Kai and Mitsuki sat for a long time. Started to wonder if something had happened. Kai thought they were never coming back.
But then they did. One by one they dragged their feet into the classroom, each ones face appearing more grim than the next. Yoshiki and Ayumi had tried comforting Seiko but she needed some time to think. She sat up near the front of the class on the floor, her back leaning on the desk. She hadn't moved in a while, just stayed like that, thinking and coping.
Ayumi without saying another word took a seat and Yoshiki pulled a chair over to sit beside her. Kai started to prod about what happened but Mitsuki had warned him that it wasn't the time, that they'd explain when they were ready.
Yoshiki looked at Ayumi who was pale and still. Clearly extremely shaken up. Yoshiki was angry more at himself now. 'I shouldn't have left her. Here I am supposed to be protecting her and I leave her as soon as I find her...god you idiot'. Yoshiki had sworn to himself as soon as he woke up here that he'd find Ayumi and keep her safe. When Sachiko dragged them into the auditorium his fear was for her more than himself. Everything he done was for her. And then he left her, let them get split up voluntarily. 'Idiot, stupid dumb idiot, Should have went with her, whether she liked it or not.' Would it have changed anything with Naomi? Would him going with Ayumi instead of Morishige set off a new chain of events that led to Naomi sitting here in this room with them? '...I don't know...'
"Shinozaki are you okay?" He asked tentatively.
Ayumi was sitting motionless staring off into nothing, her head occasionally bobbing back and forward. She licked her lips and turned her head to him. "Something happened Kishinuma." Her voice was small and quiet. "I saw something. Or at least I think I did but maybe it was just a feeling, but it was there and it was real, I'm not making it up".
"I know I believe you."
"you do?" She sniffed.
"Of course I believe you."
Ayumi looked down at her lap. "I think I believe in destiny, but I never thought the future was set in stone or anything like that. But I knew that not me or anyone else could save Nakashima. I mean knew. I've never felt anything like it, it was...awful just awful." She croaked. She couldn't explain it, she wasn't a psychic or anything like that. She couldn't be. But her family did come from an unusual bloodline right? I mean her own sister was a very highly regarded medium. Ayumi rubbed her temples, 'no stop thinking like that' she told herself. This school was playing tricks on her mind. But it was real...and if it wasn't then Naomi could be saved and Ayumi had just convinced herself that she couldn't. 'No don't think like that either. You felt it. It was real. Nobody could have done anything for her'. Ayumi had never been the closest with Naomi before all this, definitely not as close as her and Seiko. They were casual friends and honestly Ayumi had always been a little jealous. But the time they spent here...trapped just the two of them for so long. The two had become closer than ever. They were friends for real, forever tied by what they had been through. And now she was dead...just like that...just like they'd all be.
"Hey Shinozaki." Yoshiki's voice again snapped her out of it. "It'll be alright."
"How?"
The room went utterly silent. Yoshiki took his eyes off Ayumi and put them back down to the floor. Satoshi and Yuka were gone too, no one knew what happened to either of them. And neither Naomi or Nana were alive to tell them. And Morishige, Yoshiki hadn't had the time to explain that yet, although he wouldn't make the mistake of keeping somebody's death to himself ever again.
Seiko stood up, her whole body still trembling. Everyone's eyes went up. She walked to the board and rubbed off Naomi's message, her face stained with tears. Then she turned. "We have to do something."
Yoshiki inhaled heavily before standing up. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out Sachiko's tongue bag along with the tape he had found and dumped it on the table in front of him.
Ayumi for the first time since they got back looked like she had some spark of life left in her. "Who's is this?" She asked, standing up and leaning over the bag.
"It's Sachiko's." Said Yoshiki. "Morishige and I found it in the second wing."
"Morishige?" Ayumi suddenly noticed there was another missing person. "Where...?"
Yoshiki sighed and rubbed his face. May as well start from the beginning. "I was with Suzumoto earlier, that ghost, Naho, she told us we could appease some of the children and it would help us get out of here. So that's what we tried doing. It went bad and... they killed her."
