ppfff this and chapter 29 were originally supposed to be one chapter but it kept getting longer and longer and longer. So half-way through decided to split it...and it still is so long... whoops. I should have made this the plot for the movie instead xD


''Someone's here! Finally!''

Hotaru couldn't hear the soft voice when she was searching through the closet of the school hall.

''Where are those books?'' She pouted, searching through the mess. ''We need them for today's class''

''I'm here, human! I'm in the corner!''

With a long sign, and still unable to hear the voice, Hotaru shoved a few dusty boxes away.

Then she saw it.

''Yes!''

It was a doll. Just a simple, yet seemingly old, doll. Sitting in the corner of the closet.

It looked so out of place.

Hotaru was somehow drawn to it. Maybe it were those empty, yet glaring, eyes?

Slowly the green-haired girl picked the doll up, staring at it a for a few minutes before deciding to take it with her.

''Soon, I'll get out. Just wait a little longer.''


Op: 'Halloween Night' by Aya Ikeda

Episode 28: Aah! So many questions! Why aren't we getting answers!?


Hotaru had done something she hadn't done in years.

Skipping class.

Before the first class had even started, Hotaru had found herself walking home with the doll clenching tightly to her chest. In some hypnotic daze she just walked the road, closer and closer to her little house.

Luckily she had the keys, and Hotaru opened the door.

Of course, nobody was home. Her parents were working and her little brother was at school.

Why was she doing this?

Hotaru found herself shrugging that question off, as she placed the doll on the most nearby chair.

The big, sockets stared directly into Hotaru's eyes. Somehow, she felt quite at ease, even when she could have sworn the doll's stitched mouth move. It almost seemed to be...breathing.

''Hello, can you hear me now?''

The green-haired girl then awoke from that almost hypnotic state she had been in.

''What?'' Hotaru looked around, confused.

Why did she go home?

Why did she even care about that strange doll?

''Are you alright? I didn't mean to frighten you''

Now, she did hear the voice.

''Y-you can speak?''

Hotaru shook her head violently and didn't wait for an answer.

She had to go back to school!

Her perfect attendance would be ruined!

''Wait!''

But the pleas didn't even fell on Hotaru's ears, as the girl already ran out of the house, leaving the doll in the chair of the room.

''Come back...''

''COME BACK!'' If she could, Roberta would have clenched her teeth so hard. She was so frustrated.

And in that moment, an incredibly small fraction of her powers returned.


''So, now the group is complete. What are we going to do next? To Halloween World?'' Yuina whispered, during lunch-break at the rooftop. Of course the magenta-haired girl sat in the shadows.

After a minute-long silence, Orlok was the first who decided to speak up.

''We can't open the gate yet. Your powers aren't fully developed yet,'' He pointed at Yuina, Miku and Wakaba, all three immediately started inspecting their bodies. Yuina felt her pointy teeth and looked at her pale skin, Miku felt her nose and noticed her fingers were becoming longer and Wakaba looked at her hairy arms and legs.

''What? Seriously?'' Miku hissed. She pointed at her nose with a frown.

''According to my senses, you three are at only the half-way point of your transformation,'' Zeta crossed his arms with an awkward grimace.

''Half-way!?'' The three cried, eyes big as the exchanged nervous glances.

''Zeta,'' Tomoko picked the small critter up. ''We're going to be fine. We'll save King Hallow, father and everyone else!''

''But guys, Halloween is only two months away!'' Yuina suddenly exclaimed as she looked at her agenda, stepping towards Tomoko and Zeta. ''We have to do some-urrgrgg!'' She quickly retreated to the small shadow spot on the rooftop.

''I feel like I'm going to melt every time that sun shines its light on me,'' Yuina snapped. ''My teeth are pointy. I keep biting on my tongue and lip. It's awful and you tell us there's more to come!?''

''Eh...Yuina?''

Yuina's fit was interrupted by a rather weak voice. The owner of said voice was Kurenai, who just had arrived at the rooftop, together with Eve, dressed surprisingly formal.

''Oh~Eve,'' Kirika said, floating towards the woman with a smile. ''What bring you here?''

''I was looking for Yuina Akagawa,'' Eve said. She held up a black suitcase. ''I've got something for you.''

''Yeah, miss-uh...I mean Yuina! Look! Look!'' Kurenai exclaimed, hopping around on the roof with her arms wide. The bright sunlight shining down on her, she closes her eyes with a serene smile and whispers; ''It feels so warm..''

Yuina stood up, but didn't leave her spot.

''How?''

Eve suddenly stood next to her. She opened the suitcase and revealed an awfully long syringe, making almost everyone, sans Kurenai, back off a little.

''This is a special potion which can make your skin resist the sunlight for a few hours. Got it from an old acquaintance. It's pretty old but it seemingly still works,'' The woman explained, holding the syringe in front of Yuina.

