The moment I slipped through the service door, the clamor outside rapidly receded.
Separated by a single thick wall, the sirens of the fire engines and the commotion of the evacuees turned into sounds from another world. In their place, the ceaseless blare of the emergency alarm echoed from deep within the building, accompanied by the eerie groan of metal warping somewhere in the distance.
Delivery carts and cardboard boxes lay abandoned in the dim loading dock, the emergency lights on the ceiling casting a reddish glow across the floor. The smoke that had looked thin from the outside was far thicker once I stepped inside. Straining my eyes just a little ways ahead, outlines blurred, making the vast space feel suffocatingly narrow.
Air laced with a scorched stench clung to the back of my throat.
"Ghk...!"
I choked involuntarily, nearly stopping in my tracks.
I had only just made it past the loading dock.
Beyond this point, even thicker smoke and the collapses the firefighters had deemed too hazardous were waiting. If I was going to turn back outside, now was my only chance.
Glancing over my shoulder, the evening light shone through the ajar service door. Beyond that slender beam of light, a summer sky stretched out as if nothing had happened.
Just a few steps back, and I would be safe.
Even so, I turned my gaze back toward the depths of the building.
I didn't know how much time had passed since Mikage was last seen on the west side of the second floor. Even while the firefighters were checking the safety of an alternate route, the smoke continued to spread.
Every single second spent hesitating was precious time wasted.
"Is anyone there?!"
Bracing my core, I shouted into the dark loading dock.
No reply.
Swallowed by the alarm and the creaking building, I couldn't even tell how far my voice had carried.
Covering my mouth with my sleeve, I pressed deeper into the loading dock.
Packing materials and invoices were scattered across the floor, along with belongings left behind by employees who had fled in a panic. While there were signs that people had passed through, there was no telling how long ago that had been.
Directly ahead stood a large fire door, and just before it, a narrow employee corridor branched off to the right. Squinting at the floor guide mounted on the wall, I spotted a symbol indicating stairs at the end of that hallway.
It might lead to the west side of the second floor.
I entered the corridor, keeping close to the wall as I peered through the blinding smoke.
As I advanced, the air grew noticeably warmer against my skin. I couldn't see the fire itself, but the heat and the smell alone were more than enough to prove that something was actively burning.
My throat burned.
My eyes stung with irritation, tears welling up every time I blinked.
Fighting my body's desperate urge to inhale deeply, I shouted again and again.
"If you can hear me, answer me!"
Still, no voice called back.
There was no guarantee Mikage was even here.
According to the radio transmission I had overheard from the security guard outside, she had last been seen on the west side of the second floor. She could have moved to another floor or across to the opposite wing since then.
For that matter, she might have already escaped through a different exit.
I prayed that was the case.
If I returned outside empty-handed, and all that came of it was getting chewed out by the firefighters and my mother for being reckless, that would be the best possible outcome.
Yet even as I walked along wishing for that, my ears strained desperately not to miss a single cry for help.
Partway down the corridor, a section of the ceiling had caved in. It was likely one of the collapses the firefighters had mentioned. Debris of various sizes choked the floor, coated in a fine layer of ash.
Smoke drifting from deeper within swirled slowly, warping the red glow of the emergency lights.
Past that debris lay the stairs.
Even knowing that, my legs refused to move.
Outside the building, the sheer urgency of finding Mikage had driven me forward. But now, confronted with the reality of mortal danger, my body gave an honest cry of terror.
My heart pounded violently, and the strength drained from my clenched fists.
Stop.
Go back.
If you go any further, you'll never make it out.
The firefighter's warning echoed relentlessly in my ears.
There's a difference between a path looking passable and making it back out alive.
I knew that.
Even so, I noticed a set of footprints pressed into the ash on the floor.
They might have belonged to an evacuating employee. But the prints weren't heading toward the exit—they led straight toward the stairs to the second floor.
They didn't form a straight line.
