Chapter 4: Research
Yoshiki Kishinuma had always been rather fond of Ayumi Shinozaki. Even before the incident, he had harbored some kind of liking for her. Perhaps they hadn't been the closest of friends, but they certainly had interactions. The first time they met, when Ayumi had stood up for him against their Physical Education's teacher after getting caught smoking, however, was an occasion that would never, ever slip his mind.
Yoshiki Kishinuma had had problems in his home for quite a while. His relations with his parents never were the best. Yoshiki had never really understood why this was the case, because as far as he knew, his parents had loved him like any good parent would, and still, it had simply gone into a somewhat unstable relationship. Maybe it was somehow connected to the birth of his younger sister, but ever since it got too much and Yoshiki moved out from his apartment, gotten of his own, and then even a part/time job, he stopped wondering about it, seeing as it really wouldn't do him any good to waste both time and energy pondering on it.
And even though his younger sister visited him from time to time, he had never been close to any member of his family, not even her.
Yoshiki was in the last period of school for the day, which was a history class about the second World War. Yoshiki had never been particularly interested in history, but he figured that since he had come to the school in the first place today, he might as well hold out for the last few minutes that were left. He'd hurry to get to his job as soon as this was over. Would he have some luck, he'd at least get some work done.
His gaze wandered off in a certain direction, trailing the desks until it rested upon the back of a blue-haired girl's neck. Ever since the incident with the cursed machine, they had been closer than before to each other. Of course, he would still spend time with his best friend, Satoshi Mochida. At times, he even ran into Satoshi's little sister Yuka, who had also been with them in the incident.
As far as he figured, he might very well have started developing a certain feeling of attraction to Ayumi. Almost like a moth to a lamp, in a way: He was constantly chasing after something he knew he had a snowball's chance in hell of getting.
Granted, a friendship was better than nothing, or even just acquaintances, was it not?
-"I'd like you to read the last of the pages until Monday, students." His homeroom teacher, the one who had filled in the completely missing and erased from existence Yui Shishido, Makoto Shima's voice rung in his ears, rebounding from the walls of the classroom so it sounded like the voice was coming from all possible directions thinkable. Yoshiki found himself staring at the back of Ayumi's head, and had to forcefully tear his gaze away.
Makoto Shima was an okay teacher, Yoshiki figured, much better than certain others he had had the displeasure of meeting, but not even he could make Yoshiki tolerate that much. Yoshiki would go as fast as he could to get to his job. Maybe he would read those pages, if he had the time and energy to do so.
If he would be at the school on Monday, that was.
As the students all got up from their seats and gather their things, Yoshiki found himself rapidly walking towards Ayumi. He wanted to talk to her, check on her, see how she was doing, seeing as she didn't seem to be herself lately.
-"Hey, Shinozaki." Yoshiki said, and actually had a thought for a moment if he would ever get to call her Ayumi. The girl in question perked her head up at the mention of her own surname, and it was then Yoshiki saw how bad she was actually faring.
Her eyes were almost sunken in nature, and there were the tell-tale small pits under them that gave it all away.
-"Hm? Oh… Hey, Kishinuma." She replied to him, her voice somewhat hoarse. It didn't take long for Yoshiki to identify the problem.
Sleep deprivation. Couldn't be anything else.
-"Shinozaki… Are you alright?" Yoshiki murmured as he looked down at her, her darkened green-blue eyes having lost the usual spark of determination that was a common sight in them. Yoshiki couldn't help feel his heart lurch at seeing her like this. If she didn't stop whatever it was that kept her from sleeping, it could turn out pretty badly.
-"Uh… Well, I guess." She said, a yawn immediately following. If Yoshiki knew Ayumi correctly, and he supposed he did, and probably had something to do with all that freaky occult stuff she was so into.
Yoshiki tilted his head a bit, still looking at her. He wasn't really a doctor, though he had had to do some… Patching up in the past. However, Yoshiki wouldn't deem a person who looked like their eyes were about to disappear into their skull to be alright.
-"Why do you care, anyway?" Ayumi's somewhat bristling voice caught Yoshiki off guard. Sure, she usually spoke to him in that tone of voice when they had been in Heavenly Host, that horrible machine that spent every living wake of its existence killing innocent souls and devouring them for its own pleasure, and even more so the few couple of times when Ayumi had been possessed, but now that they were back in the real world, he didn't understand why. Back there, everything had really gotten to her in ways unimaginable, but now…?
Yoshiki suppressed a startled noise as she huffed and put all her remaining things in her bag, leaving the classroom afterwards. He stood there, dumbstruck, for a few moments before snapping himself out of it and following her out through the doorway, approaching her again.
