Investigating was the name of the game; Maya and Haruhi had discussed it at length the night prior. To their shock and alarm, neither of them really knew what to do, but somehow they'd managed a plan. They would split up, question everyone, and eventually meet up... somewhere. She could recall that Hiroshi's Home Ec class had popped up in conversation at least, so that was where she was heading!

She had reached the door by the time she noticed that something was unusual. It was the smell in the air; it was sticky and hot and awful. She'd never smelled anything like it.

"Yuck, what's going on in here? Smells like someone..."

And then she saw what was inside. The stench hit her twice as hard, seemingly more because she knew what it was, without a doubt. Even with the top half of the body burned to almost a crisp, there was no mistaking the form as the friend she'd vowed to help.

And all Maya could do was scream.

"SUZUMIYA!!"