It was just a week until Halloween. The entire school was decked out in orange, purple, black and all sorts of spooky stuff. The Detective Club room was also nicely decorated thanks to Kuki and Yanfei. There were plastic pumpkins with funny faces carved into them, grave stones and a black coffin that Xiao had made his new napping place. Since you guys hadn't had a case to investigate for a couple days, you just goofed around during club time. This particular day, Xiao was fast asleep in the coffin while you, Yanfei, Kuki and Kazuha were playing Uno.
"Uno!" Kazuha announced.
"How the hell do you have Uno already?!" Kuki questioned.
Yanfei squinted her eyes and looked cautiously at the platinum haired boy."You have to be cheating..."
It was your turn next. You slammed down a plus four card. "Kazuha, pick four cards." You began laughing maniacally as Kazuha solemnly picked up four cards from the deck.
Just then, Heizou stepped in, he looked excited.
"WE HAVE A CASE EVERYONE~." He shouted.
You smiled but let out a groan. "Can it wait until after Uno?"
Xiao had been woken up from his nap and looked grumpy. "Can it wait until after my nap?..."
"No and no." Heizou responded. "Why're you so sleepy lately anyways?"
"My friend Sayu said it was a good way to grow taller." He responded. Makes sense that he wanted to grow a bit.
You left what you were doing and sat at the table while Heizou stood looking excited.
"He looks like a real leader. And a passionate one at that." You thought.
"We've been asked by an anonymous person to go investigate an abandoned building in the woods. Fun, right?" Heizou said.
Kuki was extremely skeptical. "Doesn't that sound suspicious to you? I don't trust that at all."
Meanwhile, all you could think about was the classic romcom trope of you getting scared and jumping into Heizou's arms.
"I think it's a great idea hehe..." You said absentmindedly, still stuck in your fantasy.
"I agree with Kuki. This doesn't sound good." Yanfei said as she turned to Heizou. "You should reconsider this."
"Oh cmon guys, of course I know this is suspicious. That's just more of a reason to investigate it. Besides if anything goes wrong us boys will protect you." Heizou promised as he winked. It made you cringe slightly, but in a funny way.
"I agree." Said Kazuha.
"Oh, sure..." Muttered Xiao, who obviously just wanted to continue sleeping.
"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be doing most of the protecting?..." Kuki released under her breath.
"Alright then it's settled, we'll head to the creepy abandoned mansion later! Be excited gang~." Heizou exclaimed.
In the woods...
You were all following a long path that led you through the woods. Despite it still being pretty early it was very dark underneath the thick forest growth. Thankfully you all had brought flashlights. You had carefully made your way through the overgrown twisted woods and eventually you spotted the large brick mansion. It was overgrown with vines and moss. You looked through the windows and saw that the lights were on somehow.
"How peculiar. Heizou are you sure this house is abandoned?" Kazuha asked.
"Of course, why would anyone willingly live in the middle of nowhere?" He replied.
The six of you approached the house and walked over an aged stone bridge that went over a small thin river. You suddenly felt some cool water droplets make contact with your skin. It was raining. And quickly, it started raining HARD. And then thunder began roaring. You all ran towards the house and quickly Heizou swung open the door. The interior was cold. There was a fireplace in the corner, a large dirty glass chandelier, and a spiral staircase that led to upper floor.
"Gah! It's freezing in here!" Kuki exclaimed, crossing her arms and shivering.
Yanfei reached into her backpack and took out a lighter. "I'll start a fire."
Xiao seemed to be focused on something else. "I'm going to explore upstairs.
"Be careful." Warned Kazuha.
Yanfei walked to the fireplace as Xiao started ascending the staircase. As the fire began to spread on the wood you heard a loud shriek come from upstairs. You quickly gave each other concerned glances before running to see what had happened. As you reached the top of the staircase you were shocked to see Xiao unharmed. You were even more shocked to see him standing besides Hu Tao and Sucrose. Chongyun was also there, but he was lying on the ground, pretty shaken up.
"S-sp-spider..." He stuttered.
Kazuha backed up slightly and exclaimed,"Where?!"
"Get up!" You yelled, dragging Chongyun to his feet.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Heizou asked.
"Welllll, the Occult Club was given an anonymous tip about a house with a ton of paranormal activity and I knew I just HAD to see it!" Hu Tao replied. She was energetic, per usual.
"Oh. So were you the ones who turned on the lights?" Kuki asked.
"No, those were on when we got here." Sucrose answered. The two green haired girls stared each other in the eyes, both were visibly nervous.
"The mystery continues to grow, this is a job for the Occult Club!" Hu Tao announced.