-"Shinozaki!" He exclaimed. This deprivation must have really been getting to her. "Why aren't you getting any sleep?" Ayumi slowly turned around to look at him. For a few seconds there, Yoshiki thought she was about to lash out at him, but she eventually just inhaled deeply, sighed and sat herself down on a nearby bench in the hallway. Many of the other students were leaving the building in pairs or groups of three, but Ayumi didn't really have anyone.
Ayumi Shinozaki was fairly certain she had a crush on the boy Satoshi Mochida. All her childhood and through early teenage, her mother Asuka had always warned her about the default nature of men, and how they never remained faithful for very long. Ayumi's mother had often resorted to calling them "beasts of lust", who didn't really care about love itself, but rather they went for the form with the biggest chest. Ayumi hadn't really understood her reasoning at first, but as she spent more and more time among males of various sorts, she gradually realized what her mother had been laying down for her.
In Ayumi's world, there were pretty much only three types of men: the Mochida type, the Kishinuma type and then finally the Morishige type. The Kishinuma type was the men her mother Asuka had told to avoid affiliation with; those men were delinquents, sometimes cowards, who were really often up to no good. Then, there was the Morishige type. The type of man that never did anything, rather just sitting there in the background, silent, and spending all his time on a single, or possibly two in rare cases, person.
And lastly, there was the Mochida type. The type of guy that was good-looking, kind-hearted, and also guaranteed to simply stay with the woman he was with. Ayumi figured that Satoshi wouldn't ever dream of cheating on her should they ever end up being together, but there were other obstacles as well, not just unfaithfulness. There was also, oh… For instance, Nakashima.
Ayumi had often compared herself to Naomi. Frankly, she though that Naomi would have a much bigger chance at capturing Satoshi's heart than any other girl in class 2-9, or any other class too, for that matter. Naomi was definitely more attractive, she was taller and prettier, and not to mention her chest… Ayumi wouldn't ever been able to start competing with that.
Ayumi had almost forgotten that Yoshiki was there until she heard him clear his throat. Not in annoyance, but rather that of a gesture of reminding. She snapped her head up in attention and looked at him.
-"Kishinuma… Now isn't the best time." She couldn't really think of anything else to say. All she wanted to do now was more than likely go home, lie down and maybe talk to her mother or something of that liking. Sure, Kishinuma was nice in wanting to know how she was faring, but Ayumi really didn't feel like conversing with anyone at this state.
However, what she really did in order to put herself in such a distressed state of being was what took many hours of both day and night.
Ever since they had gotten back from the cursed machine, Ayumi had fervently put her mind into finding some kind of magic charm or spell or whatever to try and somehow bring back her friends from the dead, or at least try and bring back the traces of their once-existence, or anything that allowed their friends to be remembered by not only the ones who had been there and back.
-"Oh, okay… Well, tell me if you need anything." Kishinuma said awkwardly, rubbing his neck with one hand. He didn't really have anything with him, neither in his hands or in his locker, and so he could just leave immediately, without the need to gather anything. Rather frankly, he figured that he probably should leave pretty much as soon as he could, but he felt like he couldn't just turn his back on Ayumi. Not after all the things they had gone through together in the awful place. Ayumi faintly smiled at him before getting up on shaky feet.
-"I will, Kishinuma. Thanks." Ayumi couldn't help but appreciate his kindness. She also felt a little ashamed because of the fact that all the time they had been in the damned school, Yoshiki had done nothing but help her, while she had been constantly bashing on him, letting her frustrations and anger and sadness and resent out on him, and the way he kept sticking with her and never left her and always helping her…
Ayumi's confused thoughts never ceased their crazed swirling inside the young girl's head as she walked her way home.
More silence…
Silence, silence, silence, silence, SILENCE!
Damnit.
Sakutaro Morishige wouldn't actually appear as a ghost, hadn't it been for his characteristic blue glow and somewhat disfigured left face half. The pain he felt at his death had two very different, very powerful sides to it…
The physical pain was bearable. Sakutaro knew that getting your head repeatedly smashed against a wooden wall and then glass actually was fairly pleasant, compared to the way some other poor souls with their lives taken from them had passed on. In fact, he was actually quite satisfied with his own death.
He could look at corpses, including his own, all he wanted now.
But the mental pain, the psychological pain, that pain…
It was excruciating.
Sakutaro Morishige had never cared much for other people, save for himself and another person, very dear and special to him…
He could still remember her clearly… Both her past and current forms.
He had first found her when going to the local drama club of his school. He hadn't exactly known why, but they had just clicked somehow. Ever since then, they had been really close, even so that this special girl had given him his very own nickname…
Shige-nii…
His heart lurched. He wouldn't ever find her again, he imagined. He would spend the rest of eternity, tortured by immense, never-ending insanity.
All alone…
Mayu…
(A/N: There. I'll start writing the next chapter immediately. Let's see when it comes up.)