It takes another minute ticking by on the alarm clock for Shuri to move, tromping up the stairs and towards the door, or maybe Kayo moves first after grabbing up her bag as well. Either way, they're both on the stairs with Kayo behind her and Shuri's the one to yank on the door handle, pulling the door open only a crack with a click. Kayo shoots a glare at her, but Shuri ignores her and looks out through the crack.
"Yes?" Her voice comes out cold and sharp.
The girl is pale and slim with long red hair, and Shuri thinks she remembers having seen her earlier from the starting point. More distinctly than the others, anyway, probably because of the hair sticking out. There's also something on the girl's hip. A mark of some sort that looks like Greek lettering, which shouldn't be unusual because it looks like a tattoo, but...
Shuri tries to remember what exactly she'd been doing when she'd been in the starting room. That mark hadn't been there, hadn't it? She'd looked at all her opponents while mentally scorning them, and as far as she'd recalled, none of them had had tattoos on their hips. Not like the one this girl had, anyway. She's always sure when she thinks, or preferably knows, that she's right. Right?
"Please." The girl's no longer screaming, but she's blinking rapidly as if to hold back tears and her expression is akin to a kicked puppy. "Please let me in, I-I'm so tired, I've been r-running all d-day..."
"We'll--" Kayo begins, but Shuri cuts her off with the first thing that comes to mind.
"We're not letting anyone in," she says icily. "Leave."
"Shuri!" Kayo snaps. Shuri ignores her, again, and the girl buries her face in her hands and starts shaking.
"Please, I just need a few--one minute, I won't b-bother you," the girl pleads, and her voice is trembling. "I won't stay longer than I need to, I just want to hide, and--and rest--"
Shuri closes the door and looks directly at Kayo. "Take out your taser," she hisses.
"What?" Kayo looks at her in disbelief.
"Just take it out!" Shuri hisses again. "Did you see that mark on the girl's hip?"
"Well--kind of," Kayo replies, a little haltingly. "Why?"
"You saw her at the starting room, didn't you?" Shuri asks impatiently. "Do you remember seeing that mark on her or not?"
"How would I know?" Kayo whispers angrily. "I wasn't exactly memorizing everyone there!"
Shuri groans. On the other side of the door, the girl's still begging as time's ticking.
"Listen," Shuri mutters, "if she didn't have that mark before, that probably means something, alright? A man could've marked her after **** her, whether or not he got her virginity, as a show of pride or some shit like that. This might mean he's still around here somewhere, and that means--"
Kayo's face is now distinctly drained of color. "That means he's using her as bait."
"Bingo," Shuri replies grimly.
"...Or maybe you're just overthinking this and she got a mark for some other reason," Kayo mumbles.
"What other reason?!" Shuri practically explodes. "There's literally no other explanation! How else could she have--"
"I mean she might have had that mark all along, before she got in the game, and you're just overthinking it!" Kayo snaps.
They glare at each other, at least until Shuri, very reluctantly, relents. "Fine. I might be overthinking it, but...take out your taser, just in case, okay?"
"Please, just let me in!" The girl's begging is a little muffled behind the door, but still loud enough to seem as if she's standing right in between them.
Kayo sighs, slinging her backpack off of one arm to open it briefly and take out the taser. She zips it up again over her back just as quickly. "Okay."
Shuri looks at the door. She can either open it a crack again and continue interrogating the girl to see if she can be trusted, or open it all the way and make a break for it. Both options sound equally risky if what she's thinking is true, but...
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