Scary Stories
They had all come back from the festival. Sakaki was still toting Nekokoneko with her, and everybody else was giving the "we know a dirty secret of yours" look to Joe.
Guess Yukari-sensei told them everything, Joe said, sighing deeply and sweat-dropping.
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Back at the beach house, they all gathered around the table (except for Nyamo and Yukari, they sat on the couch) for their usual nighttime discussion.
"Alright, it's time for scary stories!" Chiyo said
"Suriya!" Tomo yelled, and tried to karate-chop Chiyo's head.
Everybody (except Joe) was once again surprised, when Chiyo did a "strike stopper" on Tomo's karate-chop.
Chiyo then proceeded to stand up, turn to her left, and flip Tomo over.
Tomo landed hard on her back, and Chiyo sat back down.
"Where in the world did you learn that?!" Yomi asked, completely shocked.
"Joe taught it to me. Your biggest worry in America is not getting shot, it's getting mugged."
"Really?" Tomo asked. She had gotten up off of the floor where Chiyo had just flipped her.
"Yeah. So Joe taught me how to defend myself." Chiyo responded.
Oh's went around the table.
Joe had actually been thinking with his eyes closed this entire time, and now he opened his eyes, and got an evil grin across his face.
"Hehe, I've got a scary story to tell," Joe said, his glasses glinting.
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Everybody was shaking at the scary story Joe had just told them about themselves.
How Chiyo had died from a surprise knife that had been tied to the ceiling, how Yukari panicked, ran to her car, started it up, and died because the car exploded, how Yomi died from poison in her diet yogurts that were in the fridge, how Nyamo died from a bear trap-like thing in her futon that cut her body in half, how Tomo died from knives hidden in the chandelier above them when it came crashing down on her, how Osaka died from a well-placed shotgun in her closet, how Sakaki dies from a string that comes flying across the room and cuts her head off, and how Kaorin dies after Mayaa attacks her throat.
"And so, Kagura thought she had gotten away from the beach house of death alive. She hitched a ride on the nearest taxi. 'Go as fast as you can to Tokyo' she said. But the doors locked, and she heard a familiar voice on the speaker in the back. 'Too bad I can't let you leave alive' I said, as I turned so she could see my face. 'How could you do such a thing, especially to Chiyo-chan, your best friend!' Kagura screams. 'Oh, I think Chiyo forgives me' I say, as I hold up Chiyo's…severed head!"
Joe says, and chills go all around the room, especially from Chiyo.
"I then leave the cab, walk away, push a button, and watch as the cab explodes, and goes up in flames. I slowly walk away with a grin on my face, still holding Chiyo's severed head."
Everybody was stunned speechless. Joe had the biggest evil grin on his face, because he knew none of them would be sleeping tonight.
"Well, I'm going to bed, goodnight" Joe said, as he stood up, and went for his door, and before he shut it, he added, "Don't let me catch you sleeping"
Everybody shook again.
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Joe's gut was right on. Nobody slept a wink that night. In fact, when he had made his midnight walk to the bathroom, everybody was watching and listening for him to do something murderous.
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Day 2 of 7 at the beach house
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Joe woke up the morning, feeling awesome. After having his morning bowl of breakfast cereal (which he actually had to bring along himself, considering most Japanese breakfasts are more than that), he checked on everybody. Neko-san, who had slept with Joe, was up. Mayaa, who was sleeping with Sakaki, opened her eyes to see who was peeking in on her, and then went back to sleep.
Guess I'll go for a walk, Joe thought, but first, a little fun…
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Joe walked out to the beach, turned to the right, and started walking.
I'm going to get a huge kick when I walk in the house, he thought as he laughed to himself
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It was about 1:00 in the afternoon when everybody finally woke up.
"That Joe" Yukari whined, "I wasn't able to fall asleep until about 5:00 this morning."
"He can sure tell scary stories," Yomi said. Sakaki nodded her head in agreement.
Nyamo noticed Tomo, who was standing in Chiyo's darkened doorway.
"Tomo?" Nyamo asked, and went to look.
She saw the shocked look on Tomo's face, saw what Tomo saw, and also got that scared look on her face.
There, in the dark room, was Chiyo's head, separated completely from the rest of her body. And walking out of the room were footprints. Bloody footprints.
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It was about this time that Joe came back from his walk on the beach.
He opened the door to the beach house.
"Hi, everybody, I'm back." Nobody was there.
"Huh, that's weird, I thought they would be up by now." he said, and walked into the center of the room.
"NOW!" Yomi screamed at the top of her lungs. Tomo, Kaorin, Sakaki, Yomi, Yukari, Nyamo, Osaka, and Kagura all jumped Joe.
