#ayanoka

It felt like something straight out of a horror movie. Twolonely teenagers, strolling down the deserted school hallways armed withnothing but their phones and a heavy book – headed straight for the hauntedbathroom. Oka swallowed her fear. How many things could go wrong? Far too many.Yet here she was, following Ayano up the stairs to the third floor.

           Ayano hadbeen the one to bring up the rumoured “phantom girl” at lunch. The group hadbeen discussing changing up their club activities for once: summoning demonsalways brought a thrill of both excitement and terror, but after weeks of nosuccess, it became monotonous to say the least. Supana’s idea of telling ghoststories had led to their newest member finally speaking up – suggesting thatthey investigate the third-floor bathroom.

           The occultclub fell silent.

           A murmur swelledacross the huddle. A few members began to shuffle backwards out of the circle.Shin shook his head vigorously, eyes wide.

           “I don’tthink that’s a good idea, Ayano…” Kokuma shot a glance at her. Ayano stoodimpassive, her face expressionless as usual.

            “Why not? This club is about the supernatural,right?” No answer. Ayano shrugged. “I just thought it seemed fitting.”

           Oka gulped.“I mean… we have wanted to investigate that for a while now… we’ve just alwaysbeen too scared…”

           Ayano raisedan eyebrow. “That’s ironic.”

           “Can youblame us, though?” Daku shuddered. “I mean… it’s just…”

           “Well…” Alleyes turned toward Oka. She stared at the ground, her voice hesitant. “I guessmaybe it wouldn’t be as scary if we all went as a group… right?”

            A murmur of agreement rose around the circle.Ayano nodded.

           “Then we’llhead up there at club time.”

           None of themhad shown up.

           Oka had seenShin’s retreating back, following Daku and Kokuma down the pathway and out ofthe school gates. A heavy disappointment settled in her stomach – but how couldshe blame them? She herself had considered leaving, after all. It had only beenthe overpowering thought of Ayano, waiting all alone for them in the occultclub room, that drove her here.

           She almostregretted it now, sticking so close behind Ayano that she nearly stepped on herheels. Ayano glanced over her shoulder as if to make sure Oka was stillfollowing her. Despite her empty expression – the same one she nearly alwayswore – something about Ayano’s presence was comforting. It was far, far betterthan doing this alone.

           The doorwayloomed before them like the gaping maw of a beast. Oka gulped. She usually onlycame in here at cleaning time and then left as soon as she could; coming herewith their occult tome and phone cameras out felt wrong.

           Ayano ledthe way. Oka clutched the book close to her as she followed.

           The firstthing Oka noticed was that the bathroom was dark.The rest of the school was fairly well-lit until the students and teachersleft, yet the lights almost never seemed to be on in here, and it took a longwhile for her eyes to adjust. Almost instinctively, Oka’s arm shot out to gripAyano’s sleeve – with surprising strength. Somehow, Ayano didn’t even flinch;she just kept scanning the room as if searching for something.

           Oka took adeep breath. “Should we begin the ritual…?”

           “Wait.”Ayano squinted into the darkness. She clicked her phone on and opened thecamera, the bright screen flooding the room with light. “I’ll see if I can spother.”

           Oka satcross-legged on the floor, gently peeling apart the worn pages of the book andplacing it in her lap. She flipped back to the first page and stared up atAyano; she seemed to be doing something else with her phone now, frowning inconcentration as she tapped on the screen. For a long while, the bathroom fellsilent.

           Ayanoglanced down at her. “I heard that ghosts sometimes appear in photographs, soI’m going to take a picture. I was just making sure the flash was off.”

           “I see.” Okahesitated, then stood, leaning up to peer at Ayano’s screen. “Do you think itwill work…?”

           Ayanoshrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”

           Oka watchedattentively, scarcely blinking as Ayano finally tapped the button to take aphoto. The screen flashed. Both girls squinted at the photo.

           “There’snothing there…” Oka felt a strange mix of disappointment and, she had to admit,relief. Her shoulders slumped as the photo vanished from the screen. Asfrightened as she was, some part of her wished that they could have spotted theghost.

           “Hold on.Maybe we just need to look harder.” Ayano pulled up her camera roll and tappedthe most recent photo.

           The screenwas completely black.

           A chill shotdown Oka’s spine. Ayano’s face remained completely blank. How could she be socalm?

           “I’m goingto try taking another one.”

           Okashivered. She swore she could hear someone whispering near the sink. Her heartpounded in her chest as if it would burst out at any moment. “I think we shouldleave…”

           Ayanosnapped another photo. It only yielded the same result: when she checked on thephoto, it had become nothing but a black space. “Guess we’re not getting ourevidence…”

           Thewhispering grew louder. Oka clung to Ayano’s shirt.

           “Yeah, Ihear that.” Ayano finally looked up from her phone, staring into the semi-darkness.“So we know it’s here, at least…”

           “Do youthink she’s angry…?”

           “Maybe she doesn’tlike us taking pictures in here.” Ayano turned her gaze back to her phonescreen, flicking between the two photos. “…Hmm. There’s something weird inthat second photo I took.”

           Oka almostdidn’t want to look, but her curiosity got the better of her. She squinted atthe photo, trying to spot whatever Ayano was talking about. “What is it?”

