A Good Joke

An All-night Prank

Fair Warning: This chapter is dark and includes hard-to-read scenes.

"Hahahaha! What a lovely late-night prank! Just as I was dozing off to sleep while bored after talking to Inner me!"

Subaru laughed at this genius attempt at a prank. He had nearly gone to sleep as his nightly countdown reached its conclusion before he noticed the unknown prankster. His shadow hand that grabbed their arm, tightened its hold making them drop the knife to the ground.

"W-what is-" The prankster tried to speak before another shadow hand, larger than the one that held their hand, had grabbed their torso and squeezed, not tightly enough to not be able to breathe but tight enough to not let her be able to speak.

"Shhh. Don't talk, you'd only ruin the surprise. I wanna guess who you are hahaha." He then lifted the prankster in the air while turning them upside down and making them face the other direction so as to prevent their identity from being revealed.

Subaru rambled on in happiness. "What a true mystery this is! A prankster to guess on my first night here! How incredible! It's almost as if I'm forced to retur-... whenever I step inside a mansion. Ahh but usually it takes three or four days before that happens hahaha."

"I wonder who it could be! Let me think, let me think." He started running down a list of potential pranksters this late at night.

"Could it be Emilia-tan? Hmmmm~ No, she's too pure to prank someone who is asleep. That would be "Reaaaaally~" mean of her. Hahaha Emilia-tan always says the cutest things." He reasoned with himself.

"Could it be Beako?" He hummed to himself before speaking. "Very possible and she is a yin user too. It would be poetic if she pranks me in the middle of the night when shadows are all over the room, no?" He asked before shaking his head. "No, no. My cute little accuser wouldn't prank me like that, I suppose. Oh, woops, accidental joke."

Keeping a jovial tone as he continued down the list.

"What about Rem or Ram? Both times that happened were also late in the day." He smiled in nostalgia.

"Oh! Is it Jules? He always loved to drop by and announce how he's the 'greatest' of knights, hahaha." He laughed before thinking seriously about the mysterious assailant that was struggling to escape the invisible hand's grip.

"Hmm, you look like a girl... Ferris? That you? I really missed you and your random meows! Are you here to talk about our love lives? Or are you here because cats love to roam around at night?" He looked at the prankster with genuine happiness now, before it dramatically died once he realized this person has no cat ears or a tail.

He pouted before putting his actual hands in the air in a surrender motion. "I give up! I ran out of guesses. I really wished it was Ferris or Juli, but oh well. Let's see who's pranking us on this wonderful evening."

He used his shadow hands to carry her next to the window where the moonlight was shining through. Then he turned her upside again and made her face him. Revealing her identity to him.

...

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little tamer. To what do I owe this late-night prank?" His face was brimming with joy at this unannounced visit. His fun was ruined earlier by his inner self, and now it was restored a hundredfold! No, a thousandfold!

"...e" She choked into the air as she couldn't speak since the hand that held her torso had a tight grip.

"You have my full undivided attention." He put his actual hands on his face in anticipation as he listened intently.

"No need to be shy. I won't hurt you. I mean, technically speaking, I'm all the way over here while you're over there. Go on, go on. Humor me. Indulge me. Inform me. Enlighten me. Educate me. Explain to me the origin of your prank." He spoke to assure her. After a few seconds, he realized his unseen hand was at fault here.