Chapter Twelve: The Ghost Girl
May 26, 2009, After School
Gekkoukan High – Third Person POV
TUESDAY
Minato was puzzled with Kenji's behavior. The latter had approached him at lunchtime saying that he had something really important to say. Driven by curiosity, Minato talked to him after school, only to be dragged all the way to the first floor corridor.
"Thanks for coming, man." Kenji said. "C-can you wait here for a sec?"
"Wait, what?" Minato blinked. "You dragged me all the way out here, just to make me wait?"
"Hey, don't freak out, man! I'm gonna ask Ms. Kanou out right now!" Kenji was so giddy, Minato expected him to jump up and down like a bunny on drugs.
"Oh." Was all Minato said.
"Don't be so cold, dude. I mean, I got a chance with her, right? Wait here for me okay? I don't want to go home alone." Kenji broke into a cold sweat. He took a deep breath. "Alright, here I go!" He ran off, leaving Minato behind.
Minato sighed and shook his head. Putting his headphones on his ears, he sat himself down on the chair near the Old Couple's favorite tree. I missed Kendo practice just to wait outside for Kenji... Minato thought sourly. Oh well, at least my body can get some rest once in a while. Besides, I'm thinking of going to Tartarus later...
Minato waited for a while longer, contenting himself with listening to 'Mass Destruction' on his earphones. When suddenly, the music died mid-song. The two plugs of his earphones were in Yuko's fingers behind him.
"What are you doing here, Minato-kun?" Yuko smiled when she saw Minato's surprised expression. Almost immediately though, his expression went back to the normal 'cool'.
"Waiting." Minato replied with a smirk.
"For what? You missing Kendo practice for... waiting?" Yuko asked in mock anger.
Minato shrugged, taking his earphones from Yuko's fingers. As soon, as their hands touched, Yuko blushed. Minato didn't notice this however, since he was fiddling with his Mp3 player. "It's not a good idea to waste the battery of this thing ya know?"
"Um.. yeah." Yuko sat down beside him, fighting down the blush at touching his hands even for a moment. Idiot! Stop blushing! "Anyway, do you listen to Risette's songs, Minato-kun?" She asked, trying to change the subject.
"Risette?" Minato asked. "I'm not familiar with the name."
"Er, well. She's this new teen pop idol. I hear that she used to be just a girl from a rural town. But now, she's the talk of the town." Yuko informed.
"Really? She must be quite good then." Minato nodded. "Are you a fan of hers, Yuko?"
Yuko blinked. "Um... kinda. I kind of listen to her when I'm not running off fetching some things for the guys on the team." Yuko stood up. "Speaking of 'team', I better get back. You better not miss practice next time, Minato-kun." She said before leaving.
Risette, huh? Minato thought.
"Hey, man, listen to this!" Kenji said, alerting Minato to his presence. "She said yes! Can ya believe it!? She said YES! Just as I was about to ask her out, she asked ME if I wanted a private lesson. A PRIVATE lesson, dude!" Kenji blurted out, not even caring if Minato was listening or not.
A private lesson... Minato had a sudden urge to slap his forehead.
"Dude, I owe you! I owe you big time!" Kenji took Minato left hand and started shaking it up and down. "She actually invited me over to her house! Oh man, I am so not ready for this!" Kenji babbled on and on about he should take it slow.
"Oh, hey, Minato. You're still here?" Kenji apparently noticed Minato was still there. "I gotta go man, sorry for making ya wait. Later!" He ran off, leaving a perplexed Minato behind.
He made me wait... Only to forget that I was there... Minato sighed and put the earphones on his ears again. He grabbed his bag and left the corridor, not noticing someone in pink by the corner.
Evening
Junpei was not in the best of moods that night. Earlier that day, he had gotten a call from his drunkard of a father. Asking what the heck he was up to and why couldn't he see his son at home. Junpei decided to end the call before he and his old man fought. To make matters worse, he overheard a couple of girls say that he had a one track mind when they saw his results at lunchtime.
He locked himself up in his room, avoiding the other SEES members.
"Stupid old man." He grumbled as he threw a pillow at the wall. "Why do you have to drink every damn day? What kind of father are you?" He asked no one in particular. Then he laughed bitterly. "I guess I have to thank ya, in a way... If I wasn't so freakin' pissed at you, I would never have been stuck in that damn convenience store..."
