Naomi x Seiko: Stay with me (Corpse Party)

Part 31 "Nowhere to run"

Naomi's P.O.V

We're surrounded, darks silhouettes with red outlines drew in from every corner of the hall, drowning our last hope and the little ounces of effort we had stored for our survival. I took glances at everyone else who shared the same expressions as I. Ms Yui gripped tightly to Seiko's arm and I did too. Yoshiki grabbed Morishige and Mayu, they formed a circle to which they embraced each other, fearing the worst to happen. I wrapped my arm around Seiko's back and pulled her in closer, I put my other hand up to her face, wiping the tears she shed. "I love you...Seiko." I whispered to her as I also began to think that this was the end. I brought my head closer to her and lifted her chin towards mine, my lips met her's, they quivered from crying. I let go as I stared with worry into her eyes. As I looked, the shape of the figures appeared in the dim reflection on her glazed over eyes. My heart almost beat out of my chest before suddenly hearing children's voices in the distance, chanting some weird ritual thing, whatever it was, it made the figures freeze in place. "What's going on?" Yoshiki shouted. They chanting grew louder. "Supra spiritus mortuorum, an matrem desere capite vel impium pro aeterno in aeternum!" The unknown chanted again. To all of our surprise, the spirits began to moan in what it seemed in agony.

Some of them began to also grip the sides of their heads swinging them back and fourth, screams exhaled and echoed loudly throughout the hall. "Come here, huddle in!" Morishige turned around as he motioned his arm for us to gather near his makeshift circle. We all huddled next to each other, hands over shoulder style. The hall began to shake vigorously, like what it felt when we entered Heavenly Host. I looked behind us, my eyes opened wide as the malevolent spirits started to disappear one by one. I turned my head back to the others, they all closed their eyes, Yoshiki gritted his teeth and Mayu shed a tear or so. "They're disappearing!" I shouted. No-one moved a single inch. The moans from behind us, fell weaker before coming to a full stop. Everyone and thing, was in a dead silence. The vibrations had stopped as did the demonic chanting. "If you want to escape...you must follow me and my companions..." A voice, almost child like, whispered in the distance. I took my chances, I removed myself from the circle only for me to be stopped by Yoshiki's hand. I gently pushed them away and proceeded to where the voice called from, a bright light, luminous blue in colour, shon a mere two metres away from my wavy body. Someone came in front of me, obscuring my line of sight. "Nakashima! Get back!" Yoshiki's telltale voice spoke as his body shielded me from the blinding light.

"It might be dangerous...so stay back." He warned us lightly. I crept behind him, looking underneath his raised arm, the one that sheilded his eyes. A blue, motionless figure came into view before splitting into three other silhouettes, these two varying in size. The middle one stood taller then the other two, on its left, a shorter figure, the other just in the middle of both sizes. "Doesn't blue represent non-violent ghosts?" Yoshiki tossed a question. That's right! Wasn't Yuki a blue one, speaking of which, she hasn't been with us for most of our journey through this hell. I contemplated on many other things before noticing the forthcoming spirits. It was Yuki! Two others but I couldn't remember their names, I remember hearing about what happened to them though...poor kids. One of them, had been decapitated from the jaw up leaving the bottom of jaw intact with the rest of the head down. The one boy of the three, had been stabbed numerous times in the abdomen before having his tongue cut out thus resulting in his most likely demise of blood loss. The last one, Yuki, had her left eye gauged out and her tongue snipped off with the same pair of scissors used to kill the other children with. Because of their efforts last time, Ayumi and Yoshiki managed to appease the spirits with their missing tongues, which inevitability set them free. This gained their bodies back, returning them to the way they used to look like before died at the hands of a little girl.

