Chapter 9: The Shinozaki Estate
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Corpse Party
A/N: So, here's the ninth chapter. Just as promised! Another Merry friggin' Christmas to my readers. I hope your Christmas is going well. Mine is... well, I don't know. Because this Author's Note was prewritten on December 23rd. Anyway, hope your Christmas is going fantastic! And, in this chapter, the group goes looking for the Book of Shadows. I didn't mention this in the last Author's Note, so I'll mention it now. This is a one time thing. I'm not going to release two chapters every two-three weeks or whatever. I might do this on some holidays or special occasions. But I won't do it every single time. I might do this for my birthday (which is February 16th btw). So, without further ado, read on!
Ayumi
"I can't believe he would kick us out of his apartment like that!" Ayumi said, angrily. "He's such a dick!" Naomi cleared her throat. "Hold on," she said. "Seiko wants to speak to all of us." Ayumi raised her eyebrow. "How does she expect to-" she was speaking, but was interrupted by grunts and a few screams of pain from Naomi. After a few more seconds, a blue light appeared next to Naomi. The blue light slowly took shape and finally a ghosly image of Seiko could be seen. "How... did you do that?" Ayumi asked. The ghostly image of Seiko "brushed" herself off and then looked at the group. "It's nice to get out of her head for once." she sighed. "You're wondering how I can be here in the real world?" Ayumi nodded, surprised.
"It's quiet simple really." Naomi said, recovering from the pain she was in. "I have no idea how I knew, but I concentrated on Seiko last night, and poof! She appeared in front of me, exactly like this. We had a good chat, I think. She's like a pet." Seiko gave off an irritated look. "Don't call me a pet!" she retorted. "I don't call you a pet!" Satoshi cleared his throat. "Hold on a minute." he said. "If Naomi can concentrate on you and can make you appear as you are, then why would you want to come back to life?" Ayumi turned to look at Satoshi, with an angry look. "Satoshi!" she said. "Why would you even think about saying that?! What's wrong with you?!" Satoshi looked at her. "It was just a question!"
"I'm with Ayumi on this one," Naomi replied. "that is a messed up question." Ayumi looked back at Seiko's spirit. "Ok. What did you have to say?" she asked. "I've been talking to Naho alot lately, since you left." Seiko replied. "And we were discussing the topic of the Book of Shadows. And we think we know where you guys should look." Satoshi sighed. "Well?" he asked. "Don't keep us in-" Ayumi interrupted Satoshi as he was speaking. "Stop talking." she said. "After what you just asked Seiko that, you don't deserve to talk." Satoshi sighed. "Where should we look?" Naomi and Ayumi asked at the same time. "Well, according to legend, The Book of Shadows is hidden on the old Shinozaki property." Ayumi watched as Naomi raised an eyebrow. "Do you come with subtitles?" she asked.
"Oh, come on!" Seiko said. "The Book of Shadows is hidden at the old Shinozaki Estate outside of town. In the country!" Ayumi cleared her throat. "You said according to a legend?" she asked. "Yes." Seiko said. "Then why should we trust that?" she asked. "Usually legends are false!" Seiko looked at Naomi. "You believe it. Right?" she asked. "Sort of." Naomi said. "But I feel like we need more proof." Seiko sighed. "What more proof could you possibly need?" she said. "The Book of Shadows has to be somewhere on the estate! Where else would it be?" Ayumi sighed. "Who is to say that the Book of Shadows isn't on the estate? And it's in Heavenly Host some where?" Seiko laughed. "Whose to say that the Book of Shadows isn't in Heavenly Host? And it's on the estate?" Ayumi sighed. "I give up." she said. "If you say it's on the estate, it might be there."
"It's there." she said. "Trust me." Ayumi nodded. "I guess we have to." Seiko "paced" the open air. "Just hurry." he said. "And be careful. I want to be human again fast. But I don't want any casualties." Satoshi cleared his throat. "There won't be any casualties." he said. "We are all in this together. I just don't know about Yoshiki." Ayumi scoffed. "Let the ass stay out of it." she said. "He obviously doesn't care. You saw how he treated us." Naomi cleared her throat. "He treated us that way because you pushed him down the stairs." Ayumi scoffed, again. "I don't care!" she replied. "He deserved it!" Satoshi cleared his throat. "I recall that he showed you his fractured ribs." he said. "You are certain that you didn't take it a little too far?"
"Positive!" she said. "Besides, like I said: He deserved it!" As the two began to argue, Ayumi heard Seiko and Naomi talking. "Ok, I'm ready to get back in your head. Take me back!" Seiko replied. "Alright!" She let out pained grunts as she concentrated, and Seiko disappeared. "Alright guys." Naomi said. Ayumi looked back at Naomi. "We'll discuss this tomorrow. I'm heading home." The two waved to her as she walked away from them.