May 29, 2009, After School
Gekkoukan High
FRIDAY
Yukari walked towards the first floor corridor, tired from practice.
"What a workout." She sighed. "I have to teach those freshmen how to clean up properly." She stopped and looked at the Persimmon tree beside her, remembering the time when she saw Yuko sitting beside Minato. She sighed again. Why am I even thinking about this? Stupid stupei, putting these things in my head...
"Hahahaha!" Yukari's thoughts was interrupted by obnoxious laughter nearby."Hm?" She saw two girls talking to each other loudly. Soon, she found herself listening into their rather loud discussion.
"So, I pretended to take a picture with my cell." The one girl with dark skin and brown hair said. "She freaked out and started crying... Like it was the end of the world." She laughed. "You should've seen the look on her face. It was so priceless!"
Bullies? Yukari frowned in disgust. Don't they have anything better to do?
"OMG!" The brunette's friend said.
The first girl laughed again. "I've never... never laughed so hard in my entire life!" The girls continued to laugh. Completely disgusted, Yukari gathered her things and started to walk away from the corridor.
"Huh?" The second girl suddenly stopped laughing. "Where's that voice coming from?
"Hey Maki! Are you okay? What voice?" The first girl asked. "Maki? Maki!"
The second girl was pale. "Huh?" She stammered. "W-What were we talking about?"
"About time they left." Yukari muttered, out of earshot of the two girls. "I can't stand people like that..."
May 30, 2009, Early Morning
Gekkoukan Entrance
SATURDAY
"Hey, did you hear about that 11th grader?" One student by the gates said, catching Minato's attention. The blue-haired junior was intrigued by the daily rumors.
"Do you mean the one that was lying on the ground this morning?" Another student asked. "I kinda thought she ran away from home... But I get the feeling that this is the start of something big."
Minato was perplexed. The second one said 'she' so it means the junior's a girl. But lying on the ground this morning? Was she beaten unconscious?
The first student groaned. "There might be reporters and camera crews and all that... I don't want to deal with that."
The bell rang, signaling the students. Minato decided to think more about it on his spare time and walked towards the school grounds.
Morning
2-F Classroom
Minato yawned and stretched in his seat as he saw Junpei walking towards him.
"What's up?" Minato mumbled.
"Did you hear about that girl from 2-E?" Junpei asked as he sat beside Minato. The latter thought for a moment before remembering the rumors earlier. "I might've. Is she the one lying on the school grounds this morning?"
Junpei was surprised. He didn't expect Minato to pay attention to or know the rumors. "You heard?"
Minato smiled. "Kinda hard not to. The whole school's buzzing about it."
Junpei sighed. "Yeah... but nobody's got a clue... Isn't that weird?"
"True." stated the blue-haired junior. "But since it only happened this morning, I doubt people could actually figure out what happened without much concrete evidence."
Junpei couldn't help smiling at the complicated sounding statement. "Did you say that just to sound cool?" He looked around the classroom. Everyone was talking about the rumor. "Can you believe these people?"
Minato nodded. "What'd you expect?" He asked. "We only hear about stuff like this on TV, anyway."
"Well here's what I heard." Junpei said. "They say that the girl from 2-E went missing last night. But as you know, this morning they found her lying in front of the school gates. But here's the weird stuff, nobody knows what happened, and supposedly she's still unconscious."
Minato frowned. Still unconscious and nobody knows what happened ... that blows the beaten unconscious theory out of the water. The bruises would be quite obvious. Does the junior have some sort of illness? Or maybe she fell into a coma state...
Junpei smirked at his friend. He could practically see the gears turning themselves in Minato's head. From the corner of his eye, he saw Yukari walking towards the two of them.
"Morning..." She said as she sat beside Junpei.
"Yo, Yuka-tan!" Junpei greeted. "This is one tough case! Even for Junpei Iori, Ace Detective."
Minato was brought out of his thoughts the moment Yukari entered. Ace Detective?... Yukari stared at the capped junior. "Ace Detective ...? Are you stupid or something?"
"...More like Stupei, Ace Defective."
"Hey! I resent that, Yuka-tan!" Junpei protested. "Where have you been anyway?"
