Marry: WOW ! I can't believe all the reviews we are getting ! Eve was so ecstatic, she fell down the stairs of my house ! Luckily it was only for a step or two hehe

Eve: If you saw me losing my balance, you should have at least caught me ! D:

Marry: Hehe gomen ~ Now let's begin the new chapter of

Marry and Eve: RANMARU ! *giggles*

Kirino: Wha- ?

Ranmaru was surprised to find that the staircase was now gone. It was nowhere to be seen. Fear grasped his heart as he stared at the paintings that contradict each other. One was blue and the other was red. "I'm at the right place…" he said to himself, wondering where the staircase disappeared to. He sighed after many attempts of trying to find a hidden button that would reveal the staircase. "At this point there's no turning back,"

There was another hallway that led to another part of the place. His steps were uncertain as he neared the end, where he found a bright blue door. Reminded of the blue key he had in his pocket, he found that the key could unlock the door. He pushed the door open and walked in, leaving the key in the keyhole.

The pink haired male found himself in a green coloured room. In front of him, there was a hallway that led to more unknown things and to his right laid a hallway where a number of paintings of insects hung. There was a ladybug, a bee, a butterfly and a spider. Further up the hallway on the right, were framed paintings of a butterfly's life cycle. Ranmaru decided to walk to the right, inspecting the paintings as he did so and found all of them very pretty.

At the end of the hallway, he found a green door. He pushed it open and was surprised to see a huge hole on the ground. He looked in. It looked like the hole went a long way down. He tried to measure the length of the hole, since there was a door on the other side of it, and found that it was too big for him to jump across. Ranmaru stood back up and he was out of the small room.

He figured maybe he should take the other hallway. The place itself seemed like a maze that was made up of hallways. He wondered if he had actually entered a fun house found in theme parks where you had to find your way out of a big maze. The idea seemed likely but he didn't want to believe it yet. What could explain the changing painting and the disappearing staircase anyway? Magic?

There was a divider in the middle of the hallway. "Beware the edges," Ranmaru read the warning out loud and his eyebrows crooked. Why should he be aware of the edges? He shrugged and entered the hallway, walking in the middle of it out of habit.

"GAHK!" was the first thing that came out of his mouth when a hand unsuspectingly popped out of the wall on his right. He fell on his butt, his eyes staring at the trashing hand in fear. It wasn't exactly a hand; it was more like the black arm of a Devil! Complete with sharp claws and wrinkled skin and all that.

He crawled on his arms and knees, trying to get away from the hand that was grasping the air for something. For him. He crawled and crawled when another hand, exactly like the first one, broke the wall above his head. The hand grabbed the air, feeling for something anything. Ranmaru froze in his tracks, his body shivering from the shock and horror at seeing these ugly limbs sticking out of the walls.

Screaming, he lifted himself up and dashed forward, narrowly missing the third and fourth hands that came from both sides of the walls. The hallways echoed with his screams and just before he stopped in front of the wall that served as a dead end, another hand surprised him and its claws grazed his cheek. A drop of blood fell to the floor and the teen found himself on his ass again due to recoil. He gasped for breathe, his chest moving up and down in an unsteady pattern. His bright blue eyes blinked, realizing what just happened and he wiped his wounded cheek with the sleeves of his green shirt that seemed to blend into his surroundings now that he paid attention.

He glared at the stains of red on his favourite shirt and growled. His mom wasn't going to like that. The teen stood up, patting his clothes and his eyes glared at the hand in front of him. It had some blood on one of its fingers (or claws). As he turned on his heels to walks towards the second green door he stole a glance of the painting of an ant. 'Odd,' he thought to himself. 'Why is this bug painting the only one here?'

He ignored his sudden thoughts of interior decorating and turned the doorknob. Locked.

"Oh, damn it. What am I supposed to do now?" he muttered angrily. He kicked the door in annoyance. Because of that, the door shook and so did the walls, as if they were made by thin boards of wood. Ranmaru arched an eyebrow. The painting of the ant was now askew. He inspected it closer and was surprised to find that the painting was removable. He took it down, suddenly gaining an idea on what to do with the painting. He grinned to himself. "This should work," he said after analyzing the length of the painting. It was longer than the width of the hole in the small room. The painting was framed and the glass was definitely thick enough to support his weight. He hoped, anyways.

He realized that the hands (or claws, he didn't know what to call them now) were still there. Ranmaru rolled his eyes, annoyed. He was about to lift up the big but light weighted painting when he spotted something pink on the ground. A pink rose petal. The teenager gasped and he glanced at the rose in his pocket. There were seven petals left. He gritted his teeth. 'Great, just what I needed,'

Ranmaru marched down the hallway, skilfully dodging the hands that tried to grab him despite the burden he carried with him. He considered injuring one of the hands for revenge but dismissed the thought after seeing how violently the hands were trashing about as if they still wanted to hurt him. He wouldn't get anywhere near those ever. Well he might need to cross this hallway again in the near future but he'd make sure he'll be out of reach.

