Jerry stared at the sink, shaken. His reflection was streaked with dried blood, his chest faintly stinging.
"...Alright," he muttered, forcing a grin. "Time to make a hell-load of breakfast. No visions this morning."
He grabbed pans and plates, cracking eggs like a machine. "Okay—over a dozen eggs, some tortillas… gotta make wraps for everyone."
The burner hissed to life. He whisked, flipped, and stacked slices of bread soaked in egg. "Now we're talking!"
A tired voice came from behind him. "Jerry, you're way too Western with breakfast… but I'll take it," Sora said, rubbing his eyes. "Bathroom's mine next."
Jerry laughed softly as Kaito joined in, helping him flip the French toast. "Need a hand?"
"Yeah—set the table," Jerry replied.
Soon, Mina and Nana stumbled into the room. Nana was already ranting, waving a magazine. "LOOK! Proof of other worlds! This is evidence!"
Mina smiled sleepily. "Nana, those are probably AI articles again…"
"DON'T CRUSH MY THEORIES!" Nana yelled, thumping the table.
Kaito called out, "Breakfast's ready! Get up, guys!"
Aiko groaned awake—only to realize she'd been sleeping on Ryo's arm. She blushed bright red. "UH—I'M UP! I'M—GOING TO EAT NOW!"
"...Right," Ryo muttered, avoiding her eyes.
The table filled quickly. Haru was the first to complain. "NANA, STOP HOGGING THE EGGS!"
"NO! I NEED ENERGY TO ARGUE SCIENCE!" Nana snapped.
Jerry chuckled, stirring another pan. "Alright, I'll make more. Haru—take over for a minute, yeah?"
Haru blinked. "Only if I get that new touchscreen laptop."
"Deal."
Without hesitation, Haru snatched the spatula.
Sora leaned on the counter. "So… where you headed, Jerry?"
"Yeah," Terron added. "You've been out a lot lately."
Jerry froze for a second, then smiled casually. "Just the store. Might drop by my aunt's—see if she wants her car back."
No one questioned it.
But in truth, Jerry already knew what he had to do. Kaito's rich parents didn't just control him—they hurt him. And Jerry couldn't stand by any longer.
Jerry closed his eyes for three seconds and counted breaths in and out, steadying himself.
"Yeah. I gotta go to the supermarket," he lied.
Tomo snorted, half-sarcastic. "Like always. Go outside — it's getting cold anyway."
Jerry stepped into the chill, pulled on a face mask, climbed into his aunt's borrowed car, and drove off. He kept his distance and followed Kaito on foot.
He trailed a few meters behind, keeping to the shadows and listening. The conversation in front of him hit like ice.
"Kaito! GET BACK HERE NOW! YOU HAVE A JOB TO DO — THIS FRIENDS BUSINESS IS A WASTE OF TIME. YOU'RE A DISAPPOINTMENT!" A woman's voice screamed.
Kaito walked with his head down; the hurt in his shoulders made him look small. "Mom… they mean everything to me. I know you want me to take Dad's place, but I—"
"WHO CARES ABOUT THE LOWER CLASS? NOT ME!" the voice cut him off. The words landed heavy and cruel.
Kaito's hand clenched around his bag strap. "...Don't you ever say that about them." His jaw tightened; anger boiled into a look that was almost acceptance.
Jerry's fists tightened. He'd seen this kind of cold from step-parents before — the kind that broke people silently. Determination lit in his chest.
A voice — faint, like a welcome cut off — brushed the edge of his hearing. "[Welcome j—]" It died away. Jerry glanced around, unnerved. "Creepy," he muttered. "I'm not staying."
When he looked back a moment later, Kaito was already farther down the street. How had he moved so fast in under forty seconds?
Jerry ran. He closed the distance, staying ten feet behind so he wouldn't be spotted. A black car pulled up. A heavyset bodyguard stepped out.
"Young Kaito, c'mon. Your parents are looking for you," the guard said, smooth and practiced.
Kaito didn't reply. He climbed into the car with the air of someone surrendering to inevitability.
Jerry felt the world tilt. He sat on a bench pretending to be a passerby, throat tight. The car's taillights disappeared around the corner.
"Fuck — he's leaving," Jerry said under his breath. Then: "No. Wait. I know where they'll take him."
He bolted for the mansion he'd seen days ago.
Back at the apartment, Tomo glanced at her phone. "Guys, I don't think Jerry's at the store. Maybe he's at his aunt's."
Ryo tightened his grip on Aiko. "No. He's going to—"
Mina stood up, worried. "What is it, Ryo? Tell me."
Aiko snapped the pieces together and leapt up. "HE'S GOING TO TRY TO STOP KAITO FROM SEEING HIS FAMILY. THAT'S—THAT'S A DEATH WISH!"
Sora's face went hard. "Then we don't have time to waste. Let's move."
