Takumi was not the kind of man you'd find alone very often, preferring to spend most of his time with his friends or hanging around their little home base and improving himself yet for today he had found himself alone and bored of constantly training so here he was at the local festival. How another realm came up with Halloween when the world did indeed have ghosts and an afterlife as he could confirm with Zincarla was beyond him but it was comforting to have something that reminded him of home.
Walking through the little decorated town, he seen plenty of kids running around in costumes with treats handed out by various vendors who had set up little shops for both adults and children alike with a strong emphasis on snacks. Some of those vendors even gave the option for the child to pick a bag of candy or one of the treats they were selling, which honestly sounded like a good idea to the man. Too bad he was too old to go trick or treating for himself, some of the food looked so good and he didn't want to spend too much of his money on little treats, besides the candy apple he had been craving for a while now was good enough for him at the moment.
Yet that is when he spotted something very strange, a strange pot that would look like it would fit right in with a picture book story or a witch brewing potions had been placed near the end of the food stalls with only one kind lady watching over the pot to stir and serve the cups to customers. The strange thing however was that once sipping the punch, something seemed to happened to the customers, he watched as a group drank and 2 of them moved to cover their mouth and their friends would laugh at them. Until one of them became a girl. The laughter turned toward the poor gender swapped person before they began to walk away, seemingly content to have the strange effects linger until they wore off.
Takumi was comfortable as a man but he did question just how would he look like as a girl so with nothing better to do and deciding that a drink wouldn't be the worst thing to have right now, he made to get himself a drink of the weird potion, the kind lady only telling him that the effects will last for 24 hours and will be completely random. Taking a shot, he waited to see what would happen to him. Then he waited longer. And waited even longer.
Then she told him that some times there will be no effect as well while offering him an apologetic smile alongside a strange skull token that she explained was part of the festival's challenge. Collect 3 of the skull tokens in numerous little challenges for a reward? If it was something as simple as drinking punch, Takumi felt he could totally do it so with this new piece of information, he went forward into the festival, determined to try out the attractions he had passed over on his quest for a candy apple.
Obviously the first stop in his journey was going to be the haunted... Boat ride? Man, that would be such a cruel ride for anyone with a fear of drowning. Regardless he wanted to see just how magic would affect the ability to scare people, they could actually raise zombies or summon ghosts or even potentially decapitate themselves safely. The possibilities for a haunted forest would be endless and he was gonna see how they'd handle it here! With an easy going smile on his face, he'd enter the small little cave that had been erected, likely by someone with similar magic to his own if he had to guess. Or perhaps he never noticed it before, not like he has been to this town all too often.
Within the tunnel was some fog clinging to the ground and the lighting left patches of darkness, not enough that he was struggling to see but just enough to make him question if they'd scare people within the cave as well. Then again, if someone could blend into the surfaces, they'd likely save that trick until the boat ride, would be kinda a dick move to scare people in line. This was just setting the mood, no, he didn't swear he could see eyes peeking out in the darkness, it was just a trick of the mind. He was only walking quickly to get to the boat and see what scary things would be there and nothing more, that feeling of being watched and strangely warm draft of wind on the back of his neck had no impact on his decision to hurry along.
The workers had a bit too smug of a grin seeing the taller blonde come out of the tunnel and out into the a smaller private section of the harbor if he had to guess by the boats not far off here that he could see. They helped him onto the boat and explained the rules, which were pretty standard affair for similar rides back in his realm so he simply nodded along and felt some nervous excitement build up inside of himself as he prepared for the tricks they'd try to perform on this little boat ride. A small part of him had noted that it wasn't too late to back out but by then the boat had been set adrift.
If he was still new to this world, he would've been questioning the fact that only a small patch of mist was set up right where his boat was going but he knew the answer. Magic was frankly a bullshit way to explain stuff in his old realm but here it was just common knowledge and even old legends such as Big Foot could be explained as some form of magic. It kinda took away the mystery of the universe but any further philosophical thoughts about life and knowledge were put on hold as he came across what appeared to be a purple barrier? But he couldn't exactly control where the boat was going so... What was the point of this barrier? Turn off magic perhaps? But why wait this long?
