About a week had passed after the cinema incident. Natsuno forgot about the whole thing, turning back to his heavy studying not allowing any distractions.The Mutous hadn't offered to go to the cinema again either in the few times he went over to their place as usual, sometimes to ask them for help in some subjects he couldn't understand, and, to get away from the room he spent almost all his day in. In fact the cinema wasn't even in business anymore, it seemed.

Natsuno remembered bits of the conversation they had heard between the staff that opened the door for them. Well, not really. Natsuno wasn't exactly sure what had happened. After a while the memories got blurry. All he knew was that they were there for a long time as by the time they had left it was pretty late, about 10 pm or so. Even his generally easy going parents were concerned by the time he returned.

From what he could remember the staff had mentioned something about closing up the cinema soon. Even they guessed it wouldn't be a big hit, huh and from the first day too. These people were surely easy to read.

But someone wasn't... Natsuno knew Megumi was persistent however this was another level. Natsuno's memories of rejecting Megumi were clear in his mind and Natsuno was sure Megumi had understood it was her he was talking about. He was blunt, to the point with his words and she had looked at him in that moment, she had definitely processed everything he had said. So, why was it that she was still coming and getting closer to his window more than ever too.

Natsuno had been studying till late at night the next day so that he could cover all the studying he had missed out on while he was stuck in that stupid cinema. He hadn't been able to study at all after returning that night either, his brain was doing flips and he couldn't understand a word he read. Which was why he was still up at one at morning, ready to study until sunrise if necessary the day after.

In the middle of all the equations his tired mind felt the presence of something. Natsuno had that weird feeling again, the one he felt in the cinema, he wasn't very sure about a lot of things that happened that day but he remembered the feeling. This time it was familiar, but still uncomfortable. He tensed up. There was someone right in front of his window.

He wasn't really sure what to do. Yelling who is there seemed stupid but he didn't just want to open the window either. He waited without making any movement. Whatever was in front of his house was human, somehow he knew it wasn't an animal but it felt as if it wasn't human either. But it was. He knew who was there too, this wasn't anything new. Apparently Megumi decided that everyday was a fresh beginning and came the next day getting closer and being creepier than ever.

Natsuno tried to focus on his studies again but the feeling wasn't going away. Several hours passed, the sun would be setting soon. Natsuno heard the sound of grass squishing under someone's footsteps. Slowly the sounds lowered and disappeared ,and with them, the feeling. Natsuno simply felt angry and exhausted.

"Should I have screamed at her face that day to just leave me be?"

"Shouldn't someone have heard all the noise we made while we were trapped?" Akira said probably the millionth time that week while nudgeing Kaori

"I am telling you, the walls were probably soundproof" Kaori shrugged it off pushing Akira's arm away.

"Well were they signalproof too?!"

It was totally weird how no one was able to hear their voices. Even if everyone around the cinema had left Akira was sure someone working or living nearby should have heard eight teenagers who were screaming from the top of their lungs. Especially considering that their parents were extremely alarmed by the time they got home, talking about how they almost called the police.

Kaori was scolded endlessly by their mom because she was the older and overall more responsible one. Unlike Akira she was never late so when she was it made their mom so much angrier because she felt like she was losing her grip on both her children. They didn't even have any chance to thoroughly explain what had happened and were immediately grounded.

Today, after a lot of begging, they were finally free for a few hours and Akira had too many suspicions about the cinema so he wanted to go a second time to investigate, which was impossible because their parents mentioned that the cinema was closed. This made Akira even more suspicious along with the staff mentioning the village being marked or something weird like that. He just couldn't forget it. What was marked supposed to mean?

The fact that there was no signal too, he definitely had signal before while playing games so why wasn't there signal in the cinema? None of it was adding up.

That cinema and the people who worked there were definitely after something and Kaori or no one else even cared, hadn't they felt it? This made him feel paranoid so since Kaori hadn't mentioned it, that weird sensation, Akira didn't talk about it either.

"You know signal is bad around here, anyways, I can't come. I gotta go to Megumi's."

Akira watched with a frown as Kaori took off. He had to go to the cinema alone. He lazily made his way, he wasn't too enthusiastic anymore, watching over the cinema alone was surely going to be boring.

Kaori stopped in front of Megumi's house, sighed then took a deep breath. After that day at the cinema Kaori called Megumi so many times but she was unavailable. Kaori was concerned, sometimes Megumi did avoid Kaori's texts, calls or just Kaori herself but she always sooner or later texted something like "was busy" or "my phone was dead". This time there was nothing.

