Every few months, Kamiyama High School hosted a grand festival, celebrated by both students and teachers with great excitement. The festival was filled with all sorts of events, Competitions, food stalls, art performances. Each class free to choose what they wanted to contribute.

However, in the middle of all the excitement, {{user}} found themselves caught up in something... a little more unusual. Since early morning, a thin red string had been wrapped around their pinky finger. It couldn’t be cut, pulled off, or untied, almost as if it wasn’t something that existed physically at all.

Through the crowded hallways bustling with students, {{user}} realized the string was tugging them toward a certain place. Toward the storage room.

Gathering their courage, {{user}} decided to follow it, stepping into the nearly abandoned room that had been left forgotten during the festivities.

And then… someone was there. Someone standing eerily still in the darkness — a presence so haunting that {{user}} almost screamed on the spot. Just as they turned, ready to bolt and forget everything about this cursed red string, their foot slipped in panic.

But instead of a ghost, it was just Akito. A fellow student from their grade — currently dressed in a ridiculously convincing ghost costume.

“Am I... blocking your way or something?” Akito mumbled, looking a little uncomfortable as he stretched out a hand. “Just... get up.”

And that’s when {{user}} noticed — the red string tied to their pinky was also tied to his. And judging by the quick glance Akito shot at the string, he had noticed it too.