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"She's... so pretty..."
Shinri muttered under his breath as he stopped on his tracks in the middle of a dark and damp hallway, with spiderwebs cluttering the corners of the walls that trapped the four Vanguard men in a claustrophobic haunted house.
"Oh no. No no no. Don't even start. PLEASE." Bettel said, half whispering, half yelling in fear and exasperated with the whole situation.
Not only was Shinri totally unfazed by the mission that required them to get rid of a haunted object that caused the absolute decay of the house they were in, he now was about to fall in love with yet another supernatural, ethereal and untouchable figure. It was too much for Bettel's brain. He thought about how he would rather be drinking the Brisk he had hidden in his room.
"We haven't even seen this ghost yet, Shinri. How the hell can you say she's pretty when all you've heard is her voice?" Flayon whispered, as he tried to hide how he was gripping Hakka's jacket tightly.
Shinri solemnly put one hand over his heart and looked into the distance.
"I just know it. She's pretty."
Flayon rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I think I see something inside this room." Hakka said, pointing into the decrepit bedroom on the right, that had its door slightly opened, allowing for them to see an old clown doll perked up on top of a child's bed.
"OF COURSE it's a CLOWN doll. Of course. Of course! Could be a teddy bear or a normal doll but of course it's a fucking clown doll because just a doll isn't creepy enough, it has to be a clown. I fucking hate clowns" Bettel ranted.
"You're a clown" Hakka and Flayon said, in unison.
"I'm a JESTER. There's a difference. I'm a lot more sophisticated."
"I'm going inside" Shinri stated bluntly, as he cautiously opened the door, pausing with each step and looking around slowly, in complete alert.
"If I didn't know him better, I would think he's just being careful but I know he's just trying to see if he can see the ghost girl..." Hakka half-whispered to Flayon, while observing the archer.
"Yeah..." he replied, sighing.
And Bettel thought about the Brisk. So cold and tasty. It was waiting for him in his little hiding place so no one could steal them from him. He would get home and run straight to his room and drink until his blood turned into Brisk itself.
Shinri approached the doll with utmost caution, eyeing the clown doll without blinking, so he wouldn't miss any sudden movements.
"So what do you have to tell me? What do you mean, why are you here?"
The doll was dirty and beaten up, but one could still understand how its features and clothes were supposed to look like. The clothes were black and white, with silver sequins that once used to sparkle, but that now just looked gray. Its pointy hat was yellowed, with two black pompoms hanging on to the fabric by loosened threads. And finally, the doll's face had bright makeup that lingered even after the passage of time, with a black tear drawn on its cheek.
Shinri held the doll his hand carefully, turning it around to see if he could find anything of notice or trigger the ghost's actions.
Nothing happened.
"Let's burn this doll. If it's not haunted then it's just begging to be, no one will care!" Bettel said quickly after releasing a breath he had been holding for a while as he observed Shinri.
"Hey I thought you were supposed to be kind to your clown family members" Flayon said in a mocking tone, and Hakka laughed.
"I am a JESTER!" Bettel said, exasperated.
"We are not burning this doll if it's not the thing haunting this house." Shinri interrupted the banter before it even started "What if it's something the ghost loved? Also, it's not really possessed, is it Hakka?"
"Nah, I don't sense anything coming from it. It's just creepy."
"See? Let's keep on searching then. Causing a fuss for no reason is just going to anger the ghost."
"You just say that because you want to get in the ghost's good side." Bettel pointed at Shinri, voice growing a bit louder as he got more frustrated.
Shinri stood in silence for a second, staring deeply at Bettel, then simply shrugged and walked forward, while the other boys followed behind.
"Huh?! What?! HUH? You basically admitted that you want the ghost to like you! You guys don't think that's KINDA crazy?! He wants to date the ghost! He wants the ghostus-"
"Bettel." Shinri said firmly, before he could finish his sentence.
"..." The jester pursed his lips, knowing better than making Shinri mad.
"Come on, Bettel! That's just how Shinri is. Never stopped us from finishing a mission, did it? Let's go, we might need your whip to get some stuff from a shelf I'm seeing here" Hakka tried to appease the jester while he pulled him back to the group by his hand.
And Bettel thought of the Brisk. His beloved Brisk. It was all going to be worth it, facing ghosts and Shinri's paranormal kink, it will all be okay because he got his Brisk pack back home. He could almost taste it.
"Can you use your whip to knock off some of those books up here, Bettel?" Shinri asked Bettel as he tried to poke the books with an arrow, unsuccessfully.
