In this moment, Keiko only focused on Nakamori; his shouted commands rung louder than the blaring alarms. Her gaze zeroed on the dimmed green icon of the emergency exit. Hakuba's weight was heavy upon her shoulders. She didn't try to look at his face again. The pale complexion of his skin was still fresh in her mind, and heart wrenched inside her chest and robbed her breath at the thought of it.

Keiko couldn't breathe—couldn't get the air flowing through her lungs until a hand suddenly slapped her back.

The young woman coughed, heaved, and shivers rolled down her lower back, and Keiko vaguely remembered her as the short-tempered woman from the crime scene. Gently, she rubbed her back in mute concern until her eyes lingered at her unconscious friend.

"Here, let me help you out."

She placed Hakuba's arm over her shoulder and carried half-his weight. Keiko cleared the lump in throat and tried not to think about how his limp arm dangled at the side.

"Don't be worried. We have the situation under control."

"Do you?" Keiko's voice cracked, raw with fear and terror and she swallowed, tasted the alkalic taste of bile swamping her oesophagus as she looked at the woman with furrowed brows. Her gaze slowly zoomed around the darkened hall, taking in the million pieces of shattered glass and wailing cries as they walked past a floating body or two laying unresponsive at the ground. "Are you sure?"

"Of course, we do. We anticipated a situation like this and took appropriate measurements beforehand. I'm only sorry for the few we couldn't save."

Keiko cleared her throat and didn't bother to reply. It didn't seem like there were a few causalities—especially when she had carried one in her arms—but by all means she wanted to hope—wanted to believe, but she wasn't blind.

Keiko could see the debris cracking from the ceiling, and her throat still burned from the boiling smoke that had fogged the room moments prior. It was chaos, and almost downright madness. The odds of coming out of here alive was increasingly diminishing.

Keiko blinked back the tears, and her trembling legs moved another step towards the green icon glowing dimly meters in front of her.

She could recognise the turf of Nakamori's hair. It seemed that he was pointing at the exist with his index finger, urgently ordering the others to leave the premises before the ground below them disappeared under the rapid fire of another explosion.

Keiko swallowed and tightened her grip on Hakuba, the weight of his body suddenly never felt heavier on her as she moved closer into the Inspector's field of vision until his onyx eyes suddenly landed on her, and she felt a splash of relief dawning on her before his eyes suddenly widened, and like a boulder, Hakuba weighted down on her shoulder. The sheer look of worry on Nakamori's face was indescribable as he yelled for the nearest emergency team to send in a stretcher for him to be treated outside.

Wordlessly, Keiko handed her classmate over and tried quench her worry since they were qualified to provide medical aide. Silently, she watched them carefully strapping his injured body to the stretcher, when Nakamori placed a hand on her shoulder. "Why isn't Aoko with you?"

"I got separated from her," she answered, slightly surprised. "Isn't she outside?"

"So far I haven't seen her." His gaze was a mixture of confusion and worry as his eyes quickly swiped the places once more. His eyes rested on her with such seriousness, Keiko felt dread and she swallowed repeatedly to get rid of the dryness of her mouth as she tried not think of the unresponsive bodies lying listlessly on the ground.

"You wouldn't think—"

"No."

Keiko nodded, still troubled as she gazed around before her eyes landed on the father of her best friend. "I'll check if she's outside."

He glanced at her gratefully. "Please do that."

Keiko nodded and hastily stumbled out of the emergency door, from the distance she heard the desperate yelling of the Inspector, louder than before.

Even if I must carry more anxiety and doubt—

I'll continue on. . .

There was a certain urgency in Kuroba Kaito's step as he ran down the dark corridor. It took him every ounce of self-control to stop himself from bolting down the corridor. That explosion was definitely not his own doing, and mostly like not the cause of his mother. But, from the range of destruction, Kaito was relieved to notice that the type of explosive used weren't as severe and deadly as a C-4. It was mostly likely intending to shake him up as a warning.

Snake and his men were coming for him—coming for Kid.

Kaito ran a little faster, wondering whether he had given his mother enough head-ups when the officer in front of him tripped. Kaito's reached out with another thought and caught Takagi by the arm before he crashed on the floor.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he mumbled as he searched around the shadows gnawing at his feet for the cause of his stumble and found it quite behind him. It seemed to have moved at the collision at his foot, and Kaito squinted his eyes to get a closer look at it whilst Takagi bended his knees to inspect it.

