Over the next two days, Yuuya had killed his fifth victim, or third with an audience. It was another week day so he didn't have as much time as he would have liked, but it was still satisfying to him. He was also keeping a close watch on that second year friend of Ayumi's. He still seemed like he was snooping, but he had gotten no closer, so he stayed back for now. He'd like to hold off as much as he could, because multiple students from Kisaragi disappearing may give the police a better idea of his whereabouts. He wanted to space the times out as much as possible, but that was a bit difficult. After all, the idea of slaughtering one of her friends was horribly exciting. He'd probably drag it out a couple days... He had to milk it as much as he could, because he had a faint idea that afterword, Ayumi's mind would be permanently out of commission. That meant whenever it was that boy's turn, it'd be Ayumi's as well. It had been fun while it had lasted, but something could only take so much before it broke, and a broken toy was no fun.

It was Friday... A little over a week had passed since Ayumi had disappeared. Sometimes, Yoshiki just wanted to quit, and spend all day lying in his bed. It's all he had energy for anymore... His grades were starting to drop with his inactivity, but he hadn't started to revert, his friends could tell that. He didn't fight. He didn't smoke. Quite frankly, he didn't do anything but what was necessary to live. Though he didn't even want to do those things anymore... Sometimes, when he was at the very bottom of the abyss inside him, he didn't want his life anymore, but he knew too well that wherever Ayumi was, she wouldn't be happy with him. That, and... it wouldn't be fair to the group of friends, who were already trying to cope with Ayumi being gone. He wasn't really a big part of the group, he was no glue that held them together like Ayumi had been, but that didn't mean he could go writing himself off thinking it wouldn't affect them.

Although... that didn't stop him from delving in things that some may consider to be dangerous. Police often advised citizens to never hunt for killers themselves, but Yoshiki wasn't very good at sitting idly by, especially when Ayumi's safety was in question. Like every day since he figured out the possible location of where Ayumi had last been, he stopped on that road, looking pensively at his surroundings. A place the killer would take her... There was still the issue of it being daylight when she was last seen, so he couldn't have gone to the train station or anywhere near the general population of this area. Somewhere as desolate as this road had been... Somewhere no one could just stumble upon. His eyes slowly trailed to the tree line that was a little ways away from the road. He stared, feeling something strong in his stomach. His eyes narrowed, his legs hesitating only a moment before stepping off the paved road into the grass by the side. He stopped where the trees started, placing a hand on one of the trees as he leaned forward slightly. His eyes stared into the forest as deep as he could see, his foot slowly taking a step into the dry, dead leaves of Fall. His limbs tingled with nervousness, as he was admittedly fearful of whatever could be lurking, but his desire to find Ayumi won out.

Yoshiki took one more step into the unfamiliar territory before he heard steps behind him. His heart beat painfully in his chest as he turned, facing what he had expected to all this time. He stumbled backwards, his voice taken from him as his body was stunned with fear at the senior that had been directly behind him. His smirk today wasn't normal... It was twisted, and it sent his stomach into a nauseous state.

"Strike," he said with a dark tone, bringing down some sort of tool against Yoshiki's head. He hadn't been quick enough to tell what he had been hit with, everything going dark almost immediately after the mind-shattering pain. His body went limp, falling to the forest floor.

Yuuya looked at Yoshiki's stationary body, also feeling a tingling in his limbs, but it was much different. He wasn't scared, he was excited. He bent down and picked Yoshiki up by his jacket collar, dragging him deeper into the forest. "If you want to see her so badly... I'll grant your wish," he said with a dark tone, his smile practically spread from ear to ear.

Yuuya made a grand entrance to the building as he kicked open the door, yelling out, "I'm back! And I've brought you a present!" He slung Yoshiki's body into the room, the impact making a small thud. His head was bleeding a bit, but he was breathing and still alive. Not that that was a particularly good thing in Yuuya's house of horrors. "He's quite the nosy kid... You should have taught him better, as his class rep," he taunted, a sneer on his face.

