Akemi took a deep breath in, her eyes closed as she focused on stopping herself from shivering too much. She kept the breath in a few seconds before she finally let it out; pulling the wrapped towel around her tightly as she was given new clothes by the young lady, Emi she said her name was, living in the cabin while her brother, Haruto was cooking up some warm soup while Emi was drying her clothes.
"I really am sorry for the inconvenience, but the rain just started to pour— I didn't know where else we could go, then we saw your house and I knew we had to go here." Akemi once again apologized as Emi and Haruto had her sit at one of the vacant chairs of their dining table.
"Oh it was nothing, really! We don't mind having you over-" Emi rolled her eyes at the sight of her older brother's blushing face as the two recognized who this woman was in front of them as soon as she greeted their porch step.
"It really is fine, Ojou-sama. Anything to help a person in need." Emi genuinely smiles to the heiress, who gave a breath of relief at seeing their sincerity. "So please, eat to your heart's content."
"Thank you for the food, they smell delicious." Akemi beamed at them, feeling for the spoon unnoticing and easily covering for her condition as she ate.
However, her eyes strayed over to one of the doors closed to the side of their dining room.
Sensing the familiar she had been looking for.
Fighting of the small smile coming up from her lips, she took another spoonful sip and once again thanked the siblings for such a delicious dish.
°•○●●○•°
"What? Are you kidding?" Naru heard Mai's shaky voice ask as the three man stood in front of the unmoving doors. Not daring to put it into words, silence reverberated between all of them but it was Ayako's voice that cut that off.
"Could it be that because of the rain, the wooden door has taken up water and gotten stuck? If the door cannot open, let's try the windows." Ayako picked up the empty glass bottle by her feet and seeing her action, made the others back off and stand far from where possible shattered glass wouldn't be able to get them.
"Let's break this glass and open it from the outside." the Miko says and Lin adds on it.
"We'll discuss who gets out of here first later."
"As long as it isn't me." Mai lifts a hand up to stake claim.
Although their tones were relaxed, Naru could notice how their facial expressions had stiffened a little as they all watched the Miko lift up the glass bottle and with all her strength threw it to the windows.
SHATTER—!
Naru and the others stared at the scene in shock as the sound of shattering never came from the glass but the empty bottle. The glass remained fully intact while the bottle Ayako threw was the one that shattered and littered the ground.
"You've got to be kidding!"
"How did that just..." The group stared at the shattered bottle with an unsettled atmosphere surrounding them.
"Aren't there many other windows? Do we try them?"
"Y…yes." Before they could step closer in hopes to destroy the windows, Naru stepped forward and stopped them with his voice. His brows furrowed in concentration and his lips twitching down as he inspected each and every window he could see.
"Don't move unnecessarily." He said.
"Ah?" Mai and Ayako blinked in question but Naru ignored it and started giving his orders.
"I'm going to investigate it first. John, go to the second floor to check. – Mai!"
"Here!" The high school student saluted and Naru internally sighed at the actions of his assistant, who most likely learned it from someone. Someone he couldn't notify and contact at this moment because he stupidly forgot his phone outside.
"Go with John, do not ever get separated from him. Matsuzaki-san, can you go with them too?" all three of them nodded and made their way to the second floor while Naru and Lin remained searching the ground floor.
"Do you have any ideas?" Lin asks Naru as they searched the ground floor for any sort of window being opened or even a broken one with a gap that can fit at least one of them.
Closing the door behind him as they got out of another dead-end classroom, Naru gives out his thoughts. "Worse comes for worse, either we'll use your abilities... or mine." Lin paused on his trek to checking another room, turning to glance back at Naru with an intense narrowed gaze already imploring him to think otherwise.
Naru sighs as he received the look, ignoring it though— the strict boss of the SPR moves his wrist, one that was wrapped around by a red string, Akemi having remade it once he had woken up from his deep sleep back in the hospital. Seeing that slight movement though made Lin move his narrowed gaze to his wrist, his eyes softening somewhat at the red object.
