Mizutani Kuro

Something is wrong. I wonder what's going on with Yamaguchi. Sakamoto says she saved his life, Akamatsu agrees with him, Fujioka isn't saying anything, and Hayami and Kurahashi say they aren't allowed to talk about it. I feel guilty for not telling them about what happened with Maeda, but he insisted we keep quiet. Now somethings happening to Yamaguchi, and maybe if we'd told them this wouldn't have happened.

I turn around and see the teachers and Agent Kuroki standing between us and the door. To keep others out or to keep us in? Not all of them are here, maybe trying to confuse us, but I know that Karma and Isogai aren't just outside the door like the teachers said they were. I wouldn't tell anyone, because Maeda says it's not normal to know hwere people are all the time. Even if you can't see them. I wonder where they are. I don't think Isogai would be involved in shooting an innocent teenager in the forest, although I can see Karma doing that.

Kugimiya looks like she's about to punch Kuroki, and honestly, I wouldn't care if she did. "What the hell is happening out there?" She asks.

"I'm not allowed to tell you that. Everything will be fine." Kuroki says, and Kugimiya is quite obviously unimpressed with the answer.

Before she can, Akamatsu asks what we're all thinking. "There are gunshots going off. How is that fine?" She's angry, and barely holding it back, but I'm pretty sure she's trying to keep it together for everyone else's sake.

Kugimiya doesn't care. "She's right! You can't just say everything's fine with no explanation. What the hell is even going on in this place? And don't give us that BS you "explained" a few days ago."

"Kugiyama, it may seem like this is made up, but we promise it's the truth." Ritsu appears on Nagisa's phone screen, smiling sweetly. Kugimiya glares at the phone.

"Right now, the truth isn't important. What's happening with Yamaguchi?" I ask, hoping that maybe we'll get at least some explanation from the question. Kuroki shoots me a glare that's obviously meant to put me in my place. I'm tempted to stay quiet, but this seems like my fault because I didn't tell them.

"Again, I'm not allowed to tell you. I promise you everything will be fine." She says, but by now I can see she's losing support from some of the teachers. Kayano, Nagisa, Kurahashi, Yada. None of them look convinced by Kuroki.

Hayami and Chiba seem to reach some sort of understanding about the situation. "We think you should tell them." Hayami says. Ritsu has disappeared.

"Yeah. They need an explanation." Chiba adds. The two of them are sort of scary.

"I can't ignore the rules in this matter. I'm sorry." She says, but by now she can see the argument is lost. "If you try and leave Karma and Isogai will stop you. They didn't hear the conversation."

"They'd understand if we explained it to them." Nagisa says.

"They aren't outside anyway." I say. Everyone looks at me.

"What makes you think that?" Kuroki asks me. There's obvious shock on her face.

"I just know." I tell them.

"I'll check." Nagisa says, before looking out the door. "They aren't here." And then. "How did you know?" Directed at me. I don't know.

"I just...knew." I tell them.

Kugimiya, Akamatsu and Miura have already disappeared into the corridor. I don't spend time to wonder where Karma and Isogai are, I just follow them, closely followed by Nagisa, Chiba, Hayami and Sakamoto. There's a thought in the back of my mind, though. They're going to find out we lied to them.

Somehow the forests seems larger than life, too much space. So many places to look before we can find out what's going on. We unconsciously seem to spread out to cover more space, and I find I can only see a few people between the trees either side of me.

Someone yells something from my right. "What the hell?" It's Kugimiya.

I start walking in that direction, turning into a run. And I can see other people running in her direction as well.

What. The. Hell? Okazaki is pointing A gun at Yamaguchi, and Yamamguchi is pointing at Okazaki, thorns circling around her arm. I see the what-the-hell factor. Yamaguchi turns to look in our direction, and the look on her face is terrified.

"What's happening here?" Hayami asks. I can't tell whether the question is directed at Yamaguchi or Okazaki, or maybe both. Neither of them reply.

Wordlessly, she and Chiba pull the two away from each other, the gun falling to the floor and the thorns following shortly after. It's like they've rehearsed it all. Maybe they have. It wouldn't surprise me. The rest of us just stand there watching. Once again the only thought in my head is "What the hell?".

Something odd is going on. More odd than before. They sent us back to the campus, and locked us in one of the classrooms. It's so weird. They're hiding something. I wonder what they're doing now. Maeda sitting alone in the corner. Akamatsu and Fujioka in another. Kugimiya, Nishida and Nakanishi pacing around the classroom in various directions. Ichinomiya and Sakamoto whispering at the front of the classroom. Sugiyama just looks sour. Ito doesn't look particularly surprised. Odd. Miura is trying to hide her confusion. She's quite good at it. And there are people outside this time. Three of them. Karma, I think. Hayami and Isogai. All silent. But they know something, and they don't want us finding out.

But it must have something to do with the thorns.

And the tentacles.

And why I know who has the gun from the forest.

So. I'm late. Again. Oops... I'm trying to do NanoWrimo and I kinda just... got invested in that. So I haven't been writing much of this lately. Sorry. Anyway, thanks for reading!