11:59

Almost.. she breathed. In her mind she counted down the seconds as she looked at her watch. Everyone continued chatting, careless. 20 seconds. She looked up and nothing changed. Her heart beat sounded in her ears, going with the seconds. 10... She held out her free arm, and silently counting with her fingers.

Three. Sho.

Two. Toby.

One. Haruka.

12:00
~
She saw Haruka hold her hands to her head, falling to her knees, "Haruka! Jesus, what's wr-" her breath came to a painful halt; the arm she held out felt as if horrible electrical pulses went through it and up her body. The disgusting pain in her head, a awful sinister pain. Her hands flew to her head holding it in desperation to make it stop. Suzume crumbled to her knees, holding back her tears as best as she could, but she let out a blood boiling scream that made her sound like a trapped animal. Her body felt like it pulsed with sicken toxins, making her ill. Shaking with overwhelming sensations, she put her forehead on the ground and closed her eyes.

Kozue would need his assistance. Their swelling numbers seemed to make him uneasy, and he didn't react well to having his anxiety pointed out. Sorting him out would come before dealing with the gigantic mess of an underclass before them. Once Kozue was soothed, perhaps they could recruit their fellow third year to impose some level of control over the group. The more chaotic they were, the more likely they were to be caught, after all.

12:00

His first assumption, as the underclassmen around him began dropping like flies, was that they'd collectively and improperly imbibed on some illicit substance to add to the excitement of the night. Shameful, but also an opportunity. There was value in it, so it had his attention.

"Tch," he grunted, but the rest of his reproach never followed. There were no more words as he slid off his bike and sunk to the ground.

There was only silence.

Silence and pain.

12:00

Kozue jerked back upright as Yori's hand slipped from his shoulder, instinctively grabbing for him. He didn't get very far, or have very much time to dwell on why everyone was suddenly taking a group nap before the pain lanced through his head and he followed Yori in toppling from his bike.

Man, fuck crowds.

12:00

The girl started saying something about a date and a hoodie which made Masato smile, right up until she collapsed. Akira went down too. Before he could really figure out what was happening or why they had gone down Masato felt a sharp pain shoot through his temples. He tried to keep his balance on his roller blades but that wasn't happening, he hit the ground hard but it was alright. He was already unconscious by that point.

12:00

As he approached his 'group' he was caught off guard and the Haruka girl dropped. "He what's going on does she nee-" and the worst possible outcome had happened. The skull piercing noise hit him alright, but it had hit Toby right as he was mid sprint to Haruka and the others. He didn't have the pleasure of dropping to his knees so he crumpled into a ball as he fell and slid across the ground until his head bumped against Haruka's knees.

Rika finished being scared just in time to feel dizzy, she wasn't looking at the clock but right at mid night her vision blurred, feeling a sharp pain on her head she cried, touching her head and lowering her body to the floor, thinking,
"was the caterpillar poisonous? what is going to happen to me... ugh... everyone else is going through the same thing... I'm scared..."
At that the pain intensified and she fainted.

11:56PM

Sho stood rigid, startled by Suzume’s spontaneous hug. He hadn’t been expecting a reaction like that. Most of the time, when he surprised a girl she would hit him or do something similar. He felt his heart speed up again, and force himself to calm down. Realizing he was staring at her, Sho quickly shifted his gaze to something behind Suzume. He managed to kick his brain back into gear in time to hear the last bit of what Suzume was saying.

“…alone with people I didn't know. Or worse, this was some kind of joke.”

“No, no,” Sho interjected, switching his gaze back to her face. “I’m not that mean, I promise.”

“Oh? Oh. Uhm. Yeah! We are the first here out of our friend group! Just me and you.. They better arrive soon..”

He nodded in agreement. Not that he minded being alone with her… But still, as a natural extrovert Sho knew he would feel more comfortable in a group. He glanced over Suzume’s head to see that other girl, Haruka, approaching them at a brisk jog.

“Oh... wow. When did this turn into a party? Where's Toby?”

