***FINALS! DONE! IT'S FINALLY DONEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AND THEN NERU UPLOADED A SONG /slapped ok NOW it's gonna be updated in a weekly basis uhhuh /nods ***

Chapter 17: Don't Leave me Alone

'Where could Len be…?' Rin should've asked more questions on where to find Len. Kaito could've given her a hint or two, that really would've been a whole lot better. 'No… If there was anything important that could help me find Len I'm sure Kaito would've said so, he's probably as clueless as I am when it comes to where Len is right now.'

Her head was still spinning though, it was just one thing after another and Rin was just speechless. All he knew about Len so far was the fact that he was dying. Rin wasn't sure he could relate, but the past few weeks hadn't been good for her either; in a way, she was dying too. Was it coincidence? Whatever happened to Len and whatever happened to her was connected for sure… When Len suddenly 'disappeared' like that, when she was taken away too too. What they've gone through...

And then there was Kaito. Even though Kaito was helping her, he was helping Mayu too earlier, so…

'No, I shouldn't doubt Kaito like that, I know he's on my side. It's really just a matter of…' There really was no way it was a trap, Kaito wouldn't do that to her, right? It wasn't a set up, was it? What Kaito gave her were directions to the exit, right? The antidote Mayu gave wasn't poison, right? 'I need to stop doubting people and just follow my instincts… And my instincts say I should trust Kaito and I should just follow his plan.'

Mayu on the other hand… Mayu was different. Her instincts say she's someone she shouldn't trust, someone no one should ever trust. If it weren't for Mayu's bargain earlier, Rin wouldn't trust the antidote at all.

'Right now, the events of the past few weeks, is it all because of Mayu…?' Rin pondered, but then, she suddenly stopped. There, just a few meters from her laid a body in the middle of the hall. It might just be her head playing with her again, but she ran anyway. With every step closer it became clear, it wasn't her hallucinating. There was definitely… Without a doubt…

"Len…" She thought the second they meet she'd shed tears of happiness, but no. To meet again in a state like that, what came over her was nothing fear and paranoia. Rin shook Len's body in a panic. He was still breathing, she could still feel his pulse, he wasn't dead but that wasn't enough. "Len, wake up!"

"…." The second Len tried to open his eyes, Rin hugged him immediately. All the fear and negative thoughts she had just a millisecond ago faded away, all replaced by relief and happiness. "…Rin?"

"You… Len, I… Did you pass out? Are you okay? What happened? Tell me everything! Kaito was… No wait, Kaito gave us an hour to escape so we should just-" She helped him stood up, her hands still trembling; with happiness, with excitement, with hope that everything from then on forth, that everything would be alright. "No, no, I'm sorry, before any of that I need to.."

"Rin, calm down." Len wasn't as hyped as she was, or at least, that's what it looked like to her. He still looked half-asleep; like someone who just woke up from a deep sleep. Maybe that's exactly what it was… Or maybe he was just dying and he had no energy left.

"Drink this, you'll feel better.." She quickly took the antidote out of her pocket, "I don't really know the details but Kaito and Mayu said you're dying and they told me that this was the antidote."

"How did you get your hands on this?" As Len drank the antidote in one big gulp, Rin's eyes turned away from his. It's not like she wanted to hide it away from him, it's just…

"Mayu and I made a deal, I'll tell you the rest later. It doesn't matter now, we just need to leave as soon as possible! Kaito said the safest way to leave this building is through the kitchen, and then… Ah, we'll have to use the stairs near Mayu's office, do you know where to get that from here?"

"Don't worry I know where it is." Len let out a big sigh or relief. "It'll be great to leave this place as soon as possible, but really, I feel like we have hundreds of things we need to catch up on."

It was hard for Kaito to hear every word Mayu was saying inside the 'locked' interrogation room, but whatever Rin did there earlier, Mayu was really… Angry, pissed, sad, desperate, all in one package.

"I made a mistake, and this feeling… This horrid feeling in my heart wouldn't go away. Do you know what that… Feeling is? This horrible, horrible feeling, it's regret." There were no longer hard knocking noises from the door, she must've grown tired of doing it. Instead, Mayu simply tapped the door in rhythm.

"I know it's you out there, Kaito…" He didn't feel threatened by that, she didn't have any proof. "Ah, what a disturbing feeling… Failure, failure, failure! I can't accept this, I should just die!"

'Way to go Rin…' Kaito chuckled. 'She's actually thinking of killing herself… I know it's an exaggeration, but for her to actually mention suicide is kind of something there.'

"I'm so sad right now… Being in this room… It hurts…" Kaito couldn't stop smiling. His worst nemesis was suffering in there and couldn't shut up about the pain. Whenever she was that chatty he'd usually just suffer in silence and imagine how cutting off his ear wouldn't be all that bad. What more can he ask from his life? Nothing can compare! "Hm... I wonder if Kaito is being a good boy and really went back to my office? Is that you out there, Rin? Rin, if you don't speak up right now, I'm going to PUNISH Kaito later!" She threatened.

