Corpse Party: The Choices We Make

Disclaimer:I do not own any Corpse Party related properties. It is the property of Team GrisGris and Makoto Kenouin. This is a fan work created to celebrate the opus. It is not intended to infringe on any copyrights.

Discription: This is an alternate retelling of the original Dante PC-98 game from 1996. At first it's going to start off the same (mostly) as the original, but some different things are going to happen along the way. There are also going to be a few elements of the rebooted series (i.e., Blood Covered (…Repeating Fear) and Book of Shadows) of more current times and a few things from the various manga. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

Something Wicked

Appropriately enough, it began on a dark and stormy night as these kinds of tales are wont to do. In a dark classroom at night, the rain rapped against the large windows. Lightning would briefly light up the nocturnal blanket that had fallen over the world. A group of students had all gathered together this night for one purpose. There were four of them, seated on the floor in a circle around a single candlestick that served as their only source of light.

"…Hey, have you heard about it?" the one seated at the 'head' of the circle asked.

"Hmm? About what?" another asked, curiously.

"About what happened at this school a long time ago? I'm talking, like, when it was still being built. You see, there was a girl, no older than us. She was hanging around on the third floor, when suddenly… CRACK! She fell, split her head wide open, and died!"

The candlelight flickered as if by design, getting their attention. The other three leaned in around the candle light, for it alone pierced the blackness that would have otherwise completely blanketed them.

"And, after that," the storyteller continued with a mischievous glint. "Do you know what happened next?"

"Um… Held a funeral and cremated her?" a girl sitting next to the teller suggested.

"Moved her onto the sidewalk so she wouldn't get in the way of their gym class?" a boy with bleached blonde hair said, smirking.

Then the two that had spoken up glanced towards their fourth member, who shivered in the dark and had his knees pulled up tightly against his body. He had his arms wrapped around his legs tightly. They both suppressed delighted snickers and returned their attention to the storyteller.

"Both wrong! After she'd cracked her skull open, everyone thought she was dead, but then…" the storyteller answered in a low voice.

"She sprang up!" the storyteller suddenly shouted. As she did, she suddenly leaned forward and stood up on her knees.

The sudden motion made the cowering one fall back with a squeak. The other two could barely contain themselves now, but they remained quiet and let the storyteller finish.

"She ran around, repeating 'More… More…' over and over!" the storyteller said intensely. "She crackled loudly…and then…"

She sat back down, giving an over-exaggerated shrug.

"She disappeared, but..." she bowed her head, allowing the candlelight to reflect brightly in her eyes.

The dramatic pause made the tension in the air palpable.

"Th-then what?" the other girl asked, desperate to know.

"She was gone, only leaving behind the top of her head and her blood… So I guess you could call her…missing…" the storyteller answered, menacingly.

"M-Missing?! You're jokin…-" the bleached blonde chuckled nervously.

The storyteller ignored him and instead directed her attention at the other boy and girl, leaning in close.

"They say she still wonders the halls chanting, 'More… Moooorrrre…'," her voice went deep and throaty. "And anyone who stays night at this school, just like us, will get a visit from her."

The cowering one cradled his chin in his knees, eyes wide with fear.

"We might even get a visitation from her, ourselves~…" The storyteller finished in a singsong tone.

BANG! All four students jumped backed in surprise and shock. BANG! BANG! BANG! The pounding on the door repeated. The bleached blonde took a couple of quick breaths before composing himself again and grinned.

"Who-who's that, Shinozaki?!" the other girl demanded.

"I…I don't know! I-i-it was only supposed to be a story!" Shinozaki stuttered, still reeling from being startled.

The bleached blonde boy suddenly laughed, causing Shinozaki to give him the stink eye.

"What's so funny, Kishinuma?" she demanded.

"Good one!" he said, grinning slightly.

"Sa-Satoshi! What are you doing?!"

Kishinuma and Shinozaki turned to the other two, and froze in place each with their own reaction to what they saw. While the former looked amused, the latter pouted in irritation. Satoshi, the other boy in question, clung to the other girl tightly with his arms wrapped around her body in sheer terror while staring unblinkingly at the classroom door. He had inadvertently pressed the side of his face up against one of her breasts.

"Ack! You squeezing me to death! Let go!"

"But Naomi…!" he whined.

Let go!" Naomi said through clenched teeth. She managed to get her hands pressed against his shoulders and a foot against his stomach. Then she heaved.

