Nightmares should never step into the realm of the living.

And yet, every waking moment of her life was nothing else.

Blood-stained, tattered.

Like chunks of broken glass piercing her flesh, they were embedded in the forefront of her every waking moment.

Stagnant water splashed violently beneath her boot-clad feet as Amaya sprinted down sparcely-populated streets, weaving between startled pedestrians and stationary obstacles alike as she did her best to navigate the unfamiliar city streets.

It felt like she'd been doing nothing but running her whole damned life.

Like every momentary reprieve was just a staggered breath drawn mid-sprint through hell.

'Take the next left in 100 meters.' Mitsu's voice sounded through the earbud nestled in Amaya's right ear, a firm tone against the rushing of her pulse against her eardrums. 'Then turn into the immediate alleyway on the right.'

'This is hardly the shortcut I was betting on!' Amaya gasped out as she struggled to regain her footing mid-dash. 'Where the hell am I even going?!'

'Accelerated evasion tactics.' The modified Ai deadpanned as Amaya threw herself leftward at the aforementioned intersection. 'Vehicle access is not permitted down pedestrian-only access-ways.'

'Right, of course! How could I damn well forget about that?!' The albino shrilly sniped between haggard breaths. 'Funny how it didn't make a god damned difference when you had me leap out of a fucking moving vehicle!'

'I didn't realise a third kidnapping attempt was on your wishlist!' Mitsu countered, swiftly. 'I'm so very sorry! I'll make sure I don't intervene for attempt number four.'

'Fuck you and your new sarcasm module!'

The screeching of tyres sounded from a mere fifty odd meters back, prompting Amaya to pick up as much speed as she could. The duffel bag against her lower back clattered painfully with every rushed motion and her haywire, dyed hair caught in every turn. The sound of the vehicle tearing down the street after her drowned out the startled complaints of each and every pedestrian she shoved past in her hurry.

'You have to shake them in this stretch, Amaya-san.' Mitsu instructed bluntly, much unlike her bubbly purple-haired self before her re-coding. 'There aren't enough crowds to blend in with at this time of night.'

It didn't matter how many crowds there were up ahead.

Anyone without a damned death wish would run at the merest notion of a near-death experience.

Amaya chanced a glance back over her shoulder as she propelled herself over one of the dividing bollards at the mouth of the alleyway, scowling inwardly at the sight of a recklessly steered taxi tearing after her.

It looked just like any taxi she'd see on the street, right down to the company decals on the exterior and the mounted sign on the roof. Clean enough looking from the outside, and the driver didn't so much as slow down until she'd actually hailed him, like normal. The vehicle didn't even have any exterior damage that would elude to any danger... at least until she'd used her reinforced elbow to smash the window out.

Hell, the driver even looked normal enough before the guy started giving her unsavory glances through the rear view mirror when he thought she wouldn't notice.

Just what damned red flag did she miss when she hailed the accursed bastard down street-side?!

The haggard teen all but swore beneath her gasping breath as she returned her gaze to the pedestrian access way ahead of her.

'I don't have the damn time for this bullshit!' She snapped.

And without so much as awaiting further instruction from Mitsu, Amaya bolted straight for the nearest raised fixture in the alleyway; an old lamp post set nearby the back door of a takeaway store.

The screeching of tires against wet asphalt rung throughout the otherwise mild winter night as the teen scaled the lamp post with quick, practiced motions. The slamming of a car door and furious shouting quickly added to the cacophony of worsening chaos, peppered with the faint sound of running footsteps approaching with great haste. Amaya paid no heed to the shouted demands of assistance as she threw herself up onto the rooftop of the takeaway restaurant, nothing beyond the brief glance back at the balding, living man leaping uselessly up towards the higher rungs of the lamp post she had used to quickly climb upwards.

Reaching was impossible for him, but the look of things. His very fingertips were nowhere near the bottom rung at the apex of his desperate leaps.

There was no hope in hell of him scaling the lamp post in his physical condition.

'What the heck was that?!' A startled voice echoed from within the restaurant.

Instead, Amaya let herself slump on the rooftop slowly and catch her breath.

'Safe...' She sighed, weakly.

'Amaya-san, you don't have time to dally.' Mitsu chimed in through the earpiece.

'Give me a damned second to catch my breath, would you?!'

