Hunting Hour and the Poisoned Piano

狩猟の時間と毒ピアノ
Toki's behaviour had grown very strange ever since she came home and played her piano. Everyone thought it was just her mental illnesses but her friends knew it was something deeper than that.  When everyone was sleeping, she would wander the house with a knife in her hand, laughing maniacally and sadistically. "They all ran from the farmers wife, who CUT their tails with a BUTCHER KNIFE!" is what she would say in the middle of the night, followed by a sadistic laughter.
Everyone in the house had a feeling they were the mice and the 'tails' were their lives.  When they all  prepared for bed, they made sure they were in bed by 8:00 sharp. "Jinx, I have to pee!"said Spin, one night. Jinx sat up and said "Well, you can't, Toki will get you. Noting her strange behaviour, she could outrun you if she was determined."
"I still have to pee."
"No, you stay up here, in the attic with me because if she gets you with that knife, it's over!"
"If I pee in the bed or on the floor, she'll get me when she finds out and she can tell when pee is aged or recent by the smell."
"Go, if you must but if your hear her footsteeps or laughter, you stay in that bathroom or get out as fast you can and dart into the nearest room, Toki won't get if you're not in the hallway."
"Okay."
Spin went to the bathroom but when he got into the hallway, he saw Toki admiring her knife. He qiuetly darted to the next room, which was Precious' room. Precious opened the door and pulled him in and closed it back. "Spin, what were you doing out in ze hallway, ze maitresse would've gotten you!" said Precious. Spin sighed and replied "I only went to the bathroom. When I got out of the bathroom, I saw her admiring her knife. I'm glad she didn't see me."
"I am, too, but you can't go back to ze attic, right now, she'll get you. I'm sympazetic, so I'll let you stay but you'll  have to stay in my closet, until I can get you back to ze attic safefly."
"Okay."
"What else did you see?"
"She was wearing a white full-length flowing dress and her eyes were strangely amber in color."
"I see. Ze maitresse had been sick for some time. I don't know exactly how long, I know ze illness is some kind of blood poisoning. You're lucky zat you saw her and she didn't see you, because if she had, zen she would've chased you, outrunning at every turn not letting you escape. Get in ze closet and be quiet, I hear her laughter."

Spin got in the closet and went to sleep. Precious got back in bed. Toki passed the room but someone was where they weren't supposed to be. Sunflower was in the hallway. Toki saw  her and started running towards her. Sunflower wanted to dart into her room but it was too late only, making her only option to run and escape. She ran but Toki seemed to outrun her. She ran down the stairs, Toki ran down the stairs after her.  Sunflower opened the door and ran outside. Toki ran after her. "Don't you want to play with Toki?!"  Toki screamed. To Sunflower, Toki asking her if she wanted to play was torture. Toki always screamed this at her and never anyone else. Sunflower ran through the yard and into the backyard. Toki had caught up with her every time. "Come play with me!" Toki screamed.  

By now, Sunflower had had enough. She ran into the thick shrubbery and lied down. Toki stopped running and screamed angrily. Sunflower was safe and had lost Toki but she knew she must sleep there for the rest of the night.  What is wrong with Toki? She's been like this for three days, something must be wrong! thought Sunflower.  

Toki walked into the house and continued wandering the halls. She stood for a moment and admired her knife before continuing. Precious managed to get Spin back to the attic safely. "Merci Precious!" said Spin. She listened carefully, she wanted to see if Toki was in the same vicinity. Nothing. She rushed to her room and closed the door. Doki sat in her room, thinking. She was wondering about how to cure the blood poisoning.

The blood poisoning didn't even have a name. She decided to call it 'Bad Blood' because it was as it was, bad blood.  Curing Toki would be difficult and she didn't know exactly how. The poisoning made Toki's insanity peak. She knew if she was caught in the hallway, Toki would give chase, and she could barely run, let alone, walk. She stayed in her room. Camellia was in her room but always seem to sleep through the 'patrolling' and no one else could, not even her. Whenever Doki tried to sleep, she couldn't, something kept bothering her and when she did sleep, she would have beyond horrible nightmares. She knew Toki would die, if she couldn't be cured. She knew in order to cure something,  one must find the source. She knew she must find the source and a cure before it's too late.

