[k] resurrection fest

the national - THIS IS THE LAST TIME || racing glaciers - MOTHS || florence + the machine - HEAVY IN YOUR ARMS || onetwo - BITTER AND SICK || the neighbourhood - A LITTLE DEATH || daughter - NUMBERS || angus & julia stone - CRASH AND BURN || lykke li - LOVE OUT OF LUST || ben howard - BLACK FLIES || local natives - MT. WASHINGTON || god is an astronaut - FOREVER LOST || may the muse, robot koch - BAD KINGDOM [MODERAT COVER] || strays don't sleep - FOR BLUE SKIES || foals - SPANISH SAHARA [MOUNT KIMBIE REMIX

Scepter 4 dorms are cheap for a government job. But Dorm 4 was special. It hosted a lot more amenities that the usual dormitories did not have; including a basement level.

Huddled in the commons room of the dorms, Hidaka, Domyoji, and Enomoto were listening to one of Goto’s horror stories.

“There is a haunted dorm on the grounds of Scepter 4. Once upon a time, long ago, it is said that former members brought in video tapes that a captured strain had. Those members watched the tapes and eventually they were all found dead. All of this happened to everyone that lived in the dorm. Now it rests abandoned, haunted by the owner of those VHS tapes. Whomever watches those tapes will die within 24 hours.”

Thunder boomed making Hidaka jump out of his skin.

Domyoji and Enomoto were both tuned in.

“The six VHS tapes are scattered around the dorm. Before the tapes were recovered by Scepter 4 there were reports of missing children. Parents reported that the kids were watching this children show before disappearing. The tapes tell a story, an unsolved mystery. Those who figure it out are said to have everlasting good luck.”

Goto finished his story with a smile.

“Do another one!” Domyoji yells. Which made Enomoto flinch.

“No! Gotti, why would you tell a spooky story like that!” Hidaka cried.

“Huh? Because we are here on a test of courage. Of course I would tell a scary story.” He smiles.

“I wonder if the story it true.” Domyoji wonders.

“Of course its not true.” Enomoto says trying to convince himself.

“Let’s go find those tapes!” Domyoji says.

“They don’t exist!” Hidaka shakes his head.

“Oh, I already went and found the tapes.” Goto nonchalantly pulls out all six tapes from his travel bag. “I was excited for this, so I came here ahead of time.”

All the color drained from both Hidaka and Enomoto’s faces. Domyoji was excited much to the dismay of his older co-workers. Domyoji and Goto quickly set up the television to play the video tapes.

There were six tapes in total but none of them lasted over thirty minutes long. Some tapes were videos of an old cartoon show. Some were videos of interviews with the creator. There were some that showed news reports of the disappearance.

“That was underwhelming.” Domyoji grumbled.

“The real challenge starts now.” Chuckled Goto. “Now we just have to survive the curse.”

“There is no curse.” Hidaka said. Enomoto nodded in agreement.

“It really did not tell a mystery at all….” Enomoto pointed out.

“Yeah, that just means this whole thing is a rumor after all.” Hidaka says.

The group all went to sleep. Since it was a test of courage, they all slept in separate rooms in the dorm. The group all did their nighttime routine. Hidaka looked out the window. Tonight was the night of a blood moon. While beautiful, it sent shivers through his body. Any other time he would admire a sight like this. But not tonight. He wanted this night to be over already. Hidaka closed the curtains and hide himself underneath the blankets on the bed.

-

Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

Hidaka woke up.

Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

He stared at his cell with fear in his eyes and his sword in hand. Beads of sweat trailed down his horror-stricken face. He did not move an inch closer to the phone. Why? Because it was turned off. Hidaka turned off his phone before sleeping. The screen was blank, yet it was ringing like it was turned on.

“Who is calling?”

Hidaka jumped as he heard the voice. It was the same voice from the video tapes he watched earlier. He swallowed air and slowly reached out for the device.

“H-hello.”

“Let’s bake a pie. Do you know where we can bake a pie?”

Hidaka’s trembling hand dropped the phone to the floor.

“LeT’s BAKE a PiE!”

Hidaka ran over to the window to escape through there. What lied behind the curtains completely froze him. A void of darkness greeted him. Nothingness in every direction. He was sure that they were still on Scepter 4 premises. Was this a dream. The only semblance of light was the red dot in the sky, the blood moon. Hidaka shot blue aura at the window to break it. Not a single crack formed on the glass.

