The Second Day Mysteries

Danial woke up early the next day, the events of the previous night still weighing heavily on his mind. His sleep had been fitful, haunted by unsettling thoughts. After freshening up, he made his way to the lobby, eager to meet with the others and begin the day.

As planned, the group would spend the morning touring the village, familiarizing themselves with the area. The real adventure, however, would begin at night, when they would search for any unnatural phenomena. Danial knew he needed to confirm a few things with Tomoya Aki and Tomo-senpai, but he wasn't ready to confront them directly—not until he was sure he was dealing with the real them.

"Morning, everyone!" Tomo-senpai's voice rang out cheerfully.

"Good morning. I hope you all got enough rest. Yesterday was a bit unfortunate with our encounter with the official, but today we'll be more careful. We'll scout potential spots where we might find something unnatural and make inquiries to avoid any repeats of yesterday's incident," Haru-senpai said, his tone serious.

"Ohh! As expected of our vice leader~ So dependable!" Tomo-senpai teased.

"It's because you're not, that I have to be!" Haru-senpai snapped, clearly frustrated.

"Ahaha... Come on, Haru-kun, no need to be so tense. We're on a club venture, after all. Let's enjoy it! Let's go, everyone!" Tomo-senpai's enthusiasm was infectious, though it only added to Danial's unease.

"Sigh, why do I have to deal with this?" Haru-senpai muttered under his breath.

Watching his seniors banter, Danial found it difficult to reconcile their lively behavior with the eerie events of the previous night. He even began to doubt his own memories, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him.

"Hm? What's wrong, brother? You seem a little tense," Fangzhi asked, noticing Danial's distracted expression.

"Do I? Fangzhi, did anyone knock on your door in the middle of the night?" Danial asked, his voice low.

At the corner of his vision, Danial noticed Tomoya Aki's eyebrow twitch slightly upon hearing the question.

"Eh, knocking? Hmm… I think I might have heard something, but I'm not sure. I was dead asleep. It felt like someone was calling my name, but I don't really remember," Fangzhi replied, looking puzzled.

Tomoya Aki, who had been eavesdropping, edged closer to Danial and Fangzhi, clearly intrigued by their conversation. Danial noticed his approach but didn't stop him—in fact, he had been hoping to draw Aki in.

"Why do you ask, brother? Did you hear someone calling you last night?" Fangzhi inquired, concern creeping into his voice.

"Well, it's vague, even for me. I did think I heard someone calling me, and I was about to open the door, and then…" Danial trailed off deliberately.

"Did… did you open it!?" Tomoya Aki suddenly interjected, his voice trembling with urgency.

Danial blinked in surprise at Aki's intensity. "No, I didn't open it. I was too sleepy, and after that, I don't remember much," he lied smoothly, not expecting such a reaction from the usually reserved boy.

Aki let out a sigh of relief. "Fuh… well, um, it's dangerous to open the door to strangers in the middle of the night," he stammered, trying to steer the conversation in another direction. But his earlier outburst had already confirmed Danial's suspicion—Aki knew something about the strange events they were experiencing.

What perplexed Danial was the discrepancy between Aki's current behavior and his actions the previous night. Based on what he had seen, Danial had assumed Aki played a role in the eerie occurrences, but now he wasn't so sure. The Tomoya Aki standing before him seemed anxious but not malevolent—unlike the shadowy figure from last night that had filled Danial with dread.

"Gasp! Huh? Are you saying you had the same experience as us, Tomoya-kun? Oh my goodness, Brother, don't tell me the inn is haunted!" Fangzhi exclaimed, his voice rising in panic as he clung to Danial's back.

"Calm down, Fangzhi! And stop hiding behind me!" Danial said, trying to shake his friend off.

As Danial struggled with Fangzhi, he noticed Tomoya Aki watching them intently, as if they were some kind of rare specimen. Finally, unable to contain his curiosity, Aki blurted out, "Um… you two, can I ask how did you do it?"

"Do what?" Fangzhi and Danial asked in unison, both puzzled by Aki's cryptic question.

..........................................

00:00 a.m. - Midnight

"Hehe, are you ready, guys?" Tomo-senpai's voice echoed ominously in the dead silence.

The entire occult club stood in front of an abandoned exhibition hall. Once, this place had been famous, known for its vast collection of traditional Japanese dolls. Tourists from all over the world had flocked to see the eerie beauty of the meticulously crafted figures. The hall's success was undeniable, raking in profits that soared into six digits.

But greed poisoned the well.

The management, hungry for more, began to import any doll that seemed remotely valuable, ignoring the dubious origins of many. This was their first fatal mistake. No one knows exactly when it started, but strange, horrifying accidents began to plague the hall.

