Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni SAI
When They Cry Again
Disclaimer
I do not own Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Kai) or anything like that. My characters are obviously mine, though. That's Mikan, Nanaha, Nina, Kain, Sanyu, Ryouno, Mishi Takano, and Ayu..
Notes
I think my pairing will be KeiichixRika unless I get votes saying otherwiseFufufu. Sorry for not updating recently. I'll try to get back in the habit of updating constantly D
. A R C . T H R E E .
The Bleeding Promise Chapter
C h a p t e r 0 1 3 : Box of Curses
"YEEEEK!" Mikan screamed in alarm, stumbling back when Ayu appeared. She accidentally knocked the white box back as well and it fell between the two boards Mikan had been sitting on and at least three feet under the "surface junk".
Ayu watched this with an innocent look on her face, no longer scary when she moved out of the sun light.
"Ah? Mikan-chan? Are you okay?" She asked with mild concern, walking over. The little black haired girl just shivered and shuddered, her eyes watering and body numb from fear.
"A-ayu-san... I wasn't expecting you." Mikan said quietly, her voice shaking as much as her body, "What brings you...?"
"You were bent over. I thought you were crying."
Really now? Well.. Maybe she could have looked like she was crying when she was reading... But ever since Ayu tried to strangle her, Mikan was getting a bit suspicious of the older girl. Her weird diary was no help.
"No. I was looking for something." She replied slowly.
"Was it that box?"
Mikan twitched and looked up at Ayu. The older girl was glaring.
"Is it?"
"What box?" Mikan returned the hard look. She hadn't mentioned the box to Ayu, had she? So how did she know about it?
"Don't get smart with me, Mikan. You got that necklace out of a box. It's time to put it back."
The tone of Ayu's voice was a bit frightening, but Mikan was feeling stubborn.
"I don't know what you're talking abou-"
"DON'T LIE." Mikan shivered. Ayu was getting really scary... "It's time to put the necklace back, Mikan!"
"You'll just take it for yourself!" Replied the stubborn girl, "There's nothing wrong with me having it!Finders keepers!"
Ayu gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. "It's cursed,Mikan." She said firmly, trying to look calm again, "It's very cursed. That box is a special box for putting cursed things in."
Cursed?
Mikan blinked.
"How...?"
"It just is. Now hurry and put everything you got from there back in."
At first, Mikan didn't want to. But after a second she nodded and let Ayu help her pull the box back up. They put the book, necklace and fallen dress back in. It wasn't until later that evening, when Mikan got home, that she realized she still had one of the dresses in her bag and the keychain in her hair.
It'll be fine, though. I'll return them in the morning.
And with that optimistic promise, Mikan curled up by Nina and Nanaha to go to bed. What type of curse could come from a silly box anyways?
"It's almost time... I wonder if I'll be able to get it done in time.."
... A mumble...? A voice she couldn't make out...
"I know, I know... But... Just in case..."
... That voice again. She could make out a word. "The curse"
"It will come soon... It always comes soon... The lid has been lifted..."
... Lid... she remembered the box...
"... I'm sorry..."
She drifted off into sleep again.
Mikan woke up with a horrible headache. Her eyes felt heavy from a meaningless sleep. She felt as thought she had not slept a wink... Pushing herself up, the girl began to rub at her eyes and yawn.
"Mmmm!! Good morning!" She said in between yawns and tired grumbles, "Who's up?"
"Both of us." Chirped the voice of Nanaha. The blonde was standing behind the older girl, who sat in a chair at a new desk. Blinking, Mikan stood up and wobbled over to the chair
"What are you doing...? Where'd the desk come from...?" She asked, trying to rub sleepiness out of her eyes, "Ninee?"
"Kain brought it up." Nina said simply, grinning, "Isn't it pretty? I think we should paint it..."
"It'd be fun." Nanaha chirped happily, "But we need to get paint first..."
"And brushes..."
"So what are you doing?" Mikan asked, seeing as this hadn't answered her first question.
Reminded of this, Nina blushed and lifted a paper off of her desk, waving it and laughing nervously. "Well, I'm writing a story for the paper! I get ten dollars a week for my story and fortune telling..."
Mikan nodded slowly, then smiled and reached out for it. "Can I read?"
