Sho’s brain took a long pause to analyze what Suzume just said. She drew the pencil-girl? But that wasn’t possible was it? Drawings didn’t just hop off the page and start walking around. It just couldn’t happen… could it? He opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a harsh humming sound. The pencil-girl’s face contorted into a look of horror.

“What the–” Sho stammered as the girl snatched at the collar of his shirt and unceremoniously dragged him and Suzume into a flowerbed. By this point, the noise had steadily morphed into a piercing white noise. Sho winced and covered his ears, but the gesture was pointless as the sound still reached him just as clearly. Crouching next to Suzume, he put his hand on top of hers and gave it a squeeze. He tried to see past the graphite flowers, but their height obstructed his vision.

“Wait a moment,” Sho said, putting his head next to Suzume’s so he could be heard over the monotone sound. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and shifted closer to the wall of flowers so he could see between the stalks and find out where the noise was coming from. He kept low to the ground to stay invisible, limbs tense in case he had to make any sudden moves.

Suzume really didn't understand want was going on, but in her head she was trying to convince herself she wasn't a murderer. She didn't know erased things could die, this really wasn't her fault, and of course she didn't mean it. Besides, if she knew she would never have erased a thing in her life! But a low hum came about that caused the girl to pull them into the flowerbed and a white noise pierced through their ears. Suzume just lowered her head and closed her eyes tightly because her hands to her ears wouldn't help. She couldn't help to think of the noise that sounded before they all woke up here in the first place. Please don't be like that.

She felt Sho give her hand a squeeze, but faintly she heard him say to her while he was close, "Wait a moment." and felt him give her a small kiss on the check. She opened her eyes to see Sho going off into the tall graphite grass and flowers. Her legs didn't even try to get up in go after him. He told her to wait, and for once in a long time, she obeyed instead of being wondrous. She watched him, He'll be okay. I'll wait and he'll come back. At least this it what she hoped even though is was against the 'rules' to be alone. Suzume looked around for the girl. "If I could just find her and ask her, and if I did hurt her, I'll tell her I didn't know and how sorry I am." she spoke quietly aloud. She didn't have much motivation or hope, so she just remained sitting in her spot, looking around aimlessly...

"Get away from me! Leave me alone!"

Haruka fled from the classroom, throwing as much stuff from the classroom in Shiori's path to slow him down as much as possible. She was afraid of him. This wasn't how people reacted to a death. She ran from one classroom to the next, entering the one that she had seen Sho and Suzume had entered earlier. She pulled opened the door, ran in...

Saturday, April 11th, 12:20AM - Graphite Gardens

...and was promptly slapped in the face by the white noise. She stumbled forward, crumpling to the ground in a heap. She covered her ears to drown out the noise, while calling for Sho and Suzume, shouting over the noise.

While Suzume's hand cuffed her ears and held her head down waiting, she thought she heard someone. But she thought it was just her mind... no. She heard a voice again. Suzume's head shot up and her eyes became wide with excitement and relief. She knew that voice. She heard it again, so she tried to stand.

"Haruka! Where are you? Haruka?" her voice raised to a yell to call out to her. Her eyes wildly scanned for any sign of movement being her. She did her best to block out the white noise, which was easier said than done, to hear any sort of response. She's here. Thank God, she's here. She finally made it to a stand and called out once more, "Haruka? Where are you?"

The boy began to feel more and more irritated as Haruka ran off, throwing items in her wake. She's just overreacting, he thought, So sensitive. Some people really do need to learn to be more considerate. Although her behavior was more annoying to him than anything else, he was also slightly curious as to why she was acting this way. He flinched as the objects bounced off of him, slowing him down for a few seconds and giving her enough time to run out of his sight.

Quickly dashing into the hallway, Shiori managed to catch a glimpse of Haruka making her way into the other room, so he decided to follow. Walking faster and faster almost to the point of sprinting, he abruptly (and rather uncharacteristically) hesitated in the doorway for a moment, lingering there. What was with the room...? It was almost like it had been sketched out. Actually, upon closer inspection, it looked exactly like a sketch. It... gave him a strange feeling, and he didn't care much for it. (This seemed rather... strange for a school, but Shiori still fervently denied the school was "haunted" or any of that nonsense.)

