I found myself outside of the apartment after running through the sixth floor, towards the closest staircase.
I knocked on the door three times in quick fashion, and at the same time, the door swung open and I was pulled in.
Daikubara: "That took you long enough."
Michifuku: "...Where's Konsako-san?"
I fell against the wall, catching my breath, before speaking.
Kobayashi Amano: "I'll… explain everything, but… you need to come with me first…"
We arrived at the eleventh floor, at the same apartment. I explained what had happened while moving to the floor, and the three were caught up.
Daikubara-san shut the door with a solid thud.
Daikubara: "Tsk… that bastard's changing up his strategy, huh?"
Michifuku: "...What do we do? Konsako-san is still out there…"
Daikubara: "What can we do? That bastard's probably caught up to him already. He's bound to be dead by now–"
Michifuku: "If it wasn't for him, we would be dead!"
Daikubara: "You think I don't know that?!"
Daikubara-san's brash response silenced Michifuku-san.
Daikubara: "...But we're only wastin' our lives if we don't do somethin' now."
Daikubara: "If you have any gratitude towards that kid, then you'll leave him."
Kobayashi Amano: "What do we do, then? If you're right, and Konsako-san can't keep up for long, then it'll be continuing its route. We can't stay here for much longer."
Daikubara: "Yeah, I know. Give me a minute to think."
Michifuku: "..."
Kobayashi Amano: "..."
Daikubara: "...Alright."
Not five minutes later, Michifuku-san and Kuro-san both left the apartment, heading to the twelfth floor to locate the keycard.
Daikubara: "We'll stay here in case that kid comes back, but… I'm not counting on it."
Kobayashi Amano: "...Mm."
If it took the two more than ten minutes to return, the assumption would be that they ran into an issue and wouldn't be able to return to the apartment anytime soon. In that case…
Daikubara: "That body you found, on the seventh floor… did you get a good look at it?"
Kobayashi Amano: "Hm? Not really, why?"
Daikubara: "Was just curious who it was."
Kobayashi Amano: "Um… they had blonde hair, I think. But their head was mostly covered in blood, so I couldn't really tell…"
Daikubara: "Blonde hair, huh? Probably her, then…"
Kobayashi Amano: "Did you know them?"
Daikubara: "Didn't get their name, but… they were with me, Kuro and another girl."
Daikubara: "A little kid, the other girl was. No older than ten, probably."
Kobayashi Amano: "..."
Daikubara: "...It's been more than ten minutes. We need to move, already."
Kobayashi Amano: "Shouldn't one of us stay behind?"
Daikubara: "We're wasting too much time. If that rabbit even steps foot onto this floor, we won't have the chance to escape."
Kobayashi Amano: "..."
Daikubara: "Like I said, forget about the kid for a bit."
Daikubara-san and I made our way to the twelfth floor, using the staircase closest to the room the rabbit appeared from. The corpse of a boy was laid against a wall close to the door, likely belonging to the aforementioned Sakakibara-san.
Outside the room, slanted against the wall was Michifuku-san, looking exhausted.
Kobayashi Amano: "...What's going on? Where's Kuro-san?"
Michifuku: "Inside… the keycard's there, too."
Daikubara: "Then what the hell are you doing here?"
Michifuku: "Geez, take a look for yourself!"
We peered into the room, which surprisingly was a long, long corridor, with a lone person standing at the very end.
Daikubara: "...Jesus Christ."
Michifuku: "Kuro-san told me to wait outside, in case the rabbit came, but… that was like ten minutes ago."
Michifuku: "I've tried calling out to him, but he's not answering me."
Daikubara: "...We're better off going in, then."
Kobayashi Amano: "Mm."
Michifuku: "Do I have to stay here?!"
Daikubara: "Obviously."
Michifuku: "..."
The two of us walked down the long corridor towards Kuro-san. The walls were lined with office desks and supplies, creating a walkway only fitting two people shoulder to shoulder. At the end of the corridor was Kuro-san and a flimsy string which was attached to a dark blue keycard, reflecting off the cold walls.
Daikubara: "What's the deal, then?"
Kuro: "...It's attached to something."
Daikubara: "...Yeah, I can see that. So why the hell haven't you grabbed it already?"
Kuro: "...Did you not hear me?"
Daikubara: "What?"
Kuro-san pointed to the string, which seemed to be linked to something in the top corner of the room.
Daikubara: "The hell is that–"
Kuro: "An alarm system."
Kuro: "It's likely linked to the speakers attached to the staircase walls, so if anyone were to retrieve that keycard…"
Kobayashi Amano: "...It'll sound through the speakers, alerting the rabbit."
Kuro: "We probably won't have enough time to retrieve it and open the front door."
Daikubara: "That bastard'll be waitin there, is that what you're saying?"
Kuro: "Most likely."
Kuro: "Which means, taking this keycard will be a death sentence for us. Once the rabbit knows we're on our way to the front door, it'll have no reason to move."
Kuro: "It'll wait for its prey."
Kobayashi Amano: "We'll have no way out, huh?"
The situation was extremely demanding. Our only escape was through the front door via a keycard that was rigged to an alert system, which would give away our location and scheme to the predator. It was apparent that cutting the string to free the keycard would prove difficult too, as the slightest pull would certainly sound the alarm. And not only that, there wasn't anything we could use to carefully cut the string.
Daikubara: "...We can't waste much more time here. If the rabbit comes, we'll be cornered."
Daikubara: "Whatever the next plan is, we'll figure it out somewhere safer."
Kobayashi Amano: "But we don't even know where the rabbit is…"
Daikubara: "So we'll wait at the staircases. We'll know his route before he can even reach us that way."
Daikubara-san's explanation was simple. If we were to sit atop the twelfth floor's staircases, someone could sit at the staircase of the eleventh floor and read the rabbit's movements. If the rabbit was to ascend from our staircases by the tenth floor, we'd know and have time to move. If the rabbit was to ascend from the furthest staircases, we'd still know. Since the rabbit searches the floor before ascending or descending further, we'd have time to move either way. However, there was a prevalent issue.
Kobayashi Amano: "The rabbit's proved itself inconsistent already. How do we know it won't change its route?"
Daikubara: "...You've got a point."
Kobayashi Amano: "Now might be our only chance to grab this keycard–"
Kuro: "If we do that, we'll never have the chance to escape."
Daikubara: "Either way, we need to get out of this death trap first–"
Michifuku: "GET OUT OF THERE!!!"
Her voice reached us in an instant, and in that same instant, we knew. The three of us began our sprint towards the entrance, almost pushing one another over. It was in that moment, I think, I realized just how fast I was. I outran both Daikubara-san and Kuro-san, and made it out of the corridor first. I came to a stop, my shoes grinding against the tiled floor. Michifuku-san was already gone; I couldn't blame her.
I turned to my left, towards the furthest staircase, where it stood.
The rabbit, with its bat drooling fresh, red blood.