Naru took note of how quick Lin's gaze change and gave out a light scoff, placing his hands on his pockets to make the red bracelet disappear from Lin's sight.
Dismissing such a tantrum from the boy, Lin speaks up and back to trekking one of the classrooms he had just opened. "It is still a huge gamble to make, Naru. We haven't done any tests to even confirm if it is truly safe for you to use it."
"I know, that is why it is only a last resort."
Lin sighs, knowing that he couldn't stop an idea to form on Naru's mind. If anything, all that he could do is ensure that Naru won't be pushed too much to lead him using the last resort. "Let's hope, it won't lead us to it."
"Hn." Naru goes inside the same classroom as Lin, touching any of the chairs in hopes of getting more information about what happened here.
°•○●●○•°
"How's it going down there?" After Mai and company came down after finishing the upper floor, they saw Naru and Lin standing in front of the closed door they came in, however their gaze has been focused on the windows— still figuring out ways to leaving through them.
"It can't be opened. How about on your side?" Naru's expression turned grim as he heard of John's explanation on how the upper floor was also a bust to being used as an exit and there are no such thing as useful anyware over there.
Once the priest finished, Naru gave a slight nod as though he had finally made a decision. "Let's use a more forceful method."
"Let's do so."
Lin opens a near-by classroom and takes out a still standing chair from it. John understanding what they were planning on doing, took out a small bottle from his pocket, and gently scattered drops of water and drew them into a cross.
"Please stay further away." Lin picked up the chair and smashed it;
Mai hurriedly covers her ears. An ear-piercing sound was created momentarily.
CRASH—!
"– Ah."
They all stared at the shattered chair, then at the window. Having the same instance between the glass bottle and the window before. Neither the window nor the glass frame broke unlike the now crooked wooden chair that Lin swung with all his might, atleast it looked that way to Mai.
She wasn't one to doubt the physical strength of Lin, she knew of his strength very well as well as his physical prowess after having seen him handle some of the equipment and it didn't help when she would have chats with Madoka that the woman teases the two men in her life— but still it might have a change if she tried it too.
So picking up the broken chair leg, Mai flings it toward the glass yet like all had expected, not a single crack appear.
Without any inflexion whatsoever, Naru said, "We have been completely sealed in."
"So what should we do?" Mai asked the pokerfaced teen but Naru merely shrugged.
Everyone temporarily returned to the entrance hall and sat down.
"We still don't know the opponent's goals—"
Mai blinked naively. "Opponent?"
"Do I have to explain to you?" Naru sighs, but he was already used to it somewhat. "It's the opponent who makes use of paranormal strength to seal us inside this place."
Mai nods, finally getting it. "If that's the case, then the opponent shouldn't be human, right?"
"Based on common sense, we are currently in this type of situation." Mai let her brow twitched as she could hear the hidden shot of Naru's words.
A bit irked, Mai still gave a breathy reply. "—At least we've found out there really is something over here."
"Yes, I didn't expect there to be anything." His quick agreement just irked Mai even more and so she just huffs and looks away from him, letting her steam blew away.
'But the unchanging fact is that the rain still pours outside like waterfalls... I wonder what Akemi-senpai is doing? Is she and Oliver okay? Did she sense this was coming? Does she know where we are— Surely Naru has informed her? Texted her or something?'
"Then aren't we going to do anything?"
Ayako sighs, crossing her arms as she said, "Bou-san and the others who went shopping will come back soon. They might find a way to get in from the outside."
"But if they can't?" When Mai had said that, Ayako's face was filled with dislike.
"We'll make them do a little something regardless! fortunately they can still send a little food and water in through the places where there is no glass. I think, like this, we can survive for a while in any situation."
Naru laughed bitterly as though it were that simple and is the most likely to happen when it came to the supernatural. "The problem is how much we can hope."
