"I'm really sorry, Kikuchihara," Kazama said again, "I didn't think anything was going to happen that would require me to call you in."
The teen rolled his eyes as they continued walking down the corridor. "Kazama-san, I was going to come here regardless of whether you called me or not," he replied easily. "Now, it's probably best if we split up so we can find this thing before it's too late."
Soya nodded. "People have already been split up and searching the building, but you should probably try and get through as many places as possible; with your hearing, it's more likely you will find it before others do."
Shiro gave a curt nod. "Okay, I'll send out an announcement if I find it first." And with that, he turned the corner, leaving Kazama to continue his search.
Kikuchihara tried to keep his mind blank as he tuned his ears into his surroundings. Finding this bomb would require the utmost focus on his part, so he didn't have time to think of other frivolous things. He moved as quickly as he could while making sure he had listened to all possible places the device could have hidden, and soon enough, he had covered almost the entire first floor.
With increasing anxiety, the brunette moved up the stairs to the second floor, hoping he found something on this floor - if it wasn't on the first or second floor, it didn't seem likely to be on the third floor. The bomb would cause more destruction the lower you got, and if it was on the second floor, he would have more time to find it anyways. If it was higher than the second floor, sure, it might cause less destruction, but there was more of a chance no one would find it in time.
He began moving through the floor and was becoming increasingly frustrated the closer he got to completing the sweep of the floor. However, when he was about to finish the second floor and go to the top, he paused, hearing something unusual.
It's in the ceiling a few steps in front of me, he said to himself as he moved a few steps forward and looked directly above him.
Yes, it was definitely hidden above there.
"Kido, the bomb is on the second floor hidden in the ceiling near the far break room," Shiro said, speaking quickly into his earpiece. "Send some specialists here, now."
The commander's reply was almost immediate. "People will be there momentarily. Stand by agent."
The teen nodded, even though Kido couldn't actually see him, and within moments, several people rushed into the hallway.
"It's right above my head," Shiro said and moved out of the way as someone placed a ladder underneath a ceiling tile adjacent to the one the bomb was placed above. Carefully, one of the bomb specialists climbed the ladder and removed the bomb, slowly descending back down the stairs.
Two other bomb specialists came over and began analyzing the bomb, looking for the right wires to cut in order to stop the device from exploding. Kikuchihara watched intently, and to him, it looked like they were having difficulty figuring out which wire was the correct one to cut. The scene was looking increasingly tense, and a pang of worry went through his chest.
"Let me see," he said, cutting through two of the specialists. They looked at him as if he were crazy, and Shiro simply shook his head in response. "I may not know much about these things, but if you pull or move some of the wires, I can listen to see if they are connected to whatever will make that thing blow."
The three specialists looked at each other warily but soon caved in. "Okay," one of them said, moving closer to the teen. "I'll move it as much as I can without disturbing the device too much. Tell us when you believe we have the right one."
Kikuchihara nodded, and the man began moving wires around. There were only five to test, so Shiro let him move all five before thinking it over.
"The fourth one you moved, the red one, sounded distinctly different from the rest," he said slowly. "It didn't sound as if it was connected to anything. Again, I'm not the expert, but I think if one wire sounds completely different from the rest, that's probably a sign that's the one you're looking for."
The specialists looked at each other, indecision clear on their faces. "It was that one and the black one we were deciding between," he replied, his brow furrowing with concentration. "And you're sure the red one was completely different?"
"Of course I'm sure," Shiro said, biting his tongue to keep from saying something rude.
The man nodded, and he looked to the other two specialists. "You should probably exit the building, just in case," he said to the teen.
Shiro hesitated, then he shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm the one who told you what to pull. If it is a mistake, I'm not going to run from what I did."
The man opened his mouth to reply, but another shook his head. "We don't have time," he said tensely. "Besides, he's an agent here; I think he's capable of making decisions for himself."
The first guy hesitated a moment longer before finally agreeing. He grabbed a small pair of scissors and held them over the red wire.
"I'm cutting in three, two…"
And on one, he cut the wire, bracing himself for something to happen. Even Shiro closed his eyes; however, much to everyone's surprise, the beeping stopped. Slowly, Kikuchihara opened his eyes to see the bomb had been deactivated on time.
He let out a small sigh of relief and turned on his earpiece while the others cheered on their success.
"Commander, the bomb has been deactivated. Everything is all good."
"Thank you agent. I want one more final sweep done before we declare this building safe, then we can call it a day," was the almost immediate reply.
The teen nodded, a wave of exhaustion suddenly sweeping over him. "Understood, I'll start right away."