Friday 27th May
The first indication that not all was well was not inside Shido's Palace.
Haruto could feel his heart fluttering away in his chest as he crouched behind the wall, careful to remain out of sight.
"Is everything alright in there?" Wakaba's voice crackled over the receiver. "Your heart rate's up."
"Fine," Haruto whispered into his wrist-piece. "Just a bit of minor trouble coming in. It won't take long to get by."
"Alright," she sighed. "Be careful."
But it was not 'a bit of minor trouble' as he'd suggested. Security in Wakaba's Palace had gotten worse. Quite considerably worse, actually. Had something happened? Something he hadn't noticed, thanks to being so preoccupied by what was happening with Yusuke, and the other Metaverse users?
He could sense one of the guards drawing closer, plodding its way over at a painfully slow march. He glanced above him. Augh, if he could only get his leg over this wall…
It was getting closer…
Alright, he'd just have to run for it.
Springing out from behind the wall, he made his way down the hallway at a dead-sprint, the warning siren that signalled one of the guards had spotted him blaring overhead.
Adrenaline pumped through him as he turned one corner, then the next—he knew his way out, he just didn't want the Shadow to catch him.
The exit was in sight-just at the top of the stairs.
He didn't turn to check if the Shadow was still following him as he sprinted upwards, instead just clinging to the hope he could make it out in time.
And then…
Then he was out.
Gasping, he stumbled away from Wakaba's Palace and into the nearest side-street, leaning back against the wall as his throat burned, his ribcage seeming to shriek in protest.
Something was very wrong.
"Are you past it?" Wakaba asked in his ear.
"Yes," muttered Haruto. "Just about."
"Don't waste your energy before you get into the Palace proper," she warned him. Not that he needed to be.
If he'd have known Wakaba's Palace had turned into such a death-trap he'd have insisted on entering from elsewhere. But now… He had to start moving towards Shido's Palace, or she'd get suspicious.
Pushing himself up off the wall, he heaved a great sigh and began making his way towards the Diet Building.
What had caused this sudden change? Wakaba didn't seem all that different in real life—more stressed, to be sure, but what they were doing was stressful, so that shouldn't come as a surprise. Wakaba's Palace encapsulated her lab, a grim personification of how she viewed her job—trapped in Shido's grip—but it had remained pretty constant for almost all the time Haruto had been in Tokyo, despite her situation declining to the point she'd had to ask him for help. So maybe he was wrong about what it meant?
Perhaps it was something more personal-something he didn't know about? He didn't know everything about Wakaba's life, after all. But he needed to work out what it was. Fast. If it continued to get worse it could put his life in danger just going in. And he couldn't afford that—not with the situation he already had in Shido's Palace.
And speaking of which, that very Palace now loomed before him, ominously blotting out the sky. Time to get back on that damned ship…
***
His target this time (if he'd checked his notes correctly) was a former noble, whom Shido appeared to be using to make sure the upper echelons of society didn't interfere with his political plans. How exactly Shido had managed to gather such a wide range of peculiar acquaintances, Haruto had no idea, but he must have managed it somehow, because here he was, dealing with the fallout.
Now, he'd been informed that this pitiful excuse of a human being liked to lurk near the pool and stare at half-clothed women all day—so it seemed him and Shido at least shared that much in common. There was just the question of how exactly to ambush him when he was sitting beside an open-air pool. Not a frightful lot of places he could use to sneak up on the man.
He had brought his sniper rifle this time, but he wasn't sure if he was willing to set the whole Palace in a frenzy by using it to take him out—it was one thing to snipe a Shadow lurking in some enclosed room—quite another to snipe one lounging by the pool. There would be uproar, and Haruto didn't like his chances—especially in a Palace like this. So no sniping, and no sneaking… difficult.
The last option would just be to… walk up to him and ask for the letter. He'd sacrifice the element of surprise, sure, but it would at least prevent any other Shadows from getting ideas and trying to interfere.
He sighed deeply.
This was by far one of the most irritating Palaces he'd ever had to tackle.
Hopping off the balcony he'd been perched on, he began to make his way over to the noble, avoiding the piercing gaze of the Shadows patrolling the pool. The man was splayed out on a sun lounger, the very image of middle-age decline. Haruto repressed a shudder as he walked up to him.
"Hello?" grumbled the man, tilting his sunglasses up as Haruto approached. "You one of the staff? You don't look quite like the rest of 'em…"
His eyes flicked to the Shadows patrolling the pool, then back to Haruto.
