Pictures Of Home

After the unexpected but enlightening talk with the spirit of Kumagai Mei, the now six of us walk down the staircase to the third floor with a clearer goal in mind. Although the hope of being rescued by an outsider has clearly been stripped away from us, and despite the surreal sensation of it all, our group seems strangely calm. Or at least, that’s what this type of silence hanging in the air makes me think anyway. Maybe it’s because now, we know exactly what to do, in order to escape.

Escape, huh?

As we walk down the hallway, now lit by the standard, blue light tubes, I notice Mochizuki-senpai lagging behind.

She seemed really stressed back there. Plus, she doesn’t have the whole picture yet. Maybe I should… check up on her?

I deliberately slow down my pace so I’m walking next to her, and after clearing my throat, I speak up. “Hey is everything alright?”

It’s so not like me to be concerned about others like that, but I really don’t want anyone feeling lost. Negative feelings breed ill intent after all and we could very well end up like Mei-san’s group if we’re not careful.

Why am I trying so hard to justify my actions anyway?

She turns to look at me quizzically and puts on a brave smile. “Yeah, I’m okay. Everything’s all right.”

“Well, if you need anything… don’t hesitate to talk to me about it.” I grin slightly, scratching the back of my head.

“Sure, thanks!” She replies, still wearing her angelic smile like a mask.

Something is basically screaming to me that she is just putting up a brave front… but I really can’t pursue the subject any further…

“So… I’m guessing you must be really confused on what’s happening right?” I ask her in a friendly tone.

“There are some gaps here and there but I get the bigger picture. Basically we’re trapped in here, and we need to find those keys. Although, I don’t know how exactly we’re trapped or what those traps you and that… spirit mentioned are, or actually how the transfer student can tell what’s dangerous and what’s not.” She brings her finger over her chin as she explains.

“Well basically there’s an invisible wall separating the school from the outside world. It only appeared slightly after the majority of the students left. As for the traps, well… me and an upperclassman accidentally bumped into one on our way to a classroom and well…” I make a pause as if to steel my resolve before continuing, while senpai’s face hardens slightly, anticipating what I’m about to say.

“…He didn’t make it.”

I can almost feel her stiffening besides me, as a momentary silence hangs in the air.

“I’m sorry I made you remember that… Was he by any chance… Kurosawa-kun?” This time I can feel her genuine emotions behind her tone, as her cheery expression has dropped, and has been replaced by a solemn look.

“…Yes. You were classmates, I presume?”

“Yeah, together with Ishikawa-san. I didn’t really know him all that well, but I had a feeling she was talking about him earlier. They were really close, those two…” The girl walking next to me admits, her voice trailing off slightly, a hint of bitterness to it. I clench my fist as if reliving that moment inside my head, during the silence.

“Well, at least YOU made it out.” She locks eyes with me, a slight smile forming on her face.

I can feel some heat rise to my face, as I’m met with her sweet face out of the blue. “Well, it’s all thanks to Himura-san, actually. Really, all I did was fall.”

“Himura-san…” Mochizuki-senpai looks over at her, leading the group along with Mayu. “…She must be really dependable.”

“Well, yeah. Surely, more than I am.” I shrug, earning a brief giggle from her.

Was that… sincere or…? I can’t really make out if she actually is pretending, but something doesn’t sit well with me.

“Wait, I feel something behind this door.” Himura-san announces and we all stop. In our tracks.

As me and Mochizuki-senpai were talking, the others were following Himura-san’s lead, who was checking for things out of the ordinary, with her ability.

That means there must be something dangerous behind that door...

I think to myself as I let out a sigh and walk in front of the group.

I can’t be acting like a goddamn scaredy cat all the time. I need to man up.

I turn to look at Himura-san, and she nods clasping her hands together.

“I’m going to-“

“Wait, Kobayashi-kun.” Tanaka-san places his hand over my shoulder, making me stop in my tracks.

“I’ll open it this time. Back there… I acted out. I need to get my act together.” He gives me a brief smile.

Having no reason to deny him the opportunity to redeem himself, I nod in response and take a step back.

“Hehe, Tanaka-san stole your spotlight.” Mayu playfully whispers, so only I could here, earning her one of my famous eye rolls.

