CH. 9 - The First School Trip to Holden Manor!

Later that night, Sugawara sits on his belly in his bed in pajamas, writing in a diary.

‘Today was a fun day. I actually got to go after school and eat ramen with my friends! I never imagined it’d be so fun! I even learned a bit more about Haru. And Lucy. Even Shiori and Hikigaya. Lucy’s dad was really nice and let us eat for free. I really like my new friends. It’s hard sometimes trying to speak up, but they make me feel so welcome, anyway. I can’t wait to spend more time with them.’ He smiles happily while writing. He puts down the book and rolls onto his back. 

‘How was I so lucky to find them?’ He thinks about his friends for a moment before his focus turns to one person specifically. Haru’s face becomes all he thinks about, watching his big bright smile shine in his thoughts. He blushes and rolls onto his side.‘That’s right… Haru…’

He grabs his pillow and hugs it tightly, blushing, with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. He then quickly sits up and shakes his head.

‘No! Don’t be stupid! He’s just being nice…’ He looks a little sad before looking at his phone on the nightstand next to his bed. Grabbing it, he pulls up Haru’s contact. He pauses for a moment before finding a spark of determination and hitting the call button. He puts the phone to his ear as Haru answers pretty quickly.

“Hello?”

“H-hi, I was wondering if I could come over?..” He asks timidly, playing with his hair a bit.

“Uh sure. But you come over almost every night, you sure your parents are okay with it?” Haru asks, trying to be considerate. Sugawara looks at his door for a moment, a lonely look on his face.

“Yeah, they’re… they’re okay.”

“Well then, I’ll be over in a sec.”

“No, it’s okay. I got it.” He hangs up the phone and slides it into his pajamas pocket before getting up and heading towards the only window in his room. Sugawara opens it, letting the cool night air blow against his face for a moment as he smiles. He takes a deep breath in before lifting himself up against the frame.

“Alright class, listen up! I hope you all came prepared for the field trip today, like I told you.” Ms. Samuel says with a smile and a finger point to the sky, dressed in a corny teacher adventure attire. It is now early October in the early morning, a good bit before classes would normally start. Everyone is gathered around the school bus drop off and pick up zone behind the large cafeteria. Shiori yawns and rubs her eyes a bit. Hikigaya steps next to her.

“What’s wrong Shiori? Not a morning person?”

“Not this early for a dumb field trip.” She grumbles while looking away with a conflicted look. ‘I can’t let him know how excited I am! Field trips are awesome but that would be way too embarrassing!..’ She thinks before turning back to him a frustrated look. “She won’t even tell us which one it is.”

“I know, right? The mystery trip. She’s talking it up, but I feel that it’s going to be underwhelming.”

“At least it's like an hour and a half drive there, wherever there might be, so I get to sleep on the bus.” She stretches a bit as Hikigaya nods happily. Ms. Samuel then speaks out, getting the class’s attention.

“Before we get going, I’ve got to get some rules and guidelines for this trip. First of all, on this trip you will be required to have a buddy all day. So start pairing up now.”

Everyone begins moving around, getting their buddies. Shiori and Hikigaya were about to step apart before they stop and remember their rules, then shrug and stay put. Ryuji and Lucy pair up as well as Haru and Chizuru. As a few minutes pass, Sugawara is left alone. He sees Haru and Chizuru laugh a bit and lowers his head. One of the other staff joining on the trip points this out to Ms. Samuel.

“Oooof course, we have an odd number in this class. How did I forget?” She says under her breath before calling out to him. “Sugawara.” He turns to her. “Go ahead and join whatever pair you want. You’ll be a triple.” She says, putting three fingers up.

“Sugawara, get over here!”

Sugawara raises his head and smiles as he sees Haru put his hand out for him. He comes over and Haru wraps his arm around his neck and starts rubbing his head happily. Sugawara blushes and laughs.

