Pandora's Game

[matsu1nino]

Title: Pandora's Game
Pairing: Gen
Genre: Horror
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: Pandora’s Box: full of mystery and sly, a game to be played for tooth and for eye. Do what you can to reach the goal, give nothing back between each roll. Play till the end, move one after another. But await what’s to come and be sure you will suffer. The goal is your hope for what’s lost to be revived, until then hold on and pray you survive.
Author's Note: Part one of my two-shot Halloween fic




Jun made his way down the long and silent halls that seemed to stretch on forever. The lights above began to flicker, fighting a losing battle to remain alit. His steps quickened as he ran to find the end of the passageway, fleeing from the darkness closing in on him. He came to an eventual stop in the middle of the desolate hall. His breaths were short and audible in the maddening silence surrounding him. How long had he been running? Even as he stood motionless in the dark corridor his echoing footsteps continued to sound, growing louder as they raced to catch up with him. He could feel his heart beating rapidly against his chest. Sending fleeting glances back over his shoulder, Jun saw nothing but the same deserted halls that stretched out in front of him. He had gone nowhere.
Swallowing the nervous lump that had formed in his chest, he pressed on with a cautious pace. As he walked the wall he passed by began to melt. Jun jumped at the sight of the paint dripping down the wall to reveal the reflective glass hidden beneath. Every part of his brain was telling him to get out of there as fast as he could but he found his feet were cemented to the ground. Any effort he made to turn and run went to waste as his body moved like it was possessed closer to the mirror. His reflection was clouded even when he neared the glass. He could faintly see his distinct features behind the haze that seemed to only cover his face. The walls behind him were unchanged, as was the hand he raised to lightly brush his fingertips against the mirror’s surface. Standing as close as physically possible, Jun could start to distinguish the shadowy reflections of others. Four silhouettes, blurred and indistinct, formed alongside his own reflection. Soft moans sounded from several voices, muffled by the glass it had been spoken through. Their hands reached out towards him as though from behind the mirror itself. Lost in a trance created by the haze of his mind, Jun stretched out his arm to meet theirs. The moment he felt the cool glass beneath his hand, the mirror gave a tremble. Like a spider’s web over a watery expanse, the mirror cracked and splintered. There was a thud as the hand on the other side slammed against the surface of the glass, its bloodstained palm dragging down to leave a gory smear right across Jun’s reflection. Jun leapt back from the wall just as the hands of the other three silhouettes did the same. Blood oozed from the cracks in the mirror, scarlet trickling down the reflection and pooling on the floor beneath.
Jun wanted to run, to look away from the horrific image of the four shadow beings crawling through the mirror, but he could not. His body was refusing to listen to him, keeping him fastened to the ground where the blood was beginning to lap at his feet. The reflective beings had crawled out through the splintered mirror shards. They’re dark bodies were half hanging out of the frame as they stretched their greedy hands towards him. Jun gasped when he felt the short fingers coil around the front of his shirt, dragging him back towards the mirror with shocking strength that he was incapable of fighting against. With futile thrashes, he struggled to break free before the hands of the other beings seized his arms and body, hauling him up towards the broken mirror. The shards turned to liquid as his body passed through. Thick and suffocating, it burned away his clothes and skin. Jun tried to fight his way back to the surface of the glittering liquid swallowing him. The beings clawed at his body with relentless tugs until he was fully consumed by the mirror, his scream for help drowned out by the reflections when he reached the other side. Jun felt his body being ripped apart by four of them, their shadows engulfing him in a whirlwind that tore the flesh from his bones. Blood continued to seep down through the cracks, turning a shade lighter as a new life force joined the ranks. The fractures in the mirror began to mend as the newest blood stitched the glass shards back together.
The lights switched on again and the hallway was flooded with light. The mirrored wall began to crust with old paint, fading out of sight right as a bloodied hand slammed against the reflection, silver rings glistening scarlet while blood dribbled down over each long finger. It slowly fell away to leave the bloodstained handprint against the glass just when the mirror vanished beneath the returning wall.
