"Everyone ready?" Jotou stood at the door, hearing more things being messed with within the house.
"We run in, take whatever we need and run out. Fumeko takes the most because she can blink out the window," Asobi repeated their plan.
"And, if it tries to grab anything or push anything, hit it back because it can become physical at some point," Jotou stated before they crept next to the door handle.
"What makes you so sure that we can hit it back?" Fumeko hushed.
"I know as much about ghosts in this world as you detective, so if you have any other bright assumptions, I'm all ears."
"Fine, fine, go for it."
Jotou raised her foot to the side of the door handle, about to bust in, "Wait!" Hotaru whispered as loud as she could.
Jotou stood with one leg in the air, "What!?" she said in between gritted teeth.
"You're gonna kick in the door with your bare foot?"
"Hell," Jotou cursed, "Spark." Her bare feet webbed with electricity, "Huh, I can do that… Now, can we get through this damn door? My anxiety's getting to me."
Not hearing any arguments, Jotou readied her leg, "Hang on a second," Fumeko stopped.
"I swear to hell, the next person who talks is getting a sparked foot to the face," Jotou placed her feet down. The sound of crashing was beginning to subside.
Fumeko ran her hands through her hair, ruffling within it to pull out a hairpin, "Why break our perfectly good door?" Fumeko moved next to the lock, prompting Jotou to move away.
Fumeko kept her ear to the door, one hand on the knob and the other inserting the pin into the keyhole. After a little finagling, she heard the lock click from within and turned the knob at the same time.
"Our door's that insecure?" Hotaru raised a brow.
"We have windows that can be broken into, why worry about this door?" she kept the knob turned, simply inserting her hairpin somewhere into her hair, "I used to leave my house like this rarely sometimes."
"Yeah, whatever, can we go in now?" Jotou crossed her arms.
"Wait-" Asobi tilted her head.
"Ugh, I can't kick you," Jotou stated.
"You were gonna only kick me, weren't you?" Fumeko glared.
"Maybe."
"Both of you, stop it," Hotaru shushed, "What is it Sobi?"
Asobi brought her wand to her ear, bending the pointy bit of her ear forward, "The creepy-crashy sounds, they're gone." It was indeed silent for the past however many seconds.
"Great, you guys kept pausing so long it already wrecked everything and left," Jotou pushed past Fumeko through the entrance.
The three followed in a huddle behind her. Squinting through the living room and hallways, a light pierced through the kitchen from the slightly unclosed curtain.
The sofas were shifted, turned upside down, drawers and cabinets opened up in the kitchen and all their room doors, including the bathroom, flung open…
Silent was the night in their abode—the sounds from outside filtering in. Jotou tried to glean in the dark, "Plan's the same, get what you want and we go out."
"Then we camp under the stars!" Asobi cheered, cowering behind Hotaru.
"Yup, we're much safer together," Hotaru calmed down her breath.
"Hm…" Fumeko looked about the house, she blinked over to her room, "Something doesn't seem right," and then blinked out to the hallway.
She held the dagger she cleverly hid near her bed. "My room's a mess. So is everyone's… The house too…
This doesn't look like some random chaos; it looks like a police raid. Like the ghost was searching the entire house," Fumeko theorized.
"For what?" Jotou rummaged the sofa area.
"Hey! There's a big bug in the corner!" Asobi pointed with her wand, to the ceiling of the kitchen. In the corner, holding onto each side of the wall was something…
The only thing noticeable in the dark were two bug-like yellow eyes that glowed from there. "A bug?" Hotaru squinted at it, unsure.
Fumeko rushed down the hall and Jotou turned, "That's not a bug!" both of them exclaimed.
The figure dropped to the floor without a sound, spreading its legs to break its fall. In the tiny light poking through, it was clearly not a creature, but instead someone…
They stood up, lanky from arms to legs and wearing some sort of suit. On their eyes were goggles, embedded into the mask that covered their entire head made of the same black fabric.
Not an inch of their skin exposed, as they reached back and pulled out two thin daggers into their grasp. On their belt were various little papers that glowed with unreadable runes.
Jotou stood up at the ready, whilst Asobi stared… "Who do you think you are!?" Hotaru's tail spiked behind her, "You know how long you'll be behind bars for this!?" she glared.
The figure did not utter a word, slashing the daggers across their belt. "Nice work, I really think it cares," Fumeko snarked before blinking towards them, dagger in hand.
Many of the papers were torn and the runes faded with a hollow howl. Fumeko blinked on top of the counter, striking down!
"Cling!" They caught it with their dagger and disarmed her almost instantly. "Gah!" They grabbed Fumeko by the arm and threw her over the kitchen counters.
"Meko!" Jotou held out her arms.
"Thanks Jotou," Fumeko huffed, not realizing her feet were still dangling in the air and arms being lifted by some blue apparition. "GAH!" Fumeko screamed before being flung onto the flipped over sofas.
"EEEK!" Asobi sounded and Hotaru squeaked stepping back. Ghosts of various colours and shapes drifted out from the floors, at least a dozen.
