Author's Notes: The Darkcat, thanks a lot!!! I never thought anyone would actually see this story lol. Yeah, the light novel is amazing and really underrated honestly/I really recommend it. It is very slow and long though, even more than the anime/manga(but definitely worth it)I based Megumi's and a lot of the characters personalities and thoughts from there too.
The lights going off was the first jumpscare for the teens in the front of the cinema, the second one was the surprised gasps and yelps coming from behind as they thought they were the only ones left. Tohru pulled out his phone from his pocket, opened its flashlight and aimed it towards the noises.
"Oh, Shimizu, hey?"
Akira was looking at the teens with a weird look on his face.
"Wait a minute, you guys aren't the staff?" after saying this his eyes widened and he ran towards the door.
"It's locked!"
"No way, let me try."
All the teens took turns trying to open the door, even though they knew it was no use. It was an act of instinct to confirm it by their own hands. Then they all just stood there for a second.
"So, let's just call someone for help."
"Well that's the thing I don't have a signal." Tohru said shaking the phone in his hand which they had been using as a light source.
There was another awkward moment where they checked out their phones not to find any signal. This did not make sense. The cinema wasn't anywhere underground so it was odd for signal to not reach. It was as if the cinema wasn't somewhere the signal could reach, like it didn't belong here, like it wasn't actually in one of the streets of Sotoba, but somewhere far away.
Masao suddenly stood straight and made a move towards the door. Then he started kicking and punching it, trying to force it open. Natsuno looked at him with fed up eyes.
"If anything happens to the door I will say in advance that I am not paying for any damage this idiot causes."
That was the last straw for Masao. He turned back and pushed Natsuno with all his might
"Who are you calling an idiot, hah! If you are so smart you open the door without breaking it."
"You don't really think you are strong enough to break that thing, do you?"
Chaos ensued. Masao threw himself towards Natsuno. It was more like they were wrestling though as no punches were being thrown.
"You guys stop come on." Aoi was trying to be the peacekeeper as usual but no one was paying any mind.
"Cut that out you moron!" Megumi hissed at Masao .
"Masao come on man let it go." Tohru had a tired look on his face.
"Why are you telling me, this guy's the one picking a fight!"
When they suddenly drifted off to where Kaori and Akira were standing, they awkwardly tried to move out of the way.
"Wow, is this like a lord of the flies recap or something."
Tohru and Tamotsu broke out laughing
"Haahah good one!"
"She really got you guys there, huh"
Aoi was giggling too and she held out her hand to high five Kaori. Kaori was simply confused and a little embarassed. She hadn't intended to say that out loud for everyone to hear. She high fived her with a crooked smile. Even Natsuno had a subtle entertained look on his face however Masao was less than amused as he glared at Kaori, then as a thought came to his mind, some gossip he had heard around, he grinned like a cheshire. He started talking to Kaori.
"Hey so are you familiar with the word going around about someone walking around at night, someone around our age, a girl?"
"Uhh, what?"
Natsuno raised a brow. What was this nut brain trying to do?
"There really is no reason to play dumb, really. What was your name again, it started with an M right, how was Natsuno's backyard, old lady Tatsu saw you, you know. Nothing misses that old loonies eyes."
It took Kaori a few seconds to understand what, more like who ,Masao was talking about.
Megumi was frozen, someone had seen. Everyone kind of knew about Megumi's interest in Natsuno as he was from the city but such a thing being known... Before long, rumors would start going around like crazy and Natsuno would hear about them too.
Tatsu was one of those old people who always had a comment to make about everything, for Megumi, until now she wasn't different from any of the other old folk. Now she wanted to kick the old bat out of that bench she always sat where she observed everything like an owl. I bet she can rotate her neck 270 degrees like an owl too she thought, frustrated.
She wondered if Kaori caught on, she probably hadn't, she wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. She just wanted to shut that Masao up by punching him good, yes that would be satisfying. Now if only she could move her muscles...
"W-What are you even talking about? That's nonsense, all children stories no one is going around at night."
Upon hearing the crack in Kaori's voice Megumi knew she had caught up. I'm doomed was all that she could think of.
Natsuno looked over at the girl Masao had cornered. She knew. Natsuno could tell the exact moment where her eyes widened. In fact Natsuno was pretty sure this was dog girl. Now she was desperately trying to cover up her friends weird habit. Natsuno then had an idea. This was a perfect opportunity to shut Megumi out, once and for all. His thoughts were cut off by a younger boys voice.
"Um, Kaori what is this all about, who's Natsuno?"
Now it was Masao's turn to be confused, Kaori was not the name he had heard.
