Iris
Salty- So~...Awkwardness, right? Hm...Angels are cool...Did seven really devour nine? We shall see...Not! *Runs away giggling like a crazy child.
(Unlucky)Chapter 13. Tsumi Doo, Where Are You?
That night I returned to my cabin with the help of Eiji-kun. Both of us were giggling merrily, since we were very late for bed time and we kept tripping over the sand.
I wasn't sure that it would be comfortable after my depressing story about Akira but it was! After we got to the girl's cabin/hotel he departed and I creeped into my bed as quickly as possible.
The giggles still remained in my throat.
"Oi! Shut up already! Some of us are trying to get some beauty sleep!"
"You're waking us up more than the giggles, Suzuyama-san!"
"Whatever!"
"You're the only who needs the beauty sleep, Suzuyama!"
There was a round of giggles from those who were awake. I was one of them. I couldn't believe that I was being defended!
"Hey, Saitou-chan..." I turned over to my stomach and looked at the girl whose top bunk was next to mine. "Where were you? You must've had a lot of fun to have been giggling that hard, huh?"
The beginning of a sadistic smile crept upon what part of her face that I could see in the incredibly dim room.
"Yeah, you could say that." I swiveled 360 degrees so that my feet were in the girl's face and my head was at the window. Which was a bit annoying.
The bitter cold nipped at my nose and the dark blue fabric curtain whipped my eyes. I was closer to the ocean than ever and I could hear the waves crash against the rocks and shore with endless power. But, outside I saw something...something scary...a ghost!
~I~R~I~S~
She was tall, very tall. Her ragged, stained white dress billowed in the cold breeze as she walked on the rocky beach-not the same one as when I was with Eiji-kun. Her black, unkempt hair shone in the moon light like millions of sown together black pearls. I couldn't see her face, and that was what perhaps intrigued me the most.
~I~R~I~S~
Without thinking, I lept out of my bed about seven or eight feet down-I was on a top bunk-and hurriedly opened and ran out of the door. My first instinct was to jump the ghost and make it tell everyone in the whole wide world that she was real.
But, after running behind a mountain where I saw it turn, I realized that it was gone. I would have to keep on searching then!
~I~R~I~S~
Eiji's POV-
The next morning, I woke up totally refreshed and recharged! Having tons of fun with my friends seemed to do that sometimes. Plus, I was happy that my shy little buddy opened up!
When I was fully, fully awake, I started to look around the weird cabin-hotel-Abe Lincoln house thingy and saw that I was the only one there. But, it was really loud outside. Without a moments thought I got up and exited to the bright, sunny outside. People from all over were scurrying worriedly. Lots of people were cursing and some of the councilors from my year were jumping around.
One came near me, so I took the opportunity to grab his arm.
"What's wrong, Mr. Hinato?" He looked around worriedly and started jumping up and down.
"No time to explain-it's really important! One of your classmates has disappeared!" A small pit grew in my stomach, and it felt like I knew who was missing before he said it. "Her name's Saitou Katsumi!" I released his arm before realizing it and he scurried off.
"All students report to the lunch hall!" The large P.A. System announced from a pole. "Several students have gone missing and so counting must be conducted!"
I went to the lunch hall with the large crowd and hoped that Tsumi-chan was there. Really, really hoped.
But she wasn't. I looked all around the entire lunch hall where three school groups were held. There was no sign of Tsumi-chan among the Seigaku group. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no.
"Eiji..." Fujiko muttered as he stood next to me in the group. We had already been counted so it was some people were moving about freely. "Saitou-chan's missing...Did you know?"
I nodded.
"A teacher told me earlier..." I whispered.
"What? She's gone?" Muttered Raki-chan, not too far away. Both of us nodded.
"I've heard some rumors about the cabin that that middle schooler disappeared around..." Muttered a high school boy nearby us to some other students.
"I think I've heard them too...about Nana the Strangler, right?" Strangler?
All of us-me, Fujiko and Raki-chan-turned silent so that we could hear the high schoolers.
"Yeah. That girl that murdered everyone at that cabin."
"I heard that she went insane, strangled all of the girls in that cabin and ran off into those rocky hills near that girl's cabin."
"Some people from last year's trip said that a middle school saw the ghost of the murderer and followed her up into the hills. She came back the next and couldn't speak for a year. When she did talk, she told some of her friends that the ghost tried to kill her. I heard from Yukari from Kitameru-the school the girl was at-that she's dead now..."
Both me and Raki-chan gulped, but Fujiko remained calm. He frowned at the very least and furrowed his eyebrows.
"This doesn't make sense..." he muttered. "Ghosts obviously don't exist..."
Both me and Raki-chan ignored him.
"I hope...I hope that she escapes from Mitaro-san..." I looked to her in silent questioning.
"I've heard the story before. Mitaro Nana was sent to a school field trip after her sisters both died of some illness. She was devastated but went anyway. Mitaro-san was bullied a lot over here too, and she went insane and killed all of the girls that bullied her-which was all of the girl's in her cabin. I heard from some people that somebody did a test of courage in the hills where she disappeared and they called out to Mitaro-san's ghost. A couple of people survived but the person that called out...was found brutally hacked up there...and here...and in the forest...and in the water."
