Grinding coffee into a mug, Arika sleepily took notice of the silent voices coming from the living room. She found it weird, although she supposed it was probably Hisashi watching the morning news. Her mind refused to wake up, not before she’d had her coffee. Pouring hot water over the coffee, Arika took a sip before going into the living room.

“Hisashi, I made some coffee, you want–?” She stopped when she entered the room.

It was completely empty.

Only the TV was on, flashing the police and firemen securing the area of the burnt building.

“The Akai Ryu are suspected of burning ‘Lectio Caritate’ down. The details of the attack are still unknown; it supposedly happened around two or three in the morning…”

“Oh shit!” Arika put the mug on the table, rushing to Hisashi’s room.

Where she spotted Daisuke slamming his fist against the doors of Hisashi’s room.

“Hey, peasant! Get up! We have Akai Ryu to catch!”

Only, no response was heard from inside.

Arika pulled Daisuke by the shoulder, making him step aside. And she knocked.

“Hisashi, are you awake? Can I come in?”

“Oh, drop it! FUJIWARA, WORK NOW! Get your ass out of bed, Akai Ryu won’t capture themselves!” Raiden yelled, pulling the door handle. And the doors opened.

The room was light, and empty. Only the sheets were messy, and the weapons were still in the room, alongside with the bag Hisashi usually carried. His PJs were on the bed.

“Where the fuck is he?” Daisuke hissed as he entered the room, looking around.

Opening his eyes, all he saw was darkness. The morning light only reached the room from two sources, two windows, he realized as he regained his vision.

His head hurt. God, it hurt so much, made him almost throw up. But no, he couldn’t throw up even if he wanted to.

The room was so dirty, that the odor made him gag. Moving his hands, he realized he couldn’t move them, the metal dug into his wrists.

Finally, he fully opened his eyes.

Hisashi realized he was on the floor. Face down. The metal digging into his wrists was a pair of handcuffs, he could grasp the metal chain keeping the cuffs together. He couldn’t talk, the duct tape prevented him from doing so. He could smell blood, and he took a sharp breath in as he realized it was his blood, a streak running down his forehead.

He couldn’t move his legs. The ropes bound them tightly. Wiggling his hands, he tried reaching for his feet, to try to free his legs at least, but the sharp pain from a cramp in his back made him whine.

Making out the walls of the room, then the old and half-broken furniture around him, he realized it’s a basement. A basement reeking of alcohol. The sharp odor he so desperately wanted to forget. The broken table in the corner, right next to it is a newer looking one, but still shabby, still unmaintained. But what made him recognize the room was the old wooden chair. The kind of chair he only ever saw in one place. Rats crawling upon that chair, nibbling at the old wood. Some screeched.

“Oh, no!”, he thought as he kept on tugging on his restraints, crawling on the floor, hoping to find any piece of metal that would allow him to undo the handcuffs. “Just not this place! Is this just a dream? Please, make it a dream!” He thought as he squirmed, cutting himself on a sharp object. His breathing ragged, his heart rate picking up as he heard heavy footsteps coming from outside. “No, no, no, nonononono!”

The door cracked open, the wood screeching eerily.

“My, oh my,” the voice behind him all but purred, and Hisashi froze. “How much you’ve grown. We have lost a lot of time, so we’ll be catching up.”

It wasn’t a dream. The voice was real.

Hisashi laid still. Didn’t move. Didn’t dare move. His eyes only darted up, up to see a man with features similar to his own: dark shaggy hair, only his was slick to the side, and a cruel smile twisting the man’s face. The man reeked of alcohol like this whole place. He’d been drinking again, and judging from the amount of trash in the room, for several months in a row. Maybe even years.

Hisashi’s breath started to catch up as the man circled around him, his eyes not leaving Hisashi. The man crouched to Hisashi’s level, his voice low and dangerous. “Did you think I forgot about you, my dear? Oh my, calm down, you’re finally home; the place you belong to.”

A hand reached towards Hisashi, who shut his eyes and jerked away, far away from the predator he once called his father. His green shirt fell to the front a bit, revealing his neck and shoulder area.

“Hmm, I see you still bear my markings, so you know where your real home is.”

