Once the streets were dark and sparsely populated, Dark and Daisuke emerged from their safe haven. Dark walked normally despite the wound in his leg, so the few citizens still out and about paid no attention to them. Night life on the ground was definitely not as attractive as soaring above the city. Shady characters walked with their heads lowered and hands hidden in their pockets. Whenever he passed such a character on the sidewalk, Daisuke almost expected to be stabbed in the gut. Luckily, they arrived at their destination without incident. Daisuke waited while Dark peeked into the building's lobby. The room was uninhabited; no one expected someone to move in this close to midnight. The two entered cautiously nonetheless.
"I don't suppose you know which apartment he lives in," Daisuke muttered as he glanced over a board on the wall listing every floor of the building and how many apartments were located on each floor.
"Not yet," Dark admitted, "but there should be a registration book of some sort…perhaps in the back room there." He pointed toward a wooden door with no label and an electronic lock. Daisuke hurried over to investigate. His thief training allowed him to open the lock with ease and he entered while Dark leaned against a wall near the elevator to rest. The small room contained file cabinets all along the walls, each with unlabeled drawers. Daisuke guessed the administrator would have memorized all the important file locations and left all drawers unmarked to keep anyone from sticking a nose where it didn't belong. He sighed impatiently and began his search with the cabinets he thought were most promising: those toward the middle and closest to the door. To his disappointment, the files within the drawers were categorized by color…and he had no way of discerning the color code. He spotted a large binder among the papers and decided to give it a shot.
Sure enough, the binder contained page after page of printed names, signatures, and room numbers. Unfortunately, they were not in alphabetical order. He observed the dates listed and realized those were in order and they were all within a time period starting five years ago. If Engel had been residing here ever since he immigrated, the date on his ID card should be very close to his registration date. He tried to remember what else he had seen on the card he found in Engel's wallet. He remembered a month, but little else and hoped Engel had not been in Japan longer than five years. He started at the beginning by picking the first tab labeled "December". No avail. He flipped to the next December, but encountered the same results. December number three, however, contained an "Adelaide Fuchs". Perhaps Engel lived with his mother? Daisuke read the room number a few times to cement it in his mind before putting the binder back in its place and going to meet Dark.
Dark stood up straight as Daisuke closed the door behind him, "Got the number?"
"I have…a number…it should be the right one," Daisuke answered, "the person in the book had the same surname."
"In that case, we should go with it. German names aren't exactly common here." Dark held back a wince and continued, "it wasn't Engel who was listed?"
"No, I think it was a female name."
"Then we'll need to act with more caution than we planned to…if this girl hears us, she might call the police."
"I'll try to be quiet." Daisuke swallowed nervously as he tried to imagine the night ending quietly…with little success.
The two exited the elevator on the tenth floor. They watched the numbered doors go by as they made their way down the hall. Dark held his hand out to stop Daisuke when he spotted the number they were searching for. Daisuke pressed his ear against the door and listened for a long while until he was satisfied no one was active in the next room. He let Dark pick the lock while he prepared himself mentally and slipped the knife from its bundle. Dark went ahead of him, opening the door slowly and peering inside before proceeding.
They entered a small living room. To their left, a very short hall led to three different doors, each one located on one of the three walls of the hall area. They were cautious in choosing their door. Daisuke listened to the room on the other side of one door while Dark investigated another. As expected, there was no noise in the room beyond Daisuke's door. He held his hand at the crack under the door and felt very little airflow. He decided the room must have been very small…perhaps a bathroom.
"I think we have those two doors to choose from," Daisuke whispered.
"So it seems," Dark whispered back, "we might have to take a chance. Open the door quietly. If you have any reason to think we have the wrong room, just close it quietly…no harm done." Daisuke reached for the door handle, but stopped when he felt Dark's hand on his shoulder. He looked up at the thief who touched his own ear. Daisuke listened. Footsteps in the hall…a key turning in the front door…it stopped. Daisuke glanced at Dark when he remembered he had forgotten to relock the door. Whoever was coming in must have realized the door was unlocked and continued to open the door, but did it slowly and quietly. The two intruders pressed their backs to the hallway wall, hoping they would identify the newcomer before he or she spotted them. The light from the hall flooded the dark room as the door opened wider. Finally, the interloper started to enter. The figure's details were hidden in shadow, but it was obviously male. The light from the hall revealed a head of blond hair and the slim features of an adolescent approximately Dark's physical age. It seemed their target was a night owl.
The door closed and the shadow remained near the entrance as it tried to scan the darkness for any signs of disturbance. "Mother?" Engel's voice whispered warily. Dark slipped out of the hall, but moved slowly once out in the open. He made his way toward Engel and the door, hoping to get between them before the boy realized he was there. Engel must have sensed another presence in the room. He moved away from Dark's general position, sliding along the wall and searching with his hand for the light switch, which was inconveniently located halfway across the room. As he moved, he located an end table with his other hand and picked up a rather heavy paper weight. Dark stood against the door and signaled for Daisuke to hide behind something so Engel's attention would not be drawn to him. Daisuke crouched behind a small sofa just before Engel found what he was looking for. He flicked the light on.