CHAPTER 1: Accusations PART 1: The Ritual

Ichigo's P.O.V.

My name is Ichigo Hatake. I'm 16 years old and I go to Hakumei High School. Hakumei can mean either "twilight" or "short-lived" depending on its spelling, and something about that name has always unsettled me, as if our sad fate had been determined from the start...

Anyway, as far as appearances, I suppose I'm your average high school girl. I have semi-bright red hair that extends a bit past my shoulders. My eyes are a bright, beautiful pink. People say my unusual eye color really sets me apart from others. I wear the usual school uniform, a sort of sailor fuku uniform. There's a red bow on the front and the sleeves are red too. We have ruffly red mini-skirts and have to wear knee-high socks and flat black shoes. Any part of the uniform that isn't red is a dark, kind of ominous, black color. Depending on who wears it, it usually looks cute. As for more on my physical appearance, I'd say my height is average, but leaning more towards the short side and my weight is also average. As for my bust...is that part really necessary? I'd like to call them average too...anyway, as far as appearance goes, I'm average, average, average, but my personality is a bit weird.

When I'm around my friends, I'll do anything to make them laugh. I'm happiest when my friends are happiest. Though, many people call me and idiot and a dumbass. I shake it off though as long as everyone is still smiling at me. I'm a bit absent-minded and end up day-dreaming a lot. My constant day-dreaming leads to some great story ideas, which is awesome since I want to grow up to be a writer, but I sometimes zone out during class lessons, which really doesn't help. My weakest subject is math and my strongest subject is English. I can be kind of lazy about my homework sometimes, but I have good friends who will usually help me out. And although I feel very attached to my friends, I always worry about what they think of me. They don't usually come to me with their problems or trust me with their secrets, which makes me feel virtually useless. And whenever I have a problem, only certain friends will listen. Altogether, I'm a very sensitive and a very complicated person. Many of my personality traits constantly contradict each other and sometimes I feel like no one truly understands me. But I still keep on fighting! Well, that's basically all about me.

Today, I was giddy with excitement because I had found something really interesting online that I had wanted to try out with my friends. On Naho Saenoki's website, there was an article about something called the "Sachiko Ever After" charm. In this ritual, if correctly done, it promises that you'll be friends with the participants of the ritual forever. You use a paper doll and have everyone grab on to a piece. You chant the words, "Sachiko, we beg of you" once for every person present. Then, you all get a tight grip on the paper doll and rip it so that you all have a scrap of it. Then, the ritual is complete! But you have to make sure to protect your paper doll scrap.

I was skipping down the hallway while humming a random tune I'd come up with to express my happiness. I really hoped my friends would be willing to do this with me. I'd been worried about if they'd really thought of me as a friend, so this would be a way to determine who was lying to me and who was a true friend. I hoped that none of them were faking our relationship. I clutched the paper doll tightly in my hands, praying for the best.

The first person I saw as I walked into room 4-6 was my 2-year crush, Akako Himura. His blonde hair shone in the light and his cool green eyes peered right into my soul. He wore the usual boy outfit, a black jacket and red tie with black slacks to match. Most people steered clear of him because of his cold attitude, but I knew he was a good person inside, so I'd made it my goal to open up his heart. And so far, I'd done a great job, although I was still the only person he'd speak in full sentences to.

"What's up with the stupid grin on your face?" he questioned me. "You look like you're up to something again."

I frowned and puffed out my cheeks in anger. "What do you mean, "again?""

He didn't respond and just stared down at the paper doll in my hands. He snatched at it and easily stole it away. I jumped to grab it, but he held it up out of my reach.

"Curse you for being taller!" I screamed at him. I continuously jumped in a vain attempt at getting it back. "Come on! Give it back to me!"

Akako's eyes widened in confusion as someone ripped the doll from his hands. He turned around to face the culprit. It was my friend Atsushi Asahi. He was about as tall as Akako, so he was easily able to retrieve my paper charm. He wore glasses, but he wasn't nerdy at all. He was just the opposite. His grades were less than extraordinary. He relied more on his strength. He had a buzz cut, but his hair was starting to grow back, revealing its medium brown color. His eyes seemed dark, like a grey color, but he could actually be very gentle when he wished. He was one of my few friends who really assisted me in solving my problems. His dream was to enter the military, so many people think he has a hard heart similar to Akako, but he's actually very protective and kind to his friends.

He handed me back the paper doll with a slight smile. "Be careful not to let him take that again."

I nodded and smiled in thanks. He then turned to face Akako. "And you shouldn't take what isn't yours."

Akako glared and turned his back on Atsushi with an angry, "tch!" Atsushi just rolled his eyes and sat down at his desk, not really doing anything in particular. He'd usually just sit quietly before class...or do something stupid with one of his friends, like trying to launch a pencil and then stabbing himself. I understood that he didn't mind pain, but sometimes he almost seemed masochistic.

Soon enough, seeing that I had entered the room, all of my other friends joined me. The first to arrive was Kimiko Miya. I consider her to be my best friend, but she's extremely vain and sometimes hurts me without realizing it. And since we haven't known each other as long as she's known her other friends, she doesn't really like it when I touch her. That's what I want to believe anyway.

She says that her hair is brown, but she almost looks like a ginger. She almost always has it thrown back into a short ponytail that runs down her neck, but doesn't quite reach her shoulders. Her eyes are hazel and a set of orange glasses usually cover them. Since she dislikes her glasses though, she takes them off a lot and doesn't really take very well care of them. She's super skinny in all areas and dreams to become a dancer. She's also on the poms squad.

"What's up with that paper thing?" she asked curiously.

