Shin continued walking slowly, careful with each step, as the haunted house began to shift tone. The air grew colder—almost unnaturally so—and a thick mist rolled in, swirling around their ankles. Yuki clung tighter, his cheek pressed against the back of Shin's shoulder, eyes wide as he tried to peek over it.
"Th-This feels like a final boss area…" Yuki whispered.
Shin chuckled, but his voice was low. "Probably is."
The hallway narrowed, the walls curved inward, and ahead of them loomed a tall, arched door covered in eerie handprints and crooked symbols. The door creaked open on its own with a loud groan.
Inside… was a chapel. Broken pews lined the sides, and at the front stood a ruined altar, illuminated by flickering blue candles. The organ in the back played soft, off-key notes on its own. Cobwebs stretched across the ceiling like veils.
Shin walked in with casual confidence, carrying his human backpack like it was normal.
Yuki squinted. "This looks... too dramatic."
Just then—
Bang!
The doors slammed shut behind them.
Yuki yelped and tightened his arms around Shin's neck. "Why does everything feel cursed?!"
As they stood near the altar, a slow click…click…click echoed across the marble floor. Shin turned slightly to the right.
A pale nun in black, face obscured by a veil, entered from a side hallway—her feet dragging, her head tilted unnaturally sideways. She twitched once—twice—then raised a hand slowly toward them.
Yuki screamed.
Shin didn't move.
Instead, he squinted at the figure's body proportions.
The ghost-nun crept closer, hand outstretched.
Yuki buried his face in Shin's shoulder, practically shaking. "It's going to take my soul!"
Shin's voice was a low murmur. "You're a little too short to be a demonic nun."
The ghost paused.
The ghost paused for only a breath—then let out a soft, rattling groan, dragging her feet closer in what would've terrified any normal guest.
But Shin didn't flinch.
He simply turned his head slightly, eyes calm, unreadable. He didn't need confirmation. No twisted jump scare, no sudden movements, not even the creepy makeup could mask it.
It was Ai.
He could feel it in the way she moved—the tiny sway in her steps, the barely-visible pout under the veil, the overly dramatic pauses that screamed "I practiced this." No one else would bother perfecting a haunted persona just to make one person scream.
Shin didn't say a word.
Instead, his hand subtly shifted, and with Yuki still wrapped tightly around him, he pulled out his phone from his back pocket. One-handed, he tapped out a short message:
[To: Ai]
You're grounded, ghost-chan.
Stop trying to give him a heart attack.
And nice veil. You handmade it, didn't you?]
The message sent with a tiny buzz, and the moment it did, the ghost-nun jolted like she'd been hit with a holy spell. She froze mid-approach, turned stiffly, and let out one last exaggerated groan before retreating into the darkness.
Yuki peeked just in time to see her vanish behind a curtain of fog.
"D-Did it leave?" he whispered.
Shin put his phone back. "Guess so."
"I think I aged five years…"
"Don't worry. You still look sixteen."
"I'm eighteen, you jerk!"
Shin laughed, low and warm. "You'll live. Probably."
They walked deeper into the chapel-turned-haunted maze, with eerie Latin chanting now echoing through hidden speakers. Yuki had returned to piggyback position, partly because his legs were shaking, but mostly because he didn't feel like walking anymore. Shin didn't mind. If anything, he adjusted his grip so Yuki felt more secure, arms looped under his thighs.
"I swear, if another nun pops out—"
But before Yuki could finish, a burst of cold air whooshed past them and extinguished half the candles.
"…You jinxed it," Shin said flatly.
They turned into a hallway of mirrors, where the reflections flickered and warped. Some mirrors didn't show them at all. Some showed... things that weren't there.
Shin didn't stop walking.
Yuki, despite still trembling slightly, leaned his forehead against the back of Shin's neck.
"…Thanks."
"For?"
"…Letting me cling."
Shin gave a soft hum, a barely-there smile curving his lips.
"I don't mind. It's kinda cute."
"S-Shut up…"
They passed one last mirror—one that showed them clearly. Shin, tall and composed, Yuki, holding onto him, flushed and wide-eyed—and in the background, for a split second, the ghost-nun posing with a peace sign before ducking out of frame.
