"...Yamazaki..."
The voice was thin. Distant. Slightly distorted.
Aoi stood still, her back pressed against the closed classroom door.
The intercom continued.
"...Yoshikawa... Yui... Tanaka..."
Each name came slower than the last.
None were familiar to her. Not her old classmates. Not Ayaka's, either.
She checked her phone again.
16:45
Still no service.
The signal icon wasn't just empty—it had vanished completely.
---
The voice kept going.
It shouldn't have.
The school's systems were shut down. Power to the intercom had been cut long ago. It was part of the evacuation after the last incident—after everything was "deemed unsafe."
So where was the voice coming from?
Or maybe the better question was—
Who was it calling?
---
"...Himura..."
Her breath caught.
The voice was clearer now.
"...Ayaka."
Then, silence.
The white noise dropped off completely.
The intercom clicked off.
---
Aoi didn't move for a full minute. Maybe more.
Her fingers had clenched around the note in her hand.
"Do not stay late."
Too late.
She reached for the classroom door again. It opened this time—smoothly, like nothing had happened. The hallway outside was exactly the same. Silent. Dim.
No sound. No air.
No one.
---
She left the classroom.
But something followed.
Not footsteps.
Not breathing.
Just the feeling of being watched—every time her back was turned.
She didn't run. Running would've made it worse.
She knew that much.
So she walked.
One step at a time.
Back down the corridor. Past the shuttered vending machine. Back toward the stairs.
---
Halfway to the exit, she heard it again.
This time from the next floor.
A loud crash.
Like a desk being knocked over.
And something else—
A voice. Not from the intercom.
From the stairwell.
A girl's voice, ragged. Wet.
"...Help..."
---
Aoi stopped at the stair landing. She didn't move closer.
The voice repeated.
Still strained. Still broken.
"...please..."
She knew it wasn't Ayaka.
But it sounded just like her.