As the school bell rings, Yuta and Rika exit the school hand in hand and start their walk home. Yuta smiles timidly, with Rika leading him, as always. Rika catches him smiling at her, returning it with a smile of her own at him as the sunlight touches her face.

"Yuta!" She tugs gently, pulling him along. "Did you want to stop to get something to eat? I remembered to bring some of my allowance"

'Allowance is being generous. It's just what I managed to find while doing my chores at that bat's house,' She thinks, not showing her bitterness at the thought in front of Yuta.

Yuta stops walking and starts rummaging through his pockets. "Yeah! Me too! I couldn't remember if I had any." He laughs softly and rubs the back of his neck. What should we get?" he asks.

"Good question. Hmmm..." Rika thinks to herself as they continue their walk. "Oh! How about we go back for those pancakes we saw the other week?" She asks excitedly.

"Yeah, that sounds good-"

"Heeeey! Yuta! Rikaaa!" A familiar voice calls out to them.

Kiyomi, a classmate of theirs, runs over to them, waving happily the whole time. Rika's demeanor changes completely as the girl gets closer to them. Her bright smile was now replaced by a scowl with an obvious look of annoyance. Before Rika can lead Yuta away a few more kids run over. Two brothers Shoji and Kohaku.

"Hey, you guys. We're planning on going to the abandoned middle school wanna come?" Shoji asks as his younger brother nods wordlessly in greeting.

"Why would we want to do that?" Rika answers, her voice monotone and without emotion.

"W-well.." Yuta looks back and forth between Rika and the others.

"We wanna see if it's really haunted! Come on, It'll be fun!" Kiyomi tries to convince them focusing on Yuta.

There's a silence as Yuta and Rika exchange looks. Rika is only really interested if Yuta is.

'She always changes when others are around.' Yuta thinks. 'Maybe we should. She can't only ever be with just me and my sister..' He shifts their hands looking at the promise rings they both share.

'They're interrupting my time with Yuta..' Rika was completely uninterested in anything besides Yuta. She looks down, seeing him looking at their rings, smiling, her cheeks flushing.

Yuta returns her smile before looking at the others. "Sure. We'll be there! What time should we get there?"

"After the sun's down," Kohaku answers.

"Duh!" Kiyomi chimes in.

"Yeah, you can't find when the sun's up. Everyone knows that." Shoji says matter of factly.

"R-right!" Yuta laughs sheepishly.

Rika just nods quietly. 'If Yuta wants to go then I'll go. Even if there are others..' The other kids say their goodbyes and run off excited for the night to come. Yuta watches them leave before looking back to Rika noticing her expression.

"Sorry... Did you not want to go?" He asked, his voice filled with unease and guilt.

"Mm.." She murmurs as she shakes her head. "If you want to. That's enough for me." She gives him a reassuring smile.

Yuta relaxes a bit, squeezing her hand as they start walking again. "Do you think we'll actually see a ghost?" He asks, trying to hide his fear at the thought.

Rika laughs, catching on right away. "Well don't worry! I'll protect you if one shows up!" Her happiness is back in full now that it's just them again.

Yuta almost trips after she makes this declaration. "H-hey! That's supposed to be my line!"

"Too slow! I already said it first" She teases him playfully.

Yuta pouts feeling like he missed a moment. His thoughts fade away, and the sound of sirens gets clearer as they turn the corner. "Ah.." Yuta mumbles as he tries to get a better look through the crowd. "An accident?"

Rika nods. "Must've just happened." She says as she catches a glimpse of someone unmoving in the street. "Come on... Let's go around." She pulls on him so he can't see it.

Yuta can't help but look back. "We were going that way..."

"Now we aren't. Don't worry about it! Just a tiny detour and we can have pancakes!" She waits for the sign to give the walk sign and pulls him along quickly.

Yuta frowns thinking about the accident still. 'If we hadn't stopped to talk to Kiyomi and the others, would we have been there?' He shakes his head, throwing the thought out of his head. As Rika leads him away to the restaurant.