"Yeah, sure." Bettel skillfully whipped the books hard enough for them to fall off the high shelf, onto the hands of the younger boys.
"Does any of this seem possessed to you, Hakka?" Flayon wondered while he flipped some of the books and shook them to see if anything of use would come out.
"Not really? Those are just some normal ass books. There's nothing here that indicates possession and these books aren't about entities so honestly no red flags here. There ARE a few books about spiritual protection, but these aren't harmful in any way. Could be just a supertitious person who likes salt circles or something."
"So we dont have a possessed doll nor possessed books? Our list of typically creepy objects are getting smaller, anyone got any other idea? What next? Possessed jewelry?"
As soon as Bettel finished his sentence, the boys were caught off guard by a loud thud coming from the other side of the room.
"What was that?? I'm sorry I said the doll was creepy!" Bettel yelled out.
"It came from this chest" Shinri said, walking towards a small chest sitting against the other side of the living room, right beside a huge armchair that looked like it could have been very comfy in its prime time.
"How did we not see a whole chest over there? It's not that small" Flayon wondered.
"Hmm... Some evil entities try to make specific things unknown to our eyes if it's beneficial for them. The opposite is true. Maybe this is important, somehow? Take a look at it, Shinri." Hakka explained.
"On it." He said, as he crouched and forcefully opened the chest, uncovering a dusty notebook, with lots of old newspapers littering its inside.
"Looks like a diary." Flayon noted.
"Look at Shinri's eyes. He's almost drooling at the possibility of learning some lore." Bettel pointed at Shinri.
The archer blushed a little and coughed, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"I'm gonna read this but just because it's important for our mission, okay?"
"Yeaah, right..." the three other boys said, as if in a choir.
"Shush, you three." Shinri cleaned his throat. "I'm gonna read it."
"06/27/1983
Today, it marks ten years since that day. I still have the doll my parents gave me before it all went down. It's my only tangible memory of them. I keep it safe as if it's my own child because I know I won't have any family ever again.
I don't have much time, honestly.
I dont know how I know it, I just feel it. It's a gloom that has always been here with me since then, but now it just grew.
I'm tired. I wonder when it'll get angry enough to end this."
"07/05/1983
Today I have taken a look at that thing again after all these years. It is so eerie. It's like it has gotten dirtier, but I know I've just kept it locked inside the same box all these years. I still wonder if I should return it, but it's not just a simple artifact anymore, it's awake now. Could I live with the guilt of returning it and putting more people into danger? I already live with the absence of my parents. I dont know if I could live with the certainty that it killed more people."
"07/18/1983
It spoke to me.
All it wants is more and more blood.
It's nothing I didnt already know.
I'll try to keep it at bay as much as I can. It's at least one thing that I know would make my parents proud."
"08/02/1983
Hearing this thing talk all the time is worse than I thought. I am more tired than I've ever been. Will it kill me by violent methods once it's strong enough or will it just drain all of my energy until I'm empty? We'll have to see."
"08/03/1983
I miss them so much."
"08/16/1983
Today the box appeared right on my bed. It moved on its own, which probably means it's getting stronger. But I know what I have to do. Thankfully, it can't read my mind otherwise I know it would have me killed on the spot."
"09/02/1983"
I'm so so so tired. It's probably time."
"That's the last entry of the journal." Shinri said, flipping the pages a bit more, but only seeing blank papers.
"That was grim." Bettel muttered.
"Look at this thing I found. I think it explains what happened here." Hakka said, showing an old newspaper to everyone.
"TRAGEDY ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF UTOPIA
On the morning of June 27th, 1973, Utopia has been stricken by tragedy, as a couple was brutally murdered by a robber.
The thief was fleeing from a nearby museum after stealing historical artifacts, and invaded the family's house to keep himself hidden from the authorities.
Despite claiming to the police that he did not intend to kill anyone, officers found the robber clutching a bloody knife after stabbing the family members over 30 times.
He claims "the necklace kept telling him to do those things", which led the authorities to believe the man was suffering from a psychotic surge.
The man, however, inflicted a fatal wound upon himself before the arrest, closing the case without more answers.
The couple leaves behind a 17 years old daughter, who hid on her room and called the police during the attack.
The stolen artifacts were not retrieved, seemingly disappearing from the crime scene."
"Fuck, man..." Bettel sighed
"We're looking for a necklace then." Shinri stated, with utmost certainty
"You think that's the root of the problem, right?" Flayon asked.
"Yeah, according to girl's diary, the necklace had been awakened by the robber and she was somehow keeping it sealed all this time. My guess is that there's more than just one entity here. I think the girl is still trying to keep that thing at bay"
"Kinda makes sense why the protection books then. Maybe she learned how to create wards strong enough to keep it from leaving and causing problems." Hakka remarked.
