Mayu`s POV
After we got out of the pool we went back into our respective rooms and got changed. Instead of getting changed back into our costumes we figured we`d just get changed into our spare clothes we brought. We all went down stairs and just relaxed in the living room. We`d put movie on but me and Shig were the only ones watching. I had my head rested on his chest and he had my arm round me. It was heavenly. Everyone else was too pre occupied to notice us and if they had noticed then they didn't seem to care. Yoshiki, Satoshi and Ayumi were sat at the table playing cards. Yoshiki and Ayumi were next to each other and Satoshi was on the other end. Naomi and Seiko were lying on the floor on a blanket. Naomi was trying to watch the film but she was constantly being felt up by Seiko.
"Will you stop it." said Naomi angrily as she slapped Seiko`s hand away from her ass.
"Loooooooooooove you." cooed Seiko, giggling.
"Yeah, and I love you too but I don't go around trying to touch your ass." she said. Seiko passed for a moment.
"I`d let you." she said quietly.
"Your just…..werid." said Naomi dismissing her.
"Will you two can it?" said Satoshi. Yoshiki groaned.
"Hurry up and pick a card will you?" he said. "It`s not that hard." Seiko giggled.
"Heh Heh. Dirty." she giggled. Satoshi just rolled his eyes and ignored her.
"I`m trying to think." he said, looking Yoshiki dead in the eye. "I can use mind games to work out what cards he had." I looked back to the TV screen. A man and a woman were kissing passionately. I looked up and Shig tryinf to drop him a hint but he had his eyes closed and he was breathing deeply. He was asleep. It was so cute. I would`ve squealed with joy but I didn't want to wake him up. He did look really tired earlier. I wasn't surprised. Running around in the forest with Yoshiki trying to find Seiko. He was so brave and kind too. No one else seemed to notice this about him other than me. Most people outside of our little group tended to ignore him, and even the people in it didn't speak to him that very much outside of class. I was the only one that did. He doesn't seem to have any friends beside me. Sometimes, when I go out with Ayumi and the other girls I feel sorry for him because I know that he`ll be alone. But now, after today, I know he`ll be okay. He gets along with everyone else really well. Espically Seiko and the other boys. He needs other friends apart from me. I can`t be there for him forever. Or could I…? I pressed me ear against his chest and listened to him breath. He sounded so peaceful. I could probably fall asleep like this myself. I was pretty tired. He mumbled something in his sleep.
"No…phone…..window….." I wonder what he was dreaming about? Probably something nice. He suddenly jolted and woke up. He looked around, startled.
"You okay?" I asked. He looked scared. He looked down at me and smiled.
"Yes. Yes I am now." he said. He looked at the TV. "Urhmm…..what are we watching?" I looked at the TV and gasped. The characters had gone past just kissing and now…the guy was tickling her with a feather? And she was moaning?
"Looks like sex." blurted Seiko. I had to laugh. Naomi saw the TV and gasped as well. She glared at Satoshi.
"Get that filth off the TV!" she shouted. Satoshi picked up the remote and skipped the scene.
"Well that was pretty sensual." said Seiko. I could see she was running it over in her head. I was certain that sometime in the future Naomi was going to get an unpleasant reminder about what those two characters did.
"Guys….." started Seiko. Here we go. Get ready. "I`m hungry." Oh. That wasn't that bad.
"What do you want then Seiko?" asked Satoshi, letting Ayumi take one of his cards. Seiko paused for a moment and thought.
"Cake." she replied.
"Nope sorry. Ain`t got no cake." he said taking one of Yoshiki`s cards. "Unless anyone can bake?" Everyone shook their heads.
"Shame." mumbled Seiko. Shig raised his arm.
"I can bake." he said. Wow, you learn something new every day. I liked the idea of him cooking for me. It was romantic.
"Nice one Shig!" Seiko shouted.
"No." interrupted Naomi. "Don't bother Morishige. It`s the middle of the night. You don't need to make a cake, she doesn't need it." Shig put his arm down and Seiko looked defeated.
"Buzz kill." mumbled Seiko. I looked back to the TV and sighed. I wondered if I could get away with a nap myself. I must`ve fallen asleep but an unknown amount of time later Seiko`s voice woke me up. "I`m bored." she whined.
"Same." said Satoshi throwing his cards on the table. Yoshiki groaned dumping his hand. Ayumi did the same
"I was just about to win." he moaned.
"Tough luck." Satoshi replied. He turned around to the rest of us. "What do you want to do now?"
"Can I suggest something?" said Ayumi. Oh dear. I know what she`s going to say.
