My Childhood Friend, a Cool, Beautiful Girl With a Pure Face, Is a Monopolising Yandere
We were sent off by Gorilla Senpai. We proceed through the dark classroom, winding our way around in circles.
I feel strange because of the relaxation from the tension.
The impact of that cheap gorilla headgear is so strong that I don’t think I can expect much more fear factor ……?
Numerous fluorescent paint-like letters are scattered on the cardboard walls, which are dimly lit.
Illustrations of cracked gravestones and bone models brought from the science lab are also mysteriously placed, creating the atmosphere of a deserted graveyard.
The production staff must have worked very hard.
“… quite a serious place.”
“I was surprised. I thought it was a bit too simple since it looked like that at the entrance.”
Ran is also impressed. She seems to have gotten used to the darkness and is as calm as ever.
She was sticking close to me just a moment ago, but now I feel a little lonely.
I shine my flashlight and look around, but I can’t see anything in the weak light of the small bulb.
“Yuto, be …… careful there.”
“Eh?”
At about the same time as Ran’s words, something rattled noisily out from under my feet, and I jumped involuntarily.
“W-wow!! Rats?”
“It’s not real, it’s a toy.”
I proceeded cautiously through the darkened passageway, but this time something like a ghostly arm hung down from above my head and grazed my face.
“Hii! It’s disgusting!”
“It’s made of slime or something. There are a lot more tricks than I thought.”
I don’t know why, but I think my reaction was better than Ran’s.
I look down the aisle, looking left and right to make sure there aren’t any surprises.
“Okay, go ahead–”
Suddenly, with a creaking “gee ……” sound, an eerie Japanese doll hangs from the ceiling.
I held my breath for a moment, but then I took one look at the doll and immediately recognized it.
This is just an object made of paper mache pasted onto a cardboard skeleton. What looks like blood dripping is just red tape.
The quality is reasonably high, but compared to the gorilla I saw earlier …….
“It’s a surprise, but it’s …… a pretty thing.”
“I agree. I think it’s totally bearable.”
As Ran said, although there are some brutal illustrations and pop-ups, it’s not that scary, perhaps because it has a homemade feel to it that is typical of a school festival
The small objects around us were made of construction paper and Styrofoam, and we could tell that they were not actually going to attack us, which made it easier for us to relax.
“Maybe this will all end without much trouble, right, Ran?”
“I think so. The structure of the classroom is almost at the end of the line. The background art is well done, but the key is how to surprise the audience…”
At that moment, without warning, the flashlight in my hand went out.
Immediately my surroundings went completely dark.
“What, batteries dead?”
“You haven’t used it that much, have you ……?”
I tried pushing the switch several times, but it wouldn’t work. The light had been shining brightly until a few minutes ago.
The dark screen around the room is so carefully covered that we can hardly see anything.
It was so dark that we could clearly hear our own heartbeats with every breath we took.
“Grrrrrrrrrrr……!”
There is a low, animal-like roar, and footsteps come thudding up behind us.
As soon as Ran and I turned around, the silhouette of a person suddenly emerged from the darkness.
It was a moving, decomposing corpse.
A rotting, sore face, cracked arms, ripped clothes, and bloodstained glue.
It was a zombie.
“Gooooooooooo！！！！”
“Kyaa! “
“Aaahhh!”
The zombie limped forward on one leg and came at us with its grotesquely scarred hand outstretched.
We screamed involuntarily. We scrambled through the surrounding blackout curtains as fast as we could and ran out of the classroom.
“Ha, ha, you scared the hell out of me ……!”
My heart was racing with surprise. I was seriously surprised.
“Congratulations on your goal! You’ve got great momentum. Are you okay?”
“Ah, yes, thank you. ……”
The senior in charge of the finish line were worried about me.
She looked at me with a mischievous smile.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. You two are so in love~!”
“Eh?”
What do you mean ……?
“W-wait a second Yuto…let go. I’m fine now.”
“Ah.”
When I realized I was holding Ran’s hand tightly, my heart rate suddenly increased.
“S-Sorry!”
I let go in a hurry.
It seems that when the zombie chased me, I grabbed her hand as quickly as I could and ran away. I was too desperate to notice.
“Nothing …… wrong with that, but …….”
Ran’s face turned bright red and she turned away.
Oh no, I wonder if I’ve made her angry.
It’s rare for Ran to be so obviously upset. Normally she’d coolly brush it off with a “I don’t care,” but she seems completely at a loss, caught between the shock of the zombies and senpai’s teasing.
. “Yuto ……, if you’re usually this aggressive ……”
“Hnn? What?”
“No, I’m talking to myself.”
Ran clears her throat as if to compose herself.
“It was not a bad gimmick. Apparently, the flashlight was rigged to be switched off remotely. It’s a cheap way to scare people into letting their guard down, and then finally hit them with the real deal with a surprise ……. Very strategic. I was surprised at how well they did the makeup on the zombies. They used the limited budget very efficiently.”
“Y-Yes, it is.”
Good. Ran as usual.
Senpai is grinning at me.
“Well, thank you for the nice reaction. You are a hot couple, aren’t you?~”
“No, that’s …….”
I knew she would be mistaken.
I can’t help it. I’m sure anyone would think so if we came out of a haunted house holding hands
“Hahaha, isn’t that great? You two are going around together, right? I’m jealous of your date at the school festival! I only found out my boyfriend was cheating on me the day before yesterday… that bastard is really…”
Oh, that’s …… yeah. I’m sorry for your loss.
“Thank you! Please vote for the popular project’s haunted house in Class 2A!”
I leave the place, seen off by a senior who looks a bit desperate.
A haunted house is, after all, a terrifying event in many ways.
After walking for a while, Ran sighs.
“….Totally, I’ve embarrassed myself.”
“I-I’m sorry. Did you really hate …… it that much?”
“I’m not saying that, but the zombies at the end. I had predicted a lot of things, but I screamed as hard as I could.”
Come to think of it, I think Ran was screaming too.
I was so preoccupied with my own affairs that I didn’t notice.
“It can’t be helped. Everyone is surprised when they’re surprised, and it was a realistic costume.”
“You say that like it’s someone else’s problem, but you must have been pretty jumpy too. You sounded really scared.”
“Ugh.”
I was embarrassed to be told that. I was also caught off guard.
“But, well, it was fun, wasn’t it?”
Ran muttered. The cheeks are still a little red.
“…yeah”
I was unsure how to approach her, but in a way it was refreshing to hear her say something like that, and it was a valuable experience.
It was indeed a surprise, but it was not that. It was a good memory.
“I’m thirsty. Do you want to go to the vending machine?”
“There’s a rest area just at the end of the corridor. They have drinks there.”
“Shall we go there then?”
“Yes.”
I walked with Ran.