"Oh." Aki had summed it up for us perfectly. I knew that Futaba was going to say that. Personally I hated the idea; it was too unpredictable. But I suppose it was up to Neko. Said girl clasped her hands together in joy.
"Yes Futaba, that`s a wonderful suggestion." said Neko. Damn it. It had been decided. We were playing this stupid game. Everyone shifted around to sit in a circle on the floor, whilst Neko went to fetch something to spin. To my right was Kojuro, to his was Koiwai, to hers was Aki, to hers was Neko and to hers, and on my left, was Futaba.
Neko returned with an empty soda bottle and placed it in the middle of the circle.
"Who`s going first?" I asked.
"I think Fujinomiya should go first." said Aki. "It`s her birthday after all." We all nodded and Neko spun the bottle. It landed on Futaba. The class rep squealed in delight.
"I choose dare." she said excitedly. Neko thought for a moment. I was certain that whatever Neko dare Neko could think up would be mild at worst. Because it was Neko. Sweet innocent Neko. I was wrong. Very wrong.
"I dare you to eat a raw onion." she said. Someone gasped loudly, I think was Kojuro. Futaba`s eyes widened but I could tell she was determined to complete whatever was dare was thrown her way.
"Okay." replied Futaba determinedly. "I`ll do it." Koiwai whispered something in Kojuro`s ear and he laughed. Those two sure were getting friendly, but that was not the priority here.
"Good. I`ll get everything prepared." said Neko.
Five minutes later, we had congregated around the table. Futaba sat at the end with a peeled raw onion on a plate in front of her and a glass of water. A thought crossed my mind.
"No offence to Futaba, but what if she can`t do it?" I asked.
"Penalties." replied Aki bluntly. Damn. Aki was pretty harsh.
"What penalties?" I asked. "We`re making her eat a raw onion. There`s not much worse than that."
"We`ll cross that bridge if we come to it." said Futaba. She turned to Neko. "I`m ready." We all nodded.
"Good luck." I said. Futaba picked up the onion and took a small bite. Tears formed in her eyes. There was no way she could do this. She took another bite, much larger this time, and swallowed it. Aki visibly winced. A few more bites and she was about half way through but she was noticeably crying and had begun to slow down.
"This is madness." I said.
"This is Sparta." replied Koiwai. Kojuro burst out laughing. Now even Neko had grown concerned.
"You know you can stop now Futaba. I think you proved you can do it." said Neko. Futaba stifled a belch.
"No. I can do this." She took another large bite. Only one bite left.
"…" We were all speechless as she swallowed the last piece and pushed the plate away from her.
"Done." she declared, her upbeat attitude still surprisingly intact. She belched again and took a swig of water. "I think it`s my turn to spin the bottle."
We sat back down on the floor in our original spots and Futaba gave the bottle a spin. It landed on Kojuro.
"I`m too scared to say dare." he said with a nervous laugh.
"Don't worry." said Futaba, with a kind smile. "I won`t make you eat onions." Her face suddenly hardened as she starred off into a corner. "No one should have to go through that."
"Uhhmmmm…okay?" replied Kojuro nervously. "I pick dare too." Futaba`s face switched to an evil grin.
"You must do the…bloody Mary challenge." The thunder clapped loudly outside.
"Well that was spooky." laughed Aki, only half joking. I scoffed.
"Good job it`s not real." I said cockily. There was no way any of that stuff was real. Ghosts don't exist.
"Well then you do it too." said Aki cockily.
"Fine. I will." I replied.
"I wanna do it too." piped up Futaba.
"I don't want to go alone…" mumbled Kojuro. Koiwai put her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry Kojuro." said Koiwai reassuringly. "I`ll do it with you."
"If we`re doing it in groups I wanna be with Masamune." said Neko. Cute girl, scary situation. Nice. I noticed Futaba looked a little disheartened for a second but she quickly shrugged it off.
"Look like you're with me Aki." she said with a strained smile.
A moment later we were all stood outside the bathroom. Neko was armed with a box of matches and a couple of candles.
"Who`s going to go first?" asked Neko.
"I think Kojuro should go first." answered Aki.
