Yuji's brain went into overdrive as he tried to work out the time it'd take the Protectorate to leave the landing pad and reach his home. He still had to remove the dried blood, and the late-night alarm had already sounded out, which meant that Miss Silvia's family would already have returned home.

  Shit, I can't think of anywhere else I can get that solvent from though...

  When the elevator reached the top, it felt like someone had punched Yuji in the gut as he looked in the direction of his home. There were two people standing outside, staring out into the city. He wasn't sure who the other person was, but he knew that one of them was Ryu's sister, Miya Murakami. She had an unmistakable blue and purple winter outfit she wore in blizzards. He thought she'd be waiting inside for the Protectorate, but it looked like luck wasn't on his side tonight.

  The gate on the elevator opened as it locked onto the platform. Yuji walked forward normally since he was still in view of the pair, and only around the point when he reached the nearest trailer did it look like he might be out of their view. They both had masks on, which had hard black outlining that obstructed people's view slightly on the sides, so that was helping him a little too.

  He ran forward while also trying to make as little noise as possible, which was annoyingly difficult. He almost fell several times on the way and was just barely able to keep himself from face-planting into the snow.

  Still though, he did eventually reach the Silvia family's trailer, and when he gazed through the small gap between the bottom of the window and the curtain, he could see that they were all inside their living room watching TV.

  ......

  Yuji had no clue if she actually had the solvent, nor if it was in her bedroom instead of the other two rooms, but this was the only option he had left. There was no time left, and if they saw the dried blood, that was it for him.

  He walked to the left a little, reaching the same type of window his room had, and after a quick glance to the right to make sure the couple wasn't looking at him, he pulled his right glove off and dug his finger under the corner of the window. There was a small gap between the window and the trailer, with the window frame itself having a tiny ridge in it that allowed you to open it from outside if it was unlocked.

  Yuji pulled his finger back slowly, and the window easily cracked open, just as he suspected it would. Almost no one locked their windows in the trailer section, because who would bother trying steal from any of them?

  He then grabbed the frame and pulled it open enough so that he could fit through it. The area he was crawling through only had clothes beneath it, which made for awkward footing, but it also meant he wouldn't be making any noise as he brought his feet down on the pile of clothes before closing the window ninety percent of the way.

  I-Is she a hoarder?? I thought she was a cleaner but maybe she isn't...

  The room was filled with all manner of nonsense. Knick-knacks, figurines, paintings, wallscrolls, dumbbells, and ungodly amounts of clothes.

  Walking around safely was near impossible in the minimal lighting, as the only open area was between the door and the bed. To his eyes, it looked like Miss Silvia had just toss whatever she liked into the room and then left it all where it landed.

  Ah...

  He had been starting to lose hope, but then he saw the area beneath a table pressed against the wall to his right. It was filled with the types of bottles cleaners had on their carts, and when he knelt down, he knew right away that they were definitely cleaning products.

  A new problem arose though as he picked two of the bottles up. He only knew of the solvent. He didn't know which one it was, and now he had way too many unknown bottles in front of him.

  Wooden tiles, tables, walls... Nope. Uh, this one is 'For unclogging pipes'... Nope.

  Yuji thought he might have heard the crunching of snow outside, so he stood up a little and peered through the window just in time to see the pair from before walking toward the elevator, which had already descended below.

  There's no way that they're here already! I know they're fast, but isn't that too fast?!

  He picked up two more bottles and ruled them out. Then two more, then two more... And then finally, he picked up one that had a 'Not for individual sale' sticker on it. It also had a bunch of other warnings on it, like how you needed to make sure the room was well ventilated.

  'Dissolves any unwanted stains, don't breathe it in, keep away from lacquer'... Okay, this has to be it. I hope?

  A quick glance outside confirmed that the two individuals were now at the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. Upon seeing that, he pushed the window open and crawled outside, closing the window behind him.

  He then ran next door to his trailer and did the exact same thing as before, digging his nail into the little ridge and yanking the window open before leaping inside in a hurry.

  After closing the window, he tried spraying the dried blood with the bottle, but nothing was coming out. That was when he remembered you had to twist the end open first.

  "Bah, the little shit is probably just passed out drunk somewhere again," he heard his Uncle say from the living room as he twisted the end of the cap.

  With that done, he could finally spray the floor, and almost immediately as the liquid hit the blood, he could hear it sizzling.

  "Keh, kah...!"

  Barely two seconds later he began coughing uncontrollably as an unbearable itchiness hit the back of his throat and his nose.

  The bottle had said to keep it well ventilated, but he figured even if it was a health risk, it wouldn't be anything that would hit him that hard right away, and opening the window had felt way too risky since it'd seem like a strange thing to do in a blizzard, but it was looking like he didn't have a choice.

  As he coughed, he could see that the elevator had arrived with four fully equipped Protectors, and that there were two Androids in tow behind them.

  Knock, knock.

  "Are you alright, Yuji?!" His sister yelled through the door.

  "Y-Yeah, I'm---"

  He entered another fit of coughing as the sizzling came to a stop. Shockingly, it looked like all of the dried blood had been liquefied and diluted. There wasn't a whole lot of light, but the liquid looked mostly transparent and barely red at all.