They staggered left and right, straying wide toward the wall in places. On the soot-stained wall itself, there were smudges where someone had dragged their palms to keep their balance.
Someone had lost their bearings in the smoke and pushed forward, feeling their way along the wall.
The moment I saw those traces, strength returned to my trembling legs.
"Mikage...?"
Her name slipped quietly from my lips.
Of course, there was no reply.
I picked my way past the fallen ceiling debris and followed the footprints deeper into the corridor.
The smoke was growing thicker. Unable to see even a few meters ahead, only the red emergency lights offered a faint, blurry guide through the darkness.
A dry crunch echoed every time I stepped on debris. My body jumped at every single sound, my shoulders tensing instinctively.
Somewhere in the distance, glass shattered in rapid bursts.
Then the entire building let out a low groan, raining fine dust down from above.
Reflexively shielding my head with my arms, I crouched low.
A massive collapse didn't happen, but there was no telling if we'd be so lucky next time.
I was brutally reminded of why the rescue team had halted their search outside.
This was no place for a high school kid to enter alone.
If my mother found out I'd gone back in, she'd be furious.
Koharu might cry.
I had no intention of patting myself on the back and claiming I was doing the right thing.
It was just that I had already come this far.
And right before my eyes, someone's desperate trail continued onward.
"Can you hear me?!"
I shouted again, my voice growing hoarse.
"If anyone's there, answer me!"
Only the emergency alarm answered.
Coughing as I pressed on, I finally reached the employee stairwell.
The fire door wasn't shut completely, held open a crack as if something were caught in the frame. Gray smoke billowed through the opening, clouding the green emergency exit sign on the wall.
As I approached the door, something vibrated beneath my feet.
A brief electronic chime sounded faintly beneath the blare of the alarm.
Looking down, I saw a smartphone lying face down on the floor. Its screen was badly cracked, but the notification light blinked weakly to signal an incoming call.
I picked it up and looked at the display.
No caller name appeared. Instead, the lock screen showed a photo.
Four high school girls were smiling with their cheeks pressed together.
In the center was Serina Mikage, her light hair catching the wind, her friends' arms draped around her shoulders.
"She did come through here..."
The words barely squeezed past my throat.
I remembered the voices of her friends outside, dialing her number over and over. The reason Mikage hadn't answered was that she had dropped her phone along the way.
She had definitely taken this path.
She might still be close.
That certainty spurred my body forward, shaking off the fear that threatened to crush me.
Shoving the phone into my pocket, I squeezed through the gap in the fire door and stepped onto the stairs.
Enclosed in concrete, the stairwell was even darker than the hallway before. The once-white walls were stained a dingy gray, and soot coated the handrails.
With every step I climbed, my footsteps echoed in the enclosed space.
"Hey! Can you hear me?!"
Pausing for an answer that never came, I climbed toward the second floor.
On the landing halfway up, a single loafer lay abandoned.
A girl's shoe.
Nearby on the floor, scuff marks showed where someone had fallen to their knees. Past that spot, handprints dragged along the wall again, leading straight toward the second-floor door.
Mikage had taken a fall here.
She hadn't even had the composure to pick up her shoe, desperately crawling forward anyway.
The pale, terrified faces of her friends outside flashed in my mind.
They hadn't even known where she was, crying as they called her name into the crowd.
Mikage must have felt the exact same way.
Blinded by smoke, separated from her friends, left completely alone in an empty building.
How terrified must she have been?
"Hold on," I wheezed, throwing my voice toward someone who might not even hear it. "I'm coming."
The moment I shoved open the second-floor fire door, a wave of blistering heat slammed into my face.
I reflexively shut my eyes, throwing up an arm to shield myself.
The smoke was far denser than on the ground floor. A thick black layer hung near the ceiling, swallowing even the glow of the red emergency lights.
I couldn't see open flames.
Yet an orange flicker danced across the distant walls and floor. The fire raging somewhere out of sight was casting its glow through the haze.
The air scorched my skin.