"What are you doing? Hurry up!" Satō shouted, frowning as she stood well ahead of them.

"We're coming!"

Kaito's shoulders convulsed at the sudden yelp from the Inspector, and he glared back only to have his eyes widening at the sight in front of him.

Takagi's mouth trembled, almost like a broken recorder as his shoulders trembled. Kaito frowned and redirected his eyes at the object of the Inspector's intention.

His mouth drop opened.

The junction of the corridor which lead to another hallway was the entrance of a bloodbath, scattered with a body count far greater than the number of fingers at his left hand, and smeared with a colour so bright Kaito could see it stain on the carpet.

He swallowed, locked every concerned thought toward his mother at the back of his mind when he recognised the fabric of a beige coat under the flowing red. His hand reached out to grab Takagi by the upper arm, tightening his grip when he didn't move. "C'mon, we need to leave."

"But this is—"

"I know." Kaito wetted his lips as he stared at the wet floor, not wanting to spare another glance at them as his right hand clenched into a fist. "But we don't have time. In a moment, it could be us found on the floor by someone else."

Takagi's face visibly blanched and he tried to regain his bearing before he stood up, exhaling deeply. "That's right. We can investigate this at a later date."

Kaito nodded and glanced back, Satō still impatiently waiting for them, gesturing for them to hurry up. Takagi inhaled and exhaled one more time before he muttered a quick "Thank you" and patted his back before he ran toward Satō. Kaito would have been running right next to him had he not caught a glimpse of a glinting-something hitting the floor at the moment of impact.

Kaito briefly glanced at the ground, solely driven by curiosity when he saw a small metal glinting at the dim lightening of the corridor. He fingers picked it up and his heart dropped once his mind comprehended what it was.

A transmitter.

As far as Kaito remembered there was only one person who touched his back with such an intention.

Kaito swallowed the lump from his throat and without a second thought he slipped away, his feet carrying down another direction, far away from the officers and the slaughter as he ran deeper into the spiderweb Snake concocted for him.

I'll never run away: I'm not scared at all. . .

Reika had noticed that the distance they covered was increasingly reducing. She spared a glance at Hondo; beads of sweat were rolling down the length of his face, his tanned skin was slowly but surely assuming a yellowish pallor and the distance between each of his steps were gradually decreasing in width. She bit her lips as he eyes roamed over his stature. He didn't seem to be visibly hurt.

"Are you—"

"I am."

"But—"

"I am."

"You don't seem well. Just take a break and leave this to me—"

"Are you nuts?" irritated amber eyes fastened on her and Hondo shook his head, disbelievingly. "I won't stop. Not until I need to finish this."

Reika clicked her tongue and opened her mouth for another sharp retort when she caught a glimpse of Hondo's right hand clutching the side of his left abdomen. She moved closer to inspect the wound, but he backed away in response, stumbling a little. Her brows furrowed and yet Hondo stressed that it was nothing he couldn't handle.

"Do as you wish," she conceded at last, still concerned. "But just so you know, I won't take responsibility for this."

"That's fine by me." Hondo only grunted as leaned on the wall for support, his lips twitching into an ironic smile. "But I'm quite surprised that you won't even thoughI'm reduced to a state like this."

Reika stared at him for a moment, but no, she couldn't understand what he meant. "Why are you talking about?"

There was short humourless laugh coming from him. His glinting amber eyes set on her, and she felt the chills rolling down her back. "Isn't it natural for a predator to hunt on an injured prey?"

The words died on her tongue and yet she forced the words out of her mouth as her fingers rubbed against the fabric of her skirt. "I don't understand what you mean."

"You can stop the clueless act," he pushed off the wall, and Reika noticed that he hid a gun under the sleeve of his right hand. She chewed the inside of her cheek at the realisation that she had been fooled. He had feigned the spot of his injury. He must have been hurt somewhere else—yet hurt nonetheless. It must be quite serious for him to suddenly assume the persona of a cornered mouse at the hand of a hungry cat.

He clicked off the safety and held her at gun point with a shaky hand. "We have a mole among our team, and I have every right to believe that it is you." Beads of sweat trickled down the side of his forehead and yet his voice remained as firm as she had always known. She pushed her maroon locks over her shoulder and pinned him with a stern glare of her own.