He just shrugged it off, though, and went ahead without another thought.

Saturday, April 11th, 12:20AM - Graphite Gardens

A grin formed on Shiori's face when he stepped into the room, somehow not bothering to wonder why Haruka was crumpled on the ground. "There you are, Haruka," he said in a ridiculously nonchalant voice, "You really are inconsiderate, you kn-"

That was when the white noise hit him, however, catching him off guard. Soon, he was crumpled over as well, kneeling down beside her. He quickly covered his ears, pressing as hard as he could. He really shouldn't have gone into this room, should he? "Godamnit," he shouted, shooting a glance at Haruka (and seeming to forget the fact that she'd been running from him only a few moments ago). He wondered who she was shouting for, though. Probably her friends, considering how she'd been acting earlier.

In the mist of her yelling to find Haruka, Suzume's voice came to a halt. She stood there with a strange expression on her face, her knees became locked. Her hands were not so tight on her ears anymore, but she still have them covered. Staring off into the room with the noise, her eyes filled with a scared, glossed over expression that seem to make her face look a bit pale. In all of this, her mouth moved and she spoke: "That's a lie. I never..." She took a step back and shook her head in denial. But whatever it was filling her head only rang louder. Soon her hands stared shaking slightly, pulsing of adrenaline. The more she heard, the more she retreated. Holding her head low, her eye began to water.
But a strange thought snapped at Suzume. As if replying to the tricks being played on her, she said "It was his choice." Even though she tried to give a justifying answer to what she heard, it didn't much help. She cared too much to hurt anyone, But why should I have to suffer?, she thought. I did nothing wrong. A gross feeling crawled in Suzume's heart, while in her tears, she felt outraged. Backing away in painful sadness and fury, she went to her sitting spot. Then she aimlessly walking along in the garden while covering her ears.

"Go Away, Haruka."

Go Away, Sho.

Tsuki stared into the painting for only a minute, but it felt like hours upon hours. The swirl of movement seemed to exaggerate over time, starting from vague shifts to utter shifting. Tsuki took a step back, clenched her fists, but she could not, would not, take her eyes off of the canvas. It wasn't her choice; something forced her head, kept it still, as if frozen in solid ice.

It was getting to the point where Tsuki's eyes were getting heavy. She needed to blink. But something in the pit of her chest told her to keep her eyes open. Why? She had absolutely no clue. It just did. Despite her body's protests, she almost blinked.

Almost. But -

- Tsuki wobbled when somebody took her hand, nearly falling on her butt! Oh, it was just Rika. Silly her. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Tsuki laughed.

Tsuki sighed. "Hah... You really scared me, Rika! Guess I got distracted..."

Rika seemed in a hurry to get out of the room. She couldn't blame her, really. The room was unsettling and Tsuki wanted out. Just as Rika threw the door open, Tsuki glanced back. She told herself that it was all her imagination... Somehow, though, she doubted it.

"Hey Rika?" Tsuki said, ready to ask her if she saw 'it' too. In the end she just shook her head. "Th-Thanks."

"Thanks? what for?" She wondered not really finding anything she had done thus far thank-worthy,

"Come on Tsuki-chan lets move along~" with a big smile Rika spun once, fully opening the door and taking a peek inside, luckily for her this section wasn't 'under-construction', in fact this seemed lively... even fun.

"yey~"

She cheered and walked inside, stopping after she had given her first step into the room noticing something funny.

"a ballad? wait no... that's Jazz funny... did it just started?"

She wondered to herself as she wasn't able to hear it before walking into the room, never the less she liked this hall better than the other one, it was lively, it was fun, it was like a party.

"look Tsuki-chan~ it's like a party in here~ hehe."

Looking at a painting with a handsome gentleman on a black tuxedo she curtsied and asked,

"Could I have this dance?"

Looking back at Tsuki she took a deep breath, relaxing and releasing all of the tension the other room had built, for some reason she found the white room somewhat creepy... made her feel like she was being watched.

