So, there was a mite of a cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter. Let's continue from there. Suzuya just burst into the room with an explosion, and an extra grenade in hand, Haise's somewhere in the building, and Kiyoko's only got her gun and her friend. Let's see how it plays out. Btw, I've been thinking about shortening these afore and after notes until the end of this book. Just thought I should mention.

Onto the story!

Ayato is the first to Attack Suzuya. The crazy dove flares his black jacket, revealing rows upon rows of blades attached to the inner side. I can hardly see him move as he whips out a knife in each hand and blocks the projectiles fired from Ayato's wing-like kagune.

Laughing, Suzuya shouts, "Let's dance!"

Hanako is the last ghoul to release her kagune when she finally lets out hers out. The investigators had called it a Bika...Bikaku, I think. At least two of the other ghouls appear to have the same kind as her.

As Suzuya plunges into the room, the ghouls swarm him, but Hanako lingers back near me cautiously. Haise skids to a stop in the entryway, a green haired boy with an eyepatch running into him when he doesn't stop in time.

"G...Ghouls?" the boy sputters, glancing to Haise. "Weren't we just going for a walk?"

Haise frowns. "I should have known something was up when Suzuya invited us out."

"But we don't have our quinques!"

"We're the quinx squad, Tooru," Haise sighs. "We don't need quinques."

"Haise, I can't-" The boy cuts off when crimson arms begin snaking out from behind Haise. Sure, I know what the quinxes are, and sure, I've seen Urie's kagune before, but I've never seen a kagune like this before! The tentacles situate themselves around their main body like the jaws of a venus flytrap, tense to snap at a moment's notice.

"Why is he here? Che," Hanako clicks her tongue, upset. And then she lunges. Having not noticed her, Haise stumbles back before striking out with his viper-esque kagune. After exchanging their first few blows, he suddenly seems to realize who he's fighting. After knocking her back, he pivots his head in search. He eventually stops when his eyes land on me. He continues looking until Hanako shoots herself towards him again, their kagunes clashing.

A burn at my leg is what forces me into motion, causing me to twist away from a growing fire. Shock worn off, I start to truly assess the situation. Suzuya's occupied, but only because of the onslaught of ghouls focused on him. I can't tell if he's struggling at all, though, considering the confidence he exudes. Haise's got his hands full with Hanako continually on the offense. The only two with nothing demanding our attention are me and the eye patched boy Haise came with that he'd called Tooru. From the looks of it, Tooru's even more unsure of himself in this scenario than me.

Still unsure what to do, I turn my attention back to Haise's and Hanako's fight. It seems he's more skilled with his own kagune than a quinque, because Hanako's unable to even get close to him. Even so...it looks like he isn't actually trying to hurt her. He's had the chance to strike, but so far he's only been on the defensive.

But what about the fires? They've begun to merge together and climb, smoke collecting on the ceiling of the room. I should get water, but where would I get it? Our best option is to get out of here, but we can't exactly do that while everyone else is locked in combat.

As I scan the room for ideas, I catch Tooru clumsily lifting a phone to his ear. It takes me less than a second to figure out that he's calling reinforcements. The heat of the flames having already prepared by body to flee, I dart without hesitation to where Tooru is and tear out my gun, resting the barrel on his forehead. The boy freezes, his one eye wide with fear.

"Throw your phone in the fire," I command stonily. He obeys, the phone sparking as it melts in the flames. My goal accomplished, the two of us stare at each other, my gun positioned ready to fire into his brains. I guess...I take him as a hostage now? Is that a smart move? I'm sure it would get Haise to back off safely, but what about Suzuya? If I drew his attention, wouldn't he just attack me? There's no way I could handle a monster that can go up against so many ghouls at once!

So should I shoot him? If I just pull the trigger, I can concentrate on the two investigators that're already in the heat of things. I won't have to worry about this extra causing more trouble. If there's less trouble, the less time things'll take, and the sooner we can escape this building. That would be great, because the smoke is already drawing coughs out of the inhabitants of the room. Including me.

Yeah, it'd be better to just shoot him.

"Kiyoko!" I don't turn to look at Haise when he calls, aware that Tooru could easily slip away down the hall if I averted my eyes. "Kiyoko, don't shoot! Do you want to become a murderer?"

"He seems to think I could pull the trigger," I mutter to myself. Why is it that Hanako was convinced I couldn't, when she's supposed to be the one who knows me best? Why does it feel like Haise has a better grasp of who I am now than she does? Have I really changed that much? What about me tells him I could kill Tooru, despite him not knowing anything about the past three murders I've committed? And why didn't Hanako see it in me when he does?

A tongue of flame licking at the door frame distracts me from my thoughts, and I lower my gun. "Your name's Tooru, right? Help me look for water to put out the fire." When he doesn't immediately respond, I charge past him, grabbing onto his arm as I go and dragging him down the hall. "Let's split up. I trust you won't run, since Haise will also suffer if he gets caught in an inferno. Check all the floors for the bathrooms, or anything that might have running water still. That's unlikely, though….but we still have to check. Also keep an eye out for anything we can use to transport the water. Am I being clear?"

He nods and I turn to go my own way. "Um…" I glance back, waiting for him to continue. "Why didn't you shoot me?"

"Unimportant. Get going."

"W-what about a fire hydrant? There should be on the block somewhere."

