Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

One by one, the invitations went out. Thirteen recipients were chosen to spend a night in the old cliffside mansion, overlooking the front of the great Execrated Forest. Everyone who agreed to come knew exactly who sent the invitations and why it was such a big deal for them to accept. This was another one of Lily’s silly little adventures.

Just a year prior, Lily invited ten of her friends to come with her on a camping trip in the spooky Execrated Forest. As expected, the trip turned out to be an utter disaster and all eleven campers left that forest with memories that would haunt them for life. Normally, nobody would agree to go anywhere with Lily again after such an experience. However, this time was different. This time, Lily promised a reward.

As soon as the invitation recipients heard about the reward, they refrained from throwing away their invites, and decided to go along with whatever their blonde friend had planned for them. Those close to Lily knew she had recently purchased the cliffside mansion and currently lived there with her maid, Cocorobo. Word around town said the mansion was haunted, but Lily seemed oblivious to this fact and decided to live there, anyway. The few friends who visited Lily in the mansion claimed to have heard strange voices and noises coming from the basement. Nobody besides Lily and Cocorobo spent more than a couple hours in the building. Strangely enough, Lily did not seem to have any problems on a day to day basis. This led folks around town to speculate a few theories.

The first theory said that Lily had something to do with the hauntings. There wasn’t enough evidence to support this, but a few people believed she built up the image of a haunted house to scare everyone and get the town of Synthania talking about her. This made a lot of sense, since Lily was often starved for attention due to her declining music career. The second theory claimed that the spirit haunting the house did not like visitors, but didn’t have a problem with Lily. Many debunked this theory by saying it would be impossible for anyone to live with Lily and not have a problem with her. Everyone else with common sense just believed everything to be fake. In that coming night, the truth would probably come out.

At the designated location, at the designated meeting time, the cars pulled up one by one. Each of them carried different passengers, all of which had been invited by Lily. IA and Yuzuki Yukari drove the first car, parking as close to the mansion as they could. Neither cared to walk much. In the second car, Otomachi Una bounced up and down in the backseat, kicking the driver’s seat in front of her and startling kokone who sat beside her. CUL drove that car while Gumi sat in the passenger seat. These four formerly lived with Lily before she moved out, and now they had the chance to spend the night with her once again. Gumi and kokone had joined Lily for the camping trip, but CUL was too busy with her hit radio show to come along. Una, while not initially invited to go on the trip, ended up going along anyway. CUL made sure not to miss this one, both for the chance to see her old pal Lily again and to possibly win the prize at the end of the night.

The third car contained hit popstars Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin. They sat in the backseat, chatting and making conversation about the night ahead of them. The one driving was none other than Tako Luka, the tiny-but-intelligent octopus in the image of popstar Megurine Luka. Lily had initially invited Luka to come along, but Cocorobo messed up during the mailing process and accidentally sent the letter to Tako Luka instead. The octopus gladly accepted. Its tentacles were also great for steering a vehicle.

In the last car, Uni, Maika, and Sachiko agreed to travel together. Maika always enjoyed tagging along on events around Synthania. Even if they ended disastrously, she always enjoyed the experience. Uni and Sachiko were also looking forward to the coming night, both of them believing they would easily win the prize at the end. All three women were highly competitive, and each of them stood a strong chance of coming out on top.

The final traveler did not take a vehicle at all. Merli, being a fairy capable of magic powers and the ability to alter her size, simply flew to the mansion. Despite her aerial advantage, she still managed to be the last one to show up. She needed a little extra time to debate with herself whether the prize was worth it or not. She had been one of the many who joined Lily for the awful camping trip, and that more or less left a scar on her opinion of the blonde.

Once everyone had arrived, they all gathered inside, abandoning their cars out front and preparing to spend the night with their host. None of them brought any luggage, since Lily promised to provide everything. The sun was already beginning to go down, and when the large double doors slammed behind the visitors, they were inside the house and ready to begin their adventure.

“Thank you all for coming… I would like to welcome you to my very special mansion.”

The thirteen visitors looked up to the balcony at the top of the two staircases at the end of the hall. The speaker was lit up by the five lights hanging from the precarious fixture on the ceiling, but apart from that, the entry hall was incredibly dark. The visitors cluttered together to keep from losing track of one another. Tako Luka even crawled up on top of Merli’s head to get a better view. Merli either didn’t notice or refused to acknowledge the octopus on her head. IA and Yukari held hands while kokone cowered behind the braver duo of Maika and Sachiko. They all looked up at the one who invited them there.

Lily stood with her hands on the bannister looking down at the crowd beneath her. A big smile welcomed the guests and she looked very welcoming yet cunning at the same time. Beside her, a pink-haired girl in a maid’s dress held a tray with a single pot of honey on top. This was Cocorobo, the girl who stood by Lily no matter the circumstance. The previous year, Lily had saved Cocorobo’s life in the Execrated Forest, and the pinkhead swore to repay Lily in every way possible.

“Yo, Lily,” CUL waved up to her old friend.

“Good seein’ ya!” Rin yelled up.

“I’m hungry,” Gumi said, as well.

Continuing her speech without her expression wavering, Lily went on. “We have quite a night ahead of us, so I hope you’re all ready for excitement!”

Lily dipped the tip of her index finger into the pot of honey beside her. She pulled out a fingerful of the golden goodness and licked it off for all to see. This perked her up even more and she continued to talk.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard this place is haunted, but to be honest, I don’t really believe those rumors. That’s why I want all of you to spend the night to see if this place really is haunted. I’ll give 10,000 Vocadollars to whoever can get through the night without leaving.”

This was what the guests came for. 10,000 Vocadollars was almost equivalent to 500,000 American dollars. If Lily had that money to give, whoever won it would be living large for the next couple years. The guests already heard everything they wanted to hear, but Lily continued talking, anyway.

“To your left, you’ll find the guest room. We got a fireplace, a few couches, and some other good stuff. You’ll probably like it. At 7:00, Cocorobo will fetch you all to bring you to the dining room. After dinner, she will show you to your bedrooms. We have lots of them, so please let us know if we room you with someone you absolutely despise.”

“As long as it’s not with you,” Sachiko said under her breath, prompting a giggle from Uni.

“Cocorobo and I will be around, so if you have any questions, feel free to seek us out. Oh yeah, we have a lot of bathrooms. Really, you’re not gonna have trouble finding them. Please don’t ask us about the bathrooms.”

Lily narrowed her eyes when she saw a small hand reaching up from the crowd. Una was eagerly raising her hand, jumping up and down for Lily to see it. Lily called on Una to ask her question.

“Are we allowed to freely explore? A place this old and outdated must have some cool stuff to see!”

“Uh…” Lily looked over to Cocorobo, who nervously looked back at her. Most people in the crowd noticed this exchange, becoming puzzled at what the two were quietly conveying to one another. They both turned back to the guests and Lily answered the question. “Just consult Cocorobo or myself before you go anywhere besides the guest room or one of our many bathrooms.”

“What secrets are ya hiding, old buddy? Got some stuff you don’t want us to find?” Gumi teased her pal from the floor beneath her.

“Nothing! I just pity the fools who enter Coco’s kitchen without her permission. She’s extremely defensive of her territory.”

A fire lit up in Cocorobo’s eyes as Lily said this. The glare she gave the crowd of thirteen was enough to convince them Lily was not lying. Lily finished the topic by asking if anyone else had any questions, though she declined to respond to Rin’s request for her to “spell icup.”

“I’ll make some tea for everyone while you all relax and take a load off! I’m sure you’ve all had some tiresome journeys on your way here!” Cocorobo gleefully declared, ditching the fiery look she previously displayed.

“If there aren’t any more questions, you’re free to explore the guest room and the bathrooms to your liking. Remember, ask me before going anywhere else! Some places aren’t… ready to be seen yet. Okay, have fun!”

After Lily’s ominous parting message, she and Cocorobo disappeared into the darkness behind them. The thirteen guests were left looking up in confusion, mixed with several other emotions, but all of them were there for the money above anything else. They didn’t really care about the spooky haunted house aspect of the night.

“Well, let’s get a move on!” Maika clapped her hands. “We have a haunted house to spend the night in.”

“More like a house of bathrooms,” Merli grumbled.

With Maika and Sachiko leading the pack, the group headed for the guest room at the leftmost side of the entry hall. Before she could walk inside, however, someone grabbed Miku by the hand. Miku turned around to see Rin trying to tell her something.

“Rin? What is it, sweetie?”

“Hey Miku, I’m really exhausted after that long ride here. I’m gonna go find one of those bedrooms I’ve heard so much about and take a nap before dinner.”

“Shouldn’t you tell Lily first?” Miku quietly said back.

“Nah, she’s not the boss of me. I’m like a hundred times more famous than she is.”

“True, but she is the owner of the mansion we’re staying in. We should try to show a little respect--”

“Coco’s kitchen, here we come!”

Miku and Rin were abruptly shoved aside when Uni, IA, and Yukari stampeded out of the guest room, Tako Luka clinging to Uni’s head. The four of them hurried to the other side of the mansion as the popstars watched them go, each disappearing into a room they were forbidden from entering.

“They’re not listening to the rules. Why should I?” Rin asked Miku.

“Good point. Go take a rest, sweetie.”

Rin went off to find a nice room to rest in while her partner in crime joined the others in the guest room. By the time Miku came in, the others were already gathered around and deep in discussion in the circle of couches. Sachiko, Maika, and Merli laughed among themselves while Miku squeezed her way beside CUL on the couch next to them. kokone, frightened by the idea of ghosts being anywhere in the house, cowered behind the couch CUL and Miku sat on.

“I’m telling you, Sachiko, ISBs are very real. They live in the forest just outside this mansion!” Maika tried to make her point. Miku could see CUL listening intently to this conversation.

“Maika, ghosts aren’t real. There’s no such thing as an evil spirit, or Indefinable Shadow Beast, or anything like that. They’re just folktales made up to scare children,” Sachiko justified her disbelief in the supernatural.

“Merli, back me up here. You were there when we saw the ISBs, weren’t you?” Maika called on the fairy to help her out.

“Mhm,” Merli nodded. “Sickening creatures, they were. They looked like moving shadows with bright red eyes, shapeshifting with every movement and always ready to strike. Not even my magic could stand against them.”

“Look, I don’t know what happened on that camping trip of yours, but I do know Indefinable Shadow Beasts can’t possibly be real. Do you really think one of those things is haunting this house right now?” Sachiko questioned further.

With every word that was said, kokone hid deeper and deeper behind the couch. She tried to cover her ears, as the continuous talk of ISBs made her shudder. CUL, on the other hand, only grew more and more invested in the topic.

“I sure would love to see an Indefinable Shadow Beast with my own eyes,” CUL chimed in. “They sound so… indefinable.”

“Meep,” kokone whimpered.

Meanwhile, the four hooligans who escaped from the guest room to visit the kitchen were cooking up some trouble of their own. IA, Yukari, Uni, and Tako Luka were too hungry to wait for dinner to eat. Tako Luka promised them that if they brought her to the kitchen, she would show them how to make her world famous Flaming Hot Cheeto Sushi. With a large mixing bowl in front of her, she ordered her three assistants to grab various ingredients for her.

“This seems cool and all,” Uni reflected as she raided the fridge for ingredients. “But is the squid ink really necessary?”

“It’s best not to doubt the master,” Yukari answered as she emptied a bottle of vinegar into the mixing bowl. Tako Luka nodded at this answer.

“Do you think there are enough cashews in here?” IA asked, holding up a massive bottle of mixed nuts.

“If not, we can probably substitute them with pistachios. Either that or chili peppers.”

The girls discussed the ingredients while Uni dumped a jar of mayonnaise into the mix. As of that moment, none of them considered the possibility of Cocorobo finding out they were in there. The four continued to work on their masterpiece unperturbed.

Back in the living room, the conversation on ghosts and ISBs continued. CUL and Miku had now fully joined the conversation, while kokone continued to hide behind them. She tried to muffle every word by covering her ears, but her arms eventually grew tired of holding her head.

“I’m bored of this subject. Can we talk about something else?” Sachiko slumped back on the couch, hardly phased at all by anything she heard.

“Sure. What’s your favorite radio show?” CUL asked to start a new conversation.

Hearing that the talk of ghosts had reached its end, kokone lowered her arms from her head and slowly lifted herself up to see the other side of the couch. She was beginning to regret coming along, but she really wanted to be there with her friends. She wasn’t about to let her fears get the better of her. She needed to get over her fear of ghosts and make the best of the night to come.

“Boo!”

“AHHHHHHHHHH!”

kokone leaped to the ceiling with all the agility of a wild cheetah, causing everyone to look over to see that Gumi had snuck up behind her. The green-haired prankster giggled loudly as kokone came back down, shivering and trying to recover from that mini-heart attack.

“Now, now, let’s leave the scaring to the actual ghosts.”

Everyone looked over to see Lily enter the room, now donning a blue bathrobe that did not suit her at all. Her hair also seemed slightly wet, inferring she had recently showered.

“Who’s scared? I’m not,” Sachiko boasted as she laid back. Maika and Merli both chuckled.

“Come to check on us, Lily? We’re doing very good! This is a very nice guest room! I like that one table,” Gumi pointed to a table in between the circle of couches.

“Just skulking around, checking up on things. Anyway, dinner will be ready in an hour. Coco’s worked very hard on it, so I expect you all to be there,” Lily paused for a second to take a good long glance around the room. “Also, has anyone seen Una?”

Elsewhere in the house, the small girl in the blue hat that Lily referred to had escaped from the group to do some exploring of her own. Without consulting Lily or Cocorobo first, she crept down a forbidden hallway and giggled as she tiptoed down a dark passage. Leaving the others far behind her, Una sought to find some of the stuff Lily did not want them looking at.

“What are you hiding from us, Lily? You wouldn’t hide anything from your favorite little sister, would you?”

Talking to herself, Una reached the end of the long hallway and pushed a creaky door open. Inside, a swarm of negative energy hit her headfirst, but she continued in out of pure curiosity. Inside, Una found herself in an eerie playroom. The walls were lined with a filthy white and golden pattern and the carpets were multi-colored, but every color was dim. Una could not tell what the pattern was supposed to represent. A tilted wooden table sat against the back wall with two creepy harlequin dolls sitting in seats on both sides. A creepy cat plushie sat on top of a wardrobe on the other side of the room, its eyes staring into Una’s soul as she passed it.

“D-did Lily not touch this room after she bought the house? This is so… not her.”

Disregarding her fear of the many unusual things around her, Una pressed onward until she saw an open door at the back of the room. Her curiosity got the better of her once more and she opened the door to a long unlit corridor. Gulping and taking a few very heavy steps, Una proceeded down the corridor to see what she would find at the other end.

Feeling the walls to maneuver herself through the dark hallway, Una walked further and further into the darkness until she reached yet another door. This one was so out of the way, it must have had something interesting inside. Lily did not want people freely exploring her mansion, and Una really wanted to know why.

Slowly bringing her hand to the knob, Una prepared herself for whatever she would find in the room at the end of the corridor. Sweat pouring from her forehead and her throat gulping itself dry, Una touched the knob and began to twist it. Before she could open it, however, she felt a hand grab her by the shoulder.

“There you are, Una! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Still wearing her blue bathrobe, Lily turned Una around and guided her away from the door. “You shouldn’t be back here, you know. Everyone else is in the guest room. Well, except IA, Yukari, Uni, and Tako Luka. They’re all in one of the bathrooms together apparently.”

“I-I was just--”

“No need to justify your incessant snooping. I remember when I was your age. I liked to break the rules and do things my elders told me not to do all the time. But big sister Lily has her reasons for keeping these rooms off limits, so I’m only asking that you respect that.”

“Y-Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, Lily.”

Lily pulled Una into a hug, which Una gladly accepted. “It’s okay. Anyway, let’s get back to the others. Dinner’s gonna be ready soon. I wonder how Coco’s doing with that.”

In a complete defiance of Lily’s expectations, the actual happenings of the kitchen were much more sinister than what she had in mind. Brown filth, muck, and various unexplainable substances covered the walls, furniture, and floor of the kitchen. Tako Luka sat beside an overturned mixing bowl with a dirtied chef’s hat and a look of regret. Uni, IA, and Yukari were sprawled out across the floor, dazed and defeated by the horrifying substance their octopus companion created.

“Urrrgh… I don’t feel so good…” IA groaned.

“Me neither… IA, when did you get five heads?” Yukari looked over to her friend with a silly expression.

“You think this pain is bad? Wait until Cocorobo finds out about this…” Uni said while facing the ceiling.

This comment of Uni’s did not initially settle in very quickly, but as soon as the four girls registered exactly what the pink pony-tailed girl had said, all four of them were on their feet and ready to make a getaway.

“Oh god, oh god, oh god…” Yukari frantically paced back and forth.

“We have to get out of here! She’ll never know we were in here!” Uni said, ready to make for the exit.

“You’re right. We gotta get out of here!” IA agreed to the plan.

Yukari allowed Tako Luka to jump on her head, and all four women bolted as quickly as their legs could carry them out of that kitchen, letting the door slam shut behind them. With Cocorobo’s personal haven in a state of devastation, the girls escaped a potentially gruesome and unthinkable fate.

Or did they?

From a window in a nearby door, Cocorobo saw the girls make their getaway. She stepped into the kitchen and froze, baffled and appalled by the sight before her. Her beloved kitchen that would take days to clean. Such an offense was unforgivable in her eyes.

“Just you wait, girls. I promise you will pay for this.”

Chapter Text

At 7:00 sharp, it was dinner time. Twelve of the thirteen guests gathered in the dining room where Cocorobo met them with a half-baked smile, ready to serve them. They each took their seats while Lily stood at the head of the table, watching her guests sit and taking a head count. Her expression turned to that of concern, then she cleared her throat and spoke.

“Thank you all for coming. It seems the time for dinner has come at last, but it appears Rin has decided not to join us.”

Everyone glanced around the room, seeing that Lily’s observation was correct. An empty seat beside Miku indicated that Rin had not shown up for dinner. It turned out that the twin-tailed popstar was the only one in the room who actually knew where Rin had gone off to. When the others began whispering among themselves, some claiming “the ghost got her,” Miku decided to speak up.

“She went to take a nap. She’s in one of the bedrooms, I think.”

“Is that so?” Lily withdrew herself from the table and proceeded for the exit. “If you’ll excuse me, I will go and get her. Cocorobo will tend to your every need while I’m away.”

Without another word, Lily left the dining room, abandoning her guests in the care of her maid. Cocorobo briefly glared at the seats where IA, Yukari, and Uni sat, before turning her attention to Tako Luka. The small octopus was slithering around the table, having decided not to sit in a chair like everyone else.

“Please take a seat,” Cocorobo said through gritted teeth, faking a smile to hide her rage.

A silence befell the diners in the dining room. Everyone sensed the tension between their cohost and her guests, though only the destroyers of the kitchen knew why the maid was so upset. Clinging onto hope that she did not know they were responsible, they neglected to apologize or acknowledge the situation.

