V
Strong Language Used


Karen sat quietly in the opposing seat to Ryou, she was slightly hunched over, and fiddling around with her notepad again as she quickly scribbled something down. She chanced a glanced at Ryou, who was staring out the round edge windows looking a bit bored. Of course she could be a little harsh on her judgment; the man looked more distant than anything else.

She was silent for another minute before she dared to speak.

“Thanks.”

His body didn’t move a muscle, but his eyes flicked over to her. “Hmm?”

“For lying, and saying I got the high score.”

Ryou smirked a bit and looked over at the prize she had picked from the counter. They had played four different games, all four different shooters of which she had a tendency to die in, but she seemed to enjoy them the most as she had completely ignored the others (though she had looked at DDR for a minute). Of course, it was even better for her that when they had finished playing the ALIENS game for the second time, Ryou had given her the high score.

His highest score ever on the game and with it she had been able to pick one of the actual ‘good’ prizes in this place.

It was a teddy bear; it was monstrous in size, with a pure white coat and dark eyes.

“It looks like it wants to eat me…” He noted, tilting his head at the plush.

“No!” She giggled, hugging it and pulling it closer to it.

“Or you.” Ryou joked, “Though I suppose better you than me.”

“It won’t eat me!”

He shook his head and leaned back, a sly smile playing on his lips. “Just wait, when you’re not looking, it’s gonna pounce.”

Karen seemed to loosen up, the entire day her shyness had kept her from saying a lot of things or speaking up at certain points. Ryou was glad, that at the end of the day, she wasn’t stuttering nearly as much and even had the gull to stick her tongue out at him.

To which, the man smirked darkly.

“Don’t stick your tongue out unless you’re willing to share it.”

She flushed bright red, retracted her tongue and hid behind her guardian plushie. Ryou chuckled and looked back out the window, the sun was beginning to set; they had spent the entire day wandering around Monstro and had lost track of time until Karen had received a call from her friend Yuki again; who had wondered if her shy companion wanted to gossip or something.
Ryou hadn’t remembered exactly, he did remember though, Karen lying about where she was and who with.

That had amused him.

“I… I didn’t realize it got so late…” She murmured, watching the sunset out the window, a couple of others in the train car glanced at her bear oddly before looking away. Ryou didn’t reply, instead he fiddled with his phone, looking as if something had come up. “Something wrong?”

He looked up a little after and put the phone in his pocket. “Nah, just my sister figured out how to text…”

“How old is she?”

“Five, she’s turning six in august.” He pressed a couple of buttons on his phone and handed it to her. “That’s her.”

She smiled softly as she took the phone and looked at the picture. His sister was adorable, looking up at the phone as she clung to a bunny plush-doll. She was a bit pale though, but Karen was under the assumption she had been a bit under the weather when the picture was taken.

“She’s so cute…” Karen spoke, handing the phone back to Ryou. “What’s her name?”

“Ai.”

She smiled, but it faded as the windows went black. With a rush of air they had entered the tunnel before Main Street Station. Nervously she gazed out the window, shifting uneasily and gripping her bear tightly. Ryou tried to ignore the spine tingling sensation he was getting, his gaze fell to the floor and his body stiffened.

They were here, and they were watching.

“Ryou…”

He looked up at her; she didn’t dare glance at the window either.

“Don’t look at the window.” He ordered, “We’re safe in the light… If you look out the window, you’ll panic.”

Past her, he saw from the corner of his eye movement outside another window. His heart was beginning to pound, the tunnel wasn’t very long, but with these things it may just be long enough for either of them to get hurt. It was a struggle for him to stay still, knowing that they were that close, he wanted to bolt; he wanted to run as far away as he could.

Or did he?

The emotions felt different, even foreign if he focused on them. Slowly his eyes fell back upon Karen, she was almost shaking. Her eyes were tightly shut and she clung to the monstrous toy as if it were some protective shield. Ryou frowned, quickly trying to form some sort of block so he could tell the difference between his own emotions and her’s.

In truth it shouldn’t have been that difficult, his were fiery and full to the brim with anger… Karen’s were cold, frozen with fear.

