The woman and the man said one thing after another about the poisonous-gas accident. They said it had occurred around 1 night ago. Natalie, Celia, Ronnie, and the others had been trapped in the school in the school during that time! That means that they had survived the accident!

No wonder no one else was around. Everyone, besides them and the others, that had been in this section of Ibaraki had died.

Natalie, Celia, and Ronnie ran out of the house, eager to tell the others what they've learned. They ran down the street as fast as they could. When they got to the house, they were out of breath. They opened the door and went into the living room, where they found Annette, Beth, and Ray sitting on the 3-cushioned couch, playing cards. "Why are you guys sweaty and out of breath?" Beth asked with a small grin.

"We found out why there's no one here…" Celia said.

"What do you mean?" Ray asked with a raised eyebrow.

Celia looked at Natalie, who sighed. She told them about how they had heard a noise coming from a house that they were near, and how it turned out the TV was, for some reason, on. They mentioned how the news was on, and how the people on the news were talking about a poisonous-gas accident that had happened around this area while they were being held hostage at the school.

"Everyone's dead?" Annette asked in a soft voice.

Natalie nodded. "Yeah…" She lowered her gaze and clenched her fists.

Later, they had some PB&Js for lunch. As they ate in the living room, while watching TV, there was a flash of lightning, which was followed by the sound of thunder. The sky began to darken, which made it look like it was already nighttime. Annette, who was sitting between Natalie and Ronnie on the big couch, started to feel a little nervous, while Beth and Celia, who shared the couch that's to the right of Natalie, played a game of Gold Fish. Kana and Ray shared the other small couch that was adjacent to the couch that Beth and Celia were sitting on. The coffee table that's right in front of the big couch has coasters, books, and cups of water on it. Annette grabbed the book that's at the top of the stack and began reading to keep her mind off of the storm, while Natalie played with her nails. Then another lightning bolt struck, which made the TV turn off.

"Something's not right here…" said Ray, looking up from the book he had been reading.

"What do you mean?" asked Celia.

"Wouldn't the police think that we're also dead?"

Celia frowned. "Yeah…"

"Then why didn't anyone come?"

"What're you trying to say?" asked Natalie.

"Well, if we were thought to be dead, then wouldn't the police come and get our corpses?" asked Ray.

Natalie's eyes widened. Ray was right. They were supposed to have died along with the others. The police were supposed to come and get their corpses so they could be buried… but they didn't.

"I think there's more to this mystery than we thought…" said Ronnie.

Later, around 6:30pm, they had dinner. Then, around 8:45pm, they all went to bed. During the night, Kana woke up and went downstairs, where she saw Ray, who was sitting up in his bed, staring into space. "Hey," she said in a soft voice. He turned his head around and, when he saw her, smiled. "Hey."

His smile reminded Kana of Norio. "A-Are you okay?" She wasn't very good at talking to other people, since she never really got the chance to practice, because of how she was usually ignored, which she never actually minded. Ray patted the spot next to him. "Come over here," he said in a friendly voice. She obeyed and sat down next to him, with her knees up against her chest.

Then she said what she was thinking. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

He shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She looked straight into his eyes, trying to see if he was joking around, but she knew he wasn't.

"Because I…" she started to say. Because I killed some of our classmates, she thought to herself.

As if he read her mind, he said, "I don't care if you killed Tracy and the others…"

She was taken aback. "You don't?"

He shook his head and smiled. "Of course not…"

He looked at her and instantly noticed how her eyes were gleaming with happiness. She didn't look depressed anymore. She looked alive. "Wow… you're so… pretty…" he said, feeling like he was being hypnotized by her glowing red eyes. Even in the darkness, he could tell that Kana was blushing. "T-Thank you…" she said in a shy voice. He smiled at her and then lay back in his bed. He turned his head, which was now resting on his pillow, and looked at her. "You can sleep here for the night if you want," he said. She returned his smile and got under the covers with him and closed her eyes.

Instead of dreaming of dark and scary things, Kana dreamed about Norio. She was dreaming about some of the things they had done with each other before he moved away, like going bowling at the nearby bowling alley. Then she had stopped dreaming about her and Norio and started dreaming about Ray.

The next day, Annette and Natalie were surprised to see Kana sleeping with Ray. "Do you think she killed him and then fell asleep?" asked Natalie. She looked under the blankets and was relieved to see that Ray was still breathing. After about an hour, around 7:15am, both Kana and Ray woke up. As the 4 of them were eating breakfast in silence, they heard a voice coming from outside. Natalie peered out of the front door window, and saw 2 policemen standing near the road.