Whatever purpose the barrier served didn't seem to matter too much as he and his boat passed on through harmlessly. He couldn't even say it felt like passing through something, if he had to explain it, he would say it felt like passing through a light back on the highways of his old realm, you're only aware because of the lighting and it doesn't actually feel like anything. He could even vaguely feel his connection to the Earth and his strange inner magic remain as they were but he didn't exactly want to ruin the experience by interrupting the ride just to test if that barrier stopped his use of magic. With only a shrug he looked around the mist, curious when the terrors would begin.
Then he saw it. A subtle movement in the distance, as if something big had merely swam by and the boat itself reacted to the change of waves sent it's way. He never did question the animal life possible in this realm and he had a feeling that he was gonna get to confirm sea monsters can both exist in this realm and could potentially deadly yet still be under the command of someone. Behind him, something splashed and he turned toward the source, eager to see what the monster could be, his money was on a Kraken but without seeing it, he couldn't be certain.
"Takumi..."
An almost impossibly loud whisper felt so close to his ear yet sounded so far away caused the man to turn toward where he thought he heard the voice. It had sounded so familiar as well, he could've sworn he had head that voice somewhere before but he couldn't place who it was.
"Where are you?"
It whispered again, he turned once more to look for the source. The familiarity was something that was bugging him more than the voice itself, he knew for a fact he had heard it before but every time he tried to place a face to the voice, it wasn't correct. He knew it had to be an old realm person, only real girl he had contact with on a regular basis with Zincarla and she didn't sound like this voice. So who was it?
"Taku? Can you hear me?"
Taku? Only people close to him had called him that but no obvious answer came to his mind about who this person could be. He wasn't ever really close to any girls in his life, he was busy with studying and training for football so dating wasn't really an option and most people he had regular contact with was his fellow jocks. Sure there were some cheerleaders he talked with but nothing ever really came from it beyond some friends but none were particular close to him.
Before he could ponder on that any further, he realized something crucial, tentacles had been ever so gently wrapping around the ship and almost as if it too realized he had broken out of the strange spell, it pulled the ship down under and the water had turned out to be a whole lot colder than he expected as Takumi was forced to inhale a mouthful of water during his descent.
"Takkkuuuummmiiiiii"
The voice that had been distracting him so long had called out in a low tone, almost playful yet unlike before he could see the source. A single beak had been mimicking someone important to him. As if this creature was a mixture of a mermaid and kraken. He didn't even realize, his mind had just been forced to think about the familiarity rather than the sea monster he had seen, was it part of it's magical voice? Then he felt a tentacle wrap around his torso, pinning his arms to his body.
He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe and if that thing spoke, his mind was almost forced too wander, to try and place where the voice he thought he recognized came from. He begun to thrash around, trying to use his muscles to break the grip it had on him while forcing the rest of his oxygen out in a scream to drown out any further noises the creature would try to make but the tentacle held stronger and his lungs were already burning. He could feel the water seeping into his open mouth and he felt himself beginning to choke as the monster brought him closer to it's beak, content to eat the terrified blonde in a single bite.
And then Takumi was on his knees back on the boat, coughing up imaginary water and reeling from lack of air. He was completely dry and there was no sign that the man had nearly drowned underwater to a beast that sunk the ship while distracting him with memories of a past he may never return to. When the ship came to a rest back at the docks, he rose with shaking knees and a quiet thank you to the worker who handed him a single skull token. His focus was shot and he needed a moment to calm himself, so putting a pause on the hunt for the final skull token, he went for another candy apple and some more treats.
It took nearly 20 minutes for the man to get back to himself and it was only with a promise to himself to never fuck around with magic and horror again. Still he needed one more skull token before he could claim a reward and he'd be damned if that ride would cost him the courage needed for the final skull token.
So it was with the remains of his courage that he found himself before a supposed "murder maze" where people would be put in groups of 8 with one of them being selected as the killer tasked to stop the remaining people from escaping by tagging them with a weapon of their choice. No magic would be involved aside from the weapons themselves that would have some sort of enchantment that would make the entire weapon as harmless as a feather yet would paralyze people upon contact.
That sounded like it would be a fun time even without a maze but always wondering where the killer was? Being chased and realizing you hit a dead end? That gave a certain amount of excitement with the worst that could happen being a bad fall but one of the first things you learned in Football was how to take a fall. He doubted he'd even fall but if he did, he knew how to minimize injury. The other people didn't look too fit to the man but the goal was to survive, not to bring your entire team with you. Sure some of them wanted to team up but others had the same mindset of himself to stick alone and try your luck.