The others in the car seemed to be oblivious to what was waiting. So many people wrapped up in their own little perfect worlds that the monsters lurking in the dark could just take from them what they wanted with little to no resistance.

‘No wonder they picked this world…’ He thought bitterly, that was, if they even picked worlds or just simply appeared on Earth for whatever reason. ‘Anything they want they can take… The people who do pay attention, they can be killed or ignored. It’s not like there’s a shortage of humans…’

“What was that?”

Karen froze; her body so still she could’ve been mistaken for a statue. Ryou watched the man who had asked the question draw a small amount of attention to himself. He stood, wandering over to the opposing window, leaning so close that his nose nearly touched the glass.

Ryou watched with a sort of cat-like curiosity, he knew something would happen, his body didn’t move a muscle, only his crimson eyes flowed along with the action before him. The man anticipated excitement, for the stranger to get what was no doubt coming, he was practically staring death in the face, and the older man’s closed mind didn’t let him see it.

It: the creature now staring back at him. Piercing yellow eyes for an instant seemed to fall on Ryou before turning to man. The guy blinked, thinking that his eyes must be playing tricks on him, but the eerie gaze wasn’t gone. It clung to the train side somewhat akin to Spiderman.

Unlike Spiderman though, the creature’s arm phased through the train wall and, fighting the light of the car, grasped the man’s tie. He gasped, just beginning to step back when the monster yanked harshly on the fabric it had grasped.

There was a resounding clunk as the man’s head smashed off of the bar framing the window, and a bang as his body slumped to the ground. A few rushed over to him, questioning and seeing if he was okay.

“W-what was that?” Karen asked, staring at the floor as Ryou somewhat paled.

‘If those things can reach into the light…’ His stare drifted to the window nearest to them.

“R-Ryou?”

“Huh?” He looked at Karen and suddenly recalled her question. “Oh! The man tripped, that’s all.”

Her terrified gaze nearly made his lie fall apart, but he managed to keep it together. He stood quickly, gently grasping her arm and tugging her to her feet. She looked at him in confusion as, with bear still in tow, they were now standing in the middle of the train car.

“Why…?”

“We’re almost there.” The man replied with a shrug. ‘I’m not completely lying… Technically the station is five minutes away…’

She was still scared, but she seemed to ease a little at his words, and further more as the train rushed out of the tunnel and the evening light fluttered back into the windows. Ryou looked at the dying sun and frowned a little, time was ticking away, and tonight there was supposed to be a storm. If the storm hit before they got to the car, it may be dark enough for the things to come out and attack.

That was something the man distinctly wanted to avoid.

The train began to slow; Main Street Station was in view with a few people hanging around and a small convenience store to the left of the platform. The parking lot was just behind, it was already half-empty, not many people wanted to be out tonight.

‘Not with the heart-thief or the storm…’ Ryou thought, as the train came to an abrupt halt.

A halt, that sent poor Karen toppling into him, he caught her with his free arm, but she had roughly collided with his chest. Ryou let out a small grunt and winced as his cuts began to throb from the sudden impact of a girl falling into him. She looked up at him with a dismayed, apologetic look as she righted herself, her cheeks flushed red again at the awkwardness of that had happened.

“I’m sorry!” She nearly squeaked, not noticing the doors of the train were opening. “Are you a-alright?”

“Fine.”

She bit her lip and turned so they could exit, as soon as he had stepped off after her, she was facing him again.

“Really! I didn’t mean to-“

“Karen.” He spoke through gritted teeth, reaching into his pocket for the container of aspirin. “It’s fine.”

“B-but… I’m sorry!”

Ryou dry-swallowed a pill and let out a sigh as they made their way to the parking lot. “Stop apologizing.”

“Sorry…”

At the instant she spoke that word she clasped her hand over her mouth, the man just rolled his eyes and chuckled a tad.

The storm…

He stopped unexpectedly, his mind racing to find an explanation. Slowly he turned, scanning the parking lot, every nook and cranny for something. It was daylight, he wasn’t sleeping or drugged, there was no reason to hear that voice, a voice that was a mere whisper on the soft breeze now flowing through the area. His eyes rose, watching the sky as a vast storm cloud moved closer and closer to the sun.

Ryou narrowed his eyes at it, something in him straining to hear which fell silent so often after the first words.

