Shouta and Hizashi were silent as they re-entered the hallway, the sight of the destroyed 'truthful' painting still on their minds.
"How do you think that happened?" Hizashi asked. "Could they actually come out of the paintings or..."
"No clue, maybe paintings can travel between other paintings or they have their own pocket dimension to live in. Or maybe the gallery itself just changed how it looked to freak us out. Does it really matter at this point?"
Hizashi fiddled with the tile he still held in his hands. "I guess not. We're gonna be keeping an eye on all the artwork anyway, but I'm really hoping it's one of your options. Moving statues are one thing, I don't want to add paintings crawling out of their frames on top of that."
"Agreed."
"So...what do we do now?"
"We have three numbers now. That should be enough to fill in the equation for the door at the end of the hall, right?"
Hizashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, that depends on whether or not the 'X' in the equation has it's own value. It wasn't really a properly written equation, so it's hard to say. But if it doesn't then we should have enough to fill it out."
"Might as well give it a shot then. If it doesn't work we can go hunting for more information down the other hall."
They made their way back to the equation door. Shouta did the math in his head, then entered the equation's answer.
9 x 18 + 4 = 166
There was a click, and when Shouta turned the knob the door swung open. They went in, and Hizashi looked around in approval.
"Compared to what we just saw, this is very pleasant."
It was a small square room, same color scheme of browns on the floor and walls. Most of the room's space was filled up with small trees, the highest branches reaching just a little above their own heads. As they explored the small room, they soon discovered that the trees were actually statues carved entirely of wood. Despite the knowledge that anything here was potentially dangerous, both Hizashi and Shouta couldn't help but be impressed by the delicately carved leaves. If someone had really carved these then it must have taken a lot of talent and a very long time.
"I suppose there's a reason Guertena is famous." Shouta muttered.
"I remembered seeing a lot of buzz about him online when he died. Apparently it was very sudden and unexpected, and his fans were really upset. Brought a heck of a lot of attention to his art though, which I suppose proves that art gets more valuable after the creator dies...ooo, there's something we haven't thought of before! What if this is all happening because the exhibition was being haunted by Guartena's ghost?"
"Seriously?"
"It makes about as much sense as any other possibility."
"It really doesn't."
"Weren't we talking about how the gallery could be sentient earlier?"
"YOU were talking about that, I only conceded to the pocket dimension theory, which at least has some scientific basis."
They continued to bicker until they reached the back of the room, where a tree with a single red apple stood.
"Think we should take it?" Hizashi asked "I mean, it's the only unique thing we've found in here."
"Worth a shot."
Shouta ended up using his capture weapon to grab the wooden apple. That way the two of them could stand further away while it snapped off, just in case taking it caused the trees to come to life and try to skewer them or something. Thankfully that didn't happen, and when Shouta yanked his capture weapon back the apple sailed into his hand without any problems.
After that, there was only one place left to search: the right turn they saw when first entering this area. The hallway they went down seemed unnecessarily long for what they found at the end: a pair of bright red lips that jutted out from a small alcove. They both startled when the lips moved and they heard a deep voice.
"Hungry...give me food..."
Shouta looked down at the apple in his hands, then at the lips, and shrugged before pressing the apple to them. He had to quickly pull his hand back when the lips opened and devoured the apple within seconds.
"this is tasty...I let you pass...go through my mouth..."
The lips opened, then opened some more, then widened, until there was an opening in the wall just big enough for them to duck through one at a time. The pair stared at the opening. Hizashi pursed his lips.
"Okay, I'm gonna say this right now, we're leaving this bit out of the official report. Whenever we get out of here, I don't want to have to deal with the internet reacting to the image of us walking into a mouth together. I don't know for sure how the public would get wind of it, but the only way to make sure they don't is to never talk about it ever again."
"You're the one that's popular, hardly anyone has heard about me. So it would probably just be you that would be all over the forums."
"Oh trust me, if your name ended up in there they would find out who you are and DRAG you into the limelight, so don't you even think about it!"
"Then I'll redact my name before I leak it."
"Just shut up and go through the mouth Shouta."
"I'll be sure and quote that."
"Shouta!"
Shouta grinned, but he did walk toward the opening. After crouching down and confirming that there was a hallway visible on the other side, he went through. Hizashi followed a moment later. The hallway they were now in continued to the right, and was empty save for the paintings on the wall. Each one was of a guillotine, the first one had the heavy, head chopping blade resting on the ground, but it raised higher in each picture they saw. When they reached the end of the hallway, they could see a picture with the blade entirely absent, and a door on their left just past it.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Hizashi muttered.
