Legacy's Wake

Temoshí, alongside Chiaki and Shanya, had covered a good distance from the household, moving swiftly through the empty streets. Their pace was steady, their eyes sharp. The further they went, the more the landscape changed—now, they found themselves entering a narrow district where towering buildings loomed over them like silent sentinels. The air was thick with an eerie stillness, chains hanging between the walls, occasionally swaying with a metallic creak.

Sensing the unsettling atmosphere, the trio instinctively moved with caution, their steps light and measured, careful not to disturb the silence.

Shanya shuddered slightly, tightening her warm jacket around herself. "Ain't gonna lie… this place's hella creepy. Don't like it one bit." Her voice was hushed, yet the discomfort was clear.

Chiaki, as expressionless as ever, glanced around at the ominous alleyway, then turned to Shanya. "Relax. This is just the pre-boss fight area. No enemies spawn here."

A heavy silence followed.

Shanya's head slowly turned toward her, eyes filled with the sheer horror of someone who had just realized she might be an NPC in a death game. "Excuse me?"

Temoshí groaned, dragging a hand down her face. "Chiaki…"

Chiaki shrugged, still deadpan. "What? If there were enemies, we'd be hearing the music change by now."

Shanya immediately looked around in a panic. "Why would you say that? Now I hear music in my head!"

Temoshí sighed. "Music of being lost?"

Chiaki smirked slightly, the close to an actual smile. "Sure, but if a giant health bar appears out of nowhere, I'm gearing up."

Shanya jabbed a thumb over her shoulder toward Chiaki, giving Temoshí a deadpan look. "Hey, do you have a settings menu somewhere? Maybe a 'Mute Chiaki' option buried in your pockets?"

Temoshí sighed, rubbing her temples in exhaustion. "Trust me, if I had a mute button for her, I'd be spamming it by now."

Before Shanya could fire back, Chiaki had already vanished from sight. A split second later, she reappeared right behind Shanya, leaning in so close that her breath tickled her ear.

In an eerily monotone voice, she whispered, "Error: Mute function unavailable. Would you like to uninstall fear instead?"

Shanya yelped, nearly jumping out of her jacket as she whipped around, her fists raised. "Damn it, Chiaki! What the hell?!"

Chiaki, still blank-faced, tilted her head. "That's weird. Usually, when I install terror, people scream louder."

Temoshí covered her mouth, trying to hold back a snort, but the sight of Shanya's flustered glare made her burst out laughing. "Chiaki, you're gonna give her a heart attack before we even reach the real danger."

Shanya huffed, crossing her arms. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. But when a ghost jumps out and drags you into the abyss, don't come crying to me."

Chiaki blinked. "Joke's on you. I already live in the abyss."

With that, they pressed forward, the eerie atmosphere lingering—but now accompanied by the distant sound of Shanya mumbling about how she needed new friends.

Before they could advance further into the labyrinthine citadel, Chiaki suddenly froze, her senses alert as she looked around cautiously.

"Do you hear that?" she asked, her voice low. The towering buildings blocked out the sky, leaving only a shadowed expanse of stone and silence. "A whistle... something's nearby."

Her warning sent the group into battle-ready stances, all except for Temoshí, whose body remained strangely relaxed, as if unconcerned.

For a long moment, there was only stillness. No movement. No sound. It was enough to set Shanya on edge.

"What the hell's going on?" she hissed, her body adopting a more defensive posture, crouching low and placing her hand flat against the cold ground. She inhaled deeply, focusing, letting the warmth of her breath ground her before expanding her senses.

The world around her shifted. Her vision blurred into black and white, the outline of the city fading as she reached out with her mind, seeking any trace of life. Her perception painted the scene in hues of red, blue, and green—each heart around her beating at a different rhythm, some fast, some slow, some barely there.

Chiaki noticed immediately. "That ability... It's the same one Bow used back in Harventona. I didn't know you could do that, Shanya."