“Okay, that’s all good. Now, what’s next?..” She goes into her waist bag and pulls out a sheet of paper, going over her list of things to do before heading out with the class. She tells them to get on the bus and so they do. As they are getting on, when Hikigaya and Shiori step up, she talks for a moment.

“Good to see you two finally accepting this. I didn’t even have to stop you this time.”

They roll their eyes as she laughs a bit. Everyone gets on and sits in their pairs per seat. Everyone except Sugawara, Chizuru and Haru. Chizuru sits towards the window, Haru towards the aisle and Sugawara between them. Sugawara, being so small, then gets squished between Haru and Chizuru’s chests, causing him to blush frantically. Shiori notices and giggles a bit to herself as they are sitting just across from them, with Lucy and Ryuji right behind her and Hikigaya.

The class begins their long drive out to their destination. Most of the drive is smooth with little urban sights. Most of what the class saw on the way there was mountain sides and forest once they got out of the city.

As the drive progresses, Shiori does just as she said she would and begins nodding off to sleep. At first she slept sitting straight up, leaning from side to side slightly. Hikigaya was sitting happily listening to music with earphones when the bus bumped a bit, causing Shiori to lean and start sleeping against his shoulder. At first Hikigaya was surprised and was gonna wake her to get her to sit up again, but once he saw her face so peaceful, he just stared and smiled. He closes his eyes and lays his head against the seat.

After some more time goes by, eventually Hikigaya falls asleep too. He lays his head on hers as they both snore quietly. Chizuru eventually notices them and quietly gets the others’ attention. She points at them and they giggle to themselves. Haru even takes a picture. Eventually, Shiori begins to slowly wake up. She quickly realizes that Hikigaya is leaning against her head. She impulsively wants to wake him up, but she pauses before she moves.

‘He’s actually asleep… With me here…’ She blushes a bit and smiles a soft warm smile. ‘Maybe I won’t…’

Before she can finish her thought, Hikigaya drools down the middle of her forehead. She freaks out for a second before screaming and throwing him off of her. 

“You dumbass! Ew ew ew ew!” She begins wiping her forehead with her sleeve while Hikigaya tries to understand what planet he’s on. The whole class is shocked and begins to stare as Ms. Samuel stands up from her seat towards the front.

“Ah, right on time, Shiori. We’ve made it to our destination.”

Shiori stops wiping as she looks up. The class begins whispering in awe and surprise.

“In honor of the spooky month and Halloween being right around the corner, we will be studying the history of the Haunted Holden Manor and the forest that surrounds it.” Ms. Samuel says as Shiori’s eye lights up. She stands in her seat, staring out the window.

“The Holden Manor?!!” Shiori and Hikigaya say at the same time. Hikigaya’s eyes are lit up just as much as hers. They look at each other quickly, confused. Ms. Samuel rolls her eyes and smiles.

“Yes, the Holden Manor.”

“It’s said that one night, the Father came home from a nasty hunt but something was wrong with him. He went insane and killed his Partner and their three children!” Shiori says excitedly to Hikigaya.

“After that, they say that the Father lived in that house for months if not years feeding on the corpses of his family and the victims that wandered into the home!” Hikigaya says back, matching her excitement about the topic.

“And when police arrived, there was no Father found anywhere.. No body, no trace, just…” She says, trailing off before they both shout together. “The axe he used to butcher his family!” They say, smiling widely, facing each other. Everyone just stares at them, including the others in the group. They blush a bit before sitting down, embarrassed.

“I’m glad you’re both so knowledgeable about this place. That’s good because tomorrow I will be assigning a test to see what you learned on our tour today.” The class begins to moan about the test. “Come on, it’s got to be educational somehow, right? It’s good to learn the history of landmarks in your community.”

The bus driver comes to a stop right before where an old gate used to be. The Holden Manor has been mostly left alone for the past few decades, however, it is often visited by tourists and guides due to its horrific past. It is currently around 11 a.m. Ms. Samuel steps off the bus and tells the class to get off as well. As they’re all getting off and grouping together, the kids start to talk about how cool the place is but how boring it’s going to be during the day. "Places like this are only scary at night." She hears. Ms. Samuel simply smirks at these comments.