---
Jun awoke with a gasp, jolting his head off the side of the window where he had fallen asleep. His heart was hammering against his ribcage as he fought to catch his breath. The vivid imagery of his nightmare slowly began to fade into the haze of his subconscious.
“You okay?” He nearly flinched when he heard the voice sound from beside him, whipping around in his seat with such force that made his seatbelt snag across his chest. Sho was sitting beside him with a concerned look painted across his features. Jun’s gaze flickered around the van as he drew his thoughts back from his dream to remind himself of where he was. The other members were all around him, most either sleeping or entertaining themselves in their own way on the tiring drive they were presently on. The company had decided on a doing a location shoot for one of their show’s filmings, which was why they were all currently occupying the backseats of a van on their way to god knows where. Jun vaguely remembered starting to drift off but he wasn’t sure for how long exactly he had been asleep. Seeing Sho was still staring at him in expectation of an answer, Jun sent him a reassuring albeit weary smile.
“Just a dream” he murmured, hoping Sho would not ask for details. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake up but more so to remove any lingering residue from his unpleasant dreaming. He had not had a nightmare like that in a many number of years; he actually couldn’t remember the last time he had dreamt up something that vivid. All he could do was put it to the back of his mind and hope in time it would fade into something he could not recall even when he tried. Not that he could see himself wanting to try and recall such a dream ever again.
Sho still looked concerned but gave a shrug at Jun’s response, going back to the book he had been reading. Jun was glad it was Sho to have been the one sitting next to him and not Aiba. The taller guy would not have let Jun get a moment’s peace until he had unveiled every detail of the macabre dream he’d just experienced. Aiba would be sure to come up with countless analyses and theories over what it could have meant, if he wasn’t scared shitless after hearing about it that was. Said man was currently asleep behind them. His head was stretched back over the seat’s headrest with his mouth wide open in a soundless snore. Nino was next to—or rather on top of him, with his shorter legs stretched out the full-length of the seat over Aiba as he rested against the other side of the van.
Jun smiled half-heartedly at the sight of them and turned to face the window he had previously been sleeping against, staring out into the grey expanse.
“How long have we been driving?” he wondered aloud, giving his limbs a quick stretch in the confined space of the vehicle. His body was feeling rather stiff and he could venture to guess he had been asleep for longer than he’d first anticipated.
Sho looked up from his reading again and gave a thoughtful calculative look. “Nearly two hours” he answered. After a moment he turned to Ohno who was sleeping beside him to sneak a glance at the older man’s watch. “Yep, we’re definitely almost at two hours.”
“He have to be getting close by now” stated Jun, not seeing anything of particular interest outside. “Where did our managers say this place was again?”
“They didn’t” came Nino’s remark from the backseat. Sho and Jun turned in sync to see him almost fully reclined over the three seats. Aiba still had not woken up even as the smaller guy pressed his feet into his friend’s stomach to find a more comfortable position, instead just letting out a soft grunt from his now closed mouth. “Only that we’re doing it for a special. Since when do we even do specials this time of year?”
“Maybe they’re trying something new” Sho offered weakly.
Nino scoffed. “Either that or Aibashi suggested it.”
“Wasn’t my doing” Aiba slurred from beneath him. The three of them stared in surprise at his unexpected response. His eyes were still shut but he was definitely awake now.
“We thought you were asleep” Jun remarked.
Aiba opened his eyes to narrow slits, looking over the seat at those in the row in front of him. He gave a sleepy smile. “I’ve been awake all this time” he insisted.
“So you’re aware of what we’re planning for leader’s birthday then?” Nino tested, causing Aiba to jolt up into a seating position and effectively knock the latter’s legs off his lap. Nino scrambled to keep from falling off the seat entirely following Aiba’s abrupt movement. 
“Why? What are we planning?” he bombarded them with questions, almost shaking the car with his excitement. Nino pulled himself away from the seat’s edge and pushed Aiba back over onto his side.
“Nothing, yet” he groaned, “And nothing at all if all your shouting wakes him up.”
Aiba grinned. “But nothing ever wakes leader up.”
“He has a point” Jun added, looking over at where Ohno was still sleeping on the other side of the van. Even with all the commotion and the bumpy car ride as the vehicle moved off road, the man would not wake. To everyone else he appeared utterly dead to the world. 
