That classroom treated me like an outsider. Before I knew it, it came to be as if I had become the target of a witch hunt. I was indiscriminately condemned, publicly humiliated, openly scorned, and verbally abused.

     “Filthy. Gross. Foul. Disgusting. Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting. …Come on. Why don’t you just die?” Those girls laid judgment upon me with their cruel words, ruling that I didn’t deserve to exist.

     And you were always watching, weren’t you? Always just watching along.

     Ah, see now?

     Today, too, the witch trial begins once again.

     I bolted awake from a nightmare, my whole body covered in sweat. My heart was pounding so fast it hurt and it took me some time to steady my breath. The details were now lost to me, but it felt like I had been having a truly terrible dream.

     “Huh? Wha… What… Where…?” As I began to take in my surroundings, a chill ran down my spine. “A-A prison cell…?! Why?!”

     It seemed that I been sleeping on the bottom of an old bunk bed. Beside me was a cold wall of stone. The atmosphere within was gloomy, dreadful, and heavy. And then there was that opening, sealed with iron bars. Having absolutely no clue what had brought me here, I desperately began to recount what I’d done before falling asleep.

     Last night, I’d excitedly turned in a little early. And before that, I’d taken a bath and changed into pajamas. I’d taken a long look at the uniform hanging on the wall. That blazer had been brand-new, matched with a neatly pleated navy-blue skirt. I’d smiled. The sight of it had made the fact that I’d be starting high school the next morning truly sink in. Indeed, I’d decided that on that coming day, I’d be getting a fresh start…

     And that was the last thing I remembered. I should have been fast asleep under a soft, fluffy blanket. Instead, I was now dressed in clothes I didn’t recognize and locked up in a prison cell. I gently traced the stone with my fingertips. It was so cold, so rough — palpably real. This really wasn’t a dream.

     “Hello?! Where am I?!” I shouted at the top of my lungs while rattling at the iron bars — but the door didn’t budge an inch. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear the frightened screams and angry shouts of other girls. I wasn’t the only one locked up in here.

     “Could you please keep it down? It’s improper to make such a racket.” A stern, dignified voice rang out from behind me. Startled, I slowly turned around to see someone sitting up in the top bunk — and the face I saw left me in utter shock.

     “What…? No way… Why?” It was a face that had been seared more deeply into my memory than any other in the whole wide world — the face of the childhood friend that had made a mess of my life when we were in middle school. And now, that very same Nikaido Hiro — Hiro-chan — was right in front of me. She, too, widened her eyes in surprise as she nimbly hopped down from the bed.

     “Sakuraba Ema. …Why are you here?” My heart leapt when I heard her call my name. My mind went blank, and I could only stand there bewildered—

     “Ahem… Hello there?” Suddenly, a voice full of static echoed throughout the corridor — perhaps from a speaker somewhere. “I’ll be explaining things in detail, so please assemble yourselves in the lounge. The doors will unlock now, so please follow the warden. Of course, you are all free to resist, but you will lose your lives, so…”

     With that, the announcement abruptly ended, and I suddenly heard a dragging sound approaching from beyond the iron bars. It sounded incredibly unpleasant, and when the source of that noise passed into my vision, I gasped and shrank away from the door. What I saw was a grotesque black-robed figure, easily two meters tall. Grasped within its many limbs was a large scythe and a ring full of keys. That masked thing was clearly not human. Instinctively, I clung onto Hiro-chan’s arm.

     “H-Hiro-cha—…”  She’d gone pale, standing there in a daze.

     “If they’re going to give us a proper explanation, then… I need to hurry…”

     She then noticed me by her side, snapping back to reality and fiercely shaking me off. “Don’t get so touchy with me. It’d be a pain if you’ve forgotten, so let me remind you — I hate you.” She spat out those words with a deep-seated hatred in her eyes.

     A dark shadow began to spread deep within my heart.

     But my feelings aside, the previously unbudging cell door now swung open with disappointing ease. I hurriedly followed behind Hiro-chan, who had stepped out into the corridor first.

     “W-wait, Hiro-chan!” I saw other girls emerge into the corridor like we had. Girls who seemed to be my age, expressions full with shock and anxiety. Besides Hiro-chan, I didn’t recognize any of them. They were all wearing elaborately designed clothes, almost like costumes — and so was I. When had we been put into them? And up at the front of the corridor stood that grotesque, black-robed figure from earlier. Was that the warden? They all followed behind that thing as if to quash their anxieties. I joined with them, jogging over to Hiro-chan’s side.