"LET!"

And hoed!

"Go!"

His cry in alarm was cut short by his impact with the floor flat on his back.

Wham! There was another thunderous pound on the door, this time far more impatient than the first. As he stared at the door, Satoshi froze in mid-attempt to sit, Kishinuma got an idea.

"Hey, Satoshi," he said.

"Yeah, Yoshiki?" came Satoshi's frightened whisper of an answer.

"Go answer the door. It's rude to keep them waiting," Yoshiki replied, wryly.

"ME?! Why should I?" Satoshi hissed, half out of fear, the other half, annoyance.

"Can't you see how frightened how Nakashima and Shinozaki are? Doesn't it just break your heart to see them like that? You're a man, aren't you? Go answer the door," Yoshiki said, trying his best to sound serious.

"Why don't you do it?" Satoshi shot back.

"I never said it bothered me," Yoshiki answered while barely containing a laugh.

"Oh, yes, please. O brave and strong Mochida," Naomi joined in with mock fear.

"Yes, go see who it is. I'm scared," Shinozaki put in her own bit.

Satoshi turned to them. They were both seated on their, giving him their best false puppy dog eyes. He knew they were faking it just to get out of going over to the door, themselves, but with everyone ganging up on him like this…

"Oh, fine!" Satoshi gave in.

"Good man," Yoshiki said dryly.

Satoshi got up and slowly walked over towards the door. By now, the knocking had reached a crescendo. Behind him, Yoshiki, Naomi, and their storyteller, Ayumi, watched him with anticipation. Satoshi stopped just on the other side and after a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the door handle. The door shot open, ripping itself from his grip! A slender, feminine form lunged forward from the darkness out in the hall.

"MORE! MORE!" it screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAI-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" his girlish scream could be heard from one end of the school to the next.

Satoshi squinted as the florescent lights flickered on overhead. He was once again on his back staring straight up. The sounds of everyone else laughing heartily made him squeeze his eyes shut again. He felt his face grow hot from embarrassment.

"Oh, man…" he groaned in resignation.

Now he knew he'd been had. He sat up and looked up toward the figure in the doorway who was laughing so hard that she had collapsed onto her knees. She steadied herself by holding the doorframe in one hand and gripped her gut in the other.

"Hello, Miss Yui," Satoshi said with flat glumness.

If there was ever the perfect approximate of a wilted plant in a person, it was Satoshi right then.

"Miss Yui?" Yoshiki greeted with a toothy grin as he stood up. "I was expecting Shinohara."

Yoshiki slid his hands down his shirt and jacket, straightening them out. Even under two lairs of shirts and his black school uniform jacket, one could tell he had an average frame. He stood at about 5'8". His keen gray eyes trailed down to the slumped sitting form of his friend. He smirked and ran a hand through his bleached out short and somewhat spiky hair.

"Nope, just me tonight!" Miss Yui replied.

Next to Kishinuma, the girls were celebrating their victory.

"That was a good one! You really got him this time, Shinozaki!" Naomi laughed.

"Me?! Kishinuma did half the work getting him over to the door!" Shinozaki said breathlessly wiping away a tear.

"And that was his best ear-splitting scream yet!" Naomi cried. "A bit of a coward. They still must not have dropped."

Satoshi just cringed even more listening to them behind him. He reached up and gripped his short, brown hair lightly in his hands. Miss Yui had gotten up and walked past him, inspecting the classroom.

"Alright, let's see the progress," she said, glancing around.

Satoshi heard footfalls approach him from behind and he turned to look up whoever it was. It was Yoshiki, whom Satoshi regarded grumpily with his chocolate brown eyes.

"Hey, man, no need to be like that," Yoshiki said in a laidback manner. "Here."

Yoshiki reached out a hand to help Satoshi up. The boy on the floor started to accept it, but suddenly Yoshiki pulled back.

"Psych!" he shouted, which just made Satoshi shrink even more.

"Geez," Miss Yui grumbled, absently fumbling with the panda bear pendant around her neck. "You guys have hardly done anything."

It was true. Most of the desks were still in their original positions. The only space that had been cleared was a small one in the middle of the room where her four students had gathered for Ayumi's spooky story.

"Blame the Horror Class Rep," Naomi said, directing a thumb at Ayumi.

"Hee hee," Ayumi giggled innocently, coiling one her black pigtails around her finger.

