Rini dashed through the corridor of trees, congregating in front of her. Her chest rasped and her heart pounded in her head, as she twisted between them. Her feet twirled, nearly slipping on the soggy ground. But despite everything, she forced herself on.

Only the sudden thumping of her feet on solid ground told her, that she had made it out of the muddy mess. She paused to catch her breath. Her eyes scanned her surroundings. She was back on the main path. Good. She wasn’t planning on straying from it, anymore.

Crimson leaves stuck under the soles of her mud-covered ballerinas, as she slogged down the pathway. She had no idea where she was going. At this point, it didn’t even make a difference to her. She was sick and tired. Of everything. First of all, that disgusting arm Akira had discovered in the middle of the forest. And the disturbing number, six hundred and sixty-six, carved on that tree. The stupid cat that leaped out of the bushes. And not to mention, Kazuya’s lame remarks aimed at her. She hated his guts.

And more than anything, she desired to go home.

Tears pricked her eyes again, but she couldn’t let them fall. She wouldn’t. Kazuya was mistaken about everything. She didn’t participate in the test of courage, because she didn’t have a choice. She did it because she had to prove to herself, that she wasn’t fearful of everything. But was that even true?

Rini eventually came to a halt. She was so deep in thought, she forgot to continue walking. Maybe Kazuya was right, after all. Maybe she truly was a scaredy-cat and a baby. In spite of everything, she hadn’t proven that she was anything else.

The tears that had been coating her eyes came welling down, like a river. She just couldn’t change. In reality, the purpose of the test of courage was to build up some courage. Yet, she hadn’t gained even the tiniest bit of it. It was just unachievable.

A gust of wind carried a pacifying silence through the forest. If she closed her eyes and overlooked the mess that had occurred today, she could've imagined she was fast asleep in her snugly bed right now.

“Rini!”

Rini flinched at the sudden call of her name from afar. It was Akira. Was he searching for her? With Aina and perhaps even Kazuya?

Impossible. Kazuya despised her, and she loathed him back. He wouldn't come searching for her. Either way, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she wanted him to.

She stood, wavering for a bit. Should she meet up with her team? Aina and Akira were kind, but she seldom talked to them before in class, so would they even care?

No, she decided. They won’t.

“Rini, where are you?” This time it was Aina’s voice.

Rini frowned and began trudging again, in the opposite direction of her voice. First leisurely, but as the seconds passed, she picked up the pace, until she bolted as fast as her legs could carry her. They didn’t care about her. They had no reason to, after all.

Her hair fluttered in the wind. She could barely see through the tears in her eyes. She blinked once, twice.

Her mind went blank when her feet fastened under an exposed tree root. The world whirled around for a second, as she plummeted with her face down on the dirt.

She curled up, her body burning with pain, from her internals to her very fingertips. She groaned, and heaved herself halfway up in a sitting position, placing the palm of her hand on her head. She wouldn’t have worn the cutest outfit she owned in her wardrobe if she knew this would happen. Covered in mud, it was almost difficult to discern the original color of her dress.

Still, in a sitting position, an unsteady weight leaned on her head. Something from above. In blind panic, she failed her arms and jerked away. She gazed upwards. Only too late, she realized she never should’ve split from her team, to begin with.

Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. She wasn’t scared, she wasn’t scared, she wasn’t scared…

She was petrified.

A corpse. It hung dangling from the tree.

Rini shrieked at the top of her lungs. She shut her eyes, yet the anxiety came to a boil within her. It was as if her skeleton was trying to escape and pierce through her skin.

She flung her eyes open, whirling her head in all directions. She needed to get out of this forest. She had to. Now.

She couldn't gather the strength in her body. She couldn’t perceive anything but the dark. As if she dashed through a tunnel so dark, it wouldn’t make a difference, if she closed her eyes. And yet, she hadn’t moved an inch.

This was the end for her.

“Rini!” A hand on her shoulder suddenly shoved her back into reality. Akira’s eyebrows were raised, as he stared into her eyes with his concerned, indigo-blue ones. “Are you alright?”

The rays from the flashlight Aina was clutching in her hand, dragged Rini out from the darkness she had been staring into just a second ago.

“The… the…” Rini could barely say the words, as she pointed with her trembling hand.

Aina directed the flashlight towards it. “It’s just a dummy.”

Rini narrowed her eyes. Then, realization dawned upon her. The ivory-colored piece of plastic was the size of a human being. It swayed lightly from the tree, a rope strangled around its neck. The posture of the dummy was stiff, unnaturally so. It hung with its head straight ahead, its arms stretching out horizontally. The dummy was missing one of its eyes, leaving an empty, black hole in its stead.

Kazuya snorted. “Rini’s a bit of a dummy herself since she thought it was a corpse.”

“Kazuya!” Akira turned his head towards him. “Of course, she didn’t know. It’s difficult to distinguish between what’s real and what’s not when it’s so dark. Stop getting on her case, already, jeez.”

“You know what they say about boys?” Aina said. “That when they tease a girl, it’s because they like them.”

Akira cracked up, his laughter resounding.

Kazuya’s face exploded in bright red. “Wha-?! Wait a second, what are you saying? I do not!”

“So that’s why you… you…” Akira broke out in tears.

“No, it’s not!”

He was completely ignored. Akira was busy laughing and Aina paid no heed to him. Despite that, Kazuya turned his head and took a pace forward, standing face to face with Rini. “Anyway… Rini, I’m sorry, alright?”

Kazuya’s apology was met with deafening silence. Even Akira had ceased chuckling. The three of them stared perplexed at Kazuya, as he continued to speak, his eyes locked on the ground.

“I suppose I was a bit mean to you. So…” His voice faded away into silence.

Did he just…?

Rini had never imagined Kazuya like this, apologizing to her. He was so full of himself, that… oh, well. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy, after all. Maybe they could still be friends. Couldn't they?

The corners of her mouth slid slightly upwards. She rose up on her feet, her knees still stinging from her fall. “I understand. It’s fine.”

“Just don’t cling to my arm again,” Kazuya muttered under his breath.

The atmosphere suddenly lightened. A feeling of hope blossomed in Rini’s chest. They probably cared, all of them. She was their classmate, and they were hers. What was she thinking anyway? Surely, she was a dummy.

“Anyway,” Akira said. “I’m calling Class Rep and the others. We have to let them know about that… arm” – he spat out the word – “we discovered earlier. And then, we’ll leave the forest.”

Rini and the rest of her teammates nodded in agreement. Akira pulled up his smartphone from the pocket of his jeans, already as fawn-colored and muddy as Rini’s dress. The pale glow from the phone lightened his face, as he went through his contacts.

Akira’s eyes widened and his hand hovered over his phone, standing as still as a statue.

“What’s the matter?” Rini asked.

A firm breeze gusted through the trees, tremendously rustling the branches and leaves.

“There’s no signal.”