Mugi returned to his table, feeling embarrassed from his earlier encounter in the restroom. He stared into the distance as he could not process what just happened.
I'm in the men's restroom right… those are both men's shoes… doing that in public???
I think I may be crazy
Mugi shook his head, his eyes shut as he tried to remove any semblance of debauched imagery out of his head. He sat comfortably in the chair as Yuzu greeted him back.
"Are you okay, Maihara-yya?" Yuzu's face was plastered by worry. He added, "You look shaken up? Did anything upset you?"
Mugi, jittered as he looked onto Yuzu, he could not explain what he saw in the restroom. So he made an excuse, "Ah, Yuzu… it's nothing, just poor people shock."
Yuzu pursed his lips, he agreed what Mugi had said. "Poor people shock, I have it as well. These rich people made me nervous."
"Right? Like how do they even look at a $3000 dollar dinner and think: 'hm, this is a reasonable price for a slice of steak that I can only bite once.'". Mugi said in a mocking tone.
Yuzu burst into laughter. Mugi sighed, he did not want to discuss what happened in that bathroom. His eyes were fixed to the host. He would announce the start of the charity event.
The event itself was created in the outdated saying of noblesse oblige. Of course, to funnel the dirty money of these people so that it could clean their account. The actual charity would only amount to six percent of the money the event would make. If this event was genuine, the lower rings of the city would have turned into middle-class suburbs.
Mugi took a shot glass filled with liquor, he took a shot. He closed his eyes when the bitter aroma and cold after feeling hit his throat. He hissed between his teeth when the alcohol punched his face.
The noise was drowned out by the mumbling announcements the host rattled. Among those sounds was the sound of the rich, laughing. The detective was dejected. His mind swirled with the thought of the polite detective Hogou who he believed was framed by someone.
"Maihara-yya, are you alright?" Yuzu's brows were relaxed, he looked down albeit having the air of a gentleman.
"I'm alright. Just let me."
Bleargh!
"Ah- let me escort you to the restroom." Yuzu ejected himself from the seat, lifting Mugi up from his chair as he guided him to the roof.
Yuzu felt a presence at the back of his neck. It was like a prickling needle. He glared at the boxed ceiling, but he had no idea why.
Mugi hurled up at the toilet, ironically at the third cubicle. Yuzu lightly tapped his back as he continued to hurl whatever he ate back then.
Too much alcohol- bleargh! He thought.
The atmosphere in the restroom became gloomy. The lights flickered as five other men lined up together in the urinal.
Yuzu looked around, hurriedly. He noticed the five men eerily lined upon the urinal. They were standing there, menacingly. They were motionless, with a blank expression on their face. They all wore the same necklace.
Yuzu left Mugi for a moment, he inspected closely. The men did not bother as Yuzu clasped the metal necklace they had on their neck.
What is this? Hm… some sort of necklace. They all have identical copies of the same necklace but it was all fragmented. I haven't seen this type of necklace before, maybe they were connected to the occult?
Yuzu had remembered the certain incident three years ago in the Dunin Street in the lower rings of Kuri. Residents had mentioned about a foul smell coming from one of homes in the convoluted insettlers area of the city. At first, they thought it was the result of bad sewage and deaths that they could not take out due to how densely populated the lower rings were.
To their surprise when they stumbled upon a ring of blood in the corner most part of the city. Some demonic symbols crudely drawn on the pieced together wooden walls of the makeshift residence. The circle was inscribed with the sigil Asmodeus.
The adults were having an underground orgy in this ring. They covered themselves in feces and blood. Then spreading syphilis, herpes and HIV as part of their rituals. The walls were decorated with the intestines of the sacrifices, filled with maggots causing the stench of death reaching far outside the Dunin Street.
Yuzu was still a university student when he heard of this incident. Apparently, it was a big out roar that made the government abolish the densely populated insettlers in the city like the Dunin Street. The sigil looked familiar to the necklace the men had.
He traced his fingers over the metallic surface of the necklace. The name 'Leviathan' was inscribed on it.
Strange. Yuzu said to himself, he walked to Mugi when he heard him call out to him. However, when he turned around, Mugi was nowhere to be found. The third cubicle was empty.