"You said something about knowing a way to escape, right?" I repeated what she had said earlier. She smiled and nodded. "They way you did it before would still work only if it wasn't changed..." Yuki tilted her towards the ground. Many gasps formed behind me. Changed? What does she mean? The pieces that we needed to find for us to get out of here wouldn't...work? "What do you mean...Changed?" Mayu quietly asked from behind Morishige. "The person that carried out this ritual changed it by having you find all of the pieces located around the perilous twists and turns of the schools hallways. Even if you found all of the pieces, the return charm would have aborted on itself, making it futile to even try finding another way. It needed to have been done like you originally did it, with all of you ripping a singular piece yourself, not having someone doing it for you." Yuki continued to stare down at the ground. "So, what's the other alternative?" Ms Yui asked her. "Do any of you have a special objects, photos or relatives here, anything that means a lot to your person, if so, you can use it as a way back into the reality you came from previously." Yuki looked up whilst looking around for an answer. My necklace! The one Seiko gave to me when we got here...the one for my Birthday...that's right! I left it behind..."I left my necklace back in one of the classrooms..." I teared up as I remember leaving it behind soon after she gave it to me. "Nakashima. What did it look like?" Morishige's voice softened as he asked. "It was golden in colour, elaborate in decoration, it had my name engraved on the side of it and Seiko on the other...it had a picture of us on-" I stopped as Morishige walked towards me, he stuffed his hand through his pocket, feeling about for something.

"When I escaped from Ayumi, I was rummaging through classrooms for stuff and I came across this." With that said, he pulled out a small, golden, photo frame necklace. I was astonished, the one thing I promised to look after ended up being left behind only to show up at a time in need. He held it out with both hands, I didn't pick it up, but I did open up the picture frame, there it was, the photo of Seiko and I, still safe and sound in there. "I was gonna give it to Mayu as a present, I didn't have time to have a look inside as I felt tephe presence of someone watching me, thus I legged it out of there, taking it with me. This belongs to you." He smiled as he opened my hand and placed it on my palm. "I'm sorry Seiko!" I sniffed. "Aw, don't be, as long as you have it now to escape, its okay. She reassured. "Here!" She said. Seiko spun my body around and took the necklace out of my palms. She unclipped it delicately and put it around my neck gently. I felt my hair move to the side as she put it on. "There! Beautiful as always!" Seiko smiled her signature grin. I returned her one too. Wait! What about the others? What are they going to use? "Seiko. I can give you the photo in my necklace, that way you have something to connect with reality." I reasoned as I started to take out the embedded photo. "Thank you Naomi! I don't know what I would've done without you helping me out." She giggled. "I have my necklace too, a friend of mine gave it to me, I've worn it ever since." Ms Yui pointed out her childish but yet cute panda necklace. "I have my phone. I used it to take photos of my friends and the moments we all shared together, even though it won't turn on now, it still signifies a lot." Morishige theorised. Yoshiki and Mayu were the only ones without anything yet. "I- I don't have anything..." Mayu said with a dejected tone. "Wait! This might sound stupid but...Your hair tie.." Yoshiki added in. "Did someone give it to you when you were little or something?" It was a thought but I think most of us didn't expect much from it. "No..." Mayu slumped her shoulders. "Last time, I used my power to return Yoshiki and Ayumi back to Kisaragi, I could probably do it again for you Mayu!" Yuki mentioned. "Really? Then I will take that chance!" Mayu cheered up a bit more. "Now its just me...I don't know if this'll work but..." Yoshiki started as he pulled out his student ID card. "...It's part of a birthday card my sister gave to me after I was kicked out of the house...I kept it because... I've never gotten anything from anyone after all of that, my sister was the only one that actually cared about me." Yoshiki and told his story. It was sad to learn more about Yoshiki, even though he looks and sometimes acts like the stereotypical delinquent boy, he's actually got a background that tells a sad story. Well, that's everyone that can go back home. Suddenly, footsteps approach us from down the hallway, growing louder with every step. HELP ME!!! It was a female voice. "Another ghost maybe?" Ms Yui asked. We didn't answer, we just listened. Before next, Yoshiki was tackled to the ground by an unknown suspect. We turned our heads in shock, not expecting this at all. What's going to happen now, will our plan of escape be foiled?

So close but yet so far...
To the exit...
To reality...