Two days passed without an update. The news arrived on the third day. She was getting a pre-patrol meal with Eiji and Kumagai. The custom ringtone made her jump.
"Ah," she said, pulling her phone from he pocket. "Text from Amajiki-san."
"Good news?" Eiji asked.
She opened her phone. "Exam confirmed," she read. "Briefing after patrol. Catch me at the patrol room."
Kumagai chuckled. "Ominous."
"Is it?" Hisako asked.
Kumagai shrugged and downed a gyoza before continuing. "He didn't tell you who your teammates are, and he wants to meet with you tonight?"
Hisako stared at her phone. She punched in a simple reply: "Got it. Thank you."
Eiji put a hand on her shoulder, surprising her from wandering thoughts. "You've got this, Hisako."
"You do. Don't doubt yourself. Move forward," Kumagai said. "Never look back."
She stood, and they followed.
"Ready for patrol?"
They nodded.
Amajiki was waiting for her at one of the desks in the empty patrol-assignment room. It was illuminated only by the blank white screen glowing at the front of the room. He'd cracked open a can of some kind of fruit soda and had two sandwich packets unopened beside him.
"I'm coming in," Hisako said as she entered.
He turned around with a weary expression. "Ah, there you are."
"Sorry, I only just got back," Hisako said.
"It's all good. Come, sit. I hope ham-cheese-lettuce is okay."
"More than. Thank you."
Hisako walked to his side, as quickly as socially acceptable, and sat down next to him. He slid her the second sandwich, and she set her water down next to her.
While she settled in and began to eat, he produced the remote for the projector. The image changed to a team lineup: her, Kamui Taniguchi, Dr. Haneul Moon, and Kousuke Sano.
She looked at Amajiki in surprise. "This is the exam team? Taniguchi-san is—"
"An A-Grade, yes. And Sano is a B-Grade."
Hisako frowned. "Is this normal for the exam?"
"Eh, no, but it's fine. I trust Taniguchi, and Sano is his partner. It's a good opportunity to see some of your seniors in action, especially those two. The Snake and The Inferno—it's good to have that duo on your side.
"Mr. Moon was selected for your support because of her familiarity with treating you. The other two volunteered."
Hisako nodded slowly. "It's…" She couldn't find the right word for it.
She remembered Taniguchi's giddy laughter and the ticking stopwatch, the way Kumagai regarded him, and the snake at his jaw.
"Intimidating, yes, but fine. This exam is for you—they won't do anything that isn't meant to help you through it."
"Okay," Hisako replied.
"Good."
He clicked onto the next slide, and the image changed to display Taniguchi standing with his weapon—a polearm with a bell dangling from just below the bladed head.
"Taniguchi's ability is unique."
"Kumagai-san mentioned so."
"He… hm. He's like a bullet train moving between two stations, okay? He targets a person who is aware of him, and he can move rapidly to that point."
Hisako digested the words. "That's how he got to our door so fast on that first night? Kumagai-san is 'aware' of him, so he targeted her?"
Amajiki's eyes lit up. "Yes, exactly. His ability only works if he's on the target's mind, but it gets stronger the more his target thinks of him."
"So, when he's fighting somebody…"
"His ability becomes even stronger."
"But he can't sneak-attack anyone with his ability," Hisako concluded. "That's what the bell is for? To draw attention to himself?"
"Correct. He can, of course, attack normally, but his ability is his biggest strength. Sano is the same."
The slide switched to Sano. He was striking, just as striking as his outfit and weapon.
He had an androgynous appearance, maybe a little feminine-leaning. His dark eyes were accentuated with the slightest touch of crimson eyeshadow—it reminded her of painted kitsune masks.
His uniform was a black happi coat proudly emblazoned with "Chubi Division," a silhouette of Mt. Fuji, and a red snake. Instead of pants, he wore short traditional pants, and instead of shoes, he wore little sandals strapped to his feet.
His weapon was simply a red paper fan with "Firework" painted in a white circle.
He looked like he was about to celebrate a summer festival.
"The Sano Clan, another of the big ones, is known for having strong abilities. Kousuke Sano creates explosions. Large explosions—it's a bit of an issue, honestly.
"You know Dr. Moon. Her ability is one of the ones that ties in with her weapon. She can heal people with her blade, and her ability allows her to slow down the body's clock. Similar to Serizawa-san's ability.
