Players: Lilli, Falcon Puncher, and Metal Vile input processed.

Code deciphered. Bonus call unlocked.

Sequence commencing...


The front door begins to rattle.

Panic fills my system and I immediately grab Ryuji, looking for a place to hide. The room is large and spacious, mostly open. The furniture is too short. There aren't any closets. The bathroom then? Or maybe the kitchen. We were running out of time. I press Ryuji against the door of the fridge in the kitchen and pray to every deity who will listen that the person coming through isn't Kamoshida. The gods betray me completely.

"What the fuck? Did I lock the door...?" His voice is burly, deep. Undeniably the man in question. I see Ryuji raise my knife, ready to strike at any moment, but I put my hand on his arm to stop him. It was way too early to consider killing the guy. There would be no escape. The knives could only be used for self-defense. Cold-blooded murder was a line I couldn't cross.

With barely a moment to spare, the man strides into the room, his frame talking up the entire width of the hallway.

I can feel Ryuji moving underneath my arm but I hold him in place. No... I would not let him throw his life away. I refused to let him kill Kamoshida. There had to be another way.

The man enters the room while on his phone, blind and deaf to everything else around him. "Are you retarded?! Yes! Someone fucked up my car! I didn't crash it. Probably some punk...I don't know! Are you going to pay for it or not?! What do you mean?! Listen here you son of a..."

The conversation seems to drop there because the next thing I hear is a roar and the sound of plastic and metal shattering into a million pieces. Kamoshida walks passed the kitchen without even giving it a second glance, and the two of us remain hidden. He's heading straight for the locked door at the back of the apartment. "Useless pieces of shit..."

Keys rattle out of sight, and we know he's opening the door. I try my best to peek out at him around the wall despite Ryuji's constant fighting to break free. The door opens with a click and Kamoshida strides into the darkness, not even bothering to turn on the light. He doesn't speak, and I wonder if we've made some sort of mistake. Was Ann even here?

After a few moments, Kamoshida comes back out and I push Ryuji further into the kitchen. Please god, oh please don't let him come in here.

As luck would have it, I hear something fall on the ground and another door click closed. I peek my head around the corner and am flooded with a wonderful sight. The bathroom door is shut, with a layer of light filtering underneath the door. There's a squeak as a knob turns and then comes the sound of running water.

I gesture for Ryuji to move and the two of us all but run to the previously locked room. Kamoshida's hardwood floor doesn't absorbs our steps and I sing another prayer that Ryuji can walk a little quieter. After tonight, I'd go to a church or a temple for the rest of my life if we made it out alive. Whatever it was that protected us from all the things that could've gone wrong will receive my offerings every day.

"An-" I immediately slap a hand over Ryuji's mouth. Ann is lying on the bed, even prettier in life than she'd been in my dream. Her golden hair is swept back, revealing her face, but her arms and legs are tied together with rope. Her eyes are closed. Ryuji rushes over to her, shaking her by the shoulders. There's no response. I push him aside to put my finger to her nose. "She's still breathing. We need to go."

I grab one of my knives and cut the ropes at her arms while Ryuji does the ropes around her legs. It only takes a few seconds to decide she's better off on my back than his. She's heavy, but lighter than I remember. Perhaps I was weaker in the other timeline. This gives me a bit of hope as the three of us rushes from the room. How much time did we have? A few moments at most. A few seconds at the worst. Ryuji is in front of me, opening the door for us to leave. This felt too easy.

The hallways seems longer than before, much more open. What would someone do if they saw us now? Two strange boys carrying an unconscious girl on our backs warranted more than just a bit of attention. "Where to now?"

"Elevator." What is probably only a few seconds feels like hours. What if Kamoshida came out right at this moment? Did he notice already? What would be the first place he looked? When the door slides open, I immediately rush in and Ryuji begins repeatedly tapping the 2 button. The doors close much too slowly. It's only when the elevator starts moving again that I calm down just the tiniest bit. Safe. We were safe for now.

Ann feels heavier on my back with every passing minute. When the door opens, I'm all but ready to drop her where I stand. I'm practically running back to Room 23 where presumably, Miss Amano has not returned yet. We were gone 30, maybe 45 minutes. Plenty enough time for a grown woman to return home from work, but she was nowhere to be seen, and the door remained unlocked.

