A/N: I think it's been almost three weeks now, hasn't it? Again, I'm really sorry to all you faithful readers out there. For some reason this chapter was harder to write, especially since I had a minor case of a writer's block… and then I wrote three different versions for one part of the chapter… and then I just gave up… and then I wrote what I have now. Blegh. It's okay to pm me and tell me to just HURRY UP, since I usually need it and if I'm very bored, I may occasionally take up the pen and write something.
Disclaimer: I would never try to write a story centered around a board game that I can't even play. Therefore, I will never own one.
I hope you enjoy.
Waya: (whimper) Do I have to do this?
Isumi/Hikaru/Vivian: Oh yes… yes you do (evil gleams in eyes)
Waya: …RUN AWAAAAAAY! (leaves in a cloud of dust)
Isumi/Hikaru/Vivian: We're coming in to get you… YOU CANNOT ESCAAAAAPE! (goes after him) BLEHEHEHEHE!
Ghost: (sweatdrops) they're scarier than me.
That's enough of my blabbing now, on with the story!
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It was quite a surprise to Isumi and Hikaru when heavy-metal music started blasting from one of the unconscious Insei's pockets. There were also some vague but very obscene words that they could make out among the "noise," so basically they tried to find the source as fast as they could. (They were very disturbed when the cell phone was found in Ochi's pocket—no, no, just kidding. Sorry, the author doesn't have much self-control… uh… just read on.) When they finally found the cell phone, the caller had hung up and the obscene music ended—much to their relief.
"A cell phone!" Hikaru exclaimed. He snatched it up. It was black and covered with stickers of dragons, skulls, snakes, etc. Typical.
"Now we can communicate with the outside," Isumi said. His cheeks were still slightly red from when his brain had decoded the singer's words. "Dial the police."
Just when he finished saying this, the cell phone lighted up and received a call. The same singer was the ring tone, and started screaming the F-word very loudly from the phone. Hikaru dropped it in surprise. The word repeated over and over again until Isumi lunged and hit the answer button.
The caller: "Oh, honey… honey? Are you there? Are you alright? It'll be okay now… mommy's here."
Hikaru and Isumi just listened in a stunned silence.
When the caller heard the silence she started the hysterics. "Oh my god! Smoochums was murdered! Honey, honey! Oh… nooooooo… breathe honey! Please! Are you dead? NOOOOOO! SMOOCHUMS! Wait are you really dead? NOOOOOO! Don't leave—WAAAAAH…!"
Isumi spoke into the phone, "Hello?"
The caller gasped and screamed into the phone, "SMOOCHUMS?"
Isumi hung up.
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Immediately after Waya arrived on the scene, the ghost took on a visible form. Waya and Vivian watched in awe as gusts of wind blew past them. Papers that were caught in it clattered together, sometimes running at their faces and slashing past them. A miniature tornado of paper formed in the center of the hall as all the wind gathered there. Finally the air calmed and all the papers fluttered to the ground, revealing a young woman in her twenties.
She was beautiful. Her long curtains of hair were black like obsidian. They fell loosely around her shoulders. Her slender frame was clothed in a light silk robe, which had patterns of feathers decorating the bottom rim and small, meticulous sparrows sewn around her collar. She turned slowly, and faced them. The features of her face were delicate, two soft brown eyes with heavy black eyelashes. A nose that fit perfectly on her face, not too flat and not too prominent at the same time. And her lips, a pale crimson color, complimented her pale face, which had a slight, healthy flush in it.
"My name is Chihime," her voice was not soft and subtle, an assumption many had taken after seeing what she looked like. Instead, it was steady and pronounced. She turned to Vivian. "I will ask you again, to please leave."
Vivian replied, "I've already told you my answer to that. I'm not leaving."
Waya looked at her in surprise. He opened his mouth to say something. "W—"
At the sound of his voice, the ghost turned on him, an angry glow emanating from her eyes. In a stormy voice, she boomed, "Silence when you are not being addressed!"
