SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI NOCTURNE
LUCIFER'S CALL EDITION
DARK DESCENT
A STORY BY BLACK SNAPPER
Chapter 1: Beginning and End
4:20 PM. Monday Afternoon.
All things considered, Naoki should have known the world was going to end, for the simple fact that the train arrived at the station ON TIME. As the train came to a halt, it's rusty brakes screeching like banshees, a cheerful voice spoke to the occupants from one of the big speakers:
"Yoyohi Park Station! Yoyogi Park Station! The train has now arrived. Please do not rush onto the train, and please disembark carefully."
Orders, especially those from a disembodied mechanical voice too cheerful for its own good, are made to be broken. The doors opened and the station became a battleground of people pushing and barging their way out onto the platform as they all tried to exit the train at the same time. The stronger ones, mostly male, big and strong, came first, elbowing all opposition away, followed closely by progressively weaker people who were unable to fight through the chaos.
And finally, when the last little old lady had gotten off and finished complaining about "kids these days", out came a young man with blue eyes and black hair, wearing a dark hooded jacket with a strange image on the side. It was identifiable, if you squinted, as an 8 bit computer game character, but most people paid it no attention, least of all the owner of the jacket. He thought of it as a reassuring weight, something flashy that he had paid good money for. If he had learned that the little mascot on the sleeve was a depiction of Jack Frost, a minor demon, he would have probably tossed the jacket into the fire, then burnt all pictures of him EVER wearing the jacket, then immediately estranged himself from anybody who had ever seen him wearing the jacket of unspeakable evil, lest it contaminate their souls as it had probably done himself. Then he would spent the rest of the day thumbing through his bible, searching out the most horrible sounding and angry phrases in the book, and read them over and over again to feel sorry for wearing something that glorified evil.
But he didn't know about that, and so the owner of the jacket stepped out, attempting to look the epitome of cool and calm sophistication as he strode to the platform. Unfortunately, he completely misrepresented the distance between train and station, thus stumbling forward and falling flat on his face.
Naoki Kashima had arrived.
For a few seconds he simply lay there, gasping for air as he tried to recover, obvious to the passengers forced to step over him as they boarded the train, even when they began to kick him in the butt in an effort to make him move aside.
The trip had been extremely stressful for someone who hated large crowds and tended to avoid them as much as possible, especially when he was alone. When people were too close to him, he would shiver and shake and tremble and try to drown himself in calm relaxing music, such as the Blue Danube waltz. But when people got too close, as in close enough that he could smell their body odour, he would gag and his chest would compress and he wouldn't be able to breathe and his music would be useless.
The train he had been on had been so crowded that Naoki wouldn't be in the least surprised if he had held his breath the entire trip.
The ringing of his cell phone served to rouse him from the concrete, and he rose to his feet, walking away from the station as the train sped away with a scream. The phone had been ringing constantly the entire trip, but he had been too stressed to answer it. Now the stress had passed and he could answer the call, but he wasn't fast enough. The caller had already hung up. Sighing, Naoki punched the buttons on his phone, checking if any of the missed calls were important.
There were 23 of them.
"What the. . ."
They were all from the same phone number, a number he had in his contact list and attributed to a girl in his class named Chiaki. One of two people he would be meeting today in Yoyogi Park. As he checked his way through all 23, he quickly learned to anticipate the message within each one, as they were mostly the same, but their frequency was amazing.
3:57: You're late, Kashima!
3:58: You're late, Kashima!
3:59: You're late, Kashima!
4:00: You're late, Kashima!
4:01: You're late, Kashima!
And so on, up until 4:20, in which it stated that he was "exceptionally late". Naoki sighed and shook his head. He'd obviously messed up the time he'd given them – his intention was that they met in Yoyogi Park at 4:30, then went to the hospital together. Instead, he was apparently already late.
I hope they haven't been waiting too long. .. .
