Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The Disappearance

Even with all the bodies piling up, it takes a while for people to accept that there’s a serial killer on Vivid Street. In the case of law enforcement, there were enough small differences that they couldn’t be sure it was all the work of the same culprit. For the people who lived there and the musicians who adopted Vivid Street as their home, it just wasn’t something anyone wanted to consider. To have a killer in their midsts was unthinkable.

Still though, Vivid Street looks out for their own, so when the police and news media started advertising the “Vivid Live Killer”— called that because most of the disappearances happened after Live Shows— people took precautions. Live Shows started requiring tickets to make sure no one suspicious just showed up at a show, people would volunteer to work security and stop any trouble before it happened, and any show that had minors performing wrapped up as close to 8pm as they could so everyone could go home before it got dark.

So, it’s still light out when their show finishes up and Akito and Toya say goodbye to An and Kohane. Kohane’s parents were especially worried about the news, so only agreed to let her keep performing when Ken and An said they’d take her home after shows.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you home?” Toya asks again.

“Do you want to just stay over?” Akito says.

Toya sighs, “I shouldn’t… my mother will get worried if I don’t come home.” Of course his father would also be concerned, but he’d also jump at having any excuse to ban Toya from going out.

“Then it doesn’t make sense for you to walk me home and then walk all the way back to your house. ‘Specially since it looks like it’s going to rain.” To prove Akito’s point, a gust of wind blows by, making Toya shiver. “Here.” Akito takes off his outer jacket and hands it to Toya. “Three hoodies doesn’t seem to be too much now, does it?”

“Fine, but be careful.” Toya says, wrapping the jacket around himself. “Seriously, all the victims so far—”

“Have been guys around my height and build who disappeared after live shows, I know . I swear, you know more about this case than the police.”

“Partner, could you take this seriously?” Toya sighs. Yes, he probably does know more about this than most people, but that’s because he’s worried . He hasn’t pointed out the pattern to the Vivids, because Kohane would have a heart attack, but he made sure Akito knows.

“I am! I promise I am. I’ll text you when I get home, ok?” Akito’s hand twitches, like he’s about to grab Toya’s to comfort him, but that might just be wishful thinking on Toya’s part. Yes, they’re partners, and they rely on each other more than anyone else, but they’re not quite at the point where they’ve discussed putting a different label on their relationship. 

And Toya’s not about to bring that up right now while they’re on such a morbid topic.

“Ok. You better. Don’t forget.”

“I won’t.”

They arrive at the station Toya takes to get home.

“See you tomorrow, partner.” Toya says.

“Yep. And try not to be too in your head tonight, yeah? You’ll need a good night’s sleep for practice tomorrow.”

Damn it if Akito’s easy smile doesn’t have a way of calming Toya’s nerves. It’ll be fine. Toya just reads too many murder mysteries.

A couple of storm clouds aside, it’s still light out as Akito watches Toya disappear down into the underpass, so he has some time before he’s expected home. He’d made some mistakes in the last show and he wants to practice before he forgets so they won’t happen again.

He could head home and do it in his room, but Ena’s night classes then are meeting online for the time being and he doesn’t want to distract her. She needs all the help she can get to keep up her grades.

(He can almost hear Ena scoffing and saying he’s one to talk)

There’s an abandoned building set for demolition that Akito’s been using to practice recently (the acoustics are very nice) so it’s not like he’s practicing out in the open where anyone can see him, which is a bonus in case any serial killers really are around. Not that Akito can’t handle himself. 

He’s fast, and Ena had made a big deal of giving him a keychain with pepper spray on it, insisting she’d accidentally bought two and that he might as well take one off of her hands. She stuck him with the cutesy pink one, but it’s the thought that counts.

It can’t hurt to practice a little, right? He really needs to make sure his part is perfect before they start practicing all together. It would be a waste of time to have to work on his part when they should be working on how they all sound together.

But every time Akito is about to wrap up, something else goes wrong.

Just one more, Akito thinks as he trips up on the choreography. Thinking about singing seems to trip him up, so he runs through it again.

One more time, he thinks as he realizes he forgot to account for where the others should be and if he’s not careful he’ll end up accidentally kicking Kohane off the stage (at which point An will stop the song just to kick his ass).

And so on and so on until Akito’s throat is sore, he’s sweating and checks his phone to see that it’s nearly 11pm. He’s been practicing for three hours straight. 

Toya’s going to be so mad at him.

Akito grabs his things and dashes out into the middle of the heavy downpour, fully prepared to sprint home and minimize how soaked he is, but he skids to a stop at the street corner when he spots a figure out of the corner of his vision.

Oh shit, it’s Toya.

He is definitely going to be pissed. He probably came looking because Akito didn’t text. Gah, Akito is such an asshole. What’s he doing, making his partner worry like that?

“Toya, hey!” Akito says as he runs over. “I’m so sorry, I lost track of time, I really meant to—”

Akito is so caught up in his apology that it takes him a second too long to realize this isn’t Toya. It’s definitely someone in the same hoodie as Toya’s, but the rain makes it stick to their body, showing that they’re not skinny enough. This is someone with decent bulk, while Toya is a stick, and for some reason they haven’t bothered to correct him.

A chill runs down his spine. “Sorry,” Akito says, reaching for Ena’s stupid pink pepper spray.

At the same moment, the stranger lunges at him, grabbing his wrists so he can’t move them. Akito headbutts them and they stagger backwards, and Akito wastes no time sprinting down an alleyway.

The part of Akito’s brain that’s aware enough to comprehend “holy shit I just ran into a serial killer” is drowned out by the desire to run as far away as possible. Akito’s heart is pounding as he twists through the alleyways, not even aware of where he’s going.

This immediately becomes a problem when Akito finally stops to catch his breath and realizes he’s lost.

“Shit,” Akito pants. He needs a plan. First would be to call for help but… who the fuck should he call? Not Toya, obviously. Toya would freak out, or worse try and help and Toya cannot handle a fight with a serial killer. The police? He doesn’t know where he is and it’s not like he got a good look at the killer. Ken or An might be able to help him figure it out, but they’re probably sleeping now. Maybe he can—

The next thing Akito processes is his head slamming into the sidewalk. Shit, did the killer cut him off from another alleyway? His head hurts from where he smacked into the pavement, and the killer has him pinned to the ground so he can’t really make them out. 

He’s going to die here. He’s going to die in an alleyway in the middle of the night because he didn’t listen to Toya. He’s stupid, he is so so stupid and—

A rag is pressed against his face and his vision instantly starts to blur and Akito’s thoughts come to a screeching halt. He feels himself getting picked up and thrown over a shoulder, but the feeling gets further and further away until finally Akito is swallowed up by darkness.

1 Day Gone

As he usually does after a fight with Rin, Len goes to see Akito. Stupid Rin and her stupid ideas that are stupid and terrible. Akito will totally be on his side about the set order, Len’s sure of it.

At first, it’s so dark that Len thinks he’s in Akito’s pocket, but he can make out the shape of someone sleeping on the bed. Silly Akito, it’s almost lunch time! Why’s he still asleep?

“AKITOOOOO WAKE UP!” Len calls. Akito shifts and slowly reaches out to pick up the phone.

“Len, can you please be quieter? I have a killer headache.”

“What happened to your face?!” Len gasps. The light from Akito’s phone is just enough to make out how pale he is and the massive bruise. There’s a bandage right above his eyebrow too. “Did you get into a fight?”

“Hm? What are you…” suddenly the grogginess leaves Akito’s face and he quickly rolls out of bed. He wobbles a bit but finds his bearings and then rushes to a wall. Len can see Akito fumble looking for a light switch.

“Shit,” Akito says, after not finding anything.

“Akito,” Len says. “I’m not getting any location data from your phone.”

Akito looks at the phone again. “No cell signal or internet either. Guess a serial killer wouldn’t  leave me with a working phone.”

“SERIAL KILLER?! What do you mean ‘a serial killer’?!” Akito got kidnapped by a serial killer? Like in those books that Toya likes? Where creepy people cut people open to eat them or make suits out of their skin? 

Len doesn’t realize he’s hyperventilating until Akito says, “Len, breathe. Calm down, it’ll be fine.”

“HOW IS BEING KIDNAPPED BY A SERIAL KILLER FINE?!”

Akito blinks. “I don’t know, I kind of just said that out of habit.”

“I’m getting help,” Len says. 

“Wait-”

But before Akito can finish Len has dipped back into SEKAI.

Toya is rapidly running out of explanations for why Akito still hasn’t texted and hasn’t showed up at school today. Maybe he got a cold from getting caught in the storm? (It’s lunch, he would’ve texted by now)

Maybe he got into a fight with Ena and she ended up pushing him down the stairs and he broke his phone and also hurt himself so he didn’t go to school? (Even less likely, Akito would’ve had Ena text him)

At this point Toya is trying to keep the worst options at bay, the ones where Akito is dead in a ditch somewhere—

“Toya!” Tsukasa-senpai shows up just on time to stop Toya from spiraling. Next to him, Kusanagi sinks lower under her desk.

“Senpai, hello! Do you need something?” Please, need something so that Toya doesn’t have to stay in his own head.

“I heard you’ve been moping around all day, so we came to cheer you up!”

“We?” Toya asks, but he looks past Tsukasa-senpai to see Kamishiro-senpai behind him. “Ah, thank you very much, Senpai.”

“Would you like to join us for lunch?” Tsukasa-senpai offers. “Mom packed a special bento for today!”

“That sounds nice. Kusanagi, are you coming as well?”

Kusanagi sighs. “I should… if I don’t meet Emu she’s going to try and climb in through the window.”

“Otori? Doesn’t she go to Miya Girls?” 

Kamishiro-senpai chuckles. “That’s never stopped her.”

