Chapter 5: Friends (Part One)

“Huh?”

Botan stared blankly at Daiki who looked merrily over the tree line across the street. A few seconds passed in silence.

“What do you mean go see the mountains? N-now???”

Daiki put a hand on his forehead and sighed, “Seriously, Botan, why are you always stupid?”

“What? When you say something so determined like that, Daiki, it’s typically followed by you impulsively doing it. I know first hand.”

“Pfft yeah but I don't wanna die?? Listen, I’m not stupid. Who walks into something so dangerous without a plan?? We. need. A. Plan.”

“A plan for what exactly?” Botan blinked.

Daiki’s lips turned up in a wide smile. 

“Oh no. You’re doing that creepy smile again. Why do you smile like that?”

“Listen”, Daiki turned towards Botan completely, crossing his legs and bringing his hands together, “Tomorrow. We go exploring. And then head into the mountains…accidentally. Casually. And then…let’s see if we can find out who’s causing all this trouble.”

“I thought you didn’t wanna walk into something so dangerous without a plan.”

“Yeah, that's where you come in.” Daiki said, smiling widely again.

An hour later the two conspirators had to go to bed because Kaede insisted on turning off all the lights and locking the door and threatened to leave them outside if they didn’t comply. 

“Keep this in mind, we’re all inside, lights are all out, and the door is locked and bolted by 7 pm”, she had said. 

“Who goes to sleep at 7??” Daiki had tried to protest but Kaede’s rule had prevailed. 

Back in his room, Botan spent an hour trying to sleep but the unfamiliar bedding seemed to keep him up and itchy. That and the fact that his best friend had wanted to explore an allegedly haunted mountain which is completely unknown to him and had demanded that he somehow come up with a plan to track down the evil that lurks within. 

Botan rolled over, “Ugh classic fucking Daiki”.

“Dude go to sleep already”, Asa croaked from the other corner of the room.

“Asa?? What the hell? Why are you sleeping in my room?? I’m a boy??”

“Jesus, Botan, this is their house. It only has so many guest rooms. What are you, thirteen?”

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“Well, you’re too liberal about this kinda shit. I’m a virgin.”

“Shut uuuup” 

Asa threw her pillow at Botan, rolled over, and covered herself head to toe with her blanket. They’ve had this conversation earlier with Daiki and Kaede during dinner. Daiki and Botan couldn’t sleep in the same room as there was only one bed and it turned out that Kaede had lent her extra futon to a relative and hadn’t got it back yet. So Botan and Asa had to be paired as roommates, a decision that Botan didn’t believe would actually end up being executed. 

Another half an hour passed and sleep was nowhere near Botan. He tossed and turned, rustling the sheets and then sat up. Once Daiki set his mind to doing something, he always followed through. He never joked about doing things. If he so much as mentioned doing something, he actually ended up doing it. Always. And if he wanted people to help him with it, he expected them to follow through with the same conviction as him. This was what worried Botan.

“Asa” he inched closer to the corner of his bed and whispered loudly, “Asa, you awake??”

“Tch jeez what??” Asa hissed back.

“Asa listen to me”

“I AM”

Botan swallowed. Hard. 

“Tomorrow. We’re going to see the mountains”

“What??”, Asa whispered, mostly confused.

“We’re going to see the mountains tomorrow”

Silence.

“Who??”

“We. Us. Me, you, and Daiki”

Silence.

Botan broke it in a reluctant whisper, “He wanted me to come up with a plan”

“Ugh” Asa groaned and rolled over, “Classic. Fucking. Daiki”

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