Ayumi and Seiko's faces went sour. It was more bad news. Why did it feel like they had expected this? "Morishige found out." Yoshiki went on, "Sachiko left him a note somehow telling him she was dead. I should have just told him myself but..." He stopped himself. "There's this darkness in the school. Like if something bad happens and you get too upset about it it starts to get inside you." Ayumi furrowed her brow, 'a darkness'? "It almost got me when Suzumoto died but I managed to fight it off. Barely. When Morishige found out about her it came for him too and... it was too much for him."
"You mean he's dead?" Seiko asked sadly.
"Yeah." Yoshiki answered.
"...They're both dead." Said Ayumi and she put her hand on the table to steady herself.
Another mournful break of silence.
Seiko walked up to the desk and picked up the tape. "This is what we needed. Another tape." She spoke like all the life had been sucked out of her, serious and firm not like the Seiko they usually knew. All Sachiko's doing Yoshiki thought with a burning hatred.
Kai and Mitsuki walked over to the same table. Mitsuki was holding Yoshie's diary in her arms. The bruising on her face was getting worse, it was starting to darken in colour. She noticed Yoshiki eyeing the book up curiously. Mostly he was trying not to stare at her face. "It's Sachiko's mothers diary." She explained to him. He gave a puzzled expression. 'Of course it was Sachiko's mothers diary. Cause that made sense.'
"Okay" Said Ayumi. "We need to lay out all our information and figure this out." Everyone nodded collectively and that's what they did.
The four who had read the diary explained to Yoshiki about the principal and how he killed Sachiko and why and how he killed himself after.
"He jumped off the roof?" Yoshiki asked. "I saw him, he was jumping off in some kind of sick loop." he explained. He also explained to them what he had saw when he touched the tongue, about the passageway in the office and about how the tongue belonged to Sachiko.
"This is all fucked." said Kai.
"Yeah we know." Said Yoshiki.
"You all gonna explain what happened while you were gone?" Kai asked sounding vexed.
"Kai." Mitsuki said in an agitated manner, trying to stop him from prying.
"No, it's okay. You should know." Said Seiko bleakly.
The three Kisaragi students glanced at each other waiting for someone to do the actual explaining. "Sachiko killed Nakashima and Ogasawara. We saw it happen." said Ayumi slowly and regretfully.
"Yeah and she made quite a show off it." Said Seiko wiping her eyes.
"Before it happened." Said Yoshiki. "Sachiko came to me, started going on about how Nakashima's 'time was up'. She gave me this." He pulled out a scrap of paper. "Told me to give it to Nakashima's friend. Suppose that's one of you two." He looked at Seiko and Ayumi.
Seiko looked at the paper with disbelief. "I lost mine..." They gave her confused stares. "My scrap of paper from the charm I lost mine a while ago...I..." She gently took the paper from Yoshiki and held it between her two fingers. "Why would she give us this?"
"Keep it." Ayumi said.
Seiko who was transfixed on the paper scrap snapped out of her trance. "What? Why?"
"I just think it's important." She stated.
"You think?"
"It's just a feeling." Ayumi said miserably.
"Another feeling?" Seiko said her voice cracking, sounding slightly accusatory.
Ayumi looked down sadly. Seiko despite her frustration still felt bad, she held onto the paper scrap tighter and put it in her student ID holder. "...Okay, I will."
"I think we should watch this tape." Mitsuki said picking it up and breaking the uncomfortableness. No one said anything. "I mean like just now."
Yoshiki sighed. "I'm in." He picked up the tongue. "This time we all go."
"What about Mochida and Yuka?" Said Ayumi. "They might come back here." Yoshiki's eyes instinctively flickered to the chalkboard.
Seiko turned and picked up the chalk. "Hope Sachiko doesn't see this." She muttered to herself. To whom it may concern: we found another tape and will be at the Custodians Closet. Meet us there. If we are not there meet us here.
"To whom it may concern?" Yoshiki said trying not to sound like he was mocking it.