Toya’s confused, but nods anyway. “Alright, let me just—”

Suddenly, Toya’s phone starts buzzing like crazy and lighting up in his pocket. Toya whips it out and Len doesn’t even bother asking if there’s anyone around before he pops out.

“TOYAYOUGOTTAHELPAKITOSBEENKIDNAPPEDITSBADHELOOKSHURTANDIDUNNOWHATTODO ”

“Len?” Tsukasa-senpai gasps. “What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t he just mention Aki-kun too?” Kamishiro-senpai says.

Kusanagi looks between the three of them. “You understood any of that?” 

Toya doesn’t respond, just sprints down the hall.

Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.

He almost runs past An’s classroom in his hurry, and finds her desk.

An’s in the middle of a conversation with Akiyama. “Toya? What’s wrong?” 

“Akito’s been kidnapped by a serial killer!” Toya says. Now that he’s said it out loud, it’s getting harder to breathe, and he doesn’t even notice all of An’s classmates staring at them.

“Wait wait wait, calm down.” An says, grabbing Toya’s arm and pulling him out of the classroom. “What are you talking about? Did you have a weird dream during class or something?”

“Len told me! He’s been kidnapped, what are we going to do?”

“Ok. Ok, Len told you? Then let’s head over there and talk to him.” An plays “Ready Steady.” This is probably some big mixup or something. There’s no way, right?

Len is waiting for them as soon they arrive, barely holding back tears.

“Len, perfect!” An says. “Can you explain what you were talking about with Toya because there seems to have been a mix-up. Something about Akito being kidnapped by a serial killer?”

“Len?” Speak of the devil! Akito shows up, wearing pajamas for some reason. “Len you didn’t wait for me to see if I could still enter SEK—” he’s cut off by Toya and Len both rushing to hug him.

An sighs in relief. “Oh geez, Akito, that’s a mean trick to pull. You really had Toya and Len worried, you know.”

“Uh… yeah,” Akito says. “I’m not sure what Len told you but I did wake up in some weird room after I got into a fight with a stranger in an alley last night.”

“YOU WHAT?!”

Akito flinches. “Can you not yell so loud, I still have a headache.”

“You really don’t look well.” Toya says. 

“Yeah! You should sit down!” Len agrees. “Let’s go to MEIKO’s place.”

They arrive at Crase Café, and An texts Kohane to tell her to come right away as Toya climbs into Akito’s lap. MEIKO provides everyone with snacks and Len runs back and forth making sure Akito doesn’t run out of water, so everyone’s almost has the chance to calm down and come to terms with the fact that Akito’s been fucking kidnapped.

“I cannot believe you stayed out late practicing!” An shouts once Kohane has arrived and Akito explains what happened yesterday. “Are you stupid or something?”

“You do not get to call me stupid, stupid.”

“I do when one of us is sitting here looking like crap because he got his shit rocked by a serial killer!”

“A-An-chan,” Kohane says. “Let’s all calm down for a bit!”

“Ugh, fine. I guess no matter how you got into this mess, we’ve gotta figure out how to fix it.” An says.

“Well--”

“TOOOOYYAAAAAA” 

Akito somehow manages to go paler. “No. No way.”

“Tsukasa-senpai?” Toya asks, as the members of Wonderlands×Showtime show up, led by another Rin. A much bouncier one this time, in a performer’s outfit.

“Hey! Hey! Puppy Len!” the other Rin says. “We heard you were upset so we came to cheer you up!”

“Well, not exactly.” Tsukasa explains. “We saw your Len, then went to our SEKAI to ask what was going on, and Rin said she could lead us over here.”

“There are other SEKAI?” Toya asks. 

“And you guys have one?” Akito adds.

“Yep! And because Tsukasa and Toya are so close, you can go from one to the other,” Other Rin explains.

“It’s so cool isn’t it?” Otori says. “A whole new SEKAI! Though I like ours better, it has more parts that go WEE WEE WEE WA!!”

“They don’t come over a lot,” Rin explains, wearing almost the same expression as Akito.

“But if someone needs cheering up, our Troupe will always be there to help!” Other Rin explains. “So would you like a show? Puppy Len, you can even help!”

“No,” Akito and Rin say at the same time. 

“Yeah, I think there are more pressing issues. What’s going on?” Kusanagi asks. “Did Shinonome-kun lose a fight or something?”

“You could say that,” Kohane says.

They quickly recap everything again while MEIKO and KAITO bring out more seats and drinks, and Rin places herself protectively between Len and Other Rin.

“That’s quite the interesting story, Aki-kun,” Kamishiro-senpai says. “Did you have any idea where the room you woke up in was?”

“Stop calling me that!” Akito says, (Kamishiro just gives cat-like grin in response), “and no, after Len left to get Toya I looked around the room some more, but there wasn’t much except for the locked door. No windows or anything.”

“What does it matter? Can’t he just leave through SEKAI?” Tsukasa-senpai asks.

“No, you can only exit SEKAI from the same place where you enter.” Miku explains. 

“What? Why is that a rule?”

“Because otherwise the system might try to send you to two places at once,” Luka says. “So unless you want to be perfectly bisected at a molecular level, it’s safer to just return you to where you were.”

“Wait, but Len said he wasn’t getting any location data from Akito’s phone,” Toya says nervously, “What’ll happen if he can’t be sent to the same place?”

“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” KAITO explains. “Just because you access SEKAI through your phone doesn’t mean it uses the same technology as the phone.”

“Oh, so you guys ARE magic!” Otori cheers.

“No, not exactly.” KAITO says. “I mean, how much do you know about Cognitive Pscience?”

“Not enough to understand any explanation you can give.” An says.

“Fair, I probably can’t explain it well either,” KAITO laughs.

“Ok, well, who cares!” Tsukasa-senpai says. 

“You’re the one who asked,” Luka sighs, sharing a tired look with Kusanagi.

“Anyway, we should probably start by checking Akito’s injuries.”

“I mean, other than my head I’m fine,” Akito says.

Toya looks at him, and Akito wilts under his gaze before continuing.

“My arms have been kinda sore, I’m tired, uhh running after Len earlier made me dizzy?”

“You’re kinda warm too,” Toya adds.

“Hmm, sounds like Saki after getting her blood drawn.” Tsukasa-senpai says.

Instantly, Toya examines Akito’s arms for the telltale pinprick of a needle at the elbow, and finds one on each arm. “Senpai’s right!”

“Really? Uh, I mean of course I am!” Tsukasa-senpai says. “But why-”

“AKITO, YOU LITTLE SHIT!”

Ena of all goddamn people (along with Akiyama and a white haired Miku) storms into the SEKAI, locks eyes with Akito, and sprints over to him.

“Oh, why the fuck are you here?!” Akito groans.

“Who’s that?” Kohane whispers.

“Akito’s sister,” An explains, “who apparently also has access to SEKAI. And knew we were here?”

“Oh I saw you guys disappear in the hallway earlier,” Akiyama says. “Figured odds were good it was a SEKAI since you mentioned Len.”

Akito is about to make fun of An for not paying attention, but Ena interrupts him.

“I woke up to hear you got fucking kidnapped and apparently half the fucking school knows about it?” Ena snaps. She practically pushes Toya off of Akito’s lap and starts shaking him. “WHAT! WERE! YOU! THINKING!” 

Akito tries to ask her to fucking stop, but the cafe is spinning too much and spots start to dance across his vision.

“Um, stop please! He’s missing blood!” Kohane says.

Ena finally lets him go, and Akito lays his head on the table until he starts feeling a little less like shit.

“Ah! Akito, keep your eyes open!” Len says.

“What do you mean he’s missing blood?” Ena demands. “Did you seriously get stabbed or something?”

The others explain what happened while Len scrambles to get Akito another glass of water and Toya pulls himself up off the ground. He doesn’t actually feel like lifting his head to drink it, but everyone will worry if he doesn’t so he forces himself up to do so.

“But why would a serial killer want with your blood?” White Miku asks.

“I’m not sure. Akito, what’s your blood type?” Tsukasa-senpai says.

“Red?” Akito musters.

“Shinonome-san, what’s his blood type?”

“Why the fuck would I know that?” Ena asks.

“You don’t know your own brother’s blood type?”

“No! Because that’s weird!”

“It’s not weird!” Tsukasa-senpai insists.

“I’m betting that they’re both Type O,” Akiyama says.

“That’s right, actually,” Toya says. “Well, Akito is O, I’m not quite sure about Ena. How did you know that?”

Akiyama grins. “I mean, they obviously both have the personality for it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The Shinonomes snap.

“Oh, Type O is the universal donor!” Otori says. “Maybe the killer needed blood, but couldn’t get some from the hospital?”

“How would they know Akito is Type O though?” Ena asks.

“Aoyagi-kun did.” Kamishiro-senpai points out.

“Toya is more obsessed with Akito than anyone else on this planet,” Ena jabs back. “He’s an outlier.”

“Did the Vivid Live Killer take blood from anyone else?” Kusunagi asks.

“I’m not sure?” Toya says. “The causes of death that weren’t obvious weren’t reported to the public, but there were a couple of guys with no visible wounds, so maybe they died of blood loss?”

“And how do you know that?” Kamishiro-senpai asks.

“I’ve been following the case,” Toya admits.

“Can we even be sure this is the Vivid Live Killer?” Kohane wonders aloud. “I mean wouldn’t they have killed him?”

“There’s usually been a couple of days between when someone disappears and when a corpse shows up, so the sooner we find Akito, the better.”

Akito snorts. “Sounds funny when you say it like that.”

“Wait, is it going to be a problem if the killer comes back and sees Akito is missing?” Len asks.

“I mean, a problem for them maybe, but who cares how they feel.” Ena says. “Akito can just stick to SEKAI until then.”

