Bad idea, a very bad idea. Where would she even start? Naho, she had to find Naho, she had to find Tokiko's tongue but where? It was in the auditorium but they never found it did they? Naomi stopped walking. Sachiko had let her go to fulfill her side of the bet. Now she only had to appease two people and Seiko could escape with them. Easy enough right? She looked around, it was darker here. "N-Naho..." She called. "Ms Saenoki are you there?" There was no response and Naomi suddenly felt embarrassed. She thought about making her way back to the classroom but didn't even know where she was. Come to think of it how did she get out of that basement? She couldn't remember past making the bet itself. Didn't matter she supposed, she was here now didn't make any difference how she got here. Naomi shivered, she realised she had no next move. Okay one more time. "Naho" Before she even finished saying her name there she was, behind her. Naomi instantly felt the presence.

"What?" Naho said not so patiently.

"Well I-"

"I'm not a dog you can't just call my name and expect me to show up every time." Naho said with her usual blank stare.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to" said Naomi. "It's just I need your help."

"Of course you do." Said Naho with a hint superiority and obvious boredom.

Naomi went quiet, suddenly pissed off with Naho's attitude. Naho took notice of Naomi's irritation. "I'm sorry, do carry on."

Naomi took a deep breath. "I made a bet." Naho's interest peaked but it didn't show. "With Sachiko." She went on.

"And why would you have done that?" Naho asked almost smiling.

Naomi all of a sudden felt very small. She looked down to the ground but then forced herself to make eye contact with Naho's fish like wide eyes. "For my friend, Seiko, she doesn't have her paper scrap and Sachiko implied maybe that was needed to get out. Although then she corrected herself by saying there was definitely no way out but I don't believe that."

"I see." Naho definitely looked superior now. She wore a smug expression. Naomi twitched, she felt doubt at the back of her mind, was Naho was actually here to help? Was she someone she could trust?

"So is that true? Do we need our paper scraps to get out?" Naomi asked.

Naho was quick to answer. "There is no way out not without breaking down the closed spaces first which you haven't done yet." She said with slight edge.

"Because there's still one last ghost to appease right?" Said Naomi.

Naho creased up her nose and let her eyes wander off. "If it's that easy."

"What do you mean?"

Naho remained patient. "This school is strong...It might be that the final piece isn't the headless girl but Sachiko herself."

"Do you know what we would need to appease Sachiko?"

Naho didn't answer. "Why did you call me here?" She said looking back at Naomi.

"Because I wanted your help. You're the one who told us how to appease the children in the first place. And the bet...the bet I made it involves appeasement." Naomi said hesitantly not sure if she should tell Naho that she was part of the deal.

"Don't be vague" Naho said slyly. "What is this bet?"

Naomi straightened up. "I have to appease Tokiko, the ghost girl and...you."

Naho didn't move but she did smile, this time with teeth which made her look more sinister than she might have intended. "Who said I need to be appeased?"

Naomi was nervous now, "I figured that anyone's soul who was in this school needed to be put to rest." She said with as much conviction as she could muster. Naomi in her nervous state forgot to mention that it was actually Sachiko's idea and not her own.

Naho raised an eyebrow. "And what, you want my help to appease myself?" Naho actually laughed.

Naomi shifted her weight from one foot to the other, she gave a provoked stare and didn't say anything.

Naho's smile came down. "What happens if you lose the bet?" She asked almost sounding concerned.

"I don't know." Naomi muttered, then she spoke up. "I don't know, it was If I don't succeed then I lose and the details of what happens if I lose were never specified."

Naho looked awed. "Well that wasn't very smart of you."

There was a lump in Naomi's throat. That's right what does happen if she loses?

Maybe it was sympathy maybe it was ulterior motive but finally Naho said something that was more than just some unhelpful remark. "You'll need to find that tongue, find it fast and you surely know what to do from there. Then If you want to appease me." She snickered as she said it, it was nothing she'd ever actually considered before. "Then find my mentor."

"Your mentor?" Naomi asked.

"Yes, he's here somewhere and I've been searching for him for quite some time with no luck. So if there was a way to appease me I'd say that's where to start." Naho didn't have much faith in Naomi's bet, so no harm in giving her a clue.

Naomi wouldn't know where to start with this mentor of hers. If Naho couldn't find him after all this time then why would she be able to? She had so many more questions to ask.

Naho stopped her before she could say anything else. "Whose idea was it to appease me and the ghost kid? You or hers?"

"The appeasement was my idea, but it was Sachiko who said it should be you two."

