The hallways seemed endless, the staircases led to impossible places, and rooms appeared and disappeared. On several occasions, they reached areas they could have sworn they had already passed through, and every so often... the building changed.
CRACK...
The walls shifted, the corridors turned, doors appeared where none had existed before, the entire labyrinth reconfigured itself before their eyes. Again and again, until even Kotone began to feel uneasy.
For the first time since they had become trapped, the absolute confidence she always displayed began to crack.
The possibility slowly began to make its way into her mind, something that rarely happened. Kotone was a genius. She had grown up hearing that she could accomplish anything, that she was destined for great achievements, but now... for the first time in a very long time... she had no answers.
That was when Mochi suddenly stopped, her feline ears twitching.
"I hear something."
The words immediately broke Kotone's spiral of thoughts. She lifted her head, and a spark of hope appeared in her eyes.
"What?"
She quickly moved closer.
"What do you hear?"
For an instant, she thought they had finally found a clue, that perhaps Mochi had located the anomaly, or the core, or even a way out. But the expression on Mochi's face caused that hope to crumble almost immediately.
"I don't know..."
The sound came again, very faint and distant, yet disturbingly clear to Mochi's sensitive ears.
Thump...
Thump...
Thump...
Mochi swallowed.
"It sounds like..."
She fell silent for a few seconds and then looked at Kotone.
"It sounds like a heartbeat. That's what I hear. The sound of a heart beating somewhere far away."
Kotone blinked, then frowned.
"A heartbeat? That's stupid."
"Huh?"
"Obviously you've already lost your mind from being trapped in here."
Mochi immediately turned toward her.
"Shut up, shorty! I'm telling you I can hear a heartbeat coming from somewhere inside this building."
"And I'm telling you you're wrong. No matter how sharp your hearing is, it's impossible to hear something as small as a heartbeat from this far away. I've never heard of a catsith capable of doing something like that."
"Well, I can hear it!"
Mochi crossed her arms.
"It's faint, but it's there."
Kotone rolled her eyes.
"Sure it is."
"And it's coming from that direction."
Mochi pointed toward one of the many doors scattered along the corridor and, without waiting for a response, walked over to it, turned the handle, and opened it.
"Hey!"
The Building's Heart
But Mochi had already started moving forward.
Kotone let out a long sigh. The whole thing felt like a complete waste of time, and yet... she ended up following her anyway.
At this point, I don't have anything better to do either...
The two of them moved through the maze. Every time they reached an intersection, Mochi would stop. She would close her eyes, her ears slowly turning in different directions like small antennas searching for a signal. She would remain motionless for a few seconds before pointing down a path.
—This way.
And then she would keep walking.
Kotone watched her in silence. At first, she was only making sure Mochi wasn't leading them into another dead end, but little by little, she began noticing other details.
The way her ears moved. The way they tilted slightly whenever she tried to catch distant sounds. The way her tail swayed slowly when she concentrated. Without realizing it, she found herself watching her more than she should.
How strange...
Her eyes followed the movement of one of those ears.
They look soft...
The thought appeared out of nowhere and caught her completely off guard. For an instant, she felt the urge to walk over and touch them, just once. Just to find out whether they were really as soft as they looked.
Kotone's eyes widened.
What am I thinking?
She shook her head vigorously. She couldn't believe she was even considering something like that, especially about her.
I'm definitely losing my mind too.
She pressed her lips together and kept walking. Yet despite all her attempts to deny it... there was one thing she did recognize.
She was relieved.
If she had been trapped in that place alone, she probably would have started panicking long ago. But now... Mochi kept moving ahead of her, never stopping, never giving up. Always searching for a way out.
And as strange as it was...
That back gave her a sense of comfort.
A small smile appeared on Kotone's face.
The two continued onward. With every step, the strange heartbeat grew stronger. Little by little, it stopped being something only Mochi could hear.
Kotone began to hear it as well.
At first, she thought it was her imagination.
Then she heard it again.
THUMP.
A deep, heavy sound.
THUMP.
Like a drum echoing through concrete.
THUMP.
The reverberation seemed to travel through the entire structure.
Kotone froze.
Now she could hear it clearly.
—No way...
For the first time since all of this had begun, she realized Mochi had been right.
The two followed the sound until they finally arrived in front of an enormous metal door. The heartbeat was coming from the other side. There was no doubt anymore.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The sound made the air vibrate. Mochi swallowed hard. Kotone did too. Without exchanging a single word, both of them understood they had found something important.
Mochi placed a hand on the door, took a deep breath, and pushed.
The massive structure opened slowly with a metallic creak. The two crossed the threshold and froze. The room was gigantic.
It looked like an immense basement hidden deep beneath the building. There were no windows, no furniture. There was nothing but enormous concrete pillars stretching upward toward a ceiling more than ten meters above their heads.
For several seconds, neither of them said a word. Because at the center of that vast chamber hung something impossible. Suspended from the ceiling, floating in the darkness... There was a heart.
A gigantic heart.
As large as an adult man, its red, wet surface glistened beneath the dim lighting. Thick veins and arteries extended from it in every direction. They spread across the walls, columns, and ceiling like the roots of a monstrous tree or the web of a colossal spider that had invaded the entire building.
Then it beat again.
THUMP.
The enormous organ contracted. The veins trembled. The sound echoed through the room like thunder. Mochi felt a chill run down her spine.
Kotone remained motionless.
For the first time since they had met, even she seemed unable to find words.
Both of them realized the same thing at the same time. That building had never been a barrier. Because a barrier didn't have veins. It didn't have arteries. And it definitely...
Didn't have a beating heart inside it.