Chapter Text
Nene would like to consider herself moderately lucky. Not so lucky that everything always goes her away, but a good chunk of the time she'd say she had it good. You know, besides the whole dying young situation. And getting attacked by ghosts on a weekly basis. And her best friend turning out to be part of a centuries old bloodline that sacrifices young girls. Okay, maybe she hadn't had it that good lately, but her point is: no matter how unfortunate she's been the past few months, this is from a whole new realm of possibilities.
"Bye, Hanako-kun, Mistuba-kun!" Nene waved the two supernaturals goodbye, stopped in front of the school gate. The yard was empty by this point, all other students having already left. Kou waved goodbye as well, exchanging a few words with Mistuba. Aoi and Akane went on ahead, and were about to step outside the school grounds.
Nene's feet slipped, and she was falling. She let out a surprised shout, everyone else now looking at her. Nene could feel her legs tingle weirdly, and when she looked down, she realised her feet were slipping through the floor. By the time anyone could react, Nene was waist deep through the ground, and the others began to fall as well.
And just like that, one second they were standing at the school gate, and the next, they weren't.
Nene opened her eyes.
And then instantly closed them because who keeps lights this bright!?
She squinted, sitting up.
Am I.. dead?
Her back hurt. Everything hurt, actually, and she couldn't get rid of the weird tingly sensation from earlier. Her body felt too full and too empty at the same time. Her insides were downright wrong. Phasing through reality gets a solid 1/10, wouldn't recommend.
Where am I?
Everything around her was yellow. Yellow carpet, yellow walls, yellow lights, yellow ceiling. The carpet was uncomfortably moist and sticky. She stood up with a grimace, wiping her hands on her dress; they were sticky from touching the carpet. She doesn't even want to think why the carpet is sticky.
What is this place?
The yellow walls stretched as far as the eye could see. The same ugly wallpaper and fluorescent lights everywhere Nene looked.
"Hello?" She called out, her voice echoing weirdly through the space. "Is anyone there?" The shout sounded muffled to her own ears.
Her only reply was the steady buzzing of the lights overhead.
She frowned.
Should I just.. walk around?
She looked left and right nervously, as if the layout would change magically if she turned away. Nene took a tentative step forward, her chest flooding with relief when her foot met solid ground. She didn't really think she'd phase through the floor again, but you can never be too sure.
She walked forward to the wall in front of her, touching it curiously. Basic, rough wallpaper; nothing out of the ordinary.
She leaned around the side where the wall ended abruptly for no apparent reason. There were no doorways or hallways in sight. This whole place might be a hallway, really.
Is this a maze? I hope it's not a maze. How am I supposed to get out of a maze? I can barely solve the children magazine ones!
"Helloooooo?" She tried again, continuing to walk in a random direction, hopefully towards one of her friends. "Ao-chan? Hanako-kun? Anyoneeeee?"
Silence.
I saw them fall in with me, so why aren't they here?
Nene kept walking. Every other step on the moist carpet left faint squelching noises, the only other sound besides the loud fluorescent lights.
She stopped, squinting at the distance. A big, black arrow was taking over one of the walls, pointing in the same direction Nene was going.
After passing that first wall, she could see more and more arrows lining the way, all pointing the same way.
A weird, scratching noise from behind made Nene startle. She looked over her shoulder, heart beating in her ears. Nothing. She was alone.
Am I imagining things? Am I going crazy? Did I already go crazy? Is this Hell? Did I die without realising it and got sent to Hell? Does Hell even exist? I should ask Hanako-kun about that.
She rounded a corner, knocking her head against something– someone and stumbling back. She rubbed her forehead with a wince.
"What.. Mistuba-kun?" Nene blinked. Her face split into a relieved smile. She went in for a hug, her kouhai side-stepping her in mild distaste. "I'm so happy to see you! I thought I was alone in here!"
"Radish-senpai," he sighed dramatically. "You haven't seen anyone else, either." It was said like a question, but was more of a statement.
She shook her head.
"Yashirooo!" Was the only warning before Nene was engulfed in a tight side-hug.
"Hanako-kun!" Nene's smile widened, about to return the hug.
"Nene-chan!" Aoi waved from a few walls over, Akane-kun and Kou-kun behind her.
With the whole group now reunited, Nene could feel the tightness in her chest loosen.
