"oi, is it true someone saw a ghost?"
"yea. The foreign woman there saw it"
"I heard rumors that this place is haunted but…"
The whole lodge was filled with commotion. Everyone was starting to feel unnerved thanks to the headless figure Mary, the foreigner, saw. Everyone except Shizune, Hayama and of course, Akashi. She doesn't and will never believe in superstitions so she thinks all of this is just a prank from someone. Hayama was just delighted that the place was really haunted. Akashi on the other hand, never gets scared.
"ridiculous."
His cold voice silenced the guests gathering in the dining hall and their gaze fixed on the redhead teen leaning on the wall with a bored look on his face.
"creating so much noise over a hallucination, it really is ridiculous."
"what was that!?" Mary slammed her hands on the table and stood up from her seat, glaring daggers at him. "are you implying that I lied!?"
"I'm not. I'm just saying that you imagined the headless 'ghost' you saw."
The foreigner trembled with rage and irritation, and it took all her will power to not grab the vase in front of her and smash it on Akashi's head. How dare he say that to me!
"Mary-san, you could speak Japanese?" Shizune questioned, noticing she didn't use English to snap at the male.
"ah yes." She answered. The girl's soft and kind— though it sounded pretentious in the ears of Akashi —voice calmed her down so she managed to smile. "my mother is Japanese so I learnt the language from her.."
The brunette released a thoughtful hum and turned to Akashi, her lips turning into a frown. "can't you act more gentleman-like? That was rude, y'know" and you're the Akashi family's heir, for god's sake…
"I don't have the obligation to act like that to someone who created a ruckus over some woman's delusion."
The Rakuzan students who were just quietly listening started to murmur some words after hearing what Akashi said and Mary nearly broke her nails clenching her fists.
"don't tell me you actually believe in these kind of things, Kudo"
The girl huffed and crossed her arms, a smirk forming on her face, " 'course not. Someone must've used some kind of projection to scare people here" she declared with confidence and the guests clapped in awe but only the foreign woman looked unsatisfied.
"that wasn't a projection! I really saw it!"
"Mary-san, I know you think what you saw was real but—"
"shut up! You're saying all those stuff because you haven't seen it for yourself! If you saw it, I'm sure you'll believe me!"
The fuming woman left the hall and slammed a door— which is presumably her room's —real loud which shaken some of the items in the lodge. Shizune sighed guiltily and the other guests returned to their room since they no longer had any business there. (their only motive was to find out what the scream was about)
"I wonder if it was really a projection…"
Mibuchi wondered out loud worriedly. He knew that his Sei-chan and Shizune are not believers of such things but if it was a projection like the female detective said, then from where did it come from? A projector like item wasn't found anywhere and there weren't any sockets around the place to plug in the projector.
"a projection is the only logical explanation I can come up with. Well, there is a possible case of imagination like Akashi said because of the rumors here…"
"rumors?" Nebuya, who was quiet until now, asked.
"yes. Actually 1 year ago, a man beheaded his wife with a butcher knife deep in the forest after learning about her affair. He then committed suicide by hanging himself in one of the rooms here. Since then, people say they have been seeing a headless figure appearing here and there around the lodge. Though it's just rumors~"
The girl ended with a grin totally oblivious to the scared Mibuchi & (surprisingly) Nebuya. Hayama's eyes lit up and he grabbed Shizune's arm before announcing, "we'll be exploring the place for a while so excuse us!" then he proceeds to run off, dragging the brunette with him and leaving Mibuchi & Nebuya blinking in confusion. And Akashi? He disappeared somewhere.
"Hayama-senpai, slow down! You're going to pull off my arm!"
"ah, sorry~"
"and?" Shizune raised an eyebrow, rubbing her sore arm. "why are we out in the forest in the middle of the night? I thought the so-called haunted place was the lodge…"
"but the crime scene is in the forest, right?" Hayama happily raised a fist into the air and grinned. "So we gotta check out the forest first!"
"but" Shizune started to look around nervously and twirl her finger around the edge of her hair. "it's night time and not to mention it's dark here…"
"Shizu-chan, don't tell me you're afraid?"
"o-of course not! It's just that you can never tell what'll happen in the dark so—"
"don't worry~ I brought a torch light with me~" The boy widened his grin as he raised the said item to the girl. He then took her hand and started to walk- more like run. "now, let's go!"
"ah, wait—"
After a while, the two reached the area which is said to be the crime scene when the man beheaded his wife. There was still some traces of dried blood at the place so there was no mistaking it. Hayama started acting like a child while Shizune just kept silent and made sure that she stayed beside the male at all times. She wouldn't want to get separated from him or anything.
