Corpse Party: Redemption

Back To Normal? Not Likely

It was strange being in my bedroom for the first time in five years. I still didn't remember much, but I recognized this room.

Blue walls that reminded me of cotton candy. My guess was that it had been one of my favorite colors, even back then. In the corner was a desk, covered with notebooks. Some had homework assignments and others had been used to pass notes in class.

I felt like I remembered this. The more I thought about it all, the more I realized something. This wasn't the room of a girl like I was now.

I've really changed, I thought to myself as I felt under the desk for a secret spot where I remembered that I'd used to hide my journal. It would have answers for me that this room itself couldn't give me.

Some things could be figured out just by the room's contents. A few pictures scattered around the room showed the people I assumed had been my friends. I found it strange that Kurosaki had mentioned being friends, though none of the pictures showed him. All except one in a frame on the top shelf of the desk.

It was a group picture showing me with a couple of the girls from the other pictures as well as Kurosaki and a couple of other boys that hadn't been in the other pictures. I had removed it from the frame to see if the names were written on the back, but no such luck. Blank.

On a nearby shelf sat many books all neatly lined up. Some were girly ones you'd expect a teenage girl to be reading, but the rest were quite varied. There was just about everything from Adventure to Horror to Manga. That was really no help, other than it told me that I'd liked to read fiction stories.

Suddenly, I found what I'd been searching for on the underside of the desk. I pulled out the small silver journal, and to my surprise, a few more pictures fell out. Picking them up, I realized why none of the others had him in them. Apparently, they'd been hidden. But why though? Had I done it?

Opening the journal, I skimmed through the writing. It was like it was written by a completely different person. Had this really been me? It seemed impossible. A girl that seemed to be so naive and innocently friendly couldn't possibly become someone as distant and seemingly emotionless as I was.

This can't be me... I thought to myself as I read through the entries. The pages had all kinds of cutesy drawings in the margins. It made me feel sick to my stomach just looking at them.

The entries said nothing of importance now, so I figured it was pointless reading it. However, the last few pages caught my eye just as I was setting it down.

First entry: "I think someone's been watching me. I'm worried. What could they want from me? I don't think I hurt anybody."

Second: "Something's not right. Kensuke says I'm just imagining things. Maybe he's right. I hope he is anyway."

Third/Final: "Something's after me. I'm really scared. Maybe I should run before it can make a move. I'm going to hide some of my pictures just in case something happens."

It's funny how things worked out. As I was trying to escape this mysterious person, I'd managed to lose my memory, saved a bunch of complete strangers, almost died a few times, and now I was searching for the place I'd run away from.

That's a lot to happen over five years and most of it had been over the past few weeks. Of course, there was no use dwelling on it now.

While no more of my memory returned, I proceeded to attend Byakudan as I had intended to do before I'd disappeared. The idea wasn't that exciting, but it at least made me feel like my life could be normal like it had been long before I'd lost my memory.

Of course, "normal" wasn't really an option. No normal life for poor little Sayuri. Maybe it would be for the better.

Being new, most of the other students kept their distance from me. I didn't really mind it though. It was actually nice.

However, one student at least attempted to be polite. He introduced himself as Masato Fukuroi. "Do you need help finding your way around?"

Until now, I hadn't looked at him, so he couldn't see my face. But the moment he saw it, he took a couple of steps back and almost looked afraid.

"What's wrong?" I asked, not even thinking.

"Nothing," he covered, keeping his voice calm. That's when it hit me.

"I look like someone you've seen before, right?" I guessed. I kept forgetting about the physical similarities between Sachiko and myself, as well as the fact that anyone who'd been in Heavenly Host might remember seeing her there and possibly recognize me as her.

"Just something I saw in a dream, that's all," he said, recovering from his sudden reaction.

"Well, this is where I'm going," I said, showing him the paper that had my classes written on it.

He led me to where I had to go and then headed towards where he needed. But before he got a few steps, I had one last thing to say to him. This startled him even more than my appearance had."Sachiko wasn't a dream!"