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The backdoor didn’t lead into the Kinkakuji’s interior. It lead directly into an elevator. Karin held a card to a black reader and the elevator started moving downwards. There was no indicator, no other button. The man, who claimed to be Aki, was facing away from him. Karin strapped the rabbit mask to her left upper arm.

“You were… earlier. That was not a mask, was it? It looked real,” Naoya said.

“It was,” Karin replied.

Aki shot her a look.

“What?”

“Go spill everything, why don’t you?”

Karin rolled her eyes. “The way I see it, he’s not leaving here regardless, so what harm does it do?”

“Wait. That was important info. What do mean I’m not leaving—”

“Shut up,” Aki barked and the rope dug into Naoya’s skin,

“Hey! I wasn’t going to take it off!” Naoya whined.

“Stupid questions count as escape attempts,” Aki replied.

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine…” Naoya whispered and cried out when the rope tightened, making his skin turn red.

She… he… had saved her from that ghost thing. But had he saved him or his weird eye? It was still burning, scratchy, like a foreign thing in his head. When Naoya tried to open his eye behind the cloth, flashes of purple and weird patterns came up, and a strong feeling of vertigo overcame him, so he tried not to do it. He hoped there were some answers somewhere in this building, but he was increasingly certain he wouldn’t get them from Aki.

And then the elevator doors opened. They walked out into a large space, a hall of gigantic proportions, looking like the interior of a domed cathedral. The floor was mostly clear, with a few grouped sitting arrangements throughout. The walls, however, were lined with stories upon stories of walkways, behind which glass walls showed the interior of many, many offices. It looked like the lair of a supervillain. Blue, gentle light filtered through the glass dome, over which fish swam, wavy patterns of sunlight dancing. Naoya stared at the space, which was at once traditional and something out of a science fiction film.

“Stared enough?” Aki asked. “Move.”

“Are we under the lake?” Naoya asked and flinched when the rope cut into his skin.

“Hey!”

“Stupid question,” Aki repeated himself.

Naoya bit his lip. But then Karin stepped forward and put her hand on Aki’s shoulder, who rolled his eyes. All of a sudden, the rope loosened enough for the blood flow into Naoya’s finger to normalise. He shook them as they burned with pins and needles. Aki pushed his back and Naoya stumbled forward. They walked together through the open space to the other side, where they entered one of the many rooms.

There was already someone in there, which looked like the office of a business executive. The woman looked up from the tablet she was holding. She had a head of fiery red hair, which she wore in a bob cut, and thick rimmed glasses framing her eyes. In her tailored, grey suit, she cut a fine figure. Yet despite her strict appearance, she smiled and waved back at Karin when she greeted her. Aki gave her a nod, and Naoya mirrored him.

“Sekiguchi Naoya. Student of Fine Arts. Second year. Lives alone, eats alone, sleeps alone,” the woman said.

“Okay. Wow. How about hello first?” Naoya countered.

“Another loner with a sharp tongue. We have enough of those,” she said and looked at Aki, who pointedly looked away. “But where are my manners? My name is Ruri.”

“Do none of you have last names?” Naoya asked.

“Imagine what kind of spell you could write if you knew a person’s full name?” Karin interjected. “Something to bind, to curse, to control.”

“So you have me at a disadvantage,” Naoya concluded.

“Smart too, that one. Yes, we do. In more ways than one,” Ruri said. “Sit down, we need to go over the rules.”

There was only one chair to choose from, so Naoya complied. Between these three people, the overall situation and the fact that he had been basically abducted into a supervillain lair, he didn’t feel like he had much choice. As he sat down, Ruri put her tablet away and focused all her attention on him.

“Rule one: You were never here and you don’t know any of us.”

Naoya nodded. He’d figured as much.

“Rule two: No uncovering that eye of yours on your own behalf.”

Naoya nodded again.

“Rule three: Whatever I say is the rule, even if it contradicts rule one or two. Now, tell me what led to your appearance here.”

Naoya outlined his day and the strange happening with his camera. Ruri was asking him and the other two several clarifying questions, when there was a knock on the door. Through the glass, Naoya could see a woman with short black hair, which she wore cropped and styled. Ruri waved her in.

“Reporting from Kanazawa. The rift was at the main station, but we could contain it,” she said after she entered. Naoya spotted a cat mask strapped to her arm. Ah. It was her.

“Good work. How much energy did it cost? More than Kyoto?”

The cat woman shook her head. “It was much smaller. A tear more than an actual outbreak. But the one near Kiyomizu really sucked us dry for this week. If there’s any other breach soon…”

“It’s Sunday. If there’s anything else, it’ll be today,” Aki said. “No holidays this week either.”

“The response team should take a well-earned break. Take the reserve team to refuel at… Mhm… Where haven’t we been recently?”

The glass wall flickered and a map of Japan appeared on it. Karin walked up to it and pointed at a mountain range in the middle of Hokkaido.

“There’s no winter sports here, and the snow has made it impossible for hikers to reach these peaks. There should be enough energy accumulated there,” she said.

“You want to send the reserve team into that?” Aki asked.

“Not particularly, but the area has enough time to recuperate until spring.”

“Then you’re going with them,” Ruri said.

“I knew it. Alright. I’ll inform them,” Karin replied.

She left together with the cat woman, and Naoya realised that he hadn’t even learned her name yet.

“Aki. Take him down to Bai Rong. She’s to check his eye for the source of this dilemma. And give him that phone too.”

“You know I can’t go in there,” Aki said.

“That’s an order.”

Aki bit his lip. “Fine. Come on, unlucky boy.”

He pulled Naoya to his feet and Ruri waved at them as they left her office.