Downix One Shots
Downix One Shots
Over the past several months I have been working on a lot of short pieces and it is time to share.
Re: Downix One Shots
On the discord channel they held a Halloween contest and I was a runner up with this piece.
The Ghost of Yamaku
Kenji’s Journal, October 30
Found another marker. The gaki are active again. Hungry ghosts who will torment the living if allowed to roam free. Hall-mate unaware of how close to death he was on the first day of school.
Used overnight as opportunity to inspect the desk. The binding scroll hidden within its leg had been removed. Ashes, I assume from burning it, were found in the hallway outside.
Review case: Single desk at school has had 5 people sit at it in two years. All have been found dead by apparent suicide within a week of occupying the desk. Two were once my hall-mates, a boy who couldn’t speak that was originally from France, Denmark, Paraguay, one of those European nations, and the other who kept to himself.
Moving the desk failed to achieve anything, as it returned to it’s spot the next morning. No sign of it being dragged or lifted. Just one minute it was thrown down the stairs, the next, back in its original location.
Occasionally the desk relocates itself, typically between classrooms, but so far it has not moved since June, reason unknown.
New seal in place, this time hidden within the metalwork inside the cursed object.
Hopefully whomever keeps destroying them is less successful in finding this one.
There is a dark chill to Yamaku this month, like some evil is ready to strike. The Feminist plot to free the gaki must be coming to fruition.
Returning as the sun rose, I found hall-mate outside of his room. The usual morning banter I have found is a way to cheer him up. Discover that his girlfriend is planning on coming up for the weekend soon. Offer to make them my world famous garlic pizza with tuna stuffed crust. Rudely turned down.
Once dorms have emptied for classes, set about inspecting the offerings left for the gaki. All 14 are intact. Whomever keeps damaging the seal must be either unaware or unconcerned over them. Or perhaps they just lack taste and hate olives. The gaki do appreciate them however, considering how I need to replace the empty jars at the end of each week.
My morning sleep was disturbed by dark visions of horror descending on Yamaku.
Something bad will happen, and it will happen soon.
When I rose at noon, I set about using the lunch break to inspect the desk again.
The seal has already been removed. Whomever it is, must be in that classroom.
My hall-mate is in a class with a psychotic murderer and has no idea.
Action must be taken tonight, or else disaster will befall us all.
Kenji’s Journal, October 31
Putting tonight into words is proving most difficult. After dinner, Hall-mate informed me that the teacher had made students switch desks around, supposedly to force students to interact with others they had not before. It took some effort to gain the information needed, but he has been assigned to the desk.
If the cycle holds true, he will die by apparent suicide by midnight tomorrow.
I left only after he promised not to leave his room before I come to get him. I have to stop the person behind this!
Returning to the room, and the desk is gone. An inspection of all other rooms in the building occupies all night, but I fail to locate the desk. It is as if it has vanished off the face of the planet. But I have seen it move before, and the curse still took the life of poor LaLouche.
Fortunately the roof is now locked, off-limits to everyone. I lobbied the student council hard for that. Only one member, that quiet chick, ignored the idea when I presented it, but her friend was so excited that she was waving her arms about as I talked.
This means the curse has to find a new way to kill. Hopefully that will buy me time to save my buddy.
Whatever the desk is, it has rules. It only kills once a trimester. It only kills year 3 students. And it only kills boys. Clearly, the work of the feminists, seeking to eliminate the best and brightest of mankind.
Tonight, the gaki offerings have all vanished without a trace. Whomever is controlling the desk must have taken them. And I know the Aura Mart does not have enough jars of olives to replace them in time. My best friend at school is in trouble.
And with tomorrow being Wednesday, that means a full day of classes in which I can explore for clues. But whatever happens, I can’t let him die like the others.
He’s not exactly the best friend I’ve ever had, but he’s still cool.
Plus, who else will I bum pizza money off of?
I am going to bed early in order to have maximum energy to work tomorrow.
Kenji’s Journal, November 1
If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would never believe what happened.
When I woke, my hall-mate was nowhere I could find. Worse, someone had been in my room while I slept and stole one of the bottles of whiskey my mother sends for me to appease the ogre of the woods.
I must reinforce my door. No time for self blame, must save him. Will worry about adding locks to my door later. Not wanting to tip my hand, I only took with me my trusty bottle of blessed tea and a pocket torch.
Quick checks, and nobody he hangs out with knows where he is. I even went and talked to my class rep, and that useless boy doesn’t know either. No idea why our class elected him to represent us.
