Ariyama instantly heard a sharp whistling sound, and looked to his right at the holes on the wall, as a thin black thing shot out of one.

  His heart seized with warm panic, Ariyama fumbled and barely managed to drag both himself and Koenji to the floor, the bolt flying overhead before landing into the opposite wall with a thunk.

  Breathing heavily, Ariyama waited for another bolt to fly, but when none came, he slowly looked up.

  Ah. ‘Bolts from the holes’.

  That made sense now.

  “Ah! What the hell are we gonna do?”

  Ariyama decided to leave Koenji on the floor; it was for his own good. He couldn't stand on his own, so it at least protected him from being impaled by the arrows.

  Speaking of which, why the hell did this old ruined building have, not only a glowy red eye on its outside wall, but a whole system of medieval-type boobytraps. Did Jack have the answers?

  If he knew all this would be in the building, what was his plan? Did he decide to upgrade from just being an asshole to being a murderer?

  “Koenji, just stay down here and try not to bleed out, OK? I'll try and find some help.”

  “Oh, hell no! You're not leaving me alone in this dusty, dark, smelly goddamn place. Man, this was a mistake coming here. Now I'm dead and there's nothing to do–”

  As if someone was answering Ariyama's prayers, there was a sound of approaching footsteps. Multiple.

  Ariyama let out a breath of relief, only for it to be replaced by fear once again. Did they know about the arrow traps? Ariyama didn't think they did, and they were getting closer now, closer and closer, their footsteps getting louder and louder.

  “Guys, wait! Don't come in here! There are holes in the wall that shoot out these bolt things. If you get in here, they'll trigger and…”

  But those footsteps didn't stop. He heard voices calling his name, so they heard him calling out at least, but not what he was saying. It was useless to try it again, and so before his mind could even catch up, Ariyama made a break for it.

  He fell into a straight sprint along the hallway, heading for the opposite side, where the others would soon turn the corner.

  He heard arrows narrowly whistling past him as he darted across the floor, teeth grinding and his head tucked low.

  Almost there.

  Almost there.

  Almost–

  The running footsteps stopped as a girl turned the corner.

  Tan skin. Blonde hair with a purple clip.

  Kazura.

  They made eye contact for just a moment, as both Jack and Yaranagi turned the corner too.

  Everything seemed to slow down, as Ariyama became aware of the arrow shooting out from the hole in the wall.

  He pushed her.

  Her head was pulled down as her body was raised slightly.

  The bolt missed her head, but cut a long gash across her arm.

  Blood poured. She screamed in pain.

  But it wasn't over. Another bolt was primed. And it was let off with a shrill sound.

  This one would hit her head regardless.

  Ariyama didn't have time.

  So he–

  Clenching her teeth against the pain of the cut across her shoulder, Kazura squeezed her eyes shut and flinched heavily as another bolt shot at her.

  But then it was Ariyama who grunted in pain… Kazura opened her eyes and saw Ariyama, arm outstretched, the bolt gripped tightly in his fist.

  He had miraculously caught it just inches before it would've buried itself in her head.

  The speed of it had ripped the skin of his palm, leaving it red and sensitive. Blood seeped from between the gapes in his fingers.

  “S-Saato-kun?”

  Kazura was breathing heavily, her hand pressed to her wound, tears brimming in the corner of her eyes.

  “What's… going on?”

  Also gasping for breath, Ariyama said nothing as he dropped the bolt, the metal rod slick with his blood clattering to the ground.

  “Yeah, what she said. Why are there arrows flying from all around?”

  Jack came up behind them, as Ariyama pulled Kazura around the corner and out of the range of the boobytraps. As Kazura sank to the floor, clutching at the bloody line scarring her shoulder, Yaranagi called her name and knelt beside her.

  Jack gripped Ariyama's shoulder.

  “You hear me, Ariyama? What the hell was that–”

  Ariyama smacked his hand away, taking one step back and reeling back his fist as he did so.

  He was shaken to the core with anger. Fury that he hadn't known he could muster. It was bad, and in the heat of the moment, uncontrollable.

  “What's up with you? I told you to explain to me what in the hell–”

  Wordlessly, he let his fist fly, his knuckles crunching into Jack's jaw.

  The boy tipped back, and Ariyama pushed his whole weight onto him, the two collapsing to the floor. With his ruined, bloody hand, Ariyama grabbed Jack by the collar and pulled him in close to his snarling face.

  “You tell me, you bastard.”

