‘The first question we need to ask is who would go out of their way to kill Mr Tetsuo?’ Miyako placed a hand to her face as she thought.
‘A demon.’
‘Be serious Kouji.’
‘OK, well how could someone possibly know if someone was talking about what Zone One was like so many years ago?’
‘Certainly not the police.’ Said Hido.
‘This is definitely a government job. But how do we find out for certain?’ Asked Kouji.
The three were the last in the classroom, the other students having gone how while Kioshi, Seito and Aki had gone off to Zone Three which was formerly known as Akihabara. Kouji was sat on the desk with his feet on his chair, leaned forward with his head on his hands, elbows resting on his knees. ‘Let’s think about this from a different perspective.’
Hido and Miyako both looked at Kouji.
‘The government or whoever is actually running things at least thinks that we don’t know anything. Maybe they’ll be careless covering this up.’ He continued.
‘What do you mean?’ Hido asked.
‘What I mean is there may still be clues lying around. The Janitor for example, he’s just an ordinary man – a man controlled by Yamamoto Akira or whatever.’
‘Who had to clean all of that blood.’ Miyako shivered.
‘Yes, well what I’m getting at is that unless the government procured it, he may have had to get rid of the bullet himself.’
‘I see what you’re getting at, you think that the government wouldn’t have sense to completely get rid of evidence – at least themselves because they don’t think we know any better.’ Hido
‘Exactly. Who would come looking after it if everyone in Japan is being controlled by the same person?’
‘So what does this mean? Asked Miyako.
‘Simply put, the bullet might still be in the building, unless it’s been thrown out.’ Hido rephrased.
‘Right.’ Kouji confirmed.
‘So we should go down there first. It’s the only lead we’ve got.’
The three collected their things together before heading for the staff room where they thought a copy of the key to the basement would be kept. Even without the students roaming the corridors the environment was as just peaceful. During the day students only ventured from one place to another, never stopping to talk to one another and so the only sound ever heard were the constant thundering of footsteps.
‘It’s strange isn’t it?’ Miyako said, her voice bouncing off the walls. ‘How the school is just as quiet with everyone gone as it is with everyone here. It makes you think doesn’t it? It makes me feel lonely.’
Neither Hido nor Kouji said a word but continued to listen as their echoes continued to resound against the walls. Kouji couldn’t help but think how the colour-less environment reminded him of a prison. With the windows tinted black, light did come in but it made the walls look bleak.
Marching across the corridor then around a corner, they soon stopped a a recently cleaned spot, the spot where a student was caught in the crossfire when the bullet that killed Mr Tetsuo passed through the door. The ground here was a different colour from the rest as it was disinfected with bleach rather than tradition cleaning products. The wall was the same too where the students head had exploded, catching the window pane, and this area had been stripped of its paint. Where the bullet struck the wall be was now a white patch, the bullet extracted and filled with filler.
‘How could we have taken so long to work with Kioshi? People keep dying and we were too scared to do anything.’ Miyako stated.
‘This was an accident Miyako, cheer up.’ Hido comforted, placing an arm around Miyako’s shoulder but it wasn’t enough to lift her spirit and continued to look at the repaired wall thoughtfully. ‘But I suppose what you’re saying is true...’
‘He wanted to do the right thing from the start and all we did was heckle him for it.’ Miyako looked at Hido. ‘Do you believe that it’s our fault that Ghosts are the way they are?’
‘I do.’ Kouji cut in.
‘Me too.’ Replied Hido. ‘Don’t let that think badly about yourself though, Miyako. What we’re doing now is good and that makes you a good person.’
‘I suppose you’re right.
‘C’mon, the staff room isn’t too far.’ Said Kouji, leading the group onwards but Miyako was having trouble leaving the scene. When the others disappeared into the staircase however, she finally managed to leave.
She found the two boys outside of the staff room, leaning in to hear if anyone was inside and Miyako thought that it was vacant until standing next to Hido heard faint movements inside. She swept passed the door to stand beside Hido so that herself and Hido were on one side and Kouji on the other.
‘Now what?’ Hido whispered.
‘I don’t know.’ Kouji replied.
‘We don’t even know who has the key.’ Miyako pointed out.
The door slid open and as soon as the teacher stepped out his eyes quickly found the three students who looked up at him, startled. ‘What are you all doing here? Don’t you have studying to do?’ He asked bluntly. He was a very plain-looking man with a fairly normal haircut, starched, white shirt tucked into charcoal-grey trousers and clean, well-polished shoes.
‘We uh... We were hoping to talk to the teachers before the left!’ Miyako quickly explained on the spot. ‘Is it alright for us to go in? We’ll be very quick.’ She mustered up the saddest, most innocent look she could pull-off and though the teacher looked as if he had better things to do and was on the verge of sending the three away he instead stepped to the side and held out an arm indicating them to enter.
Hido expected the staff room to be a chaotic environment; desks littered with papers, files poorly doing their jobs and shelves in a disorganised mess, coffee mugs lying around, boxes turned into storage units, bag lying around as trip hazards and computers overloaded with sticky notes.
