I went back down to reception to retrieve my backpack and packed away everything I had with me.
I wasn’t going to need any of it anymore.
With everything gathered, I returned to the first floor and walked down the hallway until I stopped in front of the restroom door.
“And, for the next act of the show, Nagi finally reaches his destination and…”
A small stream of water was seeping out from under the door and spreading across the hallway tiles.
I grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but the door wouldn’t move.
I pressed one hand against it and gradually increased the force.
This time, it gave way a few centimeters, and much more water started pouring through the gap.
I get it now.
There was nothing blocking the door; the restroom was flooded, and all the water accumulated on the other side was pressing against it.
Before pushing any further, I reinforced my body with energy and lifted myself between the two walls of the narrow hallway.
I planted my right hand and foot against one wall and my left hand and foot against the opposite one, pushing outward with all four limbs.
The pressure and friction allowed me to remain suspended.
I really didn’t feel like soaking my sneakers.
From that position, I freed one leg and stretched it toward the door.
I planted the sole of my foot near the top and pushed hard.
The door broke inward violently, releasing a wave of water into the hallway beneath me.
The upper edge of the door slammed into one of the stall partitions.
It got wedged there diagonally, with the bottom still near the entrance and the top resting against the partition, forming a ramp.
Unfortunately for me, the water had a very suspicious color.
Sewage.
I grabbed the top of the doorway with both hands and built up some momentum, swinging my body forward.
I let go at just the right moment and landed with both feet on the tilted door, above the waterline.
From there, I jumped onto the wall of one of the stalls.
A layer of filthy water covered the entire floor.
The toilets were overflowing, constantly spewing out more water.
I guess some of the pipes must’ve gotten clogged.
“Fucking disgusting…”
Dad, I swear, this particular piece of damage had absolutely nothing to do with me.
Phase Three of the mission: locate the source of the problem.
It’s here.
The entire room was saturated with energy.
I could feel its presence surrounding me from every direction.
Even so, there was one specific point where it seemed to be pouring out much more intensely.
I turned, following the sensation until I traced it to a corner of the restroom, where several cabinets held hygiene and cleaning supplies.
One of them caught my attention.
Behind the glass, wedged between rolls of toilet paper and bottles of soap, sat a small black box.
The amount of energy coming from it was absurd.
How long has this thing been here, and how did it even get here in the first place?
And secondly, why hasn’t anyone gotten rid of it?
The employees couldn’t perceive that energy at all.
And if you couldn’t feel it, there was practically no reason that little box would ever catch your attention.
The black aura pouring from it was so dense that I was starting to sweat.
A bunch of strange emotions suddenly welled up inside me, and a slight shiver ran through my body.
I did a bit of parkour to get closer without touching the water.
I held onto the top of the stall door closest to the cabinet with one arm and stretched the other as far as I could until I reached the handle.
I opened the cabinet.
The movement threw me off balance, and I quickly had to grab on again with both hands.
With the cabinet open, I tried again.
I swung myself forward, stretched my arm as far as it would go, and just barely managed to grab the box.
With one push, I swung myself back onto the top of the stall door and sat down again, the black box now in my hands.
I removed the lid.
For a moment, I thought they were hieroglyphics, but they didn’t look Egyptian.
More like little drawings and strange markings repeated all along the bandages.
Part of the cloth had come loose, leaving one end exposed.
It was dark, purple, and ended in an uneven point.
I carefully grabbed the bandages and started unwrapping them.
Layer after layer came away until the object revealed itself to be a finger.
Huge.
Shriveled.
Dark purple.
It ended in a long, deformed nail.
Its skin was completely wrinkled, and all across its surface were small shapes that looked like human faces twisted into sorrowful expressions.
It looked like the mummified finger of some kind of creature.
Definitely not a human one.
The stench hit me full force.
“Holy shit…
It smells like shit.”
What the fuck is this?
It smelled like a mixture of rotting flesh and rust.
I swallowed hard and tried to keep the rising nausea under control.
I need to get rid of this thing.
There’s no doubt about it.
Those things are attracted to the aura coming from this finger.
I looked down at the bandages resting across my legs.
Maybe that’s exactly what they were for.
To contain that energy or, at the very least, stop so much of it from leaking out.
I carefully wrapped the finger again, this time making sure to cover it completely.
I put the bandages on first, then wrapped the old cloth around them tightly until not a single patch of purple remained visible.
Then I closed the box.
The question now was what to do with it.
Burn it, bury it, throw it into the ocean…
Those were the first things that came to mind.
I packed the wrapped object away and started making my way out of the restroom.
And then I froze.
My Shinkeigan tensed, and a sudden sense of urgency shot down my spine.
Danger.
Above.
I threw myself to the side, falling from the top of the stall frame into the flooded floor just as the ceiling above the spot where I’d been a second earlier exploded into pieces.
The floor shook.
Something enormous crashed down exactly where I had been.
The impact rattled the entire structure, and almost immediately, the floor gave way.
The whole room collapsed, crashing down into the lobby below.
I fell among the rubble and landed flat on my back.
“AAAGH, fuck…!”
Water, debris, and all the filth came crashing down with me, covering my entire body in water and dust.
What emerged was a gigantic creature several meters long.
Its heavy body was greenish in color, with an elongated shape that rested almost entirely against the floor.
It had no legs.
Instead, several thick arms protruded from both sides of its body, digging their hands into the ground to drag that enormous mass forward.
At the front of its body were two large, sunken eyes and a toothless mouth.
Hundreds of pores covered the creature’s entire surface.
I sprang to my feet, ignoring the fact that I was now covered in water and dust, and raised my hand.
“Fire.”
The stasis sphere shot out, loaded with part of what little energy I had left.
It flew straight toward the creature and closed around it, stopping it dead in its tracks.
I pulled the bat out of my backpack and channeled an enormous amount of energy into it.
CRACK!
Before I could even swing, the bat shattered in my hands.
Cracks tore through the metal all at once until it broke into pieces that scattered across the floor in front of me.
I’d overdone it.
The bat hadn’t been able to take that much.
I threw away what remained of the weapon and charged forward before the paralysis wore off from my exhaustion.
I concentrated as much energy as I could into my right fist, twisted my body, and punched the creature with everything I had.
The green mass barely shifted a few centimeters.
No real damage.
And now it was free from Chronostasis.
“Shit.”
Think, Nagi.
Think.
If that punch didn’t hurt it, nothing I can do will.
I can’t fight this thing.
Even with the bat, I don’t think I could’ve damaged it.
If I run, I’ll survive.
But what happens to Dad’s workplace if I leave this thing here?
It could swallow someone at any moment.
With this floor destroyed, they’ll probably close the building for a while…
but where will this thing go after I leave?
Will it follow me?
Will it stay here?
I clenched my teeth and slapped my legs several times, trying to calm the anxiety.
They were shaking.
But I didn’t back down.
I ran away from the monster, and it immediately started chasing me across the ground floor.
Its arms were so short that they barely lifted its body off the floor, but even while crawling, its slippery body allowed it to move surprisingly fast.
Is it after the finger?
I need to force another paralysis.
I need time to think.
I spun around and fired again, leaving the monster suspended in the middle of the hallway.
I took a deep breath and leaned against the wall.
I don’t know whether I should try to find some way to kill it or just run while I still can.
Who am I kidding?
There’s no way I can kill this thing right now.
I need to get out of here and rethink everything.
Wait.
Another one.
Behind me.
That aura…!
I turned my head just as a voice came from behind me.
“Well…” someone said.
“Looks like you beat me to it, man.”
Enjoying the story?
Chronostasis and help more people find it!