Lyon took a deep breath and forced his voice to sound as calm as possible.
"Uh… look, I’m sorry about this," he said through the door, pretending to sound tired. "It’s just that I’m a little sick right now. I don’t feel that well, and I’d rather not have any visitors today. So, if participating in the investigation isn’t mandatory, I’d like to skip it."
There was a brief pause on the other side.
"I understand your situation," Cya replied, with that same kind voice. "But I’m afraid it isn’t optional. My guild has permission to enter any apartment in this building. We’re investigating an anomaly in the area."
Lyon frowned.
"An anomaly?" he repeated, a little annoyed. "What kind of anomaly?"
"I cannot answer that," she said, completely unfazed. "I ask that you open the door peacefully, please. Otherwise, I will have to break it down."
Lyon’s entire body tensed.
'Break it down,' he thought. 'Great. Just what I needed.'
"W-Wait," he said quickly. "Give me five minutes. It’s just… everything is a mess in here. I can’t let anyone in like this. Five minutes, and I’ll open it."
"Very well," Cya replied.
And then Lyon heard a beep from the other side of the door.
Beep.
"I just set a five-minute timer on my phone," she said, with complete naturalness. "If you haven’t opened the door by the time it reaches zero, I’ll break it. Just so we’re clear."
Lyon stared at the door.
'Did she seriously set a timer?'
"Did you hear that?" the voice inside his head asked, delighted by the situation. "I like this girl."
"Shut up," Lyon muttered.
And then he moved at full speed.
First, the most urgent thing: the rain jacket. The one that was still damp, along with the face mask and sunglasses he had used when he went out.
Lyon grabbed them all in one sweep and hid them at the back of the closet, underneath everything else, where nobody would find them at a glance.
After that, the clothes.
He took off what he was wearing and changed as quickly as he could, looking for something that seemed as normal and casual as possible: a white T-shirt, comfortable shorts, and underwear that wouldn’t bother him.
And then he remembered his hair.
Lyon looked at his reflection in the window. His brown hair fell below his shoulders, long because of all the time he had spent in his female form.
'Too long…'
He didn’t have time for anything fancy. Lyon grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer and, without thinking too much, started cutting.
Snip. Snip. Snip.
Locks of brown hair fell to the floor until his hair was short again. It wasn’t the best haircut in the world, but it worked.
Lyon kicked the cut hair under a piece of furniture, adjusted his shirt, walked toward the door, and swallowed.
'Stay calm…' he told himself.
Then he opened the door.
She was standing on the other side.
Cya had black hair and intense red eyes.
She was a little shorter than Lyon, and despite her height, her figure stood out quite a bit, with a noticeable chest that her hunter uniform didn’t quite manage to hide.
Cya looked him up and down, then checked her phone.
"That was fast," she commented while the timer kept running on the screen. "You had… three minutes and forty-seven seconds left."
Lyon let out a nervous little laugh.
"Ha… well, I didn’t want to keep a lady waiting," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "My mother taught me that. That you should never keep a woman waiting."
Cya gave him a small smile.
"How considerate."
And without asking for any more permission, she entered the apartment.
Lyon closed the door behind her and watched as she looked around the whole place.
The apartment was a disaster.
Clothes thrown here, random things left out there, and the general atmosphere of someone who clearly hadn’t cleaned in a good while.
Lyon felt a little embarrassed seeing it through her eyes.
'Don’t look, don’t look…' he thought, but on the outside, he kept his face as neutral as possible.
Cya, for her part, made no comment about it.
She simply kept observing, with an expression that was impossible to read.
"Tell me," she said, still scanning the apartment with her eyes. "What do you usually do in your day-to-day life?"
"Huh?" Lyon blinked. "Well… I work. Online."
"What kind of online work?"
"Is it necessary to answer that?" Lyon asked, trying to sound relaxed.
"It is absolutely necessary," Cya answered, without hesitating for even a second.
Lyon wasn’t entirely convinced by that answer, but he let out a sigh and decided to go along with it.
"I do design work," he said. "I studied graphic design. So I work from home, doing commissions. Logos, that kind of thing."
Cya turned her head to look at him.
"May I see your work?"
"What does that have to do with the anomaly?" Lyon asked, frowning.
Cya clicked her tongue.
Tsk.
"I’m going to continue inspecting your home," she said, as if he hadn’t said anything, and kept walking.
Lyon’s heart sped up.
'Calm down. There’s nothing. You hid the jacket. You hid the sunglasses. There’s nothing she can…'
Cya started moving through every corner of the apartment, and she did it in a very particular way.
She didn’t touch anything.
She passed her eyes over the surfaces, the furniture, the corners, stopping to observe each thing carefully, but without placing even a single finger anywhere.
Lyon followed her with his eyes, feeling his heart hammer against his chest every time she got close to a dangerous spot.
The closet.
The piece of furniture under which he had kicked the cut hair.
The window.
But Cya didn’t find anything that caught her attention.
Or at least, nothing she said out loud.
Until she reached the kitchen.
She stopped in front of the sink full of dirty dishes, looked at them for a moment, and then opened the refrigerator, staring into the empty interior.
"Why is there no food?" she asked.
"Ah, that," Lyon said, trying to sound casual. "I was going to go buy some later. I ran out of everything."
Cya closed the refrigerator and looked at him.
"It’s almost two in the afternoon," she said, a little confused. "You haven’t eaten anything today?"
"Yes, I have," Lyon replied.
"That is a lie."
Lyon fell silent.
Cya nodded toward the sink.
"Those dishes do not look like they have been washed in days," she explained, with the same calmness she had shown when entering the place. "And judging by their condition, I would say you are the type who eats quickly, standing up, without sitting down. You would rush through the meal and leave the plate right there. But there are no recent plates. You have not eaten today."
Lyon clenched his jaw slightly.
"What kind of investigation are you doing exactly?" he asked, already a little fed up. "Because you keep making me uncomfortable with questions that have nothing to do with any anomaly."
Cya seemed to think about it for a second.
And then, to Lyon’s surprise, she lowered her head slightly.
"I apologize," she said in a sad tone. "It was not my intention to make you uncomfortable. It’s just that… I was worried. A boy as polite as you, who made an effort not to keep me waiting as a lady, should not be skipping meals. I do not think that is good."
Lyon blinked.
On one hand, it was a compliment.
And a pretty direct one at that.
But on the other hand…
'She talks weird,' Lyon thought, watching her. 'Like she’s reciting something. Too flat. Too… robotic.'
It was a strange feeling.
Although, he had to admit, it was also kind of funny.
Cya, meanwhile, had already gone back to what she was doing.
Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling, watching it carefully.
"Tell me," she said, without lowering her gaze. "Do you have any pets in your apartment?"
Lyon let out a sigh.
'This investigator is a total weirdo,' he concluded inwardly. 'But she seems kind-hearted. She’s one of those strange but well-meaning people.'
That idea relaxed him a little, and even drew a small smile from him.
"No," he answered, calmer now. "I don’t have any pets."
Cya kept staring at the ceiling.
"I see," she said. "Then one last question."
"Go ahead."
Cya turned her head, and her red eyes locked onto Lyon’s.
"Have you ever seen a bat enter through your window?"
Lyon’s small smile disappeared completely.