"That's me." Natsuno said stepping out. "And she is not her. I know who is hanging around my backyard because I personally saw her."
Saw... Her? Megumi's eyes grew.
"Uhm, whoa really you never told us you had a stalker." Tohru said smirking. He was trying to ease everyone, not realising he was making everything worse.
Megumi's hands formed fists. That stupid guy, who was he calling a stalker. But this was good, he wouldn't call her a stalker if he knew she was right here so that meant… She slowly tilted her head. The guy she liked, the one she had been watching over for some time now, he was looking right at her with that same angry expression he always had but it was as if his gaze was penetrating through her. Then his gaze turned back to his friend.
"Well I was kind of hoping she would just stop. It is really creepy and weird. She is invading the little bit of privacy I have in this crammed place. I don't like it and I don't like her."
Natsuno didn't care if he was being harsh. He wanted to make his point, loud and clear. He wanted to make sure there wasn't any room for suspicion.
Megumi's head was spinning. She couldn't think clearly. I don't like her he had said or did he ? Did I imagine it, she thought. Was she imagining all this, this couldn't actually be happening, right?
Kaori looked at the guy with an incredulous look on her face. He knew Megumi was coming, she couldn't believe the secret was out or was it never a secret in the first place? She swiftly looked over at Megumi. Oh no. Megumi's head was low and her eyes were glistening with tears. Kaori wanted to comfort her but with everyone else there Megumi would probably prefer if she didn't. Everyone else, that guy... She turned to look at Natsuno. He had such a cold look in his eyes… It made her mad.
"Why do you have to be so rude, talking about her like that, I mean couldn't you find a better way to express all this to… Whoever that girl is?"
Natsuno looked in the direction of the shaky voice then narrowed his eyes. You know exactly who she is he thought.
"I'm being rude? Am I supposed to feel happy that some girl is spying on my bedroom? Besides why should I have to explain myself. Shouldn't she know it makes me uncomfortable, wouldn't it make you uncomfortable?"
"But-"
Megumi wanted to scream and sob and clutch and punch and…They were still in that rotten cinema. She needed this topic to stop being talked about, because it proved that everything that had happened, everything that Natsuno had said was real after all… What was stupid Kaori even doing, she was just heating Natsuno up more. She was just making him repeat how much he disliked her. Someone needed to shut Kaori up. But no one else seemed to be making a move to do so. They were all just watching what was happenning before them with dumbfounded faces. She had to stop this. She took a deep breath and pulled Kaori's wrist before she could proceed with her sentence.
"Shouldn't we find a way to get out of here?" she said. Her voice was sad and a little angry but still confident. She had pulled herself together so quickly, even after her dreams were crushed. Kaori found that admirable, how Megumi was always so sure of herself… She nodded.
Tamotsu shook his head slightly. That was bizarre and he wasn't sure if he wanted any details.
"Well, status update, we still don't have signal so… Any ideas I guess?"
"Let's just yell for help, I bet there are still some people loitering around the cinema."
Masao grit his teeth. He had the same idea but Natsuno had gotten ahead of him and said it. He was always acting all knowingly like he was the deal even though he was just fifteen.
Hesitantly the teens started yelling. Their voices were withdrawn at first. No answers. With each yell their voices got louder to no avail. All that came as an answer was the echo of their own screams. After yelling for quite some time with all their might, their voices slowly shrinked.
There was silence once again,then…
The room went dark.
"Shoot, I am out of battery!"
After Tohru spoke a lot of phones were taken out and the screening room was lit up. Natsuno frowned at this. He felt like he had to take control of the situation as no one else was going to do it.
"Let's use our light source carefully, I mean we don't know how long we are going to be stuck here since no one's hearing us. For now let's just search the room to see if there is any other way out."
"Who made you boss?" Masao spat and looked around for support but it didn't come. An annoyingly enthusiastic young boy's voice covered the room.
"Yeah, that sounds good! I'm Akira by the way."
Kaori mentally facepalmed herself at this. As she was looking for a way out with the phone in her hand that lit her way up, she took a fleeting look towards where Megumi was standing with a worried look on her face. She couldn't see Megumi's face from the position she was standing but she was probably upset, very upset.
Megumi couldn't focus on what she was doing, she couldn't focus on anything. Her head was still spinning from what had happened before, she was helplessly trying to figure out "Why?". A thought flashed in her mind. Maybe he was just bluffing, he was just acting like he knew who was coming to stop all the fuss Masao had created. Perhaps in actuality, he wasn't even aware that the one who was visiting him was right there in that same room. If that wasn't the case why had he acted like whoever was "stalking" him wasn't in the room when he could have just adressed her. Yeah, that's right Megumi murmured as she nodded to herself. What was that look he gave her all about though... It had to be a coincidence, she was probably acting paranoid. When she went back home and analyzed everything completely she would surely find an explanation, there was no way Natsuno meant those things he had said.
