Part 5: Seal, Part 5
Music: Depths of Space and Time
Previously, we hit a dead end in our search for Seiko. We've covered every area we can access and found no trace of her, so now all that's left to do is to retrace our steps! We head downstairs.
After descending the staircase, we arrive at the wire trap from before.
Investigating this lever gives us the option to cross the bridge and flip it, which disables the bridge and disables all the wires.
We start by heading south from the third floor stairway. When we pass by that stranger's smashed up remains, Naomi stops.
Music: None
Background Sound: Flies
Oolgh!
We continue south of the bloodstained wall, but the first floor is just as inaccessible as ever, and nothing has changed in the infirmary. We head back north, passing the girl's remains once again. (I can tell they're a girl's remains because there's breast meat mixed in, you see.)
Rrng... *pant* *gag* *cough* *cough* God, I really don't want to see this!Background Sound: None
Music: Depths of Space and Time
Heading south didn't really serve any purpose other than making Naomi puke, which always happens the third time you pass by the corpse. We head back to the west side, passing by 3-A once again.
I'm from Kisaragi Academy, grade 2-9! Just stop it, please! You've got the wrong person!
Once again, we cannot enter 3-A at all, so we continue west and head into 1-C.
Music: None
Background Sound: Unpleasant Hum
The lights go off, and we hear a voice from somewhere. We investigate the poster on the chalkboard once again.
Take a closer look
Naomi pulls out her flashlight and shines it on the picture.
Did someone draw over it in...fluorescent paint? Gives me the creeps...
There's nothing else to see in this room, so we continue our aimless wandering and head into 2-A.
Background Sound: None
We once again take a look at the writing on the board. When we do, a voice fills our ears.
Kill it
Sound Effect: Thud
WWWAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!Sound Effect: Splorch
Seiko... Give her back! *pant* *pant* *pant* *pant*Naomi automatically leaves the classroom after killing the chalkboard.
Music: Depths of Space and Time
We head back to the east side.
Video: Classroom 3-A
Shut up... Shut up, shut up!Sound Effect: Door
...! It just...opened on its own...
Wha...?
Music: The Dreadful Dark
Background Sound: "Come on in."
Some unknown force lifted me off my feet and pulled me into the classroom. It was so dark in there that I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face.
...! Ah...ahh...???: There's no time to lose. The examination is about to begin. Please remove your jacket.
Ahh!???: That's a good girl. Now, lie down on the bed.
Suddenly, we're put in control and given ten seconds to do...something???
We take a look at the chalkboard.
Aaaaagh!Music: None
Background Sound: None
Naomi's light cuts off, and weird noises are heard.
Sound Effect: ???
Suddenly, the lights cut back on, and the ghost is nowhere to be seen.
*pant* *pant* *pant* What...the hell was that?!Video: Classroom 3-A ends here.
Music: Depths of Space and Time
Naomi leaves the classroom, and it locks behind her.
Continuing on with our aimless wandering, we head back to the lavatories. Along the way, we throw the lever to build ourselves a bridge, stringing up the piano wire in the process.
We head upstairs, to the girls' room...
Video: Girls' Lavatory
This video covers the remainder of the update.
Music: None
No matter how much I wandered, I just couldn't seem to figure out where Seiko had run off to. And I'd been teased from the shadows and frightened the whole time I was searching. I couldn't take much more of it. I was losing my mind... When I came back to my senses, I found myself standing in the hallway on the third floor of the school building.
...I began to doubt myself. To doubt the fated events that lay ahead, or whatever these horrific future memories were. It couldn't actually happen, right? I had no real reason to doubt the things I'd been envisioning, of course. But I kept telling myself it was all just paranoia. I've experienced deja vu many times in my life, ever since I was a little girl. It didn't have to mean anything. Someone once told me that deja vu was just the brain recognizing a similar situation from one's past and making a false connection -- pulling the wrong file.
Seikooo! Seiko! Please! Don't leave me by myself!I'd basically lost all ability to reason, as if my mind had been taken over by some outside force. I broke down on the spot and began crying.
Sound Effect: Thunk
A loud sound caught my attention. It sounded like someone kicking a wall. I shot up from the ground as if I were yanked. And as I rose, my brain began recognizing a similar situation from my past. A file was being pulled.
No...Sound Effect: Thunk
(Sounds of a struggle, coming from inside the bathroom stall... It's exactly the same.)
There was an eerie stillness in the air within the girls' lavatory. It didn't feel like there was anyone else in here with me, but I sensed a slight movement on the third stall door from the back, as if it were just closed.