Sho looked around at the other students flocking around the building. Apparently they weren’t the only ones interested in ghostbusting tonight. He shrugged in answer to both of Haruka’s questions.

“I dunno,” he said, glossing over the faces of the other people. He didn’t know any of the upper classmen personally, and Toby was nowhere to be found. Maybe he had to work late. Sho frowned. That would be disappointing. For all his teasing, he kind of liked having the awkward little guy around. Toby was a nice break from the self-important popular kids that usually talked to Sho.

11:57PM

“Sho-Chaaan. Suzume.”

He knew that voice anywhere. Sho spun around to see Tsuki, one of the guys he considered to be one of his closer friends, walking over to them. He had what appeared to be grass stains on his jacket. Sho wondered where those came from, but put the thought aside as unimportant.

“Hey, Tsuki,” Sho greeted his friend with a grin.

“So, like, you guys having a party? Pretty crap place to have it, if you ask me.”

“Really?” Sho said in mock astonishment. “I dunno. I thought it was perfect. Can’t you just feel the party vibes? I think the ghosties want a little action in their dull and gloomy lives, and I’m the perfect guy to grant their wish. Just think of me as a genie for the undead.” He gave an extravagant bow with a flourish of his hand.

11:58PM

Sho spotted Toby wandering among the crowd nearby. He didn’t look like he saw them yet, so Sho raised his arms up and waved to get his attention.

“Hey, Toby,” he called loudly. “We’re over here!”

Sho waited for the other boy to reach them. He commenced in people-watching to pass the time. There was an impressive variety of students gathered outside the building. People from all different grades were standing around. He did wonder why nobody went inside, though. His own group had agreed to go in at midnight, but surely the others didn’t all plan the same thing. Well, he supposed it was possible, even if it was unlikely. He suddenly felt curious as to what time it was, so he checked his watch.

11:59PM

Sho smiled to himself. Just one more minute and they would be headed inside on an epic quest to bust some ghosts and come back alive. His former worries had melted away when he saw how many other students were planning the same thing. They couldn’t all be so stupid as to risk their lives exploring an old, abandoned building, right? Plus, as Suzume had put it earlier, there was safety in numbers. The thought was mildly comforting.

Sho tapped his foot impatiently, glancing frequently at his watch as though he were trying to will time to move faster. He didn’t want to stand around outside much longer and was getting bored. He hated being bored.

12:00PM

At last, the long-awaited time had come upon them. Sho turned to the others, ready to take charge and lead them all inside. Instead, he saw them all doubled-over in pain. For a moment, he was struck with panic. What was wrong with them?

Then the hammer struck.

Or at least, that was what it felt like. Sho was overcome with a powerful shooting pain behind his eyes. He slammed them shut, trying to block out the migraine. Then he was hit with a wave of nausea that made his stomach writhe. He opened one eye back up in a slit, instinctively wanting to try and protect his friends somehow, but the sane part of his mind knew it was impossible. He couldn’t fight an enemy he couldn’t see or touch.

Sho struggled against the darkness that threatened to take over his vision, battling with unconsciousness. But in the end, the invisible force defeated him and he slumped to the ground in comatose.

"Wow, way to kill the joke." Tsuki said, waving her hand aside. She made a face but quickly smiled, because she knew Sho was just screwing around.

More people arrive. Jesus, was that Toby? Did they get off of the same bus? Tsuki tsked. No Yayoi to be seen either. Man, she was going to be in the doghouse wasn't sh -

The migrane hit, but in her drowsy daze she could not figure out the exact extent of the pain. She pressed her hand to her temple. Just looking around.

Everyone was, like, passed out.

Wow.

This is some serious shit.

Saturday, April 11th, 12:04AM - The Old School Building...?

It was being splashed with a bucket of cold water.

Haruka awoke with a start, her eyes popping open to reveal everyone lying on the ground. She sat up, trying to process what the heck had just happened. She was hit with a small migraine as she lifted her body up, and clutched her head. From her seated position, she looked around to see where she was.