Yoshiki
He would admit it. He felt angry with himself for kicking his friends out the previous night. So far today, he had taken a shower, taken his painkillers, changed his bandages, and slept or watched T.V. Right now, he was watching T.V. I'm in love with her. I have to accept it. And I want to make her a song. Or at least find an approtiate song to sing to her. I already know how to play guitar. I have one. So, I could go up to the school and ask our choral director for suggestions. He turned off the T.V. and got up to get his jacket, part of the school uniform he wore. He had thrown his other shirt away, since it was covered in blood from his wound.
He walked out of his apartment, making sure he had his keys. He walked out the door and walked down the sidewalk, in the direction of the Academy. If I like her so much, she has to know. He continued walking down the sidewalk, until Kisagari came in sight. He started running towards the building and stopped when he was at the door. He walked in. He hoped the choir teacher was still around. School had only been over for maybe a hour at the most. He walked up the stairs, towards the choir room. He found the door to the choir room open and he just walked underneath the doorway and knocked on the door. "Hello?" he said. "Anyone in here?" After a few minutes, a man walked out of the office that was on the otherside of the room. "Hello young man," the man said. "what can I do for you?"
"Hello." Yoshiki replied. "Are you the choir teacher?" The teacher nodded. "I am." he said. "What may I help you with?" Yoshiki walked into the classroom, as he thought about what he should say. "Well, I need help with a girl that I like-" he was speaking, but the teacher interrupted him. "The romance topic huh, kid?" he asked. "I do believe I can help you with that." He walked over to the shelf, which was a high shelf, with boxes on each one. He climbed up a ladder to the third shelf and grabbed a small box. He camd back down the ladder and walked over to the piano, where he signaled Yoshiki to join him. "Alright." he said. "We have quiet a few romanctic catergorized songs here. Why don't you take a look?" After the teacher opened the box, Yoshiki looked at the files of music, each one with a title in view.
He thumbed through the files, as he read them. Kimi No Koe, Shoshone Love Song (The Heart's Friend), Yubisaki, My Girl, Sakura Kiss... "Wait." he said, thumbing over to the song titled "My Girl." He cleared his throat. "My Girl?" he asked. The teacher gave him a curious look. "I don't think you'd be interested in that song." he said. "It's from the American culture, written by an American band. The Temptations I believe." Yoshiki decided to protest against this, not liking what the teacher had told him. "But this girl is my girl! And I think this song is perfect!" The teacher shook his head. "Fine. You can use this song. I'll lend it to you. Who knows, you may be able to use this to enter the talent show in a few months."
Yoshiki thanked the teacher and left with the sheets of music. He ran all the way home in an effort excitement. As he ran in through the building's doors and up the stairs, he saw his three friends, standing by his door. "Oh!" he said in surprise. "What's up, guys?" Ayumi gave him an angry look. "You mean to tell me, that you just run in here, say 'what's up?' and then say nothing else?!" she screamed at him. "Calm down Ayumi." Satoshi said. "Look guys," he said. "believe it or not, I'm sorry about yesterday. Really! I was mad and both I and Ayumi owe each other an apology." Ayumi's angry look intensified. "Why should I apologize?!" she yelled at him. "Because I'm going to apologize first for being a dick. And I want an apology in return."
"So, I'll say it." he said. "I'm sorry for 'kicking you guys out' yesterday." Ayumi sighed. "I'll accept your apology. But just this once." she said. "I'm sorry I pushed you down the stairs." Naomi cleared her throat. "Ok, now that you guys have warmed up to each other again, why don't we tell him where we are going?" she said. "Where are you guys going?" he asked. "We are going to the old Shinozaki Estate." Ayumi said. "Where?" Yoshiki asked. "The old estate thing that Sachiko lived on when she was a child." Satoshi said. Yoshiki became mentally disturbed by this. "The fuck?" he asked. "Why would you want to go there?" Satoshi sighed. "Because we believe that's where we can find the Book of Shadows." He nodded. "We need you to go." Ayumi said. "Wait, what?" Yoshiki asked. "Yeah, we need as much help as we can possibly get." Naomi said.
"I appreciate the offer, but-" he started talking, but was rudely interrupted. "It's not an offer." Ayumi said. "We request that you go along." Yoshiki tried to keep his cool, as this was a very simple matter. "Look, I don't know if you forgot, but I have a fractured ribcage." he siad. "And it needs to heal. I'm sorry, really. But I'm not going with." Ayumi gave him a sad look, which was unexpected. He expected an angry look. "But, we need your help!" she said. "And I need to heal." he said. "Maybe some other time. Besides, how hard can it be? You guys are searching for a book!" Satoshi laughed. "You're right!" he said. "How hard could it possibly be?" Ayumi sighed. "Mochida-San, please don't say that." Satoshi raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" he asked. "Becuase now that you said that, now it probably will be slightly hard." she said.
