RECORDING
Chapter Two
Things That Go Bump in the Night
Azusa hung on to Yui's arm to keep herself from getting lost in the storm. She tried turning her face away from the stinging rain, but the strong, ambiguous wind whipped it in all directions. They were running blind. In the younger girl's vision was nothing but gray sheeting rain, traffic lights, and restaurant signs. She wondered if she could rely so heavily on Yui's sense of direction in this situation. Sighing, Azusa buried her face in the senpai's coat. That made a decent shield.
Yui then came to a sudden halt and Azusa crashed into her. Squinting in the downpour, the kouhai interpreted a horizontal yellow-and-black striped bar. Train gate, she realized.
Yui, who had been in space cadet mode this entire time, looked up when she felt Azusa shiver. She wordlessly considered the pigtailed girl. A patchy, rosy flush colored her cheeks and ears. Her brown eyes were listless. Her elbows were crunched into her sides for warmth. Her shaky breath escaped her mouth in feathery white puffs. It is pretty freezing for October, Yui thought, touching her own numb ears. And Azu-nyan doesn't have a coat or anything. Feeling like an utter heel for not noticing before, Yui unbuttoned her coat and held it open to Azusa. The kouhai backed away, her expression uncertain. It was clear that she wanted to, though she didn't know if she should.
"Get in," Yui nodded, and Azusa hurriedly complied. The third year held half her coat around the second year as the two speedily crossed the tracks. Azusa found it even harder to keep up with Yui's pace in her coat. Even more awkward to the kouhai was how close she was pressed to Yui. No matter where she placed her hands or arms, she touched Yui. The senpai, however, didn't seem the least bit fazed by this deepened intimacy.
"I wonder how people are seeing us now?" Azusa wondered out loud.
Yui kept her eyes forward as she mused, "They probably think we're sisters or something."
Sisters or something. Azusa hoped to every Kami that no one saw them as anything more.
Yui grinned at her. "This is a pretty romantic scene, though, ne?" Azusa squeaked as the senpai took her hand. "If this were a French movie, I'd be proposing to you."
With a panicked squawk, the kouhai tore out of Yui's coat, preferring the rain to this embarrassing situation. "I-I wouldn't marry you!" she spluttered.
Yui giggled at Azusa's expression, which shifted from outrage to vulnerability and back again. "What's to worry about it? We're both girls."
"That's exactly why I wouldn't!"
Yui noticed that the blush on Azusa's face was no longer a mottled red patch but a soft pink glow.
The evening hours thundered away with the tempest, which decided to continue on its eastward course and torment other towns. In its wake it left downed powerlines, tree limbs, and a potent gale that just wouldn't quit.
Mio lay flat on her back in her pitch-black bedroom, anxiously gnawing her quilt. The bassist only wished the hiss of the wind was all she could hear. But then and throughout the restless night the sound of footsteps echoed hollowly in the house. . Very quick and light, almost inaudible, with a hint of urgency.
In the inky blackness Mio managed to find her cell phone. She flipped it open. 1:17. Everybody should be asleep, then, she thought. Mr. and Mrs. Akiyama, being past their prime, often retired before nine o'clock.
It's a burglar. A fuzzy chill sprouted in Mio's head. There is a strange man in my house. She pulled the covers over her head and squeaked in horror. Tears prickled the bassist's slate-colored eyes. Why did she have to be the one to deal with this while her parents got to sleep?
By the resonance, Mio guessed this burglar was on the staircase. What was weird was that the quickening footsteps grew and receded over and over. Why is he running up and down the stairs? This made Mio even more nervous.
On her own accord, she shoved her hand out and tore open her nightstand drawer. Her hand, reduced to a clumsy, useless thing in her panicked state, fumbled through some miscellaneous knick-knacks until she found what she was looking for. With a click of her flashlight, an amber circle of light fell upon her softball bat in the corner. She knew what she would do with that bat.
Mio's kneecaps twitched spasmodically as she stalked out into the hallway, her bat cocked. The circle of light swung back and forth to illuminate both ends. Empty. Hesitantly, she turned the light forward. As she inched forth, the thunkthunkthunk crescendoed. The rhythm of the steps matched the rhythm of her heart. Soon they were a stereo cacophony surrounding her. They were incredibly loud, or maybe it only seemed that way. Whoever was in her house, Mio had the feeling that she was standing right beside him or her.
"I'm n-not scared," Mio whispered. But her beam of light tilted and scooted. "I'm not scared," she repeated, more loudly. "You think I'm just frightened and helpless? Well, you got another thing coming. You don't scare me!" she hollered in her most aggressive voice. Gripping her flashlight tighter, she swung it to her left and saw...
A shadow. A blurry humanoid umbra with no person to cast it.
Mio's breath snagged in her throat. A hammerblow of numb terror struck her head.
The footsteps stopped abruptly. For a moment the shadow stood there. And in that instant they knew each other. There was a high-pitched gasp - or perhaps it was a sob - and the shadow seemed to melt into the cream-colored wall. A low hiss rang in the stairwell. Right before the umbra vanished completely it sighed either "Nooooo" or "Miooooooo."
The bat fell and clattered to the base of the stairs. But its noise was lost in Mio's epic screech. Never, ever in her life had the raven-haired girl experienced such mindless terror. Flailing her hands out for anything in the burning darkness, she tore her way back to her room. There Mio barricaded the door with a wicker armchair and hid under the covers, curled into a ball.
She waited for the false alarm call to come. It always did when she got scared. Barnacles on your knee - just kidding. ZOMG, a ghost - no, it's just Mugi. Agh, a zombie - actually, it's just Ritsu clowning around.
But no false alarm came. And that was really scary.