"I was talking to the teacher. You know that girl they found? Well, I saw her on my way back to the dorm yesterday, on my way back from practice." Yukari answered, her eyes wary. "She seemed fine then."
Minato blinked. More pieces to the puzzle? Hmm... it's so suspicious that it sounds familiar. Almost supernatural even...
Junpei went white. "That's just creepy..."
Evening
Minato was greeted once he got back to the dorm. Earlier, he ate out with Yuko at the Wakatsu Restaurant. The Kendo team manager had asked Minato about his opinion on her eating habits. Minato told her that her that the amount she ate was fine for someone who works as much as she did. Yuko was amused and commented about him being 'lucky' for living in a dorm with beautiful girls such as Mitsuru and Yukari-san.
The field leader smiled his most disarming smile, deciding to play along. He said that she was much cuter. Yuko blushed and even joked about how she would tell Yukari about it some years later. The two Kendo members left the restaurant immediately on Yuko's urging. She decided to leave before she was tempted to buy any more.
"Hey, Minato-kun." Yukari greeted him. "I'm sure you heard the rumors around Gekkoukan." Minato nodded as he sat down on the couch. "So, the rumors aren't all that bad after all."
Yukari smiled. "I know. The rumors can be such a pain sometimes..." Then she frowned. "Same goes for the other students. Honestly, they can be so immature sometimes. It's just a ghost story, for Pete's sake..." She rolled her eyes. I'm sure you know who I mean..
"I don't feel too well tonight. So I wont be able to go to Tartarus.. Sorry." Yukari said and climbed up the stairs.
Akihiko, who sat on the couch across Minato turned to the field leader. "If that's the case, then we shouldn't go to Tartarus. Mitsuru's training in the command room and as Yukari said, she has this 'weird' feeling." Akihiko told Minato. "Whatever that means..."
"It seems that Yukari has a 'sixth' sense when it comes to shadows." Ikutsuki said as he emerged from the Kitchen doorway, alerting Minato to his presence. "Actually, that's quite common. As the two of you know, dealing with shadows has a tendency to enhance other... senses."
Minato sent a puzzled look at Ikutsuki's back. Shadows? How on earth did he come to that conclusion? Suspicious... Come to think of it, I never felt any trust for the chairman. But shadows? *sigh* That ruins the type of mystery I was looking forward to.
But... maybe. Just maybe. There might be more to this than meets the eye...
May 31, 2009, Early Morning
Minato's Room
SUNDAY
"Here comes Tanakaaaa! Over the airwaves to youuuu..." The TV played the irritating song of the TV shopping show.
"Hello, everyone! Welcome to the home shopping show, "Tanaka's Amazing Commodities"!" A man wearing a gray business suit with a red tie popped up on the screen. "I'm your host, Tanaka, with a live presentation of my Amazing Commodities..."
Minato sat on his bed, his hair still dripping wet after he took a bath. "Tanaka's Amazing Commodities, huh? Wonder what you have today?"
Then as if on cue, the presenter took something out of a box. Minato blinked in surprise as Tanaka waved a... revealing piece of armor. The armor resembled a two-piece bikini. "Our item for the day is the 'Battle Panties'! This wonderful fashion statement provides excellent protection for you femme fatales!"
Battle Panties... fashion statement...? Who on earth would buy something like that? Not even my crazy twin sister would. Minato slapped his forehead.
"Here comes Tanakaaaa! Over the airwaves to youuuu!" The TV droned again as the shopping show ended.
Minato smiled. The kind of things the world offers... He swept his nearly dried hair back, knowing it would fall to its usual style later. Then his gaze lingered on his laptop. Speaking of my crazy twin sister... I wonder how things are going back in Tokyo. I do hope Hamuko's okay...
His thoughts were interrupted by the shrill ringing of his phone. "Minato Arisato, here." He said as he answered the phone.
"Hi, it's Yuko. Are you free today? Let's do something, Minato-kun."
"Oh, okay. Sure. Do you want to meet at Chagall Cafe?"
"Sure. I'll meet you there. Don't be late, okay?"
June 1, 2009, After School
Port Island Station
MONDAY
Minato groaned as he made his way to stairs in front of the station. Each step he took made him wince at his slightly sore back. He had decided to take the team to Tartarus last night after he ate out with Yuko. The members of SEES managed to reach floor 36 quickly. Their skills were improving quickly as well. But it had its price.