Inside the restaurant, they pay for and eat their pancakes together, happily talking about their school day. Earning a smile and free hot chocolate from the elderly owners. After giving their thanks, they exit from the restaurant full. Their worries about the accident are pushed away momentarily.

"That was so good! I'm so happy we had enough money this time!" Rika says as they hold hands again.

Yuta laughs, wiping his face. "Yeah! They were so nice to give us the hot chocolate."

"Right? We got lucky. We should come back again sometime." Rika adds looking up at the sky as the sun sets. "Oh... We should probably start heading to the middle school?"

Yuta nods following her gaze. "We don't want to keep them waiting."

Rika leans down a bit, wiping his face. "You missed a spot, Yuta. You still have syrup on your cheek"

Yuta's cheeks flush as she wipes them. "Thanks, Rika."

"Now! Let's go see if we can find some ghosts, okay?" Rika says as they start making their way to the middle school.

'I hope we don't…' Yuta thinks as he follows her. They take their time making sure the streets are safe. Yuta was still a bit worried after the accident.

They arrive at the abandoned middle school and see the other three sitting on the steps waiting. "You actually came!" Kiyomi says excited as she jumps to her feet.

"You owe me 100 yen.." Shoji whispers, holding his hand out to his younger brother.

"Aw.. Man," Kohaku grumbles, handing over the money and pouting a bit disappointed they showed up. Rika and Yuta look at each other for a moment, not sure what to make of this interaction.

"Umm... Is anyone else coming?" Yuta asks, looking around to see if there are others he missed. Rika looks uninterested in whether there's more or not.

Kiyomi shrugs in response. "We invited a lot of other kids. "

"Except most of them said no right away," Shoji explains.

"A bunch of scaredy cats.." Kohaku adds.

"I know right?" Shoji laughs with his brother.

'So, we didn't have to come…' Rika thinks as she looks at them. 'If we hadn't it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Since no one else came.' Yuta squeezes Rikas hand. Rika snaps out of her thoughts squeezing back. 'Yuta wanted to come. That's all that really matters.'

"Well! I'm going first!" Kiyomi yells as she runs up the stairs laughing.

"Wha? HEY! That's cheating! Shoji does his best to catch up to her. Kohaku follows after the pair in no particular hurry. Yuta watches, a bit uneasy, as he looks at the shattered and boarded-up windows of the old school.

Rika notices his apprehension. "Is something wrong Yuta?" She asks with a worried look on her face.

Yuta shakes his head trying to put her at ease. "No... Well. At least I don't think so." trying to convince himself more than anything. But he's unable to shake a feeling of dread.

Rika nudges him playfully. "Aww, you getting scared, Yuta?" She teases him.

"No! Come on!" Yuta puts on a brave front as he takes the initiative pulling them up the stairs. Rika giggles, seeing this side of him as he leads them to group up with the others.

Once they reach the others. The kids walk together closely grouped up as they explore the decayed ruins of this old school.

"Woah.." Shoji says looking through the broken glass of one of the doors into a classroom.

"It's… It's not that scary…" Kohaku tries to be brave but is visibly shaking glancing around at the slightest bit of noise.

"Y-yep! Not scary at all.." Kiyomi chimes in as she clutches onto Shoji's back, staying close to him. Yuta and Rika aren't faring any better than the others. Yuta is trembling slightly, nearly jumping when he steps on glass unexpectedly.

Rika looks around as a few rats scurry around the corner. "It's… scarier than I thought.." She says admittedly. Yuta nods in agreement but does his best to be brave in front of Rika.

"Should we split up?" Shoji asks almost completely unbothered by the atmosphere affecting the rest of his group.

Rika, elated by the thought, tries to pitch in right away. "Su-"

"A-absolutely not!" Kiyomi nearly shrieks. "You never split up! Are you trying to get us killed?"