"And on what grounds are you accusing me?"

"Aside from the Inspectors of the first division, it is only us two who were informed about the layout of the building and the nature of our plan. So, tell me how Snake and his men managed to get into the building without inside help?"

"Good point." She smiled and ignored the way her unnerved emotion flared inside her as she rolled a strand around her finger. "But could I not accuse of the same thing? Do you have any evidence?"

"How else was Michi's cover blown without Snake having an informant?"

"Now it seems that you're blindly accusing me."

"Why else would you have been at the same place where she died?"

"Accusations," she repeated, swallowing the lump from her throat. He was straight up ignoring her. Her eyes flickered at the gun. She could tell that he had every intention to shoot her. His idea of finishing the entire farce seemed to be by getting rid of the mole instead of Snake. His injury must be very grave for him to act upon such desperation. Reika wetted her lips and tried again to dissuade him. "She called me. Besides, you were there yourself."

"Then tell me, why are you here? Is your presence here not an indicator that you're attempting to get rid of me as well?" Hondo's face hardened, and his finger flexed on the trigger. Reika held her breath at the proximity between the noose of his gun and her chest, as she swiped her sweaty hands on her skirt.

"No, that's not true. I was worried, that's all."

"And why should I believe that?" his finger flexed again and this time Reika shut her eyes. The shot fired even before she could open her mouth to scream. Her eyes flew open in time to see Hondo's body crumpling to the floor, his eyes were unbelievably wide and his mouth open for a silent scream.

Slowly, Reika turned around, enough to catch of a glimpse of a pair of glasses glinting in the dark and perfectly placed bun and a familiar gun in the near distance.

"Because it was me, dummy."

Up ahead, what is it, what is it you're looking at?

What is it you're staring at?

Reika could barely believe her eyes, sprawled on the ground lay Hondo, motionless, and her widened eyes locked with the other person nearing her from afar. "Why did you—"

"Don't act too surprised. You already knew this would happen." Tachibana adjusted her glasses as she took in the scene with knitted brows, slowly emerging from the shadows with her torch light flickering on the walls. "But really, you should have taken care of him before he made such a mess. How am I going to explain this mess?"

"Don't you mean how you're going to explain this!?" her voice becoming increasingly high-pitched as it shook, bouncing off the walls and wavering into the distance between them as her eyes lingered at her Hondo, disbelievingly.

"What do you mean? He was a thorn in our eye. He had been interfering enough with our plans, already."

Plans? Reika's hands trembled in pure anger and she had no recollection as to when she pulled the gun out of her holster and aimed it at her. "What are you saying? You shot at my partner!"

"Partner?" Tachibana turned around and flashed the torch at her for the first time, quite surprised at whom she was seeing. "Reika? What are you doing here? Where is Tanaka?"

"What are you doing here!"

"Helping you, of course." Tachibana cleared her throat and smiled, a little shaken. "Hondo would have shot you otherwise. Hadn't his action warranted such a reaction from me? Tell me, are you alright? Darling, please put the gun down."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No, of course not. I only tried to save your life. He had obviously gone mad by accusing you like this."

"Tachibana—"

"He wouldn't have made it out of here anyway." The light of the torch landed on Hondo's lower abdomen, his white shirt was stained with blood, and she could see a stained hole around loose threads of his pants. "Even if he had managed to miraculously survive and get out of here, he would have been sentenced to prison for a lifetime considering how many he had killed tonight. By all means, I have shown him mercy by ending his life now."

"What?"

"Anyway," Tachibana fixed her glasses. "Would you lower your gun? even if you shoot me, this situation won't end well for you. The surveillance footage is possibly still functioning. As things stand, my action fell under protection. But what will yours stand for? You are defending your would-be killer and threatening your saviour."

Reika tightened her grip and flexed her finger on her the trigger. "Who else besides Tanaka is working with you?"

"Put the gun away and I might consider telling you," she smiled, sharp and cunning. "I'm sure you know that your only choice is to become my ally or my murderer, so which one will you choose?"

Reika stared at her hard before she slowly lowered her gun yet held up her guard.

"Good choice. Now that we're accomplices this isn't needed anymore." Tachibana neared her and took the gun of her, her sharp smile widened. "To complete a job, it doesn't particularly matter which side to aid. I only did what was needed."

