Chapter Text
"It would be bad if zombies appeared in Shibuya, huh?"
Arisu looked over at Chota, who was grinning like an idiot, despite the fact that he, Arisu and Karube were all having shit days. That was just like him. He could always find something to smile about, or he could at least find something stupidly random to say to break the silence.
"If they're all bitten here, they'll all turn into zombies!" Chota said, gesturing to the busy Shibuya crossing.
"Stop it with the zombie talk, will ya?" Karube said as he took a drag of his cigarette.
"If zombies did show up here, only Karube would survive." Arisu said. "You'd knock 'em out with one punch."
"I doubt that." Karube chuckled. "You'd be the one to survive, Arisu."
"Me?" Arisu asked. "Why's that?"
Karube looked over at Arisu, a surprisingly serious look in his eyes given the topic of conversation. "Because I know you'd outsmart 'em."
Arisu blinked up at him, not expecting the sudden shift in tone. "How's he going to outsmart zombies if they don't have brains?" Chota spoke up. "Or if they eat his brain?"
Karube ignored Chota and the zombies, gazing off into the crowd. "Arisu, free advice...You should stop hanging out with us and go live your life. You should do it."
"Huh?" Arisu said, glancing over at Chota. "What's with him?"
"Did something happen to you?" Chota asked. "Did Emi finally break up with you?"
"Ooh, I bet that's it." Arisu said. "He doesn't get this moody over anything else."
"It's kinda hard to break up with someone I haven't seen in nearly two weeks." Karube muttered.
"Damn, she still hasn't shown up?" Arisu asked.
"My damn boss...Well, guess he's my ex-boss now, he fired me because he thinks I told her to run off, and that I'm planning on meeting her any day now." Karube said. "He was convinced I knew where she was."
"Do you?" Chota asked.
"For the last time, of course, I don't!" Karube snapped. "She just didn't show up one day, and she stopped answering her phone." he sighed heavily. "I won't lie; I did talk to her about running away. I just figured she'd do it with me."
"I'm sure she's fine." Arisu said.
"Maybe your boss killed her." Chota said at the same time. "What?" he asked as Arisu shot him a look. "This kind of stuff happens on the news all the time-ouch!"
"I'm sure she's fine." Arisu repeated as Chota glared at him accusingly, rubbing his shin. "She'll turn up eventually. Maybe she's just getting her finances sorted out."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's it." Chota chimed back in. "No way she forgot about you."
"You two suck at cheering people up." Karube said, rolling his eyes. He sighed, and tossed his cigarette to the side. "Shit, let's do this. Come on."
"Woah!" Arisu protested as Karube suddenly lifted him onto his shoulders. "What are you doing?!"
"We're celebrating!" Karube declared. "This is your first day of independence! And I don't have a shit heel for a boss anymore. And Chota is here too, I guess."
"Hey!" Chota protested, scrambling to keep up with Karube as he headed into the crowd.
"Take a picture." Karube said, grinning.
"Ok!" Chota said, holding his phone up.
"Seriously?!" Arisu yelled as Karube charged into the sea of people. "What's wrong with you?! This is dangerous! You better not drop me! This is not what sane people do when their girlfriends disappear!"
"Sane?" Karube said. "I'm very sane. Chota, make sure to get my good side." He began to spin around, causing the landscape around Arisu to blur.
"Hey!" Arisu protested. "Stop! Chota, don't you dare take any pictures! Stop! Dammit! Fuck!"
Unsurprisingly, his words did nothing to stop his friends from their latest shenanigan. Well, he might as well join in. Karube wasn't going to drop him, probably.
Arisu joined in the yelling, spreading his arms as the world continued to spin around, reveling in the moment. If it weren't for Karube and Chota, his life would truly be meaningless. But in the moments like this-
"Get out of the road!" Someone yelled as horns blared. Right, they were in the middle of a busy street. This may not be the best place for shenanigans.
"Put me down!" Arisu said, yelping as Karube almost dropped him.
"Come on! Quick, quick, quick!" Karube said as he pulled Arisu to his feet. Around them, cars and motorcycles sped by.
"There! Hurry up!" Chota said, pointing at an opening between the cars.
"Run for your lives!" Karube laughed. His laughter faded as screams broke out. Arisu glanced over his shoulder at the sound of screeching brakes and breaking glass. Well, shit.
