

Miss you!


"A passage way..."

When the ghastly manifestation of Masumi Makimura faded away, a notebook fell to the ground. It was a report that he had put together about the village. Written within it were the notes about everything that he could find about this place. Most of it were familiar topics like the 'Twins' and 'Butterflies', but there were also clues about a secret escape route... Much like herself, the land surveyor was trying to find a way out of the village. There were many clues that he couldn't make sense of; the four families, the butterfly shrine, the stone at Misono Hill...

In the last entry, he went alone to investigate the Kurosawa House.

And met his fate at the hands of the Kusabi.

Index shook a head and offered a silent prayer for the dead.

There was not much else she could do, but she thanked Masumi for gathering the pieces of the puzzle necessary to figure a way out of this nightmare.

Carry the gift that Masumi gave up his life to obtain, Index found new strength to process with her mission and make her way down the hidden stairs.

At the end of the passage was a big cavern, about the size of a Japanese school classroom.

This place must have been used for storage; there were old suits of armor and a Buddha statues here, as well as household items such as braziers and candlestick holders.

At one corner, you can see a large space beyond the rocks. It looks like another passage way, but the opening was too small for even Index to crawl through. She recalled that in the Masumi's village report, there were several underground passage ways being dug out by the villagers for the people involved in the ceremonies to move about freely. This underground passage must lead somewhere else, too.

There were dozens of crates and boxes in the cavern, it would take too long to search them all- There had to be some kind of clue...

At the end of the cave was a lone chest. It stood out from the rest because of its bright red, green, blue and orange colour, similar to the ones on the pinwheel blades. Plus, it's the only item that isn't covered by dust for some suspicious reasons.

The hinges creaked as Index opened the elaborate looking chest and found that it was held a strange looking object that looked like a seal, or an emblem of some sort... The Japanese characters craved onto the item were [Osaka], Index suspect this was the family crest. Unsure if it would be of any use later, Index pocketed it just in case, she turned around and-

...Was greeted by a horrific sight.

A tall man without any hair on his head, wearing tattered rags with ropes and chains all over. It's most prominent feature, the one that separates it from the other shades that she had seen, was a single large blindfold worn across his eyes. His teeth were dark and decayed, his tongue was black and revolting.

The creature stretched out his arm towards her; its hand was just barely out of reach of her hair.

Index was too terrified to even breathe.

The long nails on his hand missed her hair by a millimeter.

The abomination waved his arm in a wide arc continuously, searching for sighs of any intruders in the vicinity. Once it's satisfied that nothing was there, the ghost turn and limped away.

These must be the Mourners... Index thought.

In the cell where the folklorist was being held, Index and Touma found several important manuscripts regarding details about the secrets ceremony being conducted by this village. One of those text spoke of the [Mourners]; they are the guardians of the [Hellish Abyss], and the only ones that can get near it. Whenever the year of the ceremony approaches, the [Mourners] sew their eyes shut so they cannot glimpse the [Hellish Abyss]. A fresh supply of 'Volunteers' comes from the local criminals, but anyone that had seen the [Hellish Abyss] were also forced to become one.

Once the individual becomes a [Mourner], they're made to live underground forever, never returning to the surface... And it seems that Index had just stumbled into their territory.

The secret passage way that Masumi was looking for... It looks like these Mourners are the guardians of it...

*Cluck*

The back of her foot hit the chest gently.

"...Eh?"

The Mourner suddenly stopped in its tracks.

"...!"

Turns its head around and 'looked' at the girl.

A scowl began to form on it's face.

"GAHHHHHH! Touma's misfortune have rubbed off on me!" Index yelled in despair.

The Mourner rush at her from across the room; the silver haired girl instinctively snapped a shot of it with the Camera Obscura, but instead of knocking back the ghost, he was staggered only briefly before shrugged it off and started swiping his arms wildly at her. Index was caught off guard by his immediate recovered and tripped over the uneven ground, narrowly missing it's ghastly hand as she fell to the floor. She quickly rolled over to the side but the mourner can clearly track her by the noise and began approaching her.

Index got up and took another shot at it with the camera. It wasn't that the Mourner wasn't affected by it, but the results were simply not effective enough as the creature quickly demonstrates by swiping his arms at her, recovering almost immediately from the flash.

That's not working! Maybe I can try to catch him off guard...!

