Technicalities

When a person wished there wasn't technology in the first place...

The moment we went inside the haunted house, I almost tripped. Yes, classy, I know.

"Hey, are you okay?" Nagumo asked, worry lines etched on his face. He caught me and I was grateful for that, though I wish he'd get his face off mine as I could feel his breath fan over my face. Why did I have to be stuck with a guy who, for 24/7, had a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius?

"Y-yeah. It just became hot..." I replied and then stood up by myself.

"Did it?" Nagumo asked.

I rolled my eyes. Of course, this hot-headed person would never had felt that the temperature suddenly increased. I mean, around us, I could hear other people whispering that the air suddenly became hotter.

"What door do you want to pick?" Nagumo asked.

I shrugged and replied, "Anything, as long as it's not here."

"Well, I choose that door." Nagumo pointed far away and then suddenly pulled me.

We reached the door he was talking about. It was a creepy door, with the wood chipped and an unnaturally long gash at the front. If only I hadn't agreed to go here, then we could have been eating ice cream or riding the bump cars.

Nagumo opened the creepy door. Inside was a trashed living room with upturned sofas and tables, you would think that the room was passed by the storm twice. I definitely didn't like the way the temperature suddenly changed once we walked inside. But, at least it was colder once we went inside the room.

"I hate this place." I muttered.

Nagumo flashed me a smile. He said, "It's not so bad, look."

He pointed to a corner where a human-sized doll was staring at us directly. I screamed and then turned around to not face the doll, covering my ears just in case.

At this point, Nagumo laughed as he sputtered out, "It's not that scary, Fuusuke."

I turned to him about to rave that it was everything besides not scary. I stopped when I realized that Nagumo was about to touch the doll with his own hands. I shouted, "NAGUMO, STOP!"

Then, the doll did the inevitable: it trashed around, yelling things like: "MOMMY! MOMMY!" or "I HATE YOU!". To help with the doll's tantrum, the lights of the room went on and off. What made my knees shook was that the doll had red eyes and was already walking towards us... mostly me, because Nagumo had already stepped away from the doll's line of sight.

"GAH!" I yelled and ran out of the room. I placed my hands on my knees and breathed heavily... that doll definitely would haunt my dreams tonight and I would never ever sleep again.

Nagumo came out soon after. He patted my back as he asked, "Are you okay?"

I nodded and stood up straight. I asked, "...what did you do to the doll?"

Nagumo shrugged. "Nothing. Come on, let's pick another door."

"I'm picking the door this time." I announced.

Nagumo laughed, "Fine, princess."

We strolled around the house and I found the door that I was sure would never hurt us in anyway. A door which was pink and a sticker of a rainbow on it. I didn't really favor the color pink, but if it meant that we were not going to die; this is the right place.

Nagumo suppressed a laugh. "Are you sure? You know, usually, the room with that scheme is the most terrifying one."

"What do you know?" I snorted and then opened the door.

The room looked like a normal apartment you'd see anywhere. It seemed pretty peaceful, considering we were inside a haunted house. A cabinet was strapped into a corner, there was also some couches on the middle of the room with a coffee table, near those couches were piles of books and stuff toys, random counters were place at the sides and there was also a fridge on the side.

Inside was a bunch of people, maybe they thought the same like me: picking the door which looked the most harmless. There was a bunch of kids hanging out with the stuff toys, groups of teenager which were scattered everywhere and a small group of boys who were crouching beside the fridge.

"See? Nothing bad's gonna happen." I said triumphantly.

Nagumo rolled his eyes as he replied, "Okay, princess."

We entered the room and, almost immediately, the lights of the room went red. My insides turned jelly as I quickly turned back to the door... whose doorknob was jammed. Nagumo sensed this and scowled, "Alright, who're the idiots who messed with the controls of the room?"

Everyone turned to the group of boys who previously were crouching on one spot.

One of the boys said, "Hey! We didn't do anything! We just, uh, unscrewed the cover...?"

"Return it to the way it's supposed to!" the other teenagers in the room yelled at them.

"We can't!" another one wailed, "We were just... tampering with it... and... and..."