"Good luck." I said, patting him on the back as him and Koiwai stepped into the bathroom passed. Neko closed the door behind them. I stifled a yawn.
"Keeping you up are we Masamune?" asked Aki sarcastically. I waved a hand dismissively.
"Whatever." I replied. Aki was such a bitch sometimes. I swear that whole evening she was challenging everything I did or said. Futaba must`ve been able to sense the tension and decided to change the subject.
"You get some nice gifts today, Neko?" she asked.
"Oh yes." replied Neko. "Some friends from my old school sent me something in the post. It was a picture of us all from a couple years ago." A hint of sadness crept onto her face. "I haven't seen them in…oh it`d be a few years now."
"Oh well, I`m sure-" but Futaba was interrupted by the door slamming open.
"Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" screamed Kojuro as he bolted out of the room screaming his lungs out. "Demmmmmmmmmooooooooooooooooooon!" He was followed closely by Kowai.
"Wait Kojuro! It was a pipe! A pipe!" Koiwai shouted as she chased him down the corridor.
"Whatever." said Futaba shaking her head in shock. "It`s our turn."
"W-wait…" protested Aki but it was useless as Futaba led her into the bathroom and closed the door behind them. I turned to Neko.
"We should probably do something." I said. She nodded. We walked down the corridor and entered the living room. Kojuro was sat on the couch, being comforted by Koiwai.
"You alright buddy?" I asked in the most soothing voice I could muster as I crouched down in front of him. He looked up at me, tears still fresh on his face.
"I heard a demon Masamune." he said. A demon? That was impossible. I looked at Koiwai.
"It was a pipe." she explained. "As I said it the third time, a pipe in the wall gurgled." I nodded knowingly.
"We`re done." said a voice from behind me. I jumped a little. I turned around and saw it was Futaba and Aki. Futaba looked fine but Aki seemed a little pale.
"You two get spooked too?" I asked.
"Nope." said Futaba but Aki mouthed something I couldn't see at Koiwai. The servant girl raised an eye as if shocked.
"I guess it`s our turn now Masamune." said Neko as she put a hand on my shoulder.
"Yes, I guess it is." I replied.
I closed the door behind us. Me and Neko were now alone in the candle lit bathroom.
"Let`s get this over with." I said. I began to start the ritual but Neko stopped me.
"Do you believe in ghosts?" she asked.
"No." I replied. "I`ve never seen one. I`ve never seen proper evidence for one and until I do I refuse to believe in them." Neko nodded her head slowly, taking in my answer.
"Do you believe in love?" she asked. That caught me off guard. What sort of question was that?
"Yes of course I do." I replied with a small laugh. But she wasn't laughing.
"Why? You can`t see love? Why should you believe in it?" she asked. I thought for a moment. She was right. It was the same principal as the ghosts yet somehow I did believe in it.
"You make a good point." I replied. "Do you believe in it?" She took a step forward, took my hand in hers and squeezed it gently.
"Of course I do." she said, with a smile on her face. Oh Neko. How stupid was I to abandon you for the witch of a girl Aki Adakagi. This revenge plan was pointless. How could I let something so petty stand in the way of love. "Let`s get this done." she said. I nodded, smiling. We turned to face the bathroom mirror. We both spoke in unison.
"Bloody Mary…Bloody Mary…" She squeezed my hand a little tighter, anxious over what was about to happen. "Bloody Mary." Nothing. The room remained still. No ghost. No pipe. Nothing.
Or so I thought. Something flickered in the background. Just for a second. Something in the window behind us.
"Did you see that?" I asked quietly.
"See what?" she said, the volume of her voice matching mine. I placed the tip of my finger on the mirror where I had seen it.
"Right…there…"
"Hey guys!" The door flung open. I jolted and Neko squealed. It was Futaba.
"God damn it, Futaba." I said, clutching my heart. "Don't do that." She laughed softly.
"Sorry. It`s just that we`re gonna put a movie on." she said. "You joining us?" We both nodded.
"Sure"
A/N: Yes I know everyone was a little OOC but like I was once told. "That`s why we have fanfiction." So yeah. As you can see Masamune has really started to fall for Neko. But will they get together? Find out in the future. The next chapter will be up sometime in the next couple days. Thank you very much for reading, goodnight.