Naoki walked over to the local vending machine and bought himself a drink with one hand whilst he fiddled with the phone in the other. He'd long since learned not to ring up Chiaki herself – the one time he'd tried, the result had been chaos – so he phoned his other friend Isamu instead. They were supposed to be at the same spot, after all. He estimated the phone rang for only half a second before it was picked up and Isamu began to shout in his ear.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, NAOKI? My god, we've been waiting here forever!"
Naoki paled – Isamu was angry, really angry. Both the drink he was holding and the phone began to shake as he tried to defend himself. "I'm sorry Isamu, really. . . I didn't realize I was late. . . "
"Whatever. Where are you now?"
At Yoyogi Park Station, I just got off the train. Listen, I think I gave you the wrong time, or maybe I read the time wrong, but I thought - "
"Never mind what you thought, it's situation critical over here! Her royal Highness Chiaki is here and on the warpath, ready to eviscerate you if you waste much more of our critical time. We've been waiting here a good half an hour, so you'd better hurry up, or we're going to Shinjuku Hospital without you."
"Sorry, Isamu," Naoki stammered. "I'll be there as fast as I can. Oh. . . and I've got the spare jacket you asked for. . . " Actually, he didn't have it – it was still on the train which was now on its way back down the route, but it was an exact duplicate of the one he was already wearing. He could simply take it off and give it to Isamu instead.
"Ah, awesome!" Isamu cheered up instantly at the news of the wonder jacket. "You know she digs the jacket. If she can dig it on a little shrimp on you, then she'll be coming in her pants at a hot stud like me wearing it!"
Somewhere in the background came an angry shout. "Lout! Don't speak like that in front of a lady!"
Isamu mumbled an apology off mike, then spoke to Naoki again. "Whatever… just don't drop it in a swamp or sewerage on the way here. You're just the mood maker. Remember that! Now get your ass here before her highness punches out someone's lights – namely, mine."
"I'm sorry, I'll be right there!" Naoki stammered, but the phone clicked before Isamu heard his apology. Naoki whimpered, returned the phone to his pocket, then tossed his half finished drink into the bin. In his hurry to Yoyogi Park, he didn't even realize that his drink wasn't even among the ones listed on the Vending Machine.
Naoki Kashima had not planned on going anywhere that afternoon, least of all as far away from his house as Yoyogi Park and Shinjuku Hospital. He had planned simply on lying at home, reading a book ,playing a video game or two (or three or four or five or six. . .) and doing the homework of at least six different bullies who had each threatened him with unpleasant tortures involving various openings of his body and various common household objects. Yet this peace and quiet had been completely shattered when his cell phone had gone off, completely out of the blue, indicating he'd received a message from someone on his contact list.
The message was short and to the point.
"There's been an emergency, Naoki. Please come to Shinjuku Hospital immediately."
The caller ID was his home room teacher, Ms. Takao.
In a fit of panic, Naoki had immediately thought the worst had happened and went through a variety of worst case scenarios in his mind.
Oh god oh god, she's dead. She's been in an accident. That serial killer they warned us about that vanished in the fifteenth century has come back and she's his first victim. Or maybe she's pregnant with . .. NO! That's STUPID.
He wanted to know and yet he didn't want to know and he bombarded her phone with nervous semi coherent questions, begging her for an answer, trying to figure out what happened. He got no answer, just the same message, urging him to come as soon as possible. So he'd rung up his best friend and asked him to come with him.
"No," Isamu replied. "I'm busy With stuff."
Naoki trembled under his irritated gaze. "Please… pretty please Isamu? I'm really worried about her. . ."
"You can go yourself. Grow some balls, Kashima! I'm not going to go on the train and walk you the hospital like a toddler!"
"Oh . .. aright." That WAS asking Isamu too much. He shouldn't have bothered, Isamu probably had a lot of stuff to do, anyway. "sorry for asking, Isamu, I won't bother you again…"
Isamu cut in seconds before he put the phone down. "Huh . . . on second thoughts. . . Ms. Takao always seems nicer when you're around. . . How about I meet you somewhere, say, Yoyogi Park? We were going to meet up anyway, weren't we."
