11:00 PM.
The late-night snack trio had arrived at the front door.
Denji, carrying a bag of oden, was the first to enter the apartment. "Aki, we're back."
"Keep it down, Aki is definitely asleep," Arata shushed him.
"Since he's asleep, the Great Me will gladly dispose of his oden for him!"
Power reached out to snatch the bag, but Denji pulled it away just in time.
"Give the Great Me her oden!!"
"This is the late-night snack we brought back for Aki! You already ate the most while we were out, and now you won't even spare someone else's food?!" Denji scolded strictly.
"The Great Me burns energy fast, so naturally, I need to eat more!"
Refusing to back down, Power lunged for the bag again.
Denji dodged and ran, yelling back, "The more you eat, the more you poop! I suggest you eat a little less, Poop Devil!"
"The Great Me is going to eat it today no matter what! Stop right there!"
The two chased each other around the dining table.
Accidentally bumping into the table, a cup was knocked off the edge and tumbled toward the floor.
Right before it shattered, Arata caught it with his foot. He bounced it twice on his shoe, flicked it upward, caught it in his hand, and placed it back on the dining table.
However, the tray meant for the cups was completely full.
He didn't remember having an extra cup before. But without overthinking it, he simply stacked it on top of the first layer of cups.
"Hey, you two, stop fighting. Denji, give Power a skewer of oden to shut her up."
"You hear that?!" With Arata backing her up, Power's arrogance instantly flared.
"I'll give you one, only out of respect for my Master."
After handing a skewer of meatballs to Power, Denji walked straight to Aki Hayakawa's room.
He pushed the door open. The lights were off.
He couldn't see anyone, but there was a distinct lump under the blankets on the bed.
"Aki, are you asleep?" Denji whispered, slowly approaching the bed.
The person on the bed didn't react at all, having pulled the blanket completely over their head and body.
"Aki, why are you sleeping with your head covered? Don't tell me you got scared sleeping home alone?"
Denji muttered under his breath and was just about to quietly leave.
But right then, the door was shoved wide open, and the lights were flicked on.
"Aki! Are you asleep?!" Power hollered.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Denji snapped.
"You were taking so long to come out, I thought you were hiding in here secretly eating my food!"
"You think I'm like you?! All the good food in the house gets stolen by you!"
"What are you two arguing about in Aki's room?" Arata walked in, and the two instantly fell silent.
"It's all Power's fault! I just came to check if Aki was asleep, and she barged in, turned on the lights, and started yelling."
"Humans love to lie! The light was already on when I came in, and you were the one yelling loudly!" Power deflected.
"Alright, enough arguing."
Arata put a stop to their bickering. But the fact that Aki Hayakawa remained completely unresponsive on the bed struck Arata as odd.
No reaction at all, and sleeping with his head completely covered? It was almost as if he intentionally didn't want to be seen.
"Aki, are you alright?" Arata walked up to the bed and asked.
The person under the blanket still didn't react.
In the next second, Arata simply ripped the blanket back.
Underneath, Aki Hayakawa squinted his eyes, using his hand to block the sudden glare of the light.
"Aki, why didn't you answer when we called you?"
"I caught a cold. I don't really want to talk. I covered my head to sweat it out so I can recover faster."
"Alright, carry on then. We won't disturb you." Arata pulled the blanket back over Aki's head.
But Power immediately ripped it off again and asked, "Aki, are you eating your oden or not?"
"You can eat it. I'm not eating." Aki pulled the blanket over his entire body once more.
"Perfect! It all belongs to the Great Me now!" Power snatched the bag of oden right out of Denji's hands and scurried back to her room, slamming the door shut.
Denji didn't stick around either; he turned off the light, closed the door, and went back to his own room.
Meanwhile, Arata was in his room talking on the phone.
"Asuka, why are you calling me so late?"
"Arata-senpai, I can't sleep."
"I'm not your hypnotist."
"I can't sleep because of Arata-senpai."
"Uh... save the cheesy pickup lines."
"It's true, Arata-senpai! I can't sleep because I watched that Freddy movie! I thought I wouldn't be scared since I acted in it, but after watching it, my head is completely full of Freddy's shadow. I don't even dare to close my eyes. Arata-senpai, you have to take responsibility for your actress's sleep schedule."
"I'll come comfort you another day."
"Come over now, Arata-senpai. Tonight, I'll cosplay Makima, and you can cosplay Freddy."
"You play even wilder than I do... fine, I'll be right there."
Arata quickly hung up the phone.
"Master, are you going out again?" Denji asked while taking off his shirt.
"A woman is experiencing some physical discomfort because she watched my movie. As the director, I must take responsibility."
"Master... record a video for me."
"Get lost!!"
Arata summoned a Mirror Gate and then tossed a small hand mirror to Denji.
"If you run into any trouble, smash this little mirror. Your Master will rush back immediately."
Denji didn't reply, simply giving him an 'OK' hand gesture.
Half an hour after Arata left.
Denji turned off his lights and drifted off to sleep.
But at that moment, his bedroom door was quietly pushed open.
A figure slowly walked up to the side of his bed.
The figure stood perfectly still on the other side of the bed, its eyes dead-fixed on Denji. Slowly, its face began to inch closer and closer to Denji's.
It wasn't until Denji felt a draft on his face that he slowly cracked his eyes open.
Only to see a massive face hovering mere inches away from his own.
"AHHH!!!"
Terrified out of his wits, Denji screamed and scrambled backward, tumbling off the bed and crashing onto the floor.
When he scrambled back up, he finally recognized the figure. "Aki?! What the hell are you doing standing next to me instead of sleeping in the middle of the night?!!!"
Aki Hayakawa didn't say a single word. He simply turned and walked straight out of the room.
Rather than walking, it looked more like he was floating away.
"What a freak." Denji clutched his racing heart and locked his door just to be safe.
It wasn't until 9:00 AM the next morning that Arata returned home.
He found that Denji and the others were still fast asleep.
"Hey, it's past 9 o'clock, why aren't you guys up yet?"
Arata ripped the blanket off Denji.
Denji groggily sat up. "Past 9 already? So fast?"
Usually, Aki Hayakawa was the one responsible for waking the two of them up. But today, he was absent.
Arata could only assume Aki hadn't gotten up because of his cold. He walked over to Aki's room to check on his condition.
"Aki, is your cold feeling any better? Want to eat something?"
But when he pushed the door open, Aki's room was completely empty.
Right at that moment, Himeno called.
"Hello? Arata, why didn't Aki-kun come in today?"
"He didn't leave for work?"
"Exactly. Do you know where he is?"
"I don't know, but he's not at home either."
"That's weird. Aki-kun usually arrives even earlier than I do, but he never showed up today."
"Did you try calling him?"
"I did. Nobody is picking up."
"Alright, I'll look around. I'll let you know if I find anything."
Arata hung up the phone.
Denji, having overheard the conversation between Arata and Himeno, quickly told Arata about Aki's bizarre behavior from last night.
Connecting this to Aki's previous complaints about feeling like someone was standing in his room watching him sleep at night, it was highly likely that Aki had been abducted by that so-called 'ghost' last night.
Realizing something was terribly wrong, Arata went and knocked on Power's door. After getting no response for a long time, he kicked the door open.
Power was still sprawled out, snoring soundly.
"Master, what's going on?" Denji asked.
"A ghost has invaded our house. Now we have to find this ghost to save Aki Hayakawa."
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