"Music room?" Mitsuki asks her classmate.
"Kuro said that he wanted to see if he could find a pair of shoes in there." Emi responds after Kuro told her the plan, in English.
"That's… why would he need one?" The trio starts walking down the stairs, with Kuro being a step in front of them to make sure nothing could jump on them unexpectedly.
"He said it's blessed, but he's not sure if it could protect us from being harmed from the spirits. 'Worth a try', as he said."
"… Is he religious? I don't see him being a kind to be a follower of sort."
"I think it's personal to him…"
They reach the room, as the music from the piano echoes in it. Kuro gestures them to be quiet, and he slowly walks towards one of the tables from afar. He then looks at its drawer… and lets out a long sigh. "Not here…" He then moves to a few more tables and checks them all before giving up.
"You can't find it?"
"Unfortunately. But, it only means that we have to be extra careful, that's all."
"So what are we going to do next?"
"… Let's head to the other wing. Maybe we can find something."
Although, the plan can't happen: when they return to the mid hall from the right, the cabinet falls down to the floor and breaks it, then falls to the darkness… bringing Kuro along with it. "WHAT THE FFFF…"
"Kuro!" Emi and Mitsuki scream at the same time, and they fail to grab Kuro in time. They both look down in terrify, not knowing what to do for a moment...
The latter takes a deep breath, and says to her friend: "Okay… okay… Emi, we have to find another way around and stick together. He's surely still be in the same school as ours, since there's no earthquakes. If we're lucky enough, he would walk out fine… with a sprained ankle… I hope."
"Don't say like that!" Emi doesn't like hearing that at all.
"Sorry, sorry. But, falling down a floor, he would get himself some pain for sure."
"OUCH!" Kuro grunts in pain as he lands on his back. The fall lasted shorter than he thought, but it's still painful. "Well, freaking, done. If this is Sachiko's 'prank', then I'm not laughing." Sitting up and massaging his back, Kuro says to himself: "Ao khoac thi Emi cam roi, ma do dac thi de trong day het… con moi cai dien thoai voi cai keo… ca kho roi day."
He then looks around to see that he's in a hallway… but it looks to be the First Wing's structure, instead of the Second Wing. "Falling from Second to First? That's new." He then notices a plank of wood lying next to him. And he sees a hole next to his feet. "Well that's convenient." Standing up, he picks up the plank, which is heavier than he thought, but he still manages to carry it and puts it over the hole, making a way to the other side. "Not bad. Worse than in the game, though. Stupid pixel logic." He mumbles the last part, as he has many 'unlucky deaths' while playing FPS games by not staying undercover properly.
"Dung co ma roi lan nua…" He looks at the plank and threatens it, before walking on it and steps on the opposite floor. "Good."
He then walks up to the stairs… and ends up reaching the lavatories. "Great… dead ends. Welp, time to return back to the lower floor." He sighs out loud, then retreats back to the stairs…
Only to stop himself when he hears footsteps from behind him. Grabbing the scissors' handles in his right pocket, Kuro turns off the light in his phone, blinding himself in the dark, but he manages to memorize the room from before. He presses himself against the wall and pulls the scissors out, waiting for anyone walking to him. He then sees the light emerging from the lavatory, as he presumes, and footsteps are starting to get closer…
"Hello?" A girl's sound… and it's not Naho or Sachiko… not dangerous, at least.
He pulls out his phone again and opens the light, then points it towards the girl… or girls, since there are three of them. And they're all wearing scared faces and slowly backing away from him. Kuro raises his right eyebrows in confusion, before noticing that they're focusing on… the bloody scissors. '… Of course they have to look at it.' He sighs then puts it into his trousers' pocket, and raises both his arms up in the air, signaling that he's not going to hurt them.
Of course none of them believes him, given that he's having… an effective weapon in his possession. He sighs again, before taking a step forward, causing the girls to stumble back. But, when they're backing towards the boy's lavatory, he keeps walking forward to the girl's one, then he heads in. Reason: to see if something strange could happen.
