The scene continued exactly where the previous chapter had ended. It was sometime between noon and one o'clock in the afternoon.
---
The inside of the hospital was in complete ruins. It didn't look as though it had simply been abandoned—it looked as if a catastrophe had swept through the entire building. Broken walls, shattered furniture, and medical equipment lay scattered across the floor. It barely resembled a hospital anymore.
---
Volume 2nd - [ The truth they buried ]
2nd last chapter [ Ch : 23rd - Reality - ] begins...!
---
Kye narrowed his eyes.
"So... they shut it down? Hmph... Do they really take us for complete idiots? They know far more than they're letting on... and maybe... they know about us too."
Saito looked at him calmly.
"Kye, it would be better if you stayed calm. We already know we're walking straight into trouble."
Kye remained expressionless. Without another word, he began making his way toward the staircase.
"You two search the lower floors. Hollow, stay with them."
Hollow frowned in confusion.
"Hey... wait! Where are you going, Kye?"
Without even looking back, Kye answered,
"Just do what I told you."
The moment those words left his mouth, he continued climbing the stairs.
Many of the steps were cracked and partially collapsed, causing eerie creaking sounds to echo throughout the abandoned building with every step he took.
Meanwhile, Saito and Elena carefully began inspecting the lower floors, searching for anything that might have been left behind. Hollow quietly followed close behind them, remaining on guard.
As Kye climbed higher, fragments of distant memories slowly resurfaced.
If I remember correctly... that room should've been on the third floor.
I was still very young back then...
More importantly... there had to be a reason why we kept coming here.
A few moments later, Kye suddenly came to a stop.
His gaze fixed itself upon an old rusted sign hanging above a worn-out door.
Emergency Ward Z
For several seconds, he stood there in complete silence, staring at the sign... then at the room beyond it, as if the forgotten memories hidden behind that door were finally beginning to call him back.
Kye let out a slow breath.
"Huh..."
"I don't understand anything anymore. The more I move forward, the more I find myself doubting everything. My mind simply refuses to accept anything at face value. Sometimes it feels like... I'm just overthinking. Or maybe... I'm wrong about everything."
His gaze slowly lowered.
"Was all this bloodshed... really necessary?"
Without waiting for an answer, Kye stepped forward and slowly pushed the door open.
Creak...
The room was almost completely empty.
Aside from a handful of scattered documents, everything else lay in disarray, as though someone had searched the place in a hurry before abandoning it. Rather than resembling an emergency ward, the room gave off the feeling of a private office—or perhaps a hidden meeting room. Only a single hospital bed remained at the back, partially concealed behind a pair of dusty curtains.
"So..." Kye muttered. "This was my father's operating room... or should I call it... his secret office?"
His expression remained lifeless.
Without blinking, he bent down, picked up the scattered documents, and quietly began reading them.
Meanwhile, on the lower floor, Saito and Elena had made a discovery of their own.
"A file..." Saito murmured, brushing the dust off its cover. "Elena... I think this is related to Dr. Z. This could be extremely useful."
He quickly skimmed through the pages.
"The more I look around, the more convinced I become... this wasn't just a hospital. It seems this facility was used for special operations, and according to these records... Chief Doctor Z used to work here."
Elena's eyes narrowed.
"I understand... If that's true, then we've stumbled onto something much bigger than we expected."
Without wasting another second, the two of them rushed upstairs, eager to tell Kye what they had found.
The two of them arrived at Kye's room, finding him sitting quietly, engrossed in reading those documents.
Saito: "Kye, listen! We've found something extremely important—!"
Before he could even finish his sentence, Kye cut him off sharply.
Kye: "What? That this area belongs to Dr. Z? Right? And that Dr. Z isn't just some ordinary doctor? That too?"
He didn't even look up as his voice turned cold. "I've already figured it all out. You don't need to explain anything to me, understand?"
Saito: "But Kye, listen to me! This information could actually be useful for us—!"
Suddenly—
BOOM!
Kye slammed his full-powered fist straight onto the wooden table holding the documents. The sheer force exploded the table into splinters, shattering it completely into pieces!
Saito and Elena froze, their eyes wide with shock.
Before they could even process the sudden violence, the loud crash brought Hollow rushing upstairs into the room.
But before anyone could say a word, Kye spoke up again, his posture stiff with unspoken rage.
Kye: "Look, I get the whole picture now, so stop repeating things to me. On the surface, this hospital looks completely normal—actual treatments happen up to the second floor. But the real secret... lies on the third floor."
Saito: "Kye... what the hell has gotten into you?"
Kye: "What could possibly be wrong? I just feel like I've been stabbed in the back, that's all."
No one in the room could grasp the cryptic meaning behind his words.
Kye: "Daigo... you son of a bitch."
His expression was terrifyingly serious as he continued, laying out the horrifying truth for everyone.
Kye: "Dr. Z... and Daigo Kurasaki... are the exact same person."
An absolute, suffocating silence swallowed the entire room.
[Flashback]
The memory shifted back to the moment Kye had first read the documents provided by Elena—the ones containing files on everyone connected to the case.
