What just happened?

Sho gaped at Haruka as the girl run off down the corridor, tears streaming from her eyes. She was fine just a minute ago, so what caused the sudden change in her attitude? He reflected on what she said last.

[i]“Th-that's it, huh? Ah... ahaha... yeah. Of course. Y-you two...”[/i]

She had been referring to the way he had approached Suzume, right?

[i]“You... guys... to-together...”[/i]

Sho’s eyes widened in disbelief. It finally clicked: he was stuck in the middle of a love triangle. How did that happen? There were plenty of other guys much more attractive than he was, both in looks and personality. He had never had something like this happen before, nor had he ever even considered it possible.

Sho was roused from his thoughts when Suzume abruptly pushed him away. She called desperately after Haruka, but the other girl didn’t stop running. She was too far gone. He knew he should have gone after her, but he was still stunned from the revelation and his feet were glued to the ground. Suzume bent down to retrieve Haruka’s discarded cell phone and walked back to him, apologizing repeatedly for shoving him earlier.

“It’s okay,” Sho said quietly, shaking his head. “I just can’t believe she ran off like that…”

Suzume’s next words took him by surprise.

[b]“Sho.... did..did you know about this?”[/b]

“No!” Sho said, taken aback. “I swear, I had no idea.”

[b]“Was.. was this my fault? Did I make her run away? This is my fault isn't it?”[/b]

“It’s not your fault,” Sho interjected. “I didn’t realize how she…” he hesitated, shifting his weight uncomfortably. “I should have seen it sooner.” He hated seeing Suzume look so dejected. He wanted to gather her into his arms and tell her it would be okay, but look how well that worked out last time.

[b]“Please, we have to go after her… And we need to make sure everyone understands to stay together or we are going to get ourselves killed.”[/b]

Sho stared down the black pit that was the open doorway. He found new resolve to go inside and look for Haruka. After all, it was his fault that she ran off alone. He couldn’t live with himself if anything happened to her in there. Sho hurried after Suzume, turning on his phone again to use the light to guide them through the darkness.

“Hold up,” Sho said when he caught up with Suzume a couple meters down the hallway. “I’ll walk in front –and I won’t take no for an answer.” He gently brushed past the girl and lit up the passage with his phone light.

The inside smelled of dirt and rotting wood. It wasn’t a very inviting odor, but it did help with the whole “haunted” aspect. Sho shined the light across the walls and the floor in front of him. The wallpaper was peeling badly, revealing worn out wood beneath. The most disturbing thing, however, was that there was no sign of life anywhere. The building was silent apart from the creaking of the floorboards they stepped on. Sho didn’t catch sight nor sound of rats, bats, or bugs. Usually abandoned places like these were riddled with them.

Then, he spotted a flash of movement up ahead. Could it be?

“Haruka!” Sho called out. His voice sounded much too loud, ripping through the silence of the empty building. Without thinking, he reached for Suzume’s hand and took off down the hallway, guiding her along beside him. Hopefully Toby would keep up if he was following (Sho hadn’t really looked back to check).

He stopped where the old corridor took a sharp turn to the right. The figure he had seen earlier was gone. He felt a wave of frustration. How could he lose her so easily? Then he noticed the door. It stood alone on the right side of the hall, the paint on it was faded and peeling just like everything else in the wretched building. The sign above it read “1-6”. Maybe Haruka was inside.

Sho reached for the handle and gave it a turn…