As soon as she opened her eyes Seiko was hit with a wave of shock and confusion so fast she thought she might throw up. Just seeing one familiar face would have been greatly appreciated, even if it wasn't Naomi she needed someone to remind her that anything was real.

She could have sworn that mere moments ago she was with her friends, cleaning up after the culture festival and wishing Mayu a final farewell.

There was an earthquake, that much she remembered...and then what?

Seiko stood up shakily, anxiously taking in her surroundings, she was in a classroom but not her own. Besides the fact the desks and chairs were clearly too small the cracked floorboards and decaying walls said enough for themselves.

"N-naomi?" No answer. She spoke up despite her apprehension. "Naomi, are you there?!"... "Can anyone hear me?!" There wasn't so much as an echo and Seiko could already feel dread in the pit of her stomach. This wasn't right.

Standing around shaking wasn't going to do anything for her and with this realisation Seiko decided to make a move.

She started over at the windows, moving from one to the next and pulling tight. She felt frustration as none of them would budge or even move at all.

'God, it's pitch black outside, I can't even tell where I am', she thought to herself.

Her next stop was towards the door, moving cautiously to avoid the cracks and wood jutting up from beneath the floor. A piece of paper hanging from the wall caught her eye. She spared no time reading it.

'Heavenly Host Elementary - Notice to all faculty and students'

"An elementary school?", that would explain the desk sizes, it wasn't just that though, the name 'Heavenly Host' rung a bell. She knew she had heard it before. It took her a second of thinking but-

'That's it, the one that was demolished...the one that was replaced with Kisaragi Academy'. Her own high school.

"Oh god! What's happening?!" Seiko shrieked out in fear, there was no way this could be real.

A whirlwind of thoughts swarmed her brain, 'Where was she? Where were her friends? Could she even leave this place?' The windows themselves seemed more like decorations than anything real and she feared that the same might go for any other type of exit.

For Seiko putting on a brave face was her specialty, she was best at pretending nothing was wrong and hiding how she really felt, it helped her seem optimistic at the most stressful times. So much so that she often believed it herself. But now...she was alone and was there any point putting on a brave face if no one was around to see it? or even believe it?

Naomi, and all of her other friends crossed her mind...what if they were here too? She had to at least try to look for them and she knew if she stood in this empty room any longer she'd go mad. So Seiko took her first step out of the classroom with one goal in mind: to find her friends.

...

The hallway somehow seemed even dingier than the classroom but Seiko had no time to dwell on it as she desperately just wanted to find someone else.

This is how she stumbled across classroom 2-A. It was the darkest place so far and just being in it sent a shiver down her spine. Those details were instantly shot aside, a familiar figure was rising from the floor, seemingly just standing up. She stepped closer to be sure.

"Mochida?" Seiko whispered to herself. A gasp escaped her as she confirmed it was in fact her classmate standing before her.

"Shinohara...is that you?" Satoshi stood ignoring the shakiness in his knees. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you know where we are?" Satoshi moved closer to her - sounding not so much frantic but more like he was extremely concerned.

Seiko didn't answer his questions immediately, it took a second to gather herself, the relief that she was no longer alone hitting her full on. "Alright slow down there, the answers are yes, no and no." With the notion that she was no longer by herself, her usual demeanor was back, it was more of a comfort for her than anything. "Geez, Mochida who knew you would be concerned about me...you know what I've made up my mind you and Naomi have my blessing." She added with a devious smile, this was the only thing that would make her feel normal.

Satoshi was quite taken aback by her composure, he smiled with relief, wondering how she managed it.

The two caught up for a bit. Satoshi revealed that he had only just woken up and so had nothing to share while Seiko informed him of the windows and the paper on the wall. Silence caught up with them and for a few minutes they just stood there, processing.

Seiko heard Satoshi mumble something to himself. "What is it, Mochida?"

"Yuka, I have to find her, if we're both here then there's a chance that everyone else is too and she can't be alone in a place like this...she just can't she's too sensitive".

The more than genuine concern for his sister was evident in his voice and Seiko ached for him knowing fine well how she would feel if it were any of her siblings. "It's okay, we'll find her, come on let's start looking straight away". She forced an optimistic tone hoping it would rub off on him.

Satoshi looked up at her, an unusually determined glint in his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, let's...let's find everyone."

For almost a split second Seiko almost felt better about all this. And then something caught her eye. It was so dark she must have missed it: a pile of bones in the middle of the room.