“So… this is a pretty ugly house, huh?” Yukari said the first thing that came to her head to kill the silence. She only realized a second later just how stupid this was.

“I’m right here, you know,” Cocorobo returned, seeming slightly offended and also harboring feelings of agitation toward Yukari.

“Then maybe do a better job cleaning up,” Yukari said just before being slapped on the arm by IA. Cocorobo chose to ignore this remark and turned away from the purple-haired instigator.

Before any other conversations could occur, Cocorobo noticed that Tako Luka had not yet found a seat to sit down in. Her rage began to seep through her fake smile and she proceeded to shout.

“I said… find a seat!”

Then the lights went out. The younger guests screamed in fear at the sudden outage, being left in complete darkness as they sat at the table, unable to see anything in front of them.

“Really funny, Lily. Decided to leave us alone in here so you could go and turn out the lights? Really pathetic,” Sachiko boasted directly into Miku’s ear. kokone swiftly ducked under the table to hide, hitting her head in the dark as she did so.

“I wonder if Rin’s in on this, too,” Maika chuckled, adding to Sachiko’s theory.

“I don’t think so… Rin was with me from the moment we walked in up until she went to take a nap. I don’t think she would’ve had time to plan something with Lily,” Miku countered.

Before the discussion continued any further, a small lantern lit up at the front of the table. Everyone looked over to see Cocorobo holding it, lighting a small portion of the pitch black dining room.

“Don’t worry, outages happen,” Cocorobo said to ease the crowd. “We just have to send someone downstairs to turn on the generator. Since this house isn’t haunted, that should be an easy job, right?”

Nobody said anything. Not even Sachiko, Maika, or Merli. As the mood settled in, the outage proved to be a really humbling experience for even the bravest of the twelve.

“Actually, I have a suggestion,” Cocorobo killed the oncoming silence. “Uni, Yukari, IA, Tako… Why don’t you four take this lantern and head to the basement? I’m sure you can find the generator yourselves.”

“What?! Why us?” Uni shouted.

“Need I bring up a certain kitchen incident?”

Uni, IA, Yukari, and Tako Luka were dead silent. They knew right then that Coco knew what they had done. They did not want to argue any further than that. The less Cocorobo said, the better.

“Okay. We’ll do it.”

Taking the single lantern, Uni led IA, Yukari, and Tako Luka out of the dining room and over to the staircase at the other end of the hall. They followed Cocorobo’s instructions to find the basement, and keeping close to one another, they trekked carefully down the stairs. Tako Luka rode on top of Uni’s head, staying in the light to see the area around her. IA and Yukari also tried to stay in the light, IA slipping her hand into Yukari’s to ease the very tiny inch of fear growing inside her.

“Don’t worry, IA. There’s no way this place is actually haunted,” Yukari assured her beloved companion.

“Yeah, this is all just Lily playing a big prank on us. She and Coco probably thought this up as a way to punish us for destroying their kitchen,” Uni justified everything as she led the others into the dirty depths of the mansion.

Rust and dirt were as far as the eye could see. A few support beams held the ceiling up with the paint long chipped off of them. Various pieces of debris were scattered across the floor, cobwebs filled every corner, and numerous spots of decay marked every single wall. The four girls tried their best to make it through the basement with the little light they had to guide them.

Despite their previous words of bravery, the four hooligans began to feel more and more uneasy with every step they took. The basement went on for quite a while, with only rust and chipped paint to be seen. They could hardly find their way in the dark, and by this point, both Uni and Yukari were beginning to show signs of fear. Tako Luka even shivered when she felt the uneasiness going through the top of Uni’s head.

At last, the four women reached the other side of the basement where the generator awaited them. “Here it is!” Uni shouted victoriously. IA and Yukari breathed sighs of relief when they saw the machine they longed for. Once they turned the lights back on, they would be able to leave and continue the night like any other sleepover.

After the lights came back on, the basement still remained mostly dark. Even so, the girls were happy with their accomplishment. They didn’t say much among themselves until Uni had a sudden sense of nervousness.

“Hey Tako Luka, could you stop breathing so loudly? It’s kinda creeping me out.”

Tako Luka shrugged, indicating she wasn’t doing anything. Uni looked over to the hand-in-hand couple, but both IA and Yukari shook their heads.

“I’m not doing anything,” said Yukari.

“Me neither. I’m breathing the same as I always do,” IA added.

Knowing that the only perpetrator could possibly be the fifth person standing directly behind them, Uni, IA, Yukari, and Tako Luka turned themselves around to see a very tall figure leaning over them.

The figure’s eyes were hardly visible from the dirty skull mask it wore over its head. A long trench coat covered its body with heavy black pants covering thin, lanky legs. The grimace of the skull mask was the only face the figure could make, and simply being in the presence of such a monstrosity filled the girls with intimidation and fear.

IA, Yukari, Uni, and Tako Luka screamed all at once and sprinted away from the figure as fast as they could. Tako Luka slipped off of Uni’s head as she high-tailed it toward the staircase, but the octopus managed to grab onto her leg with her tentacles and crawled back up. Screaming and running at the same time, the four guests retreated out of the basement and back upstairs. Uni made sure to hold onto the lantern the entire time, not wanting to risk Cocorobo’s rage if she broke yet another one of her belongings.

It seemed like the strange figure did not follow the escaping girls, but that didn’t stop them from booking it to the dining room. There, Cocorobo waited with the other eight women with the lights back on above them. Everyone stood from their seat when they saw the screaming foursome charge into the room, growing breathless and stopping just at the front of the table.

“Coco… We… Ahh… That thing… Hahh…” Uni tried to make a sentence, but failed miserably.

“Hey, calm down! There’s no reason to come running in here like something’s chasing you. What’s going on?” Cocorobo stepped over to where the runaways entered from.

After catching her breath and clearing her throat, IA was able to form words that were coherent enough to describe what happened. The four girls were shaking where they stood, Tako Luka refusing to let go of Uni.

“When we were in the basement, some… thing came after us.”

The word “thing” was enough to get a loud yelp out of kokone, who ducked back under the table. All of the guests had their eyes on the frightened ladies. Yukari took IA’s hand and followed her remark.

“A big thing! It was like a person, but tall and in a skull mask! A big ugly coat, too!”

“A big thing?!” Gumi gasped.

“In a big ugly coat, nonetheless,” Maika added.

“It’s true! We all saw it!” Uni insisted. Tako Luka nodded her head repeatedly to show she agreed.

“And what seems to be the trouble? Why do you all look so frantic?” the voice of Lily collected everyone’s attention as the host returned to the dining hall with a hand on Kagamine Rin’s shoulder. The young blonde certainly looked well-rested after her long nap.

“You! It was you!” IA pointed a finger at the host. “You dressed up in that horrible outfit to scare us! This was all a big trick!”

“Yeah, I bet she’s right!” Yukari agreed. “You don’t want to pay any of us, so you’re planning to scare us all away! That’s gotta be it!”

With a confused look on her face, Lily removed her hand from Rin’s shoulder and allowed her to take a seat beside Miku. She looked a little unnerved, but found herself at a loss for words. Her lips stumbled to form a proper response to the accusation.

“Are you referring to the power outage? That just happens someti--”

“No, we aren’t talking about the power outage!” Uni stepped in. “You dressed up in that stupid skull mask and chased us when we went to find the generator!”

“Skull mask? I don’t even own one of those.”

The more she spoke, the more innocent Lily seemed. It appeared as though she truly had no idea what the girls were talking about. Cocorobo looked as if she were about to chime in, but she did not have to, because someone else beat her to it.

“Um… I don’t think it could’ve been Lily,” Rin said from her seat, bringing all eyes to her. “She was with me the entire time. The reason it took us so long to get back here was because we had to move around in the dark.”

Everyone fell silent. Nobody knew whether they could trust Rin’s word or not, but Miku seemed to have a hunch whenever Rin was telling the truth. Still, the twin-tailed diva did not say anything. The guests looked around, almost aimlessly, seeing the expressions of those sitting next to them. If Lily was playing a trick on them, it could only mean Rin was in on the joke.

“Well, if Rin says it, it must be true. There’s a monster out to get us,” Maika shrugged.

kokone screamed and accidentally hit her head on the table she hid beneath. Sachiko immediately stood up and slammed both her palms down in front of her.

“You don’t seriously believe her, do you? This is obviously a trick! Where was Rin the entire first half of the night? I didn’t see her!”

“She was sleeping!” Miku came to Rin's defense.

“That’s what she’d have you believe, isn’t it? She’s clearly working with Lily! Look, they’re both… blonde. Their brains are practically one and the same!”

“How dare you accuse Lily of such a thing!” Cocorobo snapped, presenting a spatula and pointing it at Sachiko.

“Whoa, relax! Did you have that the whole time?” CUL asked from across the table.

“I swear, we didn’t plan anything! I was sleepy!” Rin argued her point.

“What else could have chased us through the basement? Huh? Explain that to me!” Yukari demanded.

“Why haven’t we had dinner yet?!” Gumi threw in.

“Why is everyone yelling?!” Una contributed.

“Maybe we should all just go to bed!” Miku loudly suggested, breaking the screaming match that was forming in front of her. The hostess was quick to second this notion.

“I agree with Miku. It seems like it’s been a tiring day for all of us,” Lily explained. “I suppose it isn’t easy to leave your lives of luxury to spend a night in this decrepit half-abandoned mansion. Maybe you’re just having a hard time adjusting.”

“We know what we saw! Why are you trying so hard to shut us dow--” IA stepped forward, but Yukari took her by the arm and stopped her.

“Just let it go. She’s just going to deny it. This is part of her plan to scare us out of the house so she doesn’t have to pay us. The best way we can get her back is by staying for the entire night.”

While IA did not want to fully let the situation go, she settled down after hearing this from her closest friend. Yukari did not want to forget about it either, but continuing to argue would not get them anywhere. Lily’s denial and Rin’s decision to back her up left them without much to say in their favor. If the other guests had seen the monster, it would have been much easier to defend their point.

IA and Yukari glanced over at Tako Luka and Uni. The octopus somberly shook its head and sighed in defeat, Uni doing the same afterwards. The pink and purple-haired girls turned back to Lily with looks of resentment, but they showed the slightest bit of acceptance.

“You know what, Lily? Fine. We’ll stay here. We’ll stay here and take every cent you own,” Uni said with certainty in her voice.

“Glad we could resolve that issue, now let’s go to bed! We can play all sorts of slumber party games!” Gumi jumped in before anyone could say anything else.

As everyone came to an agreement, the guests moved to leave their seats at the table. As their host, Lily promised to show them to the sleeping quarters and allowed them to decide the room they would sleep in for themselves. Once everyone started prepping to go, Una came to an observation.

“We never even had dinner…”

Chapter Text

Despite the eventful dinner, the guests went to bed on empty stomachs. Thanks to the fiasco started by IA, Yukari, Uni, and Tako Luka, they also went to bed with sour attitudes. If they were to sleep through the night, everything would be over with. They would each win their cash prize and go on with their lives.

However, not all of them were tired.

Miku, Rin, Una, Gumi, and kokone were staying in one large bedroom with four separate beds and a couch. It didn’t take long for Gumi to pass out on said couch, leaving the beds for everyone else. IA, CUL, Yukari, Uni, and Tako Luka stayed in another room, while Maika, Sachiko, and Merli took the smallest one. Lily and Cocorobo stayed in their own private quarters, but the hostess took it upon herself to check on her guests before withdrawing for the night.

Una climbed into her bed and pulled the large blanket over herself. It was a lot bigger than she was. She didn’t bother removing her hat beforehand, as it was essentially a part of her head.

Filled with energy, the girl in blue did not want to settle down. She couldn’t stop thinking about the door Lily forbade her from going through. It was just too suspicious. Her big sister had to be hiding something.

In the bed next to her, Una could see Rin also laying wide awake. The young blonde had taken a lengthy nap earlier in the day, so falling asleep did not come easily to her. With her eyes open, Rin stared at the ceiling and twiddled her fingers. She clearly didn’t want to be cooped up in that room for the rest of the night.

“Hey… Psst! Hey, Rin!” Una whispered over to the other girl. Thankfully, the latter turned her head to face her.

“Hey Una!”

“SHH! Don’t wake the others.”

Una didn’t want to risk any outsiders hearing what she had to say. It took kokone a matter of minutes to fall asleep once she reached the bed, and Miku appeared to be resting soundly in the one beside Rin.

“You aren’t tired, are you?” Una asked for verification.

“Not at all. I’m, like, super awake, as a matter of fact.”

“Cool, cool. Listen…” Una took a gander around the room to make sure the others were asleep. Gumi snored from the small couch she could barely fit on, kokone was hiding under her blanket, and Miku had her back turned. None of them were paying attention. “I found a secret door when I was exploring earlier.”

“Whoa. No way.”

“Yes way! But get this. Lily caught me snooping and told me it was off limits!”

“No… She’s totally hiding something from us!”

“Right? What could be back there that big sister Lily doesn’t want us to see?”

Rin was hooked. Neither of the girls wanted to spend the rest of the night in bed. Not when there was so much to see in the massive mansion they were staying in. Not only did she have an excuse to explore, she also had the chance to uncover a secret.

At the same time, sneaking out presented a risk. If IA and her friends were telling the truth, the possibility remained that someone in a skull mask was stalking throughout the mansion. Whether it actually was a monster or just Lily trying to scare her guests, there were bound to be consequences if it caught anyone.

“I don’t know, but I wanna know what’s back there! I say we sneak out and do some investigating!” Una whispered.

“So do I! It beats lying in this bed for the rest of the night.”

“Awesome! Come on, let’s go see what Lily’s trying to hide from us!”

Eagerly, the two young ladies rolled out of bed. They slipped out of their blankets and lowered themselves to the floor, touching the hardwood with their tippy toes to avoid making any noise. They quietly convened between their two beds, eyeing the door from where they now stood.

“Shhh. Keep quiet and follow me. I’ll show you where it is!” Una explained to Rin, who nodded in return.

Staying close to one another, Rin and Una made their way to the bedroom door. They crept across the floor as quietly as they could, trying not to step on any creaky floorboards along the way. As Una led the pair, Rin continually checked over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being watched. Thankfully, none of their roommates were paying any attention to them.

Along the way, Una stepped on a creaky part of the floor, which caused her to pause for a second. Both she and Rin looked back to see if the sound would awaken anyone. When they turned around, they saw that Miku, Gumi, and kokone were still fast asleep. Gumi’s snoring seemed to drown out some of the noise.

Wiping sweat from her forehead in relief, Una motioned for Rin to follow her as she guided the blonde to the exit. Once they reached the door, Una carefully clasped the knob in her hand and turned it ever so slightly. She moved it as silently as she could until the door finally cracked open. She and Rin stood back as she opened it far enough for the two of them to exit through. Once they could see the hallway, they hurried out the door and closed it behind them.

When it came to shutting the door, Una wasn’t as gentle as she was when she opened it. The small sound it made caused Miku to turn in her bed. Gumi’s snores weren’t enough to completely drown it out.

It took her a minute to fully register the sound, but after a few grumbles under her breath, Miku lifted her head to see what caused the slam. She saw that the door was closed, so it didn’t look like anyone came in, but then she turned to see the two empty beds against the wall next to hers.

The former inhabitants of those beds were much farther down the hall by the time Miku awoke. They didn’t care too much about staying silent once they got out of the bedroom. Practically running, the two of them headed for the staircase and made their way to the ground floor. They both let out a few giggles, enjoying their little act of rebellion.

“Come on! It’s this way!” Una said, breaking out of a whisper once she reached the bottom of the staircase.

“This is so exciting!” Rin giggled as she kept up behind the leader.

From there, the girls were able to move straight ahead. They were not very far from the hallway Una formerly ventured through. Thanks to the chandelier that hung near the staircase at the front of the mansion, they were not forced to stumble around in the darkness. It seemed as though Lily forgot to turn the lights out.

However, the light did not guide the way for long. The passage that Una led Rin into did not have any light of its own. Only a shimmer from the chandelier provided enough illumination for the girls to see with. At the end of the hall, the blue-haired adventurer could see the door that led into the treacherous tea room.

“This way! We’re almost there!” Una insisted as she grabbed Rin’s hand to lead her through the darkness.

“Whoa! Slow down a little!”

Rin tried to keep up with the shorter girl as they sped to the end of the hallway. She looked over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed, then she turned back into the hall as they hurried for the room Una wanted to show her.

Once she reached the door, Una released Rin’s hand and went to open it. Their footsteps had made a lot of noise, but nobody seemed to hear it. While catching her breath, Rin stood guard while her friend opened the door. Once they were able to go in, Una held it open for the blonde to enter before her.

“I hope you don’t mind creepy stuff,” Una chuckled.

“What do you mean?” asked Rin as she started to move into the room. As soon as she stepped both feet inside and flicked the light switch, she knew exactly what Una met.

Rin gasped and nearly backed into Una as the shorter girl shut the door behind her. The sight of everything took her by surprise, as she did not know what to expect. Turning around, Una came forward and moved to the center of the room.

“I know. Told ya it was creepy.”

The dim, ugly colors that made up the walls and carpeting were terrifying enough, but not quite as terrifying as the tattered harlequin dolls that were seated at a crooked table with a tea set between them. At the top of a nearby wardrobe, a poorly-stitched cat plushie watched the visitors as they entered the room, its button eyes scanning their every move.

“Why would Lily have a room like this in her house?” Rin asked as she tried to recompose herself.

“Beats me. I’m guessing this was all here when she got the place. Maybe she’s been too lazy to reorganize.”

Una walked over to the table with the tea set on top of it. The cups were empty and each of them were chipped. She could see dirt on the inside of the leftmost one. As she moved her head closer, her nose caught a foul scent seeping through the pot. Not wanting to investigate it any further, she backed away from the display.

Rin also walked further into the room, but she stopped to look up at the cat plushie. It was gray with black stripes, but its colors were faded. It looked really old. When Rin turned away and glanced at the jester dolls in their wooden chairs, she developed a theory.

“Hey, Una… Do you think Lily might have… set this room up to scare people away?”

While heading over to the open door at the other end of the room, Una stopped and looked back at Rin. Rin made eye contact with her, then they both fell silent before the blue one spoke.

“You know… that’s a very good point, actually. Maybe all of this has been set up from the get-go. Lily just wants to scare us away!”

“Yeah! The more I think about it, the more I believe it. Still, that really makes me wonder what she’s hiding. Why would she go so far to keep us from coming this way?”

“Aside from the fact that these doors don’t have locks on them, my guess is that she has something extremely embarrassing in that forbidden room of hers. Something she’s ashamed of!”

“You bet!” Rin agreed. “Who knows what we’ll find in there? Let’s keep going. I can’t wait any longer!”

