Lifting himself up on shaky legs. The boy looked around, still dazed from the fall he took. It was still pretty difficult to tell what happened, and although he tried, it proved itself to be ahead of him. With another glance, he spotted Shinozaki laying not far off, and rushed to her side. Unlike Heavenly Host, this school lacked the multiple devastating places around each space, reminding him of their own classroom. "...?! Is this...our classroom...?" He thought aloud in glee.
Kneeling beside the girl, he shook her gently to attract her attention. "Hey! Shinozaki! Wake up! Shinozaki! Come on, wake up already!" He urged, taking a quick look around yet again to confirm his suspicions. Drawn back to the girl as she moaned, sitting up with a few hacks and coughs, panting slightly. "K-Kishi...numa...? ... Huh? What?!" She asked quietly, feeling dizzy.
Grinning above her was the figure of Yoshiki, concern and yet happiness clear in the grey depths of his eyes. "Take a look around you! I can hardly believe it myself...but here we are!" He cheered. "No way..." Refusing to believe, she lifted herself up to take a look for herself. Walking to a nearby desk, she ran her fingers over the surface, gasping. "We're... back? For real? Is this... really our school?!" She asked, not bothering to look over her shoulder. "It's really real!"
Walking about, he began to seek out for his desk, blinking down at it. It had his initials written sloppily on the top, flashing into attention easily after he continuously ran a black marker over it in boredom. "Heh. Here's my desk!" He explained, never feeling such happiness to see his "artwork" in his life so far. "Mine too! It's right here! I can't believe it!" Ayumi cheered, pointing to the desk she was standing by.
Unlike Yoshiki's it was almost spotless. In fact, it was cleaner than most desks in the classroom. She took extra care of it, despite it only being a simple ornament.
"It's true..." The teen muttered, pulling himself to sit up on the tabletop with a grin. "Yeah! We made it! We're home! WE'RE HOME!" She agreed, giving an unnatural, real smile. Not the class rep one, that she usually wore. It was normally fake, but had her look more professional, so she kept it on nevertheless.
With a nod, he looked around. "Ha. FUCK YEAH! Suck on THAT world!" Although Ayumi hated foul language, she couldn't help but agree. They returned to safety, which was one of the best things that happened to her. They were finally home. "Heh...heheheheh... Heheheh...heheh..heh..." She giggled, although a little hesitantly, unable to get rid of her hate for the swearing.
Jumping off, Yoshiki began to wander about, walking up to Ayumi, who was busying herself with exploring their classroom. "I never thought I'd live to see home again..." She only told him, turning around immediately. He shrugged and walked towards the center of the room, stopping in his tracks with an upset frown. "Guess there's no Satoshi, or , or anyone else, huh...?"
That had to be wrong.
They were somewhere around, right? It was 8PM by now, according to his check. He never really suspected that amount of time has passed. It felt like eternity. Approaching the doors, he peeked out, venturing out in search of the other seven of his classmates. Even the janitor has likely gone home by the hour, the halls empty. The halls were pitch black, lights turned off. Only a significant amount of a red glow came from where the fire extinguisher was.
Apart from that, nothing else give the signs of life. Thing that hasn't changed was the growing in intensity thunder and rain outside, dwelling over them mercilessly. In contrast to the blackness of the corridors, picking up moisture, the windows looked more whitish instead.
What if this was only a dream? A little trick of his imagination. He hoped not, but couldn't trust himself with his thoughts any longer. "EEEEEEEEEK!" The shriek belonged to no-one else but Ayumi, and with that in mind, the boy rushed hurriedly back into the classroom, almost tumbling over his own feet. He entered the classroom without proper coordination, managing to almost fall once or twice. "Whaaa?" He muttered, frowning.
In the corner of the room grew something in the shape of a black mist, looking like multiple black figures. There were little specks in them, crimson, like blood trickling over it. For a single moment, he easily mistook them for those. It was thoroughly black, like nothing, with swirly arm-like swirls twirling out of it's shape, reaching out for them, their fingers snapping in desire.
