Corpse Party: Future [Fanfiction]

Chapter 4: Hajimari

"NAOMI!"

Satoshi held up a loose board that he found in a corner of the lobby while rushing forward towards the stranger. He had absolutely no idea on what just happened. One moment he was with his girlfriend, the next moment she was being strangled by someone. If he did not make it in time, Naomi will not survive, and he had no idea on how to live with the grudge of being unable to save the person he love.

"S-Sa... to... shi..."

The soft gasping of Naomi greatly aggravated him, causing tears to brim his eyes. He let out a pained scream as he began charging towards the attacker with all the strength he could muster.

"STAY AWAY FROM NAOMI, YOU ASSHOLE!"

With a mighty yell, he swung it downwards on the dark head of Naomi's assaulter. There was a splitting sound as the wooden board exploded into splinters upon contact with the unknown person. Some of the wooden splinters shot past his face, grazing his skin with a stinging pain.

The darkness made it really hard for him to see, but he could barely make out the silhouette of the attacker rising to its feet and slowly turning around to face him. The horror of the realisation that dawned upon him held his body in its grip, crushing him as the true face of the unknown came to light.

"... S-Shinohara...?"

Seiko Shinohara looked very much alive. The rolled-up hair, the same Kisaragi uniform she wore when they entered Heavenly Host together...

But she seemed more than dead.

Her eyes were nothing but a hollow gap, so that it seemed possible for one to drown in darkness when one tries to look at her. The same Kisaragi sailor uniform as Naomi's that she wore was mostly intact, but what was disturbing was that it was speckled with splatters of blood. Even though darkness shrouded him, he could clearly see an ominous dark line circling her neck which marked where Naomi had unintentionally hung her with a rope.

"Aah... ah..."

As he watched Seiko, who was supposed to be dead, advance sluggishly towards him, somehow or another, her empty eye sockets was slowly filling up, literally, with normal eyes. The whites of her eyes and her huge brown irises were fading in. What the hell was happening?!

"Mo... chida..."

Suddenly, the lights came on, and Seiko's body disappeared into thin air. Bewildered, Satoshi stood frozen to his feet. When he finally caught up to the situation, he broke out of his trance and ran towards Naomi, who was unconscious on the floor.

"Naomi...!"

Attempting to revive her, he knelt down and began to blow air through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, hoping that it would somehow breathe life into his girlfriend. Heck, it was awkward as hell, but at that moment he could hardly care about it right then. With an immense stroke of luck, after a few puffs, he could hear her breath, hazy and barely noticeable, but still holding life. Smiling with relief, he then hugged her for a brief moment, silently letting his tears fall.

Thank god...

Satoshi then lifted Naomi up in his arms, before frantically scanning around for the lift. The sudden transition of vision from bright, to dark, and then to bright again was too taxing for his eyesight to catch up, so all he saw was just a plain sheet of white. When his vision returned, what greeted him came as nothing but a tremendous shock.

They were in the light, all right. But the light shone down only on where they were standing like a spotlight. What surrounded them was darkness, and many other zombie-like creatures that seeked comfort in the dark as well. Looking up, Satoshi could see the aisles that were in a square formation plunged into darkness and instantly, fear paralysed him in place.