The two inmates found their way downstairs. "This is kinda like a horror game I played once." Nico commented as they passed through the rotting halls filled with rotting flesh. "Or that anime where all the kids get chopped up by the bad guys, or this movie about a bunch of teenagers at a camp and there's a serial killer...only it's not as fun when it's so real. Horror games aren't so bad, because if it gets too scary you can just turn it off, and nobody actually dies when they're killed."
"I've not played a horror game before." Upa told him.
"You haven't? When we get back to the prison, I can show you my favourite! I have a few scary games on the console Kazari gave me! They're really cool, but sometimes I can't get through them because they're too scary. I bet someone all brave and strong like you can beat them, though, Master!"
"Well, I'm sure they're actually pretty simple. It shouldn't be hard at all."
"Hooray! It's a date then!"
He felt Nico give his hand a squeeze. He'd not realised they were still holding hands, but he didn't let go. If it kept Nico from running off, then that was fine by him. At least, that was fine until Nico shot forward, still clinging to his hand, and almost pulled him off his feet. "Hey!"
"What's this?" He'd pulled them over to a piece of wire strung up across the hall, barely visible from afar, but now they were close he could see it shining in the dim light. It was strung at roughly neck height, for Nico, and it looked sharp. Piano wire, perhaps.
"Piano wire. Don't touch it."
Nico reached out and poked the wire, then pulled his finger back like he'd been burnt. "Ow! That hurt!"
"I told you not to touch it!" Upa scolded, taking the injured hand to take a look at it. Nico's finger had been cut by the wire, predictably. God only knew where that thing had been. If he got tetanus or something from that wire, Upa would not be held responsible. "Duck under it, and don't touch it again." He pulled his hand away and pushed Nico under the wire before following him. As they walked down the hall, he thought he saw the older inmate reaching for his hand again, but brushed it off. Not too far away, they heard another scream. It got cut off suddenly, and the two of them stopped before turning the next corner. They decided to peek round instead of just walking, a decision they both reached without saying a word. Around the corner, between them and another flight of stairs, was a teenage boy lying motionless on the floor. Above him stood another spirit. This time, a little boy, younger than the girl they had seen before. He had both his eyes this time, but there was a blood stain across his abdomen. A deep wound. He also had a pair of scissors in his hand, and it looked like he was about to slice into his victim. The boy on the floor was already dead. "Do we try and circle back round or wait for him to leave so we can get past?"
"What about that guy?"
"He's dead. We don't know what those children are capable of, so it's best to avoid engaging them for the time being."
Nico nodded, and peeked back round the corner. "It's gone!"
"What's gone?" Upa looked as well, and saw what he meant. The spirit was gone, and the teenage boy's intestines had been pulled from his abdomen and spread across the ground.
"Is it safe to go past now?"
Honestly, Upa doubted it, but he nodded and led the way up the stairs regardless.
Upstairs, the boys passed the infirmary. Upa figured access to medical supplies would be useful, or at least comforting, even if they didn't know how to use them. Well, until they did need to use them, at least. When he tried to open the door, he found it locked. Typical. The girl they had seen getting stabbed was just around the corner, and still alive, but barely. She wouldn't last. They went up further, and came to a stop at the bathrooms. The boys' bathroom was boarded up. This seemed to be the topmost floor, and all there was to show for it. Nico strolled forward to the girls' bathroom.
"Supervisor?" Upa called as he followed the older boy in. It was easily clear that the room was empty, though. He watched Nico open the first three stalls, or at least try to. The first two were locked, though he was pretty sure no-one was in them, and the third swung open before Nico even touched it.
"Wow...Master, look at this!"
He did as told, coming to stand beside Nico and beside a dark stain on the floor. He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't spare it much thought. More unusual than that was the interior of the third stall. In fact, he couldn't see a thing within it. The entire thing was pitch black. It didn't look right. It looked like a solid wall of darkness, if such a thing could exist. He was tempted to reach out and touch it. Nico stepped back and opened the fourth stall, then closed himself inside. Upa reached out to touch the wall of darkness, but stopped himself short. For some reason, he was afraid of it, but still curious. Then he looked down to the stain on the floor. He crouched down to examine it, brushing the tips of his fingers against it. It felt like damp or rot in the wood.
Suddenly, a searing pain carved through his temples. He shut his eyes tight and groaned. Why did his head hurt now? What was going on? And he couldn't breathe either. His throat was constricting. Like something was choking him and everything was going cold.
And then it was warm again. Not unpleasantly so. Like a blanket had been wrapped around him, and the pain was fading out fast. He could hear a voice. A semi-frantic nattering next to his ear.
