Hey all! I'm starting to think I'm really terrible with coming up with titles. I wanted to write this spin-off of sorts, where I can keep short moments like these here. Like in the main fic, they won't be particularly related, just short one-shots. Hope you like them!
About this first chapter, the two stumble upon an old haunted house in an abandoned amusement park. Don't think there are any in Chiba, but anything goes right about now with these fics. Thank you for reading!
"So… you're not scared of those things?"
His usually cold, dead fish eyes glinted as she tilted her head.
So when she saw the words "haunted house" written on a broken piece of wood, stringed with spider webs and a small painted smudge for a ghost - at the entrance of what looked to be an abandoned house, with shattered glasses and screams ringing from the inside - she practically laughed at it so hard Hachiman had to raise an eyebrow, wondering if she had gone through the medicine stash and taken something she shouldn't have taken by mistake.
"Of ghosts?" Sayaka asked anyway. He nodded, still dubious about her reaction. "Hachiman…" she placed her hands on her hips and frowned at him in the cutest pout he ever had to roll his eyes at. Her tone made him sigh and he knew the question had been stupid.
He stared at her a moment "So I take it you don't want to go in." He crossed his arms to his chest silently asking for her to say no.
"Are you kidding me?" His heart sank. Her eyes widened in amusement. "Of course I want to go!" And she took his hand to pull him towards the entrance.
He sighed, but followed her regardless. First they were greeted by a skeleton who laughed at them as they entered through the door and wished them a horrible stay. Then they entered a room with an actor dead and bleeding on the floor and the hologram of his ghost floating around the room laughing in mad shrieks He glanced at her, she stood her ground stoically, maintaining her gaze on the scene and snickering lightly at the spirit wandering around.
"Cute." She called it.
Then they entered another room, where a woman dressed as a bride wailed loudly hunched over a mirror, her veil was down so they couldn't see her face but as she sensed them at the door she stood up slowly, stopped crying and her ragged dirty white dress fluttered as she languidly turned around to face them. In anticipation, Sayaka took a step back and found his hand gripping it tightly in hers.
"Have you seen my groom?" The veiled bride whimpered stretching her arms at Hachiman. Her dress was tinged with a red splatter and she held a knife in her hand.
Sayaka pulled his hand. "Maybe…" she stared wide-eyed at the woman playing bride.
"Want to go?" He asked as she cringed further behind him. She nodded. He placed an arm around her waist and pushed her out of the room.
On the dark blue-lit corridor of the house they paused for a moment, Hachiman still held her hand, none of them daring letting go.
"Too much?" He asked. The pumpkins scattered along the floor flickered their lights casting different shadows on the walls, they boomed distorted laughs from time to time.
"A little bit." Her body shook. "Bloody brides give me the creeps."
"Oh, that gives you the creeps?" He croaked.
"Want to try another room?" She asked.
"You up for it?"
She nodded and before he could reply she pulled him towards a different door. This time the lights were off, and if it weren't for a faint yellow light coming from the shattered window inside the bedroom, they'd be drenched in complete darkness. The door closed and everything became quiet, except for the sound of their heartbeats. Suddenly the window roared a loud thunder, echoing a violent storm outside. The sound of heavy rain tapped on the glass shaking the walls. He felt her hand tightening around his again as she drew closer to him. Flashing lightning blinded them and distorted cries surrounded them.
She swirled on her feet and wrapped herself in his arms. He stiffened at the intimacy but looked down at her at the same time she looked up. For a a second they felt each other's warm breaths close to their lips and forgot about the haunted room they were in.
"You okay?" His hands pressed her back closer against him, so lightly it was almost imperceptible. Right there was the safest place she could be. She barely heard him.
"Actually, I am." She said unbothered, despite the mayhem around them.
"There are other places we…" he began but bit his lip to stop talking. Heart raced inside his chest, she unsteadied him.
He cleared his throat as she looked at him quietly for a long moment, he wasn't sure she had heard his last words, he couldn't read her intent expression; couldn't have guessed what she was thinking. She leaned down her forehead, brushed her bangs gently on the crook of his neck. He
Breathing in shallow gasps, she took his hand and led them out of the room hastily.
"Want to leave this place?" She asked.
"What happened to 'I haven't been scared of that'?" An eyebrow goes up. Her hand gripped his tighter.
"I've had my share of haunted houses." She said lightheartedly.
"Is that so?" He studied her face, so pretty he had to look away not to stare. "Alright, let's leave."
She leaned against his shoulder, brightening up her smile.
He was glad the girl came knocking on his door earlier so they would go have fun around the park. Against all of his barriers, he enjoyed spending time alone with her, more than he would like to admit. She was fun and her warm, outgoing personality awakened in him a playful side he didn't know existed.
They exited the haunted house. When she asked him if he wanted to try some other event before going back to their homes, he could only nod in agreement. He would follow her anywhere.