"We were?"
"Yep. You didn't forget?"
"Err. . ."
"About the JACKET. You said you had a spare, and you were going to give it to me. REMEMBER?"
"Oh. . I remember," It was a lie – he didn't remember, and he didn't have a spare, but he had the money and the location of the shop that sold the jackets. "Sorry for forgetting, I'll go get it right now."
"Good. Oh, hey, here's Chiaki. Just wait a moment, Kashima." Now Isamu speaking off mike. "Hey, Chiaki, it's Naoki Kashima on the line, how about – "
The phone was immediately cut off, and Chiaki's voice boomed into Naoki's ear as Isamu whinged in the background, moaning something about bitches and high heels and ruined assets and phones.
"Kashima. I'm going too."
"R – really?" Naoki stared.
"Yes I am. I need to ask Ms Takao about my future career opportunities. Every time I ask her before she's managed to elude me. Hopefully she's paralysed and stuck in a gurney. Speaking to her while she's immobilized will give her a good incentive to stay still and answer my questions at last. "
"Oh… but . . .Isn't this a bad time?" Trust Chiaki to be self preoccupied.
"WHAT? Unlike you, I happen to care about my future, and you two should start planning ahead as well."
"Oh, okay. So, I was planning on getting to Yoyogi Park by about. . ."
"We will be waiting for you at 4:30 exactly. Do not be late. Goodbye."
"Okay," Naoki spoke into the silence. "Um, bye, Chiaki.. ."
On the other end of the phone, Chiaki nudged Isamu in the side as she gave him back his phone. "Why'd you ask him to bring you a jacket?"
"Oh, come on! Have you SEEN the way Ms. Takao looks at him? She LOVES that jacket. I swear, she takes a look at that jacket and she's trembling in her seat. She'll never notice me if I don't get one of those jackets – it's like a lucky charm, or something."
"Isamu! She's your homeroom teacher! She's like double your age!"
"I know that, but she's so god damn hot! Have you SEEN that ass on her? Let me tell you, it's not her teaching that makes her the most popular teacher on campus. . ."
"You're disgusting. And I forbid you from being attracted to Ms. Takao, it's inappropriate conduct. " she whispered the next line under her breath. "And I don't think it's the jacket she's looking at."
He was late. Of course. Naoki Kashima had never been very good at sports, least of all running. He'd have made it in time if he ran all the way, but he couldn't run all the way. He ran out of puff halfway to Yoyogii Park and had to collapse on the sidewalk for several long minutes to catch his breath again. He spent those long moments contemplating what Chiaki would do to him when he arrived.
And now that that he was finally here, he realized that Chiaki and Isamu couldn't have been waiting for him here anyway, as the place was sealed off and swarming with police.
Naoki had heard that something had happened at a park, but he couldn't remember what it was and he didn't realized it was Yoyogi Park they meant, but obviously they did.
He couldn't help it – his curiosity overwhelmed him and he came closer, attempting to get a look . . .
"Get out of here, kid!"
And the next thing he knew, he was flying back, sent spinning from an impatient fat cop's backhand which sent him onto the ground on his back into possibly the only muddy puddle in the entirety of Tokyo. Naturally, it perfectly matched him in width and length and depth and he was drenched from head to toe. For several minutes he flailed uselessly, but finally got back up and realized that when Isamu received his "spare" jacket, he would be very angry that Naoki had dropped it in the mud.
The cop was still standing around, completely ignoring him. Tentatively, Naoki tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir –"
"What the HELL did I just tell you, boy? Get out of here!" And Naoki tensed, readying himself for the slap that would send him back into the puddle…
"Hitting children now, constable? You really mustn't want anybody finding out about this incident, do you?"
. . only for the cop to find his attention diverted towards a man in a long hat and a moustache. "Oh GOD, not you again."
