Future Diary 2: New Survival Game

Chapter 30: Encountering The Twelfth At Midnight

A/N: Jed's POV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~ Same night as previous chapter ~~

I couldn't quite sleep tonight because of the concern I had for Joshua's general well-being. Once every few minutes I'd hear him say something about a hand-ball that he lost. I figured that he must've treasured it or something.

Without thinking, I gently woke him up to ask about it. "Hey, Josh, what's this about a hand-ball? You were muttering about it in your sleep. I'd like to know about it."

He jolted awake when I mentioned the hand-ball, but he brushed it aside as if it was something useless.

"If you must know, it was the only thing my mom passed to me. It helped keeping me company during my loneliness in that shrine." he explained.

"Did you lose it or something?" I asked.

"Y-Yeah, I sort of misplaced it about a year ago, and I haven't seen it since then."

"Um, did you misplace it somewhere in that shrine?"

"The last time I remember having it was somewhere in the shrine, but none of the monks found it. I guess that's why I had so many monks around. It was to help me through the loneliness I was suffering from."

"Thank you for that bit of information, Josh. I guess that might explain why I felt like there was something bothering ya that kept me awake." I told him calmly.

I put him back to sleep and quietly left the place in secret. I knew that I couldn't sleep until I solve this problem because I actually tried to sleep, but without any luck. I knew the only way to be able to sleep again is to solve this problem for Josh.

~~A little later, at the shrine from previous chapter ~~

It was getting close to midnight, and I knew what I had to do here. I began my search in all the bedrooms by searching the floors thoroughly and without leaving a square inch unsearched.

Suddenly, there was a creaking sound outside one of the bedrooms I was searching, and I figured that it must've been one of those burglars who come to loot from the shrines. I couldn't be any more wrong as the intruder was none other than a [Diary] holder.

"Ah, Fourth, we meet at last." The intruder said calmly. Due to the darkness, I couldn't find any distinctive features about him.

"What [Diary] holder are you?" I asked menacingly. "I am the Twelfth. I came here to kill the Sixth, Joshua Biantan. Cooperate with me and I'll let you live, turn me down and you will not live to see tomorrow." He threatened while stepping forward into the moonlit area.

The most distinguishing feature about him was the bulls-eye design he had for a mask. The strange thing about it was that it looked more like a sandbag with a bulls-eye design on it. "I've heard of you, you're the blind [Diary] holder whose hearing is beyond that of normal people. This will definitely be interesting." I mentioned threateningly.

He charged forward, but I was suddenly held back as if someone was holding me back by adding their weight to my body to slow my movements tremendously.

When I checked behind me, I saw a doppelganger of the Twelfth as well. "I am also the Twelfth, pleased to meet ya." He said nonchalantly. I literally mustered a lot of strength to quickly throw him off me and assume a defensive stance for the incoming attack from the REAL Twelfth.

"I get it, he brought along doppelgangers to fight me so he can locate me and take me out with ease. A clever tactic, Twelfth." I muttered to myself, impressed at the planning the enemy did to utilize his weakness to work to his advantage.

"Just knowing that won't assure your survival, Fourth!" He yelled. Fortunately, I had my [Diary] with me, and I turned it to 'silent mode' to make things a bit easier for me.

Once the [Diary] was in silent mode, I pressed a string of buttons and a strange weapon materialized in my left hand. It looked like a ball of yarn, but it was actually EXTREMELY durable string that won't break. My [Dull Diary]'s power was activated the moment I input the command to summon a weapon.

Due to this, my weapon, which was a ball of string, was able to be reinforced with an extremely durable substance. I tied one end of the string to a nearby column and began running LOUDLY in random directions. I knew what I was doing, so I purposely stomped around while laying the trap.

"If you're trying to sneak away, you won't get far by running like that! You should've tried running softly." He taunted.

I ignored that comment and continued running around the place at random, but also being careful to avoid getting caught in my own trap.

~~ Five minutes later ~~

The trap was set, and I memorized where to walk to avoid springing the trap. "OI, GET OVER HERE AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN, DORK!" I yelled, raising the first flag to my plan.

"Heh heh!" I chuckled after hearing a sound similar to a twig snapping. The string began to start moving at high speeds, and it seemed to be wrapping around the intended victim.

I followed the rope to end this pointless battle quickly, and get back to Joshua as quickly as possible. When I got to the location where the trap was sprung, I saw FIVE copies of the Twelfth.

"Damn, are you some kind of Super Sentai freak show?" I said with embarrassment after seeing the pathetic victims.

"He says we're pathetic, but I can't believe he tricked us into falling for his trap." The REAL Twelfth stated.

I checked all five of the Twelfths and found the [Diary] in the pocket of the one on the far right.

After inspecting it, I found out that it was the [Information Diary]. Its power wasn't very appealing, nor was it useful in any way for me.

Simply put, I snapped it in half to end this quickly. The [Diary] holder was sucked into a weird portal of sorts and was never seen again.

With that, I continued searching the house for the hand-ball that was so important to Joshua. I checked the kitchen, bathrooms, even the living rooms. I was about to give up until I remembered that this place is suspended above ground with columns.

"Maybe…" I muttered to myself after thinking of one possible location for the item: below the house itself.

Sure enough, I found the way to go under the suspended house.

"Man, the structure of the columns must be VERY well constructed to support all the weight of the shrines and the people." I said in awe after seeing the foundation of the columns.

There was a glint of light from somewhere, but I recognized the light glint method: It was being reflected off by something.

When I checked, it was an intricately designed ball that I could only guess belonged to Joshua. With the object in my possession, I made my way out from under the house, literally, and back to Joshua.

I returned to the place where I left Joshua after walking Danny boy back home. Joshua was comfortably sleeping on the rooftop of one of the city buildings. He was still using the jacket I laid over him as a blanket, but he seems sound asleep.

"This might cheer him up when he wakes up." I said to myself silently. I put the object beside the sleeping macho man and returned to the spot I tried to sleep for the night, but to my surprise, I fell asleep rather quickly.