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“...What a horrible way to die.”
Those were the first words that came out of Ryuki's mouth after a prolonged moment of silence, spent staring down at the corpse that had been, until this morning, Horadori Chikara. The state of the body was horrendous, and hardly recognisable as human. Human flesh and clothes seemed to have melted together into a bubbling, burnt mass, stuck to the floor of the office.
. It looks just like the last time you tried to make pancakes! Tama chirped in his head.
Ryuki grimaced. Don't put that image in my head, please. Not that he wanted to try his hand at making pancakes anytime soon, but the association still wasn't one he wanted to have in the back of his head either way. Reluctantly, he looked up from the corpse, and glanced around the room. Something about it was deeply unsettling, and not just because of the corpse. The feeling wasn't just limited to this very room, either. The Horadori Institute of Genetics was not a pleasant building to be inside of. The machinery he had to pass by on his way to the office gave him It was entirely unsurprising that someone died here. Tama. Give me all the information we have about the corpse. Anything you have about Horadori Chikara, too.
Huh? Tama's irritated voice buzzed inside his head. What was that?
Ryuki sighed deeply. Please, Tama-sama! I need your help!
Tama hummed, clearly pleased. That's better. Now, for the information about the corpse, well... She hesitated for a moment. The image of her inside Ryuki's head stroked her chin thoughtfully. Not much is known for certain. The corpse has been identified as Horadori Chikara. He was discovered this morning, but the exact time of death is unknown, because of the state of the body, but it's approximated between two and three in the morning. It was impressive that they could make even this much out of it, Ryuki mused. Given the state of the body, testing was probably necessary to determine his identity. At least this they were certain of. They haven't been able to remove the body. Seems like it's stuck. Just like your pancakes in that frying pan! Hey, weren't they supposed to leave that alone? The cause of death is... do I even have to say? It's some kind of acid. The perpetrator, or perpetrators, are unknown.
Well, he didn't learn much that he didn't already know from looking at the scene, but it was still good to get the information in order. Horadori died in the middle of the night, presumably from having acid poured on him. This absurd sentence just about summed up what he knew. And what can you tell me about Horadori Chikara himself? Pretty please, Tama!
For some reason, Tama hesitated. In his mind's eye, Ryuki could see her tilting her head. Before I tell you, can I ask something? And without giving him a chance to refuse, she fired off: Why did you want to be involved with this case? You even asked Boss for a warrant.
Ryuki clicked his tongue. He knew that Tama would ask sooner or later, but he certainly wasn't looking forward to it. Truthfully, he didn't quite understand it himself. Perhaps it was just the fact that, by pure coincidence, he heard from someone who seemed to know an awful lot about this place. He wasn't sure yet if Lien Twining was involved in this case at all, but he was still a useful witness to have. According to his own words, he wasn't on the scene when Horadori died, nor was he there when the body was discovered. But he was going to be here in a few hours, once his shift started, and he was there for the past week, when all of the suspicious activity he had mentioned took place. The conclusion that those events were connected to Horadori's death seemed obvious, but was it really true? Stranger accidents had been known to happen. He wanted to know for sure. Once he set foot in this place, he knew there was something wrong – his instincts didn't fail him.
I was curious, Tama. I wanted to see it for myself. He smiled innocently. You have to admit there's something strange going on here. I wouldn't want to miss it. By the way, you mentioned that the perpetrators are unknown. Are there any suspects?
Well... Tama sighed softly. At this point, the authorities aren't sure if this is murder, or just a freak accident. I mean, come on! He didn't do this to himself, right?! Nobody just douses themselves in acid for no reason, especially not in the middle of the night! Unless, hmm... She paused for a moment, and Ryuki mentally prepared himself to hear the worst thing he'd heard that day. He was a mad scientist, right? Maybe acidplay is just his version of autoerotic asphyxiation? It only has to go wrong one time, you know! That's what makes it so exciting.
Ryuki looked down at the melted corpse and furrowed his brows. Tama had shown him a picture of Horadori from back when he was alive. Perhaps this wasn't such a farfetched theory... No, no. Let's assume that it's a murder, at least for now. According to Lien, he's been targetted with various attacks for the past week, right? Maybe one of them worked a little too well.
You think so? Tama hummed, tapping her chin, and offered a shrug. I don't know. If we assume he was into playing with acid, maybe he set up all of those traps himself, too. But if we're talking about possible suspects, well... there's probably a lot of people who wanted him dead.