“I’m opening it, everyone… ready?”

He turns back to us and we all nod briefly.

Having earned our seal of approval, the adult of the group slides the door open.

“It seems, normal?” Tanaka-san voices, as we all huddle together in front of the door.

“Himura-san, you sure you sense danger here?” I speak up, scanning around the room more thoroughly.

“Yes I’m 100% sure. I’m still sensing it as we speak.” Himura-san replies, her hands still clasped together.

“Nobody’s gonna test that by walking in right?” Ishikawa-senpai points inside somewhat shakily.

“Of course not!” Mayu’s the one to give the most obvious reply.

“Hmmm…”

We all furrow our brows in thought, taking a step back.

The last trap we encountered, was triggered as soon as we stepped in, so would it be safe to assume this one will be the same as well? If you think about it, it probably can’t hurt us if we don’t cross the threshold.

Meaning?

“…I think, I have an idea.” I announce, earning myself a few curious looks. Without delay, I crouch in front of the door, and remove my schoolbag, strapped to my back. Frantically, I rummage through it, and pull out a simple notebook of mine.

“Hideki? What’s the big idea?” Mayu towers over me, giving me a confused look. “…You’re gonna beat the trap… with math?”

“More like sacrifice it…” I flip through the pages, bidding my notebook goodbye. “…Farewell. Mathematics.” With a swing of my wrist, I send it sailing across the room. The textbook hits the ground with a light thud, like any normal textbook would. For a second, everything’s normal.

“See, th-“ Before Ishikawa-senpai can finish what she’s about to say, the square-shaped floor tiles surrounding my notebook erupt into flames, and my item is burnt to a crisp, in no time flat.

“Ouch… there go my notes.” Suddenly, regret hits me, as I stare at the ashes that remain.

“Wow…”

“My God…”

Mochizuki-senpai and Tanaka-san, exclaim respectively, having witnessed their very first trap activation.

“Pythagoras is probably rolling over in his grave right about now.” Mayu looks bewildered, despite her witty comment.

“Pyth… who?” Ishikawa-senpai furrows her brows.

“Pythagoras of Samos was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and-“

“Oh please, Himura-san spare us the history lesson…” I shake my head, while Mochizuki-senpai finds it wise to intervene.

“History? Weren’t we talking about math?”

Right about now, I’m starting to feel thankful we’ve got traps to face instead of pop quizzes.

After trying to find a way around the trap for a little less than half an hour, we decide to stop throwing things and witnessing them get burnt to a crisp and make our way to the Home Ec classroom instead.

“Well we can certainly use THAT much space.” I say as I turn on the lights inside the room. We’ve reached our destination quite quickly, and we were ecstatic to hear from Himura-san that she doesn’t sense any danger coming from within. The Home Ec class is certainly one of the most, if not the most spacious classroom on the whole building. Not to mention the large amount of supplies and cooking tools. It basically is a small household inside a school, excluding of course luxury items such as beds, TV and most importantly, a bathroom. Nonetheless it’s still the perfect place for us to set up our home base.

Everyone steps inside the room with a slight spring in their step, as Mayu closes the door behind her.

“Okay so now that we’re here let’s divvy up the work, everyone!” Our cheery leader announces, clapping her hands. “Does anyone want to work on dinner?” She asks glancing at all of us briefly.

“I think I can handle that.” Mochizuki-senpai raises her hand with her same angelic and dependable façade.

“…I-I’ll help too.” Himura-san joins her, albeit somewhat awkwardly. The two of them head towards the kitchen area which is at the far right of the room, where the stove and cooking supplies are located. Meanwhile, the three of us are left looking at each other. As an awkward silence sets in, I suddenly feel like I should have helped with cooking instead.

“…”

Not to mention that I feel like Ishikawa-senpai has been throwing me some weird glances from time to time.

“Okay so how about we take charge of the sleeping arrangements?” Mayu breaks the silence that had been hanging in the air for about 5 seconds. Mayu to the rescue, as per usual.

“Sounds good to me.” I shrug while Tanaka-san fires himself up right next to me.

“Yosh! Leave it to me kids!” He voices proudly, volunteering to take the lead.

