Chapter 5: Blackness...
After an unnecessarily long period of time spent staring out the door, Chiyo broke the silence and fearful aura by getting out of her seat to close the door. As she approached the door, she felt something soft underneath her. She looked down at her feet and gasped in surprise and mortification to find Yomi lying underneath her feet. Naturally, she backed up. Yomi's eyes opened to reveal empty sockets. She stood up and began to grin from ear to ear, seeming somewhat unnatural and sinister. She reached out her arms and began to approach Chiyo. "H-hey, guys-" Chiyo began. Everyone turned their heads to Chiyo to reveal empty eye sockets and huge grins. Chiyo blinked. When she opened her eyes again, she found that her house was gone. Everything was gone, in fact. They were standing in pitch-black nothingness. Yomi and the others began to approach her. She felt a slow, sad, happy, angry, absolutely twisted wind against her face. It seemed to be speaking to her. She listened to the sound of the wind. "K... a... ri... A... ...in... Kao... rin... KAO... RI... N..." Osaka touched her cheek. "Kaorin forever," she said monotonously. Tomo then touched Osaka's cheek, Yomi touched Tomo's cheek, Sakaki touched Yomi's cheek, and Chiyo felt a strange surge of something that compelled her to touch Sakaki's cheek... "Kaorin," they all chanted. "Kaorin forever..."
Tomo, Osaka, Sakaki, and Chiyo were sitting at the table in Chiyo's mansion, once again talking about fruits. Chiyo was sleeping, however, and did not participate in the conversation. "Hey, Chiyo-chan," said Osaka. "You really ought to get more sleep at night so this doesn't have to happen... (Look who's talking. Anyway...) Hey, Chiyo-chan?" Osaka shook Chiyo's shoulder in an attempt to stir her, but had no such luck. "Hey," said Tomo. "Yomi-san's been gone for a while now. Where do you think she went?" Chiyo suddenly woke up. "Yomi-san was dead," she said, shivering and crying from what she was dreaming about. Everyone gasped. "Yomi-san's dead?!" asked Osaka as her eyes widened. Sakaki, however, noticed something that the others didn't. "What do you mean, 'was' dead?" Everyone blinked and nodded as they thought about the situation. Tomo was the first to speak up. "Yeah," she agreed, "and how would you have known? You've been sleeping since she left, miss I-know-more-than-you-because-I'm-a-prodigy!" Chiyo looked around as her use of her nervous system rushed back to her conscious lobes. "Oh," said Chiyo. "I was sleeping..." Tomo sighed. "Yeah... Wow. You're sure quick," she said sarcastically.
It was at that moment that Chiyo recalled that she had not gone to sleep in the first place. She began to think that perhaps she was dreaming at that very moment, but something told her that this was not the case. She got up. "I'm sorry, everyone," she said. "I need to be alone." With that, she left the table and went upstairs to her room. In her room, she saw a girl who looked like Kaorin crying in a corner and hovering a couple feet off the ground, which more than slightly disturbed Chiyo. "What's wrong, Kaorin?" she asked. Kaorin turned toward her. "Ch-chiyo... chan..." she sniffled. "For far too long, my life has lacked the light that all living creatures deserve..." Chiyo cocked her head. "Really?" she asked. Kaorin nodded sadly. "Sakaki-san was my idol... My queen... She was who I lived for." Chiyo nodded as a sign of comprehension. "But now school's over," Kaorin continued, "and her presence that, verily, my soul had so thrived on during the school year has disappeared... Now, as I sleep, my soul has fled my body searching for other sustenance..." Chiyo did not truly understand due to her being in an analytical state of mind, but she thought she sort of understood. Kaorin took this as a cue to continue. "But the wrong sustenance has populated my soul... In my ignorance, a demon has arisen out of my despair of a life that lacks the presence of Sakaki-san. It has spoken to me and given me a choice. If I am able to gather souls for it, it will arrange things so that I will be with Sakaki. However, I made the mistake of starting with giving it my own soul... Now, I am but a simple puppet in use by this demon to feed its deranged desires." Chiyo took this in bit-by-bit and slowly until she understood. "Wait," she said. "You aren't asleep. You're talking to me." Kaorin dropped to the ground, her head still in her arms as she sobbed. "That's because..." began Kaorin, as she lifted her head to reveal a face with buttons for eyes and a sinister grin, "That's because... This who you are talking to... It is not me... It is my soul."