"We could make a run for the door, to be on the safe side."
"Sounds good to me."
They readied themselves, then dashed to the door. Shouta had just touched the door when a CRUNCH sounded behind them. They could feel the vibrations from it in their feet, and turned to see a thick, heavy blade embedded between themselves and the last painting. The blade was as tall as they were, and when it retracted back into nothingness it left large cracks in the floor.
"Good call on running." Hizashi said, shuddering as he imagined that falling on either of them.
"You probably would have suggested it if I hadn't. Or we'd have dodged it." Shouta said as he opened the door.
"Oh hey, I was just thinking we could use a new color scheme." Hizashi said dryly.
The room they walked into was done all in shades of red, with the walls once again a darker shade that the carpet. The room was in a kind of 'U' shape, having a spacious main area with two alcoves for paintings on the upper left and right sides. The things that caught their eyes the most were the two huge figures in the main area. They both looked like wax statues of a kneeling giant that had been left in the sun too long and started to melt; the one on the left was blue and the other was red.
"Out of all the things that could come to life in this room, I really hope it's not those things." Shouta said.
"Don't jinx it." Hizashi warned.
"I could have said I hope NOTHING comes to life in this room."
Hizashi sent him a mock glare as they started to explore the room. The next door wasn't hard to find, it was between the two alcoves, basically the center of the room. It appeared to be the only exit, so hopefully that meant the 'solution' to this room would be simple.
"So, we have a new color and a lack of an obvious puzzle. I'm thinking we've reverted back to our game of 'find the key'." Hizashi theorized.
"We'll have to look carefully then, they tend to blend in with the carpet."
They searched the floor carefully, making sure to look up now and then to make sure nothing had moved. Eventually they moved into the upper right alcove, and something caught Hizashi's eye. There was something on the floor further in, just below a familiar portrait of a brunet woman in a red dress.
"Aha! Found it!" Hizashi cried. He took a few steps forward and crouched down to pick up the key.
"GRAHHH!"
Suddenly there was a weight on top of him. Something sharp was tearing at his hair and scalp. His hand closed around the key and he rolled to the side to get out from under it. His gaze met a pair of dark red eyes and blood stained hands. Hizashi smashed the tile he held into the face. The creature hissed and reeled back. A light gray cloth suddenly appeared, and the thing was being yanked away.
It took only a moment for Hizashi to regain his bearings, and when he did he saw a beautiful sight. His husband was wresting the attacker into a position of submission. The attacker was the portrait of the woman he'd seen, her red eyes crazed and hands still reaching for him. Only her torso was visible, as if she'd tried to climb out of the painting and had gotten stuck half way. Her fingertips were bloody, but he could worry about that later.
"I've got the key! I'll get the door open, then we can make a run for it."
Shouta pressed his boot against the woman's back, teeth clenched with the effort of keeping her in one place, but he nodded. Hizashi got up and ran for the door, quickly taking note that nothing but bookshelves were in the next room. He called for Shouta. The man released the monster and sprinted for the door behind him. He made it inside with just enough time to slam the door in the snarling woman's face.
She banged furiously against the door, and they kept their backs against it. The door held, and the knob never turned, so they felt secure enough to take a moment and catch their breath.
"You've lost another couple of petals." Shouta said.
Most people would not have caught the undercurrent of concern in Shouta's low voice, but Hizashi wasn't most people. He took a hold of Shouta's hand, giving physical reassurance, and used the other to inspect the damage. He winced as his fingers met a number of tender spots along the top of his head. Not to mention the scrapes his hand had acquired from that tile breaking in his grip.
"How do I look?"
Shouta shook his head. "Of all the things to worry about at a time like this."
Hizashi nudged Shouta's shoulder with his own. "You know what I mean. Am I bleeding much? How does the rose look?"
Shouta used his free hand to tip Hizashi's head this way and that, and gently moved parts of his hair to the side. "Could have been worse, looks like she gave you plenty of scratches and a few cuts, but they are shallow, so more blood than real damage. Still, you lost at least two petals during that scuffle, and the flower is starting to fall out. We'll need to be more careful in the future."
Hizashi nodded. "At least we learned that your capture weapon works well against painting monsters."
"That's something." Shouta acknowledged as he fixed Hizashi's hair and made sure the rose was secure. When he was done they got up and took a look around. The room was rather small, and rectangular. The only things in it were four rows of bookshelves, two on the left and two on the right, and another door directly across from them. A door which, of course, was locked.
