That three headed hound snarled and huffed their breath straight onto me as it came closer.

Opposite from how aggressive it behave before, it came to me slowly. Lifting the blood painted feet one by one.

Until their nose only a few inch away from my head.

It sniffed on me.

I scoot myself back as I tilted my head up looking straight into the middle head’s eyes.

I prepared myself onto whatever the worst case scenario that is going to happen. But, that monster seemed to be... unsure about me. It reacted differently toward me.

People around me have cleared out of the way, leaving only me, the monster and the injured/dead bodies. Nobody would came to rescue. They run away with all the power they could muster.

I saw that as a chance for me to escape when it was behaving strangely. The cave hole was just a few meter reach away.

I can do this!

I turned myself to the back with hand supporting on the ground then crawled up. I dashed away before that monster started to snarl again.

Just a bit more

That monster made a loud growling sound and started to howl with their heads up. Then it sprinted forward with the speed that could catch up to me in just a leapt.

I glanced on the monster, it leapt to mid air ready to pounce on me. Knowing that, I jumped with all my might toward the hole. I knew that I won’t be able to reach there with this jump or escape its pounce. But still, I wanted to try even there was only one percent chance of me escaped.

When I reached the peak of my jump, that monster suddenly yelped and instantly landed while yowling in pain. Blood gushing out from the left eye of its left head. A short knife stabbed deep into its eye, showing only the handle. The monster was staggered.

I rolled on the ground caused by the hasty jump I did. Then I saw her.

A very familiar figure, who I was with at the last moment before all of this happened. The one who gave me hard time during my last year of high school.

It was Sasaki.

Did she just throw the knife? Where’s that knife come from?

She was trembling in fear, yet she managed to threw the knife accurately. I could see her trying so hard to hide her anxiety. Then, she glanced at me while short in breath.

“What are you doing!! Run!!”

She ran toward me and pulled me up on my feet and dragged me toward the hole.

That monster shook its left head vigorously until the knife detached from its eye and stabbed directly onto the ground.

Together with Sasaki, we managed to dash into the cave hole. That monster stuck its head into the entrance. But, just as I expected, the big body of it couldn’t pass through this tiny entrance. That was the only cave hole with that size.

The monster snarled and sniffed then pushed its head into the hole. But, it was all in vain. So, it gave up pretty quick and turned its back to us. It began to pounce on whoever that was still in the cave.

All I could hear from here was the endless screaming of those people. Some people tried to follow us, but that intelligent monster seemed to know their intention of escaping through the hole that it couldn’t pass. That monster guarded the hole and swiftly pounced on whoever that was near the entrance.

I could see the eyes of those people, begging for help. They were both confuse and helpless then died.

People I knew were crushed under its feet and ripped apart by the monster mercilessly.

“uughh...”

Sasaki’s voice trembled.

She turned her back to the terrifying scene and ran away into that dark passage.

I closely followed her. There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask. But, I didn’t think it was the right time.

We ran and moved further in, it was a passage with a lot of branch but Sasaki just took whichever she wanted. Until the noise from that cave started to fade.

The passage wasn’t as dark as I thought it would be. It was the cave that’s so bright that it made this hole looked dark. The passage was illuminated with some sort of substance stick on its wall and ceiling. It was a weird, slimy, liquid like thing. But, it glows and stuck unwavering on the surface.

We kept running in this long branching passage, where the end can't be seen yet. Until Sasaki finally short on her breath. Her stamina ran low. She decelerated by jogging for a little bit then she started walking in a slow pace.

Sasaki stayed quite. I knew that she was scared. I can see her hand shaking.

Do I need to calm her down?

I was quite shocked with the previous scene, but not as obvious as what showed on her face. Her brows frowned, her lips curled down and her eyes sometimes dart from left to right.

I need to say something

"Thank you..."

I needed to thank her for saving me anyway. But, the words that came out from my mouth somehow shocked her. She turned her face toward me in an instant. In addition of the fear, now she showed confuse.

"W-what?? You're a male??"

"Eh?"

She stopped walking and front facing me.

What did she mean by saying that? I know that I have a feminine face and currently wearing a female's uniform. But, how can she not recognize me?

She squinted her eyes, looking at me puzzled, running her mind deep. After a while, her eyes widened.

"Don't tell me... that you are...."

I nodded in agreement to whatever she will be saying.

"Shiratsuki? What the hell?" She stepped backward, adding some distances between us.

"What happened to you?? Didn't you fell of- Eh, that’s not the problem now!!"

She raised her hand and pointed on my head.

"What happened to your hair?!!" She shrieked.

My hair? What's about my hair? Is there something on it?

I raised my hand and stroked the hair near my face, then gently moved it closer to my sight.

"That colour!! Your hair turned into silver colour!!"

She exclaimed while I saw it for myself too.

My jet-black hair, has turned into silver colour by unknown reason. I was startled. I never in my life dyed my hair. Now, it has become silver coloured. So, that explained the stare people gave me earlier before the ruckus. A student with silver coloured hair, that was a breach of school's rule. Not that it mattered anymore.

"How did you do that!!" Sasaki continued bombarding me with questions I didn't know the answer too.

"I don't know"

"Are you going to die?? Are you poisoned??" She seemed to be concerned with the sudden change of my hair colour. But, poisoning?

I shook my head.

"Arrrhh!! Nothing in here is making any sense anymore" She sighed. Tension finally faded from her face, leaving a weary expression.

She walked to the side of the passage and crouched down with her head buried behind her crouching legs.

Then, she started snivelling.

It was faint at first, as if she was holding back. But it became louder, the small snivelling became a loud wailing sound.

"Uuuuwaaaaaaaahh..."

