Part 8: Chapter 2, Part 1

Video: Chapter 2 Intro

Background Sound: Playing



Phew! That should just about do it. I hate being in charge of the gym equipment. All because of that stupid co-ed meet in two days...
Why can't the boys' class rep take care of the grunt work?!



Freakin' Kishinuma... Doesn't he know what a delicate flower I am? Most I've ever had to lift before was chopsticks, and he expects me to lug around a damned pommel-horse...



Naomi, that is one pretty sight!
Huh? ...What is?



Whaaat? Yours is WAY cuter! Mine's all plump like a duck's.
What are you sayin'?! You've got what they call "child-bearing hips." It's a good thing!
It means when you get older, you can pump out all the babies you want with the greatest of ease!
I'm...actually kind of happy to hear you say that...
Heehee. You do have a certain motherly quality to you, Naomi!
It's no wonder you're so good with kids.

I'm pretty sure it isn't the intent, but all I can read this exchange as is: "You've got a big ass. No wonder you're so good with kids!"



Sounds like you'll be making some lucky guy reeeal happy...
Hmm?

Background Sound: None

Sound Effect: Swell



Sound Effect: Shock



No... Nooo... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!



Video: Chapter 2 Intro ends here.

Music: Chapter 2's Theme



And she was screaming...
What do I do? I can't let anything happen to my students...




Shishido enters the nearby classroom and kneels down in front of Ayumi.

*wheeze* *chatter* *gasp* *gulp* *sputter* *wheeze*
Shinozaki... It's all right. Please, calm down.



I did.
(I think...she's hyperventilating. I'd give her a paper bag to breathe into...but there aren't any around... I guess all I can do is try to calm her breathing before she passes out...)



Maybe it was the building settling.
I'll go check it out, though, and see if I can figure out what it was for sure.
You two stay right here, okay?



Shinozaki...

Yoshiki looks at Ayumi, and then at Shishido.



O-Okay...
...Or...better yet, how about I go take a look, and you wait here?
Not a chance. Until I can verify everyone's safety... I want to keep you two out of harm's way.
...Well...okay, I guess. Be careful, though.
Noooooo!
Look, she'll be fine! Geez...
I'm counting on you, Kishinuma. I'll be back in no time.
No problem.




(I have no idea what's going on. My head is spinning...I can't make sense of anything... My chest hurts like my heart is encased in ice... And I can't shake this diziness...or this nausea...)



(...I can feel a newfound energy welling up from within me.)



(I feel like, if nothing else, I can at least play the party of the level-headed adult.)



We're now in control of Yui Shishido.



First things first, we head back in the direction we came from, and pass the classroom entrance.



Yep, that familiar bucket is still here, still full of that familiar yellow fluid.



We enter the southern side of the classroom.



A crystal shining with a faint purple glow is nestled amongst the debris on the ground. Take it?

Yes
No

Sound Effect: Item



Oh man, I love that game!

Ms. Yui?



Did you find something?

Shishido takes a few steps closer to Yoshiki.



Looks like a ruby...or...no, probably an amethyst?
Kishinuma, you can identify gemstones?
No, not really. Shinozaki's the one to ask for that kinda stuff.
Is that so? Well...then maybe I should give it to her...

Give it to Shinozaki
Keep it



But will you take it, and give it to her once she's clamed down a bit? It might make her feel a little better.
No problem.

Handed over the [Power Stone]



We exit the classroom and head back to the north.



And we head into the stairwell.



The label on the key reads "3-A." Take it?

Yes
No



Before we head back downstairs, we investigate the barricade.



Fair enough, rules are rules. We head back downstairs.



...will go hungry, and die of starvation.

...?



...



We head into the nearby classroom, 2-A.



Over the past month, numerous children have gone missing within the town, and authorities quickly turned to kidnapping as the most likely explanation. Now investigators have located the whereabouts of these children, and their findings are far worse than anyone could've anticipated.

The bodies of the absconded youths were discovered within the Heavenly Host Elementary School building on September 18th, 1973 at around 7:00 PM. Authorities further revealed that a male instructor from the school was found with them, alive but near-catatonic, holding a pair of bloodied scissors. Each of the corpses appeared to have had its tongue sev__ed and remove_________________ique mutilations far too grot___________________g to describe.

(The page is torn at this point, and the bottom half of the article is nowhere to be found.)



