Akira peered into the dark. Sweat trickled down his forehead, but his body shivered. Almost as if it couldn’t figure out whether it was scorching or chilly. He gasped for air, his throat burning with every breath he drew.

He gazed ahead, pointing the flashlight into the dark. The twisted path continued alongside a series of menacing trees, bushes and weeds. Parched, fallen leaves lied in heaps surrounding the tree trunks, like a blood-red blanket embracing the sodden ground. This had to be the place.

The place of someone’s scream.

A light breeze blew and was met with a deadly silence throughout the forest. There wasn’t a living soul around here. No one, besides them. Could this be one of Class Rep’s pranks?

Well, it has to be, Akira reasoned. It was presumably a way to creep Kazuya out. The number, six hundred and sixty-six, carved on the tree from before had to be one of her pranks too. She had agreed to help him, after all.

And if that was the case, he had to play along.

“Let’s split up and search.” Akira turned to face his teammates. “Rini and Aina, go left and check out the place. Call us if you get in trouble. Kazuya and I’ll take the right side. We’ll meet here in five minutes.”

Aina nodded firmly. Rini’s eyes widened and her eyebrows raised, as she continuously mumbled something under her breath. Akira couldn’t make it out. Though, it wasn’t long before they vanished into the thick night, as they walked away.

A few minutes later, Akira and Kazuya had strayed from the main pathway to investigate, as Akira liked to call it. His eyes scanned the place, shuffling his feet and stirring the countless leaves beneath them. He pointed the flashlight, searching the vague darkness for a clue. To the left. To the right. Straight ahead. There was nothing.

“Hello?” Akira called out to no one in particular. He listened along, as his voice resounded. “Is anyone here?”

No one answered.

They continued further down that route. And things started getting eerier. The wind was dead silent, nonexistent. The tawny ground consisted of more liquid than earth. Their feet would immerse in the mud if they stood still for more than a few seconds.

“What is this place?” Kazuya said beside him.

Akira asked himself the same question. The trees enclosing them were somehow distinct from the others in the forest. They were towering, broader. Sturdier. And there were so many of them. Like a thousand shadows looming over them.

Akira’s heart pounded in his head. The trees assembled in front of them, almost caging them. As if they didn’t want to allow them to pass through.

Akira cast the feeling away. What was he thinking? It was just an ordinary forest.

Right?

A lukewarm breath tickled against the back of his neck.

Akira’s heart lurched. He whirled around.

“Who’s there?!”

An all too recognizable voice let out a deadened scream. “Argh! Don't s-scare me like that! It's just us.”

Akira's arm fell to his side, lowering the flashlight.

How in the world hadn’t they noticed Rini and Aina standing behind them? And more importantly…

“What are you two doing here?”

“You said we’d meet in five minutes,” Aina answered. “Ten minutes have passed.”

Ten minutes? Had it already been that long?

“So?” Akira said. “Did you find anything?”

Aina briefly shook her head. “Not a thing.”

Kazuya crossed his arms across his chest and leaned on a tree trunk. “Nothing happened here either. It was probably just a scaredy-cat who screamed. You know, someone like Rini.”

“Hey!” Rini was quick to defend herself. “I’m not a scaredy-cat. If I was, I wouldn’t even contemplate taking the test of courage. Hmph.”

A teasing simper formed on Kazuya's lips. “You mean, you had to take it because you just didn’t have a choice.”

“That’s not it!”

“Seriously,” Akira said. This was so annoying. Kazuya and Rini were. But at least he knew, that he would never want to be in a team where the two of them were together. “We'll never find out if something happened if we don’t discover anything. So, we need to get back to searching. Especially you two.”

Kazuya made a grim expression. “Huh?! Isn’t that what we’re doing right –”

“I meant separately!”

Akira sighed wearily to himself, as he strayed a bit further into the forest, pointing the rays of the flashlight in front of his feet.

Those two were continuously riling each other up. It was almost as if he had entered a theater, instead of a forest. Kazuya, never afraid of anything and Rini, pretty much afraid of everything. They were admittedly the most adverse match and still somehow ended up on the same team by chance.

A squelch hit Akira’s ears, the instant he took his next stride. His body froze up. Whatever his sole had met was not the ground.

His foot hovered over the ground for a second. Then, he retraced the single step he had taken, directing the flashlight in front of his feet.