     “Hiro-chan!” Even when I called out to her, she kept her gaze forward. “Um… I know a lot’s happened, but… I’m happy to see you again.” Somehow, I managed to find the right words for these surging emotions and continued to speak. “I’m different now. I’m not the person I used to be. So, Hiro-chan… let’s be friends.” No response. She wordlessly walked onward, pretending I wasn’t there. “I… I… I’m not giving up, okay?!” I heard her breath catch ever-so-slightly. Then, she spun around and roughly shoved me by the shoulder. “Agh!” I tumbled onto the stone floor, a sharp pain shooting through my knees. She gazed down at me with coldness in her eyes.

     “Even if you’ve changed… why should I care?” She continued, her voice low and cutting. “It won’t change the fact that I hate you. Not now. Not ever.” At that, she spun back around on her heel and walked away. I was left in silence, unable to summon the courage to say anything more.

     After climbing a long flight of stairs, we emerged on the ground floor; it seemed like the prison was located underground. The sight before me now was an extravagant foyer, like I was in the Western-style mansion of a wealthy family. And yet, there was an unsettling air to it. The walls were rife with signs of age and decay, as if the entire building was fated to slowly crumble to dust. Seeing the warden walk into a lounge nearby, I followed it in.

     I frowned at all the ill-suited decorations in the lounge, sensing a particular dread at the loaded crossbow mounted on the wall. The warden stood by the entrance as if to block off the only escape route. It seemed like we had all been rounded up. With a quick survey around the room, I counted thirteen girls total including myself. There was one cowering by the floor, one humming a tune, one with the look and air of a delinquent, one wearing cat-ear headphones and pinching her nose, one sighing, one flashing a captivating smile, and one with dark eyes and a massive gun strapped to her back — so many of us girls.

     Amidst the crowd, I heard the sound of flapping wings as something flew down from the ceiling vent, drawing our attention. What appeared was an owl-like monster… or something like that. I’d never seen a bird like this before. But it was certainly alive, and it was certainly a bird.

     “Let me formally introduce myself… I am Gokucho, the adorable owl and caretaker of this mansion… I’m working on a schedule, so I’ll be getting right to the chase.” Stunned at the fact that a bird was speaking in human language, I then realized that it was the voice that I had heard over the broadcast earlier. That cell, this Western-style mansion, that grotesque thing in black, this owl monster — it was all so absurd that it couldn’t be anything but a nightmare. What in the world was happening to us? I gulped, hard.

     “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but… you all possess a certain ‘factor’ that can cause you to become a witch.” We all were unable to fully understand the situation, stirring uneasily at this unsettling declaration suddenly laid upon us. “According to the powers that be, witches are calamity-bringers of the greatest evil. Our country’s laws dictate nationwide screenings, which revealed that you all possess that factor in great concentrations. Thus, you were determined to be a danger to the nation and confined here. We cannot, after all, simply stand idly by when the possibility exists that any of you could eventually become a witch…” Gokucho spread his wings in a flourish as he paused for breath. “In short, you are all villains that threaten this world… So please come to terms with it.”

     “Huh?! What the hell even are you, you creep?! I don’t remember a screening like that at all!” The cat-eared girl interjected.

     “There’s no use in complaining to me… I’m just a cute little owl…” Gokucho said with a wearied sigh. “Starting this spring, you will all be taking up residence here as prisoners. You may have a chance at salvation, though… Your curses could be lifted, if only the Great Witch could be found… Ah, but it wouldn’t do to get your hopes up… Please forget what I just said. We do have showers and a recreation room, so perhaps you could try to enjoy the rest of your lives here… How about it?” No matter what, it was no use. I couldn’t wrap my head around this situation. All I could feel was the constant, uneasy beating in my chest.

     “Oh, and while you’re all here, I should introduce that warden over there. That is what becomes of one that was once imprisoned here and has become a witch. It is what we call a ‘Hollow’. In other words, that is what you all, too, will eventually become. Hideous, isn’t it? The very picture of a calamity-bringing evil.” Gokucho was pointing a wing at that black-robed entity. That really was the warden… and apparently, it was a witch. “Many of those who become witches face execution, but we mind-control the tamer ones. It’s been brainwashed with the order to kill any disobedient prisoners, so… I’m really quite sorry about this, but if any of you try to defy me, please die.” If we took what he was saying to be true, would that mean we’d eventually end up like that, too? As evil witches that would bring calamity unto the world?

     “No, that’s wrong. We aren’t evil.” The one who had stepped forward with such a resolute declaration was Hiro-chan. “A witch, you say…? I’ve always lived a righteous life. There’s no way I could carry a dangerous factor like that! There’s no way I could bring disaster to this country! Don’t mess with me!” She shouted, full of emotion. I hadn’t even begun to process what Gokucho had just told us. Within all the confusion and chaos, I simply watched her, my heart pounding wildly. Maybe she was just as confused as I was. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt that there was something off about her, as if she was being consumed by a torrent of emotions — something that would never happen to the Hiro-chan that I knew.

