Chapter 5

When Kazuya's foot touched the floor, he let go of the rope ladder and took a quick look around. The tunnel didn't change a bit. He remembered seeing Hiroshi run with Takero, shouting at him to climb up the ladder. He started to shiver; he felt like he was reliving this moment again. Hiroto joined him just a couple of seconds later and looked around too.

"It didn't change a bit…" let out the adult before heading toward the door at the end of the tunnel.

Kazuya followed Hiroto who opened the heavy door. Looks like it was locked only from the inside. Hiroto opened his bag and pulled out a metal ring attached to a nail, a hammer and a solid-looking rope. Kazuya kept the door opened while Hiroto put the ring in the wall with the hammer. He then took the rope and attached the ring with the knob. He verified if it was solid by trying to close the door but the rope didn't snap and the ring stayed in the wall; good, that's what they wanted. They walked in the room with the final code and reached the door with the golden keyhole. They did the same thing with this door and headed to the beginning of the last phase. They did this with every important door until they arrived in the maze. All the lights were out.

"I didn't expect this." admitted Hiroto.

Kazuya pointed himself and took out a flashlight.

"You're very clever, you know that?"

The teen turned it on and lead the way around the maze. Of course, Kazuya didn't remember the directions he took six years ago so they had to walk in random directions. The darkness of the maze reminded him of that moment in the dark during his year when Ryota was trying to find him in the dark. He could still hear the kick right next to his head and feel the vibrations in the wall. It brought back another shiver in his body. Was it odd to say that Ryota was part of the main guys he saw in his dreams? Even after years, he was still scared of him. Well, actually, since he grew up, he understood some things his mind at 8 years old didn't understand. At first, during his time at the mansion, he was scared of Ryota only for his actions; he was scared because there was a body behind and he was scared because he pursued him until they both couldn't see anything. Now that he was older, he understood that guy was more of a hidden psycho than a normal teen. If Ryota had gotten out, he would've been like that forgotten survivor who killed himself. He couldn't help but think about that survivor's parents. It must be more than horrible to see your own child completely mad. Maybe if Hiroto didn't tell him to hang on to something a year ago, he would be mad himself. He was thankful for that; he wouldn't like to be just a guy rumored to have been laughing while committing suicide.

Kazuya continued to progress through the maze until he arrived in a room he would have preferred to not recognize. It was there that he saw the plate shard into a corpse; that same plate shard he killed Ryota with. Even though he knew it was maybe good for guys like Ryota to be out of this world, it was still a horrible thought to know he killed someone. Back then, he was more terrified of the body and all the blood on his hands than the actual death. He didn't want to tell it to Hiroshi at first only because he knew it was something bad and he didn't want to be a bad kid but now he knew a life had value. Even if he knew it was an accident, he still found it a bit terrifying to know he killed someone at 8 years old.

It made him think of the fireplace in the third phase. Hiroshi told him there was only some junk burning in the fireplace. In his 8 years old mind, he just believed Hiroshi like he always did but now, he could bet the junk was a corpse you don't want to see.

Hiroshi hid things the best he could to preserve Kazuya's innocence but now that he was older, he saw through the lies he believed when he was younger. He'd like to be 7 again; he didn't know what was going on, he didn't need to care about what was going and Hiroshi was still there. He missed his innocence and he missed the happiness. He hoped the happiness would come back once the beast would be gone. He wanted to be happy again even if his beloved brother was gone.

Through the years, even if he had matured, there was one thing Kazuya didn't understand; why Hiroshi came back for Takero at the end. If he hadn't come back for that dick, he would be still alive. Takero tried to kill them and used them multiple times to get out. Kazuya could understand a bit Ryota; that guy was just insane but Takero was perfectly sane and knew what he was doing. Plus, he had been bullied by him and that guy gave Hiroshi a black eye and a very painful ankle. Why did Hiroshi come back for him at the end? Did he think Takero would magically change after they had gotten out? Did he think he would magically turn into a good boy with a halo on top of his head?

They arrived in a small room were Kazuya recognized the Catch the mouse-like panel. Kazuya never played that game again, now that he thought about it. They were close to the first phase. The teen turned around and walked in the now somehow familiar corridors. After a little while, they arrived at the door leading in the first phase. They attached the door with the ring to keep it open and entered the first survival phase.

"Now we only need to find the chosen ones," said Hiroto.

Kazuya nodded. The adult opened his bag and got out two guns and two katanas. During the years, Hiroto faked to want to collect ancient samurai things. It was very expensive to buy the swords but Hiroto earned a lot of money just by being a survivor. He had verified if he could fight with the weapons and he found out that they were perfectly usable. They took one katana and a gun each. They wanted to use guns first but if they didn't have any ammo left, they'd take the swords. Just when they were about to take another step forward, they heard multiple screams coming from upstairs.

The chosen ones were there and it didn't look like they were going to live any longer if the boys didn't hurry up.

The final chapters are coming! I'm exited to write them myself. :)
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