Akito coughs and looks down.

“...what?”

“So you’ve realized it too,” Kamishiro-senpai says.

“What? What are you talking about?” Ena demands, looking between the two of them.

“I’m… probably going to have to leave SEKAI at some point,” Akito sighs.

The group, in particular Ena, Toya, and Len erupt into a chorus of objections.

“I think Akito’s right.” Kamishiro-senpai says. “At the moment the only thing we have to go on to figure out where Akito is is that he’s there . Otherwise we have nothing to go on, and the police would have even less if we told them.”

“Catching the killer is less important than making sure Akito’s safe!” Toya says.

“And he’s not going to be safe if every time he leaves SEKAI he ends up in a serial killer’s lair.”

“He can just stay in SEKAI!” Ena says. “I mean you even have a cafe, it’s not like he’ll starve. When the police catch the killer, then he can come out.”

“I can’t just stay in SEKAI for an unlimited amount of time, when my phone battery dies I’ll get booted out,” Akito explains.

“What are you-”

“Ena,” White Miku says. “This SEKAI doesn’t work like ours.”

KAITO nods. “Yeah, it’s not even conscious. It’s like how when a human puts their hand on a hot stove, they take it off instinctively without even thinking about it. Everyone whose feelings make up this SEKAI would believe being trapped in SEKAI forever is a bad thing, so the SEKAI doesn’t let you”

Akito narrows his eyes. “Wait, SEKAI are built on our feelings or whatever, right? Ena, why the hell does your SEKAI let you stay there forever?”

“Oh you DO NOT get to ask me that when you are literally seconds away from considering just hanging out in a serial killer’s lair!”

“I’m not popping over for a play date, Ena! I don’t wanna be kidnapped either! Or agree with Kamishiro-senpai! The point is the easiest way for you to figure out where I am is if I’m there!”

“There’s also the benefit of preserving battery life if Aki-kun does need to hide out for longer,” Rui points out. “It can serve as a last resort.”

“They already beat him in a fight once, and now he’s missing like half his blood!” 

“They caught me off guard, this time I have an advantage. They clearly don’t expect me to be able to do anything with my phone, so—”

“Thinking you could handle them is what got you into this mess in the first place!”

“Only ‘cause I thought they were Toya!”

“What?” Toya asks. “What do you mean you thought they were me?”

“I saw some tall ass person hanging around, and I thought maybe you were upset I didn’t text or something so I tried talking to them, and realized they weren’t you.”

“You just went up and talked to a serial killer?” Ena screeches.

“My point is it’ll be different.”

“Akito,” Toya says, tugging on his shirt. “Please don’t. If the battery is the problem, we can just come back with a charger.”

Akito’s face softens. “I’m not saying this because I’m happy about it, but Kamishiro-senpai is right. The only way we have a chance of figuring out where I am is if I’m there. Otherwise the cops could stumble across the room and think it’s just a normal old room no one uses. Plus there’s a chance I’ll be able to see the killer’s face more clearly. Besides, if I just stay here, the killer’ll just nab someone else, someone who doesn’t have portal to another world in their back pocket.”

“It’s still insanely risky.” Ena says. “What if you, I don’t know, marked the wall with some graffiti?”

“And how’s that going to help? You’ll tell the police ‘oh hey my brother was kidnapped by this person and I know this because we met up in another world and he marked the wall?’ That’ll just get you committed.”

“What if you just stayed until the end of the day?” Toya asks. “To give us a chance to come up with a better idea.”

“I don’t think—”

“Please, partner?”

Akito sighs. “Sure. I’ll hang out in SEKAI for a bit, but if we don’t have any better ideas I leave and come back if things get dangerous or I figure out some clues.”

No one looks particularly satisfied with this, but it’s probably the best they’re going to do given the circumstances.

An, Toya, and Mizuki decide to skip out on the rest of the school day to go to the police station. Kohane wants to go with them, but there’s one problem with that: she doesn’t know how to sneak out of school.

She tries hiding in the bathroom until the halls clear out after lunch, but almost immediately a teacher catches her.

“Azusawa? What are you doing?” the teacher asks.

Fiddlesticks!

“Oh, um I-I wasn’t feeling well?” Kohane tries. It doesn’t even sound convincing to her. The teacher clearly isn’t buying it.

“Azusawa, you’re a good student, so I’ll let you off this once. Please return to your classroom.”

“B-but, I’m really sick!”  Kohane says, adding a fake cough.

“Azusawa…”

“Kohane-chan!” Suddenly Kohane cranks her head up to see Fuyu-senpai next to her. “Did you get lost?”

“She was feeling faint during lunch, so we were going to take her to the nurse's office, but we lost her as the bells rang.” Chikako-chan adds.

“Oh, yeah…” Kohane says, swaying slightly.

“Oh, I didn’t realize, I’m sorry Azusawa. I’ll get out of your way.”

Chikako practically drags Kohane away and down the hall, with Fuyune right behind them. Kohane’s a little surprised when they actually end up in the nurse’s office.

“She’s napping in the teacher’s lounge.” Fuyune explains, seeing the confused look on Kohane’s face. “We’ll be fine for now.”

“Thank you so much, Senpai!” Kohane says. “You really saved me.”

Fuyune chuckles. “Well, I can’t pretend my motives were all altruistic, see I heard this rumor—”

Of course, nothing gets Fantastic Fuyune going like a good rumor. It’s caused problems for Vivid BAD SQUAD before, but if there’s anyone who knows as much about this case as Toya would it’s probably Miyajou’s Master Rumormonger.

“Azusawa! Listen when Shimizu-sama speaks to you!” Chikako-chan snaps.

“Ah! Sorry!”

“Chi-chan, calm down. Is something on your mind, Kohane-chan?” Fuyune asks.

“Senpai, do you know anything about the Vivid Live Killer?” Kohane blurts out. “I mean it’s perfectly fine if you don’t—”

“Of course she does!” Chikako-chan says. “Shimizu-sama knows everything about everything! Did you know she helped track down info on criminals for the Phan-Site back when it was operational?”

Fuyu-senpai adjusts her hat. “Chi-chan, I’m not that great… I’ve made mistakes before, which is why I wanted to hear this from you, Azusawa. Is it true Shinonome-kun has been kidnapped by the Vivid Live Killer?”

“Yes!” Kohane says.

“And how do you know this?”

“W-well he never went home last night after saying he’d text Toya-kun. Then he wasn’t at school.” Kohane says. “An-chan is friends with someone who’s friends with Akito-kun’s sister, so that’s how we all realized it during lunch.”

Fuyu-senpai hums and starts typing on her phone. “So he’s definitely missing, but we can’t be sure it’s the Vivid Live Killer. It’s not unusual when a case like this happens for people to just assume it’s them when it’s another culprit.” Suddenly, she looks back up at Kohane. “Not that I was dismissing your concerns, of course! It’s very worrying if Shinonome-kun never came home. Has anyone contacted the police?”

“An-chan and Toya-kun are going to. Akito-kun’s sister is probably going to tell their parents too.”

“Wouldn’t Shinonome-kun’s parents already know if he’s missing?”

“Umm I’m not sure, that’s a question for his sister, if anything.”

Fuyu-senpai nods. “Enanan from Nightcord at 25:00, right? I’ll keep that in mind. In the meantime, Chi-chan, can you get the other girls from the newspaper to help with a search?”

Chikako-chan grins. “No problem, Shimizu-sama! Your loyal knights will be on it!”

“Please don’t call yourselves that, we all just work for the paper.”

“But most of them only joined because you’re on it!”

Fuyune sighs, “I know, and it gives Senpai a headache every time she’s reminded of it.”

“So you’re going to help?” Kohane asks. “Really?”

“Of course! If there’s a clue, you can bet I’ll sniff it out, no matter what!”

“Thank you so much, Fuyu-senpai!” Kohane gives her a hug, and immediately Chikako-chan gets between them.

“Alright, you should go to talk to Tenma. She’s friends with Aoyagi and Shinonome, right?” Chikako says.

“Yes, I’ll talk to her and Minori-chan too! Thank you both so much!”

With that, Kohane goes to rally the troops.

Ena practically kicks down the door to her dad’s study after getting back from Akito’s SEKAI.

“DAD, AKITO NEVER CAME HOME LAST NIGHT!”

Her dad, who clearly fell asleep working again, jerks awake and nearly ends up putting his head through the canvas. “I’m sorry, what?”

“AKITO! IS! MISSING!” Ena repeats.

“What? Have you called the police?” her dad asks, scrambling to put on his cardigan. Ena follows him out of the study and down the stairs.

“Mizuki and some of Akito’s friends are on their way, but maybe you can call too?”

“Right. Have you told your mother?”

“No, I just found out because Mizuki told me he wasn’t at school.”

“Are you sure he didn’t just skip?”

“Dad, Toya’s at school”

“Point taken.”

Ena’s dad checks the voicemail, and sure enough, there are several missed calls from Akito’s homeroom teacher asking why he isn’t at school.

“I’ll call your mother.”

“You should call Ken at Weekend Garage too.”

“Who?”

Ena groans. “The singer that Akito looks up to? He basically looks after Vivid BAD SQUAD. Could you at least try to pay attention to what we do?”

“Ena…”

“Whatever, I just told you because I’m going out to look for him with Mizuki and the others.”

“In your pajamas?”

Ena can feel her face heat up. “Hey at least I’m trying to do something!”

“I just found about this two minutes ago!”

“You could’ve noticed Akito wasn’t home when it got late!”

“So could you!”

“You’re supposed to be our dad!” Ena shouts back. She storms back up the stairs to get changed. Great, just great. 

She knows her dad is doing his best; it’s just that he's just about as good at showing his emotions as, well, as Ena and Akito are. She’ll apologize later, after she’s dragged Akito home.

