TheLycanthropeClub
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The Lycanthrope Club - An American Werewolf in Japan, Chapter VIII
🕑 Added 2019-01-02 05:09:38 +0000 UTCJunko quietly passed through the main building doors and slowly walked down the short concrete steps leading up to the school. Other students were leaving as well but not many, certainly not enough to constitute a crowd; every five or six seconds a student or perhaps a pair of students would emerge from building and walk off. One quality they all shared, apart from their school uniforms, was fatigue. Their eyes were sunken and dull, their gait slow and sluggish. Nearly all were silent; those few who spoke did so softly. Most wore a tired, neutral expression though some were smiling faintly. Others looked decidedly downcast; Junko was among them.
"That was so hard," she mumbled to herself, shaking her head. English was the only test she was certain she'd passed. She didn't even want to think about the others. In fact, she really didn't want to think at all. Her brain was fried. She just wanted to go home and sleep, possibly watch some anime, then sleep some more. But this was the last day of exams and she finally had some time off. She - they - needed to take advantage of this.
Junko turned and made her way north following a route that was becoming increasingly familiar. The crowds gradually thinned. The houses and business grew smaller, older, and slightly decrepit. She circled around a small, empty park and stopped in front of what was once a Shinto temple. Well, it was technically still a Shinto temple but had been closed for over two years. A cheap sign on a chain link fence surrounding the property apologized for its closure and promised a speedy renovation; the sign was worn and faded, barely legible. The exterior of the temple was equally worn. Its curved brown roof was missing a few tiles and there were leaves strewn across it. The red paint on the torii gate was starting to flake away; one of its columns was cracked. Weeds were everywhere.
Looking around to make sure nobody was watching her, Junko circled around the temple. She entered the alley to the rear of the temple grounds - where she had met with Taro and Masae shortly after their encounter with the werewolf - and climbed the short yet steep slope leading up to it. She paused at the chain link fence, reached down and tugged at the wire near the bottom of one of the steel support poles. The fencing peeled out; the wire had been cut along the pole, forming a flap large enough for someone to fit through. Junko knelt and carefully slipped through the opening. Once on the other side she carefully put the wire back in place. She stood and, after a moment's hesitation, bowed curtly and hurried into the main hall through a side entrance.
There was a soft light emanating from somewhere in the otherwise pitch-black interior of the temple. Junko cautiously sniffed the air and then relaxed.
"Taro-kun?" she said. "Masae-sempai?"
"We're in here," called a voice.
Junko followed the light down a short hall and into a small windowless side room. Taro was sitting in the center next to a small electric torch. Masae was leaning against the far corner of the wall tapping away on her phone. The room was otherwise empty
"About time," said Masae, glancing up at Junko.
"Sorry," said Junko. "I had to use the restroom before I left."
"How did your last test go?" inquired Taro mildly. "I, uh, wasn't sure about that last section."
"I don't want to talk about it," sighed Junko.
"Ah, er, my apologies."
"For once I sympathize," said Masae, lowering her phone. "I don't think I've ever crammed so much in my life."
"At least it's over," said Junko.
"At least it's over," concurred Masae. She pocketed her phone. "Let's get started."
"Can we wait for a while," asked Junko, grimacing. "I need to rest a bit."
Masae scowled but then sighed and nodded. "I suppose we should wait a little longer. At least until school has been out for a time. Fewer people on the streets." She took her phone back out.
Junko slumped to the floor and sprawled out with a dramatic groan.
"Uh, forgive me, but the floor looks kind of dirty," said Taro.
"It's fine," murmured Junko, staring up at the dim, dusty ceiling.
The three students said nothing for a time. Masae remained in the corner staring at her phone, her face illuminated by its dull glow. Taro just sat there, legs crossed. It was quiet. Very quiet.
"This temple," began Junko so suddenly it made Taro jerk in surprise.
"Wha-What?" he said.
"It's just..." said Junko, looking up her recumbent position, "Do you think it's right for us to use it like this?"
"We're trespassing," said Masae, still glued to her phone. "So, no. But it's worked so far and it's not as though we're hurting anyone by practicing here."
"Not like that," said Junko, sitting up. She paused. "Well, actually, sort of. This is a...sacred place. What if we're angering the spirits?"
"Are you serious?" snorted Masae, lowering her phone.
"Well...maybe?"
"She does have a point, Takaha-...Masae-sempai," said Taro somewhat nervously. "Even if it probably needs to be purified now."