The clouds will give us what we want…

“S-Saito-san…” He felt the tug on his arm and looked at Karen, then to the darkness created by the shadow of the store.

He wasn’t sure if the colour in his face drained; though he could feel himself pale as he silently remained stationary.

“Get to the car.” The man’s hand grabbed the girl’s upper arm again and he turned them around, pulling them hastily to towards the vehicle. He couldn’t hear them anymore, as more of them no doubt appeared the whispers became a cluttered mess, his mind wasn’t able to filter them.

As they began to run, the storm clouds moved over the fading sun, and the area was cast in darkness.

She dropped the bear, and they broke into a full sprint.


Running… So much running… It thought, rising out of the ground, body wavering slightly in a flash of lightning. We want the male dead, play with the others; they will be much better at the game…


The car felt so much farther away, their legs didn’t seem to carry them fast enough, and a shadow in the corner of their eyes only made their pounding hearts work that much faster. Both of them were under the impression it couldn’t get much worse than this.

They were wrong.

She fell.

She careened to the ground in a spectacular way, slamming down on the very arm that had been slashed so cleanly the other day. Karen thought for a second she may have heard a bone crack or crunch, but panic took over. She wasn’t moving and that was key to the escape plan. Run as fast as she could to the very car that could’ve take her life two days before, it had become her savoir now.

The girl forced herself to go, scrambling on all fours before righting herself. Her back was turning cold and she could almost feel her soul try to tear itself away from the physical body in attempts to escape what was coming for her.

Then it hit her, a solid slam to the back. She cried out, a strangled noise that echoed with the thunder that boomed straight afterwards. She hit the pavement and her body rolled, her conscious mind reeling from the attack and wondering what the hell was going on.


It stood over the female, fingers twisting and molding into claws. So much has changed from the old encounter, when it had tried so hard to have what she did. It cursed the adults for saving her; it cursed time for being so long until it could have its revenge.

The female plays the game well… The creature narrowed its eyes, hunching over her and pinning her to the ground with one arm as it hung it’s free hand over her chest. But we play it better.


Her heart felt as it were exposed to the arctic winds, she could feel it phase inside her; a faint ghost of a tingle against the flesh and ribs. Deeper it was moving, breathing become harder as the lungs fought against the growing cold; Karen looked up at it, wide-eyed and unable to struggle.

‘No!’

It looked at her, halting its actions for an instant.

Then it was gone, replaced by a very familiar man leaning over her right where the monster had been. She quickly spotted blood soaking through his t-shirt and the darkness was swirling around them, trying to take form.

But it couldn’t.

‘Just like before, a physical object moving at a reasonable velocity-‘ She stopped mid thought and realized this was a bad time to go nerd.

Ryou huffed, panting and attempted to ignore the resounding ache as he lugged Karen back onto her feet. His body felt incredibly strange; having coming in complete contact with a creature unlike before in the stadium he had flown right through it, today he had decided to take its place over the girl.

That wasn’t a bad position to be in, but now was definitely not the time for that sort of thought.

‘Later…’ He thought, leaping over one of the things morphing out of the asphalt.. ‘MUCH later…’

Something cold wrapped itself around Ryou’s lower-leg; he didn’t stop to look at it though. Hoping that his sprint would make it let go.

His plan failed, badly.

He went down in a free fall, his leg protested to the sudden anchor attached to it, and as he met the ground abruptly, riots of pain began to rise up in his entire upper body save his head, which he had managed to cushion with his arms.

“Ryou!” He looked up to see Karen; she was right next to his car. He swore like a banshee in his mind, and reached into his pocket. He grasped the strange keychain and yanked it out, he flipped through his keys rather methodically despite the situation before pressing the panic button.

The Lancer began again, howling into the storm and flashing. He tried to unlock it, but a swift kick from one of the many creatures gathering around him sent the keys flying out of his hand.

Karen moved for the keys; stepping away from the car.

“NO!” Ryou called, roughly kicking the one grasping his ankle in the face. “God damn it! STAY BY THE CAR!”

“But-“

“Karen if you move, so help me God! I’LL BE THE ONE TO KILL YOU!”

She froze, and stepped back.