The van containing the Arashi members eventually came to a stop when it pulled up in front of a dark mansion looming up in the middle of an empty clearing. As though his body had been set with an automated timer, their eldest member woke almost as soon as they had arrived. They unbuckled their seatbelts and were bustled rather forcefully out of the car by their managers. A thin drizzle of rain greeted them the moment they walked out under the open sky, a strong breeze blowing against them.
“Can we go anywhere without it raining?” Jun grumbled, rubbing his arms in an attempt to preserve his body heat from the chilling wind that seemed to cut right through them.
“Well we are Arashi” Aiba smiled brightly. Lightning flashed above them.
Nino smirked as he watched the sky darken again. “It’s sort of expected.”
The five of them stayed huddled close to the van under the umbrella Sho had sensibly though to bring, watching as their managers debated with one another and looked to be having multiple arguments over the phone. After almost ten minutes of waiting in the increasingly heavier downpour, they eventually came back over to the members with grim expressions.
“The filming will have to be postponed” they informed the five men who were exchanging looks of disbelief. “Due to unforeseen weather conditions, the van transporting the film staff has been delayed. They should be here sometime tomorrow around midmorning but there’s not much we can do ‘til they get here. Until then we’ll be staying here.”
The members turned to look at their supposed accommodation for the night. The mansion was huge, dark and creaking. It looked older than all their ages combined and had an English style of architecture quite unlike anything any of them had ever seen before. The whole structure seemed slightly slanted. The roof was lopsided with tiling missing and gaping black holes scattering the ceiling. Almost all the outside paint was faded away to show off the unsound walls that were somehow holding the large building together.
“They’re not serious, right?” Jun questioned as he stared incredulously at the building looking like it was about to collapse at any moment.
Ohno was already making his way through the rain up to the moulded steps leading to the door. Aiba chewed his lip and went after him at a much more precarious speed.
“You’re going to catch pneumonia going out in the rain like that” Sho called after them. Aiba stopped and ran back, seizing the older man’s arm to drag him up to the house alongside him in spite of Sho’s loud protests.
Jun lifted his jacket over his head when the umbrella’s cover vanished. Nino did the same, turning to the younger before shrugging and making his way up to the mansion with Jun right behind him. Inside was just as dark and damp as the exterior. The floorboards creaked with every step taken upon them, the rugs frayed and moulded along the ground. The wallpaper was peeling to reveal the cracked stone walls hidden beneath. Crooked picture frames lined the entrance way on either side, the beady eyes of the portraits seeming to follow their every movement as the five boys made their way through the hallway further into the house. They entered through into what resembled a dining room. The elongated table stretched the length of most of the room while a broken chandelier dangled above the centre. Cutlery and place settings were positioned around the table, rotten food on the plates left abandoned by whoever had last inhabited the mansion. They walked through the dining hall and into the kitchen left in disarray by the previous residents. Shards of broken plates scattered the floor while the cupboard doors had been thrown open. The refrigerator had no power and was emitting the smell of decay. There were no windows but a chill filled the air, the sounds of panic from the last guests seeming to echo faintly around the room.
“This place gives me the creeps” said Sho with a slight shiver as they moved back through the kitchen and dining room into the corridor before heading into the living area where a long spiralled staircase ascended to the level above.
“You’d think they were testing us with another haunted house segment” Jun commented, every step up to the higher storeys squeaking as it threatened to break under the weight of the five boys.
“You don’t think they are do you?” Aiba asked fretfully but Ohno shook his head.
“Can’t imagine they would after all this time” he murmured, his hand running along the chipped railing of the staircase.
Nino pouted when something wet dropped through the crack in the ceiling above to land on his nose the moment they reached the top of the stairs. He rubbed it dry with the back of his hand. “It better not be.”
They managed to make it to the second level without incident and divided to the many doors they could see lining the corridor. Some led to rusted bathrooms, others to empty studies, but most were bedrooms. Like the rest of the house they had been left an untidy mess. The beds were positioned at random around the rooms, with clothing, sheets and curtains strewn about carelessly over the floor and furniture.
