Emma’s POV
It was mid-morning and everyone in school was talking about the upcoming event, ‘Rags Day’ and the mystery behind the death of Yua’s family.
“According to the news, the police said it was the work of a Barusa Town’s Serial Killer,”
“Really?”
“I thought they already caught the killer,”
“No, it was a copy-cat killer,”
“What’s that?”
“Someone who copies a serial killer’s crimes!” one explained. “I heard after they caught the copycat killer, the real killer stayed quiet for three months before striking again.”
“But that doesn’t explain Yua’s appearance in the school,” a student pointed out.
“Yeah! I saw her pictures on the news last week! She was still wearing her school uniform!”
A student gulped. “Does this mean she was a g…ghost?”
“I heard she killed her family and committed suicide because of what happened the other day.”
“Shh! Don’t say that!”
“Why?”
“I heard if you mention that or say her name four times, she would appear and strangle you,”
One of the students groaned, “It’s those pranksters' fault! They planned the whole thing!”
“No Sara is the one to blame. I heard one of them say something like that! She planned the whole thing!”
“Yeah! It was her idea!”
I roll my eyes at the rumors because I know the truth. Well, Bae and I knew the truth but we made an oath not to say anything. No one was going to believe us anyway. A look at the school’s website where Bae published her articles I read the latest one about the incident and wasn’t surprised to see it didn’t mention the incident we had last night nor the rumors circulating the school but it had a eulogy about the late student, the date of the funeral and a piece about bullying among students mentioning a certain student.
‘Sara is not going to like this,’ I smirked turning off the phone. ‘But I have to talk to Bae about her method when dealing with supernatural events.’
“Take this down right now! I am serious!”
“Again,” I muttered walking towards the direction of the Journalism Club and saw one of the members of the student council yelling at Bae.
“What is going on here?” I asked.
With an annoyed look on her face, Kiyoto looked at me and then pointed at the sign above the room making me look at the sign.
Now it was my turn to frown. “Seriously Bae?”
The girl shrugged nonchalantly and looked at her handy work with pride; ‘Investigation into the Crime and Supernatural Club.’ and upon closer inspection, I could see the name was carved with wood and painted with a shiny gold color.
“I spent all night making it myself,” she said her eyes glowing with pride. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It’s hideous!” Kiyoto yelled, “Take this down right now!”
“Nope,” Bae took out a paper with the school’s stamp from her bag and gave it to Kiyoto. “I got permission from the Guidance Counselor to authorize this club and she gave me permission to rename it too!”
Kiyoto’s eyes quickly scanned the paper, scrunched up the paper tossed it over her shoulder. “Well, I disagree! We have an event coming up! What will they say when they see this?”
“Save your energy Kiyoto for we all know what Rag’s Day is all about,” I say.
“Yes. It is a day dedicated to students who graduated from the school. The event is also dedicated to the teachers who once worked in this prestigious school.” Kiyoto explained with pride. “Most of the graduated students are part of the important people in the society and we don’t want them to see this and start asking questions about the…”
Her voice trailed off at that part and I cocked an eyebrow at her. “There is no shame in saying it you know,”
She pursed her lips as she grimaced and folded her arms while averting her eyes. Bae shrugged and gave her another paper for her to read.
“What is this?” I ask.
“Permission to be in attendance for the event,” Bae replied.
Hearing this, Kiyoto tossed it away! “No way! You have caused enough trouble!”
Bae stomped her foot in protest and I think I heard a tile crack. “Why? This is the first major event the school has and I have to be there to write an article about it. I also heard all the Student Council members and some of the students are going to attend so what’s with us coming?”
I raise my hand in protest. “Not me! I don’t want to come to that.”
“Why not?” Bae asked.
“I have to meet my therapist on that day!” I reply knowing fully well that I was lying.
Bae shot me a frown while Kiyoto shrugged. “Well, you are not on the list of students invited to the event so it’s none of my business. Not to mention alcohol will be served on that day. We don’t want too many students getting drunk.”
“Aren’t you too young to drink?” I ask.
“Yep but I know how to hold my alcohol,” she replied pumping her fist in the air and laughing. “Relax, I was just kidding.”
