After your unintentional hangout with Seiichiro, you prepared to go to sleep for today.

You got the rest of your home settled up nicely, took a shower, and then had a small dinner. You seriously couldn't wait to hit the bed. "Ah.." You exhaled after you plopped down against your mattress covered by your comfortable bed comforter, smiling as you closed your eyes.

Relaxing is the best part of anyone's day. "I can't wait to sleep..." You rolled over onto your side, the feeling of your blankets being enough to lull you to sleep alone. So you quickly reached for your bedside lamp and turned it off.. it was only a matter of time before sleep fully conquered your consciousness.

From then onwards you slept peacefully throughout the night. Sure you tossed and turned here and there... only to go right back to drooling against your pillow. But, what'd suddenly awaken you wasn't the constant need to flip your pillow-- but a loud creak coming from above you. Your eyes slowly opened and then you went to slowly blink away your groggy haze, afterwards you laid there in silence. "Mm.." You groaned tiredly. When you spared a glance to your nearest clock you saw that it was two in the morning, causing you to sigh as your peaceful sleep was so rudely interrupted.

Naturally you assumed it was nothing so you curled up and pulled your blanket over your head... yet the second you happened to close your eyes-- you heard another creak above. This time it was a lot less subtle and more distinguishable, like the wooden planks in the attic were pressed against some considerable pressure.

Pushed on alert, you sat up at attention and then rubbed your face using your pajama sleeve delicately to wipe away your dreariness. 'What the..' You thought. Eventually you reached over and turned on your lamp, quickly filling your area with some light.

As much as you wanted to ignore it, you shuddered upon recalling Seiichiro mentioning potential rodents that lie upstairs. Rats? Possums? Raccoons??! The entire list of the animal kingdom swept your mind while you gripped your covers. You were really beginning to get the creeps just thinking about it! No way were you about to be haunted at night by nocturnal night critters, not to mention that you didn't plan on going down without a fight.

You threw yourself out of bed and then grabbed your phone. Afterwards you slipped on your slippers and then proceeded out into your hallway where the closed attic stood above you. "Um." Now that you were standing there, at around two in the morning, no less -- you were forced to rethink.

Of course you had no reason to do so, but you were utterly mortified by something jumping out at you... Which is why you went ahead and grabbed a broom while you were at it. "Okay.. time to test the waters..." Using the end of the broomstick you thudded it up against the trapdoor, creating enough noise to perhaps scare off anything that may be up there. And to your surprise, you heard yet another light thud on the other side in response.. assuring you of your troubles.

"..There's definitely something up there."

You reached up to tug on the rope extending from the closed trapdoor and tugged on it a few times so you could spawn the foldable ladder. As it unfolded before your eyes in a resounding thud, you shifted your eyes up towards the darkness awaiting you upstairs. It looked pretty alarming, as if one step inside would allow the darkness to swallow you whole only to never be spat out. Regardless, you conquered your cowardice and turned on your phone's flashlight. Then clenching your broomstick, you marched right upstairs.

The small attic you stepped into creaked after every step you took against the slightly reinforced wood. Immediately you went scattering for the ceiling light, tugging on the rope to fill the room with light so you wouldn't be too vulnerable with only your phone's flashlight and the barely escapable moonlight.

"Alright you rodents! I heard you, so come on out!" You looked around left, then right - and upon the abruptness of your words you earned an unpredictable tousle in the far left corner near the couch. You had no idea that your statement would confirm that something was actually there. Obviously you flinched due to the realization. If there was something like a possum -- how'd you possibly expect to deal with it?!

You stared at the area from where you heard that sound come from last and hesitantly moved forward a bit; remaining cautious and discreet. The floorboards croaked from one feet to the other, distracting your already racing thoughts. The broomstick in your hand became even firmer when you clenched it, issuing you some relieve from the tension while you approached. "This would be the best time to have a cat so it could do the work for me..."

Poking the couch timidly once, and then once again- you tilted your body in an easy position to possibly make a break for it if the situation called for it. "..." Surprisingly, there was just some silence, and the darkness shrouding the couch made it rather difficult to even peer behind it.. I suppose you should thank the months-old lightbulb for that. You ended up poking the couch again and intensified your stare upon the dormant furniture. You pretty much wanted to avoid touching the couch itself.. but your curiosity made you do otherwise.

