Kairo and Yuto crawled through the ventilation ducts, trying not to make any noise. The metallic clang beneath them echoed, but Kairo tried to distribute his weight evenly to avoid creaking. The duct was cold and claustrophobic, and moving inside required incredible patience. The icy air scratched at their lungs, and every little sound seemed to amplify infinitely.
Kairo looked around with his ears on alert, his heart pounding in his chest. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts: how had they ended up in this situation? How could he protect his brother when even the police seemed to have lost their minds?
"Yuto, how's the station map looking?" Kairo whispered, stopping for a moment to listen for external noises.
Yuto, with his smartwatch illuminated, consulted the blueprint. "There's an emergency exit at the end of corridor B, but there are three cameras in succession. We'll have to disable them one by one."
Kairo sighed, trying to keep calm. "Do your thing, I'll cover you."
Suddenly, a noise came from the grate a little further ahead. An officer, with violet eyes, was patrolling the corridor below, his flashlight sweeping back and forth. Kairo held his breath while Yuto frantically tinkered with the device. The cramped space made it difficult to even breathe without making noise.
The smartwatch emitted a small sound. A ping.
The guard stopped, pointing the flashlight a bit lower. Kairo looked at his brother, signaling him to stay quiet, while Yuto froze, holding his breath. The seconds seemed to stretch, and the cold in the duct became even sharper.
The officer placed a hand on the grate, his gaze vacant and distant. Then, from his radio, an order broke the silence:
"All units, the Detective is on the roof. Pursue and kill him."
The guard withdrew his hand, turning and heading toward the roof.
"Phew! That was close," Yuto whispered.
"Yeah, thanks to your damn smartwatch!" Kairo retorted, still with his heart pounding.
Yuto gave a nervous smile. "Hey, it's thanks to this gadget that we're managing to get out of here." He proudly showed his latest-generation smartwatch.
"I'll give you that, touché!" Kairo conceded, while Yuto continued typing on the small screen.
The corridor was shrouded in darkness, fragmented by the intermittent light of emergency lamps. A place that once seemed safe had now become a nightmare to escape from.
"Done! Disabled for 30 seconds! Go!" Yuto hissed.
Kairo pushed the grate open and dropped agilely into the corridor, helping Yuto down. They moved toward the exit, paying attention to the approaching footsteps.
"What about the detective, Kai? We can't just leave him!"
Kairo paused for a moment, his instinct screamed not to abandon Hanazawa, but the priority at that moment was to protect Yuto.
"Yuto, I'm sure someone will come to help him. I don't want us to risk our lives for a stranger."
"Whoa! That's cold, Kai... I've never heard you talk like that."
Kairo turned to his brother, looking him straight in the eyes, trying to hold back the tension.
"Listen, between the life and death of a stranger and your brother's life, who would you choose?"
"Obviously you, Kai, but you've always been the one to dive headfirst just to help a stranger."
Kairo clenched his fists. Fear was choking him. If he were alone, he would have risked it, but he couldn't put Yuto in danger.
"Okay, fine, but we'll need a plan."
"That's the spirit, bro," Yuto smiled.
---
Meanwhile...
Hanazawa leaned against the roof wall, trying to catch his breath. The night sky was clear, but the chaos inside the station gave no respite.
He turned on his old walkie-talkie, searching for a free frequency. After a few moments, a distorted voice broke the silence:
"...serve... the Keeper... Azrael... eliminate... anomalies..."
Hanazawa gritted his teeth. "Azrael... who the hell are you?" he murmured to himself.
He looked around, searching for a way to communicate outside. If only he could send an emergency message...
"Damn it!" he cursed.
"What the hell is happening in Tokyo? Who is Azrael? And what the hell is this Memory Drift? I have to find out!" The young detective thought, but he was interrupted.
Three corrupted officers had broken through the door he had blocked, starting to fire wildly.
Hanazawa rolled behind a metal electrical panel, using it as cover from the shots of his former colleagues.
Under friendly fire, Hanazawa whispered to himself, looking for a way out.
"Think, Hanazawa, think! I have to get out of here now!"