Chiyo gasped at the ghastly sight of her face and backed up a few steps. "Chiyo-chan..." said Kaorin's soul. "Will you help me?" Chiyo backed into a wall and realized that she was trapped, and because Kaorin's soul did not seem as sinister as it looked, she decided to speak to it a bit more. "Wh-what can I help you with?" Chiyo stammered. "I... need something from you..." said Kaorin's soul, as it began to reach out to Chiyo. Chiyo backed up closer against the wall, sweating crazily. "I need," said the spirit, "your soul." Chiyo screamed as the spirit of Kaorin clenched its fist around her neck. Her scream was cut off, however, when the spirit's fist clenched tightly enough around her neck that her vocal cord was closed off. As Chiyo struggled to breathe, the spirit twisted its head around an entire 720 degrees before effortlessly pulling it off and emitting dark dust from her neck. "Good night, Chiyo-chan..." said the disembodied head. "Sleep well..." The spirit loosened its clutch around Chiyo's neck. Chiyo gasped for breath and accidentally inhaled the strange black dust...
But then, just as suddenly and mysteriously as before, Chiyo woke up in her bed as if it had all been a dream, yet had not gone to sleep in the first place...
"Hey," said Tomo. "Yomi-san and Chiyo-chan have both been gone for a while now... What do you suppose happened to them?" Osaka jumped up from her seat in a very serious matter. "They've been taken by Chiyo-chan's pigtails! They're in the flying saucer right now!" Tomo thought about this. Sakaki thought it was absolutely ridiculous, but didn't say anything, as per usual. "Hey, yeah," said Tomo. "I'll bet they're passing through the atmosphere about now." Osaka sat back down, then asked, "What's an atmosphere, Tomo-chan?" Chiyo walked down the stairs sleepily. "Hi, everyone..." she said. Osaka jumped from her seat again. "Hey, Chiyo-chan, did they do any experiments on you?" Chiyo stared at her. "Can I help you?" she asked in a confused way.
"Oh, hey," said Osaka. "Weren't we here to have a snow party, Chiyo-chan?" Chiyo recalled immediately. "Hey, yeah," she said. She got on her coat and boots and was nearly jumping up and down in excitement. "Hey, is everyone ready to go out?" Tomo leapt from her seat. "YEAH!" she shouted. "SNOOOOOOW PARTYYYYYY!!!! WO0T." Sakaki looked up from her drawing of two cats she called "Neko koneko." "I am ready," said Sakaki.
"I guess I'm ready," said Osaka. "Does this look ready-ish, Chiyo-chan?" Chiyo looked her over. "Yep," she said. They opened the door, and rather than snow, Chiyo saw blackness. "Alright, it looks great!" said Tomo. "LET'S GO!" "Wait," said Chiyo. "There's no snow..." Tomo looked at Chiyo as if she were a cow on a motorcycle in a clown suit eating a sandwich while balancing a giraffe on its head. "What?" she asked. "It's all snow out there!" Osaka blinked, and suddenly, everything went dark. "No, Chiyo-chan's right," she said. "It's all black." Chiyo jumped. "You can see it, too, Osaka-san? It's all dark and scary out there, and there isn't even any snow!" Osaka nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Fine," said Tomo. "You've always been crazy, anyway. Go on." Sakaki was already walking out into the snow. "Don't go," said Osaka. "The pie demons are out there with their unicycles! They'll throw their evil monkeys at you." Chiyo turned to Osaka, sighed, and turned back to Sakaki. "Sakaki-san! Please don't go out there! It's dark and scary and not very nice at all!" Sakaki turned toward them and blinked. Suddenly, everything went very dark...
Yep, that's the end of chapter 5! R&R&BH&COWS. XD