Nana, curled near the heater, looked torn between laziness and concern. "Whatever he's planning has a price. Cold makes me slow, but—" she paused, voice rough. "I can't just sit here."
Haru was already pulling on his coat, voice tight. "This is inefficient. We need to go now. Jerry's life could be in danger. I can't… I can't lose another friend. Not again."
Everyone except Terron wore the same sober, scared expression. Even Tomo's usual swagger was replaced by something like resolve. "Let's go," she said, low.
Terron was the last to move. He straightened, eyes hard. "If that's my brother out there, count me in. He's an idiot, yeah, but he's my idiot. I can't lose the guy who cooks my food."
Ryo, Aiko, Mina, Sora and Haru grabbed coats and jackets. Nana grumbled as she shoved a scarf over her head, but she was up too.
The group spilled into the cold night — one messy, determined unit — and headed for the mansion.
They moved like a single organism through the dark: Tomo leading, Haru dragging Terron, Nana grumbling about the cold. For a split second Terron blinked and a blue screen flashed in front of his eyes—then it vanished.
"What the—WOAH!" he gasped.
"No time," Haru snapped, hauling him on. "We don't have any time to spare. Let's go!"
—And back to Jerry—
"Tch. This place is huge," Jerry muttered under his breath as the mansion's silhouette swallowed him. "How the hell am I getting Kaito out of here?"
A voice not his own answered.
[System activated. Welcome, Jerry. You have difficulty finding a way. Now activating Navigation Mode.]
Jerry jumped back so hard he landed on his butt. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?" He scrambled away, heart pounding.
[Navigation Mode: ACTIVATED.]
A cool blue arrow appeared in his vision, pointing toward a vent at the back and a faulty fence opening beyond the garden. The HUD text barely registered over his racing pulse.
"...This is going to be easier than I thought," Jerry said, forcing a grin.
Another line scrolled across the display and froze his stomach cold.
[Warning: 4 months of life until transportation to a different place.]
"A timer?" Jerry whispered. "What happens if it hits zero…? Wait—four months? Whatever." He shoved the thought away. Save Kaito first.
The fence was old and came away with a creak. A cluster of tools sat nearby. Jerry thumbed the edge of a vent and found the panel loose.
"Shit—needs an advanced screwdriver." He cursed, pocketing the thought as a noise crashed from the front gate. He kicked the vent in.
BANG. BANG.
He slid into the narrow metal throat of the air duct as the system's blue arrow pulsed, guiding him. The vent was cramped and thin; the mansion's furnace hummed underfoot, pushing a warm draft against his face.
"Damn," he whispered. "Their heater's basically a dragon." He laughed—a short, nervous sound. The duct smelled of dust and old metal.
[Don't be fooled. It's just beginning. Go through the side-hatch.]
Jerry felt along the seam and found a tiny handle. He pried and pushed. The hatch gave, and he dropped through with a thump onto a concrete basement floor.
"ACK—damn, that hurt." He tested his leg, wincing, then focused. The furnace blazed nearby, a cylinder of heat and steel.
The temperature rose instantly. Hot air slammed into the duct opening behind him, making the metal sing.
[If you had stayed in that vent you would have been cooked alive. Survived by 16 seconds.]
"Jesus." He scrambled up and moved behind a stack of pipes. The steel trembled with heat. He forced his breathing slow.
Footsteps approached. A doorknob turned.
"I thought I heard something down here," the first guard muttered.
"You must be hearing things," the other said, voice oily. "Hard to get in this room without the master keys."
They swept the space with flashlights.
"Ugh. Whatever. Check the front—there was banging out there," the first guard said, and the pair left, the door thunking shut behind them.
Jerry waited until the echoes died. He slid from his hiding place and scanned the floor. Rusty shapes glinted—old keys. Scores of them, crusted in grime.
"Convenient," he breathed.
A HUD prompt flashed and made the hair lift on his arms.
[FIND THE DOOR KEY. IF YOU FAIL, LOSE 2 LEVELS.]
"Okay, that's petty." Jerry crouched and sifted through bundles of rusted keys. Hundreds of useless teeth stared up at him.
[YOU ARE WASTING TIME. THE ROOM WILL GET HOTTER. YOU WILL BECOME CONFUSED, TIRED, AND DEHYDRATED FROM EXTREME HEAT.]
Panic lit. The furnace's roar grew—metal groaned; sweat beaded at Jerry's hairline. He jammed three keys into the lock hole on the basement door—one after the other—testing, twisting, failing.
"Nope. Not those three." Jerry muttered, then tried the largest key. The lock clicked and the door swung open.
"Huh. Easier than I thought," he said, smirking as he peeked down the hall. Two guards were moving away, boots eating the marble.
"Damn. Cameras," he whispered. "System—can you distort the feeds?"
[CAMERAS: DESTROYED.]
Jerry side-eyed the HUD. "I didn't say destroyed, but okay. I'll take it."
