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Falling into his bed exhausted, Tooru sighed in relief and curled onto his side. After such a long day working he was more than ready to fall asleep then and there.
But Shirazu was having none of that.
“Oi, Tooru! Ya sleeping already?” he asked, leaning around the frame of the door.
“Ehh? No not yet,” he mumbled sleepily, sitting back up straight on top of his sheets. Glancing at the clock next to his bed, he sighed lightly. It was already 11 pm. He really wanted to sleep. “Did you need something Shirazu-kun?”
The blonde stepped around the doorframe to stand just inside his room. “Yeah actually! As squad leader, I’m declaring tonight Squad Fun Night!” he said with a triumphant grin.
“Eh? But don’t we have work tomorrow?” Tooru asked in confusion. He didn’t want to be sleepy for work, especially when he was already the weakest as it was.
“Nah, Sassan gave us the day off tomorrow, weren’t ya listening earlier?”
Truth be told, Tooru had been pretty drowsy on their way back from their investigation. The case hadn’t been particularly difficult, but after a week of investigating, Tooru was tired, so he had took the opportunity to zone out a bit on their way back to the house.
Instead of admitting this, Tooru just gave a quiet laugh. “Well okay then. What are we going to do?” he asked.
“Heh, I dunno yet! We can decide that later. First, ya gotta come help me convince Urie and Saiko!” said the blonde encouragingly.
“Okay,” said Tooru as he got up again, wincing slightly at how tired he felt. The blonde grinned when he was up and immediately turned and left, leaving Tooru to follow in his wake.
First was Urie’s room. The door was open, so the blonde took a peek inside, but Urie wasn’t there. Next they moved on to Saiko’s room, whose door was predictably closed. Shirazu walked right up to it though and pounded on the wood.
“Oi, ya shut in! Open up yer door and get out here, it’s Squad Fun Night!” he yelled at the door.
The girl didn’t reply however, simply mumbling about the game she was playing at the moment.
After a few moments waiting for a reply, Tooru shook his head and turned to the blonde.
“I don’t think she’s going to come out. Let’s just leave her be,” he suggested.
“Yeah yeah, fine,” replied Shirazu, turning away from the locked door. The two continued on to the stairs and found Urie on the couch by himself reading a book.
“Hey, Urie, it’s Squad Fun Night, squad leader’s orders! So get yer face outta that book,” Shirazu said, walking up to the couch opposite him.
“Not interested,” he responded, not bothering to look up from the page he was on.
“What’d ya say—“ the blonde began, before getting cut off.
“I said I’m not interested. I don’t care if you are the squad leader, I’m not going to waste my time on whatever antics you came up with this time,” Urie said with finality, turning away slightly and lifting his book up higher to indicate the conversation was over.
“Fine, yer no fun Urie…” muttered the blonde. As he turned toward the stairs, he grabbed his companion’s sleeve. “C’mon Tooru, let’s go,” he said, dragging the surprised boy behind him.
Back up the stairs they went and down the hall again, past Saiko’s closed door and Urie’s open one. Across form Tooru’s room was Shirazu’s which is where the blonde dragged him. Pushing open the door, he stepped inside before letting go of his companion’s sleeve.
“No one in this squad is any fun,” mumbled Shirazu, walking over to his bed and sliding to the floor, slumping against the frame.
“It’s okay Shirazu-kun, I’ll still do Squad Fun Night with you,” Tooru said, following the blonde into his room and sitting cross-legged across from him on the floor.
“You will? Ah, yer too nice Tooru,” mumbled the blonde as he sat up straighter, “Well, got any ideas on what to do?”
Tooru was quiet, racking his brains for an idea. Shirazu thought too, staring around his room to see if he could think of anything. His eyes traveled over his window in his search, which was inky black underneath the curtains. It was kind of creepy looking, like it was just a void, ready to suck him out of his room and into empty nothingness. It was so dark that he started imagining all of the things that could be right outside of his window without his knowledge, invisible in the dark. Suddenly, an idea struck him.
“Wait, I’ve got one. Let’s tell scary stories! Ah? Whaddya say Tooru?” he said with an excited grin, turning his gaze to the other boy.
“Eh, well…” the boy began, scratching his cheek nervously. He had never really liked scary things; they always ended up leaving him sleepless and terrified in his bed. On the off chance he was able to fall asleep after watching something scary, he’d be plagued with terrifying nightmares that would leave him even more exhausted the following morning.
“Did you say scary stories?” asked a voice from the door.
The two looked up from their spots on the floor to find Urie standing in the doorway.
“Hey, look who came ‘round! Yeah I did say scary stories. Come join us, we’re just gettin’ started,” the blonde replied with a mischievous grin.
