Erie held up her talkbox as she walked into the hospital room with the locked drawer that she noticed earlier.
It was pitch black now, of course, since it was dark out and on the side of the building where the moonlight didn't reach.
But the flashlight that Erie had was more than enough to see by.
Hope walked in after Erie, holding up the EMF reader. "It's beeping! That means there's activity here!"
"I thought so." Erie hummed. "This place was pretty suspicious... Okay." Erie looked around the dark room, sweeping her flashlight across the area. At the same time, she set her phone down on the table with the locked drawer before speaking up. "Is there anyone here with us?"
Silence.
Well, not quite.
Hana and Rin's cheery voices could barely be heard in the distance.
But other than that, it was quiet.
But then...
"Yes."
...The talkbox flickered to life with the word YES printed on the screen at the same time as it echoed from the speaker.
Erie gasped, her emerald eyes wide with shock and then excitement. "Did you hear that, Chat?"
Hope gasped and quickly looked at the EMF meter. The moment she did, the green LED lights on it started to flicker, a soft whine echoing as it measured increased activity. "Wow! It's even more active than in the old Ghost Hunters show!"
"I bet it is." Erie chuckled as she reached up to turn her nightvision visors to thermal. Then she slipped it on to look around. "...And it looks like the temperature's dipped a bit too."
"No wonder it feels chilly!" Hope took a look around and said, "Are you here with us, Mister or Miss Ghost?"
Erie rolled her eyes and said, "You have to be dramatic, Goddess, otherwise-"
"Yes. Here. Over here."
Erie froze. Then, in her field of view, she saw the locked drawer visibly drop in temperature. "Whoa. That's cool."
"What is it?! I wanna see!" Hope invaded Erie's space and slipped off her visor.
"H-Hey! Hope! You can't just-"
"Wow! You're missing out, Chat!" Hope stared at the blue (at least on the thermal vision) drawer and said, "Is it actually that cold?" Curious, she reached out to touch the drawer and let out a startled gasp, quickly pulling her hand back. "It feels like ice!"
"Does it?" Erie curiously poked the drawer too and gasped. "It DOES! Whoa! Crazy!"
Hope handed the visor back to Erie and said, "Should we try opening it?"
Erie put the visor on and said, "Oh, definitely. Let's-"
The talkbox lit up and immediately started flashing words and echoing them from the speaker.
"Do. Not. Break. Key. Find."
Erie blinked and then said, "Oho? So you want us to play this like a horror game, huh, our ghosty friend? Jokes on you, we literally make a killing doing that sort of stuff. At least, our senpai does."
"Play. With. Me. Please."
The talkbox echoed again.
Hope paused. "...Okay, that's a little creepy. Um... Should we, Niko?"
Erie laughed. "Of course! What's the worst that can-"
"Do NOT finish that!"
Erie rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. I guess we shouldn't tempt fate too much-"
"L. O. L."
"..."
"..."
Erie and Hope shared a look.
"...Oh dear Goddess of mine..." Erie slowly said. "...Did our ghost friend just laugh at us?"
Hope stared at Erie's talkbox. "...I think they just did."
"You. Girls. Funny. Play. Please."
"...Huh." Erie blinked. "Are you like a kid or something?"
"Kid. Me. Yes. Girl. Play. Please."
Hope's eyes softened. "Oh." She let out a warm smile. "Of course we'll play, little girl."
Erie was quiet and said, "...Sorry for bothering you earlier then."
"Okay. Fun. Play. Key. Hidden. Downstairs. Cold. Warm."
The talkbox lit up with activity again, the little girl's spirit clearly enthusiastic about playing with Hope and Erie.
Erie laughed and picked her phone back up. "Alright, alright... Did you hear that, Chat? We're gonna go treasure hunting with a little ghost girl."
After that, this time, Hope's talkbox activated. "Name. Yours. Please."
Hope flinched from surprise. But then she smiled and said, "You can call me Arenbi!"
Erie nodded. "Yep! And I'm Niko Manser~ Like Necromancer, kinda. Which I guess I am, since I'm raising the dead?"
"L. O. L. Funny. Nice. Meet. You. Me. S.A.D.A.K.O. Like. Cranes."
Erie blinked. "Sadako? Like cranes? You like cranes?"
Hope gasped. "Oh my gosh! You mean like the girl who folded a thousand paper cranes?!"
Hope's talkbox activated again. "Yes. Like. Her. Not. Her. But. Similar."
Erie looked at Hope. "A thousand paper cranes?"
"Mmhm! Tsubaki-senpai told me about the story when I arrived since she folded me a wreath of a thousand paper cranes!"
Erie gave Hope a blank stare.
Hope tilted her head. "What?"