And… a riddle, of all things. It takes him like, a few minutes to try all options, since he doesn't understand a word of the riddle. He keeps opening the door of the stalls in some orders… before finding a pair of sunglasses in the middle stall. '…Dude, seriously? All the riddle is for this?' He is not very happy about this. 'Oh well. Finders, keepers.'
Putting it in his empty pocket (the phone is still in his hand), he walks out of the lavatory and heads out… and sees one of the girls is missing. The others notice him returning and start backing to the lavatory's door again. Kuro looks at their behaviors, then shrugs. That's just a give-away for…
"SHUT THE GODDAMN DOOR!" Although, having something else, which is no confirmation of being ally or hostile, in the same location with a helpless girl is not an ideal Kuro could get into his head.
"!" Immediately after hearing that, he rushes towards the door, but the taller girl is blocking the way while shouting something. Since he doesn't understand it anyway, he ignores her expression and pushes her away hard, but not hard enough to knock her down, and opens the door quickly and gets inside.
In there, he sees the last girl sitting on the floor, looking frightened at the sound. Then, he remembers what scene this is, and who could make the sound. He ignores the duo girls that rush behind him, as he groans and walks quickly towards the last stall where the girl is facing. He then knocks on the door, hard, three times before shouting: "Dude! Do you have to scare a helpless girl like that? Come out and apologize immediately!"
A few moments later, after the girl's picked up by the others, the door of the stall slowly opens, and the ghost inside it starts to float out. He opens his mouth, only for Kuro interrupt him: "And say that to her if you're saying that in Japanese, because I won't understand a thing." He then walks out of the way and heads to the exit and starts finding some 'objects' to deal with this.
…
"Um… What did he just say?" Nari Amatoya asks herself, clearly suspicious at the strange language.
"He told me to apologize to you." The girls turn back to the ghost, as he lightly bows down. "And he's right. I'm sorry for scaring you girls."
The girls don't say a word yet. Then, Nana Ogasawara accepts it: "It's alright, mister. We're just surprised, that's all." She then looks back to Kuro and asks: "Do you know him, by any chances?"
"No, I don't." The ghost replies. "Though, he might have guessed at my outburst…"
"Should… should we call him back?" Chihaya Yamase asks timidly. "I think he's not… very dangerous…"
"Not dangerous? He has a pair of bloody scissors!" Nari is not agreeing with the idea. "I don't know why he has one, but I don't care. Right now, we need to find our way back to…"
"If I can say, miss…" The girls return to the ghost. "I don't see anything malice from him. At least, towards you. I didn't see the object, but it might belong to this place, and not to him."
"Belong to here?" Nana asks.
"This school… is very dangerous to the living beings. Have you seen the bodies and ghosts around?"
"Bodies?" Nari asks fearfully.
"… Then, you are lucky. The scene is not very pretty… May I ask a favor from you girls?" The ghost changes the subject. "Some rogue fiend has absconded with my prized gentleman's set, my hat and my glasses. If you happen to find them, would you kindly return them to me?"
The girls turn to look at each other's eyes for their thinking. Seeing that they're on the same mind, Nana answers: "Don't worry sir, you could just stay here. We will find them for you."
"My gratefulness. You are too kind."
…
"It's his hat." Nana finds the second item in the Infirmary, and the three start heading back to the exit, when Chihaya suddenly stops. "What's wrong?"
"I… I'm tired… *Sob*…" The girl starts crying a bit. "I want to go home…"
"Don't worry, Chihaya… We will get out of here…"
"How can you even say that? What could possible reason could you have for believing…" Chihaya plans to say more, but a ghost appears and causes her to back away in fear while pointing at her. The others turn back and see the one-eye ghost as well.
"You should be more optimistic." The ghost speaks up. "Otherwise, darkness will consume you."
"Optimistic? OPTIMISTIC?" Nari is not having a good time. "Look at this place! How could anyone stay optimistic when we could have a person like him walking around?"