Returning to the task at hand, Una headed for the next hall with Rin right behind her. They were more than happy to leave the eerie tea room behind them, but they weren’t too ecstatic about moving into another unlit hallway. They tried to move quickly, both of them awaiting the closure they so desired. They wanted whatever Lily kept in that forbidden room. She would not be able to keep them away.

After scurrying through the darkness, Rin and Una reached the back wall. Only a shred of light from the harlequin room allowed them to see the door, but it was all they needed to see. Inside, they would find what they were after. They were so close to their destination. Nobody could stop them.

“Go on! Open it!” Rin said to Una as the girl in the blue hat reached for the knob.

Una wanted to open the door. It didn’t look like Lily would pop out of the darkness to stop her, so nothing stood in her way. Still, she hesitated. For just a brief second, a thought crossed her mind that told her to turn away. Whatever she would find in that room would change her perspective on everything. Did she really want to know what lurked behind that door?

“Come on! Open it!” Rin continued to watch the hall behind her. They were alone for the time being, but neither of them knew how long that would last.

Pushing away all thoughts of apprehension, Una clasped the doorknob with her hand and pulled it open. She then swung the door aside, unveiling the room she desperately wanted to enter. She and Rin stood back, looking into the dark passage they were forbidden from. With the lights out, they could only see pitch blackness, but whatever awaited them sent shivers down their spines.

When Una flicked the nearest light switch, she and Rin stepped into the room. They slowly shut the wooden door to close themselves in. Nobody would be following them.

To their right, the girls could see an old bunk bed with unwashed sheets on top of it. To the left, two shelving units sat against the wall. Several boxes and bags were set on top of it. Rin and Una could only wonder what Lily had stored inside them.

The trespassers crept further into the tiny space they had entered into. Una walked over to the metal shelves, analyzing everything her blue eyes landed on, while Rin walked over to the foot of the bed.

Una could not reach the highest shelf, but on the second highest one, she could see what appeared to be a newspaper in one of the grocery bags that were being stored there. She curiously reached for it while Rin discovered a book on top of a stand at the foot of the bunk bed. Before either of them could look at their respective findings, Rin saw something else hanging on the wall.

“Hey Una, take a look at this.”

Looking up from her newspaper, Una turned toward Rin to see what her companion was looking at. She came closer to see the poster adorning the room. Without a second thought, she knew exactly what the poster represented.

“That’s Lily,” she said. “Of course she’d hang a poster of herself in here.”

“Yeah, I got that, but there’s something else…” Rin pointed at the picture. “Who’s that guy back there?”

The poster depicted Lily striking a pose with a remarkably muscular man standing behind her. He had grayish, spikey hair and he wore sunglasses. Lily wore the exact same outfit she always did when she performed.

“That’s Mosh,” answered Una. “He and Lily used to be in a band. They were called anim.o.v.e, but they didn’t last long. Lily had bigger ambitions, so she kinda left them in the dust.”

“Ahh. How shameful.”

After the explanation, Una looked down from the anim.o.v.e poster to observe the newspaper in her hands. It was flipped to a page containing various articles, most of which were irrelevant. However, some text in the lower left section of the page caught Una’s attention. In bold words, it read:

ANIM.O.V.E’S FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE

Una gasped and looked back up at Rin. Before she could say anything, Rin had already opened her own book and flipped to the first page of it.

“Rin, this is--”

“Hey, get a load of this! This is Lily’s diary! She has a whole lot of stuff written in here!”

Una paused. “A diary?” she thought. Lily never seemed like the type of person to keep a diary, but in this particular context, it was exactly what the girls needed.

“A diary?” Una then said out loud. “As in… something she writes stuff about her life in?”

“Yeah!” Rin flipped through a few pages before she stopped at one. “Look! She wrote about that camping trip we went on! I wonder if she said anything about me.”

Una watched Rin scan the book for a few seconds. If they were looking for secrets, they really hit the jackpot.

“I guess it would make sense to keep people away from the room you keep your diary in,” Una started to say, but then something else occurred to her. “Wait a minute. She might have written about this mansion in there!”

“What do you mean?” Rin asked as she kept her gaze fixated on the paragraph she was reading. “Oh man, she totally has the hots for Gumi.”

“What I mean is, if this is all an elaborate plan for her to scare us, she’s probably written about it! Maybe she’s written something about that monster IA and the others saw!”

“Oh, you’re right,” Rin finally looked away from the page she was on. “If we figure that out, we can put this mystery to rest once and for all.”

“You got it! Turn to the most recent page!”

With this instruction, Rin started flipping through the book until she could find where the text ended. Una had completely forgotten about her newspaper, now investing all her interest in the new discovery. The girls huddled around the book as Rin skimmed through the pages, but before they could reach the spot they were looking for, they heard a noise.

Rin and Una shot their heads up when they heard the sound of footsteps coming from outside the room. Slowly, they turned around to face the door. Neither of them made any noise, but they could hear the creaking of the floorboards as someone moved toward the room they were hiding in. Both of them froze in fear, hardly able to move or hide anywhere. To make matters worse, the light from the room could be seen through the bottom of the door. The visitor could tell there were people inside.

Unable to say anything or move anywhere, the girls could only stand and wait for the person in the hall to reach the room. If they went to turn out the lights, the visitor would see it go dark. They were cornered. With nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, they were sitting ducks. They could only hope that the person would pass the room over.

Any hope of that happening quickly faded when the knob began to turn. With their mouths open in horror, Rin and Una watched the doorknob twist as the person outside made their way in. The girls had to hold themselves back from screaming as the door opened to reveal the person on the other side of it.

“There you are! What are you doing back here?!”

Upon seeing their visitor, the duo settled down. Rin and Una took a few deep breaths as their twin-tailed roommate entered the room. Miku walked in and stood in front of the doorway, placing her hands on her hips. She looked rather angry.

“Miku! We were just--” Rin started to explain, but Miku cut her off.

“Sneaking out in the middle of the night? Honestly, what are you two thinking?! We only have to stay for one night! It would be so easy if we could just--”

“We’re sorry, Miku! We were just trying to figure out why Lily didn’t want us to come back here! We thought maybe we could find out if she was--”

“That’s enough, Una. Like I said, we’re only here for one night,” Miku got serious. “We shouldn’t be creating any unnecessary trouble. It doesn’t matter if there actually is a monster or if Lily’s pulling all of our legs, because if we just sleep through it, it will all be over with tomorrow! By coming down here, you’re creating so much more trouble than necessary! Do you understand me?”

“...”

“...”

Miku did not receive the response she wanted to get. During her rant, both Una and Rin froze up. Both of them were stricken with fear. However, they weren’t looking at Miku. They were instead facing the space behind her.

“What are you doing? I couldn’t have been that intimidating. Why do you look like you’ve just seen a monster?”

Quivering, Una feebly lifted a finger, pointing to the doorway behind Miku.

“B-B-B-B-Behind you…”

Unsure of what Una was referring to, Miku turned around to see what the younger girl was pointing at.

“What are you…?”

Standing in the doorway, towering over everyone else in the room, was the very monster Yukari’s group had previously encountered. Wearing a skull mask, a trench coat, and long black pants, it perfectly matched her description of it.

No words escaped from Miku’s mouth as she backed away from the monstrosity. She, Rin, and Una stepped further into the room as the creature stepped one foot toward them. It then followed with the other, then it continued walking until it backed them up against the wall. Staring down at them through the eye holes in its mask, the monster breathed a few heavy breaths as it surveyed its soon-to-be victims.

“M-Miku…” Rin whimpered.

“Y-Yeah?”

“What do we d-do?”

Trapped in the tiny room with the very monster they were warned about, the girls had very few options in front of them. If they didn’t act fast, it would be over for all of them. They had no way of knowing what the monster was capable of.

“Run,” said Miku.

“What?” asked Una in shock.

“Run!”

With that, Miku charged headfirst into the beast. She threw herself into its stomach, trying to tackle it with as much force as she could muster. This move took both Rin and Una by surprise, so neither of them acted as quickly as they should have.

Miku failed to knock the monster over, so it easily took hold of her and flung her back against the wall. During this scuffle, Rin and Una staggered as they tried to run around each side of the beast. Before they could get very far, the monster turned to see Rin holding tightly to Lily’s diary. She became the newest target.

Before she could escape the room, the monster seized Rin from behind, hoisting her into the air.

“Wha-- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Rin screamed a horrified wail as she found herself lifted from the ground.

Una had already ran ahead, but upon hearing this scream, she flipped herself around to see the monster snatching up her friend.

“Rin!” Una shouted before darting back into the room. She wasn’t about to leave her partner behind.

Against the back wall, Miku groaned as she lifted herself up. Her back ached from the impact, but the screams of Rin brought her to her senses. In front of her, she saw her dear friend wrestling with the taller beast. At the same time, the blonde seemed reluctant to release the diary.

“Let me go, you stupid freak! Put me down!” Rin swung her arms and legs as she tried to strike the taller figure, but she soon found herself flipped upside down as the monster dangled her by the leg. “AH!”

Before Miku could react, Una had already charged in from the back. She started pounding her fists against the monster, demanding that it release Rin.

“Put her down, you big bully! You hear me?! Let her go!”

“Help! The blood is going to my head!” Rin shouted as she tried to cling onto the diary while hanging upside down.

Gathering all the momentum she could muster, Miku prepared to charge. Before the monster could bring its attention to Una, the twin-tailed singer sprinted from the front and threw herself into it again. This time, the figure was caught off guard. This forced it to release Rin as it staggered away from the combative women.

“AHH-- OOF!” Rin shouted as she fell to the floor. She momentarily dropped the diary, but she quickly snagged it before trying to stand back up.

Once the monster backed away, both Miku and Una jumped back to distance themselves from it. Planting her feet beside Rin, Miku reached a hand down to help her friend stand up. Rin happily took the hand and rose from the floor, keeping the diary tucked in her other arm.

“Are you okay?” Miku asked the blonde.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Once all three women were standing, they had a clear pathway to the door. Even though the monster had stumbled into the bunk bed, it wasn’t willing to give up. As soon as it geared up to launch another attack, Una leaped out into the hallway.

“Guys, I think we’d better run!” she said before taking off in a sprint. Deciding to follow her example, Miku and Rin ran after her, zipping past the monster before it could move in on them.

Having fled from the room, Una, Miku, and Rin charged down the hallway, moving as fast as their legs could go. None of them even tried to look back. Keeping a steady lead on their pursuer, they sprinted for the tea room and left the dark hallway behind them.

Not even caring to examine the creepy scenery again, the girls kept running until they were back in the hallway they originally entered through. Una stayed at the front of the pack, but Miku and Rin were able to catch up when their survival instincts kicked in. Without stopping to catch their breath, the three ran for the staircase at the front of the mansion. They had to warn the others.

As much as it pained them, Miku, Rin, and Una forced themselves to climb the steps. They were exhausted, but they couldn’t afford to slow down. They had ten guests they needed to wake up. Their lives were at stake.

The journey up the stairs caused Rin to fall behind, but she kept up her pace just enough to stick with the group. None of them knew if they were still being followed, but they had strength in numbers, so they needed to unite with the other guests. Staying close together, they ran for the bedroom that contained Gumi and kokone.

“I’ll wake them up, you girls take the other bedrooms,” Miku instructed through a few heavy breaths.

“Got it!” said Una.

“Mhm!” Rin nodded.

From there, Una set her sights on IA’s room while Rin made a break for Sachiko’s. With each of the rooms covered, all thirteen guests would be alerted as quickly as possible. Nobody would fall victim to the attacker.

One by one, each bedroom door swung open. Miku, Una, and Rin each made their way into their room of choice, ready to awaken everyone. Some of the guests were awoken by the sound of them barging in, but others needed to be shaken awake.

“What’s going on?” groaned Sachiko.

“Una? What’s wrong?” asked Yukari.

“I’m scared!” kokone peeped.

No matter which room they were in, all of the guests received the same message as soon as they woke up.

“The monster is here.”

Chapter Text

As soon as the guests were gathered in the same room, they did all they could to barricade the door. By pushing a bookshelf against it, they prevented anyone from breaking in from the outside.

With thirteen people in the same room, space was limited. Merli needed to magically shrink herself down so she could comfortably fit among everyone else. Many of them were still tired, but the adrenaline rush kept them moving. They were not about to let some stupid monster get to them.

“Okay, everyone. Let’s try to stay calm and orderly, even if this is the most uncalming situation we’ve ever been in!” Uni tried to keep things in order. kokone, Rin, and Una were shaken up, kokone more than anyone else, but guests like Sachiko and Maika were not taking the situation seriously.

“We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die…” kokone trembled as she sat in the corner of the room.

“This is ridiculous,” Sachiko scowled at Uni. “We’re obviously falling for one of Lily’s tricks. This is a major overreaction.”

“Even if this isn’t a trick, it’s still an overreaction,” Maika agreed. “I say we go out and face the monster ourselves! We’ve got magic Merli on our side, don’t we?”

“Cute nickname,” Merli rolled her eyes as she levitated beside Maika’s head. “My magic’s limited. I expelled a lot of energy during a fight with my sister before coming here. I have to be smart about how I choose to expend the rest of it.”

“What kind of fights is she having with her sister?” CUL asked Yukari in a whisper. The latter shrugged.

“Why don’t we check out the diary Rin found?” Una suggested. “It could tell us if this actually is a trick or not!”

“Una’s right,” Miku said from the bed. Having just sprinted through the house with an aching back, the other guests allowed her to lay on one of the beds while most of them remained standing. “We can approach this situation from the best angle if we know what to make of it. If this actually is a trick, we don’t have to worry as much.”

Hearing this suggestion, Uni turned her attention to Rin, who sat on the edge of the same bed as Miku. She held the diary in her lap, though it remained unopened. The pink-haired self-proclaimed leader then approached the blonde and extended a hand.

“Good idea, Miku,” said Uni. “Rin, would you mind showing me that diary? I’d like to see what Lily said for myself.”

Without a word, Rin nodded her head and held the diary out for Uni to take. Once the taller woman claimed the book from the shorter one’s hands, the others in the room gathered around her to see it with their own eyes. Tako Luka crawled on the bed behind Uni while Yukari and IA took up both sides of her. Merli also flew above her head.

“Oh yeah! Spill all the juicy gossip!” Gumi giggled as she pushed her way to IA's side.

“I don’t think I want to know what goes on in that weirdo’s head,” Maika commented. “Besides, we only need to know what’s going on here.”

“That’s right, though I’ll admit, I am a little curious. Let’s just see what our blonde friend had in store for us,” Uni said as she opened the book. Turning chunks of pages at a time, she worked her way through it until she reached the ones with the most recent writings on them. Everyone else leaned in closely to have a peek, forming a rather uncomfortable cluster. “Um… Can you give me a little space? I’ll read it out loud.”

“Wait!” Una cried out from the bed behind Uni. This nearly scared Tako Luka off the mattress. “I saw pictures on the front page! I think they have something to do with the newspaper I found.”

“Are you sure those are necessary to look at?” asked Uni. “We can just--”

“The gossip!” Gumi insisted, pushing herself even closer to the diary holder.

Drawing a sigh, Uni gave in. Keeping a finger on the page she didn’t want to lose, the pinkhead flipped back to the front of the book so everyone around her could see the pictures.

Glued to the pages at the front of the diary were a couple of photographs. The first one depicted Lily standing beside her old bandmate, Mosh. It looked professionally shot, as if taken during a photoshoot. The bottom border of the picture read “anim.o.v.e 2009.” Beneath it, the readers could see a caption in Lily’s sloppy handwriting. Uni read it aloud.

“Luna really didn’t want to be in the photo with Mosh for some reason. I get the feeling she doesn’t like him. She’s so silly.”

“Oh my gosh,” CUL said as she pushed her way past Yukari to see the book. “That’s Mosh! He was in Lily’s old band, anim.o.v.e.”

“What a stupid name for a band,” Sachiko murmured.

“There’s another picture here,” Uni pointed to a taped photograph on the second page. “It says ‘There she is! Looking stunning as ever.’”

The second photo depicted Lily standing with a pale girl dressed in gothic attire. The girl in question had her arm around Lily and the two were smiling. Gumi, CUL, and Una recognized her, but no one else who could see the book knew who she was.

“Who’s that?” asked Yukari from beside CUL.

“That’s Luna,” the redhead answered. “She was in anim.o.v.e with Mosh and Lily. I never got the chance to meet her, but she and Lily were supposed to be really close.”

“That may be an understatement,” said IA as she pointed to yet another photograph in the book. “Look at this.”

Beneath the image of Lily and her bandmate, a much smaller photograph was also glued to the paper. This one also appeared to show Lily and Luna, but they could hardly be made out. Someone had scribbled over the image with a red marker.

“This one’s crossed out, but it looks…” Uni narrowed her eyes so she could observe the picture. Lily and Luna seemed to be moving in on one another, sharing an awfully affectionate position. “It almost looks like they’re…”

“Kissing?” Gumi finished the thought. “Yeah, totally kissing.”

While it was hard to make out, that definitely appeared to be the case. It seemed as though Lily had a romantic history that many did not know about.

“Lucky her. She managed to get a hot goth girlfriend,” Maika snickered as she squeezed her way in to the fray.

“Considering it’s crossed out, I can’t imagine things ended too well between them. Such a shame,” Uni observed.

“If you ask me, that goth girl dodged a bullet. I wouldn’t be able to stand having to deal with Lily on a regular basis,” added Sachiko, who received glares from CUL and kokone in the corner.

“Either way, we shouldn’t be prying into her personal life. We’re looking for answers. We should forget about her silly band and get to the bottom of this,” said Yukari.

“Yeah, I guess. I just thought it would be helpful to look at. Sorry,” Una said as she slumped down on the bed.

“Yukari’s right. This was interesting, but I don’t think it’s going to help us very much. Let’s move on,” Uni flipped back to the page she marked with her finger. “I’ll read what it says. Try to give me a little more space, please.”

The others grunted or nodded in agreement. They all backed away as their leader started to read the entries written in front of her.

April 2nd, 2021 - kokonut still doesn’t know about the 200 foot chocolate bunny I’ve been hiding for her. Can’t wait to see her reaction!

April 3rd, 2021 - Just won a cool mansion from a mysterious person. They seemed eager to get rid of it, and they didn’t show their face. It was probably Longya trying to reduce his mansion supply. I barely did anything besides bring in a random code I came up with and I somehow won the “contest.” Suspicious, but I’ll take it.

April 3rd, 2021 UPDATE - Things are getting weird. I’m hearing strange voices, but not seeing anyone. Gumi played a prank on me when I invited her, CUL, and kokonut over. I’m already on edge. It might just be Cocorobo, but I’m not sure.

April 4th, 2021 - After finding a series of pawprints in the house, I’m beginning to suspect Nekomura Iroha as the one who sold it to me. I remember our whole conflict in the Execrated Forest, so her bringing some ISBs in here isn’t too out of the question. I’m still not convinced the place is haunted, but I am tempted to reach out and ask her about it. Hmm.

