Chapter 2

It's not as though the act of climbing was a foreign activity for Sakaido. Far from it, actually. Climbing had been part of a lot of id wells … so had falling, drowning, getting hit by random objects. He had to face it, none of this was ordinary. No one could tell him, either in or outside of a well, that climbing up a veritable mountain of over-sized instruments was within any definition of normal. But a job was a job. Somehow being fully aware of what this situation entailed made it much worse than his usual Sakaido level of ignorance.

He couldn't help but note that the other two had stopped climbing some distance below. He alone continued onward, sneakers slipping on the strings of a massive cello as he fought to get a solid grip on the bell of an enormous French horn. Grunting and kicking, he scrambled up into the curve. From here it was just a leap over to the platform with the tubular bells.

Of course that took a running start. He backed up, crouching low in the narrowing constraints of the bell.

"Hey, Bro—uhh, Sakaido, you wanna hurry it up?"

His foot slipped at Anaido's remark sending him skidding to the end into the launch. Windmilling his arms he managed to propel himself across the gap. The landing anything but graceful. He tumbled on his side landing against the bells in a massive cacophony which also announced his arrival.

"Ooooofff!" Staggering to the edge of the platform he shook a fist. "Arghh! Anaido, you did that on purpose!

Way down below on the tower, Anaido tugged on his suspenders with a huge shit-eating grin. "Who me? Come on now, who was the one in a hurry out of concern for victims?"

"Tsh." Sadly, Anaido had a point. Not that Sakaido would validate it. He glanced over to Hijiriido standing on the strings of a violin, a huge bow lay across them as if ready to play. Sakaido cupped his hands and shouted so his voice would carry. "I'm in position. What do I need to do?"

It was a fair distance, her muffled voice carried—but he had to lean a bit to catch it. "We have to play."

"Huh? Play what?"

Hijiriido gestured to the musical score wrapped all around them. From this angle there was some form of order to it. What had seemed to be random lines in a cyclone of bars actually had a form, spiraling up the outside of the instrument tower in a triple part arrangement. Sakaido scratched his head, his eyes darted from one to the next, over and over again.

"Oooookaaaaay?"

Laughter echoed from below. Anaido doubled over, grabbing his sides. "So much for having all the answers. Reminds me of your well when you got that sinking feeling. Hahaha!"

"And this is helping us how? Can you stop being an ass and clue me in."

Hijiriido pointed to one of the treble clefs. "Your line starts here."

Anaido smirked. "You couldn't figure that out?"

"Knock it off, Anaido,"she snapped. "You didn't either. I'm the one who noticed the staves lit up when we played the right instruments. Sakaido, these three are the core. The violin, the flute, and the tubular bells. See why we need you? We could only do two at the same time."

Certainly, there was no way to reach all three instruments as they were. For a brief moment he wondered if it weren't possible to move them closer together on the tower. But what would the point be. Three lines of music, three brilliant detectives. They could do this. Sakaido picked up the big mallet and fought to balance it, finding the center of balance he managed to wield it with some form of control.

Play them, huh? Shouldn't be too hard. The first part's just a cascade of notes upward. Here looks good.

Hijiriido called out, "Ok, ready everyone? 1 … 2 … 3."

He glanced down at the vortex of notes. The mallet threatened to knock him over. But he struck the first bell.

BONG! The tube glowed a pale blue.

Then the next.

BONG! The tube he struck glowed a soft pink.

Shifting two over he struck that bell.

THUNK! Both the flute and the violin's pitches faltered.

"Huh?" Sakaido blinked at the offending bell. "What happened?"

"Are you tone deaf?" Anaido called up. "That wasn't even close to the right note."

"I was following the music! See, it moved two places! So two bells."

"Uhh, not the way it works. See that little symbol in the front? That changes the key."

Sakaido narrowed his eyes at the hashtag mark. Damn it, I knew that did something!

"It's all about music theory, there's a lot of math to it."

Leaning on the mallet, Sakaido shook his head. "Look, I didn't have time for music class in school."

"Hey, I didn't even finish school and I knew this." He tossed up a triumphant expression.

What does he want me to do … ohhh, I bet I know. Sakaido heaved a sigh. Fine. "Alright, you knew something I didn't. You happy?"

Tapping his foot on the shimmering flute, Anaido beamed a crooked grim up at him. "I am."

