“...Well, it beats going to calculus.”

  Those were Ryu’s last words to me before hanging up the phone. He had just met up with Aiko and I in the abandoned auditorium. It took several phone calls - and a threat that I would turn his sail into a hammock - but eventually I convinced him to come over. He leaned against the apron of the stage as he combed the hook-shaped tip of his hair - and if that wasn’t a dead giveaway that he had just gotten out of bed, a loud hiss as Ryu cracked open an energy drink can echoed throughout the entire auditorium.

  He chugged the entire can, crushed it, and threw it on the ground in frustration. “FUCK!” Ryu fell to his knees and punched the floor beneath him as the gravity of our situation finally sank in. “Ugh, I thought we were done with this shit!”

  I kneeled down next to Ryu, patting him on the back with one arm and picking up his trash with the other. “Hey. Stay with me, bro. We still haven’t decided what to do yet. All we have to do right this very moment is-”

  “...is to tell the fuckin’ girl, huh?” Ryu’s eyes shifted from the floor to Aiko. “That’s what you're gonna say, isn’t it, Genjo? ‘Oh, I just need your help explaining to her what happened…’ I’m right, aren’t I?” Ryu slowly stood up and crossed his arms as he glared at Aiko. “Well, tough luck, lady - I barely even understand this shit myself.”

  Aiko, who had been merely observing in silence for a majority of the conversation, began nervously rubbing the back of her left hand with the fingers on her right, creating a quiet ruffling sound as her black lace gloves lightly scraped against one another. As she spoke, her otherwise cheerful and confident voice came out sounding rather quiet and uneasy. “Ryu, please… there’s no need to-”

  Ryu once again quickly interrupted before she could finish her sentence. “Let me stop you right there, honey. You’re correct - there is no need.” He turned around and started walking out the way he came in. “Genjo, if you want to tell Ms. Masiel about all of this freaky phantom bullshit, you can be my guest. Just keep me out of this one, okay?”

  I bolted after Ryu, grabbing him by the collar. “Ryu, you’re just as much a part of this as I am, remember?” Noticing how tight my grip was, I let go of his collar.

  After a short pause, Ryu turned back around to face me. “...fine. I’ll help you tell her.” He put his hands in his pockets and slowly strolled over to Aiko. “But after this, I’m done, okay?” Something about his demeanor seemed too hesitant to help… Did something happen that he doesn’t want to tell me about?

  Aiko nervously held out her hand, still shaken up from earlier. “Sorry. I’m… Aiko.” She briefly shivered as Ryu shook her hand. “...M-Matsuura.”

  Ryu’s hand swiftly returned to his pocket. “Cool.” His eyes took a quick survey of the auditorium. “Well, first order of business - not exactly sure what you expected coming into a place like this. Creepy monsters or not, this place doesn’t exactly scream ‘safe’ to me.” He cocked his head back, gesturing toward my direction. “Not gonna pry into whatever you two lovebirds were up to, but you might want to consider picking a better place to do it.”

  I walked up behind Ryu and smacked him in the back of his neck. “For the last time, stop assuming I’m always flirting with people.” Despite my best effort to go easy on him, that didn’t stop Ryu from letting out a yelp as my palm made contact. “We’re here for class, and that’s that.”

  “Heh, some ‘classroom’ you got here, lover boy.” Ryu smirked as he cracked his knuckles, prompting me to take a step back.

  “Um…” Aiko politely waved, snapping our attention directly to her. “Not to rush you guys, but…” She pointed at the curtain behind her. “I’m more worried about the thing that tried to kidnap me, if that’s alright?”

  Ryu made a facial expression that I can only interpret as ‘yikes’ in visible form. “...right.”

  With my help, Ryu sat down and told Aiko most of the important details about our previous encounter with Paramélisi and the other phantoms in Nakanishi-Bennett Dining Hall, sparing the part where I nearly blew his face off within two seconds of meeting him.

  “In other words, these things are bad news, and my vote is that we get the hell out of here.” He sternly looked at me. “Isn’t that right, Genjo?” I could’ve felt the chill running down my spine from Ryu gritting his teeth even if I was on the other side of the damn building.

  I didn’t know whether or not to agree with Ryu. On one hand, I really wanted to go deeper in the auditorium. There are so many things that I’d love to learn about these phantoms… what they are, how they’re created, what their goals (if any) are, and - most importantly - why they tried to take Aiko. But on the other hand, Ryu seems abnormally anxious about interacting with them again, and without his help, I might as well be signing my own death warrant if I go any further by myself. Still though… I can’t resist the urge to dig deeper. There has to be something more to all of this.

  As it turns out, time still passes while you’re having inner monologues, because the room was drenched in an incredibly prolonged and awkward silence.

  “...Genjo?” A switch flipped in Ryu’s head, making him nearly fall out of his chair as he entered a state of hysteria. “No. No, no, no, no. We are not going in there. Whatever you’re thinking about doing, it’s bad, and I won’t be part of it.”

  I clasped my fingers together and stretched my arms out in front of me. “Well, somebody’s gotta-”

  Ryu’s hand slapped me across the face. “Then ‘somebody’ is not going to be us.” The sound echoed throughout the entire auditorium. He looked down at his palm before quickly clenching his fist and letting it rest by his side. “...sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

  “It’s fine,” I muttered as I soldiered on through the pain. I rubbed the spot on my cheek where his hand made contact to work out the soreness. Thankfully, I wasn’t bleeding. Seriously, what has gotten into him? Maybe he’s just-

  Suddenly I remembered the scene that played out as Ryu met Paramélisi - I mean, how could I forget? That thing practically tortured Ryu. It would be stupid of me to expect him to get over it in just a few days. Maybe the reason Ryu’s so adamant about not going any further is just because he doesn’t want to subject anybody else to that same pain.

  “You’re right, Ryu.” I turned to Aiko. “Let’s get out of here, Aiko. It’s not safe to-”

  Aiko walked up to me and whacked me on the same side of my face as Ryu had. (Funnily enough, Aiko's slap hurt more than his did.) “Stand your ground, damn it.” Her voice was unexpectedly stern. “Both of you need to stop bickering about such a stupid question because, let’s face it, we already know the answer.” Aiko tugged on her glove to make sure it hadn’t slipped off from the slap.