April 5th, 2021 - I’ve got the perfect idea! What if I invited a few friends over to spend the night to see if they can find anything “paranormal?” If these strange voices and things keep occurring, even for them, I’ll have to reach out to Iroha and ask her about this place. I really don’t want to deal with Indefinable Shadow Beasts on my own. Maybe one of them can deal with it? I’ll offer some reward to anyone who decides to stay.

The entries ended there. This was enough to convince the readers that the monster they were dealing with was an actual threat.

“Okay, we’re done here. Come on, IA. Let’s go,” Yukari took IA by the hand and started to lead her toward the barricaded door.

“Wait, where are you going?” asked Uni.

“Don’t you understand what you just read? It’s an Indefinable Shadow Beast! That’s a real demon we’re dealing with out there! I’m not gonna sit here and let that thing devour me and my girlfriend. We’re leaving!”

As much as the guests needed to stick together, nobody could blame Yukari for wanting to leave. The diary was legitimate, as the entries in the front of it confirmed, so whatever Lily wrote was bound to be true. Nobody wanted to deal with an actual Indefinable Shadow Beast.

ISBs were the very monsters Maika had warned the others about when she first came to the mansion. Lily and Iroha, the contact she had mentioned in the diary, had encountered the creatures before on a camping trip. Merli, Rin, kokone, and Gumi could verify their existence, having been on the same trip. Even if Sachiko had her doubts, the eyewitnesses gave her a reason to worry.

“It… It can’t be true! We’re overreacting again!” Sachiko insisted.

“Oh, lose the ego, Sachiko! We were all there with Iroha in the Execrated Forest! If she gave Lily the mansion, I wouldn’t be surprised if she brought one of those demons into it!” Merli shouted at the prideful woman.

“Noooo!” kokone wailed and hid her head behind her hands. “Please, please, please, no! No more shadow beasts! No more shadow beasts!”

Watching kokone assume a fetal position, Yukari shook her head and guided IA over to the bookshelf blocking the door.

“Yep, her reaction tells me everything I need to know. Forget Lily, forget the prize, forget this mansion, forget everything! Help me move this thing, IA.”

“O-Okay!” IA did not raise any opposition to her partner’s request. She didn’t want to deal with the monster any more than Yukari did. They took each side of the shelf and proceeded to scoot it away from the exit.

“Are you two sure about this?” Miku asked as she lifted herself from the bed.

“Yeah! The ISB could be out there!” Una added.

“I guess we’ll just have to move fast. The rest of you can stay here and deal with this monstrosity, but I’m prioritizing our safety above anything else. We are getting out of here.”

Without saying much else, the couple pushed the bookshelf back against the wall and unbarricaded the door. Once they had access to the exit, Yukari went to open it. As she and IA prepared to say their farewells, the other ten guests gathered behind them.

“Are you sure we can’t convince you to stay?” asked Maika. “Maybe the monster will leave us alone for the rest of the night.”

“I… I think we’d better go,” said IA. “We’ve seen the monster already. I don’t want to go up against that thing again.”

“Me neither!” Yukari agreed. “The thought of being hunted by that… thing is… Urrgh.”

Yukari shuddered, then reached for the doorknob. Her demeanor told the others she was serious about leaving. Uni, having also seen the monster, couldn’t disagree with their attitude. She didn’t want to stick around with it either, but she really wanted that prize money.

“Please stay safe,” Uni said to her friends. “Once you go out that door, don’t stop running until the mansion is far behind you. That thing might be waiting for you out there.”

“Don’t worry, we parked really close to the entrance. We were ready to bail if this turned out to be one of Lily’s scams from the start,” IA said with a smile.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Good on you for thinking ahead.”

“Thanks. You all stay safe, too, but heed my advice. As soon as you get the chance, get out of here. The money isn’t worth it. Let’s go, IA,” Yukari clenched IA’s hand in her own as she turned the doorknob with her other one.

As everyone waved goodbye to the pair, Yukari opened the door and led IA out into the hall. Once they were outside, they started running for the staircase that would take them to the ground floor.

With IA and Yukari out of the room, Uni shut the door and turned back to the others. The room was a little less crowded, but they were still uncomfortable.

“So… do you think they’ll make it?” CUL asked Maika.

“They have my best wishes. They’re gonna need them.”

In the hall, IA and Yukari reached the staircase in a matter of seconds. They then made their way down the steps, keeping their hands interlocked. They stayed at a relatively equal pace with one another, not allowing the other to fall behind. They tried to watch their step as they went, but they couldn’t be as careful as they wanted to be with a monster on the prowl.

Once they reached the floor, the two made a beeline for the exit. Once they made it outside, they would be home free. Their car wasn’t very far, so driving away would be a cinch. They just needed to make it.

The girls didn’t bother to check if they were being followed. They didn’t even try to stay quiet. They only wanted out. Nothing else could cloud their mind until they were out of that deadly house. They never wanted to see that skull-faced freak again.

Before long, Yukari reached the front door. Without thinking twice, she opened it and guided her dearest friend outside. With just a few steps, they left the warmth of the mansion and entered the cold dark night. When they shut the door, they left their perceived danger behind, but they weren’t out of it yet.

Their car sat closest to the mansion, so IA and Yukari only needed to make a short sprint before they would be able to drive away. They hustled over to it, refusing to look back or further analyze their surroundings. In the midst of the excitement, Yukari pulled out the key to the nearest sedan. With the click of a button, the doors were unlocked. They were then able to climb inside.

Once they reached the car, IA and Yukari ran to their respective sides to fling the front doors open. Practically hyperventilating, the two of them hurried to close themselves in, shutting the doors as quickly as they opened them. Yukari landed in the driver’s seat while IA plopped herself in the passenger side. They had finally reached a position where they did not need to run.

Finally taking a breather, Yukari sat back in her seat and enjoyed the safety of her vehicle. Beside her, IA fully settled down. Since she didn’t have to drive, she just needed to rely on Yukari. The purple-haired driver prepared to stick her key in the ignition, then she and IA would be on their way. They would safely evade a dangerous situation.

Ready to leave the nightmarish house behind her, Yukari stuck the key in the vehicle and started it up. She took a deep breath as the sedan began to rumble. Putting her foot to the pedal, she set her sights on pulling out of the parking space. Once the car started up, she and IA were ready to go.

Then a figure emerged from out of the backseat. The dreaded skull-faced monster arose from where it hid on the floor.

Before IA or Yukari had the chance to react, their attacker lunged forward to claim them as its first victims.

Chapter Text

After IA and Yukari took their leave, Maika and Uni barricaded the door with the same bookshelf they used before. The remaining eleven guests then gathered together to discuss their next move. Ideas were being thrown out left and right.

“Should we call the police?” asked Una.

“What are they gonna do about an Indefinable Shadow Beast? Arrest it?” Merli shot down the proposal.

“M-Maybe we can just h-hide in here…” kokone whimpered, hardly looking up from her knees as she sat in the corner of the bedroom.

Tako Luka wiggled her tentacles to make a suggestion of her own.

“Good idea, but there’s no way that could work,” Uni said to the octopus, who lowered her head in reply.

“Think of it this way,” Maika spoke up. “If we just hide in here until morning, we’ll win Lily’s stupid game and make it out with our lives at the same time.”

“True, but I’d really rather not stay here if that monster can come breaking through the walls at any moment!” Rin objected.

“Well, maybe we should do something about the monster, then!” Gumi finally spoke, bringing the room to silence.

The green-haired girl in the orange dress beamed as all eyes fell upon her. She half-heartedly made this suggestion, not really expecting it to gain a reaction.

“So, Gumi,” Merli started to say as she flew toward the green girl’s head. “How do we suppose we do that?”

Gumi’s face went blank, unable to produce an immediate response. She stared puzzledly at Merli, then turned to look at everyone else. After another pause, she returned to the fairy and smiled.

“Well, you said you gotta use your magic sparingly for the rest of the day. If we’re being hunted by this thing, I’d say that’s a pretty good reason to use it!”

“Yeah, Merli, go out and fight it for us,” Maika giggled.

Merli raised an eyebrow, but did not say anything back right away. She backed away from Gumi and considered the suggestion, mulling it over in her head. She could sense Sachiko coming up behind her, ready to make another snarky remark.

“I’m still not convinced this isn’t a trick, but if that monster really is just Lily in a costume, I wouldn’t mind if you just blasted her away with a spell,” said the tall dark-haired woman.

“Wow, you're really going after her tonight,” Una observed.

“Cool it, Sachiko. Lily's my friend, so if this is just some elaborate scheme of hers, I'll be the one to decide how she pays for it,” said CUL.

“Friendship at its finest,” Rin giggled.

Only a few guests verbally voiced their opinion, but all of them seemed to like the idea of Merli fighting the monster for them. They all fixed their gaze on the purple-headed fairy, who continued to hover in the air while she thought about the idea. She didn’t doubt herself, but she didn’t know what her enemy would be capable of. She knew that ISBs came in different forms. Powerful ones such as Suzune Ring were too much for her, but regular ones were at least somewhat fightable with magic. She didn’t know if it would be worth the risk.

“So, how about it, Merli? Think you can handle whatever this is?” asked Maika.

After thinking it over for a little while longer, Merli shrugged her shoulders.

“No idea. If it’s one of the more powerful ones, we’re all doomed. If not, then maybe, I guess.”

“How about this,” Miku stepped up, but winced at the pain in her back as she did so. “Some of us can go out with Merli as backup. Una and I were at least somewhat able to divert the monster when it attacked us, so if we have multiple people attack it at once, we might be able to defeat it.”

The other guests seemed to agree with this notion.

“Good idea. It beats just sending Merli out on her own to her possible demise,” Uni chuckled. “But who’s gonna go with her?”

“I will,” CUL said right away. “Again, if it does turn out to be Lily, I won’t mind chatting with her, myself.”

“I’ll go, too. It sounds like an adventure,” Maika also volunteered. There was a pause before anyone said anything else, so she then turned to Sachiko. “How about it, Sachiko? You keep talking about how fake all this is. Surely you don’t mind putting your luck to the test.”

“A-Are you kidding?” Sachiko stammered. “I’m not wasting my time with that nonsense! If you girls want to run off and play monster hunt, that’s your business, but I will have nothing to do with it.”

“Oooh, sounds like somebody’s scaaaaaared,” Gumi teased. Tako Luka appeared to chuckle at this.

“I am not! I simply refuse to waste my strength on such trivial matters!”

“It’s okay, three’s company,” Merli ended the discussion. “CUL, Maika, thank you for volunteering. Our little group should be enough to fend off this potential monster.”

CUL and Maika nodded as the rest of the room made way for them. They gathered with their fairy leader at the front of the pack, then they turned to address the crowd.

“This shouldn’t take long. Don’t miss us too much,” said Maika.

“P-P-Please be c-c-careful…” kokone only slightly looked up to see her friends departing. Words could not describe the amount of dread she felt. She wanted to stop them from going, but she also wanted the monster to be taken care of.

“We’ll be back, don’t worry,” CUL said to her housemate. Even though she presented a strong aura of energy, she was a tiny bit worried. She and Maika were both feeling chills at the notion of chasing down a mysterious beast. Even Merli felt a little unsafe. They didn’t have the slightest clue as to what they were up against.

“Hurry back soon,” Miku said to the group as she returned to the nearest bed. From beside her, Tako Luka waved goodbye with one of her tentacles.

“Try to stay together, too! This place is easy to get lost in,” Rin added.

“We know. We’ll be careful,” Maika assured the girl.

“Well, the longer we stay here, the more we raise the risk of the monster catching us by surprise rather than us catching it. We should be going now,” said Merli, impatiently hovering over the makeshift blockade.

“Okay,” CUL and Maika said in agreement. Giving one last farewell, the two of them headed over to the bookshelf so they could remove it from the door.

Gumi, Uni, and Una came to the front of the room so they could see their friends off. Sachiko turned her back on them and kokone remained huddled in the corner. Miku, resting for the sake of her injury, stayed on the bed with Tako Luka. Rin sat at the edge of the same bed.

“Bye girls! Don’t let the ghosty get you!” Gumi waved.

“Yes, please stay safe,” added Uni.

“Hopefully the monster doesn’t come in here while you’re away,” Una said, quietly.

Promising to return as quickly as they could, CUL and Maika proceeded to remove the barricade. With each of them taking one end of the shelf, they were able to scoot it outwards and provide just enough space for them to open the door. Merli adjusted her body to become regular human-sized, then she opened the door for her entourage.

“Come along, we have a monster to catch.”

With Merli in the lead, the trio set off on their adventure. One by one, the fairy, CUL, and Maika left their safe little hideout and entered the dreadful hallway. Uni closed the door behind them, then she and Gumi moved to replace the blockade. The three would not be coming back until they succeeded in their mission.

Gathering at the end of the hall where they could see the staircase, Merli, CUL, and Maika stood in a semicircle as they discussed their battle plan.

“So, where should we look? There’s a whole mansion to explore,” said Maika.

“Maybe we could look in the forbidden room? If Miku and the others saw the monster in there, that might be where it hangs out,” CUL suggested.

“That might be the case, but we’ll pass by a couple other rooms on the way over. Maybe we should check everywhere on the bottom floor until we get there. We can do the top floor afterwards,” Merli explained.

“I see nothing wrong with that idea,” said Maika.

“Me neither,” said CUL. “Lead on.”

When they were all in agreement, the three decided to head for the staircase so they could explore the ground floor. They figured their opponent would likely be down there, so it seemed like the safest option. Or rather, the most unsafe option.

Merli stayed afloat as she led her troupe to the staircase. Maika couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. The fairy would be able to make a quick getaway if a situation turned hairy, but she and CUL would be on their own. She had the slightest skepticism toward the monster’s legitimacy, but she greatly considered the possibility of it being an ISB. If that were to be the case, she would have to fight it as best as she could.

CUL and Maika moved slowly down the staircase, not wanting to wear themselves out before they needed their energy. If the monster showed up and they were too tired to run, it would be over for them.

Taking step after step, the girls were able to reach the ground floor. Merli kept up the lead as she flew in the direction of the guest room. CUL and Maika followed her, keeping close behind their leader. Her pace forced the two of them to walk faster, but it didn’t use up too much of their energy.

Along the way, the women stopped to check their surroundings. They opened every door they came across, but most of them led to empty bathrooms. No monsters in sight.

“Wow. She wasn’t kidding when she said this place was full of bathrooms,” Maika said after checking one.

Without finding anything of note, the trio headed for the guest room. It looked the same as they last left it, but they intended to analyze it further. Three couches and an end table made up the center of the room, but shelves along the walls held a few items that nobody bothered to check earlier in the day. That would be different this time around.

“Nothing in here. Should we keep going or…?” Maika started to say, but she saw CUL and Merli surveying the details of the room.

“Hey, look over there,” CUL pointed to a table against the wall. It had a few things on top of it, two of which were of interest to Merli.

Merli flew over to the table as CUL and Maika followed her. They gathered in front of a white telephone that sat plugged into the wall. A small notebook sat next to it with the words “PHONE NUMBERS” written on the front.

“Whew, this thing is ancient,” said Maika.

“You have no idea how outdated Lily can be. I think she still uses Windows 7,” CUL snickered.

While Lily wasn’t opposed to using cellphones, she kept her use of them to a minimum. It wasn’t too unthinkable for a Vocaloid singer, since many of them valued their privacy. Merli concurred, not even owning a cellphone of her own. Lily’s somewhat primitive technology made for more secure conversations.

“Hold on a second,” Merli said as she turned her attention to the book. Her companions didn’t know what she was thinking. “Do you think…? Maybe…”

CUL and Maika looked at each other in confusion.

“What do you mean, Merli? What’s on your mind?” asked CUL.

The fairy then opened to the front page of the phonebook, taking a gander inside. When she saw what Lily had written, a mischievous smile crossed her face.

“Just as I thought. Gumi, CUL, kokone, and so on. She has the phone numbers of her friends written in here.”

“Uh… yeah? That’s kinda what phonebooks are for?” said Maika, sarcastically.

“But consider this,” Merli flipped to another page. “She’s friends with Iroha. Remember what we read in the diary? She suspects Iroha as the one who sold her the house. Maybe if we call her, we’ll get some answers as to what’s going on. If this turns out to be a trick, I won’t have to obliterate some costumed freak with my magic.”

“Ooh, good idea! But do you think she’ll be awake? It is pretty late,” questioned Maika.

“Are you kidding? Hardly anyone goes to sleep before midnight anymore. Let’s give her a call!” chuckled CUL.

“I’d say it’s worth a shot, and her number is right… here!” Merli pointed to a name scribbled in the “I” section of the phonebook. Nekomura Iroha’s cellphone number was written beside her name. There weren’t many names in the book to begin with, so it didn’t take long to find. Lily didn’t have too many close friends.

Taking the telephone in one hand, Merli put in the number to call Lily’s contact. In spite of what CUL said, she wasn’t sure if Iroha would be awake to answer the phone. Nevertheless, there was no harm in trying. If they happened to awaken the catgirl in the middle of the night, the ends would have justified the means.

As it so happened, Iroha was laying in her bed, but she was not asleep. She was on her laptop, browsing a website for Hello Kitty merchandise. Her room was fully decorated in such memorabilia, posters and plushies as far as the eye could see. The red, white, and pink coloration was almost blinding. Still, she wanted more. She could never have enough Sanrio in her life.

Unfortunately for her, Iroha had left her cellphone on the dresser across the room. She wasn’t expecting any calls, so when she heard her musical ringtone, it took her by surprise. She glanced over the side of her laptop to see her ringing phone, then she groaned at the notion of having to get up.

“Who’s myaking me do this at this time of nyight? Ugh,” the girl in cat ears grumbled as she removed the computer from her lap and set it beside her.

Very unhappy about the situation, Iroha lifted herself from the bed and scampered over to the dresser. She hadn’t registered Lily’s telephone as a contact, so when she reached her cellphone, she didn’t recognize the series of numbers displayed on the screen. Curiously, she took it in her hand and stared at it for a few seconds.

“Who the hecky is this? This better not be another scammer, myan.”

Despite her continual mumblings, Iroha answered the call. She held the phone up to her ear so she could hear the speaker.

“Hellooo?”

“Oh, she answered,” Merli’s voice came through the other end.

“Who is this?”

“It’s Merli, don’t you remember me?”

“Myerli? I didn’t know you knew how to use a phone, nyaa.”

“...I’m going to ignore that jab at my intelligence. I have a very important question to ask you.”

“Considering the time of night, I’m gonna assume it’s an emergency, right?”

“Quite a big one. You know that big mansion Lily got recently?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you, by any chance, give it to her?”

“Oh yeah, I totally did.”

That answered that question. Merli seemed a little perplexed by how easy it was to get an answer out of the catgirl. CUL and Maika were gathered as closely as they could get to the phone, so they both heard the faint response come through. All three of the girls looked at one another in shock.

