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Saki finds Ichika on the roof of the school, humming a song she’s never heard before.
“Hey, Ichi!” Saki says. “Hona and Shi-chan said you were acting weird during class?”
Ichika keeps singing the song under her breath. “Even if it is distorted, even if it is rotten, even if it is stagnant, it’s still happiness!”
“That a new song you’re working on?” Saki asks. “It’s uh, darker than usual but–”
“Saki, do you love me?” Ichika asks.
“What? Of course!” Saki says.
“Really? Truly?”
“Why are you asking?” Saki says, and Ichika spins around and takes her hands.
“Would you do anything to prove it to me?”
“Yes! Absolutely!”
“Promise? Anything?”
“Yes, Ichika, I’d do anything for you, I mean I’ve been in love with you since we were kids !
“Would you die for me?”
Saki stops. “Ichika, what are you talking about?”
“Tell me!” Ichika snaps. “Would you die for me?”
“Yes, of course, but tell me what’s–” Suddenly, Ichika pulls Saki in for a kiss, but something feels wrong about it.
“Finally,” Ichika breathes, a manic glint to her eye. “An Ichika with someone who loves her enough.”
“Ichi…” Saki says, “you’re starting to scare me.”
“Don’t worry about that Saki, if you love me, you’ll die with me!”
Saki’s heart stops. She doesn’t know how this is possible, but she feels it in her bones. “You’re not Ichika.”
“I am,” Ichika says. “I’m Ichika Saotome. A long time ago, my boyfriend broke his promise to me, so I’ve been floating around trying to find an Ichika with someone who loves her enough to do what he didn’t.”
“Get out of Ichi!” Saki snaps at the ghost, but Saotome shakes her head.
“No, not until you fulfill your promise!” Saotome says. “I’ve waited so long.”
“What promise did this boyfriend break?”
“We promised to die together, at the top of Landmark Tower, but he abandoned me at the last second,” Saotome says. “I died all alone, and I’ve been stuck here, in this hell of an Earth, waiting for so long .”
“So that’s what you want me to do? Go with you to Landmark Tower and die?”
“You promised Saki, anything.”
“I promised to do anything for Ichika Hoshino, not you.”
“We’re the same now, and either way, Hoshino will die. The only thing you decide if I continue on to find another Ichika with someone who actually loves her. Someone who’s not a coward.”
Saki doesn’t say anything, and Saotome frowns. “If you do actually love me, then I’ll be at Landmark Tower at sunset.”
Saotome runs off, and Saki starts shaking as soon as she’s gone. She raises her head to the sky and screams until her voice is hoarse.
This ghost was puppetting around her Ichika to fulfill some twisted fantasy. No way can Saki let that happen. She’d do anything for Ichika.
Without hesitating, Saki texts Honami and Shiho.
We have until sunset to perform an exorcism.