The ghost understands who Nari is referring to. "He wouldn't kill senselessly. The scissors was obtained by another killer when he stopped him from killing a victim here."
"How could we trust you?" Nari narrows her eyes.
"… You don't have to. But, you can trust him." With that, the ghost disappears.
"…Trust whom? The other guy?" Nari questions the ghost's implication.
"We haven't met anyone to talk for a few hours, except the gentleman ghost and the other person." Nana thinks out loud. "And despite her wound, the girl seems… honest enough…"
Then, the Infirmary's door opens, revealing Kuro standing before it with a pissed expression. "Cai nay dech phai Sachiko lam…" Though, once seeing Nana holding the hat, Kuro decides to leave and return to the lavatory while grunting in his language.
"…We still have no ideas what he's saying." Nari says again.
"He… maybe he's not Japanese?" Nana theorizes. "I mean, he looks like he's from Asia alright… Let's return the hat to the gentleman first before we could question him."
…
"I see." The ghost chuckles. "Falling twice in a few minutes? Your luck seems to not be on your side."
"No, that's just someone trying to create fun. Which is counter-productive, I could tell." Kuro leans on the door of the middle stall while grimacing at the pain on his body. "At least nothing's broken, or else…"
The ghost then changes the subject: "You're going to follow them?"
"…I highly doubt that I could do so. I think that I could warn them about this place before trying to save the others." Kuro thinks of his plans. "However, there's one main group that's critical to my plan. If I could get them all out, then it's possible that I could do the same to the others."
The ghost then sees the girls entering the lavatory. "You girls have returned. Did you have any troubles?"
"Oh, not at all!" Nana says, as she gives back the fedora to the ghost. "Here you go!"
"Thank you very much." Putting the hat on his head, he bows: "It might be a bit late, but let me introduce myself. My name is Shimoda Souichiro. And the one here…" He then turns his head towards Kuro, who returns a look of confusion. "I'm introducing you as well." Kuro 'oh', then waves his hand to the girl with a smile. "He calls himself Kuro, but he doesn't know Japanese as you could tell."
Nana nods, then raises her right hand towards Kuro for a handshake with a smile. "Hello. My name is Amatoya Nana." Kuro understands, as he returns the gesture with a smile.
After the other girls do the same, hesitantly, Souichiro says: "Kuro said that there's a way to escape this place. However, it's currently sealed, so he's working on it."
That makes Nana cheer. "You hear that, Chihaya? We can get out of here!"
Chihaya is also smiling as well. "It's good."
Nari is grateful that they could at least get out of here. However: "Why not now?"
"He said that there are 'requirements' to make sure nothing would interrupt the escape plan. He didn't say anything about it…"
"I need to calm the spirits who caused this place to exist first." Kuro speaks up after Souichiro translates what he said to him, and the ghost immediately translates. "And it's not a short process."
"Then, can we do something to help you?" Nana asks, hoping that they could do something about this.
"… Just stay alive, that's all I could ask. And don't fight each other. You need your friends to get out of here, no questions."
"Of course!"
"It's not that easy. The darkness will surely try to make you do so. That's how many died here."
"I see. Could Chihaya's near outburst be caused by it?"
"Outburst? Ah, that's a syndrome alright." Kuro nods. "Like I said, be careful. And don't randomly read anything."
"Why?" Souichiro questions.
"Some of them are cursed. That's why I'm trying to find as many holy objects as possible." Kuro explains.
"Should we do the same?" Chihaya asks.
"Actually… run is a better option, but it's best to have something to defend yourself." Then, to everyone's surprise, the stall behind him suddenly vanishes, causing Kuro to fall, again. "OH WHAT THE HELL!"
Again, everyone screams and tries to grab Kuro but it's too late, again. Then, when everyone backs away a bit… the stall reappears. Nari questions: "What… what just happened?"
The ghost chuckles. "I guess he has quite a rotten luck. But, he's probably fine."
