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"Everyone is still here, but they aren't aware of each other's existence," dream Naru said.
"So that's how is is..." Mai said. 'And then something else is strange. Even when they're together, their appearance is kind of scattered.' Mai fell into a squat and hugged her knees. "Oh, thank goodness..." 'They're all okay. Absolutely everyone is. I'm not left hanging alone.' "… So then, what should I do?" Dream Naru kneeled down and put a hand on her shoulder.
"You've already been steadily appearing more and more capable by yourself, so you should be okay, right?" he asked.
"… You didn't hear what I said?" she asked.
"That's not it," he said. "—Still calm?"
"… Yeah."
"It will still be safe here for a little while. However, for my peace of mind there's still one thing I need you to do. There's some resistance keeping me from getting out, so I can't go out there with you."
"… Go out there yourself? Then—this entire time, Naru has been allowing me to see these dreams? By suggestion?"
Dream Naru smiled at her.
'Naru is—' Mai thought, blushing a little.
The Forgotten Children (Part 6)
"—That's one method, understand?" dream Naru asked.
"… Yeah," Mai said.
"At the time you need to wake up, you have to remember your own body, and then you will return properly," he said.
"Okay, I understand," she said. "—But how should I persuade them?"
"You should inspire them to increase their light."
"Their light?"
"Yeah. I don't understand it very well myself, so I think of it in terms of heaven and hell. That's the best way to explain it, I think. A person has a body and spirit to be able to exist. Furthermore, I think a spirit must have two things in order to exist as well. That is a soul and self. That self is like a transparent film. The soul looks like water in that its shape won't settle or become fixed. The self completely encloses the soul, giving it shape and allowing it to perform actions since the self is a transparent membrane, the appearance or color of the soul 'water' inside can be seen through it. There must be the self and the soul together to produce the appearance and the form of a spirit, I think. Even further, the soul is also like water in that as water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, the soul is also made of particles of feeling. Among those particles, there are two types—plus and minus. Plus particles radiate light, while minus particles absorb it. The feeling of plus particles is light and minus is dark. With any action done by the soul, those two particles are always made. They are radiated to the outside through the film of the self. The plus particles are lightweight and rapidly rise, while the minus are heavy and therefore sink. And then, similar particles will attract each other, collect and occupy a large space that is—"
"Heaven and hell… or something like that," Mai said.
"Exactly," dream Naru said. "When a person dies they lose their body and become only a spirit. At that time, if their soul has too many minus particles, their spirit will be very heavy and they will end up sinking. While those rapidly sink down, the feeling of the plus is the opposite and they try to rise. They end up repelling each other out of the spirit. And then because of that, the spirit becomes heavier and sinks faster as the plus particles are forced out—before long, they end up containing only minus particles."
"… And that's an evil spirit?" Mai asked.
"—Yeah. They are everyone who didn't want to die. Therefore, when they did die, they couldn't accept that reality. They were scared, and they were saddened, and now they are also lonely and bitter. Wanting to remain in existence a little longer in this world, they can't be satisfied. But this world is already no longer theirs. The only thing that could gratify them would be to reclaim this world as their own."
"… That's so sad..." Mai said. 'They are here, Kirishima-sensei and the children too. The minus feeling is too large, and they are sinking...'
"In order to save them, it is necessary for the light—and for that, they must be inspired to raise their plus feeling. If we do that, they will become lighter and be able to rise up. The more plus feeling they take in the more they will rise, and they will become peaceful."
"But… How do I do it?"
"The most important thing to begin with, you have to personally become a thing of light. The plus feeling is a warm and gentle emotion. Compassion is necessary, but you should not pity them. You should have the gentle feeling of pure water and address them like your own companions. If you do this and also have your own plus particles, they will begin to emit them as well."
"It sounds complicated..."
"A little, but it isn't really that hard, To be honest, the easiest way to do this is to bring out your own gentle feelings and warm memories. There are some people who don't possess those though. But you're not one of them—right?"
"You think so?"
