Special thanks to MikoGalatea, the beta reader of my story and who really help me and my basics English.
Chapter 6
Shiori fell. Ruka had slapped her and now he menaced her with his sword. Shiori was terrified that he was about to kill her.
Kaido tried to stop the angry boy by interposing between the two. ''I don't know why you're doing this, but you're clearly going too far.''
''Out of my way!'' Ruka yelled.
Ruka pushed Kaido. Like Shiori, he fell on the floor but he also lost his glasses. While he tried to find them, Ruka was now in front of the girl. Every student present watched them.
''Why are you...'' Shiori cried.
''Don't act innocent! You know you deserve it!''
Ruka pointed his sword on Shiori and tore her shirt, exposing her bra. Shiori tried to hide it with her arms, ashamed that everyone could see it.
''Stop it...'' Shiori said with tears on her face. ''I don't get it. I don't even know your name!''
''Why is Ruka doing it?'' asked a student.
''Poor girl!'' another one said.
''Don't be fooled!'' Ruka said. ''She is a witch!''
The students didn't know why Ruka called Shiori a witch, but since he was a role-model, they thought he had to be right.
''I already knew Takatsuki was a bitch!''
''I think he said witch, and he's right!''
Shiori overheard the group of students insulting her, and it was too much for her. She rose up and tried to run away. Ruka knew how he could take advantage of that, and so he tried to retain her by her skirt. As a result, Shiori fell on the floor again and her skirt tore in two. Shiori was now completely in tears, with little more than her underwear on her and surrounded by students who looked at her and insulted her.
''Is that enough for you, or do you need more?!'' said Ruka.
''RUKA!''
Kanae suddenly appeared in front of him. She knelt and covered Shiori with a coat.
''How could you do that to this poor girl?'' Kanae frowned.
Ruka suddenly felt guilty for what he did. How could he have done this? How could he humiliate someone in public? How could he strip a girl to her underwear?
''I... I didn't...''
Ruka ran away; he couldn't look at what he did in the eye. Kanae made a hateful face at the other students. They had never seen her angry before, and they quickly fled before they could know how angry she could be. Only Kaido, who had just found his glasses again, stayed.
''Poor girl,'' said Kanae. ''Do you want me to do something?''
''What happened?'' Kaido asked.
Shiori didn't want them taking pity on her. She didn't want anyone at all.
''Go away! I don't want to see anybody!''
Shiori rose up and ran away.
xx
Chigusa had seen everything with her magic ball, and she smiled.
''Good!'' she said. ''Don't worry, Shiori. You'll be happy after the work is done.''
xx
Shiori needed new clothes. She could have gone to find some in the control room, but for some reason she went to her former apartment. When she opened the door, she saw that nothing had changed. Nothing except the fact that a ghost who wasn't Touga was on the bed.
''Why are you almost naked?'' Nemuro asked.
''An accident...'' Shiori said while she took new clothes. ''Why are you in my room?''
''Your room... I couldn't return to my office... for personal reasons... I had found what seemed to me like an abandoned room...''
Shiori sat next to Nemuro and cried as much as she could. Nemuro wondered if something awful had happened.
''Are you alright?''
''My life is a failure...''
''Why do you think that?''
Shiori wasn't sure if Nemuro actually cared about her or if he just wanted an answer to what he didn't understand, but since he was a ghost, she felt comfortable talking with him.
''When I was little, I was an average girl. Nobody cared about me... until my prince appeared. Touga was so nice to me, and he made me feel so special. But then he died...''
Shiori sobbed a bit before continuing her story.
''I was really sad. I felt more miserable than before. And then I learned that the person responsible for his death, Juri, dared to love me! How could she!''
''Love is a very strange emotion,'' Nemuro remarked. ''That can really change a person, and maybe she...''
''I don't care if she felt guilty or not! It's wrong! How someone could do it?! So I made her as unhappy as me because it was what she deserved! Then when I arrived here, I saw Touga as a ghost and I was happy being with him again. But then she arrived! Utena stole him from me! ...Or that's what I thought...''
Shiori said nothing for a few seconds. It was as if she didn't want to look the truth in the eye.
''He only cared about her! I was just another girl to him,'' Shiori said tearfully. ''But still, I had him for myself when he was a ghost, and it only stopped when Utena, a living person, arrived!''
''I don't think I understand what you are saying. It's confusing.''
''If Kozue had died, she would had stayed here with me instead of running away! Ghosts never run away!''
''But you just said a ghost did it.''
''Touga disappeared because of a living person! It's logic! Ghosts are great. Living people are awful. They're awful to me!''
Nemuro didn't know what to say. He had problems with his own emotions; emotions he didn't even care about before he met Mamiya and Tokiko. All he knew was that Shiori had a problem on her mind.
He then thought about something.
''You were in your underwear... Did a living person do that to you?''
''Y... Yes... the tall boy with blue hair and a sword.''
Nemuro immediately got who she was talking about. It was the boy who could somehow see ghosts.
''Did he do something bad to you?''
''He attacked me for no reason. He called me a witch...''
