I'm not usually that good with emotions and stuff. I'm very close to Sako though. I'll let her touch me. Most people I won't even let rest a hand on my shoulder, but Sako is allowed to hug and kiss me...if she wanted, that is. It's strange. I don't usually make friends. Normally I just sit there quietly and...yeah. I don't understand people and people don't understand me, but my parents were friends with Sako's parents, so they spent a lot of time together and I spent a lot of time around Sako. For some reason she never minded that I was a bit weird. I remember when we were little and the other kids thought I was a weird boy because I didn't play like the rest of them and got really stressed and stuff. One day my routine got disrupted and my morning routine has to be the same, it just has to but my mum made me do other things and told me to stop being so silly and I got to school in a real state in tears and unable to keep still and nobody could touch me I was just in such a state and oh god. And that was the day everyone started turning round and vocalising how weird they thought I was, but before that, Sako was there, doing her best to make things okay. She was such a good friend. She loved me. It was so sweet. In junior school and middle school she always defended me against the bullies and mean people. I was really down that day and Sako came skipping over, hair tied in bunchies with these purple and pink ribbons. She had a peace offering in her hand to try calm me down. It was a pully toy where you pulled the string and it moved its arms and legs up and down. I hesitantly took it and started to fiddle with the arms.
"Are you okay, Teruhiko?" She asked with a sweet smile.
I gave a slight nod, sniffling and focusing my attentions on the arm of that toy in my hands.
"Chikuda and Sawada were being mean and mocking you. I've told them never to do it again and I think they might listen, because I put the fear of Nishihara Sako into them!" She struck a kung-fu pose and I couldn't help but laugh.
"You're really brave, Sako."
"Not really." She assured me with a smile and a giggle.
I'm not sure why I was reminded of that as I stepped out into the cold and wet. I shivered, my school blazer doing little to keep me warm. I looked around, looking at the murky water of what was meant to be a swimming pool. The surface was covered in floating bodies. I didn't really find myself bothered by that, though. I mean, firstly, there were dead bodies everywhere here, and secondly something else caught my attention before I could give the departed a thought. The loud wailing of horrified, traumatised tears. I looked to the corner of the pool fence, and there stood a Sekishingessha girl, curled up on the floor, skirt riding up her waist...I couldn't help but blush. She had green hair, mostly shaved off apart from a mohawk and a thin ponytail at the nape. Her hands were over her face and she was rocking herself, afraid and in tears and I rushed forward. I normally can't tell with most people how they're feeling, but I know Sako so well I know all her emotions. I know everything about her. Well, without sounding creepy. I knelt before her and put my hands on her shoulder but she screamed and struggled and cried some more.
"Sako, calm down, it's me!"
Through the sobbing, she tried to say my name, and she stopped struggling. "Te-Ter-Teru-H-H..."
"It's okay, Sako. It's okay."
"There are dead bodies everywhere!" She grabbed my shoulders, fear evident in her pale eyes. I stroked her hair gently.
"You've been through a lot lately. Just think of this all as a nightmare, and then you'll wake up and we'll be back in detention with Masato-Sensei."
"No, not him!" She whined, shaking her head.
"If we get out of here I promise to hurt him for you." I stood, shrugging her off and offering her my hand. "Come on. You're shivering. We should go inside and find some way to dry up."
She gave a slight nod. "Okay." She took my hand and I helped her up, pulling her along to the locker room. She cuddled up to me and kept crying, and I stopped once we were inside to try and calm her down as she had once done for me.
I don't know how long we were there, but it felt like forever. My watch wasn't working. I turned to her, opening my mouth to explain. "The front door doesn't open."
"Where are we?"
I stayed silent for a moment before sighing. "The notices on the walls say Heavenly Host Elementary, but-"
"But that school isn't around any more!"
I had a totally blank look on my face so she just shook her head and walked on. I would have followed, but something shimmering in the drains caught my attention, so I knelt down to liberate it. Something thick, wet and sticky lingered in there, sticking to my fat fingers as the slim grates dug into my flesh. It was gross and stank of rot and stuck under my nails and it was unpleasant. My fingers were too thick to get through the grates, but I kept trying despite the hopelessness of it all.
"What are you doing?" Sako asked.
"I thought you'd gone." I told her uncertainly.
"I came back. There is no way I'm wandering around a school full of dead bodies alone. Look, half of them have been gutted. One had sewing scissors shoved down her throat. The people here have been murdered and I am not sticking around to get murdered alongside." She stepped closer and peered into the grate. "What is that?"
"I...I'm not sure..."
"Think I could reach it?"
"It's covered in blood."
"Can you get it?"
I pulled, but all that came out was more blood with an unnatural squelch. Sako stepped forward, digging her nails into the side of the grate. The blood was cold and gritty, and she was shutting her eyes, pretending it was something else, and then the grate came away and the dark, cold liquid sprayed out onto Sako's pristine uniform. She took a deep breath and punched the wall, shattering one of the ancient tiles. I reached in again, pulling a face, and pulled out a key. It had a tag to it, and after a little rubbing with my thumb, the muck encrusting it came away. It was a locker key. Sako snatched it off me and put it to the locker, unlocking it and throwing it open in one fluid motion
and screaming when maggots and parts of the dead fell out on her.
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