"Very astute of you," said Haruto, smiling behind his mask. "I'm not like them."
The noble narrowed his eyes, scrambling to sit up a bit straighter. "Who are you? You don't work for the Cleaner, do you? I haven't done anything wrong, I swear!"
Oh, he was a nervous one. Good. That meant this should be easy.
"No," said Haruto, taking a menacing step forward, "but I do run a cleaning service of my own, if you get my drift."
The noble's face turned ashen. "W-what do you want?"
"Oh, that's quite simple. I want a letter of introduction to your dear friend Shido. Think you can do that for me?"
"A letter of introduction?" asked the noble. "What do you want that for?"
"That's for me to know, and you to keep your nose out of," said Haruto, smiling serenely. The noble couldn't see his face, of course, but… he'd get the message one way or another. "Now will you do it?"
The noble paused, his eyes darting this way and that, clearly looking for a way out.
"Believe me," said Haruto, now hovering uncomfortably close to the man, "whatever it is you think Shido will do to you for giving me this letter, I promise that if you don't, you'll get about a thousand times worse from me, do you understand?"
The man's eyes bulged out of his face, his flabby cheeks unnaturally pale.
"I-I see," he managed to gurgle, looking oddly like a stranded fish. "Well then, in that case…"
He reached into the pocket of his swimming trunks and withdrew a thin envelope, holding it out towards Haruto.
"There," he said, his voice cracking with nerves. "It's all in there—you can check, I don't mind."
Well, since he'd been so kind as to offer…
Haruto unfolded the envelope, and sure enough, there was a valid letter of introduction in there. Well. That was relatively painless. If he could persuade the others too—
But that line of thought was rapidly broken off as, out of the corner of his eye, a figure began to form. A big one.
"Think you can intimidate me?" hissed the voice of the noble, now coming out of a very large, very angry-looking Forneus. "Think again, shrimp!"
Oh, for pity's sake.
He jumped back, summoning Thor to his fingertips with a snap of his fingers. The Forneus was already preparing a psychic blast, pink energy swirling around its head as it glowered down at him. The other Shadows were forming an interested circle on the periphery, clearly curious as to what was going to happen. Alright. He had to take this thing out quickly, or one of them might jump in and try to take him out itself.
"Thor, use Ziodyne!" he hissed, pointing at the Forneus.
With an intense crack, lightning leapt from Thor's fingers and collided with the over-sized stingray, a hideous buzzing sound emanating from its body as electricity flowed through wet flesh. It collapsed to the ground, its breathing shallow, its body twitching disconcertingly. Knocked down—not collapsed—and probably not entirely unconscious either. He didn't plan on making the same mistake he'd made last time.
With a flick of his wrist, he pulled a pistol from his holster, and pointed it right at the Forneus's head. His finger hovered on the trigger. One pull and it would be dead. But he didn't have time to pull it.
Next second, something exploded into his side, knocking him off his feet, sending him clattering towards the ground with barely an idea of which way was even up.
His ears were ringing.
Has the gun gone off?
He raised his head groggily to see the Forneus dissolving into dust—well, that was one problem solved. But now another had reared its horrible head, as a Cerberus began to bear down on him.
"Haruto?" Wakaba's voice echoed in his ears. "What's happening?"
"I'm getting out of here," he said, barely having time to move the wrist—piece away from his mouth as he dodged the beast flying towards him once again.
He broke off into a sprint, heading for the inside of the boat, where it would be difficult for the Cerberus to follow him. Clattering through the doorframe, he glanced back to see the creature still in hot pursuit.
Shit.
He'd have to abandon any notion of heading for the Safe Room. He had what he needed from Shido's Palace. Now he just needed to get out.
Still running, running so hard he thought his legs might give out, he reached out, feeling for that twitch in the Metaverse that would be his ticket home and… found it. Thank goodness.
He stumbled onto his feet, back on the streets of Tokyo again—he quickly felt his chest. Not wet. So he wasn't bleeding, thank goodness. But that didn't mean he hadn't shattered anything. He needed to head back to Wakaba—quickly.
With another tug at the strings of the universe, he was back in the Metaverse again—the normal Metaverse this time—not that accursed ship.
"Are you out?" asked Wakaba. "Are you injured?"
"Not obviously," Haruto whispered back, the air gradually beginning to refill in his lungs. "But I'm heading back over to you. I'm a bit battered."
"Alright. Don't be too long."