What he didn't expect was for himself to be elected the serial killer of the maze. The staff brought him to another side of the maze and gave him a few options to pick from in terms of props and costumes. Ultimately Takumi chose to represent something that looked a bit similar to Ghost Face from his realm, the white face with long mouth and black eyes looked almost like a knock off version of the character but it would work. They even gave him a voice box as he requested and after adjusting the voice a bit, it sounded just like the iconic killer.
When the buzzer went off, Takumi felt a new wave of excitement wash over him as he entered the maze as well, uncertain where the people were but listening in carefully for footsteps and the voices of people talking among themselves. Three younger folks, maybe teenagers were arguing about which way to go. A couple were talking about how unlucky that the strongest looking guy was picked as the killer. Two were unaccounted for, likely the loners had already sunk off to try their luck.
One of them wasn't lucky however as the man seemed to think Takumi wouldn't be so close, the man's footsteps were loud and the blonde had plenty of time to hide around the corner so when the man tried to run pass the corner, he ran right into the blade and the now paralyzed man had be left frozen in shock. "Peekaboo." The distorted voice of Takumi would taunt before he would back away from his victim and enter the prowl for more targets. The second person to fall had been one of the teenagers, likely deciding to split off from the couple and his friends over their disagreement. "I see yooouuu." Takumi would call out with the voice changer.
Immediately he'd begin to run and Takumi would take chase. He was younger but not anywhere near as fit as Takumi, the larger man had easily planted the knife in his back before he could try to round the corner. Only moments later would the voice of one of his friend's try to call out from around the very same corner that the teen tried to run toward, the fact that he had nearly made it to his friends must've irritated him. Now it lead right to the meat of the survivors and one of them was coming right toward him but it seems not all of them was stupid as one of them warned the next victim that it was very possible that Takumi stood around the corner.
Cover blown, Takumi jumped around the corner and stabbed the blade into the side of the teen's neck, the kid didn't even have time to react as he froze in place and watched his final friend and the couple flee. "Better luck next time kiddo." Takumi would tell the kid before running after the three survivors who were forced to backtrack, the final teenager running off to the right while the couple went to the left.
The choice was obvious as soon as the kid split off and the couple refused to do the same. If they wished to stay together that badly, they'd die together as well. The distance they covered weren't nearly as impressive as the teenager and the woman was the slower of the two but it didn't even matter anyways as they hit a dead end. Out of breath, the couple stood before him and while the man seemed defeated and accepting, the woman seemed ready to make one final desperate move. She nearly dodged the knife that slit across her chest to her neck but the fact she froze in her final mad dash proved she wasn't that agile and the man joined without a fight, a single swipe across his neck left him frozen as well.
"Two remaining." The blonde said more for the others than himself, he didn't want to imagine how awkward of a position the woman must be in, stuck to remain ready to run yet still balanced enough to not fall down. Takumi knew he should work fast on her behalf and he begun to track the final kid before trying to hunt the lone wanderer that evaded him thus far.
Retracing his steps back to where the kid had split off had took a fair amount of time but Takumi had the advantage of starting closer to the exit so the kid would have to run toward where he had saw Takumi take out his friend who still remained standing there and was now watching him. Man, that must be pretty boring if you get taken out instantly like that other guy. "Don't you worry. I'll find your little friend soon." He'd reassure the kid before continuing his hunt down where he had last seen the final kid run off toward. He knew this was a game but he had to admit being a killer was seriously a lot of fun, the waiting and listening and getting them taken out was a rush of fun. Surely this wouldn't open any possible downsides in the future.
The sound of something rustling nearby caught his attention and he looked toward the source to see a suspiciously placed closet. No. There's no way he thought to hide in a closet... And then fucked it up. Takumi had seen a few of them placed throughout the maze but he never considered even checking them because who the fuck hides in one? This kid apparently and he sucks ass at it. He was certain these closets were only for decoration, to make it a bit more than just an empty house like maze. Is this the reason why he never found that final survivor yet? Because they just hid in the closets?
