Chapter 7: Naho and The Hammer Man
I Own Squat
A/N: Just so the readers know, Naho is not associated with the "Hammer Man". And I'll reveal who he is towards the end of the chapter. Also, sorry for being inactive for so much longer! So, enjoy this chapter!
Satoshi
Satoshi slowly opened his eyes, yawning. This isn't right, he thought. This isn't my house. He looked around, and saw Naomi lying in a cot next to his. He got up, and looked around the dimly lit room. Oh, right. We're back in Heavenly Host Elementary School. He saw Yoshiki sitting in the corner, with Ayumi sitting next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. It dawned on him that she was asleep, and since she was asleep, Yosh was speaking with Seiko's spirit. As they talked he listened to what they were saying. "Are you sure?" Seiko asked him. "I think so," Yoshiki said. "When I first got the nightmares, I didn't know what to think of them." He itched the top of his scalp as he listened, wondering what they were talking about.
"If they have a job, then they are failing," Yoshiki said. "well, except for if they are supposed to make me worry about her. Which in that case, they are doing their job." Satoshi got off of the cot, but they didn't seem to notice him. "Who are you worried about?" he asked. This caused Yoshiki to jump a little, which caused Ayumi to wake up. If spirits could jump, he was pretty sure that Seiko would have jumped. After recovering, Ayumi let out a yawn as she put her head against the wall. "I though you said I could sleep, Kishinuma?" she asked. Yoshiki let out a grunt. "You can thank Mochida for that, Shinozaki." he said. "Uh, Satoshi, I'm not worried about anyone. You must have heard me wrong."
"Whatever." he said. "So, Shinozaki-San," Seiko said. "Who did you have in mind to help your goal?" Ayumi sighed. "She's another spirit here," she replied. "But I have no idea how to find her." Yoshiki got up and yawned. "What's his or her name?" Satoshi asked. "Her name is Naho," she replied. "Naho Saenoki." Yoshiki took on a look of seriousness. "Oh, hell to the no!" he said. "You ok there, Yosh?" Satoshi asked. Yoshiki seemed to ignore him. "You mean that crazy vlogging chick!" he said. "There is no way in hell that she'd help us! She's in-fucking-sane!" Ayumi got up and the argument started. "You don't know that!" she yelled. "Maybe we can bribe her!" Yoshiki burst out in laughing. "And how do you propose we do that?" he asked.
Satoshi walked over to them and chimed in on the conversation. "Maybe we could give Naho her body back?" he asked, just trying to be helpful. Yoshiki only laughed more. "Oh very good, Toshi!" he said, laughing. "We'll just say: 'Hi, Miss. Saenoki, we found your dead body, here ya go. Oops, forgot! You can't do anything with it, 'cause you're already dead!' Great idea, Mochida! Keep up the good work!" Ayumi grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, turned his head towards her and smacked him. She let go of him, as he rubbed the red part of his cheek. "Then how do you recommend we bring Seiko back from the dead?" she asked. Yoshiki looked like, he was trying to think. "Oh, hell with it," he said. "I'm not getting myself out of this one."
"Well," Satoshi said, clapping his hands together. "Let's get a move on!" All of a sudden, they heard Naomi's voice as she woke up. "Hey!" she said. "Was that there before I went to sleep?" Satoshi turned around to inspect what she was looking at. He didn't know what to think of what he and she had seen. But it was creepy. On the wall of the Infirmary, written in blood, it said: Four Will Go. "Did you think about the possibility that Naomi could have been sleep walking and ended up writing that?" Yoshiki asked his friend. "No..." Ayumi replied. "Two reasons there, Kishinuma. One, her wound is nearly dry. And two, we would have noticed. He turned around to face Ayumi and Yoshiki. "How right you are, Ayumi." he said. "It must have been here before we got here, and we were too stupid to notice it."
"He's right," Ayumi said. Yoshiki interrupted. "Ok, if we are going to find Naho, where are we going to look?" Ayumi actually looked like she hadn't thought about this. How wrong was he. "I think our best shot would be to look in the Reference Room." Yoshiki nodded. "I'm game for that." he said. "Hell, I'm game to anything as long as it helps get us out of here." Satoshi and Naomi joined the two, as Seiko just hovered around in the background. "I'll scout ahead and tell you if I find her," she said. "But, what does she look like?" Yoshiki answered before Ayumi could. "She has black hair, a red star pendant-thing in her hair and wears a maroon blazer." He replied. Ayumi looked at him with a look of surprise on her face. "Wow." she said. "What?" he asked. "I pay attention... most of the time..."