Shoji scratches the back of his neck confused. Kohaku mumbles something in agreement with Kiyomi. Rika pouts disappointed the idea was shot down so quickly.

"W-well… Sticking together is probably smarter anyway. We don't know if we're the only ones here, right?" Yuta says, trying to help their case.

Kiyomi's face nearly goes blue after Yuta finishes. "Why would you say that?!"

Rika rolls her eyes. 'Wasn't the whole point of coming here to find ghosts?' She looks away into one of the classrooms as they walk past. 'I wonder if they truly exist... Maybe it would get her to shut up.' Rika thinks cynically, a small smile finding its way onto her face.

"Well... Okay then if everyone wants to stay together. I'm cool with it. Where should we go now?" Shoji questions looking back at the group.

"Umm… Upstairs maybe?" Kiyomi says looking around for the opinions of the others. There are no objections as they begin their ascent up dirty steps. They continue together searching room after room.

"It's not that bad.." Kiyomi sighed, relieved.

"Yeah. Just a bunch of dust and bugs." Kohaku says as he kicks a bit of debris down the hall.

"And you guys were so scared." Shoji jokes. "Anywhere else we haven't checked?"

"Just the gym, I think. Unless we wanna go to the basement.." Rika offers knowing what their reactions would be.

Yuta shakes his head at the idea, and so do Kiyomi and Kohaku.

"Okay. Then let's check out the gym, and then we should get out of here. Sound good?" Shoji asks.

The kids give their approval and start making their way back down to the first floor looking for the gym. As they approach the gym. The bad feeling Yuta had earlier returns making him shiver a bit.

Rika squeezes his hand. "Hey.. It's the last room. Then we can head home, okay?" She assures him. Yuta nods, feeling relieved at the notion.

With that, they enter the gym. The kids cough as dust is sent up in the air as they open the doors. After the dust clears the gym is in noticeably worse condition than the rest of the school with a gaping hole near the middle of the room.

"Woah! Do you think an earthquake caused this?" Shoji asked running to get a better look.

"How should I know?" Kohaku asks, looking after his brother.

"Hey! Get away from there! You might fall Shoji!" Kiyomi calls after him.

Shoji laughs carefree, peering over the edge into the hole. "Nah! It's fine, see?" He looks back smiling motioning for them to come see.

Kohaku and Kiyomi glance at each other before nodding and joining Shoji near the hole. Rika lets out a sigh of relief. "See, Yuta, nothing to be worried about." She says as she places her hand on her chest, calming herself.

Yuta blinks, staring at her for a moment. 'She's been just as scared as me the whole time.' He smiles happy it wasn't just him. Rika and Yuta share a small laugh, but it's quickly cut off as a much deeper laugh booms from below causing them to freeze in place as the fear takes hold.

Meanwhile, the other kids are laughing and joking playing near the hole seemingly not hearing the monstrous laughter.

Rika is shaking worse than before as the laughter gets louder. 'What is that?..'

'It can't be human..' Yuta's teeth chatter as he instinctively takes a step back.

Kohaku kicks a bit of the broken floor down into the hole. "Well let's get going."

Kiyomi nods eager to get out of the school, still spooked by it. "Yeah okay." Shoji agrees, following the others away. As they start walking a massive white hand shoots up causing more wooden planks to fall into the hole catching the attention of the kids who quickly turn back.

"See! I told you it wasn't safe!" Kiyomi says smugly, poking Shoji's chest.

"Yeah, yeah.." He agrees albeit reluctantly. As they continue to move away.

The monstrous laugh starts again as the creature rises from the hole barely being contained by the ceiling of the gym. Yuta and Rika stand there speechless paralyzed by fear.

"W-what?.." Rika stammers her eyes wide.

Yuta clenches his hand over and over trying to speak. "G-get… GET AWAY FROM THERE!" he finally manages to get his words out.