''Uh...I'm not really sure If this.. is a good idea..''

''Don't be a baby. You have no problems with drilling your teeth into someones neck but when you are on the receiving end, you're like ''Boohoo, I'm scared!'' God, I hate vampires, they're the worst of all,'' Eve hissed, her voice bitter.

She then forcefully grabbed Yuina's arm and carefully drove the syringe into her arm, making the girl squirm a little.

''What are you doing!?'' Orlok flew to the woman.

''Just wait a minute or two and it will, hopefully, work,'' Eve stated, ignoring the bat and the other faces of disapproval she was given.

''I'm sorry I was absent during the first few classes!'' Hotaru bowed apologetically when homeroom began, Ms. Morino, who only had arrived at school herself, shrugged it off.

''Don't worry, Hotaru,'' She said calmly but with a worried glance. ''..But, what happened? Are you sick? If you don't feel very good you should have stayed at home.''

''No, I'm fine! I just...forgot something,'' Hotaru lied, and awkwardly dragged herself to her desk in the front.

Eve, and Kurenai, accompanied the girls when they returned to the classroom, as soon as Eve saw the girls' teacher she called her over.

''Can I talk to you for a minute, Noriko?'' She whispered as she pretty much dragged the confused woman out of the classroom, while the girls, including Kurenai, entered it.

''Don't you have to go to your class?'' Yuina asked the blonde girl, who played with her scarf a little.

''Oh! Y-yeah!'' She gasped, as she quickly exited the room. ''See you after class!''

Kurenai managed to catch the conversation between Eve and Ms. Morino when she walked to the hallway.

''This morning, I felt a dark presence,'' The pink-haired woman whispered. ''And It wasn't one of those girls.''

''Was it a demon again?''

''No,'' A silence fell. ''I'm sure it was.. a phantom.''

''A phantom!?''


''EH? What are you doing here!?'' The four girls hissed when they saw a familiar face, Kirika, floating in the classroom. She was even wearing a school uniform.

''Don't worry, don't worry~!'' Kirika floated around the classroom, inspecting every desk and playfully look over other students shoulders to see what they were doing. ''Normal humans can't see me!''

''Illusions...being able to fly through walls...being able to fly...'' Miku mumbled, lying with her head on the table. ''Being a ghost doesn't sound bad at all..''

''It's lonely, sometimes,'' Kirika stated, her smile only leaving her face for half a second.

Ms. Morino returned to the classroom with a slightly uneasy expression, which she quickly forced away with a tight smile.

She didn't even look at the students and simply told everyone to ''Do something for yourself, or finish your unfinished homework'' as she took a seat and started frantically looking through various papers lying on her desk.

''Wonder what's up with her?'' Tomoko pondered quietly, scratching her chin a little as she noticed Kirika floating next to her.

Of course, humans couldn't see Kirika, but it still was a little strange to have her float around in the classroom, giggling and talking to herself.

But she was completely quiet now and stared at the teacher in the front.

''Didn't expect you to become a teacher, Nori,'' Kirika whispered to herself. A genuine smile appeared on her pale face as she placed her hands on her chest.

As If her voice was heard, Ms. Morino suddenly looked around, her eyes falling on the supposedly invisible ghost.

Her face paled but she didn't say or do anything.

She just stared.

The ghost let out a weak gasp and quickly fled through the wall.

''Did she saw me?'' The ghost asked out loud, of course she knew nobody would give her an answer.

''Did she recognize me?'' Kirika's seemingly eternal smile had disappeared from her face, the ghost's face was filled with confuse, and fear.

''How? She's just a human, right? No powers, no special-!''

''Kirika?'' A calm voice made the ghost turn around, she was met with the face of a big-eyed girl.

''Oh, Tomoko?'' Kirika smiled again, slowly floating through the empty halls as the green-haired girl followed her.

''You know Ms. Morino, don't you?'' Despite the harshness of the question, Tomoko's voice was just so soothing. It completely calmed Kirika down.

''I do,'' She whispered. ''Well, I did.''

''I know I'm actually not supposed to ask something like this...'' Tomoko began, awkwardly shuffling her feet. ''How.. did you... die?''

Despite being asked another personal question, Kirika could help but admire the girl's courageous yet morbid curiosity.

''You better not talk anymore. It looks like you're talking to yourself...People would think you're strange, weird...they would bully you...'' Was the only thing the ghost said to the alien in human-skin.

''But...I definitely won't stand for that,'' Kirika hissed, turning to Tomoko with a smile. ''Nobody hurts my new friends.''

''You know what? Come to my home after school. We can learn more about each other!'' Tomoko cheered. She clapped her hands together with a cheerful grin as she returned to the classroom, leaving Kirika to roam around on her own.


''Ehm...do any of you know what a 'phantom' is?'' Was the first thing Kurenai asked the group after school.

