Playtime (self-insert #2)

Chapter 3

I glanced at the screen. Then the monitors. Then the temperatures. Then the blueprint. Over and over and over.

"Are you actually focusing?" Naru demanded, mildly frustrated. I'd figured I could pretend to look concentrated and get away with it, but he had a ridiculously keen eye. "What have I said about pulling your weight?"

"But that would be too heavy!" I blurted out. His expression became stony. "Look, Lin told me I was improving. I think his opinion matters more since he actually spends most of his time doing this for you. Yeah?" I brightened. "Oh, look! Mai!"

"Hey, Nira. Naru? This morning I was hanging out with Ayami-chan, and when Noriko-san asked to eat some of the treats Kana-san had brought in the room, she said..." It took her a moment. "She said that Kana-san was a witch who had enslaved her father and was trying to get rid of her and Noriko-san. Weirdest thing was that she said Minnie told her all of this."

Naru paused a moment. "Ayami-chan really said that?"

"Yes. Isn't that strange?"

In my opinion it was beyond creepy. I'd begun to mistrust dolls of any kind, shoving my stuffed animals in the basement and tucking Funko Pops away in a drawer. They gave me the creeps and more than once I'd spent minutes trying to figure out if an action figure on my sister's dresser table moved. Naru, being all macho and brave, sank deep into his thoughts while Mai gave up on waiting for an answer. To our dismay, though, he asked me and Mai to accompany him to take a look at Minnie.

"My brother gave it to Ayami as a gift right before we moved into this house." Noriko explained as she handed Naru the brightly dressed doll. I edged away from him as he took it, trying to avoid looking at the bright green glass eyes. Her faux-golden hair fell in her face for a moment and Kayako from The Grudge popped into my mind.

Naru wasn't fazed. "Did Ayami-chan change before or after that?"

Noriko paused, and a troubled look slid over her face. "I believe it was after." Realizing the connection, she cast the grinning doll a mistrustful look.

"Give it back!" Running down the hall as fast as her little legs would carry her, Ayami lunged for her precious doll despite Naru's stare of death. "Give Minnie back to me! Don't touch her!"

"Ayami-chan, I heard you can talk with Minnie?"

What a great conversation starter.

"No one touches her!" Faster than my eyes could follow, Ayami snatched the doll from Naru and took off, clutching the doll in her arms.

"Ayami!" Noriko called after her. "I'm so sorry. That was rude of her."

"It's alright." Naru slipped his hands in his pockets as if he hadn't been yelled at by someone half his age. "We'll need to get Minnie away from her for a bit. Noriko-san and Mai, do you mind slipping the doll to me tonight?"

The pair nodded soberly, and when they trotted off to plan I raised an eyebrow at Naru. "Stealing toys from a kid, eh?" I said jokingly.

"For her benefit."

"Mere words, Shakespeare. Mere words."

Later that night, Minnie sat on a bed in all her lacy red glory on one of the monitors. Bou-san let out a low whistle. "That was the Minnie doll? I'm surprised the little one let you borrow it."

Mai winced. "I took it after she fell asleep." She admitted. Like me, she had a hard time looking at for extended periods of time. Naru, on the other hand, had planted his chair in front of the screens and was staring it down as if daring it to move. "That doll is spooky."

"Well, dolls were originally made to contain spirits. They were hollow inside so spirits could easily possess them."

I nodded at that. I'd be lying if I wasn't concerned about something suddenly making my Charmander Funko Pop move. "Don't forget voodoo."

"How could I?"

Suddenly Naru's chair clattered backwards as he ruched to his feet, his dark eyes boring into the screens. "Naru?" Mai asked uncertainly.

"Look."

She glanced up at the screen, her eyes widening. "Minnie?!"

I followed his gaze...and blanched. While Minnie had been sitting upright before, she was face down and sliding down the length of the bed. Holding our breath, we watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as she picked up speed. Eventually she slowed down and twisted, her head coming off with a slight pop.

I remembered my reaction when I'd watched this part in the anime, and only the fact that I had been in the school library at the time kept me from screeching. I hoped I'd have that much self control now.

Her head fell to the floor and rolled along, coming to a stop to leer into the camera just as the picture fuzzed out into grey.

Bou-san took off out the door and before Naru could shoot me a meaningful look I was at the extra computer, rewinding the video only to display even more static. "Oh, come on!" I protested as I reluctantly let go of the rewind button. I tried again, only to get the same result.

"There's no recording of it on the video anywhere." Naru remarked.

"No reading of movement on the other instruments, either." Lin added.

I glanced between them. "Maybe it's Kuroda." I said, attempting a joke. None laughed. Mai's classmate had tampered with a video, and messing with the equipment had made her Lin's eternal enemy.

Bou-san returned, looking slightly put-out. "Oh! Monk-san, what did you find?"

He heaved a sigh. "Nothing." He admitted. "Minnie's head wasn't off. It was just sitting there like nothing had happened."

"This sort of thing isn't unusual." Naru reminded us, watching the doll with extreme concentration. "Spirits and machines don't mix."

Mai and I exchanged a glance. Maybe that was the case, but that didn't stop the doll from being a danger to Ayami.