Gone

"We have to find Yugo" Shun decided "He could be in trouble."

"Or…" Yuto squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to cry. He couldn't help but feel that Yugo being missing was his fault. He should've stayed with him. "He's already…dead…"

"Don't think like that" Shun hurriedly stopped that line of thought "I'm sure he's okay. This is Yugo we're talking about. He's stupid, but he fights like hell. If he'd gotten into any trouble the whole house would know."

Shun glanced around at everyone else in the room. A few were chatting curiously among themselves, but for the most part they were staring at Reira, who's hair was still splattered with blood.

"Hey" Allen decided to approach the small boy "Are you still sick? You haven't been coughing up blood, have you?"

"U-Uh, um…" Reira began to panic. Besides Yuto, Shun, Yuri, Yuzu, Serena and himself, no one else knew about the murders of Reiji and Gongenzaka. Was Shun going to say something?

"Okay, everyone, listen up!" Serena spoke up first, standing up "I don't mean to scare everyone, but we have a huge problem! There are more people dead and others are missing!"

There was a collection of gasps heard, and the group instantly began looking frantically for who wasn't in the room.

"Who?" Rin questioned "Who's dead?!"

Reira lowered his head. He knew he had to break the news of Yugo's disappearance to Rin, and she wasn't going to take it well.

"Rin…" he carefully stepped over to her and placed his head onto her chest, raising his hands to her shirt. "Gongenzaka's dead. Nii-Sama Yuya and Yugo are missing."

He couldn't see Rin's expression, but he knew from the way she grabbed his arms and squeezed. She wasn't going to hurt him - no one could ever be mad at Reira - but she was obviously angry and frustrated.

Shun was about in interject, but Yuzu stopped him and insisted he let Reira take care of Rin. She was still ready to puke with worry about Yuya's disappearance, so she knew Rin needed a comforting presence to keep her calm. For her it was Serena. Reira though was so innocent and kind that it would be impossible for Rin to not feel comforted by him.

"Hey, Scarf McGee's missing too!" Sora pointed out

"Akaba Jr's dead as well" Yuri told him bluntly.

Sora stared at him in disbelief. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

"What the hell's going on?" Dennis remarked, barely about to believe what he was hearing "More people are dead? I can't believe this."

"Where are the police?!" Sayaka squeaked "Why aren't they here?!"

"I can't reach them" Sawatari confirmed what they all knew "And trying to get to the city on foot in this weather is just plain dumb. "

Yuto then took over. "We gathered everyone in here so that we can keep everyone safe. We can't separate from each other anymore."

"Didn't you say that Yuya and Yugo are missing?" Dennis pointed out "Where did they go?"

"We're not sure" Serena said slowly "But we need to find them quickly."

"Who's going to go look?" Shun asked.

"I am!" Rin suddenly shouted, startling Reira "If anyone has hurt either of them, I swear…"

"I'll go as well" Yuto decided "I was the last person to see Yugo. If something happened to him, I…"

"Okay, that's fine" Shun nodded "Yuzu, I guess you'll probably want to go too. Yuri and I will watch over everyone here."

Yuri opened his mouth to argue, but he met Serena's glaring gaze and decided it would be best not to.

"Sayaka and I wanna go, too!" Allen stepped forward and raised his hand. Sayaka nodded determinedly.

"Me too" Serena agreed.

"Alright" Yuto nodded "Six is better than three. Let's go."

Before they left the living room, Yuto made a mental note of everyone they were leaving behind. Shun, Yuri, Dennis, Sora, Reira and Sawatari. He glanced over at Rin, Yuzu, Serena, Sayaka and Allen. Allen was walking next to him, Sayaka and Serena were walking together just behind him while Yuzu was holding onto Rin's arm a few steps behind them. If she let go of her arm, Yuto was sure Rin would probably go crazy with worry.

"So, what exactly happened to Reiji and Gongenzaka?" Allen asked.

Yuto decided to spend the next few minutes quickly explaining the situation from when everyone left the main room after hearing of Ruri's murder to when they discovered Gongenzaka's body.

"And now Yuya and Yugo turn up missing?" Rin asked, surprisingly calm after hearing the explanation "I can't believe it…what's going on around here?"

"I don't know, but we have to keep everyone together" Yuto decided, staying as calm as possible and trying to act like Reiji and Gongenzaka did. He could only hope their cool demeanours weren't the reason they were killed. "Once we find Yuya and Yugo, we need to return to the living room and stay there until we can reach the police."

"I hope they're okay" Sayaka whispered "I would hate it if Yugo was killed."

"Me neither, it's my fault if he is" Yuto swallowed.

"Yuto, don't blame yourself" Rin told him "He should have stayed with you. I don't know why he wandered off. He does such stupid things sometimes."

"I'm worried, though" Allen said solemnly "I mean, considering what we've been told, Yuya seems like he could be…"

"Don't say that!" Yuzu snapped "Yuya can't be a killer! Why would he kill Noburu?! Why would he kill anyone?!"

"We're not saying that Yuya's the killer" Serena reassured her "But someone around here is killing our friends off. Let's just focus on finding them right now."

They had silently walked past the second and third floors, with Yuzu and Allen shivering knowing that there were two dead bodies down those corridors. They stopped halfway up the stairs to the fourth and final floor (the house had no attic) where Yuya, Yuto, Yuri, Yugo, Sora and Sawatari's rooms were.

"This was about where Yugo left me" Yuto pointed out "It was by this huge window. He said he should go to the bathroom before he visited Reira because he didn't want to have to get up again."

Sighing, he observed the large window, stretching almost from the stairs to the ceiling. Peeking outside, the blizzard was horrendous. Sawatari was right, there was no way anyone was being sent out in that.

Then he remembered something Sawatari had said.