'I'm very sorry, Ojou-sama! I think we got off on the wrong foot, back there!' The taxi-driver called up towards Amaya's breathless form up on top of the restaurant, his tone sickly sweet as he shifted tactics to instead appeal to whatever naivety he hoped lurked inside of her. He was vigorously wringing his hands, as if he were trying to keep himself from acting on impulse. 'Would you please come down so we can talk about this rationally? You still need transportation to Shin-Yokohama Station, don't you? We're not even half-way there, yet!'

Without so much as a word, Amaya lifted one hand and flipped the driver off.

'How far away are we?' The teen quietly asked as she chose to ignore the taxi driver's pleas from down in the street, huffing slightly as she dragged herself to her aching feet. Her head was throbbing, most prominently in the area where she'd slammed her head against the pavement during her morning escapades and she was a little light headed. Hopefully, just from all the frantic running and nothing more.

'Twelve intersections south-bound.' Mitsu answered grimly. 'It's currently 12.56am. Save the arguing for later and get moving.'

'There's a problem with that.' Amaya muttered with a huff, turning towards the south to quickly take in her surroundings. 'Creep Freak down there has a vehicle and knows where we're heading. The bastard's damn well determined to chase me down.'

'Ojou-sama!' The Taxi-driver shouted after her, as if in protest to the name.

'Go throw yourself into traffic, creep!' The teen snapped at the taxi-driver, who continued to plead with her without pause. 'You've got to be out of your mind to think I'd just listen to what you have to say!'

'Amaya-san—' Mitsu's urgent call brought Amaya to swiftly turn her head away from the Taxi-driver.

'Yes! I fucking kno--'

But then, a deafening crack shot through the late night air, drowning out every wisp of sound and rational thought from Amaya's very grasp.

And the next second, all she could feel was pain.

Sharp, disorientating, nauseating pain that brought her to double over and crumple to the hard roof tiles beneath her. It blinded all other senses, severed her connection to the world around her. The pain ripped a shrill scream from Amaya's lips, one just as visceral as the agony she was only dimly aware was radiating from the side of her head. Her trembling hands clawed against the right side of her head, struggling to smother the pain out of existence with every fiber of her being.

'Amaya-san!?' A faint voice rung out, reaching her addled hearing through the onslaught of tinnitus bombarding her senses. 'AMAYA-SAN!?'

Heaving, labored breaths escaped the albino as she forced herself to blink away the tears clouding her vision, to regain as many of her senses as she possibly could.

All she could smell was burnt gunpowder and the chilling odor of blood, and all she could see before her was the roof tiles beneath her splattering with a quickly growing pool of blood. And behind her, she could hear a chaotic roar of multiple, arguing voices down in the alleyway.

...Did she just get shot?!

Amaya's wide, terrified gaze shifted to the scuffle taking place in the street, scanning round until she spotted the taxi-driver.

He was caught in a grappling hold, struggling to remain stable on his feet as two men dressed in restaurant uniforms worked to restrain him. In one hand was what she immediately recognised to be a firearm of some description, held pointed upwards to the sky as one of the restaurant workers fought to disarm him.

Fight or flight instincts took hold of Amaya the very second the taxi-driver locked eyes with her, and in that second, she fled.

Among the disorientating pain, her crumbling hold of her outward senses and the panic, she staggered across rooftops and stumbled back down into the dark city streets.

It was only down another dark, empty alleyway far, far away that the albino's flight instincts gave way, and she slumped to the damp ground against the wall of what seemed like a 24hr convenience store.

'Amaya-san!? Are you there?!' The faintest hint of Mitsu's urgent calls came to the exhausted teen, crossing the otherwise faint rumble of the city soundscape with remarkable clarity. Amaya's weary gaze shifted down towards the sound, where her earpiece hung from its cord, bloodied and tangled in a few loose strands of black from her hair extensions. It was emitting Mitsu's voice clearly, but she could see by the way that the frame of the earpiece was cracked and the missing pieces, that the earpiece was otherwise busted.

'...Right.' Amaya mumbled as she fought to shake the wave of exhaustion from her mind. 'I don't have the time to waste...'

She really needed to move, to continue to the phone booth mentioned in the ransom note... but she was bleeding way too much. It was sheer insanity to even consider running onward without so much as looking at how much damage that psycho had done.