---Collab between Summer and Alyss Dolyss---

Sho barely heard Suzume calling out through the white noise. Did she say 'Haruka'? Before he could turn to see what was going on, the overwhelming sound began separating into distinctive pitches. Then he realized the pitches were forming syllables. He cocked his head slightly and shut his eyes, trying to pick out the words. What he heard sent a chill creeping up his spine.

"Kill?" Sho murmured, eyes wide. "W-who? I didn't..." He faltered, a growing sense of unease in the pit of his stomach. Suzume. Sho spun back around to find her backing away from him. Too late.

"Suzume," Sho called after her, raising his voice to be heard over the constant thrum. He stood up and took a tentative step towards her. "Where are you going? It's not safe out there."

Suzume just kept walking, trying to just forget about things. But in her stubbornness, through the noise, she heard Sho near her. She heard what he said, and she just turned to look at him. It was barely a look, she just kept her head down and averted her gaze. Whatever she heard, it made her very uncomfortable, confused and bitter. She bit her lip, then looked at him in a cold way. But as she did her eyes started to swell with big tears.

"I don't know where I'm going...just somewhere?" Listen to me... she thought. "I just..." she looked back down. "I don't know what happened between you and Haruka, but playing games on me isn't okay." she growled under her breath. "I just want to get out of this building, and go home, Sho." her voice came to a crack, she still didn't want to look at him. "I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you like me. But I don't want to be hated anymore or be in this... this... hell. I just wanna go home..." After her speech, she looked up at him with tears starting to run from her eyes. I sound so pathetic...

Sho opened his mouth, then closed it again. He wasn't sure how to respond to her sudden change of mind. What did she mean by 'hated'? He racked his brain in search of any memory of something he could have done to hurt her or initiate such thoughts. He couldn't think straight. The white noise was too pervasive... Wait. It suddenly clicked.

"Suzume, hold on!" Sho hurried over to her and grabbed her hand to keep her from fleeing. "I don't know what you mean by me and Haruka. Nothing happened, okay? It's this godforsaken noise! It's putting thoughts in our heads and trying to turn us against each other. Suzu, listen to me." He put one hand against her cheek and gently turned her face towards his. "We will go home. We just have to do it together."

Sho drew her into an embrace and kissed her on the forehead. "Come on now. We have to keep going. We're still the heroes of this story, remember? Some writing on a wall told us that, so it must be true." He offered her a playful smile. "I promise I'll help you through this. Don't you trust me?"

Suzume just blinked at him through her tears. A childlike spark came across her eyes but she still just blinked at him. She didn't really know what to say to him either. The Noise Listening to all he said, she stared at him. Suzume like everything single thing he said, and it made things not seem as bad. "Heroes?" she mumbled. She snugged against his chest like a little girl, and thought about things for a second. After some silence, she looked at him and put her hands around his ears. A smile came on her face with some tears still in her eyes but she laughed. "If I cover your ears, you won't hear it maybe?" She continued to have a joyful laugh as she looked at her hands covering his ears and talking over this noise.

"Hmm," Sho covered her hands with his own and grinned at her. "It does help a little... Here." He took off his beanie and slipped it over Suzume's head, down to just below her ears. "That should help with the noise. I also must say: it looks better on you than it does me."

She kept feeling tears, even though she didn't really get why. "Sho...I want to be heros." Her eyes watered some more, "But I've had this god-awful feeling that, we're going to die in here." she still smiled. "We might end up being tragic heroes "

"Hey," Sho said. "Don't say things like that." He furrowed his brow in a mock scold. "We'll get out of here alive. And you can't die; I forbid it." He suddenly remembered Haruka was here with them. "Let's regroup so we can come up with a plan to get out of here."

Suzume brushed off her tears and giggled, "Okay, just don't look at me like that. You look mean when you scowl." She turned in the direction she thought she heard Haruka's voice. "I think she was this way. I hope she's okay, and hopefully Toby is with her." she gave a small smile.

