Something in the shadow grabs her

Makoto stepped into the hall, pulling the door closed behind her with deliberate care. The sound of it sliding shut felt unnaturally loud in the stillness of the school. She lingered by the door for a moment, pressing her back into its cool frame, using it for support while she tried to steel herself. Somewhere, she heard the building creak in the distance and froze, her nerves on end. She tried to comfort herself, telling herself it was probably just the wind or the building settling - no one else was here except for her... but in the silence, part of her couldn't help but think that creak sounded far too much like a footstep.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying not to let any unhelpful thoughts take root, trying not to let her imagination fill in what she couldn't see. Sure, it was dark and empty, but the school was still just that. And ghosts didn't exist.

Still clutching the key tight in her hand, she started moving again. Her bare feet made soft, almost imperceptible taps against the floor as she crept along. The A.C. clicked softly from above, and she felt each vent's breeze prickling against her skin. Her arms hugged her chest more tightly. It definitely felt colder. She managed a few more steps before another creak caught her ear. And suddenly she felt like she wasn't as alone as she thought... like something was watching her from the shadows...

"It's just my imagination," Makoto whispered hurriedly. "There's no such thing as ghosts... especially not ones whose sole purpose is to cause humiliation... it was just a movie - no matter what Ann said..." Makoto swallowed hard.

The hallway felt longer than it ever had before. And somehow darker and quieter. She just needed to get down the stairs to the faculty office, grab whatever clothes she could find, and get out.

Makoto rounded the corner to the stairwell, her heart thudding loud enough in her ears that it almost drowned out the very soft, very sudden, very real sound of something shifting in the darkness behind her. Makoto froze, her body turning stiff as a board. Every hair on her body was standing on end. Her breath hitched in throat. She didn't dare turn around, yet she couldn't will herself to move forward either...

She could feel... something... a hungry presence in the darkness around her, watching and waiting, like a panther searching for the right moment to strike. And it was close. She felt the presence right behind her. Her blood turned to ice as a breath whispered into her ear, followed by a low, melodramatic wail.

"Makooottoooooo..."

Makoto's heart stopped. It knew her name.

"I've come... for your paaaaanties..." And then something gripped her waistband.

Something just like this happened to the second victim in the movie... she thought, before she felt the grip tighten. Makoto screamed, shooting forward in blind terror, but whatever presence had hold of her panties didn't let go. The elastic stretched tight across her hips.

"No, no, no!" Makoto squealed, lunging harder and harder, stumbling bit by bit forward. The grip slipped just enough on her panties for them to slip down to her thighs, then Makoto tripped. She hit the ground with a hard thud. The impact stole her breath, but instinct had taken over. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the sting from her fall, and sprinted. Down the corridor, barefoot, bare-chested, and bare-bottomed. Too panicked to register anything but the need to escape.

Her panties snagged around her knees for a second before they slipped down entirely. She didn't even register it when she stepped out of them as she bolted. And she didn't stop. Not when she reached the stairwell, not when the cold air washed over every exposed inch of her as she jumped down the stairs, not even when the vague sound of someone calling out behind her echoed down the hall.

Back in the corridor by the Student Council Office, Ann stood stupefied, arm still outstretched to where Makoto had just been seconds ago. The well-worn pair of Buchimaru panties now sat abandoned in the middle of the floor, empty like a discarded shell.

"Uh... Makoto? Buchi-butt?" Only silence answered, and Ann blinked. "What just happened?"

She stepped forward and cautiously picked up the underwear. "I... I barely even grabbed her! Was she really that scared?!" Ann said. "I was just messing around..."

Ann looked down the hallway, towards the stairwell where Makoto had vanished into the darkness. There was no sign of her.

"Oh my god... she's gone. Like gone, gone." Ann glanced back at the underwear in her hand, stretching them out to reveal the proud beaming face of Buchimaru. "And these are off. Like all the way off. She ran out of them?"

Ann knew Makoto didn't do well with scary things, but to this extent, really? Her eyes widened. "Did she think I was really a ghost?"

She stood there in stunned silence for a moment as the situation still sunk in. In her hands, she held the still warm evidence of her prank gone way too far. "Oh shit..."