The dark haired male was silent for a long moment before giving in and entering the room, taking a seat across from the other two. Tooru was still silent. He was really nervous, but now that Urie was here too, he didn’t want to speak up and possibly ruin Squad Fun Night for Shirazu. So he stayed silent, letting the other two take the lead.
“So, who’s got a scary story?” Shirazu asked, looking between his two squad mates in front of him.
“I do,” responded Urie almost immediately. He took a moment to sit up a bit straighter and clear his throat. When he looked back at the two, his eyes were as serious as ever, but they had a more sinister look to them. Tooru bit his lip nervously, already a little scared.
“It’s actually more of a rumor,” he began, leaning back against the wall to get more comfortable. “When I was at headquarters the other day, I overheard a few investigators talking. I wasn’t interested at first, but then I heard them mention this place,” he said, making a small gesture to indicate the house the squad was living in, “Turns out, before this house was built, there was a cemetery here.”
Captivated, the other two males stared with wide eyes at their dark haired friend. Shirazu opened his mouth to say something, but Urie just held a hand up to stop him.
“It wasn’t just any cemetery though. It was more of an unofficial one. It’s where the CCG took the bodies of dead ghouls after were finished with them. From what I overheard, there are hundreds of ghoul corpses right under our feet,” said Urie, his voice dropping lower.
Tooru was openly shaking at this point, and even Shirazu was looking nervous. Glancing around the room, the blonde took a short breath.
“Are you sure about that Urie?” he asked, worry plain in his voice, “I mean, what if those investigators were just foolin’?”
“That’s where it gets interesting. I thought they were as well at first, so I went to go find some proof. Turns out they were right,” he said looking at the two. They gasped quietly, Tooru in fear and Shirazu in disbelief. “That’s not all however. When they were building this house, eight workers went missing before it was finished. None of them were ever found again. No one knows what happened to them. It was covered up though, because no one in their right mind would live in a place where eight people went missing under suspicious circumstances,” the dark haired male said, meeting the gaze of the other two with a meaningful look.
Tooru gulped and gave a nervous laugh. “Heh, you’re kidding, right?” he asked, looking at Urie with hopeful eyes.
When the dark haired male remained silent, Tooru looked fearfully at Shirazu. “Please tell me he’s kidding, Shirazu-kun,” he pleaded, his face falling when he took in the blonde’s expression.
Shirazu was just staring open mouthed at Urie, eyes disbelieving and slightly scared. Tooru’s voice shook him out of his trance. “Huh? O-oh yeah, ‘course he’s kidding. Right, Urie?” he said, his voice wavering slightly at the beginning.
Urie just rolled his eyes. Shaking his head in disbelief, he stood and stretched. “Well, I’m going to bed. Have fun with the ghoul ghosts. They’re probably watching you right now” he said evilly as he walked out of the room. He waited until he was out of sight to let out a small grin. That would teach those two to bother him.
Back in the room, it was dead silent. Tooru had buried his face in his hands and was shaking. Shirazu was just staring at the ground, looking worried and a bit lost. Urie’s story had them both terrified. Logically, Shirazu knew there were no such things as ghosts. But then again, if ghouls existed, why not ghosts too? What if Urie’s story had been true? The two were quiet for a minute, both lost in their own thoughts.
Just then, a muffled thump broke the silence, coming from the other side of the room near the window. The two looked at each other, heads whipping so fast they could have easily gotten whiplash. For a long moment, they simply stared at each other, eyes wide with fear.
Then they were up, both running at full speed down the hall.
“SASSAAAN!!” “SASAKI-SAN!” they called in fear, running for their mentor’s door. Shirazu pulled it open with one swift tug and suddenly both were tumbling inside.
Sasaki had been asleep, but upon hearing his name he had been pulled into unwilling awareness. He mumbled something unintelligible, rubbing his eyes sleepily as the two stumbled into his room. He barely had enough time to register the looks of terror on their faces before they were jumping into his bed, arms wrapping around him and hanging onto his shirt.
“Sassan, help! The ghoul ghosts are going to get us!” Shirazu wailed, clinging to Sasaki’s shirt and burying his face in his shoulder.
“What? What ghosts?” he murmured sleepily, blinking slowly at the two uninvited guests.
“Urie told us a-about the ghoul ghosts, a-and the cemetery,” Tooru said in a trembling voice, shaky arms clinging tight to Sasaki’s waist.
“…Cemetery?” he repeated blearily to the other two.
“Y-yeah! The cemetery under the house, where the CCG used to bury dead ghouls! Sassan, they’re gonna get us, do something!!” Shirazu said fearfully.