     Spurred onward by her emotions, she snatched the poker sitting beside the fireplace — “You’re the evil one here! You monster!” — and raced forward toward the warden. It was something that shouldn’t exist in this world, something not right — a witch. And if that was truly what the warden was, then Hiro-chan had surely decided to kill it.

     Suddenly, a memory from the distant past flooded back. I recalled the day I’d gone to the neighborhood park alone — without my mother — for the first time. I’d been surrounded and jeered at by a group of unruly boys; they’d bullied me to the point of tears.

     “You, there! What exactly do you think you’re doing?!”

     “Gh… Sniff… Who…?”

     “Oh, great. It’s that ‘hero of justice’ again.”

     “Let’s get outta here! She’s always such a buzzkill!” They immediately ran off. The girl who had then helped me up from the ground was Hiro-chan. We were the same age, but she seemed so cool and grown-up. It’d made my heart swell.

     “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

     “I’m fine… Just a few scratches. Um, uh, thank you…”

     “I’m Nikaido Hiro.”

     “Hiro-chan… I-I’m Sakuraba Ema! Nice to meet you! Umm, hey, Hiro-chan! Wanna play with me?” I’d given her the very best smile my shy self could have worked up the courage to muster, and we’d then gone on to do so much together.

     She was still the person I knew — an ally of justice that always won against the villains. She’d save us from this nightmare too.

     “Die, you scum! Die, die, die!” With a heavy whoosh, she swung the heavy poker through the air down at the warden. Blood began to spatter all around, the squelching of torn flesh echoing over and over. She continued swinging without pause — without hesitation, without mercy. She brutally pulverized the warden’s body in a flood of murderous intent, each strike enough to kill a normal human. My hope for salvation had only lasted a brief moment. As I witnessed Hiro-chan’s face dyed a deep red — witnessed such a brutal spectacle — my fear began to grow. This was wrong. It was insane. There really was something off about her. But… Hiro-chan always fought for justice. She was so cool, someone I adored, a friend I loved so much, so she couldn’t possibly be making a mista—

     There was a sharp whistle as something sliced through the air, and my mind went blank.

     The warden was still alive. It had swung its scythe unnaturally fast, traveling its arc in an instant. I couldn’t have stopped it, nor did I even have the time to scream.

     Hiro-chan’s severed head flew through the room…

     Thud.

     Landing right in front of me.

     “…Huh?” I couldn’t understand what had just happened. Her decapitated body, still clutching the poker, staggered for a moment and then toppled to the ground.

     “AAAHHHH!!” I was brought back to my senses by someone’s piercing scream. Her head was right there, eyes wide open. The face that once bore such loathing towards me no longer reflected any emotion.

     “Hiro-chan…?”

     …

     I’d thought we might be able to start over. That we could be friends again… But with a swing of the warden’s scythe, her head had come off, and her red blood — oh, there was so much blood — had splattered everywhere.

     Hiro-chan was dead.

     Dazedly, I reached out to her head. Her cheek was still warm.

     “This has to be a bad joke. Right, Hiro-chan…? You can’t… No, no, no…” I couldn’t stop my tears, the droplets mingling with red as they fell.

     Something glinted in the corner of my vision. It must have fallen from her pocket when her body fell. I picked it up.

     …

     A fountain pen. One I knew well. It was a cherished possession of hers, full of special memories from our middle school days. But she’d given it away. It wasn’t something that she should have still had. So why was it here? I wondered this as I quietly slipped it into my pocket. Whatever the reason, I just wanted to have something that could make me feel like Hiro-chan was with me.

     “Oh, my… Dead, isn’t she…? I’ll have to clean this up…” I turned to face that heartless owl-monster as it nonchalantly continued speaking. “But a witch couldn’t have died from something like that, so now we have proof that she wasn’t a witch. Quite a relief.”

     She was dead… and it was a relief?

     I glared at Gokucho, but he didn’t seem to care at all.

     “Oh, and one more thing. Before I head off, there’s something important you all should know.” He spoke matter-of-factly. “Those who begin turning into witches will be overcome with uncontrollable, murderous impulses and delusions. As bothersome as it is, cases of murder will begin to arise among you prisoners.”

     “Murder?!” Someone chimed in with an inappropriately cheerful voice.

     “Indeed,” Gokucho continued, “so immediately after a murder occurs, we will hold a witch trial. And any prisoner identified to be a witch… will be executed, so…”

     “A witch trial…” I murmured, looking down at my hands. They were bright red, caked with Hiro-chan’s blood.

     Well done.

     It was as if someone had whispered right beside my ear — but that was impossible. There was nobody next to me. It was just an auditory hallucination. I hadn’t been able to do anything but watch, after all. But at the same time, I thought to myself…

     Ah, so this is how the witch trials begin.

     The shadow deep in my heart grew denser and denser, darker and darker.

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