An Escape Room Plot that Fell Off Script

We weren't given much time to search the connecting hallway before before our scar-red pursuer forced himself through the double doors. If that was really Ryuuji, then Kyoko gave him some pretty good instructions to follow. This was the one instance where I was forced to take him seriously.

"I don't think the key is here, Kenta," Fumiko said, finishing her diligent scan of the connecting hallway leading to the lobby.

"Let's get out of here then," I said, pointing to the next set of doors.

If we get caught by the Scar-Red Ravager, the game was over right?

For a second I contemplated the purpose of the chest that was now in our possession. We were caught up with finding this guy's heart, but we didn't need to find it to win. And maybe, just maybe, this game could be won with one person escaping this building.

If someone could escape, I'd want it to be Fumiko.

"Kenta, what are you doing?"

I stood in the center of the hallway, piercing into the back of the Ravager's rotting skull.

"Forget about the key, Fumiko! Just focus on escaping the apartment building."

To add to the irritated, incredulous glare that Fumiko gave me, the made-for-tv villain stood listless for a moment, his harsh grunting replaced with quieter labored breathing.

"Well, you want a heart don't you. Then take mine you greedy corpse!"

For the first instant since he chased us down the long flight of stairs, the monster tried to make itself more submissive. It hunched itself, lowering it's most striking, dangerous arm. It outstretched it's other normal un-augmented arm, and began to whimper.

Wait. What is this sudden development?

"He-heart. Give it back. Please..."

"I can't help you there. The box can't be opened."

The Scar-Red Ravager pointed it's index finger towards the double doors.

For one reason or another, the monster was trying to give us a lifeline.

"Owner. I-inside."

Fumiko and I heard a gruff voice over a barrage of static from an unknown planted speaker in the apartment building.

"Ravager, bring me their hearts. Now!"

The corrupted red ranger went ballistic. He grabbed at his head with both arms, before thrashing the empty air around him. Once he overcame whatever ailment was inflicted on him, he began to charge at us with his lethal-arm raised in front of him, a combination of ear-piercing screeching and baritone roaring accompanying his rampage.

Fumiko snapped me out of my stupor and forced me along with her gripped hand. The two of us busted through the double doors with little effort. When we got our bearings in the open lobby space, we could see a taller balding middle-aged man dressed in a fancy two-piece black suit and red tie. He comfortably rested on one of the memory-foam sofas that greeted a guest whenever they entered the apartment residence.

The sharply dressed man clapped at us unprovoked, standing up to greet us once he finished his applause.

"You've done a great job, you two. You've managed to lure that monster out."

"I'm sorry, but who are you," I asked.

"Mr. Orihara, what are you doing here," Fumiko asked.

"You know this guy?"

"He's the apartment owner. But he only really comes here once a month, to see if management is properly maintaining the building as they should be."

"I was surprised to find out that a monster was stalking my building's halls. We've done well to draw him out, but I ended up being stumped. I found a key, but I have no earthly idea what it goes to."

"Kenta, it's the key to the chest!"

"Well, then just hand us the key and we'll handle everything from here," I asked, extending my hand out to his left hand holding the key.

There was a brief period of hesitation. I then looked over my shoulder. Why did we suddenly hear no noise from our ugly rust-red friend? If he wanted the key, he could surely force it out of this old man's grasp.

"You see, there's a security issue if I just hand you the key willy-nilly," Mr. Orihara said, closing his fingers over the golden key.

"What do you mean? That key's the only way to stop him! Tell him, Fumiko-san!"

"Sir, the monster is mimicking the behavior of a fictional character. If the fictional counterpart can be stopped by giving him his heart, then we believe that the same applies to this creature as well."

"Miss Kotonoha, you seem like a trustworthy young woman based on what your parents have told me, but we have no idea how this 'monster' will react."