Hijiriido pointed. "Go up there and help him practice. We already figured out that doesn't effect anything. But we need to nail the sequence."

"Come on, that's such a long climb!"

"You're closer to Sakaido. Now get moving."

"What do I get?"

Sakaido crossed his arms, still grasping the gigantic mallet. "I won't annoy you with Ninety-nine Bottles for at least a month."

That got a snicker out of Hijiriido—and a marked cringe out of Anaido.

"Uuuugggg, between you two I'm not sure who's more sadistic. Fine. Give me a bit to get up there. And Sakaido? You seriously own me for this, considering how you're supposed to be the special pilot."

Sakaido's free hand went to his hip. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

~ID~

"Well," Wakashika clasped a hand on his chin, "they're not exactly in harmony are they."

Habutae shrugged. "At least they are mostly cooperating."

"True." Capturing a screenshot, Shiratake put it with a few others. "There was no guarantee that Anaido was going to remind them in the first place. At least he did that."

"The key is in keeping Sakaido from walloping him for dragging his feet."

Momoki shook his head. "He won't."

"How do you know?" Togo quirked a brow even as she checked the pilots' vitals.

A confident smile grew. "Because if Narihisago had intended to go through with finishing him off he would have done so down in the cell block. His drive has to do with intentions. While Fukuda can prove to be frustrating, Narihisago knows why and chooses to overlook it."

Wakashika pulled his headband off and replaced it, fixing his hair in the process. "Ok, that sounds like you know something deeper than you're letting on, sir."

"You're very perceptive." He grinned. "It's not that he's told me outright, but I got the sense of it. Fukuda may have an advanced intellect, but he lacks social skills through no fault of his own. Since his general reason for drilling holes in others was to fix them verses an actual desire to outright kill, it doesn't seem to trigger Narihisago's … ummm … bad habit, we'll call it."

All four of the crew stared at Momoki, blinking in the near silence. All they heard in the background was the cursing of Anaido as he climbed up to the tubular bells.

Momoki watched the figures in the holograph. "We're closer this time. All it's going to take is—"

"Aaaaahhhh ..." THUD!

"Son of a—Anaido you klutz!" Sakaido snapped.

Hijiriido sat down on the violin, chin in her waiting palm. "Well, it's up to the team if they pull us or we wait here for Anaido to come back."

"Heh, guess this answers if we can die in here. Not walking away with a neck broken at that angle."

"Sir?" Togo hovered her fingers over the pad.

There was a debate that Momoki never thought he would have to consider. Just pull the deceased or do a full reset. The other two knew what was going on at the moment. But there was no guarantee that Anaido would go back to them. If he pulled that, it was a easy enough fix—Fukuda would regret such a choice.

He sighed. "Extract Anaido and reinsert him."

"Extracting Anaido."

"Here's hoping that this works. It's not like we have many options."

Casually Wakashika remarked over his shoulder, "Not unless one of us gets the urge to kill. I mean, if that were to happen one of us could find out what our brilliant detective self would look like. You ever wonder what that be like? I mean, I bet I would look really kick ass in an id well. I'd totally rock a trench coat. And maybe like a monocle? Hrm, wait a minute, didn't John Walker have a monocle?"

"How would we know?" Habutae tossed over his shoulder. "His face was always obscured."

Tucking his chin, Wakashika tried to hide the blush. "Oh yeah."

"Focus!" Momoki clapped his hands once. "I don't want anyone else joining the pilots. That's not a goal anyone should aiming for."

"Oh hey, I'm back in the real world. That was quick. What's going on?"

"Injecting Anaido."

"Whu … ooohhh."

Hopefully that was the last of the reinserts. But there was no guarantee on that. A few moments passed before Togo remarked, "Anaido is awake."

"Oh great … here we go again. Hey … where's the rest of the party? Don't tell me … oh man, I'm the only one who got pulled? Come on. No fair!"

"Just get moving and get back to them!" Momoki knew he couldn't hear the remark, but it felt better to say it. He focused on the other two in the instrument tower. Idly they kicked their feet in the air, waiting.

Togo chuckled. "Sakaido is wondering whether or not Anaido will bother coming or if he'll just screw around."

"He's not the only one wondering that."

"You're right—Hijiriido is doubting him as well."

Momoki's expression soured as he watched the point of origin. There Anaido stood hunched, shoulders and all.

It was going to be a long day.