☆08. i owe you my life
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[ACT. 1]
« It's killing you inside, isn't it?. »
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THE PROTAGONIST ABRUPTLY packed up all her books and left the classroom. It had finally finished, and strangely enough, she hadn't seen Junko there. Maybe she was sick?
In the corridors, Nana whistled happily as she twirled Jungwon's keys around her finger. She was proud and satisfied because this key was undoubtedly the only good news of the day.
Now it was time to find Rachel and finally understand her link with Sunghoon.
As she headed for the stairs to the second floor, the heroine spotted her best friend standing motionless in front of a locker.
She mechanically approached Junko and noticed that it was the ghost's locker. The brunette was staring at it with a bouquet of roses in her hand.
Junko lowered herself gently and placed the gift among the other flowers. When she stood up again, she saw Nana smiling shyly.
"Oh, hi!"
"Hey. You didn't come to class. What are you doing... Here?"
She asked as she scanned Sunghoon's case.
"Well... I came to bring him some flowers."
Junko replied with a sad expression.
The black-haired woman hadn't seen her so saddened since his death months ago. To tell the truth, her friend had never really spoken about it until now.
"You didn't know him, but he was a very nice boy. Even if..."
Suddenly, the student stopped and seemed to look behind Nana.
The protagonist stared at the person in front of her. It was Jake, who approached them with a haughty air, also carrying a bouquet of flowers under his arm.
"What a surprise... Creep, here? In front of my buddy's locker?"
He glared at her and lightly nudged her shoulder. He set down his flowers and glanced quickly at Junko.
"I was just about to leave."
"Then go ahead, what are you still doing here? This is literally the only place you're not allowed to be."
"Jake."
The brunette tried to intercept him, they could feel the frustration in her voice.
"...Oh, really?"
Nana stood right forward the boy and looked him up and down. "May I ask why?"
The black-haired man leaned in until his face was close enough to hers. He didn't appreciate her confidence at all and wanted to put her back in her place.
"When you don't even bother to attend a dead student's tribute, ignore him till the end. Don't even try to cry over him, it's too late."
He jostled her, "If Sunghoon were still alive, he'd have hated you. If there's one thing he didn't like, it's emotionless people. Creep."
The heroine took a few steps back, her mouth hanging open. She gave to her friend one last look before heading off in the opposite direction.
Junko tried to follow Nana, but the boy grabbed her wrist and forced her to turn towards him.
"Don't even thing about it. Stay here." Her cheeks were red with anger and she couldn't help but slap him sharply.
"Asshole!"
Her hands were shaking, while the man felt his left cheek sting.
"Why did you do that?"
He wasn't even annoyed, just confused. "You didn't have to slap me."
"I can't do this anymore Jake. This can't go on, Nana is my best friend you can't do that... It's over, I'm sorry."
"What... What's over? Wait Junko!" She was about to leave again but he grabbed her waist.
"Us, it's over. Dating a guy who constantly bullies my best friend is beyond my limits. I thought you were gonna change!"
Jake loosened his grip on her and she took the opportunity to leave for good, but after a few yards, she turned to him one last time.
"Do you know why Nana couldn't attend Sunghoon's tribute?"
She had tears in her eyes.
The black-haired man was staring at the ground, but this question caught his attention. He slowly raised his head and looked intently at his girlfriend, soon to be his ex-girlfriend...
"She was in hospital for a lung surgery. Between life and death and for days she was stuck on a bed, wires and tubes all over her."
His eyes widened at this revelation as Junko wiped away her countless tears.
"Now you know. Don't ever say Nana's heartless. Even if she didn't know him, I'm sure she would have come to your buddy's funeral."
And this time, the brunette left. Leaving Jake alone in the empty corridors.
The teen used to play with the key. Now she clutched it tightly in her hand, as if to calm the anger bubbling up inside.
What Jake might have told her was hard enough to hear, but it could well be just as true.
It was probably too late to know now that Sunghoon had passed away, but she couldn't stop thinking about it. That's hurt.
The teen shook off all these negative thoughts and walked into classroom 107. Rachel had jumped to her feet, completely panicked.
