Broki-chan wakes up in a daze, looking at the cement flooring. He quickly tries to remember what happened before looking up to see Sakura creepily close to him, smiling. Broki-chan, jump-scared by Sakura being so close, tries to jump away from her; however, he realises quickly that he's tied up to a chair as he falls back, now seeing the wooden floorboard ceiling. Sakura looms over him as he struggles to untie himself before she lifts the chair back up. Broki-chan, still struggling to untie himself, nervously asks Sakura, "Sakura, what's going on? Why am I tied up? Can you untie me, Sakura? Please? For me?"
Sakura frowns at him before going into a completely neutral expression as she says in a monotone voice, "You know I can't do that, Broki-chan; you'll just go back to Miyoko and forget about me besides...". Sakura pauses, her breath getting slightly heavier as she quietly says, "I-I can't go back on this now". Broki-chan helplessly looks at her as he says, "Sakura... please". Sakura sighed as she slowly backed away towards the only door in the room. She said, "Broki, I can't do that, so stop asking; you know what? That's just reminded me of something; I've got a gift for you. I'll just quickly grab it".
"Sakura, come back... Sakura... SAKURA!" yelled Broki-chan as Sakura opened the door and took one step onto what Broki-chan could only be a staircase. Sakura is about to walk up the staircase but stops as she looks back at Broki-chan, now smiling, as she says, "Oh, and also, I wouldn't try to scream if I were you; the basement is soundproofed, and you would just be wasting your beautiful voice". Before Broki-chan could say anything else, Sakura shut the basement door and locked it. Broki-chan looks around the basement with panicked breaths, thinking of his escape plan, but he can't think of anything. It was only less than a minute before Broki-chan was left to himself. He gave up, looking at the door, hoping someone would save him. Whilst he's looking at the door, a girl wearing a mask like his and a school uniform emerges from the floor in front of Broki-chan, scaring him, which, in return, scares the girl who floats towards some boxes nearby before phasing through them to hide. Broki-chan is confused as to what just happened, but before he can think about it anymore, the girl phases her head through the boxes and confusingly says, "You can see me?"
Broki-chan looks at her, even more confused, as he says, "Yeah?". The girl is shocked but quickly flies over to Broki-chan and says, "But how? I mean, only people who are insane or have been revived before can see ghosts, and I don't think you're either. Maybe it's your mask that makes you able to see me because it kind of looks like a ghost's, but it has actual eyes underneath. This is weird". Broki-chan looks at her blue and green eyes before asking, "Wait, what do you mean by me having actual eyes underneath? You have eyes, too. I can see them". The girl tilts her head before realising what he meant and quickly replying, "Oh, these aren't actually my eyes. They're more just where my eyes should be, but I can see. I kinda have 360 vision, or was it 270? Anyway, that's beside the point; basically, these weren't my actual eye colours when I was alive. I mean, these colours were just my favourite colours. That's why I have two different eye colours, make sense?"
Broki-chan looks puzzled but nods anyway before the girl looks at the door and then back at Broki-chan as she says, "I'm Monika, and to be honest, it looks like you're in quite the predicament". Broki-chan goes to outstretch his hand but fails because he forgets that he's still tied up before saying, "I'm Broki-chan."
"Broki-chan? Is that like your full name, honorific and all?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh, no reason. I was surprised because that name sounds familiar, but I can't remember where it came from.
Broki-chan sighed quite loudly, looking at the floor before looking back at Monika and saying, "y'know, I don't think I'm going to get out of here. I can't see any way out, and Sakura has these ropes tied pretty tight, I still don't know why she would do this". Monika shrugs as she says, "Huh, is that so? Well, I doubt that you won't escape. I mean, look at the window; someone's here, and I don't think that's Sakura judging by how they're sneaking around". Monika points towards one of the basement windows, and Broki-chan quickly turns to look. Broki-chan sees the legs of a woman in a school uniform, holding something that Broki-chan couldn't see very well due to the snow before the person quickly and sneakily walks to the left.
Monika's eyes move slightly down as she looks at Broki-chan, almost as if she is giving Broki-chan a sad look before she says, "I'll have to go for a couple of seconds; I'll be back as soon as I can". Monika doesn't wait for a response as she quickly phases through the roof. Just as Monika leaves, Broki-chan begins to hear the footsteps of two different people, one of whom is significantly quieter. Monika quickly comes back, somewhat panicked; however, before she can say anything other than "Broki-chan", they both hear the door being unlocked, making Monika quickly decide to phase through Broki-chan and hide behind him.
Sakura opens the door, sinisterly smiling, and takes one step forward as she says, "Broki-chan, I-". Before Sakura could say anything else, she was hit with a sharp axe going directly through the back of her skull, causing blood dripping from the back of her head as she instantly fell to the floor. Once she fell, blood began to pool around her as her lifeless body held the door open. Monika and Broki-chan both look at Sakura's lifeless body in shocked horror, completely unable to move as the killer, who they could only see the gloves of, quickly leaves with the sound of their footsteps, almost deafening to Broki-chan. He couldn't even think; the only thought he had in his head now was that his best friend was just murdered right in front of him.