"You too?" groaned Masae. "Come on, there's no such thin-"
Masae stopped suddenly. Her annoyed expression faded. She looked around the dark room. Junko felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise on end.
"Maybe...maybe we should look for a new place to meet," said Masae slowly.
"I've thought about it," said Taro softly. "If werewolves are real, what else is?"
"It...It doesn't necessarily mean all spirits or yōkai are real," said Masae quickly. "And...well..." suddenly, she scowled. "Hey, we're yōkai too now," she said. "We took down a Yakuza hit squad. They should be scared of us, not the other way around! If any of them do exist," she added awkwardly.
Junko grinned. The moment of unease seemed to pass.
"Hah! Good point, Masae-sempai," she said.
Taro nodded and managed a weak grin. Junko rose to her feet.
"I'm feeling better now. Taro-kun?"
"Huh? Oh, yes."
"Let's get started, then," she said, already reaching down to untie her shoes.
"We should go through at least five shifts this time," said Masae. Taro stood, bowed and hurried out of the room. Once he was gone the two girls stripped out of their uniforms. Instead of their regular cotton undergarments both were wearing black spandex equivalents. In Masae's case, the spandex undergarments were severely oversized. Curiously, they were knotted up in the back so that they wouldn't fall off.
"Um, wow," exclaimed Junko at the sight of Masae's physique. Taut, powerful muscles lined every inch of her body. "You're looking good."
"I still haven't figured out how I'm going to explain this to my parents," said Masae, shaking her head. She glanced at Junko. "How are you going explain all that?" she said, motioning at Junko's smaller but equally muscular form.
"Huh? Oh, I bought some free weights and told them I wanted to get in better shape."
Masae stared at Junko.
"Yes, exercising with free weights for three weeks would explain suddenly having the physique of a professional wrestler," she said dryly.
"Professional wrestler!" exclaimed Junko.
"What?" said Masae.
"I could be one!" she jumped up and down, grinning. "Once I finish high school."
"Well, knowing how you probably did on your exams it's probably your only option now," said Masae, smirking.
"Hey, not funny," said Junko.
"Are you...finished?" called Taro from the hallway.
"Relax, you can come in," said Masae. "We wore our workout gear over our school uniforms this time."
"Oh, er, very well."
Taro sheepishly stepped into the room. He was naked save for a pair of loose-fitting spandex exercise shorts. His formerly soft, pale and slightly pudgy body was now lean and sinewy, barely an inch of fat. He didn't have quite as much bulk as Masae but his change was easily the most radical of the three.
Junko realized she was blushing. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him in his exercise shorts but he got more muscular every time every time she saw him. Then she noticed Taro was gazing down at the floor, his own face as red as hers likely was.
"O-Okay," said Junko, shaking it off. "I'll go first." She grinned. "Let me show you something I've been working on."
Junko shut her eyes, more for effect than anything else, and raised her arms half-way up. She breathed in and out, first slowly, then rapidly. Her face turned even redder. Then, a staccato series of disconcerting cracks and pops started emanating from her arms. Brown fur blossomed along her forearms and quickly spread up to her shoulders. Her dainty fingers swelled up and sprouted sharp claws. Her arms steadily grew in bulk and length. Then, it stopped.
"Ahhh...there we go," said Junko, exhaling. She curled her furry biceps and then flexed her paws. Her claws slid in and out of their sheaths. She was now a high school girl with the arms and paws of a werewolf.
Masae and Taro stared at her.
"How do you do that?" exclaimed Masae with a strange mixture of amazement and irritation.
"Um, I just, well, it's hard to put into words," said Junko, lowering her arms, which now reached down to her knees. "I get started and I, uh, just flex my arms and let it happen." She paused, realizing this probably wasn't sufficient. "I learned not to think about the rest of my body while it happens. If I do, well, the rest of me changes."
"You basically said the same thing when you explained how you got your ears to change," said Masae. "But every time I try it I end up changing all the way."
"I can't do it either," said Taro, shaking his head.
Junko smiled smugly. "Sorry, I don't know what to tell you. I mean, I can't keep it up for longer than ten, fifteen minutes. Then I have to go back to normal or let my entire body change."
"Well, if you can do it, I can do it," said Masae. She widened her stance slightly and, like Junko, shut her eyes and clenched her fists. Junko, meanwhile, flexed her arms a bit more before letting them shrink back down to their familiar, furless selves.
