Chapter Text
With a final swipe of blood, the intricate magic circle was complete. The candles were already lit, and most of the men were already in their places. The only thing missing was the crystal medium, which a bunch of guys were already hauling up the stairs.
With a few grunts of exertion, the crystal was carefully set in the center of the circle. The boss checked it over, making sure that they hadn’t chipped or cracked it. Breaths were held, only let out when the boss straightened and nodded, satisfied that there hadn’t been any fuckups. The boss took his place at the head and pulled up his hood.
“Now, let’s begin.”
While everyone did have their own lives and responsibilities to go back to after saving the country, that didn’t mean they had to stop hanging out together. Tonight was one of those nights when they got together at Survive, drinking, singing karaoke, and listening to each other bitch about their troubles.
Currently Zhao was the one bitching. “Ugggghhh, business has just been shit lately! Zero customers have been coming in! And I know exactly why, it’s that damn ramen shop that just opened up!”
“Oh yeah, that new ramen place.” Ichiban sipped from his glass. “I’ve actually been meaning to invite you guys to grab a bite there together, mark it down on our food tour of the city. But things at Ichiban Holdings have been a bit hectic lately, I was too busy. Sorry guys.”
Zhao shook his head. “Normally I’d love to take you up on that offer, Ichi-kun. But I just can’t. It isn’t just Heian Tower that’s getting its customers sucked away, it’s every damn restaurant in the city! I can’t in good faith give my money to such a parasite. Plus, I’ve actually passed by it myself. Whatever they’re cooking in there, it does not smell appetizing at all.”
He then got out his phone, tapping a few times on it. “And yet all the local food critics are raving about it! Take a look.”
On screen was a video of a guy with a manic look on his face. “It’s the best ramen I’ve ever tasted! There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the best in the country! No, the world! The broth is simply exquisite, but it’s the meat that’s the best part! So juicy and tantalizing…”
Zhao paused the video. “All of it sounds way too good to be true. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were being paid off to give these reviews.”
“You sound like you hold a massive grudge against this restaurant Zhao-san.” Joon-gi commented.
“Yeah I do! This place is choking the life out of every other food place in town. If this keeps going on then they’re going to shut down. That means no more You Tian, Le Nouveau hama, Bar Rodriguez, or anywhere else! And there’s something fishy going down there, I just know it.”
“What, like they’re using dubious ingredients or something?” Adachi half-jokingly suggested.
Zhao snapped his fingers. “Exactly! Even though the place smells like death, something’s drawing in the good citizens of Ijincho there day after day. My money’s on something addictive. Joon-gi, haven’t the Geomijul caught anything suspicious about it?”
“You must ask that question? We are certainly intrigued by the proprietors of the restaurant. Your theory about drugged ingredients however, is not something we have yet confirmed for ourselves. You can also rule out human meat being used in the food, as there have been no mysterious disappearances in Ijincho since the opening.”
“So what have you found out?”
Before Joon-gi could respond Nanba interrupted. “Whoa whoa whoa, you guys are sounding like you wanna do a crackdown on this place. It’s just a ramen place, isn’t it? And c’mon, we’ve kinda had enough trouble for a lifetime.”
“I actually think we should look into this, Nanba.” Ichiban countered. “You heard Zhao. People’s livelihoods are at stake here! And I don’t think it’ll cause too much harm if we get involved. If everything’s okay then everything’s okay. If some shit is going down then we can put a stop to it and things’ll go back to normal.”
Nanba sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. Still can’t believe we’re really sticking our noses into this…”
“So Joon-gi, what juicy tidbits have the Geomijul caught about the owners?” Zhao looked expectantly at the hitman.
“That they may be tied to a new yakuza group in town.”
“Whoa, yakuza?! Who?” Ichiban blurted out and frowned (Zhao meanwhile snapped his fingers and went “I knew it!”). “If it is yakuza then there probably is something up with the place.”
“We’re still collecting information on them. Because we are good friends, I’ll be gracious and share it with you freely when we know more.”