"Go for it." replied Satoshi, nonchalantly.
"How about we tell ghost stories?" she suggested. I knew it. Everyone groaned. Ayumi`s ghost stories were infamous around the class, even the school.
"Is that a wise idea?" asked Naomi. "After evening that happened in the forest, does everyone want to be spooked again?" Yoshiki butted in.
"Come on guys. We all got to do what we wanted. Why can`t she?" Ayumi beamed at him.
"Th-thanks Yoshiki." she said. Satoshi gave up.
"Fine. Fine. We`ll tell ghost stories."
Morishige`s POV
Ayumi took control and she made us all sit down in a circle. She got some candles out of her bag and placed them in random places around the room. She told us it was to create an 'ambience'. Satoshi turned the lights off and the room plunged into an eerie candle lit glow.
"Who wants to go first?" asked Ayumi.
"I will!" shouted Seiko. She then bolted out the room and ran upstairs. We all looked at Naomi, expecting an explanation but she just shrugged. We heard banging around upstairs.
"I think she`s in….Yuka`s room?" said Satoshi. We heard running down the stairs and Seiko burst through the doorway holding a mirror in one hand and a bowl of water in the other. She slammed the mirror and the ball down onto the tale, grabbed a candle and slammed that down next to them. She wasn't about to do what I thought she was.
"Bloody Mary! Bloody Mary! Bloody Mary!" she screamed.
"No don't!" shouted Naomi but it was too late. We paused; expecting the ghost of a centuries old queen to come and strangle us or something but nothing happened.
"See!" shouted Seiko, smiling. "It doesn't work!" She seemed oddly happy with her results.
"Right well, now that Seiko has got everyone on edge, I`ve got a really bone chilling story for you." said Yoshiki. This should be good. Seiko sat down to listen.
"So this is less of a story and more of a ritual but trust me it`s good. So let me tell you about 'the midnight game'. Apparently, 100s of years ago in Europe these groups of witches used to do this as a ritual. They used it as a punishment for people that broke the laws. Nowadays it`s only done by occult freaks and thrill seekers." he said. He quickly turned to Ayumi.
"No offence Ayumi."
"None taken." she replied.
"Alright but what's the game? asked Satoshi.
"I`ll tell you now." explained Satoshi.
"So what you do is before midnight, you write your full name on a piece of paper and then put one droplet of your own blood onto the paper. You then turn off every source of light in your house and place your piece of paper behind a closed wooden door. Then you knock on the door 22 times but the last knock has to be on the stroke of midnight. Then open your door blow out your candle and then light it immediately. You have just summoned the Midnight Man."
"Then what happens?" whispered Ayumi. She was really into it.
"Then what you have to do is walk around your house in the pitch black trying to avoid the midnight man. Some people say they go cold, or they hear whispering and some say they see hallucinations of a shadowy blob or some ever say they see their darkest fears. When the midnight man is near your candle will go out. You must relight it in 10 seconds. Should you fail to do this then you must surrounded yourself in a circle of salt until 3:33am. And should you fail to do that then you will have lost the game and the midnight man will slowly tear out your organs….one…bye…one." I felt shivers go up my spine. He must`ve been spending too much time with Ayumi. He probably soaked up all her creepiness or something.
"Well that sounds nice….." said Seiko. "You wanna play that Naomi?"
"No thanks." replied Naomi.
"Well thank you Yoshiki." said Ayumi, smugly. "You`ve set me up nicely."
"Errr…thank you?" said Yoshiki. I had a feeling that whatever Ayumi had in store for us was going to seriously freaky. She picked up a candle and put it up to her face.
"So one day I was on the internet and I stumbled across this blog about ghost stories. The blog told of a legend from where our city used to be. Hundreds of years ago there lived a witch who was executed for witchcraft and on her death bed she cursed the hut where she lived." I shifted in my seat.
"She said if anyone ever went into her hut then they would release a monster that would stalk them and kill them and everyone else they cared about. Now the person on the blog claimed that they found the hut out somewhere in a nearby forest. And day after day they went up to the hut and looked in through the window but never in. And then one night she decided she would go inside the hut. She slowly opened the creaky old wooden door. And-! There was nothing inside." No way. It couldn't be. Surely not. "The hut was empty. The only thing that was in it was a small, old wooden trap door." I looked over at Yoshiki. He looked back at me and went pale. Seiko started to bite her nails. "She sees the trapdoor and decides not to push her luck so she leaves. She then leaves one last post telling her followers that next time, she`s going to open the trapdoor but she is never heard from again….." Satoshi started to clap.