Then the bell for class rang. “Well, it looks like you two will have to go to class! We have to make sure the hallways are empty to prevent what happened last time.”
I just nodded and walked to my class leaving Bae to argue with Kiyoto. It was a Wednesday and during club activities, I decided to wander around the school and noticed the layout of the whole school except for a few changes; the hedge maze was replaced with a garden serving as the venue for the Archery Club. The Music Club was no longer a club where classic musical instruments could be played. Instead, there was a full-on band with electric guitars and girls dressed as Pop Idols.
“Wow! Things have changed around here,” I thought out loud. “But where is the…
“Excuse me,”
Turning around, I saw a scrawny-looking boy with blond hair styled in a clear fringe cut and emerald eyes but he had a warm smile on his face.
“Hello,” he tilted her head to the side. “How are you today?”
‘That head tilt.’ Something flickered in my vision making me see his face for a split second and it made my heart skip a beat creating a headache.
“Are you right?” he asked tilting his head to the other side. “You look pale,”
“Am…I’m fine thank you,” I reply taking deep breaths to regain my fuzzy vision. “I am fine. Can you tell me your name please?”
“Oh how rude of me,” he stood up straight and took a bow, “My name is Ren Nakamura. I was picked to be a replacement for the late Hiroko Nakagawa.”
I heaved a sigh of relief and took a closer look at his features; he was slightly shorter than him with a round face, huge eyes, and a cute smile giving him a boyish appearance. What destroyed it was the fact that his smile was a little creepy and the fact that he tilted his head from time to time.
“I could not help but notice you were walking aimlessly around the school premises.” His bright smile widened. “Is something wrong?”
“No.” I get a grip on myself and turn around to avoid his face. “Now if you excuse me…”
“I am sorry to intrude but if you aren’t busy, I would like to thank you for what you did last time.” He said. “It was thanks to you, people are going to take the security seriously. I am sorry to ask but do you have any weapons on you?”
The question made me suspicious and I think the frown on my face made it obvious. “No. I don’t.”
He clapped his hands in glee. “Splendid! Now please allow me to escort you to your desired club. I heard the Martial Arts club is looking for new members.”
We went to the Martial Arts Club and it was empty except for a girl who was practicing on the dummy.
“Hello Nozomi Nakamura,” Ryo greeted. “Are you busy?”
The blond-haired golden-eyed girl wearing a taekwondo uniform adorned with a green belt stopped practicing and turned to us. “What is she doing here?”
“She is interested in the Martial Arts. I was wondering if I could talk to your leader to see if she can join the club.”
“No,” she sent a kick straight at the dummy’s thigh.
“Come on,” Ryo begged while taking a step forward.
“Don’t tell me otherwise,” she snapped looking straight at me.
“Nakamura!” a tall muscle-built man with a bald head walked into the room. “Patience,”
The girl huffed and glared at me. “Don’t do it Sensei. She’s bad news.”
I followed her with my eyes until she left the room and then looked at the man. “She is quite a feisty one isn’t she?”
He gave a gruff sound with his throat, crossed his legs, and sat down on the mat then he gestured for us to do the same. I kneeled and looked at Ryo who sat on the mat with his legs crossed awkwardly.
“So you want to join the Martial Arts Club eh?” he asked.
Ryo nodded as I stared into his brown eyes and took note of his tanned skin. From his muscle-bound body, I could tell he exercised and practiced martial arts a lot but how much does this guy know to help me?
“What martial arts do you want to learn?” he bellowed.
“Tai Chi,” I replied
He laughed loudly. “Tai Chi? What are you, an old lady?”
“No sir. I just want to learn something to help still my mind gain control of myself because Tai Chi originates from Kung Fu and it is an exercise that improves strength, flexibility, and conditioning and balances all the things found in kung fu and taekwondo.” I replied. “Not only that, I learned it has a therapeutic effect on the mind and body something my therapist recommended for me to help with my condition.”
The Martial Arts instructor looked at me for a moment and grinned. “Wow! The grasshopper knows her martial arts!” then he placed his hand on my shoulder. “Welcome to the club! We will start tomorrow! Don’t be late!”
