Chapter 5 : The New Ruler
-Yoshiki woke up, with a stinging headache. He got up and took a good look around. Memories of wandering around this place with Ayumi flooded his mind.
Yoshiki : Ah, shit. This place again huh?
-Yoshiki sighed and scratched the back of his head. He wondered where Satoshi was.
Yoshiki: Satoshi, he was with me seconds ago.. Oh right, when you go to this goddamned place, you get separated with others when you wake up.
Yoshiki: Tsk, I hope no one dies this time. I suppose I should go and look for them.
-Yoshiki then proceeded to walk. He observed the place, and nothing changed. It's still the same Heavenly Host that he faced 10 years ago.
Yoshiki: Ayumi, Satoshi, Naomi, where the hell are you guys…
-While walking alone, he began to feel something… following him. He turned around, only to see nothing but an empty hallway.
Yoshiki: Tsk, must be my imagination.
-He began walking again. The feeling of something following him was still there, however, he just regarded this, convincing himself that this is all his imagination.
Yoshiki: Huh? What's that?
-He noticed something glowing from a distance. It was glowing… red. He continued to walk towards this mysterious faint glow of red.
Yoshiki: Agh! What the hell?!
-He bumped onto a wall, it was a dead end. Out of anger, he kicked the wall and walked towards the opposite direction. He encountered another wall. He looked left and right, walls surrounded him.
Yoshiki: A… trap?!
-He began to push the walls, he even tried to hit and kick them, these had no effects.
Yoshiki: Goddamn it! Help me! Anyone!
Yoshiki: Shit, what am I doing? No way that someone will help me here.
-He was trapped. He could hear nothing but his breathing and his heartbeat. He sat down and tried to used his phone. No signal. As expected, he thought. As he was about to keep his phone, it suddenly rang. This shocked him a little bit since the room he was in was very silent. He looked at the phone.
Yoshiki: What the hell?
-The phone didn't showed numbers, instead it showed : "Calling : *#&!(*#&#*". Out of curiosity, he answered it.
Yoshiki: H-Hello?
….. …zzzzz….zzzzz
Yoshiki: Hello?!
….. ….zzzzz…zz….zz.z….
?: You again?
-The voice sounded very familiar. Whoever it was, it was a girl, who sounded a bit mature.
Yoshiki: Who is this?!
?: I believe we've met before. You were with that Ayumi-girl before, right?
Yoshiki: Damn it, who is this?! How do you know her?!
?: I told you, we've met before. It's such a shame that you already forgot me. How shameful of you.
Yoshiki: Whoever the hell you are, get me out of here!
?: Oh my, that is not my doing. It is HER doing. I have no right to interfere with her wants.
Yoshiki: "her?" Who is she?
?: My, if I tell you right now, then wouldn't that ruin the whole mystery? Ahahahahahaha!
-Her laugh made Yoshiki's spine shiver. Her laughed sounded maniacal.
?: Anyways, as of now, 3 corrupted souls will appear in that very spot, and kill you.
Yoshiki: How can I get out?!
?: Hm? You can't. That's the fun part. SHE doesn't want any living souls to roam around.
Yoshiki: Wait, how do I-
?: Bye! Yoshiki!
Yoshiki: HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?!
-beep—
-He kept his phone back in his pocket and proceeded to think of a way to get out. He looked at the wall to find some sort of weak spot, nothing.
Yoshiki: Shit!
-His heart was beating so fast, like a bird trying to get out of its cage. His heart was the bird and his chest was the cage. He walked around the small trap room. Thinking of a way to get out.
Yoshiki: Damn it!
-He suddenly stopped, as he noticed something coming out from the floor.
Yoshiki: Damn it, the corrupted souls?!
-He attempted to stomp one of the corrupted souls arising from the floor. It suddenly held Yoshiki's foot.
Yoshiki: Huh?! Get your fucking hands off me!
-He struggled away from the grip of the corrupted soul. He suddenly heard a creaking sound from the wooden floor beneath him.
Yoshiki: Wait a minute….
-He examined the wooden floor board, it was weak. Walking on it too much might cause it to collapse.
Yoshiki: I have no choice.
-He began to stomp hard on the weak floor board, hoping to break a hole open and escape from the closed space.
Yoshiki: There better be a floor beneath me!
-The three corrupted souls finally emerged from the ground. They all looked at Yoshiki and began to walk towards him.
Yoshiki: Damn it damn it damn it! BREAK OPEN!