Ryuji heads in first, and I direct him to the balcony. "Close the blinds, crouch low. We need to get out of here."

My friend nods, doing exactly as he's told. I check the other doors until I find what I'm looking for. The bedroom. I grab the covers off the bed, sending a silent apology to Miss Amano, wherever and whoever she may be. I'm about to leave the bedroom again when the front door opens, and a woman walks in. I shoot a quick glance to Ryuji and he seems to notice her as well, ducking behind the curtain again, out of sight. He's invisible on the balcony as far as I can tell.

The woman is looking down, taking off her shoes with one hand as she uses her other arm to hold herself up against the frame of the door. "...I'm about to call Igor to see if he's at the apartment."

I back away into the bedroom, before dropping onto the floor, and rolling underneath the bed. Her voice drips over to me as she walks closer, clearly headed in my direction. "No. He's never even seen my face. "

There's clear frustration in her voice, and I begin to wonder how much she'll notice. Would she realize I'd moved things in her living room? What about her bedroom? Would she realize I was here?

There's a loud banging on the door, and her voice gets quieter as she walks away from me. "Hold on for a second, Yukino. Someone's at the door."

Yukino?

Despite all the tension in the air, I hone in on the name like a lifeline. Was it possible? There was no way things just fell into my lap like this. It had to be coincidence. Plenty of women had that name. It wasn't rare at all...

But she'd mentioned someone else as well, didn't she? Igor. One was a coincidence, but two was a pattern. Who on earth was this woman?

I can hear the door open from the other room and immediately Suguru Kamoshida's voice booms out. "Amano, was it? I need to talk to your son..."

"He's not here." Her voice is crisp and sharp. Something about it tells me she was a woman I would like.

"Well, when is he coming back?"

"He's not. He doesn't live here."

"Then did you see who messed up my car?!" I can hear the impatience seemingly crawling its way to the forefront of his questions. Whatever facade he normally had was falling away.

"No. Unfortunately, I've just made it home and I'm pretty tired. If you'll excuse me." She slams the door, and I can imagine her locking it without giving Kamoshida the time to respond. I definitely liked this woman.

Her footsteps begin to approach me again until I see her feet at the door of her bedroom. She's standing at the entrance. She doesn't move, nor does she say anything else into her phone. What was she looking at? What did she know? I'm at my panic limit when she speaks again, and my blood freezes. "I don't know who you are, but I'm going to give you three minutes to get out of my apartment. I'm going to walk into the bathroom and I'm going to wait there. If you're still here when I count to 180, I will kill you, do you understand?"

Logic dictates I should say nothing, but I'm saved from making any decision because I hear Ryuji shout from the balcony. "YES!"

She turns and immediately walks away. When I hear the bathroom door click, I rush from underneath the bed and rush to the balcony, grabbing her blankets with me. Ryuji looks almost as panicked as I feel. "What now?!"

"We need to go. Can you-" I'm interrupted from finishing my thought by the vibration of my phone in my pocket. I answer the call without even bothering to check the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" His quiet and monotone voice immediately alerts me to the speaker. In that one second, I'm so grateful, I almost fall in love.

"Still at the apartment. We're leaving now."

"NO!" It's the first time I've ever heard Minato yell, and I almost drop my phone.

"What?"

"You can't go outside. Didn't you read my text?"

"I... I can't read..." He audibly groans and I'm almost ready to hang my head in shame. I didn't like disappointing people. One of my five greatest fears actually. "Why can't I leave...?"

"I need 30 minutes. Maybe 45. Stay indoors. I'll be there soon. You need to wait for me." He hangs up without another word and I tell Ryuji what he said. Despite Minato's warning, Ryuji looks more than a touch relieved.

"This is great. Someone's coming to pick us up. Let's just go back to the Pizza Hut." It's three blocks away. Not far by any measure, but after my phone call with Minato, dread fills my system. Why? Why did he tell me to stay indoors? What was supposed to happen tonight?

