"It's cold."
"I can't bear it anymore."
"I want to leave."
***
The sky was clear, and the bright sun cast a golden light upon the Kazenami Academy as the classes ended and the students started leaving.
Inside the enormous campus, there was a certain classroom with a board saying 'Occult Research Club' above its shoji doors.
There were two guys inside, both of them clad in the academy's uniform.
The first guy had messy dark blue hair and golden eyes, and the second one had black hair and black eyes.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" They yelled at the same time, neither of them winning, as it ended in a draw again.
"One last time!" The black haired boy with black eyes- Takahashi Renji said, frustrated by the never-changing outcome of the game.
The other boy, Aokami Souta, nodded with a smirk on his face and pulled his fist forward, thinking that there's no way he's gonna lose. "You can just give me the win at this point, Renji!"
Renji rolled his eyes and bumped his fist into Souta's. "You always say that, and you always lose, Souta."
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
The outcome was obvious. Renji picked scissors, while Soute had chosen paper.
Souta's smirk quickly turned into a grimace. "You cheated! There was a delay!" He yelled and shook his head in disbelief.
"Then it's settled! We are going to the wrecked ship tonight!" Renji stood up and looked out the window with excitement.
Souta walked over to a desk and took out a notebook from a drawer. He picked up a marker and crossed out something.
"Ugh! I wanted us to visit the old cemetery instead of some stupid ship!" He groaned and put the notebook back in its place.
The shoji doors then slid open, and a girl clad in the academy's uniform walked in without any invitation. She had green eyes and long straight blonde hair with a brain in the back. She was also wearing glasses.
"Are Aokami Souta and Takahashi Renji here?" The girl asked calmly, wanting to be as professional as she could.
"Yes! We are here! The whole club!" Renji smiled at her.
The girl nodded. "My name is Saijonji Misaki, and I am from the student council." She looked around the room, examining everything.
Souta and Renji just gave each other awkward stares and watched as the girl looked around.
Misaki nodded to herself and muttered something under her nose. "I was sent by the student council president to check on how this club is treating the classroom they were given and to deliver a message." She glanced at Souta and Renji. "To my surprise, the classroom is very clean and well-kept overall."
"What's the message, tho?" Souta asked and raised a brow with suspicion.
"You are the president of this club, Souta Aokami from class 2-D." Misaki approached them and looked Soutaino in the eyes with a calm and analytical stare.
Souta rolled his eyes, smiling smugly. "Yes, I am Souta Aokami from class 2-D, and I am the president of the Occult Research Club."
Renji sighed as he realized that Souta wasn't taking the situation seriously, even tho the student council themselves paid them a visit.
He respectfully bowed his head down to Misaki. "I'm sorry for my friend,
Saijonji-san."
Misaki shook her head and smiled softly. "It's okay, Takhashi-kun. I am dealing with worse people on a daily basis." She chuckled.
Souta rolled his eyes again. "Maybe you will just share the message with me instead of painting me as some kind of caveman."
Misaki's smile faded away, and she adjusted her voice, looking at Souta again. "Ahem. Yes."
"Due to the lack of new members joining the Occult Research Club in the past year, the club will be disbanded."
Renji raised his head and looked at Souta. Souta looked at Renji. They both looked at Misaki.
"HUUUUH?!"
"Will all the respect, but this is unfair!" Renji frowned. He wasn't mad at Misaki, but at the irrational decision that had been made by the student council. "Even tho there are only the two of us, the club is active! We've accomplished a lot in the past year!"
Souta nodded. "Yeah! Yeah! Renji is right! You can't just do something like this because you want to!"
Misaki nodded softly and adjusted her glasses. "The student council president has predicted that the two of you would say such a thing, and that's why she has decided to give you a last chance."
Souta scowled. "Yeah? She probably feels like she's donating to the homeless, huh?! She's enjoying it, isn't she?!"
Renji smacked Souta's head. "Watch your mouth! Don't get us into any more trouble than we are."
