June 3, 2025 – 2:05 p.m.

After school, riding their trusty bicycles, the small group of friends heads toward the abandoned factory just outside the town.

Within minutes, the kids are already inside the building, chatting about this and that.

"Hey guys, did you see the teacher's face today when he picked up the note?" Misaki begins. 

"He didn't understand a thing" replies Kenji.

"Thank goodness Jin invented that secret language, so we can communicate without being discovered" says Misaki.

"Even though it was really hard to learn" Kenji points out.

"But it's nice to have something that only we can understand" adds Misaki. 

Meanwhile, the three continue to wander aimlessly around the factory.

"This place really is huge" says Kenji. 

"Yeah" replies Jin.

"I know there are also underground rooms" exclaims Kenji. 

"Underground rooms?" asks Misaki, intrigued.

"Yes, my grandfather, who worked here, told me about them. That's where they carried out the most dangerous experiments. Who knows... if we manage to get in, we might even find some mutants." Kenji adds, but his enthusiasm is immediately dampened by Jin. "Don't be ridiculous, this was just a pharmaceutical company."

"Come on, at least let me hope to find a super attractive mutant. Imagine if they had finally managed to create a cat girl... that would be fantastic!" Kenji exclaims, clearly excited by his own fantasy.

"Kenji, you're such a pig!" Misaki declares, causing Jin to burst out laughing.

Meanwhile, the argument between Misaki and Kenji heats up, with the latter trying to defend himself by saying that his friend is too narrow-minded to understand, while Misaki repeatedly emphasizes that she would never go out with him without a third person to make her feel safe. Throughout all this, Jin continues to move through the rubble and finds a trapdoor leading to the lower floors where the argument between the three began. 

"Hey guys! Come and see!" With this sentence, Jin puts an end to the argument between Kenji and Misaki, who immediately go to their friend to understand what he was referring to.

Kenji is the first to realize that it is a passage to the lower floors and immediately gets excited about it. "Wow... you already found it."

Jin tries to pull hard to open the trapdoor, but it appears to be completely stuck. "It won't open."

"Wait... I'll try to help you. On my count of three, we'll pull together." Kenji exclaims, as he steps in to help his partner.

"One, two, three!" The two men in the group say together as they try with all their might to open the trapdoor, but it doesn't budge at all and the two end up being laughed at by Misaki. "Of course, guys, you can't even open a small trapdoor... you should train more instead of spending all your time playing video games."

"You could help us instead of standing there gawking. You may be a girl, but you have really muscular arms, you know?" Kenji's remark angers Misaki. "Muscular? Are you saying I'm not feminine?!"

Once again, it is up to Jin to act as peace ambassador. He proposes an alternative route, immediately capturing the attention of his fellow adventurers. "Hey guys... I could climb down from here."

Jin refers to a large hole not far from the trapdoor he couldn't open, but as soon as Misaki hears these words, she rushes to try to thwart this crazy idea. "Are you crazy, Jin? Do you want to measure this awful place? It'll be miles from here to the lower floor."

"It's really deep..." Jin replies, starting to think more carefully about his own suggestion, but behind him Kenji pops up with a suggestion.

"There's a hardware store not far from here, we could go there and get a rope to lower you down." 

"Great idea, Kenji!" Jin exclaims enthusiastically.

"No! No! That's not a good idea at all!" Misaki shouts, worried about the plan her two friends are developing. 

Despite her recommendations and attempts to reason with the boys, Misaki seems to be talking to herself and is deliberately ignored, so much so that the two run off to get the rope.

In about fifteen minutes, the boys are back at the factory, with Jin holding a rope in his hand. "Will this length be enough?" Jin wonders.

"Of course it will!" Kenji exclaims.

"But how can you be sure?" Misaki asks, in a last feeble attempt to reason with the two.

"The guy at the store said it's more than 10 meters of rope, I'm sure it will be enough. Don't worry Misaki, I'll be back up in no time. You and Kenji hold the rope tight while I climb down, okay?"

"Sure! Count on us!" Kenji says.

"Lucky for you, you're supposed to be a genius... when you do this, you're just an idiot. Anyway, you're too stubborn to change your mind, so I'll help you by holding this stupid rope" Misaki replies.

"With Misaki's arms, we're safe then" Kenji comments with a smirk, even though this remark earns him a violent punch in the head from his friend. 