"Sometimes there exists a person who has already sunk down into the place of minus particles. The truth is that the way the spirit is does not consider the state of life or death. However, a living person's self is very heavy and abundant. Therefore no matter how many plus particles are emitted, it won't be easy for them to reach inside that person. That is why it is very difficult to save a living person using this method. Believe in yourself. You can definitely do it," dream Naru said, put his hand on hers.
"… Okay," Mai said. Dream Naru smiled and withdrew from her.
Mai's hand twitched. She slowly opened her eyes. She was in the same sitting position that she had seen her body in in the dream. "Naru…?" No one else was there. 'I—was dreaming again.' Mai looked at her hand. '… No, that's not right. It wasn't a dream." she clenched her fist and held it to her chest. 'I really did meet Naru. Just now, Naru was here. But hold on. Because I left my body, I met him. Even Naru might not be able to do something like that. Naru was supposed to put me under suggestion in order for me to enter a trance state. But because we became scattered, he wasn't able to do that. The Naru I meet when I have out-of-body experiences is very gentle. … Perhaps, when you become a body-less spirit, your self gets very light, and if that's how it is, then maybe when I meet my friends only as a spirit I can see their true self more easily? If the Naru in my dreams is a spirit, then… if it's like that, maybe it's possible perhaps deep down he really is a gentle person...' Her expression softened as she thought that. "—I really do like Naru, huh..." She could hear the rain pouring down outside. It was time to get to work. She remembered what Naru had told her.
—Before making use of your power, you'll have to significantly reduce the tension in your body. Slow your breathing, concentrate on the breaths you take. Focus your consciousness on counting your breaths. Breathe in and out three times, and then begin by releasing the tension from your fingers. Three times, one by one and a little at a time, slowly extract the tension from them. After the fingers is the wrist. Next is the elbow. Relax the shoulders, and then the legs. Once the arms are completely relaxed, then you start on the lower back. Become limp like you're going to collapse, since you're going to end up unconscious. Finish with the neck, and now the tension has been released from the entire body—Think about things related to Kirishima.
'I should only be vaguely conscious,' she thought after following his instructions. 'And if it's working, I should concentrate on the onibi in the teacher's room. Things literally related to the name 'Kirishima' might also work. … Kirishima-sensei...' Mai's spirit floated up from her body.
BANG!
Mai felt as if she had been thrown. She slammed into the ground.
'Did I mess up…?' she wondered. She looked around and found herself surrounded by darkness. She heard crying. She looked in that direction and saw the inside of the crashed bus. Small, broken bodies were scattered all over.
"It hurts!"
"Sensei—"
"It hurts!"
"Senseeei!"
'—This can't be...' Mai thought.
"… Mariko! Shigumi! Takato! Ai!" a man called desperately. "Is everyone okay?" he asked while cradling one of the smaller children in his arms. "What's wrong? Answer me! Are you okay!?" the children continued to cry. It was getting harder to understand them. "Come on, heeey! Come on and answer me! Mika! Masami—!" Some of the crying voices could no longer be heard. "… Why…. This… Why did something like this…!?"
'It's horrible,' Mai thought, holding her face in her hands. 'Such a thing, it's too horrible—!' She heard the crunching sound of glass being stepped on.
"—Let's go back, okay?" Kirishima said, standing up. "To the school. Let's go back and get your injuries treated. And then there won't be anything to worry about anymore."
"—… Wait!" Mai said. "Please, wait, Kirishima-sensei! You can't do that. You can't take them with you!" Kirishima stopped and looked back at her. "You can't do this Sensei, you, and these children too, you're already dead. Please understand. You're all already dead. If you take them with you, they'll only be in pain, and they won't be able to find any comfort." Kirishima started walking toward her. "They won't be able to go home either. And they won't be able to see their mothers again. And not one of them won't become consumed with bitterness because of it…!" Kirishima reached out and grabbed her. "Sensei…!" He pulled her around, and she was suddenly facing a classroom full of children. '—Eh?'
"I'd like to introduce our new transfer student," Kirshima said. "This is Taniyama Mai-san, everyone be sure to make friends with her, okay?"