He was dead; the man could accept that, what he couldn’t accept was that they got another person while he was still able to fight. His struggling became more erratic, and the monsters began to see how hard a person could fight for their life if they had too.

The odds were mounting against him, but all he had to do was get to his keys. Ryou angrily kicked one off of him and moved for them. He was caught again, and dragged cruelly back towards the mob. He swiveled around, facing the yellow eyes that stared at him with an ethereal intenseness.


He dies NOW.


There was something akin to a sharp 'swish' and then a low thump. Ryou blinked, not believing his luck as he was still alive. He stared dumbfounded at the woman who was now the only thing between himself and the fiends.

Katumi, held her shinai out to the side, the darkness she had struck faded away and the odd green energy that haf escaped flowed into her. Her shut eyes opened, revealing an empty stare that matched the monsters’ empty souls.

“You?” Ryou managed to force out of his throat.

“Go.” She spoke, twirling the sword with such grace that it rivaled the masters. “I will deal with them.”

“But-“

“Take your car, and go.” Her voice left no room for argument; Ryou was pulled to his feet by Karen, who was holding his keys in her hand.

“C-come on…” Her voice was shaking, Ryou didn’t want to run, but there was nothing he could do. “We have to get out of here.”


Katsumi Yamiguchi twirled her weapon a few seconds after she heard the car begin to pull away. She watched with a calculating mind as the darkness readied themselves against her, one in particular watched the car leave, and it was that one, a captain amidst the lackeys, that she decided was beyond simple strategies.

“You…”

It looked at her, head tilted in an inquisitive manner.

“I fear not the dark, nor the monsters consumed by it.” Her callous tone made the being glare at her. “If you wish to have an enemy…”

She readied herself.

“Then let it be me.”


* * *


She was sick again; pale and tired, she was fed up with being ill. Her mother didn’t want to care for her anymore; she wanted a normal daughter who didn’t need to be taken care of every single day. The little girl wanted to go outside without the fear of vomiting; her one wish was to be able to play with other kids her age and not have her family come running to her at the first sign something was wrong.

Ai was going to wish on a star tonight, it worked in all the shows she watched during the day. However, the sky wasn’t visible, a thunderstorm had moved in and all she could do was stare out her window and watch the wind roughly play with the trees in the neighbour’s backyard. The lightning would flash and light up the sky, creating odd patterns in the clouds.

‘Where’s Nii-san?’ She thought, the child never did like storms, she would usually rush to Ryou and he would keep her safe from the thunder roaring over head.

Tears began to fall from her eyes; Ai quietly wept in her room. She knew that if she made to much noise, her mother would barge in and want to know what’s wrong.

Ai…

She turned towards the closet, sniffling. “Huh?”

Why does the little one cry?

“I’m not supposed to talk to you…” The girl huffed, sitting up in her bed. “You’re monsters.”

We’re not monsters, we just wanted to play.

“I’m not listening.” She clasped her hands over her ears. “Ryou will get angry.”

Your brother is always angry...

“N-no.” Ai snapped back. “Nii-san is happy when he’s at home.”

There was silence for a second. We can tell you where he is...

“.. But you’ll lie.”

We would never lie to Ai-chan! The monsters almost sound insulted.

“… Okay…”

But will you do something for us after?

She tilted her head. “What?”

Give this to your Onii-san.

Sliding out from underneath the closet door, despite the many toys in front of it, was a simple black key. Curiously the girl slipped off her bed and toddled over to it, gently picking up the little object. Ai looked at it in the palm of her hand and frowned.

“What’s it for?”

All keys have doors.

Ai frowned. “Oh… So where is Nii-san?”

At the building of doctors, we are unfamiliar with its name. Many sick lay within, trapped and unable to leave...

The little girl shuffled uncomfortably. “The hospital…”


* * *


“You know...” Dr. Kariya smiled lightly as he wrapped the bandage around Ryou’s arm. “I didn’t plan on coming in today…”

Ryou was far too interested in the wall to look over at the man who had, just five minutes early, stitched up the cuts on his arm and ankle. He felt decidedly empty, unable to scrounge up a single emotion that was worth feeling, not even his anger was there to keep him company.