  While still having trouble breathing, Yuji brought another towel over to the spot and soaked it all up before burying the towel under his mattress.

  The only spot he could think of putting the bottle was in his miniature area, where he built and painted them in his free time, but the bottle looked sorely out of place among the cheap items that littered the desk.

  Even so, that was the only option he had, so he placed the bottle on the desk with the paints before quickly removing all of his winter equipment. After that, he moved to the window and cracked it open, but as he was doing that he could see out of the corner of his eye that both of the Androids had spotted him. They weren't close, but they weren't far away either. He was pretty sure the Protectors hadn't seen him, but the Androids clearly had.

  He'd only seen them through their family's small TV up to that point, and they had always looked rather non-threatening, but that was not the feeling he was getting from them right now as they stared at him through the glass.

  The bulky blue androids stood at around nine feet tall, and their two blue 'Eyes' appeared to be a lot brighter in person than they had been on TV. Between the darkness and the blizzard, those four robotic eyes staring at him unblinkingly as he walked over to the door made him want to crawl under the bed like a child and pray that they'd just leave after speaking to his family, but he knew the chances of that happening were around zero percent.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Yuji moved over to the door and opened it up. The worried face of his sister looking up at him was the first thing he saw. He put his hand over his mouth and coughed a few more times before lightly laughing.

  "Sorry about that, I don't know what came over me... So what's been going on out here?"

  "A lot, kid." His Uncle interjected from the couch, then motioned toward himself, "Come. The Protectors will be here soon."

  Lisa looked at him worriedly before turning her wheelchair and rolling over toward the couch. Yuji followed behind her and sat down just as a loud three-hit knock hit their door.

  Yuji's Uncle (Gavin) sighed as he stood up. The man hated the Protectorate almost as much as he hated the Kitsune, so Yuji was praying that he didn't say anything too provocative.

  A heavy blast of freezing cold air entered the trailer as Gavin opened the door. He held a hand out in front of his face reflexively and then walked backwards to allow the Protectorate to enter. The four Protectors obliged and quickly entered the trailer before closing the door behind them, which made Yuji breathe an internal sigh of relief now that he knew the Androids wouldn't be coming inside.

  But could they even fit through our small door? Ahh, probably not... So that's why they stayed outside. This is the first time I'm glad to be living in this dinky trailer.

  One of the Protectorate removed his helmet, revealing an Elven man with short blonde hair. He then cupped his helmet in one hand while crossing his chest with the other hand before slightly bowing toward Gavin.

  "Apologies, Sir. We've been informed that you've already had a long day, and we know that the work day starts rather early here in the outposts, but we need to ask you a few questions. Once that's done though, we'll be on our way."

  Gavin's posture relaxed a little as he raised an eyebrow. Yuji felt the same way upon seeing the man's attitude. He'd heard a lot of bad things about the Protectorate, and not all that many good things in contrast, so he'd expected a far harsher interaction with them.

  "I see..." Gavin walked back to the couch and sat down before looking up at the Elf, "We already know this is about Ryu, but all we know is that he never showed up for the party. Past that, I really don't know how we can help you. And let's be honest here, this happens all the time. The little shit is probably passed out drunk somewhere, like usual."

  The Elf nodded, "Yes, that is likely the case here as well, but even so, we need to make sure we do our due diligence from the very onset. Otherwise, if it turns out that something terrible truly has happened to Mr. Murakami, then... Well, it'll be our heads that are rolling."

  Two things were said there that surprised Yuji. First, he had no idea that the Protectorate had looked for Ryu in the past because of how often he went on binges and disappeared. And secondly, if the man was telling the truth, it meant that he'd have to reconsider what the Protectorate was a little. He didn't even know there were repercussions for failing.

  Although when he really thought of it, most of his suspicions of them were because of what someone had told him during an outing one day after work. There was someone there who worked in accounting for the shipping post who got a little too wasted and blabbed that the Protectorate was shipping something through back channels for the Murakami family.

  "Alright fine, let's get this over with," Gavin replied.

  "Of course." The Elf detached a transparent datapad from his side and brought it up in front of him, "Then, for starters, where is the mother of the home?"

  Gavin dug his nails into the couch as Yuji and Lisa looked at the Elf incredulously. Eventually, Lisa ended up being the one who broke the silence, "She died a long time ago..."

  "? But it says here---" The Elf froze up for a second upon seeing Lisa. She tilted her head a little in response, but that only seemed to fluster him more.

  The Protector to his left turned to look at the Elf just as he recovered enough to push a few buttons on his datapad. "I'm sorry, Miss... I'll make sure to correct your Mother's data later." He then pushed a few more buttons before saying, "The next question is for you, young sir."

  Yuji felt his blood run cold as the man looked at him.

  "Now, let's see..." The Elf continued, unaware of the battle going on inside of Yuji's head, "Ryu's sister, Miya, says that the two of you had gone out drinking today before the party. Is this true?"

  Shit, I knew this question was coming, but I barely remember anything before waking up here! Whatever I say is going to be a complete guess... I think we were at the bar, right? I've been in there with him before though, so maybe I'm just recalling that memory...

