Reverie and Nightmares

2

The scream that Ryuga Shirogane had let out was nothing less than that of a thirsty banshee in its last minutes. He had already been frightened by Mikan Alexander earlier, and now this. It seemed as if everyone who took residence in this building was quite the charmer in their entrances. If it wasn't that, what else could it be?

The boy was thinking about the possible connections that someone like Mikan could have to be okay with possibly sharing a household here with anyone, maybe still hiding in attempts to make another entrance to knock the living shit out of the group. He cursed under his breath while Reiji laughed at Onodera's attempts to cling onto him like a panda to bamboo. Onodera, well, being Onodera, slugged the guy, but he took it easier. And then there was Jiro, who was still unfazed by the situation, almost as if she analyzed the whole premise with futuristic see-through goggles or something ridiculous.

Jiro was unpredictable, and the only thing that could be thought of when looking at her closed eyes and arms crossing was that she saw this coming, likely from her observations from earlier. It had to be something she kept to herself since Onodera had not picked up on any of it.

The father was old but seemed kind from his posture and wrinkly smile. His thin-lense glasses complimented his look of the typical father in most movies and sub-cultures, but kindness glowed outside of him. Still, a person can be the kindest and still freak the fuck out of anyone when given the chance, and that was precisely what Stag had accomplished, whether intentional or not.

At this point, Mikan was still hiding behind the curtain, likely confused about the situation she'd found herself in. She could've been swearing under her breath the entire time, and no one would know. Heck, she could've sneaked her way out through a secret door the way lit their surroundings were. But she surprisingly stayed put, likely accepting her fate of having to show herself to use Ryuga's deal; it'd be an immense level up if she did. Ryuga cleaned the dust and bacteria off his sleeves and fixed his glasses to confront Stag, who had patiently waited.

"How long have you been there? Ah... Never mind... That doesn't matter. I'm sorry for acting like that, Father-"

"Stag, Father Stag."

"Ah, thank you." Ryuga bowed to show his kindness since he needed to if he was planning on learning anything that Stag had to do with Mikan and likely any others still hiding. "I hope that wasn't much for you; I didn't mean to get scared, but, ya know..."

Ryuga looked back to face Reiji and Onodera, who at this moment were still recording. No, it seemed that Onodera had stopped, likely due to her phone falling from her hands. Ryuga hoped this scare didn't cause her phone to shatter on the hard marble floor, but he was much more focused on what was in front of him.

He was thinking about how odd it must look to him, seeing four teenagers barging in and harassing this girl who was so scared that she'd been hiding behind a curtain in a dark room. And it was even odder that the father hadn't brought up anything besides his candlelight. If he knew the building, he'd have likely turned on any backup lights to get a closer look at the delinquents before him. The Father chuckled and raised his left hand to point at the curtain while still eyeing Ryuga.

"Ah, it's fine. There's no need to cry over spilled milk. However, I'm more interested in your reasons for being here. Were you planning on vandalizing or?"

Great, Ryuga thought. The Father had pictured them being street thugs planning a tag session throughout an abandoned church. Well, not much abandoned anymore from the looks of it, but inactive at the least. He had prepared to dispel any accusation before him, but Jiro had raced Ryuga and won in a landslide.

Jiro, as elegant as can be, was holding onto her purse tightly to her chest and made her way towards the door to face the father. Jiro's family had always valued one rule: to give the speaker the most and best-undivided attention and expect the same from them. Meaning Jiro was planning on discussing with Stag. And she was, as her movement was majestic and mature, and she licked her lips before speaking.