"…That doesn't sound good." Naho says in discomfort after Aiko tells her side of story in her timeline. "At least now we can tell the Book of Shadows is somewhere in the dimensions of Heavenly Host."

"But if I couldn't save others…" Ayumi reminds herself of her other self's failed attempt at reviving her friends. "What would Kuro make any differences? From what I can tell, he wasn't someone who is sensitive with spirits and such. Even if he has the Book, then what spell is he planning to use?"

"Maybe returning back to when everything started?" Inumaru guesses. "That's the best way to…"

"With his current state?" Yoshiki interrupts. "If it was before he saved us, yeah he may have a chance. Now?"

All of them turn to the wall where Kuro is currently leaning against while taking another 'nap'. Miss Yui did a quick check on him, and she found out that he's very dehydrated and blood lose from several wounds have knocked him out if he wasn't too paranoid to lay down. If he doesn't consume anything…

"He also mentioned to find the Headmaster." Kibiki reminds everyone else of the source of the problem. "Once we convince him to apologize to Sachiko, then our way out will be clear. Then we can help…"

The conversations stop when everyone hears footsteps from the bridge, and the sounds get nearer and nearer. The boys start going in front of the girls to protect them, while some of the girls start pulling Kuro to the back…

The door opens, revealing two men. One of them is a middle-aged man wearing a purple suit, though the person looks more like a ghost with his pale skin. The other…

"…YOU!?" Sayaka and Taguchi shout in surprise, and the latter continues: "Hey, do you have anything with you? Kuro is…"

"I'm aware of his situation." The others gasp in shock when the person puts down his fedora to reveal his face, then uses Kuro's voice to answer. "Your suffering ends here. Head to the exit of the school. The next collapse will send you back to your reality. Except mister Inumaru and miss Aiko, you have to be our companies for a while longer."

"…Why?" Kibiki asks in suspicion. "They should be…"

"They are not from the same dimension as yours, I'm afraid." The other man replies. "While it sounds like they are from the future of your timeline, the fact that you are now able to escape here determines that they can't escape with you together."

"…You are the Principal, correct?" Miss Yui asks slowly. "What are you planning here? While I may give the one who looks like mister Kuro the benefit of the doubts, what you have done cannot be forgiven."

"…You may have known of their plans to try to help you out of Heavenly Host." The middle-aged man points to the person behind him then to the knocked-out person in the survivors' group. "I want to seek forgiveness, but I know that I will get none from whom I have committed my sins. However… you and the others shouldn't be pulled into this matter, and Sachiko was too powerful for me to try to talk to her alone..."

"Normally I would let you do everything, but the collision of dimensions happened." The Kuro-look-alike slightly changes the conversation. "And Kuro is currently…"

"Still… alive." Everyone's eyes focus on the person who just wakes up and tries to stand up, with the help of Aiko and Yui. "…Tai sao…"

"Ong ti thi chet do. Gio toi phai can thiep truc tiep." The mysterious person speaks to Kuro with the same language with him, then returns to Japanese when saying to the others. "Thank you for looking after him. From now on…"

"Are you his friend?" Naomi interrupts. "Yuki said that Kuro came here alone, while he always claimed that he entered in a group."

"The children also said that Kuro…"

"Enough." The person himself stops Satoshi from saying anything further. He then pulls his arms away and stands on his own, and walks towards and stands before his counterpart. "You shouldn't… ong khong nen o day… ong chi can…"

"Toi noi thang luon, ong khong thoat duoc dau. Chi co chet thoi. Toi co giup cung chi tam thoi giu mang ong mot luc thoi."

"…Chet do cai gi?"

For the first time, the strange man hesitates. Then, he answers: "The Queen."

"…I see."

"Hold on, don't throw us out of the loops like that!" Kensuke shouts. Some others nod in agreement as he continues: "What about the others whom we haven't met yet? How about Kuro escaping with us? There is no way he can continue on in this place!"

"He can't… not at the moment, at least."

"…I get it." Aiko's worried face now wears a small smile. "Kuro, you already have that back-up plan, don't you?"