Luckily, she could dimly guess that it was moderately contained to her ear. Either the guy was a poor shot and meant to shoot her in the leg or something ...Or he was insanely accurate and meant to clip her ear from the very start.

'Amaya-san, answer me!' Mitsu's voice echoed faintly.

'Yeah, I'm here.' Amaya announced loud enough for the microphone to pick up. 'Just shut up for a minute.'

There was no response in turn.

Good, that meant the recoded ai could actually hear her.

Wearily, Amaya picked herself up off of the damp alleyway floor, casting a brief glance over her surroundings as she slowly ambled out of the alleyway out into the street. There were very few pedestrians around, the occasional car drifting by, and the brightly-lit storefront of the 24hr convenience store.

...No better place, she guessed.

Without a word, Amaya stepped inside.

The convenience store was pristine and unoccupied, the teen noted as she quickly navigated through the aisles towards the usual place where medical supplies were likely kept. Not a single soul beyond herself and the college-aged employee tending to the oden bar by the front counter. Restroom access was off to the left of the counter.

The clock above the cashier checkout read 1.14am... she had half an hour to get to the phone booth...

'...Better make this quick.' She muttered as she snatched up two first-aid kids and a 2 litre bottle of water on her way towards the counter. Her hurried footsteps didn't seem to so much as gain the attention of the employee by the oden, though she soon realised why that was as she got to the counter.

It was Self-Service...

God, she didn't have time for an argumentative machine to hold her up.

So without a word, Amaya dashed into the restroom while the employee's back was turned.

The albino heaved a weary breath as the lock clicked in place, wavering slightly on her feet as she resisted the urge to sit herself down and rest for a minute. The swiped items felt heavy in her arms, like lead weights she could barely hold. The duffel still hanging across her body dangled awkwardly with each and every step.

'Amaya-san, are you there?' She heard Mitsu speak up faintly.

The tiny wisp of noise against her unhindered ear brought her to lift her gaze up to the mirror before her.

And in that moment, Amaya's breath caught in her throat.

The reflection before her looked nothing like herself, worse than the glimpses she'd caught before she departed with her siblings that morning.

Her complexion was ashen, worsened by the dark shadows under her eyes. Her street clothes were covered in an alarming amount of grime, and both the right side of her face and her arms were covered in blood. The hand still pressed firmly over her injury was still oozing droplets. The black of her dyed hair and extensions did nothing to veil the various bruises and cuts she'd sustained much earlier in the day, and her glasses, while miraculously still in place, were scuffed, smeared with blood, and cracked worse than before.

Damn... she was a heart attack walking...

'Amaya-san?' Mitsu's voice broke her out of her trance.

'Y-yeah..' The albino mumbled as she dumped her swiped items into the basin of the sink before dumping her duffel bag atop the closed toilet. She yanked the cord connecting her earpiece to her phone and tossed it in the wastebasket beneath the sink. 'How far away are we?'

'Just one intersection away, thankfully. When you fled, you went in the correct direction.' Mitsu answered promptly, pausing briefly as Amaya set the little phone down on the hand-dryer mounted on the wall. Her voice was louder, now that she was using the phone's main speaker. 'Are you alright, Amaya-san?'

'...I'll live.' She muttered quietly, wincing as she carefully eased her hand away from her injury. Within the fluorescent light of the restroom cubicle, she could roughly see the damage through the stain of red that drenched the whole side of her head. With the growing wave of grim understanding dawning on her, Amaya carefully felt around the injury. 'Fuck... that's permanent...'

The whole top third of her outer ear was just... gone.

From the top most point of the anti-helix right down to the start of her earlobe had been blasted off, leaving just thin shreds of the outermost edges left. Beyond that, the only signs of further damage was the 2-inch long grazing cut the exiting bullet tore across her cheek on the way out. Her quality of hearing was trashed on that side. Whether her eardrum had ruptured as well or if it was just the external ear being obliterated, every sound that seemed normal on her left side felt like someone was dragging their nails down a blackboard on her right.

If that accursed taxi driver had aimed so much as a fraction more to the left... she'd be dead right now.

'...Well, I can still get a job as a cashier somewhere.' Amaya sighed as she shifted to clean up as much of the blood as she could manage, so she could attempt to patch up her ear. She inwardly sighed when the blood wouldn't cleanly clean out her reinforced arm-sleeves. 'Having two ears shouldn't be a prerequisite for normal jobs...'