  Once she had finished adjusting her glove, she pointed at Ryu. “You should know better than anyone that these things are dangerous.” Then, she pointed at me. “And Genjo… you watched one of them try to kill me a few minutes ago… but you were able to stop it. I was fortunate that you were here to save me, but what’s gonna happen the next time an innocent person comes here without someone like you? This is something that only the two of you can do.”

  Aiko climbed on top of one of the many platforms that were scattered across the stage. “Gentlemen, it’s time to hurry up and face the music already. We only have one option here, and it’s to get in there and teach those dim-witted phantoms a lesson!”

  I was too mesmerized by her radiant presence to interrupt Aiko during her monologue. Her resolve was, in a word, astonishing. She was right - the only thing we can do is prevent any future tragedies - like what nearly happened to Aiko - at any cost.

  Ryu was not quite as considerate. “How many times do I have to tell you guys, I’m not going in-”

  Aiko loudly stomped from atop her podium. “You speak when spoken to, seaman!” Her rallying cry had shifted gears into a full blown beratement that bellowed from deep within her soul. “One more dissenting word out of you and I’ll scoop out your brains and salt them like a watermelon! Is. That. Clear?”

  “Y-yes ma’am!” Ryu immediately stood at attention and saluted Aiko.

  One bolt of lightning searing past Ryu’s temple later, Midas had officially shown up and joined our ranks.

  Aiko mumbled under her breath. “…wait, that was actually pretty cool…” She shook her head and immediately got back in character. “See, Ryu? You’re strong too, and loyal as well. Genjo wouldn’t have asked you for help if he didn’t trust you.”

  Ryu’s head sank. Aiko kept speaking as he continued to stare at the floor.

  “Trust is invaluable, Ryu. Genjo believes in you more than he does in anyone else.” Aiko’s voice became softer and more sympathetic. “Are you going to let him face this alone?”

  Ryu tightly clenched his fists and screamed. “Fine, I’ll do it! Just shut up already, would ya?” The entire auditorium had gone silent long after Ryu’s words stopped echoing from wall to wall. He begrudgingly picked up his head, somberly walked up to me and held out his hand. “…we’re in this together.”

  I grabbed his hand with my own and pulled him in for a hug. “Hey, it’s alright, man. It’s you and me… and it always will be.”

  Aiko joyfully hopped down from her platform, causing a loud thump as her heels hit the stage. “Glad that’s settled!” She bent down to wipe the dust off her leggings. “Honestly, if you had said no, I was just gonna go in with Genjo myself.” She gave Ryu a wide and exaggerated smile. “…so thanks for sparing me from the whole ‘make myself a hostage to force you to take my place’ plan.”

  Ryu slugged me on the shoulder. “I’ll bet this was the plan all along, huh? Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that girl was a paid actress!”” He laughed heartily and leaned up against the platform that Aiko had given her speech from. “I suppose all’s well that ends well. What matters is that Aiko isn’t gonna be in harm’s way anymore.”

  Aiko’s head perked up. “Hm? Oh, I’m still going.”

  Both of our heads immediately snapped towards Aiko as we yelled in unison. “WHAT?”

  She simply shrugged at Ryu and I. “Did you guys really think I was gonna just wait outside while you fight the thing that tried to kidnap me?” Aiko loudly scoffed and pounded her fist on her chest. “Ha! Hell no. I’m gonna go kill that rascal myself, thank you very much.”

  Ryu and I turned our heads, looked each other intently in the eyes, and slowly turned back to Aiko. I started twirling one of my sideburns between my fingers. “Uh… Listen, Aiko, I’m not gonna tell you ‘no’, but-“

  “I know what I’m getting into, Genjo.” Aiko stepped forward and tried staring me down from atop her three-inch heels. “So maybe I don’t have one of those magical floating guys who shoot lasers like you guys do. But that doesn’t mean I can’t find ways to help.” She reached into her handbag, took out an old script and ripped out a page. “See? I can…” Aiko stared blankly at the piece of paper. “...”

  I cocked my head to the left. “...Aiko?”

  Aiko immediately panicked and started folding the page into a paper airplane before promptly sending it flying towards the backstage. The airplane gained a surprising amount of momentum, soaring in between the gap in the curtains at an oddly high velocity. “Hehe…” Aiko’s expression couldn’t have been any more smug. “You know what they say: Every group needs a girl with a bag full of mysteries!”

  Ryu looked at the gap in the curtains. “Aiko, I don’t exactly see what that accomplished.”

  Aiko crossed her arms and pouted as she rapidly tapped her foot on the stage. “True geniuses are never appreciated in their time.”

  “Mhm.” Ryu whispered in my direction. “...Is that what she calls it?”

  I whispered back to him. “She gets like this sometimes. Just let it happen.”

  Aiko, who was within earshot the entire time, just pouted even more.

  I let out a huge yawn as I stretched my back. “Well, we’re not getting anywhere by doing arts and crafts, are we? Less talking, more phantom hunting.” Ryu and Aiko followed as we made our way towards the curtain. “Shouldn’t be too hard… let’s get a move on already.”

  Ryu and I pulled both halves of the curtain to open up a path to the backstage, revealing something that none of us could’ve predicted.

  We were greeted by a wide, open landscape that spanned as far as the eye could see. A gloomy green sky draped the horizon of the rolling grassy hills, many of which bore what appeared to be small, thin purple weeds covered in red spots. When I approached the weeds, I discovered that their leaves were ridiculously sharp. I had an unsettling feeling that the ‘spots’ weren’t natural - rather that something had stained the leaves a long time ago.

  Aiko slowly walked up and crouched down next to me on my right, being careful to not spook me into accidentally touching the plant. “Ryu went on ahead. He said something about water, I think… Just wanted to let you know.”

  I kept staring at the red specks on the leaf. “Aiko… you’re afraid of bleeding, right?”

  She tried her hardest to hold back a gasp. “Of c-course!” Her hands started trembling as she started lightly rubbing her hands together to calm herself down. “Isn’t everybody?”