She cried out so loud that I started to be concerned.

I was worried with her state of mind but there is one more thing that I was worried.

The loud wailing sound she made will attract any creatures that could be lurking at the end of this passage. The probability of another monster roaming around is high, after all that happened. Being noisy was one of the worst we could do.

I moved closer to her and crouched down to the same level as her.

"Uhm.. Sasaki"

I patted on her shoulder. But, she ignored me.

"Sasaki!" I raised my voice a bit and caught her attention.

She stopped wailing and tilted her head slightly upward, showing one of her tear soaked eye.

Now what, how do you comfort a crying girl?

"Uhm... I am sorry"

Her brows frowned again then she sniffled. She turned her head back behind her legs, starting to sob.

"I don't want to hear you apologize... Uwaaaaaaaahh...

*sniff I just want to go home!! waaahhhhh..." She continued wailing again.

This time, she raised her voice and cried in a thunderous way. The passageway was echoed with her wailing sound.

Seriously, I needed that to stop.

"Stop it!"

"Stop crying please!" I exclaimed.

I grabbed on both her shoulder.

"You need to calm down!"

She stopped again and raised her head up. She stared at me with her red puffy eyes.

“How can you be like that!! Aren’t you scared?” She asked while sniffling.

I did feel terrified and confused. But, what is happening now, can’t be solve by wailing like that anyway.

I let out a sigh.

“Yeah, I am scared... But do you want that monster to come after us?”

“But the monster cannot come into this passage!”

“What about the end of the passage? Don’t you think there will be other monster too? What if they hear the sound you make and aggressively come toward us?”

“...”

She finally muted, but her shoulder still quivering in sync with her sniffling motion. It was the first time I talked back to her. All for good will.

“...how can you be so calm about this” She wiped her tears and looked straight into my eyes.

"You lied to me. You aren't scared at all..."

I didn’t expect her to say that.

Am I not scared?

No matter how calm I could be. I am still a human. I believe that it was quite a traumatic scene even for me. Nobody would be able to keep one hundred percent calm about a Cerberus ripping people flesh apart.

“...I hate it when you looked unfaltering with that pretty face of yours... I hate you...”

“Then... why did you save me?”

She was trembling so hard back then after throwing the knife. Then why?

She looked at me hesitantly.

“...I don’t know. There was something in me telling me to save you. I actually heard a clear voice in my mind... I swear!”

“What voice?”

She squinted her eyes while looking up and thinking for a while.

“I think.... it said ‘save that person...’. So I moved my body without thinking further and swissshhhh!!” She replayed her previous throw.

“Hmm...”

“Then I landed that knife straight to that monster’s eye.. phew! I was surprised by myself too” She sighed in relief.

“Where did you get that... knife?”

“Oh, I saw someone nearby holding it on hand. So, I snatched it from her” She proudly explained.

She returned to her original self and put her usual smug face on. But, on a cried face.

“Just let you know, I am quite skilled with throwing knives!”

Why would a normal high school student be skilled in that?Sasaki is more suspicious than how I thought she was

“...I was the kendo club leader at my previous school. You should be glad for having me by your side. I saved your butt from that monster’s teeth you know!”

I nodded repeatedly as she boast her skills. That was better than to hear her crying like a baby.

“you know...”

She muted down. Looking all depressed again. But, this time she didn’t cry.

“We will be able to go home, right?”

To be honest, I highly doubt about that probability. That Cerberus monster was the proof that we are ‘far’ from our home. But there are chances that I could be wrong.

“Yeah...”

I hope she is convinced.

Sasaki stared at me for a while, than forced a smile after a groan.

“At least you tried...” she said while putting a sad expression.

We sat on the side of the passage. Sasaki buried her face back behind her legs again.

She needed time to reconstruct her feeling I guess.

After all the hectic moment, I can finally have my own peace of mind.

I thought about how all of this happened. It started from me falling from the rooftop. The sky turned into a sea of blue light. Then there was a black matter crawling all around my body. I remember having a painful dream but, I can’t recall what it was about. Probably some nightmare.

I wondered where is Kisaragi. She must be inside the cave too, whether alive or not. The chance of her being alive is...small.

The thought of her being piled as one of the dead bodies in the cave, really ached my heart. I felt butterfly on my chest but in a disgusting way. It made me feel dizzy to only think about Kisaragi’s unknown condition. I wondered why would I feel like that. We’ve barely known each other, I didn’t have a reason to be so attached to her.

But, she really was different.

She gave me a very odd but familiar feeling, as if I had known her for a long time ago. But, in the same time, she was just another stranger that I just got involved to. I never met her. I knew that because I remember every face I saw.

I wonder if Sasaki know anything I don’t know about her. She was her classmate after all, even though only for a short period of time.

I should ask her about it after we figured out where we are.

About an hour passed without us talking to each other.

Sasaki remained in her position without moving at all. So, I started to have a weird thought.

I moved closer with ear facing the side of her head.

She is breathing... probably asleep.

How can anyone be asleep in that position, moreover in this situation. She must be extremely exhausted but then I was relieved. I didn’t like the idea of Sasaki die on me in this way. But, how could she? She was just cooping by herself. Nobody die from that. I guess the shock finally got my head.

Two is better then one in this scenario. We can keep each other’s back in check. On top of that, she got the skills to survive. But, we didn’t really bring any weapon with us. No ordinary student will bring weapon to school anyway.

No way...

When I thought, we didn’t have any weapon on us.

I saw Sasaki, she was actually carrying a bag on her back. I didn’t realize it until just now.

I hope she carries a bottle of water. We will need water to survive in case we are still wandering in this place for the next few days.

*stomach rumble....

And we need food too.