[Gift] The Magic of the Ancient Rune - Chapter 2

In that short period, the sun had rolled past the horizon, bringing in the night. Those thirty minutes came and went fast, and before he knew it, Naeggi approached the front of Fortune Bank, not even having time to go home to drop off his earlier find. He had taken a back road to get there, following Cakeygiri’s instructions to not be seen. It was a strange request, but he trusted whatever her insight was. However, he still didn’t know why she even asked him to meet at a bank that had long been closed for the day. Clearly, something was up.

As he approached, he saw that Cakeygiri was already there. She was leaning on the building, arms crossed, waiting for him. Curiosity rose inside of him. He walked up to her.

“Cakeygiri?”

She looked up to face him. “Looks like you made it.”

“I did, but can you tell me what’s up now? I’m still a bit in the dark…”

Cakeygiri pushes off of the wall, now standing upright. “Right, my apologies. I figured it would be better to explain in person.” She took a pause, turning to face the bank. “In summary, I have it in good faith that someone is planning to rob this place.”

“What?? Are you sure?”

“Positive. The current owner has informed me of this building that their security cameras caught someone in the building in the early morning a few days ago. They were concealing their identity, down to trying to hide their tail shape, so it’s hard to tell who it was. However, nothing had been stolen. The footage appeared to be someone planning a proper method to execute the crime.”

“Wow… That’s crazy…”

“Yes, it is. The craziest thing about it is that there was no sign of a break-in anywhere. No broken or open windows, no damaged doors. No scratched locks. I can’t seem to figure out how they could have possibly gotten in.”

“Hmm… maybe they hid inside until the bank closed?”

Cakeygiri shook her head. “No, security sweeps the building every night before they close daily for this exact reason. That would be pretty hard to pull off.”

“I see… What about an inside job?”

“That’s possible, but I’m not so sure that’s the case. The criminal in the security video seemed rather turned around in there. If someone was supplying information on how to get in, surely they’d also give information on where everything of value is kept.”

“Makes sense…”

“This is the reason I called you for help.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I am still new around here. You know the area much better than I do. Do you have any more hunches as to how someone could have gotten inside without breaking in?”

“W-well…” Naeggi was not prepared to be asked such a question, feeling a bit of pressure. He thought for a moment, paw under his chin. How could someone get inside without breaking in? He just had to think… He looked around. There were no obvious signs of anyone being around recently.  Beside the bank sat two buildings separated by alleyways. On one side, there was a pet store. On the other, a building that had been vacant for months. Then, an idea popped into his head.

“What if… they went under?”

“Under?”

“Yeah, like a tunnel?”

“Digging a tunnel in and out would take a lot of effort, and if someone did that, someone would spot them. Not to mention, there’s no evidence of digging around the building.”

“Maybe not around the bank, but…” He points at the vacant building. “...if you’re doing it in a place where no one will see you, no one can stop you.”

“You think someone dug a tunnel under this building over here?”

“I mean, it’s just a theory. It wouldn’t be hard to connect a tunnel between the two buildings. There have been businesses around here that have expanded into adjacent buildings to make one big one. All you gotta do is connect the buildings with some renovations and connect basements by digging a pathway between them…”

It was Cakeygiri’s turn to bring her paw up to her chin. “I see… but that means someone would’ve had to break into that building to access that method.”

“Should we look around for anything?”

Cakeygiri paused. Then after a moment, she answered. “That’s a good idea. Let’s see.”

The two of them approached the front of the vacant building. Again, there were no signs of anyone trying to break in. No scratches near the windows or locks, no damage to the doorframes or windows, and most importantly, no signs of digging.

“Perhaps we’ll have to check around the whole building. We should check the alleyways, then around the back. Be on the lookout for anything suspicious.” She spoke, walking toward the gap between the bank and the building, beckoning him with her paws. Naeggi hesitated for a moment and followed her down the dark pathway.

The two lightly trodded down the alleyways. Cakeygiri took charge, inspecting the wall of the bank and running her paws along the side of the bricks, looking for any imperfections that could provide a lead. Slightly behind her, Naeggi took to the other side, copying her actions. Neither of them seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Naeggi was so focused on the task at hand that he wasn’t paying attention to anything else. His foot landed in something cold and he shuddered. Bending down to see what it was, he found he had stepped in a puddle. Following the stream of where it came from with his eyes, he quickly sourced the puddle to a nearby dumpster. He cringed.

“Ergh…” Sticking out his tongue in disgust, he shook off his foot, trying to get all the dirty water off. He leaned against the wall so he could shake it more vigorously.

That’s when he noticed something.

A light breeze hit the side of his legs, coming from the wall. That was definitely abnormal. 

“Hey, Kay! I think I found something!” He called to her, then started to push the dumpster out of the way.

She turned around to face him, and when she noticed what he was doing, stepped in and helped him get the trash out of the way, exposing the wall.

“I felt a breeze over here… I think there’s something behind the wall.”

“Hmm…” She ran her paw over the wall, then she pulled it back slightly, hovering it just in front of it. “Indeed, there is a breeze coming from the gaps between the bricks. Good find, Naeggi.” She looked back at him and gave him a small smile. He gave an awkward smile and thumbs up back.