“In the meantime, we could actually pop by the restaurant for a visit.” Adachi joined in on the planning. “You’re concerned about the ingredients right? Being paying customers would be an easy way to grab ‘em. I can have them sent to an old friend of mine, Riko-chan. She works in forensics, and she owes me a favor, so she won’t kick up a fuss about testing food.”
“I could also put my hobo skills to use.” Nanba offered. “Restaurants throw out a lot of trash right? I can go dumpster-diving, fish out something to send to your friend. I would certainly draw a lot less attention than if, say, Sa-chan or Eri-chan went digging through their garbage.”
“I can’t believe that you choose to still look like a bum, Nan-chan.” Saeko pulled a face. “You’ve run around in those ratty old clothes for months now! Next weekend, I am taking you out on a shopping trip to update your fashion.”
“Ooo! That sounds fun! Could I come too?” Eri sparkled with glee.
“Of course!”
“Oh come on girls…” Nanba shook his head, but everyone could see the smile tugging at his lips.
“Alright, we got a plan all worked out! I’m honestly pretty excited for this new sidequest! This’ll be another great addition to our party’s saga!” Ichiban grinned.
Saeko giggled, Ichiban treating everything like a video game was so cute. “It sure will be Ichi, it sure will.”
Nanba had gone out to do his dumpster-diving first, not just to grab what he needed, but also to scope out the restaurant. He’d gone out alone because, as he pointed out, having the entire party hanging around, even from a distance, would defeat the not attracting attention part. To assuage Ichiban’s worries about not having backup around, he’d assured him that he’d run at the first sign of trouble.
So everyone waited for him to return to Survive. But the hours dragged on and Nanba didn’t return. Ichiban kept on glancing at his phone while he nursed his drink, kicking himself for not offering to get Nanba a phone of his own. And looking at his other friends, while outwardly they seemed to be handling it better than Ichiban, he knew that they were growing more worried too.
When the sun fully set and night came in, Ichiban was just about ready to rally the troops and march out to rescue Nanba from whatever trouble he’d landed in. But as fate would have it, it was that moment that the bar’s door swung open, and lo and behold there was Nanba.
“Well, I got the sample for your friend, Adachi.” he grimaced and held up a plastic bag with a lumpy shape inside it. Everyone immediately recoiled from the horrid smell, gagging and covering their noses. “It smells only slightly better than the restaurant itself…”
“Leave that outside! I don’t need you permanently stinking up my bar!” The bartender yelled.
“Oh, hell, it’s just as rancid as your breath, Nanba!” Saeko coughed.
Nanba stepped outside again, and the party followed after to chat with him, though they made sure to keep their distance from the offensive bag. “You were gone for hours Nanba, I was starting to get seriously worried! What happened?” Ichiban asked, still covering his nose.
“I was able to dig this out no problem, no one came out to try and stop me. Then I went around so I could keep lookout, watch for any staff stepping out. But here’s the thing; no one ever did.”
“What?! Not a single one?” Adachi raised an eyebrow, his disbelief evident.
“Yeah! I hung around for hours, but the only people who ever went in and out were customers. I didn’t see any cooks step out to have a smoke or even to head home. And I didn’t see anybody who looked like they might be employed there head inside to clock in. Place is open 24/7, you’d think they’d have rotating employees. I finally got sick of watching and came back here.”
“Maybe they do just have one set of people working around the clock. I’d feel sorry for them if they did, running ragged all day. Not at all like how you run things President Kasuga!” Eri speculated.
“It’s still very strange.” Adachi put his hand on his chin. “I’m just growing more and more suspicious…”
“Well tomorrow we’re going to get in ourselves. We’ll see how things are really like there.” Ichiban said.
“Sorry, I won’t be joining you, Kasuga-san. I need to speak with Seong-hui in person tomorrow.” Joon-gi said.
“Count me out too. Like I said before, I don’t want to patronize this place in any shape or form.” Zhao added.
