Volume 2 – Chapter 2: Shadows in Motion

[April 25 – 6:10 PM]

The apartment was dark, the last beams of the setting sun filtering in through the half drawn curtains. It should have felt safe. Secure. But instead of that rush, there was a choking heaviness on my chest.

Rika sat across from me, her arms folded over the tiny wooden table. She hadn’t spoken much since we’d arrived here, but I could feel her processing — everything that had gone down over the last forty-eight hours running through her mind like a puzzle she didn’t want to leave unsolved.

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed softly. “We need to talk about what happened out there.”

She raised her head to look me in the eye. "Which part?"

"All of it," I said. "The message. The people following us. Project Eclipse."

The muscles in her jaw clenched, but she nodded. "Okay."

I leaned in, lowered my voice. “Whoever left that message knew we would find it. It wasn't a mistake. They were waiting for us to see it.”

"And now we're being hunted." Her voice was even, but under it was an undertone — a dull throb of exasperation. Maybe even fear.

I hesitated. "Yeah."

Rika gasped and leaned back. "Then what do we do?"

It had been the question, hadn’t it? What were we supposed to do if we had no idea what we were up against?”

I studied her, how the last streetlight caught and shone in her hair, how her brow set with determination. "We need more information."

Her brow furrowed. “And how the hell are you going to do that?”

“We find out who sent the message.

She laughed a bit, unpleasurably. "Oh, sure. “I just mean we’re going to go find some shadowy organization with undisclosed motives and politely ask what they’re doing.”

I sighed. "We don't have a choice. We cannot keep running blind. But someday soon, they will catch up to us. ”

For a moment, she was silent. Then she stood up abruptly, moving to the window. The city glittered below her like glittering guts as the sun went down. “What if we found them?” she said, her tone lowering now. "What then?"

I didn't have an answer.

And the truth was, we had no clue what we were getting into.”

[April 25 – 7:45 PM]

We decided to move.

They hadn’t felt it was safe to linger in one spot for long, not after how easily they’d found us then. We took what we could carry, then crept out into the night.

This was a foreign street to them now. Or maybe it was just us. Every shadow stretched a bit out; every stranger’s gaze was weighted.

Rika trotted next to me, fast but in control.NXXXI. She did not say anything, but I knew she was just as on edge as me.

And then, all of a sudden, I saw something move on the side.

A silhouette deep in an alleyway. Watching us.

My insides ricocheted with one of those heartbeat thuds. “Rika,” I said more of a breath than a word.

She figured it out immediately, her hand twitching toward her pocket. We walked, and we did not turn back.”

"Keep moving," she murmured.

We turned the corner, into a side street. I tried deep breaths, but my thought process was whirling.

Had they found us already?

I glanced at Rika. She didn’t show anything on her face, but I saw her shoulders were stiff.

We needed to get out of here.

Now.

[April 25 – 8:30 PM]

Among the last places that were open at the late hour was a small cafe, a typical refuge from the rains.

When her mind drifted, Rika swirled her coffee, peeking up at the entrance every few seconds. I had know what she was thinking, because it was what I was thinking.

"They're close," she said.

I nodded. “We have to figure out next steps to take.”

For a while, we didn’t say anything. It felt suffocating; as if the weight of it all was pressed down upon us.

Then a surprise occurred with Rika.

She reached across the table and brushed her fingers against my fingers.

It was subtle. Hesitant. But it was enough to leave me breathless.

I looked up at her, and for the first time in what seemed like ages, there was a gentler something in her gaze.

"Kaito," she murmured. “No matter what happens … I am with you.

The words landed on my chest, hot even through the tempest of the storm swirling about us.

I turned my hand over and grasped hers.

"I know," I said quietly. "Me too."

The moment lingered — the fragility of it felt like solid matter, but it couldn’t be broken.

And then, without saying anything, she leaned across the table and kissed me.

It was quick — barely even a whisper of a kiss — but it was heavy with everything that we were not able to translate into words.

When she pulled back from the kiss, her cheeks were glowing. But she wouldn’t let my hand go.

"Let's go," she said.

And just like that, we had gone back into the darkness.

[April 25 – 9:15 PM]

The air had grown colder. The streets quieter.

We walked quickly, heading towards the train station. We didn’t have a solid plan yet, but we needed to distance ourselves as much as possible from where we had been.

What a chill crept down my spine on the way to the station.

Someone was watching us.

I didn’t have to say a word — Rika felt it too.

Just as we heard footsteps behind us, she seized my wrist and pulled me aside.

Not just one person.

Several.

Rika's grip tightened. "Run."

We took off, darting between groups of people on the platform. The footsteps behind us quickened.

A train slipped in. Doors whished open. We jumped in just as they locked the doors.

The train lurched forward.

We turned toward the window, breathless.

We took flight, three shapes thrumming above the slick surface of platform, a phantasmagoria of welts.

[April 25 – 9:45 PM]

The train was nearly deserted: a few tired commuters and some bent students scribbling over their books.

We pushed back into our seats, our chests expanding and contracting in foreign stutterings.

I glanced at Rika. Her fists were tight, but she wasn’t shaking. She was furious.

“We can’t run from this,” she said under her breath.

I hesitated. "I know."

She looked over at me, eyes wild and swimming with something I couldn’t completely name. "Then let's stop running."

My breath caught. "Rika—"

“We find them,” she said, all steel in her voice. "Before they find us again."

There was no doubt about the determination in her eyes.

And, for the first time in days, felt like we were in control of our own fate.