Seiko wiped her eyes again and almost smiled. "Yeah, problem with that?" She jested lightly.
Yoshiki snickered and shook his head. "Nope no course not."
They stayed close as they made their way to the Custodians Closet.
For Ayumi and Seiko it felt like the last time they were in this room was a million years ago, how could so many things change in just a short period of time? Seiko felt like she was a different person now than she was only what she assumed to be a few hours ago. The girl she loved had died how could she not be different? There were people in your life who make up a part of you whether you like it or not or whether you know it or not. It was inevitable that Seiko would be altered by this. It wasn't fair. And Satoshi, Seiko was sure he loved her too, he'd surely be just as devastated. If he was alive. And poor Mayu and Morishige and Ms Yui and the people she didn't know so well like Nana and that boy and girl Sachiko killed in the auditorium, god she felt so bad for not remembering their names.
Seiko sat down in front of the TV and watched Mitsuki insert the tape. For a moment the screen went black and Seiko could see her sad reflection. 'And poor me' She thought.
The tape started up.
It was pitch black, you couldn't see anything, but they heard a voice. It was the same man from earlier. All alone and scared out of his mind. Rambling about being alone, not wanting to die.
The man's voice spoke to them through the screen, If anyone's watching the tape... ...there's a way out and I'm going to tell you what it is right now. Well that certainly sounded promising.
The TV momentarily flickered back to static before the tape continued. You need to perform the Sachiko ritual correctly. 'Correctly?' Ayumi thought. Say the line one time for each person, then one more for Sachiko, and put all your paper scraps together.
I wish I'd never done it. I wish I'd never come here. The man moaned. They were all right there with him.
Things got bad after that. It became clear why it was so dark. The man was hiding somewhere, and someone was trying to get in.
Naho, Don't! NO!
They heard Naho, she didn't sound human. She was screaming his name: Kibiki. And he was begging to live. The door opened and the camera caught light of the rooms features. It was clear this footage was taken in this very room. Naho had lost her mind, she killed him or at-least was about to when the tape was self-ejected from the VHS player and fired at the onlooking students.
"OW!" Mitsuki wailed as the tape hit her square in her bruised nose. "Why me!?"
"Are you okay?!" Yoshiki asked as Kai tried not to laugh.
Mitsuki rubbed her nose. "I'm fine." She said flatly, sounding nasally.
Seiko stood up. "The tape was filmed in this room."
Ayumi was oblivious to what was going on around her. They were all talking about something but she couldn't hear it. She had done the charm wrong...But how, she followed Naho's instructions exactly. Or what if she didn't, what if they had angered Sachiko because she gave everyone the wrong instructions? 'Oh god what have I done?' A sudden pungent smell hit her, she didn't really notice it for a few seconds but it became hard to ignore. She snapped out of her daze and stood up. The others had opened the cupboard door revealing two corpses lying against each other. "Naho and Kibiki." She said.
Yoshiki turned to her. "Yeah, looks like it." He said sorely.
Seiko having a sudden realisation pulled out her student ID holder where the scrap of paper could be seen through the clear plastic protector. "This is what we need to get out! Why would Sachiko give me this?" She sounded worried. "It's a trap it has to be."
Yoshiki thought about it silently. What was it Sachiko had said to him? 'I'd like to have a little more fun with her'. Why would she say that if this was a key to escape. He rubbed his face. God it made no sense.
"What if it's not?! We all have our charms right? Let's get out of here right now!" Kai demanded.
"No!" Ayumi butted in, "we're not leaving until we find the others."
"Your friend's aren't our problem! Me and Yamamoto can do it ourselves! Come on Yamamoto get your paper out!" Kai's hands charged into his pockets.
Mitsuki didn't exactly rush to his demand. She stood there awkwardly. Glancing back between Kai and the others.
Kai was now fidgeting with his ID holder. "Come on what are you waiting for!?"
