Dress Down

“So… Taku was it?” Yayoi’s voice echoed through the corridor as they neared the corner that led to the bloody intersection. “I’ve seen you check the trophies. You know what’s up with that?”

“Not much. I’m actually surprised you asked.” Taku looked back at her, smiling. “I mean, they’re academic and sports trophies with all of their names filed off. Pretty standard environmental storytelling stuff if you ask me.”

“Environmental… storytelling?”

Taku cupped his chin. “Have you played games before?”

“Yes…”

Taku widened his enthusiastic grin. “You know how some locations in games tell a particular story—but the story wasn’t told and instead you kinda just glean the information based on the surroundings. Let’s say you’re in a village with no people, but there’s a half-eaten corpse on the muddy ground surrounded by paw marks…”

“So the village was attacked by some kind of beast?”

“Yes!” Taku finger gunned Yayoi. “Teri and I had a working theory that this horror dungeon is based on the mental landscape of a teenage girl. I can’t exactly explain why everything was made of paper, at least not yet. But the school-ish theme fits. There’s also the pretty boys in the background, which is disgusting by the way. And yeah… trophies. Makes sense that this girl was some kind of achiever, but it was about the trophies themselves, not celebrating her achievements. That’s sad.”

Yayoi looked away. “I see.”

“Also you know how the dungeon smells like roses and ink?”

“You mean this dungeon is based on Yayoi’s sister?” Teri asked Taku as he led the group forward. “Had the thought too… but it's kind of… weird and…”

“Anticlimactic?” Taku replied, still keeping his smile. “I mean, I can act a bit more surprised. If anyone had the information we’re working with, they would have thought the same.”

“Please don’t.” Teri sighed, glancing at Yayoi.

Yayoi met Teri’s eyes. “What? Were you hoping that I’d cry?”

“Kind of yeah.”

“Bitch…” Yayoi crossed her arms and let the silence linger. She led her gaze to the ikemen graffiti on the wall, clicking her tongue upon realizing that they were giving her flowers. “Okay… I’m not as cool about it as I thought. If this is true… then I have a few questions. No, wait. I have a ton of questions.”

“Starting with the moaning dolls.”

“Especially the moaning dolls!” Yayoi combed her hair with her fingers. “Like, the fuck…”

“But you know… I’m glad that we’re filling in the silence like this. I was gonna ask about what girls talk about when they hang out or something.”

“I could use a distraction,” Yayoi replied to Taku. “But what made you ask?”

“Friends talk to each other about things. It seems like the most appropriate thing to do. Although I’m starting to think that our previous topic… I don’t think you’d appreciate it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah—”

“Hold on.” Teri held up a fist to stop their party’s movement. “I think I’ve heard something…”

“There’s no movement from the back,” Yayoi said.

“I guess it’s just me…” Teri stretched to regain his posture and refresh his grip on his shield and weapon. “That was my bad. I thought I heard something chattering, sniffing, and squeaking—you know, like rats do. It’s pretty weird. Yeah, maybe it’s just me—”

“Hold on… give me a second.”

Yayoi raised her right hand and touched the wall with her pointing finger, the golden ring it bore gave off a comforting green glow. A gentle wind blew through them. Taku covered his mouth, his best attempt not to show how amazed he was as his cloak weakly flapped along. Teri found himself smiling. The wind carried something. Some kind of energy. Something he could almost touch. A trail. It was as if the wind was alive and that he could follow it if he wanted to while it crawled through the corridor.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Scan.”

Another gentle wind blew. Yayoi covered one of her ears, still keeping her eyes closed. She nodded to herself.

“After making a right turn… the wind moved east and split into three directions.”

“That’s the bloody intersection,” Taku said. “Anything else?”

“One—” Yayoi wiped the blood off her nose. “No… three. There’s one right around the corner and it’s slowly moving towards a group of three in the intersection. They’re not doing anything… They’re just waiting.”

