Corpse Party: Redemption

You're Hiding Something

I hate getting sick. I'd rather take my chances in Heavenly Host than be sick for a week. Funny thing was, I had no idea how I'd managed to get sick again. Regardless, here I was, sick in my bed again.

"Why now?" I complained to myself as I sat in my empty room. "Of all the times to get sick, why did it have to happen just when I was making progress with figuring everything out." I just laid there in bed, staring up at my ceiling. What was I supposed to do? Most of the time I couldn't sit up without getting so dizzy that I felt like I was about to pass out.

"Are you a friend of Sayuri's?" I heard my mother saying to someone downstairs. The person's response was too quiet for me to really hear who it was or what they were saying. "I see. Why don't you take that up to her? She's upstairs in her room; first door on the left."

The mystery person made their way up to my room. As they entered the doorway, I forced myself to sit up. Luckily, I'd avoided the dizziness.

"They said you were going to be out of school for a while, so I brought some of your homework for you," the familiar voice of Fukuroi said from the doorway. He came in and set the books and papers he had in his hands on my desk. "It would be better if you didn't get too behind. You are still catching up from before, after all."

"Thank you," I said. Thinking a moment, I motioned for him to sit next to me. "Will you sit with me for a little while? It's kind of lonely here."

He hesitated a moment before his softer side won out and he sat down beside me. I noticed him keeping a bit of distance between us and I soon remembered why. That day in the student council room must have scared him. It should have been expected, but it still surprised me a little that he would be uncomfortable being close to me.

"Hey, Fukuroi?" When I spoke, he turned his head towards me. "About before... I... I'm sorry if I scared you or anything... I was just trying to mess with you and I really didn't think the whole thing through."

"It's alright." He gave me a kind smile and let me sit a bit closer to him. It was quiet for a while before either of us said anything. "Sayuri?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something you're hiding from us, isn't there?"

I didn't want to answer that. There was no answer that could be given that wouldn't make him ask more questions. "I don't want anyone to worry. It's my problem, not theirs."

"Don't you trust us?"

No question could possibly hurt more at this moment. That was a question that had no good answer. If I said I didn't, then he'd be hurt. If I said I did, then it would only prompt him to question my trust and the reasons for hiding this from them.

"It's not a matter of trust. I just don't want any of you to worry about something none of us can do anything about."

"This has something to do with Sachiko, doesn't it?" Fukuroi asked, knowing that he was right. He'd been the one to point out my slip-up when I had asked Sachiko if Kibiki and Naho had found a way to fix us. I'd just talked myself into a corner.

"We're the same." My head was starting to feel dizzy, so I just rested it on Fukuroi's shoulder. "Me and Sachiko, we're the same. Two halves of the same soul."

He seemed confused, but stayed quiet and allowed me to continue. "Her spirit can't move on because it's not whole. The other half is me." This was probably starting to make less and less sense, but I was trying to explain as much as I could before my dizziness got the better of me. "So if she's going to move on and leave this world, it may mean I can't stay here. If that's true then I might only have until Kibiki figures out why Sachiko couldn't join our souls and make them whole."

"You're afraid," he observed, comfortingly putting an arm around my shoulder. My vision was starting to get blurry and I could tell it was only a matter of seconds before I was out.

"I'm terrified. But... don't say anything to the others. Please Fukuroi?"

"I won't say a word."