Thus the movie started playing and Hana was looking at the screen with great interest and a smile on her face while she held Hotaro's hand on "his request". The movie began with a bunch of people in a house having a house party and Hotaro was happy that this movie did not have any vulgar scenes. But he was also worried since the time for all those scenes is taken up by the scary and gory scenes.
Akari had never watched this movie but she knew just by looking at the title, what kind of movie it would be. The title was such a huge giveaway that it was not even a joke which was not good for her since she can't really watch horror movies in general, let alone all by herself. She grabbed onto Hinami's arm as the movie played and for now, everything was going alright.
It was just a normal house party going on. People talking, drinking alcohol, playing spin the bottle, and so on. But something caught Hana's attention.
"Oni-chan, what are they drinking?" she asked Hotaro pointing at the beer cans placed on the kitchen countertop.
"It's just something we are not allowed to drink yet," Hotaro explained in the vaguest way possible. "How about I go get something for you to drink? What would you like?"
"Coffee."
"Tea."
"Apple juice."
Hinami, Akari, and Hana requested their drinks and Hotaro somehow got off the couch with now a big red mark on his left arm which was being tortured by Hinami's nails the entire time. This did give the three girls some space so they decided to scooch closer to each other while looking at the movie.
Hotaro was in the kitchen, getting the coffee and tea ready. He went to the fridge and got out the box of apple juice he had. Taking out the cups, he placed them on the countertop and started pouring the juice and…
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
The three's loud shrieks could be somehow heard till the kitchen which surprised Hotaro and he spilled a lot of juice on the floor followed by him slipping on the liquid and falling down on his back. They didn't hear Hotaro's falling sound because they were too busy in the movie.
'How did their voices even travel all the way here?' Hotaro thought to himself and sat up straight while groaning.
"Lucky the cups didn't fall down," he muttered and went to get a mop to clean up the mess.
What actually happened was that the first jump scare of the movie made its way on the screen, scaring the three. Hana, who had no idea what she got herself into was cursing herself in her mind for picking this movie. It had not even been ten minutes into the movie and she already wanted to stop it. She scooched over to Hinami and held her by her sleeve. She was trembling just by the first jump scare that worried her how she was going to go through the rest of the movie.
'I thought it was going to be easy but this movie is too scary,' she thought.
"Hinami-nee-chan," she said in a weak tone looking up at the figure of Hinami breaking every single imaginary bone in the pillow she was hugging close to her.
"W-what happened Hana-chan?" she tried speaking in a confident voice. "Is the movie too scary?"
At her question, Hana nodded her head along with tears welling up in her eyes. Hinami could not see such miserable state of the little girl.
Hotaro, on the other hand already knew the outcomes of all this by now. The screeches of the girls were enough to tell them that no one of them would like to continue with the horror movie. It was not called a really scary movie for no reason. It was not scary in fact that it had made people have heart attacks due to it in the theater. To Hotaro, the news was like an urban legend and he just shrugged it off but he knew that the movie was scary to many people. Hotaro just wasn't one of them.
He decided to get the drink to help them calm down after they stop watching the movie. Drinking a beverage is a good way of doing that. It should preferably be warm but just for Hana, he made the exception of apple juice which could be enjoyed only when it is cold. He had never thought of anything absurd like offering her hot apple juice to drink.
The coffee was getting ready to be consumed while he had the tea ready to be drunk. The apple juice was already in the cup meaning that he only had the coffee to wait for. While that, he felt his phone ring and he reached for it. Upon opening it, he looked at the notification as he gripped his phone harder.
Making sure no one notices him, he walked out in the hall and made his way to the main entrance of the house. Slowly, he opened the gate and looked at his mailbox which had a similar package he had seen for some months now. He pulled the package out and stared at it and gulped before he closed the door.
He tip-toed his way towards his room, opening his door and quickly closing it. He made his way to his closet and upon opening it found the place where he quickly put all the contents of the box. Staring at for a few seconds, he lets out a heavy sigh.
"Now that Hana is here with us," he said in a distasteful tone. "They are a lot more important for me."
He hid the box in his room knowing that he had to discard it later before anyone else notices it and head downstairs. Luckily, no one noticed him, and he naturally, poured the coffee into the cup. Placing all of them in a tray, he casually walked towards them with a smile plastered on his face.
"I thought that you will no longer watch the movie," Hotaro said in surprise as he saw the movie still playing on the television screen.
"Why would we do that?" Hana said peeking from the top of the couch. Her little hands were slightly trembling and Hotaro could see that. Her eyes lit up as she saw the cup filled with apple juice and started jumping in her place. "Give me, give me."
