After telling Touko to rest properly at the office, Shirou and Shiki headed straight for the apartment they needed to investigate.
Shiki borrowed Touko's ride.
It was a 1000cc sidecar motorcycle.
Shiki slipped into the sidecar without the slightest hesitation. Shirou had no choice but to straddle the motorcycle himself, thinking he would die socially if anyone he knew saw him like this, then drove off toward their destination.
Half an hour later, around evening, they arrived at the Ogawa Apartment Complex.
"Hey, Shiki..."
"What?"
Since the apartment complex had no underground parking lot, Shirou had to park the motorcycle by the roadside.
"About what happened between me and Touko at the office..."
Shirou had just started trying to explain what had happened at noon when Shiki rolled her eyes.
"I'm not interested in hearing about your sleazy relationship with Touko."
"It's not what you think! Touko and I don't have that kind of relationship."
"Then what kind is it supposed to be? Are you going to tell me Touko was the one who seduced you?"
"..."
Shirou fell silent.
He was not the type to talk about someone behind their back.
Seeing his reaction, Shiki gave him a wicked grin.
"Of course I know Shirou is innocent. Touko must have gotten carried away again, right? She never knows when to stop with her teasing."
"Shiki..."
Shirou looked relieved. "I'm so glad you understand."
"...But it was still sleazy."
"Huh?"
Shiki gave him an icy look.
"Shirou likes women like Touko, doesn't he? Mature, intelligent women who are older and know more than he does. Your tastes are written all over your face, you little pervert."
"I told you, it's not like that!" Shirou protested loudly.
"You don't like Touko, Shirou?"
"If I had to say... I do like her."
Of course, Shirou was not helping out at "Garan no Dou" because he wanted to get closer to Touko or because he wanted to juggle several women at once.
He worked under Touko partly because he found it hard to refuse people's requests, and partly to help cover household expenses. Still, it was true that he was fond of her.
Shiki sighed, at a loss for words.
"At a time like this, even if you have to lie, you're supposed to say you don't like her."
"Sorry."
"Forget it. That's just the kind of person Shirou is."
With that, Shiki headed toward the Ogawa Apartment Complex, and Shirou followed after her.
"Shirou, are you hiding something from me and Touko?"
"No way. I never lie."
"Liar."
Shiki glanced back at Shirou.
"It's about Fujino, isn't it?"
"..."
"What happened to her? I haven't seen her around lately. You know something, don't you?"
Since he could no longer hide it, Shirou had no choice but to tell Shiki the truth.
That night, the three of them had been approached by several men, and after that...
Because he had been too worried to leave it alone, Shirou had asked around about those men the next day, which was how he learned what had happened the previous night.
"Huh... So Fujino did something like that after splitting up with us that night."
After hearing the story, Shiki smiled with clear enjoyment.
"Don't tell Touko yet," Shirou warned, grabbing Shiki by the arm.
"I know. You're such a nag."
Shiki shook off Shirou's hand and frowned.
"But... hmph. I didn't expect Fujino to go that far. I thought she would... Anyway, what are you going to do?"
"..."
Shirou did not answer, but his expression said everything.
"Got it. Next time I see her, I'll make sure to take good care of her."
With a grin, Shiki stepped leisurely into the Ogawa Apartment Complex.
In the next instant, the black-haired girl was hit by a wave of dizziness.
To Shiki Ryougi, whose senses far surpassed those of an ordinary person, the atmosphere inside the apartment caused an unbearable mental discomfort.
If she had not been trained in martial arts by her father and grandfather since childhood, mastering the powerful inner stillness of Clear Mirror, Still Water (the teachings of Sohei), she might have thrown up her lunch right there.
"..."
The worst part was that this unsettling feeling was not unfamiliar to Shiki Ryougi.
It was just like the first time she saw "death" in the real world after waking from her two-year dream.
"Are you all right, Shiki?"
Shirou came over and took the girl's hand, pulling her out of that hellish agitation.
"I'm fine... What is wrong with this apartment?"