"…To be honest… not until I met you two."

The smile disappears. "…You…"

"You have about half an hour." T.O declares and starts heading to the First Wing. "Mister Headmaster…"

"I know." The middle-aged man then bows to the group before him and says: "My apology for creating this problem." He then follows the mysterious man and disappears.

After a few seconds, Kuro falls on his back, causing everyone to snap out of the silence and rush to him to see if he's okay. They sigh in relief when they see Kuro's eyes still opening and he's still breathing. Morishige then asks: "What have you two talked about?"

"…" Instead of answering, Kuro closes his eyes.

"OI! Wake…"

"Give me a moment." Kuro says before Yoshiki shouts. "…It's about how I'm going to deal with this."

"With what?"

"The origins of this place, Kai." Without opening his eyes, Kuro orders: "You guys heard what he said. It's time for you to get out of here."

"But… what about you?" Mayu says with sadness in her voice. "I know that Aiko and Inumaru are going to help you before they can return back, but you?"

"The Stone can bring as many people back as possible." Aiko explains. "However…"

"…"

"You never planned to use it. Why?"

"…Because I thought I wouldn't have a chance to use it." Kuro admits. "Maybe I don't need to find… never mind. We still need to find Ayumi."

"Why me?" The same one asks in confusion. "My other self is probably doing the same thing, so maybe you would crash on her while tracking on the book."

"…Maybe." Kuro then opens his eyes and stands up, shakes his head once then says: "Time to say goodbye guys. Let's head to the exit."

"…How are you recovered already?"

"Adrenaline kicking in, Seiko."

…

Later on

"WE WILL REMEMBER YOU!"

Kuro can only smile to the group of survivors as he closes the door before him, and braces himself when the earthquake happens, sending the group back to the real world. Once it's over, he stands straight up and sighs once, then turns back to see the group behind him…

"You can drop that smile now."

Upon hearing that, Kuro's face turns sour. Inumaru says empathically: "We're sorry for holding you back. We should have a meeting…"

"Thanks for your concern, but it's not about that."

"…You never had any intentions to escape, did you?"

"…It's more about my morality, Aiko." He then asks his mirror-image: "What time are we in right now?"

Instead of answering, the man points his index finger towards the ground. Kuro looks down…

"I… have to stop asking those questions." Kuro grunts while pushing himself up from the floor. "Goddamn it. I think half of the adrenaline is gone from that. Screw you."

'Don't complain. I can't give you my power. That's against the rules.'

'Yet you charged up my phone.'

'I didn't help you directly, so it's okay.'

'Okay… that question is serious.'

'And I do not intend to answer that.'

'Thang deu.' Kuro curses, then takes a look around him. So far the school is in much worse state than the one he just got teleported from. "…I guess I'm somewhere when Ayumi was finding the book then…" He takes another look and notices that neither Inumaru nor Aiko are around him. "…I saw them dropping with me… guess I need to find them then."

He takes a moment to re-count the number of people possibly here. "…Ayumi, Aiko and Inumaru… Probably the rest of Satoshi's group…"

Suddenly a moan can be heard behind him. He turns back and sees a Vengeful Spirit slowly walking to him. Then, the Spirit lunges at him, planning to strangle him… only to quickly back away when the black mist starts emitting from Kuro's right arm.

"…So any negative emotions work, then." He was a bit afraid when he sees the Spirit, however, when the black mist emits and the Spirit stops moving forward, he guesses how it works. He now notices a few more around him, but none dares attacking him. "…If you want to keep company, be my guest. Don't attack anyone." And to make certain of it, he pushes his anger towards his right arm, causing the mist to expand further to his shoulder and neck.

And it scares the Spirits further.

"…Good." Seeing that as a good sign, Kuro releases a sigh and stops focusing on the arm, letting the black mist to retreat back. "…It's actually tiring to do so…" With that, he starts another wandering around, trying to find the two who fell with him.