  I grabbed Aiko’s left hand and held it between mine - ‘trembling’ was an understatement. It was difficult to get a feel for her pulse or temperature through the lace glove. “You’d think so.” I gripped her hand tighter, slowly sensing her nerves relaxing. “It sure hurts like a bitch. Blood has always made me feel uneasy…” I slowly let go of her hand. “...but at least it’s a reminder that I’m alive, right? To feel pain is to exist. Without it, how could we really know if we’re real?”

  “Maybe.” Aiko lightly rubbed the top of my head, messing my hair up even more. “But there’s better ways to know that you’re real, silly.” She gave me a light pat on my shoulder as she stood up. “Come on, we gotta make sure Ryu doesn’t get lost.”

  As I heard the sound of the grass crunching beneath Aiko’s feet, I kept sitting by the plant. I wonder what she means by ‘better ways to know you’re real’. Humans don’t have magic powers that destroy monsters. Humans don’t want to bleed just to feel something. And humans especially don’t constantly wonder whether or not they’re actually human.

  I delicately tore one of the leaves off the stem of the plant and hid it in my pocket before running to catch up to Aiko.

  We found Ryu standing at the edge of a towering cliff that oversaw a vast red ocean. Gusts of wind nearly blew Ryu’s white buttoned shirt clean off his body, but he remained completely still. “So… is the whole ‘being late’ thing gonna be a common theme for you two?”

  My eyes glanced down at Ryu’s feet. Aiko’s paper airplane was resting on the ground in front of him. “Did the paper lead you here, Ryu?”

  Ryu still didn’t move. “Answer the question, Genjo.”

  I walked up behind him on the cliff edge and resisted the momentary urge to push him off. “We were examining something. It’s important to know how this world operates and what the things in it do, Ryu.”

  “You know what, you’re right, Genjo. I’m sure that the flowers had a secret code or a lever hidden in them. How could I be so stupid?” He facepalmed sarcastically as he spoke in a mocking tone.

  Aiko approached Ryu from behind as well. “Lots of big talk for someone who doesn’t have a way forward either.”

  Ryu laughed. “Au contraire, madame.” He crumpled up the paper airplane and tossed it off the cliff in front of him. “Take a look.”

  The ball of paper suddenly stopped in the middle of the air.

  I slowly inched closer to the precipice of the cliff. “Amazing… an invisible pathway.” I reached my hand out and, sure enough, its motion was halted by an unseen force.

  “Is that enough of a scientific breakthrough for you, Genjo?” Ryu stepped off the cliff and stood on the invisible path. “Just one tiny, little, itty bitty problem.” He grabbed a coin out of his pocket and tossed it directly in front of him.

  We heard a loud splash as the coin fell down into the ocean below. Ryu looked back and shrugged. “I don’t know where the hell this thing goes.”

  Aiko took out the old script from her handbag. “I’ve got it!” She began tearing out pages left and right. “We can use the pages to determine where the path is by laying them down!”

  Ryu quietly nodded. “If no one has any other ideas, I suggest we get to it.”

  I kept my mouth shut as the three of us began methodically placing pages (and other random items that Aiko and I found in our bags) on the thin air around us, praying that the path wouldn’t take too many twists and turns.

  After a good half hour, Aiko had run out of pages to tear out of the book. She looked at Ryu and I with a gaze that I interpreted as pure anxiety. “So… what now?”

  Ryu sat down in the grass and pulled out his notepad. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”

  Aiko scratched her head. “Are we gonna use that for more paper?”

  “Of course not.” Ryu took his pen out of his shirt pocket and started flipping it in between his fingers out of habit. “I was thinking that we draw out a map of the segments of the walkway that we know so far, and then figure out if there’s a pattern from there.” He stood up and walked onto the first steps of the walkway. “This might take a while, so why don’t you two make yourselves comfortable? Who knows, maybe you can each find some daisies so you can play ‘loves me… loves me not…’ with each other.”

  We both chose to ignore him and lay down in the grass next to each other, gazing out into the green sky above us.

  “Hey, Aiko…” I ran my hand through my hair to get my bangs out of my eyes. “Sorry for earlier. I didn’t think he would get mad at you just because I held you up as long as I did.”

  “You’re fine, Genjo.” Surprisingly, the green sky got boring fast. Aiko turned her head to look at me. “I’m sorry if this is a soft spot for you, but I’ve noticed you apologize a lot.”

  I took a deep breath. “Haha, wouldn’t be the first weird thing someone’s identified about my behavior this week.”

  She looked rather confused. “What do you mean by that? I haven’t done anything bad to you, have I?”

  I turned my head towards her. “Look who’s apologizing now, doofus.”

  Aiko tore a few blades of grass out of the dirt and threw them at me. “Not funny.”

  I spit out the grass as it landed in my mouth. “Pfft… I didn’t mean it like that. Why did you apologize to me just now?”

  She closed her eyes. “Because I was afraid that I had hurt you without realizing.”

  I needed a moment to take in that response. “...there’s my answer then.”

  Her eyes opened back up. “Huh?”

  “You wanted to know why I apologize so much.” I turned to look back up at the sky. “Now you know.”

  Aiko’s gaze stayed put. “...even if I told you that you had nothing to be sorry for?”

  Before I could answer, we heard Ryu let out a shriek of pain from out on the walkway. Aiko and I both sprung up on our feet and sprinted over to help. “Ryu! Dude, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

  Ryu did his best to respond given the circumstances. He was breathing really heavily and grimacing between most words. “...well… I was about to… draw out the… map… when my…” Ryu clenched his left hand shut.

  Aiko immediately began rummaging through her bag for any first aid supplies. “Don’t worry, Ryu. I’ve got it under-”

  “Nope… I’m good… actually…” Despite Ryu’s claims, he wouldn’t stop clenching his fist.

  I looked at the items on the ground around Ryu. A notepad. No pen accompanying it. A large gash was sliced through the center of it. Based on the tear: entry wound - from the writing side.

  I don’t know how I didn’t instantly notice the bloody knife resting only a few steps away from the notepad. “Oh my fucking god. Ryu… where the hell did you-”

  “I don’t fucking know, Genjo.” Ryu slowly opened his hand, revealing a massive cut through his palm. “I was just clicking my pen to start drawing my map, and next thing I knew… I stabbed myself.”

