A/N: sorry for the long wait. It's hard to quickly right a complicated chapter and have it make sense.
Chizu glanced about the room she sat in. Her location was unknown. The time was unkown. Drizzling rain danced down the window panes on the wall across from her bed. Lifting herself off of the bed, Chizu wandered into the direction that her instincts told her to. Within ten minutes she found two doors. After opening the doors, she discovered that she was in a very large vehicle. It wasn't moving, so she stepped out. She was encircled by a pair of arms the moment her feet touched the ground.
Ayane hugged Chizu. Chizu didn't understand where she was, or what had happened.
"I'm glad to know you're alright!" Ayane exclaimed. Chizu looked down at her friend, finding herself to be entirely speechless. "It's been a whole week since you passed out."
"What happened?" Chizu asked. Ayane's eyes filled with concern. She placed a friendly hand on Chizu's arm.
"We were in a car accident." Ayane said. Chizu slowly relived the situation from before. The morning she had hoped to spend with Ryu had quickly spiraled into a nightmare.
"What happened to everyone?" Chizu could never express how scared she was, despite the tears that she started to lose. Ayane visibly hesitated.
"They're fine." She slowly stated. Chizu didn't believe her.
"Where are they? Is anyone hurt?" Chizu grabbed her best friend by the shoulders, demanding answers.
"Chizu! They're fine!" Worry was still written on her face. Chizu noted the tear streaks that were on her friends face. She had been crying it seemed. Ayane made a motion with her hand. "I'll take you to them."
As Chizu followed Ayane, she took notice of her surroundings for the first time. There was nothing but dirt. There was no grass, water, or hills, or roads. It was just dirt. After walking for a few minutes, they approached their friends, who sat in a circle.
"Chizu!" A few of them cried out; Chizu was too overwhelmed to tell who said it. Everyone was there, just like Ayane had said. Sawako, Ayane, Kazehaya, Kento, and Ryu were all alright. They all appeared a little drained of energy, and emotionally unstable, but they were alive. Chizu's heart sprung inside her at the sight of Ryu. She was overwhelmed with the knowledge that he was alright. After receiving several hugs, and warm-welcomes, Chizu sat in the circle beside Kento and Sawako.
"Please, tell me why we were in that car at all!" Chizu pleaded, still emotionally evoked by the situation.
"We were running." Sawako barely whispered. Before Chizu could shoot out more questions, Kazehaya cut in.
"Yoshida-san, it's hard for us to talk about it. There was an accident, before we showed up at McDonalds." Kazehaya explained. He continued to tell her what he felt was important. "Kuronuma and I, went on a date that morning. We were took the bus, but it was the wrong bus. It's hard for me to tell you all this. I don't even know how we got on the stupid thing. The bus took us to some building. Everyone inside was being held hostage. The people managing the bus tried to get us inside, they even pulled out knives."
Kazehaya trailed off momentarily. Sawako gently laid her hand on his shoulder. He spoke up again.
"To this day, I have no idea who those people were, but the moment they touched Kuronuma, I couldn't take it. It's like I lost all of my composure. Well… after I, um, defeated them, we took the bus. I didn't know where to go, so I went to the high school, where we ran into Kento and Yano."
"Defeated them?" Ryu glanced away, his eyebrows bent downwards. Kazehaya's head bent, his hair concealing his face. Sawako put her arm around his shoulders and broke into more sobs.
"What the heck?" Chizu cried out. "You have no idea why any of this happened?"
"Not a bit." Kento confirmed. "All we know, is that more of them showed up at the high school to get all of us. The car we took was actually Pin's."
"W-what?" Ryu barely demanded. He stood from his seat.
"He's gone." Kento hoarsely confessed. "They took him, and it's safe to say we won't see him again."
"What happened?" Ryu lost his temper. It was one of the only times Chizu had ever seen Ryu raise his voice. He had Kento's collar clenched in his fist.
"It was his choice. He helped us." Kazehaya stood. "We're to blame. It's our fault; it's my fault. If I had not resisted those creeps, maybe we would still be at home, and maybe Pin would still be here."
Ryu turned away, walking out of the circle. Chizu could hardly take the weight in her heart. She couldn't even fathom what the others might be feeling.