AsAThought
Book 1
Chapter 6: Yellow Hearts
(Miyo & Hana)
Standing at the heart of their very own classroom, Miyo couldn’t shake the eerie sense of dread looming over her. A silent urge stirred within her to just turn around and leave—a feeling she managed to keep in check only because of Hana’s gentle hold on her arm. Miyo absentmindedly fiddled with Aunt Sato's old, musty scarf, each movement sending a faint, dusty scent that made her nose twitch, eventually triggering an uncontrollable sneezing fit.
“Bless you,” Hana offered, barely glancing up as she wrestled with an old, rickety broom, struggling to keep it upright. The task was proving far more challenging than it should have been, the bulky oak handle wobbling uncooperatively in her grip.
Across the room, Granny Sato can be seen crouching low on the dirty concrete floor. She worked with a meticulous focus, drawing strange circular symbols with the marker they had handed her, each stroke leaving a distorted mark of a circle that seemed to carry an unusual weight. Apart from the faint ringing of the bell drifting in from the classroom’s windows, the room remained eerily quiet.
Miyo cast a sideways glance at Hana, nudging her shoulder impatiently, silently urging her to say something to the old woman. Hana hesitated, signaling with a glance to wait. Neither girl seemed sure of how to interrupt whatever ritual Aunt Sato was performing.
"Good… so you two weren’t lying to me, at least." She straightened herself with a creaky groan, dusting off her hands, seemingly satisfied. "Now, you two at least remember what you’re supposed to do, right?"
Miyo blinked, utterly confused. "Um… not really. You haven’t even—achoo!—told us anything," she said, pulling herself away from the scarf’s irritating smell and tugging Hana along with her.
"Quit whining, you goody two-shoes," Granny Sato snapped, her voice low and harsh. “Now, listen up. The rings told me that, this classroom has been sinking into the dreaming world for quite sometime. Especially when that bell rings."
The girls exchanged baffled looks.
“Uh… we still have no idea what that means,” Hana replied hesitantly, glancing over at Miyo before tugging her back to her side.
Aunt Sato raised an eyebrow, letting out a dry scoff. “Nosy one, aren’t you, twin-tails?” she muttered. “Simply put, it’s a place that shouldn’t exist. A world where lost things… and people get swallowed up. Your friend won’t last long if you keep standing around asking pointless questions.”
Miyo’s gaze hardened, and she stepped forward, aligning herself with Hana. “We just want to know what we’re dealing with. Going in blindly isn't smart.”
"You don't have to be smart," Granny Sato replied, a sharp edge to her voice. "You just need to find the girl, wrap the scarf around her, and wait, while I deal with whatever it is that’s dragging this room down."
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Hana hesitated, her expression uneasy. “…But, Aunt Sato… what if we can’t find her?”
The old woman’s gaze shifted, settling on the crimson bell hanging above the door, her expression unreadable. “That means she stray too far and there's nothing we can do. The next time the bell rings, the scarf will bring you both back, with or without her. Just… let’s hope you do find her before that happens.”
She turned back to them, her wrinkled hands gripping both of their shoulders firmly. “And one more thing, girls,” she said, her voice dropping to a cautionary tone. “Use the broom only as your last —”
DING.
The piercing sound of the bell shattered the air, cutting off her words. In an instant, reality around them twisted and bent, the familiar classroom morphing into something sinister and unnatural. Each mellow chime of the bell warped the room further. The once-sterile white walls took on a decayed, dirty tint, and long, jagged scratch marks marred across their surfaces, like echoes of something terrible that had once transpired here. Outside the window, the clouds darkened, their color shifting from pale white to an unsettling shade of sickly grey.
Miyo squeezed her eyes shut, heart pounding as she clutched Hana’s arm tighter. Her legs trembled as her shoes sank into what felt like a damp, mushy floor… then she realized it was covered in a bizarre mat of long, silken hair, soft yet disturbingly cold.
When Miyo opened her eyes again, she found herself and Hana standing in a twisted version of their classroom, now tainted by pale, muted light. Granny Sato was nowhere to be found.
“Hello? Aunt Sato? Where ... where did she go?” Miyo’s voice trembled as she scanned the warped room. Shadows loomed in strange places, and the walls seemed to breathe with a life of their own. Above, a massive, gaping hole throbbed ominously in the ceiling, almost like it had a heartbeat of its own. “Oh God, Dad was right… this whole town really is cursed.”
“Miyo.” Hana’s voice broke through her panic, steady yet strained. Just beside Miyo, Hana was white-knuckling the broom, fighting the tremble in her hands.
“The scarf…” Hana’s voice faltered as her wide eyes locked onto it, seemly in disbelief. “It’s glowing.”
The old, yellow scarf they wore had taken on a soft, golden glow, illuminating the room with a gentle warmth. It wasn’t bright enough to banish the shadows entirely, but it pushed them back, creating a small bubble of light in the darkness—like the comforting flicker of a candle in the night.
"I… I don’t know what to make of all this," Miyo whispered, watching the scarf’s light dance across the room.
"Let’s ... let's just not think too hard about it," Hana said, forcing a small, determined smile. "All we have to do is find Maaya and get out. We can do this."
Lingering doubts still hung in the air, but Miyo nodded. "Yeah, I believe you," She crossed her arms, trying to mask her fear with a hint of annoyance. "That girl really got us into a big mess this time… She’ll be sorry when I find her."
Hana let out a nervous laugh. “Yep, you should definitely give her an earful. Just— ” Her words cut off as she froze, her eyes wide with sudden terror. “Miyo wait ... something just moved over there.” She whispered the words so softly, it was almost a breath, pointing shakily toward the dark hallway.
There, thin, red streaks of fresh droplets glistened on the walls, slowly trickling down like tiny rivers. The cold floor was stained with a pool of deep red, its edges jagged and unnaturally still. A river of the same crimson hue snaked through the corridors, its path broken and irregular, vanishing into the suffocating darkness that seemed to swallow it whole. A lone shoe lay abandoned nearby—a familiar one, unmistakably from their high school.
The girls shared a tense, horrified glance. With hearts pounding, they cautiously inched forward, dread weighing heavily with each step. Their breath hitched as the realization struck them like ice.
“Hana… is that…” Miyo’s voice faltered, her eyes locked on the streaks of blood. “... Maaya?”
Chapter 6: End