"There might be another key hidden among the books." Hizashi said after they'd checked the floor. "Or we might have to arrange the books in a certain pattern. That seems like the kind of puzzle this place would have."
Once they took a closer look though, the discovered that only certain books could be removed from the shelves. The others all stayed in place no matter how hard they were pulled. Guessing they had to do something with the books, they pulled out any loose ones they could find and looked through them. It seemed like they were all books cataloging different works by Guertena. It was fitting considering where they were, but Hizashi didn't see how that helped them...
"Well, that would have been helpful to know earlier." Shouta muttered.
"Huh?" Hizashi looked up from his own book to where Shouta was hunched on the floor. He held up the book he was looking at.
"Seems this one has information more specific to this gallery." He said as Hizashi knelt down to take a look. The article title was "The Lady in Red".
"The girls in the canvas...the women here become very troublesome when they acquire a desire for humans. They'll always stubbornly chase things until they're satisfied, it seems...anywhere...everywhere...to the ends of the earth...but if they have a weakness, it is that they can't open doors on their own. The women here love playing "loves me, loves me not""Oh...that explains a lot. No wonder she was going for my head." Hizashi muttered.
"What do you mean?"
"It says the women here love playing 'loves me, loves me not'. You ever hear of that game?"
"No."
"A lot of girls used to play it when I was in elementary school. They'd pick a flower, say someone's name, and then pull the petals off and say 'Loves me' and 'Loves me not' in order with each petal they pulled of. Which one you ended on was supposed to tell you if the person you named liked you."
"So you're thinking that thing earlier was trying to get at your rose, so it could pull it apart." Shouta concluded, his mouth set in grim line.
"Yeah, so, with that on top of the whole 'acquire a desire for humans' and 'stubbornly chase' thing, we should probably rank paintings of women high on the list of things to avoid."
With that thought in mind, they continued their search. They read up on works they'd seen so far, hoping for more useful information, but nothing really stuck out to them. Hizashi opened one book and found a slip of paper in it though, and eagerly unfolded it to see if it had anything written on it.
HAVING FUN?
Hizashi snorted, and showed the paper to Shouta, who raised an eyebrow.
"I get the feeling someone is mocking us." he said dryly.
They finally made progress when they pulled on one book, and it only came out half way before they heard a clicking sound come from the door. Hizashi got up and tried the knob, and grinned when it turned.
"Ready to face the next challenge?" he asked.
"As I'll ever be."
"That's the spirit!"
The next room was square, with one door on the left and another on the right. They would have to decide which way to go, but there was something more important to do first.
"Another vase!" Hizashi cried, running to the small table in upper left corner of the room. "And it has water in it!"
"Nice placement." Shouta admitted.
"Alright, put your rose in."
"...what are you on about?"
"If this works like the other one then putting your rose in should get you back the petal you lost a while ago and-"
"I know WHY putting the rose in is a good idea, but did you forget what else happened last time? The water disappeared right after you put yours in. If that happens again then you won't be able to use this vase, and you've lost more petals than me. So logically you should be the one to use this one."
"But, your rose is damaged too, and I used the last vase. So it should be your turn."
"You don't do triage based off of whose turn it is you do it based on who has the greatest need."
"Well, yeah, but-"
With a sigh and an eye roll, Shouta strode up to the vase. Hizashi thought he was going to put his rose in, but then he snatched the rose out of Hizashi's hair and put it in the vase.
"Shouta!"
"Deal with it Hizashi. Aren't you always telling me to take better care of myself after injuries? That goes both ways you know."
Hizashi pouted. "I hate it when you use my own life lessons against me."
As it turned out though, the argument was entirely moot, because after the orange rose grew back four petals there was still plenty of water in the vase. Much to Hizashi's relief.
Once they had both taken care of their flora based voodoo dolls, they still had to decide which way to go. They flipped a coin on it, and ended up going to the left. What they found was startlingly familiar.
Up a short set of stairs to their right, was an empty vase accompanied by two signs. One stating that you would wilt away with the rose, and another warning the reader to know the weight of their own life.
"These are word for word the same signs we saw when we fist ended up here." Hizashi said. "Does this mean that there's another real person somewhere in here?"
"Let's look for clues, see if there's any more signs of someone being here."
They didn't have to look far for confirmation. A little further into the room was a single red door, a large tinted window next to it, and next to that was an empty space where a painting should have been. The abandoned title card read "Lady in Blue". Most telling though, was what was strewn across the floor.
Rose petals. Bright, green, rose petals.