"%^&*(*&. DUA NHAU A!" Shouting this time, Kuro ignores the pain on his back as he immediately stands up and points his finger to the ceiling. "TOI CO THE CHET NEU VIEC NAY XAY RA THEM DO! BO ONG MUON GIET TOI LUON CHAC?"
After a few more shouting, Kuro takes a deep breath before looking around to see where he is. And the smell of blood enters his nose. He grimaces. "THAT room… seriously, why here? No one could be alive at this moment…"
An alive person suddenly bumps into him, causing him to return back to see whom. And he sees a girl wearing a similar purple blazer. AND NOW he knows he's in danger.
"Ouch. What is…" Sayaka plans to say something, but Kuro immediately covers her mouth with his right hand, while raising his left finger over his lips to signal her to be silent. Albeit a little frightened, she nods understandingly. But then she notices the blood in the room, and she widens her eyes in fear. Noticing it, Kuro pushes her out of the room so she could no longer see them.
Once he could confirm that there's no sounds around, he retracts his hand back. Sayaka takes a deep breath to calm herself. Then she asks him: "Who are you?" However, Kuro doesn't answer, as he thinks that she's saying to herself and looks around to check the dangers. She then shakes his shoulder. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"
He turns to her and points at himself for confirmation. "Yes! I'm calling you…" Kuro immediately gestures her to be silenced again. She crosses her arms impatiently. "Why aren't you saying anything?"
"I can't understand a word from you, so bear with it." Kuro replies, hoping that Sayaka could understand English.
"…Oh." Now she sees why. He can't speak Japanese. "Sorry about that. What's your name?"
"… Call me Kuro. My real name is a bit hard to spell." He introduces himself.
"Did you come here by the spell?"
"…Yes." He lies. Sayaka notices it, but decides not to push further. He then turns to the left and gestures to go that way. "Let's get out of here first. I don't want to face that guy."
"What guy?" Sayaka asks. However, her answer suddenly presents himself right behind them with his footsteps and the sound of the hammer being pulled on the ground. Hearing a groan, Sayaka turns to Kuro and asks: "Is that…"
"Yeah. Run."
…
"Where are you, my students?" Yui Shishido asks herself as she slowly walks on the hallway while leaning on the wall. Her right arm is broken, so she has to use her left arm to keep herself up. With the thunder being her only source of light, she tries to see where she's walking on…
"SCREW YOU SACHIKO!" Someone is shouting from afar, being angry at something. "AND YOU AS WELL IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!"
Slightly alarmed, Yui slows down her speed even further. Though, the sound's not too far, so she might reach them eventually.
Turning to a corner, she sees a couple, one girl and one boy, sitting on the floor and leaning on the wall, panting heavily after their long run. The boy then notices Yui, and waves his hand to greet her before putting it down, still exhausted.
The girl also sees that, and the wounds on her arm as well. She stands up first and asks: "Miss, are you okay?"
Yui sees where the girl is looking, and nods. "It's a broken arm, but I'm okay. What happened to you?"
"We were just running from a dangerous man. He…" The girl gestures to the boy. "Took a hit for me, probably leaving a bad bruiser on him. Though there is no blood, so he's probably alright." Yui nods and plans to ask him, when the girl says: "And don't speak Japanese to him, he doesn't understand it. Call him Kuro by the way."
"I see… Kuro?" The teacher calls for him. The boy turns to him. "Have you seen a group of students? One of them…"
"You are Yui, right?" Kuro asks through his breath. "Ayumi's group is safe, for now. However, Mochida siblings and Morishige are being separated. The rest are with Ayumi and Shougo. They would be okay in their timeline."
Yui sighs in relief. Sayaka asks Kuro in surprise: "Shougo? You mean the cameraman?"
"Yeah, him." Hugging his stomach and pushing himself off the floor to stand up, Kuro then says: "We are currently safe from him for now, but we need to move to avoid another chase."
"You should stay down, Kuro." Sayaka suggests. "That punch nearly knocks you out…"
"Better that or a hammer that could end my life." Kuro hisses. "But damn, that hurts."
Yui notices something strange in the voice, but she couldn't think of anything possible.
