"Was it you?"
"It was you!"
"You are the murderer!"
"You are finally here!"
Recalling the voices Shinji just heard, and the police cordons wrapping all around the entrances at the corridor of the Forbidden Building, Shinji is quite certain now something horrible had happened in here, something like a homicide case, otherwise why would the voices mention about the 'Murderer'? There are more than one voice, hence that means there were more than one person killed too, instead, there could be a mass slaughter happened in this building.
If the teacher and the students he just saw in the classroom of Class 1-1 are really yurei, could the entire class, including the teacher, had fallen victim to the mass slaughter? But what about Tomori Kokoro? Why is she separated from everyone? Was she killed like the rest of her classmates? And how did the whole class just disappear all in a sudden?
Shinji has so many questions to be answered, but unfortunately, Tomori Kokoro couldn't remember anything...
There is a total of four floors in the Forbidden Building, the ground floor, the first floor, the second floor, and the third floor. The circuit of the whole building is totally cut off, there are no lights inside, only the white light from the flashlight Shinji brought from his house is partially lighting up their route. Shinji swings the light here and there to confirm their position, whereas Kokoro follows closely from the behind.
The both of them are walking on the corridor on the ground floor, as long as they walk back along the way Shinji ran here, they should be able to find the classroom of Class 1-1. However this time, Shinji hesitates, he refuses to pass through that place again. Hence, as they arrived at the spot ten meters away from the classroom, Shinji stops his feet. He stands still on the corridor and points to the classroom.
"T-there..." with a gulp, Shinji mentions, "There should be where your friends are, Kokoro-san... In that classroom."
"I know where my classroom is." while unexpectedly, Kokoro mentions, "It's just always empty, no one is ever there, there's always just me."
"But...!"
Recalling the scene he saw from the classroom, the grinning yurei, Shinji is quite certain that all of them were in the classroom, he is certain! The students, the teacher... But why did Kokoro say there is no one else in there?
Even though Shinji is scared of the yurei, as he is driven by curiosity, he wants to see with his own eyes. Was what Kokoro just said true? Or is she lying to him? Or is it Shinji who's seeing illusion?
Clenching his fists tight, Shinji finally decided, "We will go take a look, together." he suggested, claiming a nod from Kokoro.
Just as their voices sink into silence, Kokoro moves her steps again and walks towards the direction Shinji pointed, from the behind, Shinji follows. While unexpectedly, just as they walk slowly, something suddenly changes. It is the sound of Shinji's and Kokoro's breath and footsteps. Their breath turns louder and louder, whereas their footsteps, they sound messier and messier, it does not even sound like the footsteps of two people... Shinji can feel them, he can feel someone else, more than one person, they are following them from the behind.
"K-K-K-K-Kokoro-san...!" shutting his eyes in fear, Shinji stammered. He holds tighter and tighter to Kokoro's shoulder, he gulps and asks, "D-did you hear that...?"
However, as Kokoro turns her head back at him trying to check on him, the deafening breath and footsteps fade away all in a sudden.
"What's wrong, Shinji-kun?" opening her eyes wide, Kokoro asked in a concerning tone, "Did you hear something?"
Shinji opens up his eyes again, he realizes Kokoro is looking at him without noticing anything being not right, it seems like she does not see anyone else standing at Shinji's back. Hence, Shinji turns his head back and takes a quick glance. There, he finds there is no one following him.
In a sorrowful face, Shinji gives a deep exhale, "N-no..." he answered Kokoro's question, "Nothing..."
There, Kokoro gives Shinji a soft chuckle. Turning her head back to the front, she proceeds slowly, walking towards the classroom of Class 1-1. Breathing slowly and deeply, Shinji tries his best to calm himself down and at the same time suppress his fear. After minutes of travelling uneasily on the corridor, the both of them finally arrive at the door of Class 1-1. As Kokoro raises her hand and pushes the door open, Shinji closes his eyes right away.
"See? It's empty." unexpectedly, Kokoro said, "There's no one here."
As he heard Kokoro, Shinji quickly opens his eyes and gives the classroom a glance. The classroom is dark, it is quiet, it is empty... It is totally different from what he just saw with his own eyes.
With a relieving sigh, Shinji smiles wryly at himself. Then, following Kokoro's footsteps, Shinji cautiously steps into the classroom. He holds the flashlight in his hand and tosses the light onto their surroundings as they walk deeper and deeper into the classroom. Soon, Shinji realizes something odd. The tables, chairs, shelves, and the floor, are all covered by metal wires. As Shinji squats down next to a table, he picks a wire up from inside the drawer. He holds it under the light of the flashlight, he takes a close look at it, and he touches it. Just as he feels weird about the wire, he stands up and picks up more of them from different tables and chairs.
He gathers them in his hand and looks closely at them. There, finally he realizes, they are not metal wires, they are viola strings. As he looks carefully, he finds these strings are covered with dry blood and dry scattered rotten flesh.
Suddenly, Shinji falls into ponder, he recalls the scene he saw earlier in this classroom, including the teacher, everyone in Class 1-1 does not have a mouth, they cut a hole on their faces and tear their skin and flesh apart when they need to speak...
Their mouths, could they be sewed up with these viola strings...?
Coming back to his senses, Shinji suddenly feels light-headed. He tosses the viola strings away and leans onto the edge of a table as he covers his mouth and makes a dry retch.
"Shinji-kun!" running to Shinji's side, Kokoro holds his arm as she asks, "What happened? Are you alri-"
While before Kokoro could finish her words, a sound of a low musical instrument suddenly whirs and echoes vaguely in the Forbidden Building.