In a moment of clarity, I borrowed a telescope from that pale faced first year with the skunk hair, and saw it. The fence around the roof had been taken down.
I don’t know how fast I moved, but it felt like moments later, I found the door to the roof open, the lock broken and forgotten on the ground.
What I found up there however stopped me cold.
The roof, cold and now long abandoned since LaLouche back in June, was occupied by two figures, one leaning over the other, slowly forcing him back.
I was watching someone who looked just like me crawling towards poor Seiho, who understandably kept retreating, whiskey bottle in hand.
Thinking quickly, I lit the torch and applied it to the bottle of tea. Stepping out, I boldly declared to my doppelganger, “Back off, Bitch!”
The next moments will be forever seared into my memory. Not-me charged in my direction, dropping it’s disguise and revealing the gaki within. Once I knew I could do so safely, I removed the cork from the bottle of tea, and sprayed it on the spirit.
The blessed tea did its job, of course. I prepared it myself after all. The gaki dissolved before me, like I’d poured turpentine over a canvas of fresh paint.
It took an hour before Seiho understood what had happened. I convinced him to take a break for a few days, and go see that girl of his.
The rest of the night I spent blessing the classrooms, to cleanse them of the gaki’s malevolence. I hope that by costing whomever it is the sacrifice, their power would be diminished to the point that the desk will never return.
…
Kenji’s Journal, June 4
For the first time since Seiho graduated I have a hallmate again. This kid is absolutely hopeless, such a babe in the woods. If he only had seen what I’ve seen.
Since he is a transfer, they stuck him in the class with the student council president. To be thorough, I went through my usual inspection. Only when the guardians relax their duty does evil befall mankind.
Expecting nothing, I checked the room, and found that the desk had returned.
Thankfully, the teacher assigned my new hall-mate to the other empty seat. But now, the game of cat and mouse begins again.
The Ghost of Yamaku
Kenji’s Journal, October 30
Found another marker. The gaki are active again. Hungry ghosts who will torment the living if allowed to roam free. Hall-mate unaware of how close to death he was on the first day of school.
Used overnight as opportunity to inspect the desk. The binding scroll hidden within its leg had been removed. Ashes, I assume from burning it, were found in the hallway outside.
Review case: Single desk at school has had 5 people sit at it in two years. All have been found dead by apparent suicide within a week of occupying the desk. Two were once my hall-mates, a boy who couldn’t speak that was originally from France, Denmark, Paraguay, one of those European nations, and the other who kept to himself.
Moving the desk failed to achieve anything, as it returned to it’s spot the next morning. No sign of it being dragged or lifted. Just one minute it was thrown down the stairs, the next, back in its original location.
Occasionally the desk relocates itself, typically between classrooms, but so far it has not moved since June, reason unknown.
New seal in place, this time hidden within the metalwork inside the cursed object.
Hopefully whomever keeps destroying them is less successful in finding this one.
There is a dark chill to Yamaku this month, like some evil is ready to strike. The Feminist plot to free the gaki must be coming to fruition.
Returning as the sun rose, I found hall-mate outside of his room. The usual morning banter I have found is a way to cheer him up. Discover that his girlfriend is planning on coming up for the weekend soon. Offer to make them my world famous garlic pizza with tuna stuffed crust. Rudely turned down.
Once dorms have emptied for classes, set about inspecting the offerings left for the gaki. All 14 are intact. Whomever keeps damaging the seal must be either unaware or unconcerned over them. Or perhaps they just lack taste and hate olives. The gaki do appreciate them however, considering how I need to replace the empty jars at the end of each week.
My morning sleep was disturbed by dark visions of horror descending on Yamaku.
Something bad will happen, and it will happen soon.
When I rose at noon, I set about using the lunch break to inspect the desk again.
The seal has already been removed. Whomever it is, must be in that classroom.
My hall-mate is in a class with a psychotic murderer and has no idea.
Action must be taken tonight, or else disaster will befall us all.
Kenji’s Journal, October 31
Putting tonight into words is proving most difficult. After dinner, Hall-mate informed me that the teacher had made students switch desks around, supposedly to force students to interact with others they had not before. It took some effort to gain the information needed, but he has been assigned to the desk.
If the cycle holds true, he will die by apparent suicide by midnight tomorrow.
I left only after he promised not to leave his room before I come to get him. I have to stop the person behind this!
Returning to the room, and the desk is gone. An inspection of all other rooms in the building occupies all night, but I fail to locate the desk. It is as if it has vanished off the face of the planet. But I have seen it move before, and the curse still took the life of poor LaLouche.