  Jack's face was twisted in astonishment at what had just happened.

  “W-what…”

  Ariyama huffed an angry breath and punched Jack again. It hurt like a bitch, and his knuckles were already bruised and bloody, but it felt damn good.

  “You were the one who brought us here, yeah? So you must've known this place was the best choice for some reason. It took me until now to figure out why. This place is trapped! There's dead end after dead end, traps that shoot out arrows! Kazura was lucky I saved her, because otherwise she'd have ended up like Koenji. You know, your only friend? Yeah, he's bleeding out from a bolt through his damn forearm right now. So unless we get out this instant, he's as good as dead! And who's fault is that?”

  “I… didn't know this would happen. I was just told this place was–”

  “I don't give a fuck what you were ‘told’! It's your fault we're in this situation, you stupid bastard!”

  He hit him again, and again, and again.

  Ariyama felt flashes of white-hot pain flooding his whole hand as his fist connected with the side of Jack's face.

  He was finally doing it. Finally talking out all his frustration on somebody, while hurting himself in the process.

  Jack groaned in pain, his face red and his eye swollen. Just as Ariyama was about to hit him again, a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him off Jack. The jarring force made him feel like his shoulder would be torn off.

  So he knew it was Yaranagi before he even came into his line of sight. His friend's mouth was set in a hard line, clearly suppressing his own anger, which he very rarely did.

  “Listen, Saato. There's no time to beat him, no matter how good it may feel. We got to get Koenji out of here. Probably Machi too. They're both injured, and for all we know, those bolts could've been poisoned or could cause a disease from the rust.”

  It was weird, having Yaranagi being the sensible one while Ariyama was the one losing his temper. This place was changing everything Ariyama had grown so accustomed to.

  Taking a deep breath in and out, Ariyama nodded without another word. He was still kind of pissed off at Yaranagi, but right now he was telling the truth. He sat up, wincing at his busted hand and holding it close.

  “OK, OK. Can you crawl under those traps in the hallway and grab Koenji? If we all meet up here, there can't be only one path to the entrance.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Yaranagi nodded, then gave Kazura a reassuring pat on her good shoulder, before disappearing around the corner.

  Ariyama squeezed his eyes shut, ignoring small moans from Kazura and the wheezing breaths from Jack. He dreaded the thought of hearing a whistling bolt, followed by the sound of a body dropping to the cold stone floor.

  But as luck would have it, Yaranagi returned just moments later, scuttling across the floor on his knees, his arm muscles bulging as he dragged Koenji's groaning form behind him.

  Leaning Koenji against the wall beside Kazura, Yaranagi exhaled loudly and got to his feet, dusting off his pants.

  “Fatso…”

  Ariyama's shoulders relaxed as his best friend returned. He brought his knees close to his chest.

  “Right, cool, awesome. Now we need to get them out of here… But you can't take both of them, and Jack and I can't help. We don't even know another way back, but we need to escape anyway…”

  “I agree, Ariyama.”

  At the foreign voice, Ariyama jumped a little, his nerves not helping in any way. He craned his neck around, stifling a gasp as he saw two familiar faces approaching from the other side of the hallway.

  Katsuragi Kento and Odomura Airi.

  Ariyama first noticed how covered in dust they were. Whichever route they took, it must've been a lot dirtier than the one he had taken.

  “Guys? Oh, I'm so glad you're OK. But listen, there's been–”

  “Don't worry, Ariyama-kun, we heard everything. We were heading in this direction anyway. And you'll be surprised how thin these stone walls are. Though, it was probably more thanks to the echoing.”

  Odomura, despite looking like she's been through hell, still gave him a kind smile.

  Katsuragi nodded in agreement.

  “Indeed. Luckily, we got here through an alternative path than you all. It's… a lot more dusty than we'd have liked, but it's clear of any boobytraps.”

  Katsuragi winced as he glanced at Koenji and Kazura leaning against the wall.

  “We'll have to leave the topic of the person at fault for this alone for the time being. Right now, these two need to get out of here. And frankly… I think we should too.”

  Odomura nodded in agreement, her hands fiddling with the hem of her beige coat.

  “Yeah, sorry, but this place is seriously giving me the creeps. I only really came here because I didn't want to be left out. And I was also invited personally, so it'd feel bad if I didn't go. But right now, I'm regretting my choices.”

  Ariyama ignored the blazing pain in his left hand for a moment, just to give Odomura somewhat of a reassuring smile.

