In Love and In Death Pt. 3

"Shig? If I said there was someway for our friends to save us from this place, would you believe me?" "What makes you say that?" "I'm just thinking. With these awful

hellish curses, there's always going to be someone to be the exception to that rule and I think it could be us." He could tell Mayu was being sincere. He wanted to

remind her that they were indeed forever trapped but he saw that look. A face full of hope and innocence. It was something he couldn't ruin. Besides, Mayu could very

well be right. "Do you think I'm lying?" "What?" "Shig, I see that face. You think I'm lying or something." He didn't even notice that he was outwardly doubting her.

"Ahh...I'm sorry. Don't worry. I'm just being too uncertain." She held onto his hands and looked him in the eyes. "We have to find everybody. Did you see Seiko by the

way?" "Of course he did, Suzume." "We all saw him." Several other ghosts appeared before them but Mayu only knew one of them. "Who are you guys?" "We're the

kids Morishige was with while he was looking for you." "Oh...Uh...Thank you...for helping him. We didn't really make it as you can tell." Seiko was almost going to blurt

out what Shig was doing when he found her but she knew there were more important things they needed to work on. "Does anyone know where the basement is?

That's where my friends will be if they're trying to appease Sachiko. We gotta see if we can make it!" Mayu insisted. She ran off before anyone could've even said

anything and they all followed her lead.

"Let go of Satoshi!" Naomi screamed at Yoshikazu. He held Satoshi's throat firmly in his grip while Satoshi tried to kick his way out. Yoshikazu saw her and was going

to kill her but Satoshi yelled at him to distract his attention. "Hey! Don't you lay a finger on Naomi! You're not supposed to hit women!" he choked out. "You heard him!

Kill him!" "No! I won't let you hurt my big brother!" Yuka cried as she ran up to Sachiko with a hug. Sachiko was startled and held her in a case of dark energy to

prevent her from doing it again. "Yuka! Why are you doing this?! Just let her go!" Satoshi begged. "I don't think I will. In fact, I think I'll watch her slowly suffocate

to death. It'll be great!" Sachiko laughed. Satoshi watched in horror as Yuka began coughing violently and gagging from the lack of air. "C'mon! Please let her go!

If you let her and my friends go then I'll let you take me. I don't care what happens to me just stop hurting everyone." "Hey, dummy. Drop him. I think I like his deal."

The giant dropped Satoshi onto the floor and Sachiko let Yuka go. She ran crying to her brother panting and gasping from running so fast and the fear surging through

her. "Big brother, don't do this! What'll I do if you die? I need you!" "Yuka, listen to me. Sometimes one person has to sacrifice themselves in order save everyone. You

have to be brave and strong. Please...don't worry about me." Naomi grabbed a hold of Yuka's hand and pulled her away from him. Sachiko kept silent and calmly

walked over to the tool table. "Hmm...which one? Ah...these are always handy." She came back with a pair of rusty as hell scissors and teased Satoshi with them.

*snip* *snip* She had the kids suspended in the same type of container Yuka was in. "You promised you wouldn't hurt my friends! You lying bitch!" She stabbed away

in the right half of his chest. "Stop hurting him!" Yuka whined. Sachiko saw that she was free. "How'd you get out?" Sachiko asked her. "You forgot to lock me in." Yuka

held out the cat plushie in front of Sachiko. "Wha...Where'd you get that?" "Me and my big brother and Naomi found it. Your mommy wants you to have it." She

dropped the kids down and walked over to claim her present. When Sachiko read the card her mother gave with the toy, Sachiko cried loudly and glowed a bright

white and looked more peaceful. Her mother came out and held onto her. "Don't you see, Sachi? I never wanted you to hurt anybody. I just wanted you back. You and

your father are all I need." "I'm sorry! I didn't want you to be lonely mommy!" "It's alright honey. Now you have to make this right and bring these children home."