Hisashi grunted, wanting to get away from him, but the restraints limited the movement of his limbs. Which only revealed more of his shoulders.

“And oh look! You got some new marks as well! I see your foster home took such good care of you.” Hisashi looked up, into his eyes, and he wished he didn’t see what he saw.

There was even a hint of jealousy in his father’s, Fujiwara Asahi’s eyes. Crazy bastard.

His father undid the belt of his pants, lowering his voice, “But how dare you look at me with that look? Seems like you’ve forgotten your lessons in discipline. I’ll make sure to remind you now.” The belt whipped in the air, Hisashi making a muffled scream as it slashed towards his head.

Meandering barefoot through the hall of the house, Anata entered the living room, to see the Akai Ryu watching the television. All were there except for someone.

Anata sent a questioning look to Luna, who only nodded towards the terrace doors. She understood whom Anata needed.

And the person he’d been looking for was comfortably leaning into his armchair, going through some papers. Always working, Anata sometimes wished he’d give himself some rest.

“What are you doing, Yoru?” he asked as he leaned on the armchair, peeking into the papers Yoru was reading. And his breath hitched.

On the paper Yoru was currently holding, there was a picture of Hisashi, and only a bit of personal information.

“Almost nothing.” Yoru said.

“Huh?”

“For each of these brats there’s a background. Mayor’s nephew,” he points to Daisuke’s picture. “Rich and arrogant twin brats.” He points to Midori and Eiichi. “A dismissed soldier.” Taps to Raiden.

“But nothing for Fujiwara Hisashi. No backstory, nobody found out why he’s here exactly. The only thing that says is that he’s not coming from this town, he moved in when he was 4. Nothing besides that.”

Anata gulped, staring at the picture in the corner. At the pale, pretty face, the serious expression upon it. Hisashi looked like a model in the picture, even if he was serious. “Why didn’t anyone ask him any questions?” Anata asked himself. “I wish I could ask him anything. He’s so beautiful.”

Yoru’s eyes switched from the information written to Hisashi’s picture. Tracing his fingers upon it, as if to have a better look. He neared the picture, his eyes focused on Hisashi’s face.

“Why does your face always look so wistful? What are they doing to you?”

Musing for a few moments more, he opened his mouth.

“Anata–”

“Yoru, you’re not going to believe this!” Ryo yelled out, holding herself by the doors. “It’s on the news!”

“What is?” said Yoru, getting up from his armchair. He leaned forward on the doors to take a better look at the screen displaying the news, the burned library showing from the air, the area secured by the police. The reporters were all around the place, following the firemen clearing out the walls and boards of the once-Lectio Caritate. The Shuryo Inu were scattered around, helping the police and the workers, much to Yoru’s surprise. But that wasn’t what concerned him.

“There’s supposed to be nine of the sniffing Dogs.”

“What?” Ryo and Anata asked in unison.

Yoru looked up from the screen to meet their eyes. Then repeated in a calm tone, “There’s supposed to be nine of them. I counted eight people. Somebody’s missing.”

Ryo and Anata returned their focus on the TV, which displayed the mayor speaking, “…These grandmasters of crime have to be caught by any means necessary. Anyone who hears anything can call…”

Ryo snorting interrupted everyone’s concentration but Yoru’s. He didn’t smile or make a retort at the statement. Returning their focus on the mayor, Yoru waited for a moment, then spoke.

“I might have poor vision, but has anyone seen Hisashi among the Dog brats?”

The Akai Ryu turned to him bewildered. “The dark-haired guy?” Yuuma asked.

“Yes. The one who always picks fights with me.”

Kyoshi stared at the screen, then turned to Luna, who just waved her hand. Anata recoiled. And Yoru continued, seeing the mayor wasn’t saying anything relevant.

“So now, the entire Shuryo Inu is searching for us, and not just Hisashi and his friend. They’ll be even more of a pain in the ass, but we’ll manage to deal with them just as we’ve done at the parade. But they’re a less important factor here; we just can’t let the mayor run away anymore while we’re dealing with the Dogs. He is the priority here. However, I caution everyone to be careful on missions. We go in and out, get what we aim for, and leave without dealing with the disturbances for too long.”

