Chapter Text
April
Thursday
For a brief moment, she had no idea where she was.
Then the gears kicked in and she sat up in a panic, chest moving up and down as she gasped for air and looked around wildly for the blaring noise. There were three deep bangs against her apartment door, and she flinched at the loud intrusive sound before the voice of the nosey lady who lived next door to her sounded through her apartment.
"Your alarms been going off forever!" Her muffled voice snapped. "Some of us are trying to sleep here!"
"S-sorry!" Mai called back and practically flew across her bed to slam her hand down on the blaring alarm clock. She listened to her neighbours footsteps moving down to her own apartment and then ran her hand through her hair with a sigh, wondering why she woke up in such a frenzy.
The colour red suddenly flashed through her mind.
She blinked. That's right, she had a really weird dream last night. What was it about again?
"Your alarms been going off forever!" Her neighbours words suddenly hit her and Mai looked to her clock where the time let her know she was going to be late.
"WAHH!" Mai screeched and threw herself off the bed, hitting the floor and crawling towards her washroom where she began a rushed version of her morning routine. She barely had the taste of toothpaste out of her mouth before she was struggling to get her uniform on, pulling up her stockings roughly.
Moving over to her small table she stuffed her schoolwork into her bag before zipping it up, and just as she was about to head out something caught her attention.
It was a hair clip her mother owned that was the colour of deep red with diamond decorative pieces.Very simple yet pretty. She thought about it for a moment before looking at the mirror hanging on the wall and pushed the clip into the hair above her ear, holding her bangs back slightly on the right side.
She observed herself for a moment before smiling. It looked pretty. Her eyes flickered behind her in the reflection of the mirror and the clock read 8:26AM .
She got distracted!
Within the minute, she was flying down the brick stairs of her apartment block and running down the path to her school, her chest burning and legs beginning to feel numb by the time she made it.
"Crapppppp." She cried as she saw the president of the disciplinary committee beginning to close the school gates. "Wait!" She yelled and saw him glance up at her, glasses glinting against the sun. She made it to the gate just as it was only a foot from closing all the way.
"You're cutting it close, Taniyama." He warned.
Mai placed her hands against the bars, giving him a pleading look. "Please, this is the only time I've been late." She didn't bother to question how he even knew her name, considering that she never had an interaction with him in the past as she wasn't really a rule breaker.
He gave her a look over before his eyes stopped at her hair. "That hair clip is violating dress code." He informed her.
Mai blinked and raised her hand to the hair clip before giving him a deadpan look. "You're really gonna dress code me on rules that are like a thousand years old?" She questioned in disbelief before stiffening when his eyes narrowed on her. Right, she shouldn't really be talking back in this situation. She cleared her throat before giving him an innocent smile. "Please? This is my first time being this late!”
The president's arms slackened. "Fine.” He huffed and opened it to give her space to enter.
She sent him a beaming smile and ran past, opening her locker and exchanging her outdoor shoes for her indoor before running to her classroom quickly, stopping outside of the door to catch her breath and compose herself.
She pulled up her stocking that fell in her running before sliding the door open.
The chalk in Nakamura-sensei's hand stopped against the board. "You're late."
"I know, I'm sorry." Mai bowed quickly and glanced towards Keiko and Michiru with a nervous smile while she waited for her teacher to tell her to take a seat or wait in the hall for repercussions.
A few beats of silence passed as she continued writing on the board before letting out a sigh. "Take your seat." She told her and Mai nodded quickly, making her way through the rows of desks to her seat in the middle of the classroom, just about to sit down when her teacher called for her. "And Mai?"
Mai stopped. "Y-yes?"
Nakamura-sensei didn't even glance at her. "Your hair clip looks very nice today."
Mai relaxed immediately, her smile radiant. "Thank you!"
Keiko's pigtails swayed with her head as she tilted it, giving Mai an incredulous look. "Eh? He tried to dress code you on your hair clip?" She asked in disbelief as they settled in for lunch break around Mai's desk.
Mai placed her head in her arms, letting out a loud sigh. "Yep, he did. Almost didn't let me in the gates."
Michiru gave Mai an apologetic look at she stuck her straw in the strawberry milk she bought. "That sucks. And it's the first time you were late too." She shook her head and proceeded to unpack her lunch before noticing that her friend was unmoving. "Mai, aren't you eating?"
"Nope, I didn't have time to even look in the fridge." Mai huffed and sat up to place her cheek in her palm, watching her friends unpacking their homemade lunches which caused her stomach to start growling.
Keiko giggled girlishly. "Don't worry, Mai. You can share with me." She offered gently.