Ayumi jerked to dazed awareness as the doors were kicked open. The grand entrance was odd. He liked making himself known, but he sounded like an excited child who had a toy to show her. Although, the moment she made that correlation, she felt her mind go blank as she stared. Her eyes glued onto Yoshiki's unconscious body. She had been sure that she would never see any of her friends again, yet here was one right in front of her. It brought her absolutely no happiness. She was stunned, her brain seemingly blocking off her ability to feel at first. The emotions began to leak through the barrier her mind had tried to set up. She felt her eyes heat up, and her hands clenched into fists. Even if Yoshiki's chest was still rising and falling, indicating his breathing state, Ayumi had seen enough that she knew what was going to come. "You bastard!" Ayumi snarled, eyes sharp with rage. She wanted to bark commands at him to not touch Yoshiki... that she was going to kill him... but they were empty threats. "Do you really think you'll get away with all of this!? You're going to be caught! And I hope they fucking hang you, you pathetic excuse for a human!" she snarled, since it was the only thing she could say with a semblance of truth. He'd be caught. He'd pay for his crimes. It was just a matter of when it would happen.

Yuuya just watched her scream, somewhat in a state of bliss. He couldn't wait to torture this one... He seemed the tenacious and spiteful type, which meant he'd probably last as long as Yuuya wanted this to stretch out. His mind turned its attention to Ayumi, his expression unchanging. "Hah, no... I'm just merely postponing the inevitable, so I can have as much fun as I can," he answered honestly, glancing down at Yoshiki. Too bad he was unconscious... The actual playtime would have to wait until tomorrow. He stepped forward, grabbing the back of Yoshiki's jacket to pull him up and forward. He chained him beside Ayumi, just like all the other victims, purposefully slumping him against Ayumi. If he had any luck, their impending death, friendship status, and closeness may turn into something more than friendship. Meaning it'd be just that much more fun for him as he tore them apart in the most definite way possible. "Tomorrow starts the beginning of the end for both of you. I hope you look forward to it," he told Ayumi with a lopsided grin, turning and leaving out the door.

Ayumi let out a frustrated yell as he left. His pleasure and satisfaction about tearing their lives apart made such an anger course through her that it felt like her heart would explode. Ayumi's chest heaved as she tried to breath herself back to a level of rationality. With the anger passing, the inevitability of everything came back. She slumped back, staring at Yoshiki's unconscious body... Yoshiki was going to die. The boy that she had bugged and pushed to make his life better was going to die, because he had gone looking for her. Although, she wouldn't yell at him or give him any grief for that... After all, she had been stupid enough to think herself invincible on her walk home. She glanced through the broken window, the light still shining in. She wasn't sure how long Yoshiki would stay passed out... she also didn't know how long she wanted him to be out. This wouldn't be easy either way, but would less time together before the bloodbath be better? It wasn't something that could be measured out... She let out a shaky sigh, staring blindly ahead of her. She had no control over anything, either way. All she could do was wait and watch.

Yoshiki's eyes opened slowly, but he couldn't really work on taking in his surroundings just yet. He was horribly disoriented, and his head still ached with an awful pain. He moved to sit more up right, his hand coming to his head to assess what was ailing him. He felt something wet, something he quickly assumed to be blood. What had-? Ah... wait... it was after school, that road, then... He had been hit. He had been knocked out by that senior! The information came like a jolt of lightning, and he quickly became more aware of everything around him. It was dark, so he assumed it to be night, but that didn't really matter when the sky started to get dark around 6. He had no inkling of what time it could be, but that wasn't the biggest thing on his mind. "Shinozaki?" he called with concern, his eyes searching for even the faintest outline of another person. His hand went back, brushing against some sort of fabric. He groped around to find the source, clutching onto what he believed to be a sleeve. Could it be...?"Shino... zaki?" he asked in a smaller voice, his hand's grip tightening as his hopes shot up.

Ayumi had waited for Yoshiki to wake up, but the darkness brought overwhelming drowsiness. She shut her eyes, figuring she should try to get a little sleep. It was difficult when she feared tomorrow so much, though. She couldn't have passed out for long when she heard a familiar voice. She blinked tiredly, coming out of her nap with uncertainty. Was that actually him or was she imagining things? She jumped slightly as she felt him grab onto her sleeve. "Kishinuma..." she mumbled quietly, almost as a greeting but more of a sad confirmation it was her. How did this all happen? They were in school normally together no more than a couple weeks ago. But at this point, it felt like years since she had led a normal life.

