Smelling the odor of his own blood, Hisashi finally regained his consciousness back. Gasping for air, the scent of gasoline mixed with blood, trash and sweat made him gag.

“Aww, you’re finally awake. Now, we can continue our little fun.”

A torch illuminated his father’s mad expression, and then the rest of his outfit, falling to the floor.

Fire illuminating the floor as it spread through evaporating gasoline showed a lot of blood. He seemed to have passed out in the pool of his own blood, and Hisashi’s breath started to catch up, as he started crawling back.

Each movement sent sharp pain down his spine, the tied hands made it difficult to crawl away from his father.

Footsteps echoed throughout the room as Asahi reached Hisashi, grabbing him by the neck.

Delighting in the choking sound Hisashi made as Asahi pulled him up in the air, he held his son up, watching as his face turned red from hanging.

Laughing as Hisashi let a choking sound out, watching him writhe and jerk his body, his tied limbs jerking, trying to be set free.

“Beautiful! Just as I remember!”

Throwing him into the wet circle, Hisashi felt his right shoulder dip in the wetness. His nostrils filling with the scent of gasoline and the warmth coming closer and closer, Hisashi thought, “Oh, no!”  

It was too late to move out of the way.

Bellowing through the gag in his mouth, his body yanked at the burning sensation in his right shoulder, all the way across the scapula. His screams were accompanied by the sadistic laughter coming from his father.

Eyes wide and watering, he whipped his head away to avoid burns to his face, the heat forcing him to crawl towards the center. It was a circle made of fire, his throat was burning from thirst and heat.

Asahi stepped inside of the circle, bringing Hisashi’s attention to himself again as he stepped upon him, over and over and over again. Hitting his face with the heel of his shoes, Asahi relished in every grunt leaving Hisashi’s throat. “You’re nobody. Nothing but a crawling, sniffling dog waiting to be disciplined by his master. And I am your master.”

Pushing the heel into Hisashi’s throat, he was met with a glare, even though Hisashi’s face convulsed from pain.

“Scream, Hisashi! Beg! Scream!” Each order was met with a hit to the face, Hisashi feeling it swell even more. But he didn’t give his father the satisfaction of hearing him beg. He wasn’t that desperate, nor too weak to handle this. He could endure it; he would endure it.

His lungs screamed for air as the heel found its way into his diaphragm, Hisashi gasped for air, his stomach bloating as he desperately inhaled. But he kept the eye contact with his father, the bloodshot silver eyes seething with hatred.

“Tch. I will teach you respect, brat.” Hissed Asahi, bending down to rip the duct tape off from Hisashi’s mouth.

Gasping for air and coughing from smoke, Hisashi never broke the gaze. “I am not afraid of you. I’d rather die than beg for your mercy, father!”

“We’ll see about that.”, spat Asahi, grabbing the whip.

Ripping his shirt apart, the small metal balls hit Hisashi’s skin, bruising it. But he did not scream.

“I don’t care if you don’t love me, but by god, you will respect me.” Dropping the whip, Asahi kneeled beside him, his fists landing all over Hisashi’s face, pressing the freshly formed bruises.

Standing up, Asahi watched as Hisashi barely turned to his side, coughing up blood.

His vision blurred from the beating, his head spinning. He threw up on the floor, rolling away from the soiled ground. His father observed, curious about what would Hisashi do.

He started crawling towards the dying flames, turning to his side and reaching his hands towards the flame.

“Oh, oh, not so fast!” Asahi said, yanking Hisashi by the nape and pulling him towards himself. Holding him up in the air, letting Hisashi’s feet barely touch the ground.

His head was wobbling; he was barely able to keep his focus. Barely able to watch. No, he wasn’t sure he would even wish to see Asahi.

“I’ve no idea what day it is; what time it is. How long have I been here?”

Grabbing him by the chin, Asahi made him look at him, Hisashi hissing at the strong grip and nails digging into the skin of his neck.

“Poor thing. You must be so tired, so scared, hm? I’ll take care of you now. Isn’t it pretty hot inside? Right?” He made a movement of suddenly dropping Hisashi, knowing he would get frightened.

Hisashi nodded, his heartbeat racing once again.

“Let’s give you some fresh air then.”

Dragging Hisashi on the floor by the neck, not caring about Hisashi’s coughing and choking sounds, Asahi reached the other end of the basement, which was cold and dark, glass shards cracking under his feet.

Throwing Hisashi on the floor, he groaned as the glass cut his cheek. His hair getting grabbed once again, Hisashi didn’t have time to orientate as his head hit the wall once, twice. The second time his face was pressed against that same wall, smelling his own blood. The sudden yank brought his head back, and his father smiled upon seeing blood flowing down Hisashi’s face. “It would be no fun if it ended here, right? I’ll give you some time to come back to your senses, so we can continue in the evening.”, he whispered to Hisashi’s ear, goosebumps crawling Hisashi’s skin.