-crack-
The senior and junior pair jumped when they heard the sound of a twig snap. Like it was a natural response, Hayama immediately pointed the torch light towards the source of the sound to see…
Akashi Seijuro.
The first to react was Shizune and she threw her shoe at him shouting, "what are you, a stalker!? Don't scare us like that you tomato idiot!"
Hayama tried his best to not burst out laughing at the "tomato" comment. Akashi dodged the shoe easily and it disappeared somewhere in the darkness.
"ah-! My shoe!"
The redhead male sighed. "you sure are an idiot, aren't you Kudo?"
"well sorry for being such an idiot!"
"nee, nee, you two. Rather than fighting, let's go and check that out!"
The senior chirped and pointed towards an old building which had a faded sign in front of it which only the word "Sakura" could be read. The event was meant to be done at the end of the camp as a closing but…
The dark shadow that the trio witnessed passing through a window in the building piped their interest so they proceeded to go in the building which was eerie enough to even scare away a ghost itself.
"Kudo."
"y-yes?"
"let go of my arm. You're going to break it."
"but I don't want to get separated!"
"…you're scared, aren't you?"
"am not— I just don't want you getting lost or anything…"
The male shook his head and chose to drop the matter as it will be quite a pain to argue with the stubborn manager. He, at one point, thought of mentioning that her ribcage was hurting his arm but ceased the action because he knew that she'd get angry because it was like he was implying on how flat she was which is true.
The girl made sure her iron grip on Akashi's arm didn't loosen the whole time they were walking behind a very excited Hayama. There were times where the items in the classroom would creak or move but the brunette convinced herself that they were only the work of mice. Not anything supernatural that doesn't even exist in this world.
Upon arriving the computer lab, Hayama suddenly decided to enter the place which also happens to be the exact location they saw the dark shadow. Shizune released her hold on Akashi and wandered around the room like how a child would act when he is in whole new surrounding. The captain proceeded to do the same because and only because he want to find out what the shadow was.
"say Akashi…"
He turned to look at the girl who called out to him and waited for her to continue. She leaned closer to him and said in a whisper, "I don't know 'bout you but I think that we're not alone in this place…"
The redhead blinked and whispered back to her without changing his straight posture, "I thought you didn't believe in this kind of things"
"I don't. What I mean is that there's someone else in—"
"Shizu-chan? Akashi? What are you guys talking about secretly over there?"
Hayama's question was answered with a "nothing" and Shizune didn't resume telling her suspicions to Akashi. The boy, of course, gave what she said some thought but his train of thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash from a room somewhere to the right of the computer lab.
"w-what was that?" Hayama asked, stuttering in surprise.
"I'll go check it out. You two stay here"
Just as the detective was about to investigate the source of the crash, Akashi gave a strong yank on her arm which immediately stopped her in her tracks. "you should be the one staying here with Kotaro." He commanded before literally throwing Shizune over to Hayama and walking off.
The brunette blinked a few times, stunned by what he did. "if you think that I'm just going to stay quiet and let you have all the fun, you made a big mistake, tomato idiot…" she muttered and ran after him. Hayama, being the only one left, took the initiative of exploring the rest of the school. Though he was curious about the crashing sound, he'd rather hear about it from the other two after he had done venturing the place.
"wonder if I'll get to see anything~"
"looks like the shelf fell and hit this flowerpot over here causing it to crash…"
"obviously."
"could you not say that?"
"no. I already told you to stay with Kotaro. Why did you disobey me?"
"because I don't have any obligation to obey a tomato idiot like you"
Akashi gave a short glare at her before walking out the library, followed by the other.
"what now?"
"why are you asking me?"
"well…because it's natural that a girl asks a boy what to do in this kind of situations, right?"
"what kind of nonsense are you talking about..?" He sighed and re-entered the computer lab only to find that Hayama wasn't there anymore. "…did he go venturing by himself…?"
"probably. nee Akashi, let's go back to the lodge…it's quite hard to walk with only one shoe on…"
"oh." He realized. "very well. I will send Kotaro a mail to inform him—"
Akashi paused when he felt a warm hand placed on his shoulder and its fingers slowly strengthening its hold on the shoulder. Shizune was trembling as her cerulean eyes widened and kept their gaze towards the corridor they were in.
"what's wrong, Kudo?"
"A-Akashi…I imagined it, right? It's just my imagination, right?"
"what is?"
The petrified girl pointed towards the end of the corridor, tightening her grip, and said in a wobbly voice which ever so slightly alarmed the redhead, "o-over there…just now…a beheaded woman was standing there!"
thanks for reading!
and thanks to those who followed & favourited this~ ^^
btw...Akashi's gonna appear in the next KnB episode! kyaa! can't wait!
his voice is just so- hnnnghh!
nee? nee? xD