Previously on Horikoshi Ghost-Hunting....

I felt someone grab me by the hand. I was about to scream in terror, but then that person instantly grabbed my mouth.

“Mirai-chan, calm down! It’s me!” he whispered to my ear. I managed to identify that voice. It was Yamada. He let go of his grip on my mouth. I immediately breathe a sigh of relief.

“Come on, follow me,” he grab my hand again, and without waiting for my agreement, he dragged me away from that place, deeper into the woods. I managed to look back towards the direction of the school building. The searchlight of the guards was approaching closer now.

We stopped in front of a shack. A small shack that I never knew existed in this school woods before. I noticed Yamada was hesitating. But then, the lights of the guards continued to closing in on us. Upon this, Yamada made a quick call. He pulled me along into the shack, and shut the door handle behind it. As the door closes, the little rays of moonlight that penetrated the forest branches were completely gone. It was pitch black now.

We stood silently beside each other. I could clearly hear his breath above my head. We could hear the low voices of the guards, right in front of us, and also the faint light of their torches. I closed my eyes, pleading and praying they wouldn’t find us.

“Crap! They’re coming!” Yuto said.

“We gotta get outta here!” Kamiki suggested.

“Where?!” Yuto screeched.

“They’re heading from the school ground! Just go anywhere but there! Hide yourselves!” Ryosuke instinctively instructed.

“We’ll go deeper and hide on one of the tree branches!” Chinen suggested.

“Just stick together, don’t get lost!” Ryosuke reminded.

Alarmed by the approaching guards, the boys head out into the woods, distancing themselves away from the direction of the school ground. It was completely dark, and Chinen decided to turn off his torch completely to hide their existence from the guards. He led the boys deeper into the darkness.

They have been running and huffing in silence for a few while, deeper into the woods, without a care in the world, when Ryosuke noticed something was off.

“Where’s Mirai-chan?!” he hissed under the darkness after he glanced around in panic. Even though it was completely dark, Ryosuke could only sense three silhouette of his friends ahead of his steps. He didn’t hear her let out a single cry of panic either. He knew instantly that Mirai was missing from their group

“Oi!” Ryosuke exclaimed.

His call wasn’t loud enough to distract the attention of his other friends who was busy running for their lives. They had paced deeper without clear direction ahead of him.

Ryosuke clicked his tongue in hesitation. But his instincts kicked in and told him to act fast. He turned around from his friends and frantically made his way back to where they started. He hated the darkness and his heart quivered upon dealing with his extreme phobia, but nothing beats his fearful heart if something ever happens to Mirai. He will never forgive himself for that.

Searching blindly under the darkness, his clenched heart loosened upon the sigh of a small figure, sneaking past a few meters ahead of him. Without any hesitation, he made his way to reach that figure.

********

Yamada was behind me, my back was pressed towards his chest due to the minimum space we have in that shack. We held our breath as the guards closing in on us. We could feel their presence right behind the rusted wooden door through the small cracks of it. Some of the torch light penetrated the small slits in front of our eyes.

“Nobody’s here,” I hear one of the guards say.

“Then what was that?!” another guard responded.

“False alarm.”

They exchanged some more words to each other that I was too nervous to know what it was. Soon, their footsteps impeded farther, and the lights of their torch disappeared. Leaving me and Yamada alone in the darkness and silence.

Both Yamada and I sighed deeply. We waited for a little longer to make sure the guards were completely gone from the surrounding area.

“That was close,” he said in a whisper. His voice was husky.

“Yeah,” I responded shortly, panting.

It was completely dark when the lights of the guards disappeared, but as minutes past, my vision began to adapt towards the surrounding. I can somehow make out the place we were in. It was a small wooden shack/room, so small that it could only fit the two of us.

“Let’s get out of here,” Yamada said.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

I immediately searched blindly towards the surface of the wooden door in front of me to find the door knob. Yamada was the one who opened the shack door, so I had no idea where it was. I went through the area that was about the length of where door knobs usually are, but it was completely flat. Panic attack starts to overwhelm me again as I began to search the lower parts and there was still nothing.

Yamada joined me and searched the higher parts of the door that I couldn’t reach. But there were no door knob. He motioned at me gently to move over a bit, and began slamming his own body to the door several times. But it was stuck.

After Yamada’s several attempt to break the door open failed, we realized we were stuck inside that small shack.

I press my back towards the door and leaned my body there, having my arms across my chest. We had spent quiet some hours during our ghost hunt, and it was probably close to midnight by then. Agreeing to come to the ghost-hunting thing was the worst decision ever.