...but I never realized just how horrific an incident it really was...



...?!



That newspaper clipping was such a big deal in chapter 1, hidden away in a locked room and booby trapped and everything. I'm kind of upset that it was so easy to get at here.



Onto more important business, we unlock Classroom 3-A and head inside.

Video: Classroom 3-A
This video covers the remainder of the update.

Music: None
Background Sound: Soft Hum



As we navigate the ruined classroom, a spirit appears.



Well, if it isn't the teacher. Are you all by yourself? Decided to stop shaking and shivering with the other two back in 1-A, did you?
I'll have you know I heard one of my students screaming, and have set out to find her.
I see. Regrettably...that won't be possible. This school exists in a nexus where multiple dimensions overlap. It's but a single closed space in a sea of closed spaces. In other words, even though you may be in the same school as your screaming student, you and she occupy different dimensions. Which means you two can never meet. If one of you should die, perhaps your body or your spirit may move from one space to another...or...maybe you can find some means of traversing the planes feely, as "they" do...
...
Consider this fair warning. Even if you should find the exact spot from which your student's scream emanated...she herself may not be there. And if she isn't...there's not a thing you can do about it...



It is true that other children have been brought here quite recently. Children who, by all appearances, are indeed your students. But as I suggested, time and space do not behave as you'd assume here. They're...fragmented. You say you head a scream. That scream may have taken place only a few minutes ago...or, perhaps...it occurred in another space many hours previous... It may even have been an echo from the future... Who's to say?
Rrrgh...
With this phenomenon as it is, it's entirely possible for two closed spaces to have some small influences on one another, even when out of synch.
It doesn't matter. I can't just ignore that agonizing scream and go on my merry way. Step aside!



Shishido pushes past the spirit, and he disappears.



But as she approaches the open door...



...the door slams and she's flung backwards by an unseen force!



Step aside?! ...Why don't you fuck off...you damned corporeal...

Background Sound: None



*gasp* ...An...earthquake?!




Sound Effect: Crash

Music: Peril



Ulgh! ...Urk...
In all the world, the most vile, untrustworthy individuals of them all...are you schoolteachers. All you care about is your own well-being! You're not worried about your students. You're just worried about being held responsible if something should happen to them!
Ulgh... This really...really hurts...
You're all the same. Every last one of you! ...And I won't be taken in by your lies anymore!
(Taken in...?)
When you see a problem among your kids, you just keep your distance...because you sure wouldn't want to get involved! Have to keep up appearances, right? You just pick out the "problem children" and chip away at them little by little until they either drop out or get expelled! You're not disciplining them...you're just raging at them!



I've never met a teacher who actually cared about her students. Not once!
...You... You're...wrong...

Sound Effect: Creak

Aaaaaaaagh!! ...Ooh...
All of your students are destined to starve to death in these godforsaken halls...if they don't succumb to depression and kill themselves first! There's no other possible outcome. They'll all die meaningless deaths, just like I did! And they sure won't be thinking about YOU when they take their final breaths!
EEP! ...Oolgh...oof..unnnnnnggh...
Any last words, bitch? I'll tell your students as I end their miserable lives.
Oolh...oong...oomph...



Heh... Haha! HAHAHAHAHA!! Come again?
...Spare...my...students...
What was that?!
Please! I don't care what happens to me... Just please, spare their lives!
They're not your children. You're not their mother. Are you really still pretending to care about them? Filthy liar... Did you know? When you die in this accursed place, you experience the pain you felt at the moment of your death for all eternity! And I'm going to crush you to dust. The pain must be unbearable...unimaginable...and you're going to feel that pain every moment of every day, forevermore...
*wheeze* *pant*
Ask me to spare YOU. It's what you really want, isn't it? Be honest with me...and I'll consider sparing your life.



Don't you harm a hair on their heads, you hear me?!
Tch. You are one stubborn little bitch.

Sound Effect: Creak

Music: None
Background Sound: Wind



The spirit places more pressure on the shelf over Shishido's body, and she coughs up some blood.

Hng...oolph! ...Hrrrrnnngg... *rasp*
(This is excruciating... I think...my rib cage is broken... It feels like...someone's pushing this cabinet down on top of me...with superhuman force... I'm...losing... ...consciousness...)
Hahaha! Does it hurt? Aww, poor baby! Your corpse will look just like a dead frog on the side of the road!
(Every...body... Live...)