Misaki chuckled again and smiled faintly. "If you two won't find a new member until the end of this month, then the club will be disbanded once and for all with no buts."
"What?! The next month is in like two weeks! It's impossible to find another member if we didn't manage to find one for a whole year!" Souta yelled in frustration.
Misaki sighed and took a step towards the shoji doors. "Well, that's none of my business. You either do what you need to do, or you lose your club."
She glanced at Renji for the last time and smiled softly. "Goodbye, Takahashi-kun!" She then left the classroom.
"Goodbye, Saijonji-san!"
Souta glared at Renji, furious that he was acting so bubbly with the people that he saw as their enemy.
He grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Renji! Don't side with the enemy!"
Renji sighed and yanked Souta's hands away, a serious look on his face. "Listen, Souta! Either we find something interesting that would attract the attention of the students, or our club is gone!"
Souta looked at the safe, which was standing in the corner of the room. "Yep. That means we need to use it..."
"The Camera!" He yelled in excitement.
***
Souta walked into the house through the main door and placed his bag on the ground. "I'm back!" He yelled as he started taking his shoes off.
He loosened his tie and followed the amazing scent that was coming from the kitchen.
He dropped his bag next to the door and walked in, looking at his mother, who was cooking. "Hi, Mom, what is that good smell coming from those pots?" He asked, his eyes glistening with curiosity.
Souta's mother, Aokami Reina, was a tall purple-haired woman with golden eyes and beauty that most women could only envy.
She turned around and gave Souta a heartwarming smile. "Oh~! I'm cooking your and Sora's favorite curry, sweetie!"
"Sora's already home? So early?" Souta asked as he poured himself a glass of water.
Reina nodded softly and continued stirring the curry. "Yes, but I think that she might not want to see any of us for now."
Souta sat down at the table and raised a brow as he sipped the water. "Why is it?" He asked.
Reina chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea, but there are two possibilities."
"Either she had a bad day or her period started." She scratched her chin. "Now that I said it out loud, it's the same thing!" She nodded. "Yes, Sora just had a bad day."
"Oh, I see, I see." He said calmly.
"What about you, Souta? Anything new?" Reina asked curiously.
Souta leaned back in his chair and groaned. "My club will be disbanded soon because no one other than me and Renji joined."
Reina smiled to herself. "Oh? You're finally done with that silly Occult stuff? I'm glad."
Souta stared at her back with a smug look on his face. "Thanks for being supportive, Mom." He rolled his eyes.
Reina chuckled softly and glanced at him again. "I'm sorry if that was mean, Souta, but I think it's about time for you to bring a girl home, don't you think?"
"I want my grandchildren to see me like I am right now, not like an old lady with a cat-invested house!" She added.
Souta looked down at his glass. "I don't think that I want to... not for now at least."
Reina looked at him with worry, noticing that he was still upset. "Souta, don't tell me that you are still feeling down after Mika-chan. It was three years ago, you need to move forward!" She tried to brighten his mood.
Souta placed the glass on the table and stood up. "I think I should go bother Sora a little bit."
Reina sighed deeply and shook her head, disappointed in her son always running away from the past or the trouble that he's making.
Souta left the kitchen and made his way up the stairs, eventually ending up before a door that led to his sister's room.
His nostrils instantly caught a weird and stinky scent coming from the other side. He didn't even bother to knock; he just opened the door and walked in.
Aokami Sora- A girl with shoulder-length purple hair and purple eyes clad in pajamas, was sitting on her bed. She was shocked by Souta's sudden entrance that she didn't manage to hide the cigarette she was smoking.
Souta walked over to her and took the cigarette without a word. He looked at the cigarette, then at her. "What the hell is this, Sora?! Are you right in the mind?!" He yelled at her.
Sora tackled him and tried to take the cigarette. "Give that back to me, you idiot!"
Souta softly pushed her onto the bed, still holding the cigarette. "What's the meaning of this, Sora?! You can't smoke, it's not good for you!"
Sora tackled him again. "I am already old enough to decide what's good or bad for myself!" She screamed.