  “Look, we're all beat up and dirty and in over our heads. You're not the only one wanting to ditch this place.”

  At that, Odomura's face lit up.

  “So… does that mean you're leaving with us?”

  Ariyama caught himself before he spoke. In the spur of the moment, he had almost said yes.

  But that would've been a lie.

  Had he gone through all this hardship just to get into this place, only to run away like a coward after no more than twenty minutes?

  Over his dead body.

  “I… don't think so, Airi. Sorry, but I just need to stay. I can't really explain but–”

  “OK guys, enough of the politeness, please.”

  That was Kazura, now leaning forward slightly, her hand stained red from where she held her injury.

  “It's bad enough that my pretty tanned shoulder is all messed up, but Koenji is in serious danger. I know no one likes him, but we're not leaving him to die.”

  “My thoughts exactly. We're wasting time as it is, which is a precious commodity in this scenario.”

  As he spoke, Katsuragi leaned down and used all his strength to pull Koenji up, slinging an arm around his waist to support him. The chubby boy just gurgled something, his face scrunched up in a mix of pain, resistance and impatience. Ariyama was more shocked at Katsuragi's strength. The guy looked as skinny as it got, but maybe his brain wasn't the only thing that was fortified.

  “Even if that damned dust keeps fogging up my glasses, I'm confident in saying that I can retrace our steps and head back to the entrance. We have no time to lose. Odomura, if you'd kindly bring Kazura with you…”

  “Sure thing, Kento-kun!”

  As Odomura crouched down to scoop Kazura to her feet, the noticeably-quiet Yaranagi finally spoke up.

  “So what the hell are you gonna tell the authorities when you come to them with a guy with an arrow through his goddamned arm?”

  “If we're lucky, not much. If we're not, then I'll just explain to them that it must have been a trap laid out amongst the trees, likely from a hunter trying to catch some game.”

  Yaranagi crossed his arms, nodded in agreement.

  “OK. OK, that should work. Just get them out of here before anything worse happens. And, uh, stay safe… or whatever.

  Odomura pulled Kazura beside her, looking back to Yaranagi with a bright grin.

  “We'll do our best!”

  Katsuragi looked back too.

  “Of course. And you're sure no one else wants to come with?”

  “Nah man. Missing something as interesting as this? Never.”

  Ariyama shook his head.

  “I… can't, not when I'm here for a reason.”

  Even Jack, now finally sitting up, grunting the whole way, spoke with a muffled voice.

  “I'm not leaving this place. Captain goes down with the ship, and all that. And I also need to prove to some of you that I'm not who you think I am.”

  He made no attempt at hiding the nasty glare he gave Ariyama out of the corner of his eye.

  Katsuragi turned his back on them, and began stumbling away, Koenji's heavy form weighing him down.

  “Very well. Good luck, all of you.”

  Odomura scampered to catch up, Kazura hanging off her but actually able to move in a little run alongside her, unlike Koenji.

  And just like that, they were gone.

  Ariyama waited until their receding footsteps disappeared before he let himself curl into a ball on the floor, clutching his hand.

  “Damn… This hurts…”

  Yaranagi shook his head and laughed incredulously as he came to one knee beside Ariyama.

  “Look bro, I get that punching the shit out of Jack was fun, but do you regret your broken fist?”

  Through his contorted face, Ariyama looked at his friend with a wild expression.

  “Nah, not one bit.”

  “Oh, now we're acting all in-charge now, huh?”

  It was Jack, who was standing on his two feet despite the swelling on the half of his face. His lip was busted and his nose was bleeding.

  “Listen you little brat, I demand an apology. How the hell was I supposed to know that all this was going to–”

  Yaranagi whirled around to face him with a glare.

  “I for one don't give a damn. You're you, so opinion invalidated right off the bat. Now don't forget, there's still the other three who are with us. For all we know, they could be lying dead on the floor with arrows through their heads. Let's go check up on them.”

  Jack's face burned with fury, his jaw flexing. But he contained his outburst and just gave Yaranagi a deadly stare as he walked past him.

  Ariyama, even with the flaring pain from his bruised fist, had a feeling of satisfaction seeing Jack knocked down a peg or two. Even if he didn't get his big moment on this outing after all, punching Jack Hayakawa in the face multiple times sure was worth it.

  Their footsteps were echoing through the barren hallways. It was all so quiet that even the slight whoosh of the breeze or skittering stone from being kicked made Ariyama instinctively jump.