Akira narrowed his eyes. This sand-colored thing was distinctive amongst the earthy, dark green colors of this forest. The length had to be around twenty inches and it appeared a bit thick, tapering towards the end. If it hadn't been for the color, Akira would've thought it was a bough.

A foul smell lingered in the air, creeping into his nostrils. A smell that didn’t belong in the woods.

He crouched, leaning closer. The crimson blotches on it glistened in the light. Paint?

He flashed to the right. Then, the sight hit his eyes.

He stared upon a scrawny, lifeless hand. The limp fingers had swelled to twice the average size. They twisted and curled backward, the bones protruding like splinters, cracked into pieces. The nails, missing, ripped off. Every single one of them. Dark puddles of crimson swam in their stead.

Akira dropped the flashlight.

A severed lump of human meat lied in front of his feet.

He screamed. He took a pace backward, tumbled over his feet and fell.

What the heck was that?

Panic flooded through his veins and his senses roared to flight, but it was as if he was glued to the ground. He couldn’t move a muscle.

Treads rapidly thumping against branches and mud crawled into his ears. They were getting closer and closer. His heart pounded in his chest like a jackhammer. Who could’ve done this? What was going to happen?

“Akira!” a deep voice bellowed behind him. “What the heck happened? Don’t tell me Rini rubbed off on you.”

Of course. The footsteps. It was just his teammates. And that arm? It was probably one of Class Rep’s pranks. Yes, it did look absurdly real, but that had to be it. There was no way anything would happen in this regular forest.

Akira exhaled deeply and all his muscles eased in his body. He hadn’t realized he had been so tense because of a prank. Instead of getting Kazuya frightened, he was the one getting scared. Akira let out a brief laugh of relief. How stupid could he be?

Behind him, Aina sniffed a few times. “Something happened here.”

Akira’s body stiffened.

“H-how can you tell?!” Rini asked.

“It stinks like iron and rust. It’s the smell of blood, without a doubt.”

Was that the smell of… blood?

“Does that mean that arm” – Akira lifted his trembling hand and pointed – “… is real?”

Akira could almost sense the terror piercing into their hearts when Aina directed the flashlight she was holding towards what Akira was pointing at.

Rini gasped, her face losing all its color. “That’s… a… a…”

“An arm,” Aina completed. Despite her rigid expression, it wasn’t difficult to discern her fear. Her body was slightly shaking in the dark, like a flame being blown by the wind.

Kazuya took a step towards the piece of meat and crouched.

“I think it’s real,” he said. “Just as Aina said, it reeks of blood, and it looks too realistic to be fake.” He tilted his head a bit to the right. “Woah. Despite the dark, even the bone is visible. Right here.” He pointed.

I’m getting sick, was the only thought that ran through Akira’s head. His stomach churned, almost threatening to empty whatever he had eaten.

Kazuya made a swift movement with his finger, smearing the crimson juice on it. “The blood’s still fresh, so it must’ve happened recently-”

“Enough of this!” Rini said. And honestly, Akira didn’t mind, quite the contrary. If Kazuya kept on, he was going to throw up.

“Seriously.” Kazuya sighed. “If you’re going to act like a baby all the time, you might as well leave.”

“Fine!” Her eyes, coated with tears, sparkled in the dark. “I’ve had enough of this place anyway!”

She disappeared in the dense night.

“What? Wait!” Akira said.

Silence filled the heavy air. She was already gone.

Sweat trickled down Akira's forehead. To split up was the worst thing they could do in a situation like this. Akira had no idea who the culprit was. Was it a demon? Unlikely. But a murderer? Could be.

In any case, it didn’t matter. Rini’s life could be in danger if she wandered all by herself in the forest.

A crease between Akira's eyebrows adorned his skin, and a do-or-die look colored his face. Rini was his classmate, and he wouldn’t abandon her. She was a bit annoying at times, but Akira still appreciated her in some way.

He peered into the dark of the night and seized the flashlight he had dropped beside him. Despite his body’s will to give in, he stood, forcing his legs to carry his weight.

“Let’s go,” Akira said calmly, though his voice was shaky. “We’re going after Rini and we’re going to warn everyone. Then, we’ll leave this forest. Together.”

Neither Aina nor Kazuya argued with him.