The hallway was empty.
No footsteps. No cloak. No one.
Only Raizen's breath, still a little too fast.
He stood there for a second, staring down the corridor, trying to make sense of how someone had just vanished.
He shut his eyes for half a heartbeat.
Okay. Think.
He replayed the last few seconds. The black cloak at the mouth of the corridor. The turn. The way it moved - calm, measured, never rushing. The time it took him to get here.
Not enough time for someone to disappear completely.
Sound. There should have been footsteps. A door. Something.
He opened his eyes again.
There.
The stairwell door at the end of the corridor. Slightly open. The tiniest gap. A thin line of darker shadow at the frame.
Raizen's shoulder unclenched by a fraction.
"You didn't just disappear, huh? You went up."
He ran toward the door.