Mitsuki swallowed. Her throat was so dry. If she done the charm with Kai she could be back home any second now. She could get a big glass of water and take big long gulps of it in her comfy bed. But she'd know that the others were still in here. She looked at Yoshiki. She felt she owed him, he saved her life. And she thought of her friends. Her poor dead friend's, they were her best friend's in the world. If it was them that were missing wouldn't she expect someone to help her? She couldn't just leave. But was it worth putting her life on the line for strangers?
"I said what are you waiting for." Said Kai agitatedly.
"I'm staying." Mitsuki stated simply.
Kai practically froze in place. "w-WHAT!?"
"I'M STAYING!"
Kai punched the cupboard door. "Why?!" He said sounding more desperate than angry. "Yamamoto we can go now!"
"I have to help." She turned to the Kisaragi students. "I want to help you."
They nodded and smiled gratefully, understanding that this was a big risk, especially for strangers.
"You don't owe them anything Yamamoto!" Kai pleaded, but she wasn't listening. Maybe it wasn't fair to keep Kai trapped here too. But she had to stay and he couldn't go by himself. "I'm sorry Shimada." She said soft but firm.
"This isn't happening!" Kai grabbed hold of Mitsuki and tried to stick his hands in her pockets in search of the paper.
"Stop! I've made up my mind!" She said pushing him away.
"Back off." said Yoshiki, swiping Kai's hands away from her. "No you back off!" Kai cried as he shoved Yoshiki. Yoshiki returned the shove and Kai stumbled backwards. Kai was about to push again when Ayumi stepped in between them. "Stop it! Both of you!" She screamed on the verge of tears. Kai and Yoshiki looked around guiltily. "This isn't the time." She said. "And fighting won't solve anything." Ayumi was very heavily against violence of any kind. She didn't need this right now. None of them did. They had to know who the enemy was. It couldn't be each other.
Kai leaned back heavily on the wall. "Ghh. I just want to go home okay?!" He sounded like her might cry, he looked at Mitsuki's guilty bruised up face. She couldn't keep eye contact and looked away. "I'm sorry" She mumbled.
"What about what happened to your friend? How'd you know that's not going to happen to us?" Kai snapped, sounding frustrated.
"It won't." Said Yoshiki.
"What if it does? You going to play hero again?" Said Kai with a mocking, sarcastic tone.
Yoshiki didn't say anything. He held eye contact with Kai until he looked away.
"We shouldn't waste any more time." Seiko said so quiet that if they weren't all right next to each other no one would have heard her.
"You're right." Said Ayumi. "Where do we start?"
"The auditorium?" Yoshiki suggested.
"We were already in there. It's empty." Ayumi told him.
Yoshiki dragged his hand through his hair with a sigh. "Suppose we just look around." He looked at Ayumi. "Yeah I suppose."
"Wait." Mitsuki interjected. "We didn't get this stuff for nothing." Mitsuki pulled out the bandages she had collected from the infirmary earlier. She looked at Yoshiki's hand, the fabric he had used to wrap it up was barely visible, stained a deep crimson. He took the bandages with his other hand. "Thanks."
Mitsuki went to Kai and held out her hand. He un-crossed his arms and grumpily handed her the alcohol he had found. Mitsuki went to hand it to Yoshiki but Seiko went for it instead. "Here I'll help." She said. "Gives me something to take my mind of everything."
Yoshiki and Seiko sat down by themselves. She silently poured the alcohol over his hand and he flinched. She had never done anything like this but she'd seen it done in plenty of movies so how hard could it be?
"Shinohara" Said Yoshiki as Seiko was picking up the bandages. She didn't say anything. "I'm sorry about, about what happened and that I-"
"It's okay." She said quietly. She looked at him and forced a small wry smile. Her eyes were filled with sadness. "I know what would have happened if I went over there. I never would have been able to save her." She said regretfully. "I just." She closed her eyes to hold back more tears, took a heavy breath and looked back up. "I just wish none of this happened at all." She finished wrapping the bandage. "But I don't blame you for what happened. And I'm not going to hold a grudge"
Yoshiki's expression wasn't too far off from Seiko's. He had so many things he could have said. 'Thank you; It'll be alright; You'll get through this; You're so strong.' But he didn't say anything. Seiko gave another short smile before standing up and walking away.