Mai gave her a wide eyed look. "Keiko, you're the best." She cried and pretended to sniffle like she was tearing up. Keiko simply smiled and the three began eating, talking about mundane subjects that included cute boys and rumors. For a moment Mai took this moment to glance out the window with distaste at the pouring rain that seemed to appear out of no where.
She hadn't brought an umbrella because it wasn't supposed to rain today.
Deciding that she wouldn't try to focus on everything that seemed to be going wrong with her day she glanced at her two friends and picked up a piece of meat from Keiko's lunch and then turned to Michiru. "So, Michiru how's your fathers promotion coming along?" She asked nonchalantly and watched with a raised eyebrow as Michiru froze, turning to Mai with a confused look.
Keiko tilted her head. "Oh, Michiru your father got a promotion?" She questioned before setting down her chopsticks and clapped. " Omedetō !"
Mai gave the pigtailed girl a playful shove. "Keiko, how could you forget? Michiru already told us." She laughed in amusement at her friend's forgetfulness.
"Eh?" Keiko now seemed genuinely confused and turned to her other friend. "Did you tell us?"
Michiru slowly shook her head. "Uhm, no I didn't." She denied and turned to Mai. "I was just about to tell you actually."
"My father got a promotion at work! I can finally get that new laptop that I've been wanting!"
Mai frowned. "No, I'm sure you've mentioned it." She stated and turned to Michiru, "You even said how you can finally get a new laptop."
"Oh." Michiru placed her chopsticks down. "I must have mentioned it before then." Despite the way her eyebrows were set in confusion she gave Mai a smile. "Sorry, I'm really forgetful."
Keiko let out a laugh. "Well anyway, I'm excited for after school today. You guys are gonna be really spooked."
Mai suddenly had the feeling that something was off. Deciding to ignore the way her stomach suddenly dropped she attempted a smile at Keiko, "What's going on after school today?" She questioned curiously.
Keiko and Michiru suddenly stopped to stare at her.
"What?" Mai asked, all playfulness now gone.
Michiru leaned forward and placed the back of her hand against Mai's forehead. "You don't have a fever." She said and turned leaned back to look at her more fully. "You don't look visibly sick."
"What are you talking about?" Mai laughed nervously.
Keiko frowned softly. "Mai, are you alright?"
Mai swallowed down her saliva and noticed how her appetite was suddenly gone. "Yes." She took a moment to compose herself before glancing back upwards. "Why are you excited for after school today?"
Michiru gave Mai a weird look. "We're telling ghost stories, Mai. Like we always do."
Mai gave Michiru the same 'duh' look. "Yeah, we do that on Thursdays." The two remained silent. "We told ghost stories yesterday, guys." Mai suddenly tried to explain herself and saw how the two of them shared the same really confused look. "Right?"
Keiko shook her head slowly. "No, Mai, we didn't."
"Yes, we did." Mai's eyes were suddenly drawn to the window when thunder lit up the school courtyard.
"...And we'll be looking at 60% chance of it thunder storming on Thursday, but don't be too down cause Friday will provide us with a nice sunny day."
"It's thunder storming." Mai observed quietly and took a few moments to calm down her heart and then glanced at her friends slowly. "What day is it today?"
"It's Thursday." Michiru told her slowly.
"Ahh." Mai nodded.
"Are you really okay?"
Mai managed to smile. "I think I'm just really tired. I had a hard time falling asleep last night." Her explanation seemed to ease the two up and eventually they went back to normal topics and lunch ended, causing the two to head back to their desks.
She pulled out the schoolwork for her next class as the teacher walked in and looked down at the place where her bookmark was placed in between the pages. Chapter 14. Mai stared at the book blankly as her mind tried to make sense of why she suddenly realized that she already knew what took place in the further chapters of the book. She was sure that she read past chapter 14, but her bookmark said otherwise.
Yes, something was terribly wrong.
The three of them sat in the empty audiovisual classroom with the lights off, their chairs turned together and each of them holding a small light to their faces to illuminate their expression.
Mai attempted to hide her smirk as she continued her story, "The policemen quickly opened the stall door and the girl was dripping with blood, almost as if she were covered in a red cape ."
"Ehhh." Keiko squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.
Michiru shivered. "Mai, don't use that scary voice!" She complained, obviously spooked.
Mai grinned mischievously at her friends before clicking off her light, Michiru's light the only one remaining on now. "Your turn."
Michiru nervously glanced around the dark room before clearing her throat. "Then, mine is about the old school house."
Mai suddenly straightened in her seat as she thought about the old school house, watching Michiru's lips moving as she told the story but not really listening. The old school house was rumored to be haunted, as there were a few past incidents there and some speculations, but it was all never proved to be true and Mai herself never experienced or saw anything in the windows like the senpai in Michiru's story claimed to.