Among the records, Kye's eyes had locked onto a photograph of Dr. Z. Although a heavy surgical mask obscured the man's face, leaving only his hair and clothes visible, the hairstyle matched his father's look from a few years ago with terrifying precision.
It was a tiny detail, but it was more than enough to plant a seed of dark suspicion in Kye's mind. That single realization was the reason Kye had been so distant, shocked, and deadly quiet this whole time. The agonizing truth had been eating him alive from the inside—a truth his heart desperately refused to accept.
[Back to the Present]
Kye: "What's the point of staying calm anymore? I've seen and heard everything I needed to."
He gritted his teeth, a dark resolve settling in his eyes.
Kye: "Dr. Z is the head doctor, operating with his own specialized team... and Arthur was just one of the players under him."
He let out a cold, and calm breath.
Kye: "Hmm... so things have really fallen apart this badly. I'm sorry, Dad... but evil has to be put down, no matter who it is."
Without another word, Kye turned around and walked out of the room. He stepped out of the hospital, crossed the street, and vanished into the shadows of the road like a ghost.
No one tried to stop him. Not a single person uttered a word. Everyone in that room knew that the situation was far beyond repair... or was this just the beginning of a terrifying new web of suspicion?
Saito finally broke the heavy silence.
"I... don't understand anything anymore," he muttered, rubbing his forehead. "What are we supposed to do now? I think we should hold a meeting before making any decisions. What do you think?"
Elena nodded after a brief pause.
"...You're right."
"I don't think Kye is in the right state of mind. Forcing him right now will only make things worse."
She folded her arms and looked toward the shattered room.
"For now, let's continue our own investigation. Give him time to heal. Pushing him before he's ready isn't the right choice."
Her gaze shifted toward Hollow.
"Besides... Hollow is still with us."
Hollow's expression turned unusually serious.
Yeah! I understand
The scene shifted.
Kye had already arrived outside Arisa's apartment.
Yet nothing about his expression had changed.
His eyes were as lifeless as before.
Kye (thinking): "I should tell her too... Before everything falls apart."
"I don't want anyone standing in my way anymore."
"...That's my final decision."
He slowly raised his hand...
Knock. Knock.
"It's me... Kye."
Almost immediately, the door opened.
Arisa stood there, slightly surprised.
At this hour, Ren and Luca had already left for school, leaving the apartment completely quiet.
Without saying a single word, Kye stepped inside.
Arisa quietly closed the door behind him.
She couldn't hide the confusion in her eyes.
Kye had never come to her place without informing her beforehand.
But what disturbed her even more...
...was the silence.
He wasn't saying anything.
Not a single word.
Suddenly, Kye grabbed both of Arisa's hands in his own, locking her wrists in a firm grip!
Before she could even react, he pushed her back against the corner of the wall, trapping her completely. Kye leaned in, his face inches away from hers—yet his expression remained terrifyingly blank, stripped of any warmth or emotion.
Arisa: "K-Kye... what are you doing?!"
Kye: "Listen to me." His voice was low, laced with a cold, unsettling edge. "I just came to tell you... things might never be the same after today. So please... be ready for whatever comes next. If you want the details, ask Elena and Saito. I don't have much to say."
Kye's grip on her wrists was impossibly tight, the sheer force leaving a sharp sting of pain in her skin.
Arisa: "Kye, have you completely lost your mind?! Let go of my hands first! You... you could have just told me this normally! And weren't you guys supposed to be out on an important mission? How are you back so soon... so quickly?"
Kye ignored her questions entirely. He leaned closer, his face coming so close that his breath brushed lightly against her lips. He held her pinned to the wall, refusing to give her even an inch of space to move.
Kye: "I know it, Arisa... you like me, don't you? Then why are you holding back?"
A cold, faint smirk flickered across his face.
Kye: "I'm not going to stop you today... you can do whatever the hell you want."
His lips hovered just a breath away, almost touching hers—
She was Unable to break free from his iron grip, Arisa had no other choice—she turned her face away to the side, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Turning her head, she burst into quiet, trembling sobs.
Arisa: "What... what are you even saying, Kye? I would never... I would never like a Kye like this! Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Her voice broke as she looked away, tears pooling in her eyes.
Arisa: "If you... if you really want to do something to me, I won't stop you. You've done so many favors for me... debts I can never repay in this lifetime. But I don't want this... so please, stop! Kye!"
Hearing her sobs, Kye's expression flickered. Slowly, his fingers loosened, and he let go of her wrists, stepping back from the wall
Arisa's wrists were violently red, the skin scraped and raw from the sheer intensity of his grip.
Kye: "I'm sorry... Arisa."
Leaving those few cold words behind, he turned and walked out of the room. As he faded into the darkness, a faint, almost unnoticeable smile flickered across his face—a brief, unreadable glimpse of emotions buried deep beneath the surface.
Arisa stood there in complete silence, utterly stunned. She couldn't wrap her head around what had just happened.
Her legs gave out, and she slid down onto the cold floor, knees pulled to her chest as her tears flowed uncontrollably.
Arisa: "Did I... did I do something wrong?"
She buried her face in her hands, her heart aching with guilt.
Arisa: "I never... I never gave him anything back from my side..."
[End of Chapter 23]