Cakeygiri began grabbing and scratching at the suspicious spot. The bricks didn’t budge the first few times, but after some persistence, they began to shift. Soon enough, she was able to get one brick to jut out of the wall. She took hold of it and yanked, sliding it out of the wall. There was now a hole in the wall, leading into a dark abyss. She took out her phone to shine a flashlight into it, revealing an interesting sight. She could spot some clothes piled on the floor, as well as some scattered papers. In the far corner near a set of stairs that lead down into a basement was a shovel, covered in dirt.

“There’s our lead. Looks like you were right. It’s very likely who was responsible is using this place to get access to the bank.” Standing up, Cakeygiri turned off the light and put her phone away.  “I’ll set up a stakeout for tomorrow night. Thank you so much for-”

“Don’t move.” An unrecognizable and direct voice cut her off.

The two of them were surprised at the sudden presence of someone else, both turned to see the source of it. There was now a dark-coloured cinnacat with a bright stomach and stripes standing in the alleyway. His tail was shaped like an X and he was very young-looking, much younger than the two of them, at least—a long trenchcoat draped from his body. Appearance aside, the most noticeable thing about this cinnacat was the gun he held in his paws, pointed directly at the pair. Naeggi nervously shot his paws up beside his head, while Cakeygiri moved slightly in front of him, sticking her arm out in a guarding manner.

“Looks like I caught someone snooping around,” Zephyr spoke again.

“Hmm, so I can assume it’s you who’s done this.” Cakeygiri spat in a low, confrontational tone. “Breaking into both this building and the bank?”

“Who’s to say it was?”

“I don’t think you’d currently be threatening two cinnadogs with a gun if you weren’t involved in this in some kind of way.” 

“Aren’t you a detective.” Zephyr asks rhetorically in a mocking tone.

“As a matter of fact, I am.” She replied, staring him down.

All Zepyhr did was reply with a “hmph”, keeping the gun pointed at her.

Naeggi was currently freaking out internally. Never once would he have thought he would ever end up in a situation like this. He dared not to make a sound, just listening to the confrontation between his friend and the armed criminal. He also couldn’t begin to picture what could happen next.

He felt a small pulse of… something…. pulse through his body. It didn’t feel like anything else he was currently feeling: fear, worry, nervousness, lightheadedness. Given the situation, he brushed this strange feeling off.

“Now,” Cakeygiri started, “if you drop the gun and surrender, I can try to convince them to lower the charges of trespassing, conspiracy, and threatening with a weapon. Perhaps I can even talk them out of jail time.”

“And what if I don’t?”

“...Then I plan to detain you and punish you to the fullest extent of the law.”

A long pause. Zephyr stared without making a single sound. His arms slowly dropped, and the gun with it, its muzzle aimed to the ground. With this, Naeggi can relax a bit and puts his arms back down to his sides. Cakeygiri takes a step forward and she is about to speak until Zephyr starts before her.

“Good luck with the chase.”

Suddenly, he raised the gun back up and pivoted on his heels to spin away from facing her. With quick aim, it was now pointed directly at Naeggi’s chest. Naeggi could barely tell what had just happened when-

BANG!

A flash of light and a loud noise erupted through the air. His eyes squeezed shut on instinct. It all happened so fast that he didn’t even process the pain of it. Time seemed to stand still as he just stood there waiting for everything to catch up to real-time, and for the agony of it to kick in.

“...Agh!” A voice grunted out in pain, and he heard the sound of something thudding against the floor.

…It seems there was a completely different reason why he didn’t feel any pain right now.

His eyes finally obeyed his mental screaming to open. Right at his feet lay Cakeygiri, collapsed and clutching her side. Even in the darkness of the alleyway, he could see the unmistakable dark liquid leaking under her paws, staining her fur. With her teeth clenched, eyes squeezed shut, and rapid breathing, he was able to pick up on her intense pain instantly. 

“CAKEYGIRI!” Naeggi yelled out in desperation. His legs shook and he fell to his knees. He began lightly shaking her shoulder. Her only response was a groan. He kept at it, tears welling in his eyes. “Get up! Get up!”

Zephyr growled in frustration. 

“Shit! It wasn’t supposed to be like this! Why did you get in the way!? Now I have to clean up this mess…”

Whatever Zephyr said, Naeggi had tuned out. He was too focused on Cakeygiri. She still wasn’t responding to his cries. He could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks now, surely some of them splashing down on her body. He felt helpless and shattered. Why? Why did she step in to protect him? That bullet should have hit him. This was all his fault.

That strange feeling from before pulsed through his body again, this time more intense. All it did was amplify his fear and anguish. It felt like his body was frozen in place, unable to act at all. The only thing he could do was just sob.

Zephyr clicked his gun again, reloading for another shot. He took a step forward and raised the weapon at Naeggi again.

“Sorry, but I can’t have any loose ends in this. Just standard business.”

Those were the last words he heard before that feeling intensified once again. A small blue light began to appear in the corner of his eye, pulsing and getting brighter.

Then, he lost sight of everything as the world went black.