With a new outfit and boxes in hand, both Louis and Red proceeded to make their way into the 2nd floor of the building while making sure to act as natural and not suspicious as possible. Seeing how nobody seems to bat an eye to both of them, they easily made their way to the stairs and into the new floor with no problems.
Stepping into the new floor, Louis first survey the area for anything suspicious. And with nothing odd or dubious in sight, he then asked Red for any comment.
"Your nose caught anything suspicious in this place?"
"I'm not a dog you cunt! My nose is only good for smelling blood and food."
"Thats a no then." Louis sighs.
"It's been somewhat long since we saw that Nightmare smelling guy. Any traces of Nightmare scent have probably vanished all together when we left and sneaked our way here."
"Figures..."
And as both Louis and Red stood around searching for any traces of where the suspicious guy can be, they manage to pass some people with same shirt as they in the place. Seeing how both seems to be in some trouble, a person then approached both Louis and Red.
"Hello there friends." The person spoke.
"Shit! Louis we've been found ou-"
Louis quickly karate chops Red in the head.
"E-eehhh..." The person mutters, quite confuse at what he just saw.
"Don't mind her." Louis politely spoke. "She's not very good at common sense you see."
"What the fuck do you mean by that!?" Red shouts to Louis while rubbing her injured head.
"I-I.. See..."
"In any case might I ask what sir here want with us?"
"Ah right! You both seem to be in trouble and from the looks of it you both also seems to be new faces. New members I presume?"
"That would be correct."
"Thats great! The more the people the better."
"I suppose so..."
"So what's troubling both of you?" The person asked. "If you both are looking for the place to dump that boxes, the storage room is at the 1st floor."
"Ah no, that's not it. We're actually looking for where chairman Ryo is." Louis explains. "The receptionist below said that he really needs whatever is inside of these delivered to him asap, you see."
"Oh Chairman Ryo you say? If you're looking for him you can find his office at the 3rd floor. The furthest room at the left side."
"Well that was easy." Red suddenly spoke.
"I see... thank you sir." Louis spoke.
"No need friend. Helping each other is what we do. While we're at it seeing how you are much older than me can you stop calling me sir? It's kind of weird hearing a much older person call me sir."
"I suppose that would be weird for some." Louis remarked. "Again, thank you for the help friend."
"No worries." The person once again spoke. "Nice hat by the way."
.
.
"Thank you..." Red muttered.
Saying their goodbyes, Both Louis and Red then watch as the man that just helped them make his way out of the current floor and into the 1st floor. Seeing how their current predicament has just been fixed, all they need to do now is make their way to the suspect's office and confront him.
"Quite a nice guy, I must say." Red spoke.
"He was quite helpful indeed."
"Helpful eh? That's quite cold."
"Not that I don't trust him. From what I can read of his face he seems to not be lying at least."
"Then why the attitude?"
"I don't know... I just feel that something is off."
"It's just probably your age or something. I heard old people easily get deluded the most."
"Right..." Louis sarcastically uttered.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuing their stroll, they quickly made their way to where the supposed office was. Reaching the front door of the room they stopped for a moment, observing the place and making sure that there isn't any trap of some sort.
"Nothing dubious of some sort in my part." Louis muttered. "How about you? Smelled any Nightmare around?"
"Nothing as well." Red answers. "How odd... I'm pretty sure I smelled a scent of a Nightmare from that guy, yet nothing of any sort from this room. Is the guy even in this room?"
"..."
Hearing what Red just said, Louis quickly grabs the door's doorknob. Trying to open the door himself, he was somewhat surprise to find the thing locked.
"A locked door eh?"
"I guess it's my turn now."
Grabbing a lockpick from his pocket, Louis then begins to fiddle with door's lock. And after a few minutes of fiddling and a quiet sound suddenly echoed from where they stand, after which Louis then puts his lockpick back into his pocket.
"Nice job Louis thou... I could have done it much faster If it was me." Red spoke.
"Good for you."
"Hmmmm..."
Finally opening the door, they were greeted with what seems to be a decent looking place. With potted plants from the corners, shelves full of books and a large expensive looking desk in the near end of room.
Comparing the cleanliness of the current place compared to Louis's van is indeed quite a contrast. Do despite the current sight they see. What struck Louis the most is not the fact that the place is nice to the eyes but instead the fact that no one is present at the place at all.
The hell? Louis spoke in his mind.
Checking the place once again to see if his was failing him, resulted the same. Nobody is indeed inside the place, not a person nor a soul.
"Well this sure is a surprise. Sir Sus seems to not be present at the moment." Red spoke.
"..."
"You think that he somehow managed to see our act and fled somewhere?"
"I highly doubt it." Louis replies.
"How so?"
"He clearly wasn't focusing on us when we saw him." Louis answers. "And the fact that this office of his is even locked implies that there's something here that he doesn't want anyone finding out."
"I don't know Louis... I thought locking your room when leaving is the norm in here?"
"You saw him went to the stairs and into the 2nd floor, didn't you? If he did flee as you say he is, where do you think he would have done it? Even jumping from the 2nd floor alone would leave a normal person injured."
"I see... you got a point." Red uttered, somewhat amazed at Louis's deductive skills.
"Though this is just mere speculation of mine. He could have probably just be in one of the many rooms in this building at the moment. So while we are it lock the door will you and help me search for anything that might lead us into finding where those missing people are."
"Ok!"
Quickly locking the door and putting down the boxes they have in hand. They began searching for clues that might lead them to where said missing people are currently. With Louis checking the desk and Red checking the surroundings.
Useless, useless, useless... flipping through many papers and items in the desk, Louis found nothing useful in his front. And while he was somewhat busy, Red quietly made his way to the bookshelves, grabbing and taking a quick look for any book that she finds fancy.
"Hmm.. Baking for Beginners, A Guide about Nightmares, Mystical Places: The Outskirts... oh? This book seems interesting."
Seeing a red book with a title Alice in Wonderland among the pile, Red carefully reaches for it with her hand. And upon getting a hold of it, Red was surprise to see how the book seems to not budge despite how much she pulls for it.
"Ehhh!!??"
Pulling the book once more and resulting much the same, Red was quickly getting quite annoyed at the book. Feeling as if the thing was mocking her, Red once again tries pulling the book but unlike before she actually uses her true strength which resulted to the bookshelf getting destroyed.
"Hehehe finally got you."
"Ahhhhh!!! Red you dumbass what the hell did you do!?" Louis screams, very surprise at the sudden development.
"What? I just pulled a book, see?"
"Y-you..."
But just as Louis was about to get mad at Red, he quickly notices that behind the now destroyed bookshelf, is another room.
"Huh?" Louis mutters as he quickly makes his way to the newly revealed room.
"Eh? This isn't a book!" Red exclaimed after discovering that the book she was trying to pull was not a book but instead a metallic device disguising as a book.
"My.. How bloody obvious to think that there's a hidden passageway in this place."
Checking the newly revealed room, Louis was greeted with a dark passageway going below from where they stand. Now understanding as to how that Ryo guy is not present and as to why this place is locked. He then ready his revolver and carefully make his way to the stairs.
"H-hey.. Wait!"
Dropping the red book in hand, Red soon quickly followed suit to where Louis was headed.
End of Chapter