I thank him and we leave the club room.
“Tai Chi has a therapeutic effect on a person’s mind and body?” Ryo asked.
“Yes,”
“Wow! I didn’t know that!”
His cheerful attitude was starting to annoy me so I walked faster than him until he was out of view. When I arrived in the club room the next day, all the club members, and gave me a suspicious look on her face. Fortunately, a woman in her early twenties walked in, introduced herself as my instructor, and took me to the venue which was the Japanese Garden on the west wing. Our first training session was hard because I was stiff in so many places and made mistakes but she was patient with me.
“You did well today,” She said as we walked back to the club room. “We will try again next week on Monday.”
Giving a wry smile, I punch my fist into my hand and take a bow. “Thank you Sensei,”
On my way to the girl’s changing room, I passed by a group of students who saw me and started whispering amongst themselves.
‘Gossips.’
“Emma Cross-Wood, please report to the Student Council office immediately.” A voice through the loudspeaker announced.
The gossiping stopped abruptly and all eyes were on me. Annoyed, I quickly buttoned up my uniform and exited the building.
“I am sorry to interrupt your club activities but I have a favor to ask of you,” Magic said once he sat down.
“Why don’t you do me a favor and stop announcing my name on the announcement speaker?” I ask taking a seat in front of him. “It’s getting annoying.”
He leaned back and heaved a huge sigh. “I want you to attend the event the school is hosting during the weekend.”
“Rags day?”
He nodded.
“Why would you want me to attend that event when I am the reason why events like this were banned in the first place?”
What followed next was silence as we remembered what happened on that fateful day. One of my bullies soaked me with water so I had to go and change my clothes in the girls changing room but I was met with an empty locker. One of the students told me where it was so I ran into the hall in my towel and the teachers walked in on me gathering my clothes. Pictures of me were plastered all over the school and that was one of the reasons why the Guidance Counselor decided to turn her office into my locker.
The silence in the room was fragile until Magic sighed deeply. “That’s why I want to make amends with you but are not making things easy. Besides, we have stomped out bullying in this school.”
I scoff. “That will be the day pigs fly.”
“I am serious.” He stood up.
“Tell that Yua Wanatabe; the girl who was bullied for smelling bad and found dead in her parents’ home!”
“Emma,” he paused for a moment before heaving another huge sigh. “I think coming to this event would be good for you considering what you have been through. Everyone is looking forward to seeing you.”
“Are you implying that I am the ‘star attraction’ for this event?” I asked.
“Yes. That is exactly what I am implying,”
I didn’t know what annoyed me more, his bluntness or his attitude towards the fact that he was trying to use me as some marketing campaign for this school. My face slowly transformed from a glare to that of fake defeated frown before I gave a huge sigh.
“You can bring a friend over if you want to,” He added. “Just make sure it is a responsible person.”
It didn’t erase the frown from my face but it did give me an idea of who I need to bring to the event.
“I can’t believe they gave you a free pass to come to Rags Day and you invited me!” Bae chirped loudly jumping up and down with her camera in hand. “Oh, I am so honored! Who should I interview first? Should I talk to the teachers or the ex-students? But talking to the teachers may seem a little unorthodox especially the ones I have gotten in trouble with…”
I groaned inwardly as she talked on and ignored the looks people were giving us as they walked by but I had to admit the place looked amazing! The decorations were beautiful and an organized blend of green and blue, filled to the brim with authentic food and drinks, servers walking around with silver platters, and a live band playing some traditional music. However, what didn’t surprise me was the lingering gaze everyone gave me as I walked by despite wearing a purple shirt and blue jeans complete with light purple high heels. Bae unfortunately was dressed in a dark blue suit with a nametag pinned on her chest, tied her hair to a bun, and was trying (and failing) to walk around in the black stilettoes. At least her make-up was moderate.
“Oh! Emma look!” she pointed at a space adorned with a huge poster. “They are taking pictures there!”
“Yes, I can see that,” I replied knowing what she was going to say next.
“Can we take a picture? Please?” she asked.
