A/N: Another supernatural mystery, hopefully my imagination won't die on me when i continue writing this.
Chandeliers were dangling from the high ceilings decorated with the finest paintings, lighting up the entire ballroom as people moved and swayed with the music. Others just stood and talked to one another by the long table at the side which was filled with food fit for a king.
clang clang clang
Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned towards the stage where the host family stood. "Thank you for coming today to celebrate my sons 5th birthday."
The shy boy looked at his parents and his brother before facing the crowd. It was the first time he had ever attended such a party and for the first time to be his own birthday was just nerve wrecking. The party continued on after the greetings.
"It's so boring. Ne, let's go to the garden." The boys brother didn't wait for an answer and dragged him with him as soon as he saw that their parents were too busy talking to their guest to notice their disappearance. It just gave him great pleasure to be able to sneak out without anyone noticing.
"Where are you young masters going?" Both boys turned to see an unfamiliar face. The fact that he had called them young masters however told them that he was a servant in the mansion. The older boy frowned, he had been so careful not to be seen and yet he had been caught. He was sure that this servant was going to drag them back to the boring ballroom.
"To the garden." He replied.
A sigh then the servant said "I can't just leave my young master's alone, I'll come with you."
The older boy looked like he wanted to protest but didn't, he knew that even if he did protest the result was the same. Such was the faith of being the sons of one of the most prestigious families in the world. He was happy however that this new servant was not dragging them back.
The boy started running as soon as they reached the garden, a giant smile plastered on his face as he breathed in the fresh air and rolled on the grass This was certainly more fun than being stuck in the ballroom with all the other adults. "Aniki, join me." Said person quickly ran to his side and joined him in laughter as they played surrounded by beautiful flowers.
Suddenly, both boys felt a chill, it was strange because it was actually quite hot. The older boy hugged his younger brother as he turned to find the servant. It was times like these that he was thankful for them. He would have liked to be brave and say itt was nothing but he couldn't. He was still just a kid as well. What they saw horrified them, the person they thought was a servant was holding a knife in his hands as he closed in on them. The aura around him was so eerie which left them both unable to move. The screams coming from the ballroom was unheard as all they could hear was their hearts pounding out of their chests as they waited for what was to come.
…
Haruichi woke up with a start, beats of sweat falling from his face, heart racing, tears in his eyes. It's just a dream, just a dream. He thought trying to calm himself down. But everything in that dream just seemed so real.
The next bed began to stir "Haruichi, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." He replied clearly not convincing his brother.
"Still having nightmares at your age?" Ryousuke teased.
Haruichi didn't say a word and Ryousuke grew concerned and went to his brother's side, wiping his brothers tears and sweat away, holding him close to calm his heartbeat "You want to talk about it?"
He gently pulled away from his brother and declined the offer, he would tell his brother about the nightmare later but first he wanted to figure it out for himself, why he had the dream and why he felt that such a thing had happened before. What was more was that even though he never actually saw the boy or the boy's brothers face clearly, he felt like he knew them somehow.
Ryousuke didn't pressure him to talk, no matter what he looked like, Haruichi could be stubborn when he wanted to be. He guessed that it just ran in the family. He looked at the clock and hit his brother's back "Come on, we're meeting them at the station at 8am, let's get ready."
…
"Your early." Kuramochi said as he saw Miyuki and Sawamura arguing with each other as soon as he arrived at the train station.
Sawamura puffed out "I'm always early."
"You were late for the first day of practice."
"That was all your fault."
If they were not in public, Sawamura would have been in a chock hold right now for shouting at him.
"Hahaha, such an idiot."
"Miyuki Kazuya, you were late too." Sawamura shouted at his catcher.
A yawning Furuya joined them but just sat in the corner and fell asleep.
The four of them waited, the ones who were awake wondered why the people who had called them to meet were not here yet. Sawamura being impatient just kept shouting drawing attention to them while Kuramochi tried his best not to strangle him.
"Sorry we're late. It's my fault." Haruichi bowed as soon as he saw his friends, he knew it was his fault that they were late. As he was trying to get ready, his mind kept drifting back to the dream he had.
"Are you alright?" Furuya who had woken up asked and said boy nodded.
"Eh Harucchi, something happened?" Sawamura questioned his best friend but Haruichi just kept insisting nothing was wrong.
"Ma, let's go."
"Onni-san, where are we going?" Haruichi was glad for the change of topic, he loved Sawamura as his best friend but sometimes he wished his friend wasn't so persistent. He was careful not to look at Furuya, as he felt Furuya still had not given up finding out what was wrong with him.
"Pearl house." Ryousuke answered.
"Heh, sounds fancy. How did you get such a place for 6 people?" Kuramochi pushed Sawamura aside to walk by Ryousuke's side.
Sawamura shouted at Kuramochi but his senpai ignored him, drawing laughter from Miyuki which he then turned his attention too.
"I have my ways."
"Oh this is so exciting." Sawamura shouted, he couldn't wait. It was a holiday after all, and it would also be his first trip with his friends in Seido. Even if it was with a violent "brother" and a catcher with a nasty personality. To be honest he had been waiting for this day ever since, Haruichi had invited him to join them on the trip when Ryousuke had won the prize to test out the new resort.
…
After a few hours on the train, they alighted at another station to find that someone was waiting for them, they walked up to him and introduced themselves. They soon found themselves being led to a mansion.
"It's huge."
"I can't believe we're staying here."
"Wow."