"It rang and rang and rang forever, but no one picked up!"

Yuto hadn't given it much thought before, but he had assumed that maybe the power might have gone out at the police station or something. But if the phone kept ringing and ringing, that meant that the phone lines weren't dead. Nobody was picking up the phone.

No one.

"Here's a bathroom!" Yuto was snapped out of his thoughts by Rin's voice yelling from down the fourth floor corridor. The group joined her up the flight of stairs and the outside the room, the door slightly ajar. "I mean, I think it is."

"Let me open it" Yuzu offered, stepping forward.

Rin wasn't sure whether that was a good idea or not - she was a little worried about what they would find behind the door - but she couldn't tell Yuzu otherwise. The music diva was going to open it regardless.

Yuzu reached out and placed her fingertips on the wooden door, listening to it creak. When she opened it all the way, she turned on the light and everyone collectively gasped.

Yuya was lying face down on the floor, blood on his clothing.

"YUYA!" Yuzu screamed, rushing to his side "Yuya! Yuya, wake up! Yuya!"

"Don't touch him!" Serena warned her, remembering what Gongenzaka had said in Ruri's room.

"Shut up!" Yuzu barked, completely ignoring the her and kneeling down to pick Yuya up to place him in her lap. "Yuya, can you hear me?! Yuya!"

"Mph…Mmm…" the group was all shocked to hear Yuya stirring, starting to wake up. He slowly raised his eyelids and looked at Yuzu. "Yu…zu?"

"Yuya!" Yuzu hugged her best friend, tears in her eyes "I'm so glad you're okay! Are you hurt anywhere?! What happened?!"

"I-I think something hit my head and knocked me out…" Yuya reached to touch the back of his head. "But I'm not hurt anywhere else…"

"What were you doing, Yuya?" Serena was now beside Yuzu, questioning Yuya. "You disappeared after Gongenzaka was…"

Yuya's eyes widened and he began shaking uncontrollably. "G-Gongenzaka... he was… I had to run! I didn't want to die!"

"Did you see the murderer?" Rin asked quickly "What happened?"

"I was lying on the sofa and Gongenzaka was talking to me, but I was getting really tired so I began drifting off to sleep. The next thing I knew, I heard him talking again but I didn't open my eyes. I heard him yell and there was a thud. Someone was breathing heavily and saying something, but it was hard to tell what they were saying. I opened one of my eyes and saw...G-Gongenzaka...lying on the ground covered in blood. Whoever stabbed him had their back to me and was watching him die. I freaked out and darted off the sofa toward the other door. I think they tried chasing after me but they didn't catch up for a while. I hid in here and wasn't sure what to do next. After about twenty minutes, I tried walking out of here and rushing to tell Yuzu, but…that's when something bashed me in the back of the head." Yuya explained, trembling and gulping for air in sheer terror "Maybe it was the murderer…"

"What?" Allen raised an eyebrow "I'm confused. If it was the murderer, why didn't he just kill you?"

"Well, the murderer also spared Reira, too" Sayaka mentioned "What kind of games is he playing?"

"He must've knocked Yuya out with something and threw him in here" Yuto decided "But it doesn't make sense as to why he didn't kill him."

"I don't know…" Yuzu shook her head, her hair hiding her face "But at least you're still alive. That's all that matters."

"But wait" Serena spoke up "Yuya, earlier you were acting really strange. Yuzu and Gongenzaka were trying to ask you about what was wrong. You might have mentioned seeing something. Did you possibly…witness something?"

Yuzu helped Yuya sit up properly, and the boy stared at the ground for a moment before answering. "I…I think…No, I saw…Ruri's murderer…"

Everyone gasped in horror.

"You…You saw him?!" Sayaka squeaked.

"I was on my way back to the main room when I saw him rush out of Ruri's room and throw the door shut behind him. It was dark in the hallway, so I couldn't tell who it was. At first, I thought it was Kurosaki, since I knew that room was Ruri's room, so I peeked inside to see if she had left, and that's when I saw…Ruri...dead. I immediately got sick and rushed to the bathroom in my room to throw up. Yugo asked what was wrong, but I couldn't tell him. I couldn't say anything! After that I didn't want to leave the room, but Yugo insisted on taking me downstairs. He didn't want me to miss out on the party… I-I wanted to tell someone, but I…panicked! I was so scared!" Yuya hugged his arms and Yuzu bent down next to him to rest her head on his shoulder.

"So that's why you were acting that way" Rin realised "I met you two on the way downstairs and you were acting all weird. Yugo didn't know why though. We thought you'd just had too much to eat."

"I can't believe…I'm not dead, though…" Yuya breathed "Did you say Reira was spared? Was someone else murdered, too?"

Yuto re-explained the situation to Yuya, including how Reira woke up from his nap to find Reiji dead beside his bed and him covered in his brother's blood.

"I don't…understand…" Yuya hung his head and clenched his fists "The murderer killed Ruri, Reiji…and Gongenzaka! Then he decided to spare Reira and I! Why?! Why is he doing this?!"

His voice rose until he was practically screaming and hyperventilating by the end. Yuzu drew him close to her and ran her hand through his hair to calm him down.

"We have no clue…" Yuto explained "But the fact that Yuya was spared is something that really troubles me."

"Why's that?" Allen asked.

Yuto took a breath. "Think about it. Yuya saw the murderer twice. And when Yuya walked out of the bathroom, the murderer only knocked him out. He had the perfect opportunity to kill him, but yet he didn't take it. Even though Yuya couldn't tell who he was, the murderer doesn't know that. For all he knows, Yuya could be telling us right now who he is! The murderer is doing more than just playing games… There must be some reason he specifically spared Yuya, and possibly even Reira. And we need to find out what it is as soon as possible!"