"It's ok! They all look ok!" Chota said anxiously as he looked back at the accident. It didn't seem terrible; a car had hit a blue car from behind, but it hadn't been severe.
"Shit, we're not gonna be ok if we don't get out of here." Karube said grimly. "Heads up."
"Cops?! My dad will murder me if I get in trouble." Arisu said. He was already on the thinnest of ice. A run in with the police would only make things worse.
"Go, go, go!" Karube said, pushing Arisu and Chota into a run.
"I'm not like you! I'm not used to running from the police!" Chota protested.
"Do you want to stay here and talk to them?" Karube shot back.
"...No. Let's get out of here." Chota relented.
"Shit, they're following us!" Arisu said, glancing over his shoulder again.
"Then run faster, idiot! We can lose them inside!" Karube said.
"There! Stairs!" Arisu said, pointing.
"They're blocked off! I don't want to break two laws!" Chota protested.
"It's not against the law! It just says there's wet paint." Karube said, rolling his eyes. "There! The bathroom!" All three hurried into the bathroom, piling into the largest stall.
"Hurry up and lock it!" Arisu hissed.
"I'm trying!" Karube said, fumbling with the lock.
"Just hurry it up, for fuck's sake!" Arisu said. He wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or panic.
"I got it, I got it." Karube said as he finally locked the door. All three looked at each other before collapsing into nervous laughter.
Their laughter quickly faded as footsteps approached. Surely, they weren't coming to their stall, were they? There were lots of stalls, and the bathroom was pretty busy. They were probably fine; whoever that was probably wasn't coming to their stall-
A loud pounding on the door quickly answered Arisu's question. All three of them froze, holding their breaths. The knocking continued, and just as Arisu started to seriously consider the fact that he might get arrested right after pissing off his father, the lights went out with a soft click.
All three of them looked around, confused. Arisu went for his phone, but it wouldn't turn on either. Karube and Chota got the same result. At least the knocking had faded. Come to think of it...everything had faded.
"I don't hear anything." Arisu said quietly. His voice sounded much louder in the sudden silence. He moved closer to the door, listening for a moment.
There was nothing. No knocking, no footsteps, no sounds of other people moving around.
"I'll go check it out." Arisu said. He had a strange feeling in his stomach. Opening the door to see other people, even if there was an angry cop waiting for them, would make that feeling go away.
"Be careful." Karube said wearily. Even Chota looked concerned now.
"Yeah, ok." Arisu said as he unlocked the door. He pushed it open. The bathroom was dark and silent. Every light had gone out, and every other person had vanished. The unsettling feeling in Arisu's stomach got worse.
Karube and Chota followed him out of the stall, sharing in his confusion. Arisu glanced back at them before slowly stepping forward, exiting the bathroom.
There was no one outside of the bathroom either. The crowded station was completely empty, and there wasn't another soul in sight.
"What the fuck?" Karube said as the three spread out, looking around. "Seriously, what the fuck?"
"I've never seen anywhere be this empty before." Chota said nervously. The three of them unconsciously stepped back over to each other, craving the company of other humans.
"Guys." Arisu said. He was looking out of the station to the busy crossing area. There still wasn't a single person to be found.
"What the fuck?" Karube said again.
"This shouldn't be possible." Chota said. "This isn't possible."
"Where the hell did everyone..." Arisu murmured. His mind was struggling to wrap around what he was seeing. There were no cars, no people; the only sound was the rustling of the wind. "Jesus..."
They picked up their pace from there, breaking into runs as they looked into various stores and restaurants. They moved as a group, all of them too scared to separate from the others, as if they too would disappear if they were out of each other's sights for too long.
"Does it smell different to you?" Arisu asked as they climbed the steps to Chota's workplace.
"What do you mean?" Karube asked.
"I think I can smell it." Chota said. "It kind of smells like the time you left that raw chicken in your car overnight." He glanced at Karube.
"Don't remind me." Karube grumbled, before inhaling deeply. "Fuck, it kinda does smell like that..."
"Gross, I think it's getting worse." Arisu grimaced. Every step up the stairs they took, the smell got stronger.
"I don't get it." There's no one here either!" Chota said as they entered his floor. He made a beeline for his desk, searching for something familiar. "I don't get it..." He froze, eyes wide.
