"You know the terms of the deal, right, you two?" Aiko asked, sporting a wide and mischievous ear-to-ear grin as she recounted the terms. "Both of you, I repeat, both of you have to watch the entire movie without looking away. I'm sitting right here in the kitchen, so I'll know if either one of you try to make an escape before it's over. And Yuki-chan, calling Saiki-kun is out. Understand, you two?"
Aiko Senoo was grinning like a madman, Yuki Shinoya was shivering so much she was surprised she didn't faint right then and there, and Nick Kelly was simply glaring angrily at Aiko, hoping that, for once, she'd just burst into flames or something.
I swear, if we make it out of this with our sanity intact, I'm gonna deck her when we get to school tomorrow, Nick thought as he glanced at the clock. Two-thirty in the morning. Wonderful. She knows damn well that my sister and horror movies don't mix!
"Okay, you two can start anytime you're ready. Have fun," Aiko cackled, tossing Nick the remote and walking back into the kitchen to watch the spectacle unfold.
"N-Nick-kun?" Yuki stammered, glancing at her brother while she still could. "Do we r-r-really have to do this?"
"Sadly, we don't have a choice," Nick replied, still wondering how exactly he'd lost the bet, and wondering why exactly Aiko had chosen this type of... well, thing to make everything even. "Ai-chan was quite clear on the deal. Otherwise, she's going to send Kaori-chan that particular photo, and despite the fact that it was just a kiss, I'd rather that not be plastered all over the school news."
Nick glanced back at Aiko, who was still wearing that silly grin. "If it's any consolation at all, when we get to school tomorrow, I'm going to slap her so freakin' hard..."
Yuki turned back to the television, not looking forward to this. Did it honestly have to be one of those fancy-schmancy American horror films that were so less subtle than Japanese horror?
To anyone in the city of Misora who knew her, it was no secret that Yuki Shinoya despised horror movies with a burning passion. Usually, the only time she would ever be caught dead to rights watching a horror movie was if her boyfriend was watching it with her, so she could cling to him and avert her eyes at any particulars.
But this one? Dear god, Yuki had told herself to stay far away from this movie when it had released in America. With critics calling it one of the scariest movies of recent years, Yuki never believed that she would ever have to see it, much less watch it without her beloved Saiki.
But she had Nick for this one, and despite the freak-outs she knew she was about to start suffering from, she knew Nick would never let anything happen to her.
One of the biggest reasons Yuki didn't like watching horror movies was because they tended to induce some pretty freaky nightmares in the following days.
Yuki steeled her nerves as Nick raised the remote and started the movie. Even as the opening titles rolled, Yuki made it a point to cling to her brother's arm and hold on for dear life, as if she expected the movie's evils and freaks to actually jump out of their impressively high-definition television and make a beeline for her.
With all the crazy things she'd seen in her life, Yuki honestly expected it to actually happen at one point.
Nick reached over with his free hand and patted Yuki's head a few times, hoping that she could stay calm. Sadly, it didn't seem to be affecting anything.
Nick readied himself as the opening credits ended and the movie actually began. He had prepared himself beforehand, and Nick believed he was ready for anything that the horror genre could throw his way.
The movie didn't start out so bad, merely showing a news reporter and her cameraman investigating an apartment complex.
Yuki squeaked loudly as the first of the nightmarish scenes started, in which a seemingly deranged elderly woman began attacking people in the apartment, even biting one of the police officers. She subconsciously slid closer to Nick, knowing she couldn't look away because Aiko was watching.
Nick kept his arms locked around Yuki, occasionally glancing as best he could towards Aiko, who he knew was enjoying every second of this.
The second nightmare came when a group of infected citizens rushed someone and began tearing the helpless victim apart, tears began to fall from Yuki's eyes, as if begging whatever magical deities there were to end this madness.
Unheard by Yuki, Aiko let out a soft giggle. Even if she didn't mean any harm by it, she still had no clue why Yuki was so scared of a silly horror movie that wasn't even real.
Nick didn't share that sentiment, though. Ai-chan, when this is over, you are dead meat.
The next ten minutes or so were nothing really special, mostly footage of the citizens stuck in this quarantine trying to find a way out. Even still, Yuki didn't like the eerie, oppressive silence, and she knew things were bound to go wrong soon. It was only a matter of time in horror movies, after all.