"Hey! That's my line! And it's a job for the Detective Club!" Heizou rebutted.
"It's a job for both clubs. Instead of standing around we should start exploring." You said. You were still comforting Chongyun, who was still pretty shaken up.
"We should split up and look for clues as to what's going on here." Yanfei suggested.
"That's how people die in horror movies!" Chongyun shouted."
"I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself. C'mon Yanfei. Kuki said as she and Yanfei walked along the corridor and entered a different room.
Hu Tao grabbed her fellow club members hands. "Chongyun, Sucrose, let's go. I wanna see you guys get scared~."
"I'm not scared! I'm gonna exorcise the hell out of this place. I just hope there's no more spiders..." Chongyun said as Hu Tao led dragged him down the stairs.
You knew this was your chance to be alone with Heizou. Without thinking you grabbed him by the arm, "Heizou, I'm hungry! Let's go find the kitchen."
"Oh, alright. Let's just hope all the food doesn't have roaches in it." He replied with a smile as you led him downstairs.
"I guess it's just the two of us now. Perhaps this will help to inspire my poetry." Kazuha said wishfully
"How lovely." Xiao responded unenthusiastically. He wasn't particularly excited about exploring the creepy house.
It took you both a while to get around the house and find the kitchen, but you found yourself exploring the large old area.
Heizou watched as you opened up every cabinet in the dusty kitchen. Almost all of them were empty, but eventually you reached a cabinet that had a single Twinkie and a letter in it.
You unwrapped it and started to munch on it. "Huh, I guess Twinkies really do have an infinite shelf life."
Heizou reached over and grabbed the letter. He took a glance at it and his expression quickly became surprised.
He read aloud, "My name is Mingxia. I am a woman with many treasures, however I am lonely. If you are reading this I have passed on from this loveless life. The secret to my treasures is hidden under the tree in my backyard. Farewell, cruel world."
"That's so sad..." You moped, still enjoying your aged Twinkie.
"How exciting!" You looked behind you to see Hu Tao, she looked even more excited than before. Looks like your alone time with Heizou was over. Sucrose was behind her, who appeared very startled.
"Oh it's you guys. Where Chongyun?" You asked.
"Ehh, I realized he was just gonna try and exterminate any spirits wandering around, so we left him. Come to think of it, I think I saw a spider on the ceiling where we ditched him." The browned eyed girl hummed. You couldn't help but giggle at her carefreeness, and Chongyun's grievances.
Sucrose looked a bit mad. "I-I didn't wanna leave him! I just left in a hurry because I saw one of the candles light up on its own."
"Creepy." You said. "This is just like an episode of Scooby Doo."
"Isn't everyday like an episode of Scooby Doo for you guys? You're a detective club!" Hu Tao asked.
"Nah, we don't have a van to live in." Heizou answered.
"Uh you guys, shouldn't we go to the tree mentioned in the letter?" Sucrose reminded you all.
The four of you made your way to the backyard. There was a small rundown wooden shack and a rotting tree. The atmosphere was even more chilling. It was still raining, but a bit more lightly.
"Heizou, Y/N, go look for shovels in the shack while me and Sucrose try to look for any stray spirits." Hu Tao commanded.
"Roger that captain." You said sarcastically.
You and Heizou made your way to the shack. Inside was a bunch of rusty old gardening equipment. The two of you started to search around for shovels. You began to shiver and your teeth started chattering.
"God, I'm finally alone with Heizou, but this sucks."
Out of nowhere, you weight on your shoulders. Heizou had placed his zip up sweater on your shoulders and was now left with only a long sleeve t-shirt as he continued searching around.
"Can't have you freezing to death, partner!" He hummed.
If only he knew how much your mind was racing.
He moved aside a tarp and two shovels were behind it. You zipped up the sweater and grabbed one of the shovels, exiting the dank shed. You approached the tree and saw Hu Tao and Sucrose sitting under it, meditating.
"Uhhh, what're you guys doing?" You asked.
"Trying to see if any ghosts are present. More importantly, what were you guys doing. A living place of the dead has no room for flirting!" She pointed to the sweater around you while pouting her lips.
"Ahem, Y/N was getting cold so I tried to warm them up." Heizou stated. He was obviously trying to cover up his true intentions, but you were too embarrassed to realize it.
"Should we started digging?" Sucrose interrupted.
"Alright, commence shoveling! Go on Heizou and Y/N." Hu Tao yelled.
You grew a bit impatient with the ghostly girl. "Why do we have to do all work?!"
"Sucrose is too fragile and I'm tired from trying to contact the spirit world.~" She whined.