The Ryu nodded, Anata standing next to Yoru, his focus on the Shuryo Inu papers. Yoru noticed him brainstorming something, so he took the rest of the papers to his team. “Also, since we’ll be dealing

with them a lot more, take the time to study them all. And try to find out more about Fujiwara Hisashi.

That surname rings a bell, but I can’t recall where I’ve heard about it.”

“You’re right. The surname is awfully familiar; could it be a politician?” Yuuma asked.

Yoru shrugged. “I’ve no idea, I can’t remember. I’ll think about it. Ryo, may I borrow your computer for a bit?”

“Sure.”

 Yoru brought Ryo’s laptop to his room, but something kept bugging him. So he left it on his desk and took a book out. An autobiography of his favorite musician, Hervé. Flipping through pages, a certain song made him stop. A song named ‘Everything’ was specifically written to be played on the recorder, accompanied by an electrical keyboard.

“However, I do know how enchanting it sounds being played just on the recorder, my laboratory being the proof.” Yoru scrunched his nose as he remembered. “You played it right when I had my chemistry exam, the practical part.” He mumbled to himself.

He’d been holding two flasks, working on an experiment. It’d been evening already, and he was tired from spending the entire day in the laboratory.

“Yoru, you okay?” a much younger Luna briefly brought his focus back, and he needed it. He had to finish the experiment today so he could do statistics tomorrow, but he was so damn tired.

“Yeah, I just need to wrap this up.” He said, making the dishes touch already.

That was until he heard the sound of flute coming from the school beside his. It was a music school, and there was a person playing the recorder outside, in front of an audience.

And Yoru wouldn’t usually pay any attention to it, but the beautiful sound caught his attention. The melody was heartwarming, and so familiar, he knew it was the song from the ‘Winterwind symphony’, Hervé’s actually lesser known symphony. So he had to see who was it, who was playing the recorder so beautifully.

And he’d seen him.

The beautiful, graceful boy who danced all while playing the symphony. The moves fluid and elegant, the lithe body moving in sync with the melody. A beautiful picture, as if a painting.

The dark-haired boy seemed to be focused only on his performance, unbothered by the presence of the audience or the school, and the odors of chemicals. But Yoru thought, could he sense them from all the way there?

He couldn’t take his eyes off the dancing boy.

“YORU, BE CAREFUL!” Luna yelled, but it was already too late.

The oncoming heat made Yoru drop the glassware over the most important part of his research; and that was the papers and test results.

A loud BANG was heard from the room, Yoru taking covers beneath the table next to his own.

Yoru was brought out of his musings, returning the book to its shelf. How or why did he remember the day of his graduation, he didn’t know. But he wished he could see the face of a person who played the symphony next to his school. Walking around the house, he found himself in the living room again, Luna being the only person who stayed.

“Have you seen this?” she asked him. Not even waiting for the response, Luna pointed to the news on another program, also showing the burned library.

But it was not what Luna referred to.

Yoru smirked as he saw a familiar-looking short girl, her curly black and white hair in a low ponytail. “So, Hisashi is truly not with them. How strange, has he finally decided to give himself a break?” Yoru commented.

“I’m not sure. But it’s rather strange not to see him anywhere. He’s usually the first to pick up the clues. But would the mayor let him take a break, especially now?”

“Why wouldn’t he take a day off? He seemed rather exhausted the last time, don’t you think?”

Luna raised an eyebrow at Yoru, but didn’t say anything.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Hm… Nothing in particular.”

“Well, the mayor is obviously trying to end us, and he’s already made the library incident our fault. Not that we’ll take the blame for it, though. Two can play the game; if he messes with us, we’ll mess with him. However, Fujiwara is still a mystery to me. A mystery I would very much like to solve. Why is a person like him with them, and why is he missing now? Where is he coming from, and why did he move here, in this hell pit? A mystery indeed.”

With that, he turned and left the room, leaving Luna frowning at the screen. An amused smirk dancing upon her lips. Arika still seemed to be fidgeting around the library, seeming to be calling somebody. Hisashi probably.

“Oh, fine. I’ll see what I can get about you, Fujiwara. My best friend seems to be bewitched by you, it is my duty to find out why.”

So she sat down at the computer in Ryo’s room, opening way too many sites that even slightly mentioned ‘Fujiwara’.