SWISHHH.

The glass doors shut behind them with a soft hiss, muffling Mu's dull noise and plunging them into an eerie, unnatural silence—too quiet, as though they had suddenly been submerged into the depths of the ocean. Raito and L took a few steps forward, accompanied by the small group of people who had entered alongside them. Some appeared lost, their eyes wide with confusion, while others looked anxious, glancing around as if unsure how they'd even ended up here.

The lobby stretched out before them all, impossibly vast and gleaming under the artificial lights. Every surface, from the polished floors to the walls of glass, seemed designed to reflect and distort the space, making it feel larger—and more disorienting—than it already was. At the center, standing like a pharaoh's crown jewel, was a massive, intricately detailed statue of a human brain. Its smooth, glass surface gleamed under the artificial light, every fold and groove painstakingly sculpted, as if to display how flawlessly the sculptor knew and could render it - in excruciating detail.

As they moved further in the hall, they almost jumped when a female voice —clinical and mechanical, clearly that of a machine – suddenly sliced through the air, echoing from unseen speakers.

"Welcome to Erebus Technologies. The world leader in Neurocomputing Innovation. "

The words reverberated through the space, their hollow tone adding an unsettling layer to the already sterile atmosphere. So it was indeed a corporate building, just as L had been guessing previously… Rather ominous, though, that the company name was 'Erebus' - a word that Raito recalled meant "black abyss" in ancient Greek. At least it did, however, explain the extreme black color of the building from outside.

Raito's gaze flicked over the towering brain statue, then to a terminal to its right—a sleek, interactive display projecting a holographic map of the building. The map floated above the terminal in crisp, three-dimensional clarity, outlining different floors, with titles hovering in the English language: Level 2 - Robotics, Level 3 - Artificial Intelligence, Level 4 - Neuro-biotechnology….

A giant staircase spiraled upward to the higher floors, and overhead signs pointed toward the Registration Hall, Data Processing, and other assorted departments, each more unfathomable than the last. Raito couldn't help but feel a faint chill crawl up his spine.

"Pretty polished…" he muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing as he took it all in. He didn't like this place. Despite the pristine grandeur, something was undeniably off.

L's gaze followed his, lingering on the agile cameras swiveling soundlessly overhead, tracking their each and every move.

"If rather impersonal," he murmured softly, his voice even. Without turning to Raito, he added dryly, "Raito-kun must feel right at home."

Raito's lips quirked into a faint, knowing smile as he continued scanning their surroundings. The low, varnished tables, velour sofas and sleek, futuristic design of the lampshades felt luxurious - but way too transparent for comfort.

"Nah… too much glass…. Not really my cup of tea."

"Ah…I could use a cup of tea right now," L remarked out of nowhere, though his expression remained focused and distant.

"Pff..." Raito shot him a sidelong glance, a half-smirk curling his lips. He considered teasing him but then realized he wholeheartedly agreed with the sentiment.

".. So could I, actually... none of your muddy Earl Grey stuff, though."

The detective didn't deign to look at him.

"...Japanese snobbery." he finally muttered, absently.

"Caucasian ignorance." Raito countered smoothly.

L's lips twitched ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly:

"Mixed heritage, thank you."

"Whatever." Raito rolled his eyes, but his tone was light.

As their banter lingered in the stark air, they began walking, their footsteps echoing faintly against the immaculate floor. Ahead of them, stretching into the distance, was a long, gleaming corridor. It was impossible to see down the entire length, but the far end was glowing faintly - leading to an exit bathed in soft, inviting light. They just stood there for a moment, observing the oddity of this unusually bright, wide 'tunnel'.

"This is..." Raito trailed off, his brow furrowed slightly as he took it all in.

"Disconcerting." L finished for him, his voice low and steady.

Without another word, they continued forward, the quiet shuffle of their footsteps - theirs and the few others' that had entered alongside them - echoing off the glass walls and polished surfaces. The building seemed to absorb all other sounds, leaving only the soft, rhythmic click of their shoes against the polished surface. It was as if they were the only people left in the world.

"I was expecting this to happen directly after death." Raito heard the detective mutter on the side, and couldn't help but nod to himself solemnly, remembering all the stories they'd been told while they'd been alive - of people 'walking to the light' during near-death experiences and whatnot.

If only it were that simple, right? He thought to himself, but didn't bother putting it to words. He already knew L would agree, anyway.

As they moved deeper into the corridor, Raito couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching them—something more than just the cameras that were waiting for them every few meters on the corridor ceiling. The further they walked, the more the light ahead seemed to taunt them, always there in the distance, no matter how many steps they took.

It must have already been at least fifteen minutes of walking, the only sound around them being their own footsteps and those of a couple other people nearby, before Raito broke the silence again.

"How much longer? The exit should be here by now." he muttered under his breath, not bothering to hide his simmering irritation.

"...Unclear." L's answer came in a low, deceptively neutral, drawl.

Fifteen more minutes, and still no change: the light at the far end was always there, so close and yet so far. When they looked over their shoulder behind them, the faint outline of the lobby furniture was completely gone and was replaced only with hazy darkness - so it would seem they were indeed moving…but ahead of them, there was absolutely no change, as though they hadn't walked a single step. The people that were walking alongside them also seemed to grow more hesitant as time went by, but they kept going, not having any alternatives.

Until finally, at long last, a long-awaited change of scenery appeared. Unfortunately, it was the kind that would only complicate things further. They had reached what seemed to be an intersection in the corridors: now it wasn't just ahead of them but on the right and left side as well, side corridors branched out, also illuminated by a faint, distant light at the far end — and just as suspicious as the one they were currently walking in. The others who entered with them began to split off. Some people—panicked and confused—began running forward: as though running faster to nowhere would help.

Raito and L simultaneously ground to a halt, looking at the vast corridors that stretched on both sides.

"I'm starting to suspect…" L let out a muttering drawl again, as his sharp eyes evaluated the interminable corridor to the left "...this might be a misdirection."

Raito scowled darkly, looking down the side corridor to the right. "You think?" he muttered back, and the question was completely rhetorical.

They shared a look.

Without another word, they simultaneously turned back toward the lobby, ignoring the others in their group, who had started dispersing down the different glowing paths. Only a couple of people followed them on the way back, and hesitantly at that. They didn't bother using bosy language to convince anyone - time was precious for all.

Retracing their steps took a lot less time than it should have. The lobby was apparently only a few minutes away, although they must have been walking down the corridor for more than half an hour - yet more proof that it had never intended to lead them to a real exit. As they arrived back to stand near the immense statue of the human brain, there was a noticeable sense of foreboding hanging in the air - clearly, despite the brightness and translucence of the glass surfaces everywhere around...this building was being far from 'transparent' with them.

Now back where they started, and without any other evident exit except for the glass main entrance, they immediately headed for the only thing around them that seemed to be interactive: the info desk, centered around the large, holographic map. As they approached, the holographic interface flickered to life, changing into what seemed to be a three dimensional schematic of the entire building. When they were standing right in front of it, the robotic voice from before returned - apparently triggered by their proximity:

"Welcome to Erebus. Where would you like to go?"

Ignoring the voice for now, the two of them studied the blueprints on display. L took the lead, taking to the platform controls like a fish to water, intuitively using the touchscreens to navigate what looked like different floors of the building.

"What language is this?" Raito wondered, noticing the strange characters hovering all over the images - Chinese, but not exactly. It was definitely not the English that was all on the signage over the various doors and corridors.

"Some form of simplified, anglicized Chinese." L replied, without missing a beat, continuing to tweak the controls. "What language do you hear in the speakers, by the way?" he asked as though in an afterthought.

"Japanese." Raito answered, a light of realization suddenly striking him.

"Interesting. I hear it in my native." L commented what Raito had been suspecting – so the thing talking to them was actually…an elision? A …sentient part of Mu? It was definitely not speaking in Chinese - Mandarin or any other dialect…which had clearly been the language that this…"Erebus" place had been operating in while on Earth.

"The map isn't accurate." L's verdict finally came, and Raito was far from surprised. "It certainly doesn't correspond to the layout of this floor we were just traversing." L finally stopped looking at the holograph and turned to face Raito. "Either it's outdated, or it's feeding us false information."

Raito shook his head, skeptical. "So, what? We ignore it?"

"...We certainly can't trust it."

They shared another look, the weight of the realization falling heavy in the silence. If the building couldn't be trusted to provide an exit, or even a reliable environment in any way, then there was clearly no point in pressing forward - the whole structure itself must be a trap.

"Ok…" Raito took the decision. "So forget it. Let's just go back - out the way we came." Perhaps it was just about avoiding the inside completely and stepping back out from the main entrance - now that they had entered the building, when they came out they might be transported to another place than the ruined district of before - or at least that's what Ratio liked to hope, the alternative being too dark to contemplate.

They moved quickly, heading back to the massive glass doors, hoping that it wasn't already too late. But as they approached the main entrance through which they first entered, just as the glass panels swished open once again to let them out, right before Raito could step through — they slammed shut with a resounding clang, narrowly missing his face, sealing them in instead.

The robotic voice echoed once again, calm and detached.

"To comply with governmental Health and Safety regulations, all visitors to Erebus Technologies must be Registered before exit. Please proceed to Level 1 to complete Registration Procedure."

Raito looked up as it spoke, clocking the cameras around them, seeing they all had their unblinking red eyes focused straight on them.

"Looks like we're not leaving just yet." he said, his tone grim.

He exchanged a glance with L, who nodded silently, with wide unblinking eyes. With no other choice, and rapidly starting to regret the decision to ever enter the building in the first place, they turned toward the broad staircase in the middle of the lobby. Silently, with only their footsteps echoing around, and those of the few other people lingering around, they started walking up the stairs, toward the big glowing sign that read "Registration Hall".

The stairs were slick, transparent glass, reflecting the surrounding lights in a way that made the ascent seem almost surreal - like a climb to the clouds. Instead of the warmth of the sun though, every step seemed to bring a slight drop in temperature - the atmosphere shifting to something more barren and frigid.

Out of nowhere, completely unprompted, the mechanical female voice echoed around them again:

"All visitors must be Registered before exit. Please proceed to Level 1. "

Raito clenched his jaw as he walked up the last steps, causing the all-familiar muscle to pump.

"Didn't she already tell us once?" he muttered. Something about that smooth, emotionless, robotic tone…something didn't sit quite right with him. As though it wasn't as neutral as it seemed.

L chose to remain silent, his eyes darting around to take in the new environment as they stepped into the upper lobby. The air seemed sparser here, a scent of…sterility pervading the air. The lights overhead flickered occasionally, with many doors lining the walls - some marked, others unmarked - leading off to who-knows-where. Overall, the multitude of screens on the wall and seating areas gave the overwhelming sense of a space that had once handled a lot of traffic, but which had now become a relic - abandoned and eerie.

It didn't take long to spot their target: right across from the staircase landing, in the far distance at the end of a long corridor, they could see the faint outline of an automatic glass door, marked "Registration Hall."