When Ena gets to her room, there are a bunch of messages in Nightcord.

Amia 

I don’t think things are going well with the police.

They don’t seem to accept “we know Akito got kidnapped because Kagamine Len is real and lives in our phones”

Enanan

Damn

K

Ena are you doing Ok?

Enanan

Oh sure, I’m fantastic. My stupid brother gets kidnapped and might die, but I’m fine!

Yuki

Is there anything we can do?

Enanan

What, are you a master detective too?

Amia

Ena, calm down, this isn’t going to help.

Enanan

Lmk when you’re done at the police station. I don’t know Kamiyama street super well so I need you to show me around.

Amia

Will do! Don’t worry, Otouto-kun will be fine!

Ena sighs. She doesn’t exactly have Mizuki’s confidence, but she’ll drag Akito home kicking and screaming if she has to.

If Ken had questions about why they were at WEEKEND GARAGE before the school day was even over, he drops them when he sees how dejected An and Toya look. Mizuki already went off to get Ena so it’s just the two of them.

“What happened?” Ken asks and An grimaces. It still doesn’t feel quite real explaining that Akito’s been kidnapped, and it’s even harder without explaining SEKAI, as shown by the incredulousness of the woman at the police station when they tried to explain Akito had been kidnapped and not just run away or turned off his phone.

“Akito’s missing,” An says by way of explanation. At least her dad knows Akito well enough to know that he’d never just disappear like that, especially if he promised to text Toya. He takes the explanation, vague as it is, very seriously, and is instantly up, switches the “open” sign to “closed” and starts making calls.

An decides to follow suit, getting Toya a coffee to perk him up.

“Ok, so what’s the plan now?” An asks. “Should we start looking on foot?”

“If you’re going to look, I don’t want you looking out past dark and no one goes alone,” Ken says from across the cafe. 

“Got it!” 

Toya puts his coffee cup down after a few sips and joins the conversation. 

“Akito said he was practicing in an abandoned building not far from the train station, right? Do you think when Kohane and the others get here, you can have them start from there and spread out?”

“You’re not coming?” An asks.

“No, I’m going to grab some things and wait in SEKAI with Akito. Maybe I can convince him to stay instead of going back.”

An frowns. “Are you sure? You might be better help looking for clues. I mean, if the cops aren’t going to help, then you probably know the most about the killings.”

“Kohane said Shimizu-san was coming, right? I’m sure she can help just as much.”

“You’re also the one who knows Akito the best. If there are any clues about where he got taken, like a loose button or something, you’re bound to find them.”

“But if there's any chance of convincing him to stay, I’m going to have to be the one to do it.”

“I don’t know if you’re going to convince him…”

Toya glares at her, and An actually tenses up at that. “Don’t tell me you agree with him and Kamishiro-senpai?”

“Dude, I don’t know, you know I’m not smart! What they said made sense, but I also think it makes sense to not leave Akito in a serial killer’s hideout. I don’t know which one’s the better option!”

“An, if anything happens to him…”

“Yeah, I get it. If it was Kohane, I wouldn’t be handling it nearly as well as you.”

“You think I’m handling this well? I feel like I’m about to shatter.”

“But you haven’t, that’s the important thing,” An says. “Alright, if you wanna stay with Akito, stay with him. I’ll tell everyone else you’re already out looking.”

“Saki, are you sure you can handle this?” Tsukasa asks. She’s here with the rest of Leo/need, and a whole horde of Miyajou students.

“Yeah, I wanna help Toya-kun!” Saki insists. “I can handle it, I’ve got water and snacks! The one you’re supposed to be worrying about is Akito!”

Tsukasa is fully capable of worrying about everyone at once. He already missed Toya when they finally got out of school and went to Weekend Garage, and he’s been thinking about it since. Toya’s good at hiding it, but Tsukasa can tell that he’s beside himself. 

And who wouldn’t be, everyone is worried about what’ll happen to Akito, but Toya? He needs Akito like he needs air. Toya’s changed, he’s started shining brighter ever since he and Akito started singing together, and Tsukasa doesn’t want him to lose that.

Mr. Shiraishi is insistent that everyone be split up into groups and that everyone who's still in school be back before dark, so An and Tsukasa kind of end up organizing everyone and they split up.

Everyone who was in the SEKAI to hear Akito’s story split up specifically to check out important places, with An and Kohane going to the Live House, while Rui and Tsukasa look around the building Akito said he was practicing in.

“Think this looks right?” Tsukasa asks. The building is blocked off because of construction, but they find the back way Akito describes, the one marked with BAD DOGS graffiti to make it easier to find.

“Alright, so according to Aki-kun, he left and saw the killer from across the street.” Rui grins at him. “Ready for some acting?”

“Of course!”

“I’ll be the killer, you be Aki-kun.”

Rui leaves, and Tsukasa gets into position. “Alright, I’m Akito Shinonome! I’m practicing late because I have a tendency to get so focused I lose track of time. My precious partner Toya (whose older brother is awesome and I respect very much) is waiting for me to text, so I need to hurry!”

Tsukasa runs out of the building, having to be careful not to scrape himself on the bits of rubble. Honestly, is this why Akito wears so many layers? He gets out around to the main street, and it doesn’t take much to spot Rui. Tsukasa’s used to looking for him in a crowd, so he stands out.

“Oh look! It’s Toya, I should go up to him!” Tsukasa does just that, running up to Rui. “Alas, upon closer inspection, it’s not Toya, but a killer!”

Rui snorts.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m just trying to picture Aki-kun saying ‘alas’”

“Oh, you know what I mean. I’d refine the script more if this was an actual performance.”

“Of course,” Rui says. “So from here they got into a scuffle.” Rui grabs Tsukasa wrists and Tsukasa attempts to headbutt him the way Akito described, but mostly ends up banging his skull against the hard part of Rui’s chin.

“Owww…”

“We’ll have to work on your stage fighting,” Rui says, “but the killer was still probably stunned.”

“Right! So now…” Tsukasa turns and runs into the nearest alley. Akito said he got lost, so that probably means a lot of twists and turns, especially if it means Rui can’t see where he’s turning. He can’t recreate the exact path, but he can narrow it down by avoiding dead ends.

“Ah, found you!” Rui says, popping out from behind Tsukasa.

“Hey! Don’t scare me like that!”

Rui ignores him, then squats down. “Do you see any blood?”

Tsukasa squats next to him. “No? I can’t have recreated the exact path.”

“Yeah, and Aki-kun is faster than you, so he probably got further. But you might have narrowed it down.”

“How so?”

“You and Aki-kun are both right-handed, so you tend to favor your right side when you’re not thinking. If he was panicked, there’s a good chance you ended up taking a similar path. Plus, following you, I counted at least a couple of stores with back security cameras that might’ve caught something.”

“Do you think they caught the killer?” Tsukasa asks.

“Possibly while they were trying to cut Aki-kun off, but I doubt they were caught on camera while leaving.”

“What makes you think that?”

“The spot I was waiting for you in, I chose it because it was out of range of any cameras and perfectly positioned for you to spot me. Worked like a charm.”

“But I was looking for you.”

“And Aki-kun was thinking about Aoyagi-kun, so when he spotted someone similar, his mind filled in the blanks.”

“So the killer knows Vivid Street well enough to know where all the cameras are, and Akito well enough to know that looking like Toya would be enough to get him to let his guard down,” Tsukasa says. 

“Well, you don’t have to know Aki-kun super well to figure that out,” Rui replies. “But it’s very likely the killer is someone who spends a lot of time around Vivid Street. It’d also explain why their targets have all been singers.”

“Could they have been trying to get rid of the competition?” Tsukasa gasps.

Rui shrugs and stands up. “Who knows? We’d probably need more information on the victims. In the meantime, Aki-kun hit his head. Head wounds bleed a lot, so maybe if we can find the spot where he got knocked out, we can use some drones to figure out the optimal path away without being caught on any cameras.”

“Great, in the meantime I’ll text Shiraishi and see if she can get the store owners to let us see their security footage and see if we can’t see the killer.”

“Tsukasa-kun,” Rui says.

“What?”

“We’re not going to find anything by the end of the day.”

It takes Tsukasa too long to figure out what that means. “You mean Akito’s going to end up going back?!” No, Toya wouldn’t be able to handle that!

“I wasn’t lying when I said that it might help us track down the killer to know we’re looking for Aki-kun compared to looking for a killer without anything else to go on, it could help us find him sooner in the long run.”

“Or get him killed.”

“I know. I don’t say this lightly. Even with the drone idea, that only works if we assume the killer didn’t have access to a car to hide their tracks. Remember the Inaba kidnapper back in the 2010’s? He used a delivery truck to kidnap his victims, which is why no one found him suspicious.”

Tsukasa groans. What were they going to tell Toya? “We have to at least check in with the others first, maybe they found something.”

“I hope they do,” Rui says, “I don’t like my friends getting hurt, you know that. If there was—”

Suddenly, Rui stiffens. 

“Rui? What’s wrong?”

“Tsukasa-kun, turn around slowly.”

Tsukasa does, and spots the person staring at them from behind a trash bin. They stick out even as they’re crouched down, so they’re probably very tall.

“HEY! YOU!” Tsukasa shouts, rushing over to them.

“Tsukasa-kun, wait!”

The person turns and runs, and standing up it’s clear he’s definitely very tall. If they can catch this guy, they can save Akito, and then Toya won’t have to worry! He has to do this, before something else terrible happens.

Unfortunately, the person is very fast, probably owing to their long legs. Even with all his stamina from doing shows, Tsukasa feels himself start to get winded before he even gets close to them. An uneven patch of sidewalk is his undoing and Tsukasa trips. He tries to throw his hands out to catch himself, but instead there’s a sharp pain in his wrist.