The first thing that caught her attention was the night sky. Was it night? It was way too bright... and pink... for that to make any sense.

Every motion she made was sluggish, her muscles dully aching as she moved them. It was like her body hadn't quite woken up.

She, finally, managed to will herself to stand up. That when she spotted that second important detail.

The barricade was gone.

She turned. The hill leading down towards the new school building was still there and, out of curiosity, she slowly walked down to try to get to it.

She didn't get far before her form collided with what was initially an invisible wall. Her impact sent a ripple of color outwards. She followed the ripple upwards, watching as it traveled up in an arc and came down again a little past the other side of the old building.

She reached a finger out, touching the invisible barrier again. And again, another ripple circled the entirety of the area.

It didn't take her long to put two and two together.

They were trapped.

12:04

"Oh god, what happened I feel like someone forced a nail in my head" he slowly stood up but even moving carefully it wasn't good enough. "Oh no. . . " running to the bush Toby threw up his lunch even as he tried desperately to keep it down "S-s-sorry my stomach . . . I'm not scared I promise!" after one last heave he tried to calm himself down. Who was he even apologizing too anyhow?

Slowly looking around he took everything in. "Is it dawn already?" No the hue was wrong for dawn it was too pink not enough orange. The only one who managed to get up yet seemed to be Haruka. "Do you know whats going on?" It was a stupid question mainly to himself more then her, but that made it sound even more stupid. Life was full of surprises Ojii-san once said. Toby seriously doubted that this was what he meant though.

He went to Sho who no doubt would of wanted to be the first to wake and shook him softly. "Sho come on something weird is going on here" he sighed heavily wishing he had not listened to his self and just went home tonight.

Saturday, April 11th, 12:04 AM - The MYSTERIOUS DIMENSION

You know what would have been really heavy metal? Waking up to ash and dust. Yeah. You can make a song out of that. You can't make a song out of waking up to a blinding headache. Correction, actually. You could. But it would suck. Many things sucked. The night was one of them. Wait, was it even night anymore? When Akira opened his eyes, the sky was a bright... pink. What the hell? How long had he been out?

He groggily stood up, noting that everyone else in the group had keeled over, too. Good. It meant he wasn't the wussiest of them all. A glance around showed that the barricade was missing from the old school building, because of course it was. The investigations of some underclassman, Haruka, proved that there was some sort of forcefield around them. Because of course there was.

A dream, then. Seemed weird as hell that he'd be dreaming about the place where he had been knocked out, and that a bunch of people he didn't care about would be with him, but whatever. Maybe his subconscious dreamworld would uncover a clue to the whereabouts of the iPear, which had turned into a MacGuffin of epic proportions. Save the iPear, save the world.

Well, no reason to act any differently than he would usually. Akira crouched down at Mitsuki's side and poked her in the forehead. "Hey. Miss ninja. Wake up. So much to do, so much to see."

Saturday, April 11th, 12:04AM - The Old School Building (?)

"... in love...?" Mitsuki muttered.

Her eyes still closed, she turned over and groaned as someone touched her on the forehead.

No. No breakfast in bed please. She just wanted more sleep. Forget the pain throbbing in her head. She grabbed for a pillow to muffle her face. Instead she hit a leg. A leg belonging to someone else. Her bed was made of dirt and dead grass. Something was wrong here.

Fuck. Of course it was. She was being stupid. She was still at the old building.

Mitsuki groaned again and opened her eyes and squinted hard. Pressed the heels of her palms into her cheekbones. Everything was sore.

"Did you get the number of that truck that hit me?"

12:05PM

Pitch darkness.

That was all Sho was aware of in his unconscious state. He wasn’t sure where he was or how he got there, but somehow he knew he was passed out. His mind strained to wake up, but his body protested. Just another ten minutes…

“Sho come on something weird is going on here.”