"What?" Karube asked. "Chota, what?" he asked again when Chota didn't answer.
Chota lifted a shaky hand, pointing behind a desk. Arisu and Karube slowly approached as Chota pressed his other hand over his mouth.
"Woah." Karube said as Arisu stumbled back. "That's..."
There was a corpse on the floor behind the desk.
From the looks of it, it had been there for a while. Flies were buzzing around it, and it seemed to have started to decompose. Dried blood was smeared around the body. Rotted flesh was dripping off of the body, adding to the disgusting stew of human remains.
"I think that's his guts." Karube said, pointing at something black and stringy that was hanging out of the corpse's torso.
"Don't tell me that!" Arisu protested as Chota doubled over, dry heaving. "Why the fuck are you so calm?!"
"I'm not. I'm freaking the fuck out. I'm just not showing it." Karube said, his brow furrowed. "What happened to his head?"
"What?!" Arisu asked.
"His head's broken open like a coconut." Karube said. Chota retched louder.
"Let's just get out of here." Arisu said. His heart was beating so quickly that it hurt. Technically, they had found someone, just like they had been hoping.
But given the state the person was in? Arisu almost wished they hadn't found him at all.
"There's some more." Karube said, pointing. Sure enough, there was another splash of dried blood smeared across the sidewalk. "I think that one has little chunks in it."
"You don't have to tell us every detail!" Arisu snapped through gritted teeth. Chota was whispering a prayer under his breath, staring straight down at the ground.
"It's all over the place." Karube said. "We didn't notice at first because we were too shocked over the people disappearing. But there's blood and bits and pieces everywhere."
It wasn't long before they stumbled upon another body. This one was in even worse condition than the first. Flesh and muscle had been completely stripped away in some areas, leaving a cracked skeleton. Once again, the head had been broken open.
"Don't get close to it!" Arisu protested as Karube leaned a little closer.
"I'm just trying to look." Karube said.
"If you get some kind of gross corpse disease, I'm not going to help you!" Arisu shot back, but he watched as Karube leaned in for an even closer look.
"What the fuck?" Karube said. "Look there."
"I don't want to look there!" Arisu protested. "Just tell me what you're seeing!"
"I thought you didn't want me to tell you every detail."
"Karube!"
"It looks like teeth marks." Karube said. "Like a dog was chewing on 'em."
"A dog?" Chota said shakily. "A dog did this?"
"I'm not saying a dog did this. I'm saying something was gnawing on these bones." Karube said.
"What the hell are we supposed to do with that information?!" Chota exclaimed.
"I don't know! I'm just telling you what I'm seeing!"
"A lot of people must have died here." Arisu said. The sick feeling in his stomach had only gotten worse and worse. They had left the office building behind, but the smell of rotted meat had never fully gone away. It hung in the air, engulfing them. Arisu had a terrible feeling that he knew what kind of meat it was now...
"Let's just keep going." Karube said. He seemed perfectly composed; Arisu wasn't sure how he was doing it. "We're almost to the bar."
"What makes you think there'll be people there?" Chota asked.
"I don't. I just want to grab something." Karube said. "Do either of your phones work?"
"No." Arisu said as Chota shook his head. He had almost forgotten about that. People had disappeared, leaving only bloody smears, chewed-up corpses and the smell of rotting meat behind. Phones were one of the last things on his mind. But now that he thought about it, that only made their situation worse. They couldn't call for help.
"This is a dream. This has to be a dream." Chota muttered to himself. He seemed like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Arisu felt the same way. "We're going to wake up, and everyone will be back, and there won't be any dead people. We might go to jail, but that's ok. That's fine. I wanna go to jail..."
"We're here." Karube said, cutting off Chota's ramble. The bar was just as dark as anywhere else in the city.
"Just be quick." Arisu said as he looked around nervously. He felt as if he were being watched by something.
"Come on. We might be able to get some supplies or something." Karube said. He pushed the door to the bar open and froze.
There was something moving inside.
"What the hell is that?!" Chota hissed frantically, grabbing onto Arisu's arm.
"Is that...a person?" Arisu whispered, narrowing his eyes. Sure enough, there was a humanoid shape behind the counter. They were swaying back and forth, staggering as if they were walking into the bar over and over again.
"Hell no." Chota said, taking a step back. "I want to see people, but this feels wrong."