They traversed the space cautiously, noticing another holographic map terminal and another information desk to mirror those in the floor below - but everything was just as abandoned and suspiciously motionless, seemingly untouched even by particles of dust. As they neared the entrance to the corridor that would lead to the Registration Hall, the atmosphere got heavier and heavier with their approach, the sound even of their footsteps becoming muffled, as if they were approaching some kind of air vacuum.

Finally reaching the entrance to the corridor they stopped, noticing the odd reason it looked so bright: it was lined entirely with mirrors on both sides, all the way from floor to ceiling.

L's eyes narrowed at the sight, while Raito's eyes bounced across it.

"More games?" he commented warily. Again, L didn't comment. This didn't seem to see the same trap as the one before with the interminable walking…but it still didn't seem quite right.

Without another word, they stepped forward, into the pathway. The lights overhead immediately cast a dizzying effect, reflecting endlessly in the polished glass that surrounded them. With the mirrors stretching on both sides, it created an overwhelming sense of infinity – as if the hallway itself were warping, expanding beyond reality.

At first, the reflections in the mirrors were simple—just them, walking side by side, their faces and movements corresponding to reality, their steps perfectly synchronized. But soon, with a sinking feeling in his heart, Raito realized the mirrors were indeed starting to distort, the images shifting like ripples on water.

He expected their reflections themselves to start becoming altered and grotesque - the way they had when they had been looking at the building from outside. But no…this was much more…immersive: As they walked forward, the mirrors gave way to surreal, expansive scenes. Instead of reflecting their own bodies, they became like immense screens, displaying landscapes from another world.

First, slowly but surely. vast crowds started populating the world behind the glass, filling the corridor with their imposing presence. They were all wearing ground-length dark cloaks, their heads covered by long hoods and their hands clasped in front of their chest in religious worship. There was a dark sky above them, with only the glimmer of candles that some were holding to illuminate their figures around. Glimpses of their features under the hoods revealed their expressions were enraptured—faces contorted in awe and fanaticism.

Then, as though echoing from the far distance, the sound started:

"Kira-sama…"

Raito's froze for a moment. From the side, he saw L doing the same.

Is this a joke? What the hell…?

They resumed walking - with each step he made, the adoring throngs knelt before him, eyes wide and hands outstretched, chanting in worship. Their bodies bowed low as though they stood in the presence of a deity, the weight of their devotion palpable. The further Raito and L walked, the louder the chanting became and the lower the people prostrated themselves, the chant swelling until it was overwhelming—like the roar of a stadium filled with zealots.

Raito had to force himself to keep looking ahead and ignore everything. He distinctly remembered visualizing this exact scene in the past… Back then it had made him feel giddy with excitement…and yet, now that it was being replayed for him in full technicolor 3D, it felt so utterly, painfully humiliating…He just wished that they could just stop!

Thankfully it didn't take long for his prayers to be answered, as the scene behind the mirrors finally shifted. But no sooner had he managed to feel some relief before it started warping again, this time morphing into a crowd which was just as vast - though their adoration took a different form. They stood tall with their eyes transfixed on L, applauding with fervent admiration, as though they were giving a standing ovation to an Oscar winner.

Their faces shone with adulation, clapping and cheering ardently, holding up banners and flags, all with a white background and the black letter "L" etched in the middle. Here and there was the flash of a camera, and it was jarring to say the least - blinding and disorienting like strikes of lightning. Raito was not sure he had seen it, but he could have sworn one of the flashes generated a flinch from his companion.

As they kept walking, the earnest applause echoed like thunder, reverberating down the mirrored hall, accompanied here and there by disparate shouts from the audience. Raito was most amazed to see an array of beautiful women - some suspiciously similar to Misa Amane - standing in the front row of the audience and screaming, like rabid fangirls in a rock concert. "L! I love you! L!", "He's soooo cool!", "So eccentric!", "L! Autograph me anywhere! ANYWHERE!"

Raito shot L a sideways glance, unsurprised to see the other man looking quite tense and very far from enthralled at these 'adoring fans' that were screaming obscenely obsequious mottos at him. If Raito's own reaction had been an indication, this little foray into 'Wonderland' was more of a humiliation than a dream-come-true for L as well. Perhaps this had been something that L had once craved when he had been alive…but like Raito, now considered it rather a vapid ego-trip of a dream.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, one particularly enthusiastic fangirl flung herself toward them, the two of them reflexively jerking backward as though she would break through the glass and hit them. Her friends held her back, however, and she stayed there with her hand outstretched, looking tear stricken at a semi-stunned L, who just stood there next to an equally stunned Raito, dumbly blinking at her.

"Pick me! L, pick me!"

Raito stared at the back of L's black head, which of course stayed immobile, betraying nothing.

But just as they were trying to digest the surreal images that were being, quite literally, flung at them, the by-now familiar robotic voice suddenly rang throughout the corridor again - although this time the tone was slightly distorted, as if it was harder to reach them inside this…mirror tunnel.

"Lost in reflection?"

They both froze, moving their eyes from the odd reflections to look at each other. As they exchanged wary glances, they both knew they were thinking the same thing: That didn't sound like something a machine would say.

But before they could react further, the robotic voice quickly followed up with a more mechanical, neutral statement - as though the last one had never happened.

"Please proceed to the Registration Hall to complete Registration Procedure."

Her voice echoed unnaturally through the corridor, this time the sound seemingly emanating from the mirrors themselves. For a moment, the reflections of the crowds flickered, and Raito and L saw themselves, standing in the very same corridor—but their reflections were frozen, staring back with wide, unnatural - slightly manic - smiles.

Then, just as quickly, the images shifted back to the worshiping crowds. On Raito's side of the corridor Kira's zealots, on L's side the rabid fans.

Once again, the two exchanged loaded looks.

L, ever calm, murmured: "We should keep moving."

Raito scowled, nodding silently.

They pressed on, now purposefully ignoring the mirrors, their expressions darkening as they moved forward. The further they walked, the more vivid the crowds became—their cheers and chants growing louder, almost as if the reflections were taking on lives of their own within the glass.

The cacophony of different crowds was becoming unbearable until, finally, they found themselves at the end of the corridor and the images slowly dissolved. They watched the automatic glass doors smoothly swish open in front of them and, with no small amount of relief, stepped through the portal and into a small, sterile space: the infamous Registration Hall — and hopefully the last Hall they'd visit in this twisted godforsaken place.

Their hopes were quickly dashed, however, as they perused the interior: stark and unwelcoming, it was lined with flickering terminals, each one sputtering with a static-filled screen. The whole area reeked of abandonment, as though the place had once been a bustling bureaucracy left to decay.

Raito's eyes immediately snapped to the single registration terminal at the far end of the room, whose screen at least showed signs of a working condition - as though barely functional. He moved quickly, his steps sharp with purpose, and tapped at the terminal's screen. But the device glitched, sputtering and refusing to respond. The only thing that it displayed was a gray screen, with a black logo of a human brain and the English word "EREBUS" underneath.

His frustration started simmering again, jaw clenched as the screen looped the same glitchy error message, rendering the machine completely useless.

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath.

L, observing calmly from behind, simply remarked, "It was never going to work."

Raito acknowledged the statement with a huff of irritation, giving up on the machine completely and stepping aside. He walked forward a bit, letting his gaze sweep all around the room, scanning for any sign of an exit. But there was nothing—no doors, no pathways forward. Just the cold, useless machines. A dead end. False hope.

His teeth ground together. "This place is playing with us," he muttered under his breath.

With a sense of rising trepidation, and yet more sinking feelings for what they had hoped would be a smooth escape - they turned back toward the mirrored corridor. It was not a pleasant prospect, but, clearly, they had no choice but to retrace their steps.

As they stepped back into the reflective hallway, this time they were prepared for the mirrors to play their cruel games…and indeed, they didn't have to walk very far before they started warping into fantastic landscapes again. But this time, the tone was entirely different.

Gone were the worshiping crowds and overzealous fangirls. This time they were met by a sea of hostile, snarling faces. On Raito's side, the once-devoted followers now hissed and sneered, their expressions twisted with hatred. "Murderer!" they screamed, their voices filled with venomous contempt. What had once been reverent chants now morphed into a furious mob's accusatory cries, their rage vibrating through the corridor like a storm.

"Two hundred thousand souls!"

"Murderer!"

"Evil incarnate, that's what you are!"

"The stink of Death is on you!"

But on L's side, it wasn't much better. The "L" banners had been torn to shreds, the applause had transformed into jeers. The crowd pointed at him, laughing with abject cruelty, mocking him mercilessly:

"Freak!"

"Yeah right! That guy?"

"Quasimodo!"

"Is he an alien?!"

This time, when the camera flashes went off, it gave a completely different sense. Their faces were twisted with derision, their laughter cruel and biting. More and more pointed at him, the beautiful women from before now cackling at the top of their lungs, while others sneered with disdain. The sound of their ridicule echoed loudly, but L's expression remained impassive, refusing to acknowledge the barbs.

Raito, tense, muttered under his breath, "It's trying to break us."

"Yes. After building us up." came the observation from his left, equally low in tone.

Their pace quickened as the faces in the mirrors grew more aggressive, the crowds' hostility closing in on them with each step. Insults and accusations rose to a crescendo, the jeering voices growing louder, more personal. Some of the reflections even pounded on the glass, as though trying to break free. The mirrors themselves vibrated, threatening to crack under the pressure.

Finally, preventing themselves from running in order to sustain at least a semblance of self-respect, they hurried out of the corridor, emerging back into the Upper Lobby - their nerves completely frayed from the barrage of hatred they had just endured.

Breathing heavily, winded despite not having run anywhere, Raito's eyes darted around the area. There was no sign of any immediate danger, but the eerie silence that greeted them felt newly ominous.

"What the hell do we do now?" he uttered, the profanity escaping uncontrolled, the frustration coming closer to the surface - proof of his rapidly straining state of mind.

They glanced around, feeling trapped once again. There was a growing sense of unease that the building was alive, watching their every move.

As if it had been on alert to answer his question, the mechanical robot voice spoke again - and if he didn't know better, Raito would think he could detect an undercurrent of sing-song mockery in its stubborn mantra.

"All visitors must be Registered before exit. Registration is required."

Uncontrolled, Raito let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. Yeah right. They had just tried to register, and the system was nothing but a dead end. The realization that they were being toyed with was starting to gnaw at him more and more with every passing second.

"Whatever you say, lady..." he muttered more to himself than to answer the computerized voice. He turned to L, who was standing on the side with his thumb against his lips. The black eyes immediately snapped to focus on him when he spoke: "There's got to be a way out."

But before L could say a word, completely unprompted, the map terminal nearby flickered to life, shifting from a three-dimensional model of the entire building to a zoomed-in, rotating layout of the Level 1 floor.

"Seems like it wants us to check the maps." L finally spoke.

'It wants'...the echo of the phrase hovered heavily in the air between them. The two exchanged a tense glance, neither wanting to admit how deep they were sinking into this place's… grip. Here they were again, at a proverbial crossroads, faced with the chilling realization that no path would lead out of here, at least not yet.

