The door creaked open slowly, rats scurrying out as the air was suddenly replaced with the strong scent of rot and dead flesh.
The others instinctively covered their noses, but not her. Not the girl who was staring at the doorframe that still had that mustard stain. Not the girl who gazed at the spot where she held her anchor in her arms, motionless and cold.
She stepped inside, her boots creaking against the rotten wooden floorboards. Her body moved on its own, to the spot where she held him.
Akashi.
The air was unbearably putrid that Hinasuke and the others had to remove their jackets and press them to their noses.
"Good god, it smells horrible" Yano coughed, stepping inside as well.
"Smells worse than Yoshida's cooking." Hinasuke said walking in.
"Hey—!"
"Quiet."
Her voice was low and soft. So soft it almost hurt.
She slowly kneeled down, hands brushing past a black stain that she knew was his blood.
"Shi..."
For a long, long moment, no one said a word.
No retort. No joke. No grumble.
Just silence, cold and eternal. The kind of silence that held onto one's heart.
"I promised I'd find out who murdered you, Shi..." She said, voice slightly shaky. Hinasuke wanted to walk up to her, but Yano stopped him.
"I promised I'd find them, but...I can't do that without your help, Shi. Please...guide me. Help me understand the truth..." She whispered, curling in on herself, until her forehead just barely touched the floor.
Yoshi's eyes, soft and warm, glistened a little.
Yano stood there, her glowing eyes sharp, but even she couldn't hide the warm beneath those red pupils.
Hina just watched her, quiet and respectful.
She rose up to her feet slowly, wiping her nose, sniffling as her eyes glowed lightly, "Let's start looking for clues..."
With nothing but a few nods, everyone got to work.
The each moved about in multiple sections of the dorm room. For the most part, aside for the foul odor, rotting furniture and dying carcases of dead birds and rats, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
No scrapes.
No sharp cuts on the walls.
No sign of struggling.
It was just... empty.
"I don't get it," Yoshida said, walking past the kitchen counter, "Most police crime scenes usually have tape all around them,"
"Pretty sure that only works of ongoing cases. This one was closed only a month after the case was opened." Hina replied quietly from the living room.
Yano walked into the bathroom, "Yeah, which makes me wonder why this place is in the state it's in. I mean, I get that this isn't an accessable building anymore, but even though..." She pulled the tap lever, little drips of water coming out, "It's too...fixable."
Akira had found her way back into the bedroom. The memory of her panicking as she tried to resuscitate him was still too fresh, too painful. She looked at the in built wardrobe, the moment she opened it, bats and all kinds of bugs came bursting through, however she wasn't fazed. After all, at some point in her life, she too had used them as her warmth when the campfires went out.
"This place... doesn't it seem a little bit odd to you guys?" She whispered to herself, trying to see past the dead shells on the floor for anything important.
She moved to the doorframe, her fingers brushing past the rusting metal as she sighed softly, "Shi, please..." She whispered, sticking her finger in a crack that she remembered Akashi made, "...help me find something—"
She touched something. Something tangible. Her eyes widened as her breath hitched sharply, alerting the sensitive ears of Hinasuke, who made his way to her, "What's up?"
She played around the hole. It could feel something hollow, but she couldn't tell what it was exactly.
"Something's in here."
"Lemme see."
He poked the hole and felt it too. Shallow. Small. Plastic like.
He concentrated his energy into his fingertips, making his hands glow a muted emerald before the hole widened, the doorframe melting around his finger until something fell down.
Akira caught it in her hand and her heart skipped a beat.
A chip.
"What is it, find something?" Yano said, walking in.
"Sigh. Nothing on my end. Huh? What's that you got there, Aki?"
Akira straightened, "That's what I'm trying to figure out."
There was a small silence, the faint hum of the generator in the distance, as they looked at the tiny Black chip on her fingertips.
"I think we should get this in a computer." Yano said, glancing at the others.
"Yeah that's for the best. I think, at least for now, I've seen enough..." Akira said beneath her breath.
"Finally. This place has been giving me the heeby jeebies."
"Just say you're afraid of the dark..." Hinasuke deadpanned quietly.
Akira and the others made their way out, but not before she glanced back one more time, smiling as she whispered, "Thank you."
Outside, Yoshida took a dramatically large inhale of air as he said, "OH SWEET AIR! HOW I'VE MISSED YOU!"
"We were only in there for 15 minutes." Yano said.
"15 minutes is more than enough."
...
They froze.
Akira glance back slowly, pupils dilating as she saw a abnormally tall man, dressed in long gray robes that had the "Ayanaki Order" insignia on the front. He wore a straw hat and had a small and simple grin.
"You're coming with us."
Hinasuke's eyes slid to over his shoulder, back still to the mystery man as he spoke, voice low and dangerous, "'Us'?"
Just then, the air around the man distorted like mist as three other men, dressed in the same clothes as he did, appeared.
His eyes, glowing a faint blue, narrowed in a sort of...twisted delight...
"Yes. 'Us'."