"It's...not over, is it... Why isn't it over? Why?!" Ayumi shivered beside him visibly, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she stared at the black mist, sobbing softly. Looking down upon her, Yoshiki slowly traced his gaze to his feet. "Dammit." He muttered, inaudible to the girl. Slowly, a lightly blue tinted spirit made it's way out of the mist, expression blank as she drew closer. "It's... you!" He gasped, pointing at the ghost.
Yuki Kanno, was it not?
Silent, the ghost stopped for a while, blinked and then moved forth a few more steps. "Nooooo! Don't step any closer! Go back!" Ayumi demanded, withdrawing herself several steps back, where she knelt down and covered her ears, sobbing into her knees. "Ahhhh!" She screamed in clear agony, shaking her head. With a slightly confused expression, the girl stopped obediently.
"It was a rainy evening after school, just like this one... on the day I was kidnapped. I remember I had a fight with my mother that morning." The spirit began, being cut off short by Ayumi interfering her speech. "Wh-Why is she telling us this?" Blinking up, the blue-haired girl struggled to remain calm. They didn't need to hear this story! "I-I have no idea!" Yoshiki shrugged, but beckoned the ghost to continue.
One again listening to their commands, the girl continued. "I didn't want to see her face... so after school, I decided that instead of going home... I'd park myself in the outdoor walkway for a little, and watch the rain. That's when showed up. He sat down next to me. I told him all about my fight with mom, and he listened really closely, and just kept saying, uh-huh, uh-huh... He was sick and couldn't speak much, you see... But he was a very kind man. I really liked him. But then..." She broke out into a sob, hiding her face with her hands.
Both remained silent, knowing exactly what to expect. Her most likable teacher? Didn't that mean he liked her too, if he was concerned for her? It made little sense to kidnap just an innocent child for no clear reason, but some people were twisted in unimaginable ways. Pausing her cries, the ghost looked up through crystal eyes. "You two are nice people."
Even if it was a compliment, it didn't make either of them feel any better. "I'm so sorry." The girl sobbed, feeling her legs wobble under her weight. She was tiny, the ghost. Perhaps she was only a... "Fifth grader... Yuki Kanno... right?" Asked Ayumi slowly, trailing back to Yoshiki's side. "Ah... Thank you... For what you did back there... For making the effort... to help those of us... who were killed in that school." Yuki bowed slightly, like before monarchy.
A sign of gratefulness. "Didn't we succeed, though? So why are you still here?!" Yoshiki asked, scratching his head in pure puzzlement. "No... you didn't." Yuki admitted, looking away for the time being.
"But, we returned your tongues! We gave you back your ability to speak out! And we even got your murderer to repent for what he did! Is it just... that you can't forgive him, no matter what?" Ayumi asked, frowning. "Appeasing us isn't about forgiveness. It doesn't matter whether we forgive or not. Repentance is between the criminal and the victim. It's the sole act capable of moving us. And we exist as fragments of the sacred ground upon which Heavenly Host is sealed. I believe moving us... is your best course of action. But... it's not enough..." The ghost railed off.
It was visible she was close to crying once again, the situation taking a harsh toll on her. "His repentance... just wasn't enough..." Yuki muttered, like it was obvious. Of course, it wasn't. The two teens weren't there. They didn't understand, didn't know what happened. "So you're saying... his words... the words spoken by the doll... weren't good enough to appease you?" The girl asked in a slightly annoyed tone.
All that hard work for nothing!
"That's... not..." Yuki began, but didn't finish, looking down at the tiles again. "...Huh?" the class rep mused, not able to pick up any proper information so far. And she wasn't stupid, either. Didn't they deserve to be told? "So...what, then? Why do you feel the need to trap one innocent stranger after another in the godforsaken place?! You child spirits are the ones who summoned us there, aren't you?"
Like any child scolded, Yuki's voice broke, tears threatening to fall again. She did nothing wrong, neither did Ryou and Tokiko! They were wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong! "That's... not true..." She murmured defensively.
"The hell d'you mean by that?!"
"We're just the cogs that hold the closed spaces together."
"But you... you killed Suzumoto, didn't you?!"
In the argument, Ayumi joined in. "Wait!"
"Huhh?!"
