You Are My World - A Naegiri story

Chapter 24 - Dark times

Kyoko couldn't move. Her breath slowed drastically as she realized that the building they were trying to escape from is a skyscraper, probably more than half a kilometer high. And she was almost at the top, with her legs feeling a soft breeze of gently blowing wind. Her head was pointing straight forward where she could see no other buildings that high, but rather flats and giant warehouses, many of which were under construction. The city was so big that the detective couldn't tell if it ends, even from her current position.

"What can you see? ..Kiri? W-we need to go now or otherwise they'll-"

"Hug me." Kirigiri requested while trying to stay calm.

"Huh? What do you-"

"Do it Makoto." She ordered losing control over her calm tone.

"..alright.." Naegi gulped and slowly put his legs on the sides of his friend then shyly embraced her belly with his right hand. The moment he realized where they actually were he instantly lay down in the vent with his companion on top of him. His heart was racing so fast that Kyoko could feel it on her back.

"..I need to inspect something. Please make sure I don't fall." She requested and lay on her back heading to the end of the duct.

"J-just wait!" Makoto quickly sat up and grabbed his colleague by her legs as she pushed half of herself outside to examine what was above them.

"..There are power lines coming from the top of the skyscraper." Kirigiri told and rolled over on her belly. "Apparently they didn't have time to build a proper energetic infrastructure." She said while shading her eyes to see that the few kilometers long lines lead to identical cylinder-shaped buildings which were way shorter than the tower but still pretty tall.

"That means they need lots of power here, and they need it now." He deduced. "Do you think it's.. all for Junko?"

"We can't know for sure since we've only seen one floor so far." Kyoko replied and pushed herself back into the vent, then sat up next to her friend.

"If only we could cut the cables.." Naegi murmured and placed his right hand on his chin.

"That would only slow them down. We must prioritize our lives and get out of here." She stated and pressed herself against the vent wall, barely managing to squeeze herself past her friend.

"Wait! We can't just let them-" Makoto couldn't finish his sentence as his former classmate forcefully put her gloved finger on his lips. But she was too late.

The Two Ultimates sat still as they heard Naegi's resonant voice travel through the ducts creating an echo effect. They both held their breath and stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds while not moving even an inch.

She could tell the sudden fear emerging in his eyes when he couldn't tell a thing from looking at hers - the eyes that he knew so well, that seem to never lose focus. Their feelingless appearance didn't stop him from trying to find just a tiny bit of some emotion though. He felt like he was slowly diving deeper and deeper into her bottomless pitch-dark pupils, surrounded by her exceptional lavender irises, which somehow helped him to settle his fright. Just when he was starting to get lost, his friend abruptly unfroze.

"..We gotta move. Now." Kyoko grabbed the lamp she stole and started crawling forward.

"Kiri-" He whispered nervously but his friend was already taking the right turn, so he put his hands on the bottom of the vent and began following her. "What he showed us is a small lab sure, but imagine if they built a fully-fledged factory!"

"We don't even know if it's not a bluff." Kirigiri pointed out.

"The memory reading hardware clearly showed what they're capable of. We can't let this evil spread." Makoto stated silently but confidently.