Continuation to the previous chapter, where the three were stuck in the school basement and Nishijima joined them.
"So let me get this straight." Jou said, sitting in a circle with the others on the cold concrete floor of the basement. Nishijima to his right, Yamato to the left, Taichi across. "You sent the rest of the group home and came looking for us?"
Nishijima coughed into his fist, stalling for time.
"Yes..?" He himself seemed unsure whether he was asking or answering.
Yamato ran a hand over his face, eyes moving up in a silent prayer. Taichi glanced at his best friend, before fixing their teacher with an unamused look. Jou fixed his glasses.
All eyes turned to Yamato as he took a deep breath and asked: "Do you at least have your phone with you?"
Nishijima threw him a glare.
"Of course I have my phone." Proudly, he pulled it out, tapping at the keypad. A pause. He tapped again. "Uh."
"What?" Taichi asked, leaning over to try and get a look at the screen.
"…there's no reception."
"What?" Taichi repeated.
Nishijima waved his phone around in the air, trying to find signal.
"We can't contact anyone?" Jou asked, eyeing Yamato warily; the blond was the perfect image of the calm before the storm.
"Well, wait." Nishijima said. He got up and starting walking around the room, waving his phone in the air.
He paused frowning at the phone.
"Still nothing?" Jou also got up to join the teacher. "Try closer to the door?"
"Good idea."
Nishijima and Jou both made their way up the stairs.
"Signal!" Nishijima cheered, quickly tapping at his keypad again. He brought the device to his ear and waited for it to ring.
And he waited.
Jou leaned closer, trying to hear the beeping that indicated the call was going through. He heard nothing. Worried, Jou looked down at his two friends.
Yamato was rubbing his face aggressively, whilst Taichi was rubbing his shoulder gently.
Brown eyes met two pairs of obsidian. He raised his eyebrows in a question.
Nishijima pursed his lips, dropped the eye contact, along with the hand holding the phone, and shook his head.
"No one's picking up?" Taichi's question caused Yamato to look at him, then at Nishijima on top of the stairs.
"No one?" Yamato pressed.
"Well…" Nishijima cast a quick glance at Jou, as if begging the younger man to shield him from what he knew was going to be an onslaught of hate. He mumbled something.
Jou's eyes widened and he stared, mouth agape, at Nishijima.
Taichi and Yamato looked at each other, then at the two men above them.
"What?" They asked in unison.
"He said that his phone died." Jou tattled, in almost full-fledged panic.
Nishijima grimaced. That was not how he wanted the two youngest to find out.
"Are you kidding me?" Taichi asked, standing up, fists clenched at his sides.
Yamato rearranged himself, bringing his knees up, arms wrapped around them, and buried his face into them. Taichi glanced at him and continued his questioning:
"So we're stuck in here until someone, someday needs something from here and opens the door?"
"That'll probably be tomorrow." Nishijima said, throwing a glance at Jou before the two started making their way down the stairs. "I mean, it's a school day tomorrow, so Takenouchi or someone will wonder where we are and come looking for us in here."
"I'm going to be late for school. And I haven't even finished my homework." Jou lamented, sitting next to Yamato, mimicking his posture.
"I'll give you a note to give to your teachers and explain the situation." Nishijima assured, patting Jou on the head.
Yamato stood up, eyes on the floor. Taichi looked him over, concerned.
"Alright?"
Yamato lifted his eyes at Taichi's question and looked around. He walked towards the back of the basement, poking at some boxes against the far wall.
"If we're going to be stuck here for the night, then we should probably find something soft to make beds out of."
"Is there anything?" Taichi asked, joining the blond. He looked into one of the cardboard boxes. "Hey, there are clothes in here! Those will work."
Yamato nodded. "They're probably leftover costumes form some plays and other performances."
Taichi started going through the closest box. "Does Knife of Ramen store their performance clothes in here? Aha!" He pulled out a light green princess-dress. "Apparently you do."
"Har har."
Jou and Nishijima chose that moment to join the two and look for bedding material.
"So what's the deal with this 'Knife of Ramen?'" Nishijima whispered to Jou, sifting through a box.
"I'm not really sure." Jou admitted, leaning over the same box and speaking from the corner of his mouth. "It's one of their things."
"Meaning?"
"They have these things that they do and say that no one else really understands. We've all just learned to accept and mostly ignore that stuff."
"Ah, I think I get it."
Taichi and Yamato had abandoned the boxes and were standing with their arms crossed over their chests. They were eying the two elders.
"You do realise," Yamato started, "that we can hear you, right?"
Startled out of their bedding search, Jou and Nishijima looked over at the two.
Jou looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean anything bad by it."
Taichi's arms fell back to his sides and he cocked his head. "What other things are there?"
Yamato glanced at Taichi, then back at Jou, giving the latter a curt nod that told him to answer Taichi's question.
"Well, it's stuff like… I don't know… Just these little things you do and… stuff."
"Descriptive." Yamato commented.
"It's not that easy to explain." Jou whined. "It's just what you do."
"So about sleeping here." Nishijima said, breaking up the budding fight and changing topics. "We should, instead, stay up most of the night telling ghost stories." He looked excited at his own idea.
"We have school tomorrow." Jou pointed out.
Nishijima brushed that aside. "I'll let you all skip to make up for the trauma of being stuck in here."