But Raito was not going to give up.

"So let's not."

The air felt heavier now, and both men glanced around, their senses sharp with unease.

Tacitly supporting Raito's determination, L threw in his quiet observation:

"If there's an exit, it'll likely be for service use, somewhere near the back."

In unspoken agreement, they started looking for it, methodically combing through the space. They started checking each door, L quickly moving on upon feeling it was locked, Raito occasionally giving a frustrated push when it refused to budge. Most doors around the lobby were sealed, others opened but led to seemingly nowhere useful - just side corridors or more offices with dead terminals. Until eventually, at long last, they found another corridor - much narrower than the one before but unfortunately just as ubiquitously lined with mirrors — with a heavy door marked "Service Exit" at the end.

"Too obvious." L stood behind Raito, his fingers again tapping against his lips skeptically "Bait?" he looked at Raito for an opinion, but the auburn-haired man pursed his lips and shook his head lightly.

"Any better options?" He muttered the rhetorical question that he knew L was already thinking. The answer, unfortunately, was that they didn't - and every extra second they spent loitering around this god-forsaken place was another second that it became more hostile and potentially dangerous for them - if it wasn't already.

He took the first step in the new mirror corridor, L following closely behind, both fully expecting the mirrors around them to start… misbehaving at any moment. It was more disturbing, actually when they didn't. In fact, Raito was just becoming relaxed enough to make some kind of offhand comment again, before some motion on the side caught his eye. He turned around reflexively to the mirror on his right and, to his amazement, instead of his own reflection, he saw instead the reflection of L looking curiously back at him.

"What the–" he started saying, but no sooner had he voiced the words than the reflections swapped once again, and within a second he could see his own reflection staring back at him.

He turned to look at the real L beside him, just to make sure he wasn't the only one imagining things…and sure enough L gave him a pointed look, an extremely small shake of the head, and then a very deliberate turn of his eyes to the front – where the Service Exit door was waiting for them. Raito interpreted the expression with total clarity: Ignore it. Keep going.

And that's exactly what he did. He turned to the front and kept his eyes trained there.

This time, despite seeing odd movements through the corner of his eye, he paid no attention. The reflections were changing and warping again but let games be games; he was keeping his focus on the door. It was made of solid metal instead of glass, for a change…and it looked sturdy.

Finally they reached it, and in that moment he couldn't help but notice their reflections in the background, apparently behaving completely naturally now, following their every movement. He ignored them again, reaching instead for the massive door handle…which didn't turn.

His jaw tightened.

He pushed harder.

It wouldn't budge.

"Come on!" he hissed under his breath, pushing again, bringing his shoulder against the door.

L just stood on the side, observing, unsurprised but still visibly crestfallen.

"It's sealed electronically. No point in trying to force it." he said calmly, studying the structure.

But Raito kept trying, even though he knew it was a lost cause - a sense of claustrophobia was starting to creep in - the realization they were very, very deeply trapped was spurring him into action. He gave the thing a kick, the metallic thud echoing through the empty hall, but it stayed stubbornly shut. He brought his shoulder against it again, this time more forcefully, banged it harder - but to no avail. .

Then, all of a sudden, a low sound was heard.

"Ha….haha…hahahahahaha!"

Raito turned to the side and saw them, their reflections, pointing and jeering. He saw his own face looking back at him, twisted in a cruel mocking expression, laughing with a mad glint in the eyes.

And in the background, L's expression in the mirror was perhaps even more perverse, twisted in a big open laughter that looked so unnatural on that face, it didn't even look like the real person anymore.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Raito clenched his jaw and dry-swallowed, looking back at the solid door. His breathing was getting faster; he was starting to see red.

The laughter kept getting louder and louder - the mirrors almost howling now, pointing at him as he tried banging against the door one more time. Useless.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

God damn you and your stupid little games! He felt the blood rush to his head, his entire body tensing up – that familiar seizure of muscles that he knew precipitated boiling point. From the side, clearly recognizing the signs. L extended a hand.

"Raito-ku—" he started, but it was too late.

SMASH!

This time when he'd swung, it had been straight at his own reflection. He gritted his teeth to handle the pain, hIs fist buried into the glass, shards clinging together on his knuckles, dripping blood on the floor. The mirror shattered with a sharp crack, the splinter spidering out further and further - unnaturally far from where he'd struck it - all the way down the corridor.

And yet, ironically, the offensive reflections remained. Sure enough they had stopped laughing…but the moment his fist had made impact, he saw both of them transforming even more, slowly but surely appearing soaked, from top to bottom, in blood.

On his own face looking back at him he saw a crazed smile, which seemed to widen more and more and more, the teeth sharpening impossibly, the eyes balling up into tiny glass beads - the face of a Shinigami. And on the side, L's reflection changed as well— the body curled down to a fetal ball, the mouth and black eyes becoming cavernous like black holes, the hands elongating and coming up to cradle the face in the manner of Munch's Scream - an abysmal grimace of terror.

For a moment, the corridor fell into a dead, eerie silence, with only the sound of glass tinkling to the ground.

And then, in the silence, the mechanical voice cut through… but this time it was no longer in the calm, detached tonality of before. Although the words were still robotic and impersonal, now there was a clear edge to it— as though 'she' was enjoying saying the words:.

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Threat detected."

Out of nowhere, the entire corridor lit up with red flashing lights, the wails of sirens deafening them. The cracked mirror walls started pulsing with an angry, flashing crimson as the voice continued on the soundwaves.

"Threat level: moderate. Initializing Containment Protocol A."

The mechanical voice cut through the chaos again, through its neutrality somehow conveying a note of glee.

"That doesn't sound good..." it was L's turn to mutter.

BRRMMMM…

Just as he said it, rumbling and cracking sounds started echoing from above them. They looked up in unison, noticing the dust that was starting to fall from the ceiling.

"Definitely not good…" Raito echoed, and no sooner had he finished the words than the first pieces of gypsum started falling down from above.

"Move!" Raito yelled, and they lost no more time. They both burst into a sprint immediately, dashing frantically toward the exit of the corridor. As they ran, they barely registered the mirrors shattering behind and around them, pulverized into millions of tiny crystals by the crushing weight of the rapidly collapsing ceiling.

With alarms blaring around them, they made it out of the mirror tunnel just in time - followed closely by huge rumbling sounds and clouds of dust, akin to those of a rockslide. They looked back for a moment, only to see the entire service exit corridor now blocked by a wall of rubble.

"I suppose that exit is out, then." L made the understatement of the century, but didn't have time to expound further, again interrupted by a din of cracking and rumbling.

Immediately they both looked down and around, watching how the once-empty and spotless lobby was beginning to change—the walls and floors were shifting, cracking and crumbling as though the very structure of the building was responding to some unseen tectonic force.

They turned around sharply, both their eyes darting across the chaos. The once sleek and pristine marble on the floor began to shudder and fracture. Fissures snaked across the ground, splitting open with a sickening sound, and sections of the ceiling sagged dangerously. Dust fell in thin streams as the walls themselves seemed to bend, creating dizzying distortions of space.

Then, with a massive crumbling sound, Raito saw a long crack tearing through the ground between them and the staircase to the main hall, cutting off their only escape route.

"Watch out!" he snapped, grabbing L's arm and pulling him close as the floor beneath them began to give way. L had been motionless for just two seconds, and he'd almost fallen into the chasm.

"This way!" Ratio said breathlessly, tugging the other man toward a line of doors along the back side of the lobby - technically the only way they could go. The walls were distorting further, stretching away and curling toward them like a trap - but they barely had time to acknowledge the dizzying effect.

They reached the first door but, when Raito pulled it open, a solid brick wall greeted them - it had changed from when they'd been exploring before. He growled in frustration, kicking the immovable wall in futile anger.

L ran to another door nearby, but the knob clearly refused to budge. In the meantime, the walls were still closing in, just as the cracks in the floor continued to widen—the entire place was collapsing, fast.

Raito tried another door - one which he knew had led to some offices before. But this time, as he swung it open, he found himself almost stepping into a sheer drop to chaos— the door opened straight out of the building.

"Raito-kun!" L yanked him back by the shirt just before he could fall - thank God for fast reflexes.

"Shit!" Raito snarled, falling back against the other man and steadying himself for a moment.

"This is a living labyrinth. It shifts." L murmured, his voice flat but faster than usual.

Suddenly, without any kind of noise or warning, the ceiling split open right above them - chunks of it crashing down around. One narrowly missed L, who slammed against Raito to dodge it, and the auburn-haired man wasted no more time, grabbing the other and pulling him along to the only remaining set of doors, which now seemed to be their only chance.

"Keep moving!" Raito barked, shoving them forward. Thankfully this last doorway opened normally, and they finally stumbled into a long, narrow corridor – lined with more doors on either side, some ajar, others sealed shut.

Behind them, the sound of the collapsing lobby grew louder, the final groan of metal and crash of stone deafening them as the entire space swallowed itself. Raito pulled the door shut behind them and they dove straight ahead, running for their lives.

The new corridor was only slightly more silent compared to the chaos they had just fled, but the rumbling was getting closer by the second. The sound of their breathing and hurried footsteps echoed off the sterile walls, which seemed to stretch and constrict unnaturally as they moved, creating a vertiginous effect that, again, they barely had time to appreciate.

"Containment Protocol engaged. Upper Deck decontamination in process. Standby for–"

The robotic female voice echoed faintly in the distance, but now it was distorted, garbled—unsettling, like a ghostly whisper chasing them. They couldn't clearly make out what it was saying, but undoubtedly it would not be something they'd like to hear.

Raito skidded to a halt, eyeing the nearest office door that was slightly ajar. "In here!" he said feverishly, and L followed immediately.

They burst inside and Raito quickly shut the door behind them, casting them to temporary darkness.

The rumbling outside still thundered, but they wasted no time; Raito grabbed a nearby chair and jammed it under the handle to barricade the door, while L blocked it further by pulling over some large, futuristic water-cooler thing. Then, they turned around, eyes scanning the room, trying to catch their breath.

Inside the office, the chaos outside was momentarily muffled, creating a small oasis of calm - only the low buzz of machines reverberating in the half-light. Monitors lined the walls, flickering with fragments of text and files that looked like logs - some kind of strange interface that Raito didn't recognize. The room looked disheveled, cluttered with filing cabinets and scattered papers, as though hastily abandoned. Unlike the sleek lobby, this space showed signs of panic and frenzy. Raito barely paid any attention to the mess though; his mind was racing elsewhere.

"Dead end," he growled, scanning the walls for any sign of an exit. His steps were quick and precise as he searched the room with mounting frustration.

L's gaze, however, seemed to lock onto the monitors like a moth to a flame. As though on auto-pilot, he crossed the room in a few quick strides. The screens came to life under his hands, flashing data too quickly for most to absorb—most, but apparently not him. His fingers moved over the controls, flicking through streams upon streams of data - some of it the simplified Chinese of before, some of it in programming language. His sharp eyes tracked every piece of information, taking in the nine screens simultaneously, digesting it seemingly despite himself.

