Takenori, who was Kogure’s best friend, was naturally the most vexed.
“This is completely unlike him,” he kept saying until everyone was forced to ignore him.
The dormitory was already the farthest building from the school, and the walk down to it felt even longer due to the mounting tension and the feeling that something truly bad might have happened to Kogure.
Sendoh still favored his own breadcrumb-trail theory, and scanned the path for anything else that Kogure might have dropped. When the dormitory finally came into view, Sendoh was forced to drop his theory because of insufficient evidence. His proclamation to this effect was ignored by the rest of the group.
“Maki, the key, if you will,” said Mitsui, holding out his hand authoritatively.
Maki handed him the key wordlessly.
Mitsui briskly walked across the porch, undeterred by the loud creeks the rotting wood emitted, and jammed the key into the lock with an air of defiance.
The key, however, didn’t budge.
Mitsui was undeterred. He tried the door once again, but the results were the same. He tried a third time, and the door wouldn’t budge.
“Fuck this,” said Mitsui, clenching his teeth, and trying to force the door. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he alternately tried forcing the door and turning the key with growing violence.
Suddenly the key broke in half with a loud snap.
Mitsui was thrown off balance, and fell on his behind with half a key in his hand.
Maki snatched what remained of the key out of Mitsui’s hands, and stared at it in consternation. He ran his fingers over the Kainan insignia inscribed on the key, tears almost beginning to well up in his eyes.
“Look what you’ve done!” he said in a high voice. “If the Coach doesn’t kill me, the administration certainly will. I might be expelled.”
Mitsui rose, and dusted his knees.
“Whatever,” he said. His first priority was finding Kogure, and he was willing to sacrifice all material objects to this end.
“You can’t just say ‘whatever’, and pretend nothing happened.”
“Watch me,” said Mitsui drily.
Jin placed a sympathetic hand on Maki’s shoulder.
“I’m sure they’ll understand when we tell them we were just looking for Kogure.”
Maki shook his head, gaze directed at the rotting floorboards.
“They won’t,” he said. “Trust me.”
Mitsui turned to the rest of the group.
“Takenori, Uozumi,” he said. “I need your help now. We’re going to break down the door.”
“Now wait just a minute—” Maki began, but it was too late.
He watched in uninhibited horror as the two biggest centers in Kanagawa charged up to the door, and rammed into it with their shoulders, ripping the door off its hinges, and breaking the ageing wood into five whole pieces with a deafening sound that echoed around the clearing in the woods.
“They should have been football players instead,” said Kiyota, overwhelmed by what he had just seen.
A minute of silence passed.
Takenori and Uozumi massaged their arms with a look of satisfaction at a job well done, and Maki stared agape at where the door to the dormitory had once been with an almost comical look of shock, allowing the half-key to slip through his fingers.
“Thanks, guys,” said Mitui. “Now let’s go in.”
The sun had already set. The sky was still blood red, but it was dark on the ground under the trees. It was far too dark to see anything inside the dormitory except in places where the dim illumination of the sky penetrated through the treetops, and cast an eerie glow on random objects within the entrance hall.
Suddenly Mitsui lost his former boldness.
“What are we waiting for?” said Ryota. “Let’s go in.”
“Right,” said Mitsui recomposing himself hastily.
He strode confidently into the building, thinking the others were not far behind. He was halfway across the entrance hall when he turned around, and discovered that the others were, indeed, still outside.
He was suddenly inspired to appeal to their humanity.
“Aaaah!” he screamed, certain that, if the others thought something bad had happened to him, they would rush to his aid.
Instead he received a cool “What’s the matter?” from Takenori.
“The fuck?” Mitsui was justly irritated. “What kind of friends are you? What if something bad had happened to me? Now come on in before I fucking wreck this place.”
“Here we come,” said Maki, rushing in before Mitsui could inflict further damage on Kainan property.
The others followed reluctantly.
Mitsui was genuinely cross with the rest for letting him enter the dormitory all by himself, but decided that it was better for his dignity if they were to think that he had been calm and collected throughout the two minutes he had spent in the supposedly haunted all building all alone.
“Took you long enough,” said Mitsui hotly, trying to keep up the illusion that he was a fearless adventurer.
“Sorry.” Sendoh laughed sheepishly.
Mitsui ignored him.
“Where could Kogure be?” he said to himself. “Where would I go if I were Kogure?”
He cast his eyes around the entrance hall, even if he couldn’t see much in the darkness.
Takenori shifted uncomfortably.