"Yes." Ayako moves her gaze to Naru, "Besides, Akemi would notice the prolonged disappearance if she hasn't already sensed it. Must have already known about it."
"Well, she is a little occupied at the moment." Naru's voice was quiet, murmured only to himself but with how empty the space around them was with only the sounds of rain and their breath hitting their ears, his words was clearly heard, though a bit muffled but the idea was caught.
"What do you mean by—"
"-Although we don't know what our opponent is planning to do," Naru voices out louder than earlier. Ignoring the question Mai and Ayako were going to ask. "I don't think it simply just wants us to feel troubled or happy."
Naru then turns his gaze towards Ayako, his stare almost dark. "And if Akemi did knew of this outcome and how dangerous it was— she wouldn't have suddenly galavanted elsewhere and become unreachable even with the means of wireless communications."
"The facts still remain— we are stuck here at this moment unable to come out. The only thing we can do is wait for outside forces to come inside and help."
Ayako was silent until John spoke, "Yes, it can't be helped that we wait here, there's nothing else we can do."
Naru nodded and looked at each of them. "Does anyone here have a lighter?"
"I brought one." Ayako nods. Naru reaches his hand out and takes it from her, then glanced once more around the entrance hall.
"First use the shoe rack to set up a barricade in the corridor."
"Are barricades any use against spirits? Isn't it better to use the classroom?"
In response to Mai's query, Naru shrugged his shoulders. "The classroom won't do, we cannot get just a temporary reprieve, we must think of what might happen after the sun goes down."
Mai's brow contorted in confusion, Naru immediately put on an arrogant look, having noticed her funny expression. "Do you want to wait around in complete darkness?"
'Ah, I got it. And that was really very embarrassing, for me not to understand. With the lighter we could light a bonfire on the ground...' Mai felt a blush warm her cheeks, sheepishly glances down in embarrasment but still the look Naru gave her made her feel happy at gaining his attention.
When his arrogant look once again passed her thoughts, Mai shook it away— feeling flustered as well as trying to get her way back to focusing on getting annoyed with him. 'Get a grip Mai! It was an arrogant smile not a smile towards you! Not like—' A thought then comes to mind, a different smile she would see coming across Naru's features, with that— the fluttering in her stomach churned and an empty ache came instead. 'Don't think too much of it Taniyama Mai! That is not the case! This is the case, right here right now.'
°•○●●○•°
"Mai, do you want a drink?" Ayako called to the high school student, who eagerly nods at the question and asked for something sweet as a drink in hopes to refill her thirsty throat after having helped stack up the shoe racks they have found and gathered on either side of the corridor up to the ceiling, with a gap in between for people to pass through. Slightly in front of that gap, They have also stacked up some more shoe racks. It was just like hiding the entrance with a screen.
This was done due to the popular belief that evil spirits can only walk straight, that's why there's the custom of placing a wall in front on the inner side of a door. It's approximately similar to this false wall or screen. Although this was only a saying, Lin was the one to explain that the false wall still has an effect– "because the spirits perceive this as a real wall." he had stated.
"Your cup?" Ayako's voice shook Mai off from her thoughts.
"The one with the frog— Ne, pass it over, Naru."
Naru however looked like he was thinking about something as he sat a few distances from them using one of the still standing chairs they have found, his back for once bent with his elbows resting on his knees and hands fiddling something inside the coat of his wrist. He sat there still, almost like he wasn't even called which just made Mai huff as she stood and walked towards him to get the cup herself. "There are seven classrooms on level 1, but there were only twenty students. How were those seven classrooms used?"
"The two at the very end had the separating wall knocked down – it was originally a staffroom, but was later turned into a classroom. The next room was originally the sickbay, which doubled up as a staffroom."
Mai handed the cup to Ayako, who was now questioning the information of the case. "Did the teacher stay there?"
"No, the teacher's lodgings are directly facing the front entrance – apparently there were houses inside there in the past. The fourth room from the inside was originally the home sciences room – some birds and animals were kept there. The remaining 3 rooms were originally a science lab, an art room, and a music room, which were by no means used at that time. It was originally a comparatively large building – one was renovated into a swimming pool."