"Okaaay!" the kids said.
'… What the heck is this?' Mai thought. 'I'm not a transfer student—'
"Sensei this will make forty people exactly, right?" a little girl asked.
"Oh, good job! You counted everyone perfectly," Kirishima told her.
'Just as I thought… all the children that went missing have been brought here and integrated into the class as transfer students,' Mai thought.
"We have an awful lot of people now, so shouldn't there really be two classes?" the little girl asked.
"That's true, we probably should start up a second class, huh?" Kirishima said.
"But there isn't another teacher though," a little boy said.
"It'll be fine. Very soon we'll get another teacher," Kirishima said. "I guess I'll have to make sure to prepare the staff room..."
'No way, is he talking about Bou-san and the others…?' Mai wondered.
"Isn't it great?" the little girl said, hugging Kirshima's arm. "The school has become full again so quickly, right, Sensei!" She looked so happy. Mai felt sorry for them.
'A sudden disaster… their sad hearts made a lonely school,' she thought. 'They're lonely because the school is now their whole world, they think it will be good if it becomes full. But there were no children to come on as first year students, so they most they could expect were transfer students.' "… Kirishima-sensei—please stop this. Even if you fill this school building, you'll still be lonely. Everyone is lonely because this world will never have what you want. Please, don't do this anymore."
"—What are you talking about?" Kirshima asked with a closed-eye smile.
"Everyone is already dead," Mai said earnestly. "When you were coming back from your field trip, there was an accident and everyone was killed. It seems like you've forgotten, but please try to remember, otherwise you'll just be lonely and bitter here forever. It's horrible that such small children died so suddenly. Because of that, I can really understand why you don't want to accept it, sensei. However, their current existence is only painful because of it. You brought them here, and in the same way you've brought in others as transfer students—"
"You're a little bit of a strange child, aren't you Taniyama-san?" Kirishima said.
"Everyone try to remember!" Mai begged. "You had a terrible accident, and everyone died!"
"… Uh..." a little boy sobbed, and the rest of the children began to cry too.
"I'm sorry I'm saying such mean things, but aren't you in pain? Aren't you sad? If you want to escape that pain, you have to go on to heaven. By collecting more friends and making them share your pain, it will never go away."
"You're a very malicious child, you've made everyone cry," Kirishima said angrily. "Don't you feel bad for them?"
"Because of the way they're existing here, of course I feel bad!" Mai said. "They'll never go home, and staying here, they'll never see their families again, and that's just too pitiful! In here, isn't there anyone who wants to go back home? Aren't there people who want to see their mothers and fathers again?"
"… Mommy…?" one little girl cried.
"Mooommy..." another wailed.
"Daaaddy..." a little boy sobbed.
"Mooommy..." another child cried.
"Uwaaaah..." cried another.
"I wanna go home!" said another.
"It's a lie!" Kirishima yelled. "All that about dying is a lie! Don't believe any of it!"
BANG!
The doors started slamming open and shut.
"Such a thing would never happen in my world!" Kirishima said.
"Sensei, please understand!" Mai pleaded. His face was becoming something inhuman.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Kirishima yelled. "Me and this world and the way things are, it's all just fine!" With every sentence, Mai was forced backwards, until she was thrown out of the room.
"Kyaa!" she cried as she plummeted into darkness.
"—Mai, go back!"
'Naru…!?' she thought.
"Go back to your own body!" Mai tried to concentrate on doing that. She opened her eyes and found that she had succeeded.
"… I messed up..." she said, holding a hand to her head. 'What should I do? Kirishima-sensei is most likely very angry. … How can I possibly persuade him now?' She remembered his words.
Me and this world and the way things are, it's all just fine.
'There's no way its fine,' Mai thought. 'Being stuck like this, I feel sorry for Kirishima-sensei and the children too. They're eternally lonely. They're lonely, and so they keep adding new friends. Their numbers keep growing and growing, and yet… But Kirishima-sensei is a really gentle person. Those children were the most precious things in the world to him, and that's why he ended up doing something like this I think. Myself too, I don't want to leave this building without all of my friends with me. —But.' She remembered what dream Naru told her.