Fortunately the roof is now locked, off-limits to everyone. I lobbied the student council hard for that. Only one member, that quiet chick, ignored the idea when I presented it, but her friend was so excited that she was waving her arms about as I talked.
This means the curse has to find a new way to kill. Hopefully that will buy me time to save my buddy.
Whatever the desk is, it has rules. It only kills once a trimester. It only kills year 3 students. And it only kills boys. Clearly, the work of the feminists, seeking to eliminate the best and brightest of mankind.
Tonight, the gaki offerings have all vanished without a trace. Whomever is controlling the desk must have taken them. And I know the Aura Mart does not have enough jars of olives to replace them in time. My best friend at school is in trouble.
And with tomorrow being Wednesday, that means a full day of classes in which I can explore for clues. But whatever happens, I can’t let him die like the others.
He’s not exactly the best friend I’ve ever had, but he’s still cool.
Plus, who else will I bum pizza money off of?
I am going to bed early in order to have maximum energy to work tomorrow.
Kenji’s Journal, November 1
If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would never believe what happened.
When I woke, my hall-mate was nowhere I could find. Worse, someone had been in my room while I slept and stole one of the bottles of whiskey my mother sends for me to appease the ogre of the woods.
I must reinforce my door. No time for self blame, must save him. Will worry about adding locks to my door later. Not wanting to tip my hand, I only took with me my trusty bottle of blessed tea and a pocket torch.
Quick checks, and nobody he hangs out with knows where he is. I even went and talked to my class rep, and that useless boy doesn’t know either. No idea why our class elected him to represent us.
In a moment of clarity, I borrowed a telescope from that pale faced first year with the skunk hair, and saw it. The fence around the roof had been taken down.
I don’t know how fast I moved, but it felt like moments later, I found the door to the roof open, the lock broken and forgotten on the ground.
What I found up there however stopped me cold.
The roof, cold and now long abandoned since LaLouche back in June, was occupied by two figures, one leaning over the other, slowly forcing him back.
I was watching someone who looked just like me crawling towards poor Seiho, who understandably kept retreating, whiskey bottle in hand.
Thinking quickly, I lit the torch and applied it to the bottle of tea. Stepping out, I boldly declared to my doppelganger, “Back off, Bitch!”
The next moments will be forever seared into my memory. Not-me charged in my direction, dropping it’s disguise and revealing the gaki within. Once I knew I could do so safely, I removed the cork from the bottle of tea, and sprayed it on the spirit.
The blessed tea did its job, of course. I prepared it myself after all. The gaki dissolved before me, like I’d poured turpentine over a canvas of fresh paint.
It took an hour before Seiho understood what had happened. I convinced him to take a break for a few days, and go see that girl of his.
The rest of the night I spent blessing the classrooms, to cleanse them of the gaki’s malevolence. I hope that by costing whomever it is the sacrifice, their power would be diminished to the point that the desk will never return.
…
Kenji’s Journal, June 4
For the first time since Seiho graduated I have a hallmate again. This kid is absolutely hopeless, such a babe in the woods. If he only had seen what I’ve seen.
Since he is a transfer, they stuck him in the class with the student council president. To be thorough, I went through my usual inspection. Only when the guardians relax their duty does evil befall mankind.
Expecting nothing, I checked the room, and found that the desk had returned.
Thankfully, the teacher assigned my new hall-mate to the other empty seat. But now, the game of cat and mouse begins again.
-
Mirage_GSM
- Posts: 6212
- Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:24 am
- Location: Germany
Re: Downix One Shots
That was enjoyable. Not really the Christmas Spirit, but really fitting for Halloween 
One small typo(?):
One small typo(?):
And of course your usual formatting problems... Not much of a problem for a short story like this, but I'm not sure I would be able to get through something longer like that.Whomever it is, must be in that classroom.
Emi > Misha > Hanako > Lilly > Rin > Shizune
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
Sore wa himitsu desu.griffon8 wrote:Kosher, just because sex is your answer to everything doesn't mean that sex is the answer to everything.
Re: Downix One Shots
Very enjoyable piece - great characterisation of Kenji, and humanisation, I love the implication that Kenji's watching over Hisao, even if it's a bit unsettling. Oh, and Merry Christmas too! Was a nice read for Christmas Eve... I think. 
My Molly Route
Ekephrasis and Other Stories
Ekephrasis and Other Stories
- CraftyAtomI hate when people ruin perfectly good literature with literary terminology.
Re: Downix One Shots
That was certainly different from what you normally see.
The supernatural climax of the story could have been a bit longer though.
The supernatural climax of the story could have been a bit longer though.
Not Dead Yet