Or living alone in the middle of nowhere... self-sustainable garden and a small stream.

She could still do that.

Silver lining to every black cloud, yeah?

'Amaya-san,' Mitsu's voice chimed in quietly, rerouting the albino's attention back to the present. 'Would you like me to block the incoming call?'

An incoming call at this point in time... who would be bothering with her existence right now?

'...Who is it?'

'Maehara-kun.' The Altered Ai answered.

Ah... that's right.

He'd left to drop the cats off at his place... She forgot he was apparently coming back.

He must have been alarmed when he got back to the house and found she was long gone.

...He was probably freaking out right about now.

'...Yeah.' Amaya eventually agreed.

She couldn't involve anyone else in her problems any further.

She hoped that Hiroto would eventually understand.

'All further communications have been blocked.' Mitsu announced swiftly.

'He can't get your other versions to track us down, can he?'

'I have set my programming to auto-recompile each time any attempt at contact is initiated.' The Altered Ai explained briefly, seeming to pause momentarily when a pained hiss escaped Amaya mid-attempt at patching her shredded ear. 'If they are persistent, I will issue countermeasures.'

Amaya paused, startled, before she turned her head to look at the phone sitting just by her shoulder.

'Countermeasures?'

'I will bypass their Mobile Ritsu and permanently destroy the OS on Maehara-kun's phone.' Mitsu chimed with a smirk. 'No working OS, no Mobile Ritsu. Then, there will be no further issue.'

'And if Hiroto-kun gets Isogai-kun to try?'

'Then I will destroy Isogai-kun's phone, too.'

The albino stared for several long seconds following that declaration, before she decided it was best to not argue.

She hoped for the sake of her bank account that it didn't come to that.

As the minutes ticked by and it grew far too close to the deadline to dally, Amaya carefully tiptoed out of the convenience store restroom, glancing around for any sign of the employee she had spotted when she'd arrived. Now patched up and washed up as best as she could manage given the circumstances, she carefully crept up to the counter. Instead of scanning through the items she'd swiped, she left the emptied first aid kits, empty box of pain killers and water bottle on the countertop, with a 10,000 yen note tucked safely underneath. More than enough to cover the cost of her swiped items with plenty of leftover change left as an apology.

Without a sound, without further deliberation, she quickly retreated out of the convenience store, and into the empty city streets.

She hoped he didn't freak out too much about the mess...

'You've got ten minutes to get there.' Mitsu reminded the teen from within Amaya's breast pocket, voice a crisp and clear chirp in spite of her current hearing issues. 'If you have the energy to run, I suggest doing so.'

'Running is all I do...' Amaya huffed weakly as she took off down the south end of the street.

Running is all she could ever do.

The only thing in the end that she was truly adept at, in the end.

"And what good's that done you?!" A voice in the back of her mind quickly reminded her. A voice so angry and callous that even hearing it now caused her to wince in response. She wished nothing more than to swear at the owner of that voice, but bit her tongue.

Nothing.

It did her nothing.

No peace of mind.

No knowledge that she'd done her best in spite of what had happened to her.

"You let your fucking trauma rule your life!"

But yet, her trauma didn't invalidate what happened in her life.

It didn't make her any less of a person.

Her paranoia was the only thing that kept her alive in spite of all odds.

It was born from a desperate need to survive, to navigate the hell that hovered over her very being without fail.

There was nothing wrong with that.

"But you can't accept that, can you?!"

'Seriously, fucking shut up already...' The albino grumbled beneath her breath.

The far-off glimpse of a phone booth up ahead, nearby a huge, busy building up ahead as the minutes ticked by, closer and closer with each running step. It was set up on the outside of a kiosk on the street side, tucked away out of obvious view of the public, but still very much present. If she were some kidnapper waiting for their target to turn up for further instructions, that would be the kind of booth she'd pick.

And as she came within earshot of it, Amaya could immediately tell that it was ringing.

'It is now 1.45am.' Mitsu announced.

Frantically, Amaya reached out towards the handpiece of the phone as soon as she closed the distance, snatching it up just as it sounded another chime. Her heart was thudding within her chest, a mix of adrenaline and panic, worsening all the more as she quickly placed the receiver against her uninjured ear.

'Hello?!' Amaya called, desperately. 'Is anyone there?! Hello?!'

