Corpse Party: Book of Shadows Part #10

Part 10: Demise, Part 2

We've just opened a route to the first floor, so we proceed down the stairs.

Ah... I recognize this! It's one of Shinozaki's candles, for sure. That means everyone else must be somewhere in here too!

Continuing down the stairs, we take a right and head for the second wing.

But the door is shut tight.

Instead, we head into the exit.

Music: None

Background Sound: Rain

The door is frozen in place, as if it's just a decoration on the wall. It can't be opened.

I can't even jostle it. It's like a solid wall! Something is definitely very wrong here.

Of course we all knew the door wouldn't open, but it would just be silly to come into the entranceway without at least trying to open the front door.

There are skeletal remains here. Whoever this was seems to have died a while ago, as the bones are already bleach-white. Judging by stature and clothing, this was probably a middle school girl. There's a bloodstained box-cutter lying on the ground nearby, suggesting a likely cause of death.

A student ID name tag is attached to the front of her uniform:

Hina Hirose Age: 17
Momijigawa High School

Carotid artery slashed with box cutter; bled out.

After checking out the corpse, a spirit appears and starts muttering to herself. She keeps going for awhile, and trying to speak to her elicits no response.

Unforgivable. I thought we were friends. I hope you die in agony.

And with that, there's nothing else of interest in the entranceway. We head out.

Background Sound: None

Music: Oddity

Just as I was about to leave the entranceway, the spirit of a little boy suddenly materialized in front of the door. I remembered his face.

(It's him...! What do I do?! If he catches me, I'm done for!)

I immediately ducked into the shadow of the shoe cubbies, doing my best to stay out of sight.

We quickly flee from the entranceway, heading to the north.

Music: Escaping Samsara (A)

But we can't proceed very far.

Instead, we turn around and head west.

Music: None

OH GOD

Ghot yuu!

L-Let go of me! I... I have to find Shig and the others!

Had we not proceeded north, Ryou wouldn't have attacked us. It's kind of arbitrary, but it doesn't matter if you use up your paper charm here, and I doubt anyone would miss it when it appears in the classroom.

Music: Escaping Samsara (A)

Now that Ryou has stopped harassing us, we proceed to this square.

It's a human skeleton, still in the process of decaying. Based on size and uniform, this was probably a male junior or senior high student. Looking closely, there's a student ID name tag lodged halfway inside his rib cage:

Shunsuke Sasaki Age: 17
Momijigawa High School

Strangled to death by unknown assailant.

Another one? What in the world is going on in here?!

Eek!!

A crumbled-up piece of paper fell from the disheveled sleeve of his school uniform.

"It wasn't long ago that I was wishing for some great disaster to help alleviate the boredom of everyday life. I guess I should've been careful what I wished for. Now, all I want to do is return to that peaceful, uneventful life I was living back home. Those days spent laughing, scowling or crying may not have seemed like much, but they were what life is all about. Here, there's just suffering.

I never realized how much it hurt to go for even one single day without eating anything. And I'm so thirsty, I feel like I could die at any moment. Mommy, please... I need my dinner..."

Fate can be changed.

Aside from the body and the note, there's nothing else in this section of hallway.

So we head up the west stairs. We can go through the locker room and out to the pool, but there's nothing there for us, not even a name tag.

Upon arriving on the second floor, we enter room 1-C.

Upon entering, we find a note on the wall by the door.

[Notice]
From Ms. Shinozaki, School Infirmary

If you play on school grounds during free period, don't forget to wash your mouth and hands before returning to class. Harmful germs are always nearby!

We also find a body leaning against the far wall.

It's a human skeleton, still in the process of decaying. Based on size and uniform, this was probably a female junior or senior high school student. And there's still a name tag pinned to her jacket:

Ayaka Shimizu Age: 16
Momijigawa High School

Trauma to neck after falling down stairs; died after several hours of excruciating pain.

There are numerous papers scattered on the floor. They seem to be torn-out pages from a notebook. The battered noteboook they came from is also lying just a few feet away. Most of the pages are soaked with blood or other sundry fluids, rending their contents illegible, but a few sentences can be made out here and there:

...ks he's God's gift to wome...
...umb jock thinks just because he's good at sports h...
...ow she's here in this godforsaken pl...
...th a guy who sees her like that?!
If he tries anything, I swear I'll kick his a...
...on't let him get away wi...
She and I will find a w...
...et back home, toge...
Though I have to a...
...m scared...