As soon as the day's classes ended, the field leader decided to attend Kendo practice since it had been a long time since he had last practiced. A decision he now regretted. In the middle of practice though, an angry Yuko had approached him and showed him a text message from Kazushi, asking Minato to meet him at the station.
Driven by curiosity and thankful for the excuse to rest his back, he made his way to the station. Glancing around, he saw the dark-skinned, jumpsuit wearing boy sitting on the stairs. "Kaz."
Kazushi jumped at the mention of his name and turned around to see Minato looking at him with a puzzled look on his face. "Minato! Y-You surprised me there..." He went silent for a minute. Minato just sat beside him on the stairs.
"Yuko was pissed off, huh?" Kazushi asked after a minute of silence. "... since I missed practice." He averted his gaze.
"Yeah..."
"I-It was my fault in the first place... I was avoiding her and the team captain. She called me once and I turned my phone off..." Kazushi went silent again. "I-I should've told you the results, but instead I avoided you..."
Minato remained silent, waiting for the right time to speak.
"Apparently, my knee is getting torn apart." The jumpsuit wearing teen blurted. "T-the doctor said that if I keep this up, I might not be able to walk anymore... I put too much pressure on it during practice... Pathetic, huh?" He bit his lip. "I-I just want to win."
"Kaz..." Hearing this, Kazushi's features hardened. Minato decided to change tactics. He of all people should know how disheartening it is to keep being pitied. "Just suck it up, Kaz."
Kazushi turned, surprised. "T-That's exactly what I've been thinking! Every minute, every second is critical. I don't have time to waste! I promised to be the number one athlete in Japan, after all."
"Is it really that important to you?"
"It isn't just about me, you know." Kazushi informed. "My nephew got into an accident and his leg got messed up..." He paused. "He can't walk right now... but if he goes through rehab, he might just be able to recover! But he says it hurts too much, so he doesn't want to do it... He's only five. So many things he's never done..."
Kazushi thought for a moment. "I made a deal with him, that...- don't laugh, okay- if I become the number one athlete in Japan, he'll go through rehab. So that's why I can't lose!"
Minato felt the respect he felt for his friend grow. Kazushi was not doing it for himself nor throwing away his health on account of a silly dream. He was doing it for his nephew who could not help himself.
However, Kazushi might end up unable to walk. "But, Kaz! What about your knee?" Minato's face was full of concern for his friend.
"I appreciate your concern, man. But I can't worry about that now..." Kazushi said. "Sorry for all the trouble I caused you... especially the depressing discussion." He laughed bitterly. "It's tough to keep it all inside. You were the only one I could talk to."
Kazushi took a deep breath and stood up slowly. "Yuko might be suspecting something, so she might say something to you, but... tell her to talk to me, okay?" He looked at Minato. "I don't want you to get caught up in this, Minato." He said before walking away.
Minato stared at his retreating back. Hee-ho! It's nice to be trusted, isn't it Master? Came the jolly voice of Jack Frost.
Yeah. It's a change. Considering what I'm normally used to... A nice change.
Evening
Iwatodai Dorm
Minato sat himself down on the nearest chair as soon as he got back. His back didn't hurt as much as a while ago. It was more of an annoying kind of hurt now.
"What's going on?" He asked as he saw the rest of the team -with the exception of Junpei- gathered at the dinner table.
"Junpei wants to talk." Yukari answered. "Something about some stuff he found on the student message board."
Junpei descended down the stairs. "Oh, you're back." He said as he saw Minato.
"What's this about Iori?" Mitsuru asked.
Junpei remained silent and took a seat. "You know how last week, they found that girl by the school gate? Well I found this rumor on the student message boards saying that it was an angry spirit from this one ghost story."
Ghost story? Minato tried to hide his smile. Looking to the right, he saw Mitsuru trying to do the same. Akihiko was calmly interested in contrast to an appalled Yukari.
"H-Hey! C'mon... Nobody believes that stuff!?" Yukari blurted. "R-Right?" She turned to look at everybody else for support but their attention belonged to Junpei.
"So, what is this ghost story about?" Mitsuru ignored Yukari's obvious discomfort.