'So that was how it was. Mentioning that, all these were mentioned during our meeting.' Mai nods as she took a short quick sip of the sweet tea Akemi had made. Good thing it was on a thermos as the heat lasted a lot even when two hours had passed since their lockdown.
"What about the size of the school?"
When Ayako asked that, Naru's face flushed with displeasure. "Did you completely not hear what was said during the meeting?"
Ayako sheepishly looks away, hiding her guilt but with her words it was crystal clear. "Ohhhhh."
With a displeased sigh, Naru thought to himself. 'It seems Mai's short attentive span can be passed on.' his fingers continuing to fiddle with the red string around his wrist without thought.
"There were 8 villages in this area, but 3 of them had disappeared long ago. The disappearance of farming villages is really serious but – two of those villages are at the bottom of the reservoir."
Ayako and Mai nods, "Is that so…"
"The question is what the other party aims to achieve by closing us up in here. Regardless of what happens it looks like they don't plan to let us leave so easily."
"That's what it looks like." Silence once again permeated the atmosphere as they all thought of the case given to them and the situation they are now on. Specifically, Naru went through the case. The possibilities of why the chief villager wanted to keep things shush as a lot of people have said they have seen spirits in the abandoned school. The details weren't very clear, but the school ceased its operation five years ago in May, which is a month where school has just started if he were to remember Japan's curriculum correctly. Such a time was weird to have the school suddenly cease its operations.
The everyone that the chief village and his secretary stated has claimed to say that they've seen human spirits and some sort of haunting by ghosts and demons. As it is a building of some age, they wanted to demolish it but the people disagreed as the ghosts at the school would definitely haunt something if they did so.
'It isn't any major issue— just the usual scary stories accompanied by abandoned buildings.' Naru thought.
"Bou-san and the others are very slow, huh?" Mai grumbles under her breath as she checked her wristwatch for the fourth time.
Ayako nodded in agreement. "Yes but it could be because Yasuhara wanted to ask around for information..."
"Yeah…"
"They could be away until evening."
"That shouldn't be so. They did go out to buy lunch." John speaks up as well, still fully optimistic.
"I didn't hear that. – Anyway this is all we can do. It's not like we have any other countermeasure."
Naru shrugged uninterestedly to Ayako's words, finally having straightened his back, and his fingers no longer fiddled with his bracelet but instead covered it with his palm in warmth. "We've been closed in with much difficulty, so let's see how we should go about the investigation of this building. There's no use in being impatient to get out."
Mai blinked thrice, her mouth gaping at Naru in awe. 'He— He actually said this so coolly in such a frightening situation!'
"The people at the campsite said they never actually heard rumors about the appearance of spirits here."
Ayako sighs, shaking her head lightly at remembering the words of those who sought their help. "Forget it – even if there are rumors, there are also things that people do not mention."
"But, didn't the helper mention the lead that there weren't any spirits?"
"Yes."
"We might have been tricked, we can't tell." It was Naru who spoke.
"eh?"
Naru lips twitched into a forced smile, that sight of it gave those in his company shivers in their spine. "Didn't the helper mention it? That they hoped that we'd help them keep it secret? Income from tourism is a matter of life and death to them."
The words of the Chief lingered in their thoughts, "You've also seen that there hasn't been any special development on this mountain, the golf course and the campsite are the only sources of income; this is a problem affecting our lifelihood."
"It was indeed mentioned but what could they even do when they also claimed that this primary school has abnormal incidents?"
"It's not only the presence of rumors. In reality, it probably might not be as simple as whether there are rumors or not."
"Not only? Do you mean that in actual fact there are spirits that appear, and that they haunt as well?"
Naru nods at the question, "That's exactly what I'm saying. The probability that something major had happened is very high, that's why the village chief came to make the request in person."