Erie looked around the room with her thermal camera before seeing a spot next to Hope that was slightly colder. Assuming that was Sadako, she waved her hand and said, "See what I have to deal with, Sadako-chan? My friend here keeps dropping stories out of the blue..."
"L. O. L."
Hope puffed her cheeks and said, "Well, excuse me for having an interesting life!"
"I mean, I don't mind it. I just get emotional whiplash. Next thing you'll be saying that you met the president before or something."
"Oh! I got selected for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program when I was in high school! I didn't meet the president though, but I think that counts, right?"
Erie stared at the cold spot next to Hope and said, "You seeing this, Sadako-chan?"
"L. O. L. Best. New. Friends."
Hope rolled her eyes. "Meanies... But okay." She held up her talkbox and said, "Where to, Sadako-chan? Downstairs? We're on the second floor, so do you want us to go back to the lobby?"
"Yes. Lobby. Behind. Counter. Under. Desk. Taped. Key."
Erie paused. "...Wait. You're saying that the key to your drawer is LITERALLY taped under the desk behind the counter in the lobby, Sadako-chan?"
"No. Key. To. Storage. Room. There. More. Keys."
"Oh my GOD." Erie laughed. "We ARE in a real life horror game. No, I guess it's like an escape room now too?" She rolled up her sleeves and said, "Whatever the case, I'm in." She stared at the faint blue haze through her thermal vision that was standing next to Hope. "After you, Sadako-chan."
Hope noticed and said, "Wait. Can you see her, Niko?"
"A little. She's like a blue haze on the thermal vision mode. That's you, right, Sadako-chan?"
"Yes. Yes. Yes. With. Onee. Chan. Are. In. Bee."
Hope spun around, trying to see Sadako and sighed. "Aw... If I could see you I'd give you a hug. I'll be your Onee-chan!"
"Nice. Onee. Chan. Like. Lots."
"I like you lots too!"
Erie shifted her equipment around on the various holders she was wearing and then held up her flashlight. "Okay then. We can chat as we move. No point in standing around all night, right?"
"Yes. Move. Follow. Talk. Fun. Fun. Fun."
Hope giggled. "I'm happy you're having fun! How old are you, Sadako?"
"Five. Small. Fun. Usually. Boring. No. Friends. Creepy. Old. Guys."
Erie slowly blinked. "...That sounds like a can of worms and a half to unpack... But, uh. Sure..."
===
While Erie and Hope were entertaining a five-year old ghost girl and doing a fetch quest, Rin and Hana were exploring the hospital like it was a proper horror game.
And by that, they were trying to find the source of the malice to murder it.
Well, Rin was.
Hana was just along to make sure Rin didn't blow up the entire hospital.
Rin happily hummed to herself, idly twirling a knife around in her right hand as she swept her light brown eyes around the surroundings. "Come out, come out, wherever you are~"
Hana giggled and said, "Rin-chan~ If you talk like that, the creepy old guys won't show up!"
"Huh? But I thought creepy old guys like cute young girls like us? That's why I initially planned to get a lot of money doing compensated dating!"
Hana slowly blinked. "What?"
"...Oh!" Rin's eyes lit up. "I forget that you don't have all my memories. Um... it's complicated, but Mom needed money and she had cancer... It's the whole chain of events that led to meeting Mister John!"
"...I see." Hana furrowed her brows. "...I didn't remember that. But I'm happy you never had to."
"Me too!" Rin giggled as she spun her knife around. "Mostly because I'm pretty sure now that I would have definitely snapped if a creepy guy tried touching me like that! I was pretty fragile back then when I first met Mister John, but I think if I was reaaally in a corner... Mm. Probably not good."
Hana giggled too and said, "Well, considering I exist... Probably!"
"Right?"
The two girls' laughter echoed along the empty halls, blending in perfectly with the eerie surroundings.
Which, of course, meant that nothing dared approach them.
Rin noticed and pouted. "Aw... Are we really that scary, Hana-chan?"
"Well." Hana hummed. "I probably don't look human at all to them so it probably confuses the spirits. And you can kill them, so..."
"Is it really killing them if they're already dead though? It'd be like if I went to my biological father's grave and stabbed his ghost a few times because of the icky things he did to Mom." Rin paused. "...Actually..."
Hana looked cautious and said, "Rin. No. We are not doing a stream of 'sneaking out at midnight to my father's grave so I can murder his spirit.'"
"Aw... Why not?" Rin's brown eyes darkened, for a split second flickering red. "He deserves it."
"Because Mom would ban us from ever reading manga and playing games in her house ever again."
Rin gasped. "You're so right! She would be so mad!"
"Yep. So no doing that."
"...Okay. But what if we get Aneue to sign off on it and convince Mom?"
"You KNOW that's a bad idea, Rin..."
"But it sounds fuuun! Especially on Halloween!"
Hana sighed.