Raito turned and snapped, "What are you doing? This is not the time to read!"

"Reflex," L replied calmly, his voice unhurried.

Raito shot him a frustrated glance but didn't have time to argue further. He moved swiftly around the cabinets, yanking open drawers and slamming them shut, searching desperately behind furniture for some kind of ventilation shaft or alternative exit.

Meanwhile, L continued scanning the screens almost automatically, his mind clearly caught in processing overdrive. The monitors kept going, displaying logs upon logs of incomprehensible clusters of text.

Raito cursed under his breath, shoving another useless piece of furniture aside just as the rumbling outside grew louder. The walls of the room began to tremble slightly. Followed, of course, by the voice they had so grown to love:

"Upper Deck Decontamination complete. Containment Protocol Standby. Commencing Scan of Gallery Section A."

"Shit… she's gonna find us…" Raito hissed, his voice taut with urgency. "L! We need to move!"

L barely acknowledged him, his focus still on the screens. "There are too many discrepancies here. Look," he said, his tone quick but still flat, pulling up what looked like an old company communique.

Raito gave the screen a dismissive glance, impatience evident. "I can't read this crap!"

"It says: 'I can't work these hours anymore. My family hasn't seen me in weeks, and I still haven't been paid.'"

"I don't care about their labor disputes!" Raito gritted his teeth, pushing a heavy cabinet to the side. "We need to get out!"

L's eyes darted across another series of spreadsheets. "This isn't just about overtime. There are off-the-books transactions. Massive payouts to silence people—employees disappearing after filing complaints."

Raito paused, his expression hardening as he finally managed to dislodge the cabinet, revealing a vent behind it. For a brief moment, he smiled in relief …but then he realized he needed a crowbar to pry it open.

Suddenly, the robotic female voice was heard from outside- muffled through the office door.

"Gallery Section A cleared. Containment Protocol Standby. Commencing Scan of Gallery Section B"

The room shuddered. The walls started vibrating with a low hum as a green laser line suddenly swept across the room. Raito froze, feeling a sickening sense of being watched.

"Threat Detected. Initializing Containment Protocol A."

"Shit," he hissed, whipping around toward L. "She's gonna crush us!" He frantically rummaged through a desk, throwing files aside in search of something—anything—that could serve as a crowbar.

But L's fingers still danced over the controls, his formidable mind still absorbed elsewhere: "There's something big here, something they're hiding," he muttered. Like a predator smelling blood, his appetite had been whetted – and apparently, he couldn't stop. "Complaints about dangerous working conditions, security clearances, blacklisted employees…"

"Forget it!" Raito snapped. He finally pried off a chair leg and began using it as a makeshift crowbar - but to no avail, he couldn't find a proper angle to apply leverage.

The rumbling of the walls got louder and Raito hurried his movements even more, but L wouldn't be shaken. One stream of code in particular seemed to hold his attention, his black eyes becoming round in wonder as he stared at it on the screen.

"The basement…" he murmured, his brow furrowing slowly.

But just as he uttered the words, the monitors flickered red. The lights in the room dimmed, and the screens all started glitching simultaneously. L's hands paused as, one by one, the displays turned to static, replaced by garbled code.

The machine on the speakers, now with an unsettlingly sweet voice, broke through the silence again - no longer muffled through the door, but rather sounding as if it was right in the room with them.

"Looking for something?"

Raito stopped in his tracks. L paused in his motions for a split second, then narrowed his eyes at the screens and continued typing.

"Almost there…" he muttered to himself.

Raito turned to him, his voice a hiss of urgency. "L—quit it!"

"Almost…" L persisted, but before he could hack in, all the screens flickered off completely. The room was cast into eerie dark silence, the only light now the red alarm glowing intermittently from the hallway. Then, in unison, white letters appeared all across the blacked-out monitors:

Curiosity killed the cat.

Raito's expression hardened as he read the words - in his eyes Japanese, and fully comprehensible.

"We're done here. We're getting out. Now."

L hesitated, but clearly he knew they were out of time. Whatever information they could have gathered, this building's homicidal A.I. had locked them out.

Suddenly, the walls trembled again. Filing cabinets shook, and papers whirled into the air as if pulled by an unseen force. The room itself seemed to warp, the walls rippling as if reality were bending around them.

Raito shoved the crowbar into the vent and strained to pry it open — but he couldn't do it alone. "Come on!" he shouted. L finally joined him, and together, they forced the vent cover loose.

"MOVE!" Raito ordered, his patience spent.

Without a word, L crouched and crawled into the narrow shaft, followed closely by a seething Light. The metal creaked under their weight as they forced their way inside. The glow of exploding machinery lit up the space behind them, and when they looked back briefly to see what was happening, they almost choked on the cloud of dust that was coming towards them —as though the office had been blown to smithereens. For a moment, they were stunned, but there was no time to dwell on it. They kept moving, deeper into the vents, the threat still hot on their heels.

It took a lot of crawling in the dark, until the air finally started to clear, and the sulfrous smell started to dissipate. Slowly, as they turned around corners in the ventilation shafts, they were met by currents of cool oxygen flowing from up front. Through the metal casing around them, they could still hear faint echoes of the mechanical voice, filtering through, quieter now but still present.

"Gallery Section B cleared. Threat contained. Commencing Scan of Gallery Section C" it intoned from afar.

Raito clenched his jaw, his knees scraping against the metal. "I've had enough of her, let me tell you," he hissed.

L kept going, his silence a tacit agreement.

Eventually, the banging and explosive sounds faded out, seeming further and further, until they stopped completely. They also stopped moving for a moment, discombobulated by the sudden silence.

A few seconds later, the robotic voice chimed in again, now with finality, sounding completely detached, calm and mechanical:

"Threat neutralized."

The undertone of danger was gone. They paused, listening to the statement, which was only followed by silence. It would seem, at least temporarily, that they were safe. But they knew better than to believe it was permanent.

Gingerly, they resumed their forward crawl, the passage twisting and turning, their breath echoing in the tight space. At some point they had to take another turn and Raito took the lead - probably better, considering L's thinly veiled resentment for tight spaces.

"You okay?" he whispered, noticing how the detective's breathing was sounding much more labored than when they'd started.

"Fine." the simplicity of the answer alone was enough to tell Raito it was false, but there was nothing he could do about it, really – except try his best to find an exit as soon as possible.

After what felt like an eternity of stifled darkness, to the point where Raito himself started feeling like they would never get out, they finally saw light filtering through a vent ahead.

Raito carefully approached it, peering through the slats. "Looks like offices….." he whispered, and turned to get an opinion, barely able to see L's nod through the half-light.

Alright then, here goes… With a muffled grunt, he pushed the vent cover off, catching it before it could fall and make any noise. As stealthily as they could, they dropped down into a small, dimly lit office, the air strangely calm compared to the chaos they had just escaped.

And then, finally — total silence. The room appeared normal, or as 'normal' as any room could be in this place —just an office space with futuristic, glass cubicles and desks, untouched by the devastation they'd encountered so far.

Raito stood still, catching his breath. L scanned the area, looking at the inactive screens around, as if whatever power source drove the building's systems wasn't affecting this part.

"This won't last," Raito muttered, walking carefully around the cubicles, sending his eyes up to check for camera activity, as though he anticipated the next attack. He eyed the exit warily, but the corridor outside seemed quiet.

L moved to a desk, brushing his fingers over a wide, transparent touch-pad.

"Perhaps it thinks we're no longer worth chasing," he offered, although in a completely unconvincing tone.

"Ha… women never give up so easily."

"Only when it comes to Raito-kun, I'm sure."

"Pff…" But Raito was too on-edge to banter back, or even make any mean jokes about L's apparently fangirl-laden fantasies. He stopped near the doorway, glancing back to the other.

"We should keep moving. If we stay here, she'll find us again…" If she hasn't already. He left the last part unspoken.

L nodded, and Raito waited for the detective to come huddle behind him before he pushed open the door. He motioned for the other to 'stay low,' and they slipped back into the dim hallways, moving carefully through the corridors, checking the cameras' positions and ducking all the way to avoid detection – although, if he were being honest, Raito suspected they were not fooling anyone. Clearly this machine - female or whatever it was - had total reign of this entire building, and it knew where they were and what they were doing at all times. This place was clearly supernatural, after all. Whatever distorted logic it was employing, as L had observed, it seemed liable to 'shift' at any time.

Nevertheless, they kept going. Eventually, they reached a corridor lined with wide glass windows, from which they could see down into the Main Lobby, where they had first entered this accursed place. But now gone were the gleaming glass tables and the smooth velvet sofas - it was all in ruins, the signs of destruction evident everywhere. The once polished floors were cracked, and the walls were marred with deep gouges. Desks were overturned, broken pieces of machinery everywhere. Digital map screens flickered faintly, casting an eerie glow over the wreckage. And of course, most prominent of all, the huge glass brain statue was shattered into a million pieces.

Not to mention the most horrific sight of all… the humans. The people who had previously entered the building beside them - almost every single one of them - were there, their bodies strewn about the area, grotesquely contorted.

The sheer shock of the scene hit them both. Raito felt a wave of nausea and anger. He momentarily blamed himself for lashing out and triggering the building's defense mechanisms, but a part of him knew that it would have probably happened sooner or later anyway. This whole place was clearly a death trap.

"Looks like we missed the welcoming party," he commented darkly, his eyes scanning the room. He glanced at the main entrance, now completely blocked with rubble. Who knew if it even led back to the world of Mu - now trapped in this glass nightmare, it felt like they'd been transported to a completely different dimension all over again. Honestly, this kind of panic…he hadn't felt it since his Trial.

L stepped forward, studying the ruined lobby.

"Something terrible happened in this company." he said with finality. Ratio remembered how L had been scanning files before.

"Come on, LShady financial dealings? Shocker."

"Not just that. They were hiding something in the lower levels—something big. Something…"

But the detective's voice broke off, distracted. Through the wide window they could see one last person, trembling and crouching amongst the debris. Just as the person raised their head though, a laser beam shot from one of the upper corners of the ceiling and hit them straight in the chest, ending them instantaneously. As the body went still and silence fell over the rubble, the artificial voice in the speakers echoed in the huge space, muffled through the thick glass in front of them, cold and corporate in it's tone:

"Thank you for registering with Erebus Technologies. We value your trust in our systems."

The heartless robotic tone contrasted so starkly with the gruesome reality, it caused them to remain silent for a while, feeling the weight of the scene - and of their chilling predicament - sink in.

"...something sinister." L finally finished his phrase, his eyes wide and unblinking as he watched the last poor individual lying there, glassy eyes unseeing, having just drawn their last breath.

Raito waited a few moments, then turned to look at the other. His gaze was steely; his jaw set.

"Great. Let's not go there."