Jun put his bag his manager had handed to him down on the bed of the room he had selected. The idea of staying here for the night was truly displeasing but he knew there wasn’t much of a choice. He glanced around the room at the faded walls, the lightning outside illuminating the room with an eerie white glow every couple of minutes. From behind him he could hear the stifled sounds of what he could only assume were coming from the next room over, figuring the walls were very thin. What he heard was less an actual voice and more strange electronic noises that had become all too familiar with how often he heard them on a daily basis. Seeing nothing better to do and needing a way to get his mind off all the disturbing aspects of this old house they were expected to stay the night in, he rose from the bed and wandered out the door. He stood in the doorway of the room next to his, leaning lightly against the frame as he watched the man with the DS in his hands. Jun really couldn’t believe how relaxed he looked lying on his back on the bedspread, fingers mashing at the buttons of his game console in the same way they would were they in the greenroom.
“You’d think you’d be a little more concerned with our situations instead of playing games” he remarked with his arms folded across his torso. Nino didn’t even look up, not that Jun had expected him to.
“It’s just for a day, Jun-kun. Nothing to be concerned about” he retorted. A small smirk formed on his lips as he continued, peeling his gaze momentarily away from his game to meet Jun’s eyes. “Unless you’re scared.”
Jun glowered at him. “I’m not scared” he snapped. Nino’s smirk did not fall even as he allowed himself to be re-immersed in his game. Jun clicked his teeth and with a roll of his eyes left the smaller guy to his virtual world.
He paced back down the hallway past his room and down the stairs. He didn’t want to go back to the room. It wasn’t because he was scared; he just didn’t want to go there. The room was not what he’d consider stable and he didn’t want to constantly be wondering when the ceiling would fall down on top of him. He’d be able to hear Nino’s gaming too, which would only end up annoying him, so Jun decided he might as well leave now to do a bit more exploring. The house was creepy but it was also old and sure to have at least a few interesting things lying around.
---
Nightfall was fast approaching but the storm outside was unrelenting. The members sat around the spacious living room, the fireplace lit as they rested on the large couch and sofa chairs they had moved closer to the blaze they’d gotten going. Combined with the frequent flashes of lighting, the fire was creating an array of disturbing shadows along the walls and high-rise ceiling. The boys had been informed of the further delays caused by the sudden storm to their filming schedule. They had been told before leaving of their location shoot, and that they would arrive before the rest of the camera crew so to be briefed of what the filming would entail, but none of them had expected to end up with this much wasted time to kill. Their managers had gone out a few hours ago to purchase food for them, having seen the decaying supplies they had to work with in the house.
All things considered Jun knew things weren’t as bad as they could have been. There were no cameras in their faces, no fans and media to constantly have to hide their personal lives from, or gruelling schedules to adhere to. Putting the creepiness of the mansion aside, they had essentially been given an impromptu vacation with one another. They was warm food on its way and until then all that was required of them was to enjoy each other’s company.
“Hey guys!” Aiba’s shrill cry sounded as the man ran into the room with his hands being held at an awkward angle behind his back in an obvious attempt to hide what he was holding. “Guess what I found?”
Ohno was trying to stretch his head back far enough to see what was in Aiba’s hands while Sho was looking warily at their friend. “Tell me it’s not a mouse or something” he leant back in his chair a bit, not particularly wanting to see what sort of surprise Aiba had found and brought to them.
Aiba laughed. “No but I did hear some squeaking while I was down there” he said as he rushed forward, pulling the box from behind his back and slamming it down on the table between them all. “Tada!”
The members crowded around Aiba’s finding with a mix of curiosity and caution. The box was about half an arm’s length in size, made of an old wooden substance. Engraved on the top of the box were cursive letters.
“Pa-n-do-ra’s Ga-me” Sho read the words spelt out in English to the others. “Pandora’s Game.”
Jun turned to Aiba who was looking like he was barely able to contain his excitement. “Where did you find this?”
“It was in some secret chest I found under the stairs” he told them, his smile never wavering even if the looks on the faces around him did. “It was locked at first but I managed to get it open.”