(Sounds like she came here with a friend, and swore to protect her from someone else they know...but...)

Shig...and everyone else... You're all still out there somewhere, right?

Sound Effect: Item

Now that we've collected the notebook, we're finished here. We leave and head to room 1-B, next door.

But it looks like we can't go in. There is a note on the wall, however.

Fate never changes.

There were notes in the first game that directly contradicted each other, too. I like to imagine there was just one guy in a pissy mood who went around writing rebuttals to every hopeful note he found.

We're done out here, so we head into room 1-A.

(Or maybe that's just wishful thinking. Heh.)

I dunno about Shig bro, but judging from the first game, Naomi, Seiko, Ayumi, Yoshiki, Ms. Yui, Satoshi, and Yuka all woke up in this room after arriving at Heavenly Host.

Ignoring the sparkly elephant in the room, we investigate the cabinet.

There's something stuck to the broken glass on this cabinet door. It seems to be...human hair and skin. Eww.

It's an old, yellowed class newsletter. Looks like they just cut an article out of the local newspaper and photocopied it.

"It's hard to imagine what the bereaved family and friends of the victims must be going through. Classmates of the deceased will be dedicating memorial portraits and flowers in their honor, and the school chorus is slated to sing for them as well."

A rusty key sits on the teacher's podium, atop a note that just says, "Do not use this key under any circumstances."

I wonder what it's to?

Take the rusty key
~~Leave it~~

Sound Effect: Item

There's nothing else in this room for us, so we head out.

We head up the stairs, to the west side of the third floor.

The reference room is locked, so we head past it to the end of the hall.

It's a set of skeletal remains, still in the process of decaying. Based on height and uniform, this seems to have been a junior or senior high school boy. There's a pair of spiked shoes lying on the ground nearby. Maybe he was an athlete...?

His head seems to have been detached from his body completely. There's not a lot of blood on the floor, but it nonetheless seems logical to conclude that this was the cause of death. As expected, his student ID name tag seems to have survived intact, and is still pinned to his uniform:

Mitsurugi Amano Age: 18
Momijigawa High School

Died of shock from broken neck.

"No... I didn't intend for that to happen... I just... I just wanted to tell you how I felt... But then you had to go and die..."

Was this in regards to the dead girl I encountered in the entranceway? He seemed to be wearing the same school uniform as her...

(What really happened here? I feel like I'm missing something. Gives me the creeps...but maybe I should go back and examine the girl's body more carefully.)

We're automatically brought back to the entranceway.

Music: None

Background Sound: Rain

There are skeletal remains here.

I feel bad doing this, but I really need to take a closer look at you...

Examine the body in detail
~~Back away~~

Its blade is jagged and crusted over with blood. It's clearly not usable anymore. But everything seems to indicate that this is what was used to kill her. There's a sticker label on the back of the handle with a name written on it. It's owner, perhaps? It says, "Ayaka Shimizu."

Ah...!

And despite the air being completely still in the room, its pages began flipping as soon as it hit the ground. Most were blank. But the very last page contained a few hastily-scrawled sentences:

Hina is mine.
I will always protect her. Always.
I'm not about to lose to a man like that!
Damned Amano!
Hina seems like she might have a crush on him
So what do I do with my feelings, then?!
I can't simply hand them off to someone else!
I've made up my mind. Will kill before
Hina I love you

An item has dropped onto the floor. We pick it up.

Sound Effect: Item

Momijigawa High School
[Hina Hirose]

There are crooked, hastily-scribbled letters in the memo section at the back of the student ID booklet. It's unclear what was used to write them, though it certainly doesn't look like ink or pencil. They read:

You're no friend. You're no friend!
You're an asshole. You're a pervert!
Don't touch me. Don't say you love me.
I loathe you. Our friendship is over!

(How could she? To a dead girl, no less! That's absolutely awful! Shig... I can't take it anymore... I don't want to be in a place like this...)