Sweat streamed down my forehead and stung my cheeks.
Every breath brought a sharp ache to my throat, the tightness in my chest tightening like a vice.
I couldn't stay here long.
"Is anyone there?!"
Sticking close to the wall, I peered into the storefronts on either side.
Half-lowered security shutters.
Display shelves knocked flat on the floor.
Countless shopping bags dropped by fleeing customers.
Through the smoke, mannequins stood frozen like people who had failed to escape.
A mall that had been overflowing with shoppers just a short while ago was now completely devoid of life.
All that remained was the roar of the fire and the crash of burning debris. Searching for a single human voice amidst that ruin was terrifyingly lonely.
Even so, the handprints on the wall continued westward in broken intervals.
Mikage had pushed in this direction, searching for an exit.
Relying on memory, I headed toward the clothing boutique where I had first seen her.
The store was trashed from the panicked evacuation. Clothing racks had toppled to the floor, leaving colorful garments ruined under layers of soot and ash.
Behind the register.
Behind the fallen display units.
Inside the fitting rooms.
I checked them all, but found no one.
Not here.
Then where did she go?
Panic surged within me.
The footprints had led up to the storefront, but with so many customers having fled through the area, the ash was trampled into a chaotic mess. I couldn't pick out Mikage's trail anymore.
"Hey!" I screamed. "If you can hear me, make a sound! Anything!"
No reply.
There was no guarantee she was even still conscious.
She could have collapsed in some dark corner, unable to move.
The thought that I was too late struck me, clutching at my heart.
No.
Don't jump to conclusions.
I came this far. I'm not giving up until I find her.
Steeling my resolve, I turned to leave the store when I noticed a faint set of uneven tracks in the thin ash coating the walkway floor.
One footprint showed the clear impression of a loafer's sole, but the other was just a messy drag mark.
The shoe dropped on the stair landing flashed through my mind.
There was no hard proof it was Mikage's, but the tracks led from the front of the boutique toward the corridor wall, terminating right in front of a door marked Staff Only.
The door was slightly ajar. Beyond the narrow slit, a dim hallway stretched behind the retail floor.
"Are you in there?"
I called out, but heard nothing.
However, on the soot-covered edge of the door, there were clear handprints—someone had gripped it to hold themselves up.
Catching my breath, I shoved the door open.
The smoke was thinner than on the sales floor, but the air was stale and suffocating all the same. According to the placard on the wall, this hallway housed storage rooms and an employee break room.
It was entirely possible Mikage had found this door and ducked inside to escape the smoke.
"Is anyone there?!"
Moving down the hall, I checked each door in sequence.
Storage room.
Janitor's closet.
A small office.
Empty.
The only door left was the break room at the very end of the hall.
Leading right up to it was the trail of single-shoed footprints.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
"Hey!"
I bolted to the door and threw it open.
The room was pitch-black.
Fallen paperwork and office supplies littered the floor, overturned chairs blocking the narrow aisle. The red emergency light blurred through the haze, casting jagged, distorted shadows along the walls.
In the far corner.
Someone was slumped against the wall, motionless.
For a second, I thought it was another mannequin.
She was that still.
But the moment I caught sight of the light-colored hair spilling over her shoulders, the tight knot in my chest unraveled in a violent shudder.
"Found you..."
My voice broke.
I found her.
She was really here.
Before relief could even register, I scrambled over the scattered debris and rushed to her side.
Mikage sat with her back against the wall, head bowed, completely still.
Her uniform was caked in soot, and her once-bright hair was dulled under a coating of gray ash. Her right foot was bare, a raw scrape running across her exposed knee.
Even so, her chest rose and fell in faint, shallow breaths.
She was alive.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
Dropping to my knees in front of her, I called out.
No response.
"Hang in there. I'm here to get you out."
When I spoke again, a ragged breath escaped Mikage's lips.
"...N-no..."
Her voice was so frail it was nearly swallowed by the alarm.
Yet I heard it clearly.