Under different circumstances, wandering the hallways of a building from the future may have been an exciting proposition. Right now, though, Raito couldn't think of anything he cared less about than the mind-blowing technology that seemed to permeate every corner of this place.

The same couldn't be said of L, however, who seemed to take to it like a fish to water. Typical; better with computers than he is with people. Raito heard the grumbling tone in his own mind, but couldn't find it in himself to complain too much – after all, L's aptitude for using these machines might be their only chance of interacting or understanding this strange environment they were in.

This is why they were now paused before a large touch-sensitive map embedded into the wall, still a bit glitchy but evidently more detailed and more reliable than the holograms they'd encountered so far. L's eyes were narrowed in concentration as he traced the paths with a fingertip.

"This layout isn't normal," L murmured, pointing to irregularities in the paths—dead ends, rooms that shouldn't exist. "It's designed to mislead us. But this—" he tapped on a spot where several pathways seemed to converge and the image zoomed in impossibly, becoming a three-dimentional model of a small room —"this could be either a control hub or a more direct way out."

"How do you figure?" Raito stood behind him, lips pursed, rubbing his chin as he remembered their last botched escape. "Looks like a random room to me."

"I've analyzed the topological structure of each floor plan and cross-referenced their geospatial distortions," L began, tracing a series of lines on the map"There's a recursive pattern in the divergeν-"

"So using logic." Raito concluded, having only intended to check the basis of L's hypothesis. "Which doesn't apply in this place." He said pointedly, distinctly remembering how he had only previously opened a door - which was supposed to lead to an office - only to face the cliff-edge of falling off the skyscraper. This place was constantly shifting - was there any basis to try and escape by using rules of reason?

"Well, if you would wait to hear me conclude my argument," L started, with an echo of his intellectual patronizing of yore "you would realize that the point I selected indicates a focal node of high spatial coherence on the map. In other words: a part that this building is persistently trying to obscure from us."

Reverse psychology, eh? The idea that they would uncover something that 'it' didn't want them to find. That was more likely to work. And it was clever, no doubt about it…but then, no one had ever doubted L would ever suggest anything less than clever. The problem was, Raito knew…in 'Trials' like this, cleverness was not the point.

"And what if this is another goose chase? What if it shifts again? It doesn't want to let us out. " Raito muttered, voice low but sharp. "You know that… right?"

L barely glanced at him, his focus on the map unwavering. "It almost certainly will, but…" he replied coolly, shrugging one shoulder. He finally turned to look back at Light. "Do we have a better choice?"

Raito's jaw tightened. He ran a hand through his hair, looking off to the side for a moment, jarred by those piercing black eyes. His mind raced with frustration and every inch of his body felt on edge. But will we ever have a better choice? His nerves had progressively been fraying more and more with each failed attempt to escape…and now it looked like they were in for another round.

Seconds passed in silence, then L spoke again, his voice calm and matter-of-fact.

"It's working to confuse us. Perhaps, if we outsmart it… we might just win."

Outsmart it? Is that what this is to him? Raito blinked, the words igniting something deep within him - a trigger, perhaps, of some memory from Earth, or even his Trial. But whatever it was, it was enough to unlock something inside him, a current of rage he hadn't even been aware was there. His head snapped up rapidly as anger flared in his chest.

"Outsmart it? This isn't one of your puzzles, Ryuuzaki!" His voice rose as he spat the cursed name, seething with vitriol, tension rippling through him. "Are you having fun with this?! It's our lives you're playing with!"

His fists clenched at his sides,the words burning in his throat as they spilled out, an eruption of the frustration he'd been bottling up.

But L didn't flinch. His posture remained unchanged, the cool black of his eyes locked on Raito, unblinking.

The silence stretched between them, thick and oppressive. The quiet hum of the flickering map was the only sound in the air, the building itself holding its breath.

Raito's chest heaved as his voice died down, panting in the aftermath of his outburst. But still, L didn't move, didn't say a word. He just stood there, silent and steady, watching.

The calm was pervasive - oppressive. A bulwark on which Raito's anger ebbed.

He closed his eyes, his breath still ragged.

"Am I really?" a quiet, soft response finally came, and Raito furrowed his brow despite his closed eyes, wondering what that cryptic message meant.

When he finally opened his eyes again, L hadn't moved an inch. He was just looking patiently at Raito's face, blinking occasionally.

Raito blinked back, processing what L had just said, the fire in his chest dimming at the sight of those calculating black orbs. Is he really—what? Playing with our lives…?

But what lives? They didn't have any, did they? They were already dead, after all. The only thing they had to fear was…immortality itself. An immortality of pain, trapped in this place.

There was no way they could give up, was there? By definition…one way or another…they'd have to live it out. Just like Mu…Just like Earth, for that matter. In any way they could…they had to…they had to get out. Or die trying. And then again. And again. And again. Until it ended. Or it didn't again.

But we'll suffer anyway. So we might as well try.

"Go on then," he muttered, his voice quieter now, drained but quiescent "Lead the way." A small pause. "Before this place shifts again."

L didn't respond, but he gave a single, almost imperceptible nod. He turned back to the map and traced their route, his finger hovering above it as he memorized. Raito stayed quiet, blinking, checking down the corridor in case something was wrong.

Then, when L was ready, he motioned them to move on and took the lead forward, their footsteps echoing again, a sole wave of sound into the empty space.


It took a fair amount of walking, weaving through dark, long corridors and abandoned anterooms, before they found themselves in a long, dimly lit hallway. The metal-coated walls pulsed faintly with holographic 'Erebus' logos, and long blue neon lights, powered by some invisible source, lined the ceiling the entire way. As they rounded another corner, a heavy steel door came into view, looming forebodingly at the end of the hall, looking like some kind of escape hatch on a spaceship. Its frame was also lit with an eerie blue glow, accented by a slow-blinking electronic keypad, its red light flashing prohibitively right next to the doorframe.

Realizing from L's pause that they'd reached their destination, Raito approached the door pensively, eyes narrowing as the keypad's cold light reflected off his face. Without bothering to touch it, he muttered, "Another dead end?"

L stopped beside him, his gaze fixed on the door with a calm detachment. "Not necessarily. Systems like this leave traces—codes are usually stored nearby."

Raito sighed. Of course L would find a way to pick the lock. "Treasure hunt it is, then." he said, already glancing around for possible access points.

L motioned toward the nearest door, which hissed open at their approach, revealing yet another abandoned office area—or as the building's robotic mistress had called it, a "Gallery."

Stepping inside, they were greeted by a silence that felt nearly predatory. The room was large and disturbingly 'lived in,' as though someone had left in a hurry but intended to return. Clothes lay draped over chairs, coffee cups sat half-full, and screens flickered erratically, hinting at lives abruptly paused. Yet, unlike the other offices they'd passed, here the screens still hummed, the only sign of life amid eerie remnants of human presence.

L headed straight for a terminal, summoning a holographic keyboard as if it was the most natural thing in the world - already tuned into the technology.. The screen lit up, casting an icy purple glow over his face. "I'll pull what I can from the security system. You search the room for anything useful."

Raito nodded, moving between rows of desks, eyes scanning the odd scene. Holographic displays flickered as he passed, glitching through incomplete reports and distorted graph; half-alive ghosts of data. Above the workstations, outdated hover-cameras jerkily tracked his every move.

He felt a strange, suffocating sense of presence in the room, like standing in a crowded subway car. Even with his eyes open, he could almost smell sweat, hear faint breathing. His gaze settled on a crisp white shirt draped over a chair, untouched. He picked it up, resisting the urge to check if it smelled like skin.

Without a second thought, he tossed it toward L. "Here—look more like yourself."

L glanced up, expression unreadable. He blinked, stuffed the shirt in his pocket, and went back to typing. Smirking, Raito turned away, but a flicker in the corner of his vision stopped him—a faint, shimmering figure, almost like a mirage. The smirk vanished as he froze.

Ghost…?

He resisted the urge to spin around, instead turning slowly, but the figure had disappeared. Just flickering holograms again, he told himself, though he couldn't shake the feeling of unseen eyes. On the wall behind the displays, a shadow lingered…human-shaped. Without a source.

His skin prickled with dread. The First Sightings were always like this—a half-seen figure, whispers on the edge of hearing. He pushed the fear down, forcing himself to focus. Ghosts… Just what we need on top of everything else in this place.

Near a desk, he picked up a sleek, metallic device with a glitchy interface. Probably useless without its components. Tossing it aside, he noticed a nearby display flashing video footage…. On closer inspection, his lip curled in contempt as he realized what he was watching: footage of himself and L moving through the building. The sight made his stomach turn. They'd known they were being watched, but seeing it confirmed, broadcast back at them… It was as though the place was taunting him, showing him proof of how little control they had in here. Lording it over them that they were in its mercy.

Suddenly a voice crackled to life from L's terminal – cold, robotic… although thankfully not the same as the building's main speakers: "System Override. Containment Process Active." Raito looked up in alarm, but L seemed unperturbed.

"I'm pulling up information on the facility," he explained, eyes narrowing as he scanned the system logs. "There are containment breach reports, but I can't access much from here. They're using some custom-made protocol called MAR-e.L.—it controls everything in here." L muttered, barely looking up.

"Is that the bitch hunting us down?" Raito asked with venom, eyes narrowed as he watched the display footage of himself and L, running frantically through corridors of collapsing mirrors on the screen.

But L was oblivious of the bitterness – to be fair, he didn't often get impressed, so when he did, it was apparently monumental. "...there's incredible complexity in this code – it controls everything in here. Knowledge Base, ERP, Operations, Security…"

"Careful L, don't fall in love." Raito added sarcastically, finally moving on from the screens as L continued, undeterred.

"The CEO, Derrick Cheng—brilliant, self-made, fixated on making this place 'the leader in biotechnology,'" he said, a faint edge of irony in his voice.

Raito shook his head. "Great. Just what we need— more cutting-edge biotech to deal with." He rifled through a drawer—empty, save for a useless stylus. So much for 'cutting edge.' His frustration spiked, but then his gaze landed on a glint—a slim, metallic card with a sequence of glowing numbers. He picked it up, eyes lighting up .Looks like a data key! he realized with excitement.

"Hey, I think I—" He broke off, freezing as he caught sight of a figure in the corner, a man in a suit, hollow and translucent. This time, there was no mistaking it: Ghost.

Raito's heart lurched as the figure stepped forward, hollow eyes fixing on him with a look of broken despair before dissolving into pixels. He took a shaky breath.

"We've got company," he said, voice tight.

L glanced briefly at the corner, expression neutral. He returned to typing, but his fingers moved a fraction faster. "Yes," he murmured. "The phenomena are getting stronger."

Raito clenched his jaw. "Stronger? You mean—"

"Second sighting," L said quietly, as if it were routine. "You might want to prepare."

Cold dread settled over Raito. A Second Sighting, already. He scanned the room, clocking the many objects that could turn into flying weapons. If they reached the Third Sighting, based on the 'rules' of the other Haunted Houses of Mu…

Telekinesis.

