Chapter 8: The Midnight Bell
The rumor didn’t start with flickering lights.
It started with the old brass bell on the third floor.
Students swore that every night around 9 p.m., long after clubs had ended and the building was supposed to be empty, the bell would ring once — clear, low, and impossibly loud. No one could find the bell. No one could turn it off. And every time it rang, the hallway lights on the third floor would go completely dark for exactly thirteen seconds.
By Thursday, the rumor had evolved into full-blown horror.
“They say it’s the ghost of the student who failed his entrance exam in 1997 then disappeared,” Haruto whispered dramatically at lunch. “He’s still trying to take the test. If the bell rings while you’re on the third floor, you get dragged into an endless loop of retaking the exam… forever.”
Dai leaned in, eyes wide. “I heard if you answer a question wrong in the ghost exam, your real test scores drop the next day.”
Sho adjusted his glasses with a sigh. “Statistically, this is 97% mass hysteria and 3% faulty wiring. I’m only coming to watch you all scream.”
Haruto slammed his fist on the table. “Tonight. Midnight. Official Ghost Hunting Club expedition to the third floor. We’re solving this before it spreads to the second-years.”
I tried to vanish into my book. “Hard pass. I have a strict ‘not getting possessed’ policy.”
“Too bad!” Haruto said, already writing my name on the official (napkin) roster. “You’re the calm one. We need someone who won’t wet themselves when the lights go out.”
“Ghost hunt? Midnight adventure? Count me in!” a cheerful voice declared, the voice’s owner spinning around with a dramatic flourish. “This sounds amazing!”
Yumi’s best friend and classmate, Sora “Sunny” Nakamura, happened to be passing their table at that exact moment. The energetic girl with bright blue streaks in her hair and a perpetual bounce in her step immediately perked up like she’d been offered free concert tickets.
Yumi, who had been walking with her, tried to pull her away. “Sunny, no. We are not sneaking into school at midnight. That’s how people get expelled… or haunted… or both.”
Sunny grabbed Yumi’s arm and started dragging her back toward the table with surprising strength for someone so bubbly. “Come on, Yumi! Live a little! You’re always so responsible. This is perfect character development! Plus, I’ll bring snacks and my lucky flashlight. It’ll be fun!”
Yumi sighed, already resigned. “Sunny, you’re going to be the death of me.”
Sunny flashed a bright, unrepentant grin. “Then I’ll make sure your tombstone says ‘Died doing something cool for once.’ Come on, we’re in! Yumi’s coming too — even if I have to drag her by the ponytail.”
Haruto looked thrilled. “The more the merrier! Formation: diamond shape. Kenji and Yumi in the middle — you two can be our emotional support couple. Dai on point with the bat. Sho in the back providing sarcastic color commentary. Sunny… you strike me as a screamer. Try not to do it too early.”
Sunny saluted dramatically. “I’ll do my best, Captain! But no promises if something jumps out at me.”
By 11:50 p.m., six of us were sneaking into the school through a suspiciously unlocked side door. Haruto shrugged innocently. “Huh, it was definitely locked last week.”
“Sure it was,” Sho inserted.
The third floor was pitch black and colder than it had any right to be.
Haruto handed out flashlights like we were SWAT. “Okay everybody. Get in formation!”
Sunny clutched her lucky flashlight like a weapon. “I’m brave on the outside! That… counts!”
Yumi bumped my shoulder lightly as we moved down the dark hallway, looking half-exasperated, half-amused. “You look tense, Kenji-kun. Scared of ghosts?”
“Scared of Haruto getting us all expelled… and of Sunny dragging us into even worse ideas,” I muttered. “Big difference.”
The bell rang at exactly midnight.
A single, deep, resonant bong echoed through the hallway like it came from inside the walls themselves. Every light on the floor died at once.
Thirteen seconds of pure darkness.
In that blackness, I felt Yumi’s warm hand clamp onto mine. My heart was pounding – in response to the situation or to Yumi’s hand – who could say?