Shoji tilts his head confused. "What's up with you Yu-" he didn't get to finish his sentence as the monster slammed its massive hand crushing the boy in an instant. To Yuta and Rika, they could see the blood leaking out from under the hand. However, to the others, all they could see was a bloodstain where Shoji used to be.

"S-shoji?.." Kiyomi asks, her voice trembling as she looks at the bloodstain tears in her eyes. The monster lifts its hand with a twisted smile coming to its face.

"YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Rika shouts too late as the monster swipes its hand quickly launching Kiyomi across the room into the wall. In her last moments, she saw the monster finally. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She died with a look of pure fear still on her face.

Kohaku, still in shock, runs screaming trying to make it to Rika and Yuta. Who watched in terror as the monster grabbed his leg dragging him back. The boy tries desperately to slow himself, his fingers leaving bloody trails as he's pulled under. He lets out a final whimper before a mist of blood shoots out from the hole.

Yuta and Rika recover from witnessing the carnage that just ensued. Rika was the first to move, pulling Yuta after her. "We need to move!" She yells, willing herself to run despite her fear.

Yuta runs with her looking back to see if the monster is following them. "What.. What was that?!" He stammers out.

"I don't know!" Rika shakes her head. "But you saw it too, right?! We can't let it get us!" They turn the corner making a beeline for the exit.

Yuta breathing heavily nods. "I really wish I hadn't seen it though!"

"Why were we able to see it but they couldn't?" Rika asks, seeing the exit. Yuta shakes his head not knowing the answer. The pair continue their rush for the exit.

The ground starts trembling around them as the booming laughter returns. The monster emerges from the ground blocking their exit. Rika tries to turn but is too slow and is slapped aside by the monster hitting the wall.

Yuta looks over at her worried "Rika?!" He tries to get to her but the monster slams it's hand down between them separating them. Clearly just playing with them now.

"I'm fine!" Rika yells as blood drips down her face. Just run away. I'll be fine!" She tells him, not believing her own words.

Yuta shakes his head trying to move the hand out of his way. "No! You're hurt!" The monster opens his hand grabbing Yuta, picking him up.

Rika's eyes go wide as she sees this. Yuta reaches his hand out to her. "Rika… Run.." The monster puts its fingers over Yuta's head, about to crush him when the area starts shaking, making it pause.

"Don't…" Rika gets to her feet, the shaking getting more intense. The rage in her suddenly wipes the fear out of her as she reaches her hand out. "DON'T YOU DARE HURT YUUUTTAAAA!" She screams. Behind her a hand exactly like the monster manifests launching forward grabbing the monster by the face. The monster drops Yuta. Who falls to the ground with a thud.

The monster tries to get the hand to release it as Rika clenches her hand. The monster's head is crushed by the identical hand, its body going limp as purple blood pours to the ground.

Rika collapses one of her eyes closed from the blood on her face. The other hand dissipates behind her as she looks over to Yuta. "Yuta.." She calls to him weakly. "Yuta are you okay?.."

Yuta crawls over to her. "Yes! Yes... I'm okay." He answers more worried about her than himself.

Rika smiles at him. Relief fills her as she hears his voice. "Good.." She manages to say before passing out.

"Rika?!" Yuta exclaims as he tries to wake her. When that doesn't work, he drags her slowly out looking at the purple blood on the ground still unable to believe what had happened.

Later on, the kids are taken by the cops as other officers rush in to find the other kids. Nearby a silver-haired man leans back against the wall adjusting his glasses.

"Well... That was certainly interesting... That surge in cursed energy. I was sure it had to be Suguru.." He looks over as Rika and Yuta are put inside one of the cop cars. He watches after them. 'The old man will want them monitored..' He sighs. 'What a pain.'

He starts walking away leaving the cops to cover up the incident. 'If they're lucky this was just one time occurrence.' Gojo glances back for a moment. 'You really left me to deal with all this on my own Suguru?' He thinks to himself before vanishing from sight.