Naho gave a more regretful smile and glance to the floor. "Oh dear." She muttered. "Why would Sachiko want that?" She wouldn't, that was the answer. It was clear that Sachiko also didn't have much faith in Naomi, Sachiko wasn't worried. She must know that the appeasement of Tokiko would mean the breaking down of the closed spaces which were already hanging by a thread. But still she wasn't worried, that was concerning. And what happened if Naomi did succeed? Was Sachiko really going to give Naomi what she had been promised.

"Naho, isn't there anything more you can do to help?" Naomi asked.

Naho folded her arms and gave a dazed look around the area. "I don't think anyone can do anything to help you now."

Naomi gave an irked look back down to the floor. Naho wasn't being particularly helpful. "Fine but-" She looked up and Naho was gone. Of course. Naomi turned on her heel and darted off, she wasn't wasting any more time. "Classroom, I have to get to the classroom. Satoshi will be there. Seiko will be there. Everyone will be there." Naomi stopped in frustration. "Where am I?" She moaned. This was not a part of the school she recognised. She started to run, she had to get back. This was the second wing, it had to be, otherwise she would have recognised it. She kept running, completely directionless. Then she heard rain. Naomi ran in the direction of the sound which led to a big heavy door, she made her way outside. There was a roof above her protecting her from the rain that she could see pouring down beside her. Naomi didn't have time to think about where she was, or have time to be fascinated and she stupidly decided there wasn't enough time to drink some of the rainwater despite how thirsty she was. There was a thud, she halted and turned. She watched in horror as a man threw himself off the building before re-appearing on the roof and doing it again. She kept her eyes glued to him as she stepped back, she lost her balance and fell down as the man threw himself off again. Naomi shook her head and stood up. No time to think about it. She ran to the entrance which had a large key already inside of it.
Now she knew where she was.

Naomi picked up the pace and ran to the classroom faster than she thought she could. She burst through the door calling Satoshi's name. Silence. The room was empty. She supposed she hadn't set out that long ago it was possible that no one was back yet. After all time in here was complex, she couldn't tell how long it had been since they'd all left this room. "Dammit." Naomi ran to the board and picked up the old chalk. She hesitated before deciding what to write. She settled on I am okay, need Tokiko's tongue, am heading to the auditorium - Naomi. It wasn't much and it wasn't all that informative but if Satoshi saw it he'd know she was alive. And she didn't have time to think of anything better. Naomi left the room.

This time she knew where she was going, she made it to the auditorium in a matter of minutes, never once stopping to catch her breath. She was scared after what happened in there last time but wasn't ready to waste time over it. She burst through the door, but as soon as she was in her confidence was gone. This whole place with all its bad memories and bad atmosphere made her instantly nauseous. She took one slow step after another inside. No one was here. Naomi wanted to cry, she needed someone's help. She was scared and didn't know what to do next.

She decided to check the whole room, each creak made her jump and the images of the shadows entered her mind. The way they grabbed her, the way it felt so cold even though nothing was physically touching her, the painful forceful manner in which she was dragged across the hard floor.

It wasn't here, the tongue wasn't here. What if Sachiko had it all along? She had to think for a moment, where did everyone else go? Two to the infirmary, two to the Custodians closet and two more to the second wing. Maybe she should have stayed in the second wing and looked for Kishinuma and Morishige, she didn't even realise at the time that they might have been in there. Seiko and the class-rep, that was her best option. Naomi wasn't all that sure she remembered where the custodians closet was but that didn't stop her. She ran to it, lost her way at one point but made it in the end. She barged through. Empty. "No! How can you not be here!" Naomi collapsed on to the floor, the TV static flickered. She noticed something, this mat was warm in spots, someone might have just been here. She stood up all to quickly, something suddenly whirled past her causing her to scream and fall back into the cupboard door with a thud. Naomi looked at the tape on the ground and then back to the TV. "Did that just pop out like that?" She winced as she steadied herself, her back was momentarily sore from impact. Naomi turned back to the cupboard, she didn't know why but she opened it. Just in case. "Ahhh" She screamed almost falling over again. Naomi covered her nose, the stench hit her full force. Luck had struck, but she didn't feel very lucky. "This is Naho." Naho along with the corpse of a man she didn't recognize lay swollen and decayed resting on each other inside the cupboard. Naomi was tearing up either from sadness or the smell. She looked at the man she was with. "Could this be the mentor?" She wished she'd at least asked Naho more about her mentor when she got the chance. "Dammit I'm doing everything wrong..."