The guards advanced, still shooting, getting closer to the Detective.
"5...4..." Hanazawa was young but very perceptive, starting to count the fired bullets, waiting for the weapons to reload.
"3...2...1... Now!" As the officers were reloading, Hanazawa tore off the panel door, using it as a riot shield, and charged at his colleagues.
He struck the first one, knocking him down.
The second was about to shoot, but Hanazawa kicked the service pistol's slide, disarming the second officer and knocking him out with an uppercut.
A bullet grazed his shoulder, but he didn't give up. He positioned the panel door in front and charged at the third officer, who kept shooting. The makeshift shield absorbed the deafening noise and immense pressure, and Hanazawa rammed him to the ground, knocking him out with a kick to the chin.
Breathing heavily, Hanazawa looked at his colleagues.
A noise.
A hissing scream came from the guards' bodies as the violet glow faded, vanishing from them.
Panting, he sat down for a moment and lit a cigarette.
"Ah! I've seen weird stuff, but this beats everything by 10 to 0."
But it wasn't over yet; more corrupted officers began climbing through the door, like rats towards food.
"Oh, come on—" He stood up, loosening his tie and gripping his makeshift shield again. "The company better pay me overtime for this mess."
---
Meanwhile, while Hanazawa continued his battle on the roof and Kairo and Yuto devised a plan to save him...
Aenna was tossing and turning in bed, the throbbing pain in her head giving her no respite. Finally, she grabbed her phone and dialed Lyra's number.
"Lyra... I can't sleep," she murmured with a tired voice.
On the other end, Lyra immediately replied. "Aen? Are you awake too? I had a weird nightmare... and my phone... started acting up with interference."
Aenna bit her lip. "Me too... I saw something... someone... saying that I would be next..."
A long silence fell between them, both trying to make sense of those unsettling sensations.
Lyra was the first to muster the courage. Despite her somewhat eccentric personality, she was quite paranoid and fearful.
"You saw it too..." Lyra didn't even finish her sentence before Aenna completed it, "Yes, the man in the mask."
Lyra sighed from the other end, nervously biting her nail. "Do you remember when Kai came to school looking oddly drained?"
"Yeah, how could I forget? He mentioned something about his father's book, but he was acting really strange, like..." This time, it was Lyra who finished the sentence.
"Like he was seeing someone or something that we couldn't see."
"Exactly," Aenna agreed.
"You know what? Can you come over?" Lyra asked.
"To your place at this hour?" Aenna was puzzled.
"Oh, come on, Aen! I didn't take you for a scaredy-cat. Are you afraid of the dark now?" Lyra teased.
"Says the one who acted all brave in front of Riven but freaked out over a single butterfly," Aenna replied with a playful tone.
"Okay, hit and sunk. But come over. I have an idea."
"Like what?" Aenna asked.
"Going to the Kaiaba house to pay our dear Kairo a little visit," Lyra chuckled.
---
A few blocks away from that phone call...
Riven walked through the deserted park, the moon high above him. His bokken slung over his shoulder for his nighttime training, but a strange sense of unease crept in. A shiver ran down his spine. He stopped, his breath short.
Something wasn't right.
Then he had a flash—a vision of Kairo and Yuto escaping through a duct.
"What the hell was that? Some kind of sick joke?"
He decided to call his friend. It had been two days since Kairo started acting weird—quieter than usual, stranger, and, above all, refusing to spar.
No, he had to figure this out.
He pulled out his phone and called Kairo, but the signal was disrupted.
"Kairo, pick up... what the hell is going on?" he muttered. Determined to get to the bottom of it, he set off toward Kairo's house, quickening his pace.
---
Sayuri and the Call from the Police Station
Sayuri was returning from the office, holding some forgotten documents in her car, when her phone rang. She recognized the station's number and immediately answered.
"Mrs. Kaiaba, we have detained your sons for questioning. Nothing serious, but we advise you to come to the station."
Worried, Sayuri changed direction, turning the car around. "I have to go get them... who knows what they've gotten into this time," she sighed, still unaware of the danger awaiting her.