Then, another earthquake occurs, and Kuro falls forward, but he manages to stop facing the floor by using his arms to hold himself up. Yui's still leaning on the wall, but she's also wavering a bit. Sayaka yelps in surprise, but otherwise okay since she's still on the floor.
The shock then ends, and Yui notices a few things changed around her. "What… what happened?"
"I'm not sure." Sayaka stands up this time after having recovered. She then tries helping Kuro up by holding his right shoulder. "Can you stand?"
"Give me a moment." Kuro says. Then, placing his legs properly, he pushes himself up with Sayaka's help. "Thank you." He then looks around. "We better move. I don't like sitting in one place."
…
"So it's really an illusion. I'm glad." Morishige says, after they get pass the hall that leads to the Infirmary.
"We aren't able to find Mochida and miss Yui." Naomi says, disappointingly. "And Seiko's charm is still missing…"
Taguchi then points to the Infirmary. "How about you girls stay there for the moment? Morishige and I will go look for a bit before returning."
"What about me?" Yoshiki doesn't want to be left back.
"You stay here and protect the girls." Morishige says. "We can't leave them alone, can we?"
"…Okay." At least it makes sense.
"Be careful, Morishige." Mayu says, wary at Morishige's conditions.
"I will." The boy gives her an assuring smile, before the duo go forward, while the rest enter the Infirmary.
"It looks cleaner than the previous ones." Seiko comments. The room looks much better.
Everyone then gathers around the bed, and Ayumi says: "If I'm right, the key to get out of here is the papers of the spell. Our focus now is to try and find Seiko's charm, while looking for the others."
"Easier said than done." Yoshiki says. "With all of the illusions, we can't be sure if we're in the right dimension."
Seiko: "Not to say about the ghosts. Some are friendly, but what about the ones trying to kill me and Naomi back then?"
Pulling out a candle, Ayumi says: "We should hold this to ourselves, two for each candle. We can't separate for sure, if not then…"
Everyone falls silent for a while. Then Yoshiki offers: "You girls should take a rest now. I will guard the exit."
"Thank you Kishinuma." That one line from Shinozaki alone cheers his heart a bit, but he doesn't show it on his face, as he nods and takes the chair and moves it near the door so he could look at it.
"Snuggly, snuggly…" When the girls are on the bed (Naomi and Seiko on one, Mayu and Ayumi on the other), Seiko starts moving closer to Ayumi and does some 'inappropriate' stuffs to Naomi.
"Stop it Seiko! I'm trying to rest!" Naomi weakly protests.
Mayu lets out a small laugh, while Ayumi looks at the scene with a smile on her face. Yoshiki also chuckles at their antics as well.
…
"Luckily your phone has night-vision mode." Morishige says thankfully.
Taguchi scratches his head then says: "It's a bit of mandatory, since we have to go to dark places many times." Then, footsteps can be heard in front of them. They look up to see Sayaka, Yui and Kuro walking towards them, with the latter walking a bit behind the others with his hands holding his stomach and covering his mouth. "Miss Sayaka! Kuro! You're okay!"
"Miss Yui, are you okay?" Morishige exclaims, as he notices the blood on Yui's arm.
"My arm is broken, but otherwise I'm fine." Yui lets out a smile despite the pain.
Sayaka then asks Taguchi: "Hey, Taguchi! Have you seen Naho?"
And immediately the cameraman drops his smile. "… She's… dead."
Sayaka's eyes widen in terror. "What? No! How did that…"
"Sayaka…" She turns to Kuro. "Taguchi said that she's dead, right?" Sayaka nods, her tears starting to flow. "We have a way to save her. The dead Naho Taguchi found is just her present. We can prevent it."
"How? You can't resurrect dead people…"
"But we can prevent one from being killed, thanks to this place's special condition." Kuro then coughs violently, before he's on his knees. "God… damn… it…" Letting out a last cough which spills blood out of his mouth, he falls face-first to the floor, the world of darkness consumes his mind…