"You're okay. You're not alone anymore."
I leaned in to reassure her, and her eyelids fluttered faintly.
Her eyes opened slowly, unfocused. Clouded by smoke and tears, her gaze drifted aimlessly, as if struggling to make out the shape in front of her.
"...Wh...o...?"
"I came to help."
I started to give my name, but the words died in my throat.
There was no time for introductions. More than that, my smoke-scorched throat flared with pain, threatening to throw me into a coughing fit if I tried to say too much.
Unable to process what was happening, Mikage weakly shook her head.
"Liar..."
"I'm not lying."
"Everyone's... g-gone..."
"Your friends are outside. All three of them made it out safe."
At those words, Mikage's eyes widened slightly.
"Re... ally...?"
"Yeah. They're waiting for you outside."
As if the last thread holding her together had snapped, tears spilled down her cheeks, cutting clean tracks through the soot.
"Thank... good... ness..."
Even while trapped in a burning building, her very first thought was relief that her friends were safe.
My chest tightened with an ache so sharp it hurt.
"It's not good enough," I said, my voice firmer than intended. "You're coming back with me."
Mikage shook her head again, resisting.
"I can't... My leg... won't m-move..."
Following her gaze, I saw that one of her ankles was badly swollen. She must have sprained it when she took that fall on the stairs.
Missing a shoe, collapsing over and over, she had dragged herself this far completely on her own.
All alone in an empty building, terrified and uncertain if her friends were even alive.
"Think you can stand?"
"I said... I can't..."
"Then I'll carry you."
The moment I reached out a hand, Mikage's entire body seized up.
"Don't touch me...!"
Frail as she was, her rejection was razor-sharp.
I froze, pulling my hand back instantly.
Her expression held raw terror rather than disgust. It wasn't just fear of the fire or the smoke. The simple reality of a guy touching her had triggered something deep inside her.
I could have bulldozed through it, telling her she had no choice given the circumstances.
It probably would have been faster to just grab her while she was semi-conscious and haul her out.
Even so, I couldn't bring myself to force a hand she had so fiercely rejected.
"Okay. I won't touch you."
I drew both hands back, lowering them where she could see them.
Mikage's eyelids blinked in faint surprise.
"...Huh?"
"If you don't want me to, I won't touch you without your say-so."
"..."
"But I'm not leaving, either."
Mikage's gaze lifted slightly.
Her tear-blurred eyes still couldn't focus on my face, but she seemed to be tracking where my voice was coming from.
"I'm not leaving you behind. So please, just try to take a breath."
My voice came out surprisingly calm, even to my own ears.
Inside, I was screaming with panic, desperate to grab her and run. The heat radiating from the hallway was climbing by the second, and the building's structural groaning hadn't stopped.
We didn't have time to waste.
Yet if she didn't accept my help of her own will, neither of us would make it out alive.
"It's okay," I said softly, careful not to push her. "Don't be scared. I won't do anything you don't want."
"It's... not okay..."
"You're right."
I didn't try to brush it off.
Trapped in a fire with a ruined ankle, alone with a guy she didn't know—nothing about this was okay.
"But I'm getting you back to your friends."
"Can you...?"
"Yeah. I can."
I kept my voice as steady and reassuring as I could.
Even though I had nothing to back it up.
Just getting in here had pushed my lungs to their limit, and there was no guarantee our escape route was even still open.
Even so, I answered without a shred of hesitation.
If I let my own fear show, she wouldn't have anything left to hold on to.
Mikage went quiet for a long moment.
All the while, the emergency alarm shrieked. The sound of burning debris crashing down echoed from down the hall, and the red emergency lights threw erratic shadows through the smoke-filled room.
Eventually, a soot-stained hand lifted slowly into the air.
Her trembling fingertips drifted for a second before brushing against my shirt sleeve.
At first, it was a hesitant touch, barely grazing the fabric. Then, slowly, her fingers curled inward, clutching my sleeve with every ounce of strength she had left.