  I picked up the knife from the walkway. “Wait… this looks like that dagger Eiichi showed us. What was it called… the acinaces or something like that?”

  Ryu winced in pain again as Aiko started tending his wound. “I don’t care what it is. It’s a knife and it stabbed me. End of story.”

  As I held the knife in my hand to examine it, I noticed that the bottom of the dagger’s hilt looked like… a button? I clicked the button, and the knife instantly reverted back into Ryu’s favorite pen - it bore the exact same wear and tear all over.

  Aiko had just finished applying the antibiotic ointment to Ryu’s cut when she watched me transform the knife into the pen. “Genjo… what did you just do?”

  “Beats me.” I held out the pen in front of me and clicked the button again. A vortex of blue flame briefly swirled around the pen as it rapidly expanded into the dagger. “Ryu… I think your pen is a magic weapon now.”

  “I can see that. Ugh…” Ryu grabbed the dagger with his newly bandaged hand. As he snatched the weapon out of my hand, small drops of blood from the blade’s tip spattered onto the walkway below. Each drop spread out as it made contact, painting the walkway red in a diameter about 1 meter per drop.

  I bent down and touched the walkway in the spots where the blood had fallen. The spots felt smooth and sleek, just like I was touching a window pane. “Guys… I think this is how we’re gonna be able to cross!”

  Aiko looked just as mystified as she had a minute prior. “B-but… Ryu didn’t bleed that much. It’ll only get us so far.”

  Ryu transformed the dagger back into his pen and shoved it in his shirt pocket. “And don’t even think for a second that I’m going to cut myself again. I’m not that stupid.”

  What should have been another moment of unpleasant silence was prevented by the howls of the wind as it tried to sweep us off the walkway. It allotted me a few moments to contemplate whether or not I was insane enough to go through with my plan in front of Ryu and Aiko. On one hand, it would probably scare the absolute shit out of them… but it’s the only way I know how to keep going. I wasn’t about to give up now.

  Aiko and Ryu both turned to look at me - I must’ve accidentally left another moment completely devoid of conversation. “...Genjo?”

  Before anyone had the chance to stop me, I swiftly grabbed the red-spotted leaf out of my jacket and used it to slice through my left hand, leaving a large gash across my entire palm.

  I heard the sound of Aiko’s steps as they started rapidly approaching me from across the walkway. “Genjo! What the fuck are you doing?”

  Surges of pain pulsated throughout my whole left arm. Every single one of my muscles cramped and spasmed. All of my senses went completely numb - whatever Aiko and Ryu were up to, I couldn’t hear nor care. I could barely even take more than one step per second as I lurched my way across our pre-established path. Blood steadily flowed like water out of my self-inflicted wound. The stream of drops quickly stained a formerly invisible pathway into an eerie blood-red maze. The pattern of the maze-like walkway revealed itself to resemble a series of branching blood vessels, narrowing further as they approached the other side.

  My eyes quickly glazed over with static noise as I felt my legs give out.

~

  I didn’t remember crossing the ocean. All I was able to recall was somebody catching me before my face collided with the walkway.

  “Oh my god, he’s okay.” When I woke up, I was laying on my back in the grass. My first sight was Aiko leaning above me, tending to my hand.

  I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision, only to notice the gauze wrapped around my left hand. “Man…” My voice was still quiet and coarse. “I’m still tired. Can I get five more minutes?”

  Aiko hurriedly handed me her water bottle. “Drink some water, stupid. You lost a lot of blood earlier.”

  Now that she mentioned it, I was still feeling pretty out of it. It took a lot of effort to twist open the water bottle and take a sip. “How much?”

  Ryu crouched down next to me. “Enough for you to lose consciousness, apparently. You’re paler than I’ve ever seen you, dude.” He tossed a half-melted chocolate bar into my lap. “Eat. It’ll get your blood sugar up.”

  I ate his candy bar and drank the entire bottle of water in silence before Ryu and Aiko picked me up by the shoulders and lifted me up. I slowly felt the color return to my skin.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Seriously, Genjo,” Aiko cried out as she tried her hardest to not get angry at me. “What the hell were you thinking, dummy?”

  “We needed to get across, so I got us across.” I cracked my back and took a step towards the horizon ahead.

  Aiko quickly ran to stand in front of me. “Yeah, and nearly killed yourself in the process.”

  I shrugged. “Gotta do what you gotta do, right?”

  Ryu quickly stood between us to stop us from arguing any further. “What matters is that he’s fine. Let’s get going.” He gestured for Aiko to continue walking, to which she reluctantly obliged. Once she was out of earshot, Ryu pulled me aside. “Bro, are you sure you’re okay to keep going?”

  “Yeah.” I pushed his hand off my sleeve. “I’ll be fine. I usually recover from stuff like that pretty quickly.”

  He put that same hand firmly on my shoulder. “I don’t think you understand what I’m asking.” His light green eyes pierced through mine. “I’m not gonna let you do anything stupid again… especially not something you’ll end up regretting.”

  I didn’t break eye contact with him. “...let’s talk about this later.”

  Ryu’s eyes squinted. “And when is ‘later’ going to be?”

  “Whenever I feel like you deserve to know.” I loosened myself from his grip and started walking off to find Aiko.

  I heard him yell at me as his voice grew distant. “Don’t you think I already deserve an explanation? After everything we’ve been through?”

  I didn’t respond. I simply waved back and kept walking.

  Genjo, stop being such a dickhead. Ryu’s your friend and he’s just concerned about you. That’s what a friend does, isn’t it? Stop hiding things from him. It’s not even as serious as he’s making it out to be. I’m sure he’d understand where you’re coming from. Why can’t you-

  Luckily, my headphones drowned out the rest of my intrusive thoughts.

  I found Aiko standing amidst the ruins of several crumbled houses and towers. Her gaze was fixed on a castle that was surprisingly mostly intact. The entrance was connected to the street by a bridge that spanned across a moat that had all but dried up.

  She turned around upon hearing the sound of my footsteps. “Genjo, I have an odd feeling about this place.”

