You Saw Right Through Me

Ritual of the Dead

Angie flung open the door. "Hello- uh... what are they doing here?" Maki scoffed. "Let's talk inside. But when we went in... "What on earth?!" There were four wax figures, each of them identical to the people that have already died.

"W-what are these for?" Shuichi asked. "According to the Necronomicon, the ritual requires four effigies, so I went and made these!" I gritted my teeth. They looked so life-like... I could barely stand the sight of them.

"You do such cruel things so innocently." Maki angrily muttered.

I walked in front of Rantaro's and held his necklace in my hand. I'm not sure why we felt any connection with each other at all, but we did. Or at least... I did. Having such familiar eyes stare coldly back at me was a horrifying feeling.

"Angie, could you please reconsider." Shuichi begged. "Reconsider what? The ritual?" Shuichi nodded. "You can't revive someone who's already dead."

"But the dead can't really come back to life. So the people who died must still be alive." I turned around and faced Angie. "I held Rantaro's body in my hands... I felt the traces of his soul... the bodies were not fake. Their closed eyes used to hold... life."

I thought back to the first time I saw Rantaro's body. My tears were flowing like a river, as I prayed that it was just some joke and he would just wake up and everything would be okay.

"I've seen my fair share of dead bodies. Those were real." Maki said. "I see, from what Maki said, maybe they really are dead. If we do the ritual, then we'll bring them back to life!" Did she get dropped on her head when she was a child?

I looked at all the people who died. Whether it was the ones I saw die right before my eyes, or the ones that I saw the dead bodies for. I knew they were dead, and no ritual could bring them back to life. "We should go... there's no convincing her."

We reluctantly left the lab, but we ran into someone. "Nyeh? What are they doing here?" I looked up and saw Himiko. "Oh, Tenko just betrayed the student council by bringing these three up to try and convince me not to do the ritual. It's nothing."

Tenko suddenly gripped Himiko by the shoulders. "Himiko, snap out of it! Aren't you a mage? Why can't you see that you're being brainwashed? If you can't see that... you aren't a real mage!"

I saw Himiko's face sink. Tenko let go of Himiko. "U-uh..." I put my hand on Tenko's shoulder. "L-let's just go..." We walked back to the dorms and we said goodnight. I went to check on Kaito, and he was finally sleeping.

I pulled the blanket over him and went to my own dorm. "I would love to see you guys again..." I faced the items that were given to me by everyone that had died. "But... for the sake of everyone else, I don't think I can do that."

Once I placed Rantaro's necklace on my side table, I felt a strange chill down my spine and turned, thinking someone just put their hand on me.

But... nothing.

The next morning, I woke up at about 7:30 to get Kaito a new cloth, and to check if he was feeling better. I got up and went to his room. He was wide awake. Actually, better than that, he was pacing around his room.

"Kaito?" He looked at me. "Ah, my door was unlocked. But never mind that! You took so long to come back last night, what happened?" I explained to him everything: Angie's lab, the wax effigies, everything.

"Well we've gotta stop her!" I nodded and we were about to go get Maki, but she was already knocking at Kaito's door. I knocked at Shuichi's door. "I heard about everything from Maki Roll and Y/N." Maki Roll? "Don't give me such a weird nickname."

"You brought Kaito?" Shuichi asked.

"Yep, just in case the straightforward approach fails." I said. "I don't think he's feeling 100% though." I patted Kaito's back. "Kaito... are you scared?" Kaito looked at Shuichi, surprised. "I-I'm fine with tight spaces, zero-gravity and all that... but ghost stories... they just make me sick."

Interesting.

We ran to Angie's lab, but we ran into Himiko. "A-are you keeping watch?" I asked. Himiko shook her head. "I just came to check on Angie." Maki looked at the red-headed female. "I think it's good that you're here. Angie only opens the door for student council members."

Himiko shook her head. "I've been calling out to her, but she's not answering. She must be really devoted to this ritual."

I pressed my ear against the door. I heard nothing, not even Angie's obnoxious laugh. I put my hand on the floor to feel for vibrations. Nothing. It was like no one was there but the wax effigies. "Angie, are you in there?" I tried knocking on the door. "These doors can only be locked from the inside. Someone has to be there."

"Maybe she's sleeping." Himiko guessed. Sleeping...? "No..." I mumbled under my breath. "Angie, seriously, open up, please!" I knocked at the door frantically, getting hard to breath every time my knuckle made contact.

"We need to get inside!" Kaito scratched his head. "But how? If the door's locked-" "I heard everything and I'm just as shocked as you are by what the tabloids are reporting!"

"Agh!" I looked down and saw Kokichi. "Geez, don't scare me like that."

Wait a second.

"Kokichi, you can pick locks, right?" He nodded. "Can you pick the lock for the lab?" Himiko pulled down her witch hat. "It's rude to unlock the door on people." I looked at Himiko. "Something might've happened to Angie. Kokichi, can you please pick the lock?" He pulled out a few thin needles and unlocked the door. "Open says me."

I opened the door and I covered my mouth. "H-Himiko... don't come in here." I felt my knees get weak. "What ha- oh my god." Kaito, Maki, Shuichi, and Kokichi came in and saw the same horror I did. All the wax effigies were hung upside down in a square and in the middle lay Angie's dead body. I heard the body discovery announcement and everyone came through the door.

I fell to my knees, but I didn't feel tears form in my eyes. "Y/N! Are you okay?" Kokichi knelt down next to me, about to put his hand on my shin when, "No, don't touch it!" I took a deep breath. "I-I'm fine..."

The student council prayed for Angie. I saw all the wax effigies hanging upside down around Angie, their lifeless eyes seeming to stare at me. Disappointedly. "C-can we just start the investigation?" Kokichi nodded and helped me up, putting his hand under my arm for a second.

The scene was so... strange. The wax effigies were all tied upside down around Angie's dead body. It looked more like she was part of a ritual rather than conducting one. "Could it really be someone among us?" Tsumugi asked. "Of course, who else could it be?" Tsumugi looked up at me. "What if... it was the transfer student?"