"Definitely." Arisu agreed. "Karube, let's go."
"It's fine. I'll be quick." Karube said.
"Is this not concerning to you?!" Chota exclaimed.
"This ain't the first time I've seen someone swaying like that in a bar." Karube said, rolling his eyes. He walked into the bar and headed for the counter. He only made it a few steps before he stopped again.
"What?!" Arisu asked. "Karube! What is it?!"
Karube didn't answer. He could only stare at the woman behind the bar. She was hunched over, and her hair was over her face, but Karube would recognize her anywhere. "Emi?"
"Did he say Emi?" Chota asked.
"I don't know!" Arisu said. "Karube, just get back here!"
Relief was flooding Karube's body. "Emi." he said, his voice shaking. She was splayed out at such an odd angle. One of her arms was extended, scratching at the bar with ragged, torn nails. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were torn. "What happened to you?" Karube asked as he took a step towards her. "Is this where you've been this whole time? What is this place?"
"Karube!" Arisu said. "Dammit!"
"Arisu." Chota said, his voice hardly above a whimper. He pointed. Arisu's eyes widened. From where Karube was standing, he couldn't see that one of the figure's legs was almost completely twisted around, bones sticking out at strange angles.
"Karube!" Arisu yelled. But once again, Karube didn't answer. He was right in front of the bar now.
"Emi." he said again. She wasn't answering him. As he got closer, Karube could hear her making a guttural groaning noise. Was she sick? Hurt? "Emi, it's me." He reached forward to brush her matted hair out of her face-
Thick clumps of hair broke off in Karube's hand as they fell out of Emi's rotted scalp. Emi's head snapped up to look at him. He had thought that he would always be able to recognize her, but now, he almost didn't.
One of her eyes was dangling from its socket, resting against her cheek. Her skin was grayish and mottled; pale, white grubs peeking through bits of flesh. Her mouth was hanging open, impossibly wide as a dark, vicious liquid dripped from her jaws. Her cheeks had torn when her mouth stretched, leaving more ragged flesh in its wake. Both eyes were yellowed and foggy, burst blood vessels dotting them.
Karube froze.
Emi made another horrible groaning noise as she looked at him for a moment, before suddenly reaching for Karube. He could see the bones of her fingers poking through her skin. He couldn't move at all as she grabbed his shoulder.
The moment she touched him; she let out a sound that was akin to a sharp squeal. She drew back, still holding him tightly as her mouth opened even wider. More of the liquid poured from her mouth as a gray tongue flopped around like a fish out of water. She leaned back a little more, then snapped forward, her jaws poised to close around the junction where his shoulder met his neck.
"KARUBE!" A wooden stool slammed into Emi, knocking her to the side. She collapsed like a ragdoll, bones crunching as her jaw was knocked sideways. Arisu stood over her, breathing heavily. Dark liquid was seeping through the dent in her head as she twitched on the ground.
Chota grabbed Karube, who was still stunned, dragging him out of the bar. "Arisu! Let's go!"
Arisu backed away, watching as Emi slowly got to her feet, her joints and bones twisting and contorting at an impossible angle. He tripped over a table, managing to right himself before he could fall backwards. Emi made another pained groaning noise, her cloudy eyes fixing on him.
Shit.
Emi threw herself forward with surprising speed, screeching as she tried to scramble over the counter. Her lack of coordination was what saved Arisu. He turned and ran as she finally managed to fling herself over the bar, hitting the ground with a wet thump.
With speed that seemed unnatural, she dragged herself across the floor towards the door, still screeching. With Chota's help, Arisu slammed the door shut just as Emi reached it.
"OH MY GOD!" Chota yelled, eyes bulging.
"OH MY GOD!" Arisu yelled back.
Emi was pounding and scratching against the door. Arisu could see a horrible, rotted bite mark on her side that was also oozing the same dark liquid. Arisu looked around for something to block the door with.
"Forget that! Let's just get out of here!" Chota screeched.
"What if she can open doors?!" Arisu exclaimed.
"How would she be able to open doors?!"
"SHE HAS HANDS, CHOTA!"
Karube had fallen to his knees as he stared through the glass door. Emi was trying and failing to bite it, her teeth scraping at it. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to think. Did he even want to continue after what he had seen?