  “No kidding.” I immediately noticed an ominous yellow light emanating from the top of the castle’s tallest tower. “Things like that usually aren’t great signs.”

  It seemed like Aiko was wary of it too. “I feel like I already know the answer, but should we-”

  Before I could affirm whatever plan she had in mind, Ryu shouted from behind us. “I’ve got a better idea, actually.” I turned around to see him walking towards a mysterious alley between the ruins of two houses. “I’d prefer avoiding the big, spooky castle if possible. I’m sure there’s at least something else interesting in this old town.” He began leaning up against the corner of one of the old houses. “But if you want to go into the obvious death trap, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  I turned to face Aiko, who was still looking up at the castle in complete silence, like she was lost in her own world. The expression on her face was unmistakable - she was dead set on exploring it.

  “Sorry, Ryu.” I felt awful for what I was about to say. “...I can’t let Aiko go in there alone.”

  Ryu uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands back in his pockets. “Can’t say I’m surprised.” He stood up straight and disappeared down the alley. His voice merely echoed back to us. “Don’t expect me to speak at your funeral.”

  I didn’t feel like I deserved to justify myself any further. So much for ‘in this together’, dickhead. What’s been going on between us today?

  Aiko finally spoke for the first time since Ryu had appeared. “Genjo… don’t be so hard on yourself. I’m sure he’ll come around.” She stepped forward toward the castle gate. “For now, let’s just focus on the job, okay?” I wasn’t sure why, but her level of sincerity was difficult to make out. Shut up, Genjo. Stop making shit up in your head. I followed in her stead.

  The gate automatically opened as we approached the end of the bridge, revealing a forebodingly dark interior. We steeled ourselves for any possible dangers and stepped into the unknown.

~

  Ryu carefully descended the crumbled remains of a staircase that led him deeper into what resembled an ancient sanctuary. Vines infested the ruins, sprawling out all across the walls and steps. Razor sharp thorns protected the vines, forcing Ryu to delicately tiptoe around them each and every step on his way down. Otherwise, he would’ve just sliced straight through them. After all, he had a fancy new knife to play with.

  “Ugh, of course I have to do all the dangerous shit while Genjo and Aiko get to stare at the fucking flowers and play make believe in the castle. God forbid I have any smart ideas - you know, ones that might actually keep us alive.” A stone collapsed underneath Ryu’s foot, crumbling and falling deep into the pit below. Ryu waited, listening for the sound of the stone hitting the floor to see how much longer he had left to go.

  After a full minute had passed, Ryu just assumed he wouldn’t hear it at all.

  Stones shifted and crumbled as he continued his descent. “Why are you even doing this, Ryu?” The vines grew thicker and the thorns became sharper the deeper he went. “Should’ve fucking stayed in bed, you god damn idiot.” Ryu talked to himself quite a bit. He felt peace in knowing that, no matter what he vented about, the stones would tell no tales.

  As Ryu descended further into the spire, he also felt his mind slowly descend into madness. “At least I have these vines to keep me company.” His heart eventually started to enjoy the presence of the vines. After all, they would only hurt him if he willingly chose to touch them. “Yes, I’m new around here, actually. Thank you for asking. Do you come here often?” The vines refused to speak back. “Fine. Keep your secrets.”

  Ryu eventually reached an impasse. The way down was completely overtaken by the vines, leaving only a small, less than Ryu-sized gap. These vines appeared fresh, like they had just grown in. “...Alright, fine. For the record, I didn’t want to do this.” Nothing in the vicinity knew, nor cared, what he did or didn’t want to do.

  “Hey, Midas? Come on out, ya big oaf.” He struck his right temple with the palm of his hand, sending out tremendous shockwaves that rattled the entire spire. Midas himself barely fit within the confines of the spire itself, causing the walls and steps above to suddenly rumble with an unprecedented intensity. Ryu jumped as a rock fell on his foot from above. “Fucking…” He realized that he had to act quickly.

  Ryu reached up with his pen, transformed it into the dagger, and struck the ground beneath him. Midas plunged a large bolt into the impasse created by the vines, allowing Ryu to jump through.

  He wasn’t quite sure where this path would take him. Only that it might keep him alive for a few more seconds. ‘Enough time to make one last prayer’, he thought.

~

  Whatever fairy tale this castle had been lifted from, I hoped I would never read it.

  Almost zero natural light found its way inside, apart from the rays that were let in by small cracks in the stone walls. Our path forward was lit merely by the occasional yellow flame burning away from the sparse candles and chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. An ambient clattering noise was provided by various chains scraping past one another, some of which supported the chandeliers, and others that held up much more frightening decorations. Aiko seemed much less concerned about the iron maidens than I was, for some reason.

  We started ascending a tall spire in hopes that it would lead us to the room at the top of the tallest tower. Each step was in surprisingly good shape - at least, given the state of the rest of the castle. There was no railing to prevent us from falling. If either of us slipped, it was game over. Aiko and I stayed close enough together to keep each other from falling in case of an emergency, but far enough apart to not accidentally brush up against one another.

  Aiko occasionally felt the need to break the uncomfortable silence by having us ask each other a question or two - “Would you rather fix 100 rooftops, or ski down Mount Fuji without a helmet?” and the like. Every once in a while, the questions would get a bit more personal. “What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you since getting to S.S.S.S.?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, do you need the itemized list?”

  She laughed, and then immediately felt bad about it. “Shut. Up. There’s no way that many things have happened in just the past week, man.”

  “You’d be shocked.” I took my student ID card out of my wallet and showed her my incredibly dorky smile - not that it was even all that visible in the poorly lit photograph. “It feels like ever since my parents dropped me off at the train station, it’s just been disaster after disaster.”

  “Hey,” she said while resisting the urge to laugh even harder at the picture. “I don’t think our first interaction was bad.”

  “I was practically asleep when you started talking to me, Aiko.” I put the ID back in my wallet and started admiring my fluorescent blue star card instead. “Even then, it was far from the worst first impression I’ve made this week.”

  Aiko’s head perked up. “I was actually meaning to ask about that.” Our legs were on autopilot as we kept climbing the stairs. “...I can tell that somebody’s been bothering you lately. It’s not Ryu, is it?”