“Yeah, I don’t think I should come along either.” Nanba joined in as well. “Just because I wasn’t chased off doesn’t mean I wasn’t spotted. There’ll be trouble if someone recognizes me. Also,” he held up the bag of meat, making everyone's noses wrinkle with disgust. “Where do we keep this while we wait for Adachi’s contact?”
“I’ll take it. The bartender’s been really good to us, he doesn’t deserve his bar smelling like a dumpster. I can afford to have someone get the smell out of my apartment now too.” Ichiban took the bag from Nanba, doing his best to not inhale too much. “Eugh.”
Saeko yawned. “It’s getting late, I’m gonna turn in. See you guys tomorrow.” She walked away, waving goodbye.
With that the rest of the party went their separate ways. Ichiban headed back to his apartment, very much aware that he was given a wide berth by the other pedestrians. This was gonna make for awkward conversation with the concierge...
He’s falling, falling through pure white, except it didn’t feel like he was falling, no, he was suspended in the endless nothing -
HM, YES. YOU'LL DO NICELY...HERO.
The voice rumbles through his his entire being, and he has to muster up every ounce of willpower in his body to even turn his head to try and look at the source -
And then Ichiban woke up in his futon, in a cold sweat but otherwise fine. He sat up and shook his head. What a weird dream, especially that part when...he frowned. Damn, it seemed to be one of those dreams where it starts slipping away the moment you wake up. Something about it had seemed important too…
Ichiban grabbed his phone and checked the time. Shit, it was way past 11! He’d told his friends that he’d meet with them earlier, and there were already a bunch of angry/worried voicemails asking him where the hell he was.
Ichiban jumped up. He sped through his morning routine, getting dressed, brushing his teeth, dropping in some more food than usual into Nancy’s aquarium to make up for the missed feeding, and shoving some bread into his mouth so he looked straight out of a high school anime.
He rushed out the door, all thoughts about that dream already forgotten...
It’d taken a helluva lot of apologizing about being an idiot (again), but the others had finally accepted his apologies and they headed for the ramen place together. Once they reached it however, they had to take pause.
The restaurant itself was pretty nondescript, simply called “Tappuri Ramen” according to the sign above the door. But what really made the place stand out were the massive, block-spanning queues leading in. People from all walks of life slowly shuffled forward, and with their blank eyes and eager smiles, Ichiban couldn’t help but be reminded of a zombie flick he’d caught once at Seagull Cinema. It was honestly a little unsettling.
And it was a sentiment his companions shared. “Yeah, I’m getting really creepy vibes here.” Saeko remarked.
“I don’t have much of an appetite left.” Eri rubbed her arm nervously.
“Hey, remember, we’re not actually here to eat the food. We’re just grabbing the ingredients so we can give them to Riko-chan. Though it looks like we’re gonna be waiting for hours just to get inside. I knew I should’ve had a snack beforehand…” Adachi grumbled.
After a bit of walking they finally found the end of the queue and slid in. “So uh, could you tell me about the ramen? It’s become Ijincho’s number 1 dish in only a few months.” Ichiban asked the guy in front of him.
The guy’s face broke into a too-wide grin. “It’s out of this world. You’ll never have anything else like it. Especially the meat. Mmm…” he rubbed his stomach, and that combined with the spaced-out tone of his voice brought the zombie comparison to Ichiban’s mind again. Brr.
He was considering asking Saeko to hold his place in line while he popped by the nearest convenience store to grab some snacks to hold them over when a group of men approached them. From the shades, flashy clothing, faces like bricks with angry eyebrows drawn on them, and the small pins on their lapels, these guys were clearly yakuza.
“We know that people have been snooping around.” the leader growled. “We don’t like people sticking their noses into our business, right boys?”
There was a chorus of ‘yeahs!’, while Ichiban and party waited for the spiel to be over, readying themselves for the inevitable. A grin came to Ichiban’s face, beating in some thugs’ faces was exactly what they had needed, to break all this tension that had been building up.