They were ready to set off. No one looked particularly cheerful.
The sight upon leaving the room sent them all into silence. Everything was different. Not massively different, it was still the same school, but it looked like everything had been rearranged.
"It's because of the earthquake. The closed spaces are breaking apart." Said Ayumi answering the question everyone was thinking.
"Then why is it just changing now?" Yoshiki asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it needed some time to adjust."
Ayumi kept walking, thing's might look different but that didn't change their goals. They had to get a move on. The others followed.
The atmosphere became pretty dry. Everyone walked along mostly in silence. Until Seiko stopped.
"Guys I uh-" Everyone stared at her. "Do you think we could go to the bathrooms?"
Kai sighed. "What for." He said with an attitude.
Seiko crossed her arms and gave him a sly expression. "What do you think? I haven't peed since we got here."
He looked slightly uncomfortable at that answer "Right, yeah whatever." He muttered.
It was settled, they were going to the bathrooms. It shouldn't have been hard to find. They had been trapped here long enough to know their way around. Except like they had just discovered, everything had changed. In the end they wasted more time getting there than any of them would have liked to admit. But they made it and now everyone could use the break.
All the girl's went into the bathroom.
Seiko walked past the stalls and picked the fourth one at random. It opened easily and she shut herself inside. It was a little creepy but the others were in here with her so what did it matter.
She pulled down her pants and sat down. She wanted to cry but didn't think she could do it quietly enough. She put her head in her hand's and breathed in and out. It had been a long day. 'My poor brother's probably think something's happened to me.' But something had happened to her. Seiko had never felt worse in her life. There was really no hope. But she didn't want to die. She had a family to take care off. She couldn't just disappear and put her siblings through that kind of loss again. Not after her mother.
Seiko finished peeing. She realised something. The bathroom was awfully quiet. "...Shinozaki?" ... "Yamamoto?...You guys there?"
Her breathing picked up. 'Come on guy's don't do this to me.' She pulled up her pants, stood up and pushed on the door. It didn't budge so she pulled on it. It wouldn't move in either direction. Was this a joke, maybe one of them was leaning on the other side. 'No they wouldn't play a prank at a time like this'. "Hello?" She banged on the door. "Shinozaki?!" She pulled and pushed at it violently. "Open the door!"
Seiko threw her body at the door and it swung open so fast and unexpectedly that she fell out onto the bathroom floor. Everything looked normal, but it was empty. She picked herself up and turned back to the stall. And screamed.
Seiko covered her mouth. There in the stall where she had just been standing was Naomi. Just watching her. "Naomi-" She ran up to her and the stall door slammed shut by itself with a bang. "Ah" She jumped back. "N-Naomi." She pulled on the door, now trying to get in rather than out. "Naomi it's me I'm right here. I'm so sorry I tried." She started to cry. "I tried Naomi! Please open up." Seiko gave up pulling and stood there banging on the door and sobbing. "I'm sorry."
Ayumi stepped out off the first stall and went over to the sink's where Mitsuki was inspecting her face in one of the broken mirrors. "It's bad isn't it?" Mitsuki asked without turning around.
Ayumi tried not to stare. It looked very painful. "It's not the worse I've seen." She said before realising that wasn't as reassuring as she would have liked it to be. "I mean. It's hardly noticeable." No that was a lie. "No I mean, well-" Mitsuki smiled at her. "Ha sorry what I'm trying to say is it's not as bad as you think."
Mitsuki smiled. "Thanks." Then she looked worried again. "You don't think It will like stain do you?"
Ayumi's forehead creased up. "Stain? I don't think that's a thing."
"Well you know what I mean like leave a mark." Mitsuki winced as she touched it. In her mind the bruise seemed to be spreading.
"No it's just a bruise It'll surely heal." Ayumi reassured her. "But it will heal faster if you don't poke at it" Mitsuki stopped poking the bruise and took her hand back down. "Uh yeah you're probably right."
