September
Day 3
The Day of the School Carnival
Everything was set up for the festival in the classroom, the costumes were finished, and all the ingredients we needed to make our menu were prepped and ready to be made. Right now, I'm in one of the unused classrooms, aka Naru's base, getting my costume on so Naru and Lin could set up the mini camera and mic on my clothes. "We'll monitor everything from this room." Naru informed me as Lin put the mini camera and mic on me.
"So, what's the details?" I asked curiously.
"We've talked to three students who went missing during the school festival previously. They are Hibiki Jirou; 2nd year, Noburu Kasumi; 3rd year, and Rikuto Takuma; 3rd year. They all went missing during their first year of school. Hibiki-san said he doesn't remember anything after splitting off from his friends. Noburu-san was actually with her friends when she went missing. Her friends say her face went blank and she walked away, saying she had to use the bathroom. Noburu-san told us she doesn't remember anything after that point. And Rikuto-san says he was missing for a whole week. Apparently, a psychic medium told him he was spiritually strong, and he was working to be a priest like his father. He also doesn't remember anything. There was one thing that he said he remembered though." Naru said thoughtfully.
"What is it?" I asked curiously.
"He said he remembered hearing a voice telling him he was okay." Naru said as Lin finished up what he was doing.
"How strange... what if whatever is doing this only target first years?" I asked curiously.
"I'm hoping that has nothing to do with the motive behind these disappearances." Naru said frowning. "If at some point you don't feel comfortable with this, let us know."
"I will." I said smiling. "I've got to get going. I'll talk to you two later."
"Be careful, Aki." Lin told me.
"Don't worry, Lin. I'm always careful!" I said before leaving the room. I rushed to my classroom and saw everyone rushing around to get the last-minute things ready.
"Aki, we were worried you weren't going to make it in time." Michiru said relieved to see me.
"I don't plan on missing this." I said smiling. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No, I think we've got everything set up." Shima-san said smiling. "We're cooking small batches of food for when our first customers come."
"Okay." I said smiling. They covered the teacher's podium, desk, and the board with some black out curtains. The desks were pushed to the back of the room and used as a big table to put appliances and other stuff on it. There were smaller, round tables dotted across the rest of the room covered in red table clothes. The lights were dimmed a little and hanging on the windows were several big sheets of black paper that had zombies, ghosts, demons, and other various supernatural creatures drawn on them. Tealights glued to white construction paper tubes were tied to fishing string and hanging from the ceiling. That's so cool. I thought as I looked at them. Everyone put a lot of hard work and effort into this and it looks amazing! I can't wait to check out other rooms.
"Everyone get ready, our first customers are coming!" Shima-san said coming from the hall. He had a few people handing out flyers. I grabbed a serving tray and some menus and waited by the door. Shimura-san had gone back out into the hallway. Three students came in. They were girls and I believe they're third years.
"Welcome to Hell's Café!" I greeted them with a smile. "Please follow me and I'll take you to your table."
"I like your outfit," One of them said smiling.
"Thank you, Miss." I said, curtsying a little. "Here's your table and your menus."
"Everything looks so good." Another one said eagerly.
"Take your time." I said patiently.
"I'll have a slice of chocolate cake and a human soul! The lemonade one please." The first girl said.
"And I'll have two blackberry scones and tea." The second one said.
"Do you want sugar and cream with it?" I asked her.
"Yes, please." She said nodding.
"I'll have a hazelnut chocolate chip scone, a cannoli, and pomegranate juice." The third one said.
"Okay, I'll be back with your order very shortly." I told them before heading back to the kitchen area. "One chocolate cake, two blackberry scones, a hazelnut chocolate scone, and a cannoli!" I called. I got the drinks ready and Mai ended up helping me bring out the food and drinks. "Your orders are ready!"
"These look amazing!" The first girl said excitedly. The rest of my 'shift' went on like this. The other girls gradually got more comfortable with serving and eventually Shimura-san said told me my shift was over and I was free to check out the other classrooms. Mai was able to join me.
"I think our classroom is doing well." Mai said as we walked to Naru's base. I needed to change back into my normal clothes, but I don't want to mess up the mic and camera.
"But we haven't seen the other classrooms yet." I said grinning.
"You have a point." Mai said smiling. We made it back to the classroom.