“Now let’s teach ‘em a lesson!” The leader bellowed, and the mob charged, roaring in unison. The party met them with the coordination they’d developed from months of fighting together, and faces were beat in with bats, batons, handbags, rulers, and good old punches and kicks. The mooks crumpled like tissue paper, and Ichiban could tell that for all their bark, these guys were just bottom-rung grunts by the end of the day. Hell, he was pretty sure that a well-aimed fart from Nanba could’ve floored them just as easily.
With the fight over as quickly as it had started, Ichiban realized something. Usually when they got into fights with the various local degenerates, pedestrians would scream and run away from the action. But the people waiting in line hadn’t budged an inch, they just continued staring ahead, only moving when the others in front did. Okay, now things were right back to creepy.
A black car pulled up, and out stepped out what Ichiban could only assume was the grunts’ boss. While he did have a black parasol in hand, he otherwise looked like your standard captain, black suit, blue tie, gray shirt, and a very pissed off look on his face right now. All the thugs groaning on the ground suddenly looked very scared, and Ichiban knew that as bad as a beating they’d gotten from his party, they were going to be in for some even more painful discipline tonight.
“C-Captain,” The grunt who’d started the fight gasped out. “We were just-”
Before he could get in another word the captain kicked him in the stomach and roughly grabbed him by the hair. Unpleasant memories of Captain Sawashiro resurfaced and Ichiban grimaced.
“You idiots! Have you really forgotten our number one rule already?!” The thug’s face was slammed into the pavement. “Don’t. Attract. Attention.” the captain growled out.
He dropped the thug and faced Ichiban, and the fury was instantly replaced with that condescending politeness Ichiban hated oh so much. “Forgive me, they’re new. I should’ve kept a better hold on their leashes. They’ll be having a talk with the patriarch later, he’s very good at straightening the useless ones out.”
He bowed. “You were just trying to get some lunch, yes? Let me make up to you by getting you in faster. I’m friends with the owner, he won’t mind.” He grinned, but it was the kind of grin that evoked a hungry, circling shark, especially with his sharp teeth.
Ichiban shared a glance with his friends. “Sure, thanks…” It was hella suspicious, but hell, it got them closer to their goal.
The four followed the captain to the front, prompting indignant cries like “I’ve been here forever! No fair!” or “You can’t just skip the line!” from the queue. As they got closer, Ichiban was suddenly hit with the full brunt of the restaurant’s smell and gagged. Zhao hadn’t been kidding when he said the place smelled terrible; an overpowering mix of rot - like the meat currently sitting in his fridge -, grease and...was that blood? Ichiban shoved his hands into his pockets to keep himself from covering his face, not wanting to look rude in front of their escort, and looked back at his friends. They looked appropriately sick, but the people in line only had that expression of eager anticipation. How could they stand the stench?
The party followed the captain in, and what they saw left them staring, jaws agape. The inside of the ramen shop was absolutely crowded, with all the seats in sight occupied, high stacks of empty bowls next to each person. But the bulk of customers were actually eating on foot, whether standing or sitting on the floor. The air was filled with the wet noises of people slurping, eating, feasting, drowning out any other sound. Everyone was just focused on wolfing their food down, no chatting, no phones out, no, only the bowls in front of them mattered. Once again Ichiban had to fight his gag reflex down.
The captain shared a few words with the elderly owner behind the counter, nodded, and turned to leave. Before he stepped outside, he addressed Ichiban. “Enjoy your meal.”
“Yeah...sure.”
The man smirked and chuckled sinisterly, and with that he was gone. Ichiban stepped up to the counter. “Uh, one ramen for me and each of my friends. Four total.” he quickly added upon noticing the owner’s milky white eyes.
The owner nodded, and four red bowls, along with four pairs of disposable chopsticks, were placed on the counter for them to grab. He gave Ichiban a toothless grin and got back to polishing his knives.
The four carefully threaded their way through the maze of other customers with their bowls in hand, saying “excuse me” and “sorry” a bunch of times, though of course the others took no notice. Finally they found some open enough space on the floor and sat down together.