Yoshiki
After about ten minutes of Yosh and Mochida leading the group around, Seiko reappeared. "Ayumi was right, probably." she said. "I found her in the Reference Room, oddly enough, it looks like she's waiting for something." Mochida and Kishinuma exchanged looks. "Why would she be waiting?" Satoshi asked. Yoshiki just shrugged. "Hell if I know," he said. "Lead the way, Seiko." She nodded, and she took the lead. After an additional fifteen minutes, they found the door to the Reference Room. Yoshiki quietly opened the door, and led the group in. He walked around, and finally spotted Naho. But she was with someone, another spirit. He stopped, and turned around. Stop! he mouthed to his friends. She's with someone else! Hide! The four friends, hid behind a shelf and listened to the conversation of the spirits.
"Well?" one of them asked. "Have you done what I asked?" Wait a damn minute! That's Sachiko's voice! But, why does Sachiko associate with other spirits? He brushed the thoughts off, and continued listening. "The subject as been subjected to the dreams," Naho replied. "but he is unresponsive." Wait... dreams? No... Yoshiki's head was being flooded with thoughts. "Unresponsive?" Sachiko asked. "Well, he is responding," Naho said. "But, he's not doing what I tell him." Sachiko sighed. "Naho, let me remind you with this question." she said. "Who is the subject?" It took a few seconds, but she answered. "The subject's name is Kishinuma," she said. "Yoshiki Kishinuma." Yoshiki's heart nearly stopped as soon as he heard this.
He looked back at Ayumi, who shared the same shocked expression that he did. He put his ear back up on the shelf, and listened once more. "Correct." Sachiko said. "And what did I order you to do?!" Naho made a gulping sound. "You had me brainwash him." she said. I was brainwashed? The fuck?! "And to do what?!" she nearly screamed at Naho. "I'm not referring to you when I say the name Shinozaki," Naho replied. "I refer to-" Sachiko screamed at her as she interrupted. "I know I'm not the focus!" she yelled. "What did you order him to do?!" Naho finally sighed. "You had me brainwash him," she said. "to kill Ayumi Shinozaki." Yoshiki went fucking cold. He felt sick to his stomach and he he didn't even want to look at Ayumi. Yoshiki was overwhelmed with shock as he continued to listen.
"I told you to get him to kill Shinozaki, did I not?" Sachiko asked. "I tried!" she screamed. "Honestly, you don't understand! I tried to crack his mind, and simply couldn't. This is a simple matter. He really cares about Shinozaki, and just can't bring himself to kill her, let alone hurt her." Well, that's great! Looks like the secret is out! Hopefully they don't take this as the romantic sort? "I don't care how you get her killed!" she screamed. "I should have seen Shinozaki's corpse by now!" Yoshiki couldn't possibly imagine how Ayumi, or any of the others felt right now. "Just get the job done!" Sachiko said. "Or I will be forced to possess Kishimuma, just like with that Nakashima girl!" Wait a minute... Is it possible that Naomi was hearing Sachiko's voice? Yoshiki watched as Sachiko floated past them, thankfully not seeing them. She was gone. And Yoshiki was glad. He could pass out now.
Naomi
An audible thud could be heard as Yoshiki's body hit the floor. After a few seconds, the three heard Naho speak. "Who's there?" she asked calmly. Naomi helped Satoshi pick up the unconscious Yoshiki, so they could make him "walk" as Ayumi revealed herself. "Oh!" Naho said. "I remember you! You are the Shinozaki girl, the one I'm supposed to kill. I thought you left." Ayumi looked scared. "You're not going to kill me?" she asked. Naho shook her head. "No," she said. "It's not my job to do so. I do believe I asked you a question, Shinozaki-San." Ayumi wasn't answering, so Satoshi took the liberty of answering for her. "We did leave," he said, heaving a sigh. "But Naomi here claimed she heard Seiko, her dead best friend, talking to her. So, she built a gateway here, and we were somehow sucked in."
Naho gave a surprising nod. "I see." she said. "I've heard of the ritual. A very hard ritual indeed, but it can be done. Naomi, it appears you have bridged the void that seperates Heavenly Host from the real world. That's bad." Naomi was kinda confused. "It is? And I did?" she asked, her voice full of confusion. "You'll have to forgive her," Satoshi said. "Ever since 'Seiko' left her, she can't remember anything since our previous visit." Naho nodded once again. "Yes, Naomi. It's bad." she said. "Now that there are two portals present, it's impossible to prevent Sachiko from escpaing into the real world." Satoshi looked confused. "Two portals? I only mentioned one."