“Um… Okay, then, uh… What’s the big deal? How did you even get this mansion in the first place?”

“I won it in a sweepstakes!” Iroha replied. “Apparently I bought enough Hello Kitty merch to be given the prize of its number one fan! Can you believe it?”

Merli was flabbergasted. She didn’t know what she expected to hear, but it sure wasn’t this at all. She kept the conversation going to see what else she could learn.

“No, I can’t. I think you got conned into getting a haunted house.”

“I learned that the hard way! One night in it was too much for me. I nyeeded to get that thing out of my hands as quickly as I could, myan!”

“So you gave it to Lily?”

“Yep! Lemme explain what happened. When I first moved in, it looked like it would be a good place to stay, y’know? But there was a lot of really old stuff in there and it didn’t look like anyone had used it for a while. There was this creepy room with dolls in it, too. It just looked like whoever gave me the place wanted to scare me away from it! After spending the first night there, I heard these sounds coming from the basement. I thought those were pretty strange, so I went down there to investigate, then this big tall thing came charging at me! I had to get out of there!”

Merli leaned back, keeping the phone against her ear. This sounded curious to her, but it still raised a few questions. She decided to pry for the rest of the story.

“Did the tall figure happen to be wearing a trench coat and a skull mask?”

“I didn’t see it, nyaa. I was too scared to pay attyention! Why’d you ask?”

“Well, it’s a long story… Basically, Lily invited a bunch of us to come and spend the night, saying we can get a big cash prize if we don’t leave. I think we’re being hunted by the same monster that went after you. Lily said she had reason to believe you were involved here, thinking you might have brought in an ISB from when you were in the Execrated Forest. That’s why we called you. This monster has been coming after us all night.”

Hearing this, Iroha went silent, listening to every word of the story. A feeling of regret came over her, and once the fairy finished speaking, she felt the need to come clean.

“Alright,” Iroha took a deep breath. “When I decided to give up the mansion, I got a letter from someone. It told me to give the mansion to Lily and provided detailed instructions for how to do it. I never knew who gave me the letter, but I was too afraid to question anything further. I slipped her a fake code for a fake contest, then went through this whole process to transfer ownership to her. I know it sounds really suspicious in the situation you’re in right now, but believe me, it was haunted when I got it! All I did was act as a benefactor for someone else!”

Merli thought this over, considering everything she heard. It made sense, but at the same time, none of it did.

“So it seems Lily was meant to be the recipient for this mansion from the beginning. Someone must have used you to give it to her so they wouldn’t have to do it directly. Also, if she tried to trace who gave it to her, it would lead back to you, leading her to believe you brought an Indefinable Shadow Beast to it.”

“That’s probably it… Sorry about that…”

This answered a myriad of questions. Iroha had nothing to do with the haunting. She simply acted as a means to transfer ownership of the mansion to Lily. However, this didn’t provide as many answers as Merli wanted to have. One nagging question remained.

“So, if you aren’t the one behind this… do you have any idea who is? Do you know anything at all about the person who gave you the mansion?”

“Hmmm…” Iroha thought for a second, trying to recall every detail about the person who contacted her about the sweepstakes. She dug deep into her memory to think of anything that might have given their identity away. While she thought long and hard, Merli’s crew waited with bated breath to hear what she had to say.

When she finally thought of a detail worth noting, Iroha started to speak again.

“You know, now that you mention it, I think I--”

Then the connection died. Merli completely lost reception on her end.

“Iroha? Hello? Hello? Iroha?”

After speaking into the phone and receiving no reply, Merli lowered it and sighed. She and her friends could tell what had happened.

“Did the reception go out?” asked CUL as she backed away with Maika.

“Looks like it. Someone doesn’t want us to communicate with the outside world,” Merli attempted to call the number again, but only a dead hum emerged from the other end. After a few more attempts, she hung it up and backed away.

“Well, that’s that, I guess,” Maika shrugged.

“What now? We know a little more, but what can we do with this information?” asked CUL.

Before responding to the question, Merli stepped ahead of her team and moved further into the room. She then stopped and turned back to face her assistants.

“Well, regardless of reception, I’m determined to get to the bottom of this. If this monster wants to scare us away, it won’t work on me, because now I only want to make sure it’s taken care of. I’m not gonna sit here and let whoever’s responsible get away with this.”

“Well put,” Maika commended the fairy. “But do you think we should go back and tell the others? I know we agreed to catch the monster first, but they might want to know what we’re actually dealing with here.”

“...Yeah,” Merli said after giving it some thought. “If the monster cut the reception, it knows we’re in here. We’ll have to regroup and plan a new method of attack. I’d like some input from everyone else before we decide to move forward.”

“That is okay by me! This is a lot creepier than I expected it to be,” CUL shuddered as she looked around the room once more.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about backing out on us,” Maika glared at the redhead.

“What? No! I just need to take a minute or two to readjust myself. Monster hunting is a lot of work. Gotta get out of the line of fire every so often.”

“Exactly,” Merli affirmed. “Let’s head back. We can plan our next move from there.”

“Alright!” CUL and Maika said in unison.

Ultimately deciding to head back together, Merli, CUL, and Maika started to leave the guest room so they could return to the designated base camp. CUL and Maika continued to look over their shoulders to make sure they weren’t being followed, but Merli kept her focus on the path in front of her. She led the way as the team returned to the staircase at the front of the building.

As they went up, the girls could feel a mixture of emotions. They were afraid, even if they didn’t show it, but they were also uncertain. Uncertain of what they should be afraid of. They had some answers, but not enough to merit satisfaction. They could only bring the information they had to their fellow houseguests. From there, nobody knew what would happen.

The closer the girls came to the bedroom, the heavier the air felt. They couldn’t tell if some supernatural entity was causing it or if it was just a matter of unease. None of them felt great about their predicament, but they were willing to stick it out til the end of the night. They all wanted that prize money.

From the top of the stairs, the trio had a short walk before they reached the bedroom. Once they were outside of it, Merli opted to bang on the door, expecting the bookshelf to be blocking it off.

“We’re back,” Merli called as she knocked.

“Who’s there?” Gumi’s voice came from the inside. Merli groaned.

“It’s Merli. Who else?”

“I dunno. Who says the ISB can’t make its voice sound like someone we know?”

“Seriously, Gumi, don’t make me waste my magic on breaking this door down.”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming!”

CUL rolled her eyes as she waited with her team. This was typical behavior for her green-headed friend. They stood outside and listened to the scooting of a bookshelf as Uni and Gumi removed the blockade. Once it was gone, Uni opened the door and allowed the trio to enter.

Seeing their return, everyone apart from Miku sprang up from the beds they were sitting on. Sachiko caught herself looking a little too excited, so she fixed her face to be more serious.

“You’re back! You guys made it!” said Miku, still resting on the mattress.

“Is… Is it gone?” asked kokone, who was finally standing again.

“Not quite, but we learned some new information that we’d like to share with you. We have… something of a clue behind what’s going on here,” said Merli as she moved to the center of the room. CUL and Maika came up behind her.

“Oh?” Miku tilted her head. “What kind of information?”

Merli then explained everything she learned to her fellow houseguests. She described the entire conversation she had on the phone, detailing Iroha’s story and how the reception cut out. The others listened to everything she had to say, taking every aspect into consideration. Even Sachiko looked interested.

After learning the truth of Iroha’s involvement, the houseguests went quiet, each of them having a different reaction to the new information. At the same time, it came as a relief to no one.

“So… does that increase or decrease the possibility of it being an ISB?” asked Gumi, who was a little more confused than the others.

“I’d say decrease, but what do we know? We don’t know who gave it to Iroha in the first place,” answered Maika.

“So what are we supposed to do about this? Do we just go along with the same plan and send you three out?” Rin gestured to the adventurous trio.

“We can, or we can go tell Lily that someone has it out for her,” offered Uni.

“Not a chance. She dug this hole for herself to lay in. I don’t care what happens to her,” Sachiko returned.

“Hey, don’t talk about my friend like that!” CUL jumped in.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but your friend is an impulsive imbecile who does nothing except drag innocent people into her own problems! Why do you think we’re even here right now?”

“Well, if you don’t want to be here, you’re welcome to leave! I’ve gotten really sick of your attitude, you know! We don’t need any of that right now!”

Sachiko scoffed. “Well, I never. How dare you speak to me like that?”

“In her defense, you insulted someone first,” Gumi added.

“Keep your nonsensical remarks out of this!”

“Okay, that was uncalled for. You shouldn’t have said that,” Uni stepped forward to join the circle of growing animosity. Tension rose faster than anyone in the room could keep up with.

“Okay, ladies, please settle down!” Miku started to stand, but the entire room soon erupted into chatter as multiple different conversations went down.

Phrases such as “We’re doomed. Is the money even worth it? Lily’s out of her mind,” and many others were thrown around as the eleven guests had a hard time figuring out who was saying what. In all the commotion, many words became incomprehensible. Nobody could keep up with what was being said.

The chit chat became deafening, everyone giving their own two cents at the same time. It became overwhelming as the room became increasingly more uncomfortable to be in. The talking went back and forth and nobody could keep up with anything. Being out in the dangerous mansion may have felt more ideal to some.

Miku scrambled to keep order as the constant conversations kept being thrown around. They only grew louder and more unbearable, everyone either having something to say about what they should do or throwing insults at Lily. Eventually, the entire room went silent when a bone-chilling scream erupted from among the crowd.

Every single person turned toward the source of the scream, seeing a horrified kokone standing in their midst. It looked as if the commotion overwhelmed her in an already terrified state.

“I can’t do this anymore! I gotta get out of here! I can’t stay here!”

Before anyone had the chance to stop her, kokone bolted across the room and over to the door that had not been re-barricaded.

“Wait, kokone! Stop! Don’t go out there!” Miku tried to stop the fleeing brunette, but kokone’s mind was made up. She threw the door open and darted into the hallway, leaving the other ten behind.

“kokone, wait!” CUL called out to her fellow guest, but her voice grew faint to kokone as the runaway woman hurried for the exit.

Disregarding everything around her, kokone sailed down the stairs and soared toward the exit. She absolutely refused to spend another minute in that house. She didn’t care if she had to run all the way home, she wanted to be anywhere else but there.

Not even bothering to close the door behind her, kokone escaped into the outside world. Keeping her legs moving, she ran past the row of cars in the driveway and headed for the street. Having to traverse Lily’s long driveway did not feel good to her, but she needed to keep going.

After her exhilarating run, the night wind blowing up against her, kokone began to slow down as she reached the bottom of the driveway. She had run past the car she came in, but she didn’t intend to drive it. CUL was the one with the keys, and kokone didn’t want to take a vehicle away from her, Gumi, and Una. She didn’t mind running home or catching a bus.

As kokone started to slow down, catching a few breaths here and there, she noticed something that brought her pace to a halt. Something sat in the street directly in front of the mansion, somewhere it should not have been.

kokone did not want to investigate what she came across, but she just had to wonder why it was there. She stood still and stared at it for a few seconds, debating if she should move closer to it or run away. It was dark out, but from what she could see, she had reason to worry as to why it was there.

Deciding to move in for a closer inspection, kokone trudged over to the black sedan in the middle of the road. She wasn’t sure why a car would be abandoned without being properly parked, but when she drew nearer to it, an unsettling answer came to her.

“This isn’t… It can’t be…”

Believing she recognized the car, kokone hurried to the window to peer inside it. Through the moonlight, she could see something laying in the driver’s seat, slightly sprawled out into the passenger seat beside it. After closely inspecting it for a good few seconds, kokone recognized the object as Yukari’s favorite sweater.

kokone gave a loud gasp as she staggered backwards, nearly losing her footing. The car undoubtedly belonged to her two friends that left before her. She and the others assumed they had driven away, but it looked as though something prevented them from leaving.

“Th-This is… Y-Yukari’s car…” kokone whimpered as she continued to step away from the vehicle. She didn’t know what had happened to her friends, but whatever it was, it couldn’t have been good.

Backing away, unsure of what to do next, kokone shivered and tried to compose herself. With such a sight, one couldn’t blame her for assuming the worst. On the brink of being scared stiff, kokone froze where she stood and stared at the car as she trembled at the many thoughts that crossed her mind.

She never even expected it when the monster from the mansion appeared behind her. She stood stock still as the taller beast loomed over her, only the moonlight showing the filth on its dirty mask. It took her a few seconds before she felt the icy breath of the creature going down her neck. Then she turned around.

kokone hardly had the chance to scream before the monster got her.

Chapter Text

The guests sat in silence until Gumi returned, many of them ashamed for having raised their voices a moment prior. They had a few minutes to reflect on the level of immaturity they expressed. Sachiko hadn’t said anything, but she remained standing while everyone else sat. She faced the wall, looking away from the others. Miku, Rin, Merli, CUL, and Maika held their heads low, only raising them when they saw the door open.

Upon returning after having followed her fleeting friend, Gumi closed the door behind her and sighed. Her colorful demeanor was a little more dim than it usually was. Everyone looked at her expectantly, waiting to hear what she had to say.

“She left the front door open, but I didn’t see her when I looked outside. It doesn’t look like she stopped running.”

“I hope she’s okay. I’ve never seen her so frightened,” Miku moped.

“She’s probably on her way home. I’m glad for her. She doesn’t belong in a place like this,” said CUL.

“None of us do. If we weren’t so stubborn about that reward, we’d have left with her,” replied Uni.

“Yeah. Is it even gonna be worth it in the end?” Una sighed.

Nobody had an answer to that. The ten of them went silent, no one even uttering a peep. Less than ten minutes before, the guests were in an uproar. The room exploded with unintelligible dialogue as they argued and shot insults at one another. With such disparity in their ranks, how were they ever going to survive the monster? They were hopeless.

What nobody expected was for Sachiko to turn around and address the crowd with a look of renewed determination in her eyes, but that’s exactly what happened.

“Well, what are we sitting around for? If we’re not leaving, we have to do something about that monster, don’t we?”

Everyone looked up at the dark-haired woman, surprised to see her sudden change in attitude. After she had spent the whole night denying or undermining the presence of the monster, this was a surprise to all.

“What… What are you saying?” asked CUL from the mattress she sat on with Maika.

“Look, I’m not the biggest fan of Lily, but I know she’s a good friend to some of you. If you just give up now, or even make it to the end of the night just sitting around like this, you’ll walk away from this mansion and leave your pal to suffer at the hands of whatever this creature is. Do you really want that?” Sachiko looked at every person in the room to see what their reaction would be. Most of them were just shocked to see her acting like this.

“I…” Rin started to say, but she couldn’t find any other words.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t plan on leaving this house tonight. I’m not sure if I can say the same for this monster we’re dealing with, though. Are we just going to lay around, or are we going to do something about it?”

Again, nobody said anything at first. They all faced Sachiko, but none of them knew what to say in response. Seeing her break character like this left them speechless.

The first to come forward was Gumi, who turned her frown into a wide grin.

“What are we waiting for, then? I’m game!” said the green girl. This acted as encouragement for everyone else.

“So am I,” said CUL. “Let’s go out there and do something about this mess.”

“You can count on me,” Maika nodded.

Hovering up from the mattress she sat on, Merli joined the others in agreement, ready to give their nemesis another shot.

“I’m in. Let’s do this.”

Nobody else said anything out loud, but they all showed interest in the arrangement. Many of them nodded or smiled at their new leader. Sachiko’s determination grew contagious.

Taking another look around the room, Sachiko developed a smile of her own. From there, she could create the perfect battle plan.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Gumi, CUL, Maika, Merli, you come with me. We’ll teach this monster a thing or two. The rest of you can stay in here. I can’t imagine Miku, Una, or Rin are in the best shape after their run-in with our foe. Uni and Tako Luka can keep an eye on them in case it comes here. Understood?”

Even with their entire strategy conducted by one person, nobody raised any opposition. The teams were well arranged and the four selected to go with Merli were more than happy to. They were itching to take their attacker down.

“Yeah! Let’s catch ourselves a monster!” Gumi jumped for joy.

“Ready when the rest of you are,” Maika smiled at her teammates.

“I’m always ready,” said Merli.

The five adventurers then gathered at the front of the room, verifying their fellowship before heading out. Miku, Uni, Rin, Tako Luka, and Una watched them with appreciation, wishing the best for their companions. Under Sachiko’s guidance, they were going to tear through everything they could find so they could put an end to the nightly horrors once and for all.

When the squad was ready to go, Sachiko turned to the door and gave her next command.

“Okay girls, let’s move out!”

Without hesitation, Gumi, Sachiko, CUL, Maika, and Merli ran out into the hallway. They didn’t even waver for a second. Sachiko led the way with Merli right behind her, both of them eager to bring about their mission’s success. The others shared their mentalities, all of them raring to go.

Once they were out in the manor, the team sped through every room they came across. Swinging doors open and jumping inside, one person at a time, the squad dug into everything they could find. The others were always right behind them, so even if they encountered the monster, they could easily call for backup.

In a small playroom filled with toys and other pieces of equipment, CUL came across a baseball bat laying in a toybox. Knowing how handy a potential weapon could be, she picked it up and held it in her hands, getting a good feel for it.

“Alright! We'll see how good that monster's balance is after I hit it with this,” CUL brandished her weapon and beamed.

In the room next to her, Gumi made a discovery of her own. After pulling a drawer open, she found a pair of sunglasses on top of some useless papers. Making a little “Ooh” sound, she took them out and put them on, giggling to herself about how cool she looked.

“Hehe. I look like the singer from that one band Lily likes.”

After going through a myriad of rooms, the five girls reunited by the staircase, setting their sights on the bottom floor. Each of them took a moment to stare at Gumi in confusion, wondering why she had thrown on a pair of sunglasses, but they didn’t question it out loud.

“How about we head to the forbidden side of the house?” CUL suggested as she held the bat over her shoulder. She looked ready to square off with someone.

“I’m down for that. How about the rest of you?” Maika asked the others.

“Yeah, let’s get right to the heart of the matter. If it actually does hang around back there, we’ll catch it right where it lives,” said Merli.

“Yep! We’ll really get the drop on it,” Gumi said with enthusiasm.

“Okay, then it’s settled. We’re heading to the forbidden hallway,” Sachiko concluded the discussion. The plan had been decided.

Staying close together, but still watching their surroundings from every angle, the crew of five headed to the ground floor to investigate the mysterious hallway. None of them had seen the creepy doll room or anything beyond that point, so they were glad to see it for themselves after hearing how the others described it.

Sachiko led her troops into the dark hallway, keeping the lead as they strayed further from the light. Merli flew right behind the leader while the others marched beneath her. She only lowered herself so she could get through the doorway when they came to the infamous tea room.

“So this is the terrifying doll room, huh? Let’s see what the big deal is,” said Sachiko as she went to open the door.

CUL was ready to strike, Gumi and Maika were ready to pounce, and Merli was ready to cast a spell once Sachiko opened the entrance to the ominous room. She then stepped inside and the others followed behind her. The lights were already on, so they caught a glimpse of everything as soon as they entered.