The Ravager slammed the left door open with an effortless shove. The monster began to charge again, but this time he zig-zagged around Fumiko and I and made a beeline toward the apartment owner, the metal spike in his arm poised to ram it's way through his skull.

"You really have no manners, Red Ravager," Mr. Orihara said, flashing a familiar trinket at the corrupted red ranger.

The object was the Red Ravager's sigil, a silver medallion with a round transparent red glass and a golden R shimmering at the medallion's base.

The new object in the owner's hands paralyzed the monster in its tracks. When the owner pushed the sigil closer to the Scar-Red Ravager, the pale ranger winced, the grating grunting returning in full force.

"Must--take--heart--back!"

"That's not how this arrangement works, Ravager," Mr. Orihara said.

The owner smiled at both us and threw the key to me.

"I've had my fun. Use the key however you wish."

My eyes were uncontrollably shuttering at the turn of events that I just witnessed. And what's worse, even Fumiko looked like she was losing her composure. She shivered ever so slightly, hyperventilating with her hand to her chest. We had the key now, but the victory seemed hollow with the situation we were in.

I turned the key through the wooden box's golden lock. Once I heard the click, I frantically opened the box to find what was just a basketball card. Under different circumstances, I'd be ecstatic at getting my favorite Japanese player. It felt like such a waste.

I didn't understand any of what was going on now.

"Fumiko, where's the heart?"

"He has it."

"You can't be serious. But we just went through all this effort. What the hell!"

"The heart isn't a literal heart, it's a sigil, the object tying Kaito to his superpowered identity."

"So everyone is now caught up, correct," the owner asked.

"The only loose-end to tie up now, is to get rid of the meddling teenagers," he continued.

"Agh, is there no other way to stop this?"

"It won't completely stop him, but mementos of significant sentimental value can ward him off," Fumiko said.

I immediately shifted my gaze to the monster in front of me. No matter how I perceived him, the monster looked like our friend Ryuuji. Even though he was lumbering toward us, I could faintly hear sobbing as he approached closer.

I then looked at the basketball paraphernalia in my hand. Yuta Hachimura, small forward for the San Francisco Knights, and still the best player to come out of Japan to date. In his recent career, he received three all-star selections in his first four seasons of play. It was a real shame what I had to do to a card that was now near its peak theoretical value.

"Here, take it, it probably would've been my prized possession" I said, extending the card to the monster that took an eerie likeness to our close friend, but was a person in the mold of Kaito in his own right.

I briefly remembered a conversation where I talked my ear off to Ryuuji about basketball. The conversation was prompted by what I liked to spend my time doing, likely Shun using him to extract more personal info for his little plan. If this was the true Kaito, my offering would end in abject failure. But just looking at him, I knew this wasn't Kaito.

Fumiko sniffled a bit as I offered the card to the Scar-Red Ravager.

"Fumiko-san, I'm going to give him the card, and then you're going to run for the exit."

"Don't I have a say in this!"

"No, no you don't. Now get ready to run!"

The lumbering monster slid the card out of my hand and inspected the card. The Scar-Red Ravager began to emit a familiar chuckle, but this time the laugh wasn't muffled by a mask. The monster waved to no one in particular in the distance.

"Oh, god. It feels like I'm going insane! What's going on here?"

"Congratulations, young man, you've shown a lot of bravery here tonight," Mr. Orihara said.

The monster handed me back the prized basketball card.

"C'mon bro, this card has no value to me," the apparent Ravager said, handing me back the card, flashing a shameless smile behind the flaking pale face paint.

"Congrats, Kenta! Despite my heavy miscalculations, you've passed the escape test," Kyoko said, coming from the opposite passageway that led to the elevator.

I noticed Fumiko smiling in the corner of my periphery.

"No, way. You knew what was happening too, Fumiko?"

"Sorry. But you looked so cool when you defended me. I couldn't help it," Fumiko said, sticking her tongue out.

That's it.

I'm done.

No. More. Surprises.