“I’m scared…” I whispered, couldn’t hold back my fears anymore. “I hate ghosts the most…”

“Don’t worry,” Yamada said. “Help will come.”

He took out his phone, but then he cursed at himself upon finding it dead.

“Can you call Chinen, Yuto, or Kamiki?” he asked me.

I nodded. Then I began to dial them. But there was no answer.

As I waited for a response, I took some time to examine my surrounding more. The shack was so small and damped. The edges of the walls were so close to each other, I almost felt like suffocating.

Ryosuke slowly slumped down to a sitting position in front of me. I followed his action and sat across him, having our faces visible to each other. At least knowing his presence with me in that scary place eases me a little.

Minutes past, but no response from the call. I closed it in desperation, sighing deeply.

“No answer,” I said weakly.

We sat across each other in silence.

That was when I noticed Ryosuke’s breath became heavy. He had been inhaling deep for the past minutes, but I sense that it got heavier. His head was tilting backwards against the wall.

“Yamada-kun, are you alright?” my voice quivered in anxiety.

His heavy and unsteady breath became clearer to me.

“I’m fine,” he said under his breathe.

My heart pounded. My hands instinctively went to search for his face. He was sweating.

“No you’re not,” I said upon finding a trace of fever in his forehead as I ran my hand through it.

Then a realization dawned on me. I felt like slapping my own face! I’ve known this kid for years by now, I should’ve known! How can I not noticed it from the beginning?!

“Is it your claustrophobia?” I asked urgently. I tried rubbing some of the sweat in his forehead. “Please tell me the truth…”

He gave a small reluctant nod and chuckled. “I can’t believe I got caught red handed.”

I couldn’t clearly see his face under the darkness, but I could sense him taking deep breaths again.

“I didn’t know it’s this serious…” I spoke softly.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”

But I know he’s not okay! I thought Yamada’s phobias were ridiculous, even to the extent where I thought he was so unreliable for having them. But I never thought it was this serious.

“Whenever I enter small confined spaces…. my body instantly reacts to fear of suffocation… I began having difficulty in breathing….”

“Oh my God… I always knew you had claustrophobia but I didn’t know it would be this serious,” I said, suddenly panicking.

“It’s not that serious,” Yamada chuckled in between his deep breathing. “It’ll be over soon once I get used to this place I guess.”

“I guess??”

“Well…. I’ve…. never been…. in a situation like this before…” he struggled in between breaths. “So…. yeah… let’s hope my body can cope soon…”

“If you knew you have this phobia, then why did you enter the shack?!” I retorted madly.

“Because… that’s the only hiding place…. to save us from the guards,” he said. “And… I can’t let you hide alone in the woods.”

Upon hearing his answer, I instantly blushed. I didn’t expect him to be that thoughtful and selfless.

“Besides…. I had no idea…. The shack didn’t have a door knob…” I could see him letting out a teasing smile under the shadows.

“You idiot!” I retorted angrily to prevent my voice from trembling. “It’s better to be caught by the guards and get in trouble than you ending up like this!”

“Sorry…”

It was the only word that came out of his mouth. Seeing him like this, I suddenly felt scared. I’m not sure if he can hold on until help comes.

I tried dialing Chinen, Kamiki, and Yuto’s phone again, but none of them answered.

“Mirai-chan…. Calm down,” he must’ve noticed my exasperated gestures and expression, pulling my hand down and stare at my eyes. “Don’t worry… let’s just wait…”

It was weird how he was the one who calmed me down when clearly he’s the one on the verge of suffocation here. But then I realized that panicking will not help him at all. It might even triggered more anxiety in him. So I decided I need to help him forget about his phobia, no matter how small the possibility is.

“How did the phobia happened?” I asked curiously.

Yamada inhaled sharply.

“Back in elementary school…. when I was accepted in Bellmore Junior Youth League… not everyone was happy with it….. A pack of elementary school jock… locked me up inside a locker…” he chuckled in between his words. “I don’t remember…. what happened…. but I guess….. I was stuck for quiet sometime…. and had to be taken to the hospital…. when they found me. Ever since that…. my brain… would always react to small spaces.”

I saw him wincing and leaned back again to take more deep breaths. I hope I didn’t make his claustrophobia worst by making him recall that memory. Seeing him like this, I instantly grab his hand that was closest to mine and squeezed it.

“Those jocks,” I commented. “They must feel really ashamed every time they see you on national TV.”

He caught my eyes and I smiled at him.

Yamada chuckled again. “Nah… they probably still hate me by now. But I don’t care…”

“Well… you know, they say that the more popular you get, the more hate will come to you too.”

