Demise Game

14.Visitors

Sometime overnight, you had fallen asleep while watching T.V., a blanket carefully draped over you.  Your mother must have done that when she left to work, not wanting to wake you up.  Your alarm wasn't what woke you up either, though.

        No, what woke you up was the stifling presence that seemed to try and suffocate you.  Shooting into a sitting position, you looked around, wide-eyed and gasping.  The presence was gone as quickly as it seemed to appear, and you were all alone as somebody began to ring the doorbell, pressing on it once, then twice.  Groaning, you looked at your phone — it was almost dead, but you were able to see that it was well past school hours.  You must have slept through the entire day.

        Not having time to change out of your pajamas, you got off the couch and wrapped the blanket around your shoulders before hobbling grouchily to the door, peeking your head out as whoever was there began to spam the doorbell.

        Unsurprisingly, it was Hanami, Isora, and Jinsei, worried until they saw your grumpy face and disheveled appearance.  Hanami giggled to herself, realizing what was up.

        "Good morning, sleepyhead," she teased, and you sighed and opened the door wider, gesturing the trio to enter.  After a moment of hesitation, they did, and you made sure to close and lock the door behind them all.

        As Hanami went straight to your kitchen, having been over multiple times, you grumbled.  "Hanami can grab you snacks and drinks...  I'm going to get changed."

        You didn't wait for Isora or Jinsei to respond as you rushed to your room, hastily changing.  It was a good thing you had the blanket wrapped tightly around you, too — before you pulled on your turtleneck, you could see the marks that demon left on your clear as day around your neck.  There was no use in worrying the others over something like this.  Not right now.  Thankfully, the cold weather allowed you to cover up without seeming suspicious, and that's exactly what you did.

        Once you were decent enough and made sure your neck was thoroughly covered, you went back out into the living room with your notebook of information.  Hanami had helped herself to a bag of chips and juice, flipping through the channels on the T.V.  Jinsei was awkwardly sitting by her, fiddling with his fingers and looking down, and Isora was walking around the room, inspecting every little thing as if he was going to rate your home like they did in Animal Crossing.

        After your interaction with him yesterday, you weren't sure how you felt about his nosiness.

        Whatever you felt, it wasn't positive — that was for sure.

        Clearing your throat and gaining everybody's attention, you quickly apologized for missing club today.

        "It's okay," Hanami was quick to reassure you.  "You clearly needed your rest.  More than anything, we were just worried...  You weren't answering your phone, so we thought..."  She trailed off, but she didn't need to finish her sentence for you to understand what she was talking about.

        They thought you had been the next victim.

        You shook your head.  "I haven't received anything yet."

        "None of us have, either," Jinsei confirmed.  How long of a grace period did you have before the next game started?  The suspense was rubbing your nerves raw.  "More importantly, though... we have some information."

        Notebook in hand, you waved it to them.  "Same.  I think I've got three of the games that the occult club dealt with."

        "I have two."