This shouldn't even be happening.
EJ sat there, staring blankly at the two in front of him. Of all the impossible things he'd seen lately ; crystals that whispered, shadow figures haunting him — this might top the list.
Who would've thought that after the street performance, K and Yuma would end up bickering like children… and now, somehow, locked in an intense chess match at a corner table?
The board between them was a battlefield. Pieces clattered sharply as they moved, each of them wearing the same deadly seriousness they'd bring to a mission.
"Yes!" Yuma exclaimed, leaning forward, triumphant. "I told you, you'd die! This is the end for you!"
But then K only smirked, a sharp, knowing curve of his lips, and with a single, deliberate move, slid his rook across the board.
Yuma froze, staring at the new position in disbelief as K's low voice cut the air like a blade:
"Checkmate."
EJ pressed a hand to his temple, sighing. Between the two of them, he didn't know who was more dangerous and he certainly didn't know which was more insufferable.
Yuma gawked at the board as though it had betrayed him. "No, no, no. That doesn't count!" he whined, waving his hands dramatically. "You distracted me with that smug face of yours. One more game!"
K raised an eyebrow, already resetting the pieces with a calm efficiency. "Suit yourself. But it won't change the outcome."
This time, Yuma dragged Taki to his side. "Alright, you genius, help me crush this guy. Two against one, we have to win this time."
Taki only shrugged, wearing his usual lazy grin. "Fine. Let's see what happens."
It turned out what happened was… exactly the same.
Within minutes, K dismantled their defense like it was nothing. Pieces fell one by one until once again, with almost no flourish, he placed his queen squarely in front of their king.
"Checkmate," K murmured, leaning back in his chair as though bored already.
Yuma's mouth fell open. He stared at the board, then at Taki, then back at the board, his face growing redder by the second. "No way. No way, no way, no way!" He gripped the edges of the table as if sheer willpower would change the result. "One more…"
"That's enough."
EJ's voice cut through the rising tension. He stepped forward, placing a firm hand on the board before Yuma could snatch up the pieces again.
"Both of you are drawing attention," EJ added, glancing at the few curious onlookers already watching their chaotic scene. "And you—" He leveled a look at Yuma, who was still sputtering indignantly — "are embarrassing yourself. Let it go."
Yuma groaned and flopped back into his chair, crossing his arms like a petulant child. "Fine. But he cheated somehow. I know he did…"
K smirked faintly, already beginning to put the pieces back in order, though his eyes glinted with quiet amusement.
EJ just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Why do I even bother with these two?
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
The piercing scream shattered the lively hum of the room.
EJ and Taki reacted instantly. Chairs scraped and toppled as they bolted toward the source of the sound. A crowd of stunned onlookers had already gathered, whispering and pointing as the two pushed through, revealing the sight that froze everyone in place.
A woman — a performer still dressed in her bright costume — lay crumpled on the floor, blood pooling beneath her.
EJ crouched beside her, his fingers pressing to her neck even though he already knew. Cold. No pulse.
Behind him, the woman who had screamed stood rigid, hands clamped over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Yuma and K arrived a moment later, cutting through the murmuring crowd.
"What happened?" Yuma demanded, his voice sharp.
EJ straightened slowly, his jaw tight, then turned to the woman who still trembled in shock. "Did you see anything? Anyone?"
She shook her head, her voice a weak whisper. "I… I just went to the bathroom. When I came back… she was already like this."
Taki knelt to inspect the body, his fingers tracing the torn fabric and deep red gashes. "Stabbed… but not deeply. And these," he murmured, pointing to jagged cuts across her torso, "three slashes on the upper body, two on the lower. Knife work. But fast. Precise."
Just then, the owner of the establishment burst through the crowd, his face pale and sweaty.
"Did someone call the investigators?" he barked.
"Yes, boss," a nervous employee called back. "They're on their way!"
K crouched beside Taki, his dark eyes narrowing as he examined the wounds. "Shallow stab. But the pattern of the slashes… deliberate. Almost ritualistic." His gaze swept the room as if searching for something invisible.
"Was the place locked?" he asked the owner coolly.
The man swallowed hard, fumbling for words. "Yes! It's been locked since before the show started."
Then his eyes darted suspiciously toward EJ and his companions. "Wait… who exactly are you people?"
Before the tension could spike further, EJ stepped forward, his tone calm but authoritative.
"We're investigators," he said. "From another city. On vacation here. But we can help."
The owner's shoulders sagged with relief. "Investigators? Oh, thank heavens. Please, help us solve this. If this isn't handled quickly… my business, my reputation, everything is at stake."
EJ exchanged a glance with Taki and K.