Ryuki perked up. Finally, the information that he'd been trying to draw out of Tama this entire time. Perhaps learning more about Horadori Chikara was the key he needed to make sense of this. What kind of person did it take to run this kind of institution? What kind of powerful enemies could he have made? Ryuki never had a chance to meet him, but perhaps he didn't have to. The place itself, and his own death, gave a clear image. Why?
I told you he's a mad scientist, right? I mean you can tell! But it runs deeper than that. Tama flashed a article in front of his left eye, too quickly for Ryuki to have any hope of reading past the headline – but that was more than enough to get the idea. His previous facility was accused of human experimentation, and it was shut down. He was back on his feet shortly after, thanks to a generous donor who, I guess, didn't care about that at all. The Horadori Institute kept running, and it will probably keep running without him. But you know, if even half of those stories are true...
If Horadori Chikara did human experimentation in this very building, Ryuki mused, we will probably find out sooner or later.
You don't have a search warrant for the whole building, Tama reminded. You're unlikely to get one. As far as anybody is concerned, there's nothing suspicious happening at the Institute. Officially, they're doing research into gene therapy for the sake of curing certain diseases. That on its own isn't worth investigating. They're in the clear.
There was nothing suspicious happening, Ryuki corrected with a smirk, until the founder was found dead in a freak accident. That warrants investigating, right?
Tama furrowed her brows. Oh, Ryuki. What are you getting yourself into? Her voice was soft. No doubt, if she could touch him, she would be stroking his shoulder in a soothing way.
Ryuki shook his head lightly, with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Don't worry, Tama. I'm not getting myself into anything. I'm just curious, is all. I promise that if I can't get a search warrant the proper way, I'll give up on it. I can still talk to people, though, and I think that's what I'm going to do. Tomorrow, we should make sure to talk to Lien for a start. I don't mean an interrogation, he clarified quickly. Maybe we can invite him to Brahman again. He's friends with Mizuki, right? Maybe she could arrange something. Or, maybe I should leave this part up to her... No, she would probably be too biased to ask the right questions.
Okay... Tama sighed. A promise is a promise. But if you break it... I won't tie you up ever again!
Don't worry. I won't overdo it. Now, while I'm here, I should probably talk to everyone I can find. They might have some interesting things to say. But before that, he added awkwardly, I really have to go to the bathroom.
Tama sighed again. I should make you hold it in, she said, pouting. Fine, go. It's right over there. We passed by it on the way here.
Thanks, Tama
Ryuki made a run for it, stumbling just a little as he went. He opened the door and rushed in.
Somehow, in an instant, everything went dark.
*
Late that night, Somezuki Uru sat at the desk, fidgeting with something in his hands. It was a small video camera. Until last night, it had been hidden inside Horadori Chikara's office, unbeknownst to the man himself. Uru picked it up instinctively when he discovered the body and hid it out in his pocket. He didn't realise that he had it until later. It was a gamble, leaving it there in the first place, but it paid off. It caught the moment of Horadori's death, after all.
Oh, the things he could do with this footage! He had so many ideas. Horadori's death was widely reported, of course. He'd read about it online earlier today. The reporting was vague. It had to be, he supposed. This was a glitch. It was beyond regular human comprehension. Things like these weren't supposed to happen, but of course, they did, all the time. The simulation wasn't perfect. In this case, though, it did exactly what he wanted it to. Things were truly working out perfectly – so long as nobody tried to accuse him of anything and throw him back in the cell.
Uru tapped his chin and stared at the ceiling. He could use this footage. He could cut it up and use it in his next video. But he would have to ask Mom first. He had a feeling that this could be useful for her, but he wasn't sure if she would agree. He didn't want to make her angry. If he could, he would ask now, but it was probably too late to call her. It was better to visit her tomorrow. Maybe he could take the camera with him to show her what he found. She would like it.
Going outside was a scary thought, but it was also more and more tempting. Not just because he wanted to see Mom. He wanted to grab his things, too. There were other cameras he had hidden inside the Institute. It would be nice to retrieve them. And his remaining traps, too. Now that Horadori was dead, it felt like a waste to let anybody else at the Institute fall for them. He had more worthy targets in mind. That, however, would have to wait. The Institute was definitely being guarded and investigated day and night, now. It was better to stay away and wait for things to calm down. It gave him a lot of time to think, at least.
Somezuki Uru put the camera down and instead picked up a half-finished papier mache mask, his face lit up by a smile.
*
“This is such a bad idea... Quartz, are you sure that you know what you're doing?”
Kuranushi Mizuki scoffed. Both because of the nickname, and because of the question. “Yeah!” she said confidently. “Come on. Have I ever led you astray? Besides, it's a nice change of pace to be somewhere you're supposed to be, without breaking in, isn't it?”