"Yeah…"
"But tell us truthfully then. This 'problem' will leak out and make them feel troubled; the problem affects the volume of tourists and hence their livelihoods. – Hence the details of the situation are hidden. Fortunately, the people who run the campsites are all their relatives. Hence, as relatives, they will not leak the secret." 'that and the staff at the campsites depend on income from tourists for their meals; based on this point they would not speak.'
"—Yeah."
"What do you think that major incident was?" As it was stated by the Chief and his secretary, the development of this area isn't very good. There aren't many children around although there was a school, the total population of teachers and students did not exceed twenty. There were discussions of a merger, but suddenly they decided to close the school because after the completion of the reservoir the majority of the teachers and students moved away.
'But why were there any hauntings if everything ceased operations so peacefully with teachers and students having only moved away?'
"We still don't know," saying that, Naru stood up. "I'm going inside to investigate."
°•○●●○•°
Due to Naru's resolute idea, everyone dived into the exploration of the school compound with a rule that Naru had everybody agree on before starting their searching. "Before we begin, it's better to be a bit more cautious; no one should leave by him or herself."
Everyone slowly walked out through the false wall, and then firstly they went to the first floor's classroom, which was filled with stuff. Tables and chairs were piled in a corner of the disused room, just like a gym storeroom stacked with vaulting boxes. The atmosphere was slightly different in the fourth classroom. The fourth classroom was arranged neatly. Here, the bird cages, enclosures, and water troughs had already ceased operation. Although it was neatly arranged, the thick layer of dust gave one a desolate feeling.
"It really makes one feel uncomfortable." Ayako glanced at the parched water trough and pulled a face; a black, mud-like substance stuck to its inside, a mild stench of rotting permeated the classroom.
"Shibuya-san," John calls to Naru, his form squatting on the corner of the room, facing what seemed to be a small pile of dust.
"This…"
But looking closely on that mountain pile of dust was mixed of fur with an old blanket wrapped around it. Furthermore, it seemed there was a chain peeking out from it. The rusted chain extended from the chest to the wall of the classroom, engaging a large nail on the wall.
When Naru pulled it, a faded, red something was dragged out of the pile of rubbish immediately. "It's probably a collar for dogs or something."
"Lin, is there any –" Before Naru finished, Lin had already handed over a ballpoint pen.
"What are you looking for?" Mai asked as she observed the collar while Naru started prodding over the pile of fur using the pen he was handed. Mai blinked in realization, 'That collar... it looks like it had not been unfastened at all... it was just the size that would fit the neck of a cat or a dog— But, why wasn't it unfastened?'
Naru having thought of the same thing, frowned in wonder as he continued to search for something that would solidify his claim. 'This was an abandoned school, so if animals were kept here they should have been brought by somebody. Otherwise, who would bring animals here and leave them alone? Even if someone brought animals here, they couldn't have left the collar. Something is amiss here— There it is.'
Naru picked up a grey fragment from the pile of rubbish, a size close to a pebble. "It's probably something's bone." Naru placed the bone into the chest, and clapped his hands to get rid of the dust as he stood back up. A forced smirk went past his lips as he kept his stare at the prodded mountain pile of fur and dust. "It looks like the village chief and co are really a bunch of sly foxes."
"Yes." John nodded his head in agreement.
"What do you mean?" Mai asked while Ayako and Lin kept quiet with a grim look in their eyes, having also realized what Mai has yet to completely understand.
"What with the school ceasing operations— I think the reason shouldn't be due to the reduction in student numbers. If the school wound up operations following proper procedures, they wouldn't have left animals on their own like this. Furthermore—" 'The collar we found in the chest – it was like the animal died on the litter with the collar around its neck.' Naru's brow twitched at the thought, but nonetheless continued his words. "That chest is a paper chest, it's a very light item. If an animal found out about this, it would move it. But it quietly stayed in the corner of the classroom; it didn't even look like it had been toppled before. The cloth sewn at its base is also in good condition. I think this dog died in a condition without hunger or noise."