"Sorry Officer, just doing my job, trying to get pictures for the scene. How about you, kid? Feeling curious?"
"No…" Naoki shook his head desperately. This new man seemed nice, but he was STRANGE, and thus frightening. "I thought my friends would be here, but they're obviously not, and so –"
"Oooooh," the man's eyes glittered, much like a wild animal spotting the weak point on its prey. He reached into his coat, then flung a small card in Naoki's direction. Naoki paled and jumped out of the way of the projectile, then picked it up off the ground.
JYOJI HIJIRI
REPORTER FOR AYATOSHI MONTHLY
Naoki blinked. "Hijiri?"
"Speaking! So nice to make your acquaintance," and he shook Naoki's hand like a madman. "So, tell me about your friends. Are they young? Pretty? Old? Ugly? How long have you known them? Have you performed many sacrificial rites together?"
Naoki cringed under the barrage of questions. "I . . . uh. . . err. . .wait – WHAT?"
The cop made an official sounding snort of disapproval. "Are you saying this young man is involved in this incident?"
"NO!" Naoki waved his hands around like a windmall. "I only just got here and I don't know anything and I'm just looking for my friends and they're young and I don't know if they're ugly or not and we have NEVER performed any sacrificial rites together and," he stopped to catch his breath.
"He doesn't know anything," the cop declared and Naoki nodded in fervent agreement.
"Alright. Well, do you want the official version or the truth?" Hijiri asked him with a grin. The cop glrared back.
"The official version IS the truth!"
Naoki blinked. "I don't know. . . what happened here? Why's the park sealed up?"
"This is the official version," Hijiri took a breath then spoke in an arrogant, command tone. "The clash between well known communications company Cyber and a civic origination of protestors has resulted in unfortunate death on both sides. The truth, however. . . at least, what they say on the fringe. . . "
Hijiri smirked at the youth. ". . . is that it was a battle between two opposing demonic cults."
"Wha . . ." Naoki couldn't believe his ears. Demonic Cults. . .had been here. They'd breathed here. They'd existed here. Demonic Cults were evil and corrupted the air they breathed and the land they walked on. Corruption was bad. It rotted your teeth, made you fat and turned you into a rapist and a murderer. Corruption and sins and evil must be avoided at all costs.
They could be corrupting him right now!
He could be breathing it in, absorbing it through his feet from the tainted ground, turning him into a bad person that would do terrible things and be hated by everyone, including GOD, and when he died and tried to go to heaven GOD would say "NO" and toss him back down to earth, forcing him to leave out the rest of his existence as an evil spirit. . . He had to get away. He could practically even see the evil taint in the air if he squinted – purple, sort of like cold custard.
The fat cop took no notice of the youth's attempts to breathe in only uncorrupted air. "That is nothing but speculation and hearsay. Like I told you before, we will not admit you or this boy into the Park. Go sniff out another story."
Naoki nodded. "Yes sir. I'll leave right now sir." And he back-pedalled away from the fat cop, nearly breaking the land speed record in his haste to escape the corruption.
"Hey, wait a moment kid!" Naoki froze in mid back-pedal, looking back over at the self proclaimed ace reporter.
"Here kid, how would you like to read my article? It's this month's Ayakashi Monthly, scheduled for release tomorrow. You'll get the first copy in Tokyo!"
It's...an occult...magazine...
"I - uh, thank you. . . but I really don't . . ."
"Don't be shy! Here, take it!" And poor Naoki was forced to accept it. He took a glance at the cover and could practically feel his eyeballs screaming in horror.
Ayakashi Exclusive – Ace reporter Jyoji Hijiri infiltrates the Gaea Cult and learns of its plans to doom the earth through the scripture of Miroku!
A Connection between the Gaea Cult and Shinjuku Medical Center! Read all about it!
Is there a true God? Find out on page 24!