The two of the walked further into the classroom, towards the bones.

"No, no, no Mochida that's a person! Why is there a dead person here?" She turned away quickly, holding a sob back.

Satoshi was ready to calm her down when the abrupt flash of a blue light ascended from within the corpse. He gasped causing Seiko to turn back around and do the same.

"...It's a ghost" Seiko uttered fruitlessly. She didn't believe too much in them before so never imagined what one would really look like, but she knew that's what this little flame had to be, the idea was no crazier than an abandoned school, or windows that wouldn't open or a dead body in a classroom.

The idea was still no crazier when the flame began to speak. Satoshi didn't move an inch, he didn't feel threatened yet but was not ready to let his guard down.

"You two are new victims, are you not?" The ghost spoke up, its voice was not frightening, it sounded pained like each word was hard to get out. The simple idea of sadness came to mind.

"Who are you?" Satoshi asked more curious than scared at this point.

"I was brought here against my will...and confined...just like you."

The air seemed to tighten, "What do you mean by that, who brought us here? Is there a way out?" Satoshi wasn't sure he wanted the answer but he had been in the dark up until this point so the more he knew the better.

The flame answered the second question first, " I'm afraid there isn't a way out. This school exists in a reality of its own, cut off from the world you know. As for who brought you here... 'they' did. They're constantly bringing new victims into this school...This place... this is a cursed multidimensional nexus...multiple planes of existence, all piled on top of one another...created by powerful and vengeful spirits... 'Closed spaces'. We are all the unfortunate victims of this inescapable abduction...and It seems you two are not the only ones who have been brought here. I'm sensing numerous others."

Satoshi's attention spiked. "That might mean that everybody else really is here too then? My guess that it was everyone in the room at the time."

"That's possible, I don't know the exact number but it's likely since they were pulled into the school at the exact same time."

Seiko perked up at the news "That's good isn't it Mochida that means we're not alone and you can find Yuka!"

Satoshi didn't say anything, he understood where she was coming from but was it really better for them to have been pulled down to this place too?

His thoughts were interrupted by the flame "I'm afraid that might not be possible, as I said they may be in the same school but the space they now occupy differs from the space we occupy...you cannot meet up." The way it was delivered was not cruel or harsh but it still felt like a kick in the gut for the both of them.

"So we can't see them...ever?" Seiko questioned, deflated.

"If you wish to do so then you must first find some means of entering their space or bringing them into this one. Even if escape is still impossible...you'll be able to die together."

"Oh god...there's no way out"

Satoshi wasn't as easily put off by the flames words "Thank you for the warning but we have to try." He looked at Seiko and nodded. "We'll do whatever it takes to find them and get everyone out together! They're all such good people and they don't deserve this." There was no way he was just going to give up on them, he may not have been the bravest soul but he had always hoped that if the situation called for it, he would step up and this was no exception.

Seiko thought of her best friend, Satoshi was right they had to try, Seiko wanted to see her again so badly. She couldn't let herself be put off by the ghosts words. "You-You're right Mochida, we'll do whatever it takes..."

"Yeah we will, and we won't give up on any of them just because there's some nebulous curse that might strike back!"

"Such determination in a space like this is rare, try to retain that noble spirit no matter what, it may just help you through this. And in the end even if all you can do is alter your fate in the slightest" the flame paused seemingly thinking things over. "Just please don't end up like us..."

With that the flame disappeared. Right on cue, the horrible sound of screeching from the chalkboard. The figure of a little girl, glowing eerily, a tattered red dress on was sitting curled up against the wall. Seiko took a step back.

"Come Shinohara let's out of here." Satoshi moved towards her grabbing her arm and guiding her out.

...

"You saw all that too right?" Seiko asked once they had both caught their breath.

"Yeah...I did".

"So now what?"

"We do what we said we would, we find our friends and we get out of here..."

There was a pause.

"Are you ready for that Shinohara?" Satoshi didn't want to push her too far though he also knew she must be missing their friends, Naomi in particular as much as he was.

Seiko wasn't sure she would ever be 'ready', she was still waiting to wake up from this nightmare, but she knew that she had to put on a brave face...like she always does. "Yeah I'm ready." Her natural smile appeared, her care free composure regained. "Naomi will be worried sick about you after all, come on we better go find her, I know how that girl can be when she's worried about someone."

And with that they set off with pure determination, unknowing and unaware of the horrors that lay ahead of them.