「DATE AND TIME: September 2, 2022 - 12:30 PM」
★ NENE'S POV -
"...Have you heard?
There is a rule regarding that staircase that you must never break. You must never set foot on the fourth step. Why? Because...
...you will be taken to the other side."
"Why do you say tell me so many rumors, Ao-chan??" I whined, I was getting tired of all the rumors. Especially the one about Hanako-kun, he didn't kill Y/N-san, I mean Hanako-kun did have a blurting habit, so I just ignore that.
But, I am so worried of Y/N-san, I haven't see them since they excused themself from "Hanako-kun's murder confession" which isn't even true.
"Oh! Lunch is over!"
Ah, my mind was so much in the clouds that didn't eat much of my food! My mom is not going to happy with me...
「DATE AND TIME: September 3, 2022 - 9:30 AM」
★ NENE'S POV -
"Where are Ao-chan flowers??" I yelled out of shock, the plants were entering full bloom yesterday and now, they are gone! All of Ao-chan work!
"Who?" "There was flowers?" "Do you know a Ao-chan?" "Who would plant flowers here?"
It's seems like no one remembers Ao-chan, but the teacher will know! The roster!
The teacher came in and everyone bowed down at him. I raised my hand to hopefully get some answers.
"Sir, is Aoi-chan absent?"
"Aoi? There is no Aoi in our class"
No Aoi..? I couldn't take this anymore, my mind is warping to nothing, my anxiety is skyrocketing, and I feel drowned in the dark sea of loneliness.
I ran from my seat and bursted open the door and ran through the hallway like I never ran before.
I pulled out my phone and called Aoi's mom.
"Hello, Aoi Residence. How may I help you?"
"Hi, it's Nene, is Akane-chan home?"
"Um, sorry, there is no one named Akane in this household. You must have called the wrong house-"
"No, wait-"
"Sorry, goodbye!"
click
I felt my eyes watering, tears running down my face ever so quickly. I panicked to Hanako-kin and ran to his bathroom.
★ AUTHOR'S POV -
"Hanako-kun!!" screamed Nene, dashing in Hanako's bathroom, in a panic.
"What's wrong, Yashiro??" replied Hanako, jumping down from the windowsill.
"A-aoi..she's gone!"
"Ah, that just proves my theory right.." murmured Hanako
"W-what theory..?"
"That she is in Number 2's boundary"
"N-Number 2?"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU VILE GHOST!" shouted Kou, who emerged from the dark hallway and into the bathroom's doorway.
"You jerk! What'd you do with my classmates Yokoo and Satou?! I know this is your doing! Spreading those weird ghost rumors! Why can't anyone remember them?!" yelled Kou, who grabbed and shook Hanako harshly.
"Vanishing students and rumors about a staircase.. I think I know what's going on here." responded Hanako quietly, still seemly saddened by Y/N's disappearance.
"So, Hanako-kun, where is Aoi and his friends?" asked Nene, still teary eyed.
"In this school, there are eight places that lead to the netherworld. And that staircase over there is one of them. So those students that are missing? Yeah, they were probably taken to the netherworld or something." replied Hanako, who seemed like his attention wasn't very set on his words, as if he was not really there.
Hanako snapped back to reality and went to cup Nene's face and give her a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry. It's alright! I'll help them! I told you, didn't I? I'm No.7 of the eight mysteries. It's my duty to maintain correct relationships between humans and supernaturals. But, you'll be helping me, of course." said Hanako
"Don't touch her, you freaking perv." shouted Kou, lifting his sealed staff, pointing at Hanako.
[small timeskip]
"Just step on the fourth step on 3." said Hanako. Nene and Kou nodded as they all hold each other's hands, seeing the bloody 4th step probably made them scared.
"1..."
They take a step forward with Kou closing his eyes.
"2..."
They take another step forward with Nene now closing her eyes.
"3!"
Darkness and Silence. Pure darkness and Raw silence.
Until a familiar voice arose from above.
"Hii" said the mysterious voice.
"Who is there!!" screamed Nene, jumping onto Hanako-kun's arms
"I made macaroni if you want some." said the mysterious figure, who was in fact Y/N in a cage, floating above them, with a pot full of macaroni in their hand.