Nemuro felt how sad Shiori was and wanted to make her feel better. He hugged her and told her she was a sweet girl who didn't deserve it.
xx
Nanami's former so-called friends were relaxing on the grass, next to the building. They wanted to chill out a little, and after what Tsuwabuki did to them, they prefered to not try looking for Nanami.
They remained like that until they saw a group of people walking out of the building. They recognized some of them; they were classmates who probably died in the same fire. A boy they didn't know advanced in their direction.
''You're ghosts, too, aren't you?''
''Yes, but who are you?'' Keiko asked. ''I don't remember you.''
''It's natural that you don't know me. I died thirty-two years ago... I was strong enough to see to the man I loved what I felt for him...''
The boy stopped talking, but it was obvious why he died.
''It's sad,'' Yuuko commented.
''Indeed... But it is the past,'' said the boy, as if resigned. ''By the way, we decided to move to the academy to see if we could find more ghosts. Do you want to come?''
''Why not?'' said Keiko.
''That could be amusing,'' Aiko said.
xx
Indeed, there were a lot of ghosts in the academy. Everyone who died in this place was now a ghost. They were everywhere, but the students coudn't see them.
With her magic ball, Chigusa saw everything and she was happy.
''Perfect! Ohtori is now finally a place for all the ghosts. Now I just have to make those living people go away,'' she thought.
For Chigusa, it would be easy since she could make sure nobody would chase after them when they tried going out to the real world. In fact, she could make it so they could walk out calmly without facing problems at all!
xx
Chigusa waited for a good time: lunch time, when all the students were at the cafeteria and the teachers checked on them. While they were eating, she suddenly appeared in the room.
''Attention everyone! Ohtori is now haunted by a lot of ghosts. You should run away before they do something bad to you.''
The students then saw horrible ghosts that seemed to have come from horror movies. It was all an illusion made by Chigusa, but it was enough to scare the students. They all panicked and fled the room easily. Soon, they would run out to the road and never return to Ohtori again.
Chigusa had won.
xx
Chigura checked where Shiori was with her magic ball, After that, she looked at Kozue, who still slept in the bed. The witch had a apple in her hand. She took it to Kozue's mouth and moved the girl's face so she could eat it. Afterwards, Kozue opened her eyes.
''W... Where am I?''
''I saw you asleep, outside the academy.'' Chigusa was lying. ''So I took you here and took care of you.''
''Oh... thanks.'' Kozue didn't remember what happened after she left Shiori.
Kozue looked a bit at the room. It was an odd mix of what looked like a witch's house in old European fairy tales and futuristic technology. Kozue noticed a room closed by a door where there seemed to be blue light.
She had a lot of questions about this place, but Chigusa succeeded in making her focus on something else.
''Are you friends with a girl named Shiori? She was looking for a girl, and her description was similar to you.''
''Shiori... she wanted me?''
''I suppose. But sadly, something bad happened to her. For some reason, she was attacked by a boy and it crushed her!''
''WHAT!?'' Kozue said. ''Who is that asshole? Where is Shiori?''
''Shiori is safe in her apartment. I have the number if you want.''
''Sure! I want to comfort her...even if she says no.''
Chigusa smiled.
''Good. If Ruka ever causes trouble, I would have those two with me,'' thought the witch.
xx
Little did Chigusa know that, outside Shiori and Kozue, there were still two living humans at Ohtori. The first was Kanae, whom, after seeing her prince humiliating what seemed to be an innocent girl, had returned to their apartment crying.
The other was Kaido. Unlike Kanae, he had been present when Chigusa scared everyone. He moved to his bedroom and now thought about what to do.
''This place get weirder and weirder,'' Kaido thought to himself. ''But not even ghosts can stop me from finding out what happened to my Utena!''
xx
Kozue had arrived at where Shiori's apartment was. She looked at the door a moment, afraid that Shiori would reject her, then took all her courage and opened the door. Shiori was on her bed and looked at Kozue. Nemuro was next to her, but Kozue couldn't see him.
''Kozue,'' Shiori said with a smile, ''I'm sorry.''
''Me too,'' Kozue answered.
''I should leave them alone,'' thought Nemuro, who left while Kozue approached her friend.
Kozue noticed a mark on Shiori's face. ''Shiori... a woman told me a guy attacked you...''
''That's true,'' Shiori said, trying not cry. ''It was the boy who attacked you when you were a car who just had fun. He attacked me with a sword, called me a witch and then in front everyone I ended up in my underwear.''
Kozue understood how the experience must have been humiliating for her. She hugged Shiori, making her blush.
''Shiori, together, we should find this guy and he'll pay for this!''
Shiori smiled a bit. Having Kozue with her made her feel better.
xx
Nemuro walked in the hall. He saw a lot of new faces, and when he saw some of his students from twenty years ago, he knew that they were all ghosts. Then, Chigusa appeared.
''Your attention everyone!'' Chigusa said. ''The boring living humans went away and everyone is like us now. We are going to have a good life forever!''
The ghosts seemed happy about the idea, including Nemuro.
''A place for the ghosts...'' Nemuro thought. ''I should tell Mamiya and Tokiko.''