"You'll need to understand your team to guide them," Amajiki explained. "I'm afraid you have a bit of an undertaking with this group. Their abilities don't work together easily."
The slide changed again, to a satellite view of an area Hisako didn't recognize. A red circle was drawn around a square of housing buildings.
"To shake things up even more," Amajiki said sarcastically, "Intelligence wants someone to investigate this area. They think they're picking up traces of a door, but… I don't know. It's odd, and they're not sure enough to have a proper patrol check it out. This particular block is more or less uninhabited, so it's not on a regular patrol route."
"Okay. When do we go?"
"Tomorrow morning. We'll meet the team there after you eat and prepare yourself."
The apartment complex was depressing to look at. It was a square of four concrete-brutal buildings, each in the shape of an "L," forming the square with walkways between them and a courtyard at the heart.
The courtyard was as neglected as the buildings—the fountain was defunct, and the water was turning green with algae. When Hisako neared it to peer inside, a frog squeaked and darted under the surface. The garden around the fountain was gray and wilting. If she brushed a stem, she was sure it'd snap.
The only green around was the ivy biting into the bases of the buildings, wandering up the cracks in the concrete, and the only beauty was the small flowers blooming on those ivy vines.
Perhaps it was more picturesque at night, but the sunlight made the buildings look flat, horrible, and dead.
"How many people live here?" Hisako asked Amajiki.
"Ehh," Amajiki hummed. "Records say maybe seven."
"Maybe?"
"The records from this place are not so well-kept. The managing company is responsible for many complexes like this, but this one… they've moved on from."
"They… gave up on an entire housing complex?"
Amajiki nodded grimly.
Hisako eyed the windows of the apartments. Some were broken, some were boarded up from the inside, some had curtains drawn, and some were fine, but the homes inside were empty.
Which window held the owner of their door? Was there even a door?
Two figures emerged from one of the buildings: Taniguchi and Sano. Side by side, Taniguchi looked about a whole head taller than Sano, who was close to Hisako's height. Both were in the uniforms from their ID photos; Hisako wondered if Sano wore the uniform in winter, too.
Sano's shoulder was draped in cords; he was holding a hand-unit and a small radar dish, which he pointed around the complex.
"Ah, there they are," Amajiki said, waiving them over.
Taniguchi walked quickly, like he couldn't bear to move at an even pace but wouldn't bring himself to jog. Sano lagged back, still scanning about.
"What's the verdict?" Amajiki asked.
"We're good to go. It's here. Pretty sure it's that one," Taniguchi said.
He pointed at the building behind Hisako and Amajiki—the building in the most disrepair.
"Alright. We're just waiting on the Doctor, then?"
Sano finally caught up, but he was distracted by the hand modem. "No, she's here too. She's reading in the lobby of that building."
He looked up to point, and they saw Dr. Moon emerging from the building.
"Nevermind, then," he said, and continued toward the target building.
Amajiki turned to Hisako. "Are you ready?"
She nodded.
Amajiki gave Dr. Moon a casual, two-fingered salute and addressed Taniguchi. "You know what to do. I'll see you back at headquarters." He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Hisako one last time. "Don't forget yourself, Mochizuki-san."
She nodded, and he strode away.
"Let's go, then," Dr. Moon said.
The pinned-sleeve uniform that Hisako was familiar with her wearing was gone. Instead, she was wearing the sleeveless black undershirt like Hisako was, but with a scrub top and baggy scrub pants. She looked ready for combat, in her own way.
"Dr. Moon," Hisako said, bowing her head. "Thank you for being here."
Taniguchi chuckled.
"Ah! Thank you to you and Sano-san as well. Sorry."
Taniguchi's face sharpened. Gone was the giggling keeper who swung a stopwatch from his sleeve. "There's no need for such formalities. When we are a team entering a door, we are equals. We all bleed the same, all die the same. In a door, I will be 'Kamui', and Sano will be 'Koko'."
Hisako nodded. "Understood. I'm 'Hisako' then, for as long as you want to use it, inside a door or outside one."
Taniguchi—Kamui—nodded and led them toward the building Koko had disappeared into.