"So you just focus on your arms?" asked Taro, stepping forward. Behind him, Masae gasped.
"Well, not so much that as not think about anything else," said Junko, shrugging.
"Uh, forgive me, but isn't that what focusing means?" said Taro, raising his voice slightly over Masae's increasingly inhuman groans.
"Well, like I said, it's hard to put into words."
Taro frowned.
"I see," he said. "It just, it would be nice to borrow some of Taichi-sama's power without becoming him." There was a crunch as Masae stomped her foot into the floor, partially breaking through the floorboards.
"Taichi-sama? This again?" sighed Junko.
"What?" said Taro.
"I mean...I don't...Taro-kun, I don't become a different person when I change," said Junko. "Masae-sempai," she gestured at Masae, who was in a particularly grotesque transitional point between human and werewolf, "Doesn't become a different person when she changes. You don't forget what happens when you change."
"I...share some of Taichi-sama's memories, yes," said Taro. "But he is...well, I don't know, it's hard to put into words."
Junko felt an uncharacteristic twinge of annoyance.
"Where did you even get the name Taichi-sama anyhow?"
"It's just...that's his name," said Taro, shrugging again.
"Hrrrgghh, no!" growled a deep albeit feminine voice. Junko and Taro turned around.
Masae had fully assumed her lycanthropic form. She glared down at the two of them through her gleaming yellow eyes. Junko risked a quick glance at her fuzzy bosom. The multiple knots tied to the back of her elastic top had been pulled apart when her...body expanded, permitting it to cover her even as she expanded. Masae had rush-ordered the piece from an American retailer; it was the largest size they offered and it still barely fit her. More than once it had popped off when the knots failed to unravel. Sometimes it just popped off. Fortunately, this time it had held; Masae could get very temperamental when it didn't.
"I was so close," said Masae. She lifted her massive right arm. "My arms were the only parts of my body that were furry for a few seconds."
Junko hesitated. The transformation generally began with the hands and arms but decided not to point this out to Masae.
"That may have been your fastest time," said Taro encouragingly. "I mean, I should have timed it, but it didn't take as long as usual."
"I don't know," said Masae, stretching her arm. "It still hurts a lot."
"It still hurts when you transform?" inquired Junko, surprised.
Masae glared at her.
"Sorry, sorry," said Junko meekly.
"I suppose it's my turn," said Taro.
He shut his eyes, took a deep breath, chest rising, and exhaled. He gritted his teeth. Every muscle in his body tensed. His arms started to tremble, then bulge. Long, sharp claws poked out of his fingertips. Flax yellow fur sprouted from the back of his hands - now paws - and spread along his arms, shoulders, back and stomach, growing thicker and deeper with every passing second. His tight wiry muscles were briefly concealed under the burgeoning expanse of fur before his body itself expanded like a balloon. Soft yet disturbing pops and stretching sounds filled the air, punctuated by the occasional loud crack as his bones and tissues reformed. His once loose-fitting black spandex shorts strained and bulged around his waist; a long tail slipped out through a carefully crafted hole in the back. Now nearly the size of Masae, his nose, jaw, indeed, his entire skull stretched outwards forming a short muzzle. Flat molars narrowed into fearsome fangs. His eyes opened. A dazzling, golden, feral light erupted in each one.
Taro stirred. He turned towards Masae and Junko and issued a bow.
"Greetings, Takahashi-sempai, Hayashi-san," he intoned in a deep, commanding baritone.
"Greetings?" said Masae, puzzled.
"It's Taichi-sama now," said Junko with a shrug.
"Oh yeah," said Masae, rolling her eyes. "Fine, Taichi-sama."
"Yes?"
"Wha-? Nothing, nothing," said Masae, irritably waving a paw. "Okay, Junko-chan, could you start timing? Ten minutes ought to do it."
"Uh, sure," said Junko, already reaching for her cell phone in her pile of discarded clothes. "Just let me change first."
"I think you're beyond that now," said Masae a touch sourly. "Why don't you practice shifting different parts of your body or something? Unless you can figure a way to help us change, that is."
"Oh, er, alright," said Junko.
She tapped her phone, activating its timer function. "Ten minutes...starting now."