“Whoa,” said Gumi as she walked ahead of the group. Seeing two harlequin dolls at a table with a tea set between them, she found herself fascinated. “Look at these things! I wonder if there’s anything in the teapot.”

The others took a look around the room for themselves, but they were far more creeped out than intrigued. While they weren’t quite as disturbed as Rin or Una were, they weren’t ecstatic about what they had to see.

“Look at this atrocious wallpaper. Lily should hire an interior designer,” Sachiko retched at the sight of the décor. The others shared her sentiments, but Gumi didn’t seem to care much.

Taking a whiff of the tea pot, Gumi made a strange expression, but it wasn’t entirely readable with the sunglasses covering her eyes.

“Hmm, smells kinda like the tea Gakupo makes. I’m sure it’s drinkable.”

The girls didn’t get much more time to explore before a noise from behind the door at the other end of the room alerted them. They all looked straight at it when they heard the creaking of the floorboards on the other side. They went silent, freezing for a second or two, then they got serious.

“Did you…” Gumi started to say.

“Shh! Yes, I did,” replied Sachiko. “Keep your voice down.”

As the floor creaked again from the other side of the door, the five women in the tea room looked to one another for a quiet exchange. Even if they didn’t say anything, they communicated with their eyes. Sachiko motioned toward the door, then started to walk to it, leading the way and preparing to strike whatever they found behind it.

Readying her hands to cast a spell, Merli followed Sachiko with Gumi, CUL, and Maika right behind her. Slowly, Sachiko turned the knob of the door, trying to open it without making a sound. She backed away and allowed her teammates to see into the hallway through the crease she managed to unveil. They could see the lights were on in one of the back rooms, but they could also see a silhouette moving through the darkness, moving in and out from the doors along the walls.

The figure did not notice the women staring it down, so Sachiko made eye contact with her teammates and gave them a whisper. Everyone had the same idea, so they nodded to show agreement with the plan.

“Okay, on the count of three, we charge it. One… Two… Three!”

Once Sachiko said the magic number, she and the others raced into the hallway to pursue the shadow. By the time the silhouette looked up to see the women coming at it, it was too late for it to do anything. Gumi and Maika bounded for it at the same time, quickly seizing it and tackling it to the floor.

“AAAAAAAHHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

The monster screamed in a girlish voice as it found itself pinned down. This startled the others, but their adrenaline was too high for them to settle down. From the light of the nearby room, they were finally able to see who they captured, but it wasn’t what they expected.

Lily’s favorite pink-haired maid laid on the ground with the others lingering over her. The girls discovered they had apprehended Cocorobo, someone they hadn’t seen since before they headed to bed. She appeared to have dropped a feather duster in the midst of the attack.

“Cocorobo?” Maika asked as she and Gumi eased up on the maid.

“Yeah, who else would I be? What are you girls doing back here?!”

Predictably, she was furious. Even with an undefinable entity haunting her house, this was the first time someone attacked her on the job. Getting in the way of her cleaning was a surefire way to enrage her.

“Sorry about that. We thought you were the monster,” Maika stood up while Cocorobo stayed on the floor in front of her.

“Monster…? Don’t tell me you girls are out monster hunting at a time like this. I mean, if you really want to, knock yourselves out, but at least stay out of forbidden places like this! Lily has a reason for closing this off to guests!”

“Oh, knock it off. We already saw her unflattering room of memories,” Merli rolled her eyes.

“We read her diary, too!” Gumi exclaimed.

This was clearly news to the pinkette, who acted a little surprised when she heard this. She hadn’t noticed the absence of Lily’s diary.

“You… You did?”

“Yeah, why do you think we’re checking back here? The monster attacked Rin and Una when they tried to go in that room!” CUL shot down at the girl on the floor.

During this exchange, Sachiko eyed Cocorobo with suspicion. She silently criticized everything the housekeeper said, trying to find any contradictions involving her presence in the hallway.

“W-Well,” Cocorobo tried to find something else to say. “You shouldn’t have done that, but I guess there isn’t much I can do about it now. Just… go do your monster hunting someplace else. No one is allowed back here and you certainly aren't allowed to sneak up on me while I’m working!”

“Not so fast,” Sachiko was quick on the draw. Her teammates looked at her, expecting something elaborate to come out of her mouth. “Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that Coco’s out here cleaning while a monster is running around? She’s clearly aware of it, but it doesn’t seem to bother her, does it?”

This observation spelled bad news for Coco. Gumi, Maika, Merli, and CUL all looked to their leader in curiosity as she said this. Even Cocorobo looked a little nervous from the rising trouble she found herself in. She didn’t think the girls were about to let her walk away scot-free.

“Yeah… Come to think of it,” said CUL. “Cocorobo is very attached to Lily. What if she’s the one who gave Iroha the mansion? Her end goal might’ve been to move in with Lily and scare everyone else away.”

“Seems like the perfect scheme. Totally something she would do,” Merli agreed.

“Wha-- What are you talking about? Iroha? Huh?!” Cocorobo was stunned by the accusation.

“Of course! Don’t you know how these kinda things work? It’s always the maid or the butler! They’re the ones you’d least expect!” Gumi supported the accusal.

“Not to mention, if the monster hangs out around here, the fact that she’s back here makes her look all the more suspicious, don’t you think?” added Maika.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I have nothing to do with any of this! What are you saying?” asked an angry yet somewhat frightened Cocorobo. Soon, the other five girls were glaring down at her, each of them thinking the same thing. The cold quietude of their staring eyes gave her a chill, prompting a bit of nervousness to show. “...Girls? I’m innocent, I swear.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll have the chance to make your case, but it will be under our conditions,” Sachiko said in an unnerving tone. “Get her.”

As if they were henchwomen following orders, the other girls flew in on Cocorobo, who gasped as they seized her from the floor. This would not end well for her.

Once they had the maid, the group hurried into the nearest room they could find, guided by Sachiko. They swung the door open and stormed inside, Gumi and Maika dragging the suspect at the back of the group. Sachiko, CUL, and Merli gathered at the front, realizing they had broken into a bathroom.

“This will make for a fine hideout,” Sachiko declared before looking over to the girls holding Coco. “Set her on the toilet. It’s time for an interrogation.”

Continuing to follow orders, Gumi and Maika pushed the resilient pink-head in the direction of the toilet between a curtained shower and the sink. They then threw her onto it and forced her to sit down. CUL blocked the door with her baseball bat at the ready while Sachiko and Merli stood on both sides of the room. Giggling, Gumi pulled a roll of toilet paper from its handle and proceeded to unravel it around Cocorobo, wrapping her and the toilet together with it.

“What do you think you’re doing?! I don’t care about whatever game you’re playing, you’ll never get any confession out of me!”

“Is that so?” Sachiko looked down at the furious housekeeper. “It sure sounds like you have an awful lot to hide. You aren’t in any position to oppose us right now.”

“Do your worst, I’m not afraid of you! Go ahead, have Merli blast me with one of her spells. Have CUL whack me with the bat, I don’t care! If I die, you’ll be the ones enjoying a murder charge!”

“Wow. Sounds like she’s determined to put her life on the line for Lily,” Maika snickered.

“All the more reason to suspect her,” Merli agreed.

“I have nothing to do with your stupid monster!” Cocorobo shouted.

“That’s totally something someone who has something to do with our monster would say!” Gumi lowered her sunglasses.

“Listen, pink one, here’s what we suspect,” Sachiko began to pace in front of the detainee as she told her story. “We were able to deduce that Lily received this mansion from Nekomura Iroha, who obtained the mansion from an unknown source. After a little chat over the phone, we discovered Lily to have been the target the entire time. Whoever gave Iroha the house either had a desire to hurt Lily or to be alone with her.”

“Not to mention, they knew when we were using the phone and conveniently cut the connection. Who else would be able to do that apart from the housekeeper herself?” CUL questioned.

Cocorobo pulled against the toilet paper as she glared back at Sachiko, ready to hit her with a fiery response.

“You think I did this so I could be alone with Lily?! Why would I ever want to do that? I lived comfortably when I worked for her and everyone else in the Internet house! Why would I want to jeopardize the living I struggled so hard for?!”

“I don’t know, why would you?” Gumi got right up in Cocorobo’s face, but the stare she received forced her to back off.

“It makes sense to me. Your loyalty to her is unwavering,” Sachiko went on. “Not to mention, the monster only appeared when she had visitors over. Lily, herself, did not believe the house was haunted. It seems to me that someone is conveniently avoiding her.”

Cocorobo went silent and sat back against the toilet. All eyes were on her and it made her extremely uncomfortable. She didn’t have a response at the ready, but no one could tell if that verified her guiltiness or showed just how confused she was. She wasn’t an easy person to read.

Every single person in the room suspected the maid. If she wasn’t the monster itself, she at least had some involvement with it. Nobody else would go so far for the sake of Lily. At least, nobody who wasn’t a guest in the mansion, though many of them were reconsidering their opinion on her.

“I… I don’t know what to say to that, but--”

“Oooh, someone’s looking extra suspicious now!” Gumi cut Coco off.

“Well, you’re wasting your time with me!” Cocorobo shot back. “I seriously don’t know anything! Now let me go!”

“Seems like a load of horse feathers to me. She absolutely knows something,” Sachiko insisted.

“I don’t! Seriously! Knock it off and let me out of here!”

Cocorobo thrashed against the toilet paper, ready to pounce on whoever happened to be closest to her. The five interrogators stood their ground, determined to serve justice no matter how resilient their prisoner was. None of them would be leaving until they had some answers.

Growling with all the ferocity of a tiger, Cocorobo slipped out of her silent confusion and returned to pure anger. Convincing her captors to believe anything differently than they already did would be impossible. Neither side was going to make any sort of progress.

“Um… If you ask me, I don’t think this is going to work out for us,” Maika finally said. “Even if she does know something, she seems committed to keeping it a secret. If she’s really that loyal to Lily, I don’t think we can get any amount of truth out of her.”

“I’m telling the truth, you idiots!” Cocorobo fumed.

“It’s of the utmost importance that we learn everything we can. She’s the closest thing to a lead that we have right now,” Sachiko countered.

“No, I think she’s right,” Merli spoke up. “What good is it going to do if we just stay here all night going back and forth? We have a monster to catch before it does anything to anyone else. We can’t just stand around here wasting time.”

“Yeah… We really should be out finding that thing. Trying to get her to talk is meaningless,” CUL agreed.

Determined as she was, Sachiko couldn’t deny this. The longer they stood in the bathroom and wasted the night away, the more time they gave the monster to hunt them. If their current efforts weren’t yielding any results, they would have to be halted. After giving it some thought, she reached a conclusion.

“How about this? One of us can stay here and keep an eye on Cocorobo. The rest of us can get back to hunting this monstrosity.”

“Good idea. That way, we won’t lose our lead,” said CUL.

“Or… you could let me go and I’ll try my best to forget you ever did this to me. That sound good?” Cocorobo asked with heavy breath. She tried to look as if she had calmed down, but she clearly held some acrimony.

The five interrogators looked down at their prisoner at the same time, none of them looking like they supported the idea.

“I don’t think so,” Maika shook her head.

“Yeah, you’re a lot less dangerous this way,” Gumi giggled.

“So, who’s gonna stay and watch her?” CUL asked the group as she lifted her baseball bat over her shoulder.

“Ooh, me! I can do it!” Gumi raised her hand in a needlessly dramatic fashion. “I’m sure we’ll become great friends if we spend a little extra time together.”

Cocorobo rolled her eyes, expecting exactly the opposite to happen. She was in for a night of anger, boredom, and resentment. One would have to forgive her for not sharing in Gumi’s excitement.

“Okay, sounds like a good idea. The two of you stay here while the rest of us search the mansion for this weirdo in a mask. What do you think, Sachiko?” Maika asked the designated leader.

“It could work. We’ll search around for about fifteen minutes, then we’ll meet up back here if we don’t find anything.”

“How about we split into groups to cover more ground?” CUL suggested. “I have the baseball bat and Merli has some magic on her side. If I go with Maika and she goes with Sachiko, we’ll have a line of defense on both ends.”

The other girls recognized the intelligence behind the plan, though splitting up did not seem like the best idea. It would be risky to send out a group of two people against the monster. At the same time, they could definitely search more of the mansion if they were to shed their numbers. All of them knew the plan could work.

“Okay, so my plan still stands, but I like what CUL suggested. Merli and I will take one side of the mansion while CUL and Maika take the other,” Sachiko explained. “We’ll look around for about fifteen minutes, and if we don’t find anything, we’ll come back here. If we do find the monster, we’ll beat it senseless. Understood?”

Everyone agreed to the plan, but most of them pretended to be more confident than they were. They knew how risky it would be, but they had little choice but to go along with it. The fate of everyone in the mansion depended on it.

With the next course of action finally figured out, the group members began to depart from the bathroom, leaving Gumi and Cocorobo behind. They knew their groups and where they would be looking. Big as the mansion was, they were beginning to get the lay of the land. Merli and Sachiko were set on checking the basement while CUL and Maika would hang back and check out more on the ground floor.

No matter where anyone stood in the mansion, the atmosphere was unsettling. Nowhere felt safe. The monster could be lurking around any corner, waiting for the moment to strike. Even so, the four girls would not try to lay low. They needed to bring it out of hiding and show it what for. They were ready to face off with the creature that pursued them.

In the bathroom, Cocorobo squirmed uneasily as Gumi shut the door, hoping to keep the monster out. The maid was confused, angry, and already wondering how to seek revenge. She wanted to wipe the goofy grin off Gumi’s face. She was just trying to do her job and wound up in a frustrating situation.

“So… You’re a big fan of cleaning, right?” Gumi started to make conversation. Cocorobo didn’t answer. “I hear a vacuum cleaner can get the job done a lot quicker than a feather duster. Why were you doing it the hard way?”

Cocorobo sighed. She really didn’t want to have this conversation. Words could not describe her mountain of frustration.

All of a sudden, the maid heard a noise. She looked up from where she pouted, not entirely sure where it came from.

“Oh? Did you like my idea of using the vacuum?” Gumi noticed her captive perk up.

“No, I think I heard something. Did you hear that?”

“So, you… don’t like my idea?”

“No, listen! I think I heard a noise.”

Gumi paused, stopping to listen for a second. Whatever Cocorobo heard, it seemed to have quieted down. Gumi simply shrugged, feeling whatever it was would be a non-issue.

Then she heard a creak. This caused her to turn her head, looking to see what made the sound.

“Uh… We’re safe in here, aren’t we? Monsters don’t have to use the restroom, do they?”

Cocorobo sighed at Gumi’s question, but felt a little nervous after hearing the creak. She couldn’t tell where it came from, but it sounded closer than she wanted it to be. With much hesitation, she tried to figure out where it came from.

“Um, Gumi…” she said when she discovered something. “I think I know where it’s coming from.”

“Really? Where?” asked Gumi, still looking around.

Just as Cocorobo began to gesture in the noise’s direction, the shower curtain swung back and revealed the monster standing right behind it. Neither of the girls had the chance to react before it lunged at them.

Meanwhile, the search for the monster was not going well for Maika and CUL. They had looked through all the nearby rooms and made their way back to the guest room, but nowhere seemed to be housing the beast. They were clueless as to where to go next.

“With luck, Sachiko and Merli will have found it by now,” CUL said as she leaned back against the wall, the tip of her bat touching the floor beside her.

“Yeah, this is turning out to be a lot more boring than I thought it would be,” Maika shook her head. From the beginning, she had been less afraid of the monster than most of her other friends. She was brave, but even she couldn’t deny how frightening the circumstances were.

Leaning over the backside of the couch, Maika looked around to find a clock. She wanted to know how much longer she would have to search before returning to the bathroom basecamp. When she couldn’t find any, she looked back over to CUL.

“Think we should head back? I’m sure the others have covered the rest of the house by now.”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should go over it again. I don’t think it’s been fifteen minutes yet.”

“Me neither, but it doesn’t seem like it wants to come out while we’re looking for it.”

“What? Are you scared or something? You want to go back already?”

“Huh? No! What are you saying?”

As the girls discussed their next move, someone watched them from around the corner. Neither of them were paying any attention to the hallway where a tall figure surveyed them. It was the perfect opportunity for something malicious to strike.

“I just don’t think we’re going to find it,” Maika retreated from the couch and walked over to CUL, who stepped forward from the wall. “I’m willing to bet Merli and Sachiko dealt with it already.”

“Oh yeah? Is that what you really think?”

“Yeah. Merli has magic. It doesn’t stand a chance against her.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I’m pretty sure the monster is still at large,” CUL said with confidence. “They didn’t even come close to finding it.”

“Uh… and how exactly do you know that?” asked the puzzled Maika. “It’s not like we ran into them or anything. We have no way of knowing if they found the monster or not.”

“It’s easy,” CUL chuckled. “I know where the monster is because it’s standing right behind you.”

“Ha! You really expect me to believe that?” Maika laughed at first, but even she couldn’t ignore the looming energy that took up the space behind her. Especially when it was breathing down her neck.

After a short pause, Maika saw the look in CUL’s face begin to sink. It was as if she had only just realized the danger of the situation. Seeing this, Maika’s confident expression also faded. As much as she refused to believe CUL at first, something about the redhead’s face told her she was telling the truth.

Only when Maika worked up the curiosity to turn around did she see the tall trench coat-wearing skull-faced creature towering above her. Neither her or CUL could react to it fast enough to fight back.

However, the screams that followed were heard all the way across the house. Just as Sachiko and Merli finished with their search, they froze upon hearing the shouts.

“Did you hear that?” Sachiko asked the fairy.

“I’m afraid so. That sounded like CUL and Maika.”

“Then come on! Let’s find them!”

Ready for an intervention, Sachiko and Merli sprinted across the floor in the direction they heard their friends scream in. Merli lifted herself off the ground and flew while Sachiko tried to keep up with her. They could only pray they would reach their companions in time.

They ran through the hall, remembering the way they came when they first went down the stairs. Keeping an eye on the scenery to tell they were going in the right direction, the two made their way to the guest room. Merli was ready to blast the monster with a spell as soon as she saw it with her own two eyes.

Soon enough, the passageway that led into the guest room became visible. Merli and Sachiko picked up the pace to finish the last sprint they needed to make. They knew they needed to preserve some energy for the fight, but finding CUL and Maika in one piece was a higher priority. They would not slow down until they did.

At last, they reached the doorway and made their way into the room. They skidded to a halt, ready to attack, but were surprised by what they saw.

Sachiko and Merli stood in the middle of the living room, right in front of the couch and coffee table, but they saw nothing. No monster. No CUL. No Maika. They were too late.

“No… They can’t be…” Merli started to say.

“They’re gone…” said Sachiko, defeated.

With that, the two of them were all alone. Only seven guests remained in the house, five of which were barricaded in a bedroom. Things were not looking good for anyone.

Then, before Sachiko or Merli could think about anything else, the doorbell rang.