He slipped from the furnace room and into a staff break area, grabbed a janitor's uniform and a mop bucket, and shuffled out in stolen workwear. "You'd have to be stupid not to notice a young cleaner," he muttered under his breath, keeping his head down.
The main living room hit him like a museum. TVs lined the walls; glass cases held fossil displays and trophies. The marble floor reflected everything in cold, perfect clarity. The system chimed.
[NOTE: The Kanatashi family is very wealthy. Their lifestyle exceeds average standards.]
"Yeah, no kidding," Jerry said, walking over past a trio of dinosaur replicas.
He tapped his wrist, more to himself than to the HUD. "System — did the heater shut off properly?"
[Yes. The heater is off. Wait time: fourteen minutes before residual heat causes burns.]
"Fourteen minutes," Jerry mouthed. "Good. That gives me a window."
He edged into the kitchen and watched the maids working like machines—faces pale, hands moving too fast. His stomach tightened.
"They look overworked," he whispered. "I didn't realize they treated them like that."
A staccato of heels clicked across marble. Jerry flattened himself behind a heavy antique desk just as a woman's voice rang out.
"Tch. Kaito never listens when told to stay away from those kids. It's infuriating."
"One of the guards replied, voice low: "Lady Kanatashi, the cameras were destroyed and a vent was broken. Someone breached security."
Her lips tightened. "The heater might've finished them off." Her eyes slitted toward the corridor. "If so, good riddance."
The guard's face went hard. "The furnace room reported noise. Someone may have fallen in there—"
"—but my orders pulled us outside first. Your husband wanted the perimeter checked." The guard met her glare.
"Then the intruder is inside," she said coldly. "Hiding like a rat. Clever—too clever." She smoothed her skirt, disdain like armor. "Neutralize the intruder. Now."
Jerry's chest stuttered; he should have laughed. Instead, he hissed under his breath, "I'm not clever. I'm just dumb enough to hide where they won't look."
From somewhere behind him, boots began to converge.
Meanwhile…
Sora sprinted through the snowy streets with Terron and the others close behind.
Terron glanced back, jogging backward on the sidewalk with a grin. "C'mon! You're all slow—except for Tomo!"
Mina clutched her jacket against the freezing air, her black hair whipping in the wind. "Well, some of us weren't running for our lives every other week like you and Jerry… and maybe Tomo."
Tomo smirked with pride. "Heh, boys aren't the only ones who can keep up. I like being a fast, strong woman."
Haru snickered. "She didn't say you were a woman—"
Tomo glared, and Haru immediately looked away, pretending to focus on running.
"Come on, you three! We're wasting time!" Terron yelled from ahead.
Sora and Ryo exchanged an awkward glance. Terron noticed immediately. "What?" he asked, suspicious. "You're both about to say something stupid, aren't you?"
Ryo laughed nervously. "Well… we don't exactly know where Kaito lives."
Terron's expression flattened. "Of course you don't."
Mina threw her hands up, exasperated. "So we ran all this way—for nothing? We're in the middle of the city!"
Sora nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, pretty much—"
He didn't get to finish before Tomo grabbed him by the collar, and Aiko caught Ryo at the same time.
"YOU DON'T JUST DRAG US INTO THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!" they both yelled, shaking them violently.
"Okay! Okay! We get it!" Sora and Ryo groaned as they were tossed into the snow.
Back at the mansion...
Jerry was hunched over a security desk, the dim light from the monitors washing his face blue. Most of the camera feeds were dead, static flickering across the screens—except one.
"Crap. The outside feed still works," he muttered. "If they recorded me, I'm toast."
He pulled a chair closer and started clicking through the archives, deleting movement logs one by one.
Then—heels clicked against the wooden floor outside.
Jerry froze. "Shit…" He flicked off the monitor and dove into the vent opening behind him just as the door swung open.
Mizuka Kanatashi, tall and commanding, stepped inside with her husband close behind.
"I saw something in here," she snapped. "Guards! Search this room immediately!"
"Yes, ma'am!" one guard barked, his polished shoes tapping against the marble as he entered.
Toya Kanatashi adjusted his glasses, scanning the office. "Someone's been in here," he said quietly. "We've been compromised. See, Mizuka? We should've locked down the estate."
She rolled her eyes. "Then lock it down now. Any intruder gets executed. No questions asked."
Toya exhaled and nodded. "As you wish." They both left the room, the sound of her heels fading into silence.
The guard lingered, his eyes narrowing toward the vent. He stepped closer.
Jerry's pulse thudded in his ears. Now or never.
He exploded from the vent, slamming into the guard and knocking the gun from his hand. The weapon skidded across the marble. Both crashed to the ground in a blur of movement and grunts.
Jerry scrambled up first, breath ragged. "Hah. Weaponless now, huh?"
The guard's smirk was razor-thin. "Kid…" He cracked his knuckles. "…I don't need a weapon to kill you."