"Do you still want to go?" my mom asks me. She's still a bit shaken up after all of the past events. I guess I'd be a little scared for my child, too, if this had happened to them. I agree that the Watanagashi Festival isn't going to be as fun as I was thinking it'd be when I first heard about it from Mion, but I still want to go. Maybe something good will happen, even though the past few days have been very tragic.
"Of course," I reply bluntly before heading out of the house. As I run towards the village, where I'll meet up with Satoko and Keiichi, I think about what kinds of festivies will be there. Mion had once told me that there are all kinds of fun games there. Maybe playing some of the games will help take my mind off of all that has happened.
When I get to the Furude Shrine, where a part of the Watanagashi Festival is being held, I, like before, receive looks of pity. I wish I could tell them to stop it and that I'm fine, but I know that'd be a rude thing to do, so I just keep my mouth shut while I walk over to the place Satoko and Keiichi are going to meet me. After about 10 minutes of waiting for them, I decide to just head over to Keiichi's house to see if he and Satoko are okay are not, since they're not here yet.
I make it to Keiichi's house in about 5 minutes. I knock on his door, but no one answers. I knock again. When no one answers, I check to see if anyone's home or not by looking through the window. From what I can see, all of the lights are off. Maybe they had left before I got here. Just as I was about to leave, something from inside catches my eye. I had seen something move. I look harder into the darkness to try and see what's going on inside. I make out the outline of an object that looks like it's floating in midair.
I run to the front door and see if it's locked or not. It's unlocked. I push the door open and immediately turn on the lights. In the living room is Satoko, dangling from the ceiling fan by a rope that must've been tied into a noose. Her eyes are closed and there's a little bit of saliva at the corner of her mouth. Her body lightly moves from side to side. Underneath her is a small stool that's lying on its side. On the rectangular coffee table that's next to it is a note.
I slowly walk towards the table and pick up the note. All it says on it is "Rika". I instantly know what it means. Satoko had killed herself because Rika's not alive anymore. I guess she thought that life wasn't worth living anymore, because Rika, Rena, and Shion are all dead. I just find it so surprising that someone her age would be able to commit suicide so easily.
I uneasily reach my hand out and touch Satoko's wrist. There's no pulse. She's not alive anymore. I feel hot tears slide down my face as I walk towards the phone. I pick it up and dial the police station's number.
"Hello," I hear a man say.
"Hi. This is Aya Catina. May I speak to Detective Oishi?" I know he said that he's a retired detective, but I'm pretty sure he still hangs out around the police station, since he still, in a way, works with the police when it comes to investigations.
"One minute," the man says. Yes, I was right. Detective Oishi's there. I'm surprised he hasn't left yet to go to the Watanagashi Festival.
I hear a shuffling noise before I hear Detective Oishi's voice. "This is Detective Oishi speaking."
I tell him everything about Satoko's suicide. I tell him about me coming to the house to check up on her and Keiichi, the door being unlocked, finding Satoko's dangling body, checking for a pulse but not being able to find any, and note. I also, of course, tell him about the note's meaning.
After I'm done explaining, the line is silent for a moment. Then I hear Detective Oishi say, "It appears the curse has struck again."
"But doesn't the curse also involve someone disappearing?" I ask.
"Yeah," Detective Oishi says. "Listen, Aya-san, I know you've already been through a lot, but you need to know something."
"What is it?" I ask, my voice trembling a little.
"Keiichi Maebara has disappeared," he says slowly.
No… This can't be right… All of my friends can't be gone…
But they are. They're all gone. The only one I have now is Mion, but she's a dangerous psychopath. How did all of this come to be? Why did all of my friends have to go? Keiichi didn't deserve to disappear. Satoko and Shion didn't deserve to die. Rika and Rena didn't deserve to be brutally tortured and then killed. So why did all of this happen?
Everything's backwards. Mion, the bad one, didn't die, while all of the good ones did. Satoko never did anything bad to her friends, unless you count her traps, although they weren't made to hurt anyone, which is why that doesn't count as something bad. Rika never did anything bad to her friends, either. She was usually a happy girl. She may have had a tragic past, like Satoko, but, even so, you'd often see her with a smile on her face. Although, I remember how, during her torture, she showed a different side to her, talking about fate and, at first, not showing many signs of being in pain. I don't understand what she meant by being beaten by fate again, and I remember how surprising it was for her to not cry during the first part of her torture.
Then there's Rena. She may be a little weird, being obsessed with cute things, but she always seemed like the kind of person that wouldn't hurt anyone. Mion was kind of the same. Yes, she enjoyed "punishing" people by forcing them wear funny and ridiculous outfits if they lose a game, and then making them wear it around town. But, until that day she fought with Rena, she had seemed like she wouldn't harm someone, especially not her friends.
Shion was kind and trustworthy. She cared for all of her friends, especially Satoko. She hung out with Satoko and Rika a lot, sometimes eating dinner with them at night and inviting them to her and Mion's house to play games. She enjoyed making fun of Keiichi, teasing him about perverted things, including things about him and Mion, which would always make him blush a deep red. She'd never be rude to others.
Now I know that the Watanagashi Festival isn't going to be fun, since all of my friends are gone now. I hang up the phone without saying goodbye and then head outside. As I walk down the path that leads to the village, I see a police car pull up to the house. I had left the front door unlocked so the officers will be able to get inside the house.
I break out into a run and change routes. I run into the woods lean up against a tree. I don't know what to do with my life anymore. I know there are other people at school that are in my grade, but none of them will be able to replace the others. All I want is for my friends to come back. I want to have someone to laugh and play with. I don't want to live here all alone.
I walk forwards. I don't know where I'm going. It's as if my feet grew minds of their own and are forcing me to go where they want to be. I just keep heading in the direction they take me until I feel the ground vanish from underneath me. The next thing I know, I'm underwater, being dragged to the ground. I can easily tell I'm in the river. I lift my head above the surface and breathe in a gulp of air before I'm forced to go back underwater. My body crashes into the side, causing my head to hit some rocks. As I look around underwater, I see some blood flowing by me. I already know it's mine. Those rocks must've been jagged. I slowly reach up and touch my head. I move my hand around, trying to find the wound. My hang touches a deep gash. As I move my hand across the wound, I feel a sharp pain shoot through my body. After that, I black out.
A/N: 3 more chapters left! XD