“Uh, Kogure wouldn’t voluntarily come down here, Mitsui, so even if you do manage to think like Kogure (which I doubt), you will never be able to come up with a rational answer.”
“I know what I’m doing,” said Mitsui hotly.
Takenori rolled his eyes.
“Shh!” hissed Sendoh suddenly, straining his ears. “All of you. I think I hear something.”
Everyone else stood dead still, trying to figure out what it was that Sendoh had heard.
“I can’t hear it anymore,” said Sendoh at length. “It must have been my imagination.”
“We’re wasting our time,” said Ayako. “Maybe we should start searching the whole building instead of sitting around trying to think like Kogure.”
Mitsui gave a small cough, since it was evident that Ayako’s words were directed mostly at him.
“It would be a whole lot easier if we split up,” Ayako went on, “since I’m sure none of us are keen on spending the night in here again.”
None of them did.
The group then split up.
“Kaede, you can come with me,” said Ayako. She had known Kaede longer than the others, and was familiar with his fear of scary things.
Everyone else was by himself.
Sendoh put his hands in his pockets, and set to work immediately, glad to be working alone. The familiar musty smell tickled his nostrils as he walked up the first flight of stairs. He stopped on the second floor.
“Good times,” he said aloud to himself, referring to that crazy night some days ago.
He was certain the old dormitory held more secrets than had been revealed to them, and so set off with the goal of uncovering them. He was sure the others would have more luck in finding Kogure anyway.
He opened with some effort an ornately carved wooden door at the far end of the second-floor corridor, and entered.
‘A hall of some kind,’ Sendoh thought. ‘A dining hall? On the second floor? Mrs. Marilyn was definitely crazy.’
It was a large hall with a dozen tables that seated eight persons each. All the tables and chairs were covered with white cloths, so that it looked as if the dead had risen to eat.
‘If I were looking for a place to hide in this building, I would definitely pick this room.’
He began lifting the tablecloths, and peering under them.
He started violently when he discovered a ragdoll underneath one of the tables. One of its button eyes was missing, giving it a grotesquely sinister appearance as it grinned up at Sendoh.
Sendoh’s heart was still beating fast, but he managed to overcome his initial shock by laughing out loud. He imagined Kaede’s reaction if he had been the one to discover the doll instead of Sendoh, and chuckled some more.
After checking under every table, more mechanically than purposefully, Sendoh walked over to the old cafeteria counter. He scanned it briefly. Nothing caught his eye until he noticed the depression in the wall at the far end of the long table. There seemed to be something in it.
He strode over, and took the object out of the depression in the wall. It was a silver chocolate box.
He opened it, and found that there was nothing in it.
“Oh well,” he said, putting the box back in the wall. “I guess that’s it for the dining hall.”
He shut the ornate wooden door softly behind him as he left.
Elsewhere on the dormitory, on the third floor:
“Come on Kaede,” Ayako called, turning round a corner, but returning when she realized that Kaede had not budged. “There’s no reason to be scared.”
Kaede did not stir.
“Come on,” Ayako said sternly, “now!”
Kaede moved with what appeared to be great effort.
Ayako sighed.
“Look,” she said, “I’m giving you a choice.”
She paused to let it sink into Kaede’s head.
“Either you do as I say, or I am going to leave you here alone.”
Kaede swallowed, and decided that the first option was less unpleasant.
“Good,” said Ayako approvingly. “Now let’s begin searching these rooms over here.”
She saw the numerous dorm rooms lining both sides of the corridor, and shook her head.
“Why did Kainan have to be such a popular school?” She turned to Kaede. “The only way we can possibly get anything done is by splitting up.”
Kaede opened his mouth to protest, but Ayako held up her hand.
“I’m sorry, Kaede, but this is the only way.”
Kaede cursed mentally, as he walked unsteadily into room while Ayako stepped into the one right across from it.
On the fourth floor, Maki, Mitsui, Fujima, and Hanamichi had decided to cheat and stick together.
“You know,” said Mitsui when they had finished searching their third dorm room. “I think it’s ridiculous that Kogure should be hiding in one of these rooms, waiting for us to come and find him.”
“H’m,” said Maki thoughtfully. “We don’t really have anything to go on.”
“Mitchi, be a sport.” Hanamichi cackled.
Mitsui shrugged.
Back on the second floor, there was another presence along with Sendoh’s. This presence was staring at Sendoh from the shadows as he went in and came out of the storage rooms, whistling insouciantly to himself.
The shadowy figure held in its hands a golden object that emitted soft ticking sounds every second.