Hotaro handed her the cup and handed the same to Akari and Hinami. He then placed down the tray on the table sat down next to Hinami. It was not his choice but instead, he was pulled down by her making him sit beside her.
The movie continued and the four stared at the screen. Hotaro just had a blank expression on his face, not because he was not interested in the movie. On the flip side, he was really enjoying the movie but had to keep a straight face while biting on his tongue to not shout due to the pain he was feeling. His bones felt like they were being crushed and the pain was surging through his entire hand. Right now he was feeling the worst kind of pain known to humanity.
Hinami's nails dug in his bare skin.
'This is why I watch horror movies on my own.'
"O-oni-chan, don't worry. I will take care of you if you get scared," Hana said clinging onto her elder brother. "I am here with you."
Hotaro looked down at Hana trying to keep a straight face for him which made him genuinely smile. He raised his hand and pat Hana's head and pulled her closer to him. She held his t-shirt and leaned on him.
"Thank you, Hana."
Hana was cursing herself in her mind for her stupidity since they were about to stop the movie and were about to come up with an excuse but then Hotaro came back. Due to this, she stopped Hinami's hands and put up a brave front. To the poor girl, it was a very big and important decision.
'Why did I have to stop Hinami-nee-chan? Stupid Hana, stupid, stupid, stupid.'
'Again! I let Hana-chan win again but it is not my fault! Her eyes are too captivating and innocent?! God, I want to hug her so bad when she looks at me with puppy dog eyes,' Hinami thought.
'I didn't sign up for this,' Akira thought to herself. 'I just came back talking with Asahi-kun coming up with a lie not telling him about me living at Fuji-kun's house. I thought on coming back, I could rest but here I am watching a horror movie!! What have I ever done to deserve this?'
'Hinami, for the love of God, please let go of my hand! It hurts so badly,' Hotaro thought.
So all in all, no one was enjoying the horror movie. Not a single one of them.
The movie continued and a cycle of incidents took place. As every jump scare appeared before the screen, first, the three would scream at the top of their lungs bursting Hotaro's eardrums. At that moment, Hotaro's hand would be completely crushed by none other than Hinami herself making him scream in agony inside.
Finally, somehow the movie ended and it was unanimously decided to not watch the rest parts which were a lot scarier than the first one.
"But…"
"Hana, no, just, no," Hotaro said steeling his heart looking straight into Hana's eyes.
"O-okay," Hana said understanding why Hotaro said that. Well, to her it was correct.
To Hana, Hotaro was too scared to watch the other movies so he decided to call for the next movies to not be played. To her, it was the most logical thing she thought was going to be the outcome. She even thought that she can read other people's minds. Not only that, she was relieved that Hotaro called off for the rest of the movies so she would not have to go through hell and watch the other parts.
Hotaro, just saw hell end right before his eyes. He was too scared to even try or let them watch the other movies. Both his ears and hands were paining like hell. He pats his own back in his mind feeling as if he accomplished something by not screaming and standing up to Hana's puppy dog eyes.
Akari quickly ran to her room as the movie ended and Hinami fell down on the bed relieved. Both of them knew that the movie is going to haunt them in their dreams and the worst part was. The house where all this happened looked really similar to them for some reason. Even though they had never been to such a house. Much less attend a party like this.
And thus came up another problem for the four.
How will they sleep?
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Hey guys, the author here. So...I did say I will update more frequently but I am still very busy anyways. Since the new year is around the corner, I invited two people with me here.
"Hana here!"
'Hotaro here.'
Yeah, so...I did something similar with Ai and Kazuki but I thought eh, let's do the same with Hana and Hotaro since the year is about to end a-
"And we would like to thank you for all your support! I am surprised that these many people read the book so thank you all! I wish you all a happy new year with all my heart and hope you get everything you want! Please keep supporting us."
I was talking Hana, and you interrupted me.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
'It's fine Hana, he is not angry. So yeah, the same thing Hana said. I am sure no one could have said it better than her. Have a happy new year.'
And...do you guys have any new years resolutions?
"Hmm...I would like to be a good girl and not cause problems for Oni-chan! And I will stay strong and protect him."
That's cute.
'And I would like to be a better person than I was last year.'
Wow, the contradiction in your two's answer is amazing. Hard to believe that you are siblings.
"Ne, ne, Author-nii-chan, do you have a new years resolution?"
I think...I would like to write more and better stories for all my amazing readers and also make sure my studies go well. Just the generic stuff. Also, I now have a discord server for updates on my books, so check it out, guys: https://discord.gg/j2ujMnBTK6
"Yes, you should actually join it. So you can get updates on the books easily and you can check out Author-nii-chan's other works. And have a lot of fun."
Yeah, listen to the kid. Bye guys and hope you have an amazing new year.