Instead he walked into a calm, ordered world thoughtfully lined with rows of desks with dividers so each desk became a cubicle, with documents stacked up high but divided with colour-coded pieces of card, trays housing papers that needed to be marked or were done and had to be given out the next day, timetables pinned to the cubicle walls, diaries carefully positioned on the desks, mugs hanging from hooks above the sink and boxes with documents carefully organised..
Order. An order that didn’t feel natural.
The teachers were hard at work, rhythmically and systematically working like a well-oiled machine, some placing a sheet of paper from the stack in front of them, swiftly analysing its contents before speedily making their notes then passing it onto the correct level on the multi-levelled tray. Others were taking calls and making notes, others typing with a concentration that could only be compared to robots.
As soon as the three invaded their space the teachers all stopped what they were doing mid-action to look at them, an audience in the blink of an eye. Never had the three been so thoroughly disturbed in all their lives. It was clear that an element of mind-control was present because no group of people could be so efficient, so synchronised, so miserable.
Their bodies emitted a determined force that longed to be put to work; all well-dressed, well-rested and focused yet looking deeper, Miyako saw a sadness in all of them yet a sadness so far away that their minds couldn’t fully recognise it.
‘There, beside the sink.’ Hido pointed out in a whisper.
The three made their way inside, tracked by unblinking stares.
‘Hello.’ Kouji began, stopping in front of the sink that shone as if recently polished. ‘The three of us were wondering how all of you were doing since one of your work colleagues...’
The teachers continued to stare without blinking, none appearing to consider speaking.
‘We understand that your jobs are stressful and we just want to let you all know that we appreciate your efforts!’ Kouji laughed nervously, Miyako and Hid
o joining in.
Still the teachers didn’t blink nor move their lips.
Miyako looked over her shoulder at the rack of keys but noticed something else, a photograph hanging above of the teachers; organised on elevated benches with the shortest teachers at the bottom and the tallest at the top, unsmiling like they were presently, staring lazy-eyed at the camera. A feeling overcame her then, possessing her body, dragging her thoughts away, pulling her mind away from reality. Soon her eyes widened then slowly her face twisted into a frightened visage, her eyes still focused on face after face in the photo, taking in their internal misery and sorrow. It broke her heart looking at the group of people who had no control of their lives and her distraught caused her body to shake, inadvertently dropping the framed photo which shattered at her feet. ‘NOOOOO!’ She bellowed.
At the sound of the break all the teachers stood.
‘Miyako!’ Hido called then lowered his voice, worried that he might agitate the already alert teachers. ‘What’s the matter?’
But Miyako wouldn’t stop shivering as she breathed shallowly
‘Kouji, we’re going.’ Hido announced.
Quickly Kouji scanned the rows of keys before following Hido out. Hido had settled Miyako further down the corridor, sitting her on the floor then crouched before her, staring worriedly. It was then that Miyako silently began to cry, unblinking like the teachers, staring through Hido into space but tears spilling regardless.
Kouji crouched on the other side of Hido, matching his concern. ‘Miyako, what’s going on?’
Miyako mouthed something.
‘Miyako, we can’t hear you.’
Every few seconds her head twitched and during this time she kept mouthing something.
‘Miyako...’
‘Their souls. They don’t have any souls!’ She cried.
‘Miyako,’ Hido placed his hands on her shoulders, smiling an encouraging smile. ‘I’m sure they have souls. Mr Tetsuo said it themselves that their emotions have only been suppressed.’
‘He’s right Miyako.’ Kouji agreed.
‘No!’ Miyako shook her head savagely. ‘No! No! No! They’re not there anymore! When I took that photograph I looked into their eyes, and when I did I felt them! I felt every one of their souls reaching out to me, begging me to pull them out of their misery.’
‘What are you talking about Miyako?’ Kouji asked, puzzled.
‘I felt like I was drowning...’ Miyako’s body drew together, arms covering her head to protect herself from an invisible threat. ‘I was drowning in decay... I couldn’t breathe, darkness kept rushing down my throat. And then... Hands – so many hands burst out of the black decay, reaching out to grab me, thousands of hands trying to get as much of me as they could! Grabbing onto my hair, tearing it out in their haste! They wanted me! They wanted me to set them free... They were so desperate for me to pull them out of their living death...’ Gently she began to rock forwards and backwards.
‘We can’t go back in there.’ Hido turned to Kouji who had stood up by then. ‘She can’t go back there. Something is wrong with her...’
Miyako knew it too, what she experienced with the teachers wasn’t the first instance as every time she stared into the eyes of another person she could get sense of who that person was: good or bad, sad or desperate. She could feel their loneliness, their pain, their broken hopes. It’s was why she was one of the most emotive people she knew. What drove her into shock was the collective force of all the souls.
‘The key’s not even in there.’ Claimed Kouji.
‘What? Are you sure?’
‘Positive. There was a single key missing and that was for the boiler room. That’s where we need to go.’