We both let out a small laugh.

“Mirai-chan?” he asked softly.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

I frowned at his drastic change of tone. “Why are you apologizing?”

“I’m sorry…. I can’t be reliable to you,” he said, facing me again. “I end up being a burden to you like this.”

“Baka,” I instantly burst at his selfless comment. “If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve been lost on my own inside the woods by now. If you have a claustrophobia, I have a ghost-phobia and I don’t think I would survive out there considering the amount of ghost exists in this school woods.”

Yamada laughed again. “Well, I was aiming for acting like a hero, but I end up becoming a sore loser like this.”

I shook my head in disagreement. “Well I thought you were really brave tonight.”

“Thanks…”

That’s when suddenly out of nowhere my phone rang. I frantically grab it and saw Yuto’s name on the monitor. I immediately accepted the call.

“Mirai-chan? Are you okay? Is Yama-chan with you?!”

“I’m fine. Yeah, he’s with me now—“

“Where are you guys?!!”

“We got stuck inside the abandoned broken shack somewhere in the middle of the woods…”

“What do you mean stuck?!” Yuto’s voice drastically changed. I could sense a worried tension in him upon my report.

“The school guards chased us and…” my voice began to panic. “We hid inside the shack to escape from them. But turns out we’re stuck. It doesn’t have a doorknob.”

“WHAT?!”

“Yuto-kun…” I instantly felt guilty upon his response. He should know about the intensity of Yamada’s phobia compare to anyone else. “Yama-chan is…”

“Is Yama-chan okay?!”

“He’s fine… but…. We’ve been waiting for too long…”

“Why did you let him enter that shack in the first place?!” Yuto enraged more from the other side of the line.

“I’m really sorry…” I stuttered. “I didn’t know…”

Yamada’s hand grabbed at my hand that was holding on to the phone to my ears. He snatch the phone away from me and pressed it closer to his ears.

“Yutti… I’m fine,” he said, calmly. “It’s not Mirai-chan’s fault.... I was the one...... who decided to enter the shack.”

“Are you crazy?!” I could hear Yuto’s faint voice raged more. "Do you have any idea what could’ve happen if—”

“Listen… if you’re gonna get mad at me…. you have all the time in the world later….” Yamada sighed. “For now… think of a way to get me out of here…”

“We’re on our way there, okay?” Yuto countered urgently. “Just… hang in there for a bit longer.”

He hung up the phone and the shack was back to silence. Part of me understood completely why Yuto is so angry. And he was right to blame me for all this. Even I was blaming myself right that second.

Unexpectedly, Yamada squeezed my hand that was on his.

“Don’t worry..... It’s not your fault,” he said, giving me another reassuring smile. “And… help will come soon…”

I could only nod in agreement.

********

A few more minutes have passed, the moment we heard them coming. They warned the two of us to stay back from the door, so we did our best to do so, despite being crumpled inside such a small space. The three of them forced the door open, with the help of a small pocket knife that Chinen took from the infirmary to cut open the lock. Once they managed to crack the door open, they immediately rush at Yamada.

Kamiki brought an oxygen tube with him, also taken from the school’s infirmary. He immediately assisted Yamada to inhale into it. I have various questions in my mind, such as how in the world they manage to break into the school’s infirmary at this kind of time. But having the sigh of them and seeing Yamada recovering his breath back, I didn’t feel the need to ask. I slumped weakly beside Yamada and breathe a long sigh of relief.

“Thanks guys…” Yamada broke off from the oxygen cylinder and took a normal long breath. “I’m okay now.”

His head motions at the wide open forest that stretched in front of us, now that Yuto Chinen and Kamiki got rid of the stupid broken door.

“I think…. We had enough ghost-hunting for the day,” I commented, exhausted and breathless.

The others let out their own sighs of liberation and nodded agreeing.

“I’m just glad Yama-chan’s okay,” Yuto said, relieved.

“I am never… doing this again….” Kamiki said.

“But… we all had fun, didn’t we?” Chinen asked grinning.

He immediately received smack on the head from all four of us. “SHUT UP!”

Clearly, he was the one who had shamelessly gotten us into all this.

********

That night, we sneaked ourselves out of the school ground and made it home alive. Thanks to that, the next day, we had another normal day at Horikoshi.

Or at least I thought it would be normal. But things was never the same for me anymore.

You see, when you have a guy friend, who literally throws his life away for you in a dire situation, there’s no way you could react normally around him anymore. Moreover, the intensity of us comforting each other inside a dark small room for hours is beyond the extreme. You’d suddenly have this amusing feelings bubbling up in you every time the thought of him comes across your head. Moreover, when you met his eyes.