Shirou narrowed his eyes. "Looks like we hit the jackpot... Touko was right. There's something seriously wrong with this apartment."
"What kind of problem?"
"We'll have to investigate it ourselves before we know. I don't have Clairvoyance like my Professor that lets me see the whole picture from above, so if we want answers, we'll have to walk through it ourselves."
As he said that, Shirou led Shiki to the elevator.
"Which floor?"
"No idea. Any floor should do..."
"All right. Then I'll choose."
Shirou studied the inside of the elevator as he pressed the button for the fourth floor.
"We still don't know the truth behind this apartment, but there is one thing we can say for sure."
"What?" Shiki asked.
Shirou replied, "How long do you think a normal person could live in a place like this before losing their mind?"
Shiki had no answer.
At the same time, she realized that there was no sign of any living person in this building. She and Shirou had not run into a single soul since arriving.
...
An hour later, Shirou had fully grasped the structure of the Ogawa Apartment Complex.
The apartment complex was actually formed by joining two adjacent apartment buildings together.
Two perfectly symmetrical ten-story buildings, each shaped like a crescent moon, stood facing each other and formed a complete circle.
Both buildings had ten floors, with five rooms on each floor. East and west together made ten rooms per level.
Although the east and west wings of the apartment complex were separate, they shared the lobby on the first floor, and there was only one elevator.
This apartment complex, shaped like a Taiji, seemed to have been created by an extraordinarily skilled Barrier master. It was a perfect, complete otherworld.
One half of the apartment complex was the world of the living, while the other half was the world of the dead, just like the yang and yin of the Taiji.
Half the rooms contained dolls disguised as residents, while the other half contained humans who had long since died.
Over the course of a single day, the dolls experienced an ordinary routine from life to death, ultimately creating a world that repeated without end.
What purpose did the Barrier master who built this apartment complex have?
If this was an experiment meant to repeat thousands or even tens of thousands of times, what was he trying to prove?
"Hey, Shirou, looks like you've got visitors."
Shiki spoke to her companion, who was examining a corpse inside the room.
Shirou did not even look up and continued studying the body on the floor. "Keep them entertained for me."
"You really know how to order people around."
The girl drew a short blade from the sash of her kimono and turned toward the living room.
A few seconds later, the apartment's residents, zombie-like human figures, came staggering over.
Shiki Ryougi rushed forward without a word.
She cut down the residents pouring into the room with practiced ease, and soon the living room was piled with corpses.
The undead were not slow like zombies in movies. On the contrary, they possessed agility and speed far beyond ordinary humans.
Even so, Shiki Ryougi's dignified figure was like that of a death god. She killed them without letting a single drop of their splattered blood touch her.
After Shirou's special training, she had become skilled at using the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception" in battle.
"How much longer are you going to stand there watching!?"
Even so, Shiki still had one fatal weakness. She lacked stamina.
After all, until just two months ago, she had been in a vegetative state.
Shiki gasped for breath. Her bodily functions had fully recovered, but her stamina was not even on the level of an ordinary high school girl.
With her breathing growing ragged, Shiki Ryougi grabbed Shirou's hand, cut a bloody path through the swarm of corpses, and rushed out of the room.
After the two of them fled to the apartment lobby, the undead did not follow.
It seemed they had only been ordered to attack intruders and would not pursue anyone beyond their own range of movement. Once Shirou and Shiki reached the lobby, they were safe.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
Shiki Ryougi braced her hands on her knees. Beside her, Shirou's breathing was still calm.
He placed a hand on Shiki's back and used Magecraft to restore her stamina as he spoke.
"I get it now."
"What do you get?"
"These undead... They were made by the same person who attacked you at the hospital that night."
"What...?"
Shiki Ryougi narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying this apartment has something to do with me?"
Shirou nodded.
All the pieces had fallen into place.
This apartment, built with a structure resembling a Taijitu, was an experimental site prepared for Shiki Ryougi.
This time, Shirou was the one who took her hand.
"Let's go. We're heading back to the office. Touko will know who built this apartment."
Shirou remembered that when Touko had mentioned the hospital where Shiki had been staying, she had said she knew an exceptionally skilled Barrier master.