"This girl went through a lot. She was very strong."
"Still is. She's still protecting this place and she probably showed us this chest. Now we know we need to look for a box with a necklace" Shinri said solemnly.
"You're more in love now aren't you?" Flayon teased.
Shinri rolled his eyes and went back to the bedroom, adamant to find the box as fast as he could.
After a few minutes of everyone rummaging through every nook and cranny of the house, Bettel's voice echoed through the hallways all the way from the kitchen.
"Uh, guys? I think I found the thing."
He brought back a wooden box that had been partially eaten my termites and held a golden necklace inside. The necklace had small encrusted rubies that glittered ominously in a tear shaped pendant. It looked like something royalty could use, but it also looked like something straight out of a villain's wardrobe.
"Oh, FUCK, that's DEFINITELY the thing" Hakka yelled, blocking his nose with his hands "it's so fucking possessed it STINKS"
"Eeeeewww" Bettel yelled, dropping the box that easily crashed on the floor, then rubbed his hands on his pants.
"Anything specific we should do now?" Shinri asked Hakka worriedly, readying his bow in case some evil entity jumped on them.
"Not really, we can just exorcize it then burn it" Hakka explained, putting on a strip of blessed paper onto the necklace, all while blocking his nose "This entity is all bark and no bite, but if we let it be, it might as well cause problems like what it did to the girl's parents. It needs to be destroyed before it gets too cocky." He said, closing his eyes and beginning to chant over the cursed object.
"Fire: ready" Flayon pulled out a flamethrower from his shield and readied himself to burn the necklace down as soon as Hakka finished the exorcism. Meanwhile, Shinri and Bettel positioned themselves to in case they needed to fight.
"Just dont burn the whole house down, okay, Machi?" Shinri pleaded.
"No worries!!" Flayon said cheerfully, as Hakka finished the exorcism and stepped back to allow the red-haired boy to burn the necklace down.
As the four boys left the house after putting out the excess of fire that Flayon caused, Shinri turned to him, with a stern expression.
"Machi, you need to control the flames you use when we are all in a closed space! We could have burned alive! Don't use the same power you use when you're in the R-Trus, that is begging to cause an accident!"
"I'm sorry..." Flayon pouted "But hey, ummm, the ghost girl, huh? Wasn't she amazing? Guess she's free now that we destroyed the bad thing, right? What do you think, huh, Shinri?"
"Huh? Y-yeah, I guess so..." he said, taken aback by Flayon's quick answers, immediately forgetting the scolding he was giving the boy.
As he was about to mention how he still wished he could've seen the ghost girl (even a photo would suffice), a doll dropped from above onto Shinri's feet, appearing from nowhere, in an impossible manner.
"Huh?" The archer crouched down and picked up the girl's old doll, that now looked clean and new, with all the loose threads in place and sequins shining as new. "What's this doing here?"
"Oh?" Hakka smiled "I think the ghost girl wants you to keep the doll. She's probably happy that the spirit that was haunting the house is gone and she can leave the house safely. She probably thinks the doll will be in safe hands with you". He said, his knowledge about spirits coming to the rescue and clearing things up once again.
"Awww that's super cute!!" Flayon squealed.
Shinri turned towards the house, smiling softly, and blinked away some tears that had welled up in his eyes.
"Thank you so much, I'll take great care of your treasure."
"Man, thank goodness everything ended well for us all" Bettel sighed.
"See? I told you Shinri doesn't let himself get carried away by his ghost crushes" Hakka said, proudly.
"Now I can finally go home and go into my room and drink all the Brisk I have stocked up and then... Nap!" Bettel said, eyes shining as he dramatically clasped his hands above his heart. "Oh, life is finally good! Bless this world!" he opened his arms and looked at the sky, acting as if he was in a musical.
The other boys looked at each other, with concern written all over their faces.
"Um... The Brisks that were inside the upper cabinet of your wardrobe?" Flayon asked.
Bettel stopped on his tracks.
"What. How the fuck do you know that's where I hid them."
"Oh boy. I thought you knew. Magni grabbed those to use in some of his potions..."
"WHAT"
"..."
"..."
"I'm gonna kill Magni" Bettel unleashed his whip, stomping the ground as he walked towards the general direction of the Guild Hall.
"Boys, let's stop by the market before going home?" Shinri asked.
"Yes, sir" Hakka and Flayon said in unison.
The three boys grabbed and opened their coin purses, checking how much the damage control would cost them.