"I don't think today is a good day to go."
"Eh? Why not?"
"I'm, uh, really tired."
"Mio, it's 8:00."
"I have class tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow's Saturday."
"Dammit, Ritsu!" There wasn't any way to get out of this, and Mio soon found herself very reluctantly following a rather chipper Ritsu towards a haunted house that had set up shop close by. While she did agree to do this, and she knew she needed to conquer her fears, at the moment her entire being was very much against such an event. She put up such a fight that even Yui called her a child. How mortifying. It still made her feel rather embarrassed, so she just quietly and sheepishly followed behind Ritsu, who was humming some stupid horror movie theme with Yui, who had insisted on tagging along. She didn't want to listen to their good mood humming, nor did she want to turn and look at Mugi, who had also decided to go; Mio could feel her eyes staring straight at her, but she just pretended not to notice. "Why couldn't we go earlier?"
Ritsu and Yui looked back and gave her a look, a look that made her feel like they thought her stupid. "That's so stupid, Mio-chan," Yui responded in her characteristically cute high-pitched voice. Yeah, they do...
"Why would we go to a haunted house in the daytime? That's no fun!" They had reached the house, and the four took their place in a small line that had queued up to wait on their turn inside. She didn't realize she was shaking until she heard Mugi's calming voice near her ear.
"Oh Mio-chan, you're shivering. Are you cold?" Mugi's eyes were shimmering with concern, causing a slight tinge of red to grace the raven-haired girl's cheeks. She was pretty content with that lie, but Ritsu wasn't going to allow that.
"Oh no, Mugi. Mio-chan is scaaaared."
"Sh-shut up, Ritsu!" She punched her friend hard on the shoulder, causing her to respond with a slightly pained grin. After that, she spent the rest of their time in line staring at the ground, suddenly feeling very helpless. It seemed as if time was going by too fast, and soon enough she found herself climbing up the steps to the entrance, where the four of them were allowed inside. Once the door was shut, they were plunged into complete darkness.
Without really thinking about it, she grabbed the closest thing to her and clutched it tightly, which turned out to be Yui's arm. "Ah!" she shouted in surprise, causing Mio to jump back, right into something rather solid. What felt like a cold, clammy hand grabbed her shoulder, causing her to let out a loud scream and run forward, slamming right into what turned out to be Ritsu and knocking her to the floor.
"Mio, pull it together! It's only the first room!"
"S-sorry!" She stammered out fearfully, looking around wildly, but she could barely see anything in such a dark room. Another hand grabbed onto her, but this time the hand was grabbing her own, and it felt warm, comforting even. Looking over to her left, she could see the faint outline of Mugi, and could imagine her smiling warmly at her. That made her feel a little more at ease, and she allowed herself to follow Ritsu's voice, Mugi's footsteps in sync with hers. After allowing time for Yui to accidentally walk into a wall, they found themselves in a dimly-lit room, the color red very prominently bathing the walls in its eerie glow. The room had several large sarcophagi leaning against the walls, menacing in their slumber.
"This is so corny," Ritsu muttered with a laugh, but Mio's eyes kept darting from coffin to coffin, fearful that something - or someone - would pop out of them. 'It's just pretend, it's just pretend, she desperately told herself, but even the cold, firm grip of logic didn't quell her rising fear. Her ears picked up a soft creaking sound from behind them, and she quickly whipped around, but the coffin was as still as ever, propped up unmoving on the wall. Breathing a small sigh of relief, Mio turned around and watched as the sarcophagus in front of them slowly open and a mummy began to shuffle out. A loud scream came from her lips, and she could feel both Mugi's hand on her own and Ritsu's on her shoulder. "Mio, come on!" Ritsu shouted to be heard over her terrified friend.
"N-n-no, I-I can't do this, Ritsu!" Mio shouted right back in horror, and without warning she jerked her hand away from Mugi and started to run back the way they came. She ignored the surprised calls of her friends and yanked open the door to the previous room, only remembering how dark it was when she barreled inside and the door closed behind her, plunging her vision into complete darkness. Heart racing in panic, she ran forward in a desperate attempt to find the door, but ended up tripping over her own feet and crashing down to the floor. With now-sore knees, the raven-haired girl didn't attempt to get up, instead allowing herself to become overrun by negative emotions. Hot tears stained her cheeks and spattered on the floor as she cried, choking back a sob and pressing her shaking hands to her face. Her feelings of fear were ever-so slowly being replaced with hot shame, her face burning as she silently cried. She had completely failed, and she knew there was no way she could go back in there and show her face. On top of that, her fall had gotten her sense of direction all fouled up, and she had no clue where either door was now. For a moment, she just considered lying there and hoping the floor would just swallow her up, but the sound of a door opening caused her to lift her head up and look around. She could see the door to the coffin room open, and Mugi standing in the doorway, a look of terror clearly etched on her face even in the dimmed light.
"Mio! Oh gosh, it's terrible! Yui and Ritsu were kidnapped!" Eyes widening in surprise, Mio found her footing and began walking towards the door, quickly wiping her tears away with her sleeve. Once she got there, she allowed Mugi to pull her inside, the door shutting behind them. The two other girls were indeed not there, but why would they have been kidnapped? And by who?
"Mugi... I-Is this one of Ritsu's stupid jokes?"
"No! That mummy in the coffin? He wasn't part of the haunted house, and he grabbed Yui and Ritsu! I'm lucky he didn't grab me too! Oh Mio-chan, what will he do to them?" They really were kidnapped?... What was she to do? She considered just getting out of there with Mugi and alerting someone, but then who knew what might happen to Yui and Ritsu by then. The mummy guy couldn't have gotten far... With a nervous gulp, Mio steeled her nerves as best she could and looked at her remaining friend.
"We have to go after them."
"O-oh Mio-chan, but what if he's already escaped?"
"Then... Th-then that's a risk we have to take. He's probably heading for the end of the house, and he'll leave through there. We have to catch him! Come on!" Grabbing Mugi's hand, Mio began to run towards the end of the blood-red room. No sounds came from the coffins as the two girls rushed past, and quickly she had her hand on the exit. The third room awaited her, and she knew how terrified she felt... But her friends meant too much to her to allow herself to go back and cry on the floor. Exchanging a determined but fearful nod with Mugi, she opened the door and headed inside.