...My heart was racing. I was so nervous, it felt like all the blood in my body had begun flowing in reverse. Behind this door...
Sound Effect: Creak
...! (Whew...)
Just looking at the noose sent a wave of dark feelings through my mind. The specter of death was right in front of me, baring its fangs. If I went for much longer without finding her...
Sound Effect: Thunk
Agh!
No one was there. So what was I hearing?
...? The wall... There's a breeze coming out from it...I stepped inside and began lightly knocking on the back wall in several different spots.
Ah! It's hollow!Looking closely, the wall did jut out very slightly right around that exact spot. Unconsciously, I pushed on it...and a small piece of paneling swung out into the space beyond, like a door. It was well-hidden, to say the least. Never once would I have guessed there to be a hidden room behind this particular bathroom stall.
It's really dark in here...
A hole was cut into the floor in the back, outfitted with a ladder leading down into the main school building below. I peered down the hole, but could see no sign of a floor, nor the end of the ladder. This thing could lead all the way to the ground level, or even farther.
Sound Effect: Thunk
Eagh!Whether due to pressure differentials or the breeze in the air, the secret door suddenly shut itself behind me. That must have been what I was hearing earlier.
A wretched smell was wafting up from below. Hardly a surprise, given where I was. I didn't want to imagine what unspeakable things might await me at the bottom of this ladder. But if Seiko had gone this way... I shook off my misgivings and began descending.
I wondered if maybe this ladder ended in a garbage dump or something. I stopped in my tracks, seriously considering turning back. But I didn't want to miss something and have to do this again later, so I figured I might as well tough it out and see what I might find down at the bottom. I was waffling between my desire to be through and my instinct to turn back, but I kept climbing down all the while, holding my breath as much as I could.
Sure is wet. If I'm not careful, I might sli--aah, aaaaahhh!Sound Effect: Splash
Ooogh...nnng...Ah! Ew! What...?Music: A Pitch Black Room
*sigh* (I'm really glad it's not a garbage dump.)I seemed to be in a cave-like room, with muddy walls and a dirt floor. Looking up, I could see a very faint light coming from the hole I'd just climbed through, but the whole area was otherwise pitch black.
(There doesn't seem to be anything to find in here at all. I'm probably just wasting my time.)While surveying my surroundings as best as I could, I attempted to stand up...but that didn't go very well.
Sound Effect: Splash
Oww! What the hell?!My ankle had swollen pretty badly, and felt like it was on fire. It was the same sprained ankle Seiko had tended earlier. I must have landed on it when I slipped from the ladder, aggravating it further.
No... Why is this happening?!I made another attempt to get up, this time onto my good ankle. If I shifted my weight so the majority of it rested on that leg, maybe I could walk...
Sound Effect: Splash
Ungh... OW!Music: Serious
No suck luck. I wasn't going anywhere. I was stuck in this dark, dank cave, where no one would ever find me. With a ladder I couldn't use. My leg had begun going numb, and the pain from my ankle was almost unbearable.
Leaning on the wall for support, I attempted to stand once more, this time holding my sprained ankle in the air as best as I could. I placed both of my hands on the ladder, but it was no use. I couldn't even make the first step.
*pant* *pant* Hngh!Mustering all my strength, I figured I'd give jumping a try. Even if it was only with one leg. But as soon as the other came in contact with the bottom rung of that wet, slippery ladder...
Sound Effect: Splash
Rrrng... Oooogh...I could feel myself turning pale. I was well and truly stuck! This was no joke. I was frantic. I tried climbing the ladder again and again, but just kept finding myself sprawled unceremoniously across the ground.
But it was simply no use. Tears were welling up in my eyes uncontrollably.
Music: None
I'm so sorry, Seiko. I can't make it. I can't save you... *sob* *bawl*And then, all of a sudden, I sensed a person in front of me.
*hic* *sob*???: I'm impressed you made it this far. You've done well.
Music: Kind Words
It was a little girl. She was just...there. And she spoke to me in a very comforting voice. Then she hugged me tightly, as if trying to enshroud my head with her being.
*sob* *sob* *bawl*
There, there. It'll be all right. I'll let you see her, if you'd like. Will you listen to what I have to say? ...Mmng...I didn't care who. I didn't care if it was a person or a ghost, I just wanted somebody -- anybody -- to save Seiko.
Good. Good girl. Good girl. That's a good girl. Everything's going to be okay. Painful memories, you see...