"Last time I'm saying it. I'm not going." he said. "Fine." Ayumi said. "But at least take this." She handed him what looked like a watch. She seemed to see his confusion. "It's not a watch." she said. "It's a heart monitor. In case you do decided to come up, the estate is south outside of the city. Also, since the monitors are all linked, it monitors your heartbeat, mine, Satoshi's and Naomi's." He was impressed. Really. "That's cool." he said, with complete honestly. "Thanks." She nodded. "Please think about it." she said, as they walked down the stairs. He walked into his apartment and set the monitor and music down on his counter. He proceeded to start watching T.V. He had been watching for not even an hour, when he started to get overwhelmed by guilt. What if something happens to them? I'd never forgive myself! I'd be convinced it's my fault! "Why do I feel like I'll never see this apartment again?" he asked, getting up. He looked at the heart monitor. "Fuck it." he said, as he picked up the monitor.
Satoshi
They walked up to the rotting wooden gate that seperated the gravel from the farm or estate area. "This place is huge!" he said. "How will we explore it?" Ayumi sighed. "Well, there's a barn, a big house and what looks like a storage area." she said. "We could search them one at a time." Naomi cleared her throat. "I think we should split up." she siad. "I think that's a great idea." a new voice said. Satoshi turnd around, along with his other two friends, to see Yoshiki standing there. They all cheered and ran over to him. "Wow." he said. "Didn't think you guys would be so happy to see me." Naomi laughed. "Well, we are." she said. "Why did you change your mind?" Ayumi asked. "I got an overwhelming feeling of guilt. And I decided to trail you guys up here incase something happened."
"That's so nice of you to think." Satoshi said. "So, what's our situtation here?" Yoshiki asked. "We have three locations to search here on the estate." Ayumi said. "The house, the barn and what seems to be a storage area." He nodded. "Well, I think that's easy." Yoshiki asked. Satoshi looked at his friend with confusion. "I can go with Ayumi to search the storage area. And you and Naomu can quickly search the other two." Ayumi nodded. "That'll work." she said. "We can do that." Satoshi sighed. "Ok. I'll take Naomi to search the barn and the house. You and Ayumi search the storage area." he said. After a short conversation, the two groups seperated.
Yoshiki
"I think we'll need a flashlight or something." Ayumi said. "No problem." he said, taking out his phone. "I have a flashlight on my phone." He walked up to the door of the cellar. Or whatever it was. He started pulling on the door, but it wouldn't open. "It's locked." he replied, giving up. "Try harder!" she urged, sounding impatient. He started slamming against the door, but it didn't help. He backed up a few feet and was about to run into the door, when Ayumi interrupted him. "What are you doing?" she asked him. "I'm going to run into the door, using my shoulder to ram the door." She looked at him, like he was stupid. "I think that's a bad idea." she said. He smirked. "Do you have a better idea?" he asked. She sighed and shook her head.
"I didn't think so." he said, beforing taking a deep breath. He ran towards he door and slammed into it with his shoulder. As ironic as it sounds, at the first strike, the door gave way and broke. He fell down the steep stairs down to the bottom, about three feet down. "Ow." he said, getting up after coughing a bit. "That's good for the ribs." He heard Ayumi running down the stairs. "Are you ok?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." he said, laughing. "You're right. It was a bad idea." They laughed together for a few minutes, before Yoshiki turned on his flashlight. "We should get to work." Ayumi replied. "I really don't like being down here." They walked down the dark corridor, which probably hadn't been explored in over thirty years. Yoshiki quickly found himself tripping on something and tumbling to the ground. Ayumi just stood there going, "Tsk, tsk, tsk." she said. "You should really watch where you are going."
"Sorry." he said, getting up. He looked at what he had tripped over. It was a box, full of old pictures. "Hey, check it out." he said, getting on a knee to look at what he had found. He went through the pictures and found one that was out of the ordinary. The picture had a certain feature to it. "Look at this." he said to Ayumi, getting up and standing beside her, bringing the picture up so that she could see it too. They both looked at the one thing that stood out the most: A person in the picture was circled with a red marker, which had been fading for decades. Written in the same red marker, was: "Can you see me?" Ayumi just stood there. "Is that-" Yoshiki interrupted her. "Sachiko?" he said. "Yeah, I think so!" Just then, a new, sickly voice shattered the dense silence of the cellar. "Can you see her?" the voice said. They both looked up, to see a very skinny figure at the other end of the corridor.
"Who the hell is that?" Ayumi asked, her voice full of fear. "I don't know." Yoshiki said, as the figure slowly crept toward them. "But I advise we run." Ayumi took a deep breath. "Ok, on three, we both run for the way we came." she said. "Wait, on three?" he asked. "Or on three an then go?" Ayumi smacked herself on the forehead. "We don't have time to talk about this!" she said. "That entity is creeping toward us! We have to move, know!" Yoshiki laughed. "Okay, okay sorry!" he said. "One, Two-" Ayumi had started to count, but it was too late. The entity at the end of the hall had started sprinting towards hem. The last thing Yoshiki saw were the creature's intense, glowing eyes.
A/N: So, in order for me to release two chapters on this day, there must be a price. And the price is a cliffhanger. Are they dead? Will Seiko ever be ressurected? You'll just have to wait. Don't hate me. Besides, you had to see this coming. Anyway, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Also, I just realized I never released chapter Seven! SO, you get three chapters. Congratulations. Only means you get wait a lot longer for a followup.