Mystery from Another World

Part 83: Silk Screen (unfinished)

"Yaoyurozu?" Shoto yelled, after checking all the hallways and not seeing her.

"Give it up. She's gone." Dabi was not in a great mood. "Probably one of the goons... Well, I can't say I'll miss her, but a sneak attack's not the best sign for me either."

"Shut up, you b-----d!" Shoto turned to snap at him. "You let this happen! Did you see her go?"

"Hey, all I saw was her move off to check the hall. That's it. I didn't see no one else. And wasn't it your job to take care of your own classmate? Don't put it on me."

"You distracted me on purpose with all that-- I bet you wanted her to get caught!" Shoto accused him.

"Oh, wow, how clever of me. You figured it out." Dabi put his hands up sarcastically. "And just how does it help me, genius? If we get caught, I lose too. And shut up. If they didn't know we were here, they definitely do now, with all your yowling."

"Don't tell me to shut up." Shoto lowered his voice anyway. "If it's not your fault, then why didn't you stop her?"

"Why would I? Am I in charge here?" Dabi said tightly, "Now if you'd stop losing your cool you might have stopped to notice there's a really sus elevator in that wall there," jerking his head toward the last hallway, "and it looks operational. I'd bet 2,000 yen that she went in there, like a moron, and didn't come back out."

Shoto looked at the elevator warily. "Fine, I'll go in after her, then." He went up and pushed the button on it. "Stay or come, I don't care which."

Dabi followed because he didn't want to be alone in this creepy as frick compound, even if it meant sticking around his stupid ex-brother. Anyway, the ponytailed chick getting caught could be a problem if they tortured her for information.

The elevator door opened, and no one was in there.

Shoto pressed his communicator wire. "Is anyone there? We lost Yaoyurozu... We're going in an elevator."

"Wait just a minute." Dabi grabbed him by his collar and yanked him back. "This is just a little too convenient, isn't it? We're trying to get underground, an elevator just happens to be here? And someone already disappeared? It sounds like a trap to me."

"It's an elevator." Shoto pulled away haughtily. "And if she's not anywhere else, then she must have gone in."

"Are you really this stupid? That's just what they want us to think," Dabi said.

"They?" Shoto said.

"Yeah, I bet there's some b-----ds spying on us right now." Dabi eyed the hall hostilely. "So I'm thinking, we give this a little test first. Why don't you drop a chunk of ice in there or something and see what happens?"

"And what would happen other than it would melt all over the floor?" Shoto said.

"Oh, for the love of--- just do it," Dabi said.

Well, since it didn't seem that dangerous, Shoto complied, though resentfully.

He froze a person sized piece of ice into the elevator.

The doors shut.

At first it didn't seem anything was going to happen. But then the elevator shuddered in a weird way and evaporated into the wall. Leaving the ice.

Shoto blinked. "What the---?"

Dabi blew off his knuckles. "Boom," he muttered.

"But then where is...?" Shoto sputtered.

"Duh, she walked in or something, and it swallowed her into the wall, I bet," Dabi said, "So she's dead, likely as not...or else captured. Well, we should get out of here."