I nod and we let the photographers there take out pictures. Bae tried to take a few selfies of us but she was having a hard time getting my face thanks to our height difference so I crouched down to her level and we took a proper selfie.
“Wow! This camera is amazing!” she gasped tapping on the safe option only to see a notification on the screen. “Hey!”
“What’s wrong?”
“They said my memory is full!” she pouted a bit then heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s a false alarm.”
“Thank goodness,”
“Should we check out the pool area?” she asked.
“As long as you can walk in those,” I point at her feet. “They are swelling up.”
She only smiled back but I knew she was in pain. So I suggested we go to the buffet to get something to eat before heading to the pool.
“Wow I am starved!” she chirped scooping mouthfuls of food into her mouth until she frowned. “What’s this?”
“It’s risotto,” I replied chucking another spoonful of the rice in my mouth.
“Oh,” she grimaced at the plate. “Oh,”
“What’s the matter? Don’t you like the food?” I ask.
She sighed and leaned back on the table. “No. I thought it was rice porridge or something. Now it got me craving for fried rice and omelet.”
“I’ll make that for you as long as you don’t enter my kitchen,”
“Awee Emma! I am not that bad you know,” she whined.
“Says the person who destroyed my wok the other day. I am still mad at you for that.”
“Awee!”
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
Bae flinched at the sinister tone of the voice while I rolled my eyes to heaven.
“I wonder what two people like you are doing in an event like this,” the voice said. “Aww, such a pity?”
I brought my cup of water to my mouth and flipped her the bird. “Save your second-hand comments for your second-hand boyfriends, slut.”
Bae spat out her drink in shock and a hand slammed on the table clinking the items on the table followed by a growl.
“At least I didn’t fall in love with a psychopath that turned me insane!” she snapped.
“At least the psychopath stuck around longer than your panties,” I fired back.
“Excuse me?”
I finally turned to look at Makiko Takeda and see she was wearing a short dress with a long slit trailing from her hips to her ankles exposing the tattoo of a rose on her thigh and was adorned with a huge necklace and earrings decorated with huge green emeralds. Next to her was a middle-aged man with tanned skin wearing sunglasses, a white suit with a black tie matching with his black shoes, and sporting a goatee on his face. The sight of the man’s long hair tied to a ponytail made me shiver but I immediately remembered that he liked to tie his hair in a traditional way and hated gelling it because I disliked gelled hair.
There was also something else I noticed about them and it made me smirk.
“Whoa! Who is this handsome person?” Bae asked easing the tension.
The slut hummed, clasped her hand over his arm, and leaned her head on his shoulder. “He is my father,”
“That’s a blunt way to put it,” I muttered looking at Bae who did a double take at the man who smiled back at her and lowered his glasses to get a better look at her but I knew what he was looking at.
“Umm…he doesn’t look like a father to me,” Bae politely pointed out.
“What makes you think that?” he asked wearing a smirk on his face.
“I…I am so sorry sir but anytime I see someone's father, he looks like a responsible person looking person and has that protective aura around him. You sir..." she squinted her eyes. "You don't emit that aura and smells funny,”
Makiko frowned and so did the man.
“It’s a good thing you recognized the odd smell coming from him Bae because that’s the cologne people use to cover up their deeds,” I say taking another sip of my drink.
“Huh?”
“That man is her Sugar Daddy, not her father."
Bae was shocked. “What?”
“How dare you?” the slut shouted. “What proof do you have?”
“The first thing is the fact that both of you are late but because you don’t take punctuality to heart I’ll let it slide. The second thing is the rushed makeup you did on your face. The third thing I noticed was the sweating underneath his armpits and the trickle of sweat dripping down your neck.” I point out. “There is a hickey on his neck, something red on his color matching your lipstick, and bruising on your inner thigh indicating something else happened or am I wrong?”
The man’s bushy eyebrows flew up and slut’s face turned red. Bae on the other hand noticed something budging in his pocket and pointed at it with her pen.
“Is that a gun?” she asked.
He shuffled to adjust the item in his pocket.
“No. The item is too small and square to be a gun but too big to be his wallet,” I turned around on my seat and grinned at them “It’s a full box of cigars. That’s why they are wearing the cologne.”
