‘What the hell happened…?’ Haruto slowly opened his eyes. As he sat up, his neck began to ache.
“Ouch..” Haruto looked around, but he most definitely did not recognize the area he was in. After the situation with Taiyo, Haruto lost all hope in believing that Mamoru lived. But he couldn’t, or rather wouldn’t accept the fact that Yume might be dead as well.
“Wait.” Haruto got up and began searching, as he couldn’t find anything, or anyone he panicked.
“YUKIO!” He shouted, pacing back and forth. All Haruto heard were cracks and crunching, which was strange because there were no bones beneath his feet.
“Yukio..?” Haruto made the mistake of going near the sound, only to see somebody being brutally torn apart by demonic creatures. As soon as he called out, all of the monsters made direct eye contact with Haruto. ‘Five demons..?’ Haruto felt around in his jacket pocket trying to find the small weapons he took with him, but he couldn’t find any of them.
“Crap.. Yukihiro probably confestated them..” Haruto muttered. He didn’t know what to do, but he kept eye contact with the demons, slowly backing away. Haruto’s surroundings were like the inside of an abandoned auditorium, so of course there was going to be an exit nearby. As he continued walking back towards the stage, he began feeling the walls for a doorknob or a walkway. All five of the monster’s glares did not look anywhere else, just Haruto, as if they were planning to have another meal.
Haruto became anxious, he couldn’t find anything, but he had no idea what might happen if he looked away, even for just a second. This wasn’t the only thing on his mind, he couldn’t stop thinking about all the possibilities of what could’ve happened to Yume and Yukio. The loud ticking of the clocks did not help, it was all driving Haruto crazy.
One of the demonic creatures took a step towards Haruto, causing his hands and arms to shake. He backed up more until he bumped into the stage. He couldn’t take it anymore, Haruto did a quick look around for a door, and there was one at the back of the stage. But just as Haruto thought, the small beasts came running towards him.
“GET AWAY!” Haruto climbed up onto the stage before one of the creatures caught up to him. Unfortunately for Haruto, the exit was so close yet so far. First there was only one after him, but now all five came lunging towards Haruto, until they all suddenly stopped, backing up.
“What, are you scared now that I appear taller on this stage?” Haruto said sarcastically, but he looked behind himself just in case. He stood there, finally understanding that it wasn’t him the demons were afraid of, but rather afraid of waking The Puppeteer who was clearly unconscious on the stage in some sort of bowing down position, kind of like how a performer would bow after showcasing their talents. Haruto quietly and quickly ran past it, not waking the beast up. After Haruto exited the stage, he found himself lost backstage.
“I thought this was a damn exit.” Haruto exclaimed. There were a few bones and even whole dead bodies back there, but the thing that Haruto genuinely felt afraid of were the dismembered mannequins. The backstage was large, there was a large amount of mannequins all in different positions. It was clearly The Puppeteer’s playground, all the mannequins were only able to remain in their positions because of the strings that were tied to the creepy things.
“Where the hell is the actual exit?” Haruto became annoyed upon looking at the large area, it seemed much bigger than his gym building, or even his whole school building. ‘What kind of backstage is this big?’ Haruto questioned, but as he kept thinking about it, he put two and two together. A backstage this big in order to have a large monster be able to move around freely and quickly. No wonder all this many people were killed. He began walking around, trying to avoid stepping on anything that might make a loud sound. As Haruto went deeper into the backstage, it got darker, and there were more dead bodies. Haruto took his phone out, spamming the turn on button.
“Crap.. it died.” Haruto searched his jacket and pants pockets, trying to find a flashlight of some sort. To his surprise, he found a flashlight with very little power, but it would do.
“Guess I’ll save this for when it gets even darker.” Haruto stuffed the flashlight back in his pocket, making sure it was secured. When he continued walking, Haruto made sure to watch his every step, or at least do a light tap with his foot before taking the step. It felt like a never-ending place, just how big was the backstage?
“What’s this?” Haruto noticed a note on the head of a mannequin, taking out his flashlight in order to read it.
“‘It’s all a trap, the exit is near the.. entrance..?’ what?” Haruto stood there, contemplating on whether the note was true or not.