I asked Nagumo, "Can't you do something about the controls?"

Nagumo turned to me and sighed, "Maybe."

"Is anyone handy with tools here? Maybe they can re-wire it or something," another teenager asked everyone.

Not one person raised a hand.

"I'll try." Nagumo stepped up and then began crouching to the controls.

Immediately, the cabinet opened to reveal a grim reaper... with a scythe that looked really sharp. Nagumo jumped in surprise, but, nonetheless, decided to work on the controls.

Meanwhile, I was shaking badly.

Another bam! was heard and the cabinets and counters opened to reveal mechanical zombies. The stuff toys that were piled up suddenly came to life, with their eyes red... like that doll.

Everyone screamed and scrambled to the door. The kids were running towards us, but one tripped and his face smashed on the ground. The grim reaper and the stuff toys were surrounding him and most of us were scared to do anything...

Well, I decided to be that hero and save the kid. I didn't do nothing much, really, but I helped the kid stand up properly and shooed him away. I really thought I was pretty much charitable, until the stuff toys grabbed my foot and I couldn't really move. I tried swatting them away, but they just wouldn't let go. To add fuel to the fire, the grim reaper raised his scythe and slashed me.

"Done!" I heard Nagumo shout.

The stuff toys, the zombies and the grim reaper became still... but I was simply staring at my bloody arm, the one I used to shield myself from the scythe of the grim reaper.

"Shit, shit, shit..." Nagumo whispered as he tried to bandage my arm.

We were outside of the haunted house by now. The staff were pretty sorry for what happened to us back there, but it wasn't really their fault so I kind of forgave them. For an apology, they offered to give me money, but I said no.

Nagumo, meanwhile, was about to punch the group of boys who fiddled with the controls. My heart swelled at the thought he actually cared for me enough that he was willing to punch people for me, but I pushed the thought away. I chided Nagumo for being so violent.

"You're scaring me." I muttered.

Nagumo looked at me with soft eyes and said, "Sorry."

This time, butterflies appeared on my stomach.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"Well, you probably lost quite a lot of blood, considering we were inside the room for minutes before the staff found us. I can't believe that I couldn't open that door, though..." Nagumo frowned.

I laughed, "It's fine. Should we go to RaiRaiKen?"

"Your arm is bleeding and all you could think about is food?" Nagumo asked.

"Hey, you're good and all, but I think the others know first aid more than you do." I said sheepishly.

Nagumo sighed and then smiled at me, "Fine. Let's go."

We walked to RaiRaiKen. My wound wasn't really healed that much, since it still hurt like hell, but I think the bandage that Nagumo did made it stopped bleeding. The moment I saw my wound, I wanted to puke, because it was a long gash and it cut deep in my skin... it looked like the others in the room thought that my wound was puke-worthy. I wanted to shout at them, but the look on Nagumo's face when he stared at my wound made my voice falter.

Did Nagumo care for me? Well, maybe, but... we didn't know each other that well.

Once we entered RaiRaiKen, Sasaki and Kato was the first to notice my wound.

"What's wrong with your arm?" the duo said in unison.

I chuckled nervously. "I fell...?"

Aki and Fuyuka seemed to sense that I was lying. Aki asked, "Then why is there red on your bandage?"

"A-ah..."

They looked at each other first before glaring at Nagumo.

Nagumo sputtered, "Why the hell are you looking at me like that? I helped her stop the bleeding!"

"Well, you didn't do first-aid properly!" Kato stated as she pointed at my wound.

Fuyuka, Aki and Sasaki nodded.

Next, Fuyuka said, "You didn't even tried to call an adult for help!"

Aki, Kato and Sasaki nodded.

Aki then stated, "Did you even washed her wound? She might get infected!"

Fuyuka, Kato and Sasaki nodded.

Finally, Sasaki screeched, "My mom's a doctor! Let's get you there!"

The four nodded, as it seemed like a good idea.

"Uh, can we eat first...?" I started, but they were already dragging me to Sasaki's house.

Hey! Kinda deleted this chapter and just noticed it now... so: SORRY!

Anyway, I hope you still continue to support this story! :D