I should have listened.
Blood. There was so much blood spilling out from under the door and into the hallway of the school. I opened the door to the occult club and when I entered into the room the lifeless eyes of my friends gazed up at me as I staggered back. The occult club members strewed across the elaborate summoning circle, the ceremonial knife wedged into Chojo's skull. Blood dried and crusted, and my hands began to shake as tremors wracked my frame.
My club members brutalized and murdered with our own ritual knife, that should have been planted firmly in the skeletal skull on the ceremonial table. I narrowed my eyes at the bodies, there was something not quite right going on.
Why was Chojo the only one who looked barely recognizable, bruises and so many many stab wounds, where the girls only had their throats slit? Was it rage? If so whose anger did Chojo incite? Why was there only five bodies?
Which led me to the more important question; where was Shin?
My jaw clenched and my fingernails embedded half crescent moon shapes into the palm of my hand. Breathing harshly through my nose, I spun on the balls of my feet and headed towards the door.
Someone just crossed a line I didn't even know existed, this feeling of…..
Contempt and hatred rolled into one overwhelming vortex. The occult club was mine. The club members were mine. And now they're gone, no more summoning demons, no more quiet readings before class, no more philosophical discussions to pass the time. Nothing.
Briskly walking I don't even pause as my phone started to vibrate. I fished it out of my skirt pocket to find an unknown number.
Stumbling across a murder scene of your 'friends' and you get angry. Aren't you a mold breaker. I wonder what your Mother would think of you.
I stared incredulously at the message, I stopped at the landing between the first and second floors. My phone gave an ominous buzz again.
I mean shouldn't you be stalking some poor upperclassmen in hopes of being noticed? After all you know what they say, 'Like Mother like Daughter'.
What the actual fuck?
Who are you.
It wasn't a question, it most definitely was not a question. But whoever this person is they know about my Mother. And that is more than a little unsettling, if they know how many other people know?
I'm called Info-chan. I'm sure you've heard of me, I've been hearing a lot about you.
I leaned against the wall of the stairwell, thoughts swirling around in my head. I could wait this Info-chan out, or I could play her game. Either way I'll be waiting, perhaps I could get her to help me deal with this usurper.
I can give you information about the killings. Perhaps I'll even tip you off as to when they might occur; it would be interesting if the Kohia became the Senpai. If you want my help, then you'll need to text me panty shots of some of your classmates.
I should have listened.
I stifled a shudder of revulsion at the thought of a Senpai. That brings uncomfortable similarities between myself and my Mother.
You're disgusting.
And you're desperate. Desperation isn't a good look for you Aishi-san.
I had the impression that this Info-chan viewed the students as just pieces on a chess board waiting to be moved.
Dad always said that life was like chess, you just have to be the player in order to win. Game pieces don't win, the players win.
Fine. I'll play your game, I always win at these games and this time will be no different.
There was no immediate reply. So in the silence I made my way towards the guidance counselor's office, looking appropriately shaken and scared. I told her about the occult club my breath hitching and moisture gathering in my eyes. I looked away and covered my mouth. Shoulders shaking as the teacher bolted from her chair and rushed out of the room.
I didn't notice that my phone had gotten a new message as I walked out of the guidance counselor's office. The bell rang signaling the beginning of lunch, and was accompanied with the arrival of the police, and the forensic specialist.
What makes you think you're a player?
I should have listened.
The police questioned me and Shin extensively on where we were during the day. I was with the social butterflies, exchanging pleasantries and talking about something or another before school. Then when the bell rang I headed to class with Kokona and Saki it was a usual day until I headed to my club meeting.
The officer looked at me with sympathetic gazes, as I remembered the vibrant burgundy spilling out from the pentagram. And the empty eyes of my club mates wide in post mortem fear. The pungent air saturating the room, hand prints from where one of them tried to crawl away from their attacker.
I heard a commotion coming from one of the class rooms. I turned to see Shin being led out hands behind his back as he frantically shook his head, his eyes locking onto mine.
"It wasn't me Ayano! You have to believe me!", My lips thinned as my eyebrows furrowed in thought. The guidance counselor form moved in front of me, as I wrapped my arms around me in a facsimile of an embrace. My heart pounding in my chest while my nails dug crescent moons into the skin of my arms.
"Ayano!"
Ba-thump
"Ayano! Please!"
Ba-thump
"It wasn't me!"
What makes you think you're a player.
I should have listened.