“So, I’m being told that I walked all this way, for absolutely NOTHING?!” Haruto yelled out in slight rage. But as soon as he realized how loud he was, he immediately covered his mouth. Haruto sat down, hiding behind a cluster of mannequins, unsure of whether he accidentally woke up The Puppeteer or not. There was a mirror right in front of Haruto, making him feel uneasy. It only became worse when a yellow, creepy eye appeared in the mirror, making eye contact with Haruto. As the eye seemingly starred into Haruto’s soul, his heart began racing and his breathing became heavy.
“What do you want with me?” Haruto whispered with a trembling voice. The clock ticking became louder, and louder. Until a loud bell rang. As soon as Haruto blinked, he was no longer in the backstage of the auditorium, but rather in an open area, like a desert.
“Where the hell am I now… what even ha–” Haruto looked directly at the clock that had just started a new sixty minute sequence. “Huh. Guess that mystery was just solved.”
The sky was blood red, so was the moon. It clearly wasn’t a good idea to be in an open area, but Haruto didn’t pay much attention to the fact that it was extremely dangerous, especially during a blood moon. Haruto wandered around, being mindful of what’s on the ground. As he continued walking in the endless desert, Haruto came to a stop with a bewildered look on his face.
“What is that..?” Haruto looked in shock at the amount of eyes in a pitch black area. It was like a strange glitch in the realm, as if he came to the end of the realm borders.
“LET ME OUT.”
“What the hell..?” Haruto looked up, and it was pitch black, the only thing that could be seen were the eyes that seemingly stared into his soul. When Haruto looked directly into one of the eyes, all of them closed.
“Weird.” He decided to go back, until something stabbed Haruto’s leg, causing him to scream in agony.
“LET GO OF ME!” Whatever stabbed Haruto never took the sharp object out of his leg, slowly dragging Haruto into the void-like area. When Haruto looked behind himself, he saw something that looked very familiar. Too familiar. Haruto tried getting his leg out of the creature’s grip, but as he continued to examine the creature, he understood why it felt so familiar.
“YOU’RE THE ONE THAT STABBED ME THAT NIGHT!” Haruto shouted, jabbing his heel into the strange figure, but it didn’t do anything. Haruto had no idea what to do, or what would happen if he fell into the void area. As Haruto contemplated on what to do, the shadow figure showed it’s full body, appearing as a very large creature. The silhouette could be seen, but that was all. The creature pinned Haruto to the ground with one of its six arms, it was about to kill Haruto before wind came gushing, pushing both Haruto and the shadow figure out of the dark area. Even though Haruto was finally temporarily safe, the creature who was now screaming in agony, was being strangled by the chains that bound the creature to the Mirror Realm.
Haruto looked into the shadow figure’s eyes, they were filled with sadness and anger. Desperation to get out of this hellhole. Haruto’s eyes drifted down, looking at the body that was bound with chains, bones could be seen. The creature had been starving for a long time so it seems.
“You’re hungry, aren’t you?” The creature finally got out of the light, no longer in pain of the chains around its neck. Haruto noticed that the sharp part of its arm broke off, so he reached to grab it.
“This is the most stupid thing I’ve ever done.” Haruto stabbed his own arm, ripping out a chunk of skin. Haruto winced, accidently ripping off too much skin. He began breathing heavily, trying to cover the large exposed wound.
“H-here.” Haruto tossed the chunk over to the shadow figure, disgusted by the texture. As he blinked, the chunk was gone, but rather, there was a small bottle with an icy blue liquid in it.
When Haruto reached for it, he recognized the bottle.
“This is the same thing Taiyo and Mamoru gave me to heal up. How’d that thing get a hold of this..?” Haruto screwed the lid off, holding it up to his mouth, drinking it.
“Your friend forgot that here.” Haruto almost choked on the liquid as the creature’s eyes looked towards him.
“Are you surprised I can talk? It won’t last that long though. I apologize for attacking you, but I may attack again if you don’t get out of here, that chunk was never going to satisfy my hunger for that long.” Its eyes were full of pain.