"You did only mention one,"Naho said. "But there have to be two portals to fully bridge the void. So, there is a portal present here. I can feel it's presence." Naomi got excited. "Well, then where is it?" she screamed. "I don't know," she said. "But I promise it's present here somewhere." Ayumi seemed to brighten up. "I remember!" she exclaimed, excited. "We were coming to find you!" Naho looked confused. "You were?" she asked. "How come?" Ayumi seemed really excited now. "We wanted to bring our friend Seiko back!" she said, jumping up and down, like a giddy school girl. "You can do it! If anyone can bring a dead person back, it's you!" Naho seemed to smile. "I appreciate the compliment," she said. "But I don't know. There is one huge thing that I need to do that." Naomi looked at her, determined to get her best friend back. "Name your price!" she said.
"There's just one thing," Naho said. "And I have no idea where it is." Naomi was pretty angry now. "Just tell us!" she screamed, extremely angry. "The Book of Shadows." she said. "The what?" Naomi asked. "The Book of Shadows," Ayumi said, looking at her. "It a dark, magical book that contains instructions for various charms. And she's right. It may contain a charm to bring back the dead." Just then, a groan was heard. Naomi looked to her left as she saw Yoshiki start to wake up. Naomi stopped helping him stand, as he began to regain consciousness. Satoshi let go of his friend, and let Yoshiki walk on his own. The first thing that Yoshiki did was look at Ayumi. "Shinozaki..." he said. Wait, is he crying? "Shinozaki... I..." he choked up the words, not being able to finish. He walked off into the corner and just sat down.
Yoshiki
Yoshiki couldn't get her out of his head. He knew he was in love with Shinozaki and he couldn't deny it any longer. But Sachiko implanted him with the dreams in an attempt to brainwash him? And not only brainwash him, but to get him to kill Shinozaki? He was kicking himself and way too hard. It's not your fault, he thought. There's no way that Shinozaki could be mad at you! Stop kicking yourself! If you care about her so much, then- He sighed, cutting off his thoughts. As the others were talking, he looked up at Ayumi. After a few seconds, she noticed him and sort of locked eyes with him. He couldn't tell if she looked scared or not. They kept looking at each other, and Yoshiki "broke" the silence by shedding a smile at her.
It seemed to reassure Ayumi, because she smiled back. It was almost like they were waiting to see who would look away first. I can't do it. I can't even look at her! His smile broke and he looked down at his feet. "So, you'll bring her back if you get the Book of Shadows?" Naomi asked, with hope in her voice. "Yes," Naho said. "But I want something in return." After a few seconds, Ayumi responded. "Well, what do you want?" she asked. "I want control over this dimension." Naho said. Yoshiki looked up. There is no way...? "Uh..." Satoshi said. "I don't know how to get you that..." Seiko finally started talking, after being silent after ten minutes or so.
"We could get Sachiko to talk to us." she said. "Who are you?" Naho asked, looking at her. "My dead best friend." Naomi replied, glumly. "Oh," Naho said. "I see." Then a voice started booming. "I can hear you people," a voice boomed. "you know." Yoshiki looked around the room, trying to find the source of the voice. Just then, Sachiko appeared in the middle of the room. And Yoshiki lost his marbles. "You son of a bitch!" he screamed, getting up to face Sachiko. "Y-y-you brainwashed me!" Sachiko just laughed. "No," she said. "I just placed the order." Yoshiki was angry. He didn't even know how to describe how angry he was. He grabbed a chair from one of the tables, and threw it at Sachiko.
As she was a ghost, it just passed through her, having no effect on her. "I don't care if you were the one who ordered it!" he screamed. "You are the one I get to be mad at about this!" Sachiko waved her hand at him. "Be silenced." she said. Yoshiki felt himself fly back into a wall, and collapse. Holy shit! Feels like my spine is broken! "Hey!" Satoshi shouted. "You can't do that to my best friend! Who the hell do you think you are?!" Sachiko just laughed. "I'm your god." she said simply. "What about my wish?" Naho asked. "You want control over this dimension? My dimension?" Sachiko asked. "No, no, no. That won't do. I'll split the control with you, but you won't get all of it."
"I think that's fair." Naho said. Yoshiki groaned as he looked up at them. "You haven't figured it out yet?" Sachiko asked. "What?" a few of the friends asked. "I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Nakashima." Not even a second passed before Naomi answered. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Your friend Seiko was never talking to you." she said. "She's right," Seiko said. "I tried many times to contact you, but I failed each time." Yoshiki could see that Naomi had a look of confusion on her face. "Well, if Seiko wasn't talking to me, who was?" she asked. "Who do you think?!" Sachiko said. "I was!" Yoshiki wasn't surprised by this. After all, he did have a hunch. "Oh, look at the time!" Sachiko said. "I better get going! My associate will take care of you kids. Buh-bye!" Then, she disappeared.
