"I can't open them." Y/n panted as she looked at the gates in anger. "Are these things broken or something?! Why can't I open them?!"

With all her strength, she kicked the gates out of spite. In an instant, it flew open, causing Y/n's eyes to widened. "I guess it just needed a kick, huh?"

She turned around with a grin on her face. "Okay! Time to get ourselves out of this—" Y/n's smile faltered as she looked at the boy behind her.

He looked down, fiddling with his fingers as he bit his lower lip in hesitation.

"Hanako-kun?"

"Y/n-chan, are you really going outside?"

"Yes. Let's go together, Hanako-kun."

Y/n fully turned her body, letting go of the gate as she held her own wrist. "Hanako-kun?"

The boy frowned. He didn't bother looking up or tried making eye contact with her. But even so, the girl could already tell what his answer to her request was.

"You're not going to..." Y/n mumbled as she furrowed her brows. "Hanako— or should I say Amane-kun?" She paused. "Amane-kun... Do you want to stay here?"

"I want to stay here." Y/n flinched as she continued staring at the boy infront of her.

"Run away? Why?"

Amane smiled as he placed his arms behind his back. He gave Y/n a close-eyed smile as he tilted his head slightly. The girl's eyes sparkled as she looked at the boy infront of her.

"This, right now, is the most fun I've ever had!"

The girl's breath hitched as Amane opened his eyes.

"There's nothing good to be found outside. The roads are dangerous at night. It's too bright to see the stars," he said. "Let's go back, Y/n-chan."

"Or..." Amane held out his hand before grabbing the girl's wrist. "Do you not like it here?"

Y/n stared at the boy blankly, on the other hand, Amane anticipated for whatever her answer would be.

Y/n sighed, looking down to avoid Amane's orange orbs.

"No way..." she started. "I like it. After all, there's a lot of fun things to do and all that.."

"But—"

"𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢."

"— the person I like..." Y/n flushed as she pulled her wrist away from Amane's grip. ".. isn't here!"

"Why are there so many Shijima-san's in this world..." Y/n sat on the ground, not even bothering how dirty her skirt was already.

After convincing Amane to run away with her, they both went around the city. Though everyone, as in everyone, was literally school mystery number four, also known as Shijima.

"Y/n-chan." The girl looked up to see Amane handing her a drink. She then took it and gave the boy a tired nod. Amane frowned as he stood infront of the girl.

"I've told you countless of times not to push yourself, yet you're out here running around without a care to whatever is gonna happen to you?"

"I'm so sorry..." Y/n said in a tiny voice as she looked at the side. "It really wasn't my intention to worry you, Amane-kun..." She then let out a heavy sigh.

Amane opened his drink as Y/n stared at the ground blankly, thinking of any other way to avoid Shijima. "What do we do now, Amane-kun?" She frowned. "Anywhere we go, that girl is there. In that case, there's no where we can go?"

Amane blinked as he looked at Y/n with confusion on his face.

"What girl?"

Y/n looked up. "You didn't see her, Amane-kun?" Her brows furrowed. "The driver of the bus and on the taxi. All the people on the streets had her face too..."

The look on Amane's face never faltered. "Not really," he said. "They all seemed normal..."

"Huh." A blank expression made its way to Y/n's face as she looked at the boy with her brows both furrowed. She clutched her drink tightly. "It's either me being delusional or you not checking your surroundings well."

Amane drank from his soda can as he looked at Y/n from the corner of his eye.

"I don't really get what your saying, but..." The boy darted his gaze to the ground. "For one thing..."

"... Today was really a good day, so don't you think it would be good if tomorrow just didn't come?" Y/n's lips formed into a straight line as she stared at the can.

"I'm here. I wish time would just stop."

Y/n then looked over at Amane, though the boy wasn't looking back at her. He was looking up ahead. "Just as I thought." He sighed. "Here... We can't see stars."

He then stood up and ruffled Y/n's hair, the girl pouted as she stared up at the boy.

"Should we head back?"