“If it was locked, it was probably for a good reason” Sho tried to say but Aiba cut him off when he practically threw himself at his arm, staring up at the older man with wide begging eyes.
“We can still play it though right?” he asked. “Please Sho-chan?”
Sho looked hesitant, turning to the others for help in the decision he was expected to provide Aiba with.
Ohno shrugged. “It might be fun” he mumbled, leaning back in the plush sofa chair he was on. Nino hopped down off the armrest he had been sitting on in favour of laying on the floor.
“We’re all bored anyway” he put in. “Besides it can’t be any worse than Aiba’s Sugoroku.” He let out a startled and exaggerated cry a moment later when Aiba whacked him upside the head.
“That was fun and you know it” he said with a pout that was quickly replaced by his usual grin when he realized there were no further objections to playing the game he had uncovered. He tore open the box and removed the board, tracing the colourful little tiles outlining the various pathways of the game. He let out an excited gasp. “Look! It’s in our colours!”
“What is this game exactly?” Sho questioned as he reached over Aiba to give the green dome in the centre of the board a curious tap.
Aiba turned over the back of the box and read the instructions aloud to everyone. “Pandora’s Box: full of mystery and sly, a game to be played for tooth and for eye. Do what you can to reach the goal, give nothing back between each roll. Play till the end, move one after another. But await what’s to come and be sure you will suffer. The goal is your hope for what’s lost to be revived, until then hold on and pray you survive.”
Silence fell upon the five of them as the words set in, forming a different meaning in each man’s head yet bringing them all to the same confusing conclusion.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea” said Jun when the silence had become almost too much to bear. Aiba turned to him with sad eyes, disappointment at having gone to all the trouble of finding and unlocking the game sparkling in his gaze. “Fine we can play.”
Aiba’s smile returned not a moment after the words had left his mouth, leading him over to where the purple was set out on the board. Nino gave a mischievous grin as Jun settled himself down on the ground beside the gamer.
“Don’t worry, Jun-pon” he teased, a playful glint in his eye. Jun turned sharply at the chosen nickname but Nino didn’t react to his dark glare. “If you get scared you can always forfeit.”
“I told you I’m not scared” Jun hissed. He was thankful when Aiba rattled through the box loudly as it distracted him from Nino’s snark comments and what damage he was likely to have caused in retaliation. He was wearing some of his larger rings today after all.
“Look at this!” Aiba exclaimed, very nearly pulling a groan from the others as they wondered what else their blithe friend could have possibly found. He held up one of the silver figurines that were sure to be used as character representations in the game. The little model looked like a man, with a cap on its head and abnormally large ears. “It’s Kaibutsu-kun!”
He handed it over to Ohno, who examined the figure of such odd resemblance. The facial features were not carved in enough detail to make out much familiarity but there was no denying the similarity it bore to the monster prince he had once played the part of. A serene smile graced his lips as he looked at it. Sho leant over and seized it out of their leader’s hand, looking completely baffled at the figure.
“Maybe this game was inspired by Kaibutsu-kun.” He handed it back to Ohno with a rather defeated sounding sigh. That was when Aiba decided to thrust a second figure into his hand. His gaze flickered down to it, having to backtrack when he saw something that he was certain he must have mistook for something else. The little silver man was similar in form to the Kaibutsu-kun, except with normal sized ears. It was dressed in a jumpsuit and mask, and holding a kendama.
“Maybe it was inspired by Yatterman as well” Nino snickered, having caught sight of the figurine and Sho’s dazed expression as he stared down at it.
Jun looked at Sho who honestly was looking like he wanted to scream if only he had the energy to do so. He nudged the older man. “You know what they say. One’s an instance, two’s coincidence…”
“Three’s a pattern!” Aiba completed with a giggle as he held up a third figure. The humanoid was dressed in what was carved to look like feathers around its neck, with two small horns upon its head and a long demonic tail. Nino startled when he saw it, jolting forward and hitting his knee on the leg of the table in his rush to grab it. He yelped but still snatched it away from Aiba’s hands. A contented grin made its way onto Sho’s face as he watched Nino staring down at the little silver devil in disbelief.