Slowly you inched forward and pressed your knees against the comfortable surface of the furniture. With your hands against the spine of the sofa, you prepared yourself to lean forward and perhaps look at what might be there for precautionary measures.

Down below was simply some more darkness; and something like a shrouded mass of black had gone by utterly unnoticed by your oblivious [E/C] optics. "Mm, I figured it'd be too dark," you mumbled, "My phone-- ah-" Turning just slightly to scan around for your phone which rests against the couch, you stopped everything you were doing to grab it-- however you would freeze abruptly when it suddenly vibrated erratically after it was set off by a suspicious caller.

You didn't recognize the caller's ID, that's for sure.

(080-7653-XXXX)

Having read the numbers on screen carefully, just like that-- you found something else much more intriguing than your horrible task at hand. Skeptical at first, you would debate on answering before ultimately accepting the incoming call; thus placing your phone to your ear as you moved towards the stairway exit. "Hello..?"

"..." On the other line, there was nothing but silence.

"Hello?" You asked again. Once more you'd promptly check the caller's ID to confirm you weren't crazy, and patiently awaited for an authentic voice or just some kind of scam call. "..." Yet there was still nothing. Not even a breath, or a single stroke of sound.

Quickly you lost interest. So you hung up and then sighed.. part of you wanted to redial but knew it'd end up futile. "Whatever. It's two AM.. I'm not dealing with this, I should just rest." The rodent could wait, you did have an early morning to look forward to tomorrow. Despite the brief search around your attic you were pretty content for the time being; It's better than being face to face with a raccoon or anything of the like.

Swiftly you went over to turn off the light and head for the stairs after you rubbed your face tiredly. Soon enough, you were gone - everything was put back in it's place, and your footsteps softly crept away towards your bedroom. Silence surrounded your attic in which you naively left behind; and amidst the darkness there was something shifting behind your couch.

To your arrogance, a figure holding a familiar semblance to a young man sprung out from behind it; his black jacket formerly draped over his body suddenly pulled from his face and tossed onto the spine of the couch. Notably, his hands were covered in black leather gloves.. and his clothes; also donning a similar black color, made everything about this intruder seem premeditated. "..Ha...- Ha..." He leaned forward and tried to steady his irregular, harsh breathing, feeling as beads of sweat slipped down his jawline while he had struggled to catch his breath after managing to hold it for a stifling minute or two.

"..Ah.." Shiro panted out, clenching a phone with one hand and reaching up to clench his face with the other. He tried to hide the obvious red consuming his pale face.. and also the smile of utter madness curling his lips without his realization. "[Y/N].." This rush in his veins, this tenderness in his heart... what was more exciting?

The fact that he was mere inches away from getting caught,

Or the fact that you were breathing the same air as him?

His red eyes seemed to spark up in an infatuated red, glowing brightly within the moonlit space. And the hands which he impulsively kept busy were starting to rave; trembling wildly since he couldn't quite thoroughly collect his unhealthy thoughts. All he could think about was your voice; that soft, calm tone that helps him relax and erase his worries.

Shiro was close to allowing a habitual sound of laughter to slip out- one of which might've easily aroused your suspicion. He had to stop and stand there for a while so he could compose himself.. after all he was acting like some complete lunatic, and he was far from that insane person the author makes him out to be.

Instead he lowered his hand from his face and then looked at his phone, staring at the number he had willingly dialed with a strangely reclusive demeanor. There was something he came here to do .. and he had gotten so entangled in your ambush that he nearly couldn't execute his perfect, exciting little game.

The game of cat and mouse.

Only this time, you weren't the mouse ... your role was much more significant than that. "Alright." Quietly he took slow and discreet steps around the couch when he thought the coast was clear, and when he stood near the only window in the room- he reached for the strap of his black backpack that was around his shoulders and slowly pulled it off.

That's when he crouched down onto one knee and unzipped it, taking out a familiar student's ID along with a mini zip-lock bag containing something pretty undiscernable by the naked eye from a distance. Also in his reach were tweezers.. something he decided to use to pick out faint strands of hair, only to meticulously lay it around various areas around your small attic one by one.

The student's ID was then afterwards placed down behind the couch in a less organized manner. "Sorry, brother." Although he was apologizing, not a single vowel seemed genuine enough. It's as if he didn't have a drop of sympathy for his one and only sibling. "...But you need a little lesson."

And as for you, your role in his game was going to be much more significant than his older brother's.

You were going to be the cheese set in his deadly trap.

[Chapter END]