"I'm so glad you're all okay!" Nene started after the group walked over. She ignored Hanako's poking and fidgeting as he looked her over for injuries. "Do you know where we are?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"So, this isn't some supernatural boundary thing?" Aoi frowned.
"The only School Mysteries that still have a Boundary are The Clock Keepers," Hanako stopped his poking, throwing a pointed look at Akane.
"This isn't The Clock Keepers' doing. None of us can completely nullify supernatural powers."
"Your powers aren't working?" Nene turned worriedly to Hanako.
He shook his head, "I tried everything." An unreadable expression took over his face. He looked to the side with a grimace, "It's as if I'm alive again."
"Yeah, it's… weird." Mistuba's voice lacked his usual lively tone. He seemed a lot more mellowed out without his powers.
"H-how.. how do we get out without your powers? I haven't seen any exits since I woke up…" Nene bit her bottom lip, worry starting to gnaw at her.
Before any of them could answer, a silent cough sliced through the silence. Everyone froze.
"We're not alone," Kou whispered, already readying his staff.
Hanako took out his knife as well, keeping to Nene's side. They looked around, trying to spot the newcomer.
Another cough, louder this time, grabbed their attention. Far off to Nene's right, she could see a black silhouette in the distance.
"That… doesn't look like a human.." Aoi's voice shook. Nene held her hand, squeezing reassuringly. Aoi squeezed back.
The silhouette disappeared.
A beat passed. Nobody moved.
Nene blinked. The silhouette was closer now. Thankfully, it was still pretty far away.
"That… is definitely not human," Mistuba declared with disgust, a hint of fear slipping through.
"What is that?" Kou mumbled, voicing their common confusion.
The… thing was over two meters tall, its skin so black you couldn't make out any details in the distance. Its silhouette was sharp, folding at wrong angles, with visible holes in its torso and body. It more closely resembled a crudely-drawn monster from a kid's nightmare than a human.
"I don't know, but I don't think any of us wants to find out!" Akane hissed, grabbing Aoi's arm. "There's a room back that way, let's go!"
Nene scurried after them with Hanako at her side.
Aoi got inside first, Akane ushering the rest of them in and closing the door. He pressed his back against it, keeping it closed.
For a long second, nobody said anything. The only sounds in the small room were their own breaths and the faint buzzing of the lights.
When did the lights get so quiet? I could barely hear my own thoughts when I got here.
They waited in silence a few more moments. Mitsuba opened his mouth to speak, when—
— loud coughing resounded right behind the door.
Nene's breath stuck in her throat. Hanako was squeezing her hand tightly; she could feel him shaking against her. Suddenly having no powers or ways to defend himself after so long of being a literal ghost must be hitting him pretty hard.
A beat passed. Then another. Then, once again, coughing. It was farther this time, quieter. It's leaving.
They stood in silence for a few more minutes, just to be sure.
Mistuba was the first to speak:
"It's– it's gone now, right?" He grimaced at the small stutter that came through.
Akane pressed his ear to the door. He listened for a minute before looking back at them, "I think it's clear."
He slowly opened the door, just slightly, peeking through the crack. He opened the door fully, then stepped out. The rest followed.
"So… what do we do now?" Aoi tilted her head, her face calm, words measured. Nene could see through the facade, though. The situation was starting to wear on her, too.
"We keep going. There has to be an exit somewhere." Akane looked like he wanted to comfort Aoi, but refrained.
"And if that thing comes back?"
"This isn't the first monster we fight," Kou put a reassuring hand on Mistuba's shoulder. "Powers or no powers, that thing's no match for us."
There was a voice coming from behind one of the walls, although very muffled. After looking around, she determined there was no way around the wall. Figures. If she strained, Nene could maybe understand every other word.
"… can't… —ee… end… hori—" The voice paused. Nene pressed her ear to the wall to hear better. "Hatsu—iku!?"
Nene stepped away from the wall with a confused frown. Were they talking about…
"Hatsu—?" Her wondering was interrupted by a cough. Nene went still. She closed her eyes, her face tilted to the ceiling. Was it too late to start believing in God now?
I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm SO dead oh my god I'm too young to die and and I'm gonna die single I don't wanna die single I don't wanna die singleeeee!
Nene put her head in her hands, inhaling deeply. Okay, snap out of it. You need to warn the others. With a small nod to herself, she straightened, ducking behind a corner.