His instincts told him that man was the one behind everything.
However, just as Shirou pulled Shiki toward the first-floor lobby, Shiki suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" Shirou asked.
"Shirou, you go back to the agency and ask Touko what's going on. I'll stay here and keep watch."
"Huh?"
Shirou frowned. "How can I leave you in a place like this? Now that we know you're the enemy's target, there's no way I can."
"... Leave this to me, Shirou."
There was a resolute look in Shiki's eyes.
After a brief silence, Shirou opened his right hand.
With a green light that illuminated the dim lobby, an old-fashioned katana appeared in his hand.
Shiki Ryougi's face lit up with childlike delight as she reached out and caught the sword Shirou tossed to her.
"Then I'm going. I'll find a public phone and call Touko... Though she's probably asleep right now. If no one answers, I'll go back to the office and come right back."
"I know, I know."
Shiki waved him off impatiently.
After watching Shirou leave the apartment, Shiki Ryougi turned and walked toward the corridor on the other side of the lobby.
"All right. I sent Shirou away, just like you wanted."
At those words, a dark figure emerged from the depths of the west wing corridor.
Long purple hair, red eyes, and an exquisitely delicate face so pale it looked almost sickly, without a trace of color.
Fujino Asagami lowered her head and spoke in a dejected voice. "...I did something awful to Shirou-kun. I actually deceived him."
"Hm? What are you talking about?"
With a soft rustle of footsteps, Shiki Ryougi took a step forward.
With a malicious look on her face, she said, "Did you really think your shoddy skills would be enough to hide from Shirou's eyes?
Even I noticed you. Of course Shirou realized long ago that you were hiding in this apartment building."
Shiki's words left Fujino stunned.
Then she shook her head, denying it.
"That's impossible... If Shirou-kun knew I was here, there's no way he would just leave me alone."
Shiki seemed to find that amusing and smiled happily.
"Of course it's possible. You seem a little too full of yourself, Fujino."
"..."
The girl with long, straight purple hair felt something twist sharply in her chest.
She realized she absolutely should not ask any further. Ahead lay an abyss she could never return from.
Yet in the end, she could not hold herself back and demanded, "Shiki-san, what do you mean by that?"
"I mean Shirou has already abandoned you."
Fujino Asagami's eyes widened in despair.
Shiki Ryougi took another step forward and drew the katana from its sheath.
"Shirou is sick of how sensitive and neurotic you are. At first, he only kept you around because he pitied you, but letting it continue would only bring trouble down on him.
He doesn't want to see you anymore. He even thinks killing you himself would be too much of a hassle, so he asked me to deal with you instead.
Honestly... that guy really knows how to order people around."
"No... That's not true... Shirou-kun would never abandon me... Stop joking around!!!"
Fujino screamed hysterically. As she stared at the black-haired girl, her crimson eyes shone brilliantly, and the image reflected in them began to twist.
She activated the "power" she had received from the boy she loved.
"Die!!"
Before the lobby floor could surge up like a tsunami and swallow Shiki Ryougi's slender body, Shiki leapt into the air, evaded the attack, and charged straight toward Fujino.
...
Garan no Dou.
Touko Aozaki woke from a hazy sleep.
"Tch... Can't a person get any sleep? What am I supposed to do if this cold I'd finally half recovered from gets worse again?"
The orange-haired Magus complained as she dragged her weak body out of bed.
She put on her coat, then pressed the playback button on the phone. Soon, the boy's recorded message filled the room.
"I'll be there right away. If you're still asleep, just keep lying down. You don't need to get up!"
"Honestly... After all that, do you really think I can still sleep?"
Touko Aozaki smiled, picked up the coffee Shirou had left on the table, now completely cold, and drank it in one gulp.
Just as she sat back down, footsteps sounded outside.
Touko Aozaki took off her glasses and fixed the uninvited guest in the doorway with a gaze as cold as a bullet.
"Cornelius Alba. What brings the second-in-command of the Sponheim Abbey to a remote backwater like this?"