"Wow Ayumi. That was really good." he said.
"Yeah Ayumi. You really have a knack for spooky things." said Mayu. Seiko started to cry. Yoshiki rubbed his neck nervously.
"Seiko. Seiko what`s the matter?" said Naomi, putting her arms around the crying girl. "It`s only a story." Seiko said something incomprehensible through her tears. Yoshiki coughed to clear his throat.
"We…..errrrr…..w-we found the shack." he said. He looked pretty freaked out. A clock chimed somewhere in the house. I felt a chill go down my spine. Ayumi laughed nervously.
"Hahaha. No, no way. It`s just a fictional story." she said. Mayu leant closer to me and whispered in my ear.
"Is that true Shig?" she asked nervously. I nodded.
"Seiko, is that true?" she asked. Seiko continued to cry; not giving a response. Naomi turned to me.
"Is that true Morishige?" she asked. I had to try and be the voice of reason here.
"We found a shack. It isn't necessarily the one in Ayumi`s story." I replied calmly. "However, the shack we found does sound similar to the one in the story…" I was starting to get uneasy. Surely this was just a coincidence. It had to be.
"But it sounds just like it?" asked Satoshi. I nodded.
"Yes. The description in the story does fit what we found." I replied. There was a pause for a moment. Satoshi went very very pale. He must`ve noticed this himself and forced himself to smile through it.
"Maybe you unleashed the monster." he joked nervously. Seiko started to cry even harder . The monster. I`d forgotten about the monster. Seiko and Satoshi had both seen… something, out there in the forest. Satoshi`s description was vague at best and Seiko wasn't in any state to tell us what she saw. Naomi glared at him.
"Satoshi, stop it. You`re scaring her." she snapped. Satoshi bowed his head to apologise.
"I`m sorry." he mumbled. Seiko continued to bawl and so Naomi helped her up and led her out of the room. "There there Seiko. Please don't cry. There`s no monster. It`s a just story." she reassuringly as she led the crying girl out of the room.
"There can`t be any monsters." said Yoshiki, folding his arms. "Monsters don't exist." He was doing his best not to look scared.
"Depends on what you define as a monster." said Mayu. That too gave me goosebumps. She`d been quiet for a while and that`s the first thing she says? Strange. Yoshiki nodded.
"Yeah I guess so. The mind could pass anything that looks strange in the darkness off as a monster. That would be a more logical explanation." he said.
"You can`t prove that." said Satoshi, starting to raise his voice. "I saw something out there. I swear." Yoshiki stood up.
"Look, Satoshi. It was probably just a bird or something. You`d be scared by anything out there." scoffed Yoshiki. That was a big hit to Satoshi`s ego. Lucky Naomi wasn't around to hear it.
"You think your tough, do you!?" Satoshi was shouting now. He stood up to face Yoshiki.
"Guys, please-" started Ayumi.
"You know what? Yeah, yeah I do! It my ass that was on the line out there to go fetch Seiko! Didn't see your scrawny hide looking for her!" shouted Yoshiki.
"Alright then!" shouted Satoshi pressing a finger into Yoshiki`s chest. "Go out there! Go into the forest to the shack! And open the trapdoor! If you don't see anything out there then you can prove me wrong! If you don't…..then you don't." screamed Satoshi. Yoshiki took a step back and took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Okay. Fine. I will." he replied calmly. Ayumi gasped.
"No Yoshiki. Don`t." she said standing up.
"No. I`m going." he replied. Satoshi had sat back down now.
"Please. I really don't want you to go." begged Ayumi.
"No, no. It`s fine. I`ll prove to Satoshi there`s no monster." he took her hand in his. "Like you said it`s fictional, right?" She nodded.
"Y-yeah. Okay then. Good luck." The door opened and Naomi came in looking very stressed.
"Seiko`s finally stopped crying." she said, whipping her forehead. "I gave her a drink and now she`s quietly sipping it." Seiko sounded like a baby. If it was in any other situation it would`ve been funny. Naomi narrowed her eyes.
"Why`re you two holding hands?" she asked with a smile on her face.
"N-no reason!" replied Ayumi jerking her hands away from Yoshiki. "He was just leaving."
"Why? Where`s he going?" asked Naomi.
"Monster hunting." he replied. Naomi looked concerned.
"Is that a good idea?" she asked.
"Yeah it`s fine." he replied and pointed to Satoshi. "I`m gonna prove to chicken boy over there that there`s nothing out there. No monsters. Nothing." Satoshi looked like he was gonna say something but Ayumi gave him evils and he stayed silent.
