2 Minutes To Midnight

“Mayu-san…” Hotaru utters dumbfounded, Mayu’s arms still wrapped around her.

“Hota…chan. Welcome back…”

“Mayu-san!”

As Hotaru backs away, her steps riddled with guilt. Mayu doubles over in pain and begins to fall, but I rush and catch her in time.

“Mayu! Mayu!” I shake her body in my arms, my breaths panicked. The utility knife falls to the floor, as blood starts staining Mayu’s shirt red around her abdomen.

“Shit! Shit!”

“Mayu, keep it together!” Ayase and Noriko rush over to us, everyone’s eyes searching around frantically

While Hotaru is utterly shocked by the outcome, and only mutters, standing in place “Kazuya-kun… Mayu-san, I…”

What do we do?!

I can’t get my thoughts in order. Kazuya just died, and Mayu is bleeding out right in front of my eyes!

Mayu tries to smile through the pain, “Hideki… I’m counting on you.” gritting her teeth, she delivers those words.

Mayu is… counting on me?

But what the hell can I do? I don’t know the first thing about treating someone. What if I do something wrong?

Suddenly, everyone is looking at me.

Mayu is depending on me. Her life, is in my hands.

“Damnit!” I mutter, and draw a sharp breath. This isn’t the time to panic! You need to act, Hideki!

Next to me, Ayase rests a hand over my shoulder.

With a determined nod, she steels her resolve “Noriko! Grab the bandages and a cloth from her bag! Hideki, I need you here!”

“Y-yes!” “Okay!”

“Hideki put pressure on the wound!”

“O-okay…” Albeit hesitantly, I cup my arms around her wound and press down to try and stop the bleeding.

“MGGGHH!” Mayu bites her sleeve, mumbling in pain.

“Hotaru, you…” When Ayase turns to the girl behind us, we all realize something. She’s nowhere to be seen… And she has taken Kazuya with her.

“Where the hell did she run off to?!”

“What about… Kazuya?”

“Kazuya-kun was…” Noriko shuts her eyes, unable to utter the truth she had deciphered. “…Dead.”

“We can worry about all that later…” Ayase voices, gulping hard.

Noriko soon fetches the items, as we continue treating Mayu.

“Here.” Ayase quickly hands me the cloth, and I use it to keep putting pressure on the open wound.

“MMMMGH!”

I’m sorry Mayu…

“Okay keep doing that for a minute longer, and we’ll dress it tightly in a bit.” Despite her calm tone, Ayase’s face is stained with sweat, an her expression tight. It’s apparent how stressed she is.

“I’m okay… I’m okay…” Mayu mutters, her complexion slightly paler.

“Mayu, do you feel cold?”

“A little…”

I instantly remove my blazer and drape it over her chest without a second thought.

“What can I do, Ayase-senpai?”

“Help me wrap this around her. Hideki you keep pressing on as if your life depends on it.”

“Mine does...”

I somehow chuckle through my panicked mind “You idiot…” I keep pressing despite Mayu’s pained expression “That’s enough reason for me…”

We somehow succeed in dressing her wound as tight as possible. Mayu had lost consciousness somewhere along the way and despite our success she’s lost a significant amount of blood already…

“She will need a doctor, and soon.” Ayase sighs, wiping the perspiration off her brow.

“And she will see him…” I clench my fist in anger. How could I let this happen? If it weren’t for Ayase she…

I turn to my girlfriend, who’s looking at Mayu, in deep concern.

“Thank you, Ayase. You’re honestly a life-saver.”

“No need to thank me. I just happened to remember that first aid lesson we had down to the T….”

“Still, thank you…” I smile through the raging storm within my head, and she reciprocates for just a moment. As I rummage through Mayu’s bag, I hand her a clean cloth. “Here.”

“What for?” She looks at me funny, but I wipe the blood off the small cut on her neck. It’s not deeper than a cut you would get from a razor, but I do it anyway.

“Oh…” She realizes, and smiles warmly. “Thank you.”

Noriko suddenly perks up. “Uhm…” She turns to us, Mayu’s wrist watch in hand. We had removed it we could monitor her pulse earlier. “Look.” She passes it on to us, as we notice something peculiar. The hands are acting completely out of whack, turning endlessly in an abnormal speed.

“What does that mean?”

It means time is against you.

As if on cue with the frenzied watch, a loud banging sound from downstairs commences.

A long pause.

“Was that… the basement?” Ayase mutters, as we turn to Noriko, who’s clutching her head.

“Most likely… I feel danger approaching all around us.”

“Damnit!” I hiss again, as I steal a glance at Mayu’s still unconscious body.