It was Nico. Slowly, Upa opened his eyes and found with a jolt of surprise that he wasn't in the bathroom any more. He was back out in the hall, and Nico was practically hugging the life out of him.
"...Nico?"
"Master?" He pulled away and held the younger boy at arm's length, looking him over. "Are you okay? Are you back to normal?"
"Normal? What...?"
"You suddenly started screaming and saying weird stuff! It was like you were arguing with imaginary people, it was really scary. Then you ran out here and started shouting at the wall"
"I...did?" That sounded very strange. He noticed Nico's cheek was a bit red, like he'd just been hit quite hard. "What happened to your face?"
"Nothing!" He covered the mark with his hand and flashed Upa a bright smile. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine. Are you feeling better? What happened when I was using the bathroom?"
"I'm not sure." Upa admitted. "Last I remember, I was in pain, and couldn't breathe...I think that dark stain...is where someone may have died. But that doesn't explain my reaction to it."
Nico shivered slightly. "This is bad. It's scary here, maybe we should go back to the classroom."
Upa nodded and reached for Nico's hand again, turning to leave, when he noticed the piece of paper on the wall beside them. It had been there before. Posted neatly between the two bathrooms. It was a page from a newspaper report, but what caught Upa's eye specifically was the picture on the paper. The picture of the little girl with her hair tied in pigtails.
"Reports of another disappearance in Fujiwara." Upa read aloud. "11-year-old Yuki Kanno, pictured right, was last seen on Monday the 14th, at Heavenly Host Elementary school, in the company of friends and a member of staff. This is the third such disappearance in 10 days, leading local authorities to suspect serial kidnapping as the cause. Authorities are hoping for a speedy resolution as they search for the missing children."
"That's the little girl from before." Nico observed, jabbing the picture with his finger. He used the cut finger, leaving a small smear of blood behind.
"Looks like she was victim to a serial killing. The boy was probably the same."
"Now they're killing people..."
It made sense, he supposed. He supposed that if ghosts were real and had to deal with all they felt in death, a young soul could be driven to the edge of insanity or compelled to seek revenge.
Kiji clearly wasn't up here. The two of them decided to return to classroom 1-A, but barely got down the stairs before they heard the teenage girl from before. She had moved now, sat up, recovered a little. She was still bleeding. "H...hel...p"
This time, Upa went to her, crouched in front of her to examine the wound. He was pretty sure she wouldn't survive. "I can't stop the bleeding or take away the pain." He told her honestly while Nico wandered around nearby.
"Where...s...My eye?"
"On the floor, over there." He pointed, and heard a squelch from that selfsame direction. "Nico?"
"Um...I stepped on something."
The girl looked horrified. "M...mmmy..."
"He stepped on some glass. Your eye is fine." That was a lie.
"I'm really sorry!" Cried Nico.
"It's okay." He turned back to the girl. "What's your name?"
"Ruri..."
"Ruri. I can't help you. Neither of us can. The infirmary is locked."
"You could blast the door down, Master! With qigong! It's an emergency so it's okay, right?"
Upa frowned. "That would attract a lot of unwanted attention. And you know I'm not going to carelessly use that in front of you, we've spoken about the risks involved."
"But I've taken my medicine this time! Honest! I had an exam right before we went to the game room!"
"Even so, you're too easily influenced. We're going back to the classroom, like I said."
"Aww. But it would be so cool and heroic!"
"We are going back to the classroom, and that's that." With that decision, they walked back in the direction of the infirmary.
As they turned the corner leading to the infirmary, they caught a glimpse of blue as someone went inside. It was unlocked? Had someone come and unlocked it while they'd been upstairs? The two shared an uneasy look and walked up to the door. Through the wood, they could hear a deep voice.
"I have friends too. I think I'd do a lot for them. They're kind of like family to me, but I know they can handle themselves in a bad situation..."
Upa recognised that voice. It was definitely someone he knew. He pulled the door open and the talking stopped. The man sat on the infirmary bed turned to look at him as he walked in. Kneeling in front of the man, on the floor, were two ghosts. The girl with the pigtails, Yuki, and another little girl. Her head was missing from the jaw upwards. Upa could see down her throat. Her tongue was missing.
"Hi old man!" Nico yelled happily as he bounced in. Qi raised his hand in greeting.
"Hey, guys." He replied, like nothing was amiss. Then he addressed the ghosts again. "These are two of those friends I told you about. Girls, these are Upa and Nico. Guys, these are Yuki and Tokiko."
The children giggled in response to his words.
"Qi, what do you think you're doing, you idiot?" Upa snapped. "Get away from them! They're dangerous!"
The children suddenly went quiet. Qi shook his head. "They've just been through a lot. I'm sure you can understand." He reached for something at his side, and passed them a piece of paper. A clipping from a newspaper. He held it out to Upa and Nico, and the former took it hesitantly, and began reading aloud.
