Mira climbed out of the car when they finally reached the house. It was an old, Victorian styled place. The front lawn was surrounded by manicured shrubbery, trimmed to perfection down to the centimeter. Past them was a small arrangement of trees hunched over and dark from the winter weather they found themselves in. Decorating the house was an assortment of christmas lights that ended in a pile strewn across the porch in an untidy manor. Everything was so calm and peaceful, it certainly didn't appear the place for a woman to disappear.

Mira glanced over at Kyouma. "It looks like she was putting up holiday decorations. Might be a good starting point."

Kyouma got out of the car, sticking the keys in his pocket. "Yeah, sounds like as good a place as any. But let's look around the inside first. I'd be surprised if something did happen on the porch. Looking around this place. It would be hard pressed for someone not to notice a girl being jumped out in broad daylight. If you get my drift."

Mira nodded, looking around the neighborhood. Further up the street, standing in the park, was a group of middle aged adults who were deeply involved in conversation as they watched the two. It was clear they weren't too keen on seeing the two detectives. Maybe Kyouma was right. And this was more than a simple disappearance.

They went up to the house together, Kyouma covering Mira while she accessed the house's security system to get in. The street the house was on was a smaller one. One of the oldest in the neighborhood. There were only three other houses near, and each of those were a few lots away from this one. Though secluded, he knew from experience that letting your guard down at any time could lead a person into a world of hurt.

He heard the electronic locks release the door, and slipped in behind Mira. The door closed quietly behind them. From the looks of things, the house hadn't been touched yet by the family or roommates. Since she had only disappeared the other day, everything had been left alone for the police to investigate without hindrance. And the two roommates had been relocated to the residence of a friend. The cops didn't really think it was the scene of a crime yet. Since there was no sign of anything out of place or forced entry. No signs of any struggle either. It was becoming more and more likely it was their kind of thing after all. Though that still didn't explain the GPF getting involved.

They made their way through the house to the backyard. Standing on the porch, Kyouma surveyed the yard for anything out of the ordinary, like killer cat demons. But was surprised to find it fraught with mounds of dirt and debris.

"What's going on out here?"

Mira followed his gaze. "The roommates warned that they were working on an addition to the house."

"What are they adding on?" Kyouma inquired, kneeling next to the pit which led to the edge of the porch. "Does this house really need to be any bigger?"

"I believe they said a sunroom was the desired attachment."

"Yeah...totally needed." Kyouma rolled his eyes. "Man, these girls were definitely living the life."

Mira cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

Kyouma shook his head. "How's the scans going?"

"Aside from a few low level blips that can be attributed to the security system, there is nothing to indicate the presence of anything Numbers or Coil related." She kneeled on the floor, her tail slowly bobbing behind her as she closed her eyes. "This disappearance happened three days ago?"

Kyouma nodded, looking at the photos the girls had around the entryway. "Yeah, around noon according to what the roommate who had gotten the phone call had said."

"So if there is anything here. It should still show."

"Yeah, you would think." Kyouma agreed, eyeing a shelf full of trinkets. "But just like how no one found her phone. We can't find anything on the matter either."

Mira nodded.

"Well, how about you go check upstairs. Maybe there's something in one of the girls' rooms. I'll stay here and see if we didn't miss anything."

He watched Mira climb the long spiral staircase, listening to the stairs creak under her heavy footsteps. Then, with a sigh, he went back through the main floor inch by inch. But nothing on the floor jumped out at him. Nothing was out of place, everything was neat and orderly. The floors shined and the windows gleamed. To be honest, the place was so darn clean it bordered on creepy.

After another hour of searching, Kyouma found himself back in the living room. Nothing. No blood. No killer cats. No struggle. Nothing but a small box on the sofa. Kyouma did a double take. There on the center cushion, sitting where he could have sworn there was nothing a few minutes ago, was a small azure box.

Suspiciously, he walked over to the rectangular glass coffee table sitting in front of the sofa. Looking around to see if anything else had changed.

"Mira?" He called out, wondering if the bucket of bolts had somehow put it there when he wasn't looking. But then...he hadn't heard her come down the stairs since they split up. With how old this place was, it was hard to walk quietly. Each step he took caused a series of unavoidable creaks. So there was no way he wouldn't have heard his much heavier partner coming down.

Wondering if maybe he'd just not noticed the box the first twenty times he'd come through, Kyouma leaned down closer to the couch, giving it a closer look. It looked like something a piece of jewelry would come in. There was no note attached or anything discriminating on any visible surface. He looked around the room warily, then reached for the box, curious if there was anything on the inside that could tell him where it came from. Or at least who it belonged to.

The second his fingertips touched the box, the lights in the room flickered. Kyouma jumped back in surprise, pulling out a couple knives out of his jacket. A woman in a white dress appeared across the table from him, flickering in the daylight. Blood oozed from her destroyed mouth as she stared at him with her empty eye sockets.

"What in the-"

She glared at Kyouma. "I keep telling you. You'll never have him. Never. Never. Never. Why won't you just die?"

"Him?" Kyouma took a step forward.

"He's MINE!" She screeched. At the last word, she angrily thrust her arms toward him, and pulled him face down against the table. Groaning, he was then slammed backwards through the air, crashing through the door of the study.

The last thing he remembered thinking before blacking out, was how much he could never get used to being thrown through glass objects. Kyouma had been tossed into a lot of glass and wood in his life. And it never really got easier.

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Upstairs, Mira was having no more luck than Kyouma was. Nothing was out of place in any of the bedrooms, and she was just finishing a sweep of the guest bathroom when she heard a commotion downstairs. There was a screeching sound that she couldn't make out. And then a series of crashes.

Poking her head out of the door, she called out, "Kyouma? Is that you?"

There was no response to her call.

Feeling a strand of worry, she rushed out of the room and jumped over the second story railing to the floor below. "Kyouma?"

Upon reaching the bottom floor, Mira heard a buzzing noise coming from inside her head. The Coil detector was reacting to something in the house. She felt her distress skyrocket. Something bad was happening.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mira caught sight of something out of place. "No, no, no." She muttered, practically racing over to the study. Her eyes widened when she realized she wasn't imagining things.