"Wake up! Wake up!" an irritated voice snapped at the sleeping boy, accompanied by the annoying sound of a bell ringing hazardly, aggravating him from his slumber. "If you don't wake up, I-I'll have to... K-kiss you!"
The noise was silenced as a hand was slammed onto the alarm. Blurry eyes slowly opened to take in their current surroundings.
"Mnrgh... h-huh... what...?"
A young boy emerged from the bed, the covers falling from his body. He blinked tiredly at his surroundings as he rubbed his eyes with one arm. Eventually, his sense of sight repaired itself. He was back in his room... his nice, comfy room, marred with anything and everything ecchi. "... Holy crap." Haru muttered as he yawned, a hand over his mouth. "What a crazy dream... note to self, don't stay up playing eroge all night." He kicked off the covers, throwing them off to the side as he pulled himself out of bed, his bare feet touching the cold wood underneath him that made up the floor of his room. He wore a simple white shirt and blue short, which was basically his main sleep attire. He pulled himself out of bed, and unto his feet, cracking his neck. "I'm so sleepy," he murmured tiredly, rubbing one of his eyes. "Guess that's what I get for playing my games all night. I wonder why mom or dad didn't come up and tell me to stop?"
He gave an eventual shrug. They were probably already asleep, or didn't hear him, since out of courtesy, he kept the volume down. He began to strip out of his clothes, tossing them into the waste bin behind him, and began putting on new clothes. As today was Sunday, he didn't have school, so he was able to dress casually. His sleep attire was replaced with a simple white t-shirt and jeans, which were form fitting, but not too tight. As he did the usual routine of getting dressed and then brushing his teeth, and then, of course, the daily ritual of breakfast.
As he made his way downstairs, he could smell his mother's cooking. "Oh, Haru!" his father said once he arrived in the living room, holding a newspaper. "Good! I was just about to call you!"
"Eh?" He blinked. "Why?"
"Well, first off, you don't have anything planned today, right?" Haru nodded. "You see, your grandmother is coming down to visit for the weekend, so I was hoping you could help me out with cleaning up the house?"
Haru cringed, feeling a familiar shudder run down his back at the mere mention of "grandmother". "S-seriously?" he stuttered. "What does the youkai want now?!"
"Haru-kun," his mother admonished as she came out from the kitchen, holding a tray with three plates of food. "It's rude to speak about your grandmother like that! After all, she's my mother."
"What else do you expect me to call a woman who looks old enough to be MY mother?!" he snapped. "There is no way she is as old as she claims to be!"
For as long as Haru could remember, he had vivid encounters with the so-called youkai that was his grandmother. She was well within her sixties, damn near in her seventies, yet the woman didn't look a day over thirty. That wasn't quite the reason why he was so damned terrified of her, or why she was coined with the title of youkai. The reason was mainly due to childhood trauma, namely of her teasing him! Seriously, every chance that damned woman got, she would toy around with him like he was some kind of puppy! Worse, some of the pranks she played on him were goddamn traumazing! The woman should be locked up in the nut house, Haru thought darkly. Even still, it was odd. Why was his grandmother coming to visit? She doesn't usually do things without reason.
"He has a point," his father agreed. "Sometimes I think your more sisters than you are mother and daughter."
His mother giggled, placing a hand on her cheek. "Why, thank you," she said cheerily. "It's not everyday a housewife gets praised for looking so young!"
That wasn't what he/I as talking about and you know it! Haru and his father wanted to say, but kept their mouths shut. "So, why is she coming over?" Haru asked, taking a spot at the table. "Is something going on?"
"She didn't say, really," his mother replied before taking her spot at the table as well, setting the plates down. "All she said was that she was coming down."
Haru sighed. "Well, there goes my peaceful weekend plans," he muttered, already biting into his breakfast. "This sucks..."
"I'd say it's a good thing," his father said gruffly. "I mean, seriously, Haru...why do you hang out with those two? They're what's stopping you from getting a girlfriend!" As if on cue, both he and his wife suddenly erupted into tears. "And what's stopping us from being grandparents!"
He scowled. "Oh, for the love of-! You two are exaggerating! Also, what's wrong with being a pervert?! I'm sure you must have had lecherous thoughts about Mom all the time!"
"That's beside the point! Plus, she's my wife! Of course I'd have lecherous thoughts!"
"Then there is nothing wrong with me dreaming of having a harem!"
"And like I keep telling you, with your headspace, it's never gonna happen!"
As the father and son continued to bicker, Miki Hyoudou sighed happily, digging into the fruits of her labor happily. "What a wonderful morning..."
"Eh?! You can't come over next weekend?!" Motohama said in surprise over the phone. "Why?! Did your parents find your secret stash and ground you?!"
"Hell no, my stash is out in plain sight," Haru retorted as he closed the door behind him. After breakfast was over, he gave into his mother's demands and began to get to work. He was currently in the storage room, which was fairly spacious, if not for the fact that it was covered with several boxes with layers of dust over them. "They see it every time they walk into my room. My youkai of a grandmother is coming over, and I'd rather not end up like I did last time I was around her."
"Youkai?"
"Yeah, I told you about her, remember?" He sighed, flipping on the lights. The room was illuminated in seconds, though much to his dismay, the amount of boxes were revealed from the darkness, seemingly encompassing the backside of the room. He also spotted several cobwebs as well. If there were spiders in there, so help him. "She looks like she's my mother instead of the old hag she's supposed to be, she teases me every chance she gets, and if I snap out at her, she beats the shit out of me worse than any of the girls at school!"
"Ooooh, her… wait, is she a hot grandma?"
He was going to pretend he didn't hear that at all from him. It was one thing to comment on his mother, but it was another thing to comment on his grandmother. A sigh escaped him. "Anyway, I gotta go. I've got to clean up the storage room. Tell Matsuda I'm sorry, yeah?"
"Sure," Motohama said. There was a brief silence, where the phone call would end, but he chimed in a second later. "Oh, wait! Have you heard about the incidents that have been happening lately?"
Haru raised an eyebrow. "Incidents?"
"Wait, you haven't heard? They've been going on all month!" the glasses-wearing pervert said, his voice a bit serious. "Lately, people have been disappearing. You remember Sakoyaki, right? The guy from middle school?"
How could he forget? That bastard gave him a wedgie every chance he had. He mentally cringed as he rubbed his butt.
"The dude's parents disappeared one night. Happened while he was at cram school. And his was the sixth family this week!"
That caused him to stop. "... wait, this week?" he asked, clearly disturbed. "H-how many are there in total?"
Motohama sighed. "More than I'd like to say, man. Seriously, it's fucking creepy. And the worst part is, police can't figure anything out."
Haru frowned heavily. People have been going missing all month? He knew he wouldn't hear about it at first, because the TV was on the fritz, but he would have thought he would have heard about it from someone. It's disturbing to know that people have been going missing. "H-hey, I'll call you back later man," he told his friend, feeling slightly sick to his stomach. Maybe cleaning up this place would clear his head, move away from this dreadful topic. "See you." He heard Motohama say goodbye before the connection was cut. He closed his cell phone and slipped it back into his pocket before looking around. "Okay, so… where to start?"