If Toki wasn't chasing them around at night (or day, for that matter), she was in a dark (or very dim) room, playing an eerie meloncholy tune on the piano. No one dared to interrupt her or else she would fly into a rage and give chase.  "I wonder why Toki plays the same tune on that piano." said Brittani. Brownie glanced in and said  "I don't know but if she notices us or anyone else,  she'll turn around and smile." Toki turned around and smiled at them. It was a strange smile and she said no words.  

She went back to playing her tune on the piano. She was playing this tune for an hour, until Jinx interrupted her.  She got up, turned around, and looked at him. She let out a high-pitched screech. He ran into the kitchen. He didn't know that her chasing him through the kitchen would give her an opportunity to grab a knife or weapon of some sort.  She reached into her block of knives and pulled out a large knife and began persuing him further.  He turned around and saw her running,  knife pointed towards him. He ran to the neighbor's fence and climbed over it, leaving Toki standing in shock. She screamed angrily and walked into the house.  She went back to the room and continued playing the piano.

Later that afternoon, Giselle was looking in the cupboard, when Toki threw a knife through the door. "You must pay for what you did, Dead Dutchess!" she said. Toki had an everlasting grudge against Giselle but it never drove her to chase her about the house in an attempt to kill her.  She took the knife and chased Giselle out of the kitchen. Giselle ran up the stairs and into the hallway. Toki followed her. She turned the corner, Toki followed her. Giselle continued to run until she ran into a dead end.  She heard Toki's footsteps. She searched in vain for an exit but there wasn't one. There were no rooms for her to dart into and there wasn't even a closet for her to hide in or anything for her to hide behind. Toki caught up with her. She smiled a sadistic smile. She took the knife and threw it.  It hit Giselle in the arm and she fainted. With satisfaction, Toki turned around and left Giselle, bleeding and unconscious.

Pup found Giselle and inspected the injury. It wasn't a serious one and the knife missed important arteries, making it no more than a flesh wound.  Pup carried her to Doki and she bandaged  the wound. Toki laughed sadistically when she picked up her now bloodstained knife. She delicately wiped the blood off of the knife with  her fingers and rubbed it on  her left cheek, just below her left eye. It turned her even more sadistic than before. After her first targets (two of which were Jinx and Sunflower) escaping, she was temporarily satisfied with injuring her new target, Giselle.  Toki had never been this sadistic but due to 'Bad Blood' that ran through her veins, she had become even more sadistic than before.

She went back downstairs and to the piano room and began playing the tune again.  No one else interrupted her. She continued playing until she stopped to rub her hands.  She got up and went to sit in a corner of the piano room.  Doki walked in silently. She came to inspect the piano. She wanted to see if there was something on it or on its keys.

With rubber gloves, she lightly and silently examined the piano. She sniffed it and found it to smell very strange. She left the room as silently as she came in. "Find anydzing?" asked Precious.  Doki removed her gloves and said "Not much but it smells very strange. Toki's never really played that piano until three days ago, so I'm trying to guess whether or not her poisoning was the result of a toxin in the piano."

"I've heard of a story where zis girl played an organ and her behaviour grew very strange."

"How did she act?"

"Pretty much in ze same manner as  Toki, except she didn't become extremely sadistic and was sane at ze time. She acted maniacal and would hang her dolls on ze ceiling, in contrast to Toki hounding everyone wiz a knife until she suceeds in injuring us."

"How did she look?"

"She had yellow eyes, just like Toki."

"Did they ever find out about what poisoned her?"

"No. I wonder, does Toki really want to kill or does she prefer to just toy widz her victims?"