           Ayanopointed wordlessly to the right side of the photo, where the black faded to adeep grey shade. She could make out the lines of a hand and the shape of twofingers, reaching toward the camera as if to snatch Ayano’s phone.

Or could it have been reaching for Ayanoherself? Oka gulped. “We should get out of here…”

The whispering voice hissedthroughout the bathroom – still mostly unintelligible. But a few words could bediscerned from the jumble of gibberish now: “daughter”, “life”, “revenge”. Oka wasn’tsure when she’d begun shivering, but suddenly she could barely hold onto Ayano.

“She can’t hurt us.”

Oka blinked. “What?”

Gently, Ayano placed a hand on Oka’sshoulder. “I know you’re afraid, but there’s no need to be. She can’t hurt us,even if she wants to.”

Oka’s grip relaxed a little. Ayanowas right, but logic did nothing to calm her nerves. She felt sick to herstomach, eyes darting around the dark bathroom.

There was a strange light in thecorner.

The girl materialized out of thinair, her pale skin a stark contrast to the darkness. Oka froze completely. Forthe briefest moment, a flicker of something like surprise passed across Ayano’sface.

Oka’s scream caught in her throat,and only a high-pitched choking sound escaped. Ayano opened her mouth as if tospeak. No words came out. The three of them stood there, completely still, thegirl’s one visible eye locked on Ayano and the two students staring back ather.

It wasn’t until she took a steptowards them that the terror kicked in. Oka grabbed Ayano’s arm and fled fromthe bathroom, down the stairs, and down the hall, dragging Ayano behind her thewhole time. She wasn’t sure whether the ghost was following them or not. Shewasn’t going to check.

The door of the occult club roomslammed shut behind them, and Oka collapsed against it, panting. Ayano floppeddown next to her, equally exhausted.

“Well, we certainly found the ghost.”

Oka nodded, still trying to catchher breath. “I’m not… going back into that bathroom… again.”

Ayano sat up. “…We still have awhile before we have to go home.” She paused. “Want to watch a movie orsomething?”

“That sounds a lot better than runningfrom ghosts…”

A lone teacher strolled down the hallways, peering into theclubrooms. Most of the students would have left by now, of course – she justneeded to make sure there were no more stragglers before the gates closed. She oftenfound a few students scattered about the art club, trying to finalize their piecesbefore they went home, or a group of students in an almost trancelike state inthe gaming club room.

           Rarely didshe find any students still in the occult club room – let alone sleepingstudents.

           The whirringof a chainsaw echoed through the room from the iPad in Ayano’s lap, accompaniedby typical horror-movie screams. The teacher glanced between the screen and thepeaceful faces of the two students, before reaching over and tapping Oka’sshoulder.

           Slowly, thetwo girls awoke, among much groaning and eye-rubbing. Oka glanced around theroom. “Did we fall asleep…?”

           “I guess so.”Ayano looked up at the teacher. “What time is it?”

           “Just pastsix. You two should be heading home now.” She smiled. “The gates will beclosing soon.”

           “Of course.Thank you for letting us know.”

           “No problem.”

           Ayano stoodby the door, waiting for Oka to finish shoving the few books lying on the floorinto her bag. They left the building together – walking beside each other thistime.

           “Oka?”

           “Yes?”

           “Thank youfor coming with me.”

           Oka staredup at her. “I should probably be saying that to you…”

           Ayanoshrugged. “I know that the others all went home before club time. I just wantto say that I appreciate you staying behind to investigate the ghost.”

           “I…” Okaturned her gaze back toward the ground. “…Thank you. It was kind of scary,though…”

           “It was.”Ayano smiled slightly.

           “And it wasnice to do something different with our club time… but I think we should go backto summoning demons next meeting…” Oka stopped by the school gates, glancing upand down the street. She paused. “…What do you think would happen if we went backinto that bathroom?”

           “You mean tomorrow?At cleaning time?” Oka nodded. Ayano thought for a moment. “I can’t say. Imean, she still wouldn’t be able to hurt us. But whether she’d appear again ornot…”

           Oka shuddered,shooting a glance back at the school. “I don’t think I’m going back in there…”

           “Same here.”

           “Girls!”They both jumped, turning to see a teacher striding towards them. “You need toget going! We’re closing the gates soon!”

           “Right.Sorry.” Ayano turned back toward Oka. “See you tomorrow.”

           “Yes. Seeyou.”

           With onelast glance at the school, Oka turned and headed down the street towards herhouse. She smiled to herself. Somehow, with Ayano there, she’d finally foundthe courage to investigate the third-floor bathroom – even if she had run away,it felt like she had accomplished something.

           Her mindwandered back to Ayano. How could she remain so calm when there was a ghostright before her? It was somehow admirable: it seemed to Oka that she couldkeep a level head in almost any situation.

           She was gladthat Ayano had been the one to go with her.

           Oka andAyano had rarely spoken before Ayano joined her club, but they’d grown closerover the past weeks. They both liked silence – there were times when they wouldsit together at lunch and not speak a word, simply enjoying the peace and quiet.It wasn’t that the other club members were loud – far from it, in fact – but somethingabout Ayano was… different.