In the auditorium the shadows came back. Satoshi, Yuka and Nana were forced yet again to run for their lives. It was mayhem, they were scattered. Satoshi had hold of Yuka's hand tight but as soon as they made it out the door they tumbled down at the force of a shadow. Yuka caught her bearings and looked up to see four more shadows looming over her. She had no choice but to run. She screamed for her big brother but he was now being held firmly to the ground by at least three other shadows. Nana hadn't noticed them fall and had kept running.

Nana was getting away but a shadow was on her. She was sobbing as she ran, sometimes screaming at them to stop or leave her alone. Eventually she stopped screaming, she had to save her breath. It had been too long, she had been running too long, she was on her last legs. She made the last second decision to duck into a room and hide, only now realising that she had been alone all this time. Some part of her thought hiding was futile, they'd find her, but she couldn't run anymore. She covered her mouth to stop herself from breathing so loud. A while passed, maybe it was a while, maybe it wasn't that long at all. Either way Nana was sick of waiting. She left the room and walked quickly to where she thought there might be more people. The infirmary was empty. So she went to where the next party would be, the custodians closet. Nana realised how exhausted she was now. The adrenaline had kept her going but now that it was dying down it was stripping away her energy with it. Nana opened the door to the custodians closet, thankful she remembered where it was. Someone was in here. "Nakashima." She said. "You're okay."

Naomi who was staring intently into the closet turned around, startled at the sound of Nana's voice. Then she saw who it was and there was a moment of relief. "You're okay too." Nana walked over to her, Naomi without thinking closed the cupboard door, she didn't want her to see this.

"What happened to you?" Nana asked sounding scared.

Naomi noticed she was breathing rather heavily. Had something happened? "It's a long story." She said. "What matters right now is finding that girls tongue." Naomi's eyes scanned over Nana, her clothes were disheveled, her knees were scraped, she was shaking head to toe. "What happened?" She asked softly, scared of the answer. "Are you okay? Are the others okay?"

Nana looked sad. "More of them came, more of the shadows." She took a breath.

"It's okay take your time."

"They chased us. We were all together or at least I thought we were. I kept running, I didn't look back. I should have but I didn't. I don't know what happened to Mochida and Yuka. Surely they must have got away though." She paused."I hid for a while, in some classroom and went to the infirmary when I was sure they were gone, no one was there so I came here."

Naomi listened with concern in her eyes. They were attacked. But that didn't necessarily mean what Sachiko had said about Satoshi was true. He could be just fine.

Nana watched as Naomi stared off with wide thoughtful eyes. Then she realised something. "I found it." She said abruptly.

Naomi's eyes flickered back. "Hm found what?"

Nana held up the tongue bag and placed it gently in Naomi's hand. Naomi gasped with relief. "Thank you Ogasawara." Nana gave a faint smile. Now Naomi had what she needed to appease Tokiko but what about Naho. She looked back at the cupboard. If he was really her mentor then she had found him for her right? She'd done what she asked and found her mentor. She looked at Nana. "Let's go."


Seiko, Ayumi, Kai and Mitsuki had decided to go back to the classroom to see whether they were the only ones who had made any progress. One by one they piled into the room. Seiko stopped and everyone else followed her eyes to the board.

I am okay, need Tokiko's tongue, am heading to the auditorium - Naomi

"Why would she have to say she's okay?" Seiko said with concern. "I thought they all went to the auditorium ages ago."

Yes, Ayumi thought. It was quite confusing.

"Should we go?" Seiko asked the group.

"You guys can go, I need a break." Kai said taking a seat and leaning back. Mitsuki wanted to sit down too, but didn't want to look like she wasn't helping.

"It's okay." Ayumi said noticing the look of exhaustion on Mitsuki's face, which was starting to bruise. "Shinohara and I can go check."

"Good with me." Kai said. Mitsuki nodded gratefully and took a seat. Ayumi and Seiko headed out of the classroom.

They made it to the auditorium, nothing on the outside looked out of the ordinary. Both of them hesitated at the door. Neither of them wanted to go back in there.

But they didn't have a choice.
They pushed the door open and went inside. It was much darker than it was earlier. "Naomi." Seiko called.

"I don't think anyone's here." Ayumi said, she was worried. Where had they went if they hadn't came back to the classroom? They walked in further. They had a look around but there was nothing, only a pool of blood that looked like a black smudge in this light. Ayumi winced at the memory. How could Sachiko be so cruel?

