Episode 11

"...Haruka...Wake...Up...!" I heard a faint voice calling out my name.

I then managed to open my eyes and noticed Momoi in front of me while the other two were behind her, staring at me as well.

"You're finally awake!" Momoi exclaimed and squeezed me tightly.

"W-What happened?" Feeling a bit light-headed, I asked.

That moment, my head started aching badly, causing me to instinctively hold it with my hand.

"Ngh!"

"Are you okay?" Nagi questioned, looking concerned.

"Yeah, it's okay, I'm fine. Thanks." I put on a smile, trying to hide the pain.

Momoi then spoke out, "The last thing any of us remember is that we were fighting against those men but everything after that is just a blur."

I remembered the mission and turned on my phone to check the remaining time.

"What?! Only two hours left and we're trapped in here! How are we going to complete the mission in time?!"

(We're trapped with no way of escaping and we hardly have two hours to figure a way out of this place. Not only that but we also have to complete our mission and understand a way to free the trapped spirit. How are we going to complete all this?!)

"Calm down, Haruka. If we don't panic and try thinking of a way out, we would be able to complete the mission successfully..." Momoi muttered reassuringly, trying to calm me down.

"Okay... So, does anyone have any idea of how we could escape this area?"

Both Nagi and Momoi shook their heads with no clue of what we should do. Tokiya, on the other hand, hadn't spoken a word ever since I woke up. So I decided to ask him if he had figured out an approach.

"Tokiya, do you have a plan?"

"Honestly, even I don't know."

"Okay, so we seriously have no idea of how we could get out of here and time's running out as we speak!"

Just then, footsteps echoed throughout the hallway and a towering silhouette was able to be seen from the shadows. The man approached us, coming closer and closer.

"Looks like you guys finally decided to wake up. Heh, you have no idea what's coming your way, do you?" A deep voice rang out.

"Who are you? What is this place? Why'd you trap us here and why were you torturing all those helpless spirits?" I immediately began questioning the man.

"Hold your horses, little girl. I'm the one asking questions here," The man answered, a wide grin plastered across his face.

"What are you going to do to us...?" Tokiya asked with a stern expression.

"You'll see soon enough, Echo Order has various ways of dealing with useless trash... Hehe..." He spoke under his breath as he soon disappeared into the shadows.

Nagi was the first to blurt out, "Who in the world was that guy?!"

"No idea. But he's definitely not good news." Momoi replied firmly.

"We have to find a way out and fast. Who knows what that guy could do to us and plus, there could be more people with him."

We all tried thinking of ways out for a couple of minutes but none seemed like they would work. Either they were impracticable to do or there were too many opportunities for things going wrong. That's when Tokiya decided to tell us his idea.

"After observing this place, I noticed something odd. Do you see that scratch on the ground? Well, if you look closely, it seems to be going inside the wall and to the other side. It's almost like the same thing as how we got in here in the first place except there's only one way to get to the other side. We have to find a way to move this wall out of the way."

"Whoah! I never thought you'd actually find that!" I exclaimed abruptly with eyes wide.

"I know right. That's some great observation skills!" Nagi stated, also looking amazed.

Momoi later continued, "So, we have to find a way to move this wall. Hmm... Oh, I think I might know a way how. There's probably something around here that might cause the wall to propel aside. You know, like some kind of lever or something."

"Oh yeah! There's probably some sort of thing like that. Now, all we have to do is find it."

At that point, we all started searching around the small cell, looking for things that might move the wall away.

"Maybe this is it!" Nagi shouted as he pushed a tile on the wall.

Just then, a powerful noise was heard and sounds of gears spinning rang out.

"Wow, that actually worked!" Nagi exclaimed.

"How'd you find that out? I mean, there was nothing odd about that tile." Momoi asked.

"Actually there was. The tile was actually pushed a little into the wall so I thought if I pressed it, the wall would move. To be honest, I really didn't think it would work, haha." Nagi scratched the back of his head as he explained.

"Come on! What are you guys waiting for? Let's go!"

But suddenly, a couple of yells echoed from outside the cell.

"Tsk..! They're coming this way. Run!" Tokiya yelled, making us all run to the other side.

"How many times are we going to get stuck in situations which involve running from someone or something?! I mean seriously!" I shouted as I tried sprinting as fast as I could.

We all kept racing until we reached a large, empty, room. There was nothing present except for...

I pointed in the direction on impulse and blurted out, "*Gasp* It's the spirit!"

She was fallen unconscious on the ground, scars, and bruises all over her body. Blood oozed out of her open wounds and drops of it fell onto the cold floor.

"Oh no, this is terrible..." Momoi muttered as we all stared in shock at the disturbing scene.

That's when the footsteps of the men who were after us sounded nearer. I hurriedly checked the time on my phone and only... five minutes were left...!

"There's barely five minutes! We're not going to complete the mission in time!" I announced.

We all simply stood in place, trying to think about what we should do to get out of this. The men were getting closer and time was slipping by the second. That's when...

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