Neon Lights & Dangerous Heights

When the Mail Explodes

Russia 3rd Person POV:

“So, have any odd things been happening recently?” 
Japan gazed at him critically, her gold eyes hungry with a curiosity she didn’t bother to cover. “Like what?” 
Russia shrugged and leaned on the counter. “I was hoping you could tell me.” 
Even though his position seemed relaxed, his body was unconsciously tensing up, and he had to constantly relax himself. 
It might be nothing, but I still don’t want her to know. 
She flicked her cat tail, and he knew that her brain was busy trying to figure out why he was asking. A lot of things can go through her mind, it’s scary. She could pretty much soak in information and never forget it. 
“Well, there have been a few hushed up incidents. But I don’t know exactly what they are.” 
Russia felt tempted to lean in slightly, but he stopped himself, and made his eyes flick around the room like he was bored. “Why would it be covered up?” 
He heard her shuffle around, and he knew that she was trying to get his attention again. A typical detective move to see what the other’s reaction was. “I don’t know,” she answered. “We have received a few odd calls, too. You know how they are all recorded? Well, now there are gaps where the recordings used to be, and the countries who answered the phone all decided to stop working randomly.” 
“What?” Turning to her, he tilted his head. “What are you suggesting by this?” 
Japan shrugged and glanced at a phone that rudely decided to interrupt by ringing next to her. “Talk to you later?” She picked the phone up. “Hello?” 
Sighing, Russia nodded to her and let her take the call in peace. Tugging his ushanka lower onto his face, he passed by the office desk and slipped in through a door. 
The hallway on the other side was large and very white, and as he walked along it, the warm air from the heater blasted right at him. He shut his eyes, relishing the warmth, ignoring the tiny voice inside his head that told him something was wrong, and slipped into his room that was closed off with a wooden door marked “Russia.” 
Inside was a wide desk with a neat pile of papers and a lamp. Bookshelves took up one space of the wall, while pictures of his past awards lined another. He had been in this line of work for almost fifty years now, which was a lot younger than the other detectives that he knew of, but because of his powers, he had been allowed in at a younger age. 
Opening his eyes, he focused on the room in front of him, allowing his Detective powers to float around the room in a mist-like hue, to check that nothing had been tampered with. 
Now, the little voice inside of his head grew louder as his powers got activated. But as his mist scanned the room for him, they receded back into him, not finding anything wrong. 
He took off his hat, threw it onto the table, and rubbed his forehead. Maybe it was just a headache and he was paranoid that Japan might turn on him with this new information. Letting out a soft sigh, he fell into his plush chair and started up his monitors. 
It wouldn’t hurt to check Japan’s story out. She always did know everything that happened everywhere. She liked to argue that it was helpful to know in case she ever had to use her power, but it had also gotten her into a lot of trouble. 
Once his monitors were warmed up enough, he plunked in his password. The warning inside his head shrilled out, making him flinch, and he groaned, putting his head on the keyboard, clutching his head. After a second, it died out, going back to a shushed tapping that persisted, and he blinked, looking around. 
“There’s nobody here,” he grumbled. “Then why are my senses going off?” 
Irritated, he looked at the screen and muttered under his breath when he saw that he had accidentally searched up jhtn.u in the Google search bar. Clicking out of that page, he was brought back to the news he had been scrolling through, but decided that could wait. 
Getting up, he spread his arm over the room and the mist came back out again, rolling over every crevasse in the room. While his magic was playing out, he peeked through his door and scanned the hallway. 
Nobody was there, and now he was a little out of breath after using his magic just to find out the same thing he already knew: nothing had disturbed his room. 
That still didn’t help his powers to relax, though. 
Wherever they are, they clearly aren’t here in person, or I would have found them. And it’s not a camera either, which means that they are somehow inside my room, able to see what I do, while still not being inside. 
He took a breath. Well, the best way to catch somebody is by letting them think they’ve won. 
And so, even though his head hated him for it, he sat back down and even relaxed, scrolling through the news media like he was confident that nobody was near him. 
As he sat there, listening carefully to his surroundings while he pretended to read a long article about one of his fellow detectives on a mysterious case, he thought that he could hear the faint sound of somebody breathing. 
But that’s impossible, his brain chided. Nobody is inside of your room. You’re just paranoid. 
But the longer he sat there, the more sure he was of himself. The slow exhale followed by a pause as they quietly inhaled, then the small sound of them exhaling yet again happened over and over. When the heater turned on, the noise stopped, but when it turned off, he could hear them very clearly. 
What if they're in the air vent?
The thought sent cold chills down his spine and he momentarily forgot to keep scrolling. Normally, nobody crawled in the vents. They were just too small. But, there had been a few cases in the past when countries have done things like that to escape, detectives included. Swallowing, he made himself switch to another page, like he lost interest. Grainy videos grinned up at him, showing him their beautiful view of a man storming out of the police station, fuming. 
He barely cracked a smile at the sight before moving the cursor to the History button, and clicking onto it. 
When the heat turned on again, he casually threw a glance up at it. Through the slanted opening, he couldn’t see anything except for the shadow behind it, which filled him with disappointment. But, even though it wasn’t the largest size of vents, somebody could hypothetically fit inside of it, and wriggle around in and out of it. 
All they had to do was try. 
Russia watched the feed backwards at a faster rate than normal, keeping an eye on the vents. Anytime he saw somebody go near one, he would snap his head over to it, but all they did was walk right past it, or hold a phone call. None of them seemed interested in unhooking them and clambering inside just to scare him. 
Shaking his head, he closed that window too and leaned back in his chair, thinking. When the heat turned off once again, he stayed still, trying to listen to the breathing, when he frowned. 
There was no sound other than the slight pounding in his ears that told him it was too quiet.