Suddenly, the slut grabbed his arm and dragged him away. Watching them run across the hall gave me a victory I needed. So I lean back on my chair and swirled the cup of water in my hand.
“That was impressive,”
‘There goes my victory party,’ I open my eyes to see the Guidance Counselor staring at me with a stoic look on her face and pursing my lips.
“Oh, hello Ms. Mishema!” Bae greeted. “How are you today?”
“I’m fine. Thank you,” she replied not taking her eyes off me. Then she turned to look at her. “Go and interview those young men standing over there. They are former students and from what they told me, they would love to share their high school stories with you.”
Hearing this, Bae’s eyes glowed with excitement as she rushed (hobbled) towards the group of men wearing matching black suits laughing amongst themselves while holding drinks in their hands.
“You are sending a fifteen-year-old to interview a bunch of men drinking alcohol?” I ask.
“Don’t worry. I made sure there was no alcohol in this event I made sure of that,” she took a seat on the chair across from me. “I am sorry, were you eating?”
“I was until Makiko made me lose my appetite,” I ruefully push away my plate. “Can I help you?”
“No but I want to help you,” she replied adjusting her glasses. “How has been your relationship with your therapist?”
I shrug in response and cast my eyes to where Bae is watching the men laugh while taking sips of their cocktails.
“Let me rephrase that; how have been your therapy sessions?”
This time I groan. “Not as productive as I thought.”
“Why do you say that?”
“It’s always the same thing. He keeps telling me to forget what happened to me and it’s easier said than done because…” I pause in my rant and look away. “I am sorry,”
“No it’s okay,” she adjusted her glasses. “So he wants you to forget what happened to you. Why?”
“He told me it was something about the memory being a disease. According to him, he sees the memory of what happened to me as a plague destroying my mind and preventing me from being a normal citizen in society,” I chuckled ruefully and put the cup towards my lips. “Like my life was normal from the beginning.”
“What makes you think that?” she asked.
“I…well…” The itch in my head only got worse so I took a deep breath and looked down. “I…”
A soft hand touched my shoulder and I flinch on instinct making her move her arm away.
“You flinch when being touched without your knowledge,” she observed. “And I noticed you don’t like crowded areas that is why you prefer to be alone in secluded areas and empty hallways.”
Her words made the gears in my head turn because I remember telling my therapist something similar; I don't like crowded places and hated loud noises but he kept telling me that I needed to push the uncomfortable feeling aside and try to fit into the school system.
“Are you going to judge me on that?” I asked.
“No. I don’t judge the person suffering from the illness. I judge the illness itself.” was her reply. “If you allow me, I can help you.”
‘I knew it,’ I thought probing my elbow on the table. “What do you want?”
“Nothing,”
I didn’t buy that and she knew it thanks to the suspicious look on my face.
“I am the Guidance Counselor of this school. So I have to help my students no matter the situation they are in,” she added. “And I want to let you in on a little secret.”
“What is it?”
“The medications they prescribed for you were dangerous.”
That got my attention. “What?”
She looked around and slipped me a folded piece of paper. “I had to travel out of town to get the drugs tested in a laboratory and the lab technician told me that most of the drugs are illegal.”
“Illegal?” I unfolded the piece of paper and tried to read the contents. “I don’t understand.”
“The drug ‘RestoRelief’ was used to cure schizophrenia but many studies show that it causes hallucinations making the symptoms worse. ‘Sleep Ease Plus’ has a chemical that aids sleep but one mistake in the dosage can cause death. They are yet to know what the rest of the drugs do but they recommended that no one should take the drugs. Especially a girl your age.”
What she said shocked and I stared back at the paper slowly remembering the day they gave me the drugs three months ago instructing me to take them for three days interval.
“You haven’t been taking the medications haven’t you?” she asked breaking my line of thought.
“No,” I muttered folding the paper back and putting it in my pockets. “I flushed most of the drugs down the toilet except the painkillers. Lately, I have stopped taking the sleeping pills.”