"How's it going?" Lin asked as soon as we entered.
"I think it's going well." I said smiling. "I'm going to change back into my normal clothes. I didn't want to mess up the camera and mic." I got changed and then Mai and I headed back out into the hallways. We ended up going through a spook house themed classroom. Obviously, it was going to be like a maze, but the decorations were really good. As soon as Mai and I stepped inside, a ghoul jumped at us causing Mai to scream and cling onto my arm. I chuckled.
"Come on, Mai. We deal with real life ghosts all the time." I said grinning.
"It still scared me." She muttered, blushing. "Just because we do deal with real life ghost, that doesn't make me immune to being scared." I just shrugged, and we continued on. We made it through to the end and unfortunately for this class, I wasn't scared once. Mai on the other hand didn't let go of my arm the whole entire time and screamed a lot. From there we went on to a Murder Mystery themed classroom. Somewhere after that, my mind went a little fuzzy and I started to feel detached. What's going on?
Mai's P.O.V
"Aki, there's a," I started to say, turning to look at Aki. Only, Aki wasn't there. She was gone. "Aki?" I called out. I couldn't find her anywhere. Remembering that she had a mic and camera on her, I went back to Naru's base. "Naru, Aki's gone missing!" I said as soon as I got inside.
"Yes, we're tracking her now. She seems to be making her way outside of the school." Lin said frowning.
"At least we know it's not relevant to whether or not she's a first year." Naru said sighing. Mai watched the screen as Aki makes it out of the school. Where's she going? We watched as she headed towards the back of the school and kept going.
"Mai, is there anything behind this school?" Lin asked.
"Hm... well there's an old shed that used to be a janitorial office. But it was apart of the old school, so it's not used anymore. Michiru, Keiko, and I explored it once, but there isn't much in there. Just an old table and a lot of spider webs and dust." I said shrugging.
"She might be heading there." Naru said thoughtfully. "Is there anything else back there?"
"Um, just a big field with nothing in it." I said frowning. "Eventually, you'd run into a fence."
"I see. Should we call Takigawa-san?" Lin asked.
"Yes, and call Yasuhara-san." Naru said thoughtfully. "We'll need some extra hands." Lin nodded and got on the phone. I watched as the shed came into view.
"She's heading towards the shed." I said getting Naru's attention. Suddenly, the camera feed shorted out and the screen went blank. "What happened?"
"I don't know. The battery was new." Naru said frowning.
"Takigawa-san and Yasuhara-san are on their way." Lin announced.
"Good, in the meantime, let's go check out that shed." Naru said getting up. "Mai, you should get back with your class."
"I don't... I don't want to leave Aki. I feel like if I do, then I won't see her again." I said shuddering.
"We won't let anything happen to her." Lin promised. "Please go back to your class. I'm sure they're worried about you."
"O-Okay." I said getting up and sighing. Please be okay, Aki.
No One's P.O.V
Naru and Lin left the base and went out to the shed. "She's not here." Lin said after checking it thoroughly.
"She must've gone towards the field." Naru said thoughtfully.
"Naru!" Monk's voice called out. Lin and Naru turned to see Monk and Yasu heading towards them. "We came as fast as we could. Luckily, we were both close by."
"We think she's gone past the shed into the open field." Lin said frowning. He was worried about Aki as well. "We had a camera and mic on her, but the camera went out."
"Anything on audio?" Yasu asked curiously.
"Nothing." Naru said sighing. "Let's find her." The other three nodded and started searching the field. They searched until the sun started to set, but they couldn't find her.
"Where did she go?" Monk pondered as they made it back to the base. They were going to go over the footage and audio that they have so far.
"Mai said she would've eventually run into a fence." Lin said frowning. After fast forwarding through most of the footage, Lin stopped right before Aki left Mai. "This is where it started." They watched as Aki made her way through the crowd and out the back of the school. She stopped at the shed and that's when the camera went out. The audio however picked up birds and other animals. It sounded like she started walking again and they didn't hear anything until they heard themselves talking and calling out for Aki.
"She had to have been nearby." Monk said shocked. "I'm going to look for her some more."
"I'll come with you." Yasu said standing up.
"We'll stay here and continue monitoring the audio. It's still recording." Naru said nodding.
"Okay, call if you find anything." Monk said and the two of them left the room. They went back out to the field behind the school.
