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Umi had no idea why she agreed to this test of courage. She was smart enough to see through Honoka’s thinly veiled provocations, especially when the topic of inviting Rina along came up. Umi’s childhood best friends had been getting in her hair ever since Rina transferred to Otonokizaka. Now that Umi was officially dating the transfer student, said meddling was only getting worse. Sometimes it felt like Honoka and Kotori were getting too involved in her relationship, but the three had been so close for so long, it hardly felt different from what she’d gotten used to.
Even still, those two weren’t above exploiting Umi’s fear of the occult, with the potential prospect of embarrassing herself in front of Rina. Thanks to her traditional upbringing, Umi had come to revere the good spirits of Japanese folklore as much as she had come to fear the evil ones. A girl was supposed to remain strong and reliable in front of her partner - she had been taught as such by her parents, raising her to be a proper lady - but that courage was about to be tested.
A head of blue and a head of pink hair were seated at a desk in one of the classrooms, awaiting the dreadful hour of midnight. The moment the minute and hour hands of the clock met at the number twelve, the school bell let out a shrill cry, nearly making Umi jump out of her skin. The bell wasn’t supposed to ring at this hour, right? She’d never stuck around school long enough to find out, but…
Nonsense. It was just Honoka or Kotori ringing the bell probably, in case Rina and herself had fallen asleep or forgotten about the agreement.
The agreement…
The rest of µ’s had scattered a handful of items across the school grounds and it was up to Umi and Rina to collect them. They would have to traverse the pitch black hallways of Otonokizaka at the dead of night with naught but a flashlight in tow, in order to placate the ridiculous demands of their friends-
Umi could feel a tug at her sleeve. Instantly her arms shot out of reach of whatever was grabbing her and she raised her hands defensively.
It was just Rina… “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Umi tried composing herself, but the sweat was admittedly still staining her brow. “O-of course! I’m just worried about getting in trouble with the principal…” Umi donned a faux smile, proud of her attempt at redirecting the truth.
“We got permission from the principal, remember?” Rina eyed the girl expectantly.
Umi could feel her heart sink, dreading having to confess her true feelings, though Rina could see through them anyway. She was observant enough to.
“I’ll protect you from anything that could lay a hand on you.” Rina’s lips curved ever so slightly and her eyelids relaxed equally little, but it was enough for Umi to feel reassured. As if requiring elaboration though, the girl lifted her Rina-chan board up to her face, on it a more exaggerated cartoon version of her expression. “Rina-chan board says: nothing to fear.”
Umi could feel her heart rate decelerate somewhat. Whatever may lurk behind the dark corners of Otonokizaka, at least she didn’t have to face it alone. Grabbing onto her girlfriend’s hand and firmly clasping it, she allowed herself to be guided out of the classroom, in search of the first treasure.
Though they refused to disclose where, Honoka, Nico and Eli had admitted to having been the ones hiding items around the school. Umi was reminded of that, as she stood in front of the entrance to the school idol clubroom. Though she and Rina had not received a single other hint, with how single-minded Nico could be sometimes, there was no doubt in Umi’s mind the girl’s treasure would lay beyond that door.
Rina took the lead and gently pushed the creaking door open. It was a noise one would only pay attention to in a deafening silence such as this one. Had this door ever even creaked? Umi didn’t want to think about it too long and wordlessly followed Rina inside.
“Over there”, she blankly stated, pointing out an eye-catching bunny hairclip on top of the room’s table. Umi breathed a sigh of relief. At least this meant they had completed one third of the challenge already. With how Umi had an idea of where the other two treasures could be, this farce would be over in a matter of-
The door to the clubroom suddenly slammed shut, eliciting a sharp breath from Umi, her entire body convulsing. She remained frozen in this tensed up position for a while longer.
Eventually, muttering to herself: “Umi, you’re overreacting, it’s just a… draft…”
There was no sign of moving air anywhere around her.
What followed was the sound of something sharp being dragged, sometimes over the tile flooring, other times over the wall’s plaster.
It was heavy too.
The sound persisted, getting closer. Umi found it hard to breathe, fear causing her eyes to shake, the blood to drain from her face. She feared she was going to lose consciousness.
Thankfully, Umi’s voice of reason grabbed her by the hand and guided her to the spot between the computer desk’s legs and the cabinets lined up against the wall. It was by far the best hiding place in this room, but Umi could only hope…
The two sat still there for what felt like an eternity, listening as the noise - accompanied by heavy footsteps - approached the door of the clubroom.
Umi’s heart stopped as the ruckus suddenly stopped as well; she predicted that the figure pacing around the hallway was now standing right in front of the door.
Umi wanted to scream for help, but not a sound passed her lips. All the pleas for help and cries of desperation were stuck in her throat. All she could do was hold onto her brave girlfriend, whose unfazed expression offered a spot of relief. If Rina believed they were going to be okay, then maybe she should trust her. Umi tightened her embrace around her even further. Her heart was beating so fast, she swore she could feel it beating for two.