"You're not my teacher, though. And even if you did manage to get me permission to skip, I can't afford to miss even a single class or I'll fall behind even more."
"And I'm not skipping class just to listen to some stupid ghost stories." Yamato said, glaring at Nishijima.
"Scared?" Taichi smirked, elbowing Yamato in the side. "I can sleep next to you and hold your hand, if you want."
Yamato turned his glare at the brunet. "Shove it."
"Where?" Taichi grinned, leaning in.
Nishijima laughed openly. "Didn't you know, Taichi? There's really only one place you can 'shove it.'"
Yamato blushed hotly and turned away, moving to look behind the stacked boxes.
Jou coughed into his hand, slight blush on his cheeks, and grabbed some random pieces of clothing. "Since we can't do anything about dinner, we should get started on those stories or get an early night."
"Ghost stories!" Nishijima voted, grabbing at some stray costumes and throwing them onto the floor in a heap. He flopped down on them heavily. "Ouch." His hand dug around the pile underneath and he pulled out a plastic dagger. "Thankfully it's not real." He tossed it aside, then looked at the teens with a predatory grin. "I might start with this one story that does involve a real dagger."
"Really?" Yamato asked flatly. He had found some padded mats behind the boxes, and he and Taichi were arranging them on the floor. "We're honestly going along with the ghost story idea?"
"Of course. And I'm starting it off."
Yamato gave Taichi a look, but the other just shrugged with a: "Not like we have anything better to do with our time." He offered the light green dress to Yamato. "Blanket?"
Yamato accepted with a wary look. "Not really a blanket, though, is it?"
Taichi smiled at the unsaid 'thank you.' "Cover, then."
"Whatever."
"Can I start telling the story already?"
"Wait." Jou hurried to pull out one of the mats Yamato had discovered. "I haven't organised myself yet."
Nishijima waited for a minute, then started telling his story, when Jou had settled.
Two and a half ghost stories later had everyone a bit edgy. The basement was creepy enough without the lurking thoughts of them not being alone.
"And then," Nishijima continued his story. "The door—"
The door burst open and the four males jumped, emitting startled sounds that none would later admit to.
"Daigo?" Himekawa's voice echoed around the basement.
Hearts racing, the four males stared at each other for a few seconds before rushing to the bottom of the stairs in unison. Maki stood at the top with the door held open into freedom.
"Maki!" Nishijima had never been so happy to see his old friend.
"We've been saved!" Taichi cheered.
"I'm so glad someone came for us!" Jou praised.
"Whatever you do, don't close the door!" Yamato yelled over everyone else.
Everyone stared at the blond, who just shrugged.
"It's how we got stuck in here in the first place. Twice."
Maki stared at them, as if unsure of their mental states. "Twice? What?"
"We've been locked in here for hours." Yamato explained from the bottom of the stairs. "The door locks itself if you close it. And, for some strange reason, there's no lock on this side."
Maki blinked at the door she was holding open. "Be that as it may, you kids should get home; your parents must be worried already."
The four started making their way up the stairs, glad that the ordeal was almost over.
Himekawa glared at Nishijima. "I tried calling you, but it wouldn't connect. Izumi said that you'd sent everyone home except these three. I tried calling everyone, but no one answered."
"Our phones are in our bags, which are back in the classroom." Jou said, being the first to reach the door. Himekawa let him pass, into freedom. "Thanks."
Yamato followed Jou, nodding his thanks to Himekawa. Taichi followed after Yamato, arms stretching above his head when he got into the hallway.
Nishijima, followed by Himekawa, were last out.
"Thank you very much for letting us out." Jou said, bowing to Himekawa. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to hurry home to finish my homework." With that, he left in a rush, heading for Nishijima's classroom.
"You two should hurry home, too." Himekawa said to Taichi and Yamato.
"Yeah, I guess my mum's wondering why I wasn't home for dinner."
"Dad's probably wondering where dinner is."
Taichi threw an arm around Yamato's shoulders, leading him towards the classroom and their bags.
"I wouldn't worry; you always have something in the freezer, right?"
"Yeah, but it's not as good as having a fresh meal." Yamato's face scrunched up at the thought of having to re-heat old food. Taichi just laughed.
"I'm sure your dad won't mind, as long as it's food."
The two reached the classroom and moved away from each other, towards their respective bags.
"Guess so." Yamato grabbed his bag, then smiled. "At least he'll appreciate the reason why dinner wasn't ready."
"You mean he'll be laughing his ass off?"
"Yep."
The teens made their way down the stairs and out of the school. It was already dark out, so they quickened their pace.
"Looking back on it, it really was quite funny, wasn't it?"
"It'll definitely make for an amusing story, that's for sure."
The two walked for a few minutes in silence.
"You know," Taichi got a sly look on his face. "I never did get that private love song."
Yamato shoved him playfully. "In your dreams, Juliet."
"Hey!" Taichi grabbed Yamato in a headlock. "I'm Romeo; wasn't that your dress in the basement?"
"Oh, right." Yamato said, pushing Taichi off him with a laugh. "How could I have forgotten?"
"Whatever will you wear tomorrow?"
Yamato stopped walking and held his hands out towards Taichi. "I have nothing else to wear! Will you come back with me to get it?"
Taichi had also stopped and took Yamato's offered hands. "I'd follow you anywhere. Let's go!"
The two laughed, and continued on their way home, hand in hand.