But in the End

Framed

With a window of thirty minutes, it didn't give us too much time to come up with a solid strategy. Plus with Dazai MIA, we had to do with what we had.

It was decided that while Ranpo followed up with a clue he had a suspicion on, the rest of us would head to the location of the Decay of Angel's base in the video.

Atsushi went in first, but if we didn't hear a word from him within five minutes, I was to go in after him. Well, go put it more bluntly, there was no discussion. I was going in after him.

"Can't you drive any faster?!" I exclaimed, glancing from where I sat to Kunikida.

"We'll make it time, so don't worry." Kunikida replied. "Besides, we can't afford to wreck."

I huffed, crossing my arms. "Remind me to never let you be the get-away driver..." I grumbled, earning a chuckle from Yosano.

A few minutes later, Kunikida pulled up to the building, swerving the car to a stop as we all piled out. "Time?"

"Only five more minutes to go." Jun'ichirō told him.

"Make it on time, my ass. We just barely made it, Mr. Gotta stop for red lights because it's the law!" I told him before Kenji let out a gasp, gaining our attention.

Glancing to the road, we saw a bunch of black vehicles making its way down. "The military..." Kunikida sighed out. "If anyone besides the Detective Agency enters, the hostages die. Kenji, stop the military police."

Kenji held a hand up, smiling. "Roger that!"

"I want you and the others to follow me." Kunikida ordered.

We slowly made our way into the building, not seeing any guards anywhere as we made our way through the halls. This is a little too easy... I furrowed my eyebrows. "Hey, Kida..." I trailed off, whispering. "Doesn't this seem odd to you?"

"What do you mean?" Yosano asked, hearing me.

I turned to her. "Just that, we haven't come across a single enemy since entering the building."

"You're right." Kyouka spoke up. "I haven't sensed anyone's presence thus far."

"Everyone, keep your guard up. This could be a trap." Kunikida told all of us as Jun'ichirō walked up to a door, placing his hand on it.

"The hostages are all just beyond this door." Jun'ichirō looked at Kunikida.

"The first thing we're going to do is throw in this sonic grenade. And simultaneous to that, Demon Snow will decapitate the perpetrators. A frontal special ability fight will cost the hostages deaths... But there's no other way."

Alarmed, we stood up quickly as the sounds of agonizing screams could be heard on the other side of the door. "They bumped the time, it's not six yet." I mumbled, glancing down at the watch I put on before we left.

"Dive in, now!" Kunikida told Jun'ichirō. Nodding, he grabbed a hold of the door handle. So why?

Why is it that we are now standing behind the hostages inside the room?

"What the hell..." I trailed off, eyes wide as I heard the slosh of the top half of the hostages bodies hit the ground.

"Welcome."

Averting my gaze, I saw the man from the video sitting in a chair, a smug look on his face. Only difference was that he was tied up."

"You're the murderer..." Kunikida spoke up. "But I don't get why you're the one who's tied up.

Seeing how he looked so smug threw me off. Something is up. Glancing out the corner of my eyes, I noticed the big window behind us.

"This is my escape from the biological brainwashing we call morality. Hear it! Listen to my brazen scream of free will!" The man exclaimed, wide eyed.