There was no dial tone, no other sounds that gave any indication that she'd picked up an active call.

However, there was one painfully loud click that shot through the receiver, as if somebody had roughly jammed a button on a keypad.

'You arrived right on time, Tenth.' The deep, heavily modified voice that issued the ransom message began, sending chills down Amaya's very spine. 'You have made good progress. Especially given your earlier mishaps with public transport. That detour must have worked in your favour.'

Amaya couldn't help the shudder that tore through her body that very second.

She had expected that they were watching her every move... but to have it confirmed made it all even worse.

'Was that guy one of your people?' Amaya dared to ask.

The question had been bubbling away in the back of her mind for a while, now.

However, all that met her question in response was a moment of weighted silence.

'Reach under the base plate of the phone and collect the envelope attached underneath.' The modified voice commanded her.

Right... it was pretty stupid of her to have expected any answer.

Grudgingly, Amaya crouched down to peer at the underside of the aforementioned plate, eyes narrowing as she then spotted a manila yellow envelope attached with an unpleasant amount of duct tape. Her usual vocabulary of choice words were kept well under wraps as she pried the envelope free, tape and all.

'Within the envelope is your next destination. And your incentive to pick up the pace.' The voice instructed coolly. 'Arrive no later than 2.10am for further instructions.'

A second later, another click shot through the receiver, and then the line went dead.

The unmarked envelope was heavy in Amaya's grasp, just as heavy as the worsening feeling in the pit of her stomach. The sensations only grew worse as she swiftly slammed the handpiece back onto the hook and carefully ripped open the envelope.

Inside was a simple slip of paper with the name of a location, and one bundle of unruly blond hair speckled with dried blood.

The albino sucked in a trembling breath as she stared down at the envelope contents, before she reluctantly looked back at the slip of paper.

'Shinohara Junior High...' Amaya read out loud, brow furrowing as she found herself more concerned than before. '...The main entrance?'

'It's not far.' Mitsu piped up, briefly. 'Ten minutes, depending on how fast you run. You'll want to continue south.'

Amaya was silent, merely moving to head in whatever direction Mitsu sent her in.

...Maybe that was half the purpose of this breadcrumb trail.

To make her run around unfamiliar city scenery, to wear her out little by little until they deemed her too exhausted to cause too much grief.

Or was that the cynical side of her kicking in, again?

'Have you had any luck getting through to Shigure?' Amaya asked as she turned to continue in the rough direction Mitsu had specified.

'No. I'm afraid there has been no answer, no matter the number of attempts that I make.' Mitsu declined with a huff. 'It is not that his device is unattended. The gyroscope sensors show that he is indeed picking up the device each time either you or I attempt to dial his number. He's just choosing not to accept the incoming calls.'

Amaya's footsteps slowed briefly as a grim, uncomfortable thought dawned on her.

It wasn't that he was clearly ghosting her, choosing to completely ignore any attempt she made to get hold of him.

She'd already guessed he'd been doing that ever since he vanished into thin air again.

In a sick, twisted sense, that was in-character for him at this point.

'...Are you able to see if he's at all opened any of the attachments I sent him? Or his voicemail?'

She received silence for several long seconds, peppered with nothing but the sound of her exhausted breaths and the faint sounds of traffic in the city.

'Yes.' Mitsu eventually answered. 'I can read the status of both, if that is what you want me to do.'

Amaya hesitated to answer.

A large part of her wanted to decline the implied offer, to continue pretending that her uncle was just busy. Frantically searching for any sign of Toji's location, obsessed with the final task of putting the madman down for all the torture and death he'd caused over all these years. That part of her that wanted to pretend she hadn't been shelved once again.

But there was a tiny, niggling doubt in the back of her mind.

One that had been gnawing so many holes in the facade that it was just a curtain of tattered threads.

Her little self, desperate for the love and understanding of somebody who truly knew what she went through, grew far too attached to Shigure, far too quickly.

She so very quickly accepted his attention and presence over the scarce few months he'd been around, she'd conveniently forgotten that he'd just dumped her in a run-down apartment falling to bits just mere weeks after she'd been broken out of the Okinawan facility. Left her there to fend for herself with nothing more than the once-a-year meetup in the middle of nowhere to hand her new bank accounts, empty words of sympathy and a vague glance-over before disappearing into the big wide world for another year.

It was easy to claim to check up on a child. A phone call once a trimester would do just that.