Tick… Tick… Tick…
“This is completely unlike him,” he kept saying until everyone was forced to ignore him.
The dormitory was already the farthest building from the school, and the walk down to it felt even longer due to the mounting tension and the feeling that something truly bad might have happened to Kogure.
Sendoh still favored his own breadcrumb-trail theory, and scanned the path for anything else that Kogure might have dropped. When the dormitory finally came into view, Sendoh was forced to drop his theory because of insufficient evidence. His proclamation to this effect was ignored by the rest of the group.
“Maki, the key, if you will,” said Mitsui, holding out his hand authoritatively.
Maki handed him the key wordlessly.
Mitsui briskly walked across the porch, undeterred by the loud creeks the rotting wood emitted, and jammed the key into the lock with an air of defiance.
The key, however, didn’t budge.
Mitsui was undeterred. He tried the door once again, but the results were the same. He tried a third time, and the door wouldn’t budge.
“Fuck this,” said Mitsui, clenching his teeth, and trying to force the door. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he alternately tried forcing the door and turning the key with growing violence.
Suddenly the key broke in half with a loud snap.
Mitsui was thrown off balance, and fell on his behind with half a key in his hand.
Maki snatched what remained of the key out of Mitsui’s hands, and stared at it in consternation. He ran his fingers over the Kainan insignia inscribed on the key, tears almost beginning to well up in his eyes.
“Look what you’ve done!” he said in a high voice. “If the Coach doesn’t kill me, the administration certainly will. I might be expelled.”
Mitsui rose, and dusted his knees.
“Whatever,” he said. His first priority was finding Kogure, and he was willing to sacrifice all material objects to this end.
“You can’t just say ‘whatever’, and pretend nothing happened.”
“Watch me,” said Mitsui drily.
Jin placed a sympathetic hand on Maki’s shoulder.
“I’m sure they’ll understand when we tell them we were just looking for Kogure.”
Maki shook his head, gaze directed at the rotting floorboards.
“They won’t,” he said. “Trust me.”
Mitsui turned to the rest of the group.
“Takenori, Uozumi,” he said. “I need your help now. We’re going to break down the door.”
“Now wait just a minute—” Maki began, but it was too late.
He watched in uninhibited horror as the two biggest centers in Kanagawa charged up to the door, and rammed into it with their shoulders, ripping the door off its hinges, and breaking the ageing wood into five whole pieces with a deafening sound that echoed around the clearing in the woods.
“They should have been football players instead,” said Kiyota, overwhelmed by what he had just seen.
A minute of silence passed.
Takenori and Uozumi massaged their arms with a look of satisfaction at a job well done, and Maki stared agape at where the door to the dormitory had once been with an almost comical look of shock, allowing the half-key to slip through his fingers.
“Thanks, guys,” said Mitui. “Now let’s go in.”
The sun had already set. The sky was still blood red, but it was dark on the ground under the trees. It was far too dark to see anything inside the dormitory except in places where the dim illumination of the sky penetrated through the treetops, and cast an eerie glow on random objects within the entrance hall.
Suddenly Mitsui lost his former boldness.
“What are we waiting for?” said Ryota. “Let’s go in.”
“Right,” said Mitsui recomposing himself hastily.
He strode confidently into the building, thinking the others were not far behind. He was halfway across the entrance hall when he turned around, and discovered that the others were, indeed, still outside.
He was suddenly inspired to appeal to their humanity.
“Aaaah!” he screamed, certain that, if the others thought something bad had happened to him, they would rush to his aid.
Instead he received a cool “What’s the matter?” from Takenori.
“The fuck?” Mitsui was justly irritated. “What kind of friends are you? What if something bad had happened to me? Now come on in before I fucking wreck this place.”
“Here we come,” said Maki, rushing in before Mitsui could inflict further damage on Kainan property.
The others followed reluctantly.
Mitsui was genuinely cross with the rest for letting him enter the dormitory all by himself, but decided that it was better for his dignity if they were to think that he had been calm and collected throughout the two minutes he had spent in the supposedly haunted all building all alone.
“Took you long enough,” said Mitsui hotly, trying to keep up the illusion that he was a fearless adventurer.
“Sorry.” Sendoh laughed sheepishly.
Mitsui ignored him.
“Where could Kogure be?” he said to himself. “Where would I go if I were Kogure?”
He cast his eyes around the entrance hall, even if he couldn’t see much in the darkness.
Takenori shifted uncomfortably.
“Uh, Kogure wouldn’t voluntarily come down here, Mitsui, so even if you do manage to think like Kogure (which I doubt), you will never be able to come up with a rational answer.”