"And what kind of job caused you to do this?"

"This?" Tachibana asked, rising an eyebrow. "I was asked to caused multiple reasons for Nakamori-Keibu to get fired since Nezumi-Keibu-ho is eying his seat recently."

"Just because of that you hurt Hondo?"

"No, just because of that I needed to arrange the entire farce about a contest. The entire dress code Kuroba created burst my plans into flames, I had to divert the attention of the officers somehow. It was such a pain; can you believe that?"

Reika pressed her lips together tightly, her teeth were slowly but surely gnawing away the skin inside her cheek. She needed to regain her control. "So, I take it that Nezumi-Keibu-ho is your sponsor? How much did he offer to pay for you to betray all of us?"

"Betray? Oh no, darling, you must have misunderstood me. I never betrayed any of you." Tachibana said as her smile dimmed. "I was never on your side."

"What?" it took a moment for it to sink in. If she wasn't an agent for the police then she must be part of Snake's group—that, or something else entirely. But then—"Why are you helping Nezumi-Keibu? Where will helping him lead you?"

"To a new era, of course. Kid's reign will end to day and the police should represent that." Tachibana lips twitched into a smile and her hand toyed with the confiscated gun. "Of course, that includes you as well."

Meetings and partings continue to repeat. . .

Despite the hours of his academy days well-spent in practice, never did Nakamori Ginzō fathom even once that his long-awaited moment which he anticipated with such inflated excitement could possibly burst into these final moments of inconceivable terror and horror.

Although, most of the visitors were ushered away beforehand, the causality rate still seemed high as he looked around the dishevelled room. The most pivotal factor seemed to be the blast, its force instigated the crash of the chandelier which shattered glass harmed multiple people, whom Ginzo couldn't count with his mere eyesight alone, and from amongst them might lay his own daughter.

He squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled silently before he glanced at the broken frames of stained paintings. His eyes wandered between the scorched wooden railings and flooded carpet as he searched but there seemed to be no one else living among the lifeless bodies. He closed his eyes for a silent prayer before his legs marched towards the door, he could only rely now on the rescue team and arson investigation team. It was their field of expertise, after all.

And yet their support didn't alleviate the hopelessness Ginzō felt.

He clenched his teeth and turned his back at the disaster behind him as he strode forward. This was a complete catastrophe. In his specialised field, he had lost the gem in a matter of seconds after Kid's appearance. His daughter's childhood became injured under his supervision. Countless fellow officers and civilians have died in his vicinity, and now his own daughter was missing in this chaos.

He could only hope that cases were fire-resistant.

Ginzō squeezed his eyes shut. It was clear enough that he had failed as a father, but if he fails as a defender of justice then what had all his efforts and sacrifices amounted during the recent years?

The Inspector opened his eyes and walked towards the emergency exist with heavy legs as his heart squeezed into his chest. For twenty years he had built his future on ambition, made sacrifices and cared little for his daughter due to the nature of his job, and now it came crumbling around him, like handful of floating dust, and now Ginzō couldn't help but wondered whether it all had been worth it.

He could always get a new job—but a daughter?

He sighed and stared at the cracked ceiling and closed his eyes briefly.

Dear God in heaven, if you really exist, please save my daughter.

She is the only thing I can't lose.

Ginzō sighed and spared a single glance at the ruined gallery, really hoping that Keiko would find her outside—when he saw a fluttering cloth of white that he had desperately chased after for almost a decade from the corner of his eyes.

It was tattered—torn beyond recognition and stained with a bleeding colour that resembles the deep shade of red dishevelled across the thief's face. The visage he had only caught glimpses during his most desperate times was coloured by a multitude of shades, blotched with pigmentation of a second skin, scorched with flames, and completely mismatched with the wick of brunette hair, blown by the sudden blast of wind.

Nothing could have prepared Ginzō for such a revelation.

Behind the irksome cheeky attitude that irritated him for years—

Under the disguise of his sworn enemy of twenty years—

Under the hat of that rotten thief—

Behind Kid's monocle was the face of a woman.

A woman, he knew.

Nakamori Ginzō stared at the familiar face of his once neighbour and wondered when exactly the first cracks on his deceptively good life appeared for it to shattered into million pieces now.

Where did the truth I was aiming for vanished to?