Compassion is necessary, but you should not pity them. You should have the gentle feeling of pure water and address them like your own companions—
"… So that's it," Mai said. "I did something stupid, huh." She stood up and clenched her fists. "—Okay! Round two! … But having said that, I wonder what I can do… specifically..." She sweat-dropped. Then, something occurred to her. "—the classroom." She opened the door and stepped outside the room. 'The one on the first floor… I should go check the classroom that they all used. If I use that location, my voice may be able to reach the teacher and the children.' She shut the door behind herself. She heard the sound of something slithering across the floor. She looked down and saw three gaki. They were just as Hitomi and Bou-san had described them. 'There's nothing to be afraid of. These are actually children,' Mai reminded herself. 'Perhaps could this be Mariko-chan and Takato-kun? A person had a body and a spirit to be able to exist, therefore these children only lack a body.' "—… Hey, let's go to the classroom," Mai said. The children stopped crawling and looked up at her. Mai gave them a gentle smile. "You know, if you want to go to the classroom, will you go with me? I want to see the rest of the class and Kirisima-sensei. Just now I did something unkind, so I want to apologize to them. So will you come with me to the classroom?" The children looked at each other, then turned and waited for her to follow. "… Thank you." Mai followed them through the school, collecting more children as they went. One of them reached up to her to hold her hand. 'See? There's nothing dangerous about them.' Mai entered the classroom. There was a large, adult-sized gaki sitting at the teacher's desk. There were children all over the classroom. "—Sensei and everyone, I'm sorry about what I did just now." She bowed. "I spoke to you all in a terrible way. But I do have one more thing to say. Please do not continue to collect any more friends." Kirishima stood up. He stepped toward her. "And please return my friends to me. Sensei is precious to everyone here, and just like that my friends are all very precious to me. Just like how all of you like your sensei and your friends, I love all my friends too."
The plus particles' warm and gentle feeling—
"… You know, Naru," Mai said. "Ah, there's this person called Naru among my friends, you know?" She smiled and laughed a little. "Naru appears to be a really cold-hearted person, but he can be unexpectedly gentle sometimes too. And he's also really skilled at magic tricks. Because of that, I think that outer appearance of his has started to wear off and his real self is being revealed. There's also Hitomi-sempai. She's a good sempai, really pretty and kind. She's a strong, dependable person. She's always helping me. She invites me over to her home and treats me like family. She's like an older sister. And then there's Lin-san. He's always completely expressionless, hardly ever talks, and seems really unfriendly. But I think he's actually a really nice person too. And you know, even though he's like that you can actually get him to laugh sometimes, and when he does, he gives off a really good energy and becomes very nice. Speaking of that quiet person, Masako is also like that a lot of the time, but she's also very level-headed. She can be very cheeky, but she'd also amazingly brave and she has times where she acts like a normal girl, too. So, I'm really glad that I've become friends with her. —Now that I think of it, I had a bad first impression of Bou-san and Ayako too. Heh. Heh. Though Ayako is actually a really obliging person, she can be kind of exasperating. But you know, Ayako can be really helpful when the need arises. She reminds me of my deceased mother. My mom was a little quieter, though. Bou-san's teasing seems like the kind a father would do. He has big hands that he uses to mess up my hair a lot, and I reeeeally like him. That's a secret though, okay? John likes to use a kind of strange Kansai-ben. He's usually very humble and quiet, though he can become serious very suddenly but always has a really gentle look in his eyes… Those and other similar things make him a really amazing person. Whenever I'm around Yasuhara-san, he makes me feel happy and cheerful. No matter what kind of difficulties we're facing, Yasuhara and Bou-san will have something funny to say. You get the feeling that you'll always be able to manage somehow or other." '—It's really true, Naru. My recollections of everyone are causing new light and a warmth to be created.' "I want to be with my precious friends. I want to leave this place with them, and return to Tokyo together with them. So, I wish you would return them all to me. The friends that came herewith all of you have come to be precious, and you've eventually come to love them, I think. Not being with your loved ones will only make you sad and lonely. So I think everyone should stay together."
