Liars and How To Find Them

III : Hope?

A/N: TRIGGER WARNING! BRIEF MENTIONS OF SUICIDE NEAR THE END!

You looked down on the map and address you were given earlier today before staring back up at the huge building in front of you. Wasn't this like, a warehouse for clothing or something? That was what you heard a few months earlier... But then again, the ghoul restaurant hadn't been found out a few months earlier.

You were still grateful for your team, who had decided to help you by locating the restaurant where Ami supposedly went missing/died. It had been spotted by the CCG a few weeks ago, but the news spread quickly and ghouls never came back to the building since, so you couldn't raid it in hopes of finding more leads.

Digging in your backpack for the flashlight you had brought, you walked on the side of the building, deciding it'd be best to enter from a secondary entrance. It's not because the CCG found the building that NO ghouls whatsoever would be in there. You needed to be ready, hence why you had a pocket quinque attached to your bag.

After a few minutes of walking, you finally found an emergency exit. You knew the chances of the door being unlocked were small, but you tried it anyway.

Never in your life had a doorknob given you so much joy. It almost felt magical when your hand twisted sideways along with the door handle, allowing you to tug the knob towards you to open the door. You let out a breath you didn't even know you were holding in and walked into the dark building.

If you didn't know any better, you'd say the place was haunted. With it being abandoned and dimly lit, you wouldn't be surprised if things started moving on their own...

"You're not going to be here for long." You muttered to yourself in an attempt to calm your nerves. "Find evidence, get out."

And so you proceeded with the simple but effective plan. For a few minutes, you wandered around the place.

You had to admit these ghouls were quite intelligent. They had showers in which their next meal could get clean, you found countless gas tanks (probably used to weaken the stronger humans lured here), and a ginormous, five-star kitchen. These were weird fucking ghouls.

Not to mention all the poor, innocent souls murdered here for pure entertainment. Ami didn't deserve something like this. The poor girl was about to get married! Your heart broke for her fiancé every time you thought of them.

As you were walking around the arena, you abruptly stopped when you stepped on something. Your heartbeat sped up and you quite literally jumped, afraid that you broke what could have been important evidence.

"Shit!" You cussed, flashing your torch down at the ground. The object you stepped over seemed fine, however. You crouched down to inspect the leather strap that was on the ground, eyebrows furrowing.

This could be the key to your investigation! There could be DNA on there!

With this in mind, you tugged on your long-sleeved shirt and shrugged off your bag, searching for something to put the strap in. Once you took out a plastic container, you picked up the evidence without properly touching it and put the lid back on, smiling at your discovery. You knew you were close..! Things were finally coming along.

Once the container was stored away to the safety of your backpack, you got up and made a beeline to the nearest exit, not wanting to stay here a second longer. You were already immensely lucky for not running into a ghoul...

You already knew what you were going to do the next day.

This shop had always made you feel uneasy, but you decided to toughen out the uncomfortable feeling for the sake of justice.