Chapter 2 - Suspicion Towards Asumi
2387 Words
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Previously
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Asumi couldn't take viewing her gruesome face and fled the bathroom to her room where she locked the door. Once again Asumi saw her reflection in a mirror.
"Asumi?! Open up!" Kaede shouted.
"Stay away!"
"Asumi! Asumi, open up!"
"STAY AWAY!"
"Asumi!"
It was too much to take so she quickly ran to the window and.... threw herself out! Kaede was finally able to get into Asumi's room, she dashed over to the open window but she was too late as on the ground below her was the dead figure of Asumi with blood streaming out of her head.
"Asumi..."
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Kaede kept her wits about her and dashed quickly to the teacher's office to get help, though late at night there were two of them there.
"Teacher! Teacher!" Kaede shouted while she banging on the door of the teacher's office.
"What's wrong?" Asked the teacher, worried.
"Asumi was... Asumi was..." she said, panting.
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At The Place Where Asumi Fell
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Kaede, the teacher, and the security guard had arrived to the spot where Asumi has been lying presumably dead but... there was no Asumi! Plus there was no pool of blood which had also been there just moments before, both teachers looked at Kaede as if she's lost her marbles.
"Asumi jumped of from her room! It's true! I'm telling the truth!" Kaede explained with a terrified expression on her face.
"Saijo-san's room?" questions the teacher.
"Huh?"
The two then headed up to Asumi's room to see if she's there and to come to the bottom of this mystery.
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In Front of Asumi's Dorm Room
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They knocked at her door though there was no response, eventually it opened with a groggy Asumi asking what's going on as if she had just woken up.
"Sorry. I'm just glad you're in there." said the teacher.
"Okay. Goodnight..." she replied back, obviously confused with happened, then closed the door.
Her best friend Kaede stood there with her mouth almost to the floor, how is Kaede still alive she naturally wondered and what exactly is going on?
There were no answers for Kaede at that time who proceeded to return to her room where she did even more checking out about Zambi Village.
Kaede kept her theories to herself but she's beginning to think that perhaps Asumi had been cursed at the village when she had been taking pictures at the temple.
"You should go to sleep now. We'll talk about this tomorrow." suggested the teacher.
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The Next Morning
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It was early in the morning and every student is walking from their dorm room to their own classes.
"Morning! You'll be late if you don't hurry!" exclaimed Asumi.
"Okay." nodded Kaede.
Asumi continued running while Kaede stood there still thinking about the events that messed her mind the night before.
"Kaede?"
The said girl stopped her train of thought upon hearing her name, she then looked up to see Asumi still in front of her,
"I'm going ahead okay?" Asumi asked before she continued running.
As Asumi continued running, Mizuki was behind them analyzing Asumi's behavior. Mizuki was now suspicious towards Asumi, it felt like as if something was possessing Asumi.
"Mizuki?" The said girl turned to see who called her name, and it was her childhood best friend, Minori.
"You okay?" Minori asked.
"Yeah... I'm just thinking about something." Mizuki replied.
"What is it that you're thinking about?" Minori asked as Mizuki stayed silent.
"If you don't want to tell anyone yet, then let's just go to class before we're late. Let's go." Minori reassured her.
Mizuki nodded at what she said and continued walking with Minori to class.
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After Class
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"That's it for today class is over." told the teacher.
"Rise!"
"Bow!"
Mizuki then stood up right after the teacher left and approached Hijiri's desk.
"Hijiri."
"Yes?"
"Can we meet at the library later?"
"What for?"
"It's something that I can't say here."
"Okay..."
"Okay, see you there."
Mizuki then walked away from her desk back to her dorm.
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In The Cafeteria
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Mizuki, Minori, and Kaede were eating together in the cafeteria with Mizuki sitting in front of Minori, Minori sitting on the left of Kaede, and Kaede sitting on the right side of Minori.
Mizuki and Minori were concered about Kaede, since she didn't touch her food at all, so Minori decided to speak up.
"Kaede. Did something happen?" Minori asked with a concerned expression.
Before Kaede could answer, Asumi sat in front of her.
"Oh, I'm starving. Thank you for the meal." Said Asumi.
"Did you get the photo album of the school field trip?" Asked Asumi to Kaede.
