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"Ngghh...."
Shinigami rubbed her eyes as she slowly woke up. With another groan, she sat up and looked at her surroundings. She looked to her right and left before standing up.
"Where the hell am I?" She thought to herself.
After the solving of the mystery labyrinth, she had fully expected one of her two hypothesis to be correct; Either she would've been sealed back into the book, or she would've dissipated alongside the labyrinth. But it seems she was wrong.
She spun on her heel to check herself. She was no longer floating, nor was she wearing the extravagant dress she usually wore. Instead, she wore a simpler black dress on top of a white long-sleeved blouse. She was, however, still the same height and stature as she usually were when changing into her true form.
If anyone had seen her this way without knowing anything else about her, they would've probably thought she was another human.
"What happened to me..?"
She checked herself once more, focusing on her own hands. She held them closer to herself as a white glow surrounds her, then promptly vanishes.
Strange. Very strange.
"I can't even wield my own sycthe in this form..? Ugh! But, that's weird.."
"Could this be... a mystery?! Kyahahaha!" She laughed to herself.
Then, she promptly started walking. If there was a mystery to solve, she couldn't just get herself to sit still.
"That's strange though, it's not like using the emergency exit could've rendered me this powerless, right?"
She wandered about more, realizing she was simply in a dark alleyway, before slowly making her way back to Kanai Ward's Kamisaki District. The roads began to look more familiar to her as she walked around in the rain, passing by some people.
While the roads did look familiar, it was clear the city went through changes while she was asleep. Certain behaviours she noticed from the people made that clear. Meaning, she had likely been asleep for a little while.
Then as she was strolling, she heard it. The faint noise of someone's shoes. She tried to look behind herself without turning her head but she didn't see anything. As she continued walking she heard again, though even fainter this time.
The faintness of the sound didn't stop her from recognizing it.
("Hah! To think he had the nerves to follow me! Who does he think he is?! Although, he's probably someone I should talk to right now.")
She continued on her walk, this time with more purpose in her steps. Eventually, after circling back, she had returned to the alleyway she woke up in. She stopped in her tracks as she heard the footsteps come to a close.
"Hah! Are you that bad at following people, or were you trying to get cornered?!"
She said out loud as she turned to face the man who had followed her here. One Vivia Twilight.
The man simply stood in front of her, glaring into her eyes.
"I suppose you could say that. After all, I did mean to follow you, wherever your destination was."
"Ugh. Stalker much?" She rolled her eyes in disgust. Meanwhile, he slowly approached her.
"Why are you here? Where is Yuma?"
All he got in response was an exasperated sigh.
"So, you're still alive. I figured."
"Answer the questions."
"I don't know! Isn't Master with you?"
"If he was, I wouldn't be asking you about his whereabouts. Aren't you both supposed to be together at all times? And... what form is that?"
Another sigh. She crossed her arms as she tried to find a way to explain her situation to Vivia.
"I'll have you know one thing first. My deal with Master is over. He is.. no longer tied to me. Of course, that also means I'm no longer tied to Master."
"Your deal is done? ... I heard from Makoto that the mysteries have been solved by him but, why would he separate from you because of that?"
"That Mystery Labyrinth was... rather special. And because of circumstances I had to cut the pact with Master."
Vivia stayed silent. He had put his hand on his chin, quietly thinking about something with his eyes closed. Opening them, he continued questioning Shinigami.
"So, does that have to do with Yuma's sudden dissappearance?"
"How would I know?! ...But, because of our pact ending, he should have fully recovered from amnesia. Because of this, Master's behaviour could change."
"I see. Well then, what about you?"
"Huh..?"
As he asked the question, Vivia approached Shinigami, maintaining eye contact.
He had always put her in a state of unease and the glare in his eyes didn't make things easier. The fact that she wasn't used to people her height staring at her also didn't help. She was much more at ease with the height difference between her and Yuma.
"What about me?! Also back off!"
This time, he was the one to sigh. Seeming tired, he proceeded to sit down on the alleyway floor. Shinigami only rolled her eyes in response.
"What I'm asking is.. Why are you in that form? Ending the pact shouldn't have made you powerless right? ...Does it have something to do with the circumstances you mentioned?"
Shinigami bent down to be on his level, sitting down on the floor and leaning in the wall across him while adjusting her skirt as needed.
"I guess. It's the only thing I thought of that could work. Well I could also be wrong. Kyahahha!"
Her laughter was met with silence.
"Ugh. You're always such a killjoy." She said as she glared at him.
"Are you not going to explain more about your current situation?" He asked out of the blue.