Plus a Pets special: How to find out if your cat has fallen under demonic possession, in 12 easy steps! All this and more in this month's issue of Ayakashi Monthly, Tokyo's favorite magazine of the occult and satanic!
He dropped the magazine on the ground in a fright, prompting an amused chuckle from Hijiri and an angry stare from the fat cop.
Hijiri smiled. "Do you want a copy, Officer?"
"NO!"
He had to accept the magazine. But he could feel its corrupting influence rise above the pages like a miasma, and he could just see the skull on the front mouthing out words. . .
"YOU"RE DOOMED, BITCH!"
Finally, Naoki found a compromise. By taking off his jacket, carefully wrapping up the magazine in it, and then holding it at arms length, he would theoretically be immune from its evil corruptive influence and he wouldn't be able to see the skull on the cover. Theoretically. But there was absolutely no way he was going to read it.
Hijiri smirked as he watched Naoki's efforts to carry the magazine. "So, where you headed now?"
"Oh. . .Shunjuku Hospital. I need to visit my teacher, she's sick. . . "
"Oh?" Hijiiri blinked. "What a coincidence, I was going to head over there right after I've finished inestigating this place. It's a real hotspot for paranormal activity…"
"It is?"
"Yup. You wouldn't associate a hospital with the occult, but that place is . . . supposedly. . . different."
Naoki, at this moment in time, was suddenly having serious thoughts about turning around and leaping straight back onto the train.
Hijiri grinned even wider. "Oh, calm down. False info is pretty common in my industry, so just laugh it off, Okay? You'd better get going now – don't forget to let me know what you thought about my article if we ever meet again!"
"R. .. right. .. . " Naoki honestly had no idea just what he was going to do with it now. Maybe he could give it to Isamu as an apology for getting the jacket dirty. With a final farewell to Hijiri and the fat cop, he was running off in a sprint.
Almost just as quickly he had stopped again. He reached back into his pocket and retrieved the phone, then dialled Isamu's number.
"Um . .. it's me again.. . ."
It was Chiaki who answered this time. She herself did have a phone, but seemed to use Isamu's far more often. "Finally. Kashima. What have you been doing all this time? You were too slow – we're already at Shinjuku hospital."
"I'm sorry, I –"
"I don't want to hear it. Just get over here already."
"Have you seen Ms. Takao? Is she –"
"Hurry up, Kashima. Goodbye." Click.
By the time Naoki had arrived at the hospital, Chiaki had been twiddling her thumbs for exactly 21 minutes and thirty seconds. This hospital was obviously one of those cheapskate ones, lacking reading material. Hell, it didn't even have a receptionist.
So much for being a private hospital, Chiaki thought in irritation. She was only slightly calmed when she finally noticed Naoki standing before her, sans jacket, which he was holding as though it were a live grenade. "You took too long. Isamu's already searching the place."
"I'm sorry," Naoki said for the thousandth time that hour. As she stared at him, she realized how similar to a dog he was. A small dog, with bright eyes and a wagging tail, always desperate for attention. Skinny, begging passers-by for a morsel of food, ever eager.
He looked exactly like the sort of dog Chiaki took great pleasure in kicking until they pissed themselves. Of course, after the kicking, they'd be straight back to the bright eyes and the wagging tail, and the cycle would begin again.
"Look at this dump. Ms. Takao has terrible taste in hospitals."
Naoki blinked. "Maybe. . . maybe she didn't have a choice." If Ms Takao had been sent here in an emergency case, then the fashion level of the hospital would likely have been the least of her problems.
"It's deserted. I've been waiting here for hours, and there's nobody here. I haven't even seen one staff member. It's creepy. If I was Ms. Takao, I'd sue. And look at this waiting room! It doesn't even have any material to read whilst you wait!"
Naoki shrugged. "I'm sorry. .. " he said, apologising basically for his entire existence. "Where''s Isamu?"
"I sent him off to look for Ms. Takao whilst I waited here for you, but the idiot's probably off fooling around. Please tell me you at least brought me some reading material."