"W-what? Why bother? I-It's probably just fake!"
"I'm interested. Tell us." Akihiko goaded Junpei, also ignoring Yukari's protests. Yukari glared at the two senpais.
Junpei smiled at the attention he was getting and turned off the lights. Yukari grabbed the edge of the table, slightly managing to suppress a yelp. In the darkness of the lounge, Minato could only make out Junpei's leaning outline.
"Hehehe..." Junpei took out a flashlight from who knows where and started to speak in a mysterious voice. "Good evening. Welcome to Junpei's Believe It, or Don't."
Minato sighed and rubbed his right temple. He was planning this all along, wasn't he?
"There are many strange things in this world..." Junpei continued. "According to one story, if you get caught at school lat at night, you'll be devoured by a maniacal ghost that roams the halls!" He paused for dramatic effect. "The other day, this friend of mine- let's call him Kenj... Kaz... er... Shu. He said to me, 'Junpei, I saw something strange.' He sounded serious, so I asked him what he had seen."
"He said it was about the girl in 2-E... He claims he saw her go into the school on the night of the incident. I couldn't believe it." Junpei paused again.
Mitsuru was biting the inside of her lip to contain her laughter and Akihiko had a growing smile on his face. Minato on the other hand, looked to his left and noticed Yukari's frown.
"She's not the kind of girl to be out at night... But Shu was as white as a sheet! He insisted it was true... Then it hit me." Junpei continued. "That ghost must've tried to make her its dinner! And that's why they found her lying on the ground by the school gates!"
Junpei took a deep breath. "I felt a shiver run down my spine, and I broke into a cold sweat... Yes, there are strange things in this world... Believe It or Don't."
"What do you think?" Mitsuru asked as she turned on the lights. Yukari audibly sighed in relief.
"W-Whaat?! Not one word of my frankly amazing performance?!" Junpei protested, waving his flashlight back and forth.
"I think it's worth investigating." Akihiko replied, ignoring Junpei. The latter rolled his eyes, annoyed at the lack of response from his audience. He shifted his gaze over to his fellow juniors.
"Wow, I didn't know you were afraid of ghosts, Yuka-tan." Junpei teased. "That's kinda funny."
"Hey, watch it!" Yukari glared at the capped junior. "... Fine. Then let's investigate! Each of us will ask around for the rest of the week. I'll prove to you that this ghost story is just an urban legend. Nothing more."
Mitsuru smiled. "That's not a bad idea, Takeba. The story was a bit unnerving."
Akihiko laughed. "Yeah. Especially the part with ghosts." He emphasized the word casting a meaningful glance at Yukari.
"W-What?" Yukari was suspicious.
"We'll let you guys handle it." Mitsuru said with a smile and headed up the stairs with Akihiko.
"Whaaa...?" Junpei stared at open space. "Thanks a lot, Yuka-tan." He mumbled as he followed the two senpais up the stairs.
Minato and Yukari were left alone in the quiet lounge. Yukari turned to the blue-haired junior. "Sorry about that..." She said, referring to the added activity.
"Don't worry about it." Minato flashed her a kind smile. "I was planning to do it anyway." His smile suddenly turned into a smirk. "You might want to try sleeping with an eye open tonight." He stood up and went up the stairs, escaping from Yukari's wrath.
Dark Hour
Minato's Room
Minato was just drifting off into dreamland when he felt silent alarms go off in his brain. Knowing better than to doubt his instincts -they saved his life on more than one occasion- the junior roused himself.
"Good Evening." The mysterious boy from before greeted.
Minato relaxed. He instinctively knew that the boy was no threat. And as stated, the junior wasn't one to doubt his instincts. "You again, huh?"
The boy sat on the corner of Minato's bed. "I came to see you again, as I promised. How are you?"
"I won't bother asking how you got in here..." Minato muttered.
The boy cocked his head sidewards. "Then I will not bother asking why you are avoiding the question as well." He said with a smile that creeped Minato out.
Hmph. The kid's not too shabby to be able figure out that I tried to avoid his question. Then again, this kid's obviously not normal... Since when did anyone in this dorm become normal, anyway?