"Spark!" Jotou lit up her fists, running for the figure in the kitchen, but the ghosts stood in her way.
A headless ghoul pushed her back with its intestines that were spewing out. In a blood red, the grotesque and fat ghost went towards Jotou.
Fumeko stumbled out of the sofas to behold the blue ghost, with one eye, the other missing and a tongue hanging out. Its howl sounded like that of an undead wolf; its throat gurgling.
It lunged down for her and Fumeko blinked back to the counter on the kitchen, making it smash into the sofa head first. Its head split open upon impact. Its brains splattered out, but it got back up.
Asobi and Hotaru backed up—ghouls flying into the floors and walls. They seemed to be circling and covering the exit and windows.
"SPLAT!" Jotou, batting an eye and face in a sour twist, punched through the innards of the ghost as it got close and opaque. "Ha! You can't touch me if I can't touch you," Jotou uttered just as it went incorporeal.
The 'blood' dripped onto her fist dissipated quickly into thin air. Jotou dealt with the fat ghost just fine, only hitting it when it became corporeal again.
Fumeko picked up her fallen dagger, looking to the masked figure. They were staring from behind the fat ghost; as if watching Jotou.
It turned its attention to Fumeko, "EEK!" another yelp from Asobi from the other side of the house caught the brunette's attention.
The figure moved with haste, slashing through the air, but fortunately, all they got was shadow as Fumeko reappeared near the sofas.
Asobi was backed up against the wall, Hotaru at the corner of the hallway while the ghost with a falling apart face drew closer. "Get away ugly!" Fumeko daggered its hands off before it got too close.
The ghost hissed, pulling back. It looked to its hands; correction, wrists before it went incorporeal. With a sneer it zoomed into the floor.
"Hya!" Jotou punched her way up. Despite the height difference, she reached all the way up to where its heart would be. Its corporeal form did not dissipate…
It dissolved? It melted, turning into sludge on the floor. "Ew!" Jotou stepped her feet away from the pooling red ectoplasm. She looked up to the masked figure, the ghost-blood dissipating from her fists.
Jotou moved forward, leaping over the dissipating pile and into the kitchen. She grabbed the nearest frying pan and "Spark!" held it like a sword.
Her eyes met with the goggled figure; they readied their daggers and taunted Jotou. Not caring for the figure's gestures, Jotou dashed forward.
"Asobi, don't blinding light!" Fumeko warned before Asobi's wand alit too bright.
"Just light will be fine; that spell in this room will screw us all up," Hotaru looked to Jotou charging forward.
Two sharp claw-like hands came through the wall, around Asobi's hips, "AHHH!" Asobi screamed, two claws piercing into her magician's outfit she even wore to sleep.
Fumeko rushed forward, slicing off the ghost's claws by the wrists. The ghost retracted into the wall behind, leaving two sharp claws in Asobi's sides.
Hotaru quickly yanked the hands off, "NgeH!" Asobi sounded, ten piercing wounds, five one each side as crimson stained her clothes. "It hurts! It hurts! Please, make it stop!"
"Calm down, calm down; Heal," Hotaru held her hands up to her wounds, sealing them up and regenerating her skin beneath her clothes.
Fumeko noticed something else, the ghosts near the windows and door… Their sounds were not as loud and she could start seeing their features more, each more disgusting than the last… "They're getting sluggish," she stated.
"Bang!" The frying pan rang from the other side of the room, the figure focused on the fight. The figure held up one of their daggers; the thin blade made to pierce had been bent by the pan…
They tossed it aside. "Clang!" they blocked another pan attack with the other dagger. "What's the matter!? Where's all that cockiness!?" Jotou swung the pan as the figure swiftly dodged.
Jotou spun the pan by the handle. "Slam!" Right across the torso of the figure it went. "AGH!" the figure grunted, the voice of a male.
"Oh, so you can talk," Jotou took a step back, held the pan and kept the thin end facing him this time, "Then keep talking!" Jotou went to swing.
The figure was already leaning sideways, possibly having broken something in his body. He held his left side; his other hand wielding the dagger cut the long piece of paper that seemed to glow the brightest.
The silver runes puffed into smoke before- "WOOOOOSSH!!" A surging gust of wind picked up, pushing back the pan and together with it, Jotou.
Jotou flew backwards—"THUD!"—and slammed into the sofas across the room, "Guh!" Jotou fell to the floor after the slam.
"Jotou!" Fumeko shouted, Hotaru having to turn to look and Asobi looked up.
"Light!" Asobi was able to throw her hand in the air and light up the room.
Her blonde hair was flying behind her, the gust of silver wind kept pushing. As if her bangs were not enough, the sudden light made her shun her eyes with an arm and squint.
As she looked to the figure, she saw something else; and it was fast approaching. Much like the silver runes, was a silver ghost.
Face? Body? What was there to notice as it came straight towards her, head first and "Hush…" Jotou felt her breath get colder… Like something just…
'Hush now… Let me take over…'