"We suspect the door is on a higher floor. Mail is delivered every week or so, and packages are delivered to the recipient's apartment; the last confirmed contact with a tenant was a week ago. According to the deliveryman, he has delivered mail of any kind to three people in the past month."
"So there are at least three people in the entire building?" Hisako asked.
"Yes. And there are twelve floors. My suggestion is to split up and search each floor."
"Sa—Koko-san—"
Taniguchi slid a flinty eye to her as he pushed the doors open.
"Koko," Hisako corrected, nearly stumbling on an uneven lobby tile, "can't determine which floor with that device?"
"The door's signature is far too peculiar for the device to do anything more than detect the building."
"What could be making it so peculiar?" Hisako asked.
Dr. Moon replied. "Intelligence studies the patterns seen in Japan. Our equipment's idea of 'normal' is biased that way. Anything 'irregular' could be causing the anomaly. This complex was designed for low-income housing, but ended up serving foreign laborers and disadvantaged locals. The door may belong to someone not accounted for by our ideal of 'normal.'"
Hisako nodded slowly. "So…" She didn't know how to parse Dr. Moon's explanation.
"They could have a mental illness or disorder, they could be just a strange fellow, or they could be a foreigner," Kamui translated. "Japan has a habit of making the odd man out feel even more alien, and that can affect doors, which can affect our readings."
Hisako glanced around the lobby of the building.
Lights flickered, threatening a headache. The floor was made of uneven, large tiles, but they seemed ornamental, perhaps pasted atop a cracked concrete underfloor. The walls had been painted cream once, but had been left to rot and grow dirty. The mailboxes were in a small alcove. Many doors were left open, some were pried open and left broken, and a handful were closed.
This building had stopped being loved a long time ago.
"Koko is already on the fourth floor."
"Yeah, let's split up. You take the fifth, then Koko will take the sixth, yes? Dr. Moon and I will do the same from the top," Hisako said. "If we don't find it, we'll meet in the middle and regroup."
They each nodded, and they began to ascend. They broke off from Kamui, then, at the top of the building, Hisako broke off from Dr. Moon.
Hisako walked carefully through the twelfth floor. Some of the rooms were boarded up, but the boards gave with a kick to the right place. Each was empty with no sign of a tenant. It was eerie to be in a place left to rot.
As Hisako searched for the door, she wondered whether Kohaku explored empty places like this during their urban exploration, or if they tended to be abandoned. These buildings were past that. Not abandoned or forgotten, but thrown away.
The door was on the tenth floor. Hisako knew immediately when she turned the corner to reach the second wing. At the end of the hall, one of the apartments was blocked off with a door.
She fumbled with the Doorkeeper phone she'd been assigned, and texted the others she'd found the door.
While she waited for them to arrive, she approached the door to examine it more closely.
It looked like it belonged, but it was all wrapped up in caution tape and was dusty and dirtied with black smears, like it'd been at a construction site for too long and hadn't been cleaned before installation.
As she stared at it, curious to see a door where it theoretically 'belonged', she realized the apartments didn't have secondary exits. She hurried to the door and knocked on it loudly. She could hear the sound echo through the apartment on the other side.
"Hello!" she called. "Are you inside?"
No response. She pressed her ear to the door, but heard nothing but the weak creaking of the building.
"Hisako?"
She turned around and saw Kamui and the others arriving.
"The apartments don't have any other exits," she said. "I think the owner got trapped inside, but…"
"If the door is still there," Dr. Moon said, "then it's unlikely they've gone in."
"Then—How long has the reading for the door been live?"
"Mmgh." Kamui made a noise of discomfort.
"We-we need to clear the door and hurry inside. They might need help," Hisako hurriedly said.
"Lead the way, Mochizuki-san," Dr. Moon said.
Hisako grabbed the lever handle and turned it. Or, tried to. It was caught—broken. She threw her shoulder into it. It wouldn't budge.
She stepped back, hands brushing along the door. Something was broken; the door didn't want to open.
She tapped at it, trying to figure out how it worked, then she put her boot on the area beside the handle. She stepped back, testing her aim, and then kicked as hard as she could.
The door burst open with a snap. Wood splinters from the frame dusted the floor.
Koko laughed like a hyena. "Wow! I've never seen that before."
Hisako took a deep breath. "Okay," she breathed. "Let's go."
She stepped into the door.