I'll stay in here

 “Oh no.” The words could have come from either of their mouths as Yota and Hikari rushed out of the stranger's kitchen.

The door was still shut and locked in place but faint trails of smoke wafted in from the gaps all around it.

“Shoot!” muttered Hikari vehemently under her breath.

“How long do you think we have until it gets in?” asked Yota, his voice distant, fingers tight around his pendent.

“I wish I could tell you,” she replied, eyes narrowed in thought. “But I reckon the sooner we decide on a plan, the better it'll be for both of us.”

“We don't know if the water will work.” He sounded like a stranger to himself, his words surprisingly clear. “So we should try to make sure we get the extinguisher too.”

“Okay, you hide in the bathroom then until it burns its way through the door,” she said decisively. “Then you slip out while I distract it in here with the water.”

He almost grabbed her wrist as she started walking back into the kitchen, his nails gently grazing her elbow instead as he spoke again.

“You should get it,” he said. “I'll stay in here.”

“This place is a lot smaller than the court, Yota,” she pointed out, smiling grimly to soften her serious tone. “You're not gonna have much room to do your thing in here.”

“It's a lot smaller than a field too,” he shot back. “And it's not like those pellets are going to do anything besides melt.”

“I don't need them,” she said, picking up the biggest bowl of water. “And we're running out of time.”

The door started to darken in a vaguely triangular shape. Yota grabbed the sides of the bowl, his thumbs pressed against his friend's, half submerged in the water.

“If anyone can get out of here and find it fast enough, it's you,” he told her solemnly, wishing she wouldn't notice the ripples across its surface despite knowing she already had. “Just don't let it get me, okay? And – and be careful.”

“Yota –” She paused and stared at him for a moment longer, then chuckled. “You're not going to let it go, are you?”

He shook his head but her words sent a bolt of electric anxiety through his chest. As soon as she let go of the bowl, he almost dropped it to hold onto the back of her shirt instead. What if she left and didn't come back?

“I'll let you be stubborn just this once, okay?” She booped his nose. “Don't get used to it.”

She was doing what he wanted so why did he not want that any more? What if he was being too stubborn again?

Wait. Again –?

“I'll hide in here then.” She opened the bathroom door and grimaced. “Looks like he forgot to clean up before he left – Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he replied, pawing at his heart, eyes fixed on the burning wood. “Quick, before it gets in.”

She followed his gaze to the door, then glanced at him a final time.

“You be careful too,” she said. “I'll be as fast as I can. Just stay in the kitchen until I tell you its all clear.”

“You stay in the bathroom too.” He nodded. “Until I tell you its safe to come out.”

A wild laugh cut across whatever else she had been about to say and she watched him back into the furthest wall opposite the door, shutting herself in the bathroom seconds before a flame burst through the centre of the wood.

Rings formed across the surface of the water, radiating outwards from the centre continuously, and Yota pressed his thumbs against the plastic as he realised exactly what he had just subjected himself to. His blood cells screamed for oxygen and he tried his best to answer their cries.

But the fire monster was faster than the stone one.

And he wasn't sure if he could get to the safety of the kitchen before it got to him. Smoke crept further into the apartment, curling around cartoon figures and drifting past certificates on the walls. Hovering over the bed that the owner seemed to have forgotten to make and slowly erasing the scent from his space and belongs without permission.

That man probably hadn't expected to die today.

He might have gone to bed last night without eating dinner. He might have woken up and wished he didn't have to go work. He might have made plans with his friends, family, or lover later on today. But now none of them would know what his past or his future looked like.

They wouldn't know whether he had tried to fight the monster and if that was how he had died. They would never know if he had tried to escape it nor if he had wanted to stay alive. As the middle of the door blackened rapidly and crumbled against the persistent heat source behind it, Yota wondered if the middle aged man in the corridor had truly wanted to be saved despite his pain.

A crackling arm burst through the wood, sending charred splinters flying through the air, and Yota leaned forward with a soft groan, barely blinking, his spine aching. He couldn't afford to freeze up like he had last time. Hikari wouldn't be able to do what she needed to do if she always felt like she had to protect him.

If she missed her chance to get out and grab the fire extinguisher, they might not have another chance. He might not, at the very least. He couldn't panic. Otherwise both of them wouldn't make it out of this impossible situation alive.

The door splintered further, spraying burnt wood across the floor between him and the monster as it broke through. Yota waited until it was halfway into the apartment before he moved forward, waiting two steps away from the door.

“Come and get me, you demon,” he whispered, teeth chattering a little.

The walls pulsated around him once again and the deep orange monster lit up the place like an unwelcome firework as it shot towards him. He hurled the contents of the bowl all over it and it hissed fiercely, as did its body, which flickered and sent up a cloud of steam. Yota dashed into the kitchen, his knees weak, and grabbed one of the large mugs Hikari had filled earlier. He threw it at the monster from the doorway and briefly doused the flames on its arms as it tried to cover itself.

“I think it's working!” he exclaimed, his throat straining around the high pitched words. “Hikari!”

He snatched another two prefilled cups. His pendant clacked against the left one as he spun back around and found the monster face to face with him, close enough to sting his skin without touching it directly. He yelled and emptied the cups onto its mouth and main eyes as if it had embarrassed him at a fancy restaurant. It snarled this time and one of its clawed hands landed on his shoulder.

Yota howled as the flames seared both his clothes and the flesh beneath before he dropped to the floor, rolling across it to the other side of the small kitchen and smothering them before they could spread. It didn't change the fact that he was trapped with the monster and that he didn't have the barrier of the kitchen door between them.

It didn't distract him from the sound of the front door closing behind Hikari as she left him to deal with the monster all alone with no way to protect himself.