  “Nope.” I slid my headphones off my head. “It’s not somebody all that worth talking about.”

  Her voice was incredibly soft and non-hostile. “They clearly are worth mentioning if they’ve been bugging you this much.”

  I really didn’t want to tell Aiko about Dokuro, but I could hear it in her tone - ‘You can trust me with anything, Genjo.’ I took a deep breath. “...it’s just this girl who’s been acting really weird around me. For some reason, she always feels the need to judge me for every little thing.” I kicked a tiny pebble off the steps and heard it as it bounced off several steps on its way to the ground. “I mean, I know I’m not perfect, but that doesn’t mean I need to be reminded of it every day.”

  Aiko was quiet for a bit. It felt like she had a lot to say, but didn’t know whether or not she should. Eventually, she muttered something under her breath. “...People who do stuff like that are monsters.”

  I nearly tripped on the next step of the stairs as she spoke. Her outburst felt abrupt and unprovoked. “Huh?”

  “I said what I said.” Aiko’s temper became harder and harder for her to hold back. “Everyone’s a fucking critic. The moment you give them a reason to tear you apart, they jump on it like the predators they are.” Her fists clenched so tightly that I took a step back out of caution. She began to scream as if I wasn’t standing one foot away from her. “Those people took everything away from me and my father. All they do is relish in the misery of others because they have nothing worthwhile of their own to be proud of. They deserve to feel every single ounce of pain that they put us through. I hate them! I hate them with every last shred of what they made me!”

  Quiet splashes of tears falling onto the stone below were drowned out by Aiko’s footsteps as she sprinted up the stairs.

  I rushed after her as fast as I could. “Aiko? Aiko??” When I reached the top of the stairs, the path split into four different directions. This doesn’t make sense… The castle looked nothing like this from the outside. I called out to Aiko again, but received no response. In a panic, I darted down the hallway in the direction that my gut told me was correct. Because when has that ever failed me?

  The candles in this hallway were completely spent - as I kept running, the light eventually became a distant memory.

~

  If not for the vines, Ryu’s fall could’ve been much more dangerous.

  “Thanks, boys.” He stood up and cracked all the joints in his body to make sure nothing was broken. “I’ll remember you all in therapy.”

  Ryu’s surroundings resembled the bottom of a deep water well. The dim light that seeped in from above didn’t make much sense to Ryu, considering how long he had fallen, but he didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth. Several stones in the walls seemed oddly loose, and when Ryu pressed them…

  …nothing happened.

  “Shoutout to these puzzle designers, I guess.” From what Ryu knew about math, he figured that it was only a matter of time before he guessed the right order to press the stones in. (To be more specific, there were 720 possible combinations. I mean, what else was he going to do with his time anyway?) After enough trial and error, he eventually punched them in a sequence that opened a path forward. He shouted, “Whoever put me in here, thanks for not putting a seventh stone in that wall. I really appreciate it.”

  The tunnel was much more cramped than Ryu had anticipated. As he crawled his way through, he heard what sounded like an argument occurring on the other end of the tunnel. Ryu groaned, briefly regretted every single life choice he had ever made, and began crawling as quickly as possible.

  Ryu was greeted by the most senseless sight imaginable as he exited the crawlspace - he was standing in what appeared to be the top of the tallest tower in the castle. The room felt like a bedroom from a storybook - except there was no princess occupying it. He quickly ran to the window and looked out over the town. Genjo and Aiko were nowhere in sight - in fact, the town was completely lifeless.

  That is, aside from the sound of the wind as it grazed the surface of the water in the moat surrounding the castle.

  A door creaked open behind Ryu. He instinctively took hold of his pen, ready to press the button and strike at any moment. A voice spoke softly to him from the doorway. A familiar voice.

  “Ryu…? How did you get all the way up here?”

  When Ryu turned around, none other than Genjo Sazama was standing in the tower alongside him. “Genjo?” Ryu placed his pen back in his pocket. “...I don’t know. I fell down a large well and, somehow, it took me up here.”

  Genjo looked Ryu up and down, taking note of his dirty clothes and ragged hair. “You look terrible, man. You should’ve just come with me and Aiko instead.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Ryu sat down to take a rest - he hadn’t had one all day.

  “When are you gonna realize that I’m always right about stuff like this?” Genjo leaned up against the bed, his hands resting in the pockets of his red jacket. “You’ve done nothing but doubt me since the moment we met up this morning, and would you look where it’s gotten us? Everything that you’ve tried to do your way, all it’s done is just make things harder than they need to be.”

  Ryu was too exhausted to stand up. “Listen, I didn’t try to-”

  “I don’t care what you were trying to do, Ryu.” Genjo suddenly let out a burst of anger that he must’ve been bottling up all day. “Ever since you met Aiko, you’ve been acting really fucking weird, dude.”

  “Genjo, I-”

  “Don’t give me that shit.” Genjo kicked the corner of the bed frame out of frustration. “You’ve been avoiding the two of us since we entered this place, but then you always try to act like we’re neglecting you.” Ryu had never heard Genjo shout like this before - it began to terrify him.

  He couldn’t help but shout back. “Genjo, stop trying to-”

  “Stop what?” Genjo took a step closer to Ryu. “Stop rightfully calling you out for your bullshit? Stop reminding you that I lost track of Aiko just now, and that it’s all your fault, because you abandoned us?”

  Ryu, finding a sudden surge of energy, stood up and lunged at Genjo, who caught his fist in the palm of his left hand. “Stop making everything you do into my problem.”

  Genjo threw Ryu down to the ground violently. “Only when you stop acting like Aiko is going to ‘replace’ you.” He leaned out the window, looking out to the ocean beyond the town. “Don’t act like we can’t tell. Whenever she and I are doing anything at all, you always get upset about it. Get the fuck over yourself, man.”

  “I…” Ryu started to break down. “...I didn’t think that…” His head fell to the ground. “...I just…” Ryu’s words began to make less and less sense as his emotions escalated until they were completely overwhelming. “...fine. I didn’t… want you to… abandon me.”

  Genjo stayed silent.

  “...Because you’re all I really have anymore.”

