?Doctor: "Byakko. Once you have Tora in your grip, show some restraint. Immediately."
Byakko: "Copy that."
?Clamo is still a no-show.
?Doctor: "Where is Clar? I thought you two were a package deal."
Byakko: "He told me to move out ahead of him."
Doctor: "Bathroom break? Cutting it a bit thin, isn't he?"
?A shadow detached itself from the gloom behind the Doctor. Clamo had arrived, silent as a ghost.
Clamo: "Just in time, it seems."
Doctor: "Too close for comfort! What was the hold-up?"
Clamo: "I was busy... preparing a little something."
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He tilted his hand just enough to reveal his prize.
Doctor: "Not part of the brief... but I’ll allow it."
?Doctor: "Move."
The trio breached the doors in unison, eyes scanning the darkness of the corridor.
?—Nothing—
?4...
3...
2...
1...
?The analog clock on the wall struck three, its chime echoing through the silence.
?From the far end of the lightless hall, a white specter materialized.
?It began its approach.
?The woman was white as fresh snow—so fragile that it felt as if she might shatter the moment Byakko laid a hand on her.
?Before anyone could draw a breath, Clamo snapped open the box in his hand.
?Doctor: "Noctilucent stones? Clever find."
?They had needed a light source that wouldn't blind. LED torches, lasers, even fiber optics—they were all too clinical, too harsh to capture the nuance of her face.
?Clamo had secured them while the Doctor and Byakko were out on their "patrol."
?It was their third night haunting the Tiger-Lock Mansion. Clamo, who had cataloged every inch of the storehouse, had spent his post-guard shift reclaiming the glowing stones he’d embedded in the garden soil earlier that day.
?The woman showed no fear, her presence cold and absolute as she closed the gap.
?One meter left.
?"Nakigitsune... do you remember me?"
?Having cornered them with her silence, the woman finally broke it.