"No. He told us not to leave. Let's go to the roof. Minato can bail us out after he gets here." I carry Ann, with Ryuji doing a power walk next to me as we head back to the front door of apartment 23. He peeks his head out, checking both corners before he heads for the elevator. I pull him in the other direction. "Stairs."

I spare one last look at the apartment behind me. Room 23. Amano. I'd never heard the name in my life, but that didn't really matter. My parents kept more than their fair share of secrets from me. Maybe Amano was just another one. How many mysteries could one person take before everything in his world felt like a lie or a dream? I pull the thought away. An unconscious girl and a volleyball coach trying to kill us was the priority here. I'd worry about everything else if I managed to make it through this.

The climb back up is strenuous, wearing down what little muscle I have. Ryuji walks ahead of me. I'd chosen the elevator the first time because there was a good chance of me losing my balance and falling down the stairs with Ann on my back but this... Going up was like climbing Mt. Everest. The building had 8 floors, and 6 flights of steps was killer on my back. Ryuji carries Ann for the last two. Despite my best efforts, I was completely exhausted.

The door to the roof is propped open with a brick and the two of us rush out into the open air. The entire area is enclosed by a stone railing. It's not very tall, but provides just enough back support for someone sitting on the ground. A few fold-able chairs sit around the place and an overflowing trashcan is shoved into one corner. People clearly came up here often. Thankfully, it was empty for now. Ryuji places Ann in one of the chairs while I collapse onto the floor, resting my back against a wall. Ryuji plops down next to me. "Do you think we're safe here?"

"I don't know, but I trust Minato."

Ryuji says nothing, staring out over the ledge onto the street below.

A few people walk along the sidewalks and alleys. I see an older woman parking her bike along the apartment, clearly just returning from work. The sun is beginning to set. It draws an orange glow over the landscape. While it should be pretty, I'm almost reminded of blood. Ryuji looks like he wants to fall asleep at any moment but I'm too anxious to do such a thing. A strange noise is drawing my attention. Sirens.

A police car zooms around the corner and another pit of anxiety grows in my stomach. I instinctively know it wasn't the Amano woman who called them. The line of reasoning tells me Kamoshida probably didn't know who took Ann and he couldn't chase us down without a car, so he'd called the cops. Probably to report someone for trashing his car and hoping he'd get Ann back in the process. Ryuji points them out. "Do you think they're here for us?"

"Probably." The door to the roof slams shut. In the back of my mind I wonder vaguely if it's one of those doors that auto-locks. If it were, we'd be trapped here until someone with a key showed up. Even if it weren't, there was no escape with Ann in tow. Especially not when someone was standing in front of the door.

"Who the hell are you?!"

A man dressed entirely in black stands between us and our escape. His hoodie was pulled up, covering his hair and most of his face. A chill runs down my spine and for a split second, I'm taken somewhere else.

The alley is narrow. I run behind Ryuji but it's no use. He's not very fast and I can't run with a girl on my back. The look on his face tells me he knows it too. He stops running and I nearly barrel into him. "What are you doing?!"

"I'll distract him. You keep going," He maneuvers around me, pushing me behind him protectively. "I said GO!"

I look down the alley before turning back to look at him. "I'm not leaving you here!"

"Then you'll all die here." A man jumps onto Ryuji's back and before I have the time to respond he takes a bite out of Ryuji's face. A deafening scream rips through the air, but it's cut short. With no hesitation at all, Ryuji's attacker runs a knife across his throat, the blood pouring out like a fountain.

Ryuji falls back, his body convulsing as the life pours out of him. I can see his cheekbones, his teeth, parts of his skull that I have no right to be seeing. My mouth is dry, opening and closing with no words for what I am seeing. What am I seeing?

The cannibal stands up from the body of my best friend, "It's your fault, you know. Chie is going to cry tomorrow."

The vision ends and I'm slammed back into the present. The roof. Ryuji, Ann, and my cannibal. Everything falls into place. "You... You killed us..." I'm the one who says the words, but I don't understand them. I'm still alive. I'm still alive because I'm a time traveler. I'm still alive because others have died in my place. Eriko Kirishima. "You're the Butcher."