"There aren't very many places to hide out here." Yasu said thoughtfully.
"Not if you don't count the old school building. Well, what's left of it anyway." Monk said sighing.
"Old school building?" Yasu asked curiously.
"Yeah. The very first time I worked with Naru and Lin, I was called out to check out the old school building here. Ayako and Masako were called in as well. It was... very interesting to say the least." Monk said chuckling. "Turned out, one of Mai's classmates has a talent in ESP and made up all the stories about the old school building being haunted and whatnot. Gave us a few good scares, though."
"Do you think Aki may have cut across to the old school building, then?" Yasu asked curiously.
"No, it was torn down after our investigation." Monk answered. "I'm surprised the shed is still standing though." Monk's phone rang. "Yeah?"
"We can hear your conversation. So, either she got rid of the mic or she's nearby." Naru said and you could hear the frown in his voice.
"I found it!" Yasu called a few meters away. "She got rid of it."
"Great." Monk muttered. "She could be anywhere, and Mai isn't going to like this."
"She's here with us." Naru explained. "Have you found anything else?"
"Wait, there's something here!" Yasu said sounding excited.
"What is it?" Monk asked curiously.
"It's like a tunnel. I don't know where it leads to though." He said frowning.
"Stay where you are. We'll join you." Naru ordered before hanging up.
"Naru, Lin, and Mai are coming." Monk said looking at Yasu.
6:45 pm
Aki's P.O.V
Huh? Where am I? I thought as I came to. It's dark and damp wherever I am. The camera was still on me, but the mic was gone. I got up, or at least I tried to. My body felt so heavy and exhausted. What happened? Did that spirit or whatever come after me? That must be it. I remember walking around the school, checking out the other classrooms with Mai. And then I remember myself slowly slip away from consciousness and woke up here. "Hello?" I called out. My voice sounded hoarse, like I'd been screaming until I couldn't scream anymore. How odd. I tried getting up again and managed to succeed. I had to hold on to the wall, so I wouldn't fall over. I slowly made my way down what seemed like a tunnel. "Hello?" I called out again. No one answered. "Is anyone there?" I kept going no matter how much I wanted to stop and sit back down. What seemed like forever, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Is that outside? Please let it be outside. "Hello?" I called out again.
"Hey, did you hear that?" A familiar voice asked in a hushed tone. It had to be Naru.
"Help me!" I called out, more frantically.
"Aki!" That sounded like Mai.
"Mai?" I answered.
"Hold on Aki, we're coming! We see you!" It was Monk this time. There was the sound of feet rushing towards me and suddenly, I was being hugged by Mai.
"Aki, I'm so glad we found you." She said in relief. I hugged her back.
"Do you remember what happened?" Lin asked me as Mai and I pulled out of the hug. I wobbled a bit and he steadied me.
"I remember walking the school with Mai and starting to feel detached and then nothing." I said as I leaned against him. "My body feels so heavy right now."
"Alright, let's get you back to the school." Monk said and gave me a piggyback ride back to the school. The principal was waiting for us in the base. Monk let me down and I sat down in one of the chairs. I hope everything went smoothly for the class.
"It happened again." The principal said shocked.
"Yes, but this time we were able to find her." Naru said reassuringly. He and Lin went over the footage and audio with the principal and Naru said he would have Ayako make talismans to put on the entrances of the school.
"How soon can she make them?" The principal asked nervously.
"I'll call her now and have her come over as soon as possible." Lin told him. The principal nodded and left the base. Mai made me some tea and after I drank it, it was like the heaviness left my body.
"Thanks, Mai. I feel better now." I said smiling at her.
"You look like you feel better." Yasu said smiling too.
"Yeah, after drinking the tea, it was like all the heaviness left my body." I said shrugging.
"That's good." Lin said after getting off the phone. "Miss Matsuzaki is on her way."
"Good." Naru said sighing. "In the meantime, let's get this all taken down." As soon as all the equipment was put away, Ayako showed up with the talismans. She didn't look to happy to be here though. I'm assuming she was in the middle of something. Later, I asked Mai about how the rest of the festival went. She said it went great and that our class was a favorite amongst the students. I was happy to hear that. At home, I took a long hot shower and went to bed. I'm so tired. I thought, laying down. I hope those talismans work.