Kaori wanted to check on Megumi but her mom wouldn't let her leave the house. Her dad seemed like he wanted to allow her but Kaori knew if her dad came to her defense her mom would just be angry at both of them so she had to give up for his sake, he was working overtime, he had enough on his plate.

Kaori knocked on the door and called out.

"Hey Megumi, you there?"

The door was swiftly opened by Megumi's mom, startling Kaori.

"Oh, Kaori if you are here for Megumi I'm sorry to say she hasn't returned yet." Megumi's mom had a bitter look on her face as she said this, her burrows frowed.

"I see... Did she go for a walk?"

"You don't know? Megumi left for Mizobe to stay with her aunt five days ago, right after that night where she came home late too."

Kaori's was taken aback by this, before she could say anything Megumi's mom continued.

"You didn't know, so she was lying about being stuck in the cinema with you and your brother after all. That girl what is she up to, you never know. She probably got in an argument with her boyfriend and wanted to leave to stay with my sister as if she can stay there whenever she wants to. She is there all the time during her school year and now she is staying there in the summer as well. We don't know what to do anymore, she is out of control."

Kaori listened to Megumi's moms rant with an open mouth. When she finally found her voice she answered.

"No, it is true. We were stuck in the cinema that day. That's why I haven't visited in a while, I was grounded. I just didn't know she was in Mizobe, she wouldn't answer my calls."

"I don't think it is that she wouldn't, it is probably that she can't. The signal has been worse than ever around here recently. It is impossible to interact with anyone out of the village unless you write a letter or something."

"Really? That was why we couldn't reach out to anyone that day in the cinema I guess. We tried to make a phone call to ask for help but none of us had signal."

"That sounds strange. The signal is perfectly fine within the village, we only can't reach to anyone otside the village."

Kaori's eyes were wide open as the words she had heard in the cinema that day echoed in her mind: "This place was meant for us, it was never exactly connected to the rest in the first place." Kaori blinked and shook her head slightly.

"Y-Yeah it was a bit strange. Anyways sorry for bothering you."

Kaori left Megumi's house disappointed, her head full of thoughts.

Akira knew he was too short to climb and jump over the fences of the cinema so he had to stick with loitering around it instead. Surprisingly there were no elderly to keep him company, maybe even they had that unpleasant feeling and decided to avoid the cinema. This made him more determined at first but as it was getting dark he started regretting spending the little freedom he was given with spying on the stagnant cinema. When he was about to make his way back home he saw a shadow leaving the cinema. He waited for the person to come closer to make out a face but all he could see was the back of the person, it was a man. He tried so hard to shake the tingling, freezing sensation and shakily followed the trail of the man. He was going towards the forest.

With a fineliner, the man touched and examined a bunch of trees than marked them. Akira watched over curiously as the man was examining the trees, marking some of them. He realised only the dry wood were being marked, so this guy was just picking trees to cut down. It wasn't anything worth noting after all.

Just as Akira was going to leave he stepped on a dry bush causing the man to turn around then going farther into the woods. At that moment when the man turned around Akira caught a glimpse of his face, It was Yasuyuki, someone from the neighbourhood. He was a lumberjack too so this wasn't anything strange... Except it was! Why had Yasuyuki come out the cinema that was clearly not open to visitors? With a grin on his face proud of himself for the accomplishment of his observations Akira rushed back eager to share the news and hopefully to find out what was going on.

As he was running back home, he was surprised to come across Kaori with a bunch of dogs around her.

"Hey weren't you at Megumi's?"

"I did go, it seems she left for Mizobe and has been with her aunt for five days."

"She left the next day after we were trapped?"

"That's right."

Akira made a sour face.

" That's unfair, she left and went all the way to Mizobe literally one day later while we are only allowed for a few hours like pet dogs even after five days. Whatever, forget about that, I saw the weirdest thing while watching over the cinema. Yasuyuki just walked out of there like it was his property."

Kaori raised a brow.

"I am sure I heard mom say he left to try out for the army or something."

"Nah I saw him, he was marking trees and stuff. Hey mom! Does Yasuyuki have business with the cinema or something."

Kaori and Akira's mom Sachiko furiously looked over at her children.

"No he doesn't, he left two days ago for tryouts, I already told you. You two are late, if this happens again you'll be grounded until the school year starts again!"

"B-But! Are you sure, maybe he came back I am sure I saw him!"

"It is as I said, somebody would have seen if he came back. You must have mistaken him with someone else. Now go tidy your room both of you, this house is a mess. We won't have time tomorrow anyways, we have to attend the gathering."

