The story is heading to the end... soon. Maybe?
Also, for some clarifications for my old readers: My first stories have A LOT of mismatched info with this one. However, I don't have a plan in mind of fixing them. If I do, I will make it an entire remake.
"Argh… my head…" Kuro opens his eyes again and sees the ceiling of the Infirmary, while feeling the familiar warm around him. "Okay, what happened?" For a moment, he can't recall what he did after his arm got pierced… He immediately pulls his right arm out of the blanket, which earns him a massive shock of pain to the head as he closes his eyes and grits his teeth trying not to scream, loudly. Once the pain subdues, he opens his eyes and looks down to the injured arm…
"…This…" He won't deny the possibility of 'that' happening to him, but to be this soon… "WAIT!" He then remembers the group he was currently with, and he turns his head around trying to find if anyone's in the same room with him. To his horror, there is none. "No… no no no…" Quickly getting out of the bed while ignoring the pain in his right arm, Kuro starts wearing his shirt and coat back (his trousers luckily are still on him), quickly checks his items then runs off the room, and runs into the darkness of the school, finding the people he…
Might.
Have.
HURT.
Kuro keeps running around, trying to find anyone alive in the school. He doesn't care if his stamina is reaching the limits, or his legs and arms are screaming in pain. His fear and desperation start clouding his mind, temporarily stopping his wise from working properly. His fear does have a good effect to stop him from screaming out loud, avoiding drawing any unnecessary dangers to himself.
After ten minutes of running around, he has swept through all available hallways in the First Wing of Heavenly Host, and so far he only encounters flesh splattered on walls and floors. Then, when he reaches the door heading to the bridge that connects both Wings…
'Wait a second.' Fatigue finally wins, and Kuro falls to the ground, using his last bit of current strength to keep his face fall directly to the floor, then flips himself on the back so his body could rest a bit. At that moment, he starts rethinking of the scene around him. '…Those fleshes… they shouldn't be there… I don't remember those existed in the first games…'
While it's true that corpses are everywhere, blood being the same, stacks of flesh is not a thing. Even IF there is, there should be some sort of bodies along with is, being just a skeleton or rotten corpses.
'…Unless…' He now remembers which timeline this could possibly be right now. '…Damn. Who can I trust now? The real trouble only exists here…'
'Okay… time to calculate my next moves. The obvious danger here is Sachi and whoever affected by the Darkening. Purify items are next to none, and even if I have, I don't think I could act fast enough. At this point, my body is reaching its limit, one wrong move and I'm just as good as a corpse.'
'…Who can I trust? Remember, remember… who could still be alive…'
His thought is cut off when he hears a girl's scream not far from where he's laying down. What thought of keeping his body stable is thrown out of the window, as he starts pushing himself up and rushes to where the scream is.
To his relief and horror, a high-school girl is being chased by a Darkening figure behind her. Both of them are heading directly to him, and the girl's outfit reminds him of a certain ghost…
"GION MAT NHAU A!" Kuro grunts in both pain and irritation, but braces himself.
In a split second, the girl notices something in front of her, so she slightly dodges to the side. Kuro gratefully screams internally his thank to the 'accidental support', and the moment the Darkening figure is slightly distracted, Kuro throws himself towards the figure, causing both to fall on the floor. He then uses his left arm and starts pushing force on the person's neck, who screams and tries to push him away. Kuro has to use all of his weight to do the work, but he barely chokes the person since he doesn't want the person to die yet…
Though, he needs to act fast…
"Hey buddy!" Kuro tries to speak, but even that weakens him, and he almost loses his grip on the person, causing him to use even more forces while trying to find short words before he's completely done. "She… alive… we… can… save…"
His words seem to go over the Darkening person's head, since the resistance is not weakening at all. After a single second of carelessness, the person is able to throw Kuro out and starts attacking him. The only thing Kuro could do now is to raise his arms up and covers his face, trying his best to just stay alive against the person's attacks…
In the corner of his right eye, Kuro sees something red floating right next to him. He then feels the attacks stop, and he turns to his attacker to see the Darkening effect vanishes, turning the person back to his normal state. Seeing that he's temporarily out of danger, Kuro sighs in relief as he drops his arms down to the floor and turns his head back to where he sees the red. "Thank… Sachiko…"
"You are welcome." The girl says back with a smile. "You look pathetic, Kuro-nii."
"Blame… who?" He tries to chuckle, but he's too exhausted to do so, and instead a cough comes out.