“… You never talked much last visit either…” The doctor sounded amused, he looked over at the man with glasses with a bored stare.

“Where’s Yasashisa-san?”

“In the other room, she fractured her arm.”

“Oh..”

Hajime frowned as the boy went back to staring at the wall. He seemed disconnected, but from his file Ryou Saito had never talked much too any physician, so why would he treat Dr. Kariya any different?

He wouldn’t, but Hajime liked to think he was better than the others.


‘Oh please just shut up and go away…’ Ryou thought, a tingling of irritation beginning to rise up out of the void inside of him. For a brief instance he thought his wish was going to come true as the doctor moved away from him to the other side of the room, fiddling around with some sort of medical apparatus.

The doctor’s white coat was stained with water and dirt at the bottom that left Ryou with the conclusion Dr. Kariya had rushed over here. Ryou didn’t think that he was that interesting, so why exactly would a doctor who had probably gone home for the night come rushing back to work when the call came in that he and Karen had checked in again, with more mysterious wounds.

“Has the blackening around your cuts vanished?” The question snapped Ryou back into reality.

“No.”

“Have they changed in appearance?”

“They’ve faded.”

“Hmmm… Alright.”

“Why?”

The doctor turned slowly, his stare was now focused on the quiet patient made him uneasy. Hajime fixed his shirt before walking over with a clipboard in hand. Ryou frowned, leaning back a bit as Dr. Kariya neared.

“Can’t say…”

Ryou’s irritation spiked, and he gritted his teeth. “The hell you can’t, it’s my body. Tell me.”

“It’s just bruising Saito-san, don’t worry-“

“You fed my mother the same bullshit about my sister.” He snarled, and made the doctor waver in his authority. “It’s nothing, just a cold, she'll be fine...” Ryou slid off the table as he trailed off and grabbing his ruined shirt and vest from the near-by chair.

Ignoring the pain from the cuts he opened the door and headed out.

“Fuck you too buddy.”


Hajime stood in the room quietly, his shocked expression changing into one of disappointment. He couldn’t tell Saito-san, as truly, he had nothing to tell. He didn’t know what he was dealing with, whatever was living in the petri-dish at home; it was something no doctor had ever seen before.

Well… No sane doctor anyways.

Dr. Kariya walked over to the wall-phone and plucked the handset off the wall. He dialed the headroom and leaned against the side-table.

“What?”

Ah, the distinctive welcome of department head Dr. Juro Suzuki.

“Were you expecting someone else to call?”

The old man on the other line coughed, and then sounded amused. “Hajime?”

“Yes, old man, it’s me.” He smirked. “Who were you expecting?”

“The wife, damn broad is on my case again about smoking.”

“You are aware, that smoking is bad for your health?”

“Just because I’m a doctor doesn’t mean I gotta listen to the health board!”

“No…” The younger man chuckled. “Apparently not.”

“So…” Juro sounded suspicious. “What can I do for you?”

“Do you remember that Professor from America? He came here a while going on about monsters or some such? He thought we had a case-“

“Oh that nut job…” There was a hard laugh, Dr. Kariya had to pull the phone away from his ear it was so loud. “What of him?”

“I need his university’s number.”

“You don’t believe him do you Hajime?”

“No!” He exclaimed. “Though I think some of his research may have had some relevance, not with the monsters, ghouls or fiends nonsense but the physical evidence on those supposively attacked.”

“Eh…” There was a short pause. “Alright I found it.”

“Great.” Hajime smiled a little. “Oh… And what was his name?”

“Oh hell, you need his name too?” There was a pause. “Hold on a second..”

Dr. Kariya could just hear the conversation happening on the other end of line.

“What do you mean there's more than one?”

“There were attacks all over the city...”

“what did Mori-san say?”

Hajime struggled to hear the faint voice of whoever was talking to his old friend. He only caught a few words, notably 'appear' and 'different'.

'What?' The doctor thought, frowning as his confused glare dug into the wall. 'Whose Mori-san?'

“If thats what he wants, then do it.” Juro's voice was distinctly on edge now, even as he turned his attention back to the younger doctor. “Right...What was it you needed again?”

“The Professor's name and the University number...” Hajime replied, quieter.

'Just what the hell is going on?'