"Shit! Oh my god! You scared me!"
She had articulated despite the fact that her mouth was full of food.
"Sorry I didn't know you were here already. I thought we were meeting after lunch."
She softly closed the door behind her.
"I've been eating here since the drama with Ni-ki. I'd like to avoid stares."
She rolled her eyes and sat back down calmly.
Without waiting any longer, Rachel continued her meal under the exasperated gaze of Nana, who threw the occult club's key on the table. Her comrade almost choked again.
"Awesome... We're going right after lunch, well done!"
For the first time, the student seemed friendlier and nicer than usual, which reassured the heroine. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"I'm not very hungry so-—"
The sound of her stomach cut her off, it was screaming famine which made Rachel laugh as she reached into her bag and pulled out some food.
"Do you like Croque-Monsieur?"
Her odd accent made her chuckled so hard.
"What the hell is that?"
"French thing. I'll cut it in half so you can eat something."
She giggled again before slicing the sandwich.
"Well, thanks."
Rachel handed her the sandwich and she took it shyly.
The flavor was like an explosion in her mouth, it had been a long time since she'd eaten something so succulent.
"You were hungry, weren't you? Yet I get the impression you're not a big eater."
"No doubt."
She had answered with her mouth full.
"Anyway, I never share my food, think of it as an opportunity because having recovered the club's key is really impressive."
Rachel winked at her before tossing her a bag of chips, which she caught on the spot.
The teen passed the key to her comrade, who timidly approached the old club. A sign on the entry indicated that it had closed, but that would change in a few moments.
After pressing the key into the lock, Rachel turned the handle and opened the door. The room was extremely dark and musty-smelling.
The young woman entered, followed by Nana who was amazed by the place, despite the darkness, she could easily observe every corner of the club.
There were several chairs scattered about and a huge library.
"Everything is exactly as we left it." Rachel had sighed as she sat down in one of the chairs that must surely have been her old place.
On the black and purple tiled floor, Nana had noticed a large rug in the center depicting a pentagram, surrounded by candles; it gave her creeps.
"It makes me happy to be back here..." The student almost had tears in her eyes. She turned back to her new friend and took her hands. "Thank you for retrieving the key Nana. I don't know how you did it but... Thank you so much."
"Don't worry. Jungwon was very easy to convince."
"I would have thought the opposite, it's amazing."
She was now in front of the library, dusting off the books.
"Actually, all I had to do was say your name and... That's it. He didn't ask any more questions."
"Really?"
Rachel had turned suddenly, her cheeks pink.
"Why he closed the club? When I asked him, he just said he didn't like talking about it."
Faced with this question, the student became a little quieter, which made Nana puzzled and curious.
"I already told you... Because of the people's mockery. Then, he was less and less interested and didn't come to club activities anymore. Anyway."
The protagonist nodded and looked at Rachel, whose arms were full of books. She'd almost forgotten why she was there.
While waiting for the occult specialist, Nana went and sat down on one of the chairs. This club was an interesting place, full of secrets, but it would also help the girl find answers. Answers about her and Sunghoon.
"Look, it's the newspaper I was telling you about! It might help us."
She'd started reading it.
Nana was as impatient as she was stressed, a good explanation was finally within her grasp, right at her fingertips. She would soon firmly grasp it and explain this strange phenomenon.
"Ah, there it is..."
Rachel, who had been immersed in her reading, raised her head out of the blue, causing her friend to shiver.
"What? What? Let me read!"
The girl had ignored her, so Nana took the newspaper from her hands and began a reading as well.
She crossed her arms while watching her friend, who was concentrating and frightened. In a flash, the black-haired girl had stopped reading.
"I... I—"
The girl pretended to be panicked but suddenly calmed down. "Well... I don't understand, can you explain?"
"Actually, if a human is able to interact with a supernatural entity without being related, that means the human owes it something very important."
"I owe something to a ghost?"
She was extremely confused. "That doesn't help me any more. Can you be more clear?"
"It's a bit scary. That means this entity indirectly saved you and you owe it something fundamental."
"It can't be... But how? And what do I owe?"
"Your life, Nana. You owe your own life."