A/N: I'm honestly surprised that I've never seen this idea before. And I sort of went through the whole site with filters on. Maybe I'm just blind or something.
Well, nothing like writing stuff I would want to read myself, I guess.
I'm not a native speaker, so while I'm trying, the grammar might be off here and there. Fell free to point stuff out!

Chapter 1
The Third Choice

What Yuki just told them was like a slap in the face.

Their friends, the one that were still living - and wasn't that a terrifying sentence on its own - were still imprisoned in the Closed Spaces and there was no way for them to get out of there. Soon, they will suffer the fate of any other unfortunate soul that wandered into the Heavenly Host Elementary School.

Unless they go back and risk not only their lives, but their whole eternity.

One glance at Ayumi and that stubborn glint in her eyes told him everything Yoshiki needed to know. She already decided and was going to throw herself back into the nightmare only for the mere chance of saving somebody, anybody.

Yoshiki knew her well enough to tell that trying to talk her out of it was going to be helpless.

"Kishinuma..." she nervously licked her lips, her gaze locked onto him. "I know I shouldn't ask you about something like this, but..."

There was no need for her to finish the sentence. Yoshiki already knew what she wanted from him and he couldn't help himself, but shiver.

Yoshiki remembered all to clear her face, when she was overtaken by some nasty spirit and the mad laughter rang in his ears. His shoulder throbbed painfully and another shiver ran along his spine. He was still wet and cold too, from the time when another spirit made the girl jump into the dull waters of the pool.

It was the scariest moment of his life, when he understood what happened and when Yoshiki finally managed to drag her back on the surface, she wasn't breathing.

And now she wanted to go there again.

Yoshiki closed both hands into fists, hard enough to feel fingernails biting into his skin.

"Kishinuma?" Ayumi asked again.

There was only one thing he could do now.

Before Shinozaki could react in any way, Yoshiki grabbed her by the neck like a kitten and dragged out of the classroom, pushing her outside. Then he shut the doors closed and turned the key in the lock before she managed to react in any way.

"You... you bastard!" Ayumi growled and banged at the doors with her fists. "Open the doors! Now!"

"Sorry," Yoshiki said, shaking his head. "It's too dangerous for you."

"What are you-" she gasped, suddenly understanding. "You idiot, you don't know anything about ghosts!"

"I know what I have to do well enough."

Yuki explained it clearly enough. Appease Sachiko herself. Find a red statue for Satoshi, because it was important for some reason. Maybe it was creating a passage between both sides of the school? Otherwise they wouldn't be able to meet and they needed to if they wanted to get out of the Heavenly Host.

"But I...!" Ayumi protested.

"No," Yoshiki said again. "You're not going anywhere. I won't let you."

"You don't have any right to make this decision!"

Yoshiki snickered. Of course he didn't. But it hadn't stop him in the slightest. Knowing that Ayumi was here, safe and sound... it was all he needed to be at peace.

"Don't worry," he said softly, resting his forehead on the surface of the doors for a short moment. "I promise, I'll drag Mochida and everyone else back home."

"Don't you dare...!" Ayumi sniffed on the other side. "Don't you dare do it without me!"

He smirked and slowly stepped back, turning towards Yuki. The little dead girl was patiently waiting, her single eye observing his actions with the complete indifference. The unnatural dark shadows were already reaching hungrily towards him, like the darkness itself was about to swallow Yoshiki and the storm still roared on the outside, restlessly attacking the windows with wind and water. Only because the classroom didn't smell like something rotten Yoshiki knew that they still were in the real world.

"I'm going alone," Yoshiki said to the ghost. "Don't drag her back into the Heavenly Host, no matter what."

"I don't think I would be able to," Yuki admitted. "Even if I would want to."

"I'm glad."

The reality curled and twisted around him and the darkness swallowed him once again.

xxx

When Yoshiki grabbed her and dragged out of the classroom, Ayumi was too shocked to react in any way. He was never touching her like that. Hell, she was pretty sure he was doing everything he possibly could to avoid touching people at all. But even during these few times in the Heavenly Host, Kishinuma was more... delicate. Almost tender. Now it was completely different, his iron grip on her neck was strong enough to leave bruises.

Ayumi was already exhausted from all the running and fear of the last few hours. A dizzy spell caused her to lose her balance and before she regained it, Kishinuma slammed the doors shut.

The click of the lock sounded like thunderbolt in her ears.

No matter how hard she banged at the doors or how long she was screaming, the idiot just ignored her.

"What are you playing at?! Kishinuma!" There was no answer, because the classroom was already empty. She could feel it, Yuki's presence vanishing from this world.

Ayumi slowly slid down onto the floor, her side leaning on the doors. Her right hand scratched at the wooden surface despite the small pangs of pain going through her fingers. Her nails were completely broken and many small cuts and scratches has reopened.

"Just what the hell were you thinking?" she sniffed. "This is not the time to play the knight in the shining armor, dammit!"

He knew nothing about the ghosts or spirit world or anything at all. All he wanted was to get out of that school. Ayumi remembered his fury by the closed entrance doors way to well. It was scary, to see somebody loose it like that, especially somebody who was like Kishinuma – cold and snarky and impassive. The sudden explosion of fury freaked her as much as the ghosts that wandered through the corridors of the Closed Spaces.

So why he did that? Why did he decided that returning to that cursed place on his own was a good idea at all? He was going to die in there, they all were going to die and Ayumi couldn't do anything to help them.

"Yuki, dammit!" she smacked the doors once again. The hit was weak, but all the strength left Ayumi awhile ago. "Why did you listen to him?!"

Without the ghost of the little girl, there was no way back into the Heavenly Host.

Unless...

Ayumi straightened up and reached into her pockets, frantically searching pulling everything outside, afraid that even this could have slighted through her fingers. Her cell phone was still there and the battery hasn't died yet either.

With a shaking hands, Ayumi choose the contact list and then scrolled through it and picked Hinoe name. Her sister surely would be able to help. Hinoe always knew what to do to make it all better.

"Ayumi? Ayumi, where are you? What happened?" Hearing her sister voice... it felt so normal, so right.

"Can you come to my school?" she asked, her voice slightly shaking. "Please?"

"What happened?" Hinoe repeated the question and Ayumi was able to tell there was a tension in her voice.

"Just come," she said, because she couldn't force herself to tell the whole story over the phone.

"I'm on my way," Hinoe said with a sigh.

Ayumi exhaled deeply, feeling a first spark of relief in her heart. Everything was going to be fine, Hinoe was going to come and make everything fine. All Ayumi needed to do, was sit here and wait for the help.

She looked at the phone and frowned slightly, then slowly, with a shaking hands, started to go through the files.

The phone wasn't the newest model, but Ayumi liked it; it was a gift from Hinoe when she learned that her little sister became class representative in her new high school. Hinoe was so proud of her back then...

The memory card was just enough to store a few songs Ayumi liked and a bunch of photos. And there was the last file.

Ayumi heart skip a beat when she found it. She probably forget to delete it yesterday, when she returned with the printed doll she needed for that blasted ritual. There still was a way back to the Heavenly Host for her. Ayumi was sure there was a printer in the TI classroom. She just needed to go there and then tear up the Sachiko doll with Hinoe...

She swallowed. Would it be fair, to ask her sister to do something so dangerous? But there was just no other way.

Ayumi curled her legs up. Only now she noticed how cold it was in the empty corridor she was sitting in. The damp clothes couldn't keep her warm at all and the rain, ramming furiously at the windows wasn't helping at all. It was reminding Ayumi way to well about the rain pouring from the dark skies over the pool at Heavenly Host Elementary and the dull, dark waters that took away her breath.