“I know what I’m doing,” said Mitsui hotly.
Takenori rolled his eyes.
“Shh!” hissed Sendoh suddenly, straining his ears. “All of you. I think I hear something.”
Everyone else stood dead still, trying to figure out what it was that Sendoh had heard.
“I can’t hear it anymore,” said Sendoh at length. “It must have been my imagination.”
“We’re wasting our time,” said Ayako. “Maybe we should start searching the whole building instead of sitting around trying to think like Kogure.”
Mitsui gave a small cough, since it was evident that Ayako’s words were directed mostly at him.
“It would be a whole lot easier if we split up,” Ayako went on, “since I’m sure none of us are keen on spending the night in here again.”
None of them did.
The group then split up.
“Kaede, you can come with me,” said Ayako. She had known Kaede longer than the others, and was familiar with his fear of scary things.
Everyone else was by himself.
Sendoh put his hands in his pockets, and set to work immediately, glad to be working alone. The familiar musty smell tickled his nostrils as he walked up the first flight of stairs. He stopped on the second floor.
“Good times,” he said aloud to himself, referring to that crazy night some days ago.
He was certain the old dormitory held more secrets than had been revealed to them, and so set off with the goal of uncovering them. He was sure the others would have more luck in finding Kogure anyway.
He opened with some effort an ornately carved wooden door at the far end of the second-floor corridor, and entered.
‘A hall of some kind,’ Sendoh thought. ‘A dining hall? On the second floor? Mrs. Marilyn was definitely crazy.’
It was a large hall with a dozen tables that seated eight persons each. All the tables and chairs were covered with white cloths, so that it looked as if the dead had risen to eat.
‘If I were looking for a place to hide in this building, I would definitely pick this room.’
He began lifting the tablecloths, and peering under them.
He started violently when he discovered a ragdoll underneath one of the tables. One of its button eyes was missing, giving it a grotesquely sinister appearance as it grinned up at Sendoh.
Sendoh’s heart was still beating fast, but he managed to overcome his initial shock by laughing out loud. He imagined Kaede’s reaction if he had been the one to discover the doll instead of Sendoh, and chuckled some more.
After checking under every table, more mechanically than purposefully, Sendoh walked over to the old cafeteria counter. He scanned it briefly. Nothing caught his eye until he noticed the depression in the wall at the far end of the long table. There seemed to be something in it.
He strode over, and took the object out of the depression in the wall. It was a silver chocolate box.
He opened it, and found that there was nothing in it.
“Oh well,” he said, putting the box back in the wall. “I guess that’s it for the dining hall.”
He shut the ornate wooden door softly behind him as he left.
Elsewhere on the dormitory, on the third floor:
“Come on Kaede,” Ayako called, turning round a corner, but returning when she realized that Kaede had not budged. “There’s no reason to be scared.”
Kaede did not stir.
“Come on,” Ayako said sternly, “now!”
Kaede moved with what appeared to be great effort.
Ayako sighed.
“Look,” she said, “I’m giving you a choice.”
She paused to let it sink into Kaede’s head.
“Either you do as I say, or I am going to leave you here alone.”
Kaede swallowed, and decided that the first option was less unpleasant.
“Good,” said Ayako approvingly. “Now let’s begin searching these rooms over here.”
She saw the numerous dorm rooms lining both sides of the corridor, and shook her head.
“Why did Kainan have to be such a popular school?” She turned to Kaede. “The only way we can possibly get anything done is by splitting up.”
Kaede opened his mouth to protest, but Ayako held up her hand.
“I’m sorry, Kaede, but this is the only way.”
Kaede cursed mentally, as he walked unsteadily into room while Ayako stepped into the one right across from it.
On the fourth floor, Maki, Mitsui, Fujima, and Hanamichi had decided to cheat and stick together.
“You know,” said Mitsui when they had finished searching their third dorm room. “I think it’s ridiculous that Kogure should be hiding in one of these rooms, waiting for us to come and find him.”
“H’m,” said Maki thoughtfully. “We don’t really have anything to go on.”
“Mitchi, be a sport.” Hanamichi cackled.
Mitsui shrugged.
Back on the second floor, there was another presence along with Sendoh’s. This presence was staring at Sendoh from the shadows as he went in and came out of the storage rooms, whistling insouciantly to himself.
The shadowy figure held in its hands a golden object that emitted soft ticking sounds every second.
Tick… Tick… Tick…
◄ Chapter 8 ● Nights at Kainan ● Chapter 10 ►
0 comments :
Post a Comment