Black Swan Wonderland

Taida

Halo Twelve: Taida:

Kadota's phone buzzed beside him the next morning. He grumbled to himself as he pawed around for it. Who the hell was trying to call him this early? The man finally picked up his phone. But it wasn't a phone call. This was a text. Kadota didn't recognize the number. Now normally under a situation like this, he would've deleted the number. But since this was early in the morning, the man tapped the screen.

A puzzled look came over his face.

"Huh? What the hell is this?" he asked. The text was filled with numbers, coordinates to be exact. Then there came a knock on his door. Now what? More knocking on the door became a motive for him to get out of bed. The man didn't come unprepared for this, however.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"This is where Kadota Kyohei lives, right?" a woman's voice asked.

"Why?" he asked. There came a pause.

"Did you get the text too?" the woman asked. That was enough for him to open the door. A woman with a short black ponytail stood outside. Beside her stood a young man with short dark hair. The woman shifted on her feet. Right away, Kadota remembered their names.

"Hifumi? Norio?" he asked. Hifumi took a breath of relief.

"Good, you remember us," she said. "We don't have much time. Get dressed and come on!" Kadota started to speak but Hifumi stuck up her hand.

"Don't talk! Just get there!" she shouted. "We don't have much time!" Kadota put up his hands.

"Alright," he said. "Alright. I'm going." Kadota turned back into his apartment. The two tadpoles followed him inside.

-Rampo Biotech-

"Thank you for the watch," Kitano said as he looked at the bag. He stared at the detail under the plastic.

"You're welcome," Daichi said with a bow. Osamu bowed his head. Kitano looked up at his colleagues.

"Osamu, could you see me after work hours?" he asked. "I need to talk to you about something important."

"Me?" Osamu asked.

"Yes," Kitano said. "Meet me in my office."

"Alright," the gruff man said.

"Good," the therapist said. He turned and walked over to the now-glowing altar. Kitano opened the bag and dropped the watch into its rightful spot. A low hum came from the mini-altar. A cold smile spread across his face.

"Perfect," he said. "Only three more to go."

"We're heading back to work now," Osamu said.

"Alright," Kitano said. The men bowed and walked out the door. Once they were gone, the therapist pulled out his phone. He smirked to himself.

He would be watching the news around five.

Emily stared at her phone panting. Twenty-eight missed calls. All from a blocked number. But she knew who it was.

The first call was just heavy breathing on the other line. Emily stared at her phone when she got home.

"What the heck?" she asked. She didn't have to listen to all of the messages to know what they were. Blocking the number didn't help. The calls would still keep coming. Heavy breathing at first. The calls would last about ten seconds before hanging up. She did tell her homeroom teacher what was going on the day.

"Have you gone to the police yet?" she asked. Emily shook her head.

"Emily, this is not good," the teacher said. "You could have a potential stalker on your hands. You have to stop this before it escalates."