Sasaki was quiet for a moment, processing what his underlings had said. It took him some time to understand, but when he did, he shook his head with a quiet laugh. “That Urie,” he muttered, wrapping his arms around the two males clinging to him.
“Hey don’t worry you guys, there’s nothing under this house except plain old dirt. There was never any cemetery, I promise,” he said, trying to calm the two down. Feeling something wet on his shirt, he looked down. “It’s okay, Mutsuki, you can stop crying, there are no such things as ghosts,” he murmured, rubbing his shoulder soothingly.
Tooru wiped his eyes sheepishly, embarrassed that he had been caught crying. Shirazu wasn’t convinced however.
“B-but Sassan, we heard a noise in my room! What if it was a ghost!” the blonde asked in earnest, looking up at his superior.
Sasaki sighed quietly as he sat up slowly. It seemed like he’d have to prove to Shirazu that it was safe before he could get any sleep.
“Alright come on, let’s see your room,” he said, shaking the two frightened investigators off and standing from his bed. He stretched, waiting for the other two to get up and then headed to the blonde’s room.
Walking through the door, he stopped and glanced back at the two. “Okay, where’d you hear the noise?” he asked.
Shirazu pointed a finger toward the window. “It came from over there… Be careful Sassan,” he said worriedly from his place in the doorway, refusing to go any further into his room.
Sasaki sighed and turned away with a small smile. Who knew Shirazu was so afraid of ghosts?
Walking around the bed, Sasaki inspected the walls and the window, finding nothing out of the ordinary. He was about to report this when his foot kicked something soft and solid. Looking down, he found a small ball of black fabric.
Reaching down, Sasaki picked up the item curiously. Shirazu’s room wasn’t really messy, so the balled up shirt seemed a little out of place. Not only that, but it seemed to be wrapped around something. Unraveling the black fabric, he found a book.
He held the items up for the two to see. “Seem familiar?” he asked before walking over to the two and holding the items out for his underlings, “I think these are what caused that thump you heard.”
Shirazu peered at the book curiously for a moment before it hit him why it seemed so familiar. “Hey, isn’t that the book Urie was reading earlier?” he asked, looking down at Tooru.
The boy nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think it is... Shirazu-kun, why is it in your room?”
“Huh, I don’t…” began the blonde before trailing off. Suddenly, he realized exactly what that meant.
“URIE!!! I’M GONNA KILL YA!” he yelled, storming out of his room towards the dark haired investigator’s.
Well, I guess that mist-urie has been solved!” announced Sasaki proudly, grinning at Tooru.
The other male just gave a half-hearted laugh. “Nice one, Sasaki-san,” he said, humoring his superior.
_______________________________________
Awhile later, Sasaki was once again lying in his bed, thankful that he could finally get some sleep. Just as he was about to close his eyes however, a quiet knock came from his door. Sighing in resignation, he sat up again.
“It’s open,” he called, rubbing his eyes to make it look like he wasn’t exhausted. He wasn’t sure it worked.
The door opened and Tooru’s face peered around it. “Umm, sorry, can I come in?” he asked nervously.
“Sure,” said Sasaki, waving him over, “What’s the matter?”
“W-well you see, I’m still a little scared, a-and I couldn’t seem to fall asleep, s-so I w-was wondering if maybe I c-could stay in your room tonight? I-I mean, only if that’s okay with you…” he said, trailing off uncertainly. Truth was, after he had gone back to his room, he couldn’t stop imagining laughing ghosts surrounding him in the dark, silently mocking him and waiting for him to fall asleep. It had been too much for him, so he had decided to do something about it.
Sasaki smiled gently in understanding and patted the bed next to him. “Sure, there’s plenty of room,” he said, scooting over as Tooru lifted the covers.
“I’m really sorry about this,” the younger male said, curling up in the space next to Sasaki.
“It’s okay,” he said, smiling down at Tooru, “I bet you anything Shirazu will be in here within the next five minutes. Just you wait.
Tooru’s eyes widened at Sasaki’s prediction. He didn’t really believe it, but he said nothing.
Sure enough however, just a few minutes later, the door to Sasaki’s room creaked open for a second time. “Sassan, are you awake?” whispered Shirazu as he looked around the door.
“See? I told you,” Sasaki murmured quietly to Tooru before turning his attention to the blonde, “Yeah, I am. Let me guess, you want to sleep here tonight?”
The blonde looked sheepish as he made his way to the bed. “Yeah, my room was too dark. It was creepy, ya know? I couldn’t stop imagining ghosts coming out of the walls and trying to take me away,” he said, taking the spot on the other side of Sasaki.
“Yeah I know,” the black and white haired male murmured, “Please be quiet now, I need to sleep.”
He was answered only with quiet, indistinct murmurs of assent and with that he closed his eyes.