L hadn't told him—typical. But they both knew, admitting fear only made it worse. The entities seemed to feed off it. For now, he forced himself to stay calm, taking mental notes of solid objects versus holograms. Anything here could become a projectile.

Just then, he noticed a large touchscreen flashing the same number sequence as the metal card in his hand. A surge of excitement flooded him once again, and he intentionally put aside the danger for a moment. He hurried over to the terminal, bringing the card to hover over a blinking receptor. The screen flashed green, and a robotic voice spoke:

"Access granted."

"Good catch." L was instantly beside him, leaning in. "If I access the time logs, I might recover fragments of the door's code."

Raito nodded and left L to it, eyes scanning the darkening room. Shadows seemed to spill out from the walls, pooling like ink, as the holograms around them glowed eerily brighter—almost too bright. He caught himself staring, wondering if they were more than holograms.

"…if we match these timestamps to the protocol pattern…" L's voice faded as Raito's gaze shifted. A hunched figure slumped over an abandoned desk caught his eye, ghostly fingers tapping on an invisible keyboard in an endless, feverish motion.

Third sighting.

His heart hammered louder. He knew what would follow.

Telekinesis.

"L," he said, urgency edging into his voice, eyes fixed on the apparition. "How much longer?"

"One minute," L muttered, focused on the terminal, fingers darting across the keys. "If I can isolate the subroutine, we could link directly to the central lock system."

Raito's jaw clenched – L was totally lost. He moved gingerly so as not to disturb the ghost, imperceptibly putting himself between L's body and the rest of the room. Desks, chairs, and terminals sat ominously still for now—but how long? Every piece of furniture felt like a missile lying in wait, just waiting to erupt.

With a shuddering crash, a chair suddenly slid across the floor, colliding with a desk. Then, other objects started to rattle and shake in their spots, like beasts straining against chains.

He reached back, groping for anything to use as a shield while keeping one eye on the ghost. It hadn't faded out yet, but he braced himself for when it did. His fingers closed around a flimsy digital pad—better than nothing.

Suddenly, his vision caught movement at his side—a small device vibrating violently on a desk. Uh-oh. He prepared himself for impact, holding the pad in front of him, but nothing came. Just flickers, almost mirages, on the edge of his sight.

Then…another ghost materialized. No, two. They stood side by side at a desk, blank-faced and typing on phantom keyboards.

His eyes widened in disbelief. Fourth sighting.!?What the… His pulse spiked, and his eyes darted around the room.

One by one, the started popping up: more and more of them, manifesting out of nowhere—figures seated on chairs, hunched over desks, shuffling around like machines gone haywire. Each moved in a looping, mindless rhythm. One adjusted nonexistent glasses, while another lifted an empty mug to invisible lips. Again and again.

Raito's skin prickled. His instincts were screaming; this wasn't right. There was no telekinesis, but… something was happening; intensifying. In his peripheral vision, he caught a ghost twitching erratically, its motions accelerating, hands jerking back and forth on a phantom keyboard. Unnaturally fast.

"L?" His voice was sharp with tension.

"One. Moment." L's reply was maddeningly calm, his eyes glued to the screen.

Slowly but surely, each one of the figures began to speed up, going through their chosen repetitive motion faster and faster…until eventually, like cogs of a machine beginning to overheat, they also began to….steam, tendrils of smoke curling from their forms, fingers melting as if their ghostly flesh were boiling from the inside out. The smoke thickened, tinged with the sharp stench of burning plastic.

Raito's breath quickened as he caught sight of one specific ghost…and how its fingers literally burst into otherworldly flame. They're overheating, Raito realized, like machinery pushed past its breaking point. Shadows shifted, objects nearby heated up, small devices shuddering and steaming as if ready to burst.

Never mind telekinesis….this could be worse.

"L," he tried again, voice rising.

"I said one—"

"Watch out!" Raito yelled, lunging forward to pull L down as that first ghost burst into flame, the flickers missing L's head by a whisper. They hit the ground with a crash, pain jolting up Raito's arm as his elbow slammed into the cold metal grate.

"Ugh! " they both groaned in pain reflexively.

For an instant, there was silence—thick and suffocating.

Then, a low, murmuring hum, as if a hundred voices were whispering all at once, and Raito forced himself to look up. Slowly, in eerie unison, every ghostly figure turned their head toward him and L. Hundreds of blank eyes locked onto them, faces twisted in expressions that were between agony and hate.

L shifted underneath him, his voice a mere breath. "I think… they've noticed us."

Raito swallowed hard, helping L up, but his knees felt weak as they stood, transfixed by the legion of blank, unblinking eyes. Then, with a shudder, in total unison, the ghosts jerked back to life, twice as fast. They snapped into motion, hands flying across invisible keyboards, reaching for ghostly mugs, typing faster and faster and faster, faces still locked onto Raito and L, craned unnaturally and begging for help – even as their limbs were literally burning out.

The bodies might be translucent, but the smoke was very real, now even more then before, their flesh melting more and more off of their skulls - like cogs of a machine starting to overload. The sickly-sweet smell of burning flesh and hair stung his nostrils, twisting his stomach

Raito swallowed hard again, his voice barely a whisper as he kept his hands on L's slim body, unconsciously squeezing it close as he looked at their frantic faces, all calling for help even as they burned. "We need to go."

"I'm close," L whispered fiercely next to Raito's ear, and Raito spun his face to look at him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" he couldn't help himself, the adrenaline pushing him past breaking point. "We're gonna burn alive!"

"Then let me do this." For once, the black eyes were openly defiant, narrowed and hard as steel, not black but reflecting the light around. There was a crack in that unflappable calm, the mouth open almost in a snarl. Was it the pressure of being brought to boiling point in that room, or the thrill of a new intellectual challenge?

Damn you and your puzzles! Raito glared back, caught between the desperation of the rising temperature and the desperation of dealing with L. He let their eyes clash for a few moments, each bristling with stubbornness. But L wasn't backing down.

"Sixty seconds," Raito finally grit out and let the other man go, glancing at the terminal even as his instincts screamed to flee. L didn't answer, flying back to the screen, moving with new urgency.

Raito put his body between the idiot and the sizzling, spectral crowd, clutching the digital pad in his hands, more out of nerves than any practical reasonHis eyes darted between the ghostly figures, which now blurred and crackled, edges fraying like burning paper, mouths contorting in soundless screams. Smoke curled from their limbs, and in some, fingers were literally searing away to bone. He gritted his teeth, ready to pull L out if he had to.

"Forty." he spat, his voice tight.

The apparitions' whispers grew louder, becoming a rising wail, an agonized groan that filled the air with the screech of grinding gears and snapping metal. Raito watched as they clawed at their own limbs, flesh peeling away in curls of ghostly smoke, eyes fixed on him like he was their executioner.

"Thirty." Raito bit out, more to himself, bracing to drag L out by force if necessary. The ghosts were nearly ablaze now, every face writhing in pain, whispers rising to a fever-pitched scream. Some figures started to catch fire, their eyes blazing with heat, mouths moving as if begging him to stop.

"Almost" L whispered, but Raito heard the crack in his calm; reflecting a fevered intensity.

Raito lifted his hand to his hand, trying to breathe through the scent of scorched plastic and flesh. "Twenty." he muttered through clenched teeth. He watched as now almost all the ghosts' hands burst into flame, one after the other, the flickering tongues of fire licking up their limbs as they kept moving, their faces locked onto him, silent accusations radiating from their hollow stares.

The room filled with noise, the sound of a machine in the throes of overexertion, a crackling roar mixed with the ghostly murmurs turned to shrieks. It was a suffocating, hellish din that rattled his bones, his vision blurring with the heat and smoke.

He forced his voice into a countdown, louder and more desperate with each second. "Ten… nine… eight…" His grip tightened on the flimsy pad, his whole body taut, every muscle wound like a spring. Sweat trickled down his face, blurring his vision as he glanced at L, willing him to finish.

"Seven… six… five…" Each number felt like a fist tightening around his heart. Shadows twisted, the room a furnace of heat and light, pressing in on him, the ghosts burning brighter, as if feeding off his desperation. Every face turned to them, mouths open in silent, hollow screams.

"Four… three…" He didn't know where they would run, but they had to. The screeching roar of ghostly whispers scraped at his ears, rattling his bones, clawing at his skin. He tasted smoke, thick and oily, filling his throat.

"Two…" His voice cracked, ragged. He could barely see through the haze, but he kept his eyes on L, clinging to that last thread of hope.

Finally, L gasped, "I have it!"

Without a second's hesitation, Raito grabbed him by the khaki collar, yanking him forward with a strength born of raw panic. They stumbled through the whirling chaos, weaving between flaming specters whose arms flailed in agony, translucent flesh sloughing off like ash in the scorching air. The room roared with the sound of snapping metal and grinding gears, a nightmarish cacophony that grew louder with each step.

They crashed into the hallway, coughing on the fumes, gasping as they staggered free—only to freeze.

More of them. Everywhere, crowding the narrow corridor, shoulder-to-shoulder, caught again in ever-hastening routines. Here too the air was thick with the sickening stench of scorched flesh.

Raito's hand stayed clamped on L's collar, an anchor in the chaos as his heart pounded with grim finality. The crowd of spectral figures seemed to press closer, walls of hollow, burning faces sealing every path. It was the same nightmare, repeating: the moment Raito and L had burst out the door, the ghosts had all turned as one, their faces twisted with surprise and helpless pain, limbs caught in jerking, automatic gestures that they seemingly had no control over.

The air felt heavy, thick with the smell of burnt flesh, as though the sheer force of their misery had imprinted itself on the walls. And already, they were burning out.

But with the decryption sequence ready, L didn't hesitate. He bolted toward the door, and Raito followed close behind, moving backward to keep an eye on the specters. His gaze darted between the glitching security cameras and the flickering neon lights above, half-expecting them to burst, like lines of gasoline waiting to catch fire.

Then he heard it—the sound of deliverance. The lock gave a final, satisfying click, followed by the crisp electronic voice: "Access Granted." Raito looked back in time to see L framed in the vast, dark doorway, a stairwell looming in the thick blackness beyond.

But when he turned forward, the ghosts had closed in, pressing so close that he and L were pinned against the wall, their translucent eyes blazing with feverish intensity. Some faces melted, rivulets of ghostly flesh streaming down, their movements jerking in mechanical, agonizing loops, even as their heads remained fixed on Raito and L, as if tethered by some unseen force. Their mouths opened in silent screams, the cacophony of words writhing just beneath the surface, hammering against Raito's mind in a silent, unrelenting demand.

Raito's heart thundered, and the smoke coming from the half-burning ghosts clouded his vision, forcing him closer to the exit. They had no choice—darkness or not, they had to get out before they, too, burned.

"After you," he muttered, feigning calm, his gaze still fixed on the ghosts as he braced himself for one last burst of movement.

"Too kind," L attempted dryly, though a quiver in his voice betrayed him. Together, they pressed forward through the doorway, and the darkness swallowed them whole.