"Let's just get out of here." Seiko said. She couldn't stand this place any longer.

Just as they left the room there was an earthquake. A very big earthquake. Much more powerful than any of the other's they had experienced so far. Both girls were thrown off balance. It was so powerful they screamed. It felt like the floor could cave in at any moment. No matter how many times you went through this it never became normal, or any less unsettling.

Finally it stopped. Ayumi stood up and pulled herself together. She looked thoughtful. An earthquake had only meant one thing so far.

"What is it?" Seiko asked.

"I think they found it. I think they found the tongue."


"What are we doing?" Nana asked watching Naomi stomp defiantly out of the room. "We're going to find the ghost girl and return her tongue. But we have to do it fast." She replied firmly.

"Oh okay...where is she?" Nana said quietly, she was slightly intimidated by Naomi's sudden assiduous manner. "I don't know" Naomi simply replied. They marched around the building, Nana was becoming more and more tired, she wanted to rest so bad.

After some furious and unrelenting searching Naomi stopped. "Finally." Nana heard her mutter. In the middle of the hallway was Tokiko, the infamous headless little girl. They had already searched this area twice but now here she was. Naomi held back her fear. The class-rep had been the one to do the actual delivering before but Naomi was there and she knew what she had to do. She turned her head to Nana, "You can wait here if you want." She turned and walked over to Tokiko's headless ghost. She put her hand in her pocket as she approached and pulled out the bag. Then right before Tokiko had the chance to attack Naomi held the bag up. "Tokiko Tsuji." She said and surprised herself when she didn't stutter. "This is yours, I'm giving it back to you." That's what the class-rep had said before, right? In only a quick seconds passing Tokiko mimicked the other ghosts, taking her tongue back and placing it in her mouth before thanking Naomi and vanishing. Naomi smiled with disbelief, she really just did that. Half-way there.

Although she had already been through this twice before, Naomi forgot about the earthquakes that occurred after each appeasement. This one was almighty. She turned to Nana just as she fell. It was so violent neither of the could keep from screaming, she covered her head with her arms, wrapping herself up in a fetal position. Then it stopped. Dust fell from the ceiling as the building settled. Naomi stood up and had to force down the bile that was rising in her throat. "Ogasawara. Are you okay?"

Nana was huddled over, she looked up at Naomi and despite her shaking gave a nod. Naomi clumsily made her way over and helped her up.

There was a giggle. Both of them turned to see Naho standing there with her usual sure of herself expression. "So you've did it. Does that mean It's my turn?"

Naomi wasn't sure what to say. It was her turn wasn't it. "Yes actually."

"Oh." Naho gave a fake surprised expression. "Did you find my mentor?" She asked shrewdly.

"I did." Naomi simply stated.

Naho looked suspicious. She waited for more.

"I was in the custodians closet. His body's in there...beside yours... in the cupboard." Naomi said with as much tact as she could.

Naho's face twisted. "His body?"

"Yes." Naomi said obliviously. "He's with you. He was all this time." Her voice was soft.

Naho did not look pleased, not exactly the expression Naomi had hoped for. Then Naho started to laugh. She looked up to the ceiling and laughed. She grabbed her hair and pulled and laughed. "Are you?! Will you-?!"

"Naho?" Naomi said.

"You better be joking you dumb bitch!" Naho screeched back, her voice had switched drastically from normal to some type of demonic growl.

This wasn't right.

Sachiko was at the other side of them all, laughing hysterically. "Is this what appeasement is?" She said snorting. Naho was definitely not at peace. She was thrashing and moaning clearly in pain. Physical and emotional.

Naomi stared blankly at Sachiko. "I-I gave the girl her tongue back, I've done what you asked." she was shaking.

Sachiko shrugged. "Look's more like you've only done half of it. And anyway times up."

Naomi shook her head. "No I-"

"Tell you what." Sachiko cut her off. "Since you've done half you get half the prize half the punishment. Your best friend can have her worthless paper back."

Naomi was speechless. She was confused, and worried. Half the punishment? If that's the prize then what's the punishment. Sachiko smiled. "I'll give you a head start." She cooed, staring Naomi straight in the eyes.

Sachiko started to count before Naomi could even register what was happening. "5". She looked at Naho who was now enshrouded in black smoke and then to Nana who was staring at her with fear. "4". 'What do I do?' "3" Naomi ran, the sound of a hysterical Sachiko echoed behind her.