He lifts his face to look at me, and for the first time, I see it in the light. In my dreams, his eyes looked so red, they seemed to glow, but it had all been an illusion. He's wearing a mask that covers the entirety of his head. It's gruesome, with a grin that is all animal. In the middle of the grisly smile is a zipper that can be pulled open for his mouth. I'm familiar with the thing. The mask was a popular accessory two years ago due to a TV show. They were everywhere. He pulls open the zipper now, and I'm surprised to see a normal set of human teeth. His lips are pulled into a frown. "I hate that name. I'm not doing this for fun. I don't have a choice!"

He shouts the words at me, indignant. His voice is definitely familiar. I know him. I know him. "You know, I didn't recognize you when you first moved in, but I was sure after killing you in the alley. You kept coming back. I had to ask myself, why is he still alive after I killed him in Shibuya."

He starts walking toward me, taking small steps. "And then I found the answer. You're a time traveler."

I have a split second to catch the frozen shock on Ryuji's face before I push him toward the exit, "Take Ann and go!"

My movement seems to break some sort of equilibrium and the cannibal starts to run, pulling a sickle from his hoodie. So I'd been mistaken this entire time. Not a knife, but a sickle. "No one's going anywhere. All of you are going to die here."

At the last second he changes course, running at Ryuji.

I disregard all sense of self-preservation and rush him, throwing one of my knives at the cannibal's head. This seems to catch him off guard. He dodges to the left, my knife falling harmlessly onto the rooftop with a clang. It does its job. Ryuji's path is open. "GO! RYUJI! TAKE ANN AND GO!"

His face is torn. He wants to help me. He wants to stay, but Ann is a liability and with a look of anguish he throws her over his shoulder and all but runs for the door. I grab the second knife from my pocket and prepare my last line of defense. This was my fight. My cannibal. My killer. He seems to pause while he considers trying to to stop Ryuji, but I throw myself at him again, thrusting the knife down onto his mask. He grabs my arms, keeping them up above him while the sharp end of his sickle is pointed at my throat. He's not very tall, shorter than me. Skinny too. How could a twig of a man be so strong? "You're not afraid of dying?"

"Like you said. It wouldn't be the first time."

He laughs, but it's humorless. His voice when he speaks again, cracks, as if he's about to cry. "I am. I don't want to die."

He's fast, and I'm too tired to keep up. He jumps back, before maneuvering himself in for another attack. I parry his first blow by the grip of my knife. It takes all my strength to keep his weapon at bay, but he slams his foot into my stomach, throwing me off balance. As I try to recover, the blade of his sickle goes for my throat. I try to parry the blow but he takes out a chunk of the back of my wrist and hot blood bursts from my arm. I drop the knife. I reach for it again, but can't get a grip. My fingers won't move. He runs toward me, about to finish the job, when I roll underneath his attack. My knife is in arm's reach and I grip it with my left hand. The pain in my arm is enough to make me want to pass out.

The cannibal turns around, licking my blood from the knife. He doesn't seem to enjoy it, but sucks it in nonetheless. "Give it up. There's no point in fighting."

He's right. This fight is lost. There was no way for me to win. "Honestly, I know, but I have friends waiting for me."

I can't do most of my flips without my hands, but I charge him anyway, swinging the knife wildly. Something in me concedes that he will win. I wasn't nearly as panicked as I should've been. If I could kill him, then my life would be worth something. I would save someone else from the fate of having to die by his hand. Even if it was just Ryuji and Ann who made it out, that would be okay. He swings the sickle up and his blade catches mine, knocking it from my weak grip. His advance now is slow. The dance of someone who knows they've won, but isn't quite ready to make the final move.

"I can't eat normal food." His sickle nicks my arm. My shoulder. I ignore the pain burning its way to my chest. "I lost everything trying to save someone I loved." He continues to chase me around the roof, bringing the sickle down on my head. I jump back just in time to avoid being cut in half. "It didn't matter what I did. Over and over. I kept watching her die." I'm backed against the corner. "She was just a little girl." There was nowhere left to run. "I'm sorry, Akira. Don't bother jumping back in time. I don't want to kill you again."


You have progressed in Ryuji's Quest: Lovers. You have completed Task Three: Escaping the Tower. [4]

[Flag] Who is the cannibal? [Required: Name of NPC] The NPC chosen will change the ending of this story.

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