Both girls stood, making sure their long zaffre blue gowns didn't get caught on anything. The skirts ended halfway down their shins. Naomi flipped back her shoulder length black hair to keep it out of her face while Ayumi blew out the candle. The contrast between the two girls was almost comical. While Ayumi was short and skinny, almost scrawny, she came up just shy of five feet. She had long black hair tied into pigtails. Naomi was the taller one by a good few inches and more broadly built girl to match her tomboyish attitude.

"Anyway, that's enough clowning around," Naomi said stretching. "We're here for the school festival, not tell ghost stories."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Miss Yui concurred.

The teacher glanced at her watch.

"Wow, it's this late, already. I didn't even notice the time going by while I graded stuff," she muttered. "It's already past time for all of you to have gone home to bed."

"Y-Yeah…" Satoshi put in. "We should hurry it up. I don't want to be here till dawn."

"Teehee! It figures the scaredy-cats would gang up on me!" Ayumi giggled.

"Who're you calling a scaredy-cat?" Miss Yui demanded, in mock anger.

"Shut up and get to work, Rep. Move it, move it!" Naomi said, clapping her hands briskly to get everyone's attention. "We gotta wrap this up!"

She pointed her finger at the boys.

"You two! Move the desks back while Class Rep and I do the decorating!" she barked.

"Who died and made you Sensei?" Yoshiki asked, wearily.

"It's more 'who still has some work to do and made Nakashima Sensei'," Miss Yui answered.

She walked towards the door, where she stopped and faced her four students.

"I'm sorry, guys, but I promised Mr. Furuhata that I'd take care of some paperwork so he wouldn't have to stay late at the school, for once. He doesn't get to see his kids enough as it is," Miss Yui said earnestly apologetic.

"Lazy bum," Yoshiki cracked.

Miss Yui ignored him and stepped out into the hall, making a beckoning motion with her arm to some unseen person.

"But…" Miss Yui said as she turned back to her students with a glint in her eyes. "I do believe help came looking for her older brother."

"Huh?" came four simultaneous questioning replies.

"I coming in~!" a high-pitched voice sang.

A tiny figure stepped in through the doorway holding a red umbrella.

"Big brother!" she squealed in delight.

The little person had shoulder length dark hair similar to Naomi's, but in a pink hair-band. She had on the sailor school uniform from Kisaragi Academy's Junior High school. It had a white top with long sleeves and a blue knee-length skirt. She had bright blue eyes that practically shined childlike innocence. She seemed to be about thirteen-fourteen years of age despite her childish demeanor.

"Huh, Yuka?" Satoshi blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"You were gone so long, I thought I'd pick you up! Plus, you forgot your umbrella!" she replied, cheerily.

She held it out for him to accept.

"Here."

Satoshi accepted it, chuckling awkwardly.

"Ah, you're right. Sorry, Yuka," he said feeling a bit embarrassed at her having to do this.

But then he grinned kindly as an idea came to mind.

"You're a sharp girl! As a reward, I'll treat you to some crepes later!" he announced.

"Yaay! I KNEW it!" Yuka cheered.

Satoshi's brow twitched in irritation as he realized that this had been a ploy to that end from the beginning. His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the others come up beside him in the corner of his eye.

"Is she a middle schooler?" Ayumi asked, bending down and resting her hands on her knees so as to be at Yuka's eye level.

"Yeah, this is Yuka, my younger sister," Satoshi answered, gesturing to the girl in question.

"Good evening," Yuka said with a bow. When she straightened up again, and looked up at Satoshi's friends giddily and eyes practically sparkling. "Thank you for taking care of my big brother!"

This had an immediate impact on Satoshi's classmates and Miss Yui.

"SHE'S ADORABLE!" Ayumi squealed, now absolutely smitten with her.

Naomi smirked and leaned in close to Satoshi, resting an elbow on his shoulder.

"Wow, Satoshi, I can't believe I didn't know you had such an adorable little sister. What else have you been hiding?" she asked, only half-sardonically.

"Ahaha, well, she's still in Junior High, you know?" Satoshi replied with a shrug.

"She reminds me of a puppy," Yoshiki thought.

"Hey, Yuka, you care about your brother a lot, don't you?" he asked.

"Sure do!" Yuka replied enthusiastically.

Then she turned to the older girls.

"You guys made him scream real good," Yuka said simply.

Satoshi blanched and visibly shrunk again as Naomi and Ayumi burst into another round of laughter.

