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Ring~
The phone rang again, this time, Hanako answered.
"Ahem, Hello?"
"My left arm. Find my left arm for me."
The four of you crowded near to the phone, curiosity taking over the best of you as you listened.
"I pray before class every morning. I clap my left and right hands together, I pray for everyone to have another happy day. Hurry, class—"
Before the woman on the other side of the call could finish, Hanako chimes in, pulling the phone closer to his ear.
"Hey there, number two. Long time no see. You remember me... right?"
The woman went silent, then she spoke again.
"Class begins soon." Then, the line went silent, signaling that she had hung up.
Stepping away from the phone, the sound of the hourglass restoring could be heard from a distance.
"I guess this means we'll have to look for another arm..." Frowning, you place your hand on your cheek, holding your head in thought.
"Another arm hunt? What a pain... Hey, Hanako! Isn't there another way?"
"Like what?" Hanako blinked, confused by the other boy's query.
"Like, does number Two have some sort of weakness or something?"
"She does." Hanako smiles mysteriously as he begins to clarify further.
"Her Yorishiro."
Fascinated by the word you lean forward just a bit, eyes brightening in interest.
"They're precious objects that give power to the Seven Wonders."
"Umm... meaning?" Yashiro asked, still a bit perplexed.
"Well," Hanako reaches down to pluck a toy from one of the Mokke.
"I guess it's like batteries?" He opens the back of the toy and pulls out one of its batteries, in response the toy ceases moving and becomes limp.
"Breaking the Yorishiro will weaken the Wonder. She won't be able to maintain this boundary anymore."
"That's it!" Kou yells with enthusiasm,
"Where is this Norishiro thing?"
"Yorishiro." Both Yashiro and you correct him.
"Yeah, Yorishiro! Where is it?"
"In the deepest part of the Boundary."
"The deepest part?" You ask, gently rubbing your chin.
Looking up you notice that the end of the stairs is at the very top of the Boundary, you point towards it to call the others' attention.
"Like, at the end of those stairs?"
As Kou and Yashiro look up with you, their faces immediately pale as they soon notice that the top of the stairs is a substantial distance away.
"Okay let's get going!" Hanako raises his fist in the air confidently, trying to motivate the other two to get into the same spirit.
The aura around them clouded and they seemed unwilling, so you decided to help Hanako out.
"Come on guys! We should get to it, if we work together it won't be long!" You smile cheerfully, the others squinted when they glanced at you as if you were a bright beam of light.
"Ready, set, go!" The two of you exclaimed, raising your fists in the air.
"G-Go..." Finally, Kou and Yashiro raise their arms, it was only half of the way, but at least they were on board.
While the others proceeded to look for the arm, you looked back to notice the Mokke sadly grouping around the lifeless toy. Grabbing the discarded battery that Hanako had left, you crouched down and inserted the battery back into the toy.
You all watch as the toy springs to life, the Mokke happily celebrate and waste no time crowding around you.
"Thank you! Have some candy."
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The four of you went on, looking for the body parts of the Misaki Stairs. Soon, Yashiro placed the last body part in the offering cabinet. With a sigh of relief you look down at your hands, they had healed a the bit, but you were still unable to conjure up any extra spiritual power.
"It's opening!"
Turning towards the large doors, a bright and warm light emitted from the room behind them. Your hair fluttered back in response to the humble breeze flowing from the new area.
We've finally found all the missing parts for the second Wonder. But now that we're towards the end... I've realized something.
Someone has been guiding us this whole time with phone calls, each time telling us what she had used her body parts for when she was alive.
But... if she couldn't do anything without those parts... how was she able to make phone calls and communicate?
The breeze weakened once the doors fully opened, the four of you stood at the entrance looking into the light with a faint feeling of wonder.
Once you walked through, the doors slammed shut, leaving you no choice but to keep moving forward.
While walking with Yashiro, you notice that her foot had hit something. Glancing down, it seems to be some sort of doll head. Yashiro instinctively grabs onto your arm, you both watch as the head is carried away by the water and slowly falls off the edge into the darkness.
Gazing over the edge, Yashiro tries to listen to the sound of the head hitting the probable bottom. But that reassuring noise never arrived.
"I can't see the ground from here..." She sweatdropped, backing away from the edge with a pale face.
"Maybe we shouldn't stand to close then... we might end up falling for eternity." You add on, inching away from the edge.
"Look, over there, in the chair!" The familiar voice if Kou catches your attention, he points towards a shadowed figure sitting in a tall chair.
"What the heck is that?!" The rest of your friends stare at the figure with apprehension, but you proceed to realize just how familiar it looked.
"It's all of our chosen limbs! Wow, it looks so..." You trail off, your face getting more and more disappointed as you persist to look at it.
"Creepy!" Hanako chimes in, Yashiro nods from behind him.
Yashiro walked towards the mismatched body, sighing sadly.
"At least we picked nice legs and a perfect bust size for this person... right, Y/N-Chan?"
"Uhh..." You started, unsure of what you should say.
"Please don't try to place such strong opinions on her, Yashiro..." Hanako gloomed in the back, staring at the two of you with a shady look.
The sound of footsteps could be heard from the distance, the ripples in the water below you showed that the person walking was not far.
"Finally." The voice of a woman spoke, identical to the one in the phone calls.
"Nice to see you." The woman smiled warmly at you, tilting her head just a bit as she watched with her emerald green eyes.
So this is Misaki....? I wasn't expecting her to look like this.
Her body is fully intact, so why would she task us with assembling her body?
You tried to analyze the woman more closely, but before you could she dashed right towards you. You promptly step out of her way and watch as she looks at the body you and your friends composed.
"Oh, that. Y-You see, about that doll..." Kou started, both unsure and scared about Misaki's reaction to the doll.
"I-I know what it looks like, but we really tried." Yashiro,
"We're sorry for how it looks, but I'm sure that it's the thought that counts!" You chimed in, hoping that the woman wouldn't react too poorly.
The woman's face seemed to be dark as she looked over her shoulder towards you and your friends. A shiver ran down each of your spines as you prepare yourselves for her wrath.
"What... a wonderful body!" The woman smiled brightly, which was the complete opposite of what you thought her reaction would be. The rest of you gaped at the woman, unsure whether to be grateful or perplexed.
The woman walked closer, taking hold of your hands. She thankfully shook them, gleaming cheerily as she spoke.
"I was in quite a bind, you know. I haven't the least idea what a human body is made of. I knew asking humans about humans was the right idea!"
"Oh? Is that so...?" You asked nervously, looking back at the body, you've never actually seen another human nor ghost like that. You felt a bit wrong for not notifying her of the truth.
She let go of you and made her way back to the body, gently caressing it while she resumed speaking.
"It's not like any of the other bodies so far. I'm sure this one will work."
"Other bodies?" You muttered to yourself, wary of the woman's choice of words.
"Isn't that right, Misaki? Now, try walking for me."
The woman blew gently on the torso of the body, a golden cloud escapes her lips as it enters the chest. The mist dissipates and gradually fades away, and with that, the body comes to life. It jerks and creaks as it tries to move, the golden cloud from before emits from the body as it moves.
You and your friends all jump back alarmed, faces pale from the shocking sight. The four of you watch as the body trembles once more before stopping entirely. It falls to the ground and splashes into the water.
The woman runs towards the body and kneels, her face darkened as she held the head of the body.
"Another failure, what a shame."
"U-Umm..." Yashiro spoke,
"Have you seen any other kids here? They'd be wearing the same uniforms as us."
"Others?" The woman mumbled,
"Oh, you mean the children who failed. If you're looking for them..."
"They're all around you."
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