Corpse Party: Redemption

You're Kidding Me

I didn't want to go to school today. I didn't want to face the people who thought they were my friends. The things I'd said to them yesterday had been quite harsh and it made me feel bad. So instead of going to school, I decided to walk around town.

As I did, I finally remembered to turn my cellphone back on. Even though I should have checked the hundred or so messages that I figured would be on there, I didn't even bother. There were too many other things on my mind, and each one was much more important.

After what had happened yesterday, I felt more alone than I ever had before. Even if fixing Sachiko's problem didn't make me disappear, there was still the issue with everyone who had been in Heavenly Host.

If only I could control it, I thought with a sigh. But controlling it wasn't an option when I didn't know what triggered it. If I could at least figure that out, it would be a step in the right direction.

The first time it was Yuka. She'd screamed at the sight of Kizami and I had merely reached out to calm her down. But she wasn't one of the people I'd brought back.

Then there was Kizami. But he had been intentional. Not to mention the times with him and Yuka had happened while Sachiko was still inside my body.

The first one that hadn't happened while I was connected to Sachi was Taguchi. I just attempted to shake his hand and it triggered some of his memories. After that, nothing happened until Ryosuke Katayama. But I had touched several of the people who had been in Heavenly Host between those two events without anything happening.

There was the time I'd fallen asleep on Fukuroi's shoulder when I was sick. And then before that Kai had put his arm around my shoulder. The time I was trying to mess with Fukuroi; when I rested my arm on Tomohiro's shoulder. Kurosaki dragging me into the student council room to talk to everyone. Those were all times when I'd been able to touch someone without anything happening.

There has to be some sort of connection here... The more I thought about it, the worse of a headache I got. Something had to trigger it, but what?

Then it hit me. When I'd tried to shake Taguchi's hand, I'd held out my right hand. When I'd grabbed Kizami's wrist, it was with my right hand. Touching Ryosuke's shoulder? Right hand. When I'd pulled Kurosaki's hand off my arm, you guessed it, I'd use my right hand. With all the others, it had been anything but that.

So now I had an idea of what triggered it. But I would still have to test it to be sure. Without giving me a second to think of a way to test this new theory, my phone began ringing.

Before I even had a chance to say a word, I heard the person on the other end begin speaking. "About time you answered your phone," said a voice I knew better than any other.

"Sorry, Sakutaro." Apologizing wasn't something I did often, though sometimes it felt like half the time we spoke was spent by one of us apologizing to the other. I guess that was what friends do. Not that I really knew about that, since Mayu and Sakutaro were the only friends that I could really remember.

"I've been trying to contact you for months." I flinched a little at the familiar, irritated tone he'd often used.

Had it been anyone other than him, I wouldn't have felt bad at all for leaving my phone alone for so long. "I didn't get my phone back until a month or two ago. Sachi had it."

"Sachi?"

"Not important." Even if some people knew she had helped me, few knew that I was practically friends with the ghost child. "So what's up?"

Like usual, he didn't question it and merely carried on with the reason he'd called me in the first place."Well, we're planning on visiting Mayu this weekend and wanted to know if you wanted to come along."

"Do you even have to ask? Of course I want to come along!" What possible reason would I ever have for not wanting to see my closest friends? "Where did she transfer to anyway?"

The answer he gave me was one that I definitely hadn't expected. "Byakudan Senior High School."

"Please tell me that's a joke."

"Why would I be joking?"

He wouldn't be joking. He was too serious to ever make any sort of joke. "So you mean to tell me that Mayu and I go to the same school and I am just now finding that out?"

"Mayu's at your school? Is she alright?" Even though his voice would have sounded perfectly normal to anyone else, I could hear just a tiny note of what I figured was excitement or surprise in his voice.

"I just told you I don't know. I didn't even know we were at the same school!"

My last words didn't really matter to him, which wasn't much of a shock. But his next words did surprise me. "Look after her for me, alright?" Even if I knew he cared for her, he never said anything that would make it so obvious as he just did.

"Yeah... Of course..."

All this time, she'd been right there without me even knowing... I don't think I've ever felt this stupid in my life.

Well, it's only around lunchtime right now, I thought to myself, trying to decide just what I should do. If I really wanted to, I could get to the school and find Mayu. Though doing that would mean having to face my "friends," which was an idea I wasn't all that fond of. Well, Sayuri, what will you do now?