The rain had stopped, but the city still reeked of rust and blood. In the underbelly of Kurogane District, the air was heavy with the stench of oil from the factories above, mixing with the sour smell of stagnant water pooling in the cracked stone streets. Reiji walked silently, his black coat trailing along the ground, absorbing the dampness. The distant hum of machinery echoed through the narrow alleys like the slow breathing of a slumbering beast.
He wasn't here by chance.
The message had been brief, scrawled in uneven strokes on a torn scrap of paper:
"Blood will lead you to the truth."
The alley narrowed, walls leaning inward as if conspiring to block the faint moonlight. Every step took him deeper into a place the city had long forgotten — or pretended didn't exist. On the left wall, a streak of dark red smeared across old bricks, fresh enough to glisten faintly in the dim glow of a single flickering lantern. Reiji crouched, running two fingers along the stain. Warm. Recent.
Footsteps.
Light. Rapid. Coming from behind.
He turned just enough to catch the reflection of movement in a puddle — a shadow slipping between the walls. Whoever it was knew how to stalk without sound, but Reiji had been hunted before. He could feel the rhythm of their breath, the slight disturbance in the air with each step. Without hesitation, he slipped his hand inside his coat, gripping the hilt of the short blade sheathed along his ribs.
A faint whisper sliced through the silence. "You shouldn't have come here, Shinomiya Reiji."
The voice was female, laced with exhaustion and warning rather than threat. From the darkness ahead, she emerged — a slender figure in a ragged black cloak, her face partially hidden by a cracked porcelain mask. Beneath the mask's fractured edge, he saw her mouth trembling. Her left hand clutched at her side, blood seeping between her fingers.
"You're bleeding," Reiji said flatly.
"I'm not the one you should be worried about." Her eyes flicked past him, scanning the shadows like prey aware of the predator's approach. "They've already marked you."
Before Reiji could demand answers, the ground seemed to shudder — faint at first, then heavier, like distant footsteps of something massive. From behind the walls, a deep metallic groan echoed, followed by the screech of chains dragging across stone. The sound crept closer, a rhythmic, slow advance that made even the air feel thicker.
The woman's voice hardened. "If you see the alley turn red… run."
But Reiji didn't move.
The first drops of fresh blood splashed into the puddles around him, falling from somewhere above. He raised his gaze — and saw a row of bodies hanging from steel hooks strung between the buildings, their lifeless faces bathed in the pale glow of the lantern. One of them twitched.
And then the chains rattled again.