Midnight Pretenders

Teri took a bite off his bread. “You absolutely sure she’s here?”

“Not absolutely.” Yayoi lowered her head, her voice more restless than poised. She grimaced. “I just get the feeling she’s here. We also both died at the same time so…”

“What can you tell me about her?” Teri and Taku said at the same time.

Taku raised a brow, grinning. “I didn’t think you’d be so interested in helping this damsel in distress.”

“Well, hearing your thoughts feel illegal too, so I won’t even start,” Teri replied. He was going to laugh, but he saw that Yayoi was not amused with the bit. He cleared his throat. “In all seriousness, do tell. Who is she? What is she like? Does she have any quirks or habits?”

Silence fattened the still air. The ikemen graffiti on the walls leered at them, their little speech bubbles telling them that they were doing good, they’re great, and that they should keep going. Teri thought that it could serve as a good distraction, but it made the lingering feeling between them all the worse.

Yayoi’s brows were furrowed. Her gaze darted from Teri to Taku and back, sometimes to the floor, the trophies, the dead dolls, and everywhere else in the room. Then, she raised her head to speak, but she paused, lowered her head, and swallowed back her words the next instant.

“Serious.” Teri looked at her, unsure if his smile was convincing enough.

Yayoi nodded to herself, her lips trembling.

“I also wanna help,” Taku added, sounding less dramatic and a bit too sincere that it was creepy. “We’re friends. Friends help each other out.”

Yayoi flinched at Taku’s words. Wide-eyed, she raised her voice. “Sorry… but by w-what standard are we f-friends?”

Taku pointed to himself. He looked so goddamn innocent when he did.

“Pretty much,” Teri said, flashing Yayoi a helpless grin while pointing her to Taku. “I won’t forget that you threatened to kill us in our sleep though.”

“Are you asking for an apology?”

“Nah.”

Yayoi glared at Teri.

“In any case… Let’s get back to the more important matter at hand.” Taku raised his voice to get their attention. “We don’t know much about this dungeon, but I can say that its loot is shit. For starters, there should be some kind of reward or loot in every room, but there isn’t. The monsters aren’t dropping anything either. My point is… your sister is most likely still wearing her original clothes. So, help us paint a better picture here. What else is she wearing?”

Teri sighed. “You got me in the first half, not gonna lie.”

Yayoi lowered her head once again. “As far as I can remember, she paired that oversized blue hoodie with a l-long black skirt. She’s also wearing a p-pair of boots, though not as h-high as mine. I’m not particular about my clothes since most of the stuff I own are for work… Well, not the boots since it was her gift to me. But my sister is different. I make sure she gets to dress as cute as she wants, the way she w-wants as much as possible.”

Taku took a deep breath. “The skirt. How long are we talking about?”

Teri raised a brow. There was more to unpack there, but his friend went for the skirt. He didn’t know what to think.

“It’s important,” Taku replied, cupping the bottom half of his face and looking at Yayoi straight as he waited for her answer. “Very important.”

“I don’t know.” Yayoi gripped her shoulder. “Long. Maybe? Pairing that with her boots… I remember just seeing a bit of her legs when she walks…”

“Duly noted. We’re also gonna be looking for a smell that might linger—” Taku shushed Teri before he could even react. “Does she wear perfume? And if so, what scent is she wearing?”

“Roses… Something similar to roses.”

Taku widened his eyes. He tilted his head. A moment later, he leaned back and crossed his arms. His weird enthusiasm was gone. There was a faint smile on his face, but it didn’t seem like he was fighting his inner demons and darker thoughts anymore.

“Thanks for that. Do you have other things you can tell us about her?”

Teri could at least cover for his friend. He had no particular reason. He also didn’t know why he felt compelled to do so. It was just a passing thought he chose to entertain. Maybe he didn’t want Yayoi to think that his friend was weird. Maybe he wanted to let Taku think in peace.

“I…”

Yayoi stared at the floor.

Teri knew the look, he beat up enough people to know.

Her gaze jumped from one place to another. Her mind could be stirring, stringing moments to moments, connecting events to events, trying to make sense of what it knew and didn’t.

Teri rubbed the back of his neck. He was, once again, made aware of his own habit. It was laughable, really. He knew that he would’ve left her like this. If she sank and drowned at the bottom of her darkest thoughts and feelings, nothing would really change. If she did get back up on her feet, then good for her. He was still convinced that it was the right thing to do. It worked back then, after all. He couldn’t just drop everything and listen to everyone’s feelings when they were feeling down, it was one of the ways that let him kill the buds of jealousy between his crew—he learned that the hard way.

But maybe he did the wrong thing.

Yayoi raised her head and found her eyes locked with Teri. She didn’t know anything about her sister, she just didn’t want to say it. She didn’t want to hear about it either.

That was okay.

Teri nodded at her and faced his other friend.

Taku was just there, confused. He just finished wrestling with his thoughts and looked like he wanted to say a few cool things, but the awkward air got to him too. Maybe he was too pure. Maybe he didn’t get it. It was comforting to know that at least.

This could be the moment where he could tag in and comfortably insert himself into the conversation. And with the plan he had in mind… Taku might be in it too. He knew that much about him now.

Teri smiled at Yayoi.

“Thanks, we now have plenty to work with. The rest of it is actually unnecessary, but that’s just Taku taku-ing. Please, forgive him. He needs a lot of it.”

Teri pushed himself out of the corner and of the love nest, tapping Taku’s shoulder on the way. They had nothing to lose. They might as well trust Yayoi’s word and believe that her sister was here. Of course, this didn’t rule out the possibility of her being a spy for the man she trashtalked, but Teri could just deal with that later.

And with the way this dungeon was created, they would be bound to encounter the sister—or her corpse— anyway, but they didn’t have to know that.

“Got myself a nice break.” Teri widened his grin. His tone was awkward and stiff, but he figured that he just needed to double down and commit to the bit. “I think I was able to catch my breath and keep going. How about you Taku?”

Taku raised his brow, grinning. “Snacked and ready.”

Taku got on his knees and cartwheeled out of the love nest. He almost fell over to a bunch of trophies on the floor upon failing his landing, but he picked himself up, dusting his shirt and cloak like nothing happened. He also posed, sometimes flapping his cloak, to make himself look cool and all the more ready.

“So, we’ll avoid exploring going north as much as possible,” Teri said. “We’ll take you back to our starting area; I remember a door on the southern side of that room, and that might lead us away from that crazy bastard. On the way, we’ll pass an intersection that leads to a bloody door—if everyone is comfy and confident enough, we can go there, kick ass, and grab some loot.”

Taku gave Teri two approving thumbs up. “Let’s assume that another starting area exists and your sister is in there. So, we’ll be extra careful and not pick any risky fights. For our formation: Teri will be at the front, he’s the tank so he’ll draw enemies and take hits for us so we can concentrate on attacking; I will be in the middle, I will be providing support for now as a future Wizard King; and you will be at the back, you make sure that we won’t get ambushed. I’ll discuss the rest of our formation as we go. But for now… do you get it?”

Yayoi blinked. “Why... What... Where... What are we doing?’”

They may have gotten too excited speaking about their plan moving forward. Teri wished that she didn’t see them as insane or worse, a pair of friends that’s too in-tune with each other’s thoughts.

“Dungeon crawling,” Teri replied. “Also your sister… We gotta find her.”

“But why?” Yayoi said, wide-eyed and about to laugh.

“We’re friends. Friends each other out,” Taku repeated with a pure smile. “Also, because it’s goddamn fun.”