Part 9: Demise, Part 1

Video: Demise - Intro



Nng...khaah...



Why was I lying on the ground? My vision was blurred and indistinct. Maybe it was the blow to the head, or maybe it was because of all the tears in my eyes. I'd been forced out through the infirmary door and tossed like a rag doll into the hallway.

Ouugh!

I could barely breathe and was completely unable to move. I wished I could slip away into unconsciousness, but my agony was keeping me in the moment.

My abdomen... I put my hand to it without thinking, and a sharp pain flew through my palm as well. Looking down, that whole area of my body was soaked with blood and liberally pierced by large pieces of glass, many of them the size of drafting triangles. I was certain some of them must have sliced all the way into my internal organs.

Oh, God... Why...?!

Why was this happening to me?



Music: Signs of Possession (A)

No... No! Help me, please!

Through my veil of tears, I could just barely make out the face of a young girl with an unearthly blue glow about her. She was looking right at me and seemed...concerned? No... As she got closer, I could read her expression more clearly. She was smiling. Smiling and staring into my soul with one good eye...and one empty socket.



Eee...!



All at once, I was pulled up into the air with incredible force by the other two faintly glowing children. One of my arms was being held by the spirit of a young boy, while the other was being held by the spirit of...what I assumed to be a little girl. I couldn't tell for sure since everything above her jaw line was missing, leaving me with no facial features to read. Her head was like a half-eaten fruit, with bottom teeth in place of seeds. I could see her vocal cords flutter and her throat contract with every giggle. Based on her size, I'd estimate she was still early grade school age. She held my arm tightly, and her shadowy silhouette "gazed" at me innocently. Her voice box gyrated a little and her throat opened and closed rhythmically, producing a gurgling sound that might have been a chuckle. She then said:



All three children were now staring right at me as if they were studying an ant's movements just before squishing it with their thumbs. In one single, rough motion, I found myself flipped ninety degrees forward. I was facing the ground, and I could sense myself moving forward rapidly.

W-Waa...aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!




Music: None

Sound Effect: Splorch



What a strange sensation... I was now staring up at the wall from the floor. There was a large slathering of chunky red bits strewn all over it. Their dull earth tones clashed heavily with the wall's worn-out gray hues. It looked almost as if someone had winged a juicy pomegranate against it with all their might. Except this was no pomegranate -- it was a person.



My limbs were ripped clean off and my belly had burst open into a conglomeration of glistening blood, entrails and other miscellaneous bodily fluids. The force of the impact was enough to scatter parts of me all the way to the ceiling. I was an unsightly mess of slimy globules and viscera.

The smell was intensely foul. But then, it was a conglomeration of raw meat, after all. Never mind the fact that it was my meat...



Music: Jingle (B)







Music: Oddity



*pant* *pant* *pant* *wheeze* *pant* *whimper* *wheeze*



*slow exhale* What an awful dream! Absolutely awful!
(And the worst part is, it was so vivid. I could even smell it! ...Wait... Where...am I? This isn't right. I was just in the classroom, helping with cleaning... Is this...part of the festival, maybe? Class 5 was hosting a haunted house. Maybe that's where I am... God... I-I hate this kind of stuff!)



Wh-Why is nobody saying anything? Come on, that's enough! Please...just stop...

There was no response. There was only a deep, all-encompassing silence that hung in the air like fog.

...

The school shakes for half a second.



*whimper* Th-This...really isn't funny anymore, guys!

Despite continuing to plead with my friends, I knew this was reality. I had no choice but to accept it, no matter how much I wished it weren't true. A set piece like this, after all, was beyond the abilities of even the most professional theater troupe to create.

(This is...no haunted house, is it? So where am I? What happened to me? And where's everyone else? Somebody...please, save me... Shig...)

Music: None



...!



The ghost children appear, then disappear into a nearby door.

(Were those...children? They're... They're the same children I saw in my dream!)



We're given control, and I immediately check out the door the children vanished into.

(I've got a bad feeling about this room. I feel like if I enter, I'll be done for...)





Music: Escaping Samsara (A)



I still couldn't believe I was really in this place. But I was. I was transported...somewhere. Somewhere horrible. And if I was here, that meant the others probably were too. I just needed to meet up with Shig. That alone would be enough to keep me going.