Wait… was she actually feeling two accelerating heartbeats…? How-
The sound of towing began anew, however this time, it was moving away from the clubroom. Before long, the scraping had faded away altogether and for the first time in several minutes, Umi felt like she could breathe, something she immediately took advantage of to prevent herself from actually fainting.
Umi didn’t dare emerge from under the desk yet, but after a while, Rina once again took the lead and urged her girlfriend to follow her. Surely they’d be safer, huddled up closely, in their very own hiding spot, right? Maybe until sunrise?
“Let’s find the other two items.”
And go back out there? To the hallways in which that unseen monstrosity lurked? However, Rina’s eyes were resolute and unimpressed. In contrast, the expression on her board, as she held it over her face, was bold, taunting even. “Rina-chan board says: come at me, spirits.” She wasn’t worried in the slightest. Then maybe Umi shouldn’t be either…
Umi nodded in agreement with Rina’s suggestion, keeping quiet. She’d regain the ability to speak later, but now, it felt like she had forgotten how to altogether.
What good were words anyway when compared to the touch of your girlfriend’s hand?
The two found themselves in the student council room, in search of Eli’s treasure, even though Umi wasn’t feeling very confident about this hunch. Eli could have deliberately subverted their expectations and hid the treasure elsewhere, but searching the office felt as good a place as any to start.
The two were looking through cabinets, behind the whiteboard and behind the curtains, yet there was no sign of any item feeling out of place.
All the while, Umi was trying to rationalize the encounter from before. It didn’t have to be a vengeful spirit roaming the halls, right? It was likely just one of her friends lugging a spade behind them or something. Besides, there was nothing in common folklore that suggested the existence of spirits bound to schools, carrying a big weapon with them. That only ever happened in the dumb video games that Honoka played.
Though… what if it wasn’t a spirit, but a real-
“I don’t think it’s here.” Rina jerked Umi out of her thought process. She hadn’t been paying attention to where she was searching for a while already, though it was becoming more and more likely Eli’s treasure was somewhere else. Though where…?
The sound of shaky breathing mixed with sobs filled the air all of a sudden, and with it the temperature of the air felt like it had dropped significantly. Umi turned her head, quivering, expecting to see a ghastly apparition behind her, but save for the pale Rina, there was no one else in this room.
“P-please… somebody save me… I-” An unfamiliar, feminine voice begged, her pleas occasionally interspersed by those very same haunting sobs. Moreover, the voice felt like it was close; Umi could almost feel the girl’s breathing in her neck. She swore she could even see the distinct breath clouds formed by the icy words of the departed.
Yet… “No… please stop… don’t- let me-” Static began interfering with the sound, though Umi was still able to distinguish the desperate cries for help from a young woman, as noises that Umi could only describe as inhuman, began to drown out the screams. It sounded like groans, growls and gargles all at the same time, increasing in intensity-
Suddenly all the noise cut out, leaving naught but an eerie silence. The sound had been coming from the intercom. That could only mean that the girl had been hiding in the public announcement room.
Umi looked at Rina, trembling. The girl met her eyes with the same stoic expression as usual, though it almost felt like her eyes were wider than usual. Was she frightened too? Was she putting on airs…?
“...Let’s go see.” Rina raised her board once more, revealing a heroic expression: a determined frown, the lips curved downward. Whatever had tried hurting the girl, perhaps it could still be stopped; perhaps she could be saved. Umi nodded, agreeing to her mission. She felt up to the task with Rina by her side anyway.
As the two traversed the hallways, Umi found herself continuously staring over her shoulder, wary of the entity from before or any kind of unusual apparition, but the school was suspiciously empty. Umi knew entities were roaming here, why didn’t they ever show themselves? Where were they now?
The sense of looming dread grew only stronger as they reached the PA room. The door was wide open and, though the floor was only illuminated by the dim beam of their flashlight and the pale light of the moon, there was a trail of dark-colored spots leading out of the PA room in the opposite direction. Umi could only assume…
Rina was the first to go ahead and look into the PA room. Nothing emerged from it or charged at her; the girl simply stood in place, her eyes fixated on one point in particular. Slowly Umi dared approach as well and saw it too…
A lone ballet shoe, laying toppled on the floor. Umi chose to ignore the state of the rest of the room.
Rina walked forward rigidly and picked up the second treasure, but Umi was tired of this charade. “I want to go home. I don’t care about this test of courage anymore.”
Rina turned to face Umi, once again showing no fear in her eyes. How she was able to suppress viscerally reacting to these circumstances… It was beyond Umi, but it was also the only thing keeping her grounded at the moment.
Rina nodded curtly in response to Umi’s plea. She took Umi’s hand and squeezed it comfortingly. “Okay. Let’s go home.” Pulling her board out again, she held it in front of her face with a warm smile on it, the eyebrows compassionately frowning.
At any other time, she would have felt like a coward for playing into Honoka’s hand and giving up. Part of her still wanted to look for the third treasure, just so she could rub it into her friend’s face, who thought she could embarrass Umi. She realized that everything thus far had likely been an elaborate set-up by a much too extravagant school idol group, but as she was barely able to see in front of her, traversing the hallways and stairwells with careful steps - Umi was making sure not to make too much noise - she couldn’t care less.