Saeko looked around at the other customers. “I really, really don’t want to spend more time here than we have to.”
Adachi took a long sniff of his ramen. “You know, this actually does smell really delicious. Broth’s a whole lot more red than I’m used to...”
“Adachi-san! Have you forgotten why we’re here in the first place?!” she hissed.
“Sorry, I’m just hungry!”
“Hey, is anyone watching us?” Ichiban stage-whispered.
The others did a quick survey. “No, it looks like everyone’s pretty occupied, Kasuga-san.” Eri whispered back.
Ichiban nodded and slipped a vial out of his suit (bought from a local pharmacy earlier), and surreptitiously filled it with soup. The others followed suit, filling some sample jars with the other ingredients. He quickly slipped his vial back into his suit.
Then someone tapped on Ichiban’s shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin. But it was only another customer. “Heeeey.” he slurred, face filled with the same empty bliss as the other patrons. “Could I have yours? You’ve barely touched it.”
“Yeah, sure man. In fact, you can have all of our food! Right guys?”
“Sure.” “Yeah.” “Uh-huh.”
The customer’s face broke into a chillingly idiotic grin. “Sweeeet. Thanks a loooot.”
They pushed their bowls into the guy’s face, and he eagerly dug in, slurping the noodles loudly. The four friends quickly stood and headed for the exit.
“Leaving so soon?” a croaky old voice spoke up, and Ichiban nearly jumped again. Fuck, this place must be really getting to him if he was this anxious.
“Uh, yeah, sorry. Got places to be, y’know? Here,” Ichiban dug around his wallet and slapped some yen on the counter. “Keep the change.”
The owner gave him the same toothless grin from before. “Thanks. I hope you enjoyed the food.”
“Oh, we sure did!”
“Then come again soon. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
The party made their hasty escape, only stopping when they could no longer smell that putrid stench. “Hoo! That was way more intense than I was expecting!” Ichiban breathed a sigh of relief.
“Still, mission successful! And Riko-chan will be coming by Survive tonight to pick up the samples. In the meantime, why don’t we get some Napolitan pasta together? I’m sure Pocket Cafe will appreciate our business when they’re starving for any.” Adachi suggested.
There was unanimous agreement among them, and Ichiban made sure to tip generously after the meal.
Once they finished their lunch, Ichiban separated from his friends, telling them he’d meet up with them at Surivive. He made a quick stop at his apartment to grab the meat from his fridge, which he’d moved to a plastic container for easier transport. An overnight stay in the cold had thankfully lessened the smell, though he’d have to hire a skilled cleaner if he’d ever hoped to get the stink out of the fridge itself. He really didn’t need to hold his breath every time he wanted food.
He entered Survive to see everyone gathered together for drinks. He eagerly joined in, happy to just relax with his friends after a much-too unsettling day.
Saeko had apparently been recounting what happened to Zhao, who let out a low whistle. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting things to be that crazy over there.”
“I know! It was just giving off the worst vibes from the first second we got there. Ugh.” she shuddered. “But at least we’re finally about to get to the bottom of this.”
“Kasuga-san.” Joon-gi called him. “Seong-hui has compiled all that we could find on the true proprietors, including the people who attacked you today. Come to Geomijul tomorrow, you’ll find what we have very interesting.”
“Alright, more answers! Things are really shaping up now!”
The door to Survive swung open again, and an older woman with her hair tied back into a neat ponytail stepped inside. “Adachi-san! Good to see you again, you big ol’ teddy bear!” she held her arms open.
“Teddy bear?” Eri giggled.
“Riko-chan!” Adachi grinned back and hopped off his stool to take her up on that hug. “It’s been way too long.”
“It has, so I’m wondering why you only called me when you needed help!” she teased, smirk tugging at her lips. “Could’ve sent me a postcard or emailed me way earlier.”
“Eh, it’s been a hectic last few months.” The ex-detective scratched the back of his neck. “You’ve seen the news. I was finally able to bust Horinouchi!”
“And good on you, teddy bear.” She clasped hands with him. “Now, what d’you need me to do?”
