Part 4

Ran: After all, her and I had already started, even in highschool-

Ran: ...Started... ...started what?

Ran: Something's not right... I... Miss Sakura and I, we should already be...

Ran: ...No, Miss Sakura-

Ran: Right! Let's try-

Ran: Remember the time we went to the beachside during the summer of our first year in highschool? We sat together on the beach and watched the moon with each other, you remember that, right?

Ann: I don't remember anything like that.

???: They're coming. I couldn't stop them, and they've completely broken through my defenses.

???: I laid on the floor and dry-heaved without stop. The disgusting sounds of vomit corroded away at my eardrums.

Miho: Ibuki-san!

???: Takei Miho bent down and kneeled besides me, stroking my back in an effort to soothe me. But she couldn't soothe the bleeding spines that were now sprouting from my vertebrae.

???: They couldn't be satisfied with flooding forth from just my mouth- they had to tear my flesh asunder as well.

???: I heard them- their shrill laughs. They mocked my loneliness, scoffed at my insularness, and denied my pride.

Aya: Ran-chan, what's... wrong?

Koizumi: Miss Ibuki...

Ran: Don't- don't!

???: They were already before me, crawling all over my very eyeballs.

???: I lashed out, trying to fling them away. Tears were flung to the floor with the same frequency as my wild motions.

Ran: Ann- you can't- if I don't have you then I...

Miho: Miss Ibuki, speak no further.

Takei Miho held me by the shoulder and tried to help me to my feet- but it was no good. After all, their sharp fangs were hovering right above my cranium. If I stood up- if I stood up...

Ran: Stay away from me! Don't-

Ran: Don't bully me...

Ran: Miss Sakura! Let's go! They... They...!

???: I pushed Sai out of the way and fled the showers. Sounds of rumbling emanated from the sky, and the accumulated stormclouds were on the verge of bursting forth with all of their accumulation. That'd cause them to catch me! I had to get out of here!

Ran: Miss Sakura, miss Sakura, we need to go!

Ann: G- Go where-?

Ran: Anywhere!

Ran: Anywhere where there's only the two of us and where they can't find us!

Ran: We're almost there, miss Sakura... Soon... we'll be able to go back...

???: I felt the dirt under my feet get blasted near-instantaneously, into disgusting mud, by the storm. It made my steps so heavy.

???: But I absolutely wouldn't let go. Miss Sakura was right behind me; I'd never be separated from her ever again.

Ran: Almost there, almost... Nobody will be able to bully me again...

Ran: We'll be together forever... Miss Sakura... I-!

???: But then they came. They grabbed my feet, tripped me, caused me to step into a muddy pothole and stumble to the ground, pulling Miss Sakura into the mudwater with me.

Ran: Miss Sakura... Get up, quickly! We've almost made it out!

Ran: The tunnel's right th-

???: The tunnel was blocked by fallen stones- and they were growing like thorns from the cracks in the rubble.

???: I'd failed. I couldn't escape. They laughed, as I continued to fail as I'd always done.

???: With my escape being forcefully terminated, my body came to a halt as well, and my brain finally began functioning again. Just when I'd comprehended the situation before me, they had caught up to me as well.

Ran: Miss Sakura- why- why would you forget me...

???: I began bawling. There was nothing left to keep me going.

???: They would permanently occupy my mind, then.

Ann: I don't remember you.

Her words caused me to tremble all over. As I hyperventilated and reflexively opened and closed my mouth, they pierced holes in my lips with gleeful abandon.

The rainwater spilled into my throat, into my windpipe, causing me unbearable pain.

Ann: But, you say that I'm your lover. So, that means, you love me, and my body is telling me that it loves you, as well.

Ann: Because I don't remember you, you're in incredible pain.

Miss Sakura reached out and brushed away my tears.

Ann: Even if you must bear the pain of your lover having forgotten you, can you love me just as you once did before?

Ran: Even though you don't act or talk the same or have the same memories as the Ann I knew, somehow I know it's still you.

Ran: You are Ann Sakura.

Ann: I don't know who I am, either, to be entirely honest.

Ann: They've always called me Ann Sakura, but I don't remember anything about what it is that I used to do.

Ann: Could I be a soul that somehow wandered its way into the wrong body?

Ann: I've never known what it is that I'm supposed to be doing. Can I allow myself to exist as the identity of 'myself', rather than the identity of 'Ann Sakura'?

Ann: Did 'Ann Sakura' have things she wanted to do? Should I be trying to complete those things for her?

Ann: But I've never understood 'Ann Sakura'. I've never known what it was she wanted, and nobody has ever been able to tell me.

Ann: Ran, can you tell me more about 'Ann Sakura'?

Ann: Can you tell me, what I should do with my existence, in this world?

Ran: Miss Sakura...

Ann: A lover is- someone who can become a reason to keep living, right?