"Good question. I don't know but you do have a point, since, Toki was decently satisfied with just injuring, rather than killing Giselle, though she could've killed Giselle if she really wanted to but something tells me she would prefer to just toy with her victims, more so than killing them. However, she could be toying with them before officially deciding on whether or not to kill them."

"Why would she do zat?"

"Sometimes before killing someone, a person may toy with the victim before choosing their final decision. Toki obviously likes to toy with her victims and can easily satisfy herself just by injuring someone."

"I see, but can she actually kill?"

"If she wanted to because Toki can't really control her own actions, nor can she tell right from wrong, so she can but I think she would want to play with her victims, like dolls, in a sadistic way."

"Do you zink she heard us?"

"No, because Toki had been slumped in that chair ever since she stopped playing the piano. Nighttime is her hunting ground. Let's get out of here before she does find out."

Doki and Precious went to their rooms, as did everyone else. When it was eight o' clock, everyone was quick to get in their rooms. Toki was playing her piano and as soon eight o' clock hit, she stopped, the hunting hour began. "Brownie, hurry up! The hunting hour has just begun!"  Brownie sighed and said "I'm trying to get there."  Brittani peeked out of the room and said "Toki's going to be right behind you and she's got a new weapon!" Toki had a very large machete and gradually aproaching that hallway. Brittani got out and pulled Brownie into the room and closed the door, leaving Toki to ignore it.

Sunflower wasn't in her room. She was standing in the hallway, armed with a knife.  Toki rounded the corner and when she caught sight of Sunflower, she ran towards her. "You horrible girl!" she screeched. Sunflower ran down the stairs with Toki in hot persuit. She continued to run until she ran into the piano room. "Your life ends here, witch!" said Sunflower.

A blood curdling scream rang through the house, blood had splattered on the piano and on the floor. Doki, Precious, Brownie, Brittani, Jinx, Spin, and Pup rushed towards the scene. Toki was lying on the floor, bleeding, and laughing maniacally before  closing her eyes and going lifeless. " Sunflower, what did you do?!" screamed Brownie.

Sunflower shrugged and said "I saved your lives by killing the witch." Doki gasped and said "What do you mean? Toki isn't dead." Sunflower  pointed to Toki and said "I've vanquished the witch and put an end to her hunting hour. She will torment us no more." Toki opened her eyes and before she spat up blood, said "I'm sorry." She laughed, but it was no longer sadistic, it was bitttersweet. Tears welt up in her now glassy blue eyes.  Doki gathered her into her arms and said "We forgive you, Toki, and always will."

Brownie looked at the piano and noticed the strange smell. "What's in that piano?!" she said. As Toki passed out, everyone heavily inquired on what was in the piano. "It smells like somezing had died in it." said Precious. Brownie looked at her and said "Maybe something did."  With a crowbar, she opened the lid  and jumped back. "Call the police! Toki doesn't know what kind of piano she brought!" screamed Brownie, after looking inside.

The object inside was a poisoned corpse, which poisoned body fluids seeped into the piano's wood and onto the keys. "I zink ze poisoned corpse was behind how Toki fell ill in ze first place." said Precious. Doki looked at Toki and asked "How?"

"Le chemicals and bacteria must've seeped into ze piano wood and onto ze keys. Toki became exposed when she played ze piano and, since, ze toxins had an effect on Toki's mind, zey forced her to come back and play ze piano over and over, exposing herself even more to ze toxin. Ze only reason you didn't fall ill, Doki, is because you wore gloves. Ze moment her delicate fingers touched zose keys, she became infected."

"You mean-?"

"Yes, it was only Toki who became infected, no one else did because zey didn't touch or go near ze piano. If one were to have touched it wiz zeir bare hand, zey would've been infected, as well."

Toki was later brought to the hospital and the police confiscated the  body along with the piano. The doctor  told Doki that Toki is badly injured but she won't die.  Authorites soon found the man that sold Toki the piano and charged him with desecrating a corpse and accessory to murder. Toki recovered and brought a new piano, and continues to play it. No one spoke of the incident since then.