He walked through the little village with the other four, they received wary looks from the villagers before and elderly came over and asked if they were lost. They all bashfully nodded. They followed her in relative silence, trailing after her until they came to a decently sized house.
A sharp wind swept past them, chilling them to their core, as they stood outside for a brief moment. [Name] was normally already used to the cold by his body heating up quite quickly naturally, as well as his demonic blood helping too, but ever since they had gone through the sewage and tainted river water the filth he was caked in filth that turned into wet mush that encased his body in a permanent cold. Looking towards the others he knew that they fared even worse.
The elderly lady set up the fireplace for them and turned up the internal heating too, she brought them to the living room before she motioned rapidly for them to sit, they all stood there awkwardly, looking down at themselves and then at each other they stood there, huddled together until the lady came back.
She took one look at them before chuckling at them and motioned for them to follow. They went into the backyard, [Name] was extremely reluctant. He felt a little trapped, considering that they were at the mercy of the elderly lady, if she wanted to harm them she could and there would be no repercussions for her. He walked into the backyard and saw there was a pool and jacuzzi.
"Tu parle un Anglais?"
[Name] looked surprised at the usage of French answered back by reflex, "Oui. Mais seulement un peu."
She nodded good-naturedly before telling them to wait as she went inside to grab some towels and a change of clothes for them. [Name] followed her as she walked into the house, she was an elderly lady who seemed to live alone as her husband had already passed away, judging by the number of photos she had of the two of them when they entered the house. Why would she have a multitude of different clothing for them? He looked at the water in his hand.
As thirsty as he was he did not want to drink it, there were too many things wrong with their situation. He watched as the others were talking animatedly among themselves when the lady came back, setting the towels and the change of clothing down onto a table near the pool. She smiled again reminding them to call for her if they needed anything before disappearing into the house again.
[Name] watched her go. Stared at the door for a bit longer and then peered into the kitchen window.
He flinched slightly, the woman was looking at him with a small smile on her lips, she waved at him before raising a mixing bowl and a spatula. [Name] awkwardly smiled back, waved slightly before joining the others in the jacuzzi, he must be going slightly insane, he thought.
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Harold walked up the stairs of the hotel with two cups of strong coffee, he approached room 183 and gently rapped his knuckles on the door. He waited for a moment before he was admitted into the room.
As he walked in and saw Akimitsu sitting on one of the sofas by the window typing away on his laptop with an earbud in. Harold realized that he must be in a zoom meeting, he set down the cup of coffee gently and sat down in another chair and waited patiently for the meeting to end. Ignoring the raised eyebrow he got, just waved the small file.
Akimitsu's eyes widened in recognition before sending a small smile Harold's way, he raised his hand, a sign which indicated how much left of the meeting time there was. Harold chuckled as the look of impatience grew on Aki's face. He could tell he was fed as well as understand the feeling of impatience growing.
He sighed slightly, picking up the files again he read through the first page again. Harold felt quite bad about the disappearance of his boss' brother. He had always seen the happy picture of his brother laughing into the camera with bunny ears on and a peace sign; Akimitsu brought it everywhere with him. Harold remembered in his early days of working as a secretary, he had forgotten to pack the picture with him and almost got fired for sending Akimistu into rage panic, as the former thought he had damaged it or some other reason he was given.
"Pass me the file."
Harold was shaken out of his thoughts by the order and hurried to put the small file into Aki's hands, missing the fond smile that was on Aki's face.
"We gathered it from a source from within the facility. It details the recent report of the escaping of prisoners, and the prisoners are being watched but there is no sign of [Name] anywhere. It's almost as if he's disappeared completely."
"He's always been smart about avoiding things. But my brother was never particularly vengeful. He must know that we're trying to find him, but he also knows that they are also looking for him. They can get things out of him with sustained torture that even the strongest of us might go insane."
"What do you mean by that?"
Aki looked at Harold who stiffened under the former's gaze, "Because [Name] is a family guy. He either dies, or he gives. And when it is regarding his secrets that are so entwined with the family, he will make sure he dies before they even get a slither of the information they need."
Harold took a moment to process this, shaking his head slowly, "Let me send an email to Ms Ayano."
Aki nodded and watched as Harold walked out of the room. He held the cup of coffee in his hands, it had cooled down. The coffee, now lukewarm, was the preferred temperature for Akimitsu; it was how [Name] always drank it. Not too hot, just so he could down it quickly if needed or savour it.