"—Together?" the child holding her hand asked. Mai looked down at the child and smiled.
"Yeah. What's your name?" she asked.
"Sugiura Ayano," the child answered and her appearance became more human.
"Ayano-chan, you love your father and mother, right?" Mai asked.
"Yeah, I do!" Ayano said.
"I also love my friends and Ayano-chan too," Mai said.
"Me too?" Ayano asked.
"Do you like Sensei too?" Mai asked. "He's really nice and a good teacher, right?"
"Yeah, I really like him!" Ayano said. "But he's kind of scary when you make him mad. And you know, he's really good at the horizontal bar. But he's kind of tone deaf too."
"Hahaha, oh really?" Mai laughed. "Do all of you like your sensei? If Sensei wasn't here, you'd all be very lonely, wouldn't you?"
"… Yeah," one kid said.
"We don't want him to leave," said another.
"There are people who feel the same way about all of the children who came here as transfer students too, though," Mai said. "That's very sad because you brought in new friends so you'd have more people to play with, right? But those children also had their own teachers that they loved. Say, everyone is here with Kirishima-sensei, and have become a class with your friends. Are you lonely?"
"No, we're not," a boy said.
"Great! You're a clever boy, huh?" Mai said, patting him on the head.
"Yeah!" he said. Mai looked at Kirshima and smiled.
"You all really love your sensei, huh?" Mai said. "Your beloved sensei exists in this world and this world exists for you because of your sensei's love. And that is a wonderful thing, I think. Kirishima looked from Mai to the children.
"—Maybe I have been doing something really terrible," Kirishima said.
"… Yes," Mai said gently.
BANG!
The door to the classroom slammed open. Through the open doorway, Mai could see an endless expanse of grassy land and blue sky. It was a bright, beautiful place.
"Uwaaah!" the kids cheered.
"—Everyone. Do you want to go on another field trip?" Kirishima asked.
"Really!?" the children said excitedly.
"Yeah, really," Kirishima said with a small smile.
"… But I don't want to ride on the bus again," the little girl name Ai said timidly.
"Don't worry. We won't use the bus, we'll all walk there," Kirishima said. He walked over to stand by the door. "Shall we go? The smaller children should hold one of their upperclassman's hands. Make sure to pay attention and don't fall behind. The children all came over to him. Mariko waved goodbye to Mai as she went. Mai smiled and waved goodbye.
"Hey now, Ayano, you too," Kirishima said. "Let's go."
"Okaaay," she said and let go of Mai's hand. "Onee-chan, bye-bye!" She waved goodbye, holding Kirshima's hand to cross over.
"… Bye-bye," Mai said. She watched them leave through the door. Kirishima bowed his head to her. The door closed behind them. Mai stood there and looked around at the empty classroom. She cried for the children. She looked at the windows. She could see the moon was high in the sky. She walked over to the window and tried to open it. "Errrrgh!" She struggled with it at first because the wood was stuck, but it opened. A soft breeze ruffled her hair. "… Heh heh heh." She jumped out the window and landed on the ground. She turned around and looked at the old school building. She smiled.
Hitomi and Naru suddenly realized they were sitting next to each other.
"Hitomi?" he said, surprised.
"Naru?" she said, equally surprised. They were so close their shoulders were almost touching, and turning their heads to look at each other put them close enough to kiss.
"Heeeeey!" Mai yelled at the top of her lungs, startling them.
"Wait, did that sound like it came from outside?" Hitomi asked, eyes widening.
"It did," Naru agreed.
KABANG!
One window frame came flying off a second floor classroom.
"—What the—?" Bou-san said.
"Bou-san!" Mai called, waving her arms to get his attention.
"..." Bou-san stared at her.
"What's wrong—?" Mai asked.
"There's something off concerning the age and appearance, I'm thinking," he said.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Well, whatever. Here I go!" Bou-san said, jumping out the window.