"You'll find out once everyone gets here," I assured her with a mischievous smile on my face. "But until then, you'll have to be patient and wait."

"I hate waiting," she whined.

Following Kimiko was my other best friend, Toshiaki Hashi. I guess you could call him my real best friend since we've been together longer and I feel like he understands me more. He's gay, but I love him anyway. He's like an older brother. He's a bit dirty (I am too) and unpredictable, but I can count on him to make me smile when I'm upset. He gets picked on by people quite a bit since he's gay, so I'm always there to help him out and kick the bullies' asses!

As far as appearances go, he's on the chubby side. He has long black hair that stands up and curls over in a cool way. He has a single streak of blond mixed in. He wears big black glasses like you'd see the stereotypical smart guy to be wearing. His hazel eyes peer through the glasses always with a not-so-serious expression. He shares my dream of becoming a famous writer.

He immediately rushed to my side, grabbed on to me, and slid against me.

"Baby, grind on me~!" he sang, and I pushed him away. I wanted to scream at him, having felt embarrassed, but I couldn't help but laugh."

"You're such a dork," I said through my giggles.

"So are you," he shot back at me. "We can be dorks together! Initiate the dork party!"

Yup. I have weird friends. The next friend to arrive was Shuji Mikazuki. He had jet black hair and big brown eyes that you could melt into. He was the peace-keeper usually, but because of his problems at home, he gets depressed a lot. No one is usually able to help him except for Kimiko. I had a crush on him at one point, but he constantly rejected me and my feelings were never able to reach him. His peace-keeping attitude led him to want to become a cop.

Kimiko immediately launched into a conversation with him and I smiled a bit. Regardless of how much Kimiko insisted that she didn't like him and whenever I asked her about having a boyfriend, she responded, "I'm good" I still thought they might make a great couple. I wondered if they'd ever realize it.

The final one of my friends to gather over with us was Sakura Ogawa. Her wavy orange hair extended halfway to her waist and she wore a red ribbon in her hair on the right side. Her eyes were a blue similar to a blueberry. She always had a cheerful attitude and loved looking up inspirational quotes online. She dreamed of becoming a speaker.

"Hey guys, gather around!" I called out, ushering for them all to come over. "I have something cool and want us to try."

"It isn't something gross, is it?" Sakura nervously asked.

I shook my head and held up the doll. "This is a doll used in the Sachiko Ever After charm. If we all do this right, we can be best friends forever. And since I love you guys so much, I wanted to try it out."

"Sounds stupid," Akako huffed, but he didn't walk away, so I figured he was going to do it with us. So far, it didn't look like anyone objected.

"How does it even work?" Shuji asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "Seems like a normal piece of paper to me."

I cleared my throat and then explained carefully to each of them how it worked. Everyone nodded in understanding, but then Atsushi asked, "What'll happen if we screw it up?"

I took a moment to think. "Mmmm...the site didn't list what would happen if we messed up, so if that Naho girl didn't take the time to write out what would occur if we failed, it must not be anything big. Doesn't seem like there are any consequences, so are you all in?"

"Sounds like fun!" Sakura shouted in approval.

Akako just shrugged.

"Yay! Friends forever!" Toshiaki cheered with a huge smile.

"If everyone else is doing it," answered Shuji.

"Fine," said Atsushi.

"Guess I'm in too then," Kimiko agreed.

That was all of us. I must have been smiling like an idiot. This was awesome! It seemed like all my friends really did care about me after all. I waved for everybody to go out into the hall.

"Come on guys! If we do it out here, we won't disturb anyone and no one will try to mess up the ritual."

Everyone followed me without any complaints and I had them all gather in a circle. Everyone's eyes locked on me as I spoke.

"Okay, I'll say it one more time. You have to say "Sachiko, we beg of you" seven times because there are seven of us here, got it? Don't stop mid-sentence or anything and don't say it any more or any less than seven times. If you do, this will fail."

They all nodded and then we began.

"Sachiko, we beg of you."

"Sachiko, we beg of you."

"Sachiko, we beg of you."

"Sachiko, we beg of you."

"Sachiko, we beg of you."

"Sachiko, we beg of you."

"Sachiko, we beg of you."

"Everyone done now?" I asked, having just finished.

"Yeah!" everyone called out simultaneously.

"Okay then," I said, holding out the paper doll. "Now everyone grab part of the paper doll. Get a real good grip on it and make sure to rip off a piece. It needs to split into a scrap for all seven of us. Ready? And...pull!"

Each of us pulled as hard as we could and the paper ripped into seven scraps, one for each of us. They weren't exactly even, but they didn't need to be.

"The scraps are an important part of this ritual," I warned them. "So you have to keep them safe. Make sure not to lose it."

"We should say that to you," laughed Kimiko. "You lose everything you touch."

"Oh, shut up!"

Everyone erupted into laughter, but that wasn't the only eruption that would occur. Suddenly, the floor shook violently and I fell down on my knees, cutting open my skin on the splintering floorboards. I heard Sakura scream and Atsushi exclaimed, "What the hell?!" And as the floor caved in, I reached out, hoping to grab on to something, anything to keep me from falling. And while I ended up grabbing someone's hand, I inevitably ended up falling down a dark pit along with anyone else. Too shocked to see whose hand I'd clutched onto. And then, my world went black.

I hope you got a good feel for the characters. This chapter was just for introductions after all. I still hope you enjoyed and will continue to read on. Please leave a review, I always appreciate it. Question: What do you think of the charades so far? Who do you think will die first? Who might become a traitor? What do you predict will happen later on in the story? I can't wait to see what you think! I'll try to update soon, but for now, IchigoHatake is signing off.