Burning Ice (A Haikyuu AU)

25. Way

(Aya's Pov)

Another murky ledge just beyond my reach mocked me. I sighed, grabbing the rope and kicking against the side of the building, trying to gain leverage.

"RinRin, how away is the roof?" I yelled up, hoping he'd hear me above the whistling wind.

"Not far. 5 metres away?" He yelled back, faint words floating down to me.

Just a bit more then. The building was about  16 metres high, so we had climbed about two-thirds of the way.

Not bad, considering how hard it was to find cracks and window-ledges to find on the side. Whoever built this had really done their homework on security.

We had to throw one of those hooks connected to some rope from a nearby tree. Annoyingly, we couldn't just jump across --- the gap between the tree and the station was too wide for a building with barely any ledges.

5 minutes later, we were looking at a 2 metre high fence, cackling with electricity. It was obviously alive.

I found a narrow window-frame to rest my feet on. "What are we gonna do if Kenma doesn't get this done?"

"No idea." Suna shook his head. "We could hope that the Flames have something up their sleeves."

"Too risky." I shook my head, trying to shake some tension out of my legs; we would certainly have to combat here.

Just then, the fence flickered.

I nearly fell off the side of the building, thanking the gods that I was still holding onto the rope. "WHAT THE FUCK."

Then, the light went out completely. We were both silent as we stared at the fence. Was this a trick? Or a stroke of good luck?

I touched the fence. Nothing. I looked at RinRin.

He shrugged.

Welp, guess we'll have to take our chances. I reached up and held on to a thin piece of metal fence, still warm from being electric.

Suna gave me a look. I grinned back before notching my foot into one of the gaps between the pieces of wire. Seconds later, I was on the other side with Suna following close behind.

"That was lucky." I breathed a sigh of relief, dusting my hands off airily. "Anyways, first step finished."

Suna's expression was literally 'shaking my head'. "Yep. There's the roof entrance there, mind picking the lock?"

I checked it. "It's a number combination. Any ideas?" 

Suna took out a notebook from his pocket like magic. He flipped through the pages. "How many digits is it?" 

I checked again. "Five."

He furrowed his brow. "I don't have a five-digit combination." 

Uh.

That wasn't helpful.

I sat down. "For a five-digit calculation, there are 100,000 possiblities. That really brings the game up, doesn't it?" I thought hard. "There's no time to try every single one."

A familiar voice floated over. "Hey, you guys done?"

I looked down into the door, which was now open. "Kiyo?" 

"Who else?" He asked, poking his head out. "Have you guys seen Akaashi?" 

I shook my head, and so did RinRin. "Nope."

He sighed, pulling himself up and through the roof trapdoor. "I've been trying to find everyone for ages." 

"Do you know who closed off the electric fence?" I asked, nodding to the tall fence running along the edge of the roof. 

"That was electric?" Kiyo looked surprised. "Also no, I have no idea."

"Let's not stand here and talk." Suna noted, slipping into the building. "Standing on the roof makes us targets."

We followed him into the building and my eyes struggled with the sudden bright lighting. "Any idea why it's so bright?" 

Suna was also squinting. "This place is lighted 24/7. I thought that was pretty strange. Also, should we look for the others? This place is a maze, and splitting up isn't a good idea."

Kiyo sighed. "Should have told us before we got here, RinRin." He started climbing back through the roof trapdoor again. "Also, I'm staying here. It's a good vantage point."

I shrugged. "Stay safe." Kiyo swung the door shut and I started walking down the corridor, with several doorways in the walls. 

"Doesn't this place give you horror movie vibes?" I asked. My eyes were adjusted to the bright light now, and I could see added details like cracks in the walls.

"Used to it." RinRin shrugged, pointing to a staircase. "That leads us down to the fourth floor. I think."

We walked over to it and went down a floor. Another huge corridor was there. What I noticed particularly was one door open, slightly ajar. 

There were also voices coming from just beyond the corner.

Right. There was nothing for it. I motioned for Suna to follow me and walked with soundless steps to the open door. Slipping through it, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh hi." Vio whispered and waved. "Check this out."