“LeT’s BAKE a PiE!”

Hidaka dived for the phone. “Okay! I’ll bake a pie.”

“Great!” Was all the voice said.

Hidaka turned on his phone and tried to call Munakata, but he only got the dial tone. Then he opted to call Goto, who picked up.

“Hidaka.”

“Gotti, where are you? What is going on?”

“I am making my way to the kitchen.” He replies.

“The- kitchen….” Hidaka had hoped this was all a dream, but if Goto got the same call then it is impossible for this to be a dream.

“Hidaka are you still there? Meet me in the kitchen.”

Hidaka was going to say something else, but the call disconnected. He took a deep breath. He opened the door happy to see nothing was in the hallway. The electricity was not working making the atmosphere feel really heavy. His footsteps echoed every step on the floor. Slowly but surely he got closer to the kitchen. There was a junction, one going towards the kitchen, the other going towards the commons room and the main entrance. His body turned towards the direction of the main entrance, however that was a bad idea.

Gray wool began to ooze from the pictures hanging from the wall. All forming together on the floor into a disordered monster. Hidaka recognized it to be the sheep companion from the cartoon on the VHS tapes.

The brunet turned tail down the hallway towards the kitchen witch his new friend right behind him. He burst through the double door to the cafeteria and the monster close behind. The monster flew right past him shooting out strings of wool at Hidaka. The brunet flipped over a nearby table and used as a shield and lined up a perfect shot of blue aura at the monster. It cried out in pain. From behind the monster Goto came out of the kitchen and threw a paper talisman onto the monster. The amulet caused the sheep monster to lose form and turn into a grey puddle on the floor.

“Gotti!” Hidaka jumped into his arms.

“Hidaka, I’m glad you’re safe.” Goto was calm and collected. He was the same as usual. In a way it was comforting to Hidaka.

“What is going on?” Hidaka asks.

“I don’t know.” Goto shrugs. This was not the answer Hidaka was hoping for. “I did find this tape in the kitchen. Whatever is going on, I think this will help us.”

“I thought you found all of the tape earlier?”

“I did.” Goto opens up his bag to reveal all six tapes from earlier. This confused Hidaka. “We might be in some sort of alternate dimension. Or a dream.”

“This is no dream because how are we having the same one!?” Hidaka said. Goto nods in agreement.

“True. We should get back to the commons room so we can watch this.” Goto began walking in the direction of the double doors.

“What about Enomoto and Domyoji?”

“They are waiting for us.”

Hidaka was happy to regroup with everyone else. On the way to the commons room there was no issues thankfully. The group was happy to be together.

“I tried hitting the door, but nothing happened.” Domyoji grumbles.

“We are effectively locked in.” Says Enomoto.

“Then our only way out is to solve this mystery.” Goto said waving the tape. He goes to set up the television set.

“What happened with you two?” Hidaka looks at Domyoji and Enomoto.

“I had to go to the bathroom and ran into one of those sheep monsters.” Enomoto explained.

“He ran into my room. So we’ve been together since then.” Finished Domyoji.

“Guys it’s set up.” Goto called them over. Even with no electricity the television set still worked properly.

-

In a sealed off room, there was a girl sitting in a chair, well chained down is more accurate. She looked to be a kid. She was doing nothing while there was a voice over talking over the footage.

“According to the records, her parents went missing. Her powers are incomprehensible. She has no other family to speak of. Her name is….”

“Isn’t she the voice actor for that cartoon show?” Another voice chimed in. “That was the show that was involved with the kids getting spirited away. You think her powers have something to do with it?”

-

The video suddenly went static. The group staired on in confusion.

“Is this the mystery we are supposed to solve?” Hidaka wonders.

“Goto do you know more about this rumor?” Enomoto asks.

“Only what I told you.” Goto says.

“It seems there is more to this rumor that meets the eye….” Enomoto starts trying to piece together the events. “We need more information on this case. If she was taken in by Scepter 4 then there has to be information on her in the database.”

“Is there a basement here? A VHS tape could have appeared there like in the kitchen where I found this tape.” Goto said.

“Yeah. There should be a staircase around here that leads to the basement. I will need to go to the computer lab to access the database.” Enomoto said.