~

  Aiko had no clue which way she had been running this whole time. Once the entire hallway had grown dark, she didn’t care either. At the end of the hallway, she reached a dead end. Aiko punched the stone wall in front of her and fell to her knees. All the while, she hadn’t stopped crying.

  Suddenly, a voice called out to her from behind.

  “Aiko? Aiko?? Where are you?”

  She didn’t turn around.

  Eventually, Genjo had caught up to her at the end of the hallway. “Oh my gosh… Aiko, you’re okay!” He ran up behind her, but stopped when he noticed that she still hadn’t moved. “...Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you like that.”

  Aiko slowly stood up, still facing the wall. “It’s… fine.”

  Genjo placed his hand on her shoulder. “Listen, we need to-”

  “Don’t touch me!” She jolted as soon as Genjo’s hand made contact, causing her to quickly distance herself from him. “S-sorry… I just…” Aiko quickly found herself completely backed against the wall.

~

  I took a step back away from Aiko. “No. I’m sorry.” I could tell that she was doing her best to hide the quiver in her voice, but her trembling hands were unmistakable. “I don’t know why what I said earlier made you feel this way, but that doesn’t mean that I should have brought it up in the first place…” I reached my hand into my jacket pocket and briefly scratched at my skin with my fingernails. “I’m sorry that I brought up bad memories, Aiko, I really am.” No amount of apologies made me feel any less shitty for doing it, though.

  Aiko wiped the tears from her eyes. “Too late for that now, isn’t it?” She held her arms close to the rest of her body.

  “Look, Aiko…” I kept my distance from her so I wouldn’t frighten her any further. “I just-”

  “I don’t want a justification, Genjo.” Aiko’s composure began to crumble, revealing a harsh resentment that was buried underneath her bubbly exterior. “Stop pretending like you actually care about me.”

  My body began to quake. There’s no way the temperature in here had changed, right? Am I just imagining things? “Aiko… what are you talking about?”

~

  Genjo was starting to make Aiko feel incredibly uneasy. It didn’t help that the distance between the two of them had narrowed without her even noticing, not until he was directly in front of her. “I mean, seriously… What did I ever do to make you think that?”

  “I…” Her mind wouldn’t stop racing, and in the race between all of her thoughts to come out the clearest, there was no victor. “...don’t really want to say.”

  “What do you mean? You don’t wanna talk about it? Then what do you expect me to do, Aiko?” Genjo was now inches away from her. “I can’t help you if you won’t tell me anything at all.”

  Aiko kept looking down at the floor, hoping that he wouldn’t get much closer. “...Fine. It’s weird when you act like you care about me when I know that you don’t. Are you happy?”

  Genjo raised his voice even more. “Are you kidding? Why would I ever lead you on like that?”

  “Because I’m not stupid, Genjo.” Aiko began to tear up again.

  Genjo lightly stepped closer to Aiko. “Listen, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but-”

  “Get away from me!” Aiko pushed against Genjo’s chest, shoving him back across the hallway.

  He stumbled back and saved himself from nearly tripping over the wires of his headphones.

~

  Despite the distance between us, I could feel rage emanating from the girl who stood at the end of the hallway across from me. Aiko was still backed against the wall. Her arms were crossed and clinging tightly to her torso, shielding herself from anything I tried to say.

  Her tears continued to rain down. “I see right through you, Genjo. You’re all the same… you’re just trying to use me for your own personal gain before you cast me aside once I’m not useful to you anymore.”

  Aiko’s words were like weapons. I felt them delicately tear through my skin and run deep into my heart, almost like they had shattered into miniature bits of razor sharp shrapnel. Where on earth is she getting this idea from? I know I’d never make her feel this way on purpose… so then why did I still do it anyway? There was a fury in her voice that I had never heard come out of her before. I looked intently into Aiko’s eyes - for some reason that I couldn’t explain, it felt like I couldn’t see that same rage in them.

  She stepped forward. “I’ll take that silence as your confession, then.”

  “Of course not.” I took my own step to match. “...You’re my friend because I want you to be. Nothing about that is because there’s something I want from you.”

  “Don’t fucking lie to me!” Aiko grabbed her handbag and swung it directly at me, hitting me cleanly across my right cheek. Considering that she had thrown out most of her belongings back while we were crossing the ocean, it was a lot heavier than I figured it should’ve been.

  The swing sent me tumbling to the cobblestone floor below. As I briefly rolled across the ground, several items fell out of my jacket pocket.

  “Look at yourself.” Aiko stood directly above me. “Take a real look at who you are, Sazama.” I could see three items lying on the ground at Aiko’s feet.

  The first: a napkin with a note: ‘Sorry I couldn’t make your day better, Genjo. I still think you should try and talk to her, but that’s up to you. Text me if you need anything. - Hiro’.

  “You run from your flaws, pushing every single one of them onto other people.” Aiko hadn’t moved. Her rage became more focused. “But you don’t accept help from anyone, do you? Instead, you write off any and all flaws as baseless criticism. Every time someone tries to tell you about your flaws, you fill yourself with vitriol for that person.” She stepped on the slip of paper with the tip of her heel and slid it towards me. “Why would I want to be friends with someone who will hold that same hatred for me at the drop of a pin, Sazama?”

  The second: a slip of paper with a phone number for student disability services.

  “And don’t pretend like nobody tries to help you. The people that you call your ‘friends’ want to see you learn and improve.” Aiko crushed the napkin with her heel. “But your answer each and every time is to treat them like they’re the problem. I’ve seen how often Ryu tries to look out for you, and you only pay him back with ignorance. We’ve saved you countless times, and you can’t even give us a ‘thank you’ for it? At what point should we just give up, Sazama?”

  The third: Linda Woolverton’s Beauty and the Beast.

  The cover of the script bore a monster who held onto a small flower petal. “Everywhere I go, all that I see are monsters like you, all unable to see me as anything other than a pretty face or a trophy. I’ve always just been something to chase or to win. Why can’t I just be a person?” Aiko picked up the script and began to flip through the pages. “I mean, could I have made it any more obvious who you are? Quit pretending that you’re nothing like the rest of them.”