"..." Shinigami would be lying if she said she liked his selective hearing.
"While the circumstances of the Mystery Labyrinth could've been part of it, another part of the puzzle could be... this place itself."
The look in Shinigami's eyes changed. Her bored glare directed at Vivia seemed to suddenly look slightly more sinister in nature.
"You noticed it too, didn't you? The amount of the supernatural that lingers in this place." She said with a lower tone.
"The spirits that linger, and the smell of death everywhere. It's something I pointed out to Master the first time we arrived here."
Though he didn't show it in his face, the unnerving stare she gave still pierced through Vivia, leaving him with nothing to say. From Shinigami's perspective, whether the speechlessness was because of her presence, or simply his laziness, the Death God did not know.
"The spirits that linger... huh."
"We both know none of them still belong to this world. However, the feeling of still having business in this world, keeps them from moving on. It's a tale as old as time."
"Hmm..." Vivia stayed humming to himself, with his hand on his chin as if he was thinking about something.
"What's with that anti-climactic reaction? Got somethin' on your mind emo boy?"
"I... guess you could put it that way."
"Hah! Bet you're the type to get haunted huh? Mess with spirits you shouldn't have?" She spoke in a more teasing manner, completely changing demeanor from before.
"It's not that, it's just... I was reminded of something." He paused for a short while, thinking of what to say next.
"A case. A case I investigated before."
"Oooh! A mystery?" She moved closer to Vivia, intrigued by the idea of a case. He averted his gaze from her and continued.
"It's... a case Chief got me to investigate a while back."
"O-oh, Fuzz head, huh?" Silence echoed through the alleyway as they both kept quiet for a few seconds.
"W-well, what's that have to do with anything?" As expected, Shinigami was the one to break the silence. Vivia paused for a moment before answering.
"I left part of it... unresolved. In a way. Going back there could help you learn more about the spiritual things going on in the city. Or perhaps just being in the presence of spirits could be enough."
With a loud groan he proceeded to stand back up. Looking down on Shinigami, he said,
"Also, I feel as though you could do more about the situation than me."
Shinigami proceeded to stand up too, dusting herself off of any dirt.
"That's it..? Well whatever. So what's the situation?"
He sighed. "Just... follow me."
Vivia didn't wait for any sort of response. He simply started walking out of the alleyway, too tired to speak anymore. Shinigami just pouted before reluctantly following.
The two of them simply continued walking in silence as Shinigami thought to herself more about her situation.
("Maybe, it's not just the souls in the area... but also the souls I've reaped..?")
Her train of thoughts were abrutly put to a halt as Vivia suddenly stopped in his tracks. Looking around them she sees they're infront of an old building, likely abandoned.
She narrowed her gaze. The building looked sinister, in a way the rest of the city hadn't. It was clear something strange went on in this place. She could feel the aura of several restless spirits.
Shinigami didn't mind. If anything, it only piqued her interest more, especially when thinking about the fact that Vivia had prior business in this place. With a gain in interest and cofidence, she felt something shift within her. She felt her powers slowly creeping up on her body, as if like Vivia said, the mere presence of spirits awakened something in her.
This only fueled her with more energy. With her hands on her hips she confidently started walking to the front door before being interrupted.
"Wait."
"Ugh. What is it now?! Can't we get in there already?!" Shinigami said impatiently.
"There's something I need to do first. It's probably best if I go in there the same way I did before."
"Huuh? What? Is there a backdoor?" Shinigami replied with the same tone of impatience as earlier.
"That's not what I meant."
Without another word, Vivia left Shinigami's side, making his way to a small secluded alley. He positioned himself in a small, secluded corner before proceeding to use his Forte.
Shinigami simply waited for him with her hands on her hips. She didn't bother to look back at what he was doing, though when he came back to her side as a spirit, it was clear she didn't need to. She could figure out what he did from that alone.
"Well, *now* can we go?"
"Hm."
Shinigami lead the way to the front door. Opening it, she walked into the building and looked around the lobby. As she examined her surroundings looking for anything interesting, Vivia walked past her without warning.
"Hey! Where you off to?!" She exclaimed as she tried to catch back up with him.
"Where we have business, the roof." As he spoke, he clicked the call button for the elevator.
The elevator made a quiet sound as the doors opened. Inside Shinigami saw that a young woman was already on the elevator, and was holding down the button to keep the door open.
She noticed the woman had her eyes closed and before she could speak to Vivia about her, he had already made his way onto the elevator, as if he expected her to be here. With a sigh she hopped onto the metal box too.