The person on top Kuro finally realizes his current situation, and the injured person's pain smile. He quickly moves aside, and apologizes: "I'm sorry! Are you hurt? Can you stand up?"
"…Not…" Kuro weakly replies, feeling his muscle giving up on moving.
The girl from before, seeing that the situation's defused, runs back to the group and asks: "Inumaru, are you… alright?"
"I… maybe. I'm not sure Aiko." The boy replies back. "Sayaka is dead… and I attacked you…"
"Shouldn't you two do something to help him?" Sachiko cuts off the emotional breakdown as she points at the person on the ground.
The two quickly remembers and starts helping Kuro, who's basically immobilized, leaning on the wall.
During the moment, he asks the ghost girl: "Is… Darkening…"
"Yes, you are getting affected by it." Sachiko confirms. "However, it seems that it can't control you… to a degree."
"…How?"
"I don't know." She answers honestly. "You somehow broke out of it while confronting that ghost girl. You almost used Darkening to kill her again but held back."
"So… that… group…"
"They're okay."
"What are you two talking about?" Seeing that this Sachiko is slightly different than the one she heard of, and friendly, Aiko asks.
"Easing up his fear." The ghost girl replies. "Also, check his eyes."
"…Eyes?" Now that scares Kuro. "…Curse?"
Everyone tenses up as Inumaru uses his hand to open Kuro's right eye, while Aiko opens the other.
A few seconds later…
"What…" Kuro asks, his breath slightly getting harsh.
"…Your right eye…"
"Looks dead." Aiko finishes her companion's sentence. "Good news is that… your left eye is okay, other than having bloodshot."
Kuro takes a moment to register the fact… and lets out a small chuckle, surprising the alive people. His fear is also washed away. "God… thank…" But, it quickly comes back as he remembers: "Where… Ayumi?"
"That…" Aiko replies hesitantly. "We don't know. We haven't seen her yet…"
"Even if you know where she is, you're in no position to do anything." Sachiko states. "Kuro-nii, don't be unreasonable. You have done enough to…"
"No." Kuro coldly replies. "All… must… live…"
"Kuro-nii, you knew how this place works." The ghost girl frowns, her smile disappears. "I can help Ayumi-nee, you can…"
"Not… enough." Black mist starts appearing around Kuro's right arm, causing everyone to back away. Somehow he has gathered enough strength, and he starts pushing himself up with the arm, and leans his body on the wall. "Find… Book… find… her…"
"Darkening is corrupting his mind." Aiko connects the dots, as she slowly pulls out some talisman. "We need to cleanse the…"
"No…" The mist climbs towards Kuro's neck and starts wrapping around it. "I... need… to… move…" He then turns his head to Sachiko, and she could see the fear and desperation in his eyes.
However, she sees something else:
The eyes of her murderer.
She backs away instinctively, feeling the same fear she had before she left the living world. If it happens again, maybe her death under his hands might be even crueler than what the Headmaster has done to her. He might not like the idea of killing people, but if he has to do it… Yuuya's ash is the good example.
However, her fear shatters when Kuro's next word comes out.
"Please."
The same 'please' she has heard from her mother before she drown into darkness. The same 'please' holding the willingness of her mother to do anything just to be on her side. This 'please' would be a great trigger for her to kill him instantly if she was the vengeful ghost. However, after what he has done for her, what he has done for her mother, for the people in this place…
After the word comes out for at least ten seconds, no noise can be heard other than Kuro's strained breathing…
"…You are an idiot, Kuro-nii." To the other duo's surprise, the ghost girl's lip curls up to a warm smile towards the dying person. "An idiot with a heart. You and Satoshi-nii surely have many things in common."
Kuro's eyes widen a bit at the comparison… then lets out a tired chuckle of amusement, which makes the mist around his neck to disappear. "Not… joke… time…"
"And the recklessness of Yoshiki-nii as well." The smile on his face turns wider, and the mist slowly dissipates. "You know, maybe you can get someone in here as well. I mean, you are not that much older to the girls here. And the two brothers have their own…"
Suddenly Kuro kneels down, causing the other two to try to reach to him…
"I'm fine." His response stops them, and he lets out more tired chuckles. "Sachiko… embarrassed…"
"You don't deny it, and it is fun." Sachiko's smile is still there. "You won't be able to do this alone."
"I know." Taking a few more deep breathes, Kuro stands up again. "Survive… great help…"
"And there you go again." Sachiko sighs and shakes her head, but the fun atmosphere is still there. "You are going to need more than that."