Ayumi turned the tap. It made a harsh creaking sound but no water came out. Not like she expected it to. She stared at herself in the mirror. She brushed down her twin-tails and stood up straight. Then she backed away a step and called out to Seiko. "Shinohara you still in there?" There was no answer. "Yamamoto did she leave already?" Mitsuki was already back to poking at her face. "Huh?" She said distractedly. "No I didn't see her leave. Must still be in there."
Ayumi had a bad feeling again. And she was quickly learning to trust those bad feelings. She paced up to the stall she saw Seiko go in and tapped it lightly. "Shinohara are you-" The door wasn't shut properly and slowly creaked open when Ayumi tapped it. It was empty.
"Is it just me or are they taking forever?" Kai asked irritatedly." He was leaned up against the wall.
Yoshiki didn't say anything. He stood in the hall with his hands on his hips staring at the door. He was starting to get worried. "Maybe we should go inside and see if they're okay or knock at the door or something." He said without looking at Kai.
"Ha. Any excuse to go into the girl's bathroom." Kai jeered.
Yoshiki ignored him and went up to the door. "Hey!" He shouted and banged his fist on the door. "You okay in there?" He listened carefully for an answer but there was nothing. He didn't want to have to go in there. It felt wrong just thinking about it. Maybe that shouldn't be what he was worrying about in a place like. "Dammit." He opened the door and peeked inside. When he saw and heard no one he walked all the way in. "Hey! You okay? Why didn't you answer me?" Then he noticed all the stall doors were open. He slowly took a step past each one. They were all empty. "No what the hell!" A sudden painful jolt of panic was sent through his body. "Shinozaki?!"He called. "Where are you...?" Yoshiki ran back out of the bathroom. "Hey Shimada-" But Kai was gone.
Kai watched Yoshiki awkwardly pop his head into the bathroom before biting the bullet and going inside. He took out his phone and went into his pictures. Mostly pictures of himself. It was comforting to remind himself of his real life. Something to look forward to.
"Shimada!" A voice yelled. He jumped from the wall and almost dropped his phone. "Who's there?!" It came from down the stairs. It called again, "Shimada help!" It was a girl's voice. At first he thought it might be Mitsuki but that wasn't possible she was in the bathroom. What if it was Tohko? It kinda sounded like her.
Without putting any further thought into it Kai ran down the stairs in pursuit of the voice.
Kai called out to the empty halls. "Hey where are you?" He shouted.
"Right here." He heard a voice from behind him say. Kai hesitated. That wasn't the same voice. That wasn't even a girl's voice. He twitched as he remembered. He knew that voice. With anger in his eyes he turned.
Kizami was standing there with a subtle grin on his face. Kai's eyes went straight to his hand. It was hideous, like something out of a horror movie. He looked like he'd been skinned.
"Jesus Kizami! What happened to you!?" Kai shouted, not so much sounding concerned, but appalled.
Kizami's face twitched. "I was reborn!" He shouted. Then he laughed and held up his creepy flesh hand, "Well at least part of me was." He said with a chuckle.
Kai in a second pulled out his knife and held it out in front of himself. "Don't get any closer you fucking freak!"
This seemed to be the reaction Kizami was hoping for. His grin spread and he got closer. Kai swiped the knife at him and Kizami grabbed it with his new hand. He easily squeezed and flattened the blade of the knife, rendering it useless.
Kai swore. He looked into Kizami's menacing grey eyes. This was not going to end well. Kai turned on his heels and ran but not before spitting at Kizami's feet. He ran without turning back to see if he was being followed. He sped up and charged through a door banging straight into something.
"Ow the fuck?!" Yoshiki moaned. Then he saw it was Kai. "What happened to you?"
"Doesn't fucking matter. There's a maniac with a goddamn meat hand chasing me!" Kai shouted, pushing past Yoshiki but prompting him to run with him. 'Meat hand?' Yoshiki thought. And then he remembered, the guy who was there when Nakashima died. Just as he thought it the man in question turned the corner sauntering up to him with a spring in his step. "Shit." Yoshiki grimaced as he backed up and slammed the door. He turned and followed after Kai.
