Nightmare School:

Chapter 9:

Naru felt a mixture of triumph and dejection when he walked into the SPR office. He finally had a testimony proving that Mai's class had been turned against her by the teacher and he had an idea of how he was controlling them. However in the process someone else had become a target of the teacher.

He made himself a cup of tea and waited for everyone else to arrive whilst doing some homework which didn't take him very long.

Lin entered the office first and shot him a meaningful look. The omnouji was the person in charge of watching the camera feed so he had definitely witnessed the new victim and heard whatever Ariade had said to the class.

Yasuhara started his report first.

"I carried out research into the students whose records Mai-chan had. What I found was troubling- they don't seem to exist."

Naru frowned. That wasn't possible. If they had school records detailing previous schools, their grades, parents and home addresses, they had to exist.

"Can you elaborate?"

The college student readjusted his glasses.

"To be more precise, they have birth certificates so we know they were alive at some point. Their previous schools remembered them and that's it. Bou-san and I went around asking the teachers at Mai's school and no one recognised them and there's no records of the students transferring out of the school."

That did sound very mysterious. Naru knew why the classroom felt so empty. These students had gone missing.

"Do you think they are dead?" Lin asked Yasuhara.

"After failing to find any trace of them at the school, I contacted a few of their parents. They all put the phone down on me when I asked if they had a child that had studied at the school in question so I think they might not be alive anymore."

Naru felt that Yasuhara was right because he remembered what Gene had said about Mai's dream. There were lots of Will-o'-the-Wisps around. The dead students could be the Will-o'-the-Wisps.

"They were in Ariade's homeroom class so it's obvious that he has something to do with it," Bou-san said. "Perhaps he wants Mai to go the same way. The only reason they remember her could be because she isn't actually dead."

Naru took notes of all of this. There was a lot to keep track of.

"Did you get a chance to find out who the spirit possessing Ariade could be?" He questioned.

Yasuhara pulled out his notebook. "I didn't get time to do any in depth research, but I managed to talk to Ariade's friend again. Two years ago, Ariade was at a job interview at a school, but it was cancelled because one of the students jumped off the roof."

That sounded like it could be a match. The spirit of the student could have latched onto to the nearest possible living person that it could before the body died. They were getting closer to solving the mystery now.

"Do you know anything about the student?"

Yasuhara shook his head. "No. The friend didn't know it. I do have the name of the school so I can contact them tomorrow to find out."

"That would be very useful," Naru agreed. "I found out some important facts today."

His sharp eyes did not fail to notice the looks they all exchanged.

"We saw some of your flirting," Bou-san said. "I didn't know you had it in you to flirt."

Naru felt offended by the implication that he had been flirting. He had been trying to lay the groundwork for obtaining information.

"It's all right, we won't tell Mai that you flirted with someone that tried to kill her," Yasuhara said.

Naru was grateful for that. He could picture her reaction in his head and he also hadn't enjoyed flirting with one of her attempted murderers anyway.

"I actually obtained some very useful information from her. Ariade had the class sign contracts. The only person not to sign one was Mai because she was on a case with us at the time. That has to be the incident that singles her out from the rest of the class."

Lin appeared to be in agreement with him. "She must be the one that he doesn't have control over because she never signed the contract."

"Do you find out what kind of contract it was?" Bou-san asked. "There are some spiritually binding contracts I've heard about before but never seen."

"Hirai-san unfortunately signed it without reading it. Ariade presented it as a mere formality she needed to sign."

Ariade was clearly possessed by someone very manipulative and intelligent. Whatever his true aim was, he had planned it well.

"That canny bastard," the monk muttered.

Naru felt exactly the same way. He glanced at Lin's laptop which was open on the table.

"Do you have the video footage from his visit to the classroom at lunchtime?" He requested.

Lin brought up the relevant file and wound it back to the specific part.

"After you left together with Hirai-san, there was a lot of negative muttering about her that went on for a while. Then Ariade arrived."

Naru watched as Ariade walked into the classroom and stood at the front. The students quieted immediately and stared at him blankly.

"Mimi Hirai is currently in trouble with me for letting things slip on that SPR visit. Instead of reflecting on it, she is gallivanting off with the transfer student for a romantic liaison. Perhaps you could all help me discipline her?"