"Alright then. Good luck." Naomi said.
"Thanks. I`ll be fine though." he said. He started to leave the room but Naomi stopped him.
"Don't say anything to Seiko. I don't want you to set her off again." she said sternly. He nodded.
"I won`t." he replied as he left the room. It went silent for a few minutes as he heard him leave. I checked my phone for the time. It was a little past 3am. Halloween was over. As soon as we heard the back door close, Ayumi jumped up and leant over the table and grabbed Satoshi by the collar and shook him.
"You son of a bitch!" she shouted with tears in her eyes. I jumped up and attempted to prise her away from Satoshi. Naomi did the same. "Why did you make him do that?! You knew he wouldn't back down! You bastard!" Naomi struggled to prise her away from him.
"Ayumi please! Stop!" shouted Naomi. Ayumi let go of him.
"I didn't make him do anything!" Satoshi shouted back. The door creaked open and Seiko appeared in the doorway in her pyjamas holding a glass of milk.
"Guys. Please don't argue." she said, softly. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying.
"I`m sorry Seiko." said Ayumi. She turned back to Satoshi. "And I`m sorry too Satoshi." She sat back down in her seat. "I`m just….ugh I don't know!" she said rubbing her eyes.
"Tired?" asked Naomi.
"In love." corrected Seiko as she took a seat next to Mayu. Ayumi mumbled something. Satoshi sat back down in his place as Seiko cuddled up to Mayu. I slid back against the wall and sat on the floor. I looked back at my phone. 3:20am. This was going to be a long night.
It`d been over an hour since Yoshiki had left and we`d spent most of that time in silence. Partly because we didn't have anything else to say to one and other but mostly because we didn't want to wake Seiko, who had fallen asleep in Mayu`s lap. Mayu gently played with her hair while she slept. Despite the scary situation; Mayu looked content. It was nice to see her so happy in these circumstances. Much better than freaking out over some monster that may or may not exist.
"I think we should call him." whispered Ayumi out of the blue. "It`s been over an hour and I`m getting worried. What if he`s lost?"
"He won`t get lost." I replied. "Me and him spent hours walking through that place in the dark and we managed to navigate our way through it. Trust me he`ll be fine."
"I still think we should call him." she persisted. I rubbed my hands through my hair. I was having visions of one of those scenes in horror movies where the character is found by the killer after their phone goes off whilst they`re hiding.
"Alright fine." I replied. "But do it out there so you don't wake Seiko." I whispered pointing to the door. Ayumi got her phone out of her bag and left the room. Seiko stirred in her sleep.
"N-naomi….." she mumbled.
"Awwww." whispered Mayu. "She dreams about you. That`s so cute." said Mayu.
"Yeah. I guess it is…" Naomi replied gently, smiling. Seiko made a squeezing motion with her hand.
"Buns…" mumbled Seiko. Mayu giggled as Naomi rolled her eyes.
"What about you and…." Naomi coughed and tilted her head towards to me. Mayu blushed. Before she could answer, Ayumi came back into the room looking worried.
"He`s not answering." she said.
"I`m sure he`s fine." I replied, trying to keep her calm. "Try not to worry."
"Let me try him." Satoshi said getting his phone out. That was the first time he`d said anything in over an hour. He dialled Yoshiki and let it ring. There was a very faint noise coming from inside the house. Satoshi shushed us and we went silent.
"No he hasn't!" shouted Satoshi jumping out of his seat and running out the door. Seiko stirred at the noise and woke up.
"Hey Mayu." she said yawning. "Why`re you upside down?" Mayu giggled. Seiko sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"You sleep well, Seiko?" asked Naomi.
"Oh yeah." replied Seiko happily. "I had the most wonderful dream about your ass." I smirked. Good old Seiko. At least she was back to normal. Satoshi came through the door looking worried.
"He left his phone." he said holding up Yoshiki`s phone. "He must`ve forgotten to pick it up when we were getting changed."
"But that means….." started Ayumi but trailed off.
"We can`t contact him." I finished. The clock chimed again. Ayumi curled her legs up to her body. She was starting to worry. I had to try and keep her and everybody else calm.
"Seiko?" I asked.
"Yes Shig?" she replied.
"What did you see out there?" I asked. Naomi jumped in.
"Morishige don't." she said sternly. "You`ll just upset her again."
"No no Naomi." replied Seiko. "I`m okay now." She turned to me. "I don't really remember it to clearly except it was tall and it had long arms."