Pretending to not notice anything, Takumi would begin to walk pass the closet, pretending to not notice anything too obvious. "I heard that.... I know you're close by. Did you bang your knee around the corner? Think you can still run from me?" He'd begin to question out loud in a taunting voice while walking away a fair distance before finally stopping and as quietly as he could he'd return to the closet. A wide smile on his face, he'd swing the door wide open with the knife raised high and the kid actually screamed as Takumi brought the blade down onto him. Poor man, probably did not expect to get jump scared like that.
Finally it was just him and the other one. None had even gotten close to the exit, he was certain but where the hell was the last guy? Had to be in the closets and probably snuck past him already. Determined, Takumi would begin making his way back to where he had been released from. He had to find the exit and remove the final survivor, this victory would be his and there would be no survivors! He'll kill them all!
He stopped his manic laugh with a cough before it could even begin. He was really getting into character there. But really, he was going to get a perfect game on his first try, maybe it was just luck or maybe he just knew how to track people down well but none of them had gotten very far for very long. Only question was would his luck and skill be enough for the final person who moved with a purpose?
The next 5 minutes was a game of quiet cat and mouse with neither truly knowing where the other was currently, Takumi would stalk the hallways and open each closet, ready to stab the final man standing each and every time while the unknown survivor inched closer and closer to victory.
Alas Takumi's slow methodical approach paid off and the final survivor was driven from her hiding spot and forced into a final chase. "Don't run, this is the best part!" He'd call out to her as he chased the blonde girl who had just erupted from a closet down the hall and chose to try her own luck in the maze than waiting for Takumi to capture her in the closet. She was fast, nearly as fast as himself but she made one mistake. She went left instead of right and ended up at a dead end.
With the final victim gone, the game was over and the lights came on. Distantly he thought he could hear the thud of someone falling over and a small cry from a girl confirmed it must've been the girlfriend. Raising his mask with a smile, he told the final girl that it was a good game and she probably would've got away with it if some kid didn't try the same thing. She only laughed it off and said she had fun anyways before the two parted ways. Takumi to return his clothing and weapon while the girl presumably got her skull token and went about her day.
Once everything was said and done, Takumi stood outside the maze with the final skull token and wide smile on his face. That was a good idea to end on that note after the terrifying haunted boat ride that he was certain was gonna leave some scars about future haunted rides. Now he just had to figure out where the hell he was supposed to hand these things in.
TWC: 3,780
Walking through the little decorated town, he seen plenty of kids running around in costumes with treats handed out by various vendors who had set up little shops for both adults and children alike with a strong emphasis on snacks. Some of those vendors even gave the option for the child to pick a bag of candy or one of the treats they were selling, which honestly sounded like a good idea to the man. Too bad he was too old to go trick or treating for himself, some of the food looked so good and he didn't want to spend too much of his money on little treats, besides the candy apple he had been craving for a while now was good enough for him at the moment.
Yet that is when he spotted something very strange, a strange pot that would look like it would fit right in with a picture book story or a witch brewing potions had been placed near the end of the food stalls with only one kind lady watching over the pot to stir and serve the cups to customers. The strange thing however was that once sipping the punch, something seemed to happened to the customers, he watched as a group drank and 2 of them moved to cover their mouth and their friends would laugh at them. Until one of them became a girl. The laughter turned toward the poor gender swapped person before they began to walk away, seemingly content to have the strange effects linger until they wore off.
Takumi was comfortable as a man but he did question just how would he look like as a girl so with nothing better to do and deciding that a drink wouldn't be the worst thing to have right now, he made to get himself a drink of the weird potion, the kind lady only telling him that the effects will last for 24 hours and will be completely random. Taking a shot, he waited to see what would happen to him. Then he waited longer. And waited even longer.
Then she told him that some times there will be no effect as well while offering him an apologetic smile alongside a strange skull token that she explained was part of the festival's challenge. Collect 3 of the skull tokens in numerous little challenges for a reward? If it was something as simple as drinking punch, Takumi felt he could totally do it so with this new piece of information, he went forward into the festival, determined to try out the attractions he had passed over on his quest for a candy apple.
Obviously the first stop in his journey was going to be the haunted... Boat ride? Man, that would be such a cruel ride for anyone with a fear of drowning. Regardless he wanted to see just how magic would affect the ability to scare people, they could actually raise zombies or summon ghosts or even potentially decapitate themselves safely. The possibilities for a haunted forest would be endless and he was gonna see how they'd handle it here! With an easy going smile on his face, he'd enter the small little cave that had been erected, likely by someone with similar magic to his own if he had to guess. Or perhaps he never noticed it before, not like he has been to this town all too often.