Yuma, meanwhile, crossed his arms and leaned lazily against a wall, muttering, "This rest is getting better and better, huh."
EJ ignored him and crouched again, inspecting the faint trail of blood that led away from the body. It was thin, almost invisible to the naked eye, but it stretched toward the back corridor.
"Who else has access to that hall?" he asked sharply, pointing toward the shadows.
The owner's face went even paler. "No one… it leads to the storage and performer quarters. All locked."
"Let us check it," EJ ordered.
K moved without a word, gliding toward the corridor like a shadow himself, while Taki helped calm the crying woman and Yuma scanned the nervous crowd.
EJ remained by the body for a moment longer, fingers brushing the edge of one of the slashes. The cut wasn't just violent, it was deliberate, clean, and unnervingly symmetrical. He narrowed his eyes.
Something about this wasn't right.
When K returned, his expression was as unreadable as ever, but he gave a faint nod.
"There are faint marks on the floor and another smear of blood near the back door," K said quietly. "Whoever did this may not be far."
EJ rose, dusting off his hands, and finally turned to the owner.
"Lock the doors. No one leaves until we're finished."
The murmurs grew louder at that, the tension thick in the air.
But EJ's eyes stayed on the faint trail of blood disappearing into the darkness, his thoughts sharper now than ever.
Whoever killed her didn't just want her dead, they wanted to leave a message.
It was now Yuma's turn to check the room, his sharp eyes scanning the faces around them while he quietly investigated. Unlike the others, Yuma relied on his nose, a gift, or a curse, depending on who you asked.
When he knelt by the body earlier, he'd caught something faint and strange clinging to the wounds. A metallic, acrid scent, not just blood, but something else entirely left behind by the knife that had cut her.
He followed that faint trail through the air, weaving past clusters of murmuring guests and nervous performers. The scent grew sharper as he neared the left side of the room, where a small table sat pushed up against the wall.
And there, draped in a pristine white towel, something glimmered faintly beneath the dim lights.
Yuma pulled the towel away, revealing a shining silver knife resting innocently on the polished wood.
He tilted it in his hand, his nose wrinkling slightly.
"Oh," he murmured, a faint smirk on his lips. "Found you."
Across the room, EJ spotted him and strode over quickly.
Yuma held the knife up between two fingers, the blade already wiped clean but faint streaks of red still clung stubbornly to the hilt, hidden in the grooves.
EJ's eyes narrowed. "That's it," he said simply.
Taki joined them, peering at the blade. "Cunning," he muttered. "They hid it in plain sight, made it look like just another utensil. You'd never know if you weren't paying attention."
EJ glanced at Yuma. "Can you pick up the perpetrator from it?"
Yuma didn't even bother answering. He closed his eyes, lifting the knife to his nose, and inhaled deeply.
The metallic tang of blood was sharp, but underneath it, there it was. That same faint, bitter-sweet scent he'd caught before, still clinging to the handle like a shadow.
He opened his eyes, the faintest of grins tugging at his mouth.
"Got them," he said softly.
The moment Yuma uttered "Got them," a sudden commotion rippled through the crowd.
A woman—slender, clad in dark velvet screamed and shot into the air as if yanked upward by invisible strings. Gasps and cries erupted all around as she flailed, her eyes pitch black, movements feral and inhuman.
"There!" EJ shouted, already reaching for his sword—but Yuma was faster.
Without a word, he flipped the knife in his hand and hurled it with unerring precision.
The blade struck her square in the chest.
The crowd gasped in horror as the woman let out a strangled shriek… and then, to everyone's shock, her body began to disintegrate. Dust poured from her form like sand through a sieve, scattering to the ground in eerie silence until nothing was left but a fine, dark ash.
The room fell still.
EJ was already moving, crouching by the faint pile of ash that marked where she'd been. He reached out, letting the grains sift through his fingers. Cold. Dead.
"…Ash," EJ murmured grimly.
Yuma stepped closer, his sharp gaze sweeping the stunned onlookers. "That woman," he said, his voice quiet but cutting through the murmurs, "was possessed by an evil spirit"
Across the room, K stood watching, his expression shadowed and unreadable. EJ glanced at him, expecting… something. But instead, K only gave a small shake of his head, his confusion mirroring their own.
Taki's voice broke the silence, low and tense. "What's the Underworld scheming now?"
EJ didn't answer. His mind was already spinning, replaying the woman's black eyes, the ash, the faint echo of whispers in the room as she died.
For once, he didn't even suspect K. The Shadower beside them looked just as surprised and just as wary as the rest of them.
What was supposed to be a simple Mortal-world vacation had turned, once again, into something darker. A murder that wasn't just a murder. Another puzzle… with the shadow of the Underworld hanging over it.