"Oh my god, Y/N! Are you okay??" screamed Hanako-kun
"Oh, I am fine. Just trapped in here for a day or two." replied Y/N in a calm manner
"Anyways, Welcome to the Misaki Stairs!! Where you can possibly die! said Y/N in a playful and sarcastic tone.
"N-NO WAY! YOU'RE KIDDING, RIGHT??" screamed Kou
"Of course I am! Maybe..." teased Y/N, which just made Kou and Nene cry more.
All of them stopped when they heard a phone ringing from somewhere.
★ NENE'S POV -
"Senpai-" whispered Kou
I picked up the old school phone and I heard only silence on the other end. Hanako and Kou were standing behind me and Y/N-san was staring directly down at me, which made my spine shiver.
"U-Um", I stuttered out. "Who is there?"
"It's Misaki" said a mysterious voice on the other side of the line.
One of the eight mysteries is calling me?
"I had been teaching my students in the schoolhouse at the top of these stairs." Misaki said. "But I was killed here, torn to pieces. Right where you're standing. Would you be a dear and look for my body please? I can't do a thing as I am now." Misaki added
"Wait!" I interrupted. "Where is Aoi-chan and why did you lock up Y/N-kun??"
"First, my right arm. That's the arm that I use to hold chalk for writing letters. Do hurry. Class will begin soon." said Misaki, completely avoiding my question.
And just like that, she was gone. "She hung up," I said.
"Well, you guys better starting searching!" shouted Y/N-kun, pulling out a alcohol flask.
"Hey! You are all the way up there! Can't you see things much better!" shouted up Kou.
"Fine~ I will help you." replied Y/N-kun
"And stop drinking!" shouted back Hanako-kun.
We all heard a creaking noise to see a hourglass flipping over. The sand then started to fall to the empty side.
"Well, would you look at that! You guys have a time limit! You better start searching~." teased Y/N-kun.
"I bet it was a prank call! We should just ignore it and keep going!" said Kou, enthusiastically.
"I wouldn't recommend that." Hanako said. "You see, we eight mysteries each have our own domain that we're unbeatable in. In my case, that domain would be the toilets!" replied Hanako-kun
"In my case, that domain would be the swimming pool!" shouted Y/N-kun, throwing her alcohol flask out the cage, which shattered on the floor.
Y/N pressed her face on the bars of her cage and looked at Kou from afar. "There's no telling what could happen if you step off the path and make her mad. But I won't stop you if you if want to find out." Y/N gave him a sadistic smirk.
Their expression sent a shiver down my spine. They were acting strangely, like they seemed like they were enjoying our suffering, when they would help us. Maybe they had too much to drink and acting out of character. I am sure Hanako-kun would know, I will ask him later.
"For now," I said, "why don't we just do what she asked and look for the arm! Based on the voice from the phone, it would be a woman's right arm"
"If you say so senpai," Kou muttered.
Hanako began to look inside of a drawer. "Good idea! Besides it can be pretty fun to look for stuff. See? Take a look at this, kid!"
Hanako shoved a magazine with a woman with large boobs in a bikini on it. "I found some treasure."
Kou tried to snatch away the magazine. "Take this seriously, dammit!"
Kou and Hanako then starting fist fighting over the magazine.
I walked to some boxes that sat in a corner. I glanced back at the two boys who were still fighting over the magazine. I started to look through the boxes and started to frown.
I was a girl too. I hated that boys acted that way. Were they really into all of that? Maybe if I had a body like that they'd like me more.
I thought of having skinny legs and big boobs with the boys all over me. The thought quickly left my mind as I thought of what Y/N, would say if she knew I was thinking like that.
"You know, back when I was your age, if you had a skinny body and big boobs, that was considered disgusting."
I have to look for the arm, I thought. But, I glanced over to see a padded bra sitting on top of a box. Excitement suddenly bursted inside of me.
[small timeskip]
Kou proudly held up his wooden arm with huge biceps. Hanako held up his robot arm. Y/N-kun getting more drunk by the minute and laughing at our every move. And me? Obviously I was the only one doing any work.
"Come on guys," I said slowly holding up my normal woman mannequin arm. "We're looking for a woman's arm! Minamoto-kun, you just brung an arm you liked here! And Hanako-kun you're not taking this seriously at all!"
Kou looked away from me, blushing like crazy. Hanako studied me, as if my legs had become skinny. Y/N-kun started laughing hysterically and pointing at me as if I was a clown.
