I didn't expect to finishe writing this chapter early like that...
Well, I owe it to Anonymous! It's people like you who makes us want to write! Thanks for the review!

As you'll see, Hiroto talks for the whole chapter so it's at the first chapter this time. :)
Enjoy!

Chapter 2

I had a brother too. But contrarily to Hiroshi, mine was selfish. He somehow learned that he was chosen and he gave some money to a corrupted policeman to trade his life as a sacrifice for mine. He took the car and drove away the day I was named. Our parents died in a car accident and he was the one who took care of me after that. I was only ten but he still decided to save his ass and let a kid like me go in. We had all heard the legend and we were all terrified by the idea of going there. That year, the only people allowed to come and say goodbye were close family but the only one I had left was my brother who was now long gone. Nobody spoke in the train; we were all too nervous to say anything. The older ones weren't as nervous but they didn't find anything to say so they stayed silent anyway.

Once we entered in the mansion, the older ones went their own way immediately. I have no idea what they were thinking while doing that and letting us behind but they split up anyway. I was a bit surprised that nobody tried to make a team of three since we were three allowed to escape. It's only when other kids moved that I followed randomly one of them. He didn't seem to mind me following him. We walked upstairs and opened the first door on our path.

There was a hand that reached for us. I hid behind that boy in fright and backed away when that monster took him and shoved him in its mouth. I didn't even know that boy's name and I heard him scream for mercy. I ran down the stairs and I went in a random direction. I ended up in the library where I hid behind one of the shelves. I heard the door open and close. I tried to stay silent but I couldn't stop whimpering. I think someone up there took pity of me because it wasn't the monster but two other kids. They were twins approximately eleven years old. They actually looked a bit like you. You have those same big blue eyes, you know. The slightly taller one was named Arata and the other one was Rikuto. I learned later that they were here because they stole a wallet. Their father had died several years ago and their mother was sick. The only thing they could do was to steal money and food. It wasn't fair; they got sent here because they were concerned about their mother. We heard a scream, a girl's one. We decided to stick together since we were three.

We lost Rikuto during the first phase. He left the room without telling us and he never came back. We searched all over the house and we found him on the third floor, well, what was left of him anyway. Somebody had tied him up on a sort of bar and he had been eaten almost everywhere. The only thing left of him was his arms, head and a good part of his vertebral column. Arata couldn't stop crying. We weren't able to move from the room for at least an hour. I had to force Arata to follow me because he could've stayed there until that demon got him. We saw another corpse later tied just like Rikuto in a room on the second floor too. It was a boy but I didn't look at the corpse; I was too scared to look.

Later, the demon found us and we got separated. I ran into another girl while I was running. I think she was nine. I… I didn't really think. I… I grabbed her arm and shoved her on the ground between the demon and I. She grabbed my ankle and I fell on the ground. It seems the god up there decided to punish me and place a nail slightly out of the floor. It pierced my cheek and it passed through my eye when the monster pulled us towards it. That's right, boy. That's where I got my scar. I got it a very dishonorable way. This is another reason why I don't tell this story to anybody. The first time they saw the scar, they immediately though I was saving someone while I got it but I was killing someone. Obviously, she let go of me when the monster began to eat her. I let out the loudest scream of my life at that moment. My eye was just so painful. It was so loud and strong that sometimes I still wonder if it's because of it that I fainted.

When I woke up, I was in a place I didn't recognize at all with Arata and another girl named Manami. She was thirteen. She told me we were in the second phase. I think you already know this, but it was a maze. I had to keep a handkerchief on my eye. Manami tied it with a necklace she had so I didn't need to hold it. Along the way, we found another girl tied on a wall just like Rikuto and heard a scream a bit later. I don't know how but we found our way to the exit and the third phase. The demon found us and this time it was coming a lot faster towards us. I tripped and twisted my ankle doing so. Manami decided to stay behind to slow it down and allow us to escape. We never saw her again. I blamed myself for her death. I kept thinking and I'm still thinking that if I didn't trip, maybe she would be still alive.

It took a very long time before another boy died. We got in the last phase. As you know, there were a lot of doors and the majority of them had silver keyholes. The doors with no keyholes were always facing each other by groups of two. Arata and I would always split up and go in a different room. I… I found an older boy tied up to the wall like a lot of people were but this one wasn't dead. He begged me to help him but my fear of sharing the same fate than him and the others took over and I abandoned him in that room. It's only later that I heard him scream.

Later, I entered a room and found the guy who was tying up the others all along. I knew it was him because he was actually tying an injured girl who didn't seem to be able to run away at all since her legs had a weird position. I remember he turned toward me and said he was forced to do it. He said he wanted to live and that it was the only solution. He was crying while saying that. The monster came in and I managed to get out of that room and hide with Arata in the one facing it. We both didn't dare to move until we heard a very loud sound like if something was banging on the walls. I bet you know what it is, huh? Yeah, the boulders surrounded by fire. That guy with the ropes had unlocked the door with the golden keyhole that we found later with his headless body.

We ended up in the last room. The wall closed behind us and that high-pitched sound you probably heard too started to ring in the room. Arata messed around with the numbers until he got the right code by chance. There was blood pouring out of his ears and he didn't seem to hear me when I talked to him. The demon broke the wall and we ran in the last tunnel that would lead us to the exit. Arata suddenly collapsed. He was wincing in pain but at the same time, he didn't seem there at all. My fear and my desperation to get out of this place took over again and I left him behind. I looked at him a bit while I was running. He was crying when the monster reached him. I could have saved him; we could've both made it out alive but I just looked in front of me and climbed up that ladder to get out of that place.

"Me getting out was just luck and help from other people who I left behind. I am far to deserve all that respect people gives me."

Kazuya stared silently at Hiroto for a couple of second to give himself time to realize what he just heard. So what he said to Hiroshi before they went to the mansion was true; he escaped in selfish ways. He didn't try to save anyone and just left them behind, what he regretted later. Maybe he didn't do things the way he could've done it but Kazuya couldn't blame him. The boy didn't recall saving anyone either. He dragged Hiroshi out at the very end but he didn't really save him too. Hiroshi tried to save people, not him.

The child noticed Hiroto was struggling to keep tears inside his eyes. The boy felt really bad for that. It was a bit his fault, right? It's because he asked to know the story that the adult went through all this again. The boy approached Hiroto and hugged him. The adult looked down at Kazuya and put a hand on his head. He couldn't help but make a faint smile.

So, this is Hiroto's story I tried to make it like if I'd tell you something that happened. Like, the sort of vagueness and the forgotten unimportant things. I don't know if I did good but, hey, I tried XD

Please leave a review and see you in the next chapter!