Masae nodded and leaned back against the wall. Taro - or perhaps Taichi - lowered himself and adapted a formal seiza position, knees on the ground. Junko for her part wondered what she should try to change next. She glanced down at her nearly naked body. Was there any part of her she hadn't changed? One arm? One Leg? Her head? Hands? A foot? She'd tried it all at one time or another. As she considered what to try next, she started almost unconsciously tapping away on her phone. While browsing through a weather report, something caught her eye. It was a report on an unusual break-in at train station. Specifically, Inuyama station. She opened the report and read it with widening eyes.
"Uh, Masae-sempai, Taro-kun?" she said slowly
"Time already?" said Masae. Taro's left ear twitched; he had been sitting there, eyes shut, as though meditating.
"There's...this news article," said Junko, looking up at them briefly. "Er...yesterday somebody broke into the Inuyama train station security office."
"Wait, what?" said Masae.
"It says they broke in at night. The two officers on duty at the time were assaulted and badly injured. They're in the hospital," said Junko, still reading the article. "It says...nothing of value was stored in the office apart from computers and surveillance equipment. Police are still investigating but the attack did not appear to be a simple act of vandalism or robbery."
"That...that's the train station where-" said Masae.
"Where the werewolf said it left us an important message," finished Junko.
The group was silent for a time.
"It might be a coincidence," said Junko, more than a little hopefully.
"It probably is," said Masae, folding her arms. "But..." she trailed off, growling.
"Yes?"
"No, we can't risk it. We need to look into this," she finished.
"It has been some time since incident at the park," said Taro, looking up. "But with the police attention, not mention the possibility whoever assaulted the station may still be watching, perhaps we should stay away."
"No," said Masae, shaking her head. "We need to find whatever it is the werewolf left us or at least learn whether or not it was taken. Now."
"Now?" said Junko.
"Yes, now," commanded Masae. "Let's change back and head on over to the station."
"But we still haven't figured out how to find the message," protested Junko.
"Then we'll figure it out there," barked Masae.
"Great," muttered Junko, picking up her clothes. "One last pop-quiz."
* * *
By the time the high schoolers arrived at the station the sun was just starting to kiss the distant horizon. It was still bright out enough to be considered day but the shadows were long and it could only grow darker. The three hurried up the steep flight of steps in the covered walkway and entered the station. It was crowded, filled with commuters heading home. Junko winced at the panoply of unfamiliar smells but quickly brushed it off.
"Okay, we're here," said Masae, looking around.
"Where should we start?" asked Taro anxiously.
"Let's take a look at the security room."
"They're not going to let us in," said Junko. Above, an electric voice announced the arrival of a northbound train.
"Just...come on," said Masae, pulling on her sleeve.
The high schoolers maneuvered through the milling throng. It was slow-going. The crowd eventually thinned near the far end of the station. There were still a few scattered commuters sitting on benches or apparently simply loitering but otherwise it was quieter.
"If I remember correctly," muttered Masae, still walking. "The door to the security office should be right over...there."
Junko turned. There was a door tucked away near a corner of the station. A small metal sign on the adjacent wall proclaimed that entry was forbidden to non-authorized personal.
"Are you sure?" she asked, cocking her head.
"I saw a security officer walk in there a while back," said Masae. "At the very least it leads to where the security office is."
"I still don't understand why we need to go back there," said Junko. "I mean, do you think the werewolf's message is in the security office? Or...or was in the security office?"
"Why else would the Yakuza be looking there?" said Masae.
"I guess," said Junko uncertainly. "But...how are we going to get in?"
Masae looked around.
"It...doesn't look like anyone is looking at us now," she whispered.
"You can't be serious," hissed Junko, immediately understanding what she was proposing.
"W-What would we do if they caught us in there?" said Taro. "That's trespassing."
"We trespassed when we were in the forest after ten o'clock," said Masae, folding her arms. "We're trespassing when we go in the temple. And don't see any better option."
"Just...hang on," said Junko nervously. "Before we...break the law - again - let's think about what the werewolf said." She cleared her throat and remembered. "'I left you a message at your train station that only you can find. The password is the last words you heard me say,'" she recited. "So, there's a password."
"Yes, I know, Junko-chan," said Masae wearily. "I haven't forgotten. It's likely the password to some computer terminal or cell phone it hid somewhere. Probably in the security office."
"But...but what if someone found it?"
"It said only we'd be able to find it."
"But how?"
"I...well," said Masae, the confidence in her voice fading.
"Uh...Takahashi-sempai," said Taro, raising a hand diffidently.