“Tsukasa-kun!” Rui says, stopping to help him up.

“Leave me, get them!” Tsukasa says, but when he points, the figure is gone. “Damn it!”

“What were you thinking?! Going after a killer by yourself?!” Rui snaps.

“We have to do something!”

“And we will,” Rui says, looking at the scrape on Tsukasa right hand, and then the swelling of his left wrist. “But first, we’re getting you looked at. Then we’ll regroup with the others.”

“But—”

“How would Saki-chan and Aoyagi-kun react to you getting yourself killed?” Rui says.

“That’s a low blow,” Tsukasa replies, but he lets Rui pull him up. 

“Whatever works. Come on, you need some ice at least.”

Usually, Toya’s the one with his head in Akito’s lap, but after the others left, MEIKO insisted that he have a nap in one of the cafe booths (if any of the Vocaloids had apartments with beds, they didn’t mention them). When Akito woke up hours later, Toya was there, running his hands through Akito’s hair.

“Hey, partner.” Akito says groggily. God, he feels like shit. What the hell happened to his hoodie? He’s cold. 

“Hey,” Toya says. “I brought you some cheesecake, and a portable charger.” 

Ah, he’s trying to butter him up. It’s not going to work, but the cheesecake does make him feel a little less nauseous.

“What time is it?” Akito asks. They’re not usually in SEKAI after dark, so he’s not sure if the sun’s about to go down.

“A bit after 7,” Toya admits. “An texted to say that Ken-san is making all the students go home soon.”

Yeah, that’s what he thought. 

“How’d the police station go?”

Toya doesn’t respond, which translates to “poorly.”

Akito takes a deep breath and sits up. “Well—”

“Please don’t,” Toya whispers. “It’s too much. Just stay here, MEIKO can look after you and the police—”

“Have been on this case for, what, two weeks? And they haven’t found anything. I already told you—”

“What if I acted as bait?” Toya blurts out. He’s clearly been thinking about this a lot.

“What?”

“You stay here, the killer thinks you’ve escaped, and they go looking for a new victim and I act as bait!” Toya offers frantically.

“No way! You can’t put yourself in danger like that, you don't even know if the killer wouldn’t jump ship after realizing I’m gone.”

“But it’s alright for you to put yourself in danger?!”

Yes, Akito wants to say, because this is my own stupid fault and I can’t ruin you. He’s always known on some level he could destroy Toya if he’s not careful. He sees how Toya looks at him, and he’d be lying if the idea of being able to call Toya his partner and his boyfriend doesn’t make his heart flutter. That he doesn’t lie awake at night sometimes and think of what it’d be like to kiss him in the morning and run his hands through Toya’s hair.

But Akito knows himself, he knows how he can get. If he’s not careful, he’ll just end up bringing Toya down with him. Hell he can’t even do something as simple as remember to text him. What’s he going to be like as a romantic partner? Akito’s a bitch and he knows it, and that’s fine when there’s distance between them, but at that next level of intimacy? It’s too much. Toya deserves better.

“I’m already in this mess,” Akito says, finally. “You shouldn’t do something else extra stupid just to fix it.”

“Akito, if anything happens to you…”

Akito puts his hand on Toya’s, and damn if he doesn’t want to lean forward and kiss him. But he holds back. “Look, I swear, I’ll be more careful than I ever have in my life. The second things turn out too much, I’ll be back here. I’ll even bring the charger with me. I’ll hide it under the mattress or something.”

“How are you so calm about this?” Toya asks.

Akito sighs. “Don’t tell Len, but I’m scared out of my goddamn mind.” It’s taking Akito everything he has not to shake.

“Then why—”

“Because I trust you, partner. And An, and Kohane. I know you’ll come for me. We’ve got way too much to do to be stopped by some stupid serial killer.”

Toya looks like he’s about to cry. Goddamn it, Akito! You were supposed to make him feel better!

“I will,” Toya says. “I’ll do whatever it takes, but we’re going to be together in the real world again.”

“Of course we are.”

He pulls Toya into a hug and breathes in his partner’s scent. It’s selfish to do this, he knows, but it’s enough to give him the courage he needs.

“See ya soon, partner,” Akito says. “Try not to get into any fights when I’m not there to bail you out.”

“I think that’s my line,” Toya replies.

And then Akito turns and stops “Ready Steady.”

2 Days Gone

Toya doesn’t go to school. It seems pointless when Akito is who knows where. He wraps himself in the hoodie Akito gave him and clings to it like a lifeline.

Mysteries and thrillers were some of his favorite books. It was easy to slip into the shoes of the characters trying to catch the culprit and forget about what was bothering him. So when the news first broke on this case, part of how he felt less nervous about it was treating it like one of those stories. From scanning forums and news articles for clues to the puzzle, to mapping out the locations of the disappearances online. But now that Akito’s the one whose life is at stake, he feels foolish for treating the whole thing like a game.

Vivid Street is pretty empty during school hours, even accounting for fewer and fewer people being out. Toya ends up starting where Kamishiro-senpai and Tsukasa-senpai left off, and wanders the back alleys looking for signs of Akito’s blood. The killer wouldn’t have wasted time cleaning it up if they had to carry Akito off somewhere.

Akito’s pretty heavy too. Toya doesn’t have much— or really any— upper body strength, but he thinks it would be hard for someone his size to carry Akito. So it’s likely they couldn’t have gone far. Even if they were using a car like Kamishiro-senpai thought, there are only so many back streets that are even wide enough for one.

Of course, “find the blood spot” is easier said than done. At least once Toya thinks he’s found it, only to realize it’s a bit of dried spray paint. On one occassion there’s one of the self-proclaimed “Phantom of Vivid Street’s” stupid creations mocking Akito. 

Seriously, who has the time for this?

“Toya-kun? Don’t you have school?”

Tono came up to him while Toya was distracted by the graffiti. Briefly he wonders if Tono’s the “Phantom,” but this is too childish even for him. Probably.

“I didn’t feel like going,” Toya says, because at this point all of Vivid Street knows Akito is the latest victim.

“I see. So you’re wandering around?”

“I’m looking for clues.”

“By… glaring at graffiti? Don’t tell me you suspect the Phantom?”

“No.” Toya isn’t sure where this conversation is going. Akito usually handles the talking for them, and honestly he has no idea how to read Tono. His bitch is a slightly different flavor than Akito’s which pretty much makes it incomprehensible.

“The police have already been all over the street, I doubt you’ll find anything they didn’t.” 

“Really? When?” Toya asks. “They didn’t seem to believe us when I went.”

“I suppose calls from Ken-san and Shinonome’s father helped. There are a couple of off-duty cops who hang around here sometimes for shows, so I suppose they fast tracked the process,” Tono explains. “But, how did you miss them? They arrived just before dark, you would’ve seen them before you got sent home. Where were you while everyone was looking for your partner?”

Toya shrugs. “Looking for him, where else? I must have just missed them.”

“Oh, of course,” Tono says. “Then I’ll leave you to that.” He gives a smile and an easy wave, but Toya can’t help but feel like there’s something off about it.

Suddenly, Toya realizes he should have asked about the other victims. He races after Tono, but the older singer is gone.

Instead, Toya finds Ena.

“Ena?!” Toya asks. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t supposed to be looking alone.”

“Same to you. In fact, you actually have classes.”

They stare at each other in silence for a bit. Even with all the time he spends at Ena’s house, he doesn’t usually interact with her without Akito. He doesn’t usually interact with a lot of people outside of Tsukasa, Saki, and the Vivids when Akito isn’t around. Is he putting people off? He never really knows what to say.

“So uh, you find anything?” Ena asks, breaking through Toya’s thoughts.

“Nothing, unfortunately,” Toya says, “You?”

“Nope. I don’t even really know what I’m looking for.”

“Well, when you’re stuck on a case, it helps to go through all the available information,” Toya says. “At least, that’s what they always do in books.”

“I guess, we could start from the beginning? Like the other victims? How about you come over and we look at the articles.”

“You mean… to your house?”

“Where else would I be inviting you over to?” Ena snaps. Then she pinches the bridge of her nose. “Shit, sorry. I mean, you look terrible right now, I don’t think wandering around here is going to help, so why don’t you come over, alright?”

Oh, she is much worse at being nice than Akito is.

“Sure,” Toya says.

He knows the way to Akito’s house like the back of his hand, but he lets Ena lead the way anyway. 

“Hello, Toya! Would you like some coffee?” Mrs. Shinonome asks. She plasters a smile on her face that Toya would have believed if he hadn’t seen Akito do the same thing for years, and it just makes him miss Akito more.

“No, I’m fine. I don’t want to put you out.”

“It’s really no problem—”

“Sheesh mom, give him a break. We’re heading up to my room,” Ena says.

“I’ll bring you up some snacks later.”

“MOM!”

“It’s fine,” Toya says. He swears that Akito has had this exact conversation with Mrs. Shinonome the first time he ever brought Toya over.

It’s so normal, except for the fact that Akito isn’t there. Akito’s locked in some room somewhere, and yes he has access to SEKAI, but it must still be terrible. 

Toya almost walks to Akito’s room on instinct, but catches himself and follows Ena. He settles onto her bed while Ena types away at her desktop, and decides to check the phone.

There’s five missed calls and over 40 messages from Tsukasa-senpai

Toya: Hello, senpai. Sorry that I haven’t responded.

Tsukasa: No worries! Are you feeling well?

Toya: Yes. I just didn’t feel like going to school.

Tsukasa: Understandable. Is there anything I can get you?

Toya: Nothing. Are we still meeting at Weekend Garage later?

Tsukasa: Yes! Rui said he outfitted all his drones with lu-men-all scanners.