''Isn't that just a ghost?'' Miku said, crossing her arms but Orlok, Jacky, Wisp and Kirika exchanged nervous looks.

''A phantom is bad news,'' Wisp stated. Her voice didn't even have a hint of the usual morbid glee she normally had.

Kirika floated between the two small fairies, her face serious.

''There is a huge difference between a ghost and a phantom,'' The ghost began, instantly capturing the group's curiosity. ''A ghost is just the 'soul' of a human after said human died, mostly when the person has strong feelings of regret when they die,''

A silence lingered in the air for a minute. Tomoko couldn't help but feel sorry for the ghost, who had to have some regrets when she died.

''A phantom is actually the 'ghost' of a demon. When a demon is killed, or stripped from its body, they become little orb-like 'ghosts', for a lack of better word. However they don't have any power, they can't do anything at all...'' Kirika was interrupted by the smallest girl.

''Like...Wisp?'' Miku turned to the flying orb with a nervous expression. Wakaba hid behind the smaller girl fearfully.

''No, no!'' The small orb floating to the two. Her voice sounded a little offended ''I am a ghost, I was turned into this...thing by that wretched Onibara!''

Kirika giggled at Wisp for a moment before continuing ''Some phantoms from more powerful demons, however, are able to possess a person when they have enough power but there is a catch...'' A short silence fell again. ''When they possess a person, they can't leave the body until that person dies. Well, most of them just...simply kill themselves when they get bored of their hosts.''

''You sure know an awful lot about them,'' Miku said as she stared at the ghost suspiciously, she was quickly joined by Wakaba.

''I helped Eve, and a few other hunters, imprison quite a few,'' Kirika giggled softly, making an ominous air fill the group. ''It is possible to trick phantoms into possessing simple objects. Then they won't be able to do much and they're pretty much stuck until someone breaks the object.''

Wakaba and Miku hugged each other tightly, frightened and nervous they looked at Yuina, who seemed surprisingly collected.

''Of course! Sometimes they can trick persons to switch places with them,'' Jacky interrupted nervously. ''One of my friends was almost tricked to switch places with one who was trapped in a kettle!''

''Speaking of phantoms,'' Kirika began. ''I can show you one, If you want.''

''What!?'' Everyone present had mixed expressions. Miku and Wakaba were scared, Yuina still seemed awfully calm, Kurenai and most of the fairies had a confused expression on their faces and Tomoko, again, had that morbid curiosity.

''Follow me,'' The ghost giggled enthusiastically as she floated ahead, not waiting for the others to follow her.


Hotaru was the first of her family to arrive home, but when she entered the living room she was...shocked at the sight she was met with.

The room was a complete mess, like someone had been trying to shove everything out of the way. The couch was facing a whole different direction then it was before. Broken glass lying all over the room and a lot of papers were spread all over the floor, some even had ''NO'' scribbled on them with crude handwriting.

But in the middle of the room, stood the chair, with the doll on it, facing her with it blank eye-less sockets.

''W-what happened..?'' The green-haired girl muttered out loud.

The doll. It had to be the doll.

Was it cursed? Haunted?

''Why did you leave? I was so lonely''

With one hand, Hotaru grabbed her head. Was she going crazy?

''I'm terribly sorry. when I get lonely, I do things I regret''

That voice...was that really coming from the doll in front of her?

It had to be. There was no one else around. And the doll was the only thing in the whole room seemingly left unscratched.

''Who..?''

''I understand If you're confused, after all..how many times do you meet a living doll?''

So it was the doll that was 'speaking'.

''I'm actually quite confused. Why did you...?''

''As I said, when I get lonely, my emotions sometimes get the better of me. I can't control it. Sorry''

Hotaru wanted to lash out, did that thing seriously think a simple apology would make up for ruining the living room. All those broken glasses, those expensive ones, the ones that her father treasured so much..broken.

They would be so angry.

And they probably won't believe ''the living doll did it''. She could barely believe it herself.

''As soon as I get out, I'll help you clean. I'll even pay for the broken stuff,''

''What? Sorry but could you slow down a bit? I really don't get it.''

After a rather long silence, the voice spoke again.

''My name is Roberta. As a child I was killed by a serial killer and my ghost was imprisoned into this doll,'' The voice was slow, a little distraught, often repeating herself, stuttering and sometimes even correcting herself.

Before the doll, Roberta, had finished the first sentence, Hotaru already felt sick.

Killed by a serial killer? Imprisoned into a doll?

That was a lot to take in.

But Hotaru figured she could at least hear the doll out.

''Must have been painful,'' Hotaru really didn't know anything to say. She just muttered the first thing that came up in her.

''It was.''

''Can I maybe...help you, somehow?''

''Well, there is one way..''


ED: 'Delusion Disco!' - Sakura Nogawa (Tomoko Hoshimoto)