"...Don't leave me behind."
Those words struck me straight in the chest.
"I won't."
"Re... ally...?"
"Yeah," I answered firmly. "I will never leave you alone."
Fresh tears welled in Mikage's eyes, but her grip on my sleeve didn't loosen.
"It'll be easier on my back. I'll be facing forward, so you won't have to look at me."
"...On your back?"
"I'll turn around and crouch down right here. You just put your arms around my shoulders on your own. I'll have to hold your legs when I stand up, but I'll tell you before I touch you."
As I explained each step, Mikage's lips quivered with anxiety, but she kept her eyes on me, hanging on every word.
"If you hate it, you can tell me to stop. But staying here isn't an option."
"...I'm scared."
"I know."
I didn't need to ask what she was afraid of.
The fire, the smoke, being left alone, putting her trust in a strange guy—she was terrified of all of it.
I looked down at her small hand gripping my sleeve.
"Even so, if you hold on to me, I promise I won't let go."
Mikage didn't say a word.
Instead, her fingers tightened just a fraction more around my shirt.
That was her answer.
Careful not to startle her, I slowly turned my back to Mikage and dropped into a low crouch.
"Can you get your arms around my shoulders?" I asked over my shoulder.
After a brief, hesitant pause, a pair of slender arms cautiously draped over my shoulders.
She didn't choke my neck, resting her arms gently across my collarbone instead. The heat of her body and a fine, persistent tremor pressed against my back.
"I'm going to support your legs now. I'm touching you."
"...Okay."
Waiting for her quiet confirmation, I reached both hands under the backs of her knees.
Taking care not to put any pressure on her swollen right foot, I pulled her close, securing her legs firmly in my arms.
"I'm standing up. Hold on tight."
Mikage channeled what little strength she had left into her arms.
Pushing off from one knee, I slowly straightened my legs.
She wasn't weightless.
Carrying a full-grown person meant a heavy, unforgiving weight dug into my arms and lower back. My legs, already starved of oxygen from the smoke, wobbled dangerously for a second, nearly sending me crashing back to the floor.
Clenching my teeth, I forced myself upright.
Mikage's upper body rested securely against my back, her slender arms locked around my shoulders. With my hands hooked under her knees, there was no risk of accidentally shifting my grip and making her uncomfortable.
"Can you breathe okay?"
"...I'm fine."
"Does your right foot hurt?"
"...A little..."
"Got it. I'll keep it as steady as I can."
Her voice was weak, but the fact that she could answer meant she was still conscious.
"Let's go."
"...Okay."
With Mikage on my back, I moved toward the break room door.
The trembling of her fingers clutching the fabric at my shoulder never stopped, vibrating straight through my back with every step.
"Don't worry," I said softly, as much to steady my own nerves as hers. "I'm getting you out of here. Guaranteed."
Mikage didn't reply, but her arms tightened around my neck just a fraction more.
The moment we stepped out of the break room, a deep roar tore through the building behind us.
The floor violently lurched, and dust showered down from the ceiling.
I slammed to a halt, tightening my grip on her legs to keep her from slipping.
"What was that...?!"
A terrified voice gasped right in my ear.
Looking back over my shoulder, a curtain of sparks was raining down from the break room ceiling.
Flames caught the scattered papers on the floor, crawling hungrily across the overturned chairs and shelves. The very corner where Mikage had been sitting just moments ago was swallowed in an instant by a blinding orange inferno.
If I had been even a few seconds later...
Shaking the horrifying thought from my head, I snapped my gaze forward.
The corridor ahead was glowing a sinister crimson through the smoke.
Right where a clear path had been moments ago, a charred, burning mass of wreckage now blocked the hallway. Flames licked up the walls around it, sending embers swirling furiously into the suffocating air.
The heat radiating against my face was on an entirely different level now.
Behind us, the break room was being consumed by the blaze. Ahead of us, the path was completely blocked.
The way we came was gone.