Chapter Text
“Yay! Thanks for having us over at your home, Eiichi-kun.”
“It’s no problem. Both of you are welcome over here at any time.”
They had spent most of the day rehearsing for their Shuffle Unit song ‘Egoistic’. By the time they were satisfied with the final recording, it was past midnight, and most of the trains home were gone. Eiichi offered his home to them, considering that it was dangerous for them to be out so late at night. They ended up at the Otori mansion after one quick limo ride.
It felt so empty when they entered, such a large living space for only the Otori brothers. With all the lights off, it felt entirely like a horror movie, where something could jump out from the dark corners. “Where’s Eiji-kun?” Natsuki asked, looking around.
“He’s with Shion and Nagi today. They’re having a sleepover party at the HEAVENS main house.” There was a hint of bitterness in his voice. Natsuki guessed that he hadn’t been invited. He wanted to ask Eiichi about it, but it would have been rude, not to mention that his feelings would be hurt.
“They didn’t invite you?” Ranmaru asked bluntly.
Eiichi gave him an affronted look. “They did, but unfortunately, work ran a little too long today. It’s all right,” he added, when Natsuki apologised. “Both of you are here with me tonight. Make yourselves at home. As your gracious host, I’ll prepare anything that you need!”
“How about a movie night?” Natsuki suggested.
“Sounds great!” Eiichi grinned, waiting for Ranmaru’s reply. When he shrugged, Eiichi’s grin grew wider. “I’ll go set up everything.”
They found themselves in piles upon piles of cushions in front of the large flat-screen, deciding on which kind of movie they wanted to watch. Ranmaru wanted to watch an action movie, but Eiichi insisted on a drama series. They decided to let Natsuki pick, which in hindsight, had been a terrible idea. They hadn’t expected him to beam at them brightly and fish out a horror movie from the pile of DVDs stacked to the side. (”It belongs to Nagi,” Eiichi said. “How terrifying could it be?”)
It started out with an opening scene into the woods, showing two girls walking through the foliage wielding only flashlights. Their feet crunched on the forest floor as they wandered around aimlessly, looking for something. “Why are they even out there?” Ranmaru asked no one in particular, crunching on the popcorn noisily. “They have no common sense, I swear.”
“I know what you’re doing, Ranmaru. By making fun of everything on the screen, you won’t feel the tenseness of the quiet scenes. It’s quite the good strategy you have there.” Eiichi smirked at Ranmaru, dodging the pillow that got thrown his way.
“Oi, what the hell are you trying to say?”
“Shush, you’re spoiling the atmosphere,” Natsuki whispered, waving for them to be quiet.
A bloody scream suddenly rang out from the surrounding speakers. Eiichi swore under his breath at the sudden jump-scare. It was a cheap shot at being spooky, but man, was he spooked. He saw Ranmaru jump out of his skin from the corner of his eye, the popcorn bowl falling from his hands with a clatter. They locked eyes, with Eiichi grinning triumphantly at his point proven. Ranmaru turned away with his face red, scowling to hide his embarrassment. “I’ll let you hold my hand if you want,” Eiichi offered, stretching his hand out in front of Ranmaru.
“Peh, who needs that?”
“Eiji’s always been scared of horror movies, so-”
Another sudden burst of thriller music had Ranmaru clutching at his arm instinctively, grip tight, though his face was an absolute blank, lips pursed. He could almost rival his emotionless robot friend, though both Eiichi and Natsuki knew that it was just him putting up a brave front. It reminded Eiichi of one of the 'funny cat memes’ that Yamato showed him once.
“Maru-chan-sempai, we can change the movie if you like.”
“No! There’s no need to!” Ranmaru snapped. “Just shut up and keep watching.”
They made themselves more comfortable, with Ranmaru sandwiched in the middle of their trio. He had protested heavily to that, though Natsuki just shoved a pillow into his hands. He took it with a muttered word of 'thanks’, to which Natsuki replied with a bright smile.
The movie had proceeded on to another scene, though they had missed a lot with their earlier distraction. “Wait, where did the other girl go?” Natsuki asked, confused. “Oh no, did the killer get her?”
“We would have heard her screaming.”
“Shit, she’s gone. She ain’t coming back,” Ranmaru muttered under his breath.
It was all silent now, with the remaining girl discovering the rest of the movie’s plot by exploring around the abandoned mansion in the middle of the woods. There had been a group of her friends that she met up with at some point, who seemed to have the same bad idea of splitting up to search the mansion.
The next few scenes were a rollercoaster ride of tense silence and loud jump-scares. One by one, the characters that they barely had known for ten minutes had their heads rolling on the ground, eyes bulging out of their sockets. There was only one left, the girl from the beginning.
Natsuki pulled himself out from the pile, excusing himself to go to the washroom. Both Eiichi and Ranmaru were too focused on the scene ahead of them to notice, eyes wide as the remaining lone survivor crept through the dark corridor, the low tones of the piano creeping up in volume along with her.
“No! Don’t go there!” Ranmaru yelled, sitting upright.
“The killer is right there!” Eiichi pointed vigorously at the dark spot where there was clearly a shadowy figure waiting with a glinting knife. “Be a good girl and turn around. Run and never look back!”
“Did you mean… me?”
Both of them let out simultaneous screams of true fear when they felt a bony hand clamping down on their shoulders. Both of them leaped forward to scramble away from the monster behind them, rendered speechless when it was only Natsuki waving a skeleton model’s hand at them. Did he really make that deep voice they heard just now?
“I found it on the way back, so I thought it would add to the atmosphere,” he said, laughing.
Eiichi rubbed at his forehead. “That belongs to Van. Please treat Madam Bones with respect,” he added, when Natsuki swayed on the spot with it in his arms, humming a waltz.
“Why do you have that just laying around in your house!?”
“It was the Halloween party last week. He grew attached to it, so we allowed her to stay. She has been the most gracious guest.”
The movie had ended without them noticing, but none of them had really minded. Now it was in the early hours of the morning, but none of them were tired enough to sleep, their minds too preoccupied by the flashes of the creepy grin of the murderer, their hearts racing from Natsuki’s scare.
“Hey, what do you say to watching cat videos until dawn?”
Two pairs of hands raised in agreement.