"N-no...way...", Matsuri was in pure shock, this was the only thing that came out of her. Her face showed signs of being in terror, the whole city was without hints of liveliness now.
Subaru was getting weaker, even putting herself on her knees, the puddle of red liquid was flowing out of the doors. The liquid seemed like it was the same type of liquid like in the streets and the dyed red plants and moss. Subaru was just too shocked to speak, even to the point that she was holding back her breath and tears.
Haato too, she was too shocked to believe something like this really did happen, the bodies were inside the buildings and houses, nobody alive found, the liquid still seemed fresh, but it was only their imagination. In the end, Haato was right, she felt a cold presence...something was inside their house.
The three girls were too scared to go further inside the city, since the streets were a single blood bath. So instead, they returned home without saying a single word to each other.
Even after the shock, they stayed inside their house and kept living there, finding a better way to deal with this current situation. Their plan first was to move into another city and find a new home, but sadly this one they had was the only one that stayed in a great state even after the destruction years ago. Their second plan was to survive in this city and eat meat that was left for them, but their resources would run out and the possibility of them finding food would be extremely low. Their third plan was to kill whatever killed an entire city, which seemed a low rate of defeating and killing it, since the bodies weren't stabbed or shot, they were ripped apart and brutally killed, didn't seem like a human killing people with that kind of force.
With the conflict and the discussions, they stayed in their house all this time. Months passed and they were still in the house, winter season started too and it was snowing. Their bodies started freezing even with their winter clothes on, no heater, nothing that could make them hot, no electricity, just, no heat for them except of their body heat and the blankets.
"We should move somewhere where it's hot girls", suggested Haato to the other two girls, both of them are trembling with the low cold temperatures.
"There's no way I'm gonna give up this place because of the cold weather and season", spoke Matsuri back, steam forming into the air when she talked. "Where should we get a better and safer place like this in the ruined cities ?", the brown-haired girl added sadly.
"Does this place look safe and secure to you ? We will die frozen at this point...Matsuri, open your eyes, it's reality...", Haato stated, now both Subaru and Matsuri were looking at the blonde, and again, she was right....they would die from the low temperature, their organs would surely stop functioning if they wouldn't choose a plan quickly.
"You're right Haato", now Subaru was agreeing with the blonde, it was the only way, moving away from the city to survive. All three of them stood up, Matsuri wanted to go along with them, it was time to take initiative.
Suddenly the ground was shaking, the girls fell on the house floor. Was it an earthquake ? Why was the ground trembling now of all situations ? Haato felt it, the cold presence...it was nearer than ever before. Finally, Haato could see it with her own eyes....
"It's huge...", Haato said breathlessly, and yet again, just like months ago, they were there in shock, no moving, no talking, no escaping. A huge black creature appeared in front of their house, it was three times the size of an average human. It moved slowly and it didn't notice the girls, it just headed down to the city.
"W-what now ?", asked Subaru in a whispering tone, they were scared for the monster to turn back to the house and kill them instantly.
"We....escape to the opposite direction of the beast...", suggested Matsuri when they directly heard a huge growl, surely from the creature. However, that didn't stop them from leaving, quietly they quickly opened the door and escaped just like Matsuri said so. After a while, they weren't walking away, scared of the beast hearing them, but they were now running as fast as they could, even sprint.
From sprinting long paths, their stamina was low and so they couldn't run anymore. Haato spotted a cave and they stopped for a break from running. In the cave, steam was formed in the air by their heavy-breaths, which calmed down slowly afterwards.
"Do you think we are safe from...that ?", asked Matsuri Haato, her voice sounded worried, and yet calm at the same time.
"I don't know Matsuri, but if we stay here long, we will die for sure....", stated the blonde, the cold temperature could still kill them. They discussed further plans until they were fit again to move on. It started snowing, the weather got worse, the sun set down....the worst condition possible to escape from the city and the beast. This unbearably cold weather made them unable to see and warm each other. It was snowing so much, a layer of snow was already noticeable on the ground.
"S-s-so cold...", Subaru's body was trembling hard, freezing to death already. Her hands were really red and had even bladders forming, her body felt really tired. Plus Subaru herself felt sleepy, so sleepy, she could fall asleep now. A thud in the snow was heard and both Haato and Matsuri were terrified and reacted rapidly to Subaru's unconscious body.