Video: Demise - Intro ends here.





We're put back into control right outside the infirmary, which Mayu will not enter.



It's extremely dusty. But from the looks of it, this is the sheet that goes on the infirmary bed.

There's nothing in the hall except for this sheet, which we can look at, but cannot use for anything.



We attempt to head south, but...



It's too big to jump, but if a plank were laid over it like a bridge, it might just be crossable.



Since we can't proceed downstairs, we attempt to head upstairs instead. Along the way we pass the lab, which is locked.



I couldn't possibly clear these away by myself. If only one of the boys were here to help me...
(Shig doesn't care much for manual labor, though. What was it he said during the setup at the festival? "This sort of blue-collar work is beneath me. It's far better suited to the likes of Kishinuma." Getting him to move even one desk was like pulling teeth. Hee hee.)



With yet another place on the map marked as inaccessible, we head for classroom 3-A.

Music: None



We start by reading the writing on the chalkboard.



"Smells so good... The smell of tasty meat. Where is it coming from?"

Afterwards, we check out the body in the corner.



She seemed to be in her mid-teens. And she was wearing a school uniform, suggesting she was indeed another student from somewhere. But...something wasn't right.

*gasp*

Upon closer inspection, I realized that this young girl was very much dead.

She's...dead? F-For real?! Ulgh... She...smells...

I wondered how much time had passed since she died. Externally, she still looked to be mostly intact...but her internal organs had clearly begun to decay, with various sundry fluids leaking out onto the floor all around her.



No... Y-You've got to be kidding... She's dead... Sh-She's dead! What do I do? What do I do?! The police... I have to call the police. Ah, my cell phone!

I tried dialing 110, Japan's emergency services, but the call wouldn't go through.

No... Am I out of range?



(Rngh... I feel like I'm going to be sick. Is this what happens to all of us after we die?)

After the scene, I check the body one more time.



Shiori Fujiwara Age: 16
Karasuyama High School

Died of shock after pencil was used to slash eyes out and driven into brain.



There's nothing else to be done in here, so we head for the classroom next door.



But there's a hole in the floor in front of it.

So the stairs to the first floor are blocked, the stairs to the third floor are blocked, all the classrooms west of 3-A are blocked, Mayu won't enter the infirmary, and the lab is locked.



So we head back into the only room we can: 3-A.



Ahh... Ahh! It's...a ghost!
Please... My body... Hide......it...
What...?
Hide...my body...
Um... A-Are you the...owner...of this body? So you want me to...hide you?
I don't want people...to see me...like this...
...



Try to help
Walk away

I wish I could give you a proper burial, but maybe I can at least find a blanket or something to cover you up with. I'll see what I can do.

Music: Escaping Samsara (A)



We head back to the hallway in front of the infirmary.



It's extremely dusty, but from the looks of it, this is the sheet that goes on the infirmary bed.

This should be big enough, right?

Take the sheet
Leave it

Sound Effect: Item



Mayu automatically returns to classroom 3-A with the sheet.


Music: None



Thank you...
It's no problem. I understand where you're coming from. As a girl...it would be embarrassing for other people to see you like that.
...Be sure you hang on to that sense of sympathy. In this place, things like kindness...friendship...and consideration...can be easily corrupted...



The spirit slowly disappears.

Music: Escaping Samsara (A)



And a sparkling object was left in her place on the floor.



Take the paper charm
Leave it

Sound Effect: Item



Was this...a thank-you from that girl, maybe? I'll have to make sure I put it in my student ID holder so I don't lose it.



This board has also mysteriously appeared after helping the spirit hide her body.

This seems like a pretty sturdy board. Might be a good idea to take it with me.

Take the loose board
Leave it

Sound Effect: Item



I'm sure I don't need to tell you where we can use this board.



We return to the south staircase.

I wonder if I could use that loose board I found to cross here...

Set the loose board
Too risky

The loose board slides nicely over the hole.



Seems sturdy enough! It should be possible to cross here now.



We cross the board, heading downstairs. Who knows how much more of the school is now accessible to us...?