The Shadowed Neko (MxM)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ren's POV

I woke up to my phone ringing instead of the alarm. Groaning, I was almost ready to chuck it across the room until my blurry vision focused on the name. It was Aki and for some reason, she was calling me at four in the morning. My alarm wasn't about to go off until around five. As I held the phone to stare at it for a moment, I finally answered wondering in my groggy state. Did something happen?

"Yeah, what's up?" My raspy voice echoed through the pitch-black room and through the speaker I heard her voice. She didn't sound good at all, "Sorry to bother you so early in the morning but...I think I caught the flu. I won't be able to- mph!" Before I knew it, a horrendous sound replaced her words. Cringing at it, I sat up despite my body not wanting to do so. I could already guess what she wanted to ask me.

Throwing the blankets off of me, at the same time I said, "I'll come in early then. Just make sure you get some rest- alright?" All I heard in response was another apology and she quickly hung up. I knew she felt bad about it so I couldn't blame her. Sighing out loud, I forced myself to fully wake up as I trudged to the bathroom.

Aki was always punctual with not missing work but there were a few rare instances like now where she'd end up randomly getting sick. This was only the third time something such as this happened ever since I started working there. I'd probably be paired up with someone who usually had a different shift to replace her.

Shrugging off the lasting drowsiness, in no time I found myself leaving the apartment sooner than usual. The sun hadn't even come up yet. The walk to work felt even quicker. Taking the keys out of my pocket, I unlocked the door and stepped in. I wasn't used to the unusual gloominess this place had when no one else was there. Flipping up the light switch forced multiple lights to turn on and I immediately got busy.

To my surprise, re-stocking the shelves and cleaning also didn't take long to finish. There were either two ways today was going to go. Either it'd take forever until my shift was over or today was going to go by in a flash. I hoped for the latter. Having a bit of free time before having to open, I also had to wait for if anyone would be working with me. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I didn't realize that I had a message from Haru.

Hey, have you seen this? It's been blowing up and no one can figure out who did it.
Today 5:45 AM

Raising an eyebrow in confusion, I saw the link he sent and tapped on it. Doing so brought me to another browser and then I started reading.

On Tuesday afternoon, a being's remains were found in a lake on private property. The remains showed that he was a male roughly between the ages of 20-24 years old. It has yet to be decided if the cause was suicide or homicide. There were also traces of an unknown drug detected but unfortunately, officials refused to disclose further information. The cause of the victim's death was a fatal gunshot wound to the head. No firearms were found in or around the lake so many are skeptical of the possibility of it being self-inflicted.

No one has yet stepped forward to claim the remains. If you might know who he is, please call-...

I stopped reading from there. A troubled expression grew on my face. This article reminded me a bit too much of the murders in the Syloria District and a deep sense of unease plagued me. It also didn't help that whoever did it was never caught. Shrugging it off, I finally responded to him.

It doesn't really say where it happened. Do you know?
Today 5:49 AM

It was on private property two districts over. I think it's the Leskar District. Everyone's so freaked out about it because anywhere past the Halaima District, only the rich live there. Someone dying from anything other than natural causes is a big deal in that area.
Today 5:51 AM