Akira moved towards Ren. She squished herself beside him, their shoulders touching.
She squinted at the tiny markings on the stair. They were so small that she didn't really notice them when she first passed through the stairs.
Looking closely, they appeared to be like old runes that were engraved on the cobblestone. They somehow looked familiar to Akira. It was as if she saw them somewhere already, but she couldn't remember where.
"Hmmm. I think I saw these somewhere before. The problem is, I can't really recall where", she said to Ren without looking at him.
Something inside of her was telling her to touch the runes. Following her instincts, she caressed the runes one by one. Almost instantly, the wall behind them started to move.
Akira and Ren turned around quickly to look at what was happening behind them. The wall was disappearing as it moved upward. Then in a few seconds, it halted, leaving an open entrance to the room.
"What did you do?" Ren asked.
"Nothing. I just touched the markings", Akira replied.
"Are you sure you can't really remember where you saw them before?"
Akira nodded. How she wished she could remember where and when exactly she had seen them before.
"Let's just take a picture of it then. We can work on it later after we finish our mission here", Ren suggested, handing Akira's phone to her so that she could take a picture of the runes.
Akira took her phone back and clicked on the camera icon. After taking a photo of the strange markings, they proceeded to the room.
When they got in, they realized that they were technically not in the underground room itself yet. To their left was a long hallway leading to what they assumed to be the main room.
Akira wondered how much longer would their 'hunting' go on. It really felt like they were in an endless maze and it was eating up the last bits of patience that she had in herself.
The corridor was slightly dim. It had small warm white lights hanging on each side of the walls. There was also a long red carpet that ran on the floor.
As soon as they set foot inside, they were embraced by the cold air, and the incense-like scent got stronger.
Akira crossed her arms as she felt the chilly air hit the bare skin on her arms. She couldn't wrap her head around why it was so cold inside. Was it perhaps an air-conditioning system?
She looked around the walls and the ceiling, hoping to find some hole or just anything that might suggest that it was the work of an AC. But she found nothing.
She frowned at how bizarre it was. Was Tomo Ogawa just an ordinary human or was he someone like them?
The list on the man's mysteries just kept on piling up.
While Akira's mind was wandering on its own, she felt a hand on her shoulder. When she turned around, a hiddeous creature was standing in front of her.
She immediately moved on her feet, keeping a distance between her and the unidentified creature.
It had pointed nails like that of a wolf's which could easily scratch and puncture her skin. Its hair was the shade of deep red. When she studied it closer, it appeared to be blood. The creature's hair was covered by blood. But that wasn't the only abominable thing about it.
Its mouth was exaggeratedly curved and it was smiling widely and mischievously. It also had two sharp fangs.
The weirdest thing about it was its eyes. Its two eyes were all black with white spirals in the middle of them. Just looking at them made Akira feel dizzy.
She went on her defensive stance, ready to fight back if the creature decided to attack her.
'What on earth is this thing? How come I didn't notice its presence earlier? And where did that guy Ren go? Did this thing take him?', she had so many questions in her mind.
"Akira", the creature suddenly said in its odd voice.
Akira's eyes widened in astonishment. She was horrified that the mysterious creature knew her name.
"Akira", the creature said again, and this time, it moved towards her.
Seeing that the being was approaching her, she didn't wait any longer to go on defense. She ran to meet the creature and threw a punch.
The creature quickly caught up with her movement as it dodged her attack.
'It's fast', she thought to herself.
The creature jumped backwards to distance itself from Akira.
"You're a coward, aren't you? Coming to attack me, but once faced head on, you're retreating. Pffft. What a joke."
With that Akira unleashed small daggers of ice to the creature but it was very swift. It was able to dodge all the incoming ices.
She bit her lip as she realized that her foe was not an easy opponent. Its reflexes were really fast. She could opt to make her attacks more powerful but she was afraid that she might destroy the entire underground room.
'What do I do now? If I don't think of something, this will go on for so long.'
"Akira", said the creature again. It was the third time it called her name.
"Stop saying my name", she answered angrily. She couldn't handle hearing her name come out of such a hideous being. "And how do you even know my name in the first place? Is this all Tomo Ogawa's doing? That man is really cunning, isn't he?"
"What", replied the creature.
"What do you mean what? You're not making sense", she couldn't understand what's going on with the creature. All she knew was everything about it was so bizarre.
"Do."
"What? Do what?"
"I."
"I? You're not making any sense. I know you look ugly but you can't seriously be this stupid to not be able to speak properly. Are you perhaps illiterate?" the thought wasn't impossible, after all, the creature didn't really look human.
The creature didn't respond. Akira thought that perhaps it understood what she said and now it felt insulted.
Then, it spoke again, "It's."
Just another word that didn't make sense. Akira was about to reply when it suddenly opened its mouth again.
"Ren."
"What about him? What did you do to him? Where —" Akira halted as something hit her.
"It's Ren...", she mumbled to herself. "Don't tell me..." She stared intently at the creature. It didn't look like human but it had features that resembled a human.
She noticed its hair that was fully covered with blood again, and it somehow reminded her of Ren's crimson hair.
"Is it really you? What happened to you?" she asked. A part of her was thinking that perhaps it was a trap.
What if the creature was lying? What if it was only pretending to be Ren so she would let her guard down?
But it could also be possible that it was really Ren. After all, she didn't feel nor notice him disappear at all. He was the only person who was with her. It was impossible that he'd just disappear without a trace. It was most likely that he was actually there the whole time then transformed into that creature when Akira turned her back at him.
Unless some sort of magic that could make something or someone suddenly disappear was used, Akira would certainly notice if Ren was taken. After all, the guy was also a strong one. She was sure that he would put up a fight if someone tried to come at him, and Akira would surely be conscious of it.
"Incense", the creature said again. This time, Akira realized that the creature really had no intentions of attacking her. It was only interested to talk to her. Was it really Ren?
"Hallucinations."
Then, almost instantly, everything started to make sense to Akira. Ren's sudden disappearance. The creature in front of her. The words which are like codes. It all pointed to the scent coming from the incense.
They were right with their assumption earlier. Inhaling it was dangerous. But it wasn't because it could make someone unsconscious. Instead, it was because the incense was a hallucinogen.