“Oh. I-It’s fine. I doubt you had much control.” Hauto finished drinking the liquid, all of his scratches and stab wounds healed up.
“Now out, NOW! You don’t have much t-time!” The shadow figure’s voice began to sound glitchy, before the void-like area began expanding.
“CRAP, CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!” Haruto began running, but it was hard to keep away from the void. He was never really that athletic when it came to running. It continued spreading until Haruto jumped across a crack in the ground. The void stopped spreading, retracting back into the desert.
“Too close for comfort..” Haruto was panting, sitting down. He did a quick check of his surroundings, making sure there were no monsters before taking a break.
“I wonder if Yukio and Kuroki are ok. Please be ok.” Haruto put his head in his hands, resting. He drifted off into thoughts, doubts, worries. Haruto raised his head, noticing all the tears that had filled up his hands that were cupped.
“I’m so pathetic.” Haruto chuckled, as he got up, he knocked something down by accident.
“What the–” He looked down, noticing the water bottle that got knocked down. Haruto bent down, picking it up. To his surprise, it was a brand of water that he bought frequently, what was it doing in the Mirror Realm?
“That’s strange. I don’t remember bringing this here.. or did I?” Haruto was puzzled, but he was also very dehydrated. He twisted the lid off, immediately chugging the water. It felt incredibly refreshing, just what he needed.
“Woah, was I really that thirsty?” Haruto looked at the empty water bottle, not knowing what to do with it.
“There’s no place to put it in.. like a trashcan or something.” He decided to just drop it, besides, there were probably no laws in the Mirror Realm. Haruto wouldn’t have to worry about any consequences of this action, despite littering being such a small thing. As Haruto began walking out of the area, something followed slowly behind, coming across the empty water bottle.
“Here, son. Follow the scent, once you find this human, send a signal.” A tall woman with the wings of a raven picked up the water bottle, giving it to a demonic wolf. Once the wolf picked up the scent, it began following Haruto’s scent.
“Hey. Change of plans.” The lady called out, and the wolf stopped.
“Just keep following him, wait until 27 leaves the boy. When his guard is down, alarm me.” She gave a hand signal to go.
The wolf silently crept behind Haruto, watching his every move.
“Ugh, when was the last time I got a proper shower?” Haruto said with a look of disgust. He would look for somewhere to bathe, but knowing how chaotic the Mirror Realm was, he’d probably run into trouble.
“Guess I’ll just have to deal with it.” He scoffed, walking ahead without the slightest worry of what’s following him. Haruto continued walking, checking the time on the clocks.
“How is there only four more minutes left on the clock? Two more hours left on the larger one? It doesn’t make any sense!” Haruto complained, it felt like it had only been ten minutes since he got into the desert. Not to mention since he got back into the Mirror Realm. Little did Haruto know, being in a void zone could make time go by faster, tricking the mind of someone who has little to no knowledge of the Mirror Realm. Haruto continued walking, but then he stopped.
“One minute it’s freezing cold in the DESERT.. and now it’s flaming hot in an area with glaciers..? I really don’t get this chaotic concept.” Haruto took his thick jacket off, simply carrying it.
“What’s that?” Haruto notices a building in the distance, closer to the glaciers that gradually became darker. As he went closer, the temperature increased. Haruto was debating whether to turn back or not, but when he took a step, there was a loud bell ringing. He was floating in the area that had glitched before hitting his head on the ground.
“Where am I now?” Haruto sat up, but there was blood that ran down his head, but it wasn’t his.
“HOLY CRAP!” Haruto found himself right on top of another body that was somewhat not deformed. After getting up, Haruto’s eyes widened.
“I-I–... B-but I was already here..” He looked at the very stage that he saw when he arrived back in the Mirror Realm. It was different this time though, there was a mannequin standing on the stage, and all the exits were blocked off with a few strings and a bell, weird way of blocking an exit.
“Would you like to hear a story?” A slightly glitchy and raspy male voice called out.
“WHO’S THERE?!” Haruto began looking around in a panic, trying to find the source of the voice.
“... what’s the story about?”
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–CHAPTER 12 END–
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