Y/n flinched upon seeing the boy's face. Maybe it was her being delusional again, but she can definitely see scribbles all over it.

"Amane-kun, what is that?"

"What is what?"

Y/n handed her mirror over to the boy. "That."

Amane's eyes widened as he stared at him appearance. "What the heck!" He exclaimed before trying to wipe it away. "What is—"

He looked up. Y/n followed the directions he gazed at. There, she saw a floating paintbrush, which was supposedly the suspect for all the drawings.

"Why is this paintbrush floating?" Y/n stepped out of the spot she had been sitting and went towards the object. "Hey, if you're here to bully Amane-kun, you have to get through me first."

The paintbrush then started shaking, as if it was disagreeing to her statement, and maybe it was.

It then floated over to the side, there, it starting painting some words out for Y/n and maybe Amane to read out loud.

I am on your side.

Y/n's eyes widened.

I will tell you how to escape from here.

She frowned as she looked at the paintbrush.

"But aren't you some sort of tool for Shijima-san though?" Y/n crossed her arms. "Are you sure you didn't help her create this fake world or something?"

Not at all. The paintbrush wrote, Do you not trust me?

"Definitely not. We literally met a few moments ago... And you're literally a paintbrush, I'm not sure if you really know how things work around he—"

"Oh?" Y/n flinched as she looked over her shoulder. "What are you kids doing out here at this hour?"

"Fu—" Y/n covered her mouth from cursing as she grabbed Amane's arms in fear. "We need to run now!" she cried out as she started sprinting out of the place.

Suddenly, the paintbrush then went towards Shijima. In a matter of seconds, the brush sliced her upper part.

Y/n's eyes widened as she watched the person become wet paint splattered over the ground. The brush then went above the splattered paint and wrote, Do you trust me now?

"Wh..." Y/n clasped her hands together. "Well! We'd be honored to be assisted by you, sir brush!"

Y/n kneeled infront of the floating paintbrush and looked at it in amazement. "Who are you? Do you really know how to get out of here?"

The girl clenched her fists together. "I'm sure there's another way out other than killing Amane-kun and Sousuke, and you know where it happens to be, don't you?"

Y/n's eyes looked at the words which the paintbrush wrote on the ground.

Yes, you don't have to kill anyone to escape this place.

"I knew it..." Y/n frowned. "But where or how...?"

There is a door to the real world. If you can find it, you can return to where you were from.

"A door?" She grinned. "Do you know where it is?"

The paintbrush then started writing once again. It is—

Y/n's brows furrowed as she looked at Amane, who held the paintbrush away from writing once again.

"Amane-kun." She frowned and looked at the paintbrush in his grip. "What are you trying to do—?"

Crack. The paintbrush split into half. Amane looked at it blankly before throwing it away. Y/n's eyes widened as she found the boy walking towards her.

"What..." Y/n stood up before stepping away from the boy. "What the hell are you doing?! That was our chance to—"

Amane then looked at the girl, forcing out a small smile on his face, ignoring the fact that she was basically trying to tell him something.

"Y/n-chan."

He grabbed her wrist tightly and pulled her towards him. Y/n's eyes widened as soon as she spotted his other hand raising two fingers up.

You little— she quickly dodged it from touching her forehead and pulled her wrist away from Amane while he was caught off-guard.

"What the heck, Amane-kun." Y/n glared at the boy, who still had two fingers up, trying to get Y/n unconscious. "You're really Hanako-kun... What a bastard."

Amane showed no signs of emotions as he gave Y/n a sharp look.

"Y/n-chan, this is for your own good—"

"Own good my ass." Y/n rolled her eyes as tears brimmed the corner of her eyes out of pure anger and frustration. "You've been lying to us the whole time and is placing us in this fake world?! And it's for our own good?! What the heck?!"

"Y/n-chan." Amane frowned as he walked towards the girl. "Just come with me, and everything will be just the way it is."

"No way," she spat before walking to the opposite direction. "I'm going back. Feel free to stay here as long as you like, Hanako-kun."

