A few weeks had passed since Nyoko had to undergo a salpingectomy to treat an ectopic pregnancy. Mrs. Goshima thought that that would be it, that there would be no more talk of this... thing. Nyoko was to just accept that she used to be pregnant and now she wasn't, and she would get to move on with her life. It wasn't that simple, though.

As much as Nyoko wanted to forget that she'd ever been pregnant, she couldn't. She hadn't even wanted to keep the baby, but it still hurt all the same. She mourned for what shouldn't have been every day, even despite knowing fully well that it was one of the worst things that could happen to her (or, really, anyone). She didn't quite understand why she would feel this way. She was grieving over a embryo that had been a byproduct of rape. Shouldn't she have been happy she no longer had to carry Xemnas' child? Was it even grief she was feeling? She was so befuddled over this swirling cyclone of emotions, but she didn't want to ask any further, so she figured it would be better to go through the motions until everything was sorted out.

For now, school was still a top priority for her and the rest of the Goshimas. It'd become routine for the Goshima sisters to eat breakfast and then take the bus en route to Conifer High School every morning, having to endure the ride over along with some familiar and unfamiliar faces. Nyoko, in particular, found herself sitting beside Kyle, who couldn't help but look at her with worry on his face.

"Is... everything alright, Nyoko?" Kyle asked gently.

Nyoko shook her head. "I lost the baby."

"What happened?"

"Ectopic pregnancy. One of my fallopian tubes ruptured so the doctors had to perform what's called a salpingectomy on me."

"I'm sorry..." Kyle placed his hand on Nyoko's shoulder. "Well, at least you won't have to worry about having Xemnas' baby, right?"

Nyoko sighed heavily. "I know you're trying to look on the bright side, Kyle, but I'm not sure how to feel about this. I mean, yeah, my rapist did that to me, but I don't know... I guess I'm just as much sad as I am relieved, you know?"

"I suppose so, man. At least things can kinda-sorta go back to normal. All you have to worry about now is dealing with this totally insane world that we call high school."

Nyoko chuckled slightly, still a little sad by her loss. "Yeah."

Seconds later, the bus came to a crawling halt in front of the school.

"Well, looks like we're here," Kyle announced as he started getting up from out of his seat. "Guess I'll see you at lunch."

Nyoko started to get up from her seat as well. "Yeah. Hopefully, this'll be just what I need to take my mind off things."

Nyoko and her sisters followed Kyle and the other kids off the bus and into school. Nyoko wanted desperately to put all the terrible experiences behind her, but she knew it wouldn't be easy. She had to deal with high school first.


"Alright, students," Mrs. Nelson began to speak. "Since today is the first day of October, I thought I would go ahead and start talking about some spooky stories for the Halloween theme. But first, I'm going to take role call. Let's see..." She started to read off her clipboard. "Henrietta Biggle."

Henrietta raised her hand. "Here!"

"Tolkien Black," Mrs. Nelson called out.

Tolkien raised his hand. "Here!"

Mrs. Nelson continued to read off her clipboard. "Timmy Burch."

Timmy raised his hand. "Here!"

"Nyoko Goshima."

Nyoko quickly shot her hand up in the air. "Here!"

The rest of Mrs. Nelson's role call went on like that until she got to the last ninth-grader in the class, Tammy Warner.

"Tammy Warner," Mrs. Nelson called out.

Tammy raised her hand. "Here!"

"Alright," Mrs. Nelson said. "I think I got everyone. Now I'd like to start discussing what a good example of a spooky story would be. Would anyone like to talk about a spooky story they might have read?"

Nyoko quickly raised her hand. "I'd like to talk about one."

"Okay, what kind of story did you have in mind?"

It didn't take long for Nyoko to answer. "It's called 'The Cask of Amontillado' and it's by Edgar Allan Poe. Basically, a man named Montresor feels like this guy named Fortunato has been mocking him lately, so he hatches up a scheme for revenge by getting him drunk and then trap him within the catacombs containing his ancestors."

Mrs. Nelson looked at her student with intrigue. "Alright, I see where you're going. Edgar Allan Poe has always been rather inspiring when it comes to dark stories. What is it you think makes the story spooky and apropos of Halloween?"

"I think what makes the story spooky is the fact that it even occurred to Montresor to do this at all. We don't even know what Fortunato did to make Montresor hate him so much that he would lure him down to his ancestors' catacombs and then wall him up inside."

"I see. You've noticed a pattern, haven't you? Catacombs, nitre, the cold temperature of the caves... all of these have at the very least something to do with death. I'll admit, it's a kind of a stretch for me to include nitre in there, as it's not something one would immediately associate with death. However, inhale enough nitre and it can cause such respiratory distress that it can kill you. Fortunato was coughing while they traversed through the tunnels because of the nitre he was inhaling."

Nyoko nodded with intrigue. "Oh yeah... also Montresor is telling this story fifty years in the future because he either has a guilty conscience or he knows he's going to die soon and he might as well 'fess up."

"Well, thank you for your answer, Nyoko. Anybody else want to bring up a good example of a spooky story?"

The rest of the class went on like that, with Nyoko listening to the other students give their answers, then Mrs. Nelson assigning worksheets for the students to complete during the class, and then regaling with great detail what constituted as a horror story and whatnot. Eventually, the bell rang.

"Well, that's it for today," Mrs. Nelson announced. "See you tomorrow. In the meantime, start reading the books I assigned you. You'll be needing those for reviewing the quiz later next week, so get to it."

Most of the students started heading out the door while Nyoko followed without even saying a word.