Adachi handed her the gathered food samples. “We’ve got suspicions of tampered ingredients. I want standard analysis done on these, especially for drugs and the like.”
Riko nodded and put them away. “I’ll have the results in a couple days. I’ll come by again to drop them off.”
Adachi patted her on the back, smiling. “Again, thanks for the help. And send Kato-san my regards.”
“I will,” she waved him goodbye. “Don’t get so drunk again that you start serenading a cactus again!”
Adachi coughed loudly as the door closed behind her. “A cactus?” Joon-gi was obviously trying to hide a smirk.
“I never would’ve guessed that a prickly personality was your type.” Nanba snickered.
“You guys, stooooop!” Adachi moaned. The bar filled with everyone’s laughter, and they gladly drank the night away.
The amount of progress the Geomijul had made in reestablishing their surveillance system was impressive (and creepy), Ichiban thought as he looked around the monitor room. More of the screens were online than the last time he’d been here, flicking through various views of the streets of Ijincho. In fact, one was showing the extensive queues outside Tappuri Ramen right now, and Ichiban couldn’t suppress a shudder.
“Hey Seong-hui. Thanks for looking into this.”
“Kasuga. You wouldn’t believe the amount of work we had to do to dig up what little we managed.” Seong-hui gave some directions to her men below, and the footage on the main monitor switched to a recording of the scuffle he and his friends had gotten into yesterday. It paused and zoomed in on one of the thug’s pins.
“That belongs to the Kuwahara Family, a subsidiary of the Shinkai Clan.” A still of the Shinkai’s crest appeared on another screen, and the unusual design immediately struck Ichiban; jade green kanji above stylized waves of the same shade, embossed on a black background. “And if you could believe it, the Shinkai are even more secretive than us. Even though they've been around since the end of World War II, there's not a whole lot of info on them out there. I would guess that they do a lot of bribing to keep the press quiet about them. From what we did manage to find, they primarily operate out of the coastal areas of Japan, and they’re involved in smuggling, drugs, racketeering, and prostitution.”
“Operate out of coastal areas huh? That why they named themselves after the ocean?” Ichiban remarked.
Seong-hui shrugged. “Probably. With the Great Wall of Muscle fallen, plus the Tojo and the Omi dissolved, it’s not very surprising that they would move into Ijincho to fill in the power vacuum. The current chairman, Hamamoto Haru, moved into a huge mansion near the beach. Not only that but he bought the old lighthouse nearby, saying that he wanted to renovate it.”
A still of the man near his new property appeared on a different monitor. Hamamoto was a tall guy, around Tendo’s height, and just as broad-shouldered. He didn’t look as though he went out into the sun much, as his skin was pretty pale. He looked to be around middle-aged, what with the obvious wrinkles and streaks of grey in his hair. His face was sharp, with a neatly-trimmed goatee on his chin. Something about it reminded Ichiban of old photos of war veterans he’d seen, back when his middle-school class had done a unit on WWII. But what really sent a shiver down his spine was Hamamoto’s eyes. They were sunken, had dark circles under them, and most notably were red-rimmed. All of that combined made for an unhinged look. Standing behind Hamamoto was an even bigger guy, both in height and width. How much did he eat if he was that grotesquely fat?
“Back to the ramen place. The Kuwahara Family purchased the building along with several others a while back, legitimately. The strangeness started not long after it actually opened. A few people stopped by at first, then it seems that word of mouth spread, and we now have the unnatural flow of business we have today.”
The footage unpaused, stopping when the captain appeared on the scene. “That’s Morioka Takahiro, and we only managed to find his name because he survived getting shot in Tokyo.”
“Hm, he seems to be a good guy to get answers out of. Where is he now?”
“Out of town, unfortunately. He left this morning.”
“Damn. Well, what about the patriarch? Where’s he?”
“Last spotted heading to Hamamoto’s mansion. I’d advise against going onto a big fat raid like you did with the Omi, Kasuga, mainly because I like you and don’t want you getting yourself killed.”