The voice reached him, but it sounded muffled and distant. Who was it? Sho’s lipochrome brown eyes flickered open, but he quickly squinted against the unexpected brightness. Memories trickled back into his head. Hadn’t it been nighttime? He was certain he hadn’t been out for that long, so it shouldn’t be this bright already. He felt a presence beside him and slid his gaze over to meet Toby’s. The boy seemed upset about something.

Sho forced himself into a sitting position. His limbs felt like lead and his head swam. After the head rush subsided, he looked around to take in his surroundings some more. He was still in the same spot where he had passed out before, but everything was all wrong. For starters, the sky was pink. What was up with that? Maybe there was some major outbreak of pollution. That would explain the color, but not the unnatural brightness. Secondly, the barricade was gone. Okay, that was majorly weird.

“Toby?” Sho said. His voice sounded scratchy, so he cleared his throat. “Did we just die, or what? If this is heaven, it’s a lot pinker than I imagined it would be. And emptier. Kind of a letdown.” He furrowed his brow. “I was hoping I’d at least get some golden trumpets and a procession of hot angel chicks when I finally croaked.” He sighed despondently. “What a bummer…”

Joy. Mitsuki went from zero to smartass in a matter of seconds. Akira had to step up his game. Akira solemnly shook his head. "Nope. I guess you were out for most of it, huh?" Story time. "You see, this big, black van just came flying at us and spraying sleep gas all over the place. A bunch of creepy guys in gas masks came to carry you all away, but I fought them off with my bunny-fu." Akira made a punching motion to demonstrate, then sighed. "Sadly, even my incredibly manly skills could not prevent me from falling victim to the gas."

Akira straightened up. He didn't offer Mitsuki a hand. That would be a sign of weakness, a mortal mistake in their war. "I think we should go poke the others awake before we do anything else." He turned and walked over to Yori and Kozue, collapsed in a heap on the ground. Akira prodded them with his foot. "Yo. The early lovebirds get the worm."

12:05AM

It seemed that some of the others were starting to wake up. Haruka walked back towards the group, still clutching the right side of her head.

Sho and Toby were up, trying to figure out what was going on. Suzume, however, was still out. She stumbled over, sitting down next to Suzume and gently putting her hand into Suzume's.

"Hey," she said, responding to Sho. "Do we not count? I mean I know I'm not an angel but..."

She paused. This whole situation still hadn't fully sunk in.

"What are we... what are we going to do now?" she asked, her tone now more serious than it was before.

And wasn't that the question? The whole 'barrier around them' thing put a stop to the very reasonable 'go and get help from the police or something' plan that would have been perfect in this situation. It seemed like the only place that was accessible now was the old building. They'd reached the point of no return, apparently. They were going to explore the old building now, whether they still wanted to or not.

Well, considering that was the original plan anyway, Haruka didn't feel like this incident changed her enthusiasm. Well at least it wouldn't if she didn't feel like crap right now.

So, she tried to steel herself. If this what happened outside of the building... then what would happen if they went inside?

Her grip on Suzume's hand tightened.

12:05AM

Those noises... what was it? Rika thought to herself as she slowly opened her eyes, looking at a partially clouded pinkish sky very much unlike anything she had seen before, this didn't seemed to shock her or anything as she might as well be still sleeping, and even if she weren't freaking out about it wouldn't be of much help.
incorporating back to her feet, she felt that early spike of pain in her head was completely gone.

Looking around she saw the rest of the people, many of them already awake, the rest was waking up the others... Had they knocked her out?... no, if they had they wouldn't be sleeping too... what the hell was that pinkish sky.

"t-thats right, we can still call the police..." She thought about it for a moment holding her phone... sure the thing abode them was creeping her out... but what sort of scared little chick would she be if she just did that? would Mika really call home in a situation like this? would she really be frightened?... no... most likely not.

