Chapter XCI: A Cold Deception
It’s late evening, and Akiko tosses and turns in her bed, the glow of her phone screen illuminating her worried expression. Kota hasn’t messaged her back since he went to Tengen's house. She knows he’s busy, but she can’t shake the uneasy feeling gnawing at her gut.
“What if something went wrong?” she wonders.
She sighs and rolls onto her side, staring at her phone, fingers hovering over the screen, tempted to check in again.
A soft knock at the door interrupts her thoughts. Her brother peeks in, noticing her anxious face.
"Can't sleep, huh?" he asks, slipping into the room. He sits down on the edge of her bed, giving her a reassuring smile.
"You're worried about Kota, aren’t you?"
Akiko sighs again.
"Yeah... I just... I don’t know, I have a weird feeling. I know it’s silly, but something feels off."
Her brother nods, understanding her concern.
"Look, Kota’s smart. He’s with Tengen and the others. He’ll be fine. But, if it helps, I’m worried too. You should message him, just to see what’s going on. It might calm you down."
She smiles slightly, grateful for his comfort.
"Thanks. I'll wait a little longer, see if he replies."
At Tengen’s house, things are getting chaotic. Asahi and Enmei are both sprawled out on the floor, exhausted from all the prep work for tomorrow. Tengen’s house feels like a battlefield of ingredients, mixing bowls, and scattered utensils. Gin has already left after a family emergency involving a stray cat devouring the leftovers at his house.
Tengen, who doesn’t seem even remotely tired, heads to the kitchen. He grabs a glass of water, his phone buzzing in his pocket. It’s a message from someone—he glances at it, smirks, and types a quick reply before returning to the fridge. He pulls out a liter of Coke, cracking open a tray of ice cubes.
His eyes drift toward a small, nondescript packet sitting by the fridge. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, Tengen carefully pours the Coke into the cups, adding ice, but into one cup—he slides the powder from the packet into the drink, stirring it slowly. The ice in that cup clinks more than the others, and he smirks to himself, setting the drinks on a tray.
He brings the tray out to the group, handing each person a cup. Kota, still trying to catch a break, unknowingly grabs the cup with the extra "ingredient." Tengen’s eyes flick to Hanako, who’s sitting nearby. He leans over to her, whispering something in her ear, causing her to giggle softly. A sly smile stretches across Tengen’s face as he watches Kota lift the cup toward his lips.
Kota’s phone suddenly vibrates, and his hand jerks in surprise, spilling the drink all over his lap.
"Whoa!" he exclaims, jumping up, embarrassed as he wipes the Coke off his pants.
"Clumsy much?" Tengen jokes, his smirk faltering just for a second. Hanako leans in, whispering something else to him, and this time, Tengen's grin twists into something more sinister. Kota, oblivious, quickly checks his phone.
It’s a message from Akiko: “Are you okay? I had a weird dream. Something about a drink...”
Kota glances down at the cup he almost drank from, feeling a sudden, unexplainable relief. He types back quickly,
“I'm fine. Just spilled my drink, haha. What was your dream?”
Back at Akiko's house, she reads his message, her heart racing slightly. The timing feels too coincidental, but she brushes it off for now, replying with a simple,
“Good, take care!”
Tengen watches Kota with narrowed eyes, a hint of frustration tugging at his features. He shoots a glance at Hanako again, who simply shrugs, not bothering to hide her amusement. The moment passes, and the night continues with the group finishing their work, laughing and joking, but Kota can't help but feel like something strange happened, even though he’s not quite sure what.
As the clock ticks closer to midnight, the group begins winding down, exhausted but somewhat satisfied with the progress. Kota sneaks a quick glance at his phone again, seeing Akiko’s message. He smiles softly to himself, knowing she’s always got his back, even when she’s not around.
Little does he know, the night isn’t over yet. Tengen, still lingering in the background, seems to be plotting something else, his grin never fully disappearing.
Meanwhile, back at Akiko’s house, she finally drifts off into an uneasy sleep, still haunted by the remnants of her nightmare, but comforted by Kota’s reassurance. The house is quiet, save for the faint hum of the night wind outside, and her brother sneaks back to his room, keeping one ear open for any late-night chats from Akiko’s phone.
Tomorrow brings another day, and who knows what strange events will unfold next. But for now, everyone, including Kota, can only guess what Tengen has up his sleeve.
It’s still pitch black outside when the group stirs awake at the crack of dawn. 4 AM, to be precise. The only sounds are the faint rustling of trees and distant waves from the city’s coast, where they’ve planned to head for a coastal cleanup project. The night’s chaos and teasing seem like distant memories as everyone begrudgingly rises from their slumber.