If Teachers could pretend to care about thirty-something students for a whole year over and over again, then it was child's play for an espionage agent to pretend to care for one teenager for just a handful of months.

And her stupid, love-starved inner-child ate that performance right up an begged for seconds.

But it was time to tear that shredded curtain down and face what she had been avoiding deep down inside.

'...Do it.' Amaya muttered, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth as she tried to keep the building threat of tears at bay. 'Find out exactly which ones he's bothered to open.'

'Understood.' Mitsu responded firmly. 'It will take me several minutes to do so without being detected. At the last intersection, turn left, then follow the street signs through four more intersections.'

The pursuing silence was more frigid than the mid-winter air.

Amaya's running footsteps lead her down the street, where she turned at the t-junction as directed. Her energy was depleted and she was struggling to maintain her current pace.

But she didn't have the ability to stop.

She only had the kidnappers word that her siblings were moderately unharmed beyond what had been done to Yuta.

If she messed up and missed a designated time, there was no guarantee that they would be alive any longer.

Every second mattered.

Because she didn't have the luxury of being a mach-speed abomination, nor a super computer able to somehow destroy other people's phones on a whim.

'The main gate should be up ahead at the top of the slope.' Mitsu's voice chimed in as Amaya rounded the corner at the final intersection she'd been watching for, bringing the albino to glance up at the hints of the building over the retaining wall at her right.

'Still working?' Amaya questioned.

'...No.' The Altered Ai denied, though the tone in her generated voice did not bode well for the answers Amaya was waiting for. 'Just confirming some information.'

Man, this Mitsu seemed weirdly more human than her more powerful main terminal's personality.

Was that because she took inspiration from some living examples? Or did rewriting her programming to such an extent bring out developing quirks?

The front gate soon came to Amaya's view, set back off of the road by a good few meters. The only illumination were wall-mounted fluorescent lights on the exterior of the main building, casting a dim glow about the premises. The front gate was shorter than the one at Kunugigaoka, more friendly and modest, surrounded by a tan brick wall. The usual signage, familiar warnings. A modest placard out front baring the name of the school... nothing out of place for a regular school.

Only, given the circumstances surrounding Amaya's arrival, it felt unnerving out here.

'I don't see anything...' Amaya huffed as she carefully walked up the entryway towards the gate, eyes scanning every space she could for sign of what she was meant to find. 'This is the place, right?'

'It is...' Mitsu agreed slowly.

Every manhole, fence post... heck, even the curbing looked normal. Just what kind of thing was she supposed to be looking for?!

'...Don't tell me I'm here too late!' Amaya quickly pulled her phone from her pocket, scanning for the clock before she let out a sigh of relief.

2.04am.

No, she was definitely not too late.

Early was her guess.

But the voice on the telephone told her to pick up the pace...

'I don't even know where to start...!' The albino seethed as she resumed her search, starting from the very signage hanging off of the gate itself. 'Do I have until the cut off to find what they left here?!'

Nothing on the other side of the brick walling...

'Amaya-san.' Mitsu spoke up.

'Not now!' Amaya declined as she checked behind the mounted signage on the gate.

Nothing behind the other end of the gate walling, either.

'...Amaya-san.'

'Shut up!'

The guard-rails held nothing of worth. And there wasn't anything staked to the two trees out front, either.

She didn't even know what she was supposed to be--

'AMAYA-SAN!' Mitsu shouted, startling the albino out of her wits.

She'd come to a dead halt mid-stretch towards the foliage spilling down over the retaining wall.

'Shut up... and listen.' Mitsu instructed her sternly.

Amaya blinked, brow furrowing as she struggled to listen to her surroundings. On her right was nothing but the painful, smothered and distorted sound that her shredded ear could pick up, most of which she knew was the sound of her pulse and the heavily packed bandaging she'd applied to try and stop the bleeding. On her left side, she could only hear the breeze sweeping through the trees and the faintest hint of traffic.

Nothing else, even as she focused hard on the sounds she could hear.

'...Can you not hear that, Amaya-san?' Mitsu eventually asked as the seconds ticked by.

'Clearly, I cannot.'

'...Are you certain?' The Altered Ai sighed.

'Fucking excuse me?!' Amaya snapped, irritably. 'I've only got one damned ear left! Remember?! Psycho with a gun?!'