Yamada came into the class, sending me a look with his dark eyes, and greeted me with a smile. He does that a lot and normally I would just roll my eyes at how annoying his idol smile is. But this time, I was blushing madly. I cursed at myself for suddenly being all flustered around him.

That moment, I realized that his annoying idol smile is quiet charming. I can completely understand now why some of my class members, including the prettiest girl in class Nischiuchi Mariya, has a crush on him, despite the fact that he distanced himself from girls.

Well that small detail might sound nothing, compare to what awaits us when class started.

“…. The school guard reported that some students has been sneaking around school last night. They found a 2-D class badge that could only belong to a 2-D class member,” Yokoyama-sensei, our homeroom teacher, announced. He gave a displeased death glare at every one of us, as he shoved the badge in front of the class. “Anyone here care to explain this?!”

The five of us instantly shot a frantic glance at each other.

“One of you better confess,” Yokoyama-sensei continued, this time with a threatening tone. “Or else I will punish the entire class.”

An immediate murmurs of protest erupt within the class.

“It was me, sensei!”

A voice cut across the room, silencing the other students. I jerked my head back and found Yamada, standing from his seat and raised his hand.

“I did it, I snuck into the school ground,” he said calmly.

“You again?!” Yokoyama-sensei slapped his forehead hard in frustration. “Why do you keep doing this? Do you have something against the school?”

Yamada shrugged and gave a mischievous grin at him. “I’ve been wondering how the school ground looks during at night, so I just did it to satisfy my curiosity by ghost hunting.”

“Ghost-hunting?”

“Did he say ghost hunting?”

“He’s out of his mind!”

Of course, Yamada’s carefree and laid back confession had gotten the class wild. I was taken aback by his action, and attitude. He sounded so conceited and snobbish, just like how he always does whenever he was caught in trouble in class. It almost seemed like he was entirely guilty and simply breaking the rules for his own fun. But now I know that it wasn’t his doing at all. He was sacrificing himself to get the class out of trouble. Had he been doing that all this time? I always misjudge him for being short-minded and simply acting all rebellious like a delinquent, but now I see him being someone who protects his friends at all cost.

Realizing this, I made up my mind. I stood up from my seat and faced Yokoyama-sensei.

“I also went to the ghost-hunting,” I proclaimed with determined voice. “I was the one who had forced Yamada-kun to come over.”

I could feel some judging eyes began to divert to me this time. Then murmurs began to fill the room again. Suddenly I felt extremely uncomfortable and out of place. Is this what he’s been experiencing every time a situation like this came?

“Mirai-chan!” Yokoyama-sensei’s eyes widen in surprise at me. “Why would you do such a thing?!”

“Sensei! I went along with them too!”

I looked to my right side and found Yuto, also standing from his seat and announced his involvement to the others.

“Me too!” Kamiki, who sat on my left side, also stood up from his seat.

Murmurs of mixed impressions returned to the classroom again. It was rare for the class to be this noisy. Usually, Yamada and Shuhei is probably the only ones making a fuss. But this time, a good student like Yuto and even an honor student like me are involved. And another honor student came to join us afterwards.

Chinen stood up from his seat, and slammed his palms hard on the surface of the table.

“Sensei, I was the one who had planned the entire ghost-hunting idea with the four of them. I forced them into my scheme.”

The class gasped in unison upon Chinen’s involvement.

“If anyone is to be blamed, it should be me,” he added.

“Chinen-kun… even you too?!” Yokoyama-sensei shook his head in frustration. “Why Chinen-kun, why?!”

Chinen slammed his fist on top of the desk again, silencing everyone inside the room.

“Sensei, high school is a one life time event,” suddenly, Chinen switch off into a serious mode. “Those with tensed faces who seems afraid to get in trouble, you should be ashamed of yourselves!”

I stole a glance at Yamada, and we both shrug.

Chinen faces all eyes across the room, his hands clenched and was occasionally thrown in the air as if attempting to deliver some kind of inspirational speech.

“Oh, never mind. You guys will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you. Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve a math equation by chewing bubble gum!”

“What’s gotten into him?” I hear Umika say beside me to Suzuka. Suzuka could only shrug. The view in class that day, having Chinen doing some impromptu speech to propagandize about youth slash getting-into-trouble, was indeed extraordinary.

“The real troubles in your life are the things that never crossed your worried mind,” Chinen continued.  “Do one thing every day that scares you. Break the boundaries! This is the only time where we can enjoy the power and beauty of our youth!”

