June 8, 2009

Tatsumi Port Island

Gekkoukan High School Faculty Office

For the past week, tensions and musings were on the rise in the hallways of Gekkoukan High.

Rumors of a 'Ghost Girl' were spreading at a ludicrous rate and on a whim, even if Yukari wanted to cover up her fright, she insisted this past week that they investigate what was going on with the disappearance of Fuuka Yamagishi, a second year.

One teacher was responsible for keeping on top of her current status: Mr. Ekoda, the classic literature teacher teaching Class 2-E.

Yukari, Junpei, and Makoto were able to gather the info they had needed and had intended to ask Mr. Ekoda, Fuuka's teacher, on their own in the Faculty Office, but Mitsuru was there already, alongside the potential perpetrator, Natsuki Moriyama.

"Mr. Ekoda, I'm here to ask you about a student named Fuuka Yamagishi." Mitsuru firmly asked.

"NO!" Natsuki yelped. "Please, I…never thought it'd turn out this way. Fuuka…"

"Wait…I remember you." Yukari huffed.

"Hold on, Kirijo." Mr. Ekoda insisted. "This isn't an interrogation. Stop scaring her. Moriyama, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. You wouldn't want to give her the wrong idea."

"Fuuka, she…" Natsuki exhaled. "She always looks so frazzled whenever I gave her a hard time. That's when I realized. She may be a model student, but deep down, she's just like us. And because of that…I knew exactly which buttons to push. We were just messing with her earlier that day, too!"

As Natsuki's explanation continued, her knees began to quiver as her voice continued to tremble as she wrought in the guilt that weighed heavily on her.

The next details of her story pushed her to even greater lengths of despair, and yet, in an attempt to relieve herself of the guilt that she bared, even if she knew this wouldn't change her past actions, she continued with her recounts regardless.

"It was May 29th. We took Fuuka to the gym, and locked the door from the outside…"

"Wait, what?! You trapped her inside?!" Junpei exclaimed.

Beside him, Makoto blankly stared on to the traumatized Natsuki, choosing to say nothing in the end as he let out a subtle sigh, taking a light breath.

"That night, Maki got worried Fuuka might commit suicide, so she went back to the school by herself." Natsuki expanded. "But she never came back. And the next morning…"

"She was found lying outside the front gate." Yukari recalled.

"I went to the gym to let Fuuka out, but the door was still locked. So, I opened it and went inside, but she wasn't there. Starting that night, we went out looking for her. But every night, another one of us wouldn't come back, and then they all ended up like Maki."

Natsuki finished her statement, continuing to tremble as her legs continued to tremble, staring at the floor and cupping her hands. She could barely find the strength to look up at the teacher supervising this meeting, nor the four students pressing for answers on the missing student's whereabouts.

"I see." Mitsuru exerted, turning to the teacher. "Mr. Ekoda. All this time you've been reporting Yamagishi as absent due to 'illness'. But the truth of the matter is that she was missing. You had to have known this."

Mitsuru, remaining calm as her demeanor began to change from mildly inquisitive to disdain putting a slight strain on her voice, she continued to push in the way she knew how to take charge of the situation.

"Explain yourself." She demanded.

"I-I was thinking of the students, of course." Mr. Ekoda replied hastily. "You children may not understand, but we have to consider the future of everyone affected."

"So you chose not to report a missing child for 'the good of the class', and not because you didn't want the police involved…" Mitsuru snarled.

"I-I-It was in her best interest." Mr. Ekoda shot back nervously. "I wouldn't want her records to be stained by something like this. Her parents agreed."

"So to protect your career, you ignored your responsibility as a teacher." Mitsuru sighed in disappointment. "Despicable…!"

"Desp-! No, I…I didn't mean…I was just…"

And with that, Mr. Ekoda was fully at a loss of words and had no more cards to play in his best attempt to gloss over the harsh missteps that he took as this situation escalated.

"That's enough. You can go now. We'll handle the rest." Mitsuru informed the teacher.

"W-wait, but-"

"Don't worry. This won't be the last you'll hear of this."

With Mitsuru's words firmly placed in his head, Mr. Ekoda got out of his seat and walked away feeling defeated and ashamed, head leaned down as he stared at the floor.

Within the Faculty Office, Mitsuru had a few final inquiries for Natsuki before they had enough information to conduct action.

"About your friends. Did you notice anything unusual about them before they went missing? Anything at all?" She asked.

"…A voice." Natsuki gulped. "A creepy voice…they all mentioned it right before they went missing. They said they could hear it calling their name."

"Ah man…" Junpei murmured.

"Senpai, could it be?!" Yukari trembled.

"It's them. No doubt about it." Mitsuru confirmed, turning towards the other three. "Up until now, we've never been able to predict who exactly would become aware during the Dark Hour. This voice must be the key. In other words, it doesn't just happen randomly. They actually get drawn in. I realize now after seeing all of this: They're clearly targeting humans. Shadows are most definitely the enemy of mankind."

Mitsuru crossed her arms and turned over to Natsuki once more.

"Stay at our dorm tonight. That should be the safest place." She offered. "If you hear the voice, tell us immediately. And don't leave your room, no matter what happens. If you can manage that, you should be fine. And don't worry, Yamagishi should be alright as well."

"Fuuka…" Natsuki cried out.

"Yuki…Iori and Takeba too. We'll meet after school in the student council room to discuss tonight's operation."

"T-tonight?!" Junpei yelped.

"Yes. We're going to rescue Fuuka Yamagishi." Mitsuru declared. "If my guess is right, she's still inside the school."

"Understood!" Yukari acknowledged.