Besides, the trail of droplets had suddenly stopped. She wanted out.
Thankfully the front door was nearby, only about ten more steps removed from where the two currently were. They walked past the shoe lockers. Umi quickened her pace and tried pushing the door open, but…
It wouldn’t budge.
The sense of dread set in again, despite Rina’s best efforts to stave it off.
“The others must have done this. They will probably let us out when we find the third treasure”, Rina spoke resolutely.
She was making sense, but Umi couldn’t shake the worst scenarios her imagination could conjure. Reluctantly, Umi followed Rina, taking the lead once again. Yet, no matter how many doors they tried opening, none would budge. Unsurprisingly, this included the other exits, but they couldn’t enter any of the classroom’s either. The only door that would open was the one leading to the cafeteria and there Umi and Rina stumbled upon the third treasure, exactly where Umi had expected it:
It was a manju bun, lying on top of one of the lunch tables.
Yet before either of them could make advances to pick it up, a familiar, frightful sound could be heard and this time it arose from much closer and there was no door to stand between them. In a frenzy, Umi turned around, her flashlight vaguely illuminating a hooded figure in the doorway, draped in dark clothes, dragging a dangerous-looking stained shovel behind them.
Umi screamed as loud as she could. She had been keeping it in the entire time, but now she was standing face to face with what could very well be an untimely demise. Whether it was a vengeful spirit or a dangerous murderer, it mattered little to Umi, who foolhardily dove deeper into the cafeteria, trying to get as much distance between herself and the menace. Yet she was the only one to do so…
Rina was still standing where she had previously been, her feet firmly planted in the ground. Her legs were shaking, she was clenching her trembling hands. Even though Umi was unable to see her face, she knew Rina was mortified. Truthfully, she had been the entire time, Umi realized. Her heartbeat, her sweating hands, her subtle body language, they betrayed the brave facade that Rina was keeping up, likely for Umi’s sake too.
Now was Umi’s chance at being brave.
She ran back and stood between Rina and the approaching figure, the shovel clearly giving them some trouble. The advance was slow, but threatening all the same. “Rinari!” She looked behind her, at her frightened girlfriend. “I know you’re scared, but… I’ll protect you!”
Turning back around, she sprinted ahead, hopefully catching this monster off-guard. The light of the torch in her hand frantically swayed from side to side as she ran closer. Her opponent couldn’t even raise their shovel, before Umi had already kicked their legs out from under them. She grabbed their arms and pressed them against their back as they now lay face first on the floor. In the process of this scuffle, Umi had managed to disarm her opponent too. Her martial arts training was paying off big time at this very moment.
Though it felt like it had gone too easily…
Yet what Umi expected least of all was to hear a familiar, female voice. “Owowowow! Umiiii! What did you do that for?!”
Umi took a while to process what she had just heard, before… “Honoka…? What’s the meaning of this?!”
“It’s a test of courage! We were just trying to scare you! That’s what people do during a test of courage, right?” The evil spirit- no, Honoka tried wriggling herself loose again. “Let me go, please…” she begged.
Umi reflexively obliged, but the true nature of the situation hadn’t quite sunk into her yet. In the meantime, Honoka got up and removed her hood, revealing a familiar head of orange hair and an expression of significant pain, being illuminated by the torch.
Slowly it dawned on Umi and she was furious. “What on earth were you thinking Honoka?! Trying to scare us ?! Did you ever stop to consider how frightening your little set-ups were?!”
Honoka audibly protested: “They weren’t that bad!”
Umi replied, unimpressed: “The PA room?”
Honoka opened her mouth to say something, but then it was like a wave of lucidity washed over her. Eventually, hesitantly, she conceded: “O-okay, maybe we went a bit overboard there-”
“And how about the shovel?”
“It’s just a-”
“You can really hurt someone with that thing, Honoka! You should have known better than to use such a dangerous prop!” Umi had her hands on her hips and she was staring daggers at her friend.
…Until suddenly, she could feel two thin arms wrap themselves around her waist, catching her off guard. Before her mind could jump to any conclusions though, she recognized this affectionate behaviour as well as the voice that whispered to her: “Thank you, Umi…” She had never quite heard Rina’s voice break this much. She was too overwhelmed to even use her board at this moment. Yet as palpable as the fear was in her body language, the gratitude was too.
For just a moment, Umi could feel all her rage subside and what remained was relief. The two wouldn’t die here, they hadn’t even ever been in any danger. Together the two had braved all of these terrifying machinations and they had emerged victorious. Umi savored the touch of her girlfriend, not regretting for a moment that she stepped in to protect her. It was only befitting of a woman to be reliable and brave for her partner.
“See? Thanks to my test of courage, you two have grown even closer”, Honoka affirmed.
Umi’s rage was back. “I’m giving you ten seconds to unlock the school’s front door and run as far away as you can. Otherwise you’ll be an actual spirit by the time I’m done with you.”