Takeru

“Your freedom?” Yuka’s voice was flat, the realisation hitting instantly.

Himari gave a nod in response. “Today is the day my countdown ends."

She grabbed a chopstick full of ramen into her mouth, with no slurping or any signs of her eating. Just the dread of the situation

Time really flew by that quickly. Himari will gain freedom while I have to wait another day; the leader and she planned this, so it should be fine…

Himari grabbed another full bite of ramen. “We need to reserve our strength; just eat. I wanted to tell you that and nothing more."

“Not this time—” Yuka’s voice cracked slightly.

Himari put her chopsticks down, her arms leaning over the table, the smell of the ramen hitting her even harder. “Just tell me what you're planning to do."

The earpiece started to crackle noise out of them; the leader was shouting, or at least seemed that way, walking around to Himari’s earpiece, then grabbing her own, and she threw them over as they landed onto the bed.

Her gaze locks onto Himari, the pink eyes contradicting the grey ones. Her shoes tap against the hardwood as Yuka sits opposite Himari, the instant ramen underneath her just a mere distraction. “This is between us."

“I wasn’t going to change my mind with him talking into our ear anyway; I'm not that soft. " Himari gazed up at Yuka, her hands interlocked. “I can promise you this plan will free us."

“Why!” Yuka slammed her fist onto the table as the instant ramen inside her cup spilt over.

Silence.

Himari hands over a paper roll without a word.

Yuka looked away as she began rubbing the table clean. “I didn’t mean to lash out; I just have a bad feeling about this."

Himari sighs. “I understand you have issues not being told everything, but can you trust me this one time?" Her words hung in the air.

I should trust her. She has done nothing to make me suspicious of her, but then why does my chest tighten like I should protest against this? My feelings are winning. When they shouldn’t be

"Himari—"

…

“Just promise we will be free once this ends; that's our end goal, right? Why were we risking our lives for this?"

“I do promise, so trust me in Yuka." Grabbing her chopsticks back, she grabs a full ramen bite; this time she slurps. The conversation was over.

Getting off the chair, Yuka goes over to the bed. Grabbing the earpieces, she walks back to the chair, seating herself comfortably while handing Himari her earpiece back. “Leader, we're ready."

Himari butted in, “Eat your food—"

“Not hungry, unless you want to keep eating; we can wait," Yuka sighed. Himari put her chopsticks down and the earpiece back into her ear. Having Yuka tell something like that to her was different; she was serious about everything.

The earpiece vibrates in their ears. "Yuka, take the top floor descending down; knock on every door and find someone who is alive and able to talk even if it's just a bit. Himari, you take the bottom floor and execute the plan while recording the conditions."

They stood up from their chairs, both walking over towards the hardwood door, where the clock hung above; it was six o'clock. If there were anyone still alive and able to talk, then they wouldn't be asleep so early.

Gently opening the door, they stand in its frame. “Yuka, don't do anything stupid." A small smile appeared onto Himari’s usually neutral face.

“I'm anything but stupid; if anyone could do this, it's me.” Her proclamation left Himari speechless, just softening her expression a bit further before she returned to her usual sharp, neutral expression.

“You're right, Yuka.”

Himari then ran off, leaving her comment in the air, axe in hand, camera attached to her frilly dress as she was rushing down the stairs until finally disappearing from Yuka’s sight; time was of the essence now as THEY would hear.

I already know my two neighbours are unresponsive, so it's time to check the other sides of my floor and then move down.

Her feet ran quickly around the corner near the staircase Himari descended; three doors on each side, three sides left, there were nine potential people that she had never seen before.

Knock, knock.

The first door had no response; she wasn’t expecting any on the first try.

Knock, knock.

A grumbling sound was heard from behind.

“Hey, I'm Yuka. I'm wondering if you can talk to me." The grumbling behind the door intensified; the person was clearly unfit for human conversation. However, at least they were alive.

Knock, knock.

The more knocks she did, the responses were all the same: grumbling, shouting, or nothing. There was nothing else that people up here would respond with on the third floor other than her; it was all rejected.

She descended down the staircase to the second floor. Himari was from here, but she never mentioned anyone else; it was likely they were also all gone, but she was never the type to walk around and see if people were alive or dead.

The second floor never amazed her; it was the same as her floor, but the crimson moon didn’t shine as bright, but worrying about details was pretty useless now.