"Now..." The boy said. "In another week, the moon will be full again. And the next ordeal will be upon you. So, until then, be careful..." The boy walked over to the door of Minato's room and opened it. "I'll come again." He promised before going outside.
"Full moon?" Minato sighed, feeling sleepy once more. "I guess I can keep… a lookout... for that... ordeal... thing...zzz..."
June 02, 2009, Early Morning
Gekkoukan Entrance
TUESDAY
Minato had decided to walk to school with Yukari. The two of them normally took the early time monorail so they agreed to walk to school together. Junpei usually took the late time or the prime time so he wasn't able to join the two juniors.
"Ya know what...? From this day forward, I'm gonna do my best!" Yukari said suddenly.
Minato blinked. I thought we were talking about the food at the Sweet Shop. Did I miss something? "Good luck?" He offered.
Yukari stared at the Kendo star. "Do you even know what I'm talking about?" She smiled. "You're hopeless. I'm talking about the ghost story!"
"Oh." Minato nodded.
"Anyway, you better find out as much as you can, Minato-kun! Remember, you have until Friday." Yukari smiled.
"You can count on me." Minato smiled back. "The bell just rang. Come on, let's go."
After School
"I-Is it really okay?" Chihiro asked Minato as they walked towards the lockers. "I'm really glad that you're um, willing to... b-but..."
He had asked Chihiro if she wanted to walk home together earlier. The student council treasurer accepted the offer which was a big step for her, but she was so nervous about the whole thing, she couldn't talk straight.
Minato had to smile. He had never come across a girl as nervous or as shy as Chihiro. "Change your mind?" He asked.
"N-No!" She practically screamed. "I was just...um... since it was so sudden.." She looked around and took a deep breath. He must think I'm a total idiot... "Uh, school's almost out... um, let's go."
The two council members walked in silence until they had reached the Iwatodai Dorm.
"Oh, we're here... I-I'm sorry! I was just thinking about what... to say..." Chihiro stammered as she realized where the two of them were. "I was just trying to come up with a topic you might be interested in... and I-I couldn't think of anything..."
Chihiro looked at the dorm's double doors. "This is the Iwatodai Dorm, isn't it? You live here, Minato-san?" She asked.
"Yeah, I do." Minato answered.
"M-My house is in the other direction." Chihiro said, looking the other way.
"Oh, I should have asked. Sorry." Minato apologized. He too, was thinking of a topic the bookish girl might be interested in. It never occurred to him that the girl's house might be in the other direction.
"N-No. Y-You don't have to apologize. It was my fault... I knew we were going in the wrong direction, but I didn't say anything..." She paused. "Th-thank you very very much for... um, making time for me, Minato-san."
The world blinked white for Minato, freezing Chihiro and the rest of his surroundings. "Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established the Justice Arcana..." The voice inside his head said.
A Social Link? Justice... Minato blinked.
"A-Are you okay, Minato-san?" Chihiro asked.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." Minato answered with a carefree smile. "Well, at least we won't make the same mistake next time, huh?"
Chihiro nodded. N-next time? T-that would be really nice. It's kind of lonely to keep walking home alone. "Well, e-excuse me, Minato-san." She said as she began to walk in the other direction.
Author's Note: Oookay... Sorry for the long update guys! I was almost considering putting the story on hold since there were so few reviews... sigh. It's disheartening you know... writing so much and not even receiving 10 reviews. But I'm back and still continuing this story! Please do review!
Thanaty0003: Thanks for your support! And I will continue the story, pal. Not to worry! :D
KnightNDay: As for the status updates... I'm sorry for not posting one right now. But since they didn't go to Tartarus, S.E.E.S stays the same. :D
PhotoJackster: No. This fanfic isn't dead. I was just disheartened by the few reviews. Lol. Don't worry! I'm still continuing though.
TheChosenOne: Oh, thanks for bearing with my confusing POV's!
LonelyDessert: I find it odd that your the only one who noticed that. :D Lol. I am leaning towards Mitsuru now. But we can't really say for sure because her link only starts so near the END of the game.
LostWriter: Why a Chihiro pairing? Not that I don't like our favorite Librarian er... Student Council member... it's just... Why her?
Angelica101,VinEscape&2Time-er: Don't you think a MinxYukari pairing is overused? But if I get sick of waiting for Mitsuru, then she's a close second!