Morning Musume has just finished taping their of Haro Moni episode for next week. It’s still early for that day, around 3:30 pm so some of the members decided to have fun.

“Reina!!!” Sayumi creamed on top of her lungs to the retreating girl. “Aren’t you coming with us?”

Reina looked back at them and said, “I’m sorry. I’m not in the mood today to have fun. I’m tired and I just want to sleep as soon as possible.”

“Hahaha!! You’re becoming an old lady now, are you?” Eri made fun of her friend and Sayu even joined her at laughing. “Don’t worry, we’ll buy some sweater for the winter. We don’t want our Obachan to freeze in the cold.”

“BAKA! I want to sleep, that’s all. Just enjoy yourselves at your shopping spree and don’t disturb me, got it? We’ve been up from 7am to rehearse our song and tape Haro Moni.””

“Hai… Hai… So, We’ll be going now. I’ll buy you some vitamins so you will not feel tired faster.Well then, we’re going now! Ja!” Shige and Eri went out of their dressing room and left Reina alone.

“Ja ne!”
“Peace at last”

Reina packed her things quickly and head out to the door. She arrived at the elevator and pressed the button. It took a while for it to arrive and surprisingly, there’s no one inside. She went inside, pressed the ground floor button and the door closed. Although she’s supposed to be going down, she felt the elevator moved up.

“What the!?! Is it broken or what?” She stayed calm although inside, she’s already panicking.

Their studio is located at the 5th floor of that building.
8……9…….10…..

The elevator kept moving upwards till…
11…….12……13……….
Reina felt the elevator moved downwards a little bit and stopped at the 13th floor. Reina’s heart was beating very fast as the door opened and revealed a dim-lighted barren place.

“Ok…I thought this building’s architecture is based on western type buildings? If it is, there shouldn’t be a 13th floor. The 14th floor must be next after the 12th floor.”

Reina repeatedly pushed the close button or the ground floor button. She also tried the emergency button but nothing happened. The elevator seemed stuck in that floor.

“This is REALLY freaking me out! If I discovered that someone’s playing trick on me, that parson must be prepared to face my wrath!”

Reina thought about the fire exit. She was glad she had a flashlight in her bag that time. The dim light from that floor was not enough to see the end of that place. She opened her flashlight, and set out to find the fire exit. As soon as she was 20 steps away from the elevator she heard it close and before she knew it, the elevator moved down. Reina ran back as fast as she could and pressed the button repeatedly but it wouldn’t open. She had no choice but to return to her search for the fire exit.

There were no other rooms in that floor… Except for one... She hoped that this is the door of the fire exit that she’s been looking for. When she opened the door, she saw a small room with a dusty table in the middle. On top of that table, there was a radio transceiver; an IC ICOM--M502 VHF Marine Radio. She knew it because her grandfather used to own one when she was still a kid. She dusted it off and then…

“Hello?.... Hello?” Is someone there?”

Reina was surprised that the machine suddenly worked. She’s thinking whether to answer or not. She reached out her hand and…

“He...Hello?”

-End of Chapter 1-