Ann: But the me of right now cannot become your lover, because I have no memories regarding you. To become each other's 'meaning', first we must have a shared experience.

Ann: Like the things you talked about, before; the beachside moon, the meetings and the embraces, and the suffering we endured together.

Ran was silent. Ann's words, to her, were too much, too difficult to take in.

Ran: The meaning of living on...

Ran: Miss Sakura, from the moment I first saw you, you were already always my one and only reason for living on.

Ran: I'm sorry, miss Sakura, for doubting you. To think that I might imagine you would choose to leave me of your own volition, and even forget me entirely.

Ran: You've done nothing wrong. No- this school, and those six students, they're to blame for all this.

Ran: The six of them must have done something to you.

Ran: Also, miss Sakura, can I... you know...

fidgety hands

Ran: ...kiss you?

Ann: ......What?

Ann: Kiss me??

Ran: You know. I've... been looking for you for a long time. And I've missed you. So... I'm having trouble holding myself back-

Ann: No. We haven't become lovers, yet.

Ran: Aha! Ha! Yes! Of course, you're right, miss Sakura.

Ran: Of course, since miss Sakura doesn't remember me, and it's- not the time or place for...

Ran: Yes. Of course. Let's- let's go back to the school then.

And, through Ann Sakura's lovely long lashes, I could tell that, though she was keeping her hair over her face...

She was watching me.

Prologue complete. A chance to increase one of your stats has been acquired.

...Had someone spilled the bottle full of stars?

Ann used to have a glass bottle in her house which was filled with tiny meteorites. She'd occasionally open the bottle and pour them out.

Then, she'd nudge the little galactic visitors around with her fingers, and tell Ran all about their starry homes in a quiet voice.

Ran had long since forgotten the names of all those constellations and stars, but the crisp sound of the meteors splashing out onto the wooden floorboards, and the quiet sounds of Ann's voice, so different from the way she usually spoke, were engraved indelibly into her mind.

Ran: ...No, this is just the sound of rain.

Miho: You gave us all a big scare when you came back with Ann, you know?

Miho: You haven't even had breakfast yet, have you?

Miho: Running about with low blood sugar outside in the rain. It's no wonder you wound up in the infirmary.

Ran looked down to see some bandages tied around her arm.

Miho: I gave you some glucose solution through a drip. Feeling better?

Ran: Thanks. Did any of you look in the notebook?

Miho: No, of course not. None of us are the type to peek at other peoples' private secrets as soon as we get a chance.

Miho giggled, then.

Miho: Though, if your body counts as a 'private secret', that one has definitely been revealed at this point.

Ran: What?

Ran: Wait, it wasn't miss Sakura who changed my clothes?

Miho: Of course not. For starters, Ann couldn't even lift you. It was Sai and Makoto, of course. Well, I helped too.

Miho: I must say, you have some very fine proportions. Much better than one would have expected, honestly!

Ran: Let's get to the point. I talked with miss Sakura. She's lost her memories- not just about me, but about practically everything.

Ran (threateningly): Did you make miss Sakura lose her memories? What is the situation with this school exactly? How did you get here? Why do you kill people?

Ran: What the fuck is up with this school.

Miho: I... don't really understand this question? Is there something weird about the school?

Ran: Is there something weird- Is there ANYTHING normal about this school??

Ran: Where are the teachers? The janitorial staff? If you live here then where're you getting your food, daily necessities, water, and electricity from??

Miho took a moment before answering.

Miho: There's no teachers, we ourselves handle teaching and staffing. For example, I'm the school nurse, and miss Asakura handles maintenance.

Miho: And the other four classmates of ours each handle one of the subjects, as well as using extra time after classes to prepare their curriculums.

Miho: The daily supplies and food, as well as other necessities, were prepared for us when we first arrived at the school.

Miho: So far it doesn't look like we're going to run out anytime soon.

Ran: So you're just eating year-old food at this point??

Miho: We worried about it too, but all the food has been preserved perfectly well. None of it's gone bad or anything.

Miho: And the quality of it's superb, too! They even have the special lychees that me and Aya love. They're not really rare or anything, but it's impressive that they had such a particular fruit prepared in the school stockpiles for us.

Ran: (Can you really call 'food that doesn't rot' ordinary food??)

Ran: (I suppose, if she's not lying to me, then this is really all she actually knows.)

Ran: It reminds me a bit of the Astromorticians, the way that they somehow appear and disappear undetected in the school, to replenish the supplies.

Ran: But if that's the case, then this school is way too special. Just what was it that caused this place to become the focus of so many supernatural anomalies?

A new term has been added to your list of terms.

The Astromorticians

An organization composed of five anthropoforms who wear third-generation astronaut outfits. They appear in the vicinity of corpses which have died of (certain causes whose details have been lost due to Ran's missing memories), and cause all humans within a spherical area, 500 meters in radius, centered on that corpse, to experience sudden anoxic shock. Furthermore, the processor frequencies of electronic devices within the affected radius will also be reduced to less than 1/1,000,000,000ths of their normal rate, and the affected region will enter a state of zero gravity.