"Is there anything else? Anything at all?" I asked.
"I think it might`ve had red eyes… I don't know. I`m sorry." she replied. I sighed and rubbed my head.
"Give me a second." said Satoshi standing up and leaving. Where the hell was Yoshiki? I couldn't keep this lot calm by myself. Satoshi returned with a large sheet of paper and a pen.
"Give me that." said Naomi taking the pen from him. "No one can read your scrawl." She wrote 'Tall', 'Long arms' and 'Red eyes?' down on the paper.
"Tell me about the eyes Seiko." I said.
"Well, they were red and fairly small. They were also in a strange place." she said. Naomi wrote all that down.
"Strange how?" I asked.
"They weren't on its head. Well, they weren't where it`s head should`ve been. It looked like it was on it`s chest?" She replied.
"Then how do you know it was tall?" I asked.
"Well I don't. I just assumed it was." Naomi crossed out tall and wrote 'small? animal?' next to it.
"What about you Satoshi? This sound familiar to you?" I asked. He shrugged.
"I don't know. I didn't get a proper look at it. I just ran." he answered. It was time to consult our resident supernatural expert. Hopefully she could rule out anything like a monster.
"What does this sound like to you Ayumi?" I asked.
"We must not look at goblin men." she replied. Everyone went quiet. That was not the answer I was looking for.
"Excuse me?" said Naomi.
"It`s a poem." I explained. We`d read it in literature class. "Goblin Market."
"We must not look at goblin men. We must not buy their fruit. Who knows upon what soil they fed their hungry thirsty roots?" she continued.
"You think it`s a goblin?" I asked.
"That`s what it sounds like to me." she said. "Small, red eyes, long arms in comparison to its body. I`d say that`s a goblin."
"Goblins don't exist though do they?" asked Mayu.
"Well not officially no." answered Ayumi. "But a lot of things don't officially exists."
"Can you defeat them?" asked Seiko. This was getting ridiculous.
"Guys come on." I said standing up. "Let`s be rational here. Goblins aren't real."
"You sound like Yoshiki." said Satoshi.
"And you lot all sound like kids." I said. "There has to be some reasonable rational explanation for this. Some animal or something."
"Yeah but what if it`s not?" said Ayumi. "What if he`s running around out there being chased by a gob-" Something smashed in the other room. We all went silent. I sat back down quietly.
"What was that?" whispered Seiko worriedly.
"Sorry that was me. Dropped a glass." said a familiar voice. The door opened and to our relief Yoshiki was stood there. We all sighed in relief. It was good to see him in one piece.
"Yoshiki!" shouted Ayumi in joy and pulled him into a hug. "You`re alive!" He laughed.
"Yes. Yes I am." he said. He looked at me and nodded. I smiled. His eyes turned to Satoshi.
"There`s nothing out there." he said.
"Did you open the trapdoor?" Satoshi asked.
"Yes I did. It was empty. No body. No demon. No skeleton. No notebook. Nothing." he replied. Ayumi shifted uncomfortably and sat back down. She looked uneasy. Not massively but noticeably.
"Well I guess I was wrong." said Satoshi standing up and putting his arm round his friend. "I`m sorry. Let`s just put this thing behind us."
"Yeah let`s." Yoshiki replied smiling.
"Awwwwww." cooed Seiko. "A true bromance." We all laughed. Satoshi sat back down.
"Now what?" he asked.
"I`m hungry." said Seiko. Classic Seiko.
"Well what do you want?" asked Satoshi. Seiko paused and thought for a moment.
"….Cake!" she shouted. Naomi shot her down.
"No Seiko. You can`t have cake for breakfast." she said sternly. She sounded like a mum.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh come on." she whined. "Why not?"
"Because, Morishige`s the only one that can bake and we`re not going to ask him to bake us a cake at half past 4 in the morning. I stood up and smiled.
"No don't worry Naomi. It`s quite alright. We`ve all been through a lot tonight so I`d be happy to make a cake." I said.
"Yay! Cake!" shouted Seiko smiling.
"There should be more than enough ingredient in stock." said Satoshi. "Go nuts." I stood up to leave.
"I want chocolate!" shouted Seiko as I left the room. Classic Seiko.
A/N: First, I`m British so it`s mum not mom. Second, I really enjoyed writing that one. I had real good fun doing that. It was great. Sad news. There`s only two chapters left. Sad times indeed. But it`s okay. And you`ll find out at the end of the story. If you like that please leave a review, I enjoy knowing what you all think. Anyway, thank you very much for reading, goodnight.