"J-Join my Club?" Naoto asked in surprise. It had been months since the year started, and no one had offered something like this to him.

"Yes. I'm a new transfer student here, and I was actually a member of the Art Club in my previous school, so i thought I'd join here as well."

Naoto scratched his head. He was already in deep shit with all the recent confusion. He wasn't really sure wheter admissioning a new member to the Club was the best idea.

"I'm... a bit busy right now. Come by late-"

"Please!" The girl bent over, her face on the same level as the sitting Naoto. "I love art and I'd really like to make this my nest of creativity. I'd really like to draw here with you!" She grabbed him by the shoulders, edging her face close to his'.

Naoto's face flared up red. What the hell was this girl doing? She was so close to his face. Too close, in fact. "I'm... not sure..." He turned his gaze towards her, noticing how energetic her stare was. She looked like she truly wanted to join the Art-Club more than anything.

"I g-guess I have no other choice, seeing how excited you are." Naoto responded. The girls eyes lit up as she let go of him, almost jumping from excitement. "Seriously?!"

Naoto stood up, taking a small clipboard out of a drawer. "Simply write your name on this paper, and I'll handle the rest." He handed the clipboard to the girl, along with a pen. The girl frantically clicked the pen, beforewriting her name down.

"Emi Shikichi. What a pretty name." Naoto thought to himself as he saw the girl write her name, before handing both things back to him. "There you go. I hope we get along well."

"Uh-yeah... me too." Naoto responded, his face still a little red. "W-Welcome, I guess."

The girl excitedly nodded, before turning around and dashing out of the room. "At least I'll have some company other than her" He thought.

All of a sudden, the door slid open, as Nagatoro entered. "Yo! What's up, Senpai!" Naoto swallowed. "Speak of the devil." He thought to himself. "Hi, Nagatoro."

"What are you doing, loner nerd?" Nagatoro asked as she sat down on the sofa she had recently brought into the room. "I'm finishing the apple from yesterday, remember?"

"Yeah I remember. By the way..." Naoto turned around to see that Nagatoro had gotten up from the sofa and was now inches away from his face. "Who was that girl?"

Those few words instantly gave him goosebumps, and he didn't even know why. "N-Nobody! She was just asking if she could join the Art Club." He said.

Nagatoro smacked her elbow gently against his shoulder, a wide grin forming on her face. "Are you sure, Senpai? You didn't do anything dirty with her, did you?"

"N-No!" Naoto responded. This boring routine again?! It was beginning to exhaust him alongside the fact that his headache was still very much there.

Naoto yawned. "Man, I'm really not in the mood for this. I'm freaking tired." Turned to him. "Then let's go home early. My Club activities were cancelled today, so I have nothing to do."

Naoto rubbed his eyes. "Sure. But first I have to fill out this form and hand it over to the club supervisor. Would you mind waiting outside?" Nagatoro smiled, gently smacking his head. "Sure! But don't take too long."

Naoto stood up from his seat, holding onto the clipboard while he filled out the necessary information to join the club as Nagatoro made her way out of the building to wait for him. He looked at the paper, seeing the name of the girl. "Emi Shikichi... a new member. Huh..."

"It's really pouring out here! I didn't see the weather forecast today, so I had no idea it would rain." Nagatoro said unenthusiastically, her motivation slowly being drained away by the gloomy atmosphere. The two of them were right outside the school, a small structure covering them from the rain. "You should probably check the weather forecast daily. I do it before leaving home, so I'm usually ready for this." Naoto yawned as he reached into his backpack, pulling out an umbrella.

Nagatoro looked at the singular umbrella, before her face turned tomato red. Naoto was confused a second, before staring at his hand. A single umbrella. A singular... umbrella. A single umbrella for two people?! They'd have to share it!

The boy, now flustered, shakily opened the umbrella, before stepping out into the rain, now protected from it. He looked over to Nagatoro, who was red as a beet, before slowly stretching out his shaky hand, inviting her next to him. "L-Let's go."

"Y-Yeah, Senpai." Nagatoro answered, slowly approaching as she got under the umbrella right next to him. The two of them slowly walked out, their shoulders constantly rubbing against eachother. Naoto couldn't Imagine anything more embarassing, and little did he know, neither could Nagatoro.

After dropping her off at her house, Naoto decided to head home himself. He was glad that things felt calmer than the day before, almost feeling normal. The kid walked slowly trough the streets, before finally getting to the park from yesterday. The same spot where that happened.

Actually, he didn't even know if it even happened in the first place. A part of him simply thought it all to be a weird dream. Some sort of weird way for his mind to instinctively let off some steam.

But even if he considered the possibility of it being a mere dream, it still felt too real. He clearly remembered getting beaten up and feeling like he could've coughed blood. He remembered their threats of doing worse things to him if he got close to Nagatoro and the others. He remembered all of it. But the thing he remembered best of all was the feeling of their blood drenching his shirt. The sensation and smell of blood mixing into the rain, covering the beautifully grass with death.