When he looked backed to the men, they stared at him intently. They muttered unintelligible words. This caused Yuzu to retreat out of the restroom. The door creaked open and he rushed outside, however he found himself inside the restroom again.
"Novis…natus… novis…natus… novis natus"
He felt an eerie chill creeping on his back. He locked eyes with the men. They looked at him blankly, their eyes were nothing but white.
"Somnus, Irae, Daemon, Invidia, Alucinatio"
Whispers gradually picked up, he could understand what they were saying. It was like latin, but the language would switch in a few seconds. From latin, greek, mandarin, spanish, and back to latin. It crept slowly, becoming louder and louder. If it continued, it would drive him to insanity.
Suddenly, the five men uttered something he could understand. "Goetia is closer than you think… newborn." He did not understand what it meant, to him it was cryptic like the whispers.
Goetia? What in the world are those? Yuzu questioned himself.
Maybe it was a hint, as if the message was deliberately filtered out to be relayed to him.
He rushed out of the restroom. The quiet restroom was washed out by the laughter of the guests in the events. He looked back at the restroom with a terrified expression. He saw Mugi washing his face on the sink.
He entered back and shook Mugi. "Maihara-yya, did you… see it?"
Mugi stared at Yuzu blankly, "See what?" He was acting weirdly, why did he shake him out of nowhere? He seems terrified.
Yuzu stammered. "I-i do-dont really know, it was terrifying."
Mugi calmed Yuzu down, who was trembling. He could feel his cold sweat as the initial glimmer from his eyes disappeared.
He sat Yuzu down, and he gave him a glass of water. The golden lights shone upon the venue, he saw the silver-haired man take the stage. He was in his early thirties, he had a shallow dimple on his left cheek as he looked mysterious with his slanted eyes.
Misami's hand gently brushed against the host's hand. A faint smirk played on his lips. He leaned over to his ears and uttered the phrase under his breath. "Paimon: let this man enter the kitchen, grab a silver knife and enter the backstage room."
The man's eyes lost its shine, it moved unnaturally like a robot, he headed to the kitchen while Misami took the mic from his hand.
His deep voice echoed. "Welcome to the charity party, this city's esteemed guests. As you know, this is the annual event for the city as the fund the underprivileged. We as the Kmpd understood the nobility of this act."
The audience murmured, then they were compelled to clap. Misami smiled and continued. "The responsibilities of special detective forces is to protect all of you from vermin from the lower ring." His eyes glanced at the ceiling. Then he saw a glimpse of a man in a suit.
"But dear me, it seems like a few of those critters had invaded a party like this. So I ask all of you for your cooperation." He raised his hands. "Paimon: let these people have fun, kill the two invaders inside this party."
An ethereal whistling pierced in the air. The commands wafted into the people's ear. Filling their heads with Misami's voice, driving them to near insanity, their eyes had clouded. Their limbs were rigid like a steel bar.
The guests stood from their chairs. They picked up a wine glass and shattered it against the table.
Both Mugi and Yuzu seemed unaffected by Paimon. "What happened?" Mugi looked worried, his heart thumped as blood surged through his entire body. Mugi's eyes alternated between the frenzied guests and Misami who was on stage.
While Yuzu stood still, he stared at Misami who was elevated by the stage. His shadow whispered to him. Then he said in the microphone. "Paimon: let the lock doors open themselves. The ceiling unveils what's over it."
Clack!
All doors followed, and clicked open. The ceiling exploded into powdered asbestos. Hogou who sat on the wooden beam pulled the revolver on his holster. He borrowed the appearance of Asahi.
Shit, they're climbing.
With broken wine glasses on their hands. The guests tried to climb up the ceiling like mindless zombies. One had reached the top, but he met Hogou's foot as he was plunged on the bottom. Losing the balance of the climbing guests and tumbling down.
The air seems a bit chiller. The presence of snow swirled in the auditorium. The air became hazy like fog, frost forming on the edge of the glass. Crystal formed as each glass filled with either wine or water exploded violently, cracking the glasses in pieces.
Asahi smiled, unmoved by the sudden change of events. The silver knife with a streak of blood on its edge, clasped within his hand. A burst of snowflakes erupted onstage as he ensnared Misami, his feet cased with ice.
…
"Short time, no see. Brother. You ought to be more clever than that."