“Okay..” Ishikawa-senpai nods, slightly hesitant. Before we get to work, I remove my blazer and roll up the sleeves of my shirt.

The four of us, but mostly me and Tanaka-san move the white big desks of the Home Ec all in one side of the wall, save for one, at the far end of the room, on the opposite side from the kitchen to make space for our group to sleep in. The only desk we didn’t move was the biggest one and closest to the kitchen. We decided we would use that to eat our meals on. All the while, Himura-san and Mochizuki-senpai were cooking up something delicious that kept my nose occupied while we were hard at work. Hopefully we found some sewing cloths in one of the closets at the back of the room we can use as blankets and believe it or not some ACTUAL pillows. Although they were only 5, meaning we were one pillow short. Wanting to avoid a potential bickering, Tanaka-san volunteered to go without one, saying something along the lines of “we didn’t have any pillows in the military!”

Apparently, military service changes a man. What a pillow-less hell that must be.

After we had set everything up, we sat on the arranged desk in front of the kitchen to have some dinner.

“Itadakimasu!”

We all clap our hands together as per the Japanese custom, and turn to our bowls in anticipation.

“This is delicious!” Mayu says as she takes a spoonful from her soup, that transforms her expression into one of bliss.

Delicious? I gaze at my miso soup…

Mayu’s reaction suddenly made me realize how hungry I had been this whole time, since the last meal I had was during lunch. Which is to be expected, since we didn’t really have the time to think about a matter like slight hunger during all that transpired today.

Eager to fill my empty stomach, I take a spoonful of my own.

“Yeah… this is pretty good.” I voice sincerely, wasting no time with my second bite. The soup they made is a common side dish here in Japan, called miso soup. They decide to pair it up with a bowl of rice, for a dinner on the lighter side. Although…

After so many hours of running around the school, I feel like I could eat a boar!

“After so many hours of running around the school, I feel like I could eat a boar!” Tanaka-san voices loudly, as if he had heard my inner monologue, as he lets out a hearty laugh, before digging right into his meal with vigor. He repeats the word “delicious” over and over, in between mouthfuls. Despite the absurdity of a composed adult eating like a maniac, the sight brings a slight smile to my face.

“T-Tanaka-san?” Ishikawa-senpai looks slightly more troubled than bothered by it.

“Y-You shouldn’t eat too quickly…” Himura-san gives some advice on the side.

“Heh...” Mochizuki-senpai smiles as well, and we all continue eating.

After we finish up with dinner, we all praise both of our chefs, and soon Mayu and Ishikawa-senpai volunteer to do the dishes. There aren’t that many sets around after all. Despite me and Tanaka-san’s protests, the both of them, well mostly Mayu, were adamant about us relaxing, since we did most of the work during the room’s rearrangement.

The cooks relax, and before I can rearrange my sleeping space, and my impromptu futon, Tanaka-san calls out to me.

“Kobayashi…kun, may I have a word?” He smiles kindly at me, pointing at the door leading to the hallway.

“….Sure?” I shrug, slightly taken aback.

We notify the others we’ll be stepping out into the hallway for a minute, and after they give us a few nods, we open the door to the outside.

“So, is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong.” Tanaka-san replies briefly, as I lean against the wall, with the window, and the night sky beyond, at my back.

Then why did he call me out here? And why me?

“I just wanted to say… I’m sorry for earlier. I shouldn’t have… snapped like that. I know I should be the adult, so from now on, I’ll keep it together.” He admits, a visible hint of guilt on his face.

“Hey, it’s okay, Tanaka-san. I mean, it’s normal to be… slightly on edge.”

“It wasn’t just… slightly. That’s why I thought I should apologize.”

Still…

“Why to me, though?” I raise my brow at him, looking over at his direction.

“Heh, I don’t know why really, but, you feel like the silent leader of this group. You always take the initiative when it matters, and you seem really dependable.”

His answer catches me by surprise.

“Me? A silent leader? No way…” I shake my head, holding back a chuckle.

I’m the biggest wreck out of them all actually…

“The way you thought of that plan during that trap earlier, and the fact that you stepped up to open the door before we encountered that… spirit. Even how you talked to… Mochizuki, and tried to ease her worries. I think that all those actions speak for themselves.”

