The Macabre Master’s Final Gambit

I reached the usual meeting place after several minutes of walking from the south to the north wing of the school.

I opened the door to find not only Fumiko, but a few surprising others. Shun, Kyoko, and even Ryuuji circled around Fumiko and what appeared to be a stack of official documents that were stapled on the top and bottom left ends.

Despite me being in the classroom for nearly a minute, the group kept discussing amongst themselves.

"I still think it'd be better to have the next practice date take place at a more familiar location," Shun said, turning back to the first few pages.

"But having a date at the other person's house isn't that romantic," Kyoko said.

"But Fumiko is an introvert by nature. Having somewhere with fewer people to distract them would allow them to start on a more comfortable foundation," Shun said, adjusting his glasses.

"I don't know, I still think with the right amount of tweaks, The Escapist Lounge could be an ideal first practice date. It literally has everything she loves," Ryuuji said, nodding with his arms folded.

“I think we drifted away from what's really important here," Fumiko said, sighing.

Fumiko noticed me out of the corner of her eye, exhaling with relief after she spotted me.

She ran from the quarreling group of friends and wrapped her arms around me.

"Oh, thank god you're here, Kenta. Everyone's gone insane. I consulted with Shun on ideas for dating, but I've lost control of the whole thing.”

"What do you mean," I asked.

"I asked what would be a good first practice date, but then Shun went overboard and started typing out a ten-page document when I approached him for ideas."

Shun was the second person to notice my presence, with everyone else immediately following suit.

"Oh, good, you're finally here, Kenta," Shun said.

"I'm really scared to ask, but what are all of you doing?"

"I've constructed the perfect blueprint for a successful second date for you two,"he said, brandishing the stapled set of papers in his hand.

"I call it, Project Love Seeker, named in part for Fumiko's newfound curiosity about love," Shun continued.

I was really perplexed by Shun's behavior, but then I remembered, this was just how people acted around Fumiko. She definitely had the best friends anyone could ask for.

"I never took you as a romantic Shun," I said.

"Well, he did suddenly get a burst of inspiration after seeing–".

Kyoko was stopped short by a wave of Shun's arm.

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't speak about that detail," Shun said, inhaling through his nose.

"Anyways, I have an idea that I think you and Fumiko would like for a first date trial run," he continued, admiring the pages on the foldable wooden desk in front of everyone else.

"And what would that be," I asked.

"Group sleepover," he said, raising his index finger.

"Shun, you realize that we have two girls in our group, right?"

"We'll split into groups, then. And I think she'll really benefit from the relaxing atmosphere."

"What's the matter, Kenta. I thought you'd love the idea of sleeping together," Fumiko said, grinning.

"Ugh, not you too Fumiko-san."

I didn't think she was capable of making those kind of jokes. Fumiko is a dangerous one.

***

I didn't think this would be the exact turn our relationship would take nearly a week removed from the first date. With the pages Shun showed me in his all-encompassing Project Love Seeker, I realized just how much Fumiko and I were winging our relationship.

A spreadsheet was blocked in different bright neon colors, indicating what we would be doing every hour of the sleepover. Those activities included when to eat overly-saccharine sweets and snacks, a three-movie selection approved by our larger group, followed by a marathon of the first season of Super Sentai Ravagers.

The timetable said the marathon ended when everyone was unanimously too tired to keep watching the episodes. And then the pasted footnote below it said 'sleep?' in an unspecified time slot designation.

I wasn't one to unwittingly curl-up a theoretical monkey's paw, but a part of me wished for a more chaotic schedule to the sleepover.

I was looking over the plans one more time before the party started in earnest at Fumiko's apartment, but then I stumbled on an interesting page that came a couple pages after the schedule spreadsheet.

I was only able to read the first word, which read 'After', before Shun snatched up the stapled pages of stationery.

"What's with you, Shun?"

"Sorry, but I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise," Shun said, blatantly glancing over his shoulder.

"Are you alright, bro?"

