Warning. The content of the following chapter may be unsuitable for some readers.
As the door swung open with a gut wrenching creak, Yuki froze. Blood was smeared all around the hallway that was revealed. Every individual patch seemed to be older than the last.
"Stay out here. I've got this," Yuki looked at Shu seriously.
"But it's dark in there. Are you sure you don't want me to accompany you?" Shu asked, worried about her.
"No. Now's as good a time as any to get over it. Plus, someone needs to keep watch of the entrance to make sure nobody enters or exits."
"I..." He paused for a second. "I guess there's no point in trying to dissuade you. I wish you luck, Yuki."
"You as well, Shu."
With that, Yuki went in. As she walked further down, it got almost too dark to see, and the smell of rust thickened, leading her to believe that whatever was happening, had been going on for a long time. She ignited a flame on her fingertip. Eventually, she came across a segment of the hallway that was littered with doors, almost like some abandoned hospital, but with a much narrower hallway.
The freshest blood she could discern lead into a room with the number 005 on it. She froze for a moment, wondering if she should really proceed with this by herself. After what felt like ages, she finally composed herself. She pulled down on the handle and pushed the door open, ready to defend herself from anyone or anything that might attack her, her flame flickering, rather than steadily bright until she manages to stabilize it again.
As she looked around the room, she saw more blood trailed across the floor, but this time, there was only blood that was a couple days old, rather than the mix of different ages that was out in the hallway. There was a stainless steel island in the middle of the room that was on wheels. Draped over the island was the piece of the thrown away curtain. Out of it, she could see an arm at an odd angle, and a limp hand attached to it. Her flame went out momentarily and then sputtered back to life. Unbeknownst to her, her eyes flashed blue, and then back to black.
With her flame unsteadily flickering, Yuki ran. She ran back to Shu, her mind racing. What the hell was that? What is going on? What if I'm next because of this? Why me? Why did I choose to come in here alone? Why was I so dumb? Other thoughts of that nature filled her head. She didn't even care if that was the missing person they had gone to find or not. She just wanted to get out of there.
As she got closer to the entrance, or in her case, the exit, the light progressively got brighter. Finally, she bursts into the alleyway, just barely avoiding running into Shu's back.
"We've gotta get out of here. Now." Yuki looks at Shu, her eyes full of panic.
"Lady Aiko. Our mission. We need help," Yuki says as she enters Aiko's office, her eyes full of desperation.
She looks into Yuki's eyes. "All right. Ryu. Let's go. Yuki. Shu. Lead the way."
They make their way to the alley at a moderate pace. As they come across the dumpster, Yuki tells them to make a mental note of the curtain hanging out of it, and that the blood trail ends there. They continue down the alley.
"Okay. Here we go again," Yuki says to herself as they reach the door to the hallway. She takes another deep breath and pushes open the door once again. "Please, follow me close." She ignites the flame on her finger again.
"When'd you learn to do that?" Aiko asks interestedly.
"When I was in the dark at one point when I was younger. I was afraid. I called out for light, and the fire answered. This is the only thing I've managed to do though. It's more of a party trick than something useful, but it provides enough light to see, so that's something I guess."
"Interesting. But you won't need that now," Aiko summons a sphere of light in her hand. "Now lead the way."
Yuki walks down the corridor, occasionally flinching at the shadows cast next to her. As they move further, Aiko and Ryu wonder what the hell they were thinking letting two 16 year-olds go on a missing person case without supervision.
Yuki stops and looks toward them in front of door 005. "This is it."
Ryu and Aiko enter the room, surprised at how clean it is compared to the corridor.
"You three stay over here. I'm going to check that out," Ryu says hesitantly.
He goes and sees most of the dismembered body of the missing person they had been searching for stored in the hollow side of the island facing the far side of the room. The trails of blood suggest that the rest of him is in various different cabinets.
Because of Ryu's reaction, Aiko goes over as well. As soon as she sees it, the light dissipates her hands go to her mouth. As soon as that happens, Yuki ignites the flame on her finger so it doesn't get too dark. It gets hard for her to breathe when there isn't any light. Almost as if she is trying to breathe through a very dense blanket.
Ryu pulls out some marking tape and tapes off the area. "You two are hereby dismissed from this case. It was already a rank above what you were supposed to be able to do, but it is now a rank A. You are not to intentionally be involved in this case anymore, understood?"
"Understood," Yuki and Shu respond in unison.
"Good. Now let's get out of here. Lady Aiko, I'll assemble a group of our finest A ranks to investigate this further," He continues in a more hushed tone so Yuki and Shu can't hear. "Another thing, Aiko, did you see Yuki's eyes? She has awakened."