“Wait, how can you tell?”

“Were they moaning?” Teri interjected, somewhat scared at the thought of Taku moaning to Yayoi out of nowhere and the monster deciding to turn back to see them. At worst, it would turn into another all-out brawl.

“What? No… No, they’re not.” Yayoi replied, confused. “Their heartbeats. They’re large… and slower, either as large or a bit larger than a human’s in depth.”

“I see. Thanks, Yayoi.”

Teri kept his head still. He looked at his hand. The energy that possessed the wind at Yayoi’s call lingered on him—like a piece of phlegm stuck on his throat or a mild heartburn. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

He noticed that the energy that possessed the wind at Yayoi’s call lingered on him, like a piece of phlegm stuck in his throat or like heartburn. Yayoi seemed right, too. Looting the bodies back in the room full of statues would take at least a full-grown human.

“And here I was, thinking that I can make you look like a scaredy piece of shit,” Yayoi chuckled. “But I guess your ears weren’t wrong. Good job, Teri.”

“So, we’re fighting rats now?” Taku asked. “They should be tougher and tankier than the dolls. If they’re fast… then that’s just bullshit.”

Yayoi smiled. “Relax—”

“Oh yeah, we’re going to kill them here,” Teri said, his face calm and with a tight natural smile. For a moment, Yayoi and Taku seemed surprised, so Teri stepped back and cleared his throat. “If they’re rats at the same size as humans, I’d rather avoid fighting them in a wide area. I don’t even wanna think about getting swarmed by these things.”

“Yay…” Taku slowly raised his fist in the air, asking Yayoi for a high-five. “Team… Friendship?”

Yayoi reluctantly gave Taku one. “That’s a shitty name. But you’re doing good, Taku. Let’s just not force it in.”

Teri switched his weapon to a dagger. “Let me take a crack at it. I’ll try to kill the first one by the corner as fast as I can. If the rats in the intersection come in, Taku… please bind whoever is in the front.” He glanced at Yayoi. “And for you… Feel free to step in once you feel comfortable. Do your thing however you want. Just let me know when I gotta duck or get out of the way or something.”

“Alright. I’ll let you know,” Yayoi said with a whimsical smile.

They dropped their bags and moved forward, hugging the wall.

Teri readied his weapon as he approached the corner. It took a few more seconds for their voices and breathing to quiet down, but it was nice that his friends treated their approach seriously. As soon as he was able to steel himself, he looked back, nodded at Taku and Yayoi, and turned at the corner first.

If there were monsters there, they could jump Teri. If they jumped him, Taku and Yayoi would counter-jump them. He didn’t get to discuss the plan, but he sincerely hoped that they would do just that in case things go south. He wanted to laugh. He was actually trusting his friends to cover his back.

But Teri stopped.

The monster. It was looking at him.

By instinct, Teri let out a chuckle in disbelief. He raised his shield, gripping it tight to keep it from shaking. It was a hulking figure of a rat, its black and greasy fur bursting through and ripping apart a business suit tailor-made to clearly not fit it.

What drowned him was not the overwhelming scent of blood and flesh. It was paper, candles, and ink. Its smell was so sweet that it blurred his eyes, his knees begging him to fall to the ground and sleep. His head started ringing, leaving him wide-eyed and staring as the figure turned and leered at him.

It was smiling.

“Like I said… relax.” Yayoi waltzed in between Teri and the rat. “You got me.”

She carried a confident smile. In a second, her gaze snapped into focus as she pinched the edge of her gloves and dragged it down her forearms.

The rat moved as well, confused but delighted to see another meal willingly walking in front of it.

Then, Yayoi stretched her right hand. She opened her palm to the monster, two of her fingers pointing at its neck.

A scissor.

“Hack.”

Her serene, commanding voice summoned a moment of silence. A gentle wind answered. And the rat’s head flew, blotting the walls with blood as it spun and dropped backwards.