"Ring-ring-ring..."
The phone rang through the cabin. This was the first scene of Midnight Terrors, and Shizuku was alone here now. Outside, the cold wind howled, while the entire cabin lay silent save for the ringing.
Shizuku swallowed, then reached out, picked up the phone, and put the receiver to her ear.
A burst of static came from the receiver... but no one spoke.
Only after a moment did a voice finally sound from within.
"Hello, valued guest. Would you like us to provide room service? Satisfaction guaranteed."
"..."
Come to think of it, why would Sadako call her?
Shizuku breathed a sigh of relief. She had initially intended to hang up, but then an idea suddenly came to her.
"Do you have any amateur female cops? High schoolgirls are fine too. Of course, elementary schoolgirls would be even better."
"...Ma'am, that's illegal."
What a shame.
In the end, Shizuku spent the night alone and miserable in the cabin. What annoyed her even more was that early the next morning, before she could even crawl out of bed, the phone rang again. Shizuku answered it with a string of yawns, and Inspector Kendo's voice soon came from the other end.
"Miss Shizuku? Are you still there? How is the investigation going?"
"Oh, I'm still working through it bit by bit. What's up?"
"Actually, I did some investigating after that last night. It turns out the coroner performed autopsies on those bodies yesterday afternoon, and the results were quite shocking. Can you guess what they found in the victims?"
"Hm? What?"
"Smallpox."
At that, Inspector Kendo's tone immediately turned grave, while Shizuku shook her head before finally grasping the implications.
"Oh... so?"
"So? This is a huge deal! You understand what this means, don't you?!"
Inspector Kendo's voice came through the