A shrill ring sounded out on the other side of Akiyama's bedroom, interrupting his deep slumber. Angrily, he rolled over and squinted towards the clock.

It was no later than 2 a.m.

Akiyama blinked and yawned, standing stiffly. He made his way across his bedroom to the dresser where his phone lay vibrating and calling out a generic tune.

Tired after a long day at work, Akiyama found that the phone seemed to vibrate away from his hand. After a few failed attempts to grab it, the ringing died and Akiyama seized the chance and lazily carried himself back to bed.

But the phone rang again, immediately after the first call.

It sent a shiver of worry through Akiyama's spine, knowing only a few people had his number, and the person calling was a likely to be a very particular person indeed.

Akiyama jumped out of his bed and hurried back to the dresser, accidentally slamming his foot against the leg of the footboard and sending shockwaves of pain through his system.

He ignored the pain and caught the cell phone on the last ring without checking the ID. It had only been three months since the last round of the Liar Game Tournament, and ever since Akiyama had become accustomed to taking extra precautions.

Players and secretariats had pestered him from time to time. Once, he nearly had been swindled of a month's rent from Fukunaga. If he never saw that mushroom again, it would be too soon. However, Akiyama was relieved that they had only targeted him, and not someone more docile.

With an restrained yawn, Akiyama growled into the phone lowly?

"Hel-?!"

A harried and quiet voice interrupted his rude greeting.

"A-Akiyama-san!?"

He felt his heart jump inside his chest, but caught himself quickly.

Nao never called him at such an inappropriate time unless it was an emergency.

Usually, her emergencies were never this urgent, and she never sounded that scared.

"What's wrong?" Akiyama asked, edged. "Are you okay?"

Nao was breathing heavily into the phone, and judging by the hushed nature, she was also trying to hide it.

She was quiet for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm her own nerves.

Akiyama quickly stepped into his own shoes and pulled on a coat. He was out the door and running down the street before she even began to explain her current situation.

When she did, his heart stopped.

"I… I… there is someone in my apartment!" Nao whispered, and a small creek could be heard. Akiyama assumed she had tried peering out a door.

She hid herself in a closet. Why didn't she try escaping?

In times of panic Akiyama noticed she failed to act as logically as she should, despite being an educated college student.

Fear did it's worst to the soft-hearted.

"Have you called the police?" Akiyama asked, running at a breakneck pace down the street. He only lived a mile from Nao. But, at a time like this…

A strange gurgle answered him before Nao timidly spoke. "N-no… I hadn't thought of that."

He could hear Nao beating herself up mentally.

"I just… I just thought of you…" She added calmly, as if justifying her decision.

Akiyama consoled her momentarily before putting her on hold to call the police.

He hadn't even finished the conversation with the dispatcher before reaching her apartment door.

His end of the phone went quiet when it realized the front door was still locked

It was locked.

Akiyama's eyebrows rose in suspicion. He reached into his pocket and pulled free a credit card.

He was surprised by what he found upon breaking in.

"Sir? Are you there?" The dispatcher asked urgently. "What is the address of the emergency?"

Akiyama sighed, running a hand through his hair. He cast a look toward the window and noticed it was open.

Nao lived on the first floor, and it appeared as if…

"Never mind." The swindler replied to the dispatcher. "It's just a raccoon."

Akiyama stared into the eyes of a very scared animal that skittered away within a moment out the window. It was summer, so it would not be entirely unseemly for Nao to pry open the window for fresh air. Many in her complex did just the same, though it was probably not a good idea to begin with.

Akiyama was quick to apologize to the dispatcher. After hanging up, he switched over to Nao's line.

She was breathing quietly in a rushed manner, her face still pressed to the phone.

Nao was so flustered and beside herself that she was unable to answer the phone.

Akiyama ventured over to her closer and pried it open.

Nao screamed, her hands covering her ears and her eyes shut tight fear shaking her entire body.

A deep silence followed where neither moved.

A moment passed, and Nao dared to peer through a cowering eyelid.

Akiyama stared down at her with an exasperated look. He sighed and offered his hand.

The girl looked at him questionably, practically breathless. "W-where…?"

He pulled her from the closet where she had hidden amongst her shoes and into her room. Akiyama pointed towards the window before speaking.

"You left your window open. It was only a raccoon."

Nao giggled nervously, both embarrassed and relieved. She leaned forward and rested her shoulder on Akiyama's shoulder.

A half an hour later after searching every nook and cranny of her small home, both were content to find that it really was only a nosy animal which had found itself in Nao's apartment. Akiyama spent the rest of the early morning listening to Nao's rather vividly frightening tale.

Apparently she had spent almost as hour in worry when the first sounds of skittering had begun. She had originally chalked it up to be the ghost of the complex manager's wife and had let it be despite her fears. However, when something had flittered past her vision, Nao panicked and hid in her closet, knowing it could not have been a ghost at that point.

On one hand, it pleased Akiyama to know that Nao trusted him as much as she did (though he had no doubts that she was a trusting person in general). But, on the other hand, he was angry with her sitting inside the confines of closet shivering in fear for so long.

Though he had told her just as much and to be more careful, Akiyama also insisted that she never be shy in calling him, and immediately after she was to call the cops.

There was always a chance that there would be a Next Time, and that it would be a much more serious situation. The remnant fears of the tournament still ran rampant in their minds, and occasionally a player did show their face when it was not welcome.

"But how can we not trust them?" Nao asked innocently. "They went through the same trials as we did."

Akiyama found that it was difficult to argue with Nao when she got idealistic. The players in the tournament had not all been friendly folk, such as Fukunaga and the secretariats, and the aforementioned still bothered him on occasion. "Just call me."

After breakfast he excused himself from her apartment, mindful to lock all the doors and windows before leaving. However, he did not head back to his own apartment to catch up on his lost sleep.

Instead, Akiyama found himself down the street from Nao's home, staring at a "Vacancy" sign for a cheap apartment.

He decided then that it would be best for the both of them to live closer, should anything actually happen.

And perhaps he could convince Nao to move out of the city altogether when she graduated…