"There's a certain event that'll come after 12:00 a.m. that was planned by Kyoko and I. You still have a chance to leave before then with Fumiko. I wouldn't blame you if you left before then."

"You're barely making any sense. It couldn't be that bad, could it?"

Shun let out a tense giggle between his closed lips.

"Are you boys doing alright?"

A slender hand appeared over Shun's shoulder.

A shift of Shun's shoulders revealed Kyoko in her pre-sleepover clothes. She was wearing a teal blue hoodie with orange red boldly printed letters that read 'Shifty Girl' over her chest with stylistically printed black horns over the hood. A red miniskirt and extra long leggings, as well as brown open-toed sandals with light-blue straps accompanied her outfit.

The horns were conveniently visible because she decided to wear the hood indoors.

"I was just telling Kenta about today's schedule, hahaha. And nothing else!"

"That's great! I think he'll really enjoy what we prepared," she said with a Cheshire grin.

Okay, now even I'm getting goosebumps.

***

For a moment, the sleepover appeared to be going according to Shun's plan. Every fifteen minutes on the dot, we would go into the kitchen to get snacks. Among them were caramel popcorn, chocolate, which was either available in milk or dark flavor, several flavors of chips, gummy bears, and finally two boxes of pizza. Because we were high school students with limited income, we could only get three medium sized pizzas.

Despite being labeled medium, the pizza was the smallest size on the menu. So what was the actual 'medium' pizza called?

It was called a regular.

Yeah, I didn't get it either.

Against the wishes of everyone in the group, I requested that one of the pizza flavors to be ham and pineapple. And I still refused to compromise when it came to pizza. There's nothing wrong with having a little tropical fruit on your pizza.

"I still can't believed you ordered ham and pineapple, dude," Ryuuji said, his arms crossed behind his head.

"We already had this conversation, Ryuuji!"

"Man, between your weird love of pineapple and Fumiko's love of dark chocolate, you guys are clearly a good match for each other."

I didn't come to this sleepover to be personally attacked.

My fist trembled from a combination of frustration and sadness.

Fumiko managed to sneak into the room completely undetected. I could see a subtle glint of red in her sharp blue eyes. She had us in her sights and there wasn't a thing we could do about it. Even her hand appeared to look like a mechanical claw, her finger digits conspicuously grouped into three prongs.

"I see you still have a knack for sneaking up on people, Fumiko," Ryuuji said.

"It's not my fault you guys get tunnel vision whenever you talk to someone else. Just pay attention, pleb," Fumiko said in a monotone voice.

Wait, was she always this verbally cutting?

"Oh so you want to fight? All you had to do was ask," Ryuuji said, taking on a familiar pose.

"Red, that is ill-advised. I've beaten you eleven to two in all of our bouts," Fumiko said.

Wait, was this a character from Ravagers? No. I don't remember a verbally-cutting terminator.

I could see Ryuuji sweating from his forehead, his neck, and every other place there were sweat glands. I wasn't familiar with their history, but even I could tell there was a gap in skill that this Kaito look-alike could never close.

"Alright. I concede," Ryuuji said, his raised arms going limp.

"You are wise to fear me, Ryuuji," she said with a casual smile.

She grabbed a group of snacks and gripped them in her enclosed arms, including a couple of slices of ham and pineapple pizza on a styrofoam plate. She already had a block of semi-bitter dark chocolate precariously gripped by her teeth.

"Hey, I think the first season marathon for Ravagers is going to start soon," she said, pointing with the dark chocolate in her mouth.

It was about 9:30 p.m. by the time we found our seats. Ever since the marathon started I noticed that Shun's posture was gradually becoming more stiff. I was afraid he'd topple on anyone next to him if he was so much as poked. Kyoko had a grin on her face throughout the first hour of the marathon. This wasn't cause for alarm in-of-itself, but then she started to chuckle, giving her best impression of a Ravager emperor.

This night was definitely not going to end at 12:00 a.m..