Sucrose didn't seem to agree. "I'm willing to help-"
Hu Tao quickly pressed a finger to her lips. "SHHH."
You and Heizou rolled your eyes and started digging. It took around five minutes but eventually you hit something. You cleared the surrounding dirt and reached in and took out a small wooden box. You opened it and revealed yet another letter.
Heizou took it out and began reading it. "To whomever dug this up, thank you for your dedication. You are truly deserving of my treasure. Go to the chambers where I spent my nights resting all alone."
"Oh! I think I passed by there earlier!" Sucrose pointed out.
So you all went back upstairs and entered the bedroom. You were greeted by the sight of Yanfei and Kuki looming above a sad looking Chongyun.
"What happened here?" Heizou questioned.
"I failed to exorcise a ghost..." Chongyun replied solemnly.
"We found him here. Also a weird letter." Kuki said as Yanfei held up yet another letter.
Yanfei started to read off of the old looking piece of paper. "Ahem. "I, Mingxia, have left all my precious treasures in my study. Please be wise. Spend your life full of love and happiness. Don't be like me, who devoted all my time to my research. Isolating myself." Odd right?"
You and Heizou showed them the other letters you had found as Sucrose tried to help Chongyun feel a bit better about his failures.
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder...." Kuki groaned.
"Luckily, I love weird! Let's go to the study!" Hu Tao exclaimed. You all headed out of the room and walked down the cold, cobweb filled corridor to the study. It was filled with bookshelf's containing all sorts of stories and had a desk in the center of the room with a lamp on it.
"There's nothing here... Dang, Xinqiu would really love all these books." You sighed.
You walked to one of the bookshelf's as the others searched around the room. You scanned the variety of books with your eyes and a certain one caught your attention. A dark magenta book with golden lettering that was titled "The Many Treasures of Love." You went to pick it up and the moment you did the entire bookshelf started turning.
"Oh?" Heizou let out.
The bookshelf rotated and revealed an entire new room. "Surprise~!" You heard a voice shout. It was Mrs. Miko! She was dressed very festively in a sassy black and orange witch outfit. But Mrs. Miko wasn't alone, she was accompanied by Mrs. Ei, who was also dressed up for Halloween. She was sporting a lovely vampire outfit with fake fangs. She remained silent as she snacked on some pudding.
"What're you guys doing here?!" Yanfei asked. Mrs. Miko letting out a giggle.
"We wanted to give you kids something fun to do. But Mrs. Ei insisted on keeping it educational, so I made it a lesson on love~."
You were a bit disappointed."So there's no treasure?"
Mrs. Miko looked saddened. "Child, the treasure is love! Don't you see? Look around at your companions."
You all looked around at each other. You did love them. Even though they were all weird and crazy in their own special ways, you loved them.
Heizou laughed. "What about that old Twinkie Y/N ate? Because of my *love* for them, I'm a bit nervous it caused my partner to contract a disease."
You blushed. You knew he meant it platonically, but hearing him say he loves you made your heart flutter.
"Oh, I put that there. I thought you kids might want something sweet to keep you motivated." Mrs. Ei replied. You smiled. How considerate.
Chongyun looked a bit nervous. "Wait a minute. If this was all staged, what about that ghost I saw?"
"Oh yea! I saw some too." Hu Tao added.
"I'm not sure. I sensed some paranormal activity as well, but it seems you scared them all off, Chongyun!" Miko replied. Chongyun looked a disappointed in himself.
Sucrose had one final question. "Wait a minute... where are Xiao and Kazuha?"
Uh oh. You all began to panic, even Mrs. Miko. You split up and searched around every room on the upper floor. You couldn't find them. The group rushed downstairs and quickly spotted them. Kazuha was sitting with his back against the fireplace,writing something down on a notebook. Xiao was warming himself in front of the fire. His face nicely illuminated.
"There you guys are!" Kuki yelled.
Kazuha looked happy to see you all. "Hello everyone. Hm? Mrs. Miko? Mrs. Ei? What are you guys doing here?"
Mrs. Miko giggled again. "I'll explain that momentarily."
Xiao looked puzzled, but didn't say a word. He just continued to bask in the warmth of the fire.
What an odd day.
Y'all I'm so sorry this took to long I got busy </3 The final chapter will be out soon and I might release some more small comedic chapters afterwards. Also I applied for an a03 account, so my stories will be reuploaded there.
Per usual if you liked this please vote so I can share my stories with more people ❤️
"Ah, Y/N, you still have some water droplets on your face. Let me get those for you-"
His hands were so soft.