The Crazy Maze

Quite a lot of time passed by. No words were said. Even so, I was a lot more comfortable than before.

The silence had become somewhat refreshing.

Still, I held off trying to talk to Izumi because Ren’s nerves seemingly hadn’t settled yet. However, to my fortune, Izumi broke into character once again. She started outlining the next mission, whose name, unsurprisingly, was mediocre at best.

“The Crazy Maze,” Izumi announced.

So uncreative, I thought.

“That is our next mission.”

My mind wandered again while my legs continued forward. But I could tell they weren’t moving as fast as they were before, or as fast as they should have been. I got lost in Izumi’s eyes as my ears softened as she spoke.

Though it wasn’t something I considered first because I was ensnared by Izumi, I was lucky that Izumi, for the first time, described the mission we were currently approaching. I feared that, as with the previous mission, Ren wasn’t going to say anything. He was still keeping his distance and reluctant to speak when he didn’t feel obligated to.

That wasn’t a problem for me, however. I preferred it when Izumi described the missions.

She had a way with words — sharp, careful, and clear. Like each one had been polished before she let it out. And somehow, it always hit a little harder when she made that face, all scrunched in focus, fist clenched and pumping downwards to her side.

I made her explain it twice, just to be sure I understood everything she said. Well, three times. The third didn’t make it far.

As Izumi progressed through yet another exclamation, Ren turned, met my eyes, and glared at me before speaking commandingly. “No more.” His tone made it sound like more of a warning, so I stopped my adolescent antics. To be honest, I was pushing it a little.

It was obvious that I just wanted to hear her talk rather than actually need the reiteration of the mission and its structure.

It’s strange how attraction works. Even at your lowest and most defeated, you catch yourself smiling like a fool at something that you know is completely out of your grasp. Perhaps it is part of the delusion that inevitably comes with great sadness. Even so, it was helping me through the game, so I wasn’t going to let my opportunity go to waste.

As distracting as this was, however, I didn’t let it stop me from listening to what she was telling me. According to Izumi, this mission had to be completed individually. She told me how we would all be on our own, finding our way through a giant maze crawling with little monsters that, although not too strong, would pester you consistently and slow you down.

She added that we’d all enter a different maze, but all of which shared the same end. If one of us didn’t reach that end once the timer had run out, that was it. They would never leave the maze.

On the face of it that didn’t sound too bad. It was only until she mentioned that we had a time limit of one hour that the mission began to sound difficult. Not only that, but we also didn’t have access to the timer. This meant that we were against a time limit we weren’t able to keep track of.

Luckily for me, I wasn’t too bothered by that fact. I knew I had something to prove…And I guess Izumi helped me forget about these fairly ruthless contingencies.

“Well, we are here. Let’s get to our own positions,” Izumi declared.

As I looked up I couldn’t see much. There was no maze in front of me. Just three door outlines…but without the actual door. There was nothing special about what was on the other side of them either. I could see straight through it.

My best guess was that wasn’t actually the case. I knew that, somehow, the second we stepped through them we’d be teleported to somewhere unnatural.

“Which one do you think I should go through,” I passively asked. My question wasn’t really directly pointed towards either Izumi or Ren. I took the chance that perhaps Ren would answer, but also rode on the fact that that was something Izumi would respond to.

Neither of them replied.

Izumi waited, standing still and looking more serious than I had seen her before. She breathed intensely, but her body didn’t move an inch.

“This one.” Ren bluntly mumbled as he grasped my arm and pushed me toward the middle ‘door’.

As usual, I didn’t resist Ren’s command. As I stood firmly in position while staring intently forwards, I began to clench both of my fists, attempting to psych myself up for the mission.

I was finally going to prove to Ren I could do something on my own. That, no matter what, I was going to help him make it out of this place alive with Junpei. I wanted him to know that, after this, he’d know we could complete the rest of the game together.

Izumi appeared to my right, and I gave her one last look. She seemed as confident as ever, so I offered a nod of conviction, hoping she’d understand it as a gesture of reassurance.

“All right, let’s do this,” I said, trying to take the lead. Perhaps I had psyched myself up too much.

Ren didn’t seem to mind.

For once, I was excited to show off what I could do.

I took a deep breath, and motioned my right foot forwards. It slowly crept towards the opening of the door, but then a hand gently touched my left shoulder.

“I won’t be able to hold your hand anymore, Taro,” Ren said softly as he locked eyes with the ground. He looked quite glum; apologetic even.

“You have to do this by yourself…for Junpei…for Izumi…for me. Please, make it out alive. I believe in you.”

I almost teared up. Yet my desire to appear as masculine as possible prevented an outpour of tears.

“I—I—I don’t know what I’d do if I lost both of you.”

And with that, Ren entered, disappearing right in front of my eyes, leaving me to gaze at nothing for a moment.

I turned to see that Izumi had also entered. It was finally my turn.

I screamed at the top of my voice, brimming with belief in all three of us.

“Ren! Izumi! I won’t let you down! I’ll make it through! I promise”

I took one last breath, my heart finally relaxing. Then I stepped forward.

As the world around me shifted, a strange silence followed, like a vacuum pulling me through. There were no blinding lights. No disorienting flash. Not even a whisper of a sound. Just…change.

And suddenly, I was all alone.

I didn’t know if I’d ever see Ren again. That thought hit harder than I expected.

But at least the last thing he had said to me wasn’t something cold or harmful. That brought me a quiet comfort.

Ren never really hated me. Not really. He was just burning inside —boiling over with grief and fury.

And still, somehow, he had the strength to tell me he believed in me. That was enough. It reinforced the type of brother he was: kind, caring, and always fighting not just for himself but everyone else, too.

All of that helped me focus harder than ever.

The maze greeted me with enormously tall and ragged hedges that swallowed most of the light from above. Their leaves were rough and sharp, brushing harshly against my arms and face every time I reached a pathway that was too tight.

The air smelled like a damp moss and decomposing animals — some of which I found lying dead on the floor, bodies disfigured and unsettling.

The small monsters, too. They appeared as Izumi had said. They skittered at my feet and sometimes leapt from above. She hadn’t gone wrong on any single detail. They were not strong in the slightest, easily burnt to a crisp with one little flicker of my finger. Yet, there were so many that they were annoying; distracting, in fact.

Distraction was the real enemy here.

Still, I wouldn't let them get to me. Not when I finally had a chance to prove something. This wasn’t about brute strength or reckless bravery.

This mission was made for me. I was always good at puzzles and things like this.

I wasn’t going to let these monsters or twisted hedges get in my way.

I knew I’d meet Ren and Izumi on the other side — no matter what.