‘Just you wait… it gets better!’ She thinks. “Alright class, get in line. We’re gonna walk up to the house now.”

A student in the middle raises their hand.

“Um, Ms. Samuel? Why didn’t the bus driver just drop us off by the house?”

“Good question. We wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise now, would we?”

She smiles at them. Hikigaya leans closer to Shiori and whispers.

“I’ve never been to this place before, have you?”

“No, I haven’t, but I’ve read all about it. It was one of the places I was going to visit once I graduated.”

“Then you know what that means…” He smiles at her, and she smiles back.

“Yeah, we’re finally gonna get to see it for the first time…” They smile maniacally, getting excited about the horror house while the group stares at them. Their sweat drops.  

‘They’re perfect for each other…’ They all think together. The class begins walking and as they get closer to the gate, Shiori and Hikigaya get more excited.

‘Here it comes..!’ They think in unison.

“Everyone ready?” Ms. Samuel asks. The class looks confused as they continue and as soon as they cross the gate, the sky goes dark. Some of the class freaks out while others are in awe. The sky appears like it is in the middle of the night, with stars shining through. Even the temperature drops to a nightly degree. Shiori and Hikigaya begin fanning over experiencing it for the first time after reading about it for so long. 

“Wow… How is this even possible?” Lucy asks. They look around as Sugawara grabs onto Haru’s arm even tighter. Haru notices and then grabs his hand with his own. Sugawara blushes, realizing Haru is now holding his hand. He looks up at Haru, who smiles down at him.

“It’s okay. There’s nothing to be afraid of. We’re all right here.” He comforts Sugawara, who nods, still nervous. Ms. Samuel looks at her class, impressed by the strange occurrence, and smirks smugly.

‘Aren’t I truly amazing?’

Once they make it to the front door, they stop. Then, after a moment of silence, a loud, ominous bell rings as the huge doors open slowly. Then a voice comes from inside the dark house.

“Welcome children. I hope you all came mentally prepared for the scare of your life!” Then a man holding a flashlight turns it on under his face, trying to be scary. Unfortunately, he is not. The class just stares at him. He sweats a bit before straightening up and clearing his throat. The lights to the house are turned on behind him. The class looks in awe at the large building. 

“Everyone, this is Mr. Yamada. He is going to be our tour guide and educator on the history of this land and the events that have unfolded here.”

“And this here is my son, Tsuki Yamada. He will be my helper today.” Mr. Yamada adds as he steps aside, motioning to a young boy who comes out from behind the door. He is the one who turned the lights on. He seems a little shy, but not a lot, more introverted than shy. His face reads as if he’d rather be doing anything else.

“He is a 3rd year in middle school. So he’ll be a highschooler just like you all soon.” Mr. Yamada says as he puts his hand on Tsuki’s back. “Now, let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” Mr. Yamada turns and leads them in, setting some ground rules as they walk and talk. He explains how the haunting part of the manor is only rumors and that no actual proof of a haunting has even been recorded. He does confirm, however, that the murder of the Holden Family is true and that the case was never concluded since the Father went missing. Chizuru raises her hand.

“Yes, you there?”

“Why did the time change to night as soon as we stepped through the gates? Even my phone reads 1:37 a.m. but it has stayed that way for a while now.” She asks, genuinely curious about the peculiar situation.

“It is said that’s the time the Father killed his family. That when he did, it unleashed a curse upon this land, condemning it to repeat the same minute for all eternity..!” As he answers, he once again tries to be scary by wiggling his fingers and leaning over the class, speaking in a ‘scary’ voice, with no success. Tsuki face palms a bit as Mr. Yamada clears his throat again. “Although that has never been proven to be true. In fact, no one knows why exactly this happens. Just another wonder of our world.” He smiles at them as he continues.