The rooftop door slammed behind them, the heavy metal echo rolling down the stairwell like a warning bell. They had come back again, hoping to get more...evidence, but it was déjà vü all over again. Rika stumbled, clutching Renji's arm as her legs barely kept pace. Her breath was ragged, her chest heaving as though each inhale was scraped raw by the cold air that had clung to that girl's presence.
Renji didn't slow. His hand wrapped firmly around her wrist, pulling her along as they descended two flights at a soldier's pace, steps calculated but quick, every nerve burning with the instinct to keep moving. Behind them, the silence was deafening. No footsteps followed. No whispers. No scrape of shoes against concrete.
But Renji didn't trust silence anymore.