"Wait up!" He fell in beside him. "Where are the girl's?"
"No clue! They'll be fine they know what they're doing." Kai said between breaths. They ran up a set of stairs which left them more exhausted. Yoshiki stopped and pulled Kai back to stop him as well "We can't keep running forever. We have to do something."
"Nothing we can do! He broke my damn knife with that freak hand of his!" Kai protested. The conversation was interrupted by a high pitched scream travelling through the halls. It sounded from the direction they came from.
"No." Yoshiki started running back.
"Shinozaki!" He shouted. There was no sign of her or flesh hand. He heard a door slam shut and turned quickly. "Shinozaki?" He walked closer to it. "Shinohara?" He sped up and made it to the door. He hesitated. Now or never. Yoshiki opened the door and went into the room. He felt some kind of force from behind, like extremely strong wind that pushed him in further. The door closed behind him and he turned to it. "Crap." It was dark in here. Like really dark. Yoshiki couldn't see anything. He found his way back to the door and pulled. It didn't open. He turned back to face the room. All he could see was black. He was about to call for Shinozaki again when there was a bang. Something large fell near his feet making him jump, further into the room. He stepped on something and almost slipped. He waited for his eyes to adjust but wasn't having much luck. Still the room was nothing but darkness and tense quiet. If there was any sort of windows or glass in here they were completely blacked out. He walked forward again, something was there and he knew it but before he had anytime to do anything about it he was hit in the stomach with something. It wasn't too painful but it startled him enough to make him randomly swing back with his fist. He hit something and took this as his chance to pull out his knife. The cross-knife he hated so much, right now it was all he had.
Pitch black. His eyes weren't going to adjust any further. Yoshiki had no idea what he was fighting. There was a frightening bang from right in front of him and in a panic Yoshiki swung his knife forward. He heard a 'whish' sound as something moved back. Then whatever it was had clearly been startled as he heard it get closer. Before he could do anything he was awkwardly grabbed and pushed back, but not by anything that possessed supernatural strength. Yoshiki kept his balance and pushed it away. There was grunts from both ends as the two fought and pushed in the darkness. Something was to his right, a shelf of some sort that he could feel pushing into his side. Yoshiki pushed back and pulled it down in front of him, either separating him from or crushing his attacker.
"Dammit." He mumbled as he turned to get away. He couldn't see a thing. Clumsily he put one foot in front of the other and outstretched his hands. There , he felt something. With a gasp he let go, someone was on this side of him as well. Before he had time to react he was thrown back the way he came, landing painfully on his side. He dropped his knife. This one definitely possessed more than normal strength. There was another creak from this side of him, probably the thing he was originally trying to get away from. He stood up in a panic and turned to run, banging right into something and stumbling back. He fell and pulled someone else down with him. Both of them hit the ground and there was another scuffle between them. Footsteps could be heard from the side Yoshiki had just been thrown from. He could hear panicked breathing and grunting noises from whatever he was fighting. It registered to Yoshiki that this was another human. He shoved them off himself and stood back up. Stumbling forward through the darkness away from the sound of footsteps. Moments later there was the loud sounds of a struggle going on behind him. Yoshiki blindly felt his was around, looking for a switch or an exit or anything useful. 'God I could really use one of Shinozaki's candles right now.' For a moment Yoshiki wished he had never quit smoking, then at least he'd have a lighter on him. And they say smoking kills.
