Ryo and Yuki immediately bolted down the front hall. The assailant, now recognized by the two as a nukekubi, was close behind. Yuki tripped amid the terror, but Ryo pulled her away before it could bite her. They reached the door to Yuki's bedroom and immediately slammed it. It did not take long for banging noises to be heard. 

Yuki ordered Ryo to hold the door, and he did as she said. At the side of her bed, Yuki pushed against the section of the wall to reveal a secret room. Then, she noticed the bedroom door already becoming heavily damaged.

"Hurry! Hopefully it won't find us in here!" Yuki shouted. 

They ran into the room, and soon, enough, the nukekubi broke through. It began searching the area, wondering where its potential victims could have gone. Inside the secret room, Ryo and Yuki were holding their breath. Ten seconds passed, then twenty, and so on. Finally, after a minute and a half, they breathed again. 

"Do you hear anything?" Ryo whispered.

"No. It looks like it's gone, at least for now," Yuki whispered back.

The secret room they were in was a storage place for most of Yuki's old stuff, which included clothes, books, and toys from her childhood. Yuki thought that maybe some of it could help. 

"Come to think of it... how did your sister survive that thing?" Ryo asked.

"I don't know. I'll have to text her, but my phone's in the living room," Yuki answered.

Hesitating for a bit, Yuki soon made a dash for her phone and luckily succeeded in returning to the hidden room. She texted her Ai, and it did not take her long to reply back.

"What did she say?" Ryo said.

"She says that it went away when she tripped and fell into her pantry," Yuki explained. "It seems like the nukekubi does not like certain kinds of food."

"I have heard about certain yōkai not liking cinnamon- maybe it applies in this case?" Ryo remembered.

Yuki agreed. "I think you might be right. Let's try it out. I'll grab what I think can assist us."

Before exiting the room, Ryo and Yuki shared a kiss as though it would be their last.