"What?"
"Forgive me, but how would werewolf get into the security office?" he said. "We...that is, we know it doesn't speak Japanese and it's probably all by itself." He paused. "It knows we're just high school students. Wouldn't it leave the message somewhere we could easily access?"
"If it were easy for us to find the message, anyone could," retorted Masae.
"I-I...yes, that's true," conceded Taro, lowering his head.
"And why would the Yakuza be interested in the security office?" continued Masae, rallying. "I know they aren't necessarily the ones who broke in but..." she noticed Junko wasn't listening, "What? What? What is it, Junko-chan?" she asked, annoyed. "Aren't you listening?"
Junko had been gazing up at one of the security cameras. She whirled around.
"They wanted the security footage," she exclaimed.
"Eh?" said Taro.
Junko gestured up at the camera. "They wanted to security footage of the station."
Masae expression of irritated bemusement rapidly shifted to wide-eyed understanding.
"Of course," she said, slapping her forehead. "How could have been so...this, this shifting back and forth must be messing with my brain!" she exclaimed. "That or all these stupid exams!"
"E-Easy, Masae-sempai," said Taro. Masae was speaking rather loudly.
Masae pointed at the security door. "They must have broken in to download all the security footage," she continued, lowering her voice slightly. "I've heard that they've started backing up all their records and video surveillance on the cloud. They could have threatened one of the cops to give them the password or something. If they got in they could have gotten records from every station in the city."
"So....they're looking for some clue as to where the werewolf hid the message," said Junko.
"Possibly," said Masae carefully. "It's also possible they're just gathering intelligence. They're looking for this werewolf, right? Going through the train records and video surveillance isn't a bad way to find someone."
"But that's crazy," said Junko, shaking her head. "There's...thousands of people and hundreds of hours. How could anyone go through all that?"
"That's what professional intelligence gathering is like - lots and lots of work," said Masae, a tad reproachfully. "Besides, we know the werewolf is a foreigner. It'd stand out even if it were human."
"Um, okay," said Junko, still somewhat dumbfounded by the prospect of someone sorting through all that information. "So, the gangsters stole the records. If there is a clue do you think they've already found it?"
"It's only been a day," said Masae. "So...probably not," she said, albeit with a grimace.
There was a brief pause. The three high schoolers exchanged looks.
"So...we really, really need to find that message now," said Junko.
"Yeah," nodded Masae. "We should split up and look around the station. Look for something. Anything. The werewolf said it was something only we could find. We have to trust it. If anyone does find anything send a text. Don't actually say you found something," she added quickly. "We're still not sure if we're being monitored on our phones. Just say... 'I'm at school.' Then we'll meet up here. We'll keep looking until we need to go home. If we don't find anything we can try again tomorrow. As soon as possible."
"Right," said Junko.
"Okay," said Taro.
A few, awkward seconds later, the group split. Junko walked towards the main platform and into the crowd. A train had just left the station so there weren't quite as many people around, affording her a better view of the station. She looked around, her gaze drifting across the empty tracks, some concrete support columns, a row of ticket machines, a food and beverage kiosk, a cluster of vending machines in a large alcove near the entrance.
"Where could it be?" she murmured to herself.
Unconsciously she started sniffing the air and stopped herself. Having such a great sense of smell was fun and even useful at times, but people were starting to look at her funny.
With no idea what to do next, Junko started wandering through the station. She slipped through the crowd and wound up on the far end of the station near the ticket machines. She slowly walked along the row of colorful, brightly lit touch screens. On a whim she peered in between two machines, looked down but saw nothing but floor. She sighed and turned to her right. There was an open passage at the end of the hall leading to the bathrooms and lockers. Junko shrugged and headed towards them.
The din of the station grew muted as she entered the locker area. It wasn't a particularly large room; there were at most a couple hundred lockers - some the size of a shoebox, others as big as a small closet - all slightly off-color white. Two vending machines were ensconced in the walls.
Junko gazed thoughtfully at the lockers. Maybe the werewolf had simply left the message in one of them. But how would they know which one? And how could they open it? And where did the password come in? The lockers were opened with special keycards you bought from the vending machines. You didn't have to enter a password.
Junko groaned in frustration and fell back against the wall. She took a deep breath and exhaled. She sniffed the air, and then blinked.
"Taro-kun? Masae-sempai?" she said, looking around.
