"Who are you?"
Gai Tsutsugami tensed on pure reflex.
This is Funeral Parlor's private comm channel.
"How do you know this frequency... just who are you—"
"It doesn't matter who I am."
The voice was commanding. Absolute. It left no room for argument.
"If you want to live, follow my instructions."
"..."
Who is this? Gai's mind raced through every possibility and discarded them one by one. Never mind that this stranger had appeared from nowhere — they were speaking with complete certainty that they could pull him out of his current predicament?
Under any other circumstances, he would have laughed in their face. But with his back against the wall and nothing left to lose, he had run out of options.
"Talk."
"From your current position, find the waste disposal chute on the second floor. My associate will meet you there."
"You're with GHQ?"
That was the only conclusion he could reach. They sounded like they knew exactly where he was — and they'd mentioned having someone waiting for him. He refused to believe anyone else could have infiltrated the heart of GHQ headquarters, so the logic tracked.
"Move quickly if you don't want to die. She can't wait forever."
"She?..."
Before Gai could process that, the line went dead.
"Gai? What happened? The signal cut out and I thought you were already—"
"I'm fine, Shibungi."
"Cancel the last order. Hold at the original rally point and wait for my signal."
He killed the comm. This wasn't the time to explain the mysterious stranger. He drew a slow breath and rose to his feet — the despair that had nearly swallowed him flickering back to something like hope. He had nothing left to lose. Trusting that voice was his only option.
"Gai, what that person said—"
"Let's move, Kyo. No time to waste."
"Right!"
...
...
That voice, of course, had been Inori Yuzuriha's doing entirely.
She had no idea where Gai actually was. But phrasing it that way would give him exactly the impression she needed — this person has everything under control. Gai getting caught meant Funeral Parlor would never grow into the thorn in GHQ's side she needed them to be. That was unacceptable.
In the corner lay a soldier with a blow to the head, still out cold beside the GHQ uniform she'd just stripped off.
Inori rose from her seat and got dressed — black tactical pants and boots she'd prepared in advance, a commandeered bulletproof vest underneath, and over everything a large, heavy jacket: black as the base, with two vivid red stripes. She kept her hair in the high bun she'd already tied and finished with a black face mask, covering from nose to chin and part of her neck.
Inori's hair was unmistakably pink — but not in the usual way. It was a gradient. Below the ears was true pink; above that, it faded to something almost white. With her hair tied up in a high ponytail and the right play of light, anyone looking from the front or side would mistake it for white entirely.
— Good. No one needs to recognize my face and cause problems.
"Let's go, King Crimson."
Half a second of Time Erasure. The girl stepped straight through the sealed door.
"Intruder!!"
"Open fire!!"
Two steps out and she was already running into soldiers combing the building for Gai. They opened up without a word. Inori didn't flinch — her eyes sharpened, she planted a foot, and launched off the floor like a leopard, her small frame sailing through the air as a whipping kick swept the first wave off their feet.
The movement was too fast to track. Even the few shots that found their mark were deflected by King Crimson.
The elevator was a non-starter — unusable and far too slow. Inori found the emergency fire stairwell, didn't bother with the handle, and kicked the door open hard enough to leave a boot-shaped dent in the steel.
"Who's there?"
"Freeze!"
Expected. The stairwells were still passable, but they were packed with GHQ patrols — and that crash had just announced her arrival. Fighting her way down step by step under live fire was more trouble than it was worth.
She had a better idea.
Inori stepped onto the railing, jumped — and activated King Crimson's Time Erasure.
Time lurched — the world skipped forward. In the lightless void where time ceased to exist, she dropped fast and free, and neither the stairs nor the soldiers below were obstacles anymore.
King Crimson materialized the instant she landed, catching her mid-fall and absorbing the impact before retreating back inside her, settling into its role as a living suit of armor — power and protection wrapped around her frame.
Three more corners at a dead sprint, and Inori finally reached the rendezvous point she'd specified.
Gai and his small companion were already there — currently half-clinging to each other as they tried to squeeze themselves into the narrow waste disposal chute in what could only be described as a deeply undignified configuration.
"What are you two doing?"
Inori's voice came through the mask, cool and clear as spring water.
Pleasant as it was, Gai nearly jumped out of his skin. The short boy beside him stumbled and hit the floor. "You... are you the contact that person mentioned?"
Gai looked the black-clad girl over — the quiet, unsettling menace that radiated off her. Her face was covered, but those deep crimson eyes struck him as strangely familiar.
"That's me."
Inori nodded, her voice carrying the faint warmth of a smile.
They must have waited and, finding no one, decided to escape through the chute themselves. But this was the second floor of the tower — the waste processing facility was below sea level. No protective gear, a drop like that, and at minimum they'd break their legs. Inori had told them to rendezvous here. She hadn't told them to crawl through a garbage pipe.
"Could I see your face, miss?"
"Next time."
She answered without missing a beat, then kept going before he could respond.
"No time to waste. Both of you stay close. I'll fight our way out."
"What?"
For a moment, Gai wondered if he'd put his faith in the wrong person. If he'd heard correctly, this girl had just said... fight our way out?
"Through the front. That's our exit route."
"Impossible!" Before Gai could finish the thought, the short, fine-featured boy at his side cut in. "Miss... the whole exterior is GHQ. And they have new-model Endlaves. Going through the front is suicide!"
Inori studied the small, delicate-looking... boy for a moment, then shifted her gaze to Gai's face.
"Does Funeral Parlor really take kids this young?"
"It was his choice," Gai said flatly. "But seriously — through the front? You mean that?"
"Think about it." Inori gave him a flat look. "Right now, every soldier in this building is tearing it apart floor by floor looking for us. The last thing they'll expect is for us to walk out the front door. That's exactly why it's the right move."
"Go through that waste chute and you'll walk into an ambush in three steps. Don't underestimate GHQ."
"Even so, the bridge connecting this artificial island is heavily guarded." Gai's brow furrowed, his voice measured. "All we have are firearms. How do we engage Endlaves in open ground like that?"
Going against logic and using the main entrance — Gai had considered it. But even thinly defended, a bridge nearly a kilometer long over open water was a death sentence. No cover. No concealment. No transport. Walking it was the same as painting a target on their backs.
"That's not your problem to worry about."
She smiled faintly.