The bells rang twelve times.
That wouldn't be strange, if the bell tower hadn't been sealed off for over two decades.
Midoriyama Academy slept beneath a cloudless night, the moonlight brushing across its ancient rooftops like a memory trying to return. The main gates were locked, the teachers long gone.
But the sound echoed. Once, twice, twelve times.
The final toll was the worst. It didn't fade like the others, it stayed. Lingering. Waiting.
Akiro stood before the western building, the oldest part of the school.
Her fingers clutched the rusted gate.
She shouldn't be here.
No one should be here.
Not tonight.
Not on the anniversary.
Her breath came out in fog, even though it wasn't cold.
The windows of the bell tower were supposed to be boarded shut. Yet one of them glowed faintly from within golden, flickering, like candlelight behind glass.
Then she saw it.
An eye, blinking, watching her and she froze.
Somewhere behind her, gravel crunched.
A voice called her name.
"Akiro!"
She didn't turn immediately. She couldn't. Her feet wouldn't move.
Then hands grabbed her shoulders, firm and real; It was Ren.
His gray hair was soaked from the rain. His blazer clung to him like it was part of his skin.
"I told you not to run off," he said, eyes scanning her face. "You heard it too, didn't you?"
She nodded and when she looked back and the eye was gone, the window was dark, the bell tower, silent.
Ren followed her gaze, confused. "It stopped?"
Akiro whispered, "It was watching me."
He didn't laugh, he didn't joke, instead, he looked up, his throat tightening as he swallowed whatever he wanted to say.
Then... it came, the voice, not from the school, not from the bell, but from everywhere.
"Ten must enter... Nine may leave..."
"The Tenth bears the mark."
"The hallowed halls remember."
Two Weeks Earlier
The school didn't look haunted in the morning.
The cherry trees swayed peacefully. Students chatted and laughed as they passed the gates. Uniforms fluttered, sneakers squeaked, and everything seemed... normal.
But it wasn't.
Not to her.
Akiro sat in the second-floor classroom, her chin resting against her hand. Her eyes stared out the window, but she didn't see anything.
Something felt wrong, but she didn't know what.
Only that it was coming.
"Akiro~"
A finger poked her cheek.
She blinked.
Mei stood beside her desk, smiling.
"You spaced out again. What is it this time? Ghosts?"
"No," Akiro said quietly.
She glanced at the clock.
11:11 a.m.
Make a wish.
"I had another dream," she said.
Mei sat beside her, lowering her voice.
"About... the staircase again?"
Akiro nodded.
"It went down forever. Just steps. I couldn't see the end. I heard crying, but no one was there."
Mei touched her shoulder. "You've had this before. Four times now?"
"Five."
They both looked up as someone slid the classroom door open.
Yuto stepped in—blonde, sharp-eyed, silent. The new transfer. Only a week in and already too quiet for someone that attractive.
He didn't smile at anyone.
But he looked at Akiro.
Not a glance. A look.
She turned away.
A shiver crawled down her spine.
They were ten.
A group of misfits, outcasts, overachievers, and liars.
Some closer than others.
Some hiding things even Akiro couldn't see.
Ren, the childhood friend who watched over her like a shadow.
Mei, the one person who never left her side.
Hikaru, the joker who laughed too loud to hide his fear.
Daiki, the boy with no past.
Kenta, the hothead who couldn't lie to save his life.
Rina, who always stared at the floor like it whispered secrets.
Asahi, who loved horror far too much.
Toma, the one with glasses and grades and cold, calculating words.
Yuto, the new guy with eyes like winter.
And Akiro.
The one who heard things she shouldn't.
Who felt things no one else did.
It began that night.
The night of the scream.
One that only she heard.