Yoshiki got up. "You ok, man?" Satoshi asked. He nodded. "If she means associate by me," Naho said. "she has another thing coming. I don't plan on hurting you guys. So, since I've gotten what I wanted, find me the Book of Shadows. Then we'll get started." Just then, they heard groaning from the other side of the room. Yoshiki looked over there, and saw a huge guy walking towards them, dragging a sledgehammer behind him. Oh, shit... That's the guy who knocked me out on our last visit! "Run like hell..." Naho said. "What?" Naomi asked, sounding scared. "Run like hell!" Yoshiki yelled. "Get out of here! Go! Get away from here!" Everyone except Yoshiki started running for the door, and went through it. Ayumi was the one who stopped and looked back. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Come on!"
He shook his head. "You go." he said. "I'll hold him off, keep him off of you guys." Wait, was she crying? Yep. A few tears were rolling down Ayumi's face, as she realized her friend wasn't going with her. "Now go, run!" he said. Her face flushed. "Watch out!" she screamed. He didn't have time to react. He let out a scream of agony as jolts of pain ran throughout his abdomen, a result of the "hammer man" hitting him in his side. The last thing he saw of Ayumi was her worried face, tearing up as he was dragged away from the door, watching it close. He felt himself being dragged still, and being rolled over so he could see his attacker. The man raised the hammer, ready to lower it. This is it, Yoshiki thought. I'm gonna die here. Ayumi will never know how I felt about her.
He waited for the killing blow, but it never came. He heard a agonizing scream and he decided to open his eyes. His attacker was burning, in a blue flame sort of. He fell down, and just started to disappear from sight. "I'm trapped here! Just like you..." he said, before disappearing. He looked up at Naho, who was standing above him. He got up, hissing in agony. "I wasn't going to let you die," she said. "Are you ok?" He nodded, lying. In truth, he hurt like hell. "Ok," she said. "Tell your friends that I sense the portals presence. It's near the second floor boys lavatory." Yoshiki nodded, holding his side. "Ok, thanks! See you later Naho!"
He turned around, and ran out of the reference room. As he ran through the halls, the pain in his ribs increased. He finally stopped and allowed himself to fall. "Oh my god..." he said, holding his ribs. "That hurts so much!" He got back up, and tried his best to ignore the pain in his side. He continued to run, finally reaching a corner, and going around it. As he ran around the corner, he slammed right into Satoshi. He keeled over hissing in pain. "Jeez, man!" Satoshi said, after getting up. "Watch where you're going!" Ayumi was the next to speak. "Kishinuma-San!" she said. "You're alive!" She seemed to be overwhelmed with emotions, as she crushed him in a bear hug. Jolts of pain filled his abdomen as she hugged him.
He wasn't sure what to do, so he put his arms around her. "Kishinuma-San..." she purred, nuzzling her face into his shirt. Is she crying? He felt the front of his shirt become wet with her tears. He looked up at Naomi, Seiko and Satoshi. They just looked at them, as Ayumi continued crushing Yoshiki in her grip. "Ok Ayumi," he said, gently prying her off of him. "That's enough..." He hissed in pain as he said this. "Are you ok?" Naomi asked. "I'm fine." he replied, as he listened to Ayumi sniffle. "I'm sorry," she said, continuing to sniffle. "I shouldn't have done that." Yoshiki shook his head. "You had every right," he said, holding his side. "You were worried about me. Don't be sorry."
Yoshiki sighed. "Look, now that I found you guys, we have to get out of here." he said. "But how?" Satoshi asked. "We're trapped!" Yoshiki shook his head. "No. Naho told me that she senses the portal," he said. "near the second floor boys lavatory." Naomi looked at him dead in the eyes. "Then let's go!" she said. After a few minutes of running around and trying to figure out what floor they were on, they found the portal. "We'll come back for you Seiko," Ayumi said. "we promise." Seiko nodded. "I know, now get out of here!" she said. The four nodded, and jumped through the darkness.
...
Yoshiki woke up in a room lit only by torches. He looked up, to see the portal that Naomi had created was still there. He got up and held his side. The pain had ceased, but not by much. He took out his cell to check the time. "Only 7:30?" he asked. "Thought it'd be later than that..." He put his phone away and walked over to Satoshi, who was still asleep. "Come on Satoshi," he said, shaking him. "Get up." Satoshi sturred, and after a few seconds he woke up. After recovering from "post-sleep" his friend looked up at Yoshiki. "We're back?" he asked. He nodded, smiling. "We're back." Yoshiki said. After a few minutes, the rest of them came around. After discussing going to school the following day, the all went their seperate ways and retired for the night.
A/N: I'm sorry to end it here, but the chapter was getting a little long. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and see you in the next one!