“Yeah, no. You’re giving me too much credit, Tanaka-san, really.”

What’s with all that sudden praise? He makes me sound like a dependable protagonist here…

“My point is, I’ll do my best to not make you worry about me. I’ll step up too. Give you a hand, when you need it.” The grown man gives me yet another sincere smile. “…They trust you, you know?”

“Heh, now you’re just making things up.” I brush him off yet again, but that only seems to have the opposite effect on him.

“Koba- Actually... Can I call you Hideki? You remind me of my niece.” He looks away, a sad expression overcoming his face for just a sec.

“Sure, go ahead.” I nod, before he continues.

“Promise me you’ll do your best you can, for this group, Hideki.”

“What’s with all the sentimental-“

“Hideki.”

I sigh. He won’t take no for an answer, I guess.

“Okay. I will do my best.” I lean over and detach myself from the wall behind me.

“Promise?”

“Promise.” We shake hands, and share a brief chuckle.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, is your niece, the family you talked about when you yelled at MeI-san?”

“Rokuro? Oh yeah, he’s one of them too. But I was mostly thinking about my daughter… and wife.” He smiles somewhat solemnly, and searches through an inner pocket of his coat. “Here.” He shows me a picture of a brown haired toddler, with small twin tails and big green eyes. Next to her is a brown haired woman, with a sweet and sincere smile on her face. Instinctively, I find myself smiling back at the kid’s goofy but sweet expression.

“Heh, she doesn’t look a thing like you!” We chuckle at my honest remark.

“I know, it’s all her mother, see?.” He smiles back at the picture yet again. “Saya…”

“Huh?”

“Her name’s Saya. She’s turning 9 in a month.” Tanaka-san explains.

There’s a small pause in the conversation, and the words escape me. But only for a moment.

“…You’ll be there, Tanaka-san.” I smile slightly, before he looks up and returns the sentiment.

After a brief silence, we both decide to head inside the room.

Right as we enter, the girls are just about ready to go to sleep. Apparently me and Tanaka-san are sleeping at the far, faaar corner of the room, basically as far away from the girls as possible. The one closest to me is Mochizuki-senpai but she is a good 2 meters away. During the time we were setting everything up Ishikawa-senpai complained about us men sleeping next to them, so they cast us off to the side, and Mayu reassured her with something along the lines of “We’ve got them outnumbered! Don’t worry!”

I’M NOT A MOLESTER GOD DAMMIT!

I yell inwardly, giving my ball-shaped blazer a good number of slaps. Not that it will make it more comfortable, but I at least tried, right?

“Okay guys, rest up, because tomorrow we’ll start looking for the keys, first thing in the morning, alright?” Mayu announces, taking up the role of the leader yet again.

After that, a not so cheerful “Yeahhh” rings out in unison throughout the room while everyone gets into position for the night.

“Hidekiiii…”

“I know…”

After Mayu’s prompt for me to turn off the lights, we all exchanged a goodnight, before a silence fell across the room.

Doubting I’d sleep right away, I pull out my phone.

I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you pal…

I think back earlier in the day when I had to go look for it.

But I honestly wouldn’t want to be relaxing at home while Mayu and the girls are trapped here risking their lives… Maybe… Maybe it’s for the best...

Suddenly, I hear Tanaka-san’s voice. But not from beside me. Instead, I hear it echoing inside my head.

“They trust you…”

“You’re the silent leader…”

“Pfft… As if.” I mutter to myself and open up a random app.

I’ll honor my promise, though. I’ll try to help… to some extent at least.

I think to myself as I scroll through some already generated feed on my Tweetar. Of course there’s no phone nor internet service inside this haunted version of the school, so all I can do is read past the posts generated from this morning. All this crap on my feed feels like a distant dream. Our reality has now changed… With my eyes struggling to stay open, and my head feeling significantly heavier I place the phone next to me hoping to get some shut-eye. It’s not long after I close my eyes that I feel the slight embrace of sleep coming to take me away to dreamland. The trip was shorter than I expected, and soon, my consciousness fades further and further away from the troubles of reality.

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Day 1

66 hours left…

-END OF PART 1-