It started with the mysterious disappearance of young children within the hall's walls. At first, these incidents were dismissed as simple cases of kids wandering off. The children were found later, confused but unharmed. But as more children went missing, only to reappear with blank stares and murmurings of "the dolls watching," people began to realize something was very wrong.

Then, the real horrors began.

Tourists who visited the hall started experiencing vivid, drug-like hallucinations. Inside the hall, the air seemed to warp, colors bled together, and the dolls' eyes… they seemed to follow you, their gazes cold and hungry. But as soon as the visitors stepped outside, the hallucinations vanished, leaving them craving more. They became addicted, drawn back to the hall again and again, desperate for the twisted pleasure the hallucinations provided.

Doctors were baffled. They couldn't explain the hallucinations, and the addicts grew more frantic with each visit. The management, blinded by greed, refused to shut down the hall. They even bribed government officials to keep their twisted operation running.

Word spread through the darkest corners of the internet, and soon, the hall was overrun with thrill-seekers, all desperate for a taste of the hall's deadly allure. The situation spiraled out of control. Fights broke out as people battled for space in the crowded, suffocating halls.

But the dolls—those cursed, twisted dolls—remained untouched. No matter the chaos, they were never moved, never harmed. It was as if an unseen force protected them. When local authorities, separate from the corrupt government, came to investigate, they reported feeling watched—an oppressive, malevolent presence that made their skin crawl.

The accidents escalated into outright madness. One day, an addict, driven to the edge of sanity, drew a sharp object and began attacking others. Blood flowed freely, the violence spreading like a virus. From one, to two, to four—each killing more brutal than the last.

The hall, once bright and inviting, was transformed into a slaughterhouse. Blood painted the walls, dripped from the ceilings, and pooled on the floors, so thick it rose an inch high. The air was thick with the stench of death, the once-lively hall now a macabre monument to human greed and madness.

Not a single person survived...

"Gulp... E-Er, Tomo-chan, are you really sure about this? D-Don't you think this place is a bit too much?" Bocchi-senpai's voice quivered as he eyed the abandoned exhibition hall with trepidation.

"Oh, Bocchi-senpai, that's exactly why we need to investigate! When a haunted place isn't gruesome enough, the chances of discovering something truly supernatural diminish!" Tomo-senpai replied with an unsettling grin.

The group collectively gulped as they glanced back at the eerie structure. The once-popular exhibition hall, now a crumbling relic, loomed over them, casting long shadows in the moonlight.

"Well, Tomo, I did say I'd accompany you anywhere, but I can't shake the feeling that something is really wrong with this building," Haru-senpai muttered, his usual confidence waning.

"Not you too, Haru? Come on, guys, pretty please?" Tomo-senpai pleaded, her wide eyes shimmering with a pitiful, cat-like expression.

Danial was about to respond when an icy shudder ran down his spine. He wasn't the only one—Fatty and Tomoya Aki also stiffened, their eyes darting around as if sensing something unseen.

"B-B-Brother? What was that?" Fangzhi stammered, clinging tightly to Danial, his body trembling with fear.

"Um... D-Danial-kun... Th-There was something at the window earlier. It was... watching you," Tomoya whispered, his head bowed as if too afraid to even glance back at the building.

"What did you see, Tomoya?" Danial asked, his voice unusually serious as he locked eyes with Tomoya.

"I-It's different... this one is different. It's so dark... I couldn't see anything clearly."

Danial nodded, understanding more about Tomoya's strange abilities.

....................................

Aki suddenly blurted out, "Um… you two, can I ask how you did it?"

"Did what?" Fangzhi and Danial asked in unison, both puzzled by Aki's cryptic question.

"Ah, I'm sorry if it's too sudden, but... c-can I speak with you two privately? At least not here! Please!" Tomoya Aki's words came out more like a desperate plea than a simple request.

Fangzhi looked confused, clearly having no idea what Tomoya was talking about.

"Excuse me, senpai, can the three of us go scout this place?" Danial pointed to a specific location on the pamphlet map he had gotten from Fangzhi.

"Ooh, I see, I see. Hehe, so this is what they call a boy's adventure, bonding on a journey, right? Sure, why not!" Tomo-senpai said with a teasing grin.

"...I'm pretty sure that's not it, though," Haru-senpai muttered, still uneasy.

With permission granted, the three boys moved to a more secluded area. Tomoya couldn't help but admire Danial's decisiveness.

"Hehe, my brother is amazing, isn't he? He's decisive but also knows when to weigh his choices carefully! That's why I follow him," Fangzhi said with a proud smile.