Jun was nervous to turn around when he felt Aiba tap him on the shoulder, reluctantly twisting around just enough to see the man dangle a fourth figure in front of his eyes. This one did not have the same level of striking familiarity as the others had. Dressed in a little cape, Jun was certain he could see little fangs protruding the carved smile of the model.
“Why is this one mine?” he couldn’t help but ask, feeling the need to know Aiba’s reasoning behind choosing a vampire statuette for him.
“First of all this one is mine” Aiba stated while holding up the figure dressed in an onesie of fur, complete with ears and a tail. Looking at it, Jun had to admit he was glad Aiba had chosen to take such a strange and adorable figurine for himself. “Second of all your solos always include vampire references. You even were one in our Love concert! Remember?”
Jun thought back to the video he had used at the start of his solo of that concert, recalling the vampiric being he had taken on to set the mood for the song. He hadn’t expected Aiba to remember and certainly hadn’t been counting on it coming up as a reason for the small silver bloodsucker in his hand that he was supposed to use in the game they were about to play.
“This is creepy!” Nino whined, pulling Jun out of his thoughts. The slightly older man was gripping the devil model in his fist while his legs were drawn to his chest, head on his arms as he rocked back and forth.
“Aiba-chan, you didn’t plant these in here did you?” Sho inquired, chewing on his lip.
“I didn’t” Aiba shook his head even though he was focused on where Ohno was balancing the mini Kaibutsu-kun on his finger. “I swear I didn’t.”
“Let’s just get this over with” Jun muttered and placed his figure down on the purple starting point. It hadn’t gone unnoticed to him that there were five uncannily familiar figurines and five starts in the game, each highlighted by the quintet of their image colours. It was something that chilled him to the bone to think about, knowing there was far too much for it to be a mere chance, but it was Aiba’s desire to play the game. They weren’t so cruel as to deny him that.
Forcing all dread to the backs of their mind, they began the game. They used janken to decide the order which coincidentally ended up as their age order. At least Jun hoped it was coincidental but it really wouldn’t surprise him at this point if it somehow linked in to all the other weirdness that had been occurring.
Everyone watched in silence as Ohno rolled the dice. It landed on five, their leader moving his figurine accordingly. The tiles adjacent to the Kaibutsu-kun illuminated with a pale blue letter of an unknown language. It was gone before any of them could get the proper look at it. After moving the five spaces, the green dome in the middle lit up with words written in English. Before Sho could decipher it, the letters shifted into Japanese characters.
“The first die’s been cast and while you start out, let us begin with all the lights out.”
The members exchanged uncertain glances with one another, waiting a couple of moments to see if anything would happen. When nothing did, they turned to Aiba who merely shrugged.
“I don’t know how this game is supposed to work” he said to his own defence. He checked the back of the box again to see if there were any further instructions on what they were supposed to do, looking for any cards that might be picked or directions to follow. There was nothing but the same cryptic words they had read earlier.
Sho sighed and picked up the dice. “I guess we’ll just figure it out as we go.” He tossed it down, watching it roll and land a two. Once again the tiles were highlighted, this time in red, as Sho moved his figure the two spaces needed. The dome illuminated again as different words showed up.
“A fire begins with a simple spark. Are you afraid of what’s in the dark?”
“This really makes no sense” Nino remarked even as the characters faded away like they had the previous time. “Are random rhymes just going to keep popping up every one of us rolls?”
“Pointless game if they do” Jun agreed. Aiba seemed too busy tossing the die between his cupped hands to pay them much attention. He opened his palms and let the cube roll out onto the table, landing on a six. He jumped up in excitement at the large number he succeeded in getting. In spite of looking on questioningly, no one cared to point out to their fellow member that in a game with no apparent purpose there was no achievement in rolling a high number. The strange letters on the tiles shone green as Aiba excitedly moved his statuette around the board until he was at the sixth square.
“In the place where art is best composed, there you will find your comrade disposed.”
“You know you don’t have to read it aloud every time it’s someone’s turn” Jun told him.
Aiba turned to him, pointing at the letters that were already fading. “But look. Your comrade disposed! What does that mean?”