"KARUBE!" Chota and Arisu yelled. Karube finally looked up at them, trying to shake himself out of his stupor.
"Let's just go." he said as he shakily got to his feet. "I don't think she's going to figure out the door anytime soon."
"Where do we go?!" Chota said frantically.
"ANYWHERE THAT'S NOT HERE!" Arisu yelled.
"Let's keep moving throughout the city." Karube said. "There has to be someone here."
"She's someone!" Chota pointed at the door.
"Someone who's not...that." Karube said. "We can start looking for supplies too." Yes, they could do that. That was a good plan. That was something to do. If Karube didn't find something to do, he was going to lose his mind.
"Let's go." Arisu said. He and Chota broke into a jog, pausing when they noticed that Karube wasn't behind them. "Karube?"
"I'm coming." Karube said as he moved to catch up with them. He couldn't bring himself to look back.
"Are we going to talk about that?" Chota asked. They had run for almost half an hour, finally stopping to take a breather. They had seen more corpses and piles of gore. Arisu had thought that he saw another moving corpse hanging out of a car, but he hadn't stayed to double check.
"No. We're not going to talk about that." Karube said stubbornly.
"That was a zombie!" Chota yelled, ignoring him. "That was a fucking zombie! In Shibuya!" His eyes widened. "I JINXED US!"
"YOU JINXED US!" Arisu exclaimed. "That was an honest-to-god zombie!"
"You would know! You play all kinds of zombie games!" Chota said. "Did it look like the ones in the games?!"
"Kind of!" Arisu said. "But she was dead! She had to be dead, and she was leaking everywhere, and she tried to bite Karube! That's a zombie!"
"SHE HAD A NAME!" Karube roared. His body had broken out into tremors. "She had a name, and a life, and she was missing! And whatever happened to her-" he broke off, his chest heaving. He whirled around and punched a nearby car.
"Karube, don't!" Arisu said, dragging Karube away from the car. Karube shoved him off, causing him to stumble to the ground. For a moment, Arisu thought that Karube was going to start punching him.
And then, all of a sudden, the emotion seemed to fade from Karube's eyes as he slumped to the ground.
"Shit!" Chota said, hurrying over to his side. "Did she bite him?!"
"She didn't bite him." Arisu said as he shook Karube lightly.
"She was here." Karube said faintly. "She was here this whole time. I don't even know where here is. She was alone, and something happened to her..."
"I think something bit her." Arisu said grimly. "She had a bite mark on her that somehow looked even worse than the rest of her. There must be..." he couldn't believe what he was about to say. "There must be more zombies. They must have gotten her."
"You're crazy." Karube said, shaking his head. "We're all crazy. WE'VE ALL GONE BATSHIT FUCKING CRAZY!"
"That would explain what was chewing on the other corpses." Chota said shakily. "And why there's so much blood, and why there's the smell. It...it makes sense."
"None of this makes sense!" Arisu exclaimed. "Are you saying a hoard of zombies wandered through Shibuya and ate everyone while we were in the bathroom?!"
"I don't know!" Chota wailed. "But zombies at least make a little sense!"
He was right. Given what they had just seen, as well as the other horrible sights, zombies did make a sickening amount of sense. Arisu closed his eyes, fighting back a wave of sheer terror. Was this actually happening?
"Do you...think there are more of them?" Chota asked in a small voice. "If one bit Emi, then there has to be at least one more..."
"There's probably a lot more." Arisu said, his throat going dry as he spoke. He and Chota looked around with increased nervousness. Karube was still staring at the ground.
"I should've been able to protect her." he said numbly. "I told her I was going to protect her."
"This can't possibly be your fault!" Arisu exclaimed. "She was gone for almost two weeks! She might have been here for ages! You didn't know where she went. We don't know where we are right now!"
"Are we...not in Shibuya?" Chota asked.
"I don't know." Arisu said, exhaling heavily. "Emi disappeared, but she turned up here. Everyone else who was in Shibuya disappeared too, but...maybe we're the ones that disappeared? I don't know. I don't know what's going on at all."
"Fuck." Karube laughed to himself, his eyes welling up with tears. "I thought I'd just have to protect her from that bastard. I never thought zombies would be a concern. Fuck."
Arisu and Chota looked at each other nervously. They had always assumed that Karube would be the one to hold everyone together in a horrible situation. But now, he was falling apart. He had held it together for a little bit, but he was cracking.