"Oh… uh . . . . " Naoki trembled. He DID have reading material, but giving it to her would require unwrapping the jacket . . . and he would be exposed to the evil again. . .
"Do you have any or not?"
"Yes, yes!" He threw caution to the wind and unwrapped the jacket as quickly as possible, dropping the magazine on the floor. Chiaki stared at him, indicatd him to pick it up off the ground and he obeyed, using the jacket as insulation and treating the magazine as though it was irradiated.
"Ayikashi Monthly. . .never heard it before . . .well, at least it might help me kill some time. Where'd you get it from?"
"Sorry. . .. some guy gave it to me. Said it was an unreleased edition."
"Some guy? Kashima, don't take things from strangers, you don't know where they've been." she took the magazine off him and thumbed through it. Almost instantly she frowned. "Kashima . . this is an occult magazine."
"Yes.. . yes I know. I'm sorry, I didn't realize what it was until –"
"Stop apologizing, damnit!"
"Oh! Sorry!…. Um.. . ."
"Bah!" Chiaki nailed him with a glare that could tear holes in the walls. "Whatever. At least it will help me pass some time. Go see if you can find Isamu. That idiot's probably gone and gotten himself lost."
Naoki nodded. "Sure. I'll go get him right away. I'll . .I'll leave this jacket here with you. It's the spare one I got for Isamu."
"Good. Now go and let me read this magazine in peace. If we can't find Ms. Takao, then I don't want to stay here one more minute."
Naoki obeyed, ambling off to search the upper floors. He was in entirely the wrong place, of course.
Isamu had already searched the upper floors and found nothing – no patients, no staff, no rodents. So he'd taken the elevator to the roof, where he'd realized that there was a second part to the hospital – an entirely separate building, an annexe. He'd gone down one level, but found the annexe gateway locked and requiring a key card, which he didn't have and hadn't found. Perhaps there was another way to the other building, perhaps underground. Isamu took the elevator to the basement level at the same time Naoki was exploring the second level.
The elevator doors opened wide and Isamu took a half step out and then froze. It wasn't the fact that the basement level was in disrepair, full of broken glass and darkness only slightly illuminated by the elevator behind him. No, it was for the fact that he wasn't alone. Two people were at the far end, arguing over another key card access machine that prevented them from entering further. One of them was in a purple leotard with matching stockings and gloves, whilst the other was all dressed up in white and blue, with a blue and white hat with bells on it that tinkled when its owners head moved. They moved now. It was tricky to see in the darkness, but Isamu could already tell that the two of them had to be children. They were far too short to be adults.
One of them spoke.
"You're doing it wrong, He Ho."
That was definitely a child's voice, and Isamu wasn't afraid of children. He began to walk up to the pair of them as they continued to argue.
Now another voice, this time female. "Of course I'm doing it right! The blasted machine must be broken!"
"Maybe you're putting it in the wrong way, he ho."
"I've already tried the other way! This has got to be it. Look here!" and she shoved the card under the child's face. "You see the little arrow? The hole's got a little arrow too. Trust me, I know how these thing's work. You just have to get the little arrows to line up as you swipe the card – so!"
And she swiped the card. And back came the loud irritated bleep of an invalid card.
"OH FOR – Stupid human machines!" She slammed her fist on the machine.
"Let me try, he ho."
"No, you'll just break it even more. This stupid thing . . . bah!"
"Hey. . . " Isamu called.
"Why don't you just jolt it with electricity, he ho? We're missing the party in Yoyogi Park. They may have even finished and there mightn't be any leftovers and -"
"I'll jolt YOU if you don't stop whining!"
"HEY. . ." Isamu called again. He'd now gotten close enough to realize what the problem was, but the two children were too involved in their argument to hear him.
"We shouldn't have come, he ho," the young boy moaned. "The grown ups will do all the cool stuff and have this great party afterwards, and we'll be stuck here, cold and hungry and –"
"Will you be quiet for once, Ice boy?"