Kaede seemed terrified when she saw Asumi as she was rethinking back to when she saw Asumi's body on the ground with blood coming out of her head.
"Are you listening?" Asumi asks. Kaede shook her head and said not yet. Asumi eyed Kaede's food and said, "If you're not gonna eat that, I'll take it." as she took the meat from Kaede's tray.
As Asumi ate the meat, Mizuki, who was sitting next to Asumi heard the sound of human flesh being chewed instead of normal cow meat from Asumi's mouth. And because of that, Mizuki's suspicion towards Asumi is getting bigger.
Kaede stared at Asumi again, then stood up, and began walking away from the table. Mizuki, Minori, and Asumi looked up from their food to see what was going on.
"What's wrong?" Mizuki asked. But Kaede ignored it and left the cafeteria.
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In The Library
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Mizuki was looking for a certain book waiting for Hijiri when she heard the door opening to see Hijiri.
"Great! You're here." Said Mizuki.
"So... what did you want to talk to me about?" Hijiri asks as they both sat down next to each other.
"It's about my suspicion towards Asumi." She replied in a serious way.
"Asumi..." Hijiri trailed off.
"Yeah... Do you feel any weird feeling everytime you see her?" Mizuki asked.
"Yeah. I felt this scary aura everytime I'm around her." She replied.
"A feeling that she's been possesed?" Mizuki asked.
"Yeah... Even though she acts normal, I feel like there's something strange happening to her..." Hijiri replied.
"And that's I decided to talk to you." Said Mizuki.
"Why me?" Hijiri asks.
"Because you're one of the several people that would believe me." Mizuki replied as she put down the she's been holding.
"Book of dark magic? I didn't know we have this? Why do we have this in our school?" Hijiri asks.
"I don't know?" Mizuki replied.
"How did you find it, then?" Hijiri asks.
"Well... when I was looking for a fantasy story book, I found that lying around in the shelves." Mizuki replied while she was flipping the pages.
"Let's get back to the topic." Mizuki said, right after she said that, she stopped at one of the pages.
"Zambi?" Hijiri asked.
"The name of the village. At first, I wasn't sure that there would be a chapter about this village. But it looks like there is." Said Mizuki.
"I've read this book before, but I've never found this chapter before." Said Hijiri. Just as Hijiri said that, they began reading the book.
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The Definition of Zambi
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'An otherworldly being, of which the right side of its face represents life and the left side of its face represents death, it's a religious belief.
'For example a shrine.'
'Life and death. These creatures who possess the 2 faces simultaneously are called Zambi.'
'Zambi is an existence who continues to live in the midst of death and continues to die upon living.'
'A person can be confirmed by their reflection if their left side is distorted.'
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Definition Ends
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"So that means... The shrines in Zambi Village... Are the place where those living dead creatures are enshrined." Said Mizuki
"We have to get to the bottom of this... n-now!" Hijiri said, terrified.
"So... taking pictures of Asumi from now on?" Asked Mizuki.
"... Yes." Hijiri nodded.
"Let's both meet again, in my room this time to check wether Asumi is a human or a zambi." Mizuki stated.
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In Mizuki's Room
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Mizuki and Hijiri have now gathered in Mizuki's room and have now placed their phones on the small table in the middle of the room.
"So it's confirmed..." Hijiri said, terrified.
"I hope it hasn't spread." Hijiri nodded vigorously at Mizuki's statement.
"Should we check the others too?" Asked Hijiri.
"Yeah, just in case." Replied Mizuki.
"Should we warn someone about this?" Hijiri asks.
"Yes, but we have to choose wisely." Mizuki replied.
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After Class The Next Day
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"Okay everyone, please don't forget to do your homework. Today's class is over." told the teacher.
"Rise!"
"Bow!"
The teacher then walked up to Kaede,
"Yamamuro-san... Do you have time after class?" asks the teacher.
As the teacher said that, Asumi had suddenly leapt out of her chair and bolted from the room. Kaede tried to chase her down but was held back by that teacher who eventually let her go.
Kaede darted to the bathroom but when she saw Asumi exiting it she hid around the corner, unknown to her Asumi knew she was there. Kaede rushed into the bathroom looking for something though we didn't know what at first.
