The sudden appearance of rainfall in Kyoto created a shock.

Until then, the night sky seemed perfectly peaceful.

After a few seconds then it began to rain hard on and outside the inn including loud clapping of thunder that could be heard from the surrounding mountains.

Many students had started to make a lot of noise in the hallways for little or no reason at all!

Kuro Kurogane stated, "It’s only rain."

A bolt of lightning landed within close proximity of Kuro’s location.

The entire building shook.

"Possibly a little dangerous."

Meanwhile, the boys’ room was once again in complete chaos.

Half of the students were playing cards and half of them were screaming at the scary movie they were watching.

Kuro was sitting next to the open window with his headphones on and pretending that he would survive the evening.

Suddenly, Kuro’s phone vibrated in his pocket.

Akari: LoL I am scared of thunder

Kuro: >Are you really still considered to be a kid at 17 years old?!.

Akari: > Haha, yes

Kuro hardly expected that Akari would respond that way.

Suddenly, Kuro received another text message from another .

Aoi: quit encouraging her

Kuro stared blankly at the text message for a short time before letting out a quiet sigh.

Kuro now understood that maintaining peace was impossible even when his classmates were not in the same location as he was.

Outside there was a dramatic rumble of thunder.

And then all of a sudden the world around him vanished.

Just as Kuro was about to say something.

"EEEEHHH?!" an explosion of activity erupted in the Inn. Students were shrieking in fear, some were tumbling to the ground, and there was much shouting and yelling from the teachers in the hall.

Finally, Kuro lifted off one of his headphones. "Power Failure," he stated simply.

What a pain.

Kuro looked out of the window towards an empty parking lot as he watched the emergency lights flickering dimly in the hallway. It was raining so hard he could hardly see the road.

The guys in the room immediately panicked like a bunch of people who had just survived an end of the world disaster.

"For real dude, this place is haunted."

"Dude, it’s not haunted, it just went dark."

"They have ghosts in Kyoto, dude!"

"All they do is kill noisy people."

There was an awkward silence.

And then, one guy said, "Fair"

Kuro eventually stood up after a long and tiring couple of minutes.

"I am going to get some water." He needed to get out of this room before he went crazy.

Once out in the hall, it was eerily quiet in comparison to earlier. The emergency lights on the walls provided a soft glow on the wooden floor, while the sound of rain continued to echo throughout the hallway.

The atmosphere of the Inn had shifted from "traditional" to "romantic" in an instant.

Kuro took a slow stroll down the dark hallwayto the vending area, and was stopped in his tracks by the sight of someone standing outside of the corner window looking out at the storm.

They were young, had long dark hair and appeared to be partially illuminated by the dim lights that illuminated the Inn hallway.

The soft emergency lighting gave Akari a strangely beautiful look tonight.

When Kuro saw how she looked, he instantly turned away.

He also had some bad thoughts come into his head.

Kuro asked, "Is Akari okay?"

Aoi replied, "She’s hiding under a bunch of blankets."

Kuro said, "I figured as much."

Aoi gave a tiny smile.

After that little smile, the two went back into silence.

The silence wasn’t awkward, just calm and relaxed.

Kuro leaned against the wooden wall close by as the rain continued outside.

Then unexpectedly Aoi broke the silence when she said to Kuro, "You’ve been avoiding eye contact with me all day today."

Kuro froze for a split second when Aoi said that.

He replied, "No I haven’t."

Aoi replied back, "Yes, you have."

Kuro clicked his tongue quietly, which shows he was thinking about how he couldn’t avoid looking at Aoi all day.

Then Aoi moved just a tiny bit closer to Kuro.

She said to him, "Look at me."

Kuro’s defences finally broke.

He slowly looked over at Aoi.

Kuro wished he didn’t.

Seeing Aoi in the dim lighting of the hallway, along with the quietness of the hallway made her eyes look softer than usual.

And warmer than they did before.

Suddenly Kuro remembered yesterday’s visit to the shrine, all too painfully clearly.

Kuro suddenly realized that his heart was pounding uncomfortably fast.

Kuro muttered to himself, "This hallway feels wrong."

Then Aoi tilted her head slightly and asked Kuro, "...What’s wrong?"

Kuro answered her, "This hallway is set up like a romance manga."

Aoi blinked her eyes once at Kuro.Then unexpectedly she began to laugh softly.

Her laugh was a soft, genuine laugh; Kuro did not hear that laugh from Aoi very often, if ever before.

Hearing that laugh from Aoi almost killed Kuro emotionally.

Aoi leaned in ever so slightly closer to Kuro and softly said, "You are cute every once in a while."

The first thing to reveal itself is Kuro’s immediate act of looking away.

"Do not joke around about things that are dangerous."

"I say it straight, honestly."

There was nothing said for a while.

Nothing at all.The air changed in an instant.

Very heavy.Very romantic.Too real.

The thunder cracked loudly once again when suddenly another section of the emergency lights went out and the corridor became very dark.

Aoi stepped in to Kuro as instinctively as possible.Way in.

So that he could very faintly smell the shampoo in her hair.

So that their breaths began to blend together & be noticed.

Kuro’s thoughts went completely into survival mode.

"That’s too close."

"Sorry."

But she did not move away from him, either, so they were both still stood there.

The storm outside continued to make sound, but nothing else could be heard.

The corridor felt completely alone from everything else.

Aoi looked up at him, very quietly.

"Kuro?"

The way she said his name tonight felt different.

Much softer.Far more vulnerable.

Kuro began to feel a sharp ache develop in his chest.

Because for the first time he truly felt alone with her.

Not as step-brother & step-sister. Not as childhood friends.

Only as a boy & a girl who stand too near each other in the dark.

And at this point, for some reason neither of them wished to take the first step to leave that section of corridor.

Shortly thereafter distant voices echoing from down another hallway, whom are sounding out for their flashlights are returning them to reality.

Aoi was the first to take a step away, & instantly the warmth between them left however, the vibrating energy that both Kuro & Aoi had created still lingered.

It was very dangerous to have both Kuro & Aoi standing so near each other in between the doorway of the fire-escape door to the north and the entrance to the hallway.

Aoi was quiet as she turned her head to look out at the rain falling.

"I guess we should head back." Aoi said quietly but neither will move for a moment.

After some time passes in total silence Aoi smiles softly.

A quiet soft and gentle smile, almost a little shy.

"I still " Kuro looked toward Aoi.

"I’m glad you are the one here with me." Aoi’s voice became very quiet.

And before Kuro could regain his composure from Aoi’s emotional statement she turned around and slowly walked down the dark hallway on her own.

Leaving Kuro standing underneath the small emergency lights.

Heart racing and pounding hard.

Somewhere deep within him, both Kuro and Aoi had crossed over even further past another boundary together while at the same time.