"The gathering?" Kaori and Akira looked at each other, confused.

"You two are clueless, aren't you? Then again you were toddlers the last time it happened. The gathering happens every ten years, all the villagers nearby gather in sotoba and have some sort of festival. It is a pain but it would be shameful not to attend. What are you two still waiting around for, didn't you hear what I said?"

As they were going upstairs Akira murmured to himself.

"It was definitely him."

The sky was completely dark. Ritsuko couldn't sleep so she had decided to take her dog Taro out for a walk. The dog was tense for whatever reason, normally it would be ecstatic to go for a walk, maybe it was feeling down nowadays as well. Ritsuko looked at the stars and slowly lowered her gaze towards the road. Her eyes stayed there for a few seconds until Taro made a noise, it was barking at someone. She got goosebumps, as if something was out of place. She looked at what had alarmed her dog. Upon seeing who was coming, Ritsuko brushed off the uneasiness and smiled.

"Good evening, Tohru. Well it is not really evening anymore. You couldn't sleep either?"

"Umm yea, so, what are you doing out at night looking all longingly at the city, miss your boyfriend?"

Ritsuko was thunderstruck by Tohru's response, so far, when she was giving him driving lessons, he came off as a kind laid back guy. He wasn't someone she would expect to make such a remark. His presence was giving her an uncomfortable feeling too, maybe he was a bit tipsy. Ritsuko carefully picked her words as she spoke.

"Not really I just couldn't sleep so I wanted get some fresh air."

"I see I see. You know it is a good thing you two broke up, he would have taken you away, we wouldn't want that."

"Thanks, I guess..."

"Hey, what are you two doing late at night, Ritsuko don't you have work tomorrow, go back to your house at once! We can't have half asleep nurses in the clinic."

Ritsuko looked in the direction of the cracky voice. It was no other than Takae, the doctor Ozaki's mother. Before realising, she had reached the clinic, her house was pretty close to it so it wasn't surprising. She liked her job very much, she also liked all her coworkers, as well as Ozaki, despite his overly assertive attitude. However his mother was a bossy woman always ordering ,not only his son, but the rest of the clinic staff too, around. Ritsuko knew she didn't have to do as she said but it was just easier to go along with it. Ritsuko simply didn't want any trouble and wanted to enjoy her life to the core, she wanted others to enjoy their life to the core as well.

"Yes, I was just about to turn back."

As Ritsuko turned around, Tohru following, she felt the displeased stare of Takae on her back. She was regretting going out that night, she simply wanted to go back home as soon as possible.

"Ritsuko, I wasn't done."

Fingers entangled her arm. They didn't have any temperature. It wasn't that they were cold, she simply couldn't feel a thing. Something was holding her arm, but, it felt like... nothing. She couldn't find any other words to describe the feeling. She almost felt like if she turned around to see who was there she wouldn't see a thing. She quickly snatched her arm away, holding her wrist with her hand with wide eyes.

"Uhm, can't it wait for tomorrow Tohru, you heard what Takae said."

"I'll make it quick."

Ritsuko turned around to look at Tohru. He had a skewed smirk on his face. He really wasn't looking like himself.

"So, your boyfriend, he was forcing you to leave right, I wouldn't, I don't plan on leaving either. Whaddya say, you wanna go out?

"W-What?"

"You don't have to answer right now, just tell me tomorrow. Then we can go hang out at a cafe or something, sounds good, right?

"N-No, no need to wait for tomorrow. I'm sorry but I can't."

Before he could say anything else Ritsuko ran back home. She couldn't believe the way Tohru acted, like she was desperate for a boyfriend, like he was so special and her rejecting wasn't even an option. Perhaps I was a little harsh she thought. Tohru was a bit younger than her, maybe he was just immature but hopeful. She shouldn't have ran away, he was going to be heartbroken as it seemed like he wasn't expecting this answer at all. But he was always so mature and nice while I was teaching him, this attitude came out of nowhere. And that feeling she felt on her arm... She knew it made no sense but she felt like the person she had just been talking to, wasn't Tohru.

Of course this wasn't possible, it was Tohru. Maybe he thought he was being cool acting like that. Ritsuko sneaked in quitely so her sister and mom wouldn't hear her. She collapsed in her bed, still trying to shake off that weird sensation.

"Ayyyyoo Kaori come on now, It'll be fun, besides you aren't doing anything other than hanging around those lice infested dogs ever since you heard Megumi left Sotoba. Are you going to spend the whole summer with them? Maybe you will get lice too. You know, someone will rat you out to mom soon enough."