She gave a quick nod and quickly left. I watched her take her leave and look at the water in my cup still thinking about what she just told me. The drugs they have been giving me were harming me so if I hadn’t been flushing them down the toilet…
I sighed deeply at the thought and leaned back on my chair watching the party go by. To be blunt it was boring; people were standing in groups having a conversation amongst themselves, and the members of the student council were walking around the place except Ruri and Kiyoto who were seen talking to some men in suits. Bae surrounded by the men was furiously writing something on her notepad and the three ‘Queens of the School,’ were standing in the corner were pointing at people while making snide remarks and giggling.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves except me. Standing up from my seat, I pat the paper in my pocket and left the auditorium walked towards the direction of the school’s pool and saw a sign indicating it was closed. Typical. So I went down the lane and bumped into another male student who was wearing the uniform of the Cooking Club and carrying a tray full of appetizers.
“S…sorry,” he muttered raising the tray to my face. “P...peace offering?”
Is this how they get someone to try their food? I shrug take a bite of the octopus cake and smile.
“I like it,” I say giving him a seductive smile.
He blushed and gave me a weird look while trembling. Still batting my eyes at him, I finished the cake and picked another one.
“I…If you want to e…eat m…more you can come to the C…cooking club,” he stammered looking down.
I nod, and follow him to the Cooking Club where two girls are rolling out the dough on the small island.
“Did you remember when Georgia left the rag on the stove?” one asked the other who was holding the rolling pin.
“Yeah. She nearly set the clubroom on fire.” replied the other.
They laughed but stopped when I walked in. As usual, whispering filled the air as the male student took out a paper bag and picked up some kitchen tongs.
“Th…these are f...fresh out of the o…oven,” he stammered picking up one of the cakes. “H…how m…many do you n…need?”
“Four please,” I replied and watched him put it into the bag. Then he folded the top and stapled it. “Thank you. Do you have any sweets?”
He nods and brings out another paper bag then we heard footsteps walking into the room followed by a nasty smell of alcohol. I turned to see a man standing at the entrance with a somber expression on his face and a disheveled appearance.
“Kaito Suzuki?” he asked.
We looked at the male student who was bagging my goods and he muttered something under his breath before answering. “Y…yes?”
The man gave a weak smile and staggered towards his direction. Acting on instinct, I step in between them but he stopped a few feet away from me and groveled before us. “I am sorry,”
Now I could really smell the stale alcohol from him and grimaced at the stench but he apologized again and again until Kaito finally said the words, ‘It’s okay,’. The man stood up, smiled weakly, and walked out of the club room leaving behind the stench.
“Eww!” one of the girls exclaimed covering her nose. “He stinks!”
“I do not mean to be rude Kaito but who was that man?” the other asked staring directly at the boy who stiffly shook his head and continued to bag the cakes.
Then the temperature in the room dropped creating goosebumps on my skin and one of the girls rubbed her arms looking at her companion. My smile faded into a suspicious frown but I didn’t have time to look around me when the boy gave me the paper bags full of cakes.
“Thank you,”
“C…come a…any t…time,” he replied.
“I will,” and I walk out of the room.
To get the gritty image of the stinky drunk man apologizing for whatever he did, I decided to head down to the basketball court to meet up with Bae and we watched the match between the ex-students and the teachers. The teachers won three to one but the ex-students won in the swimming competition three to four. There was also an archery contest and a soccer competition as well and one of the teachers, Mr. Yui helped his team to take home the golden trophy.
“I have to admit, this has been kind of fun,” I said.
Bae grinned and punched her hand in the air. “That is the spirit. Nothing can ruin this perfect time of the school year.”
Suddenly, we here a high pitched scream coming from the school’s auditorium. Looking at each other in a quick second, we ran there and squeezed through the crowd to see what they were looking at. Hanging in the air and swinging to and fro from the rope on the stage was the same man who had apologized to Kaito a few hours ago; his eyes were sunken in and his mouth was slightly open revealing his tongue.
“What…that just happened?”
“Who would do this?”
“Did he commit suicide?”
“Why would he do this?”
“What was wrong with him?”
Lights flickered and I felt the temperature in the room drop. A ghostly presence was here.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOIMo7eII4