"…Make do."
"Excuse me…" Inumaru interrupts. "I know it's rude to stop you two… but I now remember that you said something about Ayaka being alive… right?"
"Yes."
"How is it possible? Even with the Book of Shadows, reviving dead people…"
"Possible…" Kuro cuts it short. "Death by… curse… can revert…"
"Where are you planning to head to?" Inumaru asks. "I'd love to return back, but we have no means to get out of here."
"…The stones... the Book… her…" Kuro, saving some energy, speaks out some work that sums up what he's aiming after.
Sachiko sees his lip planning to open once more, but shuts up in a millisecond. She suspects that he might have some other objectives, but decides not to ask.
"I think we should sum up our target here: Ayumi." Aiko concludes. "She's currently holding the Book of Shadows, and luckily the stones. Basically two birds with one stone."
The school then shakes up again, and Kuro notices the floor below his feet start cracking up. He's then yanked away just before he falls, again, which might mark as his death. Once the school stops shaking, he looks up to see Inumaru's right arm around his left one. "Thanks."
"I still owe you." Inumaru flashes out a smile, and he throws Kuro's arm around his shoulder. "Damn, you are way lighter than I thought."
"…Sixty-five…"
"Doesn't seem so to me, mister Kuro." Aiko, who manages to recover her composure, makes a joke. "You were probably in here for quite a while."
"…Maybe."
"I will leave him to you two then." Sachiko says and disappears.
"Wait…" Inumaru plans to call her back but it's already too late. He then asks Kuro: "So uh… where should we head next?"
"…The bridge. Find… Headmaster…"
"Headmaster? You mean the one of Heavenly Host?"
"Correct. He… must… apologize…" He then points his finger to where it could be. "That… direction…"
Checking the items on her, Aiko then gestures Inumaru to move as she takes the lead. At the moment, she's the only one who can defend them properly. Inumaru can, but he's helping Kuro so his actions will be limited.
"This is what he took from Sachiko." Yoshiki says as he pulls out the bag in one of the drawers. "Ayumi, can you feel where he could be?"
"I don't feel any ghosts around." The girl replies. "Not in this room at least."
"Here's his diary." Morishige pulls out a notebook from the shelves. "Hm… his words are scrambled… there's a hidden way in the wall leading to the basement where Sachiko's body is buried."
"Where?" Yoshiki then turns his head to where Morishige points at. He starts checking the wall and sure enough, there's a ladder heading down to darkness. "Okay… you think he's in there?"
"We should call the others first." Mayu suggests. "Separating around here isn't good."
After the group reaches the Second Wing, the Nine immediately rushes to the top floor while the others wait at the first floor. After a while, Naho's group excuses themselves to head to the bridge to talk about some matters between themselves.
"And I have bad feeling going down there." Seiko speaks her mind. "Let's just find another way. I mean, it's a basement, right?"
Naomi agrees. "If we disappear down there, the other group would get scared."
With that in mind, the group heads back to the first floor. Thankfully there is no earthquakes so far, so they can assume that the teleportation hasn't happened.
And true enough, when they go back, nothing changes apart from the other group outside of the bridge. One of the two doors to the bridge is open so at least Naho's group can still be seen, but their conversation cannot be heard.
Nana quickly asks once the Nine returns: "Have you found the Headmaster?"
"We haven't." Satoshi replies. "But we found another tongue, probably Sachiko's."
"We also found a hidden way that heads to the basement, if what Headmaster's diary showed correctly." Yoshiki adds. "But considering that we didn't find the person himself…"
"He could be down there waiting for us." Morishige ends.
"That's a good call." Tohko sighs in relief. "I can't see myself heading down to a dark hallway anymore…"
Seiko then heads to the open door and sees the other group still talking. She makes a signal to call them back, Hikibi notices and tells the others. The group then starts walking back…
Only to turn their heads back when they head the doors leading to the First Wing open…
The group in the Second Wing then hears the group outside shouting, so they immediately head to the door and poke out to see what's going on…
"KURO!?"
"Headmaster, at this point, you know everything happens because of you."
"I… I know… But I can't…"
"Talk to them? A coward is still a coward, I suppose."
"…"
"If you still have the pride of a teacher, then go and apologize. The students' lives are literally depending on your atonement."
"…"
"If you don't want to end up like 'him', then you know what you should do. Now, I have to take care of a certain someone. The guy won't last long."
Chapter 12 end!
Enough stuffs in this chapter. See you guys again soon!