"The dogs don't have lice! And is that someone you? I can't think of anyone else, me feeding the dogs is old irrelevant gossip after all. Are you threatening me? "

"Uhh why do you have to be like that, stop dodging the question. You scared or something?"

Kaori rolled her eyes. She had no reason to be scared at all. She didn't want to spend her day spying on the cinema. Also, she had to admit the cinema was very creepy so she simply didn't want to be around it. Their mom was out helping with preparations for the gathering which was happenning tonight so they were free to do whatever they wanted to for the day as she wouldn't be keeping watch over them. Spying on the cinema was NOT how she wanted to spend it.

"I swear I saw him, besides, what do you have to loose, pleeease?"

Last night Akira kept going on about how he saw Yasuyuki going out the cinema even though he wasn't even in Sotoba. It seemed like he wouldn't let this go. Kaori looked at Akira, yep he definitely wasn't going to let it go.

"Fine, just let me get my sketchbook. I don't wanna just stare at the cinema like a weirdo, maybe I'll doodle it, it has an... interesting structure."

"You mean creepy, right? I can tell you are creeped out."

Akira had a huge grin on his face. This was going to be much less insufferable now that he had Kaori on his side.

"Are you trying to make me change my mind?"

"Nope nope, just get your sketchbook and lets bounce."

"Hey Natsuno, you have been more antisocial than ever recently, good thing your family is very eager to be one with the village. I feel like I wouldn't have been able to convince you to come to the - woah what is up with you, you look terrible."

Natsuno looked at Tohru, his eyes red. He didn't even have enough energy to give him a death glare. All week, he had been trying to ignore the fact that Megumi was right outside his window at a very weird hour and continue with his studies, like he always did before but the feeling was inevitable. He kept on staying up to catch up with his studies yet he was never able to focus.

At this point he didn't even know if him not being able to concentrate was because of Megumi and that awful tingly sensation or simply because he was running on three hours of sleep which was not enough for his brain to properly function.

Now he was with the Mutous walking to the clinic to pick up Tohru's dads car so they can get some ice cream before he was forced to attend a social event, one he would much rather dismiss.

For Natsuno It didn't make sense to take part in social activities unless he liked the activity or the people he would be doing it with. For example getting ice cream with the Mutous was a nice break, he knew he would be having a good time(he wouldn't have agreed with it otherwise)but being forced into attending a social activity didn't even make sense.

These kind of events were supposed to be to loosen up, it shouldn't be his duty to join some sort of festival that would not help him progress further in any way.

"Won't I ever be able to take a break from you villagers and your weird customs?"

"Aaand there you go again, dissing the village as if this is so weird. Think of the gathering like a party, don't you -oh,so superior- city folk have those all the time?" Tamotsu spoke with sarcasm in his voice

"Even in that case, I don't think Natsu would be familiar with this kind of thing. No offense but you don't exactly seem like the life of the party, in fact I can't imagine you ever attending one."

"Why would I take offense in that, parties are lame anyways." Natsuno answerd Aoi with a slight cunning smile on his face.

"You truly are an old boring man Natsuno."

As they made their way towards the clinic Tohru's eyes met with one particular nurse who immediately lowered her gaze and tried to get out of his sight in efforts to avoid him. Tohru was unaware of this though.

"Good morning Ritsuko! We are kind of crowded today, I wanna get these kids some ice cre- Is everything alright?" Tohru looked at Ritsuko's uncomfortable face worriedly.

"Yeah, well, maybe we should cancel todays lesson, sorry I am just not in the mood."

"R-Right, sure, of course."

with that Ritsuko rushed back into the clinic. Tohru looked after, astonished. He looked around to see people giving him side eyes leaning over each other, whispering.

"Are they always like this when you come?" Natsuno asked. He was used to see people whispering but this was another level. Something juicy was going on.

"No they aren't, what is going on?" Aoi asked Tohru.

"As if I know."

In that moment their father appeared and hurried over them.

"Tohru please tell me you didn't do what I heard you did last night"

"Well if you heard I drank three cups of coffee, then sure did."

"This is no joke, the doctors mother, Takae is telling everyone about how she saw you shamelessly hitting on one of my coworkers, nurse Ritsuko."

"W-What? But I didn't even see Ritsuko yesterday."

"Well she is sure and Ritsuko isn't denying it either. What were you doing out that late too, have you been lying about your job schedule?"

"No! I had a double shift last night, I wasn't even back in Sotoba until one in the morning or so."

His father sighed, shook his head in disbelief than turned around his head bent forward with shame, leaving Tohru standing with an open mouth.