There was a moment of tense silence in the video and in the office after that line.

"The student that is the first to do it will be rewarded. That is all."

He turned on his heel and Naru saw himself arrive on the scene as Ariade was leaving. Lin closed the video and sighed.

"This case just become more complex."

"We gained more information only to create a new victim," Masako summarised neatly.

"We can't leave that girl unprotected now. She can't die on our watch," Bou-san said.

Naru deeply considered the situation. They needed to find out who was possessing Araide, find a way to exorcise him and wake up Mai. There was also the question of the missing students. The investigation could take to the end of the week and by then it could be too late for both Hirai and Mai.

He made his decision.

"I suggest that we pick up Hirai-san tomorrow before school and bring her to this office. Hara-san and Brown-san can explain the situation to her. She may be able to provide more information that way. Whatever happens, do not let her out your sight."

Masako nodded. "I am willing to try to persuade her."

"It sounds like the only thing we can try," John said. "Do we mention that you are really Kazuya Shibuya?"

That was a sensitive point. Naru knew that she had a crush on him, it was hard not to notice. If she found out now that he was doing it all for Mai, there was a chance she would lose all trust and would return to Araide.

"No. Do not mention me until we are sure she isn't going to run away."


The student records that the principal had given them came in useful. They found Mimi's address and the SPR van pulled up outside as she was leaving the house. Lin was driving whilst John and Masako had been chosen to persuade her.

Bou-san had driven Yasuhara to the library and Noll had walked to school by himself. Matsusaki-san was still at the hospital to keep watching over Mai who was still in a stable state.

"I'll talk to her first," John said and got out of the van.

Lin approved of his choice. Masako Hara could be a little difficult at times. He still had not forgiven her for blackmailing Noll to go on dates. Her personality had improved a lot over time though.

Mimi followed John into the van easily enough. Keeping her there was going to be the harder part.


Naru felt his phone vibrate in his second lesson. He held up his open textbook to hide his phone. It was a text from Lin stating that Mimi was at SPR and he was on his way to the school himself.

He felt a moment of relief. They were one hurdle down. Hopefully Masako and John would be able to gain something from Mimi.

Her absence had been commented on in homeroom. All the girls had back stabbed her and the boys had given a few complaints. It mirrored mostly what he had been told about Mai. It was sad to see that it was so easy to get the class to hate another pupil. It was even more scary than it was sad.

He wondered what Ariade was planning. The attack on Mai had not gone entirely to plan, however she was trapped in her own mind so technically there was no evidence of anything because she was unable to testify against him. Mimi had let something to slip and he had turned everyone against her, but she was absent today so nothing really could be done. Either he was going to wait for Mimi to come back to school, he was going to find her himself or he was going to try something else.

Lunchtime took a long time to arrive for Naru. He had been waiting for updates from John and he hadn't received anything and all the lessons had been too easy. He chose to sit with the girls he had been sitting with on his first day.

"Do you know if Hirai-san is ill?" He asked innocently.

"She can't hide at home forever," one girl answered cryptically.

Another girl, this one had dyed brown hair, leaned towards him eagerly.

"Are you friends with her? You two looked close yesterday."

Naru had been prepared for this question from the start. In fact he had been expecting it sooner.

"I wanted to find a book in the library and she seemed to be the type of person that spends a lot of time in the library. I thought it would be rude just to ask her outright so I talked to her a little first. She was a bit boring to talk to though."

The brown haired girl nodded in satisfaction. "I thought it would be something like that."

"Mimi-chan isn't really a library person," someone else interrupted. "It's someone else in this class."

Her eyes became unfocused and distant. When she spoke again her eyes were back to normal.

"Actually I got it wrong. It as someone in my previous homeroom class that spent all her free time in the library."

Naru was curious about that moment. There was a chance that she had briefly remembered a former member of the homeroom class. There had been a student record for a female with exceedingly good grades which could link to spending a lot of time in the library.

His train of thought was interrupted by Ariade's arrival. Instead of walking to the front of the classroom, the teacher walked headed straight towards him.

"Kazuo-san, I need to have a quick talk with you," he said and bent down next to his desk. "Is that all right with you?"

"It is," Naru answered shortly.

"I would like to see you after school for a private talk. Are you able to come?"


A/N: My December deadlines have passed so I can update again now.