He opened the door that led to the small room and wasted no time on placing the painting over the hole. He smiled with satisfaction when the painting indeed covered it whole. No pun intended on his part.

Carefully, he stepped on the framed painting. His hand scratched the itching but painful wound on his cheek (he didn't actually realize how long it was) and grimaced in pain. When he crossed to the other side of the room (and thankfully he didn't cross over to the other side) Ranmaru immediately opened the door and wasn't surprised to find himself in another room. He walked in, leaving the door wide open. There was one of the headless mannequins from the art gallery standing at the very end of the room and a lonesome painting on one wall. He looked around the green room and finally saw a green coloured key on the floor, just a few steps away from the headless mannequin. He didn't realize he was grinning when he picked up the key. "Alright! I think I'm starting to get the hang of this game! If it is a game in the first place…"

There was shuffling and Ranmaru looked up. He was surprised to find the mannequin a number of steps closer to him. He had a bad feeling about this and quickly pocketed the key. Just as he did so, a threatening voice was heard, as if it tried to scare him. In the exact same moment, the mannequin shuffled forward towards it. For a split second, Ranmaru thought the voice belonged to the mannequin. And boy was he right. Without wasting any more time (and screams coming from him) he quickly ran out of the door, forgetting to close it on the way. He didn't even stop to think twice about jumping onto the ant painting because the headless and alive mannequin was hot on his heels. The glass cracked under his weight. Before he knew it, he threw himself onto the floor and heard a loud crash coming from behind him. He breathed heavily, tired from the sudden chase. When he turned his head around, the mannequin was gone. It seemed like the mannequin was too heavy for the ant painting and broke the canvas when it tried to cross.

Ranmaru couldn't find the right words to say how relieved he was. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and inspected his rose. Two petals were slightly withered. He frowned. There had to be a vase full of water somewhere, right? The first one was already emptied by him. Maybe he would find one behind the locked door. Or maybe even better the door was the way out. Hoping greatly, he began his adventure again.

After carefully (and successfully) avoiding the hands all over again (and before he even talked to an ant. He talked to a freaking ant that was fantasizing about how wonderful the painting of him was; the very same painting Ranmaru 'borrowed') Ranmaru unlocked the door that led to a…

Cat-head shaped room?

The door closed behind him and on the wall facing him were two ovals beyond his reach that resembled the eyes of a cat. He wasn't sure if they were more paintings or windows or simply wall decorations. He hoped it was the former. In the middle of the wall was a fish-shaped hole. Ranmaru traced his fingers over the hole, figuring out what to do. "Perhaps… it's another keyhole?" he assumed, using his mind to think of a logical explanation. He couldn't really think of another way to put it. The previous entrance he encountered was locked and he had to solve something that resembled a puzzle. So right now, his job was to find that puzzle.

Taking a few steps backwards, he realized there were two small entrances to two different rooms on his left and right. He walked into the one on his left and was greeted by tall blocks. The block closest to him had a stickman embedded on it while the rest hid whatever was on them with red drapes. He past the first block and words written in yellow paint appeared out of nowhere under the stickman. Ranmaru flinched. He was surprised and taken off guard. 'Note to self: Never stand off guard. Ever.'

The only thing written was, "Play hide-and-seek?" Ranmaru's eyes narrowed at this. Truthfully, he was never a huge fan of the game. He played it a lot when he was a kid but at this age? The idea didn't appeal him one bit. Just as he straightened up from having to bend down to read the new words, the stickman suddenly disappeared, catching the poor teenage boy off guard again. His right eye twitched in annoyance at all the surprises he was getting.

"Let me get this straight," he said to himself and turned to the rest of the blocks. He eyed the red drapes that were in his field of vision one by one. "I'm supposed to find the stickman behind one of these curtains, right?" he asked no one. He knew he wasn't going to get an answer. So he sighed and started to choose which curtain should he pull back first.

Apparently there were yellow buttons under each drape. Ranmaru figured that maybe he would just need to push one button and the curtain will roll up. He randomly decided on one block and immediately pushed the button. The curtain rolled up and his azure eyes widened when he felt something pushing him to the back through his face. It felt like a hand. He blinked and touched his face. He felt nothing. What was that weird sensation earlier?

Marry: Really sorry for the late update !

Eve: Yeah !

Marry: But we've been so distracted by other things !

Eve: Yeah !

Marry: We hope you'll forgive us ! Don't forget to review !

Eve: Yeah !

Marry: Eve !

Eve: What ?