Chapter 6

Chapter LIII: A Raven in a Murder

At night, Akiko plays Terror Strike, a multiplayer cooperative survival horror FPS. Suddenly, her brother bursts inside of her room and tells her that they need to go to Tokyo immediately since it's an urgent family business.

"But there's school tomorrow!" (Akiko)

"No buts, it's about our great grandfather, he's…." (Her brother)

She then realizes something and changes her clothes immediately and they go out on their ride for Tokyo. She texts Kota about this and he replies back to her to be safe.

In the morning, Kota rides again his motorcycle going to school. Once arriving at school, he sees the others are there already. The bell then begins to ring and class starts.

During their break, the squad gathers to talk about the game, Terror Strike. Though they already played this, Kota doesn't have any prior knowledge about this game nor the other mechanisms in gaming since he wasn't used to this type of game. He doesn't really know about advance gaming stuff like graphics card and types of controllers since he was only into Craftsburg and has a low-profile gadgets during the pandemic. Since he's technically a shut-in more often in the pandemic, he only been researching mostly of local history and not interacting with their neighbors. He only thought that this would affect his grades during the pandemic and he's always distracted by his parents by helping them and also of their finance. He goes to a corner to think about this since he is getting left-out. He thinks,

"How am I going to do this? For God sake! One of them already know that I'm not used to gaming and somehow why do they always think that I'm always this serious. Do they think that I'm actually conservative? I don't know the game and how am I going to cope with them? For bloody sakes! I'm getting left-out already with them and hence they don't yet invite. I don't know how this things works most especially gaming paraphernalia and now they think I'm barricading myself from them again. I only want to display a good image in front of them, not like a serious and conservative twat! I may not be even classified as their friend anymore."

Gin also joins them since he was a former gamer before the pandemic. Tengen passes by and taps Kota's shoulder.

"Hey bro, getting left out I take it?" (Tengen)

"Yeah, they all talk about games that I don't even know" (Kota)

"Like what games?" (Tengen)

"Idk, something like Biohazard, Terror Strike, and Rumble" (Kota)

"I see, the top games, huh, for those who have a gaming desktop, they can accommodate those games. Well, I'm not playing these since I don't have a gaming desktop nor a gaming laptop, but try playing some basic games before going to these" (Tengen)

"Ok, thanks bro" (Kota)

Since it was declared that it's going to be a half-day for them, Hanako tells the squad that they will hang-out at the café. Gin goes home immediately while the rest of the squad goes to the café. However, Kota is getting left behind again.

"HEY! Where are you guys going?" (Kota)

"They don't notice you again. You call them friends? Not anymore bro, you can join us if you want to" (Tengen)

"No thanks, I'mma just rush towards them."

Kota grabs his bag immediately from the classroom and rushes out to find the squad. Though everything at the café is expensive, he still goes with them there.

At the café, they then go order beverages and meals. Though the lowest price for a meal there is 100 yen while what they are eating is more than 500 yen. While he has 500 yen, he wants to save for something that he'll be using in the future.

He goes up to the counter and orders two onigiris which only costs 100 yen. When the waiter serves it to him, they ask,

"Is that what you're only getting?". He nods and responds,

"Yeah, I'm broke"

But right after having lunch at the café, they begin to go to the old mall. Kota looks at his pockets again though not a single butterfly flew from it.

On their way to the mall, they tell him that they will salvaged his fair for the transportation going there. As they enter the mall, they go directly to the cinemas to watch a movie.

"Have you seen the trailer for Kami-Kakushi?" (Asahi)

"Yah, but I hope it's very good" (Enmei)

"How 'bout you, Hanako?" (Asahi)

"Not much but I'm looking forward to seeing it" (Hanako)

"Wait, is this about like that old American Folklore?" (Kota)

They all go silent until Asahi says,

"Yah, it is but I guess it's not that scary"

"The Kami-kakuuuuuushiii, hahaha" (Hanako)

" *sarcastically* Ooooooh, scary" (Kota)

They pay for 300 yen, although this is expensive, Kota got an ace up his sleeves as he finds 500 yen in his pocket. They then enter and the movie begins to start right after the production logos. While they are watching, Kota remarks,

"Kami-kakushi, more like Coming-kakushi"

The others laugh as they heard this. Though he's not actually used to horror films, he based this on logic if a creature like that has the probability to exist.

After the movie, Asahi tries to interview them.

"How was your experience after watching The Kami-kakushi?" (Asahi)

"Well it was good but the jump-scares are not so well" (Hanako)

"How about you my guy?" (Asahi)

"It was also good but it wasn't scary at all" (Enmei)

"How about you?" (Asahi)

"It was quite a good film, good lightings, and plot but yeah the jump-scares are not so scary" (Kota)

"Try making a joke about the Kami-kakushi and it will get you tonight lol" (Hanako)

"Nah it will not I guess" (Kota)

At night, he has troubles falling asleep. Once he digs into a dream, he finds himself in a dark room.

"This looks familiar", he recounts to himself.

However, he can't move like he's inside of a horror game. He recounts again,

"I bet Hanako made her point. Hope it doesn't get any worse, I mean, this is just a dream, how the hell should I freak out in this situ----Eeeeeek!"

Suddenly, the door creeks and cold air fills the room.

"I have full control of my dream, I-I-I have complete control of this! This is not real! Begun Satan!"

A growl comes from outside then in an instant, a dark eerie figure emerges from the window. "I'm BaCk!", says the figure in a deep satanic voice.

He immediately wakes up after that and looks at the clock and turns out that it's already morning again. When he checks his phone, Akiko texted her if what happened yesterday. Kota tells her that it was fine though, not everything seems as it seems.