Chapter Text
The thing about Saturday mornings was that Hinata either found it incredibly easy to pull himself out of bed, or it felt like one of the most difficult things he’d ever experienced.
And as Hinata fell out of a hazy state of slumber and into a bleak reality with absolutely nothing to do for the next sixteen hours, he found that the morning could definitely be classified as the latter. With a begrudging sigh he flipped over onto his stomach and buried his face into the pillow beneath him, before starting a slow count. Five... four... three... two....
He abruptly pulled off the covers with an unnecessary force, flipped over once again and stepped out of bed. He had virtually no idea what he would occupy himself with for the day, but he figured just getting ready for the day would kill time in itself.
Unfortunately, he was faced with deciding what he would do sooner than he would have liked, sitting on his bed fully dressed and mulling over his options. Usually he welcomed a good vacation, but seeing as how it had only been four days and already he found himself painfully bored, he could tell this was going to be a pretty drawn out vacation. With almost everyone out of town, and having finished his homework a few days prior, he had almost nothing left to do for the remainder of the week. One of the only friends he had left in town was Souda Kazuichi, and even he wouldn't be getting off work for another nine hours. Hinata was happy he’d finally found a job outside of his own family business, no matter how underpaid it was, but. It really sucked that his only friend in town was busy most of the time now.
He briefly contemplated the idea of stopping by the shop just to say hi to his friend, but he had a feeling once there it would be pretty hard to bring himself to leave. Or worse, it would be hard for Souda to have him leave.
Using his better judgement, he told himself to steer clear of the area.
And with that in mind, he made his way down the stairs.
He wasn’t really hungry, so breakfast could wait until later. He figured if he did get hungry along the way, there was always the option of stopping by a shop and picking up something to eat there. And with his father away on business and mother either asleep or out to work as well, there wasn’t anything stopping him from going straight to the door.
Hinata did just that, stopping to put on the right shoes, before a familiar voice called after him.
"Oh, you're leaving! I have to head to work in an hour, but you'll find money and a list of food we need by the door."
So she was home and awake, just not for long...
"Got it!" He called after her, finishing up lacing his shoes before finding them both right where she said they would be. He stored both away in his pocket and made his way outside.
Hinata was pretty sure she didn't need her groceries right away, so now would be a good a time as any to kill some time before he got back home.
He stepped outside and was greeted by relatively warm weather and the slight breeze against his cheek. Feeling significantly less groggy than before, he started walking.
Hinata found himself wandering for a while, beginning to enjoy the leisure of getting around without anything important weighing him down.
He wasn’t sure exactly how long he had been walking, but knew it had been at least half an hour as he was reaching an area a good distance from his house. He turned the corner, deciding to circle the block and then head back home, stopping to get groceries and maybe eat something he’d purchased along the way.
But as he turned the corner, his paced slowly, immediately noticing someone out of the norm. A gaunt looking man with a disheveled appearance, and a seemingly scattered way of carrying himself. He pushed along a covered cart with stumbling foot steps and shaky hands, calling people’s attention with a strained voice.
The vendor was eager to sell, but he looked like he wasn't getting anyone’s attention. Hinata had to pity the man; he looked dirty and beyond agitated, as though he was worried he’d get caught at any given moment. He’d feel bad passing him without giving his merchandise so much as a second glance, but that would just give him false hope that Hinata planned on buying anything. Still, he felt… guilty…
So when he passed by the street vendor pushing his cart and calling out to others, he decided to briefly make eye contact and offer a weak smile as opposed to the cold response of others.
And immediately he knew he had made a mistake. His pace began to speed up as he heard the creaking wheels of the cart behind him, but found that his efforts were for naught as the man quickly passed him by and made an abrupt stop in front of him.
“Hey, you look like a promising customer. You've got that feel to you, the one that screams you’re dyin’ for a new game to play. Well you’re in luck. Definitely in luck. I’m selling a hot new game here, with a discount you could only dream of before meetin’ me. Look ‘ere.” He tore off the sheet from his cart, revealing rows upon rows of colorful cases. Hinata had to look around himself to make sure no one was watching them and mistakenly thought he was actually planning to buy anything from the guy.
“Look I--”
“I’m doing the talking now,” the man stated with a confidence Hinata hadn’t expected. Or was that... panic? “You want a game, right? Well ignore all the stuff you’re seeing here; I’m going straight for what you’re really after.”
Which was nothing. Hinata was after absolutely nothing the guy had to offer, so unless he was making some sort of deal to offer him nothing…
The man pulled out a case from underneath a pile of other cases, that made it look as though he had deliberately been hiding it from view. He held up the case with a victorious smile that made Hinata feel sot of uneasy, and upon glancing over at the case he immediately noticed that it was completely blank.
… That wasn’t the nothing he had been thinking of.
He decided to try just one more attempt at a getaway.
“Sorry, I don’t have any money.”
He moved to the side in order to walk passed the other, but found his path blocked once more. The hawker tapped the case against one hand out of what Hinata reasoned was nervousness. And by the way his eyes darted around and the way he constantly shifted legs to rest his weight on, Hinata came to the conclusion that this guy must have been really bad at his job.
“No money? None at all? Why do I get the feelin’ you’re lying to me? Look, I’ll even lower the price by eighty percent. You’re not gonna receive a deal like that anywhere else.”
Hinata gave him a weary look, before once again attempting to step around him, but to no avail. The man countered his movement, the case gripped tightly in his quavering hand.
“No money at all,” he repeated, annoyed. No money that was his anyway; the cash he had in his wallet was supposed to be used for groceries, not a game that was probably stolen. “So even if I did want it, I couldn’t buy it off of you. Which I don’t...”