I pause. "The problem with that is that we have no way of controlling that water if there is one. But if we can't find anything else, I'll go look for it and figure something out. Now go! You're wasting time! Everyone's going to be fried if we keep standing around like this!"

"Yes ma'am!" The frightened boy salutes before twirling and taking off in the opposite direction. I waste no more time myself, flying up the nearest staircase. At first, light from the fire down the hall slightly illuminates the stairs, but then I have to slow and tread carefully as not to fall. I try every door on the next floor up, not finding any restroom, so I ascend a second floor. This should be the fourth floor, and the top floor, I believe.

The first door proves fruitless. As I cross the hall to try another room, something pierces my foot. I let out a cry and trip back, hitting the ground with a thud. My right hand, which I'd used to catch myself since my left carries my gun, presses hard onto a serrated surface causing me to scream. Huffing, I lift my hand shakily to try to make out what it is. When I find I can't make out anything but the darkness of blood, I lift it closer to a nearby window. That's when something catches light in the dim light of the stars. It's glass.

Tears stream down my face as I carefully pry the few biggest pieces of window out of my palm. Unfortunately, I realize after setting down my gun to do so that I'm unable to find it again. I grit my teeth in frustration, but leave it. I can't afford the time to search for it; the smoke has already reached the top floor.

I have to remove the shard in my foot without taking off my shoe, since it's pierced through both the shoe and my skin. I work quietly and quickly, removing the bandages on my healed foot to reinforce the broken wrapping on the newly bleeding one. Once that's done, I painfully wedge the gorey foot back into its shoe and drag myself to my feet.

The coughing begins as soon as I'm upright, the smoke thick. I traverse carefully, sliding my feet forward instead of stepping to avoid skewering my feet on any more glass. I'm opening the third door of the floor when a boom wracks the building and causes me to lose my balance once again. This time I catch myself on a wall, but only by supporting myself with my injured hand. I choke down a howl of pain.

Judging by the abrupt increase in temperature and the new wave of smoke rolling up from the stairs, Suzuya must have used his second grenade. Is there even time to use water anymore if we find it? But searching seems better than running at this point, so I continue. The second to last door on the floor reveals what I'd been hoping for: a bathroom. Without time to waste, I clamber to the sink and quickly twist the faucet knob. Nothing comes out.

Damn it! I knew the building was old, but I'd hoped there was still at least running water. Then again, I have no clue how plumbing works. Maybe some of the water still works on the lower levels, and Tooru was able to find some. If he wasn't, maybe he's already left to find a fire hydrant.

I hack into my hand, the pain no longer the only reason my eyes water. I need to get out of here. Maybe a ghoul's lungs can handle this amount of smoke, but I can't take much more of it.

At first I begin to shuffle my feet back towards the stairs, but the smoke quickly becomes to unbearable to stay standing. I take to my knees. As I move forward, my hands carefully swipe out in front of me to clear any fragments of glass. More than once I miss a shard, and it ends up digging into my leg, but I push forward regardless. At this point I've given up trying to hold in my gasps of pain.

As I'm inching closer to the stairs, I notice a glow illuminating from the staircase. I gulp when I realize what it means. The fire has reached the stairs. I'm stuck. Forcing myself to move faster, I instead approach a window and pull myself to my feet to look out of it. Of course, I'm four stories up, and there's no fire escape to help me this time.

Well, if the fire's made it this far, that means Hanako's probably already fled the building. Surely the others had to leave, too, regardless of the fact that they were all fighting. I doubt Tooru abandoned Haise, but he likely was forced to leave when the fire became too much for him. I'm probably the only one in the building right now.

Good. Then I can give my entire focus to finding a way to escape.

I'm able to make out the floor now with the light of the approaching fire. With my sight returned to me, I quicken my pace and make my way down to the other end of the hall. Every room I pass I peek inside in want of a window, but only a few have them. When they do, I scurry over to check outside of them. Each time, though, there's nowhere to go from them except down. With every new window I check, my hope of there being a building near enough to cross over to dwindles.

Checking yet another broken window, I groan to find no way to climb safely out of it. I do, however, see flames groping out maniacally from the windows of the first two floors. If there was a way to lower myself from this floor to the third, since there doesn't seem to be fire in the room below me, I'd do it, but I just don't see a way. If I tried, I'd almost certainly fall even in my best condition. There's absolutely no chance of my success with me being cut up like I am.

Shoulders heaving from the coughing, I once again position myself to crawl. I move towards the door of the room.

creeeeaaak

I freeze, one knee lifted in mid air. When the sound doesn't return, I lower the leg. It comes again.

creeeeeaaaaak

That doesn't sound good. I resolve to leave this room as fast as possible. I hasten my crawl, the creaking growing louder and longer as I go, until a different noise makes my heart stop.

CRACK

I let out a shriek when the floor suddenly gives out beneath me.

So yeah, there was a bit of a cliffhanger last chapter, but this one's probably worse. Sorry about that, guys. Anyway, I should probably warn you that the end is nigh! Of this story, of course. Not the world. That would be bad. Anyway, I didn't want you guys to be startled when I up and finish it, because that has happened in a few of my previous stories. So yeah. The end is nigh, but we've got a few chapters left still. Look forward to it!

Till then, Kisses from SnowyNeko! :3 MEOW!