Shanya's lips trembled as she pushed her concentration deeper, her eyes fixed on the space around them as she scanned for any living presence. Yet, to her surprise, there was nothing. No humans. No animals. Just her allies, and a few road runners scurrying about in the distance.

Her brow furrowed. She forced herself to sharpen her focus, intensifying the image in her mind. She opened her eyes, calm but determined. "There's nothing. We're alone."

Despite her words, Chiaki and Temoshí remained unconvinced, their senses still on high alert.

Chiaki scowled, irritation creeping into her voice. "I know something's out there. I'm not losing it, alright? There's definitely something nearby. I can feel it."

A full minute of tense silence passed, with no movement and no sound. Then, without warning, a chilling scream echoed through the street, sending a wave of unease through the group. A dark, shadowy figure shot out from the shadows, speeding straight toward Temoshí. For a brief moment, she froze, caught off guard, but in an instant, her instincts kicked in. She rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the phantom, which shot past her and zipped between Chiaki and Shanya, vanishing into the darkness.

"What the hell was that?!" Temoshí shouted, her body still low to the ground as she quickly pushed herself back up and glanced around, eyes scanning the shadows.

Shanya, equally confused, turned her head to follow the phantom's path. "Was that a ghost or something?" she asked, her voice tinged with both disbelief and curiosity as she peered into the pitch-black distance where the creature had vanished.

Temoshí's messy bun fluttered in the wind, her earrings swaying as she tried to use her Inspection ability to track down either the creature or any nearby living beings. "That thing felt like a phantom. I couldn't sense it coming at all," Chiaki commented, absentmindedly rubbing her cheek with her fingertip.

Temoshí glanced back at her, raising an eyebrow. "You're not scared, are you?"

Chiaki shrugged with a playful smirk. "Nah, just thinking if I can catch it, maybe I can sell it as a haunted house attraction. Could use the extra cash."

Temoshí squinted, her eyes narrowing as question marks appeared above her head, cartoon-style, before she shook her head, trying to clear the confusion. Before she could voice her thoughts, Shanya interrupted, suggesting, "Maybe we could follow it. Retrace our steps."

Chiaki, ever the optimist, chimed in with a grin, "Or we could just wait for it to come back and ask for directions."

Shanya placed her hand on her hips and stretched with exaggerated slowness, like a cat getting ready for a wild sprint, yawning dramatically. "If you want me to chase that thing, I'm totally down," she said, striking a few exaggerated poses as she prepared for action. However, Temohí simply stopped her with a tired sigh. "We'll just go back the same way," she muttered, rubbing her hand through her white, messy hair. "Let's not act like idiots and scatter around like chickens with their heads cut off."

Chiaki and Shanya both stared at her in unison, their faces a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

"What?" Temohí asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chiaki and Shanya exchanged a look that was pure comedy, then Shanya responded first, "Hey, Burnsy, I don't remember signing up for your circus. Thought you were the boss, not the clown."

Chiaki followed up with, "And by the way, turning into a girl doesn't magically reboot your brain, right? Because you usually charge in like someone put a hot potato in your pants."

Temoshí cleared her throat, putting on the most innocent expression she could muster. "Well, now that I'm a woman, I really don't think I want hot potatoes down there. Some things are better left untouched, you know?" Chiaki and Shanya immediately turned away, with Chiaki crossing her arms tightly, while Shanya simply whistled in the silence, leaving Temoshí standing awkwardly in the tense air.

The mood shifted quickly as a strange shadow appeared ahead of them, creeping down the same road where the earlier darkness had attacked. The three girls tensed, eyes narrowing as a hooded figure approached, its face obscured by an impenetrable void of blackness—pure, colorless darkness that seemed to swallow everything around it.

The figure came to a stop several feet away, its hands tucked into its pockets, standing still and staring at them like a faceless specter.

"Well, looks like someone finally decided to show up," Shanya remarked, her tone serious as she kept her eyes locked on the figure, instinctively sizing it up as a potential threat. But something didn't add up—Shanya couldn't sense a living presence in the surrounding area.

To be continued...