She didn't bother to look back at the boy. All she could see was red. She was fuming. Hanako's intentions were good, but placing them in a fake world was literally going overboard.

"Y/n-chan." An arm grabbed her waist tightly. Y/n flinched as she found Hanako's face just a few inches away from her.

"What the—"

He grabbed her chin and made the girl look up at him. Now, she knew the reason why he had done that.

His orange hues were replaced with nothing but darkness. Unable to move, Y/n was forced to look at it. Every energy she had stored was getting drained every second.

"Tsukasa had told me that this was one of you're biggest weakness—" Hanako's voice was faint, but the girl could still hear every word clearly. "— and I guess he was really telling the truth."

Hanako looked at the girl with a smile.

"You're not unconscious yet?"

He chuckled.

"Of course you aren't."

He then raised his hand up before covering her eyes, making the girl see nothing at all.

"Goodnight, Y/n-chan."

The first thing Y/n saw as soon as she opened her eyes was a dark, blank, stone ceiling. Her lips formed a frown as she squinted her eyes to check her surroundings.

There, she saw the metal bars blocking her way towards the exit. In front of those metal bars was the boy she had been with earlier, although this time, he wasn't human at all.

"Hey!" Y/n stood up and walked towards the boy. She held the bars tightly as she glared at Hanako, who had his back facing her. "What are you doing, Hanako-kun?"

"Y/n-chan." Hanako turned around with a smile on his face. "I see you're awake and as energetic as ever—"

"Cut the stacks, Hanako-kun." She gave the boy a glare before looking down in anger. "What are you trying to do? Why would you do this?! Pretending to be alive.. and then locking me up in here?!"

"That's..." Hanako grinned as he fully made his body face Y/n. "That's because I think it's better in this world!"

Y/n frowned upon hearing the apparition's response. It seemed like an excuse to cover up the real truth.

"I wanted to see what it would be like to be your classmate! It's more fun that what I had expected—!"

"Hanako-kun." The boy instantly stopped talking before looking at Y/n. The girl pursed her lips as she then looked back at the boy.

"Not to sound self-centered or anything, but..." The grip on the metal bars tightened.

"Is this about mine and Nene-chan's lifespans?"

Hanako stared at the girl blankly before walking towards her. He sighed before holding his hand out through the bars and grabbing the girl's hand softly.

"Of course." Hanako let out an airy chuckle. "You already know why I'm doing this... I don't expect less from you, eighth-chan."

Y/n frowned upon hearing what Hanako had called her.

It's like everything we've gone through suddenly disappeared. She stared at his hand on hers. Just what am I to you, Hanako-kun?

"To be very honest, Yashiro-san isn't my top priority right now." Hanako sighed as he looked at the side with a frown. "She can get to live until she graduates this school, which would be two years from now... But what about you, Y/n-chan?"

The girl's breath hitched.

"You're lifespan was reduced to this year. Who knows... One day, you might suddenly stop coming to school.. and..." The grip on Y/n's hand tightened. Hanako was trembling. The expressions on his face made it visible that he was scared, afraid... And somewhat angered.

"I..." He snickered. "I don't wanna let go of your hands... One time I'll let go, and the next thing I know, you disappear fully..." His smile faltered. "I really don't want that to happen..."

"Hanako-kun—"

Hanako engulfed Y/n into a hug. The cold, metal bars separated them from each other, but even so, Y/n couldn't help but feel warm inside and outside.

"But don't worry..." Hanako stroked her hair softly.

"I will save you, Y/n-chan..."

Y/n's eyes widened. Hanako then pulled away, his hands still holding the girl's shoulders. He released a smile.

"So in the mean time, please stay here till the world is completed."

"No!" Y/n clenched her fists. "You can't keep me locked up in here! We need to get out of this place—!"

"Y/n-chan." Y/n quickly became silent. "I will save you. So please... Just stay in here till this world finishes." The look on his face darkened as he caressed her cheek.

The girl flinched as she watched Hanako turn around. He then started walking towards the exit, he never bothered looking back at Y/n once.

But didn't you say you would support me back then...?