"Ouch... that hurts!"

A few minutes later, Jin is already attached to the rope, checking that it is securely fastened around his waist. Once done, he tells his companions that he is ready to start climbing down. "Okay guys, I'm ready."

Kenji gives a thumbs up with his right hand, flashing a smile that shows his confidence. Misaki, on the other hand, seems a little unsure and simply nods her head, maintaining a worried expression.

At this point, Jin sits on the edge of the chasm, ready to descend into it and try to reach the floor below. "Okay, guys... I'm going to jump now, hold me with all your strength and let the rope slide down little by little. I'll let you know when I reach the bottom."

"Okay" Kenji replies promptly.

"O-okay" says Misaki, her voice trembling with fear and concern.

"See you in a bit." With these words, Jin bids farewell to his friends and lets himself fall into the void, flying several meters in total darkness. Only after a few seconds is his descent halted by Kenji and Misaki, who manage to hold the rope tight.

"Damn it, Jin, you could have at least counted down!" Kenji shouts to be heard by his friend, who has already fallen several meters.

"You idiot! You risked getting yourself killed!" Misaki shouts furiously.

Jin, hanging like a salami in midair, scratches his head as if to emphasize that he was so excited about this feat that he didn't even think to warn his friends before setting off. "You're right... sorry! But now keep lowering me down. I've already come down quite a bit, but it still seems like there's a long way to go to the bottom!"

Kenji and Misaki continue to lower the rope, but no matter how deep Jin goes, he is still not close to the lower floor.

After a few minutes, the rope runs out. Misaki, who is behind Kenji, realizes that there are only a few meters of rope left to allow Jin to descend further. She is also clearly tired, so she suggests starting the ascent. "We'll have to pull him up at this point, the rope is almost gone and my arms are hurting."

Kenji agrees and tries to call out to Jin, hoping he can hear him.

"Hey Jin! We're going to start pulling you up now, we've run out of rope to lower you down!"

Jin can only vaguely hear Kenji's words, but he raises his head anyway and looks up, at the light coming from that opening that now seems extremely far away. "Am I not in the basement yet? I didn't think there were so many meters between the two floors." He says to himself. "Well, the rope must be finished now, maybe it would be better if they pulled me up..." Jin's thoughts are interrupted by a dazzling light that suddenly appears below him. It generates a strong gravitational pull, drawing Jin towards it. The boy tries to hold on tight to the rope, but it starts to slide towards the light, dragging him into it. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Upstairs, Kenji and Misaki are about to begin the operation to pull Jin back up, but just as they are about to start, the rope begins to be pulled down with extreme violence.

"What's going on?!" Kenji screams, being thrown back towards the chasm. Misaki comes to his aid, doing her best to hold on to the rope, albeit with great difficulty.

"W-what's going on?!" asks the girl worriedly.

Kenji is now on the verge of falling into the abyss. Misaki, noticing the danger, calls out to him. "Let go of the rope and move away from there!"

"B-but Jin..."

"I'll hold him! Just get out of there! If you fall in there, there will be two of you to save!" "A-as you wish."

Kenji lets go and manages to jump away from the chasm. Meanwhile, Misaki, clutching the last piece of rope in her hands, moves closer and closer to the hole.

"I-I have to do this. I-I have to save Jin!" Misaki screams as she tries with all her might to pull the rope towards her, even managing to take a couple of steps backwards, which gives her hope that she can do it, but suddenly the rope is sucked in with even greater force, to the amazement of Misaki, who thought she could now save her friend. "W-what?!"

Misaki is pulled violently toward the hole where Jin has fallen, and it seems she is destined to fall in with little hope of survival. Now aware of her fate, she closes her eyes in fear of the end that could come at any moment, but she is unable to let go of the rope and abandon Jin, who has placed his trust in her.

When Misaki's future seems sealed, Kenji leaps powerfully to catch her, saving her from a certain fall that would have engulfed her in an instant. With no one left to hold it, the rope quickly disappears into the depths of the hole.

Misaki, as soon as she opens her eyes and realizes she has not fallen into the void, screams at Kenji. "Noooooo! Why did you do that?!" Immediately afterwards, she runs to the edge of the chasm and, leaning over it, sees a flash of light that lasts only a moment, which then gives way to total darkness, while Misaki's momentary amazement at that light gives way to tears for her friend. "Jin..."