"Why?"
Naru was quiet for a while, his mind in thought before he finally gave a sigh, his eyes glancing around the classroom with arranged tables with water troughs, fish tanks and cages enough for birds and some for the sized of rabbits or other similar animals. Each cage with their own mountain pile of dust. 'Each of them must also have bones beneath all that pile.'
"—I don't know."
°•○●●○•°
The room following that was another classroom. Inside were 18 little tables all arranged and lined up. "So there were 18 students..." Mai says as she counted how many desks there were. Her feet dragging her to look around the room as Ayako, Lin, Naru and John circled around the teacher's desk at the very front and center of the room.
The back wall of the classroom was stuck with practice pieces of calligraphy and art. Whichever piece one looked at was dirty due to the dust and a little moldy as well, the sight of it nearly gave Mai and the others a grave feeling. With the thoughts of what happened here, it just gave the atmosphere of the room a more chilly welcoming.
"According to the information from the Village Chief, because 14 of the 18 students moved away all at once due to the construction of the reservoir, it resulted in the termination of the school operations." Lin said as they all gathered while Mai looked around.
Naru however looked around the classroom, his fingers once again fiddling with the red string around his wrist. "Was that really the case?"
"—Ne, there're things still left inside the tables!" With Mai's claim, John and Ayako started looking around as well.
"Hn, here too."
"There is on my side too!" Looking around again, they have concluded that practically all 18 tables had something or other left inside. "The school clearly stopped running, why are these things still left?" Ayako tilted her head in confusion, watching as Mai plucked up her courage to getting one of the textbooks under the tables she has last checked. Opening it up a bit delicately as the papers stuck together and was already moldy.
'It had already progressed to this stage...' Mai frowned, a pit in her heart aching at the sight of the ancient textbook.
"Pass that over." Naru reached out his hand towards Mai, who gave the ancient textbook without a thought and watched him as he too tried opening it and flipped its glued pages.
"I knew it— Almost none of the words the Village Chief or his helper said could be believed. They really are all left behind, it's just as though the people here all suddenly died." Mai said as she turned to look at the blackboard still filled with notes and written announcement for the 'next day'. On the board it wrote saying, 'May 18th, Wednesday,' written in large lettering. It was easily understood from the written date; beneath it was written, 'On Duty', and 'Takeuchi Ai'.
"It looks like the date the school stopped operating was in May." The high school student added while Ayako took note of the teacher's desk, next to the teaching platform. Its top held books and papers, all covered in piled dust. In the center of it though was most eye catching, 2 notebook-like books that is familiar to her eyes.
"Guys, it's the class register." When they heard the Miko's words, John and Mai gathered around her to see what could be found. She held it though with near care to not get her fingers too dusted all over, especially as they have finally gotten a firm theory that the people and any living inside did not leave so simply as they had thought. Although it could be opened, due to the numerous blotches it could not be read.
But they confirmed that of the 18 students, not a single one was absent. On the last page, 'May' was written, but the day the present or absent marks stopped appearing could not be told.
"It is the 18th." John said, looking at the blackboard.
Mai shook her head, "That's not for certain. It could be that the student on duty that day had written the next day's date at the end of the day."
"Then in that case it could be the 17th."
"Yeah, if the 18th is a Wednesday, then the 15th would be a Sunday." Looking from the place where the present absent marks stopped at the class record, counting back based on the number of days in a week, the marks had stopped on the 16th.
"Ah ne, it's only at the 16th."
"So it is."
Ayako looked at the ceiling and spoke, listing all they have found and concluded. "After taking attendance on the 16th something happened. Bags and the kept animals were all left behind, it's like the school was suddenly abandoned."
"Yeah…" Mai sighed but the other notebook-like book got noticed by here, Naru watched as she picked it up. "Look! There's also a journal here."
"Ah… can it not be read too?"