"Sora, you're 14!" Souta grabbed her by the ear and dragged her downstairs, straight into the kitchen, where their mother was setting the table.
Reina looked at her children. Her expression changed from kind to a firm one. She looked at the cigarette and frowned. "What is that?" Her eyes locked onto Sora's. "Sora?"
Sora looked up at her mother and then looked at Souta. "LEAVE ME ALONE! LET ME LIVE!" She screamed and tried to run away, but Souta held her wrist firmly.
Souta sighed deeply, disappointed in his sister's behavior. He didn't expose her to mess with her, but he did it because he genuinely cared for her, and if there was a person who could get Sora back on the right way, it was their mother.
Reina's expression softened and tearswelledd up in the corners of her eyes as she hugged Sora tightly. "Why? Why do you keep doing that to me?"
Sora hugged her mother back and sobbed into her chest. "I'm sorry, Mom... I'm sorry..."
Souta took a step back to give them some space. After the death of his father, the situation at home was very bad. Sora started causing trouble while Reina put on a mask to at least pretend that everything was alright.
And there was Souta. He didn't know what to do, what to say, he could only watch.
***
It was already dark. The sound of waves hitting the abandoned, dead beach and the wreck of the wooden ship.
Souta was standing near the barriers. He was holding a phone next to his ear as he was waiting for the other side to answer.
"Hello?" A voice called from the phone.
"Where are you, Renji?!" Souta yelled in frustration.
"Oh crap! I forgot to call you!" The voice laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, but I can't accompany you today, Souta. My father needs my help with something."
"Aww man! Our club needs this!" Souta groaned.
"I know, I know. Sorry, really."
"But don't enter the ship alone, something bad might happen if you do so, after all, it's an abandoned old sh,p," Renji said firmly.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Souta hung up the call and smirked, jumping over the barrier.
"I can't just flee when we need this, or else our club is done!" He said to himself.
He entered the shipwreck with the camera in his hand, recording everything while holding a flashlight in his other hand.
The old, crumbling wooden floor creaked with every step Souta took. He was afraid that the floor would snap and he would get hurt.
He looked around the shipwreck, opening chests with dead fish in them, caressing old, rustycannonss, looking into barrels which used to contain gunpowder.
Then, he noticed a weird pattern on the wooden wall. He traced his finger across the lines of wood on the wall. "It looks like there is some kind of a hidden door here!" His eyes glistened with excitement.
"Three... Two... One!" He kicked the left side of the wall, and it creaked open, revealing a hidden room behind. A cold breeze immediately left the room, sending shivers down his spine.
"Holy shit!" He yelled in amazement and squeezed into the room through the gap between the door and the wall.
The room was small and very cold. There were many crates containing glass bottles scattered around a dark Victorian coffin.
"Woah... I'm glad Renji won the game..." Souta muttered under his nose in amazement.
He crouched down next to a crate and took one of the bottles out. He wiped the label with his hand. "Oh... It's in English... And handwritten..."
"Wine... from year..." His eyes widened. "W-WHAT?!" He screamed in disbelief and joy.
"1525!?"
Souta made sure to record everything with the camera. His hands were shaking in disbelief and joy. If the wine was real, he could sell it and give his mother money so she wouldn't have to work and focus on herself.
"Okay! I should take-"
From out of nowhere, the top of the coffin began sliding off.
"No way... Is that a ghost?!" Souta yelled, pointing the camera at the coffin.
He was afraid, but his curiosity forced him to walk over to the coffin and push the sliding plate off.
"This is heavy, but I'm sure there is something valuable inside, after all, this is a hidden room in a pirate ship!" Souta smirked.
After a good five minutes, the coffin cover fell to the ground, revealing what was inside.
Souta closed his eyes and took a deep breath, preparing himself to see the gold and gems hidden in the coffin.
He opened his eyes and met two crimson eyes glaring into his.
A shiver ran down his spine. He died inside.
The white haired girl with crimson eyes, clad in a Gothic dress, jumped on top of him, digging her fangs into his neck.