Tsukasa: IDK what those are but I’m sure they’ll help!

Toya: Luminol is used to test for blood stains, even if they’ve been cleaned up.

Tsukasa: Perfect!

Toya: How’s your wrist?

Tsukasa: Fine, just a bit of a strain. I need to wear a brace for a couple of days, then I’ll be right as rain!

Toya: Glad to hear it.

Tsukasa: Where are you, by the way?

Toya: I’m at Akito’s house. Ena and I are looking at some news reports.

Tsukasa: Good. I was worried you were on Vivid Street alone.

Toya: Of course not. Don’t worry, senpai. I’ll be safe.

Tsukasa: Thank you. Let me know if you need anything. I mean it.

Toya puts his phone away. Has he… ever lied to Tsukasa-senpai like that before? He doesn’t think he has, but he can’t tell him the truth. Tsukasa-senpai would worry, and probably rope Saki into making him promise not to do that again, and Toya can’t break a promise to both of them.

They certainly won’t approve of Toya’s bait idea, which he hasn’t given up on.

“Hey Toya, come over here,” Ena calls. He comes up behind her as she shows off her desktop. In the corner there’s a Nightcord chat open and someone named K. 

“That’s Kanade,” Ena explains. “She was online and offered to help me with some stuff. I figured we’d start with where all the disappearances happened, you know?”

“I marked them all on a map.” Kanade-san says, sharing her screen. Instantly there’s a map of Vivid Street, marked with several dots and dates. “Not all the newspaper articles had the places where they were last scene, but it seems like—”

“I know. Those are all live houses we’ve performed at,” Toya says, squeezing Ena’s chair.

“Like, recently?” Ena asks.

“Somewhat.”

“Damn, were they stalking you then?”

“We’re not the only ones who perform there. It’s just those are all places we’ve performed at quite a bit.”

“But everyone who died was a singer, right?” Kanade-san says over voice chat. “Do they dislike singers?”

“Probably not that general, but I think Tenma suggested that the killer was trying to get rid of the competition,” Ena says. “What about that Tono guy?”

“What about him?” Toya asks.

“I mean, he’s kinda a rival to Akito. He could have a grudge,” Ena says. “Definitely wanted Akito to work himself to death,” she adds bitterly.

“No. Tono is definitely a bitch, but he’s not a killer,” Toya says. “Honestly, I think he’d find murdering his competion to be beneath him. Almost like ‘if you’re not good enough already, then don’t bother.’”

“Maybe we should warn him then,” Kanade-san says. “He could be next.”

“We’ll keep that in mind if we run into him later,” Ena says. “For now, let’s see what else we can get out of the internet.”

Tsukasa-senpai can’t help Kamishiro-senpai carry supplies with his wrist messed up, so An, along with Mizuki and Kusunagi, help lug Kamishiro-senpai’s dubiously legal drones down to Vivid Street after school.

“Where the hell did he get these?” An mutters.

“He made them,” Mizuki explains.

“Like, himself?”

“Yeah, that’s Rui for you.” 

An focuses on not dropping anything, so the conversation lulls for a bit, but Mizuki picks it up again.

“So how’re you and Kohane doing?” they ask.

“Whaddya mean?”

“Ena’s not doing well. She’s trying to hide it but, well…” Mizuki trails off. An can sorta get it, because Akito wasn’t good at hiding how upset he was about Toya leaving either. “She’s snapped at Mafuyu way more often recently.” Mizuki continues. “She told me Toya-kun came over and she basically had to trick him into eating and sleeping, and Tsukasa-senpai’s been forcing himself to smile all day. It just seems like you’d have a lot on your mind too.”

“I’m mostly too pissed off to be scared,” An admits. “Like, how dare this asshole come around and cause trouble on my street and hurt my friends. When I find them, I’m going to deck them in the fucking face.” 

Just a couple of weeks ago, their lives were normal. An could go on dates with Kohane without being worried, she could bicker with Akito and yell that he and Toya should just kiss already, she could talk with customers about stuff that was going on and it wasn’t all “missing people” and “dead bodies.” The Vivid Live Killer ruined that and for what? Some weird sick satisfaction? 

Honestly she’s not even mad at Akito for the “getting kidnapped” thing. She’s mad he’s still teetering on the edge of falling back into working himself to death, but if it weren’t for that supid killer then it’d just be normal. They’d find out and Toya would start staying over at Akito’s house to force him to go home, or Kohane would distract him by asking for fashion advice, or they’d go to SEKAI and MEIKO would get them coffee and cheesecake while Len and Rin showed off the new DJ stuff they learned from KAITO.

All An wants is those normal days back.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Mizuki says, and An realizes she’s stopped walking and just started shaking with rage.

“No, it’s fine,” An says, picking up the pace to catch up to the others. “Kohane’s managing as well as she can. I’ve been checking in with her nonstop, so I’ll know if anything super bad happens.” 

Kohane had nearly burst into tears yesterday while An walked her home, which just pissed An off more. She wanted Kohane to be happy and smiling! 

She’s doing her best to make sure Kohane is ok, but maybe she should step up with Toya. It honestly slipped her mind because, well, usually Akito did that. An hadn’t realized Toya skipped until Herr-sensei pulled her aside and asked. (Or tried asking. Unlike Toya, An couldn’t figure out what the German teacher was saying when he slipped into his native language.)

“I’m here if you need any help,” Mizuki says.

“Thanks, Mizuki.”

Kohane, Toya, and Shinonome-senpai are already at Weekend Garage, and An’s a little surprised at seeing Shinonome-senpai with Akito’s usual order. She always seemed more classy and refined than him.

“So, what are we doing?” Shinonome-senpai asks when she sees An.

“Well, Tsukasa-senpai and Kamishiro-senpai are going to see if they can find the exact spot where Akito disappeared with these,” An pats the box of drones, “so I was thinking the rest of us could check out some of the nearby stores and see if they’ll let us see their security footage.”

“You can leave ahead of us,” Kamishiro-senpai says. “We need to wait for Emu-kun, and I would like to avoid law enforcement wherever possible.”

“Uh, sure. Ok.”

“Do you think we can check out some other Live Houses?” Shinonome-senpai asks. “Toya and I looked at the news reports again and noticed the other victims went missing from places you’ve performed.”

“What? Really?” Kohane gasps.

“I mean, we perform at a lot of Live Houses on the street,” An says, rushing to Kohane’s side to reassure her. “It could be that thing… corporation, not caution?”

“Correlation, not causation, An-chan,” Kohane says. “And yeah you’re probably right. Fuyu-senpai’s been saying it’s important to not jump to conclusions too early.”

“Speaking of, where are all the Miyajou students?” Toya asks.

“Ah, well some parents got concerned and talked to the school about students looking for a serial killer so a lot of them couldn’t come,” Kohane explains, “but Fuyu-senpai’s parents are ok with it, and Kobayashi’s dad is with them anyway. So they’ll text if they find anything.”

“Kobayashi’s father?”

“Yeah, he’s a police officer. I’m pretty sure he helped fast-track your missing person’s report because she brought it up!”

An crosses her arms. “That’s annoying, why didn’t they take us seriously?”

“I’m sure they’ve gotten a lot of false reports on the Vivid Live Killer,” Toya says. “Regardless, we’ll have to thank Kobayashi if we see her.”

Shinonome-senpai and Toya join up with An and Kohane while Mizuki stays with the members of Wonderlands×Showtime. Initially, An had wanted to split up to cover more ground, but it became immediately obvious than Shinonome-senpai didn’t know the street well enough to talk to random shopkeepers and Toya wasn’t good enough at talking to do it, so they just went in a big group and let An do all the talking.

They start with the security cameras Kamishiro-senpai pointed out. Most of the store owners have known An since she was little and have seen Vivid BAD SQUAD around so they’re more than willing to help. Like Kamishiro-senpai expected, there’s a couple of glimpses of the killer, and Akito, but they’re blurry. 

Whenever they get a glimpse of Akito, Toya tenses up, like he’s about to try and reach through the TV screen to pull Akito out of there. Shinonome-senpai is focused on the killer, but they’re hard to make out with their gray hoodie, and the rain just makes the footage grainier.

The Live Houses aren’t much help either. The ones related to the earliest cases weren’t even paying attention, and the later ones weren’t either.

Shiho was working their last event, though and she does have a lead.

“I definitely think I remember seeing a tall dude in a face mask,” Shiho says. “But he disappeared when I came back with the manager, so I can’t tell you much more. Sorry.”

“Hey, it’s no problem, Shi,” An says. “You gave us more than anyone else. Besides, Akito didn’t even disappear right after the show anyway, so it was really lucky you had anything for us.”

“Huh?” Shiho stares at her. “How did you even know that?”

“O-oh! We saw security footage!” Kohane explains.

Shiho narrows her eyes. “How would you even know to do that? You’d need a pretty specific timeframe to get anywhere with that.” She leans forward conspiratorially. “I’ve been wondering… you guys wouldn’t happen to have a SEKAI would you?”

“YOU HAVE ONE TOO?!” An gasps. “How’d you even figure it out?”

“Wait… does that mean Saki has a SEKAI?” Toya asks.

“Yeah, we all do. It’s Leo/need’s,” Shiho says, “And it was just a hunch, but I noticed how you guys will sometimes about going ‘over there’ to practice, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch.”

“You guys suck at keeping secrets,” Shinonome-senpai says.

“Shut up! We didn’t even know other SEKAI existed!” An snaps. “It’s not like it was really something we knew we had to keep secret either. Most other people just wouldn’t believe we could talk to the Vocaloids.” 

“Well, okay, there was one more thing that made me curious,” Shiho adds. “Toya wasn’t around yesterday, and I know you and Akito well enough to know that you’d be out here until sunrise if you could, so I figured there’s something else. Akito’s hiding out from the serial killer in SEKAI, isn’t he?”