"Zio for brains! So there! HE HO!"
"Bufu for an ass!"
"Macca for boobs!"
"HEY!" Isamu shouted at the top of his lungs. The two children spun around on their heels are glared at him.
"WHAAT?" They shouted in unison.
The insulting remark that had been on Isamu's tongue retreated down his throat and stayed there entrapped. The two beings he was staring at were most certainly NOT children, at least not children of a human race. For one thing, the boy with the hat had a white face and was breathing ice out through his nose and mouth. For another, the girl in the leotard had pointy ears. . . and was actually a lot shorter than he had thought she was. The only reason she was eye level with his belly button . . .
Was because she was hovering in the air, supported by two tiny wings that flapped at a frenetic pace.
Isamu bliniked.
What the FUCK am I staring at?
"AAAAH! IT'S A HUMAN! HE HOOOOO!"
"I can tell that, dumb ass!" The flying girl fired a glare at the other before turning to Isamu. "WHAT. You got something to say, big guy?"
"Y-yeah. . ." Isamu stammered. "That key's not for the basement.. . .it's for the annexe."
The two creatures stared at each other.
"Are you sure, he ho?"
"Y-yeah. You see, the writing there? It says. .. annexe. You need a card that says basement." For all of his shaking and stunned disbelief, Isamu's voice was strangely calm.
The girl monster's eyes bulged out of her head. "You mean…. The reason that the annexe didn't work was because we had. . . "
"I TOLD you we should have tried the other key! You . . .YOU STUPID HE HO!"
"Oh, DARN IT! Now we have to go all the way back up to the annexe and swap the keys over?"
"Looks like it, He ho. And we took advice from a HUMAN! Boo He Ho!"
"Bah. Remind me to never listen to you again."
"Same to you, he ho!"
"Same to you!"
And they were gone, vanished seemingly into thin air. Isamu blinked and stared at the place where'd they been just a few seconds ago.
. . . Okay... that was . . . what was I just talking to!
And then he was spinning on his heels, stampeding up the stairs, out of the basement into the light of the hospital lobby. Chiaki glanced up at him as he ran past.
"Oh, there you are, Isamu. Kashima's finally arrived, he should be –"
"Not now, Chiaki!" He sprinted straight past her, up onto the second floor, as fast as his legs could carry him. He picked a door, completely at random, and cowered in a corner. He was still there when Naoki finally found him, curled up in a ball, whispering to himself.
"I DO believe in spooks, I DO believe in spooks. . ."
"Isamu?"
"I DO I DO I DO I DO I DO. . ."
"Isamu, are you okay?"
"HUH?" Isamu froze in mid "I do" and glared at Isamu. "Jeez, you scared the crap out of me, Naoki!"
"Oh, sorry."
"Man, what a drag. You're late, you come here and cause trouble, startling me like that. ..bah. "
"Sorry."
"Eh, never mind" Isamu checked to ensure his hat was well positioned. "I suppose her highness sent you up here, while she waited in the hall? I've been looking for Ms Takao everywhere, but damn, this place is deserted. It'd better not be under quarantine. . . they could have at least put up a notice or something so visitors aren't clueless.
Naoki glanced around nervously. "Maybe something happened. . ."
"Maybe. I've searched everywhere in this place except the basement, but there's another place next door. So she could still be here. You sure the phone call's legit? That this is the right hospital?"
Naoki held the message up, cell phone and all. "It's definitely her. I've tried to call her, tell her we're here, but she won't answer."
"Great, just great. Well, you'd better head back down to Her Highness, you know how a woman of her breeding hates to be kept waiting. Girl's probably just as mad at me because I've been gone so long."
"You're not coming too?"
Isamu shook his head. "Not just yet – I need to sniff out a key card. The basement and the annexe are restricted and need separate cards to enter them."
He waved Naoki off. "See you in a bit, Naoki. I really hope this is nothing to be worried about. . . "