Yoshiki waited for an answer, his spirit balancing on just what sort of answer it was. When he heard her voice, that he hadn't in such a long time... He couldn't help but become overwhelmed with an array of feelings. He let go of her sleeve, responding to his name with a shaky sigh. Their situation wasn't good...He assumed this was where the killer hid out, and had killed others... He was probably next in fact, and the finding that she was here wasn't a good thing in of itself, but he couldn't help but be swallowed by happiness. That he did, indeed, get to see her again, and talk to her, and touch her... His heart swelled and he went silent, trying to hold back the intense feelings. He wasn't sure how to express his joy... He was certain she was the opposite of him, so he doubted mentioning his happiness in finding her would be a good thing to do. His limbs shook as he tried to hold back the tears that had been held in for much too long, a hectic mixture of despair, hopelessness, and relief stormed inside of him. He probably couldn't save her... and had doomed himself with her, but he... couldn't have lived if the next time he had been able to see her was in a news report of another body found. Not that he'd tell her, but... he'd rather die by her side than be without it forever. He choked down a sob, trying to remain strong as to not let them both become unraveled, but it was difficult to keep control.

Ayumi froze as his hand released her sleeve. She could hear him stifling a sob, which just broke something inside of her. She had only seen Yoshiki display a handful of emotions varying from anger to relaxed to humorous. She had never once seen him close to tears or sobs... the normally composed Yoshiki was breaking down next to her. It quickly brought fresh tears to her eyes as her breathing became a muddle mess of trying to stop herself from crying. She wanted to tell him it would be fine, but she knew it wouldn't be. Yoshiki could be crushed, burned, mutilated..., and she'd just have to watch as he was put through the torture. She couldn't say anything to raise his spirits, because she didn't want to inject false hope. Plus, she doubted Yoshiki would believe any lies she spewed forward in order to try and comfort him. They were stuck in the reality of what was going to happen, so what could she possibly say?

Yoshiki tried to compose himself, but he kept dropping further out of control. It was confusing... he didn't know which he felt more... But the relief was there, and so was the joy... So he'd guess, despite everything in their current situation, he was happy to see her again. He let loose another sob, his control completely gone as his free hand went to grab Ayumi's shoulder. He pulled her closer into a hug, burying his head against her shoulder as he broke down completely. "I... missed you... I thought I wouldn't see you again," he finally spoke in a shaky voice, his grip on the back of her school uniform tightening.

Ayumi hadn't expected him to pull her into an embrace, but she found herself melting into the contact. The days in this awful place were so lonely and awful, and the company she kept never lifted any burdened feelings off her shoulder. As he broke down, she felt herself lose herself as well. She was so sick of crying, but it was a release of the overwhelming feelings consuming her. Her free arm wrapped around him, though her grip was weak as a result of her general atrophy in this place. "It would be better if you hadn't..." Ayumi responded with a grimace. He would have been better off staying away from all this. Now... he was going to die. The thought sent her into trembles as the dread bit away at her sanity.

Yoshiki shook his head at her own comment, greatly rejecting her point of view. "No... No, I was losing my damn mind! If I hadn't gotten the chance to see you again before... before they found you, I...," his voice trailed off as his hand trembled at the intense emotions he was letting loose after this long, seemingly endless week. By they, he meant the police, which was a substitute because he didn't want to say 'before you were killed'. He wasn't saying this because he thought they could actually get out. If there was any way they could escape, prior victims would have already exploited it. He knew his doom... but he was still happier here than in a classroom without Ayumi.

Ayumi's eyes narrowed in confusion as he continued to speak. She pulled back from the hug, so she could meet his eyes. "Do you realize where you are?" she asked sharply. It seemed like he was more focused on her than the fact he had just walked into his own demise. It didn't make sense for him to ignore the fact he was never going to leave this place. "Do you have any idea what is going to happen!?" she asked, voice increasing in volume. He had to know his fate. He wasn't that clueless. "You would have moved on Kishinuma! Now- now..." she felt her voice falter in strength and died away. It would have been better for him to discover through the news. He wouldn't have to die horribly, and she wouldn't have to watch.