Blood was rushing to her ears, her heartbeat seemingly in a competition with the lights for 'who can make Nene go deaf first'.
Get it together.
Another cough. She peeked around the corner. The monster was about 5 walls away, its back turned to her. Nene ducked back out of sight and looked around, trying to spot her friends.
Where'd they go so fast?
She took a chance, walking quickly to and around the wall in front of her, keeping out of the monster's possible line of sight. If it could see in the first place. Did it even have eyes? It didn't look like it, haha, look— Focus.
Two walls to her left, her best friend disappeared behind a corner. Aoi! Maybe she's with the others!
Keeping her steps as quiet as she could, Nene ran in the direction Aoi seemed to be going.
It didn't take long to catch up to her. Once in arms reach, she tapped Aoi's shoulder to get her attention. Aoi startled with a small yelp, cut short by Nene pressing her hand to Aoi's mouth. Nene brought the pointer finger of her free hand to her mouth in the universal gesture of 'shhhh'. She removed her hand from Aoi, gesturing wildly in the direction they came from, then miming a cough. Aoi's eyes widened. She nodded, then pointed behind her. There their friends were, across an entire path with no walls. So they'd have to cross with no cover.
Great.
Nene began waving her arms around, trying to get their attention. Luckily, Mistuba noticed them after just a few seconds, turning to the others and then pointing back at Nene and Aoi.
Nene pointed again in the direction the monster was, shaking her head wildly and forming an X with her arms. Aoi added in her own neck slice motions for good measure.
For a moment, nobody moved, the guys across from them staring back blankly. Then Kou took a step towards them. Akane cut him off, peeking around their corner for less than a second before ducking back.
A loud cough broke the silence. Everyone froze.
Oh no.
Nene blinked. The monster was in the middle of the clearing, right between them and the boys. There was another moment of stillness, and then—
—chaos.
A loud screeching drowned out any other noise. Nene fell clean on her butt from the shock, watching in terror as the monster sped in the opposite direction from her and Aoi. The boys scrambled to run, choosing to split up. The monster kept going forward, right behind—
"Hanako-kun!" Someone was screaming. It might've been herself, she thought absently, judging from the way her throat hurt.
A gentle hand was placed on her shoulder, then Aoi was helping her up. Nene tried to push her away, her eyes still tracked on the quickly retreating back of the monster. The screeching was getting quieter.
Aoi grabbed her hand, forcefully dragging her away.
Nene let Aoi lead her, sniffling. Her ears were ringing, and– when did she start crying? She squeezed Aoi's hand, her other arm coming up to wipe away her tears. Aoi squeezed back.
"Come on, I found more arrows this way. I was about to tell the boys when you came to warn us."
Nene nodded. Her mind was distracted; she couldn't help but worry about the guys. She hoped Hanako was okay.
They followed the arrows Aoi found in silence. They kept holding hands, even after Nene managed to calm down.
"How long do you think we've been in here?" Nene mumbled, rubbing her eyes. She was getting pretty tired.
"I don't know," Aoi sighed, her displeasure at the fact clear on her face.
They've discovered early on that clocks and compasses are useless here, and all electronics do is glitch out.
"It must've been at least half a day, right?" Nene stifled a yawn.
"Sure feels like it," Aoi grumbled. "I wish we had something to eat."
Nene could relate. They had already eaten whatever snacks they had left from school a few hours (presumably) after getting to The Yellow (as they've come to call it).
"Is that a rope?" Nene stopped walking, their interlocked hands dragging Aoi back a step. Aoi tilted her head curiously, following Nene's line of sight.
"Huh," she huffed in disbelief. "Hours of endlessly roaming through this place and the first thing we find is rope."
Nene smiled, pulling on their clasped hands. Aoi got the message, and they approached the rope.
Nene crouched before it, letting go of Aoi in order to tentatively poke the rope.
"Seems legit to me," she turned her head, looking up at Aoi, who shrugged.
"Might be useful later?"
Nene nodded, grabbing the rope and shrugging it over one shoulder. She stood up, then cocked her head to one side curiously.
"What's that sound?"
"What sound?"
Nene opened her mouth, her words catching in her throat as her eyes widened.
Recognition colored Aoi's face, before her expression mirrored Nene's own terror.
