-Hey... – Awkwardly, he called her.

-What is it? – Joyfully, she asked him.

-I know I agree with this but...

It was difficult for him to express himself. They were like this for quite some time now, together in silence without convening any sort of complaints.

Nevertheless, he needed to ask:

-Is this really necessary?

In one of the hallways within the school, you could find out a pair of students, a boy & a girl, walking together. Looking at them, you could see that the girl was overjoyed written on her face while the boy was a little hesitant.

The reason for that was: they were holding each other’s hand.

Their fingers were intertwined with a tight grasp against each other. If someone were to see them, one could be misled to think they were newly lovers.

In the end, the canteens door wouldn’t open even when break time started. They remained shut. Even if the sounds of footsteps could be heard on the other side, even if they made noises inside the room, those people would just pass by them.

Only when they listened to the final bell, officially ending the school day, was when the doors could have been open, setting them free.

Ever since then, Midna had grabbed Chris’ hand and didn’t let it go.

Luckily, nobody was around to see them like this. Most of the after-school activities, such as clubs, were done outside the main building and teachers would go straight to their homes after being done with their work for the day.

The only person that would roam inside the school was the janitor for the night clean-up. Until then, the school building was exclusive for them to fully explore.

(Still, why do we need to have our hands together?)

From his perspective, the girl was at his front, taking the lead. If you were to resemble it, it would be like a mother pulling her child to around for a walk, or so Chris was felling it.

-We could just walk beside each other.

-But then you may be lost.

-No, that will not happen.

-And what is wrong with this?

The girl moved the hands upwards to their eyes, emphasizing it to the boy.

-I mean…Wouldn’t that hindrance our movements?

It was his last resort to escape her small warm grasp.

-How?

But the girl did a face like she didn’t understand his question.

-Well, imagine if we were running, what would happen?

If they needed to run while holding hands, the one slower or with less stamina would be nothing but dead weight to the other, and Chris was definitely the former.

Midna pondered for a while and then, without a warning, started quicken the pace of her steps, holding nothing back.

-Wait! You don’t need to do it!

He was surprised to see her putting it on a test and tried to stop her, but he was too late. Her speed gained that much momentum and was still growing.

His legs couldn’t catch up with her, causing him to trip over his legs, but instead of falling down on the ground, he was gliding like a kite.

Midna was so fast that made Chris literally be over the ground. It was something he had only seen in the Saturday mornings cartoons, but now it became reality.

Chris wasn’t paying attention to where Midna was running, who was dragging him into the many hallways they passed, but he was pretty sure they were still on the first floor since he didn’t felt her walking up a stair.

Eventually, her speed gradually started to slow down her pace; lessening each step she did until reaching a softly stop. She then looked at the boy with a refreshing smile, as if she was showing him there were no problems.

Also meaning there was no way she would separate her hand from his.

[][][][][]

They moved up to the upper floor, going to the center of the first hallway after exiting the stairs. Now the search could officially begin.

Based on what Midna said, she encountered the thing before coming to the class. With the “extra time” they had in the canteen, Chris remembered her words as she explained more:

“The last time I saw it, it was on the second floor”

(Here we are, but…)

It was a long straight hallway, with one classroom on each corner before it would continue stretching to the other side. Since they used the stairs on the school’s east wing, there was a panel in their front filled with blankets about extra-activities supported by the school.

Looking around, there were no signs there was someone there, at least not the one they were looking for.

(Why everyone is so messy?)

Sheets, paper cups, a couple of pencils and a bit of dirt. That was what was on the ground, vestiges of clumsy students that wanted to go home as fast as possible. If the thing passed there, there was no way of setting it apart from them.

-Let’s go.

They proceeded to walk, going to the hallway’s right direction. As they were passing, still with her on the lead, Chris was looking around, trying to find any sort of clues to know if the thing had passed there.

He continued to look, with no results, until they reached the central hallway division. If they entered left, they would go inside it. If they went ahead, they would continue forward.

He pointed forward, signalizing to the girl the direction to go now. If he went ahead himself, she wouldn’t move an inch as if she was an anchor stopping the boy.

This way they could move to where he wanted to, even if it were one more embarrassment to pass.

“It turned into a corner and I didn’t see it anymore”

(Then it must have passed in one of the outer hallways)

Think of a rectangle, then put another one, a bit smaller, inside of it, then divide that small rectangle into two. That was the basic layout of each floor beside the first one.

With that in mind, they were walking in the further path, trying to find traces of where the thing was.

But, even after completing a circle around the whole floor, they found nothing. There was no mark on the floor, nothing on the walls, no sound besides of their own footsteps.