Within the tunnel was some fog clinging to the ground and the lighting left patches of darkness, not enough that he was struggling to see but just enough to make him question if they'd scare people within the cave as well. Then again, if someone could blend into the surfaces, they'd likely save that trick until the boat ride, would be kinda a dick move to scare people in line. This was just setting the mood, no, he didn't swear he could see eyes peeking out in the darkness, it was just a trick of the mind. He was only walking quickly to get to the boat and see what scary things would be there and nothing more, that feeling of being watched and strangely warm draft of wind on the back of his neck had no impact on his decision to hurry along.
The workers had a bit too smug of a grin seeing the taller blonde come out of the tunnel and out into the a smaller private section of the harbor if he had to guess by the boats not far off here that he could see. They helped him onto the boat and explained the rules, which were pretty standard affair for similar rides back in his realm so he simply nodded along and felt some nervous excitement build up inside of himself as he prepared for the tricks they'd try to perform on this little boat ride. A small part of him had noted that it wasn't too late to back out but by then the boat had been set adrift.
If he was still new to this world, he would've been questioning the fact that only a small patch of mist was set up right where his boat was going but he knew the answer. Magic was frankly a bullshit way to explain stuff in his old realm but here it was just common knowledge and even old legends such as Big Foot could be explained as some form of magic. It kinda took away the mystery of the universe but any further philosophical thoughts about life and knowledge were put on hold as he came across what appeared to be a purple barrier? But he couldn't exactly control where the boat was going so... What was the point of this barrier? Turn off magic perhaps? But why wait this long?
Whatever purpose the barrier served didn't seem to matter too much as he and his boat passed on through harmlessly. He couldn't even say it felt like passing through something, if he had to explain it, he would say it felt like passing through a light back on the highways of his old realm, you're only aware because of the lighting and it doesn't actually feel like anything. He could even vaguely feel his connection to the Earth and his strange inner magic remain as they were but he didn't exactly want to ruin the experience by interrupting the ride just to test if that barrier stopped his use of magic. With only a shrug he looked around the mist, curious when the terrors would begin.
Then he saw it. A subtle movement in the distance, as if something big had merely swam by and the boat itself reacted to the change of waves sent it's way. He never did question the animal life possible in this realm and he had a feeling that he was gonna get to confirm sea monsters can both exist in this realm and could potentially deadly yet still be under the command of someone. Behind him, something splashed and he turned toward the source, eager to see what the monster could be, his money was on a Kraken but without seeing it, he couldn't be certain.
"Takumi..."
An almost impossibly loud whisper felt so close to his ear yet sounded so far away caused the man to turn toward where he thought he heard the voice. It had sounded so familiar as well, he could've sworn he had head that voice somewhere before but he couldn't place who it was.
"Where are you?"
It whispered again, he turned once more to look for the source. The familiarity was something that was bugging him more than the voice itself, he knew for a fact he had heard it before but every time he tried to place a face to the voice, it wasn't correct. He knew it had to be an old realm person, only real girl he had contact with on a regular basis with Zincarla and she didn't sound like this voice. So who was it?
"Taku? Can you hear me?"
Taku? Only people close to him had called him that but no obvious answer came to his mind about who this person could be. He wasn't ever really close to any girls in his life, he was busy with studying and training for football so dating wasn't really an option and most people he had regular contact with was his fellow jocks. Sure there were some cheerleaders he talked with but nothing ever really came from it beyond some friends but none were particular close to him.
Before he could ponder on that any further, he realized something crucial, tentacles had been ever so gently wrapping around the ship and almost as if it too realized he had broken out of the strange spell, it pulled the ship down under and the water had turned out to be a whole lot colder than he expected as Takumi was forced to inhale a mouthful of water during his descent.
"Takkkuuuummmiiiiii"
The voice that had been distracting him so long had called out in a low tone, almost playful yet unlike before he could see the source. A single beak had been mimicking someone important to him. As if this creature was a mixture of a mermaid and kraken. He didn't even realize, his mind had just been forced to think about the familiarity rather than the sea monster he had seen, was it part of it's magical voice? Then he felt a tentacle wrap around his torso, pinning his arms to his body.