  I slowly pushed myself up. Still resting on one knee, I wiped the blood from my split lip on my sleeve. I forced a grim smile to fight through the pain. “If you hated me this much…

  “...Why didn’t you just say so?”

~

  Genjo was still reeling from the shove. “What the fuck was that?” With his hand, he brushed the spot on his chest where Aiko had pushed him, as if it could’ve somehow made him bleed.

  Aiko swiftly slipped past Genjo and began sprinting down the hallway. The walls of the castle no longer resembled their initial design - the once straightforward corridor now split into several different halls. Aiko didn’t have much time to mull it over, so she quickly ran down the fourth hallway from the left.

  At the end of the corridor, Aiko discovered an enormous maze of floating platforms, all of which moved in patterns that seemed entirely random. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and leapt out into the center of the maze.

  Aiko hopped between several different platforms as they carried her across every corner of the room. Looking up at one of the ledges near the center of the wall in front of her, she saw Genjo standing atop it. “Aiko! Are you crazy? Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Anywhere that gets me away from you,” she shouted back. Aiko spun around and started rapidly jumping from one platform to another.

  Genjo leapt down from his ledge, landing a few platforms behind her. “Don’t be stupid! I’m coming to get you!” Aiko only now learnt just how much faster than her Genjo actually was. Before she could even catch a breath, he was quickly gaining ground on her. Aiko heard Genjo’s feet land directly behind her. She turned around to see him standing there, reaching out to her with his left hand. “Why are you so afraid of me, Aiko? Why can’t you just trust me when I tell you how much I care about you?”

  She stared at him in a moment of confusion. Trust… A word so foreign to me… One that I can only speak for another, but not for myself. It meant something to me a very long time ago. I remember the exact moment that it lost that meaning, too.

  “Aiko…” Genjo still reached out to her. “...Let me show you that it’s not so frightening to trust someone. If no one else, can you trust me, Aiko?”

  But he saved my life. What the hell is wrong with me? Why can’t I believe in someone who would do that for me?

  Aiko stepped forward.

  “Thank you for this chance, Aiko.” Genjo smiled. “You’ve already learned so much. I’m proud.”

  She took Genjo’s hand. The sensation of touching his bare skin was unusually cold.

  Wait… his bare skin?

  Genjo’s smile turned wicked and unpleasant. Aiko tried to let go of his hand, but his rigid grip held her in place. Her struggle didn’t last very long before everything went dark.

  “I’ll see you on the other side, Aiko.”

~

  Aiko continued skimming the pages of the book. “Schadenfreude.”

  I slowly stood up, still wiping the blood off my lip. “Gesundheit, ma’am.”

  She ignored me, slamming the book shut. “People have always led me on and manipulated me for my entire life, so I figured, why not put everyone through the same exact pain that I felt for all those years?” Her demeanor felt too real to be an act. “I mean, wouldn’t you?”

  “Is that any way to live, though?” I approached her slowly. “So what if everybody treated you that way? Isn’t doing the same thing to them just contributing to the problem?”

  “You don’t understand.” Aiko clutched the book snugly against her chest.

  “No, I think I do.” I placed my hand on the book. “You’re scared of being hurt by people who act like they’d do anything but.”

  Aiko scowled at me, attempting to pull the book away from me. “Shut up.”

  I didn’t let the book out of my grasp. “It’s not your fault if somebody isn’t who they say they are. That’s not a reason to turn your back on everyone else.”

  “You wouldn’t be saying that if you went through it yourself.” Aiko’s expression began overflowing with outrage. “Stop pretending you can empathize with me, because you can’t.”

  “Of course I can.” I took the book from her and unzipped my bag to put it away. “I’ve felt that pain too. People used to pretend they wanted to be my friend, only to turn around and betray me for a quick joke.” While I was putting the book away, my hand brushed past my old drumsticks. I took one out and held it in front of me. “Sometimes, bad memories stay with you no matter what. We both just need to learn how to trust that everything will be okay.”

  The word ‘trust’ made Aiko noticeably shudder. “...No.”

  “Huh?” The air around us felt completely dead. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

  “I don’t trust you.” Aiko’s eyes looked just as lifeless. “I can’t.”

  I braced myself. “Why not?”

  “Because you can’t trust anyone either, Sazama!” She started breaking down. “You can’t trust me enough to believe me when I tell you that you’ll never understand me. You can’t trust Ryu enough to tell him anything about yourself that’ll make you look ‘bad’ in his eyes, because you love pretending to be perfect too much to be honest with him. You can’t trust Hiro enough to help you fix things with that girl, Dokuro, because you’re too stubborn to admit you’re wrong. You can’t even trust yourself enough to be confident in a single word you say that isn’t total bullshit.”

  While she endlessly berated me, a strange chill ran down my spine… Something that Aiko said felt off. “...What did you just say?”

  Aiko grew increasingly frustrated. “Why can’t you just listen to me?” The sound as her tears fell to the ground started to ring hollow. “I’m not going to trust someone who won’t trust me back.”

  Suddenly, it all made sense. I slowly stepped right in front of Aiko and looked her dead in the eyes. “...Fine. I’ll admit it, then. I don’t trust you.”

  “See?” Aiko’s tears quickly dried up. “Was that so hard?”

  I didn’t break eye contact with her. “...anymore.”

  Her bright blue eyes grew wide. She spoke softly for the first time in minutes. “...What?”

  “You heard me. You had my trust, and you lost it.” My grip around my drumstick became fierce. “...Because I never told you about Dokuro.”

  In a swirl of blue flame, my drumstick instantly altered itself into a long, razor sharp falchion as I plunged the blade through Aiko’s chest.

  Streaks of black energy gushed out of her wound as I tore the weapon out of her withering husk. I didn’t enjoy the sensation of stabbing someone I cared about, even though I knew she wasn’t the real Aiko. The expression of terror on it’s face as it perished certainly didn’t help, either.

  The black, shadow-like energy swirled around the hallway as the world around me melted into a pool of molten glass. In the distance, I could barely make out a small, yellow light. A set of long stairs in front of me appeared to lead all the way to the light. With no other options, I ran up the stairs, praying that I would find the real Aiko there.