“We don’t even know if the computers will work.” Hidaka pointed out.

“The television worked, so it’s worth a try.” Domyoji points out.

The group splits up into two. Hidaka is paired with Enomoto. Goto and Domyoji are going to the basement.

-

Hidaka and Enomoto split apart from Goto and Domyoji. Taking a look at his phone, Hidaka noted that the time had not moved forward. In fact it was it was 25 o clock a time that did not exist. The brunet felt like he was going crazy. “What is this place…?”

“If I had to guess it might be the manifestation of that girl’s strain power.” Enomoto said. “From those videos she did have the ability to manipulate reality.”

“I still hope this is a dream.”

“It isn’t. I get the feeling if we die here, we die for real. It feels like we’ve been isakai into a video game that turned real.” Enomoto concludes.

Enomoto’s sentence send a cold wave through Hidaka.

The duo arrived at the computer lab. To their surprise there was only one working computer in the lab. They slowly moved up to it, weapons ready to be drawn. On the screen was a game based on the cartoon they watched earlier.

"You are good with games Enomoto.” Hidaka playfully pats Enomoto on the shoulder.

It was a point-and-click adventure game. The title character was going to the store to get ingredients for a pie. There was the grocery store, the candy shop, and the animation studio. Enomoto had to click the correct building. He clicked the grocery store building but that was the wrong answer.

Two of the computers in the lab had the screens crack with wool oozing from them.

'I don’t WaNt tO go to the animAtioN stUdiO.'

"Enomoto!" Hidaka shouts.

The picture on the screen changed. All of the buildings changed to be the animation studio. Enomoto gulps as he clicked the animation studio. Suddenly static appeared on the screen.

-

'Investigators are looking into this strange phenomenon. As of right now, there were six confirmed deaths and one survivor has been taken in by Scepter 4.'The reporter says. 'The Pied Piper animation building seemed to just spontaneously caught fire. Fire fighters are still trying to find the cause of it.'

'Pied Piper studios have been the center of attention lately because one of the shows made there have been under scrutiny. Many people have reported their children going missing after watching one of the cartoons made by them.’

Due to the fire, the company went bankrupt and closed down.

-

Hidaka and Enomoto both listened to the message.

"Do you know that studio?” Hidaka asks.

"I have read about them on forums. Whenever I looked up information on them, it all seemed like an internet creepypasta.” Enomoto says furrowing his eyebrows. "We need a timeline of events. Clearly something is up with this studio and that is why this spirit seems upset.”

“How did the story go?”

"It went that the company was in so much debt that higher ups overworked the employees on this one show that many of them died.” Enomoto explained.

One by one the computers ejected gray wool from the screens. The room began to shake violently.

"I don’t think the spirit liked your story!” Hidaka screams. The two bolted towards the door slamming it behind them.

"I can see that the story does not line up with the truth now! It doesn’t have to be so mad!” Enomoto was not the most athletic of the bunch, so he was struggling to keep up with Hidaka. Luckily, the grey wool blob did not follow them. It gave them a chance to catch their breath and make a slower trek through the halls.

“I don’t understand, if it wants us to solve the mystery why is it trying to kill us?” Hidaka wonders.

"Vengeful spirits are often unreasonable.” Enomoto said. Then the look of an idea crossed his face. “The nurses office would have information. Hidaka let’s head there. The nurse office should have a computer there too.”

The duo made the trek to the nurse station. It was a clean and sterile as you would expect of a doctor’s office. The air was chilly as the two went to the file cabinet. Of course it required a passcode, but all they had to do was carefully cut out the lock to open the drawers. In one of the drawers there was a tape. Enomoto quickly took it out. They made a mental note to keep it close by. Both of them went through all the files, reading over the information to find a match of who they were looking for.

"Huh?” Hidaka ran into a file with a picture of a young child on it. “Reality augmentation. Deceased parents. Found at Pied Piper studios. Enomoto! I think I found something!”

Name: Kanzaki Hattori.

Age: 7.

Abilities: Reality Augmentation. Strain has many abilities that affect the mind and vision. Can shift through screens and walls. Handle with care.

Notes: Captured at Pied Piper Studios. Parents are dead. Kanzaki can have emotional outbursts, give medication daily.

