Summary
Lulu recently got the newest phone for her birthday and her classmates are in awe; for a moment. They leave for gym class as she tries to exchange numbers, causing Lulu disappointment. Nobody wants to befriend her since the classes changed. She gets teased by two boys and claims she has friends, but they demand proof she's unable to give them. Just then she gets a message. Lulu doesn't recognize anyone by the name of ''Mei Kuraki',' but she wastes no time shoving her phone into their faces. She says that they are good friends who spend a lot of time talking, and once the boys leave, Lulu wonders if Mei texted the wrong person. She decides to become her text buddy though, seeing as they are the same age and share the same, lonely feelings. She introduces herself to Mei and happily comes to the realization that she has finally obtained a friend, just as she wished.
Throughout the day Lulu gets to know Mei and her mood has greatly improved, even if she doesn't know Mei in person they share a lot in common and talk about a lot; such as their favorite and least-favorite subjects, lunch, and Mei admires Lulu's ability to get up so early in the morning with little effort. It turns out that she too lives in the Kantou prefecture like her, by the Shuuei Station.
Just then, Lulu gets caught texting in class. She gets scolded and comes to the realization that even through texts, she is still alone. She watches as everyone meets up with their friends when class ends. With her phone returned, Lulu asks Mei if she thinks she is a bad person. Mei insists that Lulu is very kind, especially because she talks to her. Before they met over the phone, she couldn't really speak to others, so she's very happy. Lulu is touched as she reads this message, and they continue to discuss their similarities and come to the conclusion they should be best friends. She assures Mei she would never leave her and they exchange a promise.
Lulu impatiently waits for school to end now aware of the Teachers heavy gaze on her to make sure she isn't texting again. She desperately wants to text Mei but she can't let her phone get confiscated either, so she silently suffers until class ends. She hurriedly rushes outside and as she starts typing out a message to Mei in apology, she pauses hearing two girls discussing a student who vanished the prior year; a girl from Shuuei school who was the same age as them. Lulu is surprised hearing this as one girl remarks that by now the girl is probably dead, if she hasn't been found yet.
Lulu wonders if Mei knew this girl, but before she can bring it up she gets a new text from her. She understands that Lulu couldn't message her, it can't be helped if the teacher gets mad. Lulu is confused because she didn't tell Mei about this, and Mei sends another text saying that she knows everything about her. Lulu is startled, only to shrug it off under the assumption Mei was kidding. She couldn't have possibly known what she was just thinking.
As Lulu makes her way home she gets several more texts from Mei, who confesses that even before they began to talk she's known a lot about her. She was curious about her and had to work up the courage to speak to her, and she's very glad she did.
Lulu becomes anxious while wondering how Mei got her information. They never spoke to each other or met in-person.
Did Mei really text her by mistake?
Lulu rushes the rest of the way home in a panic to find her mother putting away groceries. She gives Lulu a snack and she attempts to calm down as she sits down. She observes some papers on the table to find an article about a missing girl: Mei Kuraki. She looks at the girls picture and reads over the article about the last day she was seen, and a phone number to call if anyone has information about her. Lulu recalls what the girls said at school earlier and realizes their names are the same. She wonders if someone could possibly be playing a prank on her by using Mei's identity, and she receives a new text from her asking if they could meet up and play at her secret spot. By now, Lulu is enraged and theorizes that the person texting her is the boy from school who makes fun of her, and he was planning on revealing his mean-spirited trick if she agreed. She angrily deletes everything related to Mei and cries. She decides to put more effort into making real friends starting tomorrow.
The following day Lulu sees her classmates and approaches them with hesitation. She gets worked up and they are surprised when she requests their phone numbers, causing her to worry until they agree. They laugh at how silly she looks and explain that they had wanted to talk to Lulu, but because of how quiet she was they began to assume she didn't want to socialize. Lulu is delighted to have been successful, and she starts to realize how fun it was asking them. Once school ends, Lulu happily runs home to inform her mom about the good news. They invited her out to play tomorrow.
The next day the trio happily chat on the bus about the Screaming Land amusement park as Lulu comes to the realization how much more fun it is speaking to someone in-person. But her enjoyment is short-lived when she gets a text. She assumes its her mom, but to her alarm its Mei. She had her number changed, nor did she register the new number, so how did she get it?
Several more texts come from Mei as the girls arrive to their destination. Lulu stresses out as they get off the bus as Mei expresses how happy she is that Lulu is coming to visit her. Her friends don't understand whats upsetting Lulu as she gets more and more texts, and in a panic she drops her phone and runs away from them, announcing that she's going home. She runs until she comes to a strange field she can't recognize and looks around before attempting to wade through the tall flowers and plants in search of an exit. Suddenly, her foot slips and she falls back into a large opening in the ground.
Landing roughly on the soggy and rubbish covered ground, Lulu realizes she is in a manhole. She wonders why the lid was opened and begins worrying as she spots the small, damaged ladder that leads to the hole she fell through. She sees a cellphone on the ground and hanging from it is a tag with Kuraki Mei written on it. Lulu comes to the realization that this is where the texts were coming from. Mei must have fell into the same hole back when she went missing. It's then Lulu is relieved to hear her friends, but just as she goes to call out to them she is embraced by the skeletal remains of Mei. She happily giggles.
Now they will be together forever...
Above ground, Lulu's friends attempt to call out for her and worriedly search the field. The manhole has now been covered.
Tropes:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Lulu wished for a friend and got one; in the form of a deceased girl with no intentions of letting her get away.
- Dem Bones: What Mei was reduced to by the time Lulu finds her.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Lulu is a nice girl, but she's very shy and struggled to speak up, so others were misled to believe she wasn't social.
- Phone Call from the Dead: Well, text messaging from the dead. Same idea though.
- Together in Death: It's hard to tell, but this could have been Mei's eventual plan. In the epilogue, Yomi reveals that Lulu attempted to free herself but Mei overtook her.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: After being hurt by the "prank", Lulu tried to make actual friends and was successful. But during a trip with them she fell into an open manhole after panicking from an onslaught of texts from Mei. She dropped her phone and the ladder was broken, meaning that her only means of escape would have been her friends finding her... but then Mei ensured they couldn't.