It really was awfully convenient that Lien could let her in. Of course, she would have found her way inside the building sooner or later either way. But this lent at least some degree of legitimacy to the whole endeavour. Unlike Ryuki, she didn't receive a warrant. He beat her to it, goddammit. Wonder if he was already done with his investigation? At this hour, he should probably be. Anyway, this was the next best thing, and it worked well enough, though it seemed to give Lien anxiety.
“If anybody finds out I smuggled you in, I'm so fired,” he muttered under his breath.
“Who's going to fire you?” Mizuki retorted immediately, grinning at him. “Your boss is dead, remember? He's not gonna fire you from beyond the grave.”
Lien sucked in air through his teeth. “Still!” He shook his head lightly. “Let's get this over with, okay? Let's find what you want to find and get you out of here.” He paused, furrowing his brows. “What are we looking for anyway? Do you wanna see the dead body this bad?”
How much was it necessary to say? Yes, Mizuki thought, yes, I want to see the body. I want to make sure he's dead. I want to see it with my own eyes. Though, from what she'd heard, there wasn't much of him that was left there to recognise. That was fine, though. Just knowing that it was his corpse was enough. “Sure I do!” she chirped, sending him a grin. “But I also want to snoop around a little bit. Who knows what you can find in a place like this, right?” Judging by what Lien had told her, what one could find was, probably, a glue trap or a whoopie cushion. “Maybe we'll find another one of those traps of yours, huh? Where did you hide them?”
“Whoa, whoa, hold on now!” Lien put up his hands defensively. “Don't call them my traps! I have nothing to do with them! I just had to clean up after them! I wouldn't do this to myself.”
Mizuki cocked an eyebrow and sent him a smirk. He was so easy to mess with sometimes! It was too much fun. “You'll have to prove it.” She clutched a flashlight in her hand. “I don't know what I'm looking for,” she added flatly. “I just thought it'd be a good idea to come.” That was true. She wasn't sure what she was looking for exactly. But she was sure that she would know it once she found it. “You know your way around here, right? Lead me to the body, I guess.”
“Sure, I do,” Lien admitted, taking off slowly. He scratched the back of his head. “You know, being a janitor's not the best job in the world, but it has its perks,” he mused, turning his head to make sure that she was following him. “Nobody ever pays attention to me. I can go where I want.”
“Like an invisibility cloak, huh?” Mizuki smirked. “I wonder if they'd notice if you stole anything from here,” she mused, non-committally.
Mizuki, Aiba's voice scolded inside her head, speaking up for the first time, Whatever you're thinking about, stop. Don't touch anything!
Who do you take me for! It's just good to know. You know, just in case.
In case of what? Aiba scoffed. She got worked up over things way too easily...
“Depends what it would be,” Lien hummed thoughtfully, leading her further into the building. “If it was one of their science-y things they'd probably notice the loss immediately and blame it on me anyway. But there's probably a lot of junk you could take out of here and nobody would care. Not that it'd be worth it, though.” He paused for a moment, and scratched the side of his nose. “You know, they say there's a lot of super secret stuff in this place. Somebody'd probably want to get their hands on it. I wonder if that's why they got him.”
Mizuki's eyes twinkled. “What kind of things did you hear...?” Partially, this was plain old curiosity. But a part of her wanted to know if he knew what she knew – at least, if he'd heard something about it. “Come on, spill the beans! It's not like I'm gonna tell anybody. Unless it's useful for the investigation,” she added, for the sake of fairness. She would choose carefully what to relay to Ryuki, anyway. Some things were best kept close to th chest.
“People don't watch what they say around me,” Lien said reluctantly, “but I don't know how much of it is worth anything. I told you about the weird pranks already, but the other stuff...” He paused for a moment, scratching his chin. “It's probably just rumours, but I heard them talking about old man Horadori running some weird experiments. Something to do with immortality or something. What they research here, gene therapy, is supposed to find a cure to terminal diseases or something, right? But I guess he took it too far. That's what they said. At night, apparently he used to close the whole thing down and do whatever shady stuff.” He winced noticeably. “I dunno what it is, though. Apparently there might be a hidden passage somewhere in this place, but nobody knows where.”
“A secret passage...?”
Lien turned towards her abruptly and pointed his finger at her. “We're not looking for it! I don't know if it's even real, and I have no idea how to find it if it is!”