Saturday, April 11th, 12:23AM - The Soiree

"Certainly," the gentleman in the painting replies. The other attendees begin to chuckle.

---

Saturday, April 11th, 12:25AM - Graphite Gardens

The white noise stops. Starts again. Stutters. Pops. Fades.

It can't get a profile on the two newcomers, but it's trying.

This has never happened before. Newcomers haven't appeared in the middle of a broadcast before. Never.

It tries, but it struggles. Conflicting signals are sent out and come back. The feedback is overwhelming. It's trying to reach the newcomers, but without a profile it's just bouncing noise back towards itself.

The stress proves too much.

There is an explosion, off in the distance, but it doesn't sound like an explosion. It sounds like violent, mass ripping of paper, and debris (made of pencil, of course) flies through the air.

The drawing girl, the one who had pulled Sho and Suzume into the bushes, comes running towards them. She can see the debris fly, and she can sense the impending doom.

She pushes Sho and Suzume aside.

The sound of a drawing getting impaled sounds nothing like a human getting impaled.

---

Haruka found Sho and Suzume before too long, as they were in each other's arms off in another corner of the garden. She hesitated, just for a bit, but began to run towards them again.

She needed to tell them about-

Then the explosion. Haruka screamed, ducking and covering her ears. She stayed like that for a good few seconds, and when she opened her eyes, there was a giant section of support beam sticking out from the ground in front of her. Some girl, made of pencil, was pinned under it.

It was going through her chest.

Haruka's words caught in her throat. Her explanation, the words she had wanted to stay, had stopped, and the image of the impaled girl brought back image of Toby's plunge into the...

"T-Toby's... Toby is... T-T-T-" she stuttered.

"It's... yeah, nevermind."

Best not to get into it. Rika probably understood what just happened. No need to bring it up again.

Tsuki did not feel like she was being watched, in the room they were in at least. Probably because she was focusing too much on Rika to really notice! But she probably would have noticed all of the portraits if she paid any attention. The room was... well, it was certainly something. Better than the last one, at any rate. Frankly, after the creepy swirling painting, anything was a massive improvement.

Tsuki tugged at the collar of her shirt as she stepped inside. She smiled as Rika started chirping. Somebody was excited.

"You must be one heck of a party girl," Tsuki said, then nodded, "Yeah, it's pretty cool."

She looked all around, quirking her eyebrow. All portraits? Certainly fitting, as far as the attire was concerned. Tsuki felt a little underdressed though... wait, what was she even thinking? She shook her head and closed the door behind her.

Rika said something then. At first Tsuki thought she was speaking directly to her, but then she saw the portrait hanging on the wall. The urge to take her hand and spin her around like a ballerina came and went. Nah, that was lame. Totally lame. She could be a total ham sometimes.

Even if she made a move, though, she would have stopped herself when a male voice spoke up... It couldn't have been the paintings. It just couldn't.

"H-Hey," Tsuki mumbled, "That's a pretty nice trick."

That's when the other paintings chuckled.

"This has got to be some kind of joke," Tsuki mumbled as she went to check the door to the next room, more to see if anyone was around the bend. She tried the door anyway. It was locked. Crap. She looked around. "R-Rika, you didn't see any speakers when you came in, right?"

Freaking spooks.

Rika blinked a few times after it seemed like the painting she was looking at how addressed her, replying for her request to have a dance.
"oh... wow that surprised me a little."
She looked at the sides of the painting with the gentleman, nothing there, also nothing through the corners of the room, whoever had done this had done a pretty good job.

After hearing Tsuki Rika turned and answered,
"I.. I didn't but I think there most be some built-into the wooden borders of the paintings... maybe it also has a microphone, you know, like those smart-pianos that start to play on their own when they hear people steps."

Rika pulled back a little, taking another close look at the painting, looking at the gentleman's image whom almost seen to he extending his hand at her as if to take her in to dance to.
"maybe... there is something in the fabric..."
She said to herself slowly reaching closer to the painting, her hand lightly touching the surface of the painting, pressing it ever so slightly against the gentleman's hand.

<double posted due to loading error, sorry>