Chapter Text
“Do you guys want to hear a ghost story?”
The four boys were sat in a circle on the floor, which was a mess of blankets and empty snack packets. Midnight had descended, but the group of friends weren’t quite tired.
“Ah… right before bed? I don’t think that’s a good idea…” the largest of the four was sat upright, legs crossed, wringing his hands together nervously.
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re scared of ghosts, too?” the smallest boy grinned.
“D-don’t be harsh!” the tall boy snapped back, looking down.
The silver-haired boy who offered to tell the story laughed at his friend’s antics. “So should I tell it, or not? Maybe we could summon Teketeke in the bathroom afterwar-”
“Don’t you dare!”
“Ah, whatever! Come on, just tell it, how bad can it really be?” the loud-mouthed boy who had remained silent up to this point spoke up.“I’m not afraid of no ghost story!”
“You’re too stupid to be scared of it, anyway!” the cheeky small boy, who had been teasing his scared friend, focused on the other.
“Damn right I am!” he puffed out his chest and folded his arms across it in defiance, before realising just what had been said. “Hey!”
“Alright, alright, settle down,” the silver-haired storyteller had brought out a torch, and held it in front of his face, illuminating his features. At his soothing voice, the others quietened, transfixed by his face, which had taken on what could be considered a strange expression. Subconsciously, the timid boy reached for his pillow and began to hug it to his chest, as if it could ward away his sense of unease. The small boy punched him lightly on the arm, grinning at his fear, but still, he didn’t loosen his grip. “Our story is a local one, about a place I’m sure you’ve all heard of.”
“Where is it?” the enthuastic one urged.
“I’ll tell you. Does the name Miyagi South ring any bells?”
“Of course it does! We’re all going there in the summer!” the noisy one pointed out, feeling somewhat proud of himself, though he didn’t quite know why.
“Oh, man… I’m scared enough about going to high school as it is, without the scary story to help!” the coward of the group
The storyteller paid no heed to the commends and continued. “It’s well-known that Miyagi South has produced some of the best volleyball players the country has ever seen, and nobody knows quite why.”
“Oh, great, just make volleyball scary too - next you’ll be saying my friggin’ uniforms haunted too!” the proud boy spoke up again, tugging at his shirt.
“Maybe? Who knows?” the storyteller smiled, before carrying on. “It is also a local legend that playing volleyball through to graduation sets you up well if you want a future in it. They say playing in Miyagi South’s gym is lucky. To people here, that’s all it’s necessarily known for. But to those of us who know, this isn’t the only supernatural thing about Miyagi South. Oh, no.”
“What else is supernatural?” the boy behind the pillow mumbled, afraid already.
“They say that in the third year, there is a class where all the best volleyball players over the last two years are placed. Class 3-4. Whether this is just a coincidence or just a tradition is unknown, but that has been the case for the last two decades or so. They say that 20 years ago, tragedy struck that class. A class that otherwise symbolised luck and good tidings for the future.”
“What happened?”
“An accident befell one of the students in that class. He was super popular with everyone; respected by his classmates and teachers alike. He had top grades, headed well on his way to academic success, plus he was considered Miyagi’s ideal athlete – he was Miyagi’s ace. Of all people, he was supposed to be the luckiest. The most fortunate. Only good things could happen to him. So when he died, it came as a huge shock to the class.”
“Did he… did he come back?” the wimpy boy ventured.
“No, he didn’t come back. Because he never left.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Your face is kind of scary, man…”
“Well, when the class received the awful news, nobody knew what to say. A silence just fell over them, and nobody said a word. That was until a friend of the deceased student stood up and pointed at his desk, and said: ‘He isn’t dead. I mean, look. Can’t you see that he’s right there?’”
“What?! But he was dead, right?! How could he have just been sat there?! This story is stupid…” once more, his arms were folded across his chest, except this time in defiance.
“Yes, he was dead. I’m just telling you what happened. Anyway, the class couldn’t accept his death, and continued to act as if he was right there alongside them. They talked at his desk, they walked home together, even making sure to stop by at his house; everyone banded together to act as if he was alive and well. Even the teachers went along with it. All to keep the peace, really.”
“That’s nice, in a messed up kind of way. Hey, if I died, would you guys talk to my ghost?”
“Hell yeah! Think of the pranks we could pull!”
“It would be pretty awesome!”
Unbeknownst to the group’s token loudmouths, their cowardly friend had forgotten his fear temporarily and was rolling his eyes at their antics. Trust them…
“Hmm, it would have been nice, if the story ended there. At graduation, to appease the kids, the principal even had the dead student’s desk included with the rest of the class. Only when it came to take a group photo, if you looked closely, you could see an extra person standing with the class. In the back of the room, the dead student stood as proudly as the rest, a smile on his face.”
“Th-There’s more, isn’t there?”
“Absolutely. The rest of the story is…”