(That was expected, wasn’t it...)

A long time had passed since Midna had seen it. If that thing was there, it was long gone. Besides, it was during classes, so maybe it will only appear during those times, just when the phenomenon happens.

(If it weren’t for that thing in the canteen, I could have found this damn thing!)

Being honest, Chris had agreed to her terms to not search until after-school, but they would still need to go to classes. Even if it were for a small amount of time, he would look for the thing on his way. Instead of it, they were locked.

(This was just a waste of time…)

They didn’t get any new information. It was a lost day, with the only reward they had were the exams, which wasn’t, in his opinion, ending in a very satisfying way.

But on contrary the depression he was feeling, his partner was quite happy with it. Ever since their hands were together, the smile on her face didn’t disappear for one second.

Now, there was nothing else to do besides-

-Let’s go home…

[][][][][]

After Chris said that, they moved up to the third floor. His bag was still there since he would return afterward. His school didn’t have any records of thievery happening, so many students also did the same to not carry more weight around.

Arriving at their classroom, he picked up his bag while Midna was still gathering her stuff on the table. Since they would return, there was no need to hold hands together, so now they were separated, to his joy.

-I’m waiting outside.

The girl was taking quite a bit of time to pack her belongings, so he went out of the classroom. He leaned his back on the wall and sighed.

-Man, what a day…

The tiredness was starting to affect him. Even if there was nothing wrong right now, there was too much that happened.

-Exams, then Kyle, then this…

If he were to say it, this was one of the most ordinary day’s he had after the snowstorm, mostly because of how it ended peacefully without giving him a headache.

There were still things that were weird, but still an ordinary day nonetheless.

-But…does that really exist…

Whispering to himself, he was starting to doubt her words. If something was inside of the school, someone might as well see it.

Even if break time was just ten minutes long, it wasn’t uncommon to find many students out in the halls talking with friends from other classes, allowing them to spot something weird in the hallways.

But that wasn’t the only reason for his doubts.

Although Chris had started to trust more in her, there were some problems regarding the person itself. He heard about that thing from someone that wasn’t originally from his world.

She didn’t even saw it clearly, relating it was just a thing moving in the hallway. It could have been something else that she didn’t know of and lost the chance to have a sight of it.

One day at his house, the girl knew about dogs and cats, seeing how well she was interacting with their pets, but when it came to their pet bird, she was vigilant towards her, always on guard wherever she was around.

(Maybe the reason for that is from the game.)

While he was playing [You are mine], it was common to find some dogs or cats, be it on the streets or houses, but there wasn’t a picture of about a single bird there that he could think of.

With her limited knowledge, it was quite difficult to know whatever it was relevant or not. Just yesterday had she not seen the other classes before talking to Chris, she wouldn’t have talked that they were normal. It was a good misunderstanding.

Even though it was his first year there, he heard some stories about animals from the woods invading the school, with the most interesting one being of a bear that made his way to the principal’s office.

(Not like it needed to be a bear but…)

If it were something smaller and fast, like a raccoon or a couple of birds flying, they could enter and exit the school in no time, leaving the girl in fear due to the unknown she saw.

(Not like it matters now.)

Whatever it was now it’s gone. There was no use in thinking more about it. That wouldn’t solve anything about the phenomenon and whatnot.

As he was thinking that, the classroom opened and Midna came out carrying a shoulder bag. She looked around and found him near.

-Are you ready?

-Yep!

Hearing her reply, the boy started walking to the nearest staircase, hearing her footsteps right behind him.

(But seriously what a lost day…)

Thinking his final considerations of today, Chris continued to walk on the hallway. After this, it was a non-stop way towards home.

But then-

-Chris!

Suddenly being called out, he turned his body around and saw as Midna pounced into him, resulting in their fall to the ground. Unconsciously, he wrapped his arms around her back.

Hitting with the back on the floor, with the weight of one person, Chris made a shriek.

(This idiot!)

Looking at the cause of his pain, he saw the girl with her head right next to his, facing the ground. He tried to get up, but she was hugging him tightly.

-Hey! This is not the time for this!

Just because none was around it didn’t mean she could do whatever she wanted. Using his wet hands, he pushed her body away from his and, strangely, he managed to lift her up.

(…Huh?)

Was his surprised because it was easier than normal?

No, that was not it.

He could feel something.

It wasn’t her clothes.

It was something.

Something sticky on top of his hands.

Lowering his line of sight, he dragged one of his hands towards his face and finally saw up close what was wrong with them.

They were painted dark-red with blood.