Cause of Death: Found in the Sceptor 4 well by dorm 4. Security footage show it was done by two Sceptor 4 members.

Hidaka felt like throwing up. He wondered why Sceptor 4 officers would do that to a kid. “Why would they do that?”

"Sceptor 4 was a very different place before the captain took over." Enomoto was trying to piece together everything. Something was not adding up. “If her parents went missing why was she taken by the animation studio…? This is confusing.”

Just then the sound of breaking glass could be heard. Over on the desk, the computer was broken. there was an arm sticking out from where the screen was shattered. In its hand was a tape. The duo looked at each other with horrified expressions.

"So are you going to take it?” Hidaka’s voice was shaking.

"Huh! Me!” Enomoto shakes his head.

The tape needed to go back with them. They both grabbed the tape together and pulled it out of the ghost hand. They hurried back to the commons room to wait for Goto and Domyoji.

-

Domyoji And Goto stood atop the staircase that lead down to the basement.

"Why did we not take the elevator?” Domyoji whines.

"And risk getting stuck in there.” Goto points out.

when they reached the bottom, Domyoji felt his foot land in liquid. “B-blood!”

Domyoji’s face paled at the sight.

"The blood of those who died.” Goto says walking ahead. Domyoji shivers. Now he understands why Hidaka gets creeped out by Goto.

"Hey, can’t you talk to the dead or something?” Domyoji catches up with Goto.

"Huh? That’s ridiculous.” Goto chuckles. Domyoji stares at him.

There were no dorms in the basement floor. It was set up to have interrogation rooms. They walk up to one of the rooms but all of the glass windows are blank. They could not see through into the rooms. It would be weird if they were in reality. Since the glass is made for those outside to look in.

Goto could hear voices.

'I thought we could get some fast cash if we let her do this voice acting gig.’ A male voice says.

'We don’t have the money to buy ourselves out of this contract.’ A female voice says. ‘Or get a lawyer.’

“Do you hear that?” Goto asks Domyoji.

"I thought you couldn’t talk to the dead.” He was clearly fearful of Goto right now. His nervousness was clear as he backed away from Goto.

Goto continues to listen.

'And this rumor about how they are kidnapping kids! I want out!‘ She continues. 'Are they using her powers to take the children? How?'

"Hmm…."

"Gotti?” Domyoji waves his hand in front of Goto.

"Huh?”

"You kind of spaced out.” Domyoji said.

"Yeah… I was listening to the people talking.”

"Who was talking?” Domyoji questions.

“You didn’t hear it?” Goto asks. He shakes it off and continues to walk ahead. Goto stopped at another interrogation station when he heard screams. "Did you hear that at least?”

Domyoji shook his head.

"Hmm. Now that I think about it. The people here died in very specific ways.”

"You are just now remembering this part of the story!”

"While in the room with her, the light fixture fell on top of a workers head. And another had a computer blow up in their face.” Goto recalled. Goto slowly opened one of the doors to the interrogation room. It was empty room save for a table and two chairs. The door slammed shut locking Goto inside. He could hear Domyoji tugging on the door from the other side.

Goto let out a breath to calm himself. He reached into his bag and pulled out a paper talisman. He placed one in the bottom left quadrant of the window.

From above the vents began to spill out red liquid into the room. Goto quickly put a paper talisman in the upper left quadrant of the window. Gray wool crawled into the room from the vents. Goto pulled out his sword and cut a line connecting both walls and made a barrier separating him from the monster. His aura powers will keep the monster at bay the red liquid is still raising. He placed a talisman in the bottom and top right quadrants. The gray wool monster let out a terrifying high pitched screech. It hurt Goto so much that he had to cover his ear. Although that did not help him at all. His wall was breaking due to his discombobulated focus because of the sound.

On the outside, Domyoji was punching, kicking, and blasting the door with everything he got. Not a single scratch. He turned his attention the window. Domyoji had no time to think, Goto was in trouble. He took out his sword and began slashing at the glass.

The monster stopped screeching and began thrashing at the barrier. At this point Goto feet were not touching the ground. He could feel and hear Domyoji hitting the glass. Goto channels his aura into the talismans to make a portal through the window. One of Domyoji’s attacks flew through the portal hitting his barrier. Goto, along with the red liquid, poured out the portal into the hall.

"Goto!”