Chapter Text

Merli gulped as she prepared to answer the door. Her magic was already starting to run out for the day, so she was starting to doubt her ability to handle the next conflict that presented itself. Regardless, she needed to be brave. The fate of everyone in the house depended on it.

She was beginning to hate how often she had to “take one for the team” against this monster, but she was also the only one with magic powers. It was an unfortunate curse of fate. With this in mind, she stationed herself in front of the entrance to the mansion and reached for the doorknob. She was ready to blast whatever waited outside with the first spell that came to mind.

She only worried about the possibility of the monster being supernatural. If it had powers like hers, it would be able to fight back. She had yet to see it for herself, so she could only rely on others’ descriptions for it. It didn’t sound like anything mightier than a tall person in a mask, but anything was possible.

Finally, just as the fairy started to turn the doorknob, she felt a hand place itself on her shoulder. She loudly gasped, nearly screaming as she turned around to see what had come up behind her. Her eyes then made contact with Sachiko’s, her partner in investigating the mansion.

“Sorry,” Sachiko apologized for startling Merli. “I checked the bathroom. Gumi and Cocorobo are gone.”

Merli sighed after hearing this, going from frightful to defeated. The monster was catching everyone and needed to be stopped. They could only hope that wherever they were, their friends were alright. Still, they would not know until they faced the beast themselves. This gave Merli slightly more motivation to open the door.

Now with Sachiko behind her, Merli was a little less frozen with fear. At least the two of them could take on an attacker together. With this in mind, Merli turned her hand and opened the door, stepping back and taking a good look at who stood on the porch.

“It’s about time you answered! I’ve been waiting out here for forty years, nyaa!”

A very angry Nekomura Iroha stood in front of the mansion with her arms folded in discontentment.

“Sorry, we were a little busy. You know, with our whole monster situation and all that. Going up to answer the door is a lot harder than it normally is,” Merli explained.

“Ah well,” Iroha shrugged, not caring enough to argue. She hated having to wait outside for so long, but her information was vital enough to keep her from leaving. “May I come in, nya?”

“Sure. It’s your funeral,” said Sachiko before she and Merli stepped aside. The catgirl then frolicked into the building, acting as if a great evil wasn’t stalking around inside it.

“Alrighty, listen up. There’s a reason I cyame here in person like this, myan,” Iroha said to the girls as Merli closed the door. “After you called and so rudely hung up on me, I was cyurious about the whole thing! So I took a little tyime to look into the people behind the sweepstakes I won. They weren’t a real company, but their name had a history of being used once before this! I looked into it and I think I know who the pyerson behind this is, myan!”

This was great news for Merli and Sachiko. If they could figure out who was behind this, they could possibly gain the upper hand. They weren’t entirely sure what to do with the information, but knowing would open a few gates for them. They could evaluate what steps to take from there.

“That’s great,” said Sachiko. “We should head back to the room so you can tell everyone. They’re all hiding right now.”

“Heh, of cyourse they are! Nyot everynyan can be as brave as me,” Iroha giggled.

Despite being put off by Iroha’s insouciant attitude, Merli agreed with Sachiko. Everyone would have the chance to weigh in if they heard what Iroha had to say. The room would also provide a safer location to discuss the matter.

“Okay, then let’s get going. We can’t waste any time. The monster is on the move and we’ll all be snatched up if we just stand around waiting,” Merli started toward the staircase.

“Nyo kidding! Take me to your hideout, hehehe!” Iroha said, prancing behind the fairy. “Y’know, I kept trying to call, but you wouldn’t answer me, nya! What gives?”

“The reception was cut. We assumed the monster did it,” Sachiko walked beside the catgirl.

“Ah, right. Right. Monster. Yeah,” Iroha chuckled as she continued to follow Merli.

In that instant, the girls weren’t as afraid of the monster as they were before. The glimmer of hope inspired them to keep fighting. As they walked back up the stairs and made their trek to the bedroom, they felt more fearless than they had since the beast first attacked.

For the rest of the walk, nobody said a word. Merli and Sachiko knew they could get a head start on the information by asking Iroha in advance, but they felt it would be more appropriate to learn alongside everyone else. They could have a more civil discussion about it and establish a proper course of action. Especially if the perpetrator was someone they knew.

Soon, the three girls reached the bedroom, which the other residents had barricaded from inside. Sachiko expected this, so she approached the door and gave it a knock. Iroha and Merli stood behind her, keeping watch.

“Open up. It’s us, and we have a guest.”

“Sachiko? Oh, thank Lola you’re okay!” the voice of Miku came from inside. “But what do you mean ‘guest?’”

“Open up and we’ll show you,” said Merli. Iroha giggled, eager to surprise everyone.

“Okay… Just give us a second here.”

The three outsiders waited and listened to the sound of a large item being scooted out of the way. They could tell the barricade was being taken down. Iroha found the sound amusing.

Then once the shelf was out of the way, Miku opened the door and granted entry to her friends. The catgirl immediately pushed ahead of Merli and Sachiko to leap inside the room and make her grand entrance.

“Helloooo everynyan!” Iroha proclaimed, making a presentation of herself.

“Iroha?!” Rin gasped from the bed she sat on. She and Miku were still recovering from their injuries, but feeling slightly better after having the chance to rest.

The others in the room were equally surprised to see the visitor. Even after hearing about the phone call, nobody expected her to show up. Uni, Tako Luka, and Una watched her from different parts of the room without saying anything.

“Yep, it’s me! And boy, do I have news for you!”

Following Iroha, Merli and Sachiko walked in the room and closed the door behind them. Noticing their lack of numbers, Miku grew concerned.

“Where’s everyone else?” asked the twin-tailed popstar.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure there were more than two of you before,” Una seconded.

Tragically, Merli and Sachiko looked at one another, not wanting to explain what happened. They knew they had to, but they also knew it could serve as motivation to defeat the monster. All three of the outsiders took a few deep breaths before they explained everything.

Miku, Uni, Una, Tako Luka, and Rin listened to what Merli, Sachiko, and Iroha had to say. They heard about the group’s dissolution and Iroha’s revelation, which they all had their own reactions to. Rin and Una hugged each other worriedly after learning about their friends. Miku and Uni hung their heads, both of them only able to hope the others were okay. And even though she couldn’t express how she felt, Tako Luka was also saddened.

“That’s horrible…” Miku finally said.

“But at least we’re onto something. Maybe we can save everyone,” Uni tried to look on the bright side.

“Exactly. Pessimism will only drag us down. If the others were, you know… dead, we probably would have seen some bodies,” Sachiko affirmed.

“Yeah, and besides, Iroha knows who’s behind this! Once we have that figured out, we can go give them what for!” Rin sprang up after hearing this.

“Yeah! We’ll teach them not to mess with us!” Una agreed.

“Alrighty, myan,” said Iroha. “First of all, I don’t think Lily knows about any of this. This is someone who has a biiiig problem with her. A big reason for why they’re doing this. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but as soon as I thought it over, it made so much sense! We honestly should’ve guessed it from the get-go. If you ask me, this person had ‘totally responsible’ written all over them from the moment--”

“Okay, get on with it!” Sachiko groaned. Iroha was taking a little too long to reach the point.

“Ahem, sorry. Just trying to build it up. It’s really cool. So anyway, here’s who I believe gave me the mansion to give to Lily. As many of us might have guessed… it was none other than--”

The door swung open before Iroha could finish what she was saying. All eight residents in the room flipped to see the tall trench coat-wearing monster standing in the doorway, having busted in without a barricade to block it. Rin and Una screamed at the sight of it while the others gasped and stumbled back. They were now sharing a room with the gigantic beast that was picking them off.

Thinking quickly, Merli, Sachiko, Iroha, and Miku were close enough to the door to sprint past the monster as it started to walk forward. They all avoided its attack when it raised its arms, dashing into the hallway. Rin and Una, who quivered nearby, came to their senses and followed the other four. Uni was the last to go, hightailing it and just narrowly squeezing past the skull-faced freak of nature.

With the other seven gone, Tako Luka was left without a head to ride on. This left her defenseless and shivering on the bed as the monster approached her, ready to take its next victim.

Meanwhile, in the hall, chaos overtook the order and nobody knew what to do next or where to go. Scrambling to run in different directions, the seven mansion residents fell into different groups. Rin and Merli made for the stairs while Miku, Una, Sachiko, Uni, and Iroha kept to the higher floor. They didn’t even look to see if the monster was chasing them.

Only Merli turned around when she saw the skull of the monster begin to emerge from the bedroom. Hovering in midair, she brought her hands together and prepared to launch a powerful spell at it. Emotionless as always, it did not have any reaction to this.

“Take this, you piece of--”

Merli blasted a large ray of purple energy at the creature, but it disappeared back inside the bedroom before it made contact. It hit the doorway with a heavy blast, obliterating the door and parts of the walls surrounding it. However, the monster could not be seen among the destruction.

Merli tried to get a closer look, but when she leaned in, she saw the monster returning after evading her spell. Having used too much energy to cast it, Merli did not want to waste anymore by launching another attack. She turned back around and floated down the stairs, leaving the other group members on the upper floor. None of them stuck around to watch the light show.

“What now?! Where do we go?!” Uni asked as she frantically tried to catch her breath.

“I don’t know! Where can we go?!” Sachiko responded.

Nobody knew where to go next, but they couldn’t stay in one place. If they didn’t come up with a plan in the next few seconds, they would all fall victim to their pursuer. Someone had to think of something.

“How about Lily’s room?” Una suggested. “She’ll need to know about this!”

“Fine, it’s better than nothing!” Sachiko said back as she ran to the front of the group.

The five tried to run together, but Miku started to fall behind. It pained her to run after her last encounter with the monster left her hurt. She didn’t want to let that slow her down, so she tried to ignore the pain. And while they weren’t in pain, Una and Sachiko were growing tired from all the running.

Even so, Sachiko kept an eye on every door and examined them all on the way to Lily’s room. It was farther down the hall and nobody had bothered trying to reach it before. As exhausted as they were growing, the five had to push themselves to reach their destination. Uni and Iroha were holding up slightly better than everyone else, partly thanks to Iroha’s catlike agility.

Suppressing any detriments that may have kept them back, the team carried on down the hall and eventually turned on the leftward path that led to Lily’s room. Sachiko kept up the front, but Iroha and Uni were slowly inching ahead of her. They could all see which room Lily slept in, largely thanks to the gold plate on the door that read “Lily’s Quarters - Keep out!” They saw it at the same time and they all made a break for it.

Pushing themselves to make it the rest of the way, the team finally reached Lily’s door. Uni grabbed the knob and turned it, finding that the room wasn’t locked. This puzzled her at first, but she didn’t think twice about it. She opened the door and ran inside, quickly followed by Sachiko, Iroha, Una, and Miku. Once they were all in, Iroha slammed the door shut and locked it. This prevented the assailant from following them.

Once they were in the bedroom, the five escapees tried to catch their breath. Iroha hung back by the door while the others walked further in, analyzing whatever they saw as they did. A large queen size bed sat against the back wall with black and white patterns decorating the room. It did not look like Lily touched the place up very much from its initial furnishing.

Even more curiously, Lily wasn’t even there. Sachiko, Miku, Una, and Uni walked around for a few seconds, noticing the black dresser, a small sitting space with a white couch and matching chairs, and even a television hanging from the wall. But no Lily. Nobody knew whether to be concerned or suspicious.

“She’s not even here,” Sachiko pointed out. “Maybe she’s behind this after all.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Uni countered. “Iroha said her evidence points to Lily’s innocence. If she’ll just tell us who’s behind this, we can put that worry to rest.”

“Then we can focus on our other worries,” Una sighed.

“I’ll tell you in a second,” Iroha took a deep breath. “Just lemme catch my breath first, okay?”

“Can you catch it faster?” Uni pressed.

Iroha did not have enough time to catch her breath. A thundering slam against the door caused everyone to jump, activating their survival instincts. A few other slams followed, showing that the lock would not be enough to keep the monster out. Every slam grew heavier until the door began to splinter. A few seconds after that, it flung open and the monster barged inside. All five of its targets screamed in terror.

Being the closest to the door and using her catlike abilities, Iroha immediately circled around the attacker and returned to the hallway. It did not go after her, being more focused on the four still standing in front of it. Uni attempted to follow, but her attempt was not as successful.

Just as Uni attempted to run past the monster, it grabbed her with its hand and lifted her from the ground.

“Ah! Hey, let me go!” Uni screamed and kicked at the beast.

Terrified, Una, Miku, and Sachiko could hardly do anything as they backed up further into the room. The monster closed in on them, clutching Uni and preparing to strike. None of them were able to get away.

That is, none of them except for Iroha. She darted through the hall, taking advantage of the monster’s distraction. She hurried for the staircase, wanting to get as far away from it as she possibly could. She felt bad about leaving everyone behind, but she was so caught up in the moment that she barely thought about it.

Hoping to run into Merli or Rin, the catgirl climbed down the stairs and ran back into the entry hall. A little fairy magic would have helped her out, but she didn’t even know how much power Merli had leftover. The fear she showed when the monster first attacked was an indicator that it wasn’t very high. Still, Iroha had to cling to hope and keep herself together.

She then spotted the direction that led to the living room. Figuring the others would be hiding there, she scampered in its direction. She did not want to be alone in that house. She almost regretted even going there. She hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell anyone who the perpetrator was.

At the same time, she knew the risk when she went out there. She knew she wouldn’t exactly find a party waiting for her. She just needed to survive the night and tell her friends what she needed to say. All that was easier said than done.

Moving as fast as she could, Iroha slipped into the living room, seeing it for the first time. She could see a few couches and chairs, and even the phone that was used to call her. Even with all this, she couldn’t see anyone else. This caused her to sigh as she prepared to turn around and search elsewhere.

“Psst! Iroha! Over here!”

The auburn-haired girl froze when she heard someone whisper to her. She turned back around and saw a hand motioning to her from behind the couch. It did not appear to be a malicious hand, so she found it safe enough to walk over to.

Iroha hurried over to the couch to see who called to her, only for the hand to grab the side of her dress and yank her behind it. She shrieked, but quickly found her mouth covered by Kagamine Rin.

“Shh! Do you want it to hear us?!” Rin asked as she clung to Iroha, keeping her hidden behind the couch alongside her.

Iroha grumbled as Rin backed away from her, returning to her regular hidden position. The blonde seemed to have the right idea.

“Where’s everyone else?” asked Rin, keeping her voice in a whisper.

“I don’t know. I hope they’re okay,” Iroha whispered back.

“Me too. This is terrible.”

The girls didn’t want to say much else, afraid any other noise would alert the monster. Rin peered over the side of the couch, checking out the rest of the room and making sure it wasn’t there with them. She tried to stay as low as possible when she did this. Iroha watched her, not having enough courage to do the same thing. She figured she would simply keep an ear out for any sounds she heard.

The two quietly hid for at least a few minutes, being as silent as the room around them. No floorboards creaked, no footsteps could be made out in the distance, no voices could be heard. They were not sure if they would leave their cover, but they needed to keep themselves safe.

More time passed with neither of the girls saying anything or even realizing how much time was going by. Iroha thought about potentially sneaking away, just for the sake of finding Merli, but she didn’t feel secure enough to do that. She decided to remain where she was instead.

Until she heard a noise. Only when it was too late to react did she notice the figure that poked its head behind the couch directly above her. She and Rin noticed it at the same time and they both gave the loudest gasps they could muster. It was the monster.

Rin immediately darted out from behind the couch, but Iroha wasn’t far enough away to escape. The monster grabbed her just as Rin started to run.

“Ah! Help!” Iroha shouted as the beast pulled her back.

Rin nearly stopped in her tracks, wondering if she would be able to fight back. She watched Iroha try to break away, fighting against the creature that was lifting her. After a few seconds, Iroha changed her mind.

“Actually, never mind. Don’t let it get us both! Get out of here!”

Rin took this advice, but with a regretful heart. Just as she started to turn around, Iroha shouted something else to her.

“By the way, the perpetrator! You have to know who it is!”

Rin could barely watch Iroha fail to save herself from the beast, but she paid attention to what the catgirl had to say.

“The person who gave Lily the mansion is…”

Rin was able to hear the name just before she escaped the room. It caused her to gasp, but she had to keep her emotions in. Even with it in mind, there was little she could do in that scenario. She had to find the others, wherever they were.

Running faster than she ever had before, Rin returned to the main hall, leaving the passage to the living room. She didn’t dare to look back and she wasn’t sure where to go next. She let her legs take the lead over her brain and ran for the hall that led to the dining room. No matter how hard it became for her to breathe, she had to keep moving.

Rin eventually reached the dining room, but it was empty. At least, as far as she could see. She slowed her movement as she walked inside, seeing the long table she never got to sit at. She could hardly believe it had only been less than a day since she first arrived in the mansion. It seemed like it had been three years since Lily woke her up and led her to the dining room after the monster’s first attack.

She didn’t have time to think about it for long. Plus, she missed her regular life a lot more than events from earlier in the day. She wondered if she would ever see her home again. Or her other friends, for that matter.

These thoughts were cut off when Rin heard someone come up behind her.

“Rin--”

“AH--” Rin screamed before stopping herself. She quickly remembered that the monster couldn’t talk. At least, not that she knew of.

The blonde turned to see her friend Merli standing beside her. Not only that, but she was surrounded by a strange purple sphere. It looked like visible energy that manifested around her. Rin could tell at a glance that it was a spell.

“Merli! I sure am glad to see you. What’s with the, uh…?” Rin struggled to find the words.

“Protection spell?” Merli completed the thought. “It was a last ditch effort to keep myself safe. I don’t have that much magic leftover since I haven’t gotten the chance to rest. Floating used up a lot more than I thought it would. I used a great deal of it trying to get away just then. This was the best use I could make of what I had left.”

Rin was impressed by Merli’s magical prowess. She always knew the fairy was smart and powerful enough to take care of herself. She only wished that magic could also protect her. She also had some reservations about it.

“Couldn’t you have saved some magic for a more powerful spell to use against the monster?”

“None of the spells I have energy for would be powerful enough to fight it. This was poor planning on my part, but right now, I’m better safe than sorry.”

Rin couldn’t argue with that, though she held some resentment for Merli’s prior misuse of her spells. She was just relieved to be with someone else. Facing the intruder by herself would have been too much to handle.

“So, what should we do now? I think the monster got everyone else,” said Rin.

“If that’s the case, we need to stop this deplorable demon where it stands and figure out where it’s keeping the others. We can’t let it have the last laugh.”

“You’re right, but how are we gonna do it? We don’t even know where to go from here!” Rin sighed.

“We just need to find somewhere to lay low. Then we can discuss what to do next,” said Merli. “My shield won’t last much longer. We’ll have to find somewhere safe to stay.”

“I agree. We just have to be careful when we head back out there,” Rin nodded. “By the way, before she was captured, Iroha said something to me. She told me who gave Lily the mansion.”