'If Rin's here she'd speak up now for sure, still, I couldn't possibly answer this request. Should I just play deaf…?' There really was no other option.

He knew he wouldn't be punished anyway, the plan was to pose as her hero and ally by opening the 'locked' door later on. Of course, there was the other possibility where Mayu wanted entertainment so bad after being trapped in that room, she'd just punish him for the heck of it. Yes, that one sounded more likely.

Kaito felt shiver down his spine for the thought.

"What's wrong, Rinny? Cat got your tongue? Why aren't you speaking up? Remember what we talked about earlier?" Somehow, her tap came to a halt. "What should his punishment be… What should his punishment be…"

'Listening to her pain and regret's fun and everything, but I think I should stop paying attention to her for now.' It's not like there was anything else Mayu could take away from him in the first place. Still, Mayu's torture fantasy funland was usually… No, it had always been ten levels above grotesque; and the way she tells the story could give anyone goosebumps ten seconds after she's started. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Mayu's just a great story-teller, it was a gift and a curse.

'It's only been fifteen minutes. I wonder what those two are up to right now.'

Even if they could leave this place… Mayu could find them in a matter of days. He already used the 'fake your own death' excuse so they couldn't use that trick on her unfortunately. Their life just wouldn't be the same unless Mayu's six foot under, … or unless she's trapped in one room for the rest of her miserable life.

'… Now that I think about it, keeping her inside this room forever's not a bad idea. I feel like I've been pissing her off lately and I want to be the one to let her out so I could be the hero and earn some credit and trust, then again, should I just…' Kaito sighed. 'Someone's bound to notice her disappearance. Though really… I could just lie and improvise everything, an opportunity like this won't happen twice. And Len did say that without water people wouldn't last a week...'

'Meh, sure, why not.' Kaito shrugged. 'Is what I'd like to say to that idea, but… I'm not sure I can stand to hear her ramble, not to mention it's risky.'

Kaito had always pictured Mayu's death a fast one, a bullet to her head head or a knife to the heart or an arrow to her currently-still-unknown Achilles heel, and he always pictured him the murderer in every scene. If there was ever another chance…

'I'll wait a little longer, now's not the time to strike.'

"And then we'll turn left here… After this, we'll just follow the hallway." Rin could finally stop repeating the direction to the kitchen over and over again. "Ah, so…"

It was a short trip from where they were to the stairs, up one floor, and to the intersection. Even so, it felt surprisingly long for her. Simply because none of them were talking. There were so many things she'd gone through and she felt like Len had gone through a lot too, but… She didn't want to share it, she didn't want to remember it, she didn't want Len to know what she'd done and what she'd seen.

'Is Len mad at me…? The things he wants to talk about… Is it too personal?' No, that was her case. Still, the silence was plain torture for her. What, had she forgotten how to start up a conversation? No, it wasn't that, it was…

"Where have you been the past few weeks? It's hard for me to trust stories that I hear here and there in this building, I… Want to hear it from you, i-if you don't mind." Rin spoke up.

"Believe it or not, I was in a ship off to France." What Rin thought was a chuckle from Len turned out to be a cough. "It's a really long and complicated story. I'm not even sure how to summarize it myself."

"Well, you can try! I mean, if it doesn't bother you, I mean… you don't need to tell me everything right now. Really, it's just nice to see you again. I thought I wouldn't make it out alive, and leave here is..." Suddenly, Len patted Rin's head.

"You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to. We're both alive and we're going to leave, nothing else matters." That eased Rin's shoulder more than she could imagine, she was glad to hear that. "If I tell you a summary of what happened to me as simple as possible, will you at least answer me one question?"

"Which one is it?" Rin tried not to sound so tense, and avoided gulping for that too. It was just an odd change to see, from a smiling-patting-Len to a serious answer-my-question-Len-on-a-case. "It shouldn't be a request, I mean, I'm going to tell you everything eventually."

"It's the same question I asked earlier, I want to know how you got your hands on the antidote." He paused. "If you think I haven't noticed anything weird, you're wrong. You tried to clean your fingers from blood with your dress didn't you? That's new."

"Why won't you tell me how you got that antidote?" Len asked once again.

Rin bit her lip before answering.

"To summarize, basically... Mayu and I made a deal and if I agree to do it she'd give me the antidote. I betrayed her and ran away with the antidote, that's all there is to it."

"Huh… I won't comment and ask why that answer's really vague." Len commented. "Where are they right now? Kaito and Mayu?"

"Right now Mayu is stuck in the interrogation room and Kaito's trying to keep her inside. There's no lock within reach so Kaito's just holding off the door."

"On a scale of one to ten, how hurt is Mayu right now? One being she's completely fine, it was just a scratch, and ten being she's dying?"

"…You said one question." Rin didn't want to steer the conversation away, but… "Let me hear your side of the story, a trip to France sounds more interesting than any of this. Unless of course… It's personal and if you don't want to share it, it's alright."