The mood in the room instantly drops.

“What? What is it?”

“Akito was in SEKAI yesterday, but he had to leave.” An recounts the whole debacle from yesterday. When she’s done, Shiho is clenching her fist so tightly An almost expects to see her palm start bleeding.

“He seriously did that? That’s so stupid!” Shiho says.

“Which part?” Shinonome-senpai mutters. 

“Look we can’t do anything about it now,” An says, “so let’s just wait until Akito’s back so we can yell at him then.”

“Yeah, that’s good. Mind if I tell Saki and the others what happened?” Shiho asks. “I know she’s been worried.”

Toya nods, “That might be for the best. The more people who know the whole story, the more chances we have to find something.”

“Cool. I could try talking to More More Jump! too, unless you guys want to do it.”

“MMJ? Why?” Kohane asks.

“They also have a SEKAI, my sister asks me to come over to fix some gear backstage sometimes.”

“Minori-chan and Haruka-chan have a SEKAI!?” 

Shinonome-senpai throws up her arms. “Does every band in this goddamn city have a SEKAI?” 

“I think we’d have heard about it if they did,” Shiho says.

They say goodbye to Shiho, and Toya takes out his phone to text Tsukasa about the news when—

“HEY, YOU! STOP!” 

An hasn’t spoken to Kobayashi a lot, but she’d recognize that yell anywhere. They spot Shimizu and Kobayashi running down the street, and An takes off after them. 

When she catches up to them, Kobayashi looks like she’s about to beat up Kotaro Mita.

“Come on, where did he go?!” Kobayahsi demands, managing to cower Mita despite being way shorter than him.

“What’s going on?” An asks.

“We saw someone suspicious,” Shimizu explains, “and Chi-chan chased him here, but we lost him.”

“You were the only one nearby,” Kobayashi says to Mita, “so tell us where he went!”

“O-oh… um, yeah I think I saw him! A tall creepy looking guy with a cape!”

“WHERE! IS! HE!”

“He went that way!” Mita squeaks.

“Alright!” Kobayashi leaves him to go off in the direction Mita pointed, but Shimizu puts a hand on the shorter girl’s shoulder.

“Chi-chan, we don’t even know if he was the culprit.”

“Yo, what did this guy look like?” An asks. By this point Toya, Kohane, and Shinonome-senpai have caught up with them.

“He was an undoubtedly suspicious character who was leering at Shimizu-sama from across the street!!” Kobayashi explains. “He had a cape and skull mask and ran away as soon as I approached him.”

“Probably because you have the personality of a rabid dog,” Shinonome-senpai mutters.

“HEY! WHAT WAS THAT?”

“Chi-chan!” Shimizu whispers something into Kobayashi’s ear. 

“Hmph. Fine, I’ll give you a pass since you’re Shinonome’s sister and must be upset. But I’ll have you know I am not a rabid dog, I am a loyal knight!”

“Wait,” Mita says. “Ena-san, you’re really Akito’s sister?”

“Yeah, what about it? Do I even know you?”

“Are you serious?” Mita asks. “I literally sit behind you in class!”

Shinonome-senpai thinks for a minute. “Oh yeah! Kaniza, right?”

“It’s Kotaro! Kotaro Mita!”

“Sorry, you just have a forgettable face.”

“Oh come on,” Mita sighs. “Anyway, I didn’t realize you were Akito’s sister. You don’t even look alike.”

“No, I’m much cuter.”

“Wait, you go to Kamikou?” Toya asks. “Should we be calling you ‘senpai’?”

“No,” Mita sighs, “it’d just be weird at this point.”

“Alright then!” An claps her hands. “Kobayashi, Shimizu, want to share any info?”

“No, there’s nothing new, I’m sorry,” Shimizu says.

“Shimizu-sama, what about the Nightcord message?” Kobayashi asks.

“Chi-chan!” Shimizu says. “I’m sorry, I wanted to make sure the source was good before I shared anything. I don’t want to be giving you any false hope, I know this must be very hard for you, especially Shinonome-san and Aoyagi-kun.”

“What’d the message say?” Shinonome-senpai asks.

“It’s someone who says they saw something the night Shinonome-kun disappeared, but they wanted to talk in person.”

“Are you sure this tip is legitimate?” Toya asks.

“We can’t be 100% sure until we meet them in person, but thank you for worrying, Aoyagi-kun,” Shimizu says. “We’ll be very careful, and who knows, a single thread could be the thing we need!”

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to Shimizu-sama on my watch!” Kobayashi says confidently.

“Somehow, I don’t doubt you,” Shinonome-senpai says. “Anyway on our end, we haven’t found anything other than that the culprit is tall.”

“How’d you find that out?” Shimizu asks.

“We heard it from some of the Live House workers,” Toya explains. “Kamishiro-senpai is trying to see if we can figure out where exactly Akito disappeared from.”

“W-wait… you don’t think the guy you were chasing is the killer, do you?” Mita asks. “I mean there are tons of tall people on Vivid Street, just look at Toya!”

“Yeah, but not all of them are wearing skull masks and hiding in the shadows,” Kobayashi replies.

“Come on, isn’t it obvious that’s The Phantom of Vivid Street?”

“Who?”

“The person who leaves all the graffiti making fun of Akito,” Toya explains. “He signs all his songs with a skull, and no one’s seen him in person other than a couple of times.”

“So he has a motive!” Kobayashi says.

“Or he’s just a weirdo,” Mita suggests.

“Personally, I think he’s just a jerk,” Toya explains.

“While we don’t want to jump to conclusions, we shouldn’t write off any suspects just yet,” Shimizu says. Shimizu pulls out her phone, and checks the time. “Chi-chan, we have to get going!” 

The pair says their goodbyes.

“I guess we should head back to Weekend Garage too,” An says.

At that moment, all of their phones light up.

“It’s Kamishiro-san,” Kohane says. “He says they found something!”

They go to the address Kamishiro-senpai sent and meet up with everyone else. 

“Toya! There you are!” Tsukasa-senpai shouts. “We have great news!”

“We found where Shinonome-kun got knocked out. Or at least we think we did,” Kusanagi says.

“The blood was cleaned up, but the luminol reacted, and we could tell it was Type O, just like Aki-kun,” Kamishiro-senpai says.

“Wow, that’s impressive.” Shinonome-senpai says. “How’d you figure it out so quickly?”

“I’ve been wanting to use my experimental forensics kit for awhile,” Kamishiro-senpai says giddily. “It was a complete success.”

“But the important thing,” Tsukasa-senpai says, interrupting Kamishiro-senpai, “is that there was a camera pointed at the area!”

Toya perks up. “So the culprit might have been caught on camera? Where’s the footage?”

“The store owner is getting it for us now,” Mizuki says.

“Yay!! We did it, we caught the bad guy!” Otori cheers.

“Not yet,” Kusanagi says.

“But we’re close! We’re gonna get Otouto-kun back! And then we should have a big SEKAI party!!”

“Otouto-kun?” Kohane asks.

“Akito, it’s what Mizuki calls him,” Ena explains. “I guess Otori picked it up.”

“Mhmm!” 

“Emu-chan’s so cute, we should hang out more!” Mizuki says.

“Wait,” Kohane says, “but why do they call him that? Aren’t you two the same age?”

“It’s the same reason Kamishiro-senpai calls Akito ‘Aki-kun,” An says by way of explanation. Before Kohane can ask further, the shopkeeper comes out.

“Erm, excuse me. Are you all here to watch the security footage?” he says, carrying an old CCTV television.

“Yes, thank you so much!”

Toya can feel his stomach clench as they gather around the small TV screen. This could be it, the thing they need to get Akito back! 

The shopkeeper leaves to attend to a customer, and Kamishiro-senpai takes the remote and fast forwards through the day. Not many people go through the alleyway except the shopkeeper and some other employees, but soon enough they hit 11pm the other night. 

Just like every time he’s caught glimpses of Akito on the security footage today, it’s like a punch to Toya’s gut. He looks absolutely panicked, even when the footage is grainy. Toya can tell from the way Akito is running and the quick glances he throws behind him. 

A few minutes after Akito crosses through the camera’s field of view, another person enters as well. 

Toya holds his breath.

Then, the figure comes back carrying Akito over their shoulder. If Toya hadn’t seen him, spoken to him, held him after the time this recording was taken, he would absolutely think Akito was dead.

He hears Tsukasa-senpai gasp behind him. “What is this?”

“Akito… I hope he’s alright.” Toya says.

“He’s not talking about that part, Toya,” Ena says. “He’s talking about the part where the killer looks just like you.”

“What?” Toya was so focused on Akito he didn’t even think to look at the killer, but now that he’s looking, yeah, he can see the resemblance. The killer has the same two-toned hair as him, and they might literally be wearing the same DerMond hoodie he usually wears. 

Toya turns back to see everyone staring at him. “Wait a moment, I didn’t—”

“Obviously you didn’t, you could barely lift a small cat, much less Akito-kun,” Akiyama says. 

“Plus, if you were the kidnapper, you’d know Akito could access SEKAI, so you’d take his phone,” Tsukasa-senpai adds. “And you have no reason to commit the other murders! Besides, the face mask is conveniently covering where your beauty mark would be! And the lighter part of their hair is on the wrong side! And—”

“And if Toya had done it, Akito would’ve fucking said Toya did it. We already know Akito mistook them for you, so the resemblance makes some sense,” Ena cuts him off. “What’s confusing is why.”

“Shinonome-san’s right. I thought the killer was simply wearing similar clothes to you to be mistaken for you at a distance, but the way that cross-section is set up, the kidnapper would’ve noticed it as they were taking Akito-kun away and could have gone around where there weren’t cameras. They made a deliberate choice to get their face on camera,” Kamishiro-senpai says, “presumably because most people would mistake them for you.”