"It's almost too easy to get him to do that," Yuka added, giving her brother a sly sideways glance.

"Anyway," Miss Yui said, taking the opportunity to speak up again. "I trust you can finish sooner than later with five."

"Only if Yuka doesn't mind helping," Satoshi answered, firmly.

"I'm fine helping! The more manpower, the faster you get done and we can go home, right?" Yuka asked, brightly.

"Can do, Miss Yui," Naomi replied confidently. "Alright, guys, let's move!"

"Good. I'll leave you to it, then. I'll be back in a little while to check on you guys, so don't slouch on the job," Yui said, disappearing into the hall.

When they were alone, Yuka looked around at the classroom curiously.

"So where do we start?" she asked.

"For us girls, right over there," Naomi answered. She pointed directly behind her at a pile of unused decorations in the upper corner of the room. She turned to the boys with an impish wink. "While the big, strong men move the desks and chairs."

"Yeah, yeah…" Yoshiki groaned, annoyed.

"Why do we have to do all the hard labor?" Satoshi whined.

"Because you're the big, strong men," Naomi deadpanned. "Besides…"

She gestured with her thumb over to Ayumi.

"Someone let Seiko, Mayu, and Sakutaro go home early, and then everyone else ditched us as soon as you turned your back on them," Naomi finished.

"Not my fault!" Ayumi protested, pouting. "I didn't know that I had a class of useless bums!"

One of Naomi's brows went up.

"Minus us, I'm assuming," she replied, still pokerfaced.

"Of course that doesn't include you, Nakashima," Ayumi answered.

"And what are we, chopped liver?" Yoshiki asked, gesturing between him and Satoshi.

Ayumi turned to them, about to speak, but then Satoshi held up a hand.

"Don't answer that, actually," he said, wearily.

Without another word, the girls went over to the decorations while the boys turned to the desks and chairs. Ayumi crouched down to pick up some poster paper when something whispered in her ear, unbidden.

"…It was a rainy after-school day. Just like this…"

With a short cry, she lost her footing and fell onto her side, making everyone in the room jump. Ayumi propped her upper body up with her hands and looked all around with big, frightened eyes.

"Who…who did that?" Ayumi asked, alarmed.

She looked up at Naomi, who stood not far away clutching both hands to her heart, hoping for an answer. Naomi let out the breath she'd briefly held and rolled her eyes. She looked at the Class Rep in irritation.

"…Are you kidding? We're done with the spooky stuff now, Class Rep," Naomi said gruffly.

"But it wasn't me!" Ayumi insisted shrilly.

By this time, Naomi wasn't even looking at her. She and Yuka were picking up armfuls of charms and objects that would be at home in a Shinto shrine.

"Stop clowning around and get back to work," Naomi said, not looking at her.

Across the room…

"Urk! Why just us, Yoshiki?" Satoshi groaned. They were piling up some chairs.

"Just a fact of life. People suck," Yoshiki replied. "Well, nothing to do about it now."

"No complaining, you two!" they heard Naomi belt out at them.

Yoshiki looked over his shoulder to call back his own retort, when suddenly, there was a violent flash of lightning outside which made the windows vibrate, and then they were bathed in darkness. Yuka let out a little cry and clung to Naomi's side. The older girl absently patted the middle schooler's head and looked around, trying to make out some detail in the dark.

"Huh? A power outage?" Naomi muttered, more annoyed than anything else.

Next to them in the pitch black, Ayumi felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up on end and chills went down her spine then through just about every other part of her. She wondered if that voice she'd heard just a little while ago had something to do with it.

"Oh, man," Satoshi groaned. "Talk about bad timing. We can't get anything done if we can't see."

"Hey, Shinozaki, where did you put that candle you had earlier?" Yoshiki asked.

The question brought Ayumi out of her frightened musings and she blinked it off.

"I put on the teacher's desk. Hang on a sec," she answered.

She turned and felt her way along the wall through the darkness until her fingers found the desk. She stepped closer to it and ran her fingers over its surface into they met the antiquated light source.

"Hey, is everyone okay in there?" they heard Yui's voice call from the hallway.

"We're fine, Miss Yui. Just a little in the dark here," Ayumi shouted back.

"Nobody move. I'll be right there," Miss Yui called.