More clatters from behind him. Yoshiki sped up. "Come on, come on give me something." He mumbled quietly. The noises started to get closer. 'Crap.' He grabbed hold of something, it was cold and heavy. He turned and swung it just as something approached him. He felt it make contact with something solid and whatever it was let out a noise of pain. Then it retaliated, Yoshiki was met with a numbing sensation on his arm. The attacker had its own weapon of some sort, and although it was heavy and definitely stung it clearly wasn't as powerful as whatever Yoshiki was holding. In a moment the blind fighting started. Yoshiki and the attacker were swinging aimlessly at each other through the darkness, only occasionally landing weak hits as both of them dodged back and forward. More footsteps and whoever he was fighting charged into him and they both fell over again, this time knocking over and pulling down many heavy objects with them. The attacker backed off and Yoshiki could tell they were searching for their weapon. Footsteps again and a small subtle deep menacing laugh. Yoshiki felt around beside him and found his own weapon. He wrapped his fingers around it just as a painful pressure was applied to the back of his hand, the same hand than had been impaled. He yelled out and pulled it back. Something had stepped on it. He heard his weapon being kicked away.
Yoshiki couldn't see it but he felt the presence lingering over him. He heard the sound of clothes rubbing together as it bent down and grabbed his shirt. It got ready to pull him to his feet when it suddenly released with a grunt. The other attacker had hit him and both were now fighting each other, it did not sound like it was going well. Yoshiki turned and crawled away frantically patting the ground for his weapon. His hand made contact with something sticky causing him to pull back and fall to his side in momentary panic. 'Idiot' He thought. Then as he was pulling himself back up he felt what he was looking for. He grabbed it with his wounded hand and heard it make a scraping sound as he dragged it over to himself. He grimaced as he felt the blood from his hand soaking through the bandage. The fight going on behind him moved closer. Yoshiki stood up and turned as it made its way over to him. "Get it!" He heard one of them yell, it was a boy, he sounded like he was pleading, he might have been hurt or just scared. There was a thud as something made contact with someone. Yoshiki strained his eyes just enough to see an outline of a large figure either falling towards him or coming at him. Yoshiki pulled back his weapon like a bat above his shoulder and swung. A deep roar came from whoever he had hit. Then he heard as the other person swung his weapon at it and soon both of them were pounding on the same thing. 'What was that saying?' Kishinuma thought. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.' This was probably the same guy he had been fighting with a minute ago and now they were both fending off the same attacker. Yoshiki quite frankly had no idea what was going on. He needed some light in here.
After many hits whatever it was backed off with a sort of hiss sound. Like a human pretending to be a snake. Yoshiki might laugh if his situation wasn't so dire. He looked around. Was it getting less dark in here? He could see another shape, the shape of the first attacker. They might have been looking at each other. There was heavy breathing from both ends. Yoshiki readied his weapon just in case. He thought the other boy might be doing the same.
There was a noise, something between a switch going off and a penny being dropped. The light's came on, they didn't flicker on, they just turned on. One second the room was complete darkness then next there was a blinding light. Yoshiki closed his eyes and covered them with his arm. The adjustment was slightly painful. Slowly he pulled his arm away and blinked several times. And after momentary straining he could see. He could see where he was, what he was holding, the state of the room, the state of himself and who he was with. The two of them stood there stupefied. Staring at each other with a look of bewilderment. 'You've gotta be kidding me' He thought to himself bitterly. This whole time.
"Yoshiki?" Said Satoshi looking just as disorientated as him.
"You idiot." Yoshiki complained, turning his weapon in his hand, which turned out to be a crowbar.
"Me?" Satoshi asked with an even more confused expression on his face. "What did I do?"
"You -" Yoshiki started, but he didn't know. He let out a short laugh.
Satoshi smiled a little too. "What's so funny?"
Yoshiki sighed dramatically. "Nothing." He said. "You with Yuka?"
"You mean she's not with you?" He said worriedly. "Oh no I haven't seen her since the auditorium."
Yoshiki scrunched up his face. "Shit." Satoshi's expression became deeply troubled. Yoshiki looked around. Library, the were in a goddamn library. Almost all the shelves had been knocked over, books were scattered everywhere. He now noticed that's what Satoshi was holding, a big heavy book.
Whatever had been attacking them both was gone. Yoshiki looked at his hand. The sticky substance he had touched was blood, pretty much what he expected. His other hand was covered in his own blood.
"So what happened to you? Where have you been?" Yoshiki asked.
Satoshi gave a deadpan stare. "Long story."