Vivian gulped nervously as she watched Chihime raise her hand. The same force that had been used on her was now used on Waya. The blast of pressurized air hit him square in the chest and threw him against the wall. She felt the ghost's eyes watching her keenly, waiting for her reaction.
"Why—what are you exactly going to do to him?" Vivian asked, struggling to keep the tremble from her voice.
The ghost smiled hideously. It was surprising how such a beautiful face could be ugly at the same time. "I'm going to do whatever I want."
Vivian felt paralyzed by that smile. The beauty of the ghost seemed like a mask of all the ugliness she harbored within her. Feeling an onset of panic, Vivian cleared her thoughts mentally, and thought to herself, What are you so scared of, stupid? You're not even the one in danger!
But Waya was.
He was standing behind her, glaring defiantly at the ghost while she stood shaking in her shoes. She wondered what he would do if he was in her place—and she knew. She felt ashamed of thinking, even just thinking, about abandoning him.
Vivian took her place beside Waya and said to Chihime, "This is what I want."
The smile disappeared from Chihime's face. "So be it," she said impassively. "Although I will give you the chance to leave whenever you want."
Waya smirked. "She's not going to listen to you, you know."
Chihime ignored the words and said, "You do realize you're in no position to make such comments, do you?"
Vivian sighed. Why did Waya decide to provoke her at a time like this?
(Waya: Cause the evil authoress of this evil story told me so!
Me: Feel my power.)
"Remember," the ghost was saying, "you are at my mercy. I can kill you whenever I want."
Waya dismissed it all. "Those are just words."
"Shut up!" The ghost suddenly yelled. The effect on what he had just said on her was enormous. Her soft brown eyes became hard. Her hair started blowing around madly and instead of sash, it resembled twisting vines. The air grew so hot it was almost suffocating, and a slash of wind hit Waya in the stomach. He doubled over, coughing as he tried to regain his breath. Vivian found herself breathing faster and harder from the mere atmosphere of the hall. She was surprised when she found enough breath to ask, "Waya, are you alright?"
He answered as best as he could, panting in between his words, "I'm… fine…" But she could see that he was most definitely not. Beads of sweat slid down his face. His breath was ragged and heavy.
He'd barely finished the pitiful two-word sentence when the ghost forced him on his knees.
"Bow to me," she said. The muscles in his legs screamed in pain. He forced them to resist and tried to get back on his feet, but some strange power the ghost was wielding kept him down. Vivian gasped, "Chihime, please stop this." That simple sentence took so much effort.
"Nonsense," the ghost said, "It was god who decided this. He has been generous enough to give me this time and I will not waste it."
She flicked her finger, and Waya felt his arms snap back and lock behind him from an invisible force. With nothing to support him, he fell forwards.
Bow to me. The ghost's voice vibrated through his ears, making his head ring.
But before he could land on his face, he felt Vivian pull him back up by the shoulder. He regained some balance and tried to get back up, but found himself resting his head on her. She held him close—it was the only thing she could do for him while he suffered the ghost's torment. He could feel her heart beating wildly inside her. (A/N: NOTHING PERVERTED, guys. If Vivian's okay with it, everything's fine. Jeez, don't let your imagination run wild! XD) He closed his eyes and relaxed, giving in to the fatigue he felt in every pore of his body.
"Stop this." Vivian pleaded. "Don't do this. It's… it's inhuman."
"Then tell me this." For some reason, the horrible expression on the ghost's face had vanished. The atmosphere lightened up. "What exactly is human?"
Vivian hesitated. "Well… helping others, making people happy, charity… Anything that is an expression of love and caring from you to something else."
The ghost smiled, as if in pity. "What innocence! Then let me ask you this. What of the poor boy on the streets who steals bread from the bakers? If he does not consume the bread, he will be hungry, malnourished, and maybe even dead. But in his act of stealing, he causes misery to the baker, who loses money. Is the boy, what was you word, inhuman?"