The elevator made a ding sound as the woman let the doors close. Throughout all of this, she kept her eyes closed as if to turn a blind eye to the two who were in this elevator with her.
Shinigami stayed observant as she leaned on one of the walls of the elevator. She could tell the woman was dead, though the thing that made her more curious was what was Vivia going to do.
"Do you wish to go to the roof too?" Said the woman.
Even though she asked the question, Shinigami noticed her finger hovering over the elevator button to get to the roof, as if the woman had already known what they were going to answer beforehand.
Noticing this, she tried to speak up that they were going to the roof, however someone else surprisingly beat her to the punch.
"Yes." said Vivia.
The woman opened her eyes wide in shock, as if the voice was familiar. She looked back on the two, keeping her hand steadily placed on the button.
With her face and body no longer in the shadow, Shinigami could finally take a closer look at her. She had long dark brown hair with brown eyes to match, and wore a red raincoat.
"Vivia...?" She said under her breath, as she looked only in the direction of the ghostly detective, paying the death god no mind, as if she hasn't noticed her presence yet. Shinigami ignored this and proceeded to look in the direction of Vivia too, in hopes for more of an explanation of the situation.
"What are you doing back here..?" She said with a mix of surprise and worry in her voice.
"Ryo.." Vivia mumbled under his breath.
The woman visibly reacted.
("Huh. So is that her name then, emo boy? Alright.") Shinigami thought to herself.
"Vivia, what's this about..?"
He walked slowly, and got closer to her, maybe a little too close in Shinigami's eyes.
"I'll be clear. I went back here for you... and all the other spirits that inhabit this building."
"H-huh..?"
Shinigami let out a sigh as she watched on. This was followed by an umimpressed eye roll. As she did so, she looked away from the pair, with a bored expression on her face. And so, the spirit didn't notice that the other woman in the elevator had noticed her.
"Vivia... Who is that?" She said with a stern tone in her voice, only briefly looking at him when asking the question, preferring to give her attention to the stranger.
Vivia looked away from her as to look at Shinigami who had stayed leaning on the wall of the elevator the whole time. She stayed quiet, giving both Vivia and Ryo cold glares rather than introducing herself. Realising he was going to be in charge of the lengthy introductions, Vivia sighed.
"She's a spirit, just like the two of us." He explained.
"A spirit? Why bring her here then?"
"I asked her to come here... To deal with the mess I left alone last time."
"Mess...?" Ryo responded. "You mean the still lingering spirits... There's something she can do about it..?"
"I guess you could say that." Vivia said as he looked to Shinigami.
Shinigami finally spoke. "Yeah, It's basically as he says. Now come on, and just get me to the roof why don't you?" She said, her impatience growing stronger.
"Huh? And what could you possibly do about it?" Ryo questioned.
"Isn't me saying 'I can deal with it.' enough for you? Ugh.. Explanations are lengthy and annoying... Just get me to the roof and let me boom-kill them already!"
"W-what..? Boom-kill..?"
Vivia sighed. "Listen... I'd suggest to simply let her do as she pleases. This'll let the problem go away faster anyway..."
He paused, taking the time to quietly sit down on the floor of the elevator. Resuming, he says,
"But, don't get too ahead of yourself." Vivia stared at Shinigami who stared back down at him.
"Hah. And what's that supposed to mean?" She glared. He closed his eyes and stayed quiet.
"Hah... Whatever!" She put her hand on her hip and looked over to Ryo.
"Hey, can we just get over this already? All the talk can wait right?"
"B-but!" The brown-haired woman backed away, and rested her hands on the elevator. Eventually, after a few moments, she sighed.
"If it'll help less people come here... Fine."
She pressed the button labeled 'R' and let go after hearing a small ding. She had to force herself to not stop the elevator as it ascended, but the thought that neither Vivia nor the stranger could be taken as they were both dead helped.
As they slowly approached the roof, a strange shaking was felt by the ines in the elevator. This, surprisingly, was the thing that motivated Shinigami more. She could feel the spirits caling out to her.
After standing up properly and fixing her posture, she confidently stood in front of the elevator doors.
"Back away slightly." She said to Ryo.
As Ryo followed her orders, she saw a bright white light shine.
"Surging bloodlust... Overflowing despair... The brilliant soul of Shinigami, shall expunged this cursed case!"
In the blink of an eye, a sycthe appeared in the hands of Shinigami.
She spun it around, before the elevator came to a halt as they arrived on the roof. The doors opened and Shinigami came face to face with a hand that tried to grab her.
