AN: Quick update. Have been super busy. Don't have much to say. Enjoy.
"Could you go any slower? We don't have all night!"
"Well, it's easier for you to get through this thing since you're four-feet tall."
We were finally inside Hatsune's house, crawling through the ridiculously small vent to the kitchen (that's where Neru said we'd end up). She was a lot more energetic now, maybe because the effects of the drugs wore off, maybe because there was no time for sluggishness with traffickers on the way. Even with her backpack on, she was able to get through without a problem. I, on the other hand, in front of her, had to hug my shoulders all close to my chest in an extremely uncomfortable contortionistic fashion. Neru offered to "kick me in the rear" to get through faster, and as tempting an offer that was, I didn't need to go walking around with a shoe print on my pants.
Like, six minutes later we came to the end of the vent. What appeared to be a tightly sealed vent guard was really a thin wire mesh, which clattered against the tile floor as soon as I touched it. Neru warned me not to move, to listen if the noise had alerted anyone inside. As far as we could tell, it hadn't.
It was hard to make out the setup of the kitchen with all the lights5 exoff, but it might've been about the size of the entire ground floor of my house. Without stopping to get a good look at anything Neru took my wrist and told me to follow her. I hate that, by the way.
She muttered, "They really renovated this place up..."
"What?" I whispered back, "Are you saying you don't know where to go?"
"Shh, shut up. I didn't say anything."
"Then wh—"
CLANG.
I still don't know whose foot it was, but someone kicked away a tin mixing bowl on its side. It rolled and rolled and rolled around in a circle until it did that thing where it spins really fast and then gradually slows down, like when you drop a penny on a counter.
"Hello?" A feminine voice arose from outside the kitchen. "Anyone in there?"
We gave each other this mutual panicked look, as if we were trying to yell with our faces without actually yelling.
"!" I said.
"!" She silently replied.
I pointed at a closet on our left that seemed just large enough for us two to fit in. Neru nodded. Not a second thought, we charged for the door and hurled it open just as the sound of footsteps came into the room. We just messily shoved our bodies in there to fit, what with the shelves over our heads and tons of boxes stacked on top of each other. Her upper back was bent uncomfortably beneath one of the shelves, while I was crouched on my knees in front of her. Because of so little space we were really close, my head was in between her legs and my hands were fists on the wall behind her. Neru really didn't like this position, she tried to grab my hair and force me out, but there was no time. She closed the door.
The woman turned on a light switch and didn't move. Neither did we.
"I know somebody's here," She called. The sound of her walking came closer to us until I could tell she was right in front of the door. My chest felt tight, constricted almost while my pulse drummed impossibly fast. This is it, I whispered as the woman creaked the door open.
She neither said anything nor did anything. Could she not have seen us? Was it too dark for her? My face was pressed against the wall, I wasn't able to see what Neru could see. Did she do something to her? I couldn't stand the tension, it made my heart want to freaking burst. Why wasn't anything happening?
She finally did something after an hour went by. I felt a small bit of air flap against my skin, which meant that the door had been silently, gently closed. Oh, what? No, it wasn't really an hour. I was exaggerating. I'll try to stop that. Neru waited in place for a pretty long time, though, and I took that as a sign to keep my mouth shut and stay till, too.
When we were out of the closet, I could tell she was troubled. I asked her what happened.
"That damn obaa-san," Her fingers raked through her hair. "She looked... right at me. Right in the Goddamn eye. What the hell..."
"W... what?"
That freaked me out, too. I wanted to tell her that she had just imagined it, but somehow, I found that very unlikely.
She also punched me in the shoulder in a non-playful genuinely vicious way, presumably for the head-between-her-legs thing. I apologized, but it wasn't sincere. I could never see Neru in that way, and even if I did, I'm not some sleazy sexual deviant who would do that with an ulterior motive. Gross... gross.
The thing with the woman was enough to make us stop and really think about what we were doing and what to do next. Neru was really hung up over it, and with good reason.
"She had this look on her face. I can't describe it."
"Did she seem familiar in some way?" I asked. "You said you've snuck here several times. Maybe she knows you."
She scoffed. "If she knew me, that's all the more reason to call the police since she would know I'm not friends with Miku anymore."
"Well... What if she knows something? About the kidnapping or the traffickers."
"So what if she does? You think she expects two high schoolers to do something about it?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "It wouldn't be the strangest thing I've heard today. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, two high schoolers are doing something about it. We're the only ones doing something about it."
"Whatever, Kagebunshin." She dismissively waved her hand. "I don't even care anymore. We should just keep going."
Did she seriously forget my name, or is she just trying to get under my skin? "You really don't want to stop? Even though something as weird as that just happened? Not to, I don't know, think it over a little more?"
Neru sighed really exaggeratingly, dragging it out for longer than I can remember. "I did think it over, smart one. I just didn't wanna tell you 'cuz you'd probably chicken out."
"What?" I looked at her closely. "What do you mean?"
"That lady, she mouthed one word to me. I don't know why or what it meant exactly, but she did." Suddenly, her expression became less hard and warmed, like she was sad or something. "'Hurry.'"
