Basement

After a moment of groaning in pain, Ren and Shun finally stood up, brushing the dust off themselves before they started looking around the peculiar floor.

The lights were off, and the darkness pressed in on all sides. Still, faint illumination leaked in from above the shaft, just enough to cast distorted silhouettes across the floor. By watching how those shadows stretched and shifted, they could make out rough shapes—the flow of fabric and the positioning of objects nearby.

"...Damn it, that hurts." Shun groaned, his voice echoing faintly.

"...A, are we on the last floor?" Ren asked, stretching his shoulder as a sharp ache shot through it. Though nothing was broken, the impact had nearly dislocated it.

"...I think," Shun replied, then a second later realized something. "My tablet?" He said, looking at the floor behind them.

The drawing tablet was wedged against a cluster of plastic chemical bottles. One of the larger containers, a five-liter bottle, had likely cushioned the fall. Even so, a thin crack ran across the tablet's casing, damage that must have occurred after it slid off the bottle and hit the floor.

The moment Shun crouched to pick it up, a strong chemical stench flooded his nostrils, making him wince and cover his nose for a second before forcing himself to continue.

Ren noticed the smell too, but brushed it off since they were in a hospital, and he expected to encounter more chemical odors.

"Is the tablet okay?" Ren asked, turning toward Shun.

"I think so, but I'm still worried if this cracked area will still work," Shun replied, though his voice carried doubt.

He tapped the screen. It lit up, casting a pale glow across his face.

Ren's gaze dropped to the floor near Shun's feet. Their dead flashlight lay there with one of its batteries rolled halfway out.

"Oh. Look at that," he muttered, bending down to pick it up.

The moment his fingers closed around the flashlight, the chemical stench hit him again, stronger this time.

After a few minutes of checking their equipment, they finally pressed on. Though their steps were slower now and their posture slightly off. This wasn't because they were scared, but from the injuries they'd taken during the fall. There was nothing they could do about it, so they moved forward anyway.

Fortunately, the flashlight had come back to life, though its beam was noticeably weaker than before it had died. So far, everything seemed manageable. Down here, however, there wasn't a single functioning electric light. Fixtures had been ripped out or smashed, and some of the switches that once powered them were missing entirely.

As they walked, the flashlight's glow continued to dim. If they slowed down much more, they'd be forced to rely on the tablet as their only source of light.

"We've been walking for minutes now. Why can't we find any decent wards?" Ren complained, tapping the flashlight when its beam flickered.

"Stop complaining," Shun said from behind him. "We've only been walking for about nine minutes."

"And how do you know that?"

"You're forgetting I have a watch and the tablet with me," Shun replied. "Besides, the time we've been walking isn't such a waste, cause I'm seeing good materials to use in the story or an illustration."

The flashlight sputtered once more, then died completely, leaving them in darkness.

"There it goes," Ren muttered as he came to a stop.

Silence settled around them for a moment.

"What now?" Ren asked.

"We keep moving forward. If we stop again, I feel like I might fall asleep. Not that I'd ever sleep in a place like this even if I wanted to," Shun responded.

"You're right, but don't you think it's strange?" Ren stepped aside, letting Shun take the lead.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We're moving around, yet we still feel like sleeping. It would make sense if we were sitting around and doing nothing like usual, but this time it feels different. Why?"

Shun let out a slow breath as they continued down the corridor.

"Maybe it's just because we haven't slept in almost two days. But... who knows?"

Their footsteps echoed ahead of them, then again, a second later, behind them.

"What a funny echo," Shun said.

"...Yeah." Ren slowed his pace, deliberately adjusting his steps to match the sound. But something was off. The echo didn't match the rhythm of their steps.

Ren glanced behind him, curious about what could be happening.

For a brief moment, a shadow slid across the wall. It had a human shape or close enough, but in the darkness, it was hard to be certain.

"Did you see that?" Ren asked, stopping and staring at the wall the shadow went over.

"See what?"

Ren stayed silent for a second, narrowing his eyes. Never mind. Thought I saw something move."

Shun stopped and hesitated for a moment. "I bet you're starting to see things."

"Haha, I was just messing with you," Ren paused. "But really..." Then continued.

"D-don't do that again." When Shun spoke again, his voice sounded distant, like it reached his ears a fraction of a second late. He shook his head, blaming the exhaustion, but the feeling didn't go away.

Somewhere ahead, a metal clicked.

Shun raised the tablet, angling its pale light down the corridor, but the corridor ahead was empty.

Yet. The clink came again, closer this time.

"What's wrong?" Ren asked.

"Did you hear that?" Shun whispered.

Ren thought that Shun was trying to prank him, and he didn't take him seriously. Instead, "You know that won't work on me, right?" He stepped past Shun, his expression grave.

"Stop," Shun whispered.

Ren exhaled, unimpressed.

He slightly shifted his gaze towards Shun. "Stop playing ar—."

Behind Shun, he saw the shadow figure again, but this time, it was just standing and doing nothing, or maybe it was observing them.

"Come on. Let's go," Ren said, ignoring the shadow behind Shun.

He took Shun's words to heart, and those words were that he was imagining things.

***

They moved for minutes, ignoring the strange things they were seeing and hearing, until they reached a split in the corridor.

To the left, shadows stretched endlessly, swallowing the walls and floor in darkness. To the right, the path was slightly brighter than any they had taken so far, but it carried a sharp mix of chemical odors, and hazard signs were scattered along the walls, and soon faint echoes of dripping water reverberated down the hall.

Ren and Shun didn't need to discuss their next move; both knew instinctively where to go.

Follow the light, that will be your path to victory: Sayaka's words.

After walking for a while, they entered one of the open wards. It looked less like a hospital room and more like an experimental lab for dangerous chemical testing, but that was just a guess.

"This place reminds me of the chemistry lab back at school, only bigger and more advanced," Ren said, running a finger along the edge of a metal table, leaving a faint trail in the dust.

"You're right, though it's a little dark in here," Shun replied.

His gaze flicked upward toward the ceiling, noticing that the lights were still intact. Without hesitation, he went straight for the switches and turned them on.

The glow revealed their own tired faces. Shun's blue eyes were heavier than usual, and Ren's under-eye shadows made him look like a full-time worker who rarely got a moment to rest, rather than a high school student.

"Hmmm… why do you think they shut this hospital down?" Shun asked curiously. "From what I'm seeing, almost everything's still intact, aside from the broken lights and the elevator."

"Maybe financial issues," Ren replied. "Or something like that."

"You think?" Shun asked.

Suddenly, a sharp throb pierced through Shun's head, making him stagger slightly for a second before his vision started to get foggy.

"Do you see smoke in here?" Shun asked, then blinked.

The moment he opened his eyes, Ren was gone, and the room stood in utter silence with only him standing alone in the middle of it.