The air in the Pocket was always too still, too perfect. Inside the traditional estate Akira had granted them, the scent of cedar and old tatami mats usually acted as a sedative. But tonight, the serenity was a lie.
Kami wasn't in the bedroom anymore.
He stood in the center of a cathedral-like hall that felt as though it were being viewed through a cracked lens. The world didn't just look dark, it felt unstable, vibrating with a high-frequency hum that set his teeth on edge. Massive stone columns stretched upward into an infinite void, casting shadows that didn't behave according to the laws of physics. They writhed like living ink, Umbra's signature.
Purple torches flickered along the walls, casting a sickly, bruised light over the scene.
"Kami! Help! It hurts!"
The scream tore through him. It was Asuka. Her voice was distant, echoing off the vibrating walls, layered with the crackle of a fire that refused to die.
"Asuka!" Kami tried to run, but the floor felt like it was getting farther away, rather than coming closer.
"You're too late, Number 3."
The voice didn't come from a mouth, it hammered directly into his skull, heavy and distorted. Umbra stepped out from behind a pillar, his form a silhouette of pure, tangible darkness.
"Look at you," the villain sneered, his presence making the very air turn cold. "The System gifted you an A-Rank ability, and yet you cower in a hole like a rat. I am a B-Rank, Kami, and I took everything from you in seconds. You are a failure just like my brother".
The headache intensified. It felt like a needle was being driven into Kami's temple. As he fell to his knees, the vision began to zoom out, moving at a sickening speed.
The dark building was revealed to be a skeletal remain of a skyscraper, sitting in the heart of a wasteland. It was the Old District, a section of Tokyo destroyed years ago by a massive explosion, now a ghost town of rebar and ash.
Kami bolted upright, waking up from that purple nightmare, a strangled gasp escaping his throat.
Cold sweat drenched his shirt, sticking to his skin like a second layer of fear. His heart drummed a frantic rhythm against his ribs. Beside him, the room was bathed in the soft, artificial moonlight of the Pocket.
"Kami?"
A pair of glowing green eyes opened in the corner. Inu leapt onto the bed, her movements fluid and silent. She stared at him, her whiskers twitching as she sensed the lingering adrenaline. Kaito, half awake, sitting on the second bed on the other side of the room.
"Another nightmare?" Inu asked, her voice a low hiss.
"It... it didn't feel like a dream," Kami whispered, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He described the vibrating building, the purple flames, and the ruined district. "It felt like a memory I haven't had yet."
Inu sat back on her haunches, her expression darkening. "The last time you had a 'feeling' like this, you discovered how to read Coder Numbers through the System. If the Entity is feeding you images again, it's not a dream. It's a coordinate."
"Damn Inu, you really are one intelligent cat" Kaito said, from his bed, now standing up and sitting down on Kami's bed, to listen to their conversation.
"The Old District," Kaito muttered. "No one goes there. No cameras, no police. It's the perfect place for a shadow man like Umbra to hide a hostage, that must be, where they are, according to your'dream' "
"We're leaving," Kami said, his voice regaining its edge. "Now."
The transition from the Pocket back to reality was always jarring. One moment they were in a peaceful village, the next, they were standing in a damp Tokyo alleyway, the smell of exhaust and wet pavement hitting them like a physical blow.
They walked in silence through the neon-drenched streets, heading toward the edge of the habitable zone. The further they went, the more the lights flickered and died.
They reached a derelict bus stop on the outskirts, right infront of the ruined building, that Kami saw in his nightmare. Sitting there, beneath the buzzing of a dying streetlamp, was a man in a long black coat and a cap pulled low over his eyes.
He didn't look up as they approached. He just sat there, a silent sentinel in the dark.
Kami froze, his hand hovering over his knife. The air around the man felt heavy, much like the air in his nightmare.
"You will not set one foot inside that building, Number 3" the man said, his voice a deep tone, similar to that of Umbra.
"Unless you defeat me, that is, of course" The man stood up, threw away his cap and looked deep into Kami's eyes. They were pitch black, no iris, no pupil, just pure darkness.