She ran over to each door like always, asking the same thing over and over again.

Knock, knock.

Four had no response, three were nothing but grumbles, and one was shouting; there was, however, one person.

“Talk about what— We already did the inspection. " A male voice; it was gentle yet clearly not pleased with the sudden visit.

Yuka froze on the spot. I need an excuse.

“We need a reevaluation; open the door," a sharp voice, intimidating and powerful. The man behind knew who spoke this way; there could only be one person.

The door handle opened gently; the man peeking outside saw Yuka, his eyes wide, darting away from her every way possible. He didn't know what to say, but he had to think of something.

“Right this way, sir!” He opened the door fully, pushing himself aside as he made way for Yuka. She walked in like a queen welcomed by servants.

I'm not a sir— Does he think I'm someone else, or does he also see me as a black figure? Some sort of different experiment then.

Her eyes looked around the cleanest room possible; nothing was dirty or out of place at all. A perfect example— it was exactly who she was before her massive rebellion.

“I will be honest with you. " Yuka shut the door; the silence in the room was suffocating.

Her eyes took a closer look at the guy with blonde spiky hair; he was wearing a black and white suit, the same palette as their dresses but for men. His eyes were a light pale yellow. "What is it, sir—?"

“This isn’t an inspection; I'm not THEM." Her voice rose just a bit above normal, her point crystal clear.

The man stepped backwards. "You know about THEM? Who are you— What do you see out this window?" His slim fingers point outside his window; the red and black hellish landscape is different on this side of the complex. It is trees, but even those don't look like they should've; it is just black and crimson cubes.

“I see a crimson sky that never stops. Black and crimson cubes that mess everything up past the hilltop, trees twisting and bending in ways we can't even fathom."

The man's breathing increased; his sweat began dripping just a bit more. "I'm Takeru! Please tell me, do you see me—”

Why is he suddenly telling me his name?

"Yes, you're a boy, taller, with blonde spiky hair and pale yellow eyes. You're slim too— I think you see me as something inhuman but just close enough to not be anything else."

Yuka pointed her finger at her smile, which forced, “I might not have a mouth, or maybe it's inhumane, but I'm a person. You must be someone from the same experiment as me—”

Takeru replied, “I can see your dress somewhat, and your bright pink eyes too. I can see some human features; the world outside, I can see the city in the distance, which you can't—”

Yuka nodded. “The final experiment, the one which succeeded. They failed to wipe your entire memory too, it seems."

Takeru let out a couple tears; it was unimaginable. "Are you here to fix me? I want to get rid of this curse!”

“I can’t fix anyone; I still have the same conditions you do— I just need a place to stay; I need to use this room, and in return it will get us closer to the freedom we always wanted from this place, all the years we spent here— They can end if you just let my friend and me stay here." She smiles genuinely this time, unaware if Takeru could see it or not. She was hoping her energy could do the talking.

Takeru stood still; he knew this was going to go against THEM, but the years compiled; he wanted this to end already. Everyone left with their minds wanting this to be ended. “I will let you, but tell me the plan."

She waited for the earpiece, yet nothing came. Yuka understood the silence from the other side.

Yuka went over their details, the plan with the camera which he couldn’t see, and the earpiece she had. It was hard to explain her story to this point, but it was enough to convey the message that she wasn’t there to harm him or let THEM win against him—

“All I need to do is let you use this room and act like no one is here, and soon I will be saved. This all sounds like a dream, but thank you—”

Someone thanked me for doing nothing that important. I'm just here using their room, but they trust in the plan, in me, in Himari and in the leader. Someone, despite being an outsider, trusts us. It's very hopeful.

“Agh!” A real loud shout came from outside the room; it was sharp and rough, yet it was clearly a girl's, one she knew of.

Instantly Yuka turns around, running towards the door. “Stay here; that's one of my teammates. Don't ever move!” She dashes out of the room, her earpiece activating.

"Don't go down there, Yuka; that's part of the plan." The leader told her

Yuka refused. “That was a real shout, it was a real scream; I won't let that go unnoticed."

What have they thought of? Why is Himari screaming? Why do I have a feeling something bad is happening?

A loud cracking sound started to echo around the complex, shattering concrete; she couldn’t mistake it. The sound of metal colliding was something she got way too used to from her adventure.

Stay safe Himari. Please, just for this last day!