Right on time yet again, the pitter patter of rain ensues, a growing thunderstorm approaches.

That means…

As the three of us share a look, my guess grows into certainty.

I swiftly get to my feet, without a second thought “It seems like all hell’s about to break loose!”

“Let’s scram!”

“We’ve got the keys, so we should be able to get out of here.”

Ayase and Noriko nod in unison, as we all get ready to depart this school once and for all. What Kazuya said, comes back to haunt me…

No.

I can’t let it.

We will get out of here. ALL 4 of us.

I carefully scoop Mayu up in my arms, as the banging downstairs gets louder and more frequent. Everything is about to be released, in order to stop us…

“Let’s go!”

I say, while Ayase checks and confirms all 4 keys, having thrown Mayu’s bag over her shoulder.

“Tch…” Noriko clicks her tongue, probably still experiencing a headache from the ever-growing forces of the school.

“Think you can do it, Noriko?” I ask.

“Of course. I prefer a headache over being dead.” Despite the pain, Noriko smiles reassuringly at me. I never thought I would see the day Noriko would just crack a joke like that. And at such a time too…

I turn to Ayase, who nods, and steps forward. “We’re off!”

Despite the urge to run, I stick at the back of the group and try to keep Mayu as steady as possible. The others skip forward, the rain growing stronger with every passing second. We ascend the stairs steadily and then turn towards the next set.

There, a thunder roars, as lighting crushes upon the earth, a devastatingly loud sound.

“Fuck…” I mutter, as my vision is bathed in a blinding light.

As the light slowly clears, a figure starts forming before our eyes.

Ahead of our group, the deformed janitor stands, looking down upon us. His prey.

“Someone is laughing at us… Has to be…” Ayase hisses too, her knees shaking. The creature is completely blocking our ascent, and going back down is not an option. The monsters have probably broken out of the basement by now.

Suddenly, I get flashbacks of the illusions I had earlier today. How the janitor crushed Ayase right in front of my very eyes… How I stood there, helpless…

Time is running out…

Think Hideki! Think!

I can’t let this false future come to pass!

As I wrack my brain for another one of those miraculous answers it so kindly has been producing, we all hear a voice. A familiar female voice.

“Everyone.”

A short girl suddenly walks up from behind us.

“Hotaru-san…?” Noriko mutters, as the girl walks up to the monster. The janitor though, doesn’t react. His sights are only fixed on us. Makes sense, since Hotaru is essentially one of them.

She extends a hand, and her face twists in discomfort. Then she shouts, catching us off guard,

“Run! I will hold him off!”

“Huh?”

We all stare at her in confusion.

“Go! Get out of here! Get Mayu-san to a doctor! Don’t let her end up like Kazuya-kun…!” She raises her voice so loud, I never would have thought it possible. As the monster tries to advance past her, she slightly closes her open palm, and a piercing, shrill sound commences. Her expression straining in the face of her struggle.

“RUUUARRGH!”

The monster roars in agony, clutching its head.

Noriko too, winces slightly “She can do that too…?”

“Do what?!”

“No time to be amazed! We’re leaving!” Ayase snaps both of us out of it, and we quickly advance the stairs. I feel my heart pounding like crazy, as we walk right past the struggling monster. Fortunately, it doesn’t even have the time to give us the time of day, as it’s too preoccupied breaking free from Hotaru’s power.

“Guys…” With a pained voice, and even worse complexion, she addresses us before we’re out of sight. “I’m sorry… please make it out…”

With another pained groan, the monster starts moving towards her, albeit slowly.

“Tch…” I grit my teeth, and fight the urge to help. We need to get Mayu to a hospital…

We all advance up the stairs, and for the first time in forever, we ascend to the roof.

There, we abruptly stop in our tracks.

“Finally here, humans?”

A familiar figure hovers above the ground. It’s Mei… But she has the same voice as the one inside my head.

“Mei-san…?” Noriko mutters, as the figure cackles menacingly. Her face twists and transforms. Her hair turns pitch black, it spins around, a complete mess. Her eyes burn crimson, like a pair of hot coals.

“Misaki…?” I grit my teeth in anger. She has been using the appearance of Mei all this time? Or was Mei only a visage? A lie?

“All you humans are the same. As soon as that boy realized there was a chance he would die here, he willingly betrayed his friends…” The mastermind of it all, glares at us, her eyes overspilling with rage. “You won’t leave here alive…”

We all take an instinctive step back.

I turn to the two girls beside me and grit my teeth in anger, cursing our rotten luck.

This can’t be the end… Not after coming so close…