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✧
The wooden planks beneath my feet creaked with an intensity. For a haunted house, this place was eerily quiet. I traced along the walls, the cement cool against my fingertips. The windows shuttered and the air was cold, strings of light slipped through the gaps in the tarp used to cover the rest of the world outside.
As I traversed the hallway a mist filled the room, and I had lost sight of the group ahead of me- the same one I had been keeping an eye on to guide me through the mansion. I clicked my tongue in annoyance as I tried to fan away the fog, but it only seemed to thicken by the second.
A low groan echoed in the thicket of silence, the squeak of the floorboards grows louder. A jarring whirr followed by the a thundering cracking noise came from above and I jumped backwards wearily. Down from the ceiling in an instant dropped a boy with purple hair, drenched in blood.
It takes me a minute to realise I was staring straight down the barrel of a pair of purple eyes. Deadset in my wake and adorned with eye bags. Typically I'd be a bit more concerned at the sight of a bloody body dropped down from above me, but with the proximity we ensued; Our noses practically touching, a deeper red bloomed on my face. A flicker of recognition flashes in my mind as I realised who I was looking at.
"Shinso..?" My voice comes out cautiously as I lean back dangerously. His eyes brows seem to raise in amusement, but it's hard to tell when he's hanging upside down from the ceiling.
"(Y/n)?" His nose scrunches as he lets his body hang limply, swaying back and forth with his weight.
"Oh my god it is you," I laugh, not knowing whether to be elated or concerned with the state I had found him, or rather he found me in.
"Well," He says, his eyes rolling slowly "You should like scream or at least act a little more surprised."
"Ah how scary!" I mock, "You know, I would be more scared, but knowing I'm on UA grounds really diminishes that entire thing"
"You'd be surprised." He crosses his arms loosely. "The amount of people I've gotten to scream has me thinking I'm a new type of ugly."
"Does me not yelling help your consciousness?" I hum as I leaned against one of the corridor walls, Shinso turns to look at me from above. "Also that cannot be comfortable."
"It depends, it's not bad I'm kind of just hanging about."
"I can see that." I snicker.
"Blood might be getting to my head after doing this all day though."
"You've been at this all day? Someone's gotta give you a raise."
"It's kind of fun seeing the kind of fear I can illicit out of people. I made that midget perv from 1A run out in tears earlier."
"Only you would find that kind of joy in this. Also 1A was here? Guess I just missed them."
"You were with them?" He questions, a singular brow raising.
"Yeah, for a little after their concert. Just to congratulate them and whatnot. I was with 1B too, just left them to come here."
"What for, to see me?" He smirks
"I'm sorry," I let out an airy chuckle "I cannot take you seriously hanging from the ceiling like that my god."
"Yeah I'm kind of getting tired."
"You wanna go grab a drink?" I propose.
"That sounds good."
"Or do you need me to get you one? You look kind of stuck over there..." I smile pointing at his predicament.
"Nah we can go," He sighs "Just finish up the rest of the mansion and I'll meet you by the exit."
"Sounds like a plan." And with that, I watched as he hoisted himself up back into the ceiling, a matching wooden panel to seal up the space. It's like he was never there in the first place.
✧
"You look like a vampire who just feasted on a pack of children with that blood all over your collar." I eye him and his red stained collar quizzically.
"I couldn't really get it out, best I could do. It's fine, I have another one." He says playing around with his blouse. "Drinks was it?"
"Oh yeah, what kind do you like?" We begin to walk towards the rest of the stalls in search of refreshments. "Would I be wrong if I assumed coffee?"
"You would be right, but I don't really like having it that often." He rubs the back of his neck. "It's not that good for me, but I always end up drinking it anyway."
"I think coffee is okay to have one in a while, I don't really drink it for the caffeine. If I'm having it it's for taste." I think about the bitter taste of the beverage. "Then again, it doesn't really taste all that nice."
"You'll find a kind you like someday, besides I'm not really that picky so I drink it all"
"That's fair."
I throw a hand over my eyes to shield them from the blistering rays of the sun.
"It's really sunny today, UA always get this much sun?"
"Everything is in the open air, so yeah," Shinso hums as he walks along, looking around at the stalls lined up on campus. "They really went all out this year, I haven't gotten to see it until now."
"Oh yeah, UA is like its own city compared to Shiketsu." I walk on the tips of my toes on the cobbled walkway. "How do you feel about tea by the way?"
"Sounds good"
"Okay," I smile as we walk up to the stall, pulling my purse from my bag "My treat"
"I couldn't"
"But you could, just stand by and let me pay for it." I grin.
"Just this once then," He smiles as he steps to the side.