"Fine, fine. I'm sorry if that bothered you." Len smiled and wondered if he had crossed any lines. They were friends, was it that weird to ask? He was worried, and he wanted to know the chances of returning to normal life again, without Mayu intruding them forevermore. It's a necessity, wasn't it?

"Kaito and I were in a trip to France by ship, there was a case there, suddenly one by one people started disappearing, it turns out the whole crew in the ship were murderers and this building is probably one of their many bases. Kaito's one of them, but he's another completely different story."

"We reached France, I met Mayu there, I was injected by poison later on, things happened, events transpired, and now we're here." Len ended the summary there. "I wish I could tell you the rest, but really… What we need right now isn't sad memories but really a plan. We are in the middle of a catastrophe, burdening ourselves with a sob story, I think it should happen after we're safe and sound. By any chance do you have any?"

"Eh? Uhm, go to the kitchen, and then... leave?"

"Yeah, there's that. But then again..."

Len got silent and it was as if Rin could hear the gear inside his head turning. It was uncomfortable.

"Will it be over? After this? Will it really be over?"

"I have a feeling Kaito has a plan somehow. We've suffered enough, and really, other than killing a bunch of people back at the ship he hadn't suffered enough yet, so let's just leave the rest to him." Even though Len said half-jokingly, the other half of him was serious. It wasn't Kaito's fault but he was indirectly responsible to everything that had happened to them so far. "I think I see a door over there."

"That must be the kitchen." That wasn't the time to let out a sigh of relief, no… She'll let it all out when they'll finally leave. "You know, Len… The lack of people over here is scaring me. I don't want to sound negative, but… Don't you think it's weird?"

"It's suspicious for sure, I haven't seen one of them at all. It feels like something we should feel grateful for, but the fact that we're alone about to escape this place so easily… If we encounter at least one of them it'll surely be the end of us. The people who work here's nothing but crazy people." Len stopped. The last thing he wanted was Rin to get all worked up about it. What was he doing? "Don't take it to the heart, we're going to leave soon and that's what matters."

"…Right." Unless everyone who should be out walking around the halls were actually inside that kitchen. Rin shook off that negative thought from her head. Len pushed the door open, he didn't even bother to peek in or eavesdrop. It was a reckless move, though luckily no one was there but the two of them in the kitchen.

It had everything a normal kitchen had, no chains or corpses ready to be cooked, just a normal kitchen with a stove, pans, pots, even a small dining table in the middle of the room. It didn't look like anyone was there today, or the day before, or even the day before that, but it clearly wasn't abandoned.

'Why… Why is everything so perfect? Why is our escape so…'

"Where exactly do we leave from here? Is it from the window? Or maybe a secret door? Kaito just said the safest exit is through the kitchen." Rin looked around. "I didn't know there were windows here, they said escape from here is impossible... Still, people come and go everyday to work here."

She expected traps to be there, but that seemed unlikely. It seemed like… They really were in a safe zone over there. Rin looked through every cans, drawers, and shelves, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary in that room.

"People come to work here everyday?" Len repeated.

"Uhm, yeah… It's just something I heard from them. They've never skipped a day, so when I saw how empty the hallway was… Well, I wouldn't know, I don't leave my cell all that often anyway."

"A-ah…"

"Hey, Len?" He was being awfully quiet, and he was just standing there in the middle of the kitchen. He wasn't observing anything, his eyes were fixed to the ground. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, it's nothing… It just occurred to me…" Len's voice seemed to crack. "I need to leave and find Kaito."

"…What?" Rin walked closer to him, just when she thought it'd be smooth sailing from then on. The one thing that bothered her the most was how Len's expression was suddenly all dead serious… Not to mention pale. "Are you okay?"

"The exit's not here, right?" Len suddenly changed the topic. "I need to talk to Kaito anyway, so later I could just ask him about it. You should just stay here for now."

"Why do I need to stay here? Wouldn't it be better if we go together? Do you even know the way to him?" Rin didn't like where this was going, Len was just acting strange and… She really thought freedom was just seconds away from her, but it looked like she might have to wait a little bit longer. "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright, it's really important for me to talk to Kaito alone right now." Len was about to leave when Rin grabbed his hand, he was acting so weird, it's hard not to worry about him. What happened?

"So important that you'll just leave me here?" There was doubt in Len's eyes and Rin could see it. Would Len really do that? To leave her just there without taking her? Without giving a single explanation? No... She didn't give a single explanation to him either. Was it really just something she did?

"I'm sorry, I'll make a run for it, please just wait a little bit longer." Rin was hesitant but she let go of her grasp anyway. "I'm sorry."

As Len left the kitchen leaving her all alone, she wondered whether letting go was a correct move. Could it be something she'd regret later?

'Trust me Rin, it hurts me more than it hurts you.' Len retraced his step earlier, if he could make a run for it he would, but it wasn't that easy. He just needed to tell Kaito one last thing.

Whatever he drank earlier, it wasn't an antidote.