Chapter 187: The basement [1]
Bzzz!
Silence.
Following a faint voice, the surroundings grew silent.
The static from the TV crackled through the silence of the living room, echoing like the soft buzz of a mosquito.
Kyle and Zoey stopped at the sight of the TV, their bodies growing tense.
Though the screen was filled with static, a faint image flickered through. An old town rendered in a cartoonish style, painted mostly in shades of yellow. Figures appeared beside the houses, smiling and waving directly at the screen.
The two stood like that, staring at the smiling and waving figures.
Bzzz!
The image reflected across their pupils as the TV continued to buzz.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The rain tapped.
Bzzz!
The TV buzzed.
Kyle and Zoey stood in silence, staring at the TV as though entranced.
And then—
"Mr. Jingles says~ Take a step."
A soft voice whispered in their ears.
Both Kyle and Zoey took a step.
"Mr. Jingles says~ Take another step."
Kyle and Zoey took another step.
They were moving closer to the TV. The people smiling on the TV were smiling even more.
"Mr Jingles says~ Take anoth—"
"Shit...!"
The first to snap out of it was Zoey. Flicking her head towards Kyle, she snapped her finger, and a bright light flickered in his eyes.
"Uh?!"
Kyle snapped out of it right after.
"What the h—"
"Illusionist Decree."
Just one word was enough to make Kyle realize the gravity of the situation as he stopped looking at the TV.
"...Looks like we’re dealing with an Elcid Class at the very least."
The BAU’s classifications were Sigl, Elcid, Melas, Thrall, and Kermite.
Sigil was a classification given to anomalies that were considered to be harmless, or ’non-threatening’. From the moment a victim appeared, the class would automatically move up to Elcid.
"That looks to be the case. A powerful one at that."
Zoey answered grimly while keeping her gaze away from the TV.
Anomalies of the Illusionist Decree specialized in illusion and mind manipulation. They were usually the trickiest ones to handle.
Kyle hesitated for a moment before turning to look at the TV.
"Wha, wai—"
"Just snap me out of it when necessary. I need to observe more."
Zoey clenched her teeth, but decided to oblige with his request. This was how Kyle usually was. Although he usually looked coolheaded, he was the craziest of everyone she knew.
Bzzz!
Listening to the buzz of the TV, Kyle looked at the figures in the screen.
He moved to the right.
Their eyes followed.
He moved to the left.
Their eyes followed again.
"Hmm."
Kyle’s eyes narrowed, and the light of the TV reflected in his pupils.
"Zoey, make sure you record all of this. I will send the file back to the Guild."
"...Already doing that."
Zoey replied while holding her phone ahead and recording Kyle.
"Okay."
Nodding his head, Kyle proceeded to move left and right again. Zoey picked all of this up with her camera while carefully keeping her eyes away from the TV.
A thought occurred to her then.
"Zoey..."
"What is it?"
Stopping, Kyle turned to look at her.
"I think I’ve figured something out."
"....What is it?"
Her breath paused in that moment.
For whatever reason, Kyle’s expression made her feel uneasy.
"He’s.. No, they are watching."
"Hm?"
Kyle tilted his head, pointing at the screen.
"What are you—"
"...Mr. Jingles and his victims."
Breathing deeply, Kyle finished,
"They’re watching us."
***
"Found anything?"
"Nothing. Just a few more drawings."
Hearing the rat’s answer, I wasn’t disappointed. It wasn’t like I had found much as well. The only thing I did get was a drawing.
In essence, the same as the rat.
"You also didn’t find much?"
"...Nope."
I showed Myles the drawing that I had gotten earlier.
"Same drawing. And..."
"And?"
"Well, I found a balloon. A red one, but I didn’t detect anything strange coming from it. It’s in the playroom."
"A red balloon?"
The rat’s brows furrowed for a short moment before eventually relaxing.
"I guess we were both pretty unlucky."
"Right."
I wasn’t really sure about that. I felt that the more I found, the more unlucky I’d feel. After all, that would suggest the anomaly was targeting me, which was anything but nice.
With a smile, Myles looked at me.
"In that case, let’s keep looking around. I’ll spend more time with the kids. Since you know the layout of this place better, you can try looking in those areas."
"I was thinking the same thing."
"Okay, good luck."
"Good luck."
Bidding the rat ’good luck’, I stared at his retreating back, feeling a weight on my chest alleviate a little. There was just something about him that always kept me on edge. With his bowl-cut air and dimples, he looked completely harmless, but just the way he spoke and looked always made me alert.
’Is it because I’m referring too much to the game? I don’t know, but I’d like to spend as little time as possible with him.’
Turning in the opposite direction, I decided to head for the basement area.
The orphanage had two floors. The first and second floors. However, it also had a basement, which was fairly large.
I planned on going there to see if I could find anything since I wasn’t able to find much during the entire time.
’I wish I could just use my glasses. That would make my life so much easier, but I’m afraid that something might happen. How long until Kyle and Zoey come back?’
Looking at my phone, I checked for any new messages, but saw that there was nothing.
Turning to look at the windows, watching the heavy rain lash against the glass and the distant rumble of thunder roll through the air, I felt a strange, creeping discomfort settle in.
’...I might have a feeling that they might not be able to make it back today.’
The time limit for the quest was two days.
One day had already passed.
In that case...
’Something big will be happening very soon.’
I felt my breath slow down at the realization as I clenched my phone tightly. If Kyle and Zoey weren’t going to show up today, then I knew that I couldn’t afford to delay using the glasses.
My chest tightened at the thought, but I knew that I didn’t have much of a choice.
"Just in case, I’ll text Kyle and see if he answers."
The text was brief. I just said, [Where are you? Are you getting back?]
I hoped to receive an answer quickly, but even as I waited a couple of minutes, I received no response from him.
My heart sank.
’He could also be on his way back. He did have a car. Ah, shit. Whatever. Let me see how the game is doing. Have the sales increased?’
In order to get my mind off the matter, I decided to check the sales of the game.
A day had passed since I had last checked it.
At the rate it was going, I expected the sales to have increased by a lot.
Opening the Dock app, the first thing I did was go to my own page and open up the sales page.
But...
"Eh?"
[Sales: 61,037]
The result that I saw left me shocked.
This was...
A lot lower than I previously thought.
"....."
I stood in silence for a brief moment before I smiled bitterly.
"I thought that the sales would reach a hundred thousand because of how fast it was previously growing, but I guess I was hoping for too much."
I scratched the side of my face.
This certainly did manage to get my mind off the Kyle matter.