She felt like she was fooling herself. The two things that made her accept and even appreciate the fact that she had to spend the summer at Sotoba were right in front of her, yet, neither offered what she had expected of them. Ironically at that moment when she wanted get away from the village more than ever , she was trapped(quite literally) more than ever.
The teens gathered around the locked door once again all fed up longing to get out already. Tohru leaned over the heavy metal door.
"Looks like this is our only way out, don't think we can force it open though."
"We don't have any other option other than waiting for help then, right?"
"So it seems."
Akira rose up with excitement.
"Yo Kaori give me one of those things you use to keep your messy hair out of your eyes."
Kaori rolled her eyes at her brother then took out a bobby pin from her hair and put it in his waiting hand.
"There's no way that will actually work" she said behind her brother. Akira just stuck his tongue at her.
Some time had passed, though none of them could actually pinpoint how much. It might have been an hour or eight and at that point neither of those answers would leave them staggered. There wasn't any sound other than the short sentences being exchanged every once in a while. They were way calmer than they should have been but none of them realised this either. They couldn't keep a hold on their thoughts, their minds were completely empty as their thoughts were being pulled and they were drifting far away. Their minds were completely disconnected except for when they were talking.
In those short moments where they partially snapped back again Natsuno felt he wasn't exactly in a stable mindset. He couldn't remember anything the others nor himself had said right after finishing or listening to a sentence. They had closed all the lights due to his suggestion but was that really a good decision? He had read some articles about space madness and this place also somehow felt like space, so empty and far. The article mentioned it wasn't confirmed or anything, but...
The teens heard the creaking noise of a door opening. This one was enough to bring them all back to reality, they hopped up and lined next to the door waiting for more clues to understand what was going on. After that was the sound of footsteps echoing in the building, they were approaching this room. Another creaking noise of a door, only this time it was the door which led right into the room where the teens were trapped. The footsteps passed forward them, making their way through the seats in the darkness.
While all of this was happening, for a reason none of them could determine, The teens were all completely silent and none of them could move even though they had been waiting for someone to come and help. The feeling was… unexplainable. Someone was physically there, they had to be, that was what all the noise indicated. But, somehow the sense of nothingness, no it was something, but, nothing familiar, nothing they had sensed before, nothing they should have been able to sense? Whatever it was, it was strong as they felt it with every muscle of their body each of them wondering if the others felt it as well.
A feminine voice spoke up.
"Yikes, should have known these village people would be nasty but…"
"Well, good luck cleaning that up." a male voice said tauntingly.
"Don't sound too happy Tatsumi, your turn will come."
"It won't be this dirty though, I bet barely anyone will come, we'll just close it up in no time without any trouble."
At this the other let out a sigh
"That is true."
They were silent for a moment.
"Hey, Yoshie, so… You think this is it?
"What is?"
"This place, I think it is, just wondering if you do too."
"Of course, this village is marked. Things happened here, well not here here but…"
"Ya, I know what you mean."
"This is the right place for us, in fact it is the only place for us. This place is meant for us. It was never exactly connected to the rest in the first place."
"Are you giving me a long inspiring speech so you can bribe me into helping you with the cleaning cause if that is the case, let me tell you in advance, it won't work."
"Are you trying to get on my bad side? Forget it, let's just go give our updates"
"Right!"
As the voice added this enthusiastically the footsteps passed right ahead of the teenagers once again, leaving the room. After a while their sounds completely disappeared in the darkness.
Once they did, the teens finally came to their senses. A few flashlights lit the way as they dashed towards the exit.
Once they were out of the cinema the feeling was mostly gone and their heads were clear, their minds flooding with thoughts again. They couldn't feel the difference,as they were never even aware of the trance-like state they had been in. Getting out of the cinema and not feeling that weird unknown feeling from the back of their heads in itself was enough of a relief . For some reason even after getting out of the cinema their legs wouldn't stop. After running for a while they slowed down and at last, stopped. Everyone was breathing heavily and avoiding eye contact not knowing what to say about the strange events they had encountered. At last, Tohru broke the silence.
"So, that was some movie, huh?" he said chuckling.
Everyone else slowly joined. It was a chorus of awkward and forced laughter. After a while the group dispersed without saying goodbyes or anything else.