Nina squeaked and shook her head, leaning back to keep it out of Mikan's grasp... And falling backwards with a shriek of alarm. She hit the ground with such a loud 'thump' that Ayu and Kain came rushing in.
"What happened?!" Ayu asked, before spotting Nina. She crossed her arms and sighed, shaking her head. "Oh. It's you...Nina, you're such a klutz."
"Auuu... Not my fault.." Whined Nina as she pushed herself off the ground, only Kain and Nanaha helping her. Mikan had spotted Ayu, and Ayu had spotted her, so the two were giving each other not-so-friendly looks.
Mikan gulped nervously, wondering if maybe Ayu knew she still had some of the cursed stuff. If she told Ayu, she'd be really angry for sure! It had to be kept secret until she could get it back to the box...
"Well... Since we're all here, and Kain got paid yesterday..." Nanaha started happily when Nina was standing,a mischievous look in her eyes, "Let's get breakfast!"
Nina laughed nervously, her face bright red since Kain was the one holding her up at the moment. "S-sure. I have some money too... HYAK!"
The scream was the result of a... accident? We should so... on Kain's part. His hand had slipped from Nina's shoulder to her poorly developed chest, resulting in the little scream and a bright red, frozen Nina. Everyone turned their attention to this and went silent.
"Oooh... Kain's a perv" Nanaha sang out after a few seconds of silence, grinning slyly, "Pervert!"
"Huh? What... AAH! Nina, I'm sorry!" He exclaimed, moving his hand away.
"I-It's... okay..." Nina replied, still bright red. Nanaha giggled louder.
"So you liked it, Nina?" She teased.
"N-NO!" Nina exclaimed,"B-Bad Nanaha! You shouldn't treat your mother that way!"
Though Ayu and Kain were a bit urked by how Nina felt of herself as a mother, they did not do anything other than watch.
"W-well... I guess I really owe you lunch now." Kain finally said with a nervous laugh. Nanaha and Ayu joined in.
As the group prepared to go to the cafe for breakfast, Mikan lifted her gaze to outside the window. Were those items really cursed? She didn't feel like a curse was coming...But...
"I need to go somewhere first. Can you go ahead and order me some chocolate chip pancakes?" She asked, smiling at the group. Nina smiled kindly and nodded.
"Okay... But please be careful, Mikan. Come back soon... Where are you going?"
Ayu was giving her a hard, scary look... She couldn't say the junk pile, or she would know what was up... But lying to Nina... That was bad... Would something bad like that make the curse happen...?
Naw. It'll be fine.
Mikan smiled. "I have a surprise to make" She explained with a wink. The others must have bought this excuse, since they all smiled, nodded, and then headed out. The only one whose gaze lingered was Ayu...
It made her shudder.
She knows...
It only took Mikan ten minutes to get there and finish. Ayu's hard stares had scared her witless,giving her just the speed that she needed. It was amazing what some fear could do. Before long, Mikan had stuffed the remaining stuff into the cursed white box.
Smiling, proud of her work, Mikan got up again and headed off. It was a bit unnerving to be the only one out that... It was so early that not many other people were awake yet.
Bang.
Mikan stopped in her tracks and turned around. She had heard something in the junk pile... It was like metal falling on metal... Had something been moved?
But...By who?
"H-Hello!?" She called.
No response.
Shivering, Mikan turned and bolted. This was too much! It was really scary!! As she ran, Mikan could swear she heard someone following her, so picked up the pace.
As she got closer to the town, Mikan noticed something... Odd. It was quiet, but more so than she would have expected it to be...
Suddenly, someone came running towards Mikan. It looked like Nanaha. And she seemed to be crying.
"N-Nanaha?What's wrong?" She asked nervously. Nanaha grabbed her by the shoulders, staring at her hard.
"N-Nina-mama is missing!" Nanaha exclaimed, "It was so scary! This white van... It tried to run into us! And we all ran aside... And then she was gone!"
"E-Eh? What type of van...?" Mikan asked.
"It had no license plate or anything! I couldn't even see a driver! It was a cursed caaarrr!"
Cursed.
Mikan gulped.
"W-Well! Let's get looking!" She said quickly, "Hurry up, Nanaha!"
A cursed van... The curse of her box... Mikan didn't like the way things were adding up.
End Notes
Ummm... This ends with the next chapter. Hurray!