As their teacher's footsteps clicked and echoed towards the classroom, Ayumi took out the matchbox from her skirt pocket and opened it, pouring out a couple of matches into her open palm. She dropped all but one onto the desk's top and put the match to the rough side of the container they came in. No sooner had she gotten it lit had Miss Yui had opened the classroom door. She shined a flashlight into the room just as the lights turned back on. Teacher and Class Rep looked up in astonishment at the uncanny timing for the power to return. Ayumi pursed her lips, and with a shrug, she blew the candle out.

"Never mind," Miss Yui said.

She clicked off the flashlight and then leaned forward, poking her head into the room. She looked each student over from where she was making sure that they were all okay. Satisfied, she nodded and leaned back out into the fall. She set the flashlight down on a little table just inside the door.

"I'll just leave this here in case that happens again. We have spares in the faculty office and custodian's closet I can use if I have to, anyway," she offered.

"Thanks, Miss Yui!" Ayumi said, smiling.

Yui nodded again, and after one final look around, she closed the door behind her. Her students listened as her high heels clicked against the vinyl flooring and eventually faded out. Ayumi went over and retrieved the flashlight. She walked over to where the boys still stood.

"Hey, Satoshi, think fast," she said.

She tossed him the flashlight, which he caught.

"Thanks," he put the torch into his back pocket.

With that, they went back to work and before too long with the additional help of Yuka, they were nearly finished. The boys had a large space in the middle of the room cleared out and the decorations were nearly complete. Naomi, Yuka, and Ayumi put the finishing touches on making the teacher's desk resemble a small shrine. They were lined up in front of it as they worked. Left-to-right, Yuka, Naomi, and Ayumi.

"You really love your ghost stories, don't you?" Naomi said to Ayumi while they worked.

"Of course!" Ayumi said, looking toward her happily. "I wouldn't miss a chance to spook everyone!"

"…And that's why we get to hear them again and again, huh?" Naomi asked, somewhat exasperated.

"Crap!" Yoshiki suddenly shouted from across the room.

All three girls looked over their shoulders towards the boys. Yoshiki was tensely looking at his wristwatch.

"Look at how late it is. It's already past 8 o'clock," he grumbled.

Satoshi pushed the last desk into place clustered with the others at the back of the room. He turned around with his hands now shoved into his pockets, grinning gleefully.

"Well, we're all done here now, at least!" he announced.

"Oh," Naomi let out a relieved sigh. "Fantastic! That means you can help us over here!"

The boys wordlessly started over to them.

"… E…"

Everyone froze. Ayumi's eyes widened and she began shaking, and drew her arms up against her body. Her hands were clutched into little fists just under her chin. Everyone looked at her oddly. Her reaction seemed very genuine, giving them further reason for pause.

"Wait, is this not one of her tricks?" Yoshiki actually wondered.

"Shinozaki?" he asked, really starting to become concerned.

Then the lights flickered, drawing everyone's stares upwards, and the power went out again. Ayumi whimpered and leaned over to pressing her shoulder against Naomi's side. Yuka, meanwhile, wrapped her arms around Naomi's in a tight grip.

"Why am I the security blanket?" Naomi thought with aggravation.

But the Naomi's gaze found its way over to Ayumi, who was beginning to hyperventilate.

"Shinozaki?" Naomi whispered. "You didn't do that scary voice just now, did you?"

"Another power out?" Satoshi asked, a bit sharply.

He reached and took out the flashlight from his pocket and flicked it on.

"See?!" Ayumi cried out, trembling.

"Eh?" both Satoshi and Yoshiki vocalized their confusion.

Satoshi shined the light over at the girls, but had the discretion not to point it right in their faces.

"I told you I heard a creepy voice earlier!" Ayumi blurted out.

"But it had to be you, right?" Yoshiki asked, starting to go on edge. "Y-y-y-you're just trying to scare us again, right?!"

"That didn't sound like Shinozaki, or like it even came from her," Satoshi put in, scanning the room with the flashlight.

Satoshi's hand shook, yet he still tried to keep it steady as he looked around for any sign of a second prankster.

"Hey!"

That gave everyone a start. It was just Miss Yui shouting towards them down the hall again. Satoshi went over to the door and opened it. He stepped out into the hall and glanced in the direction of another shining light pointed in his general direction.

"Yes, Miss Yui!" Satoshi called in reply.

"You guys are alright?" her voice came from the behind the beam of light.

"Yeah, and we just got down preparing for the festival tomorrow," he answered.