“Nothing” Nino shook his head at the man’s qualms. “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a pointless old board game that has no meaning. No wonder this thing was locked up. Probably too boring for anyone to play.”
Aiba bit his quivering lip, obviously affected by both the message he’d received on his turn and Nino’s words criticizing the game he had found for them all to play. Sho patted his shoulder reassuringly and pushed the dice in Nino’s direction.
“It’s your turn” he said rather sternly. Nino rolled his eyes and took the dice in his hand, tossing it onto the table. A three showed. He unenthusiastically pushed his devil across the trio of spaces without so much as even glancing at the yellow light of the tile.
When relations of old fall through, beware it is not your shadow chasing you.
Satisfied only that his turn was over for the first round, Nino leant back and left Jun to lean over and take the dice for himself. He scowled at the slightly older man for the awkward angle he was forced to assume due to the gamer’s indolence, but quickly forgot everything else as he felt the die rolling around on his palm. He shook it in his fist as few times before letting it fall onto the board. Another three showed up. The tile lit up purple but as Jun went to move his figurine, the colour melted into a glaring yellow.
Two in a row, twins meet at the end. Say goodbye to another friend.
Aiba whimpered again but bit down on his tongue when Nino gave him a gentle slap against the leg to pacify him.
“Maybe it just means one of us is supposed to miss our turn or something” Sho put forward in the hope to calm Aiba’s obvious agitation.
“I don’t think that’s what it means” mused Ohno, silencing when Sho sent him a glare.
Jun gave the dice to their leader. “Let’s just keep playing and get this game over with. The sooner it’s done the better.”
The night rolled on as the boys continued to play, each taking turns to roll the die with growing reluctance as more and more enigmatic statements appeared.

Looks just the same but not as you know, the one you all see is buried below.
***
Faucets untouched, porcelain red. There will emerge another deathbed.
***
A friend no more for he has been taken. Spirit of death: rise and awaken.
***
Under the moon marking the grave, there lie the weak, the strong and the brave.

“We should stop” Sho stammered. His complexion was a few shades paler than it had been at the beginning of the game and there were goosebumps along the skin of his arms even as he sat close to the fire. The five figurines were scattered around the board, some relatively close to the end marked in the centre while others were at random points along the paths. None had made it to the end.
Aiba looked down nervously at the board. “But the game said—”
“It is getting late” Jun cut him off, turning to the grandfather clock standing erect at the back of the room. It felt like they had been playing for hours.
“If you really want to keep playing we can do so in the morning before the rest of the staff get here” Sho told Aiba. No one seemed to realize that their managers had not yet returned from their food expedition. Sho turned to the other three members, who grumbled their agreement.
The five of them climbed to their feet, each looking dishevelled from fatigue and remnant fright brought upon by the strange game they had been playing. They walked out of the living area and up the stairs. Saying good night to one another, they divided into their individual rooms for the night.
The game was lying out in the open on the table with the figurines still in place of where the boys had left off. Embers began to flicker as the fireplace burnt out. The green dome lit up again, small characters etching onto the glass.
In preparation for the chase, lose all perception of time and space. Release what demons lurk therein and let the real game begin.

Comments

[nekom1ya.livejournal.com]

Omg i dont know how im gonna survive part 2... this give me the chilllllsssssssss!!!!! And the creeeepppssss!!!! Omg all the hints... they're wayyyyyy too scary ><
The mansion and everything tooo.. and then jun's dream... oh aibaka... why do you have to be such a baka aibaka? Why why would you still want to play that suspicious and mysterious looking game that was found in a locked... LOCKED chest.. the fact that my surroundings are pretty creepy too didn't help either
Those riddles are going to haunt me in my sleep.. matsumiya rolling the same number awwww 💛💜 but what gave me the most chill is that last part.. omg and manager is not gonna come for a while
The boys innocently wanted to sleep.. i pray for the boys seriously omg
Btw love the fact that you used canon universe heh

[octavialao]

Hi! I happened to drop by and read some of your work. This particulary got my attention. And maaaaan! Woooh!

People are drawn to mysterious, dark things. They know what it is, but they still mess with it. Gosh, I'm excited and scared for the boys! I'm going to read the second part now. 😁