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In The Bathroom
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We soon saw what Kaede had been on the hunt for, that was hair and in a stall she found much of it that she guessed belongs to Asumi.
But as she entered the stall pouncing on Kaede from behind was Asumi.
"What are you doing?"
"Why are you following me?"
"Stay away..." demanded Kaede, who is terrified with what her friend asked.
"If you have to say just tell me."
"Stay away! Stay away!"
"Kaede, what's wrong with you?"
"Stay away!"
"Kaede..."
Since that incident when Kaede had told the teachers about Asumi jumping to her 'death' Asumi has been very suspicious of her best friend. That could be because Kaede had become aware that Asumi has become infected with a curse though Asumi may not know.
Asumi had now fully cornered Kaede, but then Kaede successfully ran away from the stall. But because of shock, Kaede fainted in the middle of running away.
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In The Infirmary
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"Even in class, she didn't look like herself all day long. She didn't eat anything and wasn't paying attention to me. Ever since we got back from the school field trip, she's been acting weird." informed Asumi to their teacher.
"I see" the teacher nodded.
"She doesn't look like her usual self, huh?" questions the teacher as Asumi walked to Kaede's bed.
"Asumi..." she trailed off.
"You weren't waking up at all, I thought you were dead."
"It's like I've been a nightmare this whole time."
"You'll get better soon." reassured Asumi.
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In The Hallways
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Asumi began inching her way down the school's hallways, as she was singing the same creepy song. But just to Asumi as it seems no other girls heard the song though it was late at night.
'Where are you?'
'Are you lost?'
'In the middle of the night...'
'Where did you go?'
'Are you hiding?'
'Where are you?'
'Have you left?'
'Or are you dead?'
'Run... Run...'
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In Kaede's Room
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Kaede was looking the pictures from the field trip. She then spotted that every picture has a flower windmill and as she was checking, she saw that the windmill from the picture in spinning slowly.
She was terrified, she kept re-checking the other pictures to see if the other windmills were spinning, and as she was swiping the pictures... she heard a knock on the door.
She walked up to the door slowly, and opened it to see... Hijiri and Mizuki. They sat down as Hijiri and Mizuki took out their phones and looked in their gallery.
Hijiri then gave her phone to Kaede, showing a picture of Asumi's face, with the left side being distorted.
"Would you look at this?" Hijiri asks as she gave her phone to Kaede.
Mizuki and Hijiri had taken a few pics of Asumi in class which may just prove that she's been cursed. When Asumi looks in a mirror her face is quite distorted though she still looks normal to everyone around her.
But when Mizuki and Hijiri took their snapshots, Asumi's face was just as distorted as it was looking in a mirror.
"What's with this picture?" Kaede asks while staring at the picture.
"We've always had this strange feeling about her. About Asumi... That's why we tried to take her picture... And then..." Hijiri trailed off.
"Staring at it for a long time... Makes you feel kinda sick, right?" Mizuki asks.
"What's the meaning of this?" Kaede asked while giving Hijiri her phone back.
"But... Today we each took one more picture." Said Mizuki as she gave her to Kaede.
"What?" Kaede asks, really confused with the conversation that is happening.
"It's a picture of another girl." Said Mizuki.
"As I thought... Something strange is happening!" Hijiri exclaimed.
Besides Kaede, Hijiri and Mizuki had been doing some checking on curses and the pair start to share their info as both believe Asumi is now a 'cursed person'.
Mizuki and Hijiri had found some very old info about spirits from centuries ago, only half of Asumi's face becomes distorted just like the old curse Mizuki and Hijiri found in a book.
That's when Kaede revealed to her what happened at the temple and how Asumi may have been cursed because of taking f*******n pictures. Kaede then deduced that somehow doing that broke the seal of the Zambis though for some reason Asumi is the only one to date who has been infected. Seems as though the pair are about to become a team to somehow rid Asumi of the curse.
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In The English Classroom
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"NO! STOP!" A student shouted a Asumi bit in her neck. After a the curse had fully flown in the student's body, Asumi let her go and let her transform.
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'5 days remaining until we're gone'
[ * た ち が い な く な っ た ま で * り 5 * ]
- Writer