Sachiko looked ashamed and afraid of the bigger kids. "Sachiko, I forgive you for what you did to my big brother and me and I know the rest of us forgive you too. You

both must've gone through so much pain. I can't imagine what it must feel like." Yuka's speech made everyone cry, especially Sachiko and her mother Yoshie. Sachiko

hugged Yuka back while her mom wrapped Satoshi's wound with lots of gauze. "How do you know how to treat wounds so well?" Satoshi wondered. "I'm a nurse and

nurses have to help everyone they see that's hurt." Her neck was still freaking him out but Satoshi didn't mention it and thanked her. "Sorry I called you that bad

word." Satoshi felt very embarrassed. "I know you were angry so it's fine." Sachiko smiled. "And thank you for giving Sachi her plushie. You saved everyone, Yuka."

Yuka's face burned up with embarrassment. She didn't feel like she should get all the attention ever, but she did also feel honored that Yoshie recognized her

accomplishment.

"Mayu, wait up!" Morishige yelled with everyone else. Mayu was too focused on finding her friends and trying to escape with them. She and the rest of the group heard

a bell ring at least twice. She saw her friends running away and going back upstairs. "Where are they going? I bet Sachiko knows." Mayu finally found her and asked

her what was going on. "Your friends saved me. They're going back to where they can get as close to the real world as possible so that they can leave." "What about

us? Are we stuck here?" Mayu whined. "I used a lot of my energy but maybe if we get all the good spirits together I might be able to send everyone back. I've never

done this before so I don't know what'll happen." "I don't care! I want to go home!" Mayu cried. "Okay but I'll make it quick and send all you guys back now and maybe

other people in the future." "Just like that?" Shig questioned. "Yes, yes! Now hurry! This plane is about to fall apart and I won't be able to return you home unless you

all perform the charm properly." Sachiko's face was very concerned for all of them, very different than she was before. The three children she had killed were also

concerned as well as the other good spirits that surrounded them and were also prepared to assist Sachiko in getting the kids home. Each of the students rapidly took

out their paper scraps and formed a circle. Morishige looked over at Mayu who was busy preparing herself for the journey home. They all performed the charm but this

time they were more sincere and now knew the proper technique. A flash of what could only be described as the whitest of lights, opened before all of them. Most of

the students went right in, while Sachiko and her friends shoved the kids who were too much in shock into the light. Morishige and Mayu were the last one to enter the

light. They both briefly looked at each other and smiled. Just as they were crossing back on their way to their world, Mayu clung to Shig's arm, crying tears of

unfathomable joy that she was finally going back home. After all she and Shig had endured, they were going home and there could be nothing to ruin this beautiful

moment.

When Mayu had opened up her eyes, she was propped up against the wall of her classroom. Her friends were all back and in one piece and just stared at her

in awe. "Mayu! How...How...How?" Ayumi stuttered. "Sachiko saved me and Seiko and Shig!" "Seiko? SEIKO!" Naomi screamed when she saw her BFF lying against

the floor. "Wake up! Seiko, we're here! I'm so sorry for being so horrible to you!" She didn't think Seiko was breathing and tried mouth to mouth in order to bring her

back. Seiko had one eye opened and carried a bright smirk on her face. "Got you, Naomi!" Naomi gasped and then yelled at her. "Don't you scare me..." She broke

down into tears. "Don't ever scare me like that again!" Seiko saw that she was really emotional and gave her a big hug. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to lighten up the

mood after all this crap we've been through." "It's alright. You startled me. That's all." Mayu was happy that she got to see such a happy reunion. But where's

Morishige? She smiled down at him as his head laid against her lap and he was making funny faces. She felt her phone vibrate like crazy and knew who it had to be.

"Mayu? Are you there?" "Yes mom." "Were are you?" "I'm still at school. The cultural festival was going nuts and it went on longer than planned and I lost track of the

time. I'm sorry." "It's fine honey. Your father and I have been worried about you all night. I'll come pick you and Morishige up." "Thank you mom!" "By the way Mayu..."

"Yeah?" "Your father changed his mind about moving! You don't have to leave after all!" "Really, mom?" "Yes honey. Now don't move, and I'll come get you." Her mom

hung up the phone and allowed her to get back to Shig, who had woken up. "Hmmm...So you're not moving after all!" Shig smiled. Mayu held onto him and gave him

hugs and kissed him deeply. "So your mom's picking us up? That sounds great. Can't wait to get home and go to bed and just...live my life with you, Mayu." Shig smiled

at her while she cradled his head.