"Good. Satoshi, you can return the flashlight tomorrow. I'm going to head down to the basement and see what I can do about these power outs. Kids, you be careful on the steps. Satoshi, make sure everyone can see where they're putting their feet, alright?" she instructed.

"Yes, Miss Yui," Satoshi replied.

With that, Miss Yui disappeared around the corner and down the steps. Satoshi turned back towards the group, which had gathered a few feet behind him.

"You heard Miss Yui, guys. Let's get going," he said.

"We're coming," Yoshiki said.

He walked leisurely past his friend into the hall. Satoshi stepped back to allow Naomi maximum room with her newly attained arms ornaments. As soon as the three girls had managed to get through the doorway, Yuka dislodged herself from Naomi and took up residence clinging to Satoshi's side. Naomi turned to Ayumi with a dry grin.

"I'm sure Kishinuma wouldn't mind getting some attention like that," she cracked.

"That's fine," Ayumi mumbled.

"What are you gals talking about n…" Yoshiki started to ask as he turned to face them.

He stopped midsentence as the sound of organ music pierced the air. It echoed through the school. Whoever it was was pounding on the keys madly.

"Wait, ya hearing that, too?!" Yoshiki exclaimed.

Naomi gaped, looking to her left down the hallway.

"What's that sound?" was Yuka's scared inquiry.

"It... It sounds like an organ. Could it be coming from the music room?" Satoshi suggested, following Naomi's gaze.

"Impossible! Our school doesn't have an organ!" Ayumi cried.

Naomi turned her head enough to look between Satoshi and toward the source of the sound in the corners of her eyes.

"She's right. We have a piano, but not an organ," she said.

Satoshi's mouth dropped open as he realized that she was absolutely correct.

"Hold up, so how the hell did someone get one in here, and why the hell are they playin' it here in the middle of the night?!" Yoshiki demanded, his mood stuck somewhere between anger and anxiety.

"No…" Ayumi whimpered.

She hid herself fully behind Naomi now. Naomi glanced behind her at the terrified Class Rep, and then back at Satoshi. By now, even Naomi had worried look in her eyes.

"Wanna go check?" she asked in a little voice.

Satoshi reeled back a step, throwing his hands up as if to protect himself.

"Oooh, no!" he shouted defensively. "I AM not being the guinea pig this time!"

The music was getting louder, to the point where it was reverberated painfully off the walls. Everyone flinched as their ears began to ring. And then, it just stopped. They all stared over in the direction it had come from.

"The hell…?" Yoshiki uttered.

They all stood in frozen silence for a long moment that never seemed to end. That is, until Satoshi worked up the courage to speak again.

"Wh…- Wh-wh-wh-" he stammered.

He swallowed and then tried again.

"What if it's the bloody, headless girl from Shinozaki's story?" he asked, whimpering.

Then the silence was broken again by what sounded like someone loudly banging their hands against the keys of the instrument. Ayumi, Yuka, and Satoshi all screamed while Naomi and Yoshiki made do with a simple wince.

"But…aren't you curious?" Naomi asked Satoshi.

She looked in the direction of the noise once more, starting to look inquiring and determined.

"Miss Yui will still be down in the basement. So let's check!" she said.

"Suit yourself, but I'm leaving and I'm taking Yuka out of here. Oh, and I'm taking the flashlight, too," Satoshi said, stubbornly.

Naomi frowned deeply.

"But I don't wanna go alo…-!"

But then, her jaw firmed up and she glared furiously.

"Oh, forget it!" she shouted.

She turned and stormed down the hall. Ayumi clenched up tighter than before with her protective cover having just left her behind. Yoshiki looked at Shinozaki and saw just how scared she really saw. He had no problem coming to a decision.

"I'll go with her," he said, starting to follow suit.

He paused as he walked up between Ayumi and the Mochidas.

"Hey, Satoshi, you'll take Shinozaki with ya, right?" he asked.

Satoshi nodded his head slightly. Yoshiki returned the gesture and then followed after Naomi. With that, the three really scared ones were left alone. Satoshi dislodged his arm from Yuka's grip, causing her to whine. He, instead, took her hand in his, and then faced Ayumi. She was pensively looking at the shrinking forms of Naomi and Yoshiki. She swallowed hard before looking squarely at Satoshi like a deer in the headlights.

"C-Come on, everyone," she said, trying to sound brave. "Strength in numbers and all that. Mochida, bring Yuka along."

