The next morning passed by slowly and painfully. At least Ren was out of the hospital, which made life on the edge (with the threat of Hao) a little more bearable.
During breakfast, Horohoro had made sure to put some distance between himself and Hao, seating Ren next to him. At first, Ren was terribly shy and didn't want to talk to anyone at all, and he refused to look up from his plate.
"It's alright, Ren," Horohoro whispered into the Chinese boy's ear. "You can talk if you want."
"I...I'd rather not..."
Hao, much to Horohoro's annoyance was looking particularly smug.
"You'd better not really kill anyone, Hao," Yoh said absently as he munched on scrambled eggs. "Thanks, but no one here really feels like dying, okay?"
Hao smiled. "No need to worry, Yoh. You know how the old saying goes...ladies first."
Yoh dropped his fork. Horohoro's eyes widened. Chocolove and Lyzerg froze. Even Ren looked up.
"No...you didn't..."
"Don't fret, Yoh. Your turn will come soon enough."
In a split second, Yoh leaped out of his seat and started running out the cafetria.
"Yoh!" Chocolove called. "Hey, Yoh!"
The brown-haired slacker ignored him and disappeared out the door.
Horohoro cursed, glaring at Hao. "C'mon, Ren," he muttered, taking the boy's hand and pulling him to his feet. "We should go after him." Ren nodded, and the two hurried off.
Soon enough, they caught up with Yoh, who was looking around wildly. "Anna, Tamao, Pirika...didn't they mention they were all in the same cabin? Yoh asked frantically. "Horo, do you remember Pirika ever telling you their cabin number?"
The Ainu thought hard. "Yeah...I think it wasl ike B-16 or something..."
"Good enough, let's hurry."
After a few more minutes of running, they arrived at B-16. Yoh turned the doorknob, only to recieve a loud clicking noise.
"It's locked," he muttered, rattling the knob desperately.
"Move, Yoh," Horohoro said.
Yoh had just barely stepped away when Horohoro rammed the door hard with his shoulder, sending it flying off its hinges and out of its frame. The three boys quickly entered.
There was no one in sight.
"They have to be somewhere," Horohoro said, turning his head this way and that. "Let's split up and search."
They started searching in different sections of the room: Ren in the upper hald, Horohoro in the lower half, and Yoh in the restroom.
Ren carefully opened a closet. His eyes widened, and he let out an audible gasp.
"Ren?" Horohoro said, looking up when he heard him gasp. "Ren? Are you alright?"
"I...I'm fine..." he replied, stammering fearfully. "But...but...oh, Horohoro...come here...please..."
Horohoro gulped, crossing the room towards Ren. He looked into the closet the Chinese boy was in front of. His brain froze with shock as his mouth fell open.
A pink-haired girl's form was slumped limply against the wall, bloody cuts covering her body. The crimson liquid was everywhere; splattered all over the closet.
Tamao.
Ren stared wide-eyed at the mutilated corpse, quivering. Horohoro wordlessly took him in his arms, holding him close, gently steering him away from the gruesome sight.
At that moment, he heard Yoh scream.
"ANNA!"
The Ainu took Ren's hand and hurried into the bathroom. Yet another terrible display. He could feel the vomit bubbling in his stomach. To save Ren from seeing it, he quickly put his hands over his eyes. "Don't look," he whispered.
The itako's body was dangling by a rope from the ceiling, she had obviously been hung by someone who couldn't have been anyone else but Hao. Her eyes were still open rigidly with shock, but they were glazed over with death. Her face was covered with blood and her hands were gone, with nothing but two bloody stumps left.
Yoh was in hysterics as he cut the rope, letting the corpse drop to the floor. He clung to her limp body, sobbing and screaming her name.
"Anna! No...Anna, please...you can't do this to me...Anna...wake up..."
"I'm sorry, Yoh," Horohoro muttered. Feeling sick, he guided Ren out the room. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew that Pirika had to be in similar condition.
He found her dead body under a bed. He was so shocked he couldn't even let out any tears.
Ren's eyes were wide with terror as the Ainu slowly pulled his sister's corpse out from under the bed it had been shoved beneath. Her eyes had been gouged out, only bleeding sockets were left. Deep bloody wounds decorated the area right above her heart, and her throat had been slit.
"Horohoro..." Ren stuttered. "I...I'm so sorry..."
"What're you apologizing for?" Horohoro asked quietly. "You didn't do anything to hurt anyone." As the tears finally came, he felt Ren's hand clasp on to his own, holding on to it tightly.
"Please...please don't cry," he whispered.
"Sorry, Ren. I can't help it..."
There was a long silence before Horohoro finally spoke again.
"We'd better go back now. We have to stop Hao before he gets anyone else. I'm worried about Chocolove and Lyzerg. He could be finishing them off as we speak..."
"I guess...I guess you're right."
They were reluctant to leave, but they had to.
They had no idea that wishing for the safety of everyone else and each other was useless.
They had no idea that more blood was going to be spilled.