…

…

…

"This is just ridiculous." Kuro sweatdrops as he ventures to the Infirmary, with a few Spirits looking at him from afar. "I forgot that we could be separated even when we fall into the same hole…Now what?" He reaches his right hand to the door, but the wound suddenly aches before he touches it. "…Better not then."

Another earthquake happens, so Kuro decides to just slightly back away from the door and plans to sit down to wait for it to come through… Only to get squashed by something falling on him.

"Goddamn it…" A girl's voice appears over his back as Kuro has to smell the wooden floor, again. Once the earthquake's over, the girl rolls over and stands up, then notices him lying on the floor. Though, he doesn't move at first, so she thinks it was just a corpse. "A convenient body…" Her rage comes back a moment later as she turns to another direction and grunts: "That damn bastard dared pulling stunts like that… I will murder him the moment I see…"

"A simple thank or apology would be nice."

"Huh?" She turns back to see the 'body' slowly standing up with an unhappy expression on the face. "Hm… A little surprise someone's still alive here…"

Kuro takes a quick glance of the person who just used him as the landing pad… "You… just arrived here, then."

"…Another person stupid enough to perform that spell, then." Sending a cold glare towards Kuro, the girl says to herself, then to him. "Go find your friends or something. I don't have time to…"

"Are you aiming for the Book of Shadows?"

That completely catches the girl off guard. She didn't expect a 'normal' person to know the existence of said thing. "…What of it?"

"…Let's have a deal." Kuro offers. "We can beat the crap out of the guy who made Ayumi enter here, and you let me get a hold of Book of Shadows."

The answer: the scythe being pointed directly at his face.

"The first half sounds good on my book, but I won't let you keep it."

"…I will have to fight you to get the book when we find it then."

"You think you can defeat me?"

"Not now, at least." Kuro then starts heading to a direction. "Be careful around here."

"…Weird guy."

…

…

…

"If I remember correctly…" A sound of something getting thrown out of window can be heard from above Kuro while he's outside of the school. He looks to the direction and, by a miracle, sees a very faint color of green falling into the courtyard. "Well… it's going to be a VERY long trip…"

Not waiting for Ayumi to get disappointed, he slowly goes to where the book drops and starts finding it with some difficulties due to the darkness. Though he finally sees it and picks the book up and sees the contents inside. "Hm… medical terms… child-birth… ah, right. Sachi. Of course."

Taking the book and heading to a drier area, Kuro starts searching for the lighter in his pocket… before remembering that he has already used it to burn Kizami. "Urgh… yeah, the fire I used is mostly from Ayumi's candles…"

"Hello?"

"Yes?" He doesn't need to turn back to know who's behind him.

"Um… what is it that you are holding in your hand?"

"Book of Shadows… or at least, that ghost girl planned to trick you."

"…Eh?" The girl says in surprise as Kuro turns to face her. "What… what do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he walks pass her and keeps the book between his left arm and his body, and starts cracking his fingers. "So little girl… any words to say?"

Yuki (or at least she thought the ghost girl is) is standing before him as Ayumi turns, holding an axe and glancing at Kuro with hatred. The ghost girl then raises her axe up and tries to attack Kuro, but to both girls' surprise, Kuro's right arm emits Darkening, and he swings the arm right at the ghost girl's body, sending her fly away.

"…That's for cutting my back." After a minute of not seeing the ghost girl going on for a revenge, Kuro says in satisfaction before hissing, feeling the black mist retreating back. He turns to see a surprised Ayumi and he chuckles. "Close your mouth before a fly enters, would you?"

Snapping out of shock, the girl asks: "Why did you attack her? She is…"

"Not Yuki. That's Sachi." Kuro then gives Ayumi the book and says while she turns a few pages: "That girl tricked you all."

"…This isn't Book of Shadows at all!" The girl exclaims in shock. "Mister, do you know…"

"I'm currently looking for that book as well. Though I would rather find ones who live first."

Ayumi sighs, thinking about where it could be… until she remembers the mist appeared from Kuro's arm. Though, without the mist now, she sees him being completely normal… aside from how he speaks.

"Anyway…" Kuro then speaks up. "Have you seen a girl who wore similar outfit to… wait, I forgot. Have you seen Aiko and her partner?"