When the lights flickered back on, Haruto was already three meters ahead, bat raised.
“It’s here! The ghost is taunting us!”
We pushed forward. The air grew heavier. At the end of the hallway, one classroom door stood slightly ajar. A faint scratching sound came from inside — slow, deliberate, like nails on a chalkboard.
Sunny let out a tiny squeak but quickly covered it with a nervous laugh. “That… that sounds like someone writing answers… over and over… or maybe practicing their evil ghost signature?”
Yumi’s voice was hushed. “Kenji-kun… I don’t like this.”
“Me neither,” I whispered back. “But if we die, at least Haruto goes first.”
We crept closer.
The scratching stopped.
The door creaked open by itself.
Inside the classroom, every desk contained a test paper. All filled out in the same neat handwriting. All with the exact same score circled in red at the top:
0/100
Haruto screamed like a little girl.
Dai swung his bat wildly at nothing. “Show yourself, exam demon!”
Sho, to his credit, remained mostly calm. “Fascinating. The ghost has excellent penmanship.”
Sunny clutched Yumi’s arm but still managed a shaky grin. “Okay, that’s creepy… but also kind of dedicated? Ghost cram school?”
Yumi squeezed my hand tighter. “This is actually terrifying…”
I was about to suggest we run when the bell rang again — louder, closer, right above us.
The lights died.
Thirteen seconds.
In the darkness, I heard Yumi’s soft voice right next to my ear.
“If we die, will you haunt the school with me, Kenji?”
A sudden clattering from the front of the room made us all jump.
When the lights came back on, the scratching had stopped.
And there, on the floor where it had apparently fallen from behind the teacher’s podium, sat the “ghost” — an ancient, dusty speaker connected to an old timer and a hidden wire running up to a bell on the ceiling. A simple prank setup left behind by some troublemakers from last year’s graduating class probably to “welcome the first-years.”
Haruto stared at it, betrayed. “We… we got owned by a speaker?”
Dai lowered his bat, disappointed. “No epic battle. Lame.”
Sho adjusted his glasses, still holding his small, well-worn copy of Camus. “Statistically predictable. Though I will admit, the ghost’s writing showed more discipline than most of the pulp Kenji reads.”
I shot back without missing a beat. “At least my stories have endings. Your philosophers are still arguing about the meaning of life two thousand years later.”
Sho’s lips twitched. “Touché.”
Sunny let out a dramatic sigh of relief, then burst out laughing. “Well… that could have ended worse. I managed to only scream on the inside!”
Yumi let go of my hand slowly, her cheeks still pink. “Yeah, at least most of us survived with our dignity intact.”
“And now I can tell my friends I got to hold your hand during a ghost-hunt,” she whispered with a wink, “Very romantic!”
We “defeated” the ghost by unplugging the speaker. Haruto insisted on a victory pose anyway. Sunny immediately struck an even more exaggerated pose next to him, making everyone laugh.
As we snuck back out of the school, the group laughing and shoving each other, Yumi fell into step beside me again, with Sunny bouncing along on her other side, still buzzing with leftover adrenaline.
Sunny spoke first. “That was awesome! Even if it was fake, the thrill was real. We should do more midnight adventures!”
Yumi smiled, small and secret, and bumped my shoulder once more.
“Even when it was scary… believing in something you can’t see was fun.”
I glanced at her — at the way the moonlight caught in her ponytail and made her look softer than usual. Sunny grinned between us like she already sensed the vibe.
“Yeah,” I said. “I suppose some things are worth being a little scared about.”
The Ghost Hunting Club officially disbanded the next morning after Haruto declared “we went out on top.”
But deep down, something told me this was only the beginning of Haruto and Sunny’s quest to make the rest of us regret being their friends.
The next chapter should be coming tomorrow and is extra spicy! Let’s just say a very “athletic” transfer student will be introduced. Add this series to your “Reading” list so you don’t miss out!