As the door clanged shut behind them, Raito caught a final, haunting glimpse of a woman's face—half-melted and writhing, her wide eyes locked onto him, mouth a dark, gaping scream as flames overtook her. She was trapped, suspended in some endless agony, flickering like a dying flame but never allowed release.

When the shadows settled over them, Raito turned quickly, leaning back against the cool metal door, and let out a long, rattling exhale. He ran a hand over his hair, letting it fall for a moment to cover his mouth as his mind replayed that last horrific face. His eyes remained wide, his breath hoarse. He could feel the horror setting in, an icy clawing that crept through him, pinning him in place.

God, it's horrible… it's horrible.

Finally, he muttered, "I've heard of 'employee burnout'—" the words a dark joke, barely breaking his tension as his hand dropped to his side, "but that was something else."

Beside him, L was silent, yet visibly rattled. As their eyes adjusted to the twilight, Raito noticed that L's hair was even more disheveled than usual, his clothes slightly crumpled as he steadied himself against the metal wall, head bowed as he drew deep breaths. Raito's gaze lingered, realizing, perhaps for the first time, that even the great L wasn't entirely immune to the strain of their situation. The sheer nerve it must have taken to crack that code under such pressure—it demanded a strength even Raito couldn't help but acknowledge.

Then, he heard the soft rustle of fabric and saw L shrug off his khaki jacket, tossing it aside with a rare, almost violent flick. In its place, L slipped into the crisp white shirt Raito had thrown him earlier. Though L wouldn't stoop to an expletive, Raito felt he was witnessing a quiet, dignified version of "Screw this."

For a brief moment, as L adjusted the collar of the fresh shirt, Raito saw a flicker of something else—an unguarded vulnerability rarely visible in L's usually impenetrable composure. His shoulders, wide but slim, shivered slightly. There, in the half-darkness, the world's greatest detective looked strangely human. And somehow, it felt oddly comforting to know Raito wasn't alone in feeling the pressure. The white shirt gleamed faintly in the shadows, a small beacon of calm amid the chaos.

Raito took a slow breath, collecting himself as the echoes of their encounter faded into the walls. At least for now, they seemed safe.

"Well, this doesn't look like a control hub," he said, trying to shift focus to something concrete. Now, with his eyes adjusted, he recognized the narrow confines around them—a stairwell, probably an emergency exit like those found in large buildings. Above, faint light trickled down from an unseen source.

"No." L's voice was back to neutral, his composure seemingly restored. "But it could be a service exit."

Raito nodded, though a flicker of doubt tightened his expression. Having watched the video feed of them racing through the building like rats in a maze, he wasn't ready to believe this was a straightforward escape route. The journey here had required all of L's skill, and it felt secluded enough to be promising, but Raito knew better than to trust anything in this place. Perhaps L had finally cracked the system. Or perhaps…

"Shouldn't we be trying to go down, though?" he asked, letting his gaze drift upwards. The stairs spiraled endlessly above them, vanishing into darkness—a climb that seemed absurdly steep. "Aren't we already near the top floors?"

"I believe you were the one who pointed out…" L's voice grew louder as he stepped up beside Raito, the faint light catching on the white of his shirt, "that 'logic does not apply' here?"

Raito couldn't argue. He followed L's gaze upward, narrowing his eyes. "No. It doesn't." But then, what did? Outsmart it, L had said earlier. But how could they win a game when they didn't know the rules? Now they faced yet another mystery—an endless stairwell masquerading as an 'exit.' Was it really their way out, or just another trick of this building, a step deeper into the trap?

"At least we haven't heard from your beloved in a while," he added with dry humor, hoping to break the oppressive silence. The A.I. that had been tracking them seemed silent after their ordeal with the ghosts, a hopeful sign that perhaps they'd moved out of her reach.

"No surveillance cameras here," L noted, as if reading Raito's mind.

Which didn't mean they weren't there—they both knew that. But for once, neither chose to shatter the small, fragile illusion of safety.

"Well… let's hope it stays that way." Raito stepped forward, reaching the first stair and casting a wary glance upward. "We can keep trying each floor as we go. One of these doors has to lead somewhere."


The first few flights were a relief, each step putting distance between them and the bleak ground floor, a reminder that even in a world this twisted, some laws still held: there were floors, stairwells, doors. They hadn't spoken of an escape, not directly, but every step seemed to echo it in unison, each climb bringing fresh air into their lungs, pushing the claustrophobic gloom of that boiling cauldron further below.

Raito felt his heart settle into a steady rhythm. With each flight, they'd try the door at the new floor landing, fingers curling around cold, tarnished handles before the inevitable push and the sound of metal grinding against itself—locked again But even so, he couldn't shake the sense that something was changing. Every time he tried the handle, it seemed to turn just a little bit more.

On floor twenty, they noticed it: a symbol painted on the wall beside the doorframe, a spiral of broken lines, barely visible in the dim light. Raito squinted, tracing the edges of it with his eyes, something inexplicably familiar and yet… unreadable. "Any ideas?" he asked, glancing at L.

L's gaze lingered on the symbol, his fingers trailing over it as though trying to unlock some hidden pattern. "...Unclear." He finally acquiesced , stepping back to study the pattern. "But it could be an indication. No marks before."

They shared a look—a rare, silent moment of optimism passing between them—before Raito turned and pushed onward, L following without a word.

The climb took on a rhythm, the steps echoing as they climbed floor after floor, their breaths falling into unison. Every twenty or so flights, they'd find another symbol, twisted shapes and half-familiar letters burned into the walls like old graffiti, faint and ghostly. It gave Raito a strange comfort, as if each symbol were a step closer to… something, even if he couldn't name it.

At floor forty, they found a sign, battered and broken but unmistakable, jutting from the wall beside the stairwell. It read, in barely legible letters, Service Exit Ahead.

Raito's chest tightened with hope, a fire sparking in his blood. "You see that?" he said, glancing back at L, his voice more alive than it had been since they began this climb.

"Yes," L replied, his gaze lingering on the sign. He didn't smile, but there was a light in his eyes, a faint softening of that constant calculating focus. "It could be… A test of persistence."

That word again. Persistence.

Fair enough, Raito thought. We've made it this far. They hurried on, driven now by the sign, by the promise of reaching something tangible. Every step felt lighter, their pace quickening. The signs continued, growing less weathered as they climbed higher— though the same could not be said for the walls. Past floor fifty, the stairwell grew colder, the concrete walls scarred with deep cracks. The symbols changed too—darker, more jagged, almost violent in their lines.

Raito frowned at them, each glance bringing with it an uneasy prickling in his chest. "These symbols," he murmured. "They… don't look the same as before."

"No," L said softly, his gaze fixed on the wall. "But that doesn't mean we're not on the right track."

Could be….Raito heaved as he narrowed his eyes at the etched "fifty six" in front of him. "Maybe it's trying to throw us." he reasoned.

"It wouldn't be the first time." L agreed, and Raito had a rare moment of catching him run a hand through his black hair, the exertion obviously running its toll on him as well.

They got back into it, as the chill in the stairwell deepened, a dampness creeping into the air, almost as though the higher they climbed, the closer they came to something cold and vast. Each breath felt heavier, condensation starting to fog the railings, the faint smell of mildew biting at their senses.

Still, they climbed.

By floor seventy, they were silent, saving breath, only the harsh sound of their steps echoing in the narrow stairwell. Raito's legs burned, his pulse hammering in his ears, but each new floor brought a fresh dose of adrenaline. Even as the chasm underneath grew steeper, he didn't notice much. He was focused ahead - they were getting close. The symbols were shifting again, coiling into strange, almost serpentine shapes. Some of them looked like arrows, pointing upward. The walls themselves seemed narrower, squeezing inward like they were funneling the two of them somewhere… outside.

At floor ninety, the signs became clearer, the walls smoother, the symbols carved into the concrete instead of painted, letters and shapes too precise to have been placed at random. Raito could almost feel them thrumming with energy under his hand as he brushed his fingers over one, reading the faint, foreign lettering in his mind: "Emergency Exit", he translated from the simplified Chinese, the meaning slipping in and out of his consciousness like a half-remembered dream.

"It's in the original language," he said aloud, glancing back at L, his pulse quickening. "Part of the building. Not Mu."

When he tried the door handle, it gave almost all the way save for a small bit at the end. Just that small bit between them and…freedom?

L tilted his head, eyes narrowing as he studied the walls. His hair was almost completely wet now, sticking to his cheeks and his nape, as was Raito's. The white thin shirt was soaked through completely, clinging to the slim frame underneath. "Perhaps," he said slowly. "...but we are way above the ground. An exit doesn't make logical sense."

But there was something in his gaze, a faint glint of belief, or perhaps just the ghost of it. Logical sense had almost started becoming a signal for strangeness, in this place. Perhaps now that it didn't make sense…perhaps now it was real. And that was all Raito needed — it was close now, he could feel it. At floor "100", maybe. Maybe that was the persistence test here.

They exchanged glances, faint smiles barely visible in the dim light. Raito felt the hope taking root, every instinct telling him they were close, close enough to taste it.

The final flights were brutal, their legs dragging, the air thinning. Each step felt like a thousand, like the weight of the entire staircase was pressing down on them, grinding their bones, straining every fiber. But they were so close—just a few more floors, and—

"Floor one hundred." Raito gasped the words, barely able to believe them as he stumbled onto the landing, hands braced against his knees. He could feel his pulse pounding, his body ready to give out, but there was the door, heavy and solid, right in front of them.

He reached for the handle, heart racing, every nerve singing with expectation.

…But it didn't budge. Not even a little. Not a fraction.

He pushed, twisted, shoved with all his weight, but it was jammed tighter than any of the ones before – it hadn't been this bad since the bottom of the staircase, in fact. For a moment, the two of them just stared at it, breathing hard, the realization slowly dawning.

Raito's fists tightened, his face contorting. He wanted to scream, to punch the door, to rip it from its hinges. Instead, he forced his jaw to relax, inhaling deeply, then turned back to L.

"It's… just a little further. It has to be," he said, his voice rough. "We've come this far."

"Yes," L murmured, his own breath uneven, but his face calm. "We have."

They exchanged a look—a silent, fragile understanding hanging between them that neither wanted to acknowledge—and turned back to the stairs, climbing once more, each step now more grueling than the last. But now, even in their exhaustion, they felt it: the air changing again, cooler now, the faint brush of a breeze whispering down from above. Again, the strange sensation that they were reaching… something.

Maybe it wasn't about the doors? Maybe that was a misdirection…Maybe it was about the height itself. The air did seem to be getting fresher, as though it was coming from outside. Perhaps at some point they'd reach the outside? Maybe with its twisted logic, this entire building was somehow…underground, now…and they were actually reaching ground level?

Raito stopped for a moment, catching his breath, leaning on the railing next to him. A stolen glance at the gap below almost made him dizzy, and he pulled his eyes away immediately. Damn, it's high… He felt L pause on his left, the detective mirroring his stance and leaning against the far wall, breathing heavily.

