I break into a full sprint, my footsteps echoing off the stone walls.
The shovel clutched in one hand, my other hand trailing along the wall to guide me through the darkness.
I need to get out. Need to reach the main tunnel. Need to escape.
My footsteps boom through the tunnels.
THUD THUD THUD THUD.
The sound carries, echoes, multiplies.
And then I hear her voice, distant but clear, echoing through the mine:
"Kaito?" She sounds confused. "Where are you going?"
I don't answer. Don't slow down. Just keep running.
The sound of my footsteps must be traveling back to her. Getting fainter. More distant. Moving away instead of staying nearby like she expected.
"You don't need to go that far back!" she yells, her voice louder now.
Sharper. "Kaito!"
But I'm already too far gone.
Already committed.
But I'm already moving faster, my walk turning into a jog.
"Seriously, you're going way too far!" her voice echoes behind me.
I break into a run.
My footsteps echo off the stone walls.
The shovel bounces in my hand.
The lantern light fades behind me as I put distance between myself and Renna.
I can hear her voice still calling after me, but I don't stop. Don't look back.
I just run.
The tunnel stretches ahead into darkness. I'm running blind now, one hand trailing along the wall to guide me, the other clutching the shovel.
I remember this path. We came this way. It's the same route. Straight back to the entrance. To safety. To escape.
I can make it. I'm far enough away that even if she chases me, I'll reach the exit first.
I keep running, my lungs burning, my legs pumping.
And then I slam into something.
Hard.
I stumble back, the impact knocking the wind out of me. The shovel clatters to the ground.
What the—?
I reach out in the darkness, my hands finding smooth stone in front of me.
A wall.
A dead end.
"What?" I gasp out loud. "How?"
This doesn't make sense. We came this way. This exact tunnel. There was no wall here. The path led straight back to the main tunnel, straight back to the entrance.
I run my hands across the stone, searching for a gap, a turn, something I missed in the darkness.
But it's solid. Real. Unbroken stone blocking the entire width of the tunnel.
This is impossible.
"No, no, no," I mutter, panic rising in my chest.
I grab the shovel from the ground and start hitting the wall with it. Maybe it's fake. Maybe it's just a thin layer of rock that I can break through.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
The impacts echo through the tunnel. Chips of stone fly off, but the wall doesn't give. Doesn't crack. Doesn't reveal any hidden passage beyond.
It's real.
I'm trapped.
And then I hear it.
Footsteps.
Coming from behind me.
Steady. Unhurried. The sound of boots on stone growing closer.
"Kaito?" Renna's voice echoes through the darkness. "What are you doing back here?"
I freeze, the shovel clutched in my hands.
The footsteps keep coming. Getting louder. Closer.
And then I see light. The glow of the lantern appearing around a bend in the tunnel, casting long shadows across the walls.
Renna appears, holding the lantern in one hand. Her pickaxe in the other.
Her expression is no longer amused.
"Found a dead end, huh?" she says, walking toward me slowly. "That's unfortunate."
The light from the lantern glints off the pickaxe point as she shifts her grip.
"You know," she continues, "I actually believed you at first. Thought you really did need to take a shit. But then you kept running. And running. And running."
She's closer now. Maybe ten feet away.
"And I realized," she says, tilting her head. "You weren't running to find a spot to relieve yourself."
Her eyes lock onto mine.
"You were running from me."
I tighten my grip on the shovel. It's not much of a weapon, but it's all I have.
"Which means," she continues, taking another step forward, "you know."
The pickaxe rises slightly off her shoulder.
"The question is," she says, her voice dropping lower. "What do you know?"
I don't answer. Can't answer. My throat is too tight.
"Doesn't matter, I guess," she says with a shrug. "The result's the same."
She raises the pickaxe properly now, both hands on the handle.
"I'm sorry, Kaito," she says, and she sounds like she means it. "But I need that heart."
And she charges.