☆13. the spiritism club
▃▃▃
[ACT. 2]
♪ METAMORPHOSIS - INTERWORLD
.
.
.
.
.
THE STUDENTS WERE STUNNED and began to feel bad. Jake stared at the ground, ashamed and helpless at
those words. What made them feel bad was the fact that Nana was absolutely right.
"What did you just say?"
Heather had rushed at the girl and raised her arm, ready to slap her.
At the same time, two students intercepted Her. In a flash, Nana found herself facing a teacher and noticed Junko and Rachel helped her.
"Everything all right, Nana?"
Her best friend came beside her. "Thank God we came back at the right time."
"What's wrong with you, Heather? Are you crazy?"
Rachel glared at her and let out a nervous laugh.
"May I ask what's going on?"
The teacher interrupted this quarrel and headed into the middle of the crowd.
No one had dared to speak, and Sunghoon's locker answered the question. The adult was shocked and stared at this massacre with pain and disgust.
This incident was taken seriously by the school, all morning classes were cancelled.
Some students went home, others stayed at school and were still talking about what had happened, putting forward various theories.
The main topic was the argument between Jake, Heather and Nana.
Her courage and anger had not gone unnoticed. She had put all the students in their place and now they were intimidated by her simple presence.
Currently, Nana was in the headmaster's office with her friends. Mr. Lee was meticulously observing the computer, where several images from the security cameras were displayed.
He squinted and interpreted each scene as it unfolded. Suddenly, the screen went black, and it was impossible to see or hear the images.
"The cameras were intentionally cut off just before the deed but look..."
He turned the screen toward the girls, "We can see Nana hiding behind the wall and right here, there's someone in front of her."
The teen shuddered as she reviewed the scene from an outsider's point of view. The stranger was really only a few meters away from her, and if Sunghoon hadn't helped her in time, she'd have been caught.
"This person trashed a lot of the offerings so it's probably the guilty. No need to burden Mrs. Suzuki any further." Junko sighed with relief and placed her hands on the heroine's shoulders.
"But who could it be then?"
Rachel asked, arms crossed. All along, she'd been very quiet.
"I don't know, because of the outfit and the darkness. It's hard to identify something but with the size and figure... I think it's definitely a boy."
"...What are you going to do about this?"
Nana's voice had popped up in the silence, captivating his attention.
"It's complicated."
He had placed his elbows on the table and stared at the student with sorrow. "What you've been through is unfair for sure, we're going to take action to all of this."
"No, I'm not talking about that... What are you going to do about the sentences that were written?"
She was referring to the insults, threats, but most of all... To the sentence indicating that the killer was back.
Of course, she was the only one who knew that this could potentially be the killer. Consequently, all the others were unaware of the danger.
"Oh, that..."
He coughed. "Those sentences doesn't mean anything. It's probably just a bad joke."
"Excuse me? A joke? It—"
Nana sighed, forcing herself not to reveal too much. "...It sounds very serious."
"That's for the police to decide. Don't worry, you're off the hook, even if you still have to be punished for breaking into the school at night."
The young woman lowered her head, despite of the situation, this detail wasn't lost on Mr. Lee, who replayed the moment when Nana was seen opening the school gate a few minutes after the culprit.
"May I ask what you're trying to do, basically?"
Faced with this question, the heroine stiffened. Her explanation was too complex and revealed far too much about Sunghoon's situation.
Junko looked at Nana out of the corner of her eye before addressing Mr. Lee.
"She forgot her... Her meds! You know it's very important for her health so..."
The brunette patted her friend's back, "It was foolish. I agree but, she already had a bad morning please be merciful."
"I'm not supposed to let this go, but... I'll think about it."
Mr. Lee nodded. "You can leave now, I have to call Sunghoon's parents."
The girls closed the office door and wandered through the almost empty corridors. They could see police officers stationed near the entrance and lockers, some of them even questioning students.
The protagonist felt uneasy and could only think of Sunghoon, who probably already knew. After classes, she had to go and see him.
"Heather is such a bitch for that."
Junko had grumbled and shoved her hands in the pockets.
"Obviously, nobody's telling her anything since she's self-proclaimed the deceased's girlfriend."
Hearing Rachel, the heroine stopped abruptly.
"What?"
She widened her eyes, "She's Sunghoon's girlfriend!?"
"Hm... Not really, they break up last year but she took advantage of his death to get pity from the others."
She explained.
The one who had openly accused her was Sunghoon's ex-girlfriend and, above all, a bad person. Junko glanced at Rachel, who shrugged before moving closer to Nana
"You're okay?"
The student's worried voice echoed in her head.
"I'm fine, yeah."
She had replied monotonously.
Clearly, the young woman had answered randomly and her classmates weren't really convinced; they knew something was wrong.
She had been cleared thanks to Mr. Lee but even so, she still seemed troubled.
"...Can we ask what you were doing in the school at 3 a.m.?"
Nana sighed, not wanting to answer. There was no point in finding a good excuse, there was absolutely none.
Nothing could justify her presence in the school in the middle of the night without appearing suspicious.
The main reason for her coming was obviously Sunghoon. The whole thing would have been a lot simpler if her friends knew her secret.
Nana was beginning to question this confidentiality: was it a good idea to keep everything to herself?
After several seconds of silence, Junko wanted to ask the question again, but the sound of footsteps interrupted her.
She froze and looked ahead to see Jake standing not far from them. Nana and Rachel stared at him as he approached them.
"What does that bastard want?"
Rachel scanned him up and down.
Junko cleared her throat and turned back to her comrades, stepping backwards in the direction of her ex-boyfriend.
"I'll be right back."
She had almost rushed Jake, grabbed his arm and disappeared from their field of vision.
"Weird."
The protagonist didn't question it further. Jake was one of the people she least wanted to see.
"Well..."
She pouted, now that she was alone with Nana, the silence was even more awkward. "You look exhausted I guess you'll be going home."
"I think so, I've hardly slept and this morning hasn't helped."
"Okay. Before you go, let me show you something that might cheer you up."
Rachel opened the door; it was a brightly lit room with a table in the middle with several chairs, there was also a huge bookcase and the atmosphere was quite... Welcoming.
It was quite different from the occult club, maybe the opposite. Nana timidly entered the room, followed by her friend, who jumped for joy.
"Welcome to the Spiritism Club!"
Rachel smiled, this announcement startling Nana. "I'm the president."
"Wow. You've managed to open your own club?"
A smile finally appeared on her previously stress-ridden face.
"Yeah, with Mr. Lee's help. It's official now."
She winked at her while shaking a paper proving the club's existence.
The teen laughed softly and headed for the library, noticing that there were some books she'd already seen at the occult club.
She was quite happy and relieved, as this club was going to be dedicated to her research and questions.
Nana already knew the subject she would soon be tackling: physical contact between humans and supernatural entities.
In this way, she would be able to find a solution for Sunghoon's injuries.
"Otherwise... Who are the members?" She had asked as she picked up a book. The president came over to her and read the paper.
"For the moment there's Junko and Jungwon, they won't be taking part in our research so don't worry about it."
"Cool..."
She put the book down again and turned back to her classmate, "But, isn't someone missing? We're supposed to be five."
"That's true. Junko has to deal with it and—" Rachel was cut off by the door who suddenly opened.
"I'm here!"
Junko appeared in the doorway, completely out of breath, along with the fifth and final member of the club. Nana's eyes widened as Jake entered the room.