"We're close now," Raito gasped out "Have to be." he said, voice a fight between delirious triumph and delirious desperation welling inside him. His exhaustion and the thinness of the air - they were making him giddy - his thoughts were leaning to an optimistic bias, the way they did when colored by delirium . This has to be it—Just a few more floors. He could almost feel the fresh air waiting above them, one more flightlight pouring through.

He looked at L a bit manically, his eyes searching for something even he didn't understand. But he felt better as L looked at him and just nodded, looking every bit as exhausted and hopeful as Raito felt.

But then, as they took their first steps onto the next landing, something shifted. A slight chill ran through the air, and for a moment, Raito thought he heard the faint shuffle of footsteps in the stairwell below them. He stopped, turning his head to listen, but there was only silence. Dismissing it, he pressed on, L by his side, onward slowly through the relentless ascent.

Then, on the next floor, he caught a movement from the corner of his eye—something pale and flickering. His blood went cold as he looked down:

There, climbing up the stairs with eerie, unnatural speed, was the form of a man, his head twisted grotesquely to face upward, eyes wide and empty, mouth twisted in a silent scream….and yet, even though he was climbing up and his face looked up, his entire body was twisted to… face down. This thing, this ghostly mishmash of a person, scrambled up the stairs in strange, jerking motions, his body technically walking backwards. Before Raito could utter a word, another figure appeared behind the first—this time, a young woman, her face set in a horrid scream as she scaled the steps at a horrifying pace, walking backwards as unnaturally as the former, her eyes fixated on them with a dead, haunting stare.

"Go," Raito whispered urgently, grabbing L's arm. Together, they hurried up the steps, their feet pounding as they climbed. The adrenaline from the fear had given them new strength, but this didn't mean it was easy. Now with each floor they gained, more shadows appeared in the stairwell below, all climbing with the same twisted posture, heads facing backward, necks at impossible angles. Their faces were frozen in expressions of terror, mouths wide, as if eternally screaming. And they were moving faster now, like a tide surging upward - the spastic movements slowly making their bodies steam again.

Oh no…

A door on the next landing creaked as Raito reached for it, praying for an escape—but it didn't budge, locked like the others. The ghosts were closing in, their skeletal forms flickering and jerking as if caught between worlds. He could feel their presence, a pressing weight that clawed at his back with hot, smoky fingers. Each of them was a potential grenade - the closer they came, the more dangerous.

After a few flights, as if the ghosts that were gaining ground below them were not enough…the stairwell itself started shifting below them. The stone steps thinned, transforming with each flight, becoming rickety, fragile—as if they were scaling an ancient fire escape suspended over a chasm. The walls began to dissolve into simply panes of glass… then into sheer, open air. When he had thought they would find themselves outside, this is certainly not how he had imagined it. Wind howled around them, biting and relentless, carrying with it the stench of smoke and decay. And far from ground level, they were indeed at a precipitous height.

Raito looked over his shoulder, heart pounding, and saw the ghastly forms climbing faster. Flames burst across their bodies, but the fire only urged them on. Their mouths stretched into black voids, eyes blazing as they ascended with unnatural speed.

"Don't look back," L commanded sharply, his gaze fixed above. "Just keep moving."

Ignoring the vertigo clawing at him, Raito pressed forward, each step on the metal stairs ringing into the darkness below. The fiery ghosts surged closer, their scorched faces distorted with twisted, burning expressions. They crawled upward, leaving scorched footprints and the smell of charred flesh in their wake.

"Hurry!" Raito urged as he let L go first, struggling not to look down. The staircase warped beneath them, iron groaning underfoot. They climbed higher, ghostly flames crackling beneath them, licking hungrily at their heels. Now they had no choice but to climb. So much for triumph—they were beginning to realize the cruel trap the building had set for them.

Finally, they looked up. There—one more flight! Beyond it, a hint of roof!

But just as they paused for a split second, looking up at what could be their deliverance, a voice suddenly echoed around them over the howling wind—strangely loud, as though there were speakers all around.

"Congratulations. A bit higher, and you are free to go." The A.I. woman's voice cut through the chaos—a voice they hadn't heard in a long while. This time, though, it wasn't digitized. It was human. A person. With consciousness.

"Just remember," she continued, as Raito and L froze, exchanging loaded looks, "the higher you are…the harder you fall."

Then she was silent, her voice replaced only by the crackling of fire below and the wind above.

They kept looking at each other, neither speaking out the obvious. The thing they had been refusing to acknowledge from the start: This is her game.

But no. No, not when they'd come so far.

"One more flight," Raito repeated, focusing only on the part of her speech that benefited him. If he gave it any more thought—if he stopped to consider the fact that even her speaking right now belied the entire escape he'd been working toward…he didn't know what he'd do.

He glanced downward, his stomach lurching as he saw them, still in their tortured climb and still burning alive—ghostly figures, distorted and writhing like tormented flames, surging up from the darkness below. They glowed bright, flickering like fireballs as they neared, an inferno churning in the abyss. Where they as trapped in this climb as Raito and L were?

"Go!" he called, resuming his pace. The hollow clang of each step echoed into the void. The iron creaked, the staircase shuddering with each step, barely supporting them. His eyes locked onto L's figure ahead, his dark silhouette cutting an unearthly shape against the rising blaze below. Just a few more steps…we've made it this far…

Then his foot hit a loose step, and the iron gave way.

Raito's hand shot out reflexively, fingers curling around the edge of the next step as he fell forward, his body swinging out over the void. His arm jolted with the weight, his grip burning, and he held his breath, trying not to look down at the torrent of fire and spectral forms surging below him.

"Raito-kun!" L's voice, sharp, raw, cut through the roar of the flames. He was a few steps above, too far to reach him—the steps in between had also been loose and they'd fallen when Raito crashed down. And yet, perhaps instinctively, L stretched his hand down, as though to reach him—but no chance. Raito's arms shook as he strained to hold on, his fingers aching with the effort.

His eyes darted around frantically. Survival instinct and desperation clashed as he took in the scene around him in slow motion. He saw L's face—eyes wide, mouth barely parted in shock, an unmasked panic etched into his usually impassive features. He saw the iron pieces of the stairway eroding and falling piece by piece into the inferno below.

No, no, no!

Raito tightened his grip, feeling the iron slipping beneath his fingers. Trying to anchor himself, he looked at L's strained face…and that was when… as though in hyperfocus…he saw the shift in those eyes—a flicker of something like realization, like he'd crossed a line of thought and come to a silent decision.

"Don't move," L said softly, his voice laced with a strange, eerie calm, barely audible. Raito's heart pounded, confusion rippling through him as L's gaze drifted, taking in the staircase, the engulfing flames below. His face, somehow so still, flickered with something unreadable—something almost like finality.

And then, in a split second…Raito's grip slipped, and he plunged downward.

The world twisted, a rush of wind, fire, and darkness spinning around him. Blind panic surged—then, as he fell, the terror peaked and gave way to a white-hot fury: He let me fall.

As he fell, seeing the figure in the white shirt grow smaller above, he squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want that image seared into his mind. Not that image of L standing over him as he fell… didn't want to see it again…

But with the sickening, never-ending pull of gravity, he couldn't help it. His eyes opened one last time, looking up.

The figure in the white shirt wasn't perched above…not far away…but closer…spread out…

Falling too!?

The thought pierced through his panic before blurring into darkness as the flames filled his vision, and all sense vanished.


The first thing Raito felt was the cold floor beneath him, then the metallic taste of blood on his tongue, raw and stinging as he pulled himself to awareness. His eyes fluttered open, slowly adjusting to the dim, featureless blackness around him. His head throbbed with a dull ache, and as he shifted, he felt something sticky and warm under his back—a pool of his own blood. Slowly, he pushed himself up, the last images still flitting behind his eyes: the staircase, L above him, falling into the fire….

He looked around: the darkness was complete—heavy and black like ink, swallowing any edges or shapes around him. He winced, feeling bruises throbbing against his skin, some already crusted in blood. His gaze swept the shadows, then fixed on the one figure nearby—L, sitting close enough to see but not close enough to touch. His back was against the wall, his head slightly turned, eyes trained somewhere past Raito, as if he'd been waiting. Waiting a long time.

"L…"

At the sound of his voice, L's head turned, just a fraction. In the dim light, Raito thought he saw L's face shift—perhaps a flicker of relief — but in a second it was gone, smoothed over.

"You're awake," L said, his tone unreadable.

Raito pushed himself up a little farther, eyes narrowing, voice hoarse. "What happened?"

L's shoulders rose and fell in a small shrug, his gaze moving past Raito's and disappearing into the dark.

"It was another distortion trap. The impact of your fall shattered it."

There was something measured in L's voice, like he'd already prepared the words, and a tightness in the way he sat, knees pulled in. Raito felt a prickle of unease as he remembered the last split-second before he'd lost consciousness, L's hand stretched out, his expression barely visible above the blur of flames – that unreadable expression.

He met L's gaze, studying the faint shadows under his eyes, the way he avoided looking directly at him.

" 'Shattered it.' " he repeated rather suspiciously, trying to understand.

For a moment, L was silent. Then, in his usual clipped tone, he replied,

"Yes. It seems it was rigged to make us fall all along." He paused, as if weighing his words. "I slipped and fell shortly after you. It was inevitable."

Inevitable. A flash of heat flared in Raito's chest.

" 'Fell' ?" he repeated, trying to discern what L meant, exactly. He looked around them, not missing the fact that, although he was sitting - and had evidently been lying - in a pool of his own blood, clearly recovering from a precipitous fall…the same could not be said of L, who remained completely unmarred. If he had fallen too…how come he wasn't in the same state as Raito? Had he really fallen…?

"...or jumped?"

A rather small silence followed before L tilted his head slightly, his mouth pressing into a faint, thoughtful line.

"Does it matter?" he finally offered.

The response was maddeningly typical, but Raito refused to let it go. For some reason he didn't really quite want to admit…it did matter.

"Did you?"

L's gaze flickered, but he answered without a hint of hesitation, his tone flat, almost dismissive.

"I fell."

The words held an edge of finality, as though he'd revealed everything he intended to. He let the silence settle between them, impenetrable as stone.

Raito's hands clenched into fists, his mind racing over the implications, the maddening contradictions. He knew L. He knew how deliberately he chose his words, the way he skirted around anything that might expose even a hint of vulnerability. But still—he couldn't shake the conviction that L's evasiveness hinted at something more.

Finally, L glanced at him, the faintest flicker of something in his gaze, a subtle fracture in his impassivity. "You should rest," he said, almost gently. "The distortion may have further traps. We'll need our strength."

Raito exhaled sharply, torn between resentment and a pulse of reluctant gratitude. He wanted to pry deeper, to peel away the layers of L's explanation, but he knew better than to expect an honest answer. He pushed himself up, gritting his teeth as he wiped the drying blood from his hands, forcing himself not to look L's way again.

"Fine," he muttered, casting one last, searching glance over his shoulder. But L had already turned away, watching the distant shadows as if preparing for whatever lay ahead.