"Is this all I need?"

Ruki stood at the bathroom counter, staring at what was on it. He had gathered alcohol, an stuffed animal doll, a bag of rice, red thread, a washbasin, and a knife. 

"This is crazy. Why am I doing this?" he said to himself. "I'm going to risk my life playing this game so I can get rid of a–" Ruki saw a glint in the corner of his eye. His next word got caught in his throat.

Ruki spun around quickly, with fear in his eyes. "Wh- who's there?" he stuttered, cautiously. When he realized that there was no one there, he expelled his breath and let his shoulders sag. "I'm definitely going crazy.", he thought to himself.

FWOOSH! 

The window over the toilet behind him opened, and a strong gust of wind blew into the tiny bathroom, making Ruki shiver. He sighed, and went to close it. 

Ruki sat down dejectedly on the toilet, putting his head in hid hands. "That's right," he thought. "That's why I'm doing this." He sat there for another five minutes like that, before standing up again. "It's now or never, Ruki." he said aloud. Ruki filled the washbasin with cold water, then gathered up everything else and left the bathroom.

Ruki walked over to the other side of his hotel room and dumped everything on the bed. He then kneeled at the end of the bed and picked the knife up, cutting the animal doll. He gently pulled out all the stuffing, and filled the now-empty doll with rice and the fingernail clipping. 

His hands were shaking. 

He tied the doll tightly with the red thread, as if to bind it. "This is for real.", he said.

Still clutching the doll, Ruki wandered over to a large, comfortable chair that was pushed into a corner. He pulled it forwards a bit, the went to each side, checking for visibility. "Good.", he thought. "I'll hide here." He placed a statue of Jesus on the seat, then put multiple crucifixes on the floor around the chair. 

After that, he wen back to the bathroom with the doll. Ruki stood in front of the washbasin. "I can't believe I'm really doing this.", he murmured. "Alright, the doll's name will be... Ryouta. Time to begin."

Ruki shut his eyes tightly. In a stern voice, he called out "First tagger is Ryouta! First tagger is Ryouta! First tagger is Ryouta!" He opened his eyes, placed the doll in the water, and turned off the lights.

Next, Ruki left the bathroom and went to the bed. He armed himself with the knife, then counted to ten

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!", he yelled, feeling flutters in his stomach. "There's no going back now." he thought.

Ruki went to the bathroom again, and looked at the wet doll. "Here goes everything..." he mumbled. 

"I found you, Ryouta!" Ruki said, stabbing the doll. After that, he closed his eyes again (which is a very scary thing to do at a time like this), and called out "Now Ryouta is it! Now Ryouta is it! Now Ryouta is it!" He placed the knife next to the washbasin and exited the bathroom again, locking the door behind him. He grabbed the bottle of alcohol and took a drink, but didn't swallow it. 

"They said don't swallow it," Ruki recalled. "It supposedly "cloaks" you."

Ruki turned off the bedroom light and rushed behind the chair, clutching a Bible just in case.  He waited for a good twenty minutes, with no sign of Ryouta. "What happened? The doll is supposed to be possessed and searching for me!" Ruki thought. "This isn't working! I need to burn that doll and get rid of the demon! I need someone to he-" Ruki's inner babbling got cut off by a thin, raspy voice. 

"I found you, Ruki!"

The doll slowly ambled around the chair and looked at Ruki. It held the sharp knife high above it's head. "How'd he find me?" Ruki wondered. "Isn't the alcohol supposed to..." he trailed off.

Ruki realized that he had mindlessly swallowed the alcohol when he was thinking about why the game wasn't working. he looked at Ryouta.

The doll grinned.

Ruki screamed.

He dropped the Bible, pushed out the chair, and ran out screaming. He ran to his parents house and vowed to never return to that hotel again.

                                                                           •••

The next morning, staff discovered the morning cleaning lady dead in that room, with a knife in her chest, and an animal doll laying beside her.