The Astromorticians will then engage in midair processing of the corpse, including decontamination, physical restoration, and the application of makeup. After finishing processing of the corpse, they will clasp their hands and engage in prayer. Six hours after appearance, they will utilize safety ropes connected to the surface of the earth to pull themselves underground, after which they will demanifest.

Ran Ibuki once communicated briefly with them, but because she was under extreme emotional stress at the time, she was unable to comprehend the information conveyed to her by the Astromorticians.

Ran: (Y'know what, not my fucking problem. As long as the weirdness of the school has nothing to do with miss Sakura's missing memories, then it's not my problem. Let them keep eating their anomalously fresh lychees.)

Ran: (They can do whatever they want so long as it's not anything related to hurting miss Sakura.)

Ran: Why murders tho.

Miho: About that... I feel like you're not going to like the answer to that one.

Ran: What's that supposed to mean.

Miho: There's not really a reason, really. We weren't used to it either at first, but now it's just what we do.

Miho: It's like how, when you're in P.E. class, when there's a basketball you play basketball, and when you're at the track you run laps.

Ran: ...At least physical exercise has the constructive use of strengthening student constitutions.

Miho: In that case, would you feel better if I justified the murder cases as exercises to strengthen the students' ability to engage in deductive logic and perform investigations and counter-investigations?

Ran: (...I guess... I really do have to just accept that this is just an arbitrary class all of them are taking?)

Ran: (To hell with that, though.)

Ran: Why is miss Sakura missing her memories? What did you all do to her?

Miho: I'unno. She was like that when she showed up at school.

Miho lowered her head and sighed.

Miho: We were actually all really worried about her at first, but Ann told us not to worry about her.

Miho: She said that we didn't need to be worried or concerned for her, and we didn't need to help her do anything. Companionship alone was enough.

How gentle and kind Ann Sakura was, how much she cared for others- Ran Ibuki knew all of that perfectly well already.

This wasn't the answer she'd wanted to hear.

Ran had wanted Miho Takei to admit that, yes, the six of them were the culprits, they did this to Ann in order to torment Ran and Ann and take joy in their suffering.

Ran: Uh-huh. So, what you're saying is, miss Sakura's missing memories have nothing to do with you six. She's just an odd anomaly and all six of you are both completely fine and completely in the dark about why.

Miho: It's the truth. We only learned that her name was Ann Sakura after we saw her name in the class roster.

Ran: So you'd just have me believe, that the six of you, who literally murder each other for fun, have been just happily living with miss Sakura for a year, and when I show up, the six of you are perfectly fine, and miss Sakura's the only one that's missing her memories??

Miho: I'm telling you, Ibuki-san, it's the truth.

Miho: Even if you keep pressing me, I can't tell you a truth that you don't want to hear. Ann is a good person. If we could help her, none of us would refuse her, and there's no way that any of us could have done anything to her.

Ran turns away and pulls her bedsheets up further.

Ran: (I can't tell if she's lying or not.)

Ran: (There's no way for me to get any more clues from her for now, at least. I should speak with miss Sakura again. Can't go wrong spending more time with her, that's for sure.)

Out of questions now

Aya seems to act weird with you (REQUIRES 5 CHARISMA)

Use Temporary Points

Aya: Hey, Miho, next time you kill me, you should do it while naked.

Miho: Aya,I'm pretty sure that, if I summoned you to my presence while naked, you'd turn the meeting into something for a completely different purpose real quick.

Aya: You are completely correct.

Ran: Takei, have you known Toyama for a long time?

Miho Takei hadn't expected Ran to suddenly change the topic like that. She wrinkled her brows a bit.

Miho: Yes. Why are you suddenly asking?

Ran: I feel like the way she talks to you isn't quite normal. But you two look like you have a great relationship, so I'm a bit curious.

Miho: What do you mean by 'not quite normal'?

Ran noticed that Miho's disposition had changed. Where she had once answered Ran's questions casually and smoothly, now she seemed somewhat irritable.

Ran: I- how do you put it? It kind of feels- excessively veneration-y?

Miho folded her arms and leaned back in her chair.

Miho: I'm sure you're imagining it. Aya's not so clever as to be able to hide her emotions like that.

Miho: I'd rather not talk about the topic of me and her, anymore. Do you have anything else you want to ask about?

Ran: Great. Can you give me some privacy, I'm going to change now.

Miho: Oh, why be shy? It's not like it's anything I haven't already seen by now. 😉

Ran has updated her notes.

Miss Sakura's changed a lot, but she's still the best

There's lots of documents in the infirmary, as well as a landline- investigate later 📞

Tunnel is indeed blocked, but haven't investigated in-depth yet

Everyone else saw my illness...