  Just like when he was talking with his sister earlier, all he could do was roll the dice and pray. He dug his hands into the couch to stop them from shaking and said, "It's true. It was at his favorite place, the Blue Lagoon. Do you know where it is? We split up after hanging there for a little while."

  "We do. We've been there several times." The Elf said as he typed onto his datapad again.

  Oh, right. Ryu had disappeared a few times in the past as well apparently, so of course they'd know where it was.

  Lisa raised her right hand. The Elf saw that and smiled at her, "Yes, Miss Lisa?" She then lowered her hand and played with her fingers nervously. "Um, did Miya leave...?"

  "She did." He replied. "She is heading home for us to see if her brother had decided to return and sleep off the alcohol."

  "I-I see..." Lisa looked down dejectedly. Yuji looked at her sideways. He didn't understand why she cared if Miya was still there, but there was no time to ask her about it.

  The Elf motioned toward his men, who immediately went into action. The three of them spread out, each heading for a different door. The Elf moved last, walking toward the only remaining room, which was Yuji's.

  Upon reaching Yuji's door the Elf looked back at the three residents with a smile, "I'm sure you understand why this is necessary. As I said before, we need to be thorough."

  Yuji glanced over at his family. Gavin looked like he wanted to rip the Elf's face off as the latter opened the door, while Lisa was already wheeling herself toward her own room.

  He wanted to just relax on the couch and do absolutely nothing while waiting for it all to end, but he really needed to know what the Elf in his room was going to 'Find'. So he stood up and walked into his room, immediately finding the Elf looking over his miniatures, which was the last thing he expected to see.

  "Despite how cheap your tools are, these are very well done, Mister Yuji..." The Elf said without looking back at Yuji.

  It was the first time anyone other than his sister had ever praised him for anything, let alone his miniatures, so despite the situation, it had made him feel a happy. Even if it was only for a fleeting moment.

  "Thank you, Sir. No one other than my family has ever seen them before, so it makes me glad to hear someone praise them like that..."

  "Hah, I know the feeling." The Elf said with a smile. He then pointed at the expensive dissolver, "I also bought one of those when I first started. God only knows how many times I needed it to start over from scratch."

  Yuji had assumed it also cleaned off paint, which is why he put it there, and now he was relieved to hear that it had been the right call.

  The Elf eventually pulled away from the miniatures, took one rather nonchalant look around the room, and shrugged. "Yep, looks fine to me."

  Huh...? That's all he's going to do?

  The Elf then chuckled upon seeing the incredulous look on Yuji's face, "It's fine. We all know that little retar---Er, fine young upstanding lad, is passed out somewhere. We're only pretending to put the work in because of all the other disappearances." His face scrunched up, "But if he really did disappear... Ahh, nope nope! I refuse to even think about that."

  Both men noticed the two bright blue eyes looking at them through the window and turned to look at them.

  "Creepy as always." The Elf said.

  "The Protectors think that too? They seemed fine on TV, but now that I've seen one in person, they're a little, uh..."

  "Whatever adjective you're searching for, I already agree. I like my job and all, but I'll never get used to having those things silently watching me all day long."

  So it was true... I'd seen videos of Ex-Protectors talking about how they had no control over the Androids, and that they were only there to make sure the Protectors didn't do certain things. But I don't think they've ever said what those things were?

  "Zen, let's go!" One of the Protectors yelled from the living room.

  "And that's that. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Yuji." Zen said before briskly walking out of the room. Moments later, Yuji heard the front door open and close once again.

  The Protectors and their two Androids walked by his bedroom as they returned to the elevator, but before it left, the Android outside his room continued to stare at him for what was probably only five seconds, but it had felt like a lifetime from Yuji's perspective.

  Once they were all out of view, he immediately fell onto the bed and closed his eyes. All of the tension was finally draining out of him, and with it came a wave of exhaustion so powerful he nearly passed out the second he hit the bed.

  "Yuji...?" Lisa said from outside his still-open bedroom door.

  He slightly lifted his head to look at his sister. She looked like she was holding back tears, and despite how much it hurt him to see her like that, especially since it was his fault, he just couldn't fight the overwhelming fatigue begging him to sleep.

  "We'll talk tomorrow, okay? I don't know why, but I'm quite literally passing out here. I guess a visit from the Protectors bothered me more than I thought it would---" Suddenly, he remembered the last time she had looked like that, which had been around six years ago. He wasn't sure if she wanted to sleep in his room again, but if there was a chance she might be regressing to how she was in those days, then he wanted to keep her close tonight.

  Yuji scooted over to the edge of the bed near the wall and patted the area next to him. Lisa slightly brightened for a moment and wheeled herself next to the bed. It wasn't easy for her to get off the wheelchair and into bed on her own, but he and his uncle had learned long ago to stop trying to offer her assistance. She hated it when they tried to help her, and the last thing she needed right now was another stress-inducing event happening.

  He could feel himself drifting off as her body fell on the mattress. She may or may not have said something after that; he wasn't sure either way, because no more than a few seconds later, he was already fast asleep.