"Ye..ah…" Mai felt a bead of sweat drop from her forehead, 'Of course, what else could she have expected?' but her back straightened as she flipped and read the last page. "Oh! The last page could be seen clearly! —May 16th, Monday. Student on Duty: Michiyama Ayumi."
"As expected, the 16th was the last day." Ayako nodded as the others along with Naru waited for Mai to finish reading.
"We're finally going on a trip."
"So that's how it was…"
Ayako snapped her fingers as a eureka passed her expression. "The 17th was the day of the trip, and they were to gather outside the school. Because they did not enter the school, the duty roster for the 18th was written first."
"So that's how it was. After that did something happen on the trip?"
"It looks like it did… look here." Ayako's coral colored fingernail pointed to the journal.
"It says here that there was a little squabble about the seating arrangements on the bus."
"They took bus to go on a trip…"
Could it be… It shouldn't, right…
"Did this bus get into an accident?" 'A possibility that arose was an accident happened to the bus the students were taking, hence many of the students died. Could all 18 have died? That's why this school, which had lost all its students, stopped operating.'
"Was it really like this…?" John said achingly, looking around the classroom.
In contrast, the boss's voice was incomparably cool. "—Even if it was like that, why would all the bags be left…?"
Naru crossed his arms as this was starting to get too complicated. 'First, it's not possible to leave the kept animals all alone even if all the students died and if it were students getting caught on a field trip accident, shouldn't parents collect their children's personal things at school? There is still something amiss here. If it's just the spirits of the children that appeared, the Village Chief and the others couldn't possibly hide it, especially if it were about the children who used to attend and live in this village.'
The Miko spoke whilst Naru was in thought. "Indeed. Talking about it, if these are the remains of the dead, the family would want to collect it."
Mai nodded in agreement. 'The school stopped operating because of an unfortunate accident; because of the drifting spirits of the children… although all this was comprehensible, this was not all there was to it – there should still be something.'
"Are those words true though?" Ayako suddenly asked. "That a holiday village is going to be built near this place. Just looking at this school, I don't think that this place has the geographical conditions needed to build a holiday village."
Mai frowned, an irk presenting itself from her forehead as she felt her temper rising. "The words those foxes speak are not to be trusted."
"Yeah… indeed. If that's the case, then why would the Village Chief himself come forth to make a request? Could it be explained if there are facilities for a holiday village near to this place? But if such a plan does not exist, then simply because there are some spirits that appear here, they stop psychics who are just travelling nearby to investigate – is there really this necessity?"
Mai gulped in thick air from her throat as she started getting chills. "Could it be because— there are others who, like us, can get in but not out?"
"If that's the case, then wouldn't it be faster to nail up or block up the entrances and exits?"
"It is indeed like this…" At this time, they heard a minute sound mixed into the sound of the rain.
°•○●●○•°
All of it was a blur, everything that happened after they had discovered more evidence of the lies the Village Chief presented them. Naru and the others investigated eerie sounds they had heard, it proved to be something that Naru should have been more careful in doing as they had lost Lin in return with only a speck of blood left on the floor.
So Naru has decided to stick together as strange phenomena intensified, including loud impacts and unsettling laughter. Their attempts to escape failed even more as Bou-san, Masako and Yasuhara had finally came back but no one was on the ground floor to inform them thus locking themselves up once more.
With the group still trapped, another team member, Ayako, also disappears with only an eerie message of 'Congradulashuns , Ayako!' having left behind. Not having noticed she got separated from the group as they all tried to run back towards the entrance doors to warn the new comers.
'What had I gotten ourselves into...?' Naru silently thought to himself as he read the left behind message. The colorfulness of the message taunting him somewhat, making him clench his fist under the covers of his pockets, the red string bracelet around his wrists felt somewhat heavy in his hand. 'What have I been missing?'
A bell like voice rang in his head, snapping him back to seeing Mai sitting in between Mariko and Takato. The two kids of the SPR.
I'm back! AHAHAHAH Merry Christmas everybody muwah muwah!