He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe and if that thing spoke, his mind was almost forced too wander, to try and place where the voice he thought he recognized came from. He begun to thrash around, trying to use his muscles to break the grip it had on him while forcing the rest of his oxygen out in a scream to drown out any further noises the creature would try to make but the tentacle held stronger and his lungs were already burning. He could feel the water seeping into his open mouth and he felt himself beginning to choke as the monster brought him closer to it's beak, content to eat the terrified blonde in a single bite.
And then Takumi was on his knees back on the boat, coughing up imaginary water and reeling from lack of air. He was completely dry and there was no sign that the man had nearly drowned underwater to a beast that sunk the ship while distracting him with memories of a past he may never return to. When the ship came to a rest back at the docks, he rose with shaking knees and a quiet thank you to the worker who handed him a single skull token. His focus was shot and he needed a moment to calm himself, so putting a pause on the hunt for the final skull token, he went for another candy apple and some more treats.
It took nearly 20 minutes for the man to get back to himself and it was only with a promise to himself to never fuck around with magic and horror again. Still he needed one more skull token before he could claim a reward and he'd be damned if that ride would cost him the courage needed for the final skull token.
So it was with the remains of his courage that he found himself before a supposed "murder maze" where people would be put in groups of 8 with one of them being selected as the killer tasked to stop the remaining people from escaping by tagging them with a weapon of their choice. No magic would be involved aside from the weapons themselves that would have some sort of enchantment that would make the entire weapon as harmless as a feather yet would paralyze people upon contact.
That sounded like it would be a fun time even without a maze but always wondering where the killer was? Being chased and realizing you hit a dead end? That gave a certain amount of excitement with the worst that could happen being a bad fall but one of the first things you learned in Football was how to take a fall. He doubted he'd even fall but if he did, he knew how to minimize injury. The other people didn't look too fit to the man but the goal was to survive, not to bring your entire team with you. Sure some of them wanted to team up but others had the same mindset of himself to stick alone and try your luck.
What he didn't expect was for himself to be elected the serial killer of the maze. The staff brought him to another side of the maze and gave him a few options to pick from in terms of props and costumes. Ultimately Takumi chose to represent something that looked a bit similar to Ghost Face from his realm, the white face with long mouth and black eyes looked almost like a knock off version of the character but it would work. They even gave him a voice box as he requested and after adjusting the voice a bit, it sounded just like the iconic killer.
When the buzzer went off, Takumi felt a new wave of excitement wash over him as he entered the maze as well, uncertain where the people were but listening in carefully for footsteps and the voices of people talking among themselves. Three younger folks, maybe teenagers were arguing about which way to go. A couple were talking about how unlucky that the strongest looking guy was picked as the killer. Two were unaccounted for, likely the loners had already sunk off to try their luck.
One of them wasn't lucky however as the man seemed to think Takumi wouldn't be so close, the man's footsteps were loud and the blonde had plenty of time to hide around the corner so when the man tried to run pass the corner, he ran right into the blade and the now paralyzed man had be left frozen in shock. "Peekaboo." The distorted voice of Takumi would taunt before he would back away from his victim and enter the prowl for more targets. The second person to fall had been one of the teenagers, likely deciding to split off from the couple and his friends over their disagreement. "I see yooouuu." Takumi would call out with the voice changer.
Immediately he'd begin to run and Takumi would take chase. He was younger but not anywhere near as fit as Takumi, the larger man had easily planted the knife in his back before he could try to round the corner. Only moments later would the voice of one of his friend's try to call out from around the very same corner that the teen tried to run toward, the fact that he had nearly made it to his friends must've irritated him. Now it lead right to the meat of the survivors and one of them was coming right toward him but it seems not all of them was stupid as one of them warned the next victim that it was very possible that Takumi stood around the corner.
Cover blown, Takumi jumped around the corner and stabbed the blade into the side of the teen's neck, the kid didn't even have time to react as he froze in place and watched his final friend and the couple flee. "Better luck next time kiddo." Takumi would tell the kid before running after the three survivors who were forced to backtrack, the final teenager running off to the right while the couple went to the left.
