“Ahhhhh!”
“Kyaaaa!”
I screamed and clung to Haru. Haru also screamed and clung to me. We ended up hugging each other tightly. What could possibly make us scream like this, you ask? Well… Haru and I were watching a horror movie.
We were sitting on the bed, completely sucked into the TV. Half-eaten popcorn was scattered on the desk, and I was picking it up piece by piece to eat. But suddenly, a scary scene popped up, and I was so startled that I couldn’t move away from Haru.
Haru had brought over a movie she said was fun, but it turned out to be a total disaster. The zombies were swarming everywhere, and it felt like the world was about to end. How could anyone survive in a world full of zombies?!
“Wasn’t it fun?”
Haru, who had been screaming earlier, now looked completely fine. Meanwhile, I was still trembling from the aftereffects of the horror movie. Haru seemed like the type to shake off fear instantly.
“Uh… yeah…”
Haru was laughing, so I had to show some dignity as an adult man. If I kept trembling and looking scared, I’d definitely be treated like a child. But the image of zombies tearing into people just wouldn’t leave my mind.
Haru seemed to have a secret interest in gore. Who else would watch such a terrifying horror movie? Of course, she had asked me beforehand if I was okay with it. I nodded, thinking it would be like before.
Back then, I used to watch horror movies even while eating. After all, it was just a fictional world, right? So, scary things didn’t really scare me.
But after my body changed, watching horror movies made cold sweat pour down my back. My mind knew it was just a movie, but my body didn’t seem to get the memo. It felt like it was really happening.
“Let’s watch this next~”
Haru, now completely calm, suggested the next movie. Was it another horror film? I wasn’t ready for another round of scares. Thankfully, it turned out to be a comedy. I sighed in relief.
If we had watched another horror movie back-to-back, I might not have been able to sleep alone tonight.
—
“Ugh…”
It was 10 PM, the time when good kids should be in bed, snoring away. Normally, I’d stay up until dawn, but ever since this body changed, I got super sleepy by 10 PM. I closed my heavy eyes and tried to fall asleep.
But as soon as I closed my eyes, all I could see was the terrifying image of zombies.
“Gah!”
It was so scary that I had to open my eyes again. The dark room was too frightening, so I got up and turned on the light. The bright room was somewhat comforting, but the light was too harsh to sleep with.
I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I turned off the light, it’d be too scary, but leaving it on made it too bright to sleep. After much deliberation, I just plopped back onto the bed.
Pulling the blanket over my head, I noticed the light dimmed a bit. I tried my best to close my eyes and fall asleep. But even with the light on, the scenes from the horror movie didn’t disappear. In fact, they played back even more vividly in my mind.
I desperately tried to think of the comedy movie we watched earlier. A character in ridiculous makeup approached the protagonist.
Good…
But then the makeup peeled off, revealing a blood-dripping zombie face. It mercilessly bit into the protagonist’s shoulder, so hard you could see the muscles.
“Eek!!!”
I kicked the blanket and had to get up. Thinking about the comedy scenes didn’t help. The funny moments in my mind suddenly turned into zombie attacks, completely changing the scene.
I put on my shoes and, still in my dinosaur pajamas, moved to go outside. But when I opened the door, there was nothing on either side. Just a long, empty hallway. It felt like zombies could pop out at any moment.
Cold sweat soaked my back. I was all alone now. No one…
I wished someone could stay by my side. The empty hallway was so eerie it scared me. It felt like a ghost might pop out from the passageway next to me. I resisted the urge to go back into the room. Honestly, even going back into the room was scary. There was no retreat now. I clenched my eyes shut and sprinted down the middle of the hallway. My goal was the office. If I could just get to the office! Maybe someone would be there?
Waving my arms around like a maniac, using my superhuman abilities to avoid crashing into the walls, I finally made it to the office and let out a sigh of relief. Surely, there was nothing scary now, right? I took a deep breath in front of the door. After all, I wasn’t running away from the room because I was scared—I was just stopping by the office for a bit.
Absolutely not like a little kid who couldn’t sleep after watching a horror movie and was whining all night! I wasn’t that childish. I sneaked into the room like a thief, hiding behind the open door, and saw Haru looking at something on her laptop. Next to her was a bag of shrimp chips.
It annoyed me that she was so focused she didn’t even notice me coming in. I went through all this trouble to get here, and Haru was just munching on snacks and staring at her laptop!
*Heh.*
I smirked and tiptoed behind Haru. I planned to smack her back and scare her. It was her punishment for not understanding how scared I was. As I crept closer on my tiptoes, I could see what was on Haru’s laptop screen.
!!
Suddenly, a bloodied person appeared on the screen, which had been blank just moments ago. I screamed.
“Ahhh!”
I jumped up and down, thoroughly reacting to the ghost on the laptop screen. Haru turned around after hearing my scream. Our eyes met.
I awkwardly smiled.
“Haru, what are you doing up so late?”
Haru looked at me with a puzzled expression. Well, it was definitely time to be asleep. Staying up this late was weird. But what could I do? I was too scared to sleep.
Even if I forced myself to close my eyes and try to sleep, it wasn’t working.
“Uh… just! I was wondering what you were up to, so I came to check!”
But Haru just smirked and said,
“By any chance, did you come here because you were scared?”
Haru hit the nail on the head. I froze and shook my head vigorously. If I admitted it, she’d definitely think I was a kid. But I couldn’t hide the trembling of my body.
Haru smiled helplessly and pulled me into a hug. I decided to be Haru’s stuffed animal for the day. But as I sat on her lap, the scene on the laptop was way too vivid. I subtly closed the laptop lid. If I watched any more of that horror movie, I wouldn’t be able to sleep, let alone go back to my room.
I used to love horror movies, but it seems like my tastes changed along with my body. Watching horror movies and sleeping wasn’t even an issue before.
I thought I’d have to rely on Haru today. Haru, seeing me like this, opened her laptop again, turned off the horror movie, and started playing a fun variety show.
By the way, does Haru not work at night and just watch variety shows or movies on her laptop? Well, there’s no way there’d be work to do at night. I heard there wasn’t even night shift before I came.
If you think about it simply, the night shift was like being on duty to check if anything weird happened at night. It was natural that there wasn’t much to do besides taking care of me.
In Haru’s warm embrace, I laughed out loud watching the fun variety show, completely forgetting about the horror movie I had just seen. Being together like this was way better than being alone in my room.
It was the perfect act. Haru would never think I was the kind of person who couldn’t sleep after watching a horror movie.
