Before It's Too Late

Investigation

"Not sure. Well, he only does home ones at night." Moca said.

"So... two days... that's not a lot of time..." Rokka sighed.

"Unfortunately."

"What do you think I could do? There's no way I could fight back..." Rokka mumbled, "I know I'll be too weak to escape if he grabs me."

"The best you can do is hide. If you could make him think you aren't there, you might buy yourself some time. If you could hide and call the cops, he might just get caught." Sayo suggested.

"I'll try. But, there's not really anywhere to hide." Rokka said.

"Make somewhere then. You have two days. Use them." Moca said.

"I'll try." Rokka promised.

"Oi. Who the hell you talkin' to?"

The three of them froze. Looks like they weren't all alone. Rokka had forgotten about Masuki being there. She had been silent the entire conversation, so she had forgotten she was here.

"I um... I was just... um..." Rokka had no idea what to say, "Um..."

Masuki raised an eyebrow at her. Rokka was stuttering as she tried to think of anything to say. Sayo and Moca had nothing to offer. They also had no clue what she could say to her.

"I... I'm talking to some ghosts..." Rokka eventually admitted, "If you'll believe that."

"Honestly, I don't care who you were talking to. Just what the hell were you talking about?" Masuki brushed off the answer.

"Oh... um... just something." Rokka said.

"You were talking about having to hide from someone. What's that all about?" Masuki asked.

"It's nothing." Rokka lied.

"You sounded scared. I don't think it's nothing."

"Maybe you should just run off?" Moca offered.

"That'll make things worse, you idiot!" Sayo whacked her on the back of her head.

"It was just a suggestion." Moca stuck out her tongue.

"There's nothing to worry about. I promise." Rokka said as confidently as she could.

"Who're these ghosts anyway?" Masuki obviously didn't believe her, but decided to leave it at the moment.

"U-um..." Rokka wasn't sure if she should tell her.

"Say you don't know. She doesn't need to know it's us." Sayo said.

"I don't know their names..." Rokka lied.

"Then ask 'em." Masuki stated.

"They left already." Rokka said.

"I don't know what going on with you, but I know something's up." Masuki said, "I'll be keeping a close eye on you."

With that, she left the room. She walked right through Sayo and Moca to leave. Masuki didn't react other than a slight change of expression from the sudden cold.

"That was close..." Rokka sighed once she was sure Masuki had left.

"Yeah." Sayo and Moca nodded.

"If she found out, what would happen?" Rokka asked.

"It depends. If she tries to protect you, she's gonna end up getting killed too. If she investigates and gets somewhere with it, his assistant is going to kill her." Moca explained.

Sayo froze up. She was panicking now.

"What's wrong, Sayo?" Rokka nodded.

Moca glanced over at her, "Yeah. Something wrong?"

"H-Hina's trying to investigate..." Sayo admitted.

"Fuck. That's bad." Moca groaned.

"What should we do?" Sayo asked, "If she's already made progress... stopping now won't change anything..."

"You go see what she's accomplished. We'll continue to think of what to do." Moca waved her off.

"Okay." Sayo didn't need to be told twice.

She rushed home to see what was going on there.

"Can we go to my room?" Rokka asked, "It's more private..."

"Sure. Let's go!" Moca nodded.

The two of them made their way to her room. Once they were inside they continued the conversation.

"Moca, is there a chance he'll attack early?" Rokka asked.

"Yes, there's always a chance." Moca nodded, "But, unless you make him worried, he won't change his plans. Hell, I found a murder scene of his one time and he still took two weeks to kill me after that."

"Really? Why?" Rokka asked.

"Because I told no one. If I had told someone, he definitely would've attacked me sooner. Well, he actually did. If we're right with the way he chooses his target, I should've been third, not you. It should've been Sayo, you, and then me. Moca said.

"I see..." Rokka nodded, "So, um, can you tell me what he did to you?"

"I guess." Moca replied, "He broke into my room and gouged out my right eye. Then he shoved the knife down my throat and twisted it."

"Oh... was... was Sayo's death as bad?" Rokka stammered.

Moca nodded, "Yes. Her throat was cut open and the inside was all cut up."

"While she was alive!?" Rokka's eyes shot open wide.

"Yeah..." Moca nodded solemnly.

"So... my death is going to be... like that?" Rokka asked in fear.

"Most likely." Moca said, "He's done it that way to all his victims."

"I'm scared..." Rokka whimpered.

"I know. Why don't we see what you could use to hide?" Moca suggested.

"Okay." Rokka agreed.

That's what the two of them did. There wasn't much to work with, so they started thinking of things they could put in the room to make a hiding place.

While they were doing that, Sayo was making her way to her house. She was going as fast as she could, but it was pretty far. She was worried. Who knew if she was already a target?

Sayo made it to the house. She ran inside. It felt too quiet. Way too quiet. She ran upstairs and was going to run into Hina's room. She stopped. What she saw was not what she wanted to see.