Chapter 4:

A Game of Death and Lies

Those Summer Nights


I’m in my way back home, enveloped by the absolute darkness of the night.

Why there is so few lights on?

There’s no way I can explain this, not that I’m really thinking about it at all.

I finally come to a stop when something catches my attention: Tama is sitting under a light pole, looking at me. After some seconds, he walks away leaving bloody footprints behind. I can’t believe in what I’m seeing, because there’s no way something like this could happen twice.

After pondering a bit, I try to move in its direction, just to be stopped by someone holding my right shoulder. Whoever did that didn’t say anything, so I turn around to see who was there: Akira with his chest pierced and blood everywhere.


“Oh right, another nightmare.”

I wake up, but I’m not feeling nervous or scared at all. Is the effect of what I saw last night or have I had so many nightmares already they don’t affect me now?

Anyway, is there any reason to leave my bed right now? There’s a scene out of a horror movie in the school, so the police should have closed it. Still, it’s better to at least check the situation, so I get up and turn on the TV in my room. The police can’t hide that, it should be everywhere…

“Now the next news. Today the mayor...”

Huh? Nothing?

I change the channel.

“Today the weather will be...”

I change again.

“What is your opinion...”

Again.

“Yesterday’s game was...”

Again.

“If we join our powers...”

Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again!

Nothing! What is happening here?!

I try to find any plausible explanation but I end up with nothing in mind.

There’s a corpse hanging inside a classroom! The first student to arrive would find it, panic would start, the police would arrive and block the school, and news about this would spread like fire!

Something is wrong! Really wrong!

And to make things worse, there’s nothing new on my phone, not a single message.

This changes everything and now I’m running to finish my morning routine as soon as possible.

How is the situation in the school right now?

To answer that, I leave my house running.


The sun was already getting strong, some cicadas were crying and Tama was watching me from a tree. Not that I really could pay attention to these details. My brain just wanted to find the truth.

“Impossible...”, I say while stopping.

I could see the school gate in the distance and everything was normal. No police, only students entering like it was any other day.

“This can’t be happening...”

Like if the strength was drained from my body, I start to slowly walk towards the school.

“I was here last night...”, I keep speaking with myself. “Akira is dead… So how…?”

As expected, the school was complete normal inside. Some students talking in the schoolyard, others making their way to their classrooms, others finishing club activities. A truly ordinary day.

“Am I still dreaming?”

I enter the first building and go upstairs, stopping in the second floor. I look in the direction of the classroom where I found Akira, just to see some students in front of its door talking happily.

Did the police came here early and cleared the scene? No way, that’s impossible!

A feeling of defeat takes over me. I don’t understand, I can’t find any explanation for this. And I resume my walking towards my classroom.

Finally arriving there, I go directly to my seat, ignoring everything around me.

“What happened, did you see a ghost?”, Hayato said while putting his left hand on my right shoulder.

“Maybe I really saw a ghost”…

“Wait, what?”

“Hayato, could you answer a strange question?”

“Sure. But are you really ok?”

“Today… No one found a dead body in the school?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, what am I talking about…?”

I look at the ceiling, still trying to find anything to keep my sanity stable.

“Yesterday...”

“Hum?”

“I came here yesterday night and… I found Akira dead.”

“You can’t be serious...”

“I’m being really serious.”

“Good morning!”, Hina said arriving.

“Hi!”, Naoto was with her.

“Hey, Souma just said something crazy!”, Hayato speaks with the two who just arrived.

“What did he say?”, Hina asked.

“Please, let’s wait until the lunch break, the teacher will arrive soon and I need to rest a bit.”, I say putting my head in my desk and closing my eyes.

“Did you stay until late night playing games?”, now it’s time for Naoto to make a question. But I ignore him.

When the class starts, I can’t bring myself to pay attention to it, my mind is still occupied with what happened last night. And the more I think about, everything makes even less sense.

There’s three main events from yesterday night that don’t have a good explanation.

First, the bloody footprints. When I entered the building, I didn’t see any. Someone could’ve left them after I entered the classroom, but you can’t explain how they started in front of the classroom door. If someone entered the building leaving footprints behind, why didn’t I find any footprints showing that?