As one, they interlocked hands once again and started running.
"Do you know," Aoi huffed, keeping her voice low, "which way it's coming from?"
"I can't tell, and I'm too scared to look back!" Nene's voice trembled. "There!"
She pointed to a small, cramped space between two walls. It was so tight they barely fit through.
The screeching of the monster got louder and louder. They hugged, as well as they could manage in the small space, Aoi's head buried in Nene's shoulder. Her own arms were wrapped tightly around Aoi's back.
Despite the fear, Nene couldn't get herself to look away. Her eyes stayed fixed on the opening they came from.
Idly, she noticed there were no lights directly illuminating their space. Nene kind of expected the annoyingly loud fluorescent lights to be everywhere in The Yellow.
She could feel Aoi's hands tighten in the fabric of her dress, her shallow breathing against her chest.
The screeching was absolutely deafening; Nene's ears were starting to hurt. She could feel a headache forming.
Nene was sure the creature would come into view any second now, appear right in front of them, and— Hanako-kun!?
Said boy was running with all his might, passing right by Nene and Aoi. He looked rough, to put it mildly, and had a bleeding gash on his right shin. Akane was following right behind him, sporting no visible injuries.
They were out of view as fast as they came, the creature hot on their tails. Nene could do nothing but stare, her mouth gaping open.
The awful screeching receded, eventually leaving the two girls in complete silence. Or, perhaps it wasn't actually silent, but Nene's ears were ringing too loudly to tell.
"Is it gone?" Aoi's voice was so quiet, Nene thought she imagined it.
"Yes, they–" Nene inhaled sharply, steadying her voice. "They're gone."
"…They?" Aoi pulled back from the hug, but not fully. Her hands rested on Nene's shoulders, mouth pulling in a confused frown. Nene's own hands stayed on Aoi's waist, her grip tightening anxiously as their eyes met.
"Hanako-kun and… Akane-kun," Nene exhaled, seeing the change in Aoi's expression while it happened — her deep violet eyes swirling with worry, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
Nene took Aoi's hands in her own, rubbing her thumbs over Aoi's knuckles reassuringly. "They're going to be fine." She hesitated, "they have each other's backs."
Worry gave way to skepticism, "They're not exactly fond of each other." Aoi managed a small smile.
"Yeah, but they don't hate each other," Nene paused. "Right?"
They both laughed, the tension easing.
Nene's smile froze mid-forming. She looked behind over her shoulder, brows furrowing. There was a voice, whispering right behind her, but nobody was there.
"Did you.. hear that?" She turned back to Aoi.
"Oh, no, what is it this time?" The fragile atmosphere cracked instantly.
"Nothing, I just thought…" Nene checked behind her at another whisper, mouth pulling in an unpleasant frown. "You don't hear the whispering?"
Aoi stared at her in confusion.
"Whispering–?" She cut herself off with a startle, covering one of her ears and looking behind her. "What the—!?"
More and more voices joined in, intelligible whispering steadily replacing the silence.
"Out! Out!" Nene almost shouted, keeping her ears covered out of reflex.
The girls rushed back into the main hallways, leaving the whispers behind in the darkness. The deafened buzzing of the fluorescent lights took over in keeping the silence as a mere memory.
"What was that?" Aoi breathed heavily, staring at the space they just exited.
"I don't– I don't know." Nene crossed her arms over her chest, biting her lip. "Let's just… keep going, I guess."
Aoi nodded, and they started walking once again.
They tried to ignore the fear and worry gnawing at them the more time they spent apart from the boys. They filled the space with idle gossips and random happenings from daily life. It didn't matter that they both already knew every word that was exchanged.
An hour passed. The lights got so loud Nene could barely hear anymore. Her head hurt so badly she thought she might pass out. She didn't even notice when her knees buckled, or when Aoi started being the only thing keeping Nene upright.
There was a gasp, "Nene-chan, your ears are bleeding!"
Nene winced at the volume. She understood the words with great hardship, the sound having a weird, underwater quality. She had to read half the sentence on Aoi's lips, and even then, it took her embarrassingly long to process what was actually said.
"Wh–" she brought her hands to her ears. A sticky substance — blood — was leaking from them. She blinked slowly at her now red fingers, the danger not registering immediately. "Oh."
She looked to Aoi, taking in her worried expression. She seemed to be in pain as well.