“Hey, I’ve learned a lot about not being reckless. Anything else you could tell me?”
She shook her head, clearly frustrated. “That’s all I have. As I said before, these people are very intent on covering their tracks. I got more questions than answers…”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Everyone my informants spoke to, they were all scared as hell. Warned them that if they continued looking into the Shinkai, they’d end up dead or worse.”
“Honestly, that doesn’t sound that much different from any other yakuza clan. Thanks for all your hard work Seong-Hui. I’ll keep in touch.”
Ichiban turned to leave, while Seong-Hui looked back at the still of Hamamoto, hand on her chin, brow furrowed, lips tense. “What are you hiding…?” she whispered.
It actually only took a day for them to hear from Riko again. There is something wrong. You need to see it for yourself, the text message to Adachi had read.
That had certainly been worrying. Everyone was left wondering just what she had found, and there was real apprehension in the air as they waited for her to come reveal her findings.
Finally Riko appeared in the doorway, and she looked much more disheveled than last time. Her hair was no longer in a ponytail, her eyes had shadows under them, and there was a wide, fearful look in them. She fumbled in her bag and held out an analysis sheet to Adachi. “I couldn’t identify all the particles. But there’s definitely a highly addictive drug in the broth.”
“For real?! We gotta get the restaurant shut down immediately then!” Ichiban exclaimed.
“That’s not all.” Riko sat on a bar stool and rubbed her face. When she took her hands away, she looked nauseous. “The meat...I accidentally cut myself on the glass, and it reacted to the blood. Adachi-san, whatever this really is, it’s alive.” she breathed.
There was a pregnant pause. “What?” Adachi voiced all their disbelief.
Riko got out her phone and showed them a video. It displayed the meat Nanba had dug out, laying in a chipped beaker. A red film trickled down the side. After a second of confusion, Ichiban spotted it; a soft pulse going through the meat, like it was breathing against the glass.
Riko put away her phone and covered her mouth. “I-I have to go now, Adachi-san. I’m leaving Yokohama. Please, don’t try to reach out to me.”
“Riko-chan!” Adachi cried out, but she was already bolting towards the exit, and she slammed the door shut behind her. Everyone exchanged nervous glances with each other.
“We have to get down there. Now.” Ichiban said softly.
They ran down together to the ramen shop, fully expecting a fight. But nothing could have prepared them for the shock waiting for them there. “How...how is this possible?!” Adachi breathed with sheer incredulity.
There was only a gap in the street, as though there had never been a building there at all. Surrounding the space were distraught crowds, crying out with dismay as they also found nothing there. The party quietly pushed past the disconsolate customers to stand on the grounds, as though there could be any answers found there to hint at what happened.
Joon-gi spoke into his phone in rapid Korean, and his eyes widened in shock. “Seong-hui says that all cameras that were pointed at this area suddenly went out, all at the same time. When they came back on, it was gone!”
“None of this makes sense! How can a building just up and vanish into thin air?” Nanba yelled.
Of course that question was left to hang in the air, as no one had any answers. Ichiban swallowed and looked around.
Something glistened in the grass. Taking a cautious step forward, Ichiban squinted. It was another chunk of meat, rotting in the sun.
And before he could let his friends know about it, a bleary eye opened on it.
He drew back, too stunned to make a noise. A thin line of sharp teeth appeared on it, and it twisted into a grin. It flexed, and tiny black insectile legs sprouted out of its sides. It quickly scurried off into the shadows. As it disappeared, the unwanted memory of the video came to him, of the rhythmic pulse of the meat in the glass, and he had to fight down the bile rising in his throat. The sun hadn’t stopped shining, yet the air felt incrementally heavier than before.
Ichiban gulped and glanced back at his friends. No one else had spotted the meat. He really hoped that he had just been seeing things, that it had just been his overactive imagination.
(Deep down, he knew it hadn't.)
Looking at his friends' nervous and confused faces, he knew that they were all thinking the same thing.
What in the world was happening in Ijincho?