Only… It wasn't the room. It was a large, dark hallway. Different from the first one.

"Stay calm. Stay calm." After taking a deep breath, Akane moved forward.

She must have walked for hours along that dark hallway, with nothing in sight. She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

-Tired…-

Her legs ached from the distance she had walked. It was a great deal for a young child. Akane's right hand ached from clasping the step of the rose.

-A little rest won't hurt, will it?-

She was too tired to argue against herself. Slowly, Akane sat down, her back against the wall. Her eyes shut, and she was asleep.

It wasn't long that she rested. Or… It could have been. She didn't have a watch, and there wasn't a clock in the room.

"Oh…"

She wasn't in the hallway where she'd fallen asleep. Instead, she was in a room full of art.

"!"

-MY rose! My rose is gone!-

She hoped that whatever had brought her here hadn't left her rose behind.

Akane swallowed once. Twice. Thrice. She had to calm herself. It would turn up. Sooner or later.

For now, Akane supposed she'd look around. With all the art everywhere, things were bound to be hidden.

There was a statue of some guy with the head. 'Obsession.' To her, it seemed like a strange title.

There was a painting of two girls, titled 'Twins'. It took Akane a few moments to see the familiarity between the two girls since they dressed so differently.

There was a giggle. And another giggle. Soon, it became apparent that the giggling was coming from the painting.

"Look! Look! Someone new is here!"

"You."

"Younger than the other man here, for sure."

"Ah! So there's someone else here? Can you direct me to them?" Akane didn't want to be alone any longer, and the other person could help her find her rose.

Instead of an answer, the twins just giggled again before falling silent.

Akane huffed. "Fine! I don't need your help anyway!"

The painting remained silent, and Akane stuck her tongue out at it before running off to look around other areas.

She didn't pay much attention to the other artwork. Instead, she just barely took note of some of the titles. 'Compulsive Love'. 'Above Underground.' 'A frightening Mask.'

None showed a way out of the room. In fact, it didn't seem as if there was a way in either. It made her wonder… How did she get in?

Just when Akane started to lose hope, she spotted something interesting.

A vase! A vase with a rose in it!

But… Not her rose.

"Hello?! Is someone else here?" Her question echoed. No one answered.

Still, if this person's golden rose was with her, then perhaps her blue rose was with them.

Determined, Akane grabbed the rose.

Giggling. There was giggling again.

"Time. To. Play."

Akane whirled around. To her horror, the painting of the twins was on the ground. And both girls were halfway out of the portrait, coming towards her. Their nails' dug into the carpet as they clawed to her.

"Come."

Akane didn't hesitate. She ran. Akane ran right towards a door.

Certainly, it hadn't been there before.

But Akane didn't care.

Inside the room was a maze. It was a maze of bookshelves.

The painting didn't follow, and all was silent. For the moment, Akane Awakusu was safe.

She took just a moment to catch her breath. Then she started to walk. Perhaps, if she had more of an interest, she would have looked through some of the books adorning the shelves. Instead, Akane was preoccupied with trying to find both the other person, and a way out.

Mazes weren't fun when you were in them. Akane was certain that she'd never way the way out. And when the golden rose started to wilt, she started to panic.

Quickly! She had to find a way out quickly; else the owner of the golden flower wouldn't last.

In her desperation, Akane used the 'right-turn' maze trick. At every turn, she turned right. Eventually, she'd get to the other side.

On that regard, she was right. Akane soon reached a staircase leading downward, and ran down the steps.

The hallways flew by as the child ran as fast as she could.

She ran until she came to a small room. In this small room was a blue vase, as well as a blond man wearing a bartender suit.

He looked bad… As bad as the rose she was holding. It only held a handful of petals left.

Quickly, Akane placed the rose in the vase, and it was healed. A dazzling amount of twenty-four petals adorned it.

Glancing at the man revealed that he, too, had been healed, and that relieved her.

"Hey… Um, I found your rose, and it's all better now."

The man glanced up.

"Huh… I can move. I guess I got hit too many times protecting this." From inside his vest, the man pulled out Akane's blue rose. "Is it yours?"

"Yes! Thank you! I don't know how it got away from me."

"Well then… I am glad I kept it safe. One moment, I had my rose, and the next, I had this. Then, a bunch of… Pieces of art came after me." The man smiled lightly. "Hey, if you're by yourself, then why don't I stick with you until we can find a way out of here?"

Akane was much too delighted at the fact that she knew nothing about this man.

"Sure! Oh. My name's Akane."

"And I'm Shizuo."

Shizuo handed Akane her rose before standing and taking his own from the vase.

"Alright… I suppose we go through the door. Ah, I hope we can get out of here soon."

"Me too. Uncle must be worried sick."

And he could be in this strange place too… Akane didn't like the thought.

They walked on. Despite their strange location… It was peaceful.

Perhaps it was too peaceful. For soon, they came upon a strange painting title 'Doctor's Tools'.

"Doesn't look like anything I've ever seen in a doctor's office." Shizuo mumbled the words. More so to himself than the child next to him.

After Shizuo spoke, Akane thought she heard a strange sound, and she turned around to see what it was.

And it wasn't good.

"Sh-Shizuo!"

Just Akane's tone told the blond that something was wrong, so he turned too.

"Shit…"

Flying towards them were the doctor's tools that they'd seen in the painting. Sharp tools, which only meant that it was meant to hurt.

With one arm, Shizuo lifted Akane before running.

Still, the tools only gained.

"Shizuo!" Akane had to stifle a scream after, as one of the tools plunged into his back, drawing just a bit of blood.

"Tch. Don't worry, Akane. It still has plenty of petals."

Shizuo didn't sound like he was in pain, and that soothed her. To a degree. Akane couldn't help but feel as if Shizuo wouldn't have gotten hurt if he hadn't had to run with her as excess weight.

She was glad when they made it to another room, and that they were safe.

"Let me get the thing out of your back!" Akane had to help, since she did feel like Shizuo only got hurt because of her.

"Huh? Oh. Right." Shizuo let Akane down before crouching down himself. "It'll probably bleed without a bandage or something."

"I know that. But it can't stay in!" Akane rolled her eyes as she went to take the strange took out.

"Huh?" Akane blinked. "It isn't there… And there's no mark." There wasn't any blood either… And yet, Shizuo's rose had still lost a few petals. It wasn't an illusion. "But…"

"Akane, maybe the objects don't stay? It hurts us to shows us how our roses lose the petals… But if it stayed… Then we couldn't move."

"I guess…" But she couldn't help now… Did that make her a burden? To make things worse, she yawned then.

Really, this just showed how much the whole ordeal was affecting her.

Shizuo sighed lightly. "I'll keep watch. You should take a nap. There's no telling how long we'll be in this strange place."

"No!" Akane puffed out her cheeks. "I don't need rest. Let's keep going." After finishing those words, Akane yawned again.

"Akane, you're yawning. Obviously, you're tired. If we keep going on without taking a break, it could be hazardous."

"But-"

"No but's." Shizuo held up one finger. "Think of it this way. If you hadn't told me about the things that had come after us, I wouldn't have even known they were there, and as a result, I would have been hurt a lot worse than I was. So let me thank you by keeping watch as you rest."

Now, Akane sighed. Shizuo's logic made sense… And it did make her feel better. She had helped, after all.

"Okay… But just a small nap! We have to get out of here."

Only after seeing Shizuo give a nod of agreement did Akane lie down and close her eyes. Soon, she was out like a light.