Chinen raised his voice higher, and with his final statement, he shot his clenched left arm upwards and shouted. I did told you about his supernatural charm right? Well it’s a good thing that this is Chinen who’s speaking, and thanks to that, his speech managed to get everyone in class all worked up.

“Did he just…. Inspired us to break rules?!” I heard Jingi say behind me.

“Awesome!!!” Shuhei exclaimed, throwing his hand in the air.

Yokoyama-sensei clapped his hands together. Surprisingly, he smiled. I stared at him wide-eyed. Could Chinen’s supernatural power possibly affected him too? Does this mean we’re all saved from the calamity in the deceptive form of detention?

“Chinen-kun, what you had just delivered in class today, it was admiring,” he nodded, with proud eyes. I glanced back and forth at him, then at Chinen. Chinen had this satisfied smirk on his face.

But then, Yokoyama-sensei’s smile receded into a frown. He was back to his serious mode.

“THE FIVE OF YOU! YAMADA! SHIDA! NAKAJIMA! KAMIKI! AND CHINEN! OUT OF MY CLASSROOM! NOW!”

********

Seconds later, Yokoyama-sensei forced the five of us to stand still in the middle of the soccer field for an hour, while we tweak our ears with our arms crossed in front of our chest and our knees slightly bent forward. The soccer field was the open space that connected various education building of Horikoshi, so everyone could clearly see us from up there. I have never felt so ashamed in my entire life. To make things worse, I was so ashamed that I couldn’t hold back myself from crying.

“Stop staring at me!” I shouted in between my cries, as I could feel the other four boys were staring at me. Yamada and and Chinen was on my right, while Kamiki and Yuto was on my left. “This is embarrassing!”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of!” Yamada laughed and turn his head at me. “Did you see yourself back then? You were really brave and amazing! I’m touched you immediately stood up for me like that!”

Yamada’s words didn’t make me feel any better. Now matter how you look at it, I’ve just broke the school law and got punished for the first time that day. And I regretted it so much.

“Don’t need to be too serious about this. Mirai-chan,” Kamiki tried to comfort me too on the other side. “Relax a bit. Just pretend it’s no big deal.”

“But everyone’s looking at us!” I snapped at him. I could clearly see the heads of other students popping up from some classroom balcony and window corridors.

“Don’t worry about them, they’re gonna regret staring at us with those judging eyes,” Chinen commented. “It’s kinda nice to be a rule breaker once in a while, isn’t it?”

“Chinen…. I didn’t know you have this side of you!” Kamiki mused.

“He always had that side of him,” Yuto chuckled. “He just happens to be hanging around Yama-chan so people kinda oversees it.”

“Hey!” Yamada protested.

“I’m so ashamed,” I sobbed more. Their comments only made me even more worst.

“Mirai-chan,” Yamada leaned a bit closer to me. “Ever since I know you from Tantei Gakuen Q, this is probably one of those times when I realize how cool and tough you are.”

“He’s right,” Kamiki nodded. “Mirai-chan! You rock today!”

Hearing their words only made me ugly sobbed more. “I must look ridiculously ugly right now.”

“That’s not true,” Yamada shook his head. “You always look pretty, no matter what you do. Even when you cry.”

My heart thumped wildly at his comment. I looked up at him, finding his eyes and his soothing smile, only to make my stomach rumbles madly uncontrollably. My sobbed somehow managed to stop temporary at it.

“Yeah… super duper pretty and cool!” Kamiki emphasized more.

“Unbelievably pretty and awesome!” Yuto added again.

“I don’t need to say it again,” Chinen shrugs. “But everyone knows you’re pretty and cool.”

“Shut up!” I immediately retorted at them with a high tone, but couldn’t help myself to laugh my heart out as I continue to cry.

The five of us laughed, under the striking lights of summer in the middle of the open field.

I guess Chinen’s speech was right in so many ways. High school is a one time live event that we can’t miss. The only time where we can enjoy the power and beauty of our youth. Although these guys I hang out with can be such idiots, I felt lucky to be surrounded by them.

This friendship and this moment, I will cherish it forever.

(end)

Author's Note:

Finally managed to finish this unfinished two-shot! What a fluffy and cheesy ending lol. Yamada having accute claustrophobia here has no clear reference though. I do know that he has a claustrophobia, but the level of claustrophobia itself varies from different individuals who suffer the disorder, and I have no idea how severe the claustrophobia Yamada is suffering from. I just had to exhagerrate things here to spice up the story, and to support the extreme fluffy-ness and cheesy-ness x"D

Pardon me as I'm currently in my cheesy period. Enjoy this update!