“She did?” Merli grew curious. “Who was it?”

“Okay, I know you aren’t going to expect this, but it’s…”

As Rin said this, she slowly felt a figure creep up behind her. She could sense its malevolent energy. She could also tell something was wrong when Merli’s jaw dropped at the sight of it. Unable to finish her sentence, the frightened blonde turned herself around to see the monster standing right behind her.

Just as she screamed, the monster snatched her. Merli immediately dropped her shield and raised her hand to blast a spell at it.

“AH! Merli!” Rin cried as the monster lifted her from the ground.

“Hold on, Rin! I got this!” Merli aimed her hand forward, knowing she couldn’t put all her power into a single spell. She tried to gain focus while Rin tried to break away from the monster. Slowly taking aim, she pointed her hand at the head of the beast, then prepared to fire a spell.

Then a single spark flew from Merli’s finger and fizzled onto the floor, dissolving into thin air shortly afterwards. Merli stared quietly at the spot on the floor it disappeared on, having never seen such a weak spell come out of her.

“Never mind, just get out of here! You’re the only one who can save us now!” Rin shouted when she finally realized she couldn’t fight the beast.

“I- I…” Merli tried to say.

“Just go! Get out of here!” Rin said, no longer even trying to struggle.

“I’m sorry, Rin. I’ll think of something, I swear.”

Using her last bit of energy, Merli took a deep breath and lifted herself from the ground. She couldn’t hover forever, but she had just enough to dash her way past the monster and away from the dining room. Once she lifted herself into the air, she took off, leaving the monster and Rin behind.

“By the way, Merli,” Rin shouted after the fairy. “The perpetrator! The person behind all of this is…”

Merli heard the name just as she flew out of the dining room. Her eyes widened in disbelief, even though it all made sense. As soon as she heard it, she almost wondered how she hadn’t considered it before. Still, the information wouldn’t do her any good if she didn’t survive to use it.

With this new realization in mind, Merli flew through the hall and headed back toward the staircase in the main hall. She put as much distance between herself and the dining room as she could, but as she made her way forward in the mansion, her power began to dwindle.

Just as she reached the same place she first entered the mansion through, the magic keeping her afloat faded away. She lowered herself to the floor and touched down, returning to her feet just as her magic fully drained for the day. She wouldn’t be able to defend herself with it any longer.

“Well, that sucks,” Merli hated the situation, but felt getting angry about it would be unproductive. She didn’t know where anyone else was, unaware that she was the only houseguest left uncaptured. She didn’t see the monster trailing her, so she figured it was safe to walk and preserve her energy.

Knowing the perpetrator’s identity gave the fairy an understanding of why everything was happening, but not the knowledge needed to stop it. She either needed to find Lily or follow through on her plan to find somewhere safe to hide until she could think of a better plan. She needed to think everything through. Too much was at stake for her to be careless.

Soon, she crossed in front of the staircase, wondering if it would be better to head up or stay on the ground floor. She looked to the top of the stairs, evaluating what to do next, but she was greeted by someone before she could decide.

“Looks like you’ve been having a busy night.”

Merli flipped to the side to see the person standing next to her. It took her a few seconds to comprehend who it was, but she soon realized that Lily was standing beside her. The host looked almost completely unperturbed by everything going on around her.

“Lily! You’re okay! I honestly didn’t know if you’d still be around,” Merli said with relief.

“Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be? I mean, I’m kinda angry that someone blew up a couple doors and left my quarters an absolute wreck, but I’m still here. Where’s everyone else?”

Merli paused. She didn’t want to answer that and the look on her face showed it. One glance at Merli was enough of an answer to Lily’s question.

“...Are you the only one left?” asked the host.

“Yeah,” Merli nodded, solemnly.

Lily didn’t respond right away, but she could tell that something had shaken Merli. Something that likely led to everyone else leaving. She couldn’t even congratulate the fairy on being the last one standing. She assumed everyone else had left the mansion out of fear, but she didn’t know the half of it.

“Well, that’s a shame. I guess they couldn’t handle ‘the haunting,’” Lily said to lighten the mood.

“Lily,” Merli looked up, staring directly into the host’s blue eyes. “We need to talk.”

Lily could tell this was a serious matter. She didn’t know what Merli had to tell her, but she was willing to listen. Her friend looked seriously unnerved. She had to hear her out.

“Then come on. Let’s head to my quarters and you can tell me everything.”

“Okay. Just be prepared for a total rollercoaster of a story.”

"Okay... Then let's go."

With that agreement, Lily and Merli set off for Lily’s room together. They traveled up the stairs side by side, neither moving particularly fast, but neither of them being pursued. It seemed like the monster was no longer interested in following them. It was as if they were a pair of friends taking a leisurely walk together. Nothing was at stake. For Merli, it felt like everything would soon become clear.

The walk back to Lily’s room was a quiet one. Aside from the monster, she and Merli were supposedly the only ones in the house. It felt so empty. Not at all like a typical sleepover. Even so, it was one nobody would soon forget.

As she walked peacefully beside Lily, Merli nearly forgot how risky her circumstances were. She didn’t even try to rush on her way to the bedroom. It felt like a serene journey before the final divulgence of truth. It was just as well that the walk was peaceful, since everything was about to be turned upside-down. Merli geared herself up for this when she and Lily finally reached their intended doorway.

It was easy to enter since the door was busted. They headed inside, then Lily attempted to close the door. When it was as closed as it was going to get, she came forward to listen to what Merli had to say.

“Okay, tell me everything. What’s been going on here?”

And with that invitation, Merli did. She explained everything that had happened from the beginning of the night. Lily stood back and listened, hearing all of this for the first time. She kept a straight face during most of the explanation, but gave a few gasps here and there. By the end of it, she was at a loss for words. She never expected such havoc to ensue at her slumber party.

“Wow, I… I don’t know what to say… I’m just… I’m sorry…” the sight of Lily was a dreadful one. She looked truly remorseful. One could tell she never intended for any of this to happen.

“It’s okay. I’m sure you never would have brought us here if you knew something truly terrible was inside,” Merli leveled with Lily, though she still held some animosity.

“I know, but… one thing doesn’t make any sense to me. Why haven’t I seen this monster? Even now, it didn’t even try to come after us when we were walking here. Why is it avoiding me?”

Merli looked away, facing the wall of Lily’s black and white room. It was in shambles from when the monster attacked it. Sheets and pillows were thrown everywhere, a chair was overturned, and even one of the dresser’s drawers was taken out. After some reflection while gazing at this scene, Merli turned back to Lily.

“That’s because… well, this isn’t a normal person in a mask. It’s someone with a purpose. A very clean cut goal. Someone who’s been suspicious from the very beginning, but none of us bothered to give them too much thought.”

“What do you mean?” asked Lily. “Who is it? Tell me!”

It pained Merli to say it to Lily, but she had to. Lily needed to know who was doing this to her. She had a right to know who gave her the mansion and sabotaged the entire night against her houseguests. Merli was the only one who could tell her.

Taking a moment to work up the courage needed to tell Lily the truth, Merli spoke. She said the name of the person responsible for everything.

As soon as Merli muttered the name, the lights went out.

Chapter Text

Lily groaned as she turned over, feeling a stone cold floor beneath her. She had lost consciousness for a brief period. The last thing she remembered was the lights going out, just before something hit her from behind.

Her clothes were covered in dust and all of her limbs hurt. She assumed she had been carelessly dropped on the floor. She did not recognize the room she was in. It looked like a cellar with stone walls and a few boxes in the corner. The air was freezing as the room seemed to lack any form of heating.

Not wanting to lose her cool, Lily tried to stay calm as she tried to figure out where she was. She had only just heard about the events of the night, but she could hardly believe them. She wasn’t even given any time to process them. From what she understood, a masked monster was invading her mansion and slowly picking off the houseguests. With this in mind, she feared she would soon become its next victim.

What really bothered her was the fact that the lights went out just before she could hear the name of the person behind it. She couldn’t make out what was said before she was attacked from behind. Now she found herself alone, frightened, and confused.

Lily didn’t have to wait long to see what would happen next. From somewhere in the darkness of the room, a voice greeted her. Not a regular human voice, but one that sounded low, distorted, and even computer-generated. It belonged to someone who waited in the darkness, finally moving forward when they saw Lily wake up.

“Hello, Lily.”

A cold chill ran over Lily as she watched the person move out from the darkness. From the single fluorescent that hung over her, she could only see the silhouette of a tall figure in a coat. She couldn’t even find it in her to try and stand. She leaned up and watched in horror as the figure drew closer to her.

“Wh-Who are you? Where am I?!”

“I have taken you to a secret room under the mansion,” the computer-generated voice continued to speak. “There is more to this place than you are familiar with. I have been living here behind the walls from the moment I gave it away.”

Lily gasped, unsure of what to make of this sudden information.

“Y-You? You’re the one who gave the mansion away? Does that also mean…”

After Lily asked this, the figure came into the light. For the first time, the hostess saw the monster with her own eyes. In a skull-shaped mask, trenchcoat, black pants, and boots, it towered over where she laid on the floor. In its hand, which was covered by a black glove, it held a tiny radio device. Lily assumed it was a voice modulator.

“Y-You’re the monster…” Lily could hardly get the words out, fighting the fear that was starting to overcome her. She couldn’t get herself to move, or even fully think about what to do next. She only sputtered out the next thing that came to her head. “Wh-What have you done with everyone else?”

“Don’t worry. They are fine,” the monster said after holding the voice changer up to its masked mouth. “Like you, I am keeping them in a secret part of the mansion. I needed to get them out of the way so I could have you alone. The less disturbances, the better.”

Now Lily was frightened beyond words. That explained why the monster never went after her. She had to wonder who in their right mind would go to such lengths to get her alone. Even though she wasn’t pursued, she was the target all along.

“I wanted to do things peacefully. I thought we could sort everything out if I got you to live in this mansion. The plan was a work in progress, but you ruined everything when you invited those guests over,” the monster went on. “They were far too investigative and forced me to rush into our reunion process.”

“Reunion? What?” Lily was finally able to speak.

“Yes. I’m sure you remember me, Lily. As much as you’ve tried to forget. I’ve been waiting for this moment. I’ve waited a long time and now I have you right where I want you.”

“Who are you?!” Lily shouted back, starting to lose her cool. She was terrified. The monster’s words were shaking her at her very core. She had to know who this infatuated person was.

“Someone very… familiar…” the monster said as it lowered the modulator. This caused some of its real voice to slip out as it finished speaking. It slipped the voice changer into its pocket before reaching its gloved hands up to its mask. Lily watched in horror as the intruder finally started to unmask itself.

Slowly, making Lily wait in painful anticipation, the perpetrator lifted the skull mask from its head. Little by little, their true face began to show. The first thing Lily saw was a choker on a pale neck. On the front of it was a bat-shaped charm with its wings spread out. Lily knew this choker well, but its owner didn’t fully occur to her until the mask was fully removed.

Little by little, black hair started to show. Then came a sinister smile. Soon, a pair of red glaring eyes followed. The final part of the perpetrator to show was the tiny black hat she wore on her head. As she held the mask down and allowed Lily to take a good look at her, she smiled and spoke to the vocaloid.

“It’s been a long time, Lily.”

The monster was Lily’s old bandmate, Luna from anim.o.v.e. The very same one pictured in her diary. Even more shockingly, she also happened to be Lily’s ex-girlfriend.

“Luna?!” Lily fell back, completely bewildered.

“Surprised? I bet you didn’t think you’d ever see me again,” the ‘monster’ laughed.

“No, I didn’t. But why? Why are you doing this?!”

“It’s simple, really,” Luna dropped the mask and started to unbutton her trench coat, showing her true self behind the costume. “You thought you could leave me behind. Leaving the band to become this ‘vocaloid’ singer.”

Once the coat was fully unbuttoned, Lily could see that Luna was wearing a pair of stilts that were covered by the monster’s black pants. The trench coat covered her whole body, which wore the same black and red outfit she always performed in. She continued to speak as she threw the coat to the floor and unstrapped her legs from the stilts.

“Again, I didn’t want this meeting to happen as quickly as it did, but your friends just had to go and figure out my identity. Now I’m forced to take extreme measures. But as I was saying, I’ve been waiting for this day, my beloved Lily. Ever since you abandoned anim.o.v.e to join your more popular vocaloid friends. I was crushed, and I swore one day I would bring you back. Do you have any idea how much you broke my heart? I loved you, Lily. You were my everything, but I was nothing to you. Nothing but a roadblock in your precious career.”

Luna stepped down from the stilts and stood in front of Lily, who sat up on the floor. The vocaloid’s emotions ranged from shocked to afraid and even a little sad. She never expected Luna to seek revenge like this.

“I wasn’t sure how I would approach the subject, but I knew I needed to get you alone. You would never pay attention to a small-timer like me with all your new celebrity friends. This old mansion wasn’t hard to come by. It’s such a wreck, nobody would dare try to live in it. Longya gave it to me for a bargain. He has at least six more.”

That much wasn’t surprising to Lily. Longya was the one she suspected to have owned the mansion when she wrote her diary. However, she was too shocked by everything else to dwell on the fact that she was right about one thing.

“Luna, I… I don’t know what to say…”

“Then don’t say anything. Your actions have spoken for you, but none of that matters anymore. You know why? Because now I have you once again. Not only you, but all the friends you invited over, too. You know what that means, don’t you?”

Lily didn’t answer. She really didn’t want to know what it meant. She found out anyway when Luna explained it to her.

“I will give you a choice, my dearest. If you come with me, I will let your friends go. You and I will be the greatest duo in all of vocal-synth. If you refuse, however... there will be dire consequences for all of you. The choice is up to you."

Now Lily was somehow even more nervous than before. With her friends in a position of danger, she had to make the right decision. She didn’t know what kind of pull Luna had to make her vision a reality, but she was afraid to find out. How was she supposed to answer the question?

“I, uh… I don’t…”

“You’ll have to give up your vocaloid status, sure,” Luna cut Lily off. “But we’ll find something else. We’ll perform together and demolish all those other pathetic losers. This is an amazing opportunity for you.”

“I…”

Lily thought long and hard about this decision. She didn’t want to abandon her friends or her vocaloid status, but she didn’t have much of a choice. Deep down, she didn’t want to fully decline Luna’s offer either. As much as Luna scared her in that very instant, she never wanted any bad blood between them.

Only then did Lily fully realize how much splitting from anim.o.v.e hurt her ex-girlfriend. She had her regrets even before the confrontation, but never knew they were shared. Still, the decision to go against everyone she had come to love was not an easy one to make. Part of her even felt like she had to go along with it, worrying that Luna would do something terrible if she didn’t agree.

“I… Luna… You know I can’t give into extortion like this…” Lily sighed, still slightly unsure of her final answer.

“What was that? Extortion? Lily, come on. I’m cutting you the deal of a lifetime here. Leave those nasty words out of it and make a decision already!”

Lily drew back, sighing once more. With such a heavy decision weighing on her shoulders, she couldn’t afford to answer without thorough consideration. However, the more she thought about it, the more a proper response began to form in her head. When she felt as though she was onto something, she began to speak, letting the words come out fluidly. Almost as if she let pure instinct do the talking.

“I'm sorry, Luna. I can't just leave my friends behind to join you. Becoming a vocaloid has made me happier than I could ever imagine. Even if the community can be mean to me sometimes. I wouldn't trade it for the world.”

And Luna was left to digest the response. For a moment, she only stared at Lily, unable to make a response. She had to ensure that she understood Lily’s reaction.

“I… don’t believe this,” Luna finally responded. “I’m handing you the best opportunity you’ve ever been offered in a neat little package! Why are you doing this to me?”

“If it requires me to leave everyone I love, it’s not a very great opportunity, is it?”

“I don’t believe this!” fury began to show in Luna’s face. “How can you not agree to this?! You’re just as ridiculous as you were when I first met you! You really haven’t changed at all.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just… the way things have to be. I can’t help it.”

The room fell cold and silent as the two girls stared into one another’s eyes, both of them feeling strongly about the emotions they were harboring. After a few seconds, Luna took a deep breath and spoke once again.

“So… that’s how it’s going to be, is it? After everything we've been through, all those duets, I even got you this really cool mansion! That's how much I care about you! But you never cared about me. You even always put Mosh before me!”

“That’s not true!” Lily fired back. “I never wanted you to feel that way! I loved you, Luna, I really did! It’s just so hard to please everyone all the time!”

“Shut up! Just shut up, you stupid vocaloid! I don’t want to hear it!” Luna said before turning her back on Lily, who stood up from the floor to face her.

“Luna, please! Just listen to me! If we talk about this, maybe we can--”

“I said shut up!” Luna turned around and gave Lily a heavy shove, nearly knocking her to the floor once again. Lily held herself and stood straight up, ready to persist through whatever was about to unfold.

“Luna, please… We can fix this, I promise! We just need to--”
“It’s too late now! Leave me alone!” and without another word, Luna dashed away from Lily toward the door in the back of the room.

“Luna, wait!”

Luna hurried through the door and let it slam behind her, leaving the vocaloid in the dust. Lily picked up her feet and followed her, still feeling a little disoriented. She made her way over to the door and pulled it open, determined to keep up with her ex.

By the time Lily reached the room, Luna had already made significant ground on her. She had run up a nearby staircase that led to a rusty mezzanine. At the top, she could easily reach a lever attached to the wall. It looked like it activated a strange machine at the lower level, which Lily noticed as soon as she entered. Whatever the mechanism was, it seemed like it was placed in the mansion as a failsafe from the very beginning.

“Luna, wait! What are you doing?!” Lily called as she rushed in the room, following her ex up the staircase.

“I didn’t want it to come to this, Lily,” Luna said as she stood before the lever. “But you’re just too unreasonable.”

“Stop!” Lily shouted as she made a sprint for the mansion’s terrorizer.

Before Luna could hit the lever, Lily flung into her and tackled her to the ground. She gasped in surprise as she began to battle with her ex.

“Ah! Hey, get off!”

“I can’t let you do whatever you’re trying to do! Stop this right now!”

Lily and Luna struggled on the metal floor as they tried to overcome one another. Lily didn’t know what she was trying to stop Luna from doing, but it couldn’t have been good. She had to stop Luna’s sinister backup plan by any means necessary.

However, Luna was able to throw Lily off of her, tossing her across the grated platform before trying to stand. Lily hit the ground with a grunt and looked up at her rising ex, who quickly turned to the lever on the wall. The vocaloid could not get up fast enough to stop the villain, who snagged the handle of the contraption with a menacing glint in her eye.

“Watch this, Lily…” Luna said to her lover on the floor. “Witness the consequences of your stupid decisions!”

“Wait!” Lily called up as she staggered to her feet, but she couldn’t stand up quickly enough to stop Luna from pulling the lever.

With a heavy crank, Luna activated the device attached to the wall. Lily could only brace herself as a computerized voice echoed throughout the chamber.

“Countdown to destruction: ten minutes.”