"…Wait, did you see that—!?"
"See what?" Shin said, already walking ahead like nothing happened.
Yuki squinted suspiciously at the back of Shin's head.
"You know something, don't you?"
"Nope."
"Liar."
"Mm. Cute liar, though."
Yuki's scream echoed down the hallway again—this time not out of fear, but sheer embarrassment.
And somewhere, hiding in the walls, Ai silently giggled to herself… before checking her phone and sending a single emoji back.
[Ghost-chan: (￣^￣)ゞ]
---
The hallway beyond the mirror chamber grew darker still.
The fake cobwebs turned real—at least, they felt real, brushing across their cheeks and sticking like threads of icy silk. The walls narrowed further, then widened again into a large rotunda with a cracked dome ceiling. An eerie, pale-blue light illuminated the room, filtering in from nowhere. Shadows flickered along the walls without any visible source.
The sound of a lullaby played—off-key, slow, like an old music box broken by time. A child's giggle echoed. Then… silence.
Yuki clung tighter.
"I really don't like this," he whispered.
"I noticed," Shin murmured back, voice amused but low, like he was respecting the atmosphere even as he teased.
"Seriously… this place feels like we'll walk out with a curse or something. And why is it so cold—?"
"Maybe it's the spirits of all the boys who came in and never left," Shin said casually, adjusting his grip under Yuki's thighs.
"Shin—!"
He didn't finish.
Because Shin's hand—sneaky, shameless, smooth—gave a firm little squeeze to Yuki's butt.
Yuki squeaked like a kettle, face igniting red. "Y-You perv—! N-Not here! Don't touch—!"
"But you're on my back," Shin said innocently. "I need to hold on to something."
"You're holding my legs!"
"Yeah. But your butt's squishier."
Yuki tried to wriggle off but Shin only hoisted him higher.
"No escaping. You'd get eaten by a nun ghost within five steps."
"Y-You're evil…"
Shin smiled, soft but smug. "Only a little."
But the teasing died down as the air changed again.
The room darkened slowly, the soft blue light fading into black, leaving only the occasional flicker from torches that lit themselves one by one around the edges. They were in a circle now, with thirteen tall mannequins in wedding gowns standing in a ring around them. Each mannequin wore a cracked porcelain mask with no eye holes.
And one was missing its head.
Yuki shivered, visibly now. "I'm getting really bad vibes from this…"
One of the mannequins twitched.
Not moved. Twitched.
Sharp. Unnatural. Like a puppet jerked by invisible strings.
Shin didn't flinch. Instead, he walked calmly toward the center of the circle.
"You don't really believe in ghosts, right?" he asked.
"Not until today! And now I believe in too many! D-Don't go closer, idiot—!"
Another mannequin moved.
Then another.
The circle tightened.
Shin tilted his head just slightly—then his lips moved, whispering quietly, not to Yuki this time.
"…You're overdoing it, Ai."
A moment later, his phone buzzed.
He shifted Yuki slightly, keeping one arm firmly wrapped under his thighs while checking the message one-handed.
[Ghost-chan: I'm helping your love life. You're welcome.
PS: that butt squeeze was public indecency. Naughty Onii-chan.]
Shin smirked.
He pocketed the phone.
Then one mannequin's head snapped toward them.
Yuki screamed again—and this time buried his red, terrified face in Shin's neck so fast he made a fwump sound. His small fingers curled into Shin's jacket collar.
"…I take it back," he whispered. "I want you to hold me… even if you're being a perv…"
Shin didn't say anything.
He just wrapped both arms around Yuki a little tighter and stepped confidently past the mannequins, ignoring their twitching forms and unblinking masks.
"Don't worry," he murmured, voice low but sure. "I won't let anything take you."
"…Even the ghosts?"
"Even the real ones."
One final door creaked open ahead, its hinges groaning like they hadn't moved in a century.
And Shin walked through, carrying his ghost-scared friend, knowing full well that somewhere in the shadows, his little sister was giggling like an evil spirit.
---
END OF CHAPTER : 41 : THE HAUNTED HOUSE
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