Everyone stood in awe at the building in front of them, it was probably one of the biggest houses they had ever seen, the pristine white house glistering under the sun spread across acres of land, the main door was twice as high as a normal door, making them feel small in comparison, the exterior of the house was decorated with intricate cravings and marble statues stood outside as if protecting the house. Everything was amazing but there was just one thing that didn't belong there.
"What's that?" Furuya asked, pointing towards a black square that was visible on the roof.
"That is the only area left of the mansion that used to stand here. We were told to keep it as it is as a memorial of the tragedy that happened here a century ago. It really disrupts the beauty of the place doesn't it?" The guide sighed staring at the blemish ruining his image of a perfect holiday home.
"Tragedy?" Sawamura began to shiver, he really couldn't handle scary stuff.
"Oi Bakamura, your scared aren't you?" Kuramochi teased.
"Am not."
"We all know that's a lie." Miyuki said riling Sawamura up even more. Noticing the guide looking at them, Haruichi calmed his friend down.
"What happened?" The guide began telling the story of how it was still a mystery how the place was burned down and only that part of the building survived. He also told them about the tragic death of some siblings.
Ryousuke smiled, the trip was starting to sound more interesting by the minute.
Haruichi didn't listen to anything else the guide was saying, he was thinking about his dream again. Was it just a coincidence or was it foretelling something?
Furuya noticed that the younger pink heads mind was somewhere else and placed a hand on his friend's shoulders. Haruichi turned to look at his friend when he came back to his senses and silently thanked him, he was grateful for the warmth and comfort. But then again he really didn't want anyone to worry about him. They had all come here to relax and he didn't want to destroy that.
…..
"Why couldn't they have given us our own rooms?" Sawamura shouted as he was 'unpacking' his bag. The house was big and yet they only been allocated 3 rooms for 6 people and they had decided to split them up without them knowing. Now here he was rooming with what was probably the worst person there ever was.
"Heh, I thought you were scared of this place?" There it was that annoying taunting voice that belonged to none other than Miyuki Kazuya. "You could go back you know."
"I'm not going back and I'm not scared." Sawamura shouted throwing a pillow in Miyuki's face. He had come to enjoy his holiday and he was not going to let that story or Miyuki ruin it for him.
Miyuki caught the pillow and hugged it. "Thanks for the pillow, you won't be getting it back." Laughing loudly as Sawamura shouted at him again. It was so much fun to tease him, that he just couldn't't stop.
"I'm going out." Sawamura opened the door and left the room only to come back a few seconds later.
"Need me to come with you cause your so scared?"
"Never." Sawamura slammed the door.
Baka Miyuki. Where is Harucchi's room? Sawamura wandered down the corridor looking for his friend.
Lying on the bed still hugging the pillow Sawamura had thrown at him, Miyuki began to think that he was lucky to be rooming with the southpaw pitcher. The pitcher was never boring with his ever changing expressions top it with the fact that he was scared of the "horror story" they had just heard, Miyuki smirked it was going to be a really fun holiday.
….
Kuramochi wondered what he had done wrong to be sharing a room with Ryosuke. The older pink head was his partner in baseball and a senpai he respected but still that smile of his was really….
"I'm not scary am I?" Kuramochi jumped when he heard that question, it was almost like his roommate had heard his thoughts.
Ryousuke who had already chosen a bed was bent down on his bed unpacking his things, the smile on his face ever since he heard the history of this place had not disappeared one bit.
Without saying a word, he walked up to the bed next to Ryousuke's and dumped his things on it. "Ryo-san, what is with that smile?" The question left his mouth before he could think. Kuramochi gulped hoping for the best.
"What you don't like my smile, Yoichi?" Ryousuke walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulders, his eyes glaring into his. Kuramochi would have turned away if he could. The story they just heard was nothing compared to how scary it was with the way Ryousuke was glaring at him right then. "So what is it?"
Why did I come in the first place? Kuramochi was having second thoughts about his choice of spending the holiday with Ryosuke. But he also knew that if he didn't want to come, Ryousuke would have been sure to drag him along, not that he needed too. He was really glad when he had been the first one that Ryosuke had invited to join him on this holiday save for Haruichi but that was to be expected.
Ryousuke saw that Kuramochi wasn't going to answer and decided that he would leave it at that and began thinking about how Haruichi acted this morning and the way he had looked just now when the guide was telling the story. There had to be connection.
"Let's go exploring."
Kuramochi sighed in relief when Ryosuke had let him off, the strange thing was that even though he knew Ryosuke was scary when angry but he was never scary to the point that he wanted to run away. Something was wrong with Ryo-san.
…..
Haruichi couldn't settle in his room, the story and his dream were filling his mind. He was thankful however that his room was nowhere near the black area of the house. He guessed that the developers didn't build any rooms around that area because no one would want to stay there regardless of the stories.
Furuya sat on the chair in silence observing the pink head, this morning when he had first seen him, his friend looked like he had woke up suddenly in shock. He could see traces of tears left on his face and just now Haruichi was shaken. He was really worried and wanted to help his friend but how could he, if he wouldn't even tell him what was wrong. He was glad that his trip back to Hokkaido was cancelled, even if Haruichi wouldn't tell him what's wrong at least he could stay by his side.
Knock Knock
Sawamura wondered why his friends room had to be so far away from his. The place was really beautifully decorated but the guide's words wouldn't leave him alone. He had gone back to his room as he was really too frightened but Miyuki's comment was the last straw, he was going to find his friends himself and explore the place to prove that he wasn't scared.
"Harucchi, Furuya." Sawamura shouted.
"Coming." Haruichi replied. He recomposed himself before opening the door. He didn't want Eijun asking any more questions as Furuya and himself joined Eijun in exploring the place.