So instead of snapping another picture right away, Index calmly but quickly tip-toed away from that spot while trying to conceal her movements and minimized sound. This seems to work as the Mourner blindly lumbered to her former location and tried to grab thin air. Confused, the creature tried to pin point her location; because he can't see, it can only use it's ears to find her.

The moment he turned his ear towards her direction, she snapped a shot with her camera.

The results were significant; the Mourner was almost knocked to its feet as it reeled back while howling in pain.

It was a good four seconds before it recovered and started going into a frenzy swinging it's arms wildly at Index.

But she isn't at the same spot anymore.

While the Mourner was recovering, Index had already been tip-toeing to another location, getting ready to setup another shot.

Once again, when the Mourner stopped to listen with its other ear, Index immediately took a picture of it.

With that, the Mourner shrieked in pain as his physical form faded back into the darkness. The room temperature returned back to normalcy.

There is something on the spot near where the spirit had just stood before he 'died', Index walked over to picked it up the rusty key that was dropped earlier.

"This... This should be the one; it's shape matches the keyhole on Touma's cell..." Index inspect the object in her hands. "I've got to get back to him, it's been almost an hour and I-"

{Somebody... please find me...}

Index froze in fear.

{I don't want to be alone...}

A trick of the eye, she was sure... But for some reason, the cavern started to look weird and surreal; the surroundings started to look all grainy- like an old movie film from the 40s. The colours started to shift and oscillate between black and white...

{I'm here...}

{I'm here...}

Her eyes dart all over the place, trying to location the source of the cold blooded whisper...

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}

{Somebody...}


{...ARE YOU GOING TO LEAVE ME BEHIND AGAIN, DEAREST SISTER?}


Before her brain could register what was going now, a single cold hand reach out from the gap and grabbed the back of her collar, violently yanking her down.

She didn't even had time to scream.

Touma...

The rusty key fell to the floor, bounced once, then remain still.

The surroundings return back to normal.

In an instance, the cavern became silent once more.

As if nothing had happened.

Witnessing all this from behind a pillar was a pale skinned girl with short black hair, wearing and equally white kimono dress. Slowly, she approached the spot where the silver haired nun once stood, and picked up the rusty key from the floor.


Bored.

Absolutely, completely, bored.

Kamijou Touma lamented as he bumped the back of his head against the book-shelf inside the cell where the folklorist was once imprisoned- but now it's his turn to get locked up. This wasn't his first time facing a four wall conference; more than once had he gotten into trouble with Judgment and had to be placed in a holding cell or an interview room for the night- it wasn't anything really serious, but to be stuck not doing anything for twelve hours is just pure torture.

In fact, he's almost certain he's been replaying this monologue in his head ten times over.

Suddenly, the familiar clacking of keys and locks reverberated in his ears.

The large black door swung open.

"INDEX! Oh thank God you're back! I was going crazy just-" Kamijou Touma paused in mid sentence. "...Who are you?"

The girl standing in front of the door wasn't Index.

"M-My name is K-Kurosawa Yae," The pale looking girl in a white Kimono introduced herself timidly.

"Kurosawa... Yae...?" Kamijou's eyes widen as he recognized that name.

The girl nodded her head.

"Please, there isn't much time! Your friend is in danger!"


*End of the Fifth Hour*


Coming Soon...

SIXTH HOUR: Doll House

Yae: "G-Greetings everyone, my name is Kurosawa Yae, I-I'll be taking over as the main h-heroine!"

Index: "NO YOUR NOT! Touma who is this strange girl?"

Yae: "Wahhh! I was just kidding! Kidding! Readers familiar with the Frame Fatal 2 story would find that certain elements have been changed around for this to fit better into a written story format! The Author is learning after all! You might also find it strange to see me appear at all, but the Author assures me that I'll be treated the same way Kamachi-sensei treats all his female characters... Erm, what does that mean?"

Index: "ENOUGH OF THAT! YOU! Kuro-tanpatsu! Do you have a boyfriend or not!"

Yae: "B-B-B-B-BOYFRIEND! I-I-I... No I-I-I-I-I! Munakata-kun and I are just friends- NONONONO! I mean-!"

Touma: "...Dolls... Why does it have to be dolls...Fukou da..."

P.S - Anybody wants to try the pinwheel puzzle?