Everyone except Tengen and Hanako.
Tengen groans, pulling his blanket over his head.
"It’s too early for this. Who in their right mind starts cleaning at 4 AM?" he mumbles, turning away from the small beam of light seeping into the room.
Hanako, curled up beside him in a blanket cocoon, is just as unwilling.
"Five more minutes…" she mutters sleepily, eyes still closed, as if she could will the clock to rewind.
Meanwhile, Kota, ever the responsible one, stumbles out of bed. Still half-asleep, he stretches and rubs his eyes. He grabs his towel and heads toward the bathroom for a much-needed shower. He’s fully prepared to face the day, even though it's barely begun.
One thing Kota loves about Tengen’s house is that it has a fancy shower with a thermostat.
“Thank goodness for that”, Kota thinks.
“At least I can set it to a nice warm temperature to wake me up.”
But as Kota steps into the shower and lets the water cascade down his back, something strange happens. The warmth he was looking forward to vanishes almost immediately. Instead, an icy chill hits him like a punch to the gut.
"Whoa! What the—!" he yelps, jumping back from the freezing water.
He quickly checks the thermostat on the wall. It’s set to a nice warm temperature, just as he left it. Confused, he adjusts it again, cranking it up. The water begins to warm, and Kota sighs with relief.
That relief, however, is short-lived.
Within seconds, the water goes ice-cold again, even colder than before. It feels like someone dumped a bucket of Arctic water on him. He fumbles with the thermostat once more, but no matter how much he tweaks it, the water refuses to stay warm. His teeth begin to chatter as the chill sinks into his bones.
Unbeknownst to him, outside the bathroom door, Tengen and Hanako are crouched by the control panel. Tengen, barely containing his laughter, whispers to Hanako,
“Watch this. He’s going to think the shower is possessed WHAHAHAHAH.”
Hanako snickers, lowering the temperature on the thermostat to the minimum setting.
"This is just cruel but amusing," she jokes, though she clearly enjoys the mischief as much as Tengen does.
Back in the shower, Kota is now shivering uncontrollably. His body is practically frozen solid, and his fingers fumble as he tries to figure out what’s going on with the stupid thermostat.
“How is it even this cold?!”
After a few more rounds of futile temperature adjusting, he gives up. Defeated, he accepts his fate and finishes the world’s coldest shower, practically turning blue from the freezing water.
By the time he steps out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel and shivering like a leaf in the wind, Tengen and Hanako are casually lounging on the couch, pretending they had nothing to do with his freezing ordeal.
Tengen glances over nonchalantly.
"You look like you’ve just come out of an igloo," he comments with a smirk.
Kota shoots him a glare.
“Your shower is broken.”
“Oh really?” Tengen raises an eyebrow, feigning innocence.
“Maybe it’s a thermostat glitch. You know how these fancy systems can be.”
Hanako tries to suppress her laughter.
"Yeah, sometimes they just... act up," she adds, barely keeping a straight face.
Despite Kota’s freezing start to the day, the group finally heads out to the coast for the cleanup. The cold dawn air makes Kota’s shivering even worse, and he mentally curses Tengen for the cruel prank. But as they arrive at the coastline, the peaceful sound of the waves and the beauty of the early morning calm almost make up for it. Almost.
The group disperses along the shore, picking up trash and debris scattered along the sand. But as the hours go by, something strange happens. Tengen and Hanako start to notice something—they can’t find Kota.
"Where is he?" Tengen asks, looking around. He glances at Hanako, who shrugs.
"I thought he was with Gin," she replies, scanning the area.
But Gin had gone home earlier, and Kota had been nowhere to be found. They search the shoreline and ask a few of the other volunteers, but no one has seen him since the group started cleaning.
Back at Akiko’s house, a knock at the door breaks the quiet of the early morning. Her brother, still half-asleep, trudges down the hall to answer it. When he opens the door, he’s greeted by an unexpected sight—Kota, standing on the doorstep, bundled up in layers of clothing, still looking half-frozen.
“Kota?!” her brother exclaims, eyes wide.
“What the heck are you doing here?”
Kota shuffles in, his face still pale from the cold.
“I... I just couldn’t do it anymore. That house is... is a nightmare,” he stammers, his teeth still chattering.
"And the shower... don’t get me started on the shower."
Akiko, hearing the commotion, rushes to the door, surprised to see Kota there.
“OMG Kota! Are you okay? What happened?” she asks, worry etched on her face.
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