"Let's… keep going…" Nene mumbled.
More time passed. At one point the buzzing died down, though it didn't go away completely. Nene felt like herself again.
They found a ladder that lead to a small, dark crawlspace in the middle of the wall. After a lot of debating, they agreed to go inside and check for other tools or anything useful. The crawlspace was actually a straight passage between the walls. They didn't find anything inside.
They decided to take a break here; it seemed safe enough that nothing would attack them out of nowhere. Probably.
The darkness simulated the nighttime well enough for the exhaustion to fully catch up to them. They laid down on their sides, facing each other. There wasn't enough space to be fully comfortable, but it was better than nothing, and the silence was a welcome respite.
"There are other people here," Nene's voice came out louder than she would've wanted.
"What?"
"Before I came to warn you guys…" She searched for her words, "I heard someone's voice, behind one of the walls."
A beat.
"Did you see anyone?"
Nene sighed, "No."
"And you're sure it wasn't… an illusion or something?" Aoi couldn't fully mask her skepticism.
"Yeah, I mean, I think so…?" Nene shrugged. "It felt pretty real."
Aoi didn't take the conversation further.
"Goodnight, Ao-chan," Nene took a while to add, not really expecting a reply.
"Goodnight, Nene-chan."
"Careful… Careful… Yes!" Nene pumped a fist in the air triumphantly as Aoi made it safely across.
While wandering in search of the boys, Nene almost fell into a square shaped hole after rounding a corner — the only thing that stood between her and sudden death were Aoi's quick reflexes.
The whole floor of the area was made up of squared holes placed neatly against each other, with two walls sealing the room and a door parallel to the way they came. The holes were too perfectly aligned to not be man-made.
All the other paths surrounding the area had led to dead ends, so their only way forward was across.
Aoi, now on the other side, quickly made her way to the door.
"Anything?"
There was no answer, Aoi disappearing behind the door. A second later she came back, a grin stretched wide on her face and a hammer held high.
"Hell yeah!"
Nene smiled at her cheerfulness, the positive vibe a good change of pace.
"I'll be right over!"
Nene took off one of her hair clips and walked to the entrance. The musty wallpaper ripped easily under the metal, and she made quick work of writing her message for the boys, in case they stumbled through.
'Nene and Aoi were here' coupled with an arrow pointing to the holes.
She put the hair clip back, then tied her hair in a low ponytail. She couldn't afford any distractions here — the paths between holes were pretty narrow.
Nene took a deep breath, making sure everything on her person was secure and wouldn't fall in.
"You can do it!" Came Aoi's encouraging shout.
Nene smiled, taking a step forward. Then another, and another, slowly but surely making her way across.
Then her foot slipped.
Oh no oh no ohnononononoNO—
She waved her arms frantically, getting her balance back after a second. She breathed a sigh of relief, hurrying the last few steps.
She hugged Aoi as soon as she made it over.
"You did it!" Aoi pat her back comfortingly.
"I did it!" Nene smiled.
They pulled away and passed through the open doorway, continuing on. The new area had weaker lighting, with the previous pale yellow hue being replaced by a sickly green.
"Nice hammer."
"Thanks," Aoi grinned, resting the tool on her shoulder like some shounen protagonist.
Nene muffled a giggle at the sight. If any of their classmates saw this, they'd probably go into shock.
A loud ripping sound was coming from behind the corner. They both stopped in their tracks.
The girls exchanged looks. Aoi gestured to the corner, Nene nodded.
Aoi readied her hammer.
With a war cry, Aoi rounded the corner, hammer held high over her head. Her shout cut off abruptly.
Nene hurried over.
"Ao–?" She stopped mid-step.
Aoi stood frozen with her hammer mid-swing over a cowering Mitsuba.
"Mitsuba-kun?" Nene ventured quietly, as if he might disappear if she spoke any louder.
Aoi lowered her hammer, sharing Nene's hesitation.
Mistuba stared up at them in disbelief.
"You…" He seemed lost for words, his mouth gaping open.
Nene kneeled in front of him, pulling him into a gentle hug along with Aoi.
"You're alive," Nene laughed, unable to stop herself.
Mitsuba returned the hug, sniffling. "I thought everyone was dead," he cried.
"We're here, we're alive."
He let out a few more sobs.