And Yuki was quickly proven right when another infected citizen, this time a little girl, began chasing survivors down a hallway and even biting her mother at one point. Yuki was merely babbling, random fragments of words that made no sense in her horror-addled mind.
Nick kept holding Yuki tightly, hoping she wouldn't run away screaming. He honestly liked these types of movies, found-footage films, since they showed a different perspective of movie-making (he really liked that one where three teenagers fell into a hole and gained telekinetic powers), but he knew that when applied to horror, anything could go wrong at any time.
Sadly, the frights only seemed to get worse as the film went on. One of the survivors eventually reached a large door and tried to reach through it to catch the attention of the police and medical experts that were just out of her reach.
Yuki knew what was coming, but it didn't do her frazzled nerves any good when the woman was pulled back into the darkness by an infected.
And by god, the screaming and the noises...
"Ah-ah, no covering the ears!" Aiko proclaimed, as if she'd expected that very move.
Damn it, she saw through everything, didn't she? Yuki thought.
Deciding to cast a glance at Nick to see how he was taking it, Yuki was honestly shocked to see that he didn't look like it was affecting him at all.
"Onii-chan, seriously?! How does this stuff not scare the freakin' daylights out of you?!" Yuki asked.
Nick simply shook his head. "Wish I could tell you. Maybe I'm just desensitized to horror flicks or something. Besides, look at all the freaks we've fought. Some of them are much scarier than rabies-filled zombies."
Yuki had to admit, he had a point. But that didn't change the terror of it all, she thought. After all, she and her friends actually had the tools and powers to fight back against something like this should it ever happen in their life.
Glancing back at the movie, Yuki only had a second to realize that she had made a grave mistake in turning back to it at this moment, as an infected had snatched a survivor, and with a gurgling roar that made Yuki's hair stand on end, viciously clamped its jaws down on the poor sap's throat and pulled.
The piercing scream that Yuki let out might have been loud enough to wake the dead at this point of the night. Nick knew that Momoko would probably wake up from that as well, despite the fact that Momoko was a pretty deep sleeper most of the time.
Nick pulled Yuki closer to him so that they were practically hugging. To be frank, Nick wasn't actually focused on the movie, as he'd already seen it (Aiko had made the mistake of telling him what movie she was going to make them watch, so without her knowledge he'd checked it out). He was simply thinking of ways that he'd make Aiko regret ever making this stupid bet once it was all over.
With about ten minutes left in the movie, Nick was surprised that Yuki hadn't just said "screw it" and bolted. Yuki herself was beyond shocked, too, but she still kept herself on edge, hoping beyond hope that what she'd already seen was the worst this film could throw at them.
Sadly, the worst was yet to come.
As the reporter and cameraman, seemingly the last two survivors of this outbreak, continued looking for a way out, Yuki clamped down on her nerves, silently realizing that this most likely wasn't going to end well for anyone.
And sure enough, the two of them eventually ran into a strange, emaciated man, looking far more decomposed than the other monsters but apparently unaware that they were there. The cameraman attempted to escape, but tripped and dropped the camera.
That was a big mistake, both Nick and Yuki thought at the same time.
So, of course, the clatter of the dropped camera alerted the strange beast, and it attacked the cameraman, actually trying to eat him while the reporter could only watch in horror and hope it wouldn't go after her next.
The reporter then committed another mistake by crying out in fright, which attracted the beast's attention. The beast lunged for the reporter, causing her to drop the camera and cause the scene to black out.
Nick and Yuki stayed perfectly still, knowing there was most likely one last fright coming their way.
Aiko smiled deviously from her vantage point. Wait for it...
The scene flickered back into focus, showing the reporter trying to crawl to safety with an injured leg, most likely from the beast.
Something appeared behind the reporter, grabbed her by the legs, and dragged her screaming body into the darkness...
...and finally, nothing. The movie was over and the credits were rolling.
Yuki was beyond her limit at this point, and burst into tears of fear and relief as Nick pulled Yuki onto his lap so he could return her frightened embrace, not wanting to say anything that would ruin the moment.
"Well, you guys pulled it off with aplomb," Aiko proclaimed, walking into the living room. "I'm proud of both of ya."
Nick said nothing.
"I left the photo on the counter in the kitchen, 'kay, Kelly-kun?" Aiko quipped. "After all, I don't really need it anymore, do I? You've got guts for making it through... well, that."
Don't mention 'guts', Nick thought, hoping Yuki wouldn't take it the wrong way.