"Run!” Goto quickly grabs Domyoji and runs towards the stairs with the mass of grey wool behind them. The duo makes it to the exit slamming the door closed on the monster. Goto put a ward on the staircase door to keep the monster locked inside. The duo returned to the commons room to wait for Enomoto and Hidaka.

-

The four found themselves together again.

Enomoto was setting up the television set. Hidaka and Enomoto looked at Goto in horror. To them Goto looked like he was covered in blood.

"G-Gotti.” Hidaka stutters.

"I’m fine Hidaka. Just a little mysterious red liquid on me.” Goto says nonchalantly. Even in times like these, Goto still finds a way to mess with his friend. Hidaka wanted ask what happened but decided against it for his own sanity. Knowing They were alive was enough.

Everyone relayed their new found information.

"Weird that you could hear it and not Domyoji.” Hidaka says.

"We found two more videotapes.” Enomoto said. He pressed play and everyone tuned in.

The screen showed the inside of a building. There was door and voices could be heard from outside of it.

'You haven’t given us our dues and now this company is in the middle of a Kidnapping scandals!' A male voice said. 'We are leaving!'

There was static and sounds of a struggle.

'The authorities are still trying to find the missing parents. Pied Piper Studios has reported that they will be doing whatever they to help support the child until further notice. As of right now the show has been put on a hiatus.'

'This is our most popular show. A money maker. With this cartoon we will be able to pay all of our debts.'

Then the tape ends.

“So her parents were killed by the higher ups at the Pied Piper Studios.” Enomoto said.

"Then what happened to her? Or the missing kids?” Hidaka asks.

They popped in the other tape. To their dismay it was just another episode of the cartoon show.

"Hey, guys, how many different voice actors were hired for this show?” Domyoji asked. The group look at him in confusion. “Every tape had different voice actors for several characters.”

No one had bothered to pay attention to the end credits.

"I watched the end credits while you all talked at the end of the tapes. Most of the characters are kids, so maybe they hired kids to do the voices.” Domyoji says.

"They could have been using Kanzaki’s powers to steal the kids through the television.” Goto says.

"That would mean they were kidnapping kids for this cartoon show to use them!” Enomoto gasped. “That is horrible!”

"At some point she must have used her powers to burn down the studio.” Hidaka adds.

"This kid's life was not kind to her. Everyone just used her." Domyoji says.

The group sat in silence taking in all of the events. Slowly but surely sunlight began to filter into the building indicating morning has arrived. Hidaka looked at his phone and it showed a normal time. He breathed a sigh of relief, thankful it didn't something like 28 o' clock. The boys all felt a wave of exhaustion wash over them. It wasn't like they got a peaceful sleep. They grabbed their stuff from the dorm rooms and left the building. They had a little time to rest before their shift so they had to hustle to their normal dorm rooms.

On the way, Hidaka remembered the well. "Wait! Is there a well here. Where is it?"

Enomoto lead the group to the well. Goto looked down in it. "There is a sheep plushy at the bottom."

"What about a dead body?" Hidaka shakily asks.

"No." Goto answers as he turns his back to the well.

Just then, a hand grabs the edge of the well. Slowly a little girl climes out of it. Her head pokes over the edge. She was holding the sheep plushy.

Hidaka, Enomoto, and Domyoji all went pale. Goto turns around and sees the little girl staring back at them. She hands Goto the doll and he takes it with a smile. He then reaches in his bag pack for a talisman to give her.

"It's a charm for good luck and good fortune. I hope the afterlife is treating you better." He says.

She take the charm and puts it on her wrist. She says, "I didn't want any of that to happen...."

"We know." Goto nods.

She goes back into the well and they all wave goodbye.

"What are you going to do with that?" Domyoji asks.

"Well...."

-

Hidaka, Enomoto, Goto, and Domyoji were standing in front of a Scepter 4 showcase cabinet. They had it dressed up as like a guide and put it in next to a map of the place.

"Thank you uEnomoto for getting it clean. It looks good as new." Goto said.

"Ugh. It took so much time and cleaning supplies to wash out everything." Enomoto cringed at the 3 days spent washing that doll. There was years of build up dirt on it. Surprisingly he got out most of the gunk with the help of internet tutorials. He could still smell cleaning chemicals on himself.

"It looks cute." Hidaka said.

"It still seems creepy." Domyoji says.