"There, there," was Aoi's only addition, coupled with a pat on the back.
They let Mitsuba pull away to wipe his tears.
"Were you alone this whole time?"
Mitsuba nodded, "I haven't seen anyone else since we split off."
"We saw Akane-kun and Hanako-kun a few hours ago," Aoi added.
Mistuba stared at the two of them with a cold expression, peered over them once, glanced around, looked back at them.
"So, why," Mistuba took a deep breath in, "are they not here?"
"They were… sort of… being chased…" Nene mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. She didn't look Mistuba in the eye.
Mistuba's already pale face just went paler.
"This is it. We're dead," Mitsuba rested against the wall, much like a puppet with its strings cut. "Half of us are already dead or dying. We're not making it out of here."
"Gee, thanks for the positivity."
They all startled at the voice. Well, Nene and Mistuba startled. Aoi just raised her hammer.
"Hanako-kun?" Nene recognised the speaker, raising to her feet.
Said boy was leaning heavily on Akane —who, Nene realised, was here too — and looked worse for the wear. They both looked pretty wrecked, actually.
Hanako offered her a wave. Half of his sleeve had been torn off, presumably to stop the bleeding of his leg. There was a shallow cut on his left cheek where his seal used to be, with blood smeared and cracked all over the side of his face.
Nene felt her eyes water. She threw herself at Hanako, squeezing him in a tight hug.
"You're not dead!" Her voice wobbled in an effort not to cry.
She felt Hanako's arms circle around her waist.
"Debatable," was his soft huff in answer, his breath tingling Nene's ear.
Nene giggled, pulling back to see his face better.
"You're not hurt anywhere, right?" He cupped her face, his brows furrowing in worry.
"I'm fine," she smiled, placing her palms over his.
Nene's eyes jumped to the movement behind him. Tilting her head to see better, she let out a gasp.
"Kou-kun!? Are you alright?"
Both her and Mistuba were with him in seconds, Hanako limping over a moment later.
Kou was full of scratches and covered in blood. His hair was a mess, half of it sticking up, with some strands red from dried blood. Upon closer inspection, Nene spotted a few twigs and leaves in his hair as well.
His expression was haunted, and he seemed to be looking through them, not yet noticing their presence.
"Kid?"
"Minamoto-kun?" Mistuba's voice was filled with a rare show of worry. He waved his hand in front of Kou's face.
Kou blinked, taking a step back.
"What…?"
His posture went rigid, eyes finally seeing them.
"Yashiro… senpai? You're not…?" He took a step closer, his hands shaking. "Mitsuba..? Hanako–?" His words choked up near the end.
He crossed the remaining distance, pulling them into a hug. Nobody commented on the silent sobs.
Nene wanted to give him more time to settle down, but she couldn't keep quiet anymore.
"Kou-kun, why are you covered in blood?"
"Huh? Oh, it's not mine."
That did not make Nene feel any better.
Nene was about to say as much, when a cough cut her off.
For a long second that felt like an hour, everything was still. Nene could see Mistuba saying his prayers from the corner of her eye. She could relate.
Her eyes met Hanako's. His hand met hers.
She looked back at Aoi. They shared a nod.
As silently as possible, they all hurried back the way Nene and Aoi originally came.
She waited for Aoi and Akane to cross over the holes first, so the space wouldn't get too cramped.
With a final squeeze of Hanako's hand, Nene let go.
She passed the first set of holes, then the second.
On the third row, she miscalculated a step.
Her foot met empty air. Her stomach collided with the thin strip of flooring, leaving her gasping for air. She fumbled to latch on to the strip, her hands shaking so hard she almost let go.
"Yashiro–"
Familiar loud screeching drowned out whatever Hanako was going to say next, making Nene wince.
We're SO dead.
Nene struggled to get up, her feet never finding purchase. Her arms were starting to hurt from the strain of holding her up.
In the corner of her eye, she could see the boys stumbling over.
The monster was already in the doorway.
Aoi was making her way back to Nene, and she tried to tell her to Stay back, I'm fine but no words carried over the monster's shrieks.
Hanako was quickly crouching at her side, grabbing her arms and pulling her up.
Nene's eyes widened.
Before she could think, she pulled Hanako towards her, making them both fall over into the hole.
Hanako's arms around her were the last thing she felt before passing out.