She sniffed the air again. There, the scent was definitely there - sour and musky. It was somewhat faint and...stale, however.
"Maybe they passed through here," said Junko glancing back to the open passageway. "Maybe it's the bathroom."
Then, something occurred to her.
"The smell..." she whispered, "It's not Taro-kun or Masae-sempai. But it's still a werewolf..."
Her heart started racing. Was the werewolf here? Had it been hiding here, waiting for them? Maybe it had been through the station recently.
Junko looked around again. Once she was sure the room was empty she started walking through it, sniffing the air. Pinpointing the werewolf's scent was a bit tricky owing to the proximity of the bathrooms but she persevered. She shut her eyes so she could better focus on the smell. It seemed to get fainter when she moved one way and slightly stronger as she moved another. After about a minute or so of this, she stopped and looked down. She found herself standing next to a stack of three small lockers. She took a whiff of each one, bending when she had to smell the one nearest to the floor. Sure enough, the middle locker smelled strongly of werewolf. Well, sort of like werewolf. There were unfamiliar...tones to the smell. They were actually kind of unpleasant. Nevertheless, she was certain it came from a werewolf.
"This has to be it," breathed Junko, amazed that she had figured it out so quickly. "It was something only we could find because only we could smell it."
She clapped her hands gleefully but then remembered she still had to open the locker. She tried to open it but found it was locked. Junko pouted.
"Password, password," she murmured to herself. She pulled on the door again but it would not budge.
As she let go, Junko noticed something odd. She narrowed her eyes. There was something small and thin, barely perceptible, in fact, between the top of the door frame and the frame of the locker itself. She bent down and stared at it. It almost looked like there was some kind of extra hinge in the door. But that didn't make any sense. The locker door opened to the right, not bottom to top.
"The keycard," gasped Junko, realizing what it was.
Someone - presumably the werewolf - had wedged a keycard in the narrow space between the door frame and locker itself far enough so that it was well-hidden but not so far that it could not be retrieved. Still, she couldn't get it out with her fingers; she'd push it all the way back into the locker and then no-one would be able to open it - at least not with breaking it or using some kind of master key card.
Thinking quickly, Junko dug her rail pass out of her pocket and gingerly inserted it into the narrow space. She glanced behind to confirm that she was still alone. She slowly and ever so cautiously slid the rail pass to the left. She felt some resistance as it pressed up against the key card but continued moving it. Holding her breath, she rotated her rail pass in the locker to catch the card and slowly pulled back. A few seconds later, a corner of a keycard emerged. Junko snatched it and held the key card in both hands, grinning manically.
"Yes!" she said. She covered her mouth, looked around, and relaxed.
Heart pounding in her chest, she held the keycard against the locker scanner. There was a soft beep and click as the locker unlocked. With a shaking hand she opened the locker and gazed inside.
There were two small objects - a small plastic cup with a paper tower on top and a cell phone, currently switched off. Junko grabbed the cell phone and turned it on. It booted up. Once it was done Junko saw, somewhat to her surprise, that it was set to English. And it needed a password.
"The password," she whispered. "Um..." she started tapping away on the English characters, "Try...not...to...bite anyone." She pressed enter.
The phone unlocked.
Junko gazed down at the screen. It looked like no-one had ever used the phone before. It still had its default wallpaper and there were no apps apart from the pre-loaded ones. It didn't even have service. Frowning, she checked recent calls and texts and found none. She then checked the contacts and found exactly two, both in English. One was an address in the United States. The contact phone number was just a series of zeros.
"Pinebrook..." she read, puzzled.
The other contact, however, was something more familiar. It was the address for a restaurant in Tokyo. And the number listed didn't actually look like a phone number. It read like a time of day - 16:00-17:00. And the contact was listed as being part of the 'Friday' group.
"Friday, between 16:00 and 17:00," whispered Junko. "It...it wants us to meet us there at that time!"
Junko's hand shot into her pocket. She placed the other phone back in the locker and started frantically texting Masae and Taro. Once her messages were sent she pocked both phones and looked around nervously. Then she remembered the plastic cup. Curious, she peered inside the locker, reached in and lifted the paper tower off the cup. Junko's nose wrinkled as the smell got much stronger. The cup was quarter-filled with a dark-yellow liquid. Junko stared at it for a few seconds. Then, she realized what it was.
"Ewwwwwwwwww!" she cried in disgust.
She slammed the locker door shut.
