Chapter 49

The afternoon had passed.

It was currently night time. Everyone was getting ready to sleep. Fischl said her goodbyes in her natural fashion, and left.

Hu Tao already fell asleep in her clothes like a dead log by the time Yomite had finished his shower, snoring away loudly like a middle-aged man after working a nine-to-five job, or like a drunkard after mixing drinks and ending up wasted.

Well, it was certainly true that the hyperactive individuals fell asleep a lot quicker than others after expending all of their energy.

Lumine and Paimon pulled out cute pajamas from somewhere…

'Not somewhere...it was that freaking inventory…damn it! I am not jealous!'

The feeling of bed was heavenly. The clouds of pain and exhaustion that had clouded his head for several days were finally fading.

The pain had subsided well into the background, and he laid luxuriantly on his back. His arms were flung over his head while his legs were stretched out onto the bed.

He closed his eyes shut, quietly departing to the dreamland.

***

He expected to wake up relaxed, to the new day, but instead, he woke up in the middle of the night, wondering how long he had slept.

The room should have been silent and it should be late at night.

He turned around, to face a wall. At this moment, he heard a sound come from the corner of the room.

"Augh…ugh."

That sound was really loud in this quiet room.

Hearing this sound, he shifted his gaze to a corner of the room. He let his eyes adjust to the darkness.

In that corner of the room…was Lumine's bed. The weird sounds were coming from there. It was as if someone was suffocating, or had trouble breathing.

He gulped unconsciously.

Cold sweat kept breaking out. He wasn't scared or anything. It was just a bit weird…

What was going on, was Lumine dying or something?

Unwillingly, he stood up and left his warm bed, afraid his companion might suffocate to death.

He slowly walked to her, and that's when he saw the source of the sound.

It was Paimon.

She was being squeezed by Lumine a little bit too much, having trouble breathing.

Yomite put away the hand that was squeezing her, letting her escape.

She gazed at him with a face that seemed to be saying, "I owe you one, Good Tattoo." and disappeared somewhere else, into another dimension.

He sighed.

"Jeez...I got scared for nothing…Lets just go back to bed an—"

'—Huh?'

"...!"

As soon as he turned around, in the corner of the room…stood something.

Gazing at him with its crimson red eyes, shining in the darkness.

He was frozen in place, and the only words that tumbled out of his mouth were,"What the...fuck?"

Yet the figure stood still, unmoving. Not responding. Still staring at him without blinking.

It took him a moment to realize that the figure had a very familiar appearance of someone from his party.

A girl, with chestnut brown hair and deep red eyes containing bright flower-shaped pupils.

"Jesus, Hu Tao... That's terrifying...You scared the living crap out of me...What the hell are you doing there, just silently standing...say something...Oi..Don't be creepy, this isn't funny...If this is one of your pranks, then there is time and place for that shit..."

He slowly walked up to her and hesitantly shook her shoulders.

This was straight up like from a B-tier horror movie, and what did he learn from horror movies?

Black people obviously died first.

Since he was partially black, this curse might be encoded in his DNA. But he wasn't just gonna run away, that would be pathetic of him. He paid for this place after all? Where would he sleep?

After not getting any response from her, he waved his hand in front of her eyes, yet they weren't focused one bit.

They were open the whole time, she didn't blink a single time.

If that wasn't creepy enough, she was directly turning her head, following him whenever he moved.

"Okay...okay...listen here...If you don't stop...You are going to have to sleep outside, I'm sorry, but I am not falling asleep with a creep in a room."

Once again...No response.

Looking closely, her eyes were getting wet from her, not closing her eyes for so long.

Until finally, tears welled up in her eyes.

'Is she actually...sleep walking...that...might explain it I guess…? It's really uncomfortable though...I need to do something about it.'

He walked up to her again, this time, picking her up, and putting her on her bed, hoping that that would fix the issue.

He laid back down on his bed and closed his eyes, dozing off.

It wasn't before long that he felt something near him. He wanted to open his eyes, but something like his 6th sense was holding him back.

'What the hell should I do!? I am too bothered by it. It will be scary if I open my eyes, but the same could be said if I didn't open them!'

After considering it for a moment, he made up his mind to open his eyes slightly…

Just a tiny little bit.

Still, curiosity got the best of him, and he looked.

Curiosity killed the cat, they say.

And he locked eyes with the figure that was staring at his face, this time dangerously close, standing right next to his bed, looking down at him as if it was the most natural thing to do during the night.

"Aaaah! Fuck...Hu Tao! Get it together! Wake up!"

He screamed as if he was squeezing his psyche dry.

He was never a fan of horror or jumpscare genres and this encounter almost stopped his heart and sent him back to Goddess Sia immediately.

For some reason Lumine was sleeping comfortably, not bothered by the sudden scream, he wondered if that was another one of her cheats, 'Sleeping Soundly'.

Ultimately, he had decided to ignore Hu Tao altogether. It couldn't be that bad, right?

She would eventually go to sleep, right?

'But she didn't!' He shrieked internally.

Seconds, minutes, an hour had passed, yet he could clearly see her shadow while looking at the wall, illuminated by the moon.

'She's still there!! She didn't move an inch! At this point I'm actually getting scared...'

He was thinking of numerous worst case scenarios.

All of which lead to his death.

Not being able to hold it in anymore, he stood up and tried to forcefully get her into her bed again.

However, no matter how many times he tried putting her to sleep, she stood up and stared at him from up close once more.

Ultimately, he spent the whole night like this, not getting any sleep.