Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 7 Chapter 7 (section)

===5===

Hand in hand, the two of us descended the stairs. Within the school, no sound could be heard, not even the rain. The rain had probably already ceased.

Only the sound of our own footsteps could be heard echoing behind us. On the way down to the first floor, I suddenly felt that the school was filled with an intense loneliness. Fingers touching the wall, I inhaled and exhaled deeply.

Naru was the first to pass through the small door. After that, just as I was about to leave…

Suddenly, there was a loud noise. In front of me, a dark object hurtled towards me and flashed past my nose. I couldn’t help taking a step back. All at once I lost my footing and took a fall.

“Ow oww…”

My waist hit a corner of the stairs. I knew what it was that caused the disturbance.

When I was about to leave, it was like something had collapsed; I was afraid it was the false wall we erected. Soon after, I realized that my hand and Naru’s hand had been separated.

“Naru! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine! What about you, Mai?”

It was an extremely vague, muffled voice.

“I’m fine!”

Sitting on the steps I slowly groped my way through the darkness. I knew that the shoe racks had collapsed by the entrance. If only there was the light of a single match for me to see by. If I couldn’t find the exit with touch then it’d be impossible to know if there was a way out.

While looking for the exit, someone touched my hand.

“Can you get out?”

I grabbed Naru’s hand with relief. If his hand could reach in, then the entry wasn’t completely blocked.

“Yeah!”

Pulling the hand that held me, I stood up. The false wall that collapsed shouldn’t have completely blocked the entry. If I carefully stepped a little higher I would be able to get through. Just as I was thinking thus, a hard object hit my forehead. – The false wall?

Hurriedly, I reached out in exploration. It was worse than I had expected. The entry had been blocked. It felt like things were piled in a really complicated manner around the entrance.

“—Wait, wait a moment!”

“What’s up?”

When I heard this voice, I was momentarily stunned. It felt like someone had poured cold water over my head.

Creak! My teeth trembled with cold.

“Mai!”

The sound came from a distance away from me from my lower right. It was as though Naru was at a location where he had already crossed the stage and was about to climb the stairs.

If that was the case—then who was it that held my hand now?

Naru’s hand couldn’t possibly be 2 meters long, it couldn’t possibly be held by me. But who did the hand I was holding on really belong to?

I clearly tried to shrug off that hand, but the hand did not budge. It was like it had been frozen. When I relaxed, that hand gripped my hand’s pressure points even harder.

“—Naru!”

Help! I was unable to say that out loud.

“What’s up?”

The voice was even further away.

– I clearly didn’t take a single step!

I suddenly felt like that hand had started shrinking; I really felt the touch of the hand changing, shrinking further. It turned dry, and very thin – too thin! But it was extremely strong – its sharp claws dug into my skin causing much pain.

I desperately tried to shrug it off, but that bones gripped me tightly. The bones even rattled, but I couldn’t shrug it off.

“Who is it?!”

At this time the darkness swiftly dissolved. Dark figures appeared in front of me, following that they separated and turned into 7 little figures (Naru had vanished). Seven hands grasped my hand.

“Nee-san!”

“What’s up?”

“Did you mistake us for someone else, nee-san?”

While their laughter still reverberated across the stage, I lifted my empty right hand, and started making cuts from the right.

“Rin (臨), Pyō (兵), Tō (闘), Sha (者), Kai (皆), Jin (陣), Retsu (列), Zai (在), Zen (前)!”

At once, the hand holding on to mine relaxed. I shrugged off those fingers immediately and ran towards the second floor. The second floor door was still open, which I hurriedly passed through and ran into a classroom and shut its door. Then I leaned on the classroom door, panting.

I sharpened my ears trying to detect activity outside. There were no footsteps that followed me, and neither could I hear Naru’s voice. There was no noise produced by anything at all. All I could hear was the beating of my heart.

“—Be stronger!”

If I weren’t stronger—right now I was the only one left, there was no one left at all.

“Calm down!”

Naru, John, Masako, Ayako, Yasuhara, and Lin were all no longer around. (tl/n: missing Bou-san here?)

“—What should I do?”

I asked myself. Even if I were the only one, the exorcism still had to be done. Even if I couldn’t exorcise him I still had to persuade him. To worry about how everyone else is, right now, was irrelevant. Right now I should do the work I should do – if I still could not find the others after getting out from this place, then I’d continue looking.

I sat down on the floor.

“Naru isn’t here either—”

There wasn’t anyone who could give me a sign to allow me to enter the spirit state.

“I can only do it myself—”

Sleep! It’ll be fine if I sleep. Even if I can’t sleep I’ll try my best to sleep.

I shut my eyes, and took a deep breath. I tried my best to relax my body.

– No! My body was trembling. Don’t tense up! Relax! Try not to think of anything!

– The more I tried the tenser I got. I kept my eyes shut but without success. I opened my eyes then shut them, shut my eyes then opened them; all I saw was darkness. Memories raced haphazardly through my mind – happy ones, sad ones, scary ones—

“One sheep, two sheep…”

Even with counting sheep, my mind could not bring forth the image of a sheep.

“Please! Calm down!”

There was something that appeared to sparkle in the darkness in front of me. I saw it just as I was about to shut my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I looked at it. Somehow I saw it.

I vaguely saw something that had a little red on it. I peeled my eyes: it was a small, red glow. I looked at the red powder floating around the room. Although the glow was very weak, I actually did see it.

“This—”

I think I’ve seen this color several times before.

“This is Bou-san’s color—”

I rose. Turning back, around the windows and doors, the glowing red powder gathered – pale, little lights; firefly-like.

– This was the trace of Bou-san’s sealing.

“Incredible—it’s too beautiful.”

I stood up. Somehow I felt that my surroundings had a warm feeling.

– I’m not alone. Everyone is protecting me.

At the corner of my vision, I detected a white glow. Below the floor there was a large white glow.

– That was Lin-san’s. It must be Lin-san’s protective seal. It was a seal placed on the first floor, but it actually produced that sort of brightness.

“Following that Masako disappeared on the second floor—”

The entry to the second floor was open.

“Right!”

When I heard this voice I raised my head. Naru stood in front of me.

“Great! I’m finally asleep.”

Naru smiled slightly. It was the gentle smiling face that only appeared in my dreams.

I nodded my head and said,

“Then let us begin!”


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===Notes===
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