I shivered, and nearly blanched at the thought of Tsumi-chan scattered all over the place.
Fujiko was shaking his head.
"I might believe the murder part but things that are dead can't be brought back to life."
"First of all, people whose heart's stop come back sometimes, and second, how do we know that Mitaro-san didn't just stay in the mountains and come down to abduct and murder the first helpless student she found?"
My stomach jolted.
"Counting complete!" called some guy, whose skin was visibly paling. "Four students from Seishun academy and Tomase academy are missing. Their names are Saitou Katsumi, Endou Ruki, Ichiyoru Amaya and Akitari Toru."
Shivers ran down my spine. That confirmed it. Tsumi-chan...Tsumi-chan was missing!
"We've gotta find her," Raki-chan whispered to us, officially joining our little circle. "We have to."
"Yeah, definitely." We looked to Fujiko, who would definitely object. He looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.
"Un. I agree." We all nodded and agreed to go during lunch and try to see if we could find her near the cabins. Hopefully alive.
"I'm going too!" said some random girl whose hair was impossibly pink. "I saw Saitou-san leaving but I didn't do anything about it...I thought she would come back...My name's Kondou Izumi, by the way."
Though Raki-chan was mad at the girl, we decided to let her into the group. Our operation to search would begin in six hours, and then...we would find Tsumi-chan.
~I~R~I~S~
After we packed our lunches into small bags, we carefully slipped out of the lunch hall. There were some high school girls playing soccer outside, so we did our best to seem casual as we walked to the girl's cabin area.
Boys weren't allowed there so we split into two groups; one with girls and the other with us boys.
"Since we will be splitting up and most likely will as we enter the forest, the girls will go on by themselves to the right hill. We will go to the left hill," Fuji explained. We all nodded in agreement.
Raki-chan and Condor-san went off towards the girl's camp while we traveled around it and behind the councilor's cabins. Very quickly, we began to approach the looming flower filled hills. In between was a small pass.
"Don't bother with it," said Fujiko with his eyes glued to the top of the hill. "According to maps, it's just a dead end."
There was that word. Dead.
"Well, maybe she's in there?" I didn't mean it to sound like a question, but it did. Fujiko shook his head.
"If she were in there, she'd have no reason not to come out." Dang Fujiko and his logic.
"Okay..." We started up the mountain. By the time we got half way up, we hadn't found a single sign that Tsumi-chan had been there.
"I hope the girls are having better luck..." Fujiko murmured. Then, his eyes opened and lit up. "Look!"
On the dirt some twenty feet away was a small, solitary human figure. Tsumi-chan!
"Tsumi-chan!"
"Saitou-chan!"
We ran up into the hills, and like we had guessed, there she was-lying under her jacket and snoozing peacefully, as though we hadn't worried a river or something!
"Eiji, take her back to camp and alert the councilors that we've got her. I'll get the girls."
"Okay!" With an effort, I pulled her over my shoulder and started down the hill while attempting to not drop Tsumi-chan. It was difficult, but I managed to get down to the councilor's office in one piece.
"Mm..." Tsumi-chan groaned, but I didn't bother to check. Instead, I placed her down on the ground and knocked on the councilor's door, keeping an eye on Tsumi-chan.
"What is it?" the gruff voice of some random person called. "I'm not paying for that pizza! We have missing campers on our hands!"
My knocking became more frantic and increased until I saw the councilor peek through the screen door. He then opened it when he saw me and raised an eyebrow at Tsumi-chan.
"What is it?" he asked, sounding intrigued.
"Me and my friends found one of the missing campers, Saitou Katsumi." His eyes popped open and a thin smile was on his mouth for a fraction of a second.
"That's good. That's really good. Any chance you found the others?" I shook my head and he frowned at me, as though it was my fault that they were missing. "Not good. Well, do you know what happened."
"Sorry sir." His frown grew in width and seemed to spread to the creases in his forehead.
"At least we found that one," he grunted. Then he looked up to me. "Take care of her until she wakes up. Bring her to the infirmary, first. Find out why she was gone." I nodded. "I'll call the nurse's assistants to help you. On the double man!" He nodded to me, curtly, and saluted me. I nodded back and sat next to Tsumi-chan where she was on the floor. The tall man retreated back into his house where I heard him calling for the nurse people to help.
I glanced at Tsumi-chan's sleeping, not dead face and sighed in relief. Thank God and the angels we had found her!
~I~R~I~S~
Several hours later, Saitou stirred awake and saw a sleeping Kikumaru sitting on the chair next to her bed. It took a few seconds for her to grow alert.
"Ji-kun! Ji-kun!" She tugged at his jacket sleeve and then punched him softly in the stomach. "Wake up!" His eyes opened slowly and then widened when he saw Saitou.
"Y-you're awake!" he gasped, the started coughing.
"Ji-kun, you have to listen. Three high school people, a girl and two boys, they-they fell down a hill. And they're stuck...I tried to get them but-but I passed out!"
To be continued!
~I~R~I~S~
Whoop-whoop! D-R-A-M-A and a mystery! Okay, I'm aware that this chapter sucks but they will get better!