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Joe lay tied up on the floor, tape across his mouth.
"We won't let you kill anymore of us!" Kagura screamed.
Joe sweat-dropped.
"OK, so, what do we do with him?" Yomi asked.
"I say we throw him in Yukari's car, and start it up so it explodes on him!" Tomo said
"Still stuck on that story, huh?" Chiyo said.
"No, we're deciding what to do with Joe since he killed you, Chiyo" Tomo said.
It took a second to realize what had just happened, and everybody jumped away from Chiyo.
"She's a ghost, come back to haunt us!" Osaka said.
"Ghost?" Chiyo asked, as she yanked the tape off of Joe's mouth.
"OW!" Joe said. "Thanks, Chiyo. Now, as soon as you untie me, I can explain."
Chiyo started, but Yomi stopped her.
"How about you explain, and then we untie you?" Yomi said in a threatening manner.
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Turns out Joe had made the room purposefully dark so that nobody could see what Joe had really done. He had just covered everything but Chiyo's head with a dark blanket, and then taken some of Chiyo's clothes, stuffed them to make them look like they had something in them, and placed them on the ground to make Chiyo's head and body look separated.
They untied Joe after this lengthy explanation, and he went and showed them that it was true.
"But what about the bloody footprints?" Kagura asked
Joe took a wet towel, and rubbed off the stains.
"Just marker. I covered my shoes in red marker, and walked out. I got the marker off of my shoes in the beach water after I left the house."
"Ha, I knew it all along," Yukari said, laughing.
Everybody sweat-dropped.
Everybody was (once again) back swimming, except Joe and Chiyo. Joe had asked Chiyo to stay behind to ask her something.
"Chiyo, I've been meaning to ask, what kind of cat does Sakaki have?"
"She has an Iriomote cat." Chiyo said, not giving it a second thought about telling Joe.
"Iriomote cat?" Joe asked. Though he knew many of the different cat species and breeds, he had never heard of an Iriomote cat.
"Yes, it's a cat found in the mountains of Okinawa." Chiyo explained. "Although Sakaki couldn't take it home with her, Mayaa somehow found Sakaki. Mayaa views Sakaki as almost his surrogate mother."
"Hm…" Joe thought for a moment. "Well, thanks, Chiyo. Say, where's the ladder?"
"Ladder?" Chiyo asked.
"Yeah. I can't get a very good reception with my laptop out here, but if I could get on your roof, I might be able to get a reception." Joe responded
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Chiyo was amazed at Joe's technical abilities. Using a few paper clips, he had managed to make something of an antenna, and had attached to the roof, which he then ran a copper wire tied to it to his laptop, and had gotten all 5 bars on his laptop connection to light up.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Chiyo asked.
"They call themselves the "Geek squad" in America" Joe joked.
Chiyo laughed, and went to join the others on the beach.
Meanwhile, Joe did his research on the Iriomote cat.
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Joe was lying down on the couch, glasses off, with his cat lying on the back of the couch, and Mayaa lying on the opposite leg that Joe's head was on.
He had figured out now why Sakaki had lied to him. The Iriomote cat was an endangered species. It's illegal to own endangered species.
Mayaa suddenly jumped down, and ran toward the door. Joe lay there, and pretended to be asleep, while still keeping one eye open just enough to see what was going on.
Sakaki came walking in the door, and Mayaa jumped into her arms.
Joe stood up, put his glasses on, and smiled.
"…Mayaa views Sakaki as almost her surrogate mother" Chiyo's words echoed in Joe's head, when he saw how happy both Mayaa and Sakaki looked.
"Hey, Sakaki" Joe said.
Sakaki turned her attention toward Joe.
"I've been meaning to ask you, whatever happened to Mayaa's mother?"
Sakaki went silent, and looked in a different direction.
The smile disappeared off of Joe's face. "I see."
Mayaa jumped down from Sakaki's arms.
I wonder, Joe thought.
Joe, without warning and completely surprising Sakaki, went up and gave her a hug.
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Down at the beach, Kaorin sensed a disturbance.
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Wow, she's warm. And she's almost as tall as I am. Joe thought
"Sorry I had to bring back those awful memories for you," Joe said with a smile, after letting Sakaki go. He then walked into his room, and sat down.
I can't let that be broken up by the simple fact that it's illegal. Even if Mayaa is part of an endangered species, it's obvious that both Mayaa and Sakaki love each other. I can't split that up. Nobody should.
Read and Review, please!
Next chapter: Fun with Osaka and Kaorin