"Gwah!?" Mai yelled, startled and concerned. Bou-san landed perfectly. "Don't do things like that," she told him, sweat-dropping. Then he lost his balance and started hopping backwards on one foot while waving his arms. Mai sighed.
"Ahh, you're still young, aren't—" Yasuhara said with a smile from another second story window.
"Yasuhara-san!" Mai said.
"Yo! I have to show that I still have the skills of a young person, anyway," Bou-san said. "You gonna try it too?"
"I refuse!" Yasuhara said bluntly with a gleam in his eyes.
"What kind of embarrassing things are you doing now?" Ayako asked from an open window on the first floor.
"It's Ayako—! Long time no see—!" Mai said, waving at her.
"No kidding," Ayako said. "I was wondering where on earth everyone had disappeared to."
"It was actually you who had disappeared though—" Mai said.
"Don't quibble over such minor details," Ayako said.
"Really, and yet—" Mai said when the door front door opened, and she saw Lin. "Ah, Lin-sa—" Naru stepped out behind him, followed by Hitomi. 'Naru...' Mai thought, so happy and relieved to see him. 'And Hitomi-sempai...' Naturally, she was relieved to see her too, but… "—Na—" she started to say when Masako came out another door.
"Mai!" she called.
"Ah, Masako. So you're okay?" Mai asked.
"That's what I should be saying to you," Masako said. "What on earth happ—" Then she caught sight of Naru. "Naru! Are you all right?" she asked, immediately changing course to go to him instead. Hitomi smiled wryly at the priceless expression on Mai's face.
'Very direct...' Mai thought, sweat-dropping.
"Mai-san!" John said, running towards her. "Are you all right?"
"Y-Yeah, thanks..." Mai said. She smiled. 'Everyone is free, and though we were only separated for a short time, it seems kind of nostalgic somehow. I'm so glad that I got to meet them all again.'
"—And then? Who managed to do the exorcism?" Bou-san asked.
"Since you said that, I must assume that it wasn't you, Takigawa-san," Yasuhara said.
"… It certainly wasn't Shounen," Bou-san said, holding his chin.
"If someone like me could have done it, it wouldn't have been a problem for the rest of you, right?" Yasuhara said with a smile. "Shibuya-san... also couldn't have been the one since he's still fine apparently. Matsumoto-san?"
"I didn't do anything," Hitomi admitted frankly.
"I also didn't do anything," Masako said. "And I don't think it was Lin-san or Brown-san either. But I definitely did see a light of purification, so there must have been an exorcism performed."
"It's true, it wasn't me either," John said.
"So then it must have been—" Bou-san said. Mai grinned and pointed at herself. Bou-san, John, and Masako all looked at Ayako.
"M-Me!?" Ayako said. Mai nearly fell over.
"You-You're kidding! There's no way I could, since there aren't any sacred trees in this area!" Ayako said.
"Hmmmmmmm," they all said as Ayako, Masako, Bou-san, Yasuhara, and John all stood in a circle, trying to figure out who it could be.
"Excuse me. Heeey," Mai said in a small voice, still pointing at herself.
"… There's no one else left though," Yasuhara said.
"That's not true!" Mai said.
"No way! It's my vote that the purification just kind of occurred naturally somehow," Ayako said.
"Really?" Yasuhara said.
"Well then, shall we head back?" Bou-san asked as he stated walking away.
"Eeeh!?" Mai exclaimed, flinching in shock. '… Hold on, aren't you all forgetting someone—? Oh well, I am usually good-for-nothing though, I guess—Grrr. Since I've never been helpful before, it wouldn't occur to them that I'd be effective in this case. Tch. Well, it's fine though. Since everybody's okay after all...' Someone was rubbing her head. Mai looked up. Bou-san was grinning at her. Masako and Ayako patted her on the back as they passed her. John smiled at her as he passed. Yasuhara too. Even Lin. Hitomi smiled and patted her on the back.
"… Good job," Naru said as he passed her. Mai looked at him, pleasantly surprised. Mai smiled.
'… Well, it's fine,' Mai thought.
However, after this, the real case was still lying in wait for them.