After a few minutes of stunned silence, they both hear someone open a door and walk around. Broki-chan quickly hears that it's Miyoko as she yells out his name, making Broki-chan come back to reality as he yells out, "Miyoko, Miyoko, can you hear me? I'm in the basement?". "Okay, I'm coming, Broki-chan," said Miyoko as she went to open a door. "Before you come in here, I thought I should let you know that Sakura is... Sakura's dead", said Broki-chan as Miyoko's footsteps got louder and louder. "Oh god no," said Miyoko as her footsteps got more panicked and louder before she audibly gasped as she entered the room and stepped over her corpse with tears in her eyes.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Miyoko runs over to Broki-chan, quickly trying to untie him as she asks, "Are you okay, Broki-chan? Are you hurt?". Broki-chan shakes his head as tears quickly run down his face. Monika finally comes back to reality as she quickly flies over to Sakura's dead body and screams, "SAKURA". Broki-chan looks down at Miyoko, who almost looks like she's side-eying Monika before Miyoko sighs and the ropes are untied. Miyoko quickly helps Broki-chan up before she looks back at the corpse and says, "I- I think I'm going to try and find a phone to call the police".
Broki-chan also looks at the body as he says, "Yeah, I think that would be best; I don't even know what to think right now". Miyoko quickly leaves up the stairs, and Monika continues to stay near Sakura's corpse before she notices something and says, "Broki-chan... Sakura's holding something; it's a book, and I-I'm a bit curious as to why she is holding it. Do you mind picking it up? In all honesty, I can't even believe this would happen, but maybe the book might have some of our answers". Broki-chan quickly picks up the book, trying not to even look at the body before both he and Monika leave the house.
The next day, Broki-chan watches from outside the auditorium as Sakura's death is announced to the whole school in an assembly. Just as the assembly ends, Broki-chan quickly leaves, walking over to where Sakura and he used to eat lunch together. He sits in the chair before looking down at the table, trying to process what happened as Monika floats towards him and says, "Well, I figured out why Miyoko isn't here today. She was questioned, but they couldn't pin anything on her, so they let her go and she has the day off". Broki-chan doesn't really engage with the conversation as he just quietly says, "Uh huh". Monika floats closer to him as she says, "Hey Broki-chan, are you okay? I mean, like, of course, you wouldn't be, but uh- how are you holding up?".
Broki-chan looks up at her and says, "I'm holding up fine, I guess; I just- I just don't know what to think or feel, like I know that I should be distraught over the fact that my best friend died right in front of me but I'm not, and I don't know why, it's weird". Monika tries to put her hand on his shoulder without phasing through him as she asks, "do you want to talk about?". Just as the lunch bell goes off, Broki-chan shakes his head. Monika nods before floating to the seat next to him. "So, what about that book? Do you still have it?" said Monika, to which Broki-chan nodded. Broki-chan reached for a loose brick on the floor, moved it, and revealed the book as he placed it on the table.
The book didn't look like a regular book; however, it had strange symbols on the cover, and a distinct red eye was in the middle. The book had no title; however, on the front, the words 'Ghost Book' were scratched into it. Almost immediately, Broki-chan picks up the book and attempts to read it; however, he finds out very quickly that the handwriting is almost unreadable. "Monika, can you make sense of this book? I can't read it because of the handwriting," said Broki-chan as he looked up at Monika. She tilts her head in confusion before floating over to the book and trying to read it for a few seconds before saying, "Huh, in all honesty, I can't read it either; maybe we should-". She pauses as she notices Nahoko walking over to them, making her mask change to a smiling expression as she says, "Broki-chan, hide the book, now". Broki-chan is confused but does what she told him, hiding it under the chair the best he can before he watches Monika hide behind him as she quickly says, "Just try to end the conversation as soon as possible. I wouldn't trust her if I were you, something seriously wrong with her".
Broki-chan, still confused as to what she's talking about, says, "Who are you even- oh". He pauses upon seeing Nahoko standing right in front of him, holding something, before continuing, "Uh, hi, Nahoko". Nahoko hands Broki-chan a lunchbox as she says, "Hi Broki-chan, I'm sorry about what happened to Sakura. I know this won't make you feel better, but I brought you some food because I thought it would help". Broki-chan takes the food and begins to eat it, albeit with slight hesitation at first. Whilst he's eating, he says, "This is my favourite food; how did you know that, Nahoko?". Nahoko chuckles as she says, "Oh really? I didn't know that... so it was just a lucky guess, I suppose?".
Monika, looking annoyed, begins to come out of cover slowly, and she floats above Broki-chan as Nahoko says, "So Broki-chan, do you even trust...". Nahoko immediately stops speaking and goes as white as a ghost as she makes eye contact with Monika. Nahoko stares at Monika wide-eyed for a few seconds before she takes a step back and runs away, almost bumping into Ishi in the process. Monika's mask goes back to how it was when she first met Broki-chan as she says, "See? I told you something was wrong with her''. Broki-chan ignores her as Ishi walks up to him. They greet each other before Ishi says, "You know it's kinda weird hanging around here, I still can't process that Sakura died, man... I can't even imagine what you're feeling."
"Yeah, it's weird. I feel conflicted about it. I don't feel sad about it, but I don't feel happy about it either; maybe it's because I was there and saw it happen."
"Wait, wait... you saw it happen. Could you tell me what happened because we weren't told anything? No pressure though".
"No, it's fine; basically, what happened was that she was- she was murdered; I didn't see who the killer was, though."
Ishi audibly gasps out of shock before saying, "Oh my god, that's horrible, the murderer is probably still out there. We've gotta find that killer and-". Ishi cuts herself off as she notices the book and points at it. She says, "Uh, Broki-chan? What's that thing under the chair? What type of book is it? I've never seen anything like it before."
