𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐤𝐢 [ON HOLD]

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟑

"keiko, get up." a voice said, shaking the girl. she opened her eyes to see kazama kneeled beside her and the roof above him, glowing reddish orange. the room was hot and she could hardly breathe.

"it's on fire." she murmured, realising that the building they had been staying in was on fire. it was really bad and made her wonder how the others hadn't realised before and let it get this bad before leaving.

"let's go." kazama held onto her wrist, firmly, and dragged her to stand up. 

"what about amagiri and shiranui?" she asked as he looked for a way to escape. he seemed so calm and unbothered, but inside he was frantic. while he was able to vanish from one place and appear in another, she couldn't so he'd have to get her out.

"i don't know, but they'll be fine." he told her as they rushed to a door. as they left, the ceiling in the room they had just been in, collapsed. keiko stared back into the room, her heart racing rapidly. a moment more of hesitation and that would've been them stuck underneath, burning.

kazama continued to drag her through doors, looking for the exit. the building they were in was big and there were many people running around. the heat from the fire made their hands sweaty and her fingers were slipping away from his, the people barging into them didn't help and soon the two were separated.

for kazama, this was terrible. he was hurrying around, trying to find the girl who always managed to get away from him.

for keiko, she was thrilled, to an extent. it was the perfect opportunity to escape with an excuse but with the building on fire it would be harder.

she could see the exit to the building down the corridor. there was a woman behind her struggling to carry her friend. keiko looked between the door and the two women. she grabbed one of the unconscious woman's arms and helped her friend drag her to the door.

the ceiling above them was making crackling noises and keiko knew it was beginning to break. without a second thought, she pushed the two women out the door and the ceiling fell, blocking her from leaving.

she turned away and found herself running to doors, opening them hoping to find a window or another exit but being unsuccessful.

the last door she found was at the very end of the building, where most of the fire was. she placed a hand on the door knob that was scorching hot, burning her hand, but she tried her best to ignore it and proceed to open the door.

there, she found a large window and jumped out. softly, she landed on some grass and picked herself up, straight away, hurrying deep into a forest, not turning back once. if she stayed there any longer, one of the demons would find her and take her away again.

she fell onto the floor letting the air enter and leave her lungs. she was gasping after having inhaled much smoke. there were also some family's in the forest, who had just escaped the fire sitting around on logs, discussing their plan.

"we must find a place to stay." a man told his family.

"this is our chance to go to edo now. we have spoken about it for a while." his wife told him after letting a few coughs slip.

"if we leave now it won't take long to get there." he stood up, his family following.

"sir!" keiko got up and ran after them. "if you are going to edo, please take me with you!"