"Four children abducted - followup report. The brutal, shocking murders of the kidnapped youths have now been traced back to the teacher found in the room with them. The bloodied scissors he was holding are confirmed to have been used to remove the victims' tongues, ultimately leading to death through excessive bleeding or asphyxiation. One child even had the majority of her head slowly and methodically removed. The children, pictured above..." Another illegible part. Considering he couldn't make sense of that sentence or anything after it, Upa saw no point in reading on. The picture above the article was of four children, three girls and a boy. The girl with pigtails, sat in the room with them, was labelled 'Yuki Kanno, age 11'. The little boy, the one they had seen before, 'Ryou Yoshizawa, age 8'. The other two girls were 'Tokiko Tsuji, age 7' and 'Sachiko Shinozaki, age 7'. "Qi, you can't let pity be your main driving force here. These children may have been through a lot, but they are dangerous, as is this place. They can and will hurt you, and we have seen them kill people. It may be hard to believe, but you are in more danger now than you ever have been!"
"They won't hurt me now." Qi insisted.
"We have to leave. Come on."
He shook his head like a stubborn child. Ironic considering he was the oldest one in the room. Nico held out his hand now.
"Please come with us, old man. It's scary here. I want us all to be safe."
One of the little ghost girls reached out and tugged at the leg of Qi's jumpsuit, and he gave her a smile. "It's okay, I'm not going anywhere." He promised them. "I'm going to stay here with Yuki and Tokiko."
Upa was considering dragging him out the door at this point. This was stupid. Maybe if he wanted to stay here and get killed by murder ghosts, they should just leave him. It might upset Nico a bit, but that wasn't his fault. It was Qi who was being stupid, as usual. The older man was now starting a story, telling the two little girls a fairy tale he knew.
"Um...Old man Qi?" Nico asked, stepping closer. Yuki was watching him approach with her one eye. "Couldn't you just come help us for a little bit? There's someone upstairs who needs some medicine."
"If you don't come with us, we'll leave you here and we won't come back for you." Upa added as an ultimatum of sorts. The older inmate stopped his story and gave them a look, an almost pleading look.
"I'm sorry, guys. I can't leave them. I really can't."
Ah.
Upa gave a slight nod to show he'd understood, then took Nico's arm again and led him out. All the way, Nico argued.
"Wait, we can't just leave him there! What if he gets hurt?"
Once he'd shut the door behind them, Upa leaned against it and sighed. He dropped his voice so those inside the infirmary wouldn't hear.
"It's not that he doesn't want to leave. It's that he can't. That's what he said. 'I can't leave'. 'I'm not going anywhere'. 'They won't hurt me now'. I think that Qi thinks if he tries to leave, they'll hurt him. Considering what we've seen so far, I wouldn't be surprised if that was right. If he keeps them distracted and entertained, they won't hurt him. If he tries to leave them, they won't hesitate."
"So what do we do?"
He thought for a moment. "If we find a way to distract the children, something else to entertain them, then we can sneak Qi away or give him time to escape. But we might not have enough time to get something we can use."
"What about a video game? Kids like games, right?"
"Where are we going to find a video game?"
Nico dipped his hand into his pocket, and pulled out a yellow handheld console. "It's the one Kazari gave me after the New Years Tournament! It's got every game imaginable, so there's got to be something the girls will like, right?" He looked at the thing with a sad smile. "I don't really want to get rid of it, I really like it and I fought hard for it, and if I give it to them I won't be able to show you that game after all, but if it'll save one of my friends then that's more important! I'd rather have my friends to play with than a game and nobody there."
Upa nodded. "If you're sure, we should try it."
Nico gave a firm nod and flung the door open again, bounding in.
"We're back!" Nico shouted, holding his game console above his head. "Sorry to interrupt story time! Yuki, Tokiko, come check this out!" He went over and showed them the device, smiling all the way. "I really wanted to show you! It lets you play video games. It's got just about any video game you could want on it. I don't know what kind you two like, but there's lots! Here, if you press this button..." The spirits turned their attentions to him, letting him show them how to run the thing. Neither of them were looking at Qi now. Upa, stood by the door, beckoned the adult over, and Qi quietly, slowly edged off the bed and walked over to him, keeping his eyes on the ghosts the whole while. He let out a slight sigh of relief when he was at Upa's side. After a moment, Nico stepped away from the ghosts and joined them. The girls were still holding the console, and Yuki was playing a game on it. Their attention was solely on that thing. Once together, the three inmates turned and went to the door, figuring it would be best to leave now, before things could get any worse. Their priority was to get out of here alive.
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