Second, the locked classroom. If only one classroom door locked isn’t strange enough, it was locked from inside and someone unlocked after I tried to open it.

And third, the murder scene. How can a body be hanging in the classroom? There’s nothing in the ceiling to tie the rope in, but I’m sure I saw something like a hook and that’s makes no sense. And why pierce someone’s heart after hanging them?

There’s only one good explanation for everything: I never came to school. Everything was a bad dream. A convenient explanation, maybe too convenient. But at least for now, maybe I should believe in that…


After I told the entire story to my friends during the lunch break, they were clearly trying to not laugh about it.

“So you’re saying that the killer is something like a demon?”, Hayato said.

“How did you achieve this conclusion?”, Hina asked.

“Well, how could you give a logical explanation to that story?”

“But things like demons don’t exist!”, Hina protested.

“There’s no point in discussing this. Whether or not that happened, we can at least confirm if Akira is fine by simply coming here this night.”, Naoto tried to stop the absurd discussion about demons.

“That’s a good idea!”, Hayato said.

“I don’t know if it’s good or not, but if you’re all coming tonight, I’ll go with you.”, Hina said.

“Ok, so where are we going to meet?”, I asked.

“I don’t think my family would like this idea and my sister would probably get super angry. So my friend, can I stay at your house this night?”, Hayato said.

“I don’t mind.”

“It’s decided! Let’s play some games! But I need to stop by my home after school first, so I’ll see you after that.”

“Remember we aren’t doing this to have fun!”

“I’ll stop by your house later so we can go together.”, Naoto said to Hina.

“Sure. I’ll wait for you.”

“So it’s decided. Let’s all meet at 8:00 PM in front of the school gate.”, Naoto said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Let’s enter the school as soon we arrive.”, I said.

“Oh, I understand what are you saying. We can’t let people seeing us here at night. So let’s all meet here in the schoolyard.”

We all confirmed and it was decided.


Once again, I didn’t pay attention to the classes and I left school as soon as they finished.

In my way back home, while rethinking about what happened last night, I remembered something: The chocolate I bought in the convenience store. If everything was just a nightmare, I never got the chocolate.

Now dominated by my curiosity, I started to run.

If the chocolate isn’t there, am I getting unable to discern dream from reality? But, if it’s there… How can I explain all those crazy events?

Before I can reach an answer, I arrive at home. I don’t waste time and just rush to my bedroom and there I find the pants I used last night. Seconds later, my hand was inside its pocket, finding the chocolate.

So I really went to school last night... And maybe this was the worst possible answer.

I start to imagine someone attacking Akira, piercing his heart, dragging him to the classroom and hanging his body there. But how? No matter how hard I try to explain those events in a reasonable logical way, I can’t find a good answer.

The events keep playing in my head.

What did I miss? Which part would bring everything to the limits of logic?

The bloody footprints.

They can’t be explained.

The locked classroom.

Maybe someone was hiding inside it?

The murder scene.

Pure madness.

While trying to think again, I approach the window and I can see the man from yesterday in the same place.

I close the curtain.

Nothing can be explained.

I start to make my way to the kitchen.

They’re watching me.

I keep walking.

Watching me? Who?

A sound of something falling in the ground behind me. I stop.

Why is this happening?

I’m sweating a lot and my mind is a complete mess.

Why are you doing this to me?

Steps coming from my room.

Why me?!

The doorbell rings, pulling myself back to reality and I run to the bathroom to wash my face first. After I finish, it rings again and I run to the door. When I open it, Hayato was there.

“Hi again! Were you using the toilet?”, he asked.

“Huh? Wouldn’t you go home first? Why are you here already?”

“Already? What are you talking about? The last time I saw you was one hour ago!”, Hayato answers while entering the house.

Wait, one hour?!

I check the time on my phone and he was right. But it’s a 10 minutes walk from the school to my house, so I spent 50 minutes just thinking about yesterday?!

“Can I choose the game we'll play while waiting?”, Hayato asked.

“Huh… Ah, sure! I’ll get something for us to drink.”

Hayato went to my room and I to the kitchen.