"Ugh!" I yelled. "Are you guys listening to me?!"
"Yashiro," Hanako said, "Did you change your appearance?"
I flipped my hair, feeling oddly confident. "I'm pretty sure this is how I always look!"
I started to pose, happy with the attention I was getting. But, the padded bra fell to the ground. The three of us stared at it, in silence.
"Yashiro," Hanako said, at the same time Kou said, "Senpai."
I wailed, snatching up the bra and hiding it behind my back. "-It's not what you think! Did you see that pretty bird that flew by! It was pretty, right guys!?"
Hanako placed a hand on my shoulder. "You are beautiful the way you are. You don't need stuff like that to make you prettier."
"That's bullshit!" yelled Y/N-kun. "He said I needed plastic surgery, then I would look halfway decent to look at!"
"I said that as a joke, you know that! You are just drunk!" shouted back Hanako.
I began to wailed even more until I heard a ton of giggling. I looked around to see the noise coming from the dolls all around them.
"Times up!" they said.
"The hell?!" Kou exclaimed.
"The dolls are..." I said.
"It's time for class!"
I glanced over at the hourglass. "Guys look! The hourglass ran out!"
"No..." Kou said. "All we have to do is put the.."
"Which one of you is late for class?" the dolls asked.
"If you wanna piece of me, come and get it!'" Kou yelled. "l'Il take all of you down!!"
A pair of large scissors came rushing at them. Right, as they were about to slice through us, Hanako pushed Kou and l's heads down.
Out of fear, we all tried sprinting towards an exit.
A dead end! I thought. I felt some sort of heaviness on my leg. I looked back to see tons of dolls staring at me.
"The tardy one is you!" they said.
"Yashiro!" Hanako yelled, dolls crawling on him.
"Senpai!" Kou yelled.
I turned to see the scissors flying towards me. The blades got closer. And closer. And closer. I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking this was the end.
But, I felt a cold yet relaxing breeze hit my body. I opened my eyes to see a wave of water, crashing on the dolls, washing them away. I looked around to see who did that, but I looked up to see Y/N-kun in their cage, manipulating the water.
They brought out a tidal wave and flung it at the scissors. And all of sudden, the scissors disappeared. I watched as a ton of water fell to the ground and dried faster than my eyes can witness.
"You did it, Y/N-kun!" I shouted at them.
"Thank you but, hurry up and throw an arm in the box!" they shouted back at me.
Kou grabbed his muscle arm and threw it in the box.
The door immediately opened in response and Hanako, Kou, and I ran to the exit.
"Wait, what about Y/N-kun!" I shouted.
"Don't worry about them!" said Hanako.
"Yeah, don't worry about me! See you soon!"
★ AUTHOR POV -
As soon as the door closed, the cage that Y/N was trapped in started to move up, like a sky-liner, just really slowly.
While they still had the chance of some privacy, Y/N summoned a rotary telephone and set it on their lap, leaning against the cage.
They spun the rotary wheel to insert the number they were going to call. They picked the phone and waited for the other line-holder to respond.
CLICK!
"Hello~ Who is this?"
"Hello, it's Y/N"
"Ah, N/N! How is my favorite person in the whole wide world doing!"
"Just perfect actually! I am actually right now imprisoned by Yako right now."
"Aww, how come? I was hoping you were going to come down and play with me!"
"I am just bait for Hanako to come and save the fucking day."
"That's too bad!"
"Well, hopefully to lift my spirits, I propose a wager."
"Oooh~ A wager! What for?"
"To see how long would it take for Yashiro to find out Hanako's backstory."
"That will be exciting to see, N/N! How would you like to start by?"
"I bet 560¥ for 2 weeks."
"That's too soon, N/N-kun~ How about 600¥ for 4 weeks?"
"Now that's a deal!"
"Great! Now let's the game begin!"
"Remember, no cheating, Tsukasa~"
"I know, I know. I remember" said Tsukasa.
❝ AUTHOR'S NOTE ❞
Told ya I wasn't leaving. Just was going through a weird time. I got engaged, moved houses, final exams, and my film festival + my junior prom next Sunday!
Lord, I feel tired. I am going to take a long ass nap since tomorrow is Memorial Day!
And I mostly based Tsukasa's and Y/N relationship based on La Muerte and Xibalba from The Book Of Life
Till then, folks.
Yamane Yashiro