Demise Game

2. first regrets

You didn't sleep well last night.

        Granted, you rarely slept well to begin with, but last night had been particularly rough, the memory of what happened in journalism club burnt fresh in your mind.

        Seven murders, a disappearance, Kokkuri-san, the cat-shaped bookmark and the Book of Demise...

        A part of you wanted to believe it was just one, horrid nightmare, but you couldn't delude yourself.  This wasn't a movie, or anime, or book.  It was real life, and you refused to be the idiot protagonist that refused to believe that what was happening was reality.

        What did it mean, though?  Unless all five of you collectively hallucinated what happened, you were truly in a bind.  If this urban legend was true, what else was true?

        The Book and Bookmark of Demise...

        Mrow!

        Glancing over at your window, nearly cloaked by the early morning shadows, was a black cat.  He sat patiently outside the window, as he often did when he came to visit.  In a time like this, the cat's company was much-needed.  Without wanting to think of how your mother would throw a fit if she found out, you got up from your bed and unlatched the window, pulling it up just enough to let the cat inside.

        Just for a little while, before you had to get ready for school.

        As the cat bounded in silently, tail swaying lackadaisically behind him, you went back to your bed and sat down, wrapping yourself in a soft blanket.

        "C'mere, Shiki," you murmured quietly.  Your mother had gotten home late from work last night — you didn't want to risk waking her up when she needed the sleep.

        The cat hopped up on your bed, letting out another soft mrrrrow!.  You promptly, but just as quietly, shushed him.  He only blinked his topaz eyes in what you hoped was understanding.

        Oh, who were you kidding?  He was a cat, a stray that you named and that had taken a liking to you.

        Tugging the blanket closer around you, you closed your eyes, forcing yourself to take a deep breath as you remembered the words you all heard last night.  A dilapidated voice, echoing throughout a near-empty classroom...

        "Due to a single traitor, the 'Fox', the game has begun.  To reach the end of the game, you must kill the "Fox".  If you are unable to find the "Fox", everyone dies.  While searching for the "Fox", you must follow Kokkuri-san's demands.  Kokkuri-san's demands are delivered via letter.  You are allowed one week to fulfill Kokkuri-san's demands.  In the case that you ignore the demand, you will die.  If the contents of the demand are seen or discovered by an outsider, they will die.  Until you reach the end of the game, there is no way out.  If you wish to get out of the game, you must abide by the terms and reach the end."

        A sigh left you.  After the coin had moved on its own yesterday, and the voice had signaled the start of the game, your group had parted, each of you going home.  You all had been shaken — who could blame you, though?  If what the voice, who you assumed was Kokkuri-san, said was true...  Among the five of you, there was a traitor, but the thought of one of your clubmates being out to get you was reprehensible.

        A traitor...  A traitor....

        Angrily, you threw a pillow across the room, startling Shiki.  You didn't understand, you didn't understand!  How could something like this even be real?

        You hated it, you hated it, you hated it!

        Shiki bumped against you, rubbing his head against your blanketed arm.  The action brought you back out of your mind, and you forced yourself to take a deep breath.  Panicking now would do you no good.  Sooner or later, you would receive a letter, and be forced to carry out Kokkuri-san's demands...