Then she ran after them, leaving just the Mochidas. Satoshi felt Yuka squeeze his hand to get his attention.

"Big Brother…" she said pathetically.

"Man… Come on, Yuka," Satoshi sighed.

Then he started after the others, leading Yuka along by the hand. He shined the light ahead and saw Naomi stop in front of the music room door at the corridor's end. Yoshiki wasn't far behind her, and Ayumi was practically his second shadow. Naomi waited for everyone to gather around as she stood still as a statue in front of the door. When she was sure everyone was there, she looked over her shoulder at them. The sound blared through the door from the other side. The music had calmed back down into a more melodic rhythm.

"Well, no doubt about it. It's coming from here," she said as calmly as she could.

"Could it be a recording being played?" Yoshiki asked. "Since you say we don't have an organ, after all."

"One way to find out," Naomi answered.

She turned to Satoshi and held out her hand.

"Torch, please," she requested.

Satoshi handed over the flashlight. Naomi took it and trained it on the door. She reached out, and wrapped her fingers around the door's handle. She hesitated nervously just for a moment, but then she threw the door open. The instant she did, all pandemonium broke loose. The building suddenly shook violently as if an earthquake had started! All five teens were thrown off their feet and their landed on the floor, hard. Yuka and Ayumi screamed whilst curling themselves into tight little balls on the floor.

"What the hell…-?!" Yoshiki shouted.

"What is this?!" Satoshi cried out as he was rolled back and forth brutally by the shaking.

They were blinded by blue light shining from all over, and then their vision was assaulted further then it changed to pure light the blotted everything else out.

"SATOSHI! EVERYONE!" Naomi shrieked.

"BIG BROTHERRRRRRRRRR!" Yuka squealed in terror.

The light then died, leaving them being shaken by the quake in total darkness save for the flashlight. Naomi, through her disorientation, heard something start to tear itself apart through several loud cracking sounds. She shined the light on the floor where she heard it originate from. She couldn't believe what she saw. A crack formed in the middle of the floor that then spread out clear from one end of the hall to the next almost instantly, moving with purpose. It went up the walls at the opposite ends and then extended onto the ceiling overhead. Naomi saw that Satoshi and Yuka were both positioned right on the split. She felt her heart skip a beat.

"Satoshi!" she shouted.

Somehow, Naomi found her footing. She got herself up on her hands and knees and then dove for her friend and his little sister. It was all for naught. The two ends started to come apart. Yoshiki and Ayumi were beside themselves as the Mochidas disappeared into without so much as time to scream.

"NO!" Naomi cried.

She peered over the side and saw darkness. Behind her, Yoshiki grabbed Ayumi and brought in her close. He was about to try to haul her into the music room when both halves of the floor tilted downward like a trapdoor. Now even he and Naomi let out terrified cries as they were thrown into that darkness beneath them. And then all was silent on the second floor hallway. The floor repaired itself as if rewinding time and the lights turned back on as normally. A perfectly mundane scene with no remaining evidence that something out of the ordinary had transpired.

"Kids! KIDS! Can you hear me?! Why are you screaming?!" Miss Yui called up as loudly as she could.

She had come running as soon as she heard them start to cry out. She had even ditched her high heels and was dashing up the stairwell, skipping a step with every stride. She slid on the slick floor on her bare feet out into the hall.

"Mochida! Shinozaki! Kishinuma! Nakashima!" she shouted.

Nothing but silence answered back she looked down the hall. Only the dull buzz of the lights kept her from total silence. Miss Yui didn't even bother to turn her torch off as she sprinted down the hall towards Room 2-9. She threw open the door, but found it empty. She leaned in, pressing her hands on both sides of the frame tightly as she looked in with large, worry-stricken eyes.

"Kids? KIDS?!" she shouted.

Miss Yui bit into a finger as panic began to set. Before she knew it, she was dashing back and forth through the second floor, checking every room, and desperately shouting their names. But there was nothing. Somehow, her precious students had disappeared.

Next Chapter: Wandering these Hallowed Halls

A/N: Okay, so I'm using the reboot's version of Yoshiki. What can I say? He's a lot more interesting than his PC-98 incarnation, who was only a compelling character in the fan game if and its remake, at least in my opinion. Speaking of "if", Yuka's uniform is from the Past End version of that game.

This is a side project I'm working while my main work is Celestial Warrior Moon. Updates will come, but sporadically.