Things Can Go Wrong

Chapter Thirty One

JACK

My alarm rings, and I do my usual morning routine before heading out of my parents' house, smiling to myself. As annoying as these past few weeks have been for me and the gang, we've decided to just try and at least have fun today, and we believe that we can make some good memories out of the school festival. We all arranged to meet each other outside of school thirty minutes before registration, and surprisingly, everyone is on time.

As we walk in, we notice that the school has been decorated with lots of coloured statues, banners and tables, along with several posters all congratulating us high school students across this first term. In some ways this shocks us, as just yesterday the school was just a regular Japanese high school, which seemed fairly bland and dull in retrospect.

We branch off to our classes, and I walk to class with Aisuru happily, Mr Eko welcomes us in twenty minutes before registration, and he has also decorated his class. There are sets of light shows projected onto the ceiling, along with several coloured streamers and banners around the room. On his whiteboard is a message in Japanese saying "Have a great summer everyone! It's been a pleasure teaching you this term."

Mr Eko quickly registers us and before long, we are given free reign of the school. As we walk out of class, the school turns from a quiet and respected community to one of pure freedom. Couples run past me and Aisuru, holding hands and laughing with each other, and we both smile at each other as we walk down to our main field where we would usually meet for lunch.

Once we see the rest of the gang in the distance, Aisuru runs to Kirai, and hugs him, laughing. All of us form in the middle of the field and chat for around an hour as the smell of cotton candy, ice cream and chicken lingers. It isn't long before for the first time in ages we are truly smiling and laughing with each other. This continues into the rest of the morning, and I feel extremely content.

I decide to go to the bathroom and then get some food for the rest of the gang, so I make my way past what feels like hundreds of food and drink stalls and after around five minutes of walking, I find the nearest bathroom stall. Once I'm finished, I check my phone to see the time; it is currently 12:18 pm. I walk out of the bathroom cubicle before realizing that this is the same bathroom where I found the graffiti from Satsujin, and as I cast a look to the same wall that I found the graffiti on, a lot of memories come back, particularly the time that Tanoshi left the room crying after I showed the photos of the graffiti to the gang.

I brush the thought from my mind, and begin to walk out of the bathrooms. After a few minutes of walking, however, I somehow find myself lost. This happened before in the same spot, but I actually asked someone for help on how to get back, but this time, I don't see anyone in the distance to help me.

So, I walk on, hoping to find my friends. At first, the walk is quite pleasant, and despite not being with my friends, I somewhat enjoy myself. However it does feel strange being in a school which inside is completely empty. I feel like I'm in a psychological horror game, and that at any second some kind of blood infested, tentacled monster could jump out at me, tackle me to the ground and then plant eggs inside my heart.

I then immediately realize that that's basically what Aliens is, and I chuckle to myself. The chuckle comes out a lot louder than I expect, and I shut my mouth quickly before I continue walking. It isn't long before I hear footsteps from either side of me, and I quickly glance to see... no-one.

I keep walking, unfazed by the strange footsteps and find myself at a dead end, greeted by a corridor of science classrooms which I have never seen before. I turn the opposite way and sigh to myself. I check my phone and discover that it is now 12:49 pm. I open WhatsApp and text our group chat.