“Wait, so someone’s trying to set Toya-kun up?” Kohane gasps. “But why?”

“Is there anyone with something against the BAD DOGS specifically?”

“No? I don’t think so?” Toya says. Someone who hates him and Akito enough to kidnap Akito and frame him? Toya certainly can’t think of anyone.

“Still, we should do something about this footage,” Ena says. “I mean, we know he couldn’t have done it, but what’ll the cops think?”

“Woah, wouldn’t tampering with the evidence get us in way more trouble than if we just left it?” An asks.

“We’ll also be in trouble if the cops decide Toya is guilty and declare the case all wrapped up before finding Akito!”

“But Toya couldn’t be the Vivid Live Killer! He has to have alibis for at least a couple of the murders,” Tsukasa-senpai says.

“He doesn’t have to be the Vivid Live Killer,” Kohane says. “Fuyu-senpai said something about how we don’t know for sure Akito was kidnapped by them specifically. The police might think Toya’s a copycat.”

“That’s outrageous!” Tsukasa-senpai shouts.

“Keep your trap shut! Do we want the shopkeeper coming back?” Ena snaps. “Of course it’s outrageous, but the cops don’t know that, and our best counterpoint is that we saw Akito in SEKAI yesterday, which I don’t think they’ll believe.”

“But it makes Toya look more suspicious if we tamper with the evidence!” Tsukasa-senpai hisses.

“What I’m trying to say is he can’t look more suspicious!”

“But—”

“Hold on!” Toya says finally. His mind has been spinning listening to them argue about what to do with him. “This does help us narrow it down somewhat, right? Someone who looks like me, and wears a face mask. Shiho said she saw someone tall and suspicious at the live show, so we should focus on them. So perhaps we keep the tape, and don’t hand it over unless someone asks. That’s not technically illegal, is it? Then, we simply find Akito first.”

“I’m definitely team ‘don’t give the cops anything incriminating,’” Akiyama says.

“Agreed.” Kamishiro-senpai says. “I’ll go ask if we can keep the tape. Then, it’s getting late. I think we could also stand to rest for a bit.”

3 Days Gone

Toya is thankful that the others don’t even suspect him a little, but that doesn’t leave him satisfied. He slept over at the Shinonomes’ and was tossing and turning all night trying to figure out what was going on.

Seriously, wasn’t all this a little extreme just for someone with a grudge against the BAD DOGS?

He’s up bright and early. It’s a Sunday, so he doesn’t even have to skip classes, and he’s ready to find Akito.

“Um, Toya?” Ena says. “I was thinking… maybe you should hang back for a bit.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s looking like the killer’s beef was with you and Akito, Akito getting snatched wasn’t just random, so it might not be safe for you to go out.”

“But—”

“C’mon, Toya. If something happens to you, Akito’ll never forgive me. And besides, the killer obviously knows a thing or two about you guys, so they’ll probably expect you to be out searching. Maybe if you don’t it’ll throw off their plans to incriminate you?”

Toya frowns. He’d hate her suggestion if it weren’t literally the plot of some thrillers he’s read. “Fine, I’ll stay back for today,” Toya relents. “But, I’m going to head to SEKAI to see if I can check on Akito the way the Vocaloids do.”

“Perfect, thanks!” Ena says. “I’ll text the others. Oh, and add you to the SEKAI Nightcord.”

“SEKAI Nightcord?”

“Yeah, I figure since there were so many people with SEKAI who all knew each other, we might as well keep in touch,” Ena explains. “Or well, I didn’t, Mizuki did, but I helped.”

Mrs. Shinonome feeds them breakfast, and Ena leaves while Toya goes back to Akito’s room. A moment later, he’s standing outside Crase Café.

“Hey, Toya!” Len runs over to him. “Any news on Akito?”

“No, sorry. We’ll tell you right away as soon as we have anything concrete.”

MEIKO pours him a cup of coffee. “What brings you here, then?”

Toya explains everything from yesterday.

“Oh, maybe it’s like, your evil clone who wanted Akito for himself!” KAITO suggests.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Toya sighs.

“I guess that makes sense, even in our case—” MEIKO sharply jabs her elbow into KAITO’s stomach. “I mean, nevermind! Stupid idea.”

“Don’t you have brothers?” Rin asks. 

“No!” Toya says quickly. “I mean, yes, I have brothers but they’d never kidnap Akito. They haven’t even met him.”

Len crosses his arms and scrunches his eyes, trying to think of something. “Why don’t we go ask Akito?”

“We can do that?” Toya asks.

“Well, I mean, we can. Dunno know if you can project through the phone as a hologram.”

“We’ve checked in on Akito, but last time we saw him, he hadn’t really figured anything out other than the fact that the room’s pretty small and dark,” Miku adds.

“So he hasn’t run into the killer yet?”

“Nope.”

Toya jumps up. “Yeah, let’s see if I can go visit Akito.”

KAITO volunteers to lead Toya through a maze of alleyways to find Akito’s phone. Everything looks the same the further they get from Crase Café, and Toya has no clue how they actually manage to find anything.

“And we’re here!” KAITO announces when they reach the middle of an alleyway. 

“How do we get there?” Toya asks. 

“You just—” KAITO steps a little forward, and disappears.

“KAITO-san?” Toya tries to follow through the same spot, but nothing happens.

“Damn.” Toya mutters. 

After about a minute, KAITO pops back into existence.

“Sorry, KAITO-san. It doesn’t seem like it works for me,” Toya sighs.

“That’s ok, Akito wasn’t answering anyway.”

“What?!”

“No, no don’t worry, I’m sure he’s fine!” KAITO says. “I mean we’d notice if he was dead, remember, this SEKAI is formed from all of you.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Toya frowns. What are they missing in all of this? If the culprit really was the Vivid Live Killer, why wait this long until doing something? If it was some other kidnapper, why not ask for a ransom? What was the end goal in all of this?

Toya’s phone buzzes, breaking through his thoughts. There’s a quick message.

Aoyagi-kun? I’m a friend of Ken-san’s! I got your number from him. Please come quick, it’s about Shinonome-kun!  

There’s an address included, the Live House Shiho works at.

“I’ve got something!” Toya shouts. 

“Great, there you go!” KAITO says. “I knew things would turn around!”

“KAITO-san, please tell the others I’ll talk to them later!”

“Will do! Go find Akito!”

Toya returns to the real world and practically sprints to VIvid Street, faster than his legs have ever carried him. 

He’s going so fast he practically crashes into Tono.

“Toya-kun?” Tono asks. “Why are you in such a hurry?”

“It’s—”

Toya hears the explosion blow past him before he feels the street shake. He and Tono both turn to see the abandoned building Akito had been practicing in on fire.

Toya and Tono rush over, and Toya spots Kobayashi trying to force her way past the police perimeter.

“LET ME IN! LET ME IN!” Kobayashi screams. “PLEASE!”

“Kobayashi? What’s wrong?” Toya asks.

She doesn’t even look at him as she swats his hand away. “Get away from me! I need to get in there!”

“Ma’am please it’s not safe—” the officer tries but Kobayashi isn’t having any of it.

“I know it isn’t safe, that’s why I need to go in! My best friend is in there!”

“Shimizu-san’s in there?” Toya asks. “Why—”

He’s cut off by a second explosion. Parts of the foundation are starting to collapse, and Tono immediately backs further away.

“This building was set to be demolished, and there were explosives in the basement,” The police officer says. “It could blow at any minute. All civilians must stay back.” And then the officer physically picks up Kobayashi and carries her back. Toya and Tono follow as officers and firefighters rush past.

“No, no no NO ! I need to help Shimizu-sama!” Kobayashi screams. “Please! Please!”

The ground shakes again, and more of the building starts to collapse.

“FUYUNE!” Kobayashi’s wail cuts through all the chaos of the street and she collapses onto the ground as the officer stes her down. “Fuyune…”

Toya kneels down next to her. “Kobayashi, please tell me what’s going on.”

Kobayashi is suddenly aware of his presence, and she recoils in disgust. “Don’t play dumb with me! You killed her! You killed them both!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Betcha thought you could get away with it. Well Fuyune, she was—” Kobayashi chokes the word out, “—always prepared.”

“Kobayashi, I have no clue what you’re talking about.” Toya insists as the crowd gathers around them.

“She recorded it all! Shinonome’s body, you knocking her out! You’re done, you bastard!”

“Akito’s body?” Toya repeats. “What do you mean? Kobayashi, he’s not dead.”

“Give it up, Toya-kun,” Tono says, looking at his phone. “It’s over.” 

Then Tono shows Toya his phone, where there’s an image of Akito’s body. Toya’s heart jumps up to his throat and he barely processes that he’s looking at a recording, and that Shimizu’s voice is on it.

“ I-I can’t tell if he’s breathing, ” Shimizu says on the recording. “Chi-chan I need you to— Aoyagi-kun?”  Then there’s a sickening crack as the camera drops onto the floor and the video cuts off.

Was… was that the abandoned building? All this time, was Akito being held in the abandoned building and didn’t realize? Kamishiro-senpai and Tsukasa-senpai were literally there the day after he disappeared. 

Would Akito have been able to hear them if Toya hadn’t asked him to stay in SEKAI? If Akito had gone back when he wanted to, would he be fine right now?

Toya feels like the world’s crumbling away beneath him. He didn’t kill his partner, but if he’s right then he might as well have. Toya doesn’t say anything as Kobayashi shouts at him, as Tono and other bystanders stare at him with a mix of horror and disgust, or as Tsukasa-senpai and the others try to get to him.

Nor does he say anything as the police arrive and lead him away.