[center][b][u]Day 0 - Hallway[/u][/b][/center]

The sudden presence beside her made Akane jump, but once she realized it was simply Nagatani Reiko, a soft smile of reassurance met her face. However, before she could even utter a single 'hello' the door was flung open and arms wrapped around her shoulders. Instantly, almost as if it was a set-in reflex, her hands reached up to grip the shoulders of her attacker tightly, preparing to throw him off, but once the familiar voice of Aito interrupted her thought-less attack Akane felt her grip loosen and she hugged him back, smiling widely.

"Don't be such a wuss, Ai-chan~" she mumbled, and then he pulled away and she was greeted with his usual cold eyes, but now they seemed rather unsure. Frightened. His right hand was loosely gripping at the hem of her sweater, shaking, and she felt her mouth draw into a thin, worried line as she began to scratch at her forearm. Aito eventually began babbling about the earthquake, meanwhile, Akane drew her attention to the shadow behind him, Shizune, who was quickly explaining their situation. But Akane couldn't believe a word of it. Or maybe she did. Unsure, unsure.

[i]"We've all been dragged into a different dimension..."[/i]

Lies, lies. That's not possible. The music was getting closer quickly, and Akane felt her head pound painfully from the scrape and the countless questions she could not utter.

[i]"There's no way to escape..."[/i]

What about Beni? Akane reached forward to clamp onto Aito's hand, squeezing it tightly as her mind began to pulsate with worry. How would she get home to cook for Beni? Who would take care of her? Beni, Beni... Oh, God, Beni! Tears quickly filled her gaze and she wiped them away, trying to calm her pounding heart and swelling lungs. The music was deafening, and nearly, but not entirely, drowning out Shizune's words.

[i]"...hunt us down and kill us..."

"-kill us...[/i]

Akane let out a quiet gasp, squeezing Aito's hand until her knuckles were white. The music had stopped. Everything was still and silent. Akane scanned the room behind Shizune, and then glanced behind her back. Nothing. Something was wrong. The air was heavy, and the smell of something rotten filled her senses. Her gaze returned to Shizune, and the girl's red eyes were wide and frightened, looking not at them but [i]behind[/i] them. And Akane felt her heart drop into her stomach as those words to enter the classroom were uttered. Behind them. Someone was behind them. Her head turned, slowly, and she felt a scream enter her throat at the sight of the man.

His arm was red, like the sky. His clothes black like the moon. His face, a mask perhaps, was as pale as Akane was. The man rose his right hand, which held a violin stick, to his left wrist, which was torn and bled heavily. Frozen, she watched with awe and disgust as the man began cutting the flesh. Music was once again produced, but now it was too loud, and the scene matched with the melody just made everything seem utterly awful.

[i]'My heart is pounding, what is this feeling?'[/i]

[i]Fear[/i]

With sudden, jerking movements she shoved Aito back into the room, and then as she turned to pull Reiko towards her the man's chest exploded and a foreign object wrapped around neck, instantly squeezing the air from her throat. A choked scream escaped for a moment and then Akane clamped her mouth shut, thinking it would be best to conserve her air. The creature, and at the same time it was strangling her and producing even more horrible creatures from the hole in it's abdomen. Her hands moved on their own, clawing at the air and then around her neck, tugging at the thin vein that constricted her breath. She managed to get her fingers beneath one of the ties and pull it, ever so slightly, looser, and air entered her lungs once again but was quickly cut off as the vein tightened and shook her. Akane squinted and struggled against the tightness around her throat, glancing around to see if anyone else was in trouble, and once her eyes settled on Reiko she began to struggle harder. Her hands were clawed and tugging at the vein, her eyes half open as the hold became tighter and tighter. There was no ground beneath her feet, just air, and she kicked froward, hoping to land a hit, but only met wind and the occasional splatter of blood against her legs.

"N-Nagatani... Shit." Akane gasped and lashed around as the veins tightened even more. Darkness cornered her vision, which was focused very clearly on Reiko, and slowly her head began to slump.

[i]'No, no, stay awake. Don't lose. Nagatani-san needs help, help her. Don't die, if you die then Beni will... And everyone else...!'[/i]

Akane grunted instantly, head raising. Shaking hands clamped tightly around the taunt part of the vein, the strand that connected her to the man, and then began to pull. Rip. Shred. Destroy. Destroy. Everything was black and white, and she continued to pull, harder, harder.

"Like I'm gonna let you kill me, fucker!" Akane screamed suddenly, fear replaced by rage and motherly worry, and with one final pull the vein shuddered and gave. Air rang passed her ears, blood splattered against her face, and her legs hit the ground with a loud bang. Akane quickly balanced herself and lowered into a crouch instead of toppling, eyes narrowed with intensity, chest heavily rising and falling. A deep red surrounded her neck, and it would eventually purple and bruise. Something gleamed at her feet, and upon realizing it was Beni's necklace she snatched it up and slid it into her skirt pocket before turning to Reiko, staggering up quickly.

"Nagatani-san!" Her voice was hoarse, eyes wide, "Nagatani-san, hold on!" Akane reached up to grasp onto the vein that held the other girl, but a sudden pain sent her spiraling back into a wall out of reflex. Blood swelled from a cut on her calf, and she glanced up to glare at the herd of baby dolls that surrounded the man. They approached her, and the people in the class room. Her body was already beginning to feel heavy with exhaustion, and there was an unfamiliar wetness against the back of her neck. The scrape was bleeding again.

"Dammit, dammit!" she muttered, dodging another slash quickly. With a quick thought, she glanced around the hall, and eventually landed on the familiar shape of a school bag. Her school bag. With staggering strides Akane eventually grabbed her school bag and turned, holding it out like a weapon. This aura around them, this menacing aura, it was filtering her senses. Her mind was aching, yet she could feel the twinge of a smile on her face. Like the time with the pin and her ears. Or when she nearly leaped from the second story balcony of the school. Akane felt like she could do [i]anything[/i], and with that thought she ran, head-long, into the closest group of baby dolls to the door, swatting at them like flies. Her tactic was swat, jump back, jump back in, swat, which helped to manage to amount of injuries.

[i]'If I can get most away... Then the others will be fine. Nagatani... Nagatani can handle herself...'[/i]

The room was getting darker and darker. No, stay awake, fight. Fight.