Her hearing was never the greatest to begin with, but hell, she may as well be completely deaf on her right side, now.

'Oh...Sorry. I failed to consider that.' Mitsu apologised, throwing the stressed teen even more off guard. 'Judging from what I can detect with the default microphone... you want to stand with your back facing the school.'

'Alright...' Amaya sighed as she carefully dropped herself down from the retaining wall and turned to face in the direction that the Altered AI had specified. Her brow furrowed as she struggled to pick up what Mitsu could have possibly picked up from her position clutched in Amaya's left hand.

Nothing sounded beyond the breeze...

And... the faintest touch of something vaguely familiar between the distant roars of vehicles traversing the winding cityscape.

'Wait, I do hear that!' Amaya gasped out as she quickly staggered out into the empty street, eyes scanning everything around her as she struggled to navigate with her lone working ear. With every passing second, her search grew more frantic the clearer that sound became, and the more her heart raced within her chest.

It was a bouncy, nonsensical tune that very distinctly reminded her of a stupid video game that had been played without end, with some kind of yellow puppy as a mascot.

It was the ringtone Reiko last had set on her cellphone.

And now that she was close enough to recognize it, she immediately zeroed in on a vending machine standing at the corner of the intersection opposite the school.

Without hesitation, Amaya shoved her hand through the collection chute of the machine, scrabbling around until her fingers closed around a familiar little phone in the far-right corner of the space within. She retrieved it in an instance, instinctively holding her breath as she turned the device over in her trembling grasp.

The screen was flashing with an incoming call... however there was no details on the incoming caller.

With a trembling breath, Amaya pressed the answer button and pressed the receiver to her ear.

'Well done.' That same, modified voice greeted her. The tone wasn't mocking, but it certainly didn't convey any well-meaning intentions, either. 'You arrived early, however your new handicap had you fail to find the dead drop on time. That fumble has cost you the only green card you had.'

Amaya's gaze frantically shifted to the screen of her own phone, where the clock in the corner displayed 2.19am as the current time.

'Are my siblings okay?' Amaya questioned.

'They are, so long as you do not take another wrong step.'

She could only bite her lip and not voice the burning questions she desperately wanted to ask.

She was too terrified to risk pushing her luck.

'You have completed the first stage. From now on, you are to keep that phone on you at all times. It is your only means of instruction. I assure you from this moment, we won't be so lenient. You will not question us. You will not even speak without permission. If you fail to uphold this boundary, your fellow specimens will pay the price for each word you utter out.'

Amaya nodded, wordlessly.

Keep her trap shut, as instructed.

That was the only choice she had to try and ensure she could get her siblings out of this situation alive.

'That, is the correct response.' The voice announced, darkly. 'Arrive at Kishine Park and stand by for further instructions. We will be watching.'

And then, the call disconnected.

Leaving Amaya more stressed and with less answers than before.

Her fingers gripped tightly at the two phones within her grasp as her anxiety began to gnaw all the more at the back of her mind.

'There's no deadline this time... Why is that?'

Was it a test? To see what she would do with a more vague set of instructions?

Or was it simply because they had a phone on her at all times?

...But then, why didn't they just call her directly?

Amaya could only shake her head and try to brush the niggling questions from her mind.

'Kishine Park... That's southward again, isn't it?' She asked as she carefully tucked Reiko's phone in one of her back pockets. She made a point to look around, as if she were trying to get her bearings once more.

However, there was no response from her Ai accomplice, bringing the albino to look back down at her phone.

Briefly, the screen flashed with a notification almost exactly like she'd just received a text message. It opened exactly like a text message would.

But this wasn't a normal text message.

[Amaya-san, I cannot afford to reply to you right now.]

Amaya stared in surprise as another message popped up across her screen.

[On the off-chance that this new phone is a plant, you cannot risk conversation between us.]

A plant?

Her thoughts were swiftly redirected to the disaster involving Jelavic and the so called "God of Death" at that instant.

[Until you acquire a replacement earpiece so that I can communicate directly with you, I will do so in text format.]

Right, makes sense... that would answer half of the question she had about the sudden acquisition.

[But yes, Kishine Park is to the south, roughly fifteen minutes at a brisk walk.]

It felt like everything was to the south... where was she going to end up?

[I will direct you at each intersection so it appears you are reading a map to your observers.]