I didn't even want to look at it, but I decided to hang on to the student ID book. I thought maybe it would yield some valuable clues down the line. And I'd do whatever I had to in order to see Shig and the others again.

(Friends... I guess in that regard, I've really been blessed. My friends are all happy, fun, beautiful people.)

I wish I could see them. I wonder where they are right now...

We're put back into control, and exit the entranceway.

Background Sound: None

???: Mayuuu! Mayuuuu!!

...! Is that...?!

???: Mayu! Can you hear me?! If you can, please, say something!

Shig! I'm right here, Shig! Shig! I'm here! Can you hear me? Where are you?!

???: Maaayuuu! Where are you?! *pant* *pant* Mayuuu!!

Wait! Shig! Don't leave me! I'm right here! Shig!!

???: ...

He must have wandered too far away.

Shig... Didn't my voice reach you? Was I not loud enough? He can't have gone too far, though. Shig! Shig, if you can hear me, say something!

Music: Escaping Samsara (A)

We head back up the west staircase.

We head north, and Mayu stops.

Music: None

(No. No, stop it, Mayu. If you start crying over something like this, imagine how badly Shig would tease you about it later!)

The tremors were so intense, I was unable to keep standing. I feel hard on my bottom, and watched as my Student ID slipped from my skirt and into a hole. The scrap of paper from the Sachiko charm must have shaken loose in the process. It slipped out and snaked its way haphazardly onto the floor.

The quake comes to a gradual stop.

Was it finally over? I cautiously pulled myself back to my feet. And that's when I realized that the floor...no, the whole hallway had changed. Cracks and holes in the floor had somehow been sealed up, and a window that was there before was now completely gone. I couldn't really come to terms with what I was seeing. Was this reality? What kind of hell was I stuck in, anyway?! I was getting goosebumps all over my body, and my mind felt like it was shutting down. Then I saw the Sachiko charm scrap, and snapped back to my senses.

I scooped it up, thinking of Shig standing next to me, and everyone else smiling and laughing during that ritual. My body was trembling in fear and my vision was beginning to blur. This place was taking its toll on me. Pleasant memories of friends were all I had left.

Why? Why is this happening?! *hic*

Video: Shig
This video covers the remainder of the update.

Music: Memories (A)

So in other words, they won't let us use the cultural assembly stage?

Unfortunately not. I got us permission to use it on the phone, but I guess that really doesn't do us any good if the adviser in charge isn't on board.

Not much we can do, though. Our own adviser isn't exactly known for his enthusiasm, and putting on a show outside of school would have its own problems.

And you're content to just leave it at that? The script is already finished, you know. Maybe I should try my hand at negotiating. Just because they're adults doesn't mean they necessarily deserve all the respectful platitudes we're expected to give them, after all.

Go for it! Hee hee...

...? What's so funny?

...Don't be stupid.

Haha. I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Really, I'm just happy you're here to get upset over something like this for me.

Well, I'm not good with conflict. So it's just kind of...refreshing to have you get angry in my place.

By which you mean I've got lots of personality, riiight? Just another reason I'm the poster girl for the drama club!

Hahaha! Yes. I suppose you could say that.

Of course, I do more than just act. I also write scripts, I produce, I make costumes... *sigh* It's touch being such a renaissance woman! Heheh...

Mm. You are very strong, Mayu.

Huh?

You're a strong person. Even when things are looking down, you always have a smile on your face. And you've always been so mindful of family and friends. Much more so than I. You're always willing to shed a tear in sympathy when times are tough, no matter who's watching.

...C-Come on, Shig! Is that supposed to be some kind of pick-up line or something? I mean, you're the one who's always saying I'm unreliable!

There are different kinds of strength in the world, after all. Yours is...how do I put this? Your is...bountiful. It's a strength that never falters. No matter what trying times await and no matter how many times you stumble and fall, you're the type who will always get right back up and try again. It's a substantial strength, too. Substantial enough that even a cold human being like myself can plainly see it.

...Shig...

(I'm just good at making myself seem that way in front of other people. But in reality, when I'm faced with uncomfortable situations, I freeze up! I've just been playing a part all this time. The part of the good girl that everybody wants me to be...)

Music: None