So why did thinking about the old school house give her major creeps?
"–that's it." Michiru finished off and Mai glanced upwards as she turned her light off, enveloping them in darkness.
Mai swallowed. "One."
Keiko's hand tightened around hers. "Two."
Michiru finished it off. "Three."
Four . Mai shivered.
"Four."
"WAHHHH!" Keiko screamed loudly as she jumped onto Mai, hugging her tightly while Michiru also lost her crap.
Supposedly, if you heard someone reply after you were done counting it was a ghost. But why was Mai not scared at all?
The lights above them flickered on and Mai flinched, averting her eyes to the ground as she suddenly became anxious.
Keiko relaxed in her grip as she stared at something over Mai's shoulder. "Was that you just now?"
A deep voice responded. "Sorry, did I scare you?"
Michiru stood up with her hand against her chest. "You sure did!"
Mai remained staring at the ground.
"Sorry, it was so dark that I didn't realize anyone was in here." The male behind them apologized. Michiru and Keiko suddenly got a good look at his face and their cheeks immediately reddened. "Forgive me?"
Keiko stood from her seat. "Oh no it's fine!" She laughed nervously and she and Michiru moved past Mai to talk closer with him.
It took her a few moments to gather up her courage but she managed to turn around. That feeling was there again, like something was going to happen or something was out of place. Slowly moving her eyes from the male's feet to his slacks and then up his chest to his face, she was hit with a huge wave of nostalgia and swayed on her feet.
"What's your name?" Michiru asked excitedly.
She placed her hand against the desk to steady herself and blue eyes flashed toward her.
He smiled. "Shibuya Kazuya."
Liar.
Mai recomposed herself and just barely managed to ignore the way her heart was beating quickly. Sure, this guy was handsome but surely she wouldn't react that way. "What are you doing here?" Her voice came out steady and she was thankful, but she couldn't help but notice how his eyes weren't smiling even though his lips were.
Shibuya Kazuya turned away. "I'm taking care of something."
Mai watched as he turned away and stared at the back of his head, her skin suddenly feeling cold and sweat beginning to form on her forehead. She didn't feel so well. Clenching her fists against the desk she looked down and used one hand to reach up and tug the red hair clip from her hair.
"Mai, are you okay?"
"Huh?" Mai glanced upwards and saw that they were staring at her. That guy was smiling, and even though it was fake she felt like she'd seen it before. "Yeah, I just have deja vu." She tried to laugh it off and was relieved when the two returned their focus to the guy.
The red hair clip sat in her palm comfortably.
"Who's there?!"
A book shelf.
"I work at Shibuya Psychic Research."
"... from Mount Koya."
"MAI!"
"Mai!"
Mai jumped and looked up with wide eyes and saw that the three were staring at her once again.
Keiko's eyebrows furrowed. "Mai, you're really pale."
Mai stared at Shibuya Kazuya, and somehow knew that it wasn't his real name.
This already happened, didn't it?
"Mai?"
"I'm sorry." Mai stumbled backwards, raising her hand to her forehead. "I think I'm..." She didn't get to finish her thought because her legs buckled from beneath her and she hit the ground.
The last thing she saw was the florescent lights and Oliver Davis hovering over her, blue eyes staring intently.
When she woke up, she was lying in the nurse's office with a thin blanket over her while a cool breeze blew through the windows, picking up the white curtains.
Ding .
It was her phone that lay on the nurse's bed, alight with a notification of a text. Mai blinked at the screen, unimpressed. It read 7:42PM , meaning she had been asleep for a little over two hours. Ignoring the time, she decided to read her texts that she received around.
Keiko
I'm sorry Mai! I had to go home so I could watch my little brother, please call me if you still don't feel well. I feel very bad about leaving you alone (╥_╥)
Mai couldn't help but smile, so apologetic and cute Keiko was. She sent a reply saying how it was okay and that she was fine now before moving onto the next text, her smile dropping.
Michiru
I have cram school and we have a test, so don't call me unless you're on the brink of death. (¬_¬)ﾉ
Mai huffed at the blunt reply and quickly got to typing back an equally direct response.
I hope you fail your test.
Snapping her phone shut she moved to place her indoor shoes on so she could make her way home. It only took a few minutes for her to switch out her shoes and be on her way but she couldn't help but notice a light switch on in the old school building and stared at it blankly for a few moments.
That's right, how could she forget.
She needed to go home and really think about how she knew the things she knew and see if she was sane. And if she was sane then she couldn't go around telling people she hadn't met yet that she already knew them.
So she needed to start searching for psychiatric wards in the area or think of a really good game plan.