The hands of multiple spirits trying to wrangle her up quickly stopped as they realized she couldn't be caught. Before they could do more, Shinigami dealt with them.
With a quick slash, she quickly got rid of the spirits, as if they were phantoms in the Mystery Labyrinth.
The black fog that enveloped the roof quickly dissipated. No more spirits, no more strange aura, nothing.
Ryo watched on as she tried to figure out what Shinigami just did. Stunned and confused, she asked:
"What... did you do?"
"I just sent them back to where they belong. After all, they have no place to disturb the living."
Shinigami turned back to the two of them. Once again she spun her scythe around and then pointed it to the nape of Ryo's neck.
"Now then.." Shinigami smiled menacingly.
"W-what..?" Ryo looked at the scythe that was one centimeter away from her neck.
"What are you doing?" Vivia said as he stood up.
"Calm down you anemic vampire. This isn't me 'getting ahead of myself'." She said as she glared back at Vivia, without putting down her weapon.
"A-are you going to do that to me too?"
"Yeah." Shinigami said blankly.
The silence that filled the elevator was deafening for both Vivia and Ryo. However, something like this couldn't possibly stop Shinigami.
"Well then, if you have nothing else to say.." She raised her weapon.
"Wait! A-are you sure you dealt with the problem?!" She suddenly yelled out.
Shinigami sighed. She didn't know if the woman was genuinely looking to just 'make sure' everything was alright, or if this was her trying to save herself.
Either way, the Death God did say that she would talk about it after dealing with the situation, and now the situation has been dealt with.
"The evil intent of those spirits have been laid to rest by me. Those souls have returned to the afterlife where they belong. Because of that, now people will likely no longer be 'lured' to this place."
"There. Does that satisfy you enough?" She said.
"But... How were you able to do that?"
"Because I am Shinigami." She said under her breath. Ryo gulped.
"A- a Death God? Vivia what's the meaning of this?" She said as she turned to him.
He sighed. "It's a long story, but I figured if I brought her here you could finally just rest and leave this place be as I did."
"I see... Fine then."
"So will that be all?"
The return of silence was enough to answer Shinigami.
"Bye bye, miss!" With a slash the long haired woman was gone, and all that remained in the elevator were Vivia and Shinigami. Putting her scythe away, she pressed the button to get to the ground floor.
"So, even when not using the Mystery Labyrinth you can still reap souls?"
"Somewhat."
The elevator dinged. As they stepped out of the building, they were met with the rain. Shinigami kept walking away from the building, while Vivia took a final look at it before undoing his Forte.
As Shinigami's left alone she thinks back to earlier.
("Maybe, it's not just the souls in the area... but also the souls I've reaped..?")
She thinks to her powers again. After associating with spirits once again it has semi-returned, yet she still didn't know why it left her in the first place. She's already talked to Vivia about the anomalies of Kanai Ward, maybe this is similar.
After all, the biggest anomaly of Kanai Ward is its citizens, some of which souls' have already been reaped by Shinigami. If she wanted to learn more, she'd have to do it by revisiting those homonculi.
Knowing she'll have to go to the restricted area to visit the homonculi she decided to set her eyes on one specific one.
Then, she heard footsteps from behind her. Vivia was back.
"Listen, there's someplace I need to go. I'd prefer if you stop that stalker thing from earlier and leave me alone from this point on, alright?" Shinigami explained.
Knowing who she'll visit, she decided to stop Vivia from following her. She'd assumed it'd be best for Vivia to not see him again. At least, not in that state.
"Is that so..?" Vivia simply hummed and started walking in the opposite direction.
Shinigami rolled her eyes as she started to walk and then run in the rain. Eventually, she started to stray further and further away from the city. At this point, she stood still and was eventually enveloped with a light purple aura, fully being a spirit, but still possesing the looks of her true form.
This allowed her to enter the restricted area without anyone knowing.
Eventually, she reached the lab she and Yuma investigated. Making her way through the facility, she tried to look for the spot where they had found Yakou before, only to find the spot empty.
She paced around the lab more before finding a secluded room near the end of the hallway that looked like someone was inside. As she approached, she sighed.
"I told you not to do that didn't I?! Do you seriously not know how to follow simple instructions?" Shinigami said, annoyed.
"Hm. I guess you could say that." Said Vivia who, upon closer inspection had once again activated his Forte likely for the same reasons as Shinigami.
Shinigami sighed exasperatedly. Paying Vivia no more mind, she kept on walking towards the secluded area. There she found, sitting idly on the ground, the Chief of the Nocturnal Detective Agency; Or more accurately, what was left of the deaceased man.