"We should get off of the streets." Arisu said. It felt strange for him to be taking charge like this, but someone had to. He adored Chota, but he wasn't a leader. Honestly, Arisu wasn't either, but between the two of them, he was the better choice.
"Right, yeah." Chota said, looking relived that someone else was making decisions. "Karube, we need to get somewhere safe. Emi...she'd want you to be safe."
"It doesn't matter what she wants. She's a fucking zombie." Karube laughed drily.
"Well...we want you to be safe." Arisu said, putting a hand on Karube's shoulder. "We're still here. We're not zombies."
"Both of you...you saved my life." Karube said. "I was so stupid. I knew something wasn't right, but I wanted it to be her so bad..." he shook his head. "I'm a fucking idiot."
"You're not." Chota said. "I would have done the same thing if it was my mom."
"Anyone would have reacted the way you did if they saw someone they had been worried about." Arisu agreed.
"I'd be dead if it weren't for both of you." Karube said.
"You can thank us by coming with us to find somewhere safe." Arisu said.
"You really don't have to thank us at all. You'd do the same thing." Chota spoke up. "You rush in to help us all the time. We were just returning the favor."
"Right, you don't have to thank us." Arisu agreed. "But...it would be really good if you came with us right now."
"I guess you're right." Karube said, wiping a few stray tears off of his cheeks. "I'm always saving your asses. It's about damn time you returned the favor." He laughed again, a sound that was still hollow, but had slightly more life to it.
"Let's go." Arisu said. He and Chota helped Karube to his feet. "We'll find somewhere safe, and...and we'll figure something out. We'll take it one step at a time."
"Right!" Chota said. "Arisu has probably played this scenario dozens of times in games!"
"It's really a lot different in real life." Arisu muttered, but he tried to keep his confident front up for Karube's sake. "I'll think of something."
"You always do." Karube said. "Alright, where are we going?"
"...I don't know. Let's go with your plan of continuing to canvas the city and look for supplies. I'm sure we'll find something." Arisu said. Karube seemed a little unsteady, but he moved with Chota and Arisu, clearly trying to return to his normal self. It wasn't working.
"I was right, you know." he said as they walked.
"What?" Arisu asked.
"I said you'd be the one to survive a zombie apocalypse. You outsmarted Em...You outsmarted that zombie."
"I didn't outsmart her; I hit her with a chair. I feel like that's a little different." Arisu said. "You didn't even get a chance to punch this zombie. I'm sure you'll get the next one."
"Right!" Chota agreed. "I bet you'll punch it so hard that its head goes flying off! You're definitely strong enough to do that."
"Both of you, thank you." Karube said quietly. "I'll be fine. Just gotta get it together."
"You don't have to." Arisu said. "Emi...she might have been all alone here. That probably made it much more dangerous for her. But there are three of us; we can take turns having mental breakdowns. Right now, it's your turn."
"You kept us going before all of this started." Chota agreed. "We're just returning the favor again."
"Exactly." Arisu said. "The three of us have bad days all the time. That's all this is. A really, really bad day."
"A really bad day." Karube echoed.
"We always get through them." Chota said. "As long as the three of us stick together, I think we'll be ok."
Maybe it was unrealistic, but Arisu felt the same way. As long as he had Karube and Chota, nothing was ever truly terrible. There was a lot they needed to figure out about their current circumstances, but with all three of them working on it, it would probably come much easier than if they were working alone. They would have to rely on each other, but that was nothing new.
"We're lucky in a way." Arisu said.
"What?" Karube said blankly.
"There's no one I'd rather be trapped with during a zombie apocalypse." Arisu said.
"That," Karube said, "Has got to be the stupidest, cheesiest thing you've ever said."
"It probably was, wasn't it?" Arisu admitted.
"But you're not wrong." Karube said. "The zombie apocalypse would suck way more if you guys weren't with me. I'd probably already be dead."
"You're welcome." Chota said, smiling. "I know I definitely feel better with you both here. I wouldn't last ten minutes on my own.
"You're right about that." Karube said, smirking. The light had yet to fully return to his eyes, but he seemed to be coming back to himself slowly. "And I think you were right about another thing."
"Hm? What's that?" Chota asked.
"I think you did jinx us."