Old School

Dark hallways. Webs everywhere. As the group walked through the shadowy corridors, fog flowed throughout the ground. So this was what the inside of Yogi's, Yuki's, and Yuriko's old school looked like.

At least, on Halloween it did.

"So this is the school you all went to?" Arata asked, wondering what this place was like on a normal day.

"Don't you live near here?" Yogi asked. "I would've thought you went here when you were younger."

"No, I went somewhere else." He answered. "My mom wanted us to go to the same school she went to when she was younger." Though, Arata wondered about something odd with them. How come these three didn't know each other then? Or maybe he should've asked, four. As he was greeted with an unexpected sight, when they entered Yurisa's classroom.

"Matsu?" He said, seeing not only her, but the entire gardening club with her.

"Arata?!" She wasn't expecting to see him either, but it made her happy nonetheless. In her excitement, she ran up and gave him one of her usual hugs.

"Yuriko, you made it." Yurisa was just as happy, running up and grabbing her big sister's leg. "And you brought Arata, that's even better." He nervously laughed at that statement, it almost made it sound like she liked him over her own sister.

"Yeah…" Yuriko gently pushed her away from hugging her leg. Scanning the room for the other children. An odd sight for him to see, he could've sworn that she was on better terms with her sister since the park incident.

No… Better than that. She wasn't shy about having affection thrown her way when it was the two of them babysitting. Is it because Yogi's here?

"So, why are you here?" Matsu asked, releasing him from her grip. It was explained to her and the rest of the club that this was Yogi's and Yuki's old school. Along with the fact that Yuriko's younger sister now went here.

"So what about you?" He asked in return. As fate would have it, she also went to this school when she was younger. Which was odd, since he would've expected everyone here to have known each other. But from the looks of it, they all met in high school, around the same time he met them for the time as well. Why was that the case?

Either way, it wasn't really all that important. If anything, it was probably more likely that they had forgotten if they met. The distance of going to different junior highs led to loss memories. After all, he was like that. Otherwise, he wouldn't have forgotten that girl he once knew.

But if that was the case, then he felt rather left out. He's the only one that never went to this school. Any memories here, had nothing to do with him.

"Arata!" Multiple voices sounded out in unison. The children that he had watched over for such a long time, piled onto him. Some hugging onto his arm, when he brought it up, they stuck on. Soon enough, the weight caused him to lose balance. He tumbled onto the floor.

"It's nice to see all of you too." Well, if he didn't have memories of the past here. At least he had the here and now.

Now that everyone was here, it was time to get to work finishing up the rest of the decorations. It was rather easy, a lot was already done by the time he arrived. Still, the teacher was grateful for the aid, as the last of the setup was put up.

During all this, Arata noticed that some children were off in a group. It was suspicious to him, as every child in said group, were the same as the ones he babysat.

"What are you planning?" He asked, leaning over their huddled position. Quickly they scattered, pretending that they weren't just talking.

"Nothing…" Yurisa said, arms behind her back. "We were just playing, that's all."

"Yeah." Another one backed her up.

"...Right." He kept a weary eye on them. They were clearly lying to him, but what were they planning here?

"Hey, are you just here to talk to my sister? Or you gonna help?" Yuriko grabbed his attention, Her grumpy tone was enough to whip him back into place.

"I'll be right there." He said, leaving the kids. Whatever they were planning, surely it could hurt that badly. After all, it was Halloween. It was probably a trick to get a scare on him or the others.

So he returned back to work, getting some candy, food, drinks set up for the little party the kids were going to have. Looking over at the door, he spotted that Yuriko left with some of the kids to grab something. That left him together with Yogi here.

"So." He began. "You all went here, right?" That little fact just bothered him, like there was something wrong with this story he was given.

"Yeah." Yogi answered. "If you're wondering why I never met Matsu and Yuriko, I don't know. I guess we just never had a class together." He laughed, which Arata did agree with. It just seemed kind of funny to meet people that you apparently shared a previous school with, later on. Just too odd of a coincidence.

"I assume that you shared classes with Yuki, right?" He followed up with another question, while pouring some juice in a large bowl.

"We did for a while." He replied. "But, her family. They moved away when we were… Nine or ten I think." Right, Arata recalled hearing something like that, when he was spying on them.

"I'm guessing she wasn't that different back then?"

"Nope." That girl was always as shy as she is now. A shame that she couldn't grow out of it, despite her best efforts. "I was her only friend at school here." If such a statement could even apply to him. "I remember she said she had another friend, but I never met them. I didn't even get their name." So even someone like her had a childhood friend. Sounded nice. He wondered if she remembered who that was.

"Arata." Yurisa came up between the two of them. "Can you come with me? Yuriko needs some help carrying some stuff."

"Sure." He made sure he had finished his own side of work with Yogi, then left. Arata followed the little girl to the school's kitchen. Inside, there was the store for the food that didn't require refrigeration. He figured that it was candy or something that Yuriko needed help with.

Strange, since it didn't sound like she'd have trouble carrying the bags.

"There you are." He greeted her, she was sitting on a crate in the middle of the room. "So, what'd you need help with?"

"What are you talking about, didn't you need something?" Her question made no sense to him. "And where were you, they said you were going to be here."

"But your sister said that you needed something, and I came here as soon as I could." The realization that this was a trick came much too late for the both of them. As the loud slam of a door came from right behind him.

"Not again…" Were the only words he could muster from his mouth from this.