  He was bringing up the rear of their reduced group, with Jack hobbling along in the middle, holding his bruised face, while Yaranagi was leading them.

  It was eerie how quiet it had gotten, even only five or so minutes after the whole scene with bolts flying and fists flying and arguing.

  If that did one thing right, it got Jack to shut up.

  “Hey, you guys hear that?”

  Yaranagi suddenly stopped ahead of them, making Ariyama and Jack stop too. Ariyama closed his eyes to focus on whatever sound Yaranagi was talking about. It was still difficult to hear much of anything in this place, even with the echoing hallways.

  Nothing yet.

  Just the same sounds: human breathing and the breeze and distant voices and…

  Distant voices?

  Ariyama opened his eyes, locked eyes with Yaranagi, and nodded.

  “Yeah, I hear it. That must be the others, right? So they must be close by. I'm glad.”

  Jack groaned loudly, clearly just looking for attention.

  “Oh, thank God. Let's hope they won't start beating on me for something I never even did–”

  “Shut up, Jack.”

  “Shut up, Jack.”

  Jack spluttered in disbelief at the attack on him, before scoffing and walking ahead alone. Once they were alone, Yaranagi leaned into Ariyama.

  “So… if he gets hit by one of those bolts…”

  “I won't be in a rush to save him. I'll say that much.”

  Yaranagi huffed a laugh at Ariyama's response, but looked at him oddly for a few seconds.

  “Yeah, and on an unrelated note, is… everything OK?”

  Ariyama blinked in confusion for a second.

  “Yes? What are you on about?”

  Yaranagi licked his lips, a rare occurrence. He only ever did that if he was genuinely talking about something that he was embarrassed about.

  “Well, just today in school. And now here in this creepy hellhole. All of a sudden, you seem distant…”

  Ariyama rolled his eyes.

  “Why do you even care? It's not like Yaranagi Yasuke to care about his friends’ feelings.”

  Ariyama instantly wanted to take it all back. His heart had been racing as Yaranagi had finally asked the question Ariyama had wanted him to for the last few hours. His mind was running way behind his mouth.

  Yaranagi took a step back, narrowing his eyes accusingly.

  “Huh? Come on, man. We both know I joke around but we can also both tell I'm being serious about this.”

  “And you're only asking me now because?”

  “Because I didn't notice it until now? God, Saato, you're impossible sometimes…”

  Those words made Ariyama's already-shortening temper break further.

  “Oh, I get it. I'm the impossible one? Says the one who's just pretending to not be a fake-as-can-be friend.”

  “What? How the hell am I ‘fake’?!”

  “Oh I dunno. Maybe when you weren't gonna tell me you were going to this place in the first place? The only reason I came is because… Uh, Jack told me, so I decided to come. He already asked you to go though, didn't he? And for some unknown reason, you weren't even gonna ask me if I was even going? I thought we were best friends, and isn't that what best friends do?”

  Yaranagi crossed his arms and chuckled nastily.

  “No way. No way that's what's gotten you so riled up. And I mean really riled up. I've never seen you get this pissed at really anything before. So sorry I did the unforgivable act of forgetting to ask you. How could I ever be redeemed?”

  “You know, you use that excuse a lot, huh? If you're starting to forget all this stuff more and more often, do you know where you need to go? A doctor, bro.”

  Yaranagi flinched, as if he was ready to knock Ariyama on his ass, but he refrained at the last moment. His hands balled into white-knuckled fists, his breathing shallow and uneven, Yaranagi trembled as he glared at Ariyama, his seething building.

  Ariyama couldn't deny that his heart skipped a few beats when he came face-to-face with Yaranagi's intimidating anger on full display.

  He let out a breath to calm his own nerves.

  “Look, forget it, OK? Let's just move on, and get out of this creepy hellhole, eh?”

  He managed a meek smile and held out a hand to shake.

  Ariyama had managed to quell his own frustration, but clearly Yaranagi would need a bit more time, as he just gave Ariyama a nearly-murderous look before ignoring his outstretched hand and walking off after Jack.

  Ariyama just stared after him, mouth hanging open, hand still expecting the phantom of another hand to shake.

  He slowly retracted his hand and instead curled it into a fist and smashed it against the side of his leg again and again.

  What was he thinking? Did all that just happen or was it a dream? All that pettiness made Ariyama want to vomit. But it was in the heat of the moment and he couldn't really control himself at the time.

  “Good work, you damn idiot…”