All Amaya could honestly do was sigh.

[For now, head back the way you came.]

And turn to do as Mitsu instructed.

...At least the journey was downhill for now.

The majority of the journey, in fact, was downhill.

Navigating the mostly empty streets was a thankfully easy task given the fact that it was approaching 3am. There was barely a soul out on the street, beyond those passing by in vehicles through the night.

It felt like it was taking hours just to get anywhere, even with Mitsu's navigating.

She was running on fumes, she was sure.

No energy left after all the running and crying. Part of that could be the blood loss, of course. But she'd been exhausted well before today.

Or tonight... or whenever this day really was.

Even just jogging was sapping the last of her energy away.

As the minutes ticked by and she passed by countless intersections, Amaya stumbled to a halt in the street when she felt Reiko's phone vibrating in her back pocket. Inwardly, she was freaking out. She didn't feel like she was at the Kishine park yet, even though she could see trees over the tops of the buildings a little further down the street.

Had she messed up somewhere? Gone in the wrong direction, or misread Mitsu's instructions?

It took all the willpower she had in her to keep her mouth shut and accept the incoming call.

She bit harshly on her lip to keep herself from so much as uttering a sound.

'Your new instructions are as follows.'

...Then she hadn't made a mistake?

'Within the Kishine Park is Shinohara Pond. It is identifiable by the wooden walkway that cuts through the middle of it. The first entrance to Kishine Park you encounter will lead directly to Shinohara Pond. Remember this, because you will be standing by for further instruction at this exact location.'

Okay... and?

'This is your one chance to prioritise your physical wellbeing; Food, water, an opportunity to buy more supplies to redress your wounds.' The voice explained, much to Amaya's worsening confusion. 'At precisely 3.05am, if you are not within the undercover seating atop Shinohara Pond, we will begin removing pieces of your siblings. One piece for every minute it takes for you to arrive. Do you understand?'

There was nothing but silence following that chilling threat, expectant and heavy.

'...Yes, sir.' Amaya reluctantly agreed.

'Good. You catch on quickly.' The voice commended. 'And now, we will provide you with your next incentive to keep your mind in the game.'

However, her breath hitched painfully in her throat the very second she heard a familiar voice yelp out in terror.

'R-Reiko!?' The albino gasped out in horror.

'PLEASE! DON'T--' She heard a second terrified shout ring out.

And before she understood what was even happening, all she could hear was screaming.

Visceral, guttural screams she had never once heard escape any of her siblings.

A loud, blood-curdling crunch rung through the speaker.

And then, the line went dead.

---=[Authors Note]=---

Kyōi - Translates as Threat, which should be written as 脅威 in this instance (If I'm not mistaken?)

Hi everyone.  Life has... not been the greatest. 2024, as whole has been a year of roadblock after roadblock, but I feel like as an overall statement, that can be said about mostly everyone. Because let's be honest, 2024, much like the past five years, has not been a good year for really anyone.

I spent a grand total of four whole months in 2024 suffering various illnesses. I've had some minor, medical surgeries. I've moved house yet again to live exclusively with just my little cat, made plans that have fallen through at numerous different phases, lost motivation and felt more isolated than ever in my whole life. Health-wise, I'd have scored a D- overall. Not particularly devastating, just, regularly ill on an aggravating basis.

But I've finally escaped perpetual negativity in the form of my employment at a local KFC store, set foot into a workplace that welcomed me with every fiber of its entire being. A workplace that, while still exists within the realm of retail (and the various pitfalls that such an industry entails) feels so much more like where I belong in comparison.

So while I begin 2025 suffering yet another unfortunate illness in the form of swine flu (I seriously wanted to cry when I got test results back X'D), now life will, begin, again. At least, I hope as much.

It's 2025, year of the Serpent. Apparently a good year for someone born on the year of the Serpent to begin with. Forecasts is breakthroughs, progression, transformation and careful planning. I'm not making any promises, but there's a TONNE of things I'm trying to get rolling, so fingers crossed the forecasts are accurate this year.

Alright... well, if I can maintain some decent speed on writing and the other things I've got on the horizon, then I'll post an update on the other goodies upcoming in the future.

All the best, everyone~!

<3 SnappyCockatiel

Oh, yeah.... pet tax xD Because I know someone is going to ask to see a picture of her.

Her Name is Spinel :) She just turned four two days ago :)