"Ai… ko? No… not after I entered here." Ayumi replies.

"*Sigh* Predictable… How many of the things you have destroyed so far?"

"What things?"

"The things…" That causes Kuro to shut up and start gathering his memories again… "Goddamn it, I forgot how it's called."

"…You mean… the Everafter Stones?"

"Unless I'm brain-dead or given up on life, I'm not breaking something that's some of my chances of surviving." Kuro sarcastically says with a chuckle to ease the tension. "I guess I have to flip the whole school up again to find what I need then."

Ayumi sweatdrops as Kuro just laughs at his own joke. Though she's a bit relieved that there is still someone alive and… not too crazy to talk to…

Her phone suddenly rings up, and Kuro shuts up instantly. Ayumi picks up the call and replies: "Hello?"

"Still alive, I see." A chuckle from the other side of the call nearly pops a vein on Kuro's head. "So, how's thing going?"

Ayumi plans to answer, but she notices the man before her pointing to himself while putting a finger on his lips, signaling her to not say anything about him. Slightly puzzled but she understands and replies to the caller: "It's… The book is a fake."

"…Huh?"

"The book is a fake." She repeats. "It was never in that girl's possession… and… she's not Yuki…"

"…Pathetic." That angers both survivors. "You can't even get your hands on a single Book of Shadows… But if the 'skin' is not here, then my calculation missed its mark."

"Skin?" Ayumi then sees Kuro crossing his arms while turning his attention to the forest…

"This dimension represents the Book of Shadows' Nirvana. You can find the Core of Nirvana in here. Didn't I tell you about it?"

With that Ayumi starts rambling about the info being useless and 'unrelated to how to resurrect her friends', and the one on the other side has to explain the situation.

At one point, the teeth of Sachi are being brought up, and the boy also explains about the Pillars of the Six Demons.

"Remember the gem I gave you? Use it to find the Pillars. Good luck."

"Wait!" Ayumi plans to say more, but the call has been stopped by the other side. "Damn it, why does he have to be so cold?"

"Now I'm glad Sachiko gave me the ability to understand Japanese." Kuro speaks up and turns back to Ayumi. "Can you show me the gem that damn punk gave you?"

"…Here." The girl pulls it out and places on her palm so both can see it.

"Good. Now we can find the Pillars and end this for good."

"That means we can resurrect my friends and…"

"Obvious not."

The straight answer comes so fast that Ayumi has to take a good ten seconds to register Kuro's reply. "What… what do you mean?"

"I mean what I just said. That punk is using you. There is no way to revive a dead person. And don't you remember what hap…" Kuro instantly shuts up before he says anything further. He lowers his tone and continues: "…Look. I'm not being pessimistic and just want to tell you what reality is. If you really think you can outsmart this school without any knowledge or power, you better stay dead."

"But… but… the Book of Shadows… I almost succeeded…"

"Well, like I said, without knowledge or power. If you don't know why it failed, then you either give up, or you keep finding the reasons of failing and make a better preparation."

The two stop talking so Ayumi can think of her next words and moves…

"I'm not giving up. If there's a slight chance to save my friends, I will take it. I cannot go back without them."

"…I see." Kuro sighs and shakes his head. Ayumi thinks that he is not… "I guess I was a bit too pessimistic. If you want to save them… *Sigh* I'm afraid that's all we can do."

"So… you are with me?"

"One part. I had a plan to return everyone's presence back to reality. To revive them, however… I say you need to put more thoughts in it. Resurrecting someone is not something easy to do, even if you are an expert and have proper preparations."

"…That's enough to hear. Thank you." Ayumi nods gracefully. "Now, to release the seals…"

"Oh no no. We're NOT doing that." Kuro instantly shoots down the thought. "Finding those pillars, yes. Releasing the seals, an absolute NOPE out of my book." He then looks back to the building and thinks for a moment… "Sh!t. We need to find Yoshiki as well."

"Kishinuma? You met him?"

"No… Explanations later, okay? We need to move, now."