It all felt... too real. Way too real. Naoto turned to the bench, taking a good look at it. This was the same bench where they beat him up. The same one where he called Riko a virgin and spit blood on his pants. Remembering that still got a small chuckle out of him.

He remembered Riko taking out a box cutter, ready to 'gut him'. The thought that he would've actually gone trough with it brought shivers to his spine. Suddenly, Naoto noticed something on the bench. It seemed to be a red stain that was left there.

Naoto slid his finger across the stain, causing a bit of it to stick to it. Naoto brought it closer, before a sudden smell reached his nostrils. It was the same smell as yesterday. There was no doubt about it in his mind. It smelled like blood. No. It was blood

Naoto turned around, checking the spot where he remembered Riko to have fallen in. Another stain. Red again, with the exact same smell. He looked behind the bench where Haru had died. The exact same stain. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't only one stain, there were multiple on the grass. They weren't clearly visible from afar, but to him it was obvious this was blood, knowing what he knew.

The smell brought back the memories clearly again. This was the same place those two died, their heads sliced from their bodies. He still couldn't muster up an answer as to who did it.

But if the blood was still here, where were the bodies? Naoto couldn't answer that either. It was obvious that if the blood was here, the bodies should also be here. This also reminded him that no one had even heard about these deaths. Nothing from the news or from the television. What the hell was happening?

Naoto looked at the blood in his finger. The smell. Anyone else would be deterred by it, but he found it quite pleasing. Pleasing. Yes, quite pleasing. There was something about the faint fragrance of sweetness to the blood that didn't allow him to stop smelling it. "It smells... tasty." Naoto whispered to himself, taking his finger closer to his mouth. It was almost like an insticnt. I mean, if it smelled this good, he couldn't not try it. "Eat. Eat." His finger was inches away from his mouth as he was about to taste the sweet nectar of life.

"Senpai!" Naoto was scared out of his trance, turning around to see whose voice it was coming from. It took him a second, but he recognized the person. "E-Emi?"

The girl hopped her way towards him, getting too close for comfort once more. "What'cha doing, Senpai?"

"N-Nothing!" Naoto answered frantically. If she found out about what he wad thinking a second ago, he'd have no way of explaining it. "What are you doing here? Isn't it really late?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah, but I just wanted to go for a walk." She noticed the smear on Naotos finger quickly. "Eh? Senpai, did you hurt yourself?"

Naoto tried to wiggle his way out of the situation. "Y-...Yes! I accidentally cut myself with the grass while trying to pick up something I dropped." He chuckled nervously. Emi looked at him, her smiling face turning slightly more neutral.

Her face inched closer, but at the same time it didn't. Despite the fact that she hadn't moved one inch from her spot, he felt like she was drilling into him, staring directly at his soul. The girl spoke in a slightly lower tone, grinning ever so slightly again. "Huh... is that so?"

Naoto frantically nodded. "Well, let me help you with that!" The girl jumped back up, seemingly back to her cheery self as she reached for her backpack, pulling out a band-aid and reaching it out to him. "O-oh. Thanks." Naoto said, wrapping it around his pretend-injury.

"Where's your home, Senpai?" The girl asked. Naoto pointed towards a nearby bridge. "Trough the bridge and a little farther around the corner." He answered. "Oh my God! That's really close to where I live! Wanna walk togheter?" Naoto turned his head upward, blushing slightly. "Huh? S-Sure."

"By the way, Senpai."

"Hm?"

"What's your name? I've been calling you senpai all this time, but I don't actually know your name."

Naoto turned to her. "My name?" He thought for a minute. Trough all their time togheter, Nagatoro had never called him by his name. He didn't even know if she knew what his name was. "It's Hachioji. Naoto Hachioji." Emi smiled. "Oh! What a pretty name! Do you mind if I call you Hachioji-Kun?"

Naoto snickered slightly. "Hachioji-Kun? I've never been called that. But sure, go ahead."

"Yay!" The girl jumped. "Nice to make your aquaintance, Hachioji-Kun." Naoto smiled back at her. "Same here, Emi."

"I have to take this path, so I'll see you later! Bye!" Emi yelled as she got farther and farther, with Naoto waving goodbye at her before he made it home as well.

Emi waited until she was out of sight before pulling out her phone. "Hello?" Her voice seemed much less cherry and more serious than before, almost similar to the way she talked to Naoto back there. "This is Shikichi. I found him."

"Okaasan, Otousan! I'm home!" Naoto shut the door behind him, closing his umbrella as he removed his wet shoes.

"Welcome home, Naoto! There's food in the fridge if you want some." Naoto's mom, Hana Hachioji answered.

Naoto wasn't feeling hungry at the time, instantly heading upstairs to the bathroom. He quickly removed the band-aid, staring at the blood on his finger. It still smelled oh-so enticing, even after all that. Naoto quickly reached out with his tongue, licking away at the blood from his finger, leaving it crystal clean. "It's..."

"Delicious"