"Well, I'll be takin' my leave," Aiko stated. "Dad's gonna kill me if he finds out I'm out of the house at four in the mornin'. Let's do this again sometime, huh?"
Aiko made the mistake of looking at Nick on her way out, and she suddenly shivered with some kind of primal fright at the death glare Nick was giving her. She'd seen Nick at his angriest before, but it had always been directed at their enemies, and the jerks who really deserved it.
Aiko began to laugh nervously before deciding right then and there that she didn't want to fall victim to Nick's glare of doom, making a hasty retreat from the Asuka home.
I'll get her tomorrow, Nick thought before turning his attention back to Yuki.
"Yuki-chan?" Nick asked cautiously. "Are you feeling okay?"
Yuki looked back at her brother, tears streaming from her eyes like a waterfall.
"Can we just stay like this for a while, Nick-kun?" Yuki cried. "Can you hold me like this for just a little bit longer?"
Nick smiled, gently squeezing Yuki and lighting up when a small smile broke out on her face. "As long as you want, Yuki-chan."
Yuki sighed in relief, leaning back against Nick to show that she appreciated his affection.
"Is... everything okay, you guys?"
Nick and Yuki both glanced towards the stairway and saw Momoko standing there, a look of sleepy confusion on her face.
"I heard this really loud scream and I thought we were being attacked or something," Momoko stated.
The yellow witch looked at Yuki's twitchy, shivering form, then glanced towards the television, which was still playing the movie's end credits, and she understood why she had been woken up.
"That was the movie Ai-chan made you watch, right?"
"Yeah. She's lucky she's already back home, otherwise she would have seriously been in for it," Nick replied. "We'll probably be coming to bed soon, okay?"
"Cookies are up on the top shelf if you guys need any," Momoko stated, referring to her famous-around-the-house chocolate chip cookies, before walking back up the stairway, yawning cutely as she did so.
"Yeah, maybe some of Momo-chan's awesome cookies will help me calm down," Yuki stated. "Because oh, dear god, that movie..."
"Relax, Yuki-chan, it's all over now," Nick responded, patting Yuki on the head again. This time, thankfully, it registered, and Yuki smiled again, fighting off her sleep-deprived nerves now that the trouble was officially over.
About a half-hour later (it was almost four-thirty, why was she still up?!), Momoko came back downstairs to get a glass of water, only to smile at the endearing sight in front of her.
Nick and Yuki were fast asleep against each other on the couch, Yuki in particular holding Nick's hand with a serene smile.
Momoko silently squeed at the adorable sight. She had often stated her wish of having a brother or sister of her own so she could experience the unbreakable bond that she knew Nick and Yuki shared.
As much as she and Nick loved each other, Momoko knew that a bond between siblings was something unbreakable, despite what some people thought.
Moving quietly so as not to disturb the two of them, Momoko took a blanket from the nearby nightstand and draped it over Nick and Yuki.
She almost hated the fact that she had to wake them up in an hour and a half so they could all get ready for school, but for now, Momoko decided to just let them sleep.
"Good night, guys," Momoko stated before heading back upstairs.
A few hours later at Misora Attached Middle School...
"Whoa, Yuki-chan, are you okay?"
Naturally, most of Yuki's classmates noticed that she was still a little shaky, on doubt due to Yuki still fighting off the last of the jitters from the movie.
"Yeah. We kinda got forced to watch a horror movie," Yuki admitted. "It's a long story, honestly."
"You made it through one of those things?" Tamaki exclaimed. "How did you not crack?!"
Yuki smiled, reaching out to hold Nick's hand and squeeze it gently. "Because of my security blanket. Onii-chan's never once let me down, after all."
Nick couldn't help but blush at how earnestly Yuki said that.
"Hey, everybody, sorry I'm late!" Aiko exclaimed, just stepping into the classroom in a huff. "Stupid bus took a wrong turn and decided to go the scenic route. Thank goodness I made it in time..."
Nick glanced at Aiko, a twinkle in his eye. "Excuse me for a second."
Before anyone could make a move to stop him, Nick marched over to where Aiko was hanging her backpack up, drew his hand back, and lashed out with lightning speed, slapping Aiko across the face so hard that she was sent flying back into the lockers outside, impacting with a loud CRASH for good measure.
Aiko scratched her head, nervously laughing as she did. "I guess I had that one coming."