What is happening with me? I need to calm myself, otherwise…


The time arrived and Hayato and I left for school. Halfway there, I got a message from Hina saying that she and Naoto were already inside waiting for us.

When we reached the closed school gate, we checked if we were alone before jumping it.

Inside, we soon ran into Hina and Naoto in the schoolyard, and before we could even greet them, Naoto spoke.

“I wish I could give you good news, but this place seems deserted.”

“So what I saw yesterday...”

“It’s a bit early to be sure, let’s look around first.”, Hina said before I could finish.

“So, how are we doing this?”, Hayato asked.

“Let’s split up.”, Naoto said while showing his flashlight.

“Wait, no one said to me bring one!”, Hayato protested.

“It was something really obvious.”, Hina said with her flashlight in her hand.

Hayato looked at me and I just showed mine to him.

“So… I’ll stay here, if I see anything I’ll alert you.”, Hayato said, defeated.

“I’ll check the first building, Hina you go to the second and Hayato check the rest.”

“Ok.”, Hina and I accepted this split.

I made my way to the gym, but its entrance was locked with a padlock. Before going to the cafeteria, I think I should have a look around the gym. But first, I look towards the schoolyard, seeing Hayato paying attention to his surroundings. Confirming he wasn’t slacking on his job, I make my way to the other side of the gym, but only darkness awaited in the small space between the gym’s wall and the wall around the school. And before I could do anything else…

“Who is there?!”

Hayato’s voice echoed through the school. Without wasting any time, I return running.

“What happened, Hayato?”

“Souma! I swear I saw someone behind the first building!”, Hayato said pointing in the direction he saw the shadow.

“Behind it? Let’s check.”

“What happened?”, Naoto returns running.

“Hayato thinks that we’re not alone.”, I answered while walking.

Naoto and Hayato followed me, a silent procession in the dark school grounds. But before long, we arrived there to find no one. Behind the first building was just a small area limited by a wall, exactly like where I was just before Hayato’s scream.

“Maybe he ran to the other side!”, Hayato said.

“There’s no point in going there. Whoever was here, could be hiding anywhere now.”, Naoto said.

“So, what should we do?”, I asked.

“Let’s continue what we were doing before. But if you see anyone that’s not Akira, you should scream for help.”, Naoto said.

“Understood, but instead of staying in the schoolyard, I’ll find Hina and alert her.”

“That’s a good idea, so let’s go!”, I finished our conversation.

I resumed my search and every empty room I saw only made me more anxious. And in the end, I was really alone in the cafeteria’s building.

While the others were still inside the other larger buildings, I started to walk towards the center of the schoolyard, but…

There’s someone near the first building!

In the same place where Hayato said he saw someone, I could clearly see a person in the darkness, a person looking at me. But before I could do anything, the shadow hid behind the building.

Not so fast!

I started to run as fast as I could, but arriving there I found no one.

The other side!?

I start to run again, but after doing two laps around the building, chasing the emptiness, I stopped in the schoolyard to catch my breath.

Where did it go!? I’m sure I saw someone!

I looked around again and again and I was really alone.

What the hell!?

After some minutes, Hina returned with Hayato.

“We didn’t find anyone, had any luck?”, Hina said.

“No, but I think I saw whoever you saw that time, Hayato.”

“Really!?”

“Yeah, but it disappeared exactly like before.”

“Wait, so there’s really someone hiding here, watching us?”, Hina asked.

“It seems so.”, I answered.

“But who and why?”

Before anyone could try to answer Hina’s question, Naoto returned.

“It’s really empty. No one there.”

“So even if there’s someone hiding here, it’s clear that Akira isn’t here.”, I said.

“No one is watching the school at night...”, Hayato affirmed.

“There’s no way someone hanged Akira in a classroom, right?”, Hina asked.

“And his body was nowhere to be seen in the morning.”, I said.

“A demon…?”, Naoto asked while adjusting his glasses.

Mei dead just a few minutes after going upstairs. Sakura appearing inside a dumpster near my house. Akira’s absurd death. Is everything connected and the murderer is a supernatural being? No way. It can’t be! This is reality. The boring reality! There’s no magic or anything like that!


But when we left the school, I’m sure everyone thought the same thing: This should be a nightmare.