Tomoya nodded, but when they arrived at Danial's room, his confidence quickly faded. The moment he saw the area near the door, his face drained of color.

"Da-Danial-kun... I think we should move away from here. You may not believe me, but there's something sinister lingering near your door right now!" Tomoya's voice was thick with fear.

Danial was surprised by his words.

"You... you can actually see it? What is it?"

"What thing?" Fangzhi asked, looking where they were pointing but seeing nothing.

"You can see it too?" Tomoya whispered, barely able to hold himself together.

"No, I can't see it, but I can feel a malevolent presence there," Danial said, pointing to the spot where Tomoya had been staring. "I'm sorry, Tomoya-kun. I was testing you a bit—I thought you might have had something to do with it, but I was wrong. Fangzhi, can you use light magic? Cast a purification spell in that direction."

"What!? Are you serious, brother?"

"I am. And I think Tomoya-kun here might have something most people don't."

"Ugh, don't blame me if Aunt Sayaka nags you later..." Fangzhi grumbled, raising his hand.

Tomoya was astonished by the conversation. Terms like 'light magic' and 'malevolent' seemed ripped straight from a fantasy novel. When Danial mentioned testing him, Tomoya's anxiety spiked. But as Fangzhi raised his hand, a warm, radiant light began to glow. The brilliance was so intense that it momentarily blinded Tomoya. When his vision cleared, the dark aura had vanished.

"What... What are you guys???" Tomoya stammered, a mixture of awe and terror in his voice.

Tomoya had always been skeptical about the supernatural, but seeing actual magic unfold before his eyes was beyond his wildest imaginings. The realization that a world filled with magic and martial arts existed shattered his previous understanding of reality. Every myth he had read or heard about now felt disturbingly real.

Later, as Tomoya learned about the full extent of Danial and Fangzhi's abilities, he was equally shocked. The idea that magic and martial prowess were not just stories but tangible aspects of their world left him reeling. Later Fangzhi and Danial found out Tomoya himself had been cursed with a rare, cursed eye that can see through a being that can never being seen with naked eyes.

From this point, knowing well of Tomoya abilities Danial decide to include him into his plan.

...........................

back to the present

 inside the eerie building, the club members felt a creeping sense of dread.

"Da-Danial-kun, they..." Tomoya whispered, his voice trembling.

However his sentence was stop halfway by Danial sign.

"Shh, I know... They're everywhere, aren't they?" Danial replied, his tone steady but alert.

while walking in the group Fangzhi and Tomoya had been restless all of the time, everyone sense was on a high alert. Fangzhi was expecially on edge he keep his magic ready all of the time while keeping his eye on the surrounding however he then found out what was missing.

"Gulp... B-Brother, where are the others?" Fangzhi's voice shook as he clung closer to Danial.

"???!"

Before they knew it, the three senpai had disappeared. Danial tried to use his magic to locate them, but his tier 2 detection spell had a very limited range. Even Fangzhi, a tier 3 mage, struggled with detection spells in such an environment.

"AAHHHH!" A sudden scream shattered the silence.

"Damn it, that sounded like Bocchi-senpai!" Danial cursed.

Fangzhi and Tomoya looked to Danial for guidance, their faces etched with concern. In their current situation, Danial seemed to be their best hope for survival.

But Danial's mind was far from calm. His internal turmoil was a stark contrast to his outward demeanor.

"...We need to split up."

"WHAT!??" Fangzhi and Tomoya exclaimed in unison, their eyes wide with disbelief.

"Listen carefully," Danial said, his voice firm. "We're likely not separated into just two groups, but individually. The reason we three haven't split up is because Fangzhi and I have strong spatial awareness, and Tomoya has special eyes."

"Right now, the senpai are in the greatest danger. We'll split into two groups. Fangzhi will go with Tomoya, and I'll go alone."

"What? That's too dangerous, brother!" Fangzhi protested.

"Calm down, Fangzhi. Among us, Tomoya and I have the best detection abilities, but Tomoya can't fight. So it's best if he stays with you for protection. Tomoya will act as a scout, and you'll guard him. I have my enhanced senses and basic light magic."

"Ugh, please be careful, brother."

The three of them nodded to each other, understanding the gravity of their situation, before parting ways.

Danial advanced down the empty corridor, his expression grim. Fangzhi might not have noticed, but Danial's keen sense of smell detected a strong, fresh stench of blood. The scent was overpowering, hinting at a gruesome scene ahead.

"Just what in the world lies ahead?" Danial wondered aloud, his heart pounding as he braced himself for the horrors to come.