She approached, as Vivia stood near the doorway. She walked for a bit, positioning herself in front of him before kneeling down to meet his lifeless eyes.
She felt pity wash over her as he makes her relive the past few days' events, or at least, what to her felt like a few days ago.
His death, Yuma's grief, the events that led to the final Mystery Labyrinth, she reminisced. Throughout all of this, she kept quiet. Giving herself and though she wouldn't admit to it, Vivia, a small moment of peace.
After 'snapping out of it', Shinigami moves her hands to examine more of Yakou's body, only to the point he felt comfortable to. After that, she stood up.
"What was that? Is that all you're going to do?" Vivia said as he slowly walked towards them both.
"That's all I need to do." She exclaimed as she slowly walked away from Vivia and Yakou. "I just needed to take a closer look at him with my own eyes."
Vivia stayed silently observing her, expecting more, but she cut her words there. He could already figure out that what she did was related to her powers. With that, he simply assumed that her silence was because she couldn't say more about herself.
"Nggh.."
Then, they heard him. A quiet groan from the homonculi corpse infront of them.
"Huh?"
"Chief..?" They said, one after the other.
Yakou then fell silent. He simply stayed grabbing onto a small item in his hands. A badge.
"Huh..? That's strange. Fuzz Head didn't have that before." Shinigami exclaimed.
"Before? Have you interacted with these homonculi before?" Vivia responded.
"Huh? Oh." She said back. "Something like that.." She looked away.
"Are you not going to elaborate again? About the mysteries Yuma had solved and why you split up?" He'd grown tired of it, that much Shinigami could tell from his voice. In return she just sighed again.
"Hah... Well, what do you know currently? About Master specifically."
"That he's Number One... and that he solved the mysteries of Kanai Ward."
"Well, it's true. Though he only found out about his own identity when we were in the labyrinth. He solved the case as 'Yuma'."
"Heh. A mere trainee solved it all on his own eh?"
Shinigami approached Yakou.
"Yeah. And when we were investigating for clues, was when we found Fuzz Head."
"I see."
Vivia watched on as Shinigami once again kneeled down to Yakou's level to try and get a grasp on the object, only for Yakou to pull his hand away.
"Huh... Is that important to you Fuzz Head?" Shinigami flinched as he responded, once again with a groan.
"He probably won't let me grab it." She stood. "How about you try instead? After all, you basically done nothing this whole time."
"I can't interact with him as a spirit." He retorted.
"I never said to interact with him as a spirit. You can undo your Forte, can't you?" She asked sarcastically.
"Fine."
"Huh? You're actually going to?"
"If it's something that just appeared in Chief's hand, I'd like to investigate where it could've possibly come from."
Without even waiting for a reply, he undid his Forte, leaving Shinigami alone. She walked backwards, away from Yakou, and waited. After quite a bit of time, she finally heard his familiar sounding footsteps.
He approached Yakou and knelt down. He couldn't tell if Yakou had recognized him, but decided to try and grab the object from him either way. This was met with no resistance.
Vivia's hand lingered on Yakou's cold hands as he grabbed the object. It was a small, playful badge. Sliding it open, he saw a small capsule.
Shinigami peered into the container. "Huh... It's medicine?"
"That's... rather unexpected." Vivia claimed.
"The mysteries keep piling up, don't they?" She said with an annoyed expression.
"Well then, I guess you could say that, as detectives, we'll just have to solve these mysteries." Vivia said as he looked on at Yakou.
Shinigami looked at him with surprise on her face, before bursting into small, quiet giggles.
"Kyahaha!"
"What..?" Vivia asked confused.
"Nothing! Well then, I'll leave that up to you truth-seekers." She said with a smile on her face.
"I have no more business here anyway. I've already done what I needed to do." She started walking away.
"You're going to leave? Already? Aren't you going to look for Yuma?"
"No. Master can handle himself." She replied confidently.
"I guess that's true.."
"Kyahah! If you're so worried, look for him yourself!"
She stayed standing quietly before continuing,
"Listen, I'm sure Master will come home sometime. You're all important to him after all! But if you really are worried just try to get in contact with him. If you don't he'll just end up as a shut-in again!"
"So you aren't going to say farewell?"
"Master and I have already said our farewells."
"..."
"Well if that's everything, I'm going now."
She turned to the doorway. Turning her head slightly she said,
"Goodbye Vivia, I hope I never see you again~."
And she walked off, fading into the darkness, never to be seen by Vivia again.