Attack as fiercely as Fire.

Kansuke snapped to alertness, only to be greeted by the sight of a burning cabin before him, flames devouring anything they come across. From within the wall of flames, he could hear a familiar voice call out to him in desperation and panic.

"Help!"

The door was broken down, its broken remains slowly being turned into ashes by the fire. He squinted his eye against the flames, trying to catch a glimpse of the person calling out to him.

"I'm here!"

He decided to take the risk and approached the burning cabin. Inside, he could see a figure on the floor. From what he could make out, he could tell the figure was female. The flames had already reached her and were licking hungrily at her. Tears were streaming down her face, but was it from pain or something else, he couldn't tell.

"Save me!"

He had a bad feeling that something was very wrong, and his heart suddenly constricted with panic, prompting him to grip at his chest. Trying to ignore the nagging ache in his heart, he took another step forward. The flames no longer obscured his vision now. He peered in and his eye widened. He knew who she is.

"Kan-chan!"

He walked forward with his arm outstretched, trying to reach for her. His breathing grew erratic and he cursed his handicap leg for slowing him down. Still, he refused to give up and picked up his pace. Just as their fingertips almost touched, there was a loud cracking sound, and the whole cabin collapsed, crushing her as the flames engulfed her. Her scream resounded in his ears, and his mouth was open before he could think.

"YUI!"

"W-W-W-W-What is it, Kan-chan?" Kansuke gasped as he bolted upright in his seat. There was no burning cabin in sight, just the insides of a car. In the driver seat, pressed against the door after getting startled by his sudden yell, was Yui, who was looking at him wide-eyed, her hair sticking out in various places.

"U-Uehara." Seeing that she was safe, he took a while to catch his breath before finally heaving a sigh of relief. Seeing him so shaken up, Yui's expression changed to worry as she moved closer to him.

"What's wrong, Kan-chan? Suddenly yelling like that."

"It's nothing." Yui tilted her head in confusion.

"And also, since when did you start calling me by my name?"

"Tch, I said it's nothing, didn't I? Focus on driving before the people behind start shouting. The light's green already." She pouted as she turned her attention back to the road.

"Fine." The silence resumed as Kansuke laid back onto his seat, making it look as if he was going back to sleep when he was, in fact, thinking about the weird dream he just had.

Attack as fiercely as Fire. The words seemed to jump out at him. It was the first thing he remembered from the dream. But the Fuurinkazan case was months ago and all the culprits have already been apprehended. It made no sense for it to resurface now out of nowhere. And the burning cabin… He could still hear the cackling of fire, the image of the flickering flames still vivid on his mind. Was that a result of the Fuurinkazan phrase that kickstarted his dream? Why was Uehara in that burning cabin anyway? He shut his eye tightly. Her scream seemed to echo in his head, the pure agony in her voice, the way she had yelled for him to save her. And he had failed her.

"Kan-chan?!" Yui nearly crashed the car when Kansuke suddenly slammed his fist onto the arm rest.

"…It's nothing." He mumbled before turning away, making it clear that he didn't want to talk. Yui could only sigh as she focused on the road again.

"We're here, Kan-chan." The car pulled to a stop outside the mansion.

"Ah, okay." They stepped out of the car, peering up at the mansion.

"Wow, it's almost as big as the Torada Home! Or even the Mansion of Hope!" Yui commented.

"Yeah. Oh, by the way, Uehara."

"What, Kan-chan? Oh, wait. I know. It's Yamato-keibu, right?" She put emphasis on the 'keibu' part, a teasing glint in her eyes. Kansuke huffed.

"That too. But what I was going to say is, make sure you stick to my side at all times. I don't want you leaving my sight."

"E-Eh? What's this, all of a sudden?" Yui asked, surprised. Kansuke was usually ok with her splitting from him during investigations, especially when they had to gather information.

"I just have a bad feeling. Anyway, just make sure you don't run off by yourself, got it?"

"Y-Yes."

"Good. We're going in." Kansuke started walking, leaving Yui to follow him.

Yui felt her eyebrow twitch. It seems, Kan-chan was serious about not letting her out of his sight. Within seconds of her leaving his side to check a different room out of curiosity, he was hobbling into the room, shouting at her for not telling him first. If she so much as made one step towards his blind side, he'd turn to her and demand to know where she was planning to go. Even when she wanted to use the bathroom, she almost had the scare of her life when she stepped out, only to see Kansuke waiting outside.

"Hey, Kan-chan, you're acting really weird." She said worriedly as she trailed behind Kansuke.

"I'm not." He grumbled, making Yui frown.

"You are. You never act like this."

"I'm not, idiot!"

"You are!" They were like squabbling children, shouting the same thing back and forth endlessly in the short distance back to the car.

"I'm not!"

"You are!"

"I'm not!" Kansuke smiled triumphantly when she fell silent. "See? I told you I-!" He froze when he turned around to find nobody behind him. A piece of paper fluttered to the ground where Yui was supposed to be. With shaking hands, he picked up the paper, his eye widening at the writing, in large glaring bold letters, on the paper.

ATTACK AS FIERCELY AS FIRE