Naomi turned a corner and stopped running. There was a man blocking her way. A normal looking man. A teenager actually. He was tall, with black hair and wearing a white blazer. She recognised the jacket that hung loosely over his shoulder. It was the same as Kai's. This boy was normal looking, but his hand. His right hand from the wrist to the fingers was composed of long red thick strings of flesh all knotted together. It looked as if his skin had just been ripped right off. The raw looking veins reflected a shimmer of light as if it was wet. Naomi couldn't look away. The boy smiled. He marched up to her, Naomi froze, he was only a few feet away when-

"Hey!" Seiko shouted. Ayumi came in behind her. The boy turned his head to her. Seiko looked at Naomi horrified. But Seiko wasn't looking at her Naomi realised, she turned around. Standing there only a step away was Sachiko and Yoshikazu.

Naomi still frozen turned to Seiko and Ayumi as Yoshikazu closed his hands around her throat. Sachiko shot her hands up in the air and screamed, bursts of dull colour formed and soon more shadows were swirling over her head, too many. The boy with the flesh hand took stance as a bodyguard, he had murder in his eyes.

"No!" Seiko screeched. The shadows were also ready to fend off any attackers. But still Seiko ran at them. And then she was stopped, someone had stopped her. It was Yoshiki who had shown up just as this mess was going down. "Stop Shinohara you'll die if you go over there." There was too many. "No stop I can help her!" Seiko screeched as she furiously kicked and pulled. Yoshiki tightened his grip round her body. He felt sick, useless, but he couldn't let them both die. And he knew, he wasn't just telling himself that, he knew. Yoshiki had finally managed to pull himself up away from Morishige's body when Sachiko had appeared. He didn't even have time to be angry at her before she started on her little speech. Sachiko had told him, told him how she was going to kill Naomi, that her time was up and if anyone got in her way they'd die too. Sachiko had handed Yoshiki a paper scrap, "You can give this to Nakashima's friend, I'd like to have a little more fun with her anyway." She had said, then she was gone and he had ran, ran back into the first wing calling frantically to anyone who would hear. And now he had stumbled upon this. Sachiko was being true to her word.

Ayumi walked beside them, she was pale and shaky and her eyes were bloodshot. "He's right". She said almost voicelessly.

"What!?" Seiko screamed.

Ayumi shook her head and stifled a cry. "He's right, I can feel it." She pointed over to the shadows. "I can feel them killing you."

Seiko looked at her with disbelief. What was she even talking about? Why was nobody helping? Had they all gone mad?!

They saw Nana coming up behind Sachiko. She saw what was happening to Naomi and before she could think about what she was doing she ran up to help. Ayumi was yelling at her to stop but she couldn't hear over the sound of the shadows. They were screeching and Sachiko was screaming and shouting, everything was so loud. As soon as Nana entered the same space as Sachiko she was dead, in the blink of an eye there was no body just blood which seemed to float for a moment before it splashed to the ground in a messy little puddle. Ayumi stood with her eyes pale, she didn't move an inch. Yoshiki grimaced and Seiko screamed louder and despite what she was seeing kept trying to run to Naomi. Yoshiki could not let that happen to her.

Yoshikazu held Naomi up higher by the throat and went from using one hand to two. He squeezed harder. Naomi kicked and struggled. Blood surged through her head, her body was shutting down and her mind was panicking. She grabbed at Yoshikazus face and stuck her fingers in one of his dead, red eyes. He roared in pain but did not relent. She kept hold of his eye until she had quite literally burst it, it was nothing more than an empty black space. Despite his new wound he kept his grip on her throat until there was a crack, a crack or a crunch Sachiko couldn't decide. It was a horrible sound. Seiko was screaming and crying and Sachiko was laughing. All she wanted was a show. It wasn't too unfair to ask for after all she had been through was it?

Sachiko let the hair land over her face. She locked eyes with Yoshiki and smiled, she could see his rage. It was burning inside of him, she felt the same for him. It was mutual hatred.

The shadows disappeared, Yoshikazu without having to be told plodded away, still holding Naomi by the neck, flesh hand followed behind. Sachiko faded.

Seiko couldn't bear to look. Her emotions switched from anger to sorrow. She turned her body round and pulled herself into Kishinuma and he held her tight as she cried. They were all on the floor now. Ayumi couldn't hold herself up any longer. She looked deathly sick. She was pale and sweaty and her hair was damp. She noticed Kishinuma from the neck down was covered in blood. Should she even ask?

Ayumi and Yoshiki shared a look. A look that didn't really say anything because neither of them could wrap their heads around their own thoughts never mind someone else's.