"No, but—"
"You say loving makes you human. Do you realize that love for one could possibly lead to neglecting another?"
"Well—"
"I ask you then, to willingly distribute some of the income your family makes, the kind that you use for pure pleasure, to a stranger you've never met before. Do you ever take off you jacket on a cold rainy day and place it on the shoulders of a shivering old woman?"
"That's not it!" Vivian shouted. "Okay, so maybe some of the things we do aren't the best choices. Maybe the world isn't perfect. But what you're doing is completely wrong. It's something you can't justify, ever. Only somebody who was completely crazy would do something as crazy as this. I mean, it's JUST A GAME!"
"No." This time it was Waya's voice. He sat himself up. "If it was just a game, I wouldn't be here."
"But… Waya…" Vivian faltered. How could she argue?
"What I don't understand though, is your motive." Waya said. "Why would you do something like this?"
Chihime sighed in exasperation. "Must I explain all of this to you in words? Did you not feel my motive when I awoke?"
There was a silence as Waya and Vivian recalled the unfortunate happenings that had put them in this situation. They both remembered the unnaturally strong emotional feelings they had experienced after the ghost awoke and caused this great mess…
Suddenly, Chihime spoke, "There is a disturbance. It seems like your friends from above are trying to somehow communicate with the outside." She examined herself with regret. "My form currently does not enable me to sense their auras clearly—I am bound by some of your physical limitations. However, I will go and seek them out."
Waya and Vivian glanced at each other. What were Isumi and Hikaru up to now?
Chihime walked to the stairs and went through the door. "I will deal with you later, so stay put."
After she left them there, the two remained silent in case the ghost returned. After about a minute, they though it safe enough to talk.
"Hey Waya…" Vivian started. Her voice was a little above a whisper.
"Hm?"
Vivian couldn't bring herself to find the right words. Her cheeks were flushed with red.
"Yes?" Waya pressed on. He waited a moment and she answered hesitantly.
"Back there when the ghost looked at you like… like that. Were you scared?"
Waya was caught off guard by the question. "Uh… well… um… were you?
"…I ASKED YOU FIRST, STUPID!"
Vivian gave him a glare and watched him closely as he answered.
"Well, I wasn't exactly—"
"LIAR."
"What?"
"You're stupid, and you're a liar."
"Okay, okay. Fine. So maybe I was for a teensy bit—"
"LIAR."
"Godammit! Fine! I WAS SCARED."
There was a small silence as Vivian tried to stifle her laughter.
"Haha… Waya was scared!"
"Sh-shut up!" Waya yelled back. His face was red. "You were probably so scared you peed in your pants!"
"Is this word from experience?"
"What? Why you…"
"Besides, I wasn't even talking about that!"
"Then what?"
"YOU were afraid to admit to ME that you were scared! Twice in a row! What now, Waya? What now?"
"You'll regret this Vivian, you will," Waya muttered to himself. Vivian just laughed.
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A/N: Holy crap, I didn't mean for this chapter to be as long as this. (says sorry to my pinky that is sore from typing). Well anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chappie and I hope you stick around long enough to read the next one! (eyes Isumi evilly) Bwahaha.
Special thanks to: MysticChaos (I put it in General cause I didn't really now where the story was headed at the time), Vicky Chain (It's important that I thank you guys because you're one of the important reasons I write!), Darsh (Well, it's nice that you try out different types of stories once in a while), and Kikio Shiroshi (I'm not THAT mean… why would I want to kill Waya? HIS HAIR IS SO AWESOME!)
Waya: (sweatdrop) I think that's the only reason I'm alive.
Me: Actually I swore in the beginning of the story that I wouldn't kill anybody in the story.
Waya: (phew)
Me: But my word is as good as a blob of jelly's, so you shouldn't be relieved.
Waya: I hate you.
Me: I love you. (pats his hair)
Waya: Why me…