The choice was obvious as soon as the kid split off and the couple refused to do the same. If they wished to stay together that badly, they'd die together as well. The distance they covered weren't nearly as impressive as the teenager and the woman was the slower of the two but it didn't even matter anyways as they hit a dead end. Out of breath, the couple stood before him and while the man seemed defeated and accepting, the woman seemed ready to make one final desperate move. She nearly dodged the knife that slit across her chest to her neck but the fact she froze in her final mad dash proved she wasn't that agile and the man joined without a fight, a single swipe across his neck left him frozen as well.
"Two remaining." The blonde said more for the others than himself, he didn't want to imagine how awkward of a position the woman must be in, stuck to remain ready to run yet still balanced enough to not fall down. Takumi knew he should work fast on her behalf and he begun to track the final kid before trying to hunt the lone wanderer that evaded him thus far.
Retracing his steps back to where the kid had split off had took a fair amount of time but Takumi had the advantage of starting closer to the exit so the kid would have to run toward where he had saw Takumi take out his friend who still remained standing there and was now watching him. Man, that must be pretty boring if you get taken out instantly like that other guy. "Don't you worry. I'll find your little friend soon." He'd reassure the kid before continuing his hunt down where he had last seen the final kid run off toward. He knew this was a game but he had to admit being a killer was seriously a lot of fun, the waiting and listening and getting them taken out was a rush of fun. Surely this wouldn't open any possible downsides in the future.
The sound of something rustling nearby caught his attention and he looked toward the source to see a suspiciously placed closet. No. There's no way he thought to hide in a closet... And then fucked it up. Takumi had seen a few of them placed throughout the maze but he never considered even checking them because who the fuck hides in one? This kid apparently and he sucks ass at it. He was certain these closets were only for decoration, to make it a bit more than just an empty house like maze. Is this the reason why he never found that final survivor yet? Because they just hid in the closets?
Pretending to not notice anything, Takumi would begin to walk pass the closet, pretending to not notice anything too obvious. "I heard that.... I know you're close by. Did you bang your knee around the corner? Think you can still run from me?" He'd begin to question out loud in a taunting voice while walking away a fair distance before finally stopping and as quietly as he could he'd return to the closet. A wide smile on his face, he'd swing the door wide open with the knife raised high and the kid actually screamed as Takumi brought the blade down onto him. Poor man, probably did not expect to get jump scared like that.
Finally it was just him and the other one. None had even gotten close to the exit, he was certain but where the hell was the last guy? Had to be in the closets and probably snuck past him already. Determined, Takumi would begin making his way back to where he had been released from. He had to find the exit and remove the final survivor, this victory would be his and there would be no survivors! He'll kill them all!
He stopped his manic laugh with a cough before it could even begin. He was really getting into character there. But really, he was going to get a perfect game on his first try, maybe it was just luck or maybe he just knew how to track people down well but none of them had gotten very far for very long. Only question was would his luck and skill be enough for the final person who moved with a purpose?
The next 5 minutes was a game of quiet cat and mouse with neither truly knowing where the other was currently, Takumi would stalk the hallways and open each closet, ready to stab the final man standing each and every time while the unknown survivor inched closer and closer to victory.
Alas Takumi's slow methodical approach paid off and the final survivor was driven from her hiding spot and forced into a final chase. "Don't run, this is the best part!" He'd call out to her as he chased the blonde girl who had just erupted from a closet down the hall and chose to try her own luck in the maze than waiting for Takumi to capture her in the closet. She was fast, nearly as fast as himself but she made one mistake. She went left instead of right and ended up at a dead end.
With the final victim gone, the game was over and the lights came on. Distantly he thought he could hear the thud of someone falling over and a small cry from a girl confirmed it must've been the girlfriend. Raising his mask with a smile, he told the final girl that it was a good game and she probably would've got away with it if some kid didn't try the same thing. She only laughed it off and said she had fun anyways before the two parted ways. Takumi to return his clothing and weapon while the girl presumably got her skull token and went about her day.
Once everything was said and done, Takumi stood outside the maze with the final skull token and wide smile on his face. That was a good idea to end on that note after the terrifying haunted boat ride that he was certain was gonna leave some scars about future haunted rides. Now he just had to figure out where the hell he was supposed to hand these things in.
TWC: 3,780
Last edited by Takumi Yoko on 15th November 2022, 7:10 pm; edited 1 time in total