"Let's hear her out." She looked down at the dead girl, who smiled weakly. "I'm just glad I could bring the two of you back to safety...!" Yuki stomped her foot lightly, feeling wildly unappreciated. "Why the hell are you suddenly so concerned about us?!" He screamed at her, causing the tiny girl to shrink back, bring her hands up, ready to protect herself.
Ayumi looked down at her, and tried to smile to make her feel a little safer herself. "I heard a story like this once from my sister... A lost soul whose life was ended violently and abruptly, leaving her with a mountain of worries and regrets... It's kind of like stopping short at the edge of madness... with all sorts of thoughts and feelings swirling around in your head... Your kindly nature and your sudden hatred and panic begin to spin around and around, and you just start acting out without any sort of control..." She murmured, reciting what she was once told.
She had to be kidding. Seriously, her sister told her that? What was she? Knowing so much about paranormal events and lives certainly didn't belong to the causalities of life. Damn, before getting to the cursed place, he barely believed in ghosts! "Is your sister a medium or something?" He asked, making sure to sound jokingly.
The girl nodded nonchalantly, like it was indeed nothing. "Yeah... something like that." Ayumi agreed. "So what you're saying is that the creepy girl we saw before, and this little girl are two sides of the same coin?" Yoshiki continued dwelling on, trying to make sense out of everything. This was way confusing.
Yuki remained silent, cringing her neck to look up at the tall boy, nodding softly, though it wasn't visible. "I feel for you. I really do. So please...please! Bring the rest of them back! Mochida, Ms. Yui...and everyone else, too... Bring them all back home." The class rep began to plea, holding her hands together like in prayer. No reply.
Persistently remaining silent, the blue tinted girl, flinched slightly at the beg, feeling helpless. "Come on! You can do it, right?!" Ayumi urged, stomping her foot lightly, threatening to cry again. Why could they be saved, and only they?!
"Those closed spaces... have eaten a lot of innocent souls. Far too many, in fact. The grudges of those who died there have filled every last corner of them. There's no room left. And because the agony and pain has nowhere else to go... it's begun feeding on the minds and souls like us who are bound there. It won't be long... before I turn back into the vengeful spirit who attacks people like you without mercy."
In a few plain sentences, any hope was abandoned. So she couldn't bring them back. She couldn't even, for the matter, protect them. "So... we're going to lose you as an ally, then?" Ayumi asked, just to make sure. The answer to the inquire she feared dearly, clinging to the little idea in her mind that perhaps Yuki could fight against it, remain on their side...
Hopeless little ideals they were though. "So why don't you just hurry up and bring them home right now?! Isn't there any way for us to save Mochida and the others?!" She screamed, not comprehending with the reasons why they were in such a doomed spot. "There may be one way..." Yuki admitted to the surprise of the couple. "W-What is it?" Yoshiki asked, titling his head idly.
The girl looked down, shuffling her feet uncomfortably. "I think you already know. You have to return... find all four of us Heavenly Host serial kidnapping and murder victims... and put us all to rest. Then, the closed spaces won't have their cogs anymore, so they'll begin to fall apart... and you just might get your friends back..." She concluded, fearing the hot-tempered teen's reaction.
In that matter, she was indeed correct to be so cautious.
"You expect us...to go back?!" He bellowed at her, running his fingers through his hair. "And this time, instead of just having one person left to appease, we have to go back to the drawing board and appease all four of you?!" The girl stepped back, attempting to cover her ears. She hated to be screamed at, and this was above her. "Why... couldn't you tell us the reason our previous efforts weren't good enough? What is there to hide?"
Shooting a glare at Yoshiki, Yuki turned to Ayumi, who was a little more soft-spoken. "It's just... something I don't want to remember... But... if you really want to know... I'll tell you... I'll tell you everything that happened..." She took a step towards the girl, holding out her tiny hand, which the teen accepted hesitantly, wrapping her bigger hand around the spirit's, and in that single moment, their minds seemed to merge together.
It looked like Ayumi was in some sort of dream, falling limply to sprawl over the floor, Yuki leaning next to her side, eyes closed, a firm hold onto her hand. "Ahh! Wh-What's... going... AHHH!" The girl screamed in her sleep, making Yoshiki stride forth, bringing little to no attention. Neither opened their eyes. "Sh-Shinozaki?!"
"It hurts... It hurts! Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! Ahhgh..."