Kagome, Kagome

Around You

Haruto lets out a gasp. His head frantically turning to every direction.
It looked like he was in the hallways in  the same old, stone building he entered a few moments ago.

But the bright and clean halls made him wonder if he really was in the same wrecked building.

A chorus of children giggling and the clanking of toys rattled all around the place.

A series of heavy footsteps entered the young man's hearing, making Haruto face the source of the noise.

People in laboratory coats who looked distraught yet determined marched through the hallways.
They spoke in German, making it easy for Haruto to translate their words into his mind.
His stepmother had taught him her language when he was younger in able to easily communicate with her.

"It didn't work with her, but if we try other methods to get to the kill switch, it might just work." One of the doctors announced.

"Fine, get the youngest one you could find. This orphanage is a farm, no one would notice one more to go missing."
The other doctor answered.

"This place is an orphanage? Who are these people?"  Haruto followed behind the group of doctors.
"What are they even doing here in a place like this?"

The group of doctors disbanded and one strayed farther away to the hallway. The young man followed behind the female doctor stop in front of a door.
The doctor knocks on the door and in a few moments, it was opened by a young woman.

"Yes, doctor?" She spoke in her native tongue.

Haruto peeked from the doctor's shoulders to see the room inside which was revealed to be a play room. Children played in the floor with their toys and with their friends.
The young woman must be a caretaker.

"Miss Ichigo, Can you please escort us the youngest one here in this room? Our next experiment happens in a few minutes." The doctor spoke in fluent Japanese.

A terrified expression flitted across the caretaker's face. "...w-well, there's Chihiro, b-but, doctor, she's too young to—"

"Yes, please escort her to the operating room immediately. I'll see you there." The doctor interupts the caretaker, before walking away.

The caretaker trembles and began to cry, as she went inside the room.
Haruto entered the room to find the caretaker hugging a little girl, no older than six or eight.

"What's happening, Miss?" The little girl asks in a small voice.

"It's going to be okay. The doctors just want to see you." The caretaker says in a shaky voice.

The little girl's eyes widened in fear. "B-but, I didn't do anything wrong!" She exclaims.

The young woman shook her head, "No, no, Chihiro. You didn't do anything wrong. You've been such a good girl, but the doctors want to see you now. You know we have to listen to them." The young woman began to sob, as she wipes the tears off the child's face.

"Please....please don't let me go to them. Please protect me, Miss Ichigo." The little girl sobbed.

Haruto looked at the caretaker and the orphaned child cry, as the young adult began to carry the little girl in her arms. Chihiro's yellow kimono wrinkled under her caretaker's arms. The young girl began to sob in the adult's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." The caretaker whispered as she slowly carried the child out to the hallway.
Each of her steps was a a replica to a slow walk towards a terrifying death.

"Hey, what's going to happen to her?" Haruto asks as he walks with alongside the caretaker, but the young woman nor the little girl could hear him. As if he was a ghost.
"Hey! What's going to happen to her?!" Haruto raised his voice.