-He suddenly fell down, through the hole he created.
Yoshiki: AAAAAGGGHHHH!
*bump*
-Meanwhile.
Ayumi: Wait, did you guys hear that?!
Sakutaro: Hm?
Ayumi: That big bump, like something fell down hard on the floor, no one?
Mayu: I don't think I heard anything…
Ayumi: I think it came from over there!
-Ayumi then began to walk towards one of the rooms, leaving behind Sakutaro and Mayu.
Sakutaro: Hang on! Ayumi!
Mayu: Wait!
-Ayumi opened the room, he saw someone on the floor.
Ayumi: S-Satoshi?!
-Ayumi ran towards Satoshi. He was unconscious; she began to wake him up.
Ayumi: Satoshi! Satoshi! Wake up!
-He didn't respond.
Ayumi: Satoshi! Come on now! Satoshi!
-He suddenly coughed and he slowly opened his eyes, only to see Ayumi staring back at her.
Ayumi: Satoshi! You're awake!
Satoshi: A-Ayumi?
-She then hugged Satoshi, in the process, Satoshi blushed a little.
Satoshi: …Ayumi.. thanks.
-They both stood up and head out from the room.
Satoshi: Have you seen Yoshiki? I did the charm with him.
Ayumi: Hm.. no. But, I did found someone else.
Satoshi: Huh? Who?
Ayumi: Trust me, you know them.
Satoshi: Them?
-They finally met up with Sakutaro and Mayu in the hallway.
Sakutaro: There she is!
Mayu: Ayumi! We were worried! Where did you run off to? Wait, is that?
Sakutaro: Satoshi… Mochida?
Satoshi: Wait… Mayu? Sakutaro?
Mayu: Yes! It is us! And it's really you!
Satoshi: Wow! You guys are… souls now.
Sakutaro: Indeed..
-Mayu then faced Ayumi.
Mayu: Ayumi, I thought it was only you and Naomi?
Ayumi: Well, I kinda left a note in case they wanted to catch up, and they did, here he is now! But we need to find Yoshiki too.
Sakutaro: Hmm… should we find Yoshiki first? Naomi? Or Seiko and Ms. Yui's souls?
Ayumi: I don't know… Hmm….
Satoshi: Well I think we should find Naomi first, since she's been here longer, who knows what happened to her?
Mayu: He's got a point. Naomi's been probably circling the school for a long time now, and being alone is never a good thing in this place.
Sakutaro: And splitting up is NEVER a good thing I suppose. We all learned that before.. I guess we should find Naomi first, Yoshiki, and then Seiko and Ms. Yui's souls.
Ayumi: Yeah… I guess.
Mayu: Great, let's go!
-With Ayumi now with Satoshi, Sakutaro and Mayu, they began to look for Naomi and the others.
-Meanwhile in the infirmary….
Naomi: You… You're Sachiko Shinozaki… aren't you?
Sachiko: Yes.. I'am.
-Naomi sat down on one of the beds.
Naomi: You look different now… I'm guessing because.. we appeased you before.. right?
-Naomi couldn't help but still feel nervous around her.
Sachiko: Yes… you, along with your friends, were the ones who appeased me and brought me back to this form.
Naomi: Y-yeah….
-Naomi looked around, thinking of a question to ask her.
Naomi: My friends…. Who died here, are they still here as… souls?
-Sachiko looked at her straight.
Sachiko: Yes, but I no longer have the ability to manipulate them..
Sachiko: You see, when you appeased me, you have granted me the opportunity to rest in eternal peace.. But I chose not to.
Naomi: Huh?
Sachiko: You see, when you appease a soul, they are supposed to be granted an eternal rest, but no, I did not choose to rest.. I chose to stay here.
Naomi: But why?
Sachiko: I felt guilty.. I felt responsible for the things I've done. I wanted to change that by helping those who were stuck here, just like you years ago..
Naomi: So… if you're not the one ruling this place anymore… who is?
-Sachiko began to walk towards Naomi. She held Naomi's hands. To Naomi's surprise, she felt warmness from Sachiko's hand.
Sachiko: The new ruler is…
-The door of the infirmary suddenly opened. Naomi stood up and protected Sachiko. A familiar face suddenly began to walk in the infirmary, he was bleeding.
Naomi: Y-Yoshiki?!
Yoshiki: *inhale *exhale N-Naomi?
-Yoshiki suddenly fell to the floor.
Naomi: Yoshiki! Hey!
-Naomi ran to Yoshiki's side.
