Resort Night (2)

That night, Nangong, Sunna, and Yuzuha crammed into a single room.

The terrifying incident earlier had made the three girls decide to hold a "girls' night" to fight off their fear.

The three huddled tightly beneath the covers on the spacious bed. The clock on the wall ticked away, making the atmosphere feel even creepier.

Suddenly, Yuzuha threw back the covers and sat up, looking at Nangong and Sunna. "Let's play ghost-story chain! Whoever pauses has to take a punishment!"

At that, Sunna shrank back even further. "N-No... maybe not?"

Although Nangong had indeed been startled by that painting earlier, she had recovered by now.

Seeing Sunna like this, she was clearly interested—once Yuzuha scared Sunna out of her wits, she could seize the chance to pull her into a hug and comfort her gently...

Hehe.

"Sure! I'm in!"

"Two against one, so I'll start!"

Yuzuha cleared her throat, fished a flashlight from beside the bed, switched it on, and held it beneath her chin.

A beam of white light illuminated her face from below, making her smile look especially sinister.

"In a deep, secluded alley, one night, a girl was passing through alone.

There were no streetlights on either side of the alley. She could only see an old lantern in the distance, flickering on and off.

Drip... drip...

As the girl walked forward, she suddenly heard water dripping behind her.

She turned around, but there was nothing there. So she faced forward again and tried to keep walking—but the moment she took a step, the dripping sounded again.

And it grew clearer, closer, as if it were... right beside her ear."

Nangong thought for a moment before quickly picking up the story, making the atmosphere even more terrifying.

"The girl walked faster and faster, desperately trying to shake off that strange dripping sound.

Then, just as she was about to rush out of the alley, the dripping abruptly stopped.

At that moment, the girl stopped and wanted to let out a breath of relief—but then!

A deathly pale, icy hand suddenly rested on her shoulder. A chill seeped through her skin, sending waves of cold down her back.

Holding her breath, the girl slowly... slowly turned her head..."

"Wuwu... wu..."

Listening to Nangong's devilish whisper beside her, Sunna was nearly scared to tears.

But she truly did not want to receive the unknown "punishment" Yuzuha had mentioned, so she could only force herself to continue. Trembling, she tried her best to steer the story back toward something less frightening.

"When the girl turned around, she discovered that behind her... there was actually nothing at all."

"Only tiny fireflies drifted slowly through the darkness. And there was a beautiful, pleasant song—the nursery rhyme she had known best as a child."

Sunna took a deep breath. Her voice gradually steadied, and then she softly began to hum—

"Stars climb along the window frame, the moon bends into a little boat."

However, things were never going to go so smoothly.

The melody Sunna hummed was indeed soft and warm, but just as she finished the first line, another voice suddenly appeared in the room.

It was in almost the same tune as Sunna's, yet it sounded hollow and ethereal, as though it came from the bottom of a deep well, sending chills down their backs.

"The gentle wind blows across the shore, bringing you sweet dreams through the night..."

"Ahhh!!"

The eerie nursery rhyme made Sunna, who had only just calmed down, curl into a ball again. With a cry, she pulled the covers over her head and trembled beneath them.

"Sunna, how did you manage to scare yourself with your own singing?"

Nangong patted Sunna's back. Though puzzled, she wanted Sunna to keep humming. After all, the last two lines of the song fit the situation far too well.

"Nangong, that wasn't m-me singing just now." Sunna peeked out with only her eyes visible and looked around.

"????"

Hearing that, Nangong turned to Yuzuha.

Yuzuha looked at them both and said innocently, "That song really does fit the mood. I'd love to claim I was the one humming it, but it honestly wasn't me."

On one hand, Yuzuha's musical talent definitely did not support her imitating Sunna. On the other hand, there was Yuzuha's personality.

If she had pulled a prank like that, Yuzuha would not only admit it openly, she would be proud of it.

But if it was not Sunna, and it was not Yuzuha, then it certainly was not Nangong herself!

At that thought, Nangong's expression changed. Sure enough, after a brief silence, the ethereal and eerie nursery rhyme continued.

"Fireflies carry little lamps, lighting the way home so none may lose their way..."

"Oh? Could it be the monster from that painting earlier?"

Listening to the song, Yuzuha quickly adapted. After all, scenes like this were nothing unusual for her.

Yuzuha swiftly got out of bed and stood up, looking at Nangong and Sunna. "How about we go solve this strange tale together? We can't keep letting this sound scare us."

"Okay! I agree." Nangong nodded. Yuzuha had a point!

"Wait, Nangong, can we not go?" Sunna looked pitifully at them with the blanket over her head.

Yuzuha raised an eyebrow and gave a mischievous smile. "Of course. But then little Sunna will have to treat it as a lullaby."

"Sunna, why don't you stay in the room?"

"Absolutely not!"

In the end, Sunna decided that being alone was worse than staying with them, so she gritted her teeth and agreed to go looking with them.

The three got up, slipped quietly out of the room, and made their way down the resort hotel corridor.

At night, the hotel was like a maze. Dim indicator lights flickered overhead, while the decorative oil paintings on the walls had become perfect creators of a creepy atmosphere.

"Um, Nangong, Yuzuha... do you think the people in those paintings are watching us with their eyes?" Sunna asked in a trembling voice.

"Are they?"

Nangong paused and turned to look at a portrait painting beside her.

It depicted an aristocratic woman in a red dress, seated sideways. She should have been looking toward the left side of the canvas.

But now...

Nangong frowned, then shifted slightly. The eyes of the woman in the painting seemed to turn with her.

The painting... Nangong thought for a moment, then looked away. "Sunna, that's just your imagination. It's an illusion caused by the lighting."

"Exactly! Little Sunna, the paintings here are perfectly normal!" Yuzuha was even bolder. She reached out and knocked directly on the frame.

Knock, knock, knock—the sound of hard wood, completely normal.

Yuzuha withdrew her hand and strode ahead at the front. Sunna followed behind Nangong and could not help asking softly, "Yuzuha, aren't you scared?"

Yuzuha replied lightly, "I'm from the House of Oddities. Sure, there are things I'm afraid of too, but doesn't someone want to play with us right now?"

The moment she finished speaking, that nursery rhyme suddenly echoed again from the darkness at the end of the corridor.

"A book is read to the eighth page, a song is sung through its fourth line.

A candy is bitten only halfway, and five little children remain..."

The eerie nursery rhyme seemed to guide them—and to beckon their souls.

Yuzuha glanced toward the end of the corridor, the corners of her lips lifting slightly. "I'd like to see what exactly has the nerve to steal my lines while I'm telling ghost stories."