Smiling sadistically, Asahi hit the back of Hisashi’s head once again, Hisashi seeing stars.

“I’ll be back soon. I think the cold air will be beneficial to you,” he said, bringing Hisashi’s arms up, and tying them to the pole. Hisashi couldn’t resist at all.

Ripping a piece of a duct tape, Asahi pressed it to Hisashi’s mouth. “I’ll see you again tonight, my son.” He squeezed out as he turned and left the basement, not bothering to lock the doors.

A sudden wave of the afternoon cold wrapped Hisashi, his silver eyes watering. Was it from the cold? Or the unbearable pain scorching and pulsing through his entire body? He didn’t know, nor did he care. His whole body shook, feeling the warm and suffocating air being replaced by the cold and fresh one.

“Strange… how did I get the Akai Ryu off my mind? What are they up to? The Shuryo Inu must be going crazy, with me not being there… oh, wait. That’s right. They’re not even bothering to look for me. But is Arika? What is Yoru making of all this… he must be happy I’m gone…”

His train of thoughts led him into sleep, muscles trembling to keep him warm in the cold air.

But very soon, nightmares started plaguing him again.

“I’m sorry. Have you seen this person?”

Looking at the picture of Hisashi Arika was holding up, another passerby swung his head.

“This is freaking unbelievable! Did he get swallowed by mother Earth?! He hasn’t even picked up his phone, and I’ve called him six times already!” she mumbled.

“Hey! Quit looking for him! We’ve got more important business to be dealing with right now!” Midori yelled at her, taking samples from the burned library. The swab fell from her hand, Midori cursed out loud, Arika rolling her eyes in annoyance.

Entering the area deeper, she noticed a body being closed in a bag, the burned face being the last thing she saw.

“We’ll take the body to the morgue, but we assume it was a worker here. Possibly the librarian.” A policewoman said, compassionately looking at Arika, who just numbly nodded.

“Have you perhaps seen Hisashi, ma’am? I think he was here early.”

“I’m sorry. When I arrived this morning, there were just my colleagues and the firemen.”

Arika nodded, thanking the woman. Stepping inside, she looked around the room, but almost all of the books and scribes have been turned into dust.

Her hope was frail, but she took out her phone, and dialed Hisashi.

“Come on, H. Why aren’t you picking up? It’s not Daisuke.” Arika mumbled.

The phone was vibrating in his pants as he vigorously shook, sweat dripping from his brow in the already cold place. Hisashi whimpered, wanting to escape, but the chains held him in place as he was going through another night terror. He couldn’t hear the phone.

Arika hung up, feeling her heart thumping, cold sweat dripping. Hisashi isn’t the person to just not answer his phone. Something was wrong, very wrong. But where would she start looking?

Looking to her left, and squinting, she thought, “Well, well, well. If it ain’t the answer to my question.”

Taking her gun out, she crept towards the silhouette.

Yoru looked around himself, his hood dropping. No, at this point, he is not bothered by the fact that the police are roaming everywhere. Nor that the Shuryo Inu is completely out of the office.

No. He is interested in the disappearance of a certain pain in the ass.

Squinting at the sight of his favorite place in the city being demolished, he eyed the Shuryo Inu who had begun fighting amongst themselves for literally no reason. And he counted them all carefully.

“It’s too risky! You’re a complete idiot!” he recalled Ryo preaching. “What if they see you? we should come too!” 

“Precisely the reason why you shouldn’t come with me. It’ll be easier to surveil the entire place. I’m going to see what’s with the fidgeting and why has he of all people gone missing.”

Shion hid behind Kyoshi to hide her smile, because Yoru would rather be caught dead than admit he’s worried about Hisashi.

And so Yoru went searching. And nobody dared to stop him.

“Where the hell is he?” he whispered, and Arika recoiled at the softness in his voice, whereas she was so used to it being husky. So she crept up, closer and closer, wanting to study him more, just like Hisashi did.

“If you’re planning to spy upon somebody, my first suggestion is that you wear something black, so you can camouflage yourself.” He said as a way of greeting, snapping his head towards Arika. The blazing eyes were as if burning holes in her head. Deciding to skip formalities, she went straight to the point.

“Where is Hisashi?”

“I was about to ask you that. Where is your partner?”

Recoiling, Arika took a second to compose herself to retort, “Manipulative prick! Do you think I don’t know you took him? Why did you?”

Yoru lowered his gun, and for the first time she’d seen him, he had a genuinely surprised look upon his face. “He’s not with you here?”   

“No! He wasn’t even in his room this morning! I thought he went after you!”

This was the first time in a while that Yoru felt dread creep up on him. Getting up from the ground, he ran like mad.

“Hey, wait up!” Arika yelled after him, but he was way faster than her.