Sho saw Haruka in the same moment Suzume did. He stepped out of the way as the girl rushed past him to get to Haruka’s side. He entered the room after her, but immediately reeled back at the unbearable stench of rotting flesh. He looked around through tear-filled eyes to find the source. On the other side of the room, there was a second door. He inched closer to see inside. What he found made no sense to his already overloaded mind, so he turned away and approached the girls instead.

“Haruka,” Sho said, his voice a bit unsteady. “Are you okay?” He felt Suzume’s tiny hand grip his wrist. The gesture only served to remind him why they were here. He looked down at his feet and kicked at the ground halfheartedly.

“Listen,” Sho started. “I know this is obviously a bad time and all, but I feel like something needs to be said.” He paused, searching for words. He didn’t want to spend a lot of time with drama, since they were standing next to a door leading to what looked like the stomach of some gigantic monster. “I’m sorry about what happened. I didn’t know how you felt, but it’s still my fault. I was inconsiderate to your feelings, and for that I sincerely apologize.” He bowed deeply to further express his apology.

“I hate to cut this short, but obviously we have more important things to deal with,” Sho straightened up again and moved towards the door. He made a face at the nauseating odor. “What [i]is[/i] this?”

On the other side of the door was an impossibly large room made of what seemed like pulsating red flesh. Sho peered past the doorway, looking left and right, but he couldn’t see the end of the room in either direction. The layout of the room kind of reminded him of a subway station. There was also something positioned alone in the middle of what would be the platform. Sho was curious what it was, so he took a hesitant step forward. His foot sank into the mysterious substance with a sickening squelch. He hastily backpedaled into the classroom.

“If this is Heaven, I think I just found the gateway to Hell…”