“Fine. Maybe not today,” Mizuki hummed, stroking her chin, “but it's good to know about it.” If only she could talk Lien into helping her look for it! That was the most interesting thing she'd heard so far. Perhaps she could bring it up again after she saw the body. “Maybe it's good that you didn't let me talk you out of getting this job,” she said quietly. She never could have expected it to be this useful. For such a facility, the security was lax enough for the two of them to wander around like this, but getting inside to begin with would have been harder if not for Lien's involvement.
“Here,” he said suddenly. “There's your body. Take a look and let's get you out of here.”
Mizuki took a deep breath. Past this door was Horadori Chikara's corpse? Really? Her knees felt weak, her chest swelled with a nauseating thrill. She glanced at Lien as she opened the door. He didn't know what this meant to her. Perhaps he never would. Even if she tried to tell him, would he understand? He knew what kind of person Horadori was, sure, but would he believe how bad it could get? Hey, Lien. The experiments you heard about? They're real, and so much worse than you could imagine. I would know. I was one of them.
She peered inside, directing the flashlight into the dark room. And she saw it.
Mizuki was impressed by her own restraint. She didn't even let out a gasp. Not a single muscle twitched on her face. She stared at the malformed corpse, unblinking, holding the flashlight steady. Perhaps it was because it hardly resembled human form – then again, Horadori hardly resembled a human being when he was alive, too. What an ugly corpse. It deserved to be left here to rot. An unsuccessful experiment to be locked away from human eyes.
I hope you suffered on your way out. Bastard.
Mizuki, Aiba piped up again, with urgency. I'm sorry to interrupt but I'm detecting a life form close by.
Where? Who? Snapped out of her daze, Mizuki looked around frantically.
Identity unknown. Aiba tilted her head in Mizuki's vision. Whoever it is isn't moving. They haven't moved the since I noticed them. But they are alive.
For a moment, Mizuki thought, I thought that Horadori was still alive. She knitted her eyebrows. Aiba, can you turn on thermo mode?
Without a word, Mizuki handed over the flashlight to Lien. On her tiptoes, she moved down the hall, searching for the mysterious life form. If that somebody was knocked out, they weren't currently a threat, and they may have needed help. It was probably unwise to investigate this, anyway, but Mizuki couldn't resist the urge. Her curiosity got the better of her.
Suddenly the world turned upside down and Mizuki fell flat on the floor, right on the tailbone, landing right in a puddle of something that, thankfully, didn't seem to be blood.
“Whoa, what happened?” whispered Lien behind her. Mizuki grimaced.
“I guess one of the traps finally got me,” she murmured, struggling to get up to her feet. The puddle formed under a closed door. Without thinking, Mizuki yanked the doorknob. What she saw, this time, made her gasp. This was where the body was. Still alive, but unconscious, and must have been for quite a while. The body temperature was pretty low. But what truly made Mizuki tremble was that she recognised the unconscious body immediately. “Ryuki...!”
Lien peered into the room and immediately took a step back. “Oh, shit...!”
The room was a small bathroom, the type that contained only a toilet and a sink. Ryuki was curled up on the floor between the toilet and the sink, lying in a brown puddle that also splattered all over the walls and the door, and continued to spill outside through the gap in the door.
“Uh.” Lien scratched his head. “He really had it rough in here, huh?”
Mizuki knitted her eyebrows. She kneeled and smelled the puddle – from a reasonable distance. The smell was distinctly sweet. She scrunched up her nose. Seriously? “This is coke,” she informed. “I think someone put coke in the tank. And maybe... put mentos in the bowl, so it would explode when you flushed the toilet.” Who would come up with something like this? Well, probably the same person who thought swapping sugar and salt and stapling furniture to the ceiling was funny.
“So he got knocked out in the explosion? Whew, poor guy.”
“I don't think so.” Mizuki looked closely at the unconscious body. Something small was lying beside him. She picked it up and weighted it in her hand. “Sandbag. This could kill someone,” she informed flatly, “but thankfully it only knocked him out. I guess he hit the toilet on the way down and it flushed.” Whoever did this wanted to be thorough, she supposed.
“Unlucky,” Lien said. “What are we gonna do? We can't leave him here.”
Mizuki shook her head. “I'll contact Boss. We have to get him out of here.”
“Sure, sure... That's a good idea.”
“Help me pick him up,” Mizuki said. “That fall really wasn't good for me...”
*
19/02
I told Mom about the video. She was proud of me! I did it!
She said I should share the video.
This is so much fun!
I'll have to get my other cameras back. I wonder what else I'll find.
Some stupid detective got caught in one of my traps.
Serves him right for meddling.
Maybe that'll scare them all of.
I want to grab my stuff.
I'm running out of food. I'll have to go out soon.
Everything is coming together nicely.
I'm so happy!