The night after the meeting Katsuko still couldn't sleep. This was the second night in a row. The image of her dismembered husband still haunting her mind.
She decided to turn on the light on her bedside table, looking down at the blanket that covered her body.
She had covered the TV with a shirt the day prior. Maybe it was out of paranoia. Or maybe it was because of what that device had shown her...
Katsuko looked around the room as if to make sure she was alone. Her eyes landing on the desk.
A cassette.
Her eyes widened.
Katsuko stared at it for a minute, but eventually decided to get up from the bed and approach the desk, picking up the cassette. She looked at it as if it were her greatest enemy.
Despite dreading to look at what the video contained this time, she decided to watch it anyways, for her curiosity was overpowering her fear.
She put the cassette in the VCR and waited for the video to load, dreading what she's going to see.
The screen finally sharpened, so she could see-...
A video of her watching the tape...
She felt a shiver running down her spine.
"My my, and I thought I managed to break you enough to not watch the next cassette.~"
Katsuko jumped and spun around sharply, just to be met with...
"Why so surprised? I thought you'd see this coming from a mile away."
The jester.
"Who are you!? How did you get in here!?", Katsuko yelled at the man.
"Oh wow I didn't think you'd lose your composure so easily.~"
"Who. Are. You.", Katsuko repeated demandingly, yet her voice was trembling.
"Feisty, aren't we? Oh well, might as well say it again for you. But only because you asked so nicely," the jester said tauntingly. "My name is Cyrill Bellmont. Have you visited the artwork I created yet?~"
"I-... Don't talk about my husband like he's just some object," Katsuko was close to crying again.
"Oh but he is. After all, his heart stopped beating, no? What is a corpse if not an object? Hehehehe~", Cyrill didn't take her feelings seriously at all, mocking them even.
"Now that he's gone, how about you take me as your new husband, hmm?~", he continued to mock her. "You're definitely my type."
Katsuko couldn't handle it anymore and broke down in tears. She felt overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted.
Cyrill blinked, as if he didn't just take the one thing Katsuko loved more than anything else.
"My, I thought you'd be less emotional. Guess I was wrong."
Suddenly a knock could be heard.
Katsuko turned her head towards the door.
"Well, guess it's time for me to go! See ya, sweetheart!~", the jester exclaimed cheerfully before Katsuko turned back around, just to notice that he was already gone.
*Odd... I couldn't sense what his ability is at all...*
Another knock could be heard.
Katsuko jumped at the sound. She quickly wiped her tears away and spun around, walking to the door.
She opened it, just to see Kaelis in front of her.
"Hey. Can I come in?", he asked politely.
Katsuko spun her head around to make sure Cyrill is gone for certain, then she turned back to Kaelis.
"Sure...", she said reluctantly, before moving aside, so he could enter.
"What do you want to talk about?", Katsuko asked cautiously.
"You," Kaelis responded firmly.
"Huh?"
"I'm worried about you," he explained.
"Why?", she asked, trying to act indifferently.
"Ever since you told me about the cassettes, you were behaving so... differently."
"I- I was just stressed," she tried to lie.
Suddenly Katsuko realized something.
"Wait... Cassettes? How do you know there was more than one. I never told you."
Kaelis' demeanor suddenly changed from concerned to apathetic.
"Hm... Guess I can't fool you. You're quite sharp, even while dealing with emotional pain, I'll give you that."
Katsuko gulped.
"Who are you?", she asked the same question she asked Cyrill earlier in a demanding tone.
Kaelis suddenly began to shrink, just a bit. Not even 5 centimeters. His hair began to shorten and turn bubblegum blue. His eyes turned a bright pink. Even his clothes changed into something similar to what the jester wore earlier. Just a little less eccentric.
Katsuko just watched in shock, not knowing what to say.
"Does this answer your question?", the man's voice was now slightly higher than Kaelis'.
Katsuko stared at the unknown man for a moment.
"... No?", she answered, confused.
The man let out a sigh.
"I am Oliver Aceon. The jester's right hand."
"So you're the friend of that bastard...", Katsuko muttered resentfully.
"I wouldn't say 'friend', but if that makes you sleep at night, sure."
"It doesn't."
Silence.
"What did you want to accomplish by acting as Kaelis?", Katsuko questioned, still feeling overwhelmed.
"Getting information only a friend can get."
Now it was Katsuko's turn to stay silent.
"You think I would've told him some secret? What did you want to find out anyway, cotton candy boy?", she eventually asked.
"Do not call me that. We merely wanted information on that gifted who can steal abilities. That's all," Oliver explained.
"Akio?", Katsuko's eyes widened for the umpteenth time that day.
"If that's his name, sure," Oliver said, laid-back.
Katsuko's tone got defensive.
"What do you want from him? And why don't you just ask him yourself in your 'Kaelis costume'?"
"That would be no fun. According to Cyrill. And about what we want from him... Well... That's up to your imagination. Maybe I simply came here to taunt you, who knows," Oliver said enigmatically.
"Now that your disguise got figured out, why are you still here? Leave," she demanded.
Oliver put his hands up in mock surrender.
"Fine fine. But we'll come again. And not just for you."
He then exited the room, leaving Katsuko alone with her thoughts.
So much was happening in not even two days: She received odd cassettes. Her one and only husband got brutally murdered. The murderer has free access to her room. And he and the assistant of said murderer are now here to make her life a living hell. Great.
She then lay down in her bed, covering herself with the blanket and looking at the time.
It was already 5:28 a.m.
She yawned and her eyes began to droop, indicating how tired she was from not sleeping for two nights in a row. Not to mention, the fact that so much was happening in that small amount of time.
Eventually she fell asleep, not letting the burdens eat away at her mind.
At least for now.