Naomi: His head is bleeding, Sachiko! Help me carry him!
Sachiko: O-okay…
-Naomi and Sachiko both carried Yoshiki and placed him on one of the beds.
Naomi: Oh god, how do we stop the bleeding?
Yoshiki: Damn… this…..
Sachiko: Wait.. allow me.
-Sachiko then held Yoshiki's bleeding head and a strong light emerged from her hands.
Yoshiki: H-huh?
Naomi: What… is this?
Sachiko: I'm healing him…
Naomi: Can all souls do this?
Sachiko: I don't know…
-Yoshiki's bruise on his head began to disappear, the bleeding soon stopped.
Naomi: Amazing..
Yoshiki: It's… gone.
Sachiko: …
-Yoshiki suddenly got up and moved away from Sachiko.
Yoshiki: Wait! It's you! That girl from before! You were the real murderer of those kids!
Naomi: Yoshiki, wait!
Yoshiki: Naomi! She's the one running this place!
Naomi: She was!
Yoshiki: Wait… what?
Naomi: She was the one running this place BEFORE. We successfully appeased her didn't we? I mean, look at her now.
-Yoshiki looked at Sachiko, wearing white clothes and having a faint glow of white, she resembled an angel.
Naomi: She also healed your head.
-Yoshiki held his forehead and noticed that his bruise was indeed, gone.
Yoshiki: I guess… she did.
-Yoshiki then looked at Sachiko
Yoshiki: Did you really change? You're not a psycho anymore?
-Sachiko simply nodded silently.
Yoshiki: Thank god.
-On that note, Yoshiki felt relaxed and sat down.
Yoshiki: I thought we were gonna deal with you again.
Naomi: Speaking of which, was Satoshi with you?
Yoshiki: Yeah, but when I woke up, he wasn't with me, I also got stuck in this closed walls and then someone called my phone and corrupted souls appeared and shit like that. I managed to escape by creating a hole on the floor, and I guess I fell down on my head pretty bad.
Naomi: Someone called on your phone?
Yoshiki: Yeah, but no numbers, just a bunch of gibberish characters mixed together. Plus, the caller was a girl. She had this weird voice and her creepy laugh.
Naomi: What did she tell you? What was her name?
Yoshiki: Not much, she told me that three friggin' corrupted souls are gonna come out and friggin' kill me, as for the name? Nothing, she didn't say it.
Naomi: Corrupted souls… like the ones who tried to attack me earlier.. before Sachiko here saved me..
Yoshiki: But hey, if Sachiko here is no longer the ruler of this place, who is?
Naomi: Yeah.. she was about to tell me before you showed up. So, Sachiko, who is the new ruler? This new ruler is the reason why we're all here.
Sachiko: Huh? How?
Naomi: Me and my friend Ayumi did this charm that allowed us to talk to the ones who died here and…
Yoshiki: So it did work?
Naomi: Yeah.. Our old friends who died here told us that someone here was enslaving them all and they needed OUR help.
Yoshiki: …..
Naomi: Sachiko, who is this person enslaving our friends?!
-All eyes are on Sachiko now. With that, she inhaled deeply and exhaled.
Sachiko:…..
….
….
Yuki…. Yuki… Kanno.
Naomi: Yuki.. Kanno?
Sachiko: The girl with one eye.
-Yoshiki and Naomi were both surprised. They remembered everything yet again so clearly. Before escaping from Heavenly Host, Yuki appeared before them and claimed that the school already chose a "new Sachiko". It was all coming back…
Yoshiki: No way! Yuki? But me and Ayumi appeased her! We gave back her tongue!
Sachiko: When someone becomes a ruler in this school… they are overpowered by corruption.
-Yoshiki remembers the time where he and Ayumi finally escaped Heavenly Host, where Yuki appeared in their classroom to bring them back to Heavenly Host to help them bring back their friends.
Yoshiki: But, she even helped me and Ayumi escape..
Sachiko: It's true.. that Yuki is gone..
-Yoshiki stood up from the bed.
Yoshiki: Yuki…. The girl… with one eye…..
-Ayumi, together with Sakutaro, Mayu and Satoshi, now begins to look for their other friends. Yoshiki and Naomi also finally figured out the new ruler of Heavenly Host with the help of Sachiko. Will they be able to reunite and find Seiko and Ms. Yui's souls? Who is the mysterious caller who talked to Yoshiki? And will they be able to encounter the new ruler of Heavenly Host?
Find out in the next chapter.