"aw... this is bad..."
She added with a sigh, not really wanting to suddenly before the leader figure for those kids she would let them solve this the best they could.
Yet something cough her eye.. the street lights... while the one near them was somewhat normal... the one just a few steps away was pinkish like the sky...
Slowly walking towards it she noticed something within the air and reaching for it she touched it, also causing the same ripple effect which had happened to Haruka,
With a smile she looked back to the group and said,
"waaah, this is crazy!, look guys it's like in the movies!"
She sure seemed exited about it, but in reality she really really felt like running home right about now.

No offer to help her up. Chivalry was dead.

"Yeah, yeah," Mitsuki said, massaging her temples and rising shakily to her feet. It was bright out. And the sky was pink. Not sunrise orange or sunset purple. Just an unnatural shade of pink. Not exactly comforting. At least the girl testing the invisible barrier between them and home seemed amused by the scenario.

And was Mitsuki going to take orders and poke everyone she could awake? Well. The answer was usually no to the taking orders. But she would do it anyway because the reactions to waking up were bound to be amusing.

Death to Akira if he ever told anyone about her own.

She casually nudged the roller-blading interloper with her foot.

"Hey, stalker-senpai! Rise and shine." She glanced back up at the pinkish sky. "Actually, hold off on the shining."

12:05 AM

Someone was poking him in the ribs. How rude.

Kozue halfheartedly swiped at Akira's foot, groaning when he shifted and something pointy dug into his back. Oh. Yeah. His bike. And Yori, and Yori's bike. The two of them were going to have some interesting bruises.

He sat up, and found that he could add a headache to his rapidly growing collection of problems. "What...?" Pink sky, okay, that wasn't normal. Akira... in a bunny suit. That defninitely wasn't normal. Oh man. Was this going to be Kozue in Wonderland? Is that where all of this mess was headed? Chase Akira down a deep hole and then get his head cut off by the Queen of Hearts, who in all likelyhood looked like his older sister?

Kozue shuddered. He pushed his bike out of the way and reached over to shake Yori's shoulder. "Yori, wake up. I wanna go home."

Suzume finally came to her sense and slowly opened her eyes. She felt something on her hand, a tight squeeze. Her head was pounding and her vision was foggy a little. But that didn't stop her thinking.

Please tell me everyone's okay.

"Haruka? Hey, you okay?" she was able to hold pull her head up and give her a faint smirk. "You had a bit of a spill." Her eyes grew light to them when she saw she was doing somewhat okay. She looked around for Toby and Sho, and with a sigh of relief they were functioning too. "Thank heaven." she smiled.

"Toby? Sho? You guys okay?" she stood up but was a bit weak and felt like she was going to be sick. She thought about how awful...whatever that was. She put her hand to her knees and bent over, to catch her breath a little. Her other hand was free as if she was either reaching for something or signaling give me a minute . She pulled herself together and stood up, her nose leaked a little blood, but she quickly wiped it away. "I must have hit my nose or something." She looked a Haruka, and she smiled warmly. Spinning on her heels, she opened her arms and then tightened them around her in a hug. Then she bounced to Toby and gave him one too. Then to Sho, who she hugged too, tightly Somehow she managed to pull them together. "We're okay." she smiled. But then she looked around,

"What did we get ourselves into?" she curiously questioned out loud.

The situation had finally caught up to Toby and while he wasn't scared of being somewhere new, he didn't like being somewhere new with a crowd of people most he didn't know and at best only slightly knew. "Y-yeah I'll b-be fine once my stomach calms." his face turned a deeper shade of red than what it was back at the highschool, he just threw up in front of at least 5 people and everyone else seemed fine.

he causally searched his pockets he still had his wallet, some change, and the new lighter Tensin had given him. They hadn't been taken anywhere or searched for any form of identification, could they possibly be the only ones who arrived?

Oh god why is she approaching me like that? his entire body stiffened at Suzume's hug and his hair stood on end. His thought processes had thoroughly been fried yet again. If at all possible his face turned the shade of ripe cherries and he felt twice as dizzy as when he arrived.

at her question he responded as best he was able. "I-I t-think a r-really bad g-ghost story."