The man before him seemed to be trembling even more now, and Hinata had to wonder if he was really this anxious about getting caught, or if it was something else entirely. The vendor’s free hand wiped against his shirt, and Hinata realized his palms were sweating. If he didn't want the game before, he definitely didn't want it now. Not only that, but it seemed as though even the hawker himself didn't want it.
“Don’t front, kid. You want this game. You want it bad. I can tell. Well you know what, I’m gonna give you this game. For free.”
Yeah, he obviously didn't want this game. It must have been really bad if he was this desperate to get rid of it. Hell, at this point Hinata was tempted to just take it if it meant getting rid of him.
“Really, that’s fine. I don’t want it.”
He turned heel, deciding it best to take a different route since the man didn't seem like he was going to give up any time soon. But just as he turned, he felt something cold encircle his wrist.
His touch made Hinata’s skin prickle immediately on contact; there was something about the man’s grip that gave him a sinking feeling of dread and left him with an inability to speak. It was as though everything the man was feeling passed onto him with just a touch. And as this ran through his mind, the man forced the blank box against his chest, and moved Hinata’s hand so that it pressed against the box to support it against him.
In an instant the man’s whole demeanor shifted. His tensed up figured seemed to relax almost immediately, and he no longer looked like he was about to dart away at any given moment. The man grinned a crooked, near toothless grin before stepping back as though he had Hinata had been diagnosed with a contagious sickness he was weary of contracting himself. “It was nice doing business with you.”
He did a happy little jog back to his cart, and began to roll it away. It was then Hinata managed to find his voice.
“W-Wait a minute, I don’t…”
However, he was few moments too late; the vendor was already speedily making his way down the street, attempting to cover his goods back up with one hand.
Hinata groaned to himself, looking at the case in his hand. It was completely blank. There was no doubt in his mind that it had been purchased illegally, but there was something different about it. Not only had the hawker been desperate to get rid of it, but he found that the longer he held the game himself, he began to feel more and more uneasy.
It was almost like something was screaming at him that this was all wrong. It was obvious, terribly obvious that something was wrong. Someone could have slapped him in the face and that wouldn't have made it any more obvious. But rather than throw the video game away in the nearest bin like he knew he should have, he kept it. He tucked it under his arm and continued on his way, attempting to ignore the thick, foreboding feeling that he could swear was almost tangible.
He had more important things to worry about right now... Speaking of.
Hinata reached into his pocket and pulled out the list he had previously stored away. It was about time he made that trip to the store, lest something else distract him.
Luckily, everything on the list was plentifully in stock and the lines at the cash register short. Hinata found himself making his way back home in no time, grateful that not everything that day was turning out wrong. He brushed off the thought, not wanting to jinx himself and have someone decide to steal something a few seconds later or something. If they did though, at least maybe there’d be a chance of them taking one of the bags he had stuffed the game into…
He was back in what felt like no time.
“I’m home!”
He was answered with silence. Right. His mom did say she’d be out for the day.
He headed towards the kitchen, placing the groceries down on the counter before starting on putting everything away.
His hand touched plastic as he reached into one of the remaining bags, and that familiar feeling of unease washed over him once again. He gave an aggravated sigh at how weird his body kept responding to something to a video game case, before bringing it out of the bag and placing it to the side. He occupied himself with emptying the remaining bags of their contents for the next few minutes.
The morning might have gone way differently than he’d thought it would, but at least he was able to waste more time than he would have otherwise.
He held the game in his hands as he started up the stairs, flipping it over just to check if he had missed something on the back. He hadn't. It was just a plain white case; the vendor didn't even bother putting some knock-off label on it. It really must of been terrible.
He reached his door as he came to a sudden realization that made him roll his eyes at his own stupidity and breathe a small sigh. There was a chance he didn't even have the right game console. Great. Now he probably couldn't even use this to pass the time.
Honestly, why did I expect anything different?
Hinata shut the door of his room behind himself, and began to undo the two small latches on the side of the case. Well, he figured he’d better see for himself. Could he actually play this, or did he have to make like street vendor and force it into someone else's hands, too?
The case opened with a snap, and Hinata was still for a moment.
....
Really?
The disk was completely blank, and once again Hinata had to ask himself why he had expected any different. This probably wasn't even a game. It was most likely some sort of virus or jumpscare; no wonder no one wanted it. The disk had already been giving him the chills and he hadn't even touched it yet.
Still, Hinata found himself itching for something to do. And he was pretty sure only computers could get viruses anyway, so he could always slip it into the system sitting on the floor. If it was a jumpscare though... No. There would be no reason for someone to panic so much over something like that. Maybe the disk has some sort of sick joke the guy took seriously. ...Or some top-secret message he wasn't supposed to see. That... also seemed pretty unlikely; what would a guy like that be doing with something top-secret? What was on this disk? The more ideas flooded into his mind, the more Hinata found himself wanting to find out what was on it.
He was determined to find out now. And hopefully his curiosity would be sated in a few seconds, given he had the right system to operate whatever was on the CD.
Hinata sat down in front of the game console, open case in hand. But when his fingers touched the side of the disk to take it out, a cold chill immediately shot through him. It was gone just as soon as it had come, but again Hinata was faced with a lingering feeling of trepidation.
He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all. He felt sick. He should have thrown the disk away, he should have stood up and walked away, he should have just visited Souda and pretended to look around the shop if his boss came in.
But he didn’t. And as the tips of his fingers began to tremble, he slipped the disk inside the system and waited.
Then the screen went bright.