"Subaru ?", Matsuri tried to wake up the short-haired tomboy by shaking her and calling out her name, but no reaction from the girl. That was when they realized, Subaru was now in critical state, near from freezing to death. Now Matsuri was crying, not again, someone who was important to her, would die again. The pain and suffering she would feel again, it wasn't manageable to suffer so much. Haato too, she just looked at Subaru's body, knowing...
"It's too late....Matsuri, you can't revive her anymore...", Matsuri instantly took a look at Haato with tears running down her cheeks, the blonde was crying too.
"No Haato, we can't let her die like this, we can't, I won't let you abandon her like this, I don't care if I have to die next to her, at least we died together as a group, as a family", Matsuri blurted out loudly, her tears were dripping to the dead body in front of her. This was a difficult situation for them, Haato didn't know what to do, Matsuri even yelled, maybe the black beast could hear them far away.
"I guess we have no choice...as long as we stay together, we will die together", Haato said, now tears running down hard, bodies trembling hard to still keep getting warm. Matsuri and Haato hugged each other along with Subaru's dead body, they stayed like this, until none of them moved anymore. The three girls died from the cold temperature, the rest of the city died from getting killed by a huge monster.
Time flied by and the winter season stayed until beginning April, where the ice melted and the flowers started blooming intensively again.
"So, this is the city we've talked about ?", Watson asked, looking around the lost buildings in the Japanese town.
"Yes, seems like it, from my reports, last intense death count from months ago was here", Calliope informed, showing Amelia her notes. The blonde looked around, the red color already faded into a black-like color, the fresh liquid was now dry on the walls and ground, the city was now lively with maggots and the people on the ground were covered with them.
"Seems like it really happened months ago...but no sign of something strange and dangerous in here", Amelia was still looking out for any hints that could lead to her conclusion. She used her special ability, the detective magnifying glass, in order to find any special hints. She analyzed a human body near to her, without touching it for sure, the maggots could eat her too. Her magnifying glass told all the piece of information about the dead body, that was decomposing in front of her, such as the name, age, gender, size, occupation and also reason of death.
"I found something", told Watson and the apprentice came quickly right next to her. Her glass zoomed in, finding a molecular structure that no living-being couldn't eat, nor digest.
"You see this Calli ? This is a structure that shouldn't belong to this person or any other human, this isn't plastic either..."
"So what is it Watson ?"
"It's fur...a strange black fur, no animals have this kind of information in their DNA...", pointed Amelia out, this case was getting weirder each time they occur new hints. They were still looking at the hair in silence, was this even supposed to be hair ? From the structure yes, but the DNA not, it wasn't human either.
Amelia took the hair with her and with Calli's help, they could take it without the maggots biting on them. She put her magnifying glass back inside her pocket with the hint inside of a glass and continued with her research, but this time, she wasn't admiring the view. The look of dead people on the ground and the horrible rotten smell of their meat and the dry blood painted on the buildings and ground, just like the flowers....it just wasn't an appetizing sight.
Moving along to the path-like stairs, Amelia and Calliope found an old house, there were names written on a sign in front of the house. Watson read it, the names seemed familiar to her.
"Wait Calli, show me your reports again from this incident", Watson ordered, demanding for the notes. Calli handed them immediately, wondering if the blonde found yet again a new hint.
"I knew it, Natsuiro Matsuri, Akai Haato and Oozora Subaru...they lived here, you know what that means...", Amelia was surprised and shocked at the same time, Calli looked over her notes again, even the pink-haired grim reaper realized it.
"Those three, they survived much longer than the people in the city, but died in winter, so they are indeed inside this incident too....but it's also one of-"
"Yes Calli", Amelia interrupted her
"It's one of the chosen ones, one of us...they died too, so whatever this is, we need to investigate here, this is a serious case for me now", Amelia turned very serious, Calliope never saw her colleague in such a dead serious state before. Due to the notes, they could find their coordination and found them 3 kilometers away from the house and near to a cave. Just like before, the blonde took out her magnifying glass and analyzed their bodies.
"They died from freezing to death...", Amelia looked at their information, it was true, the magnifying glass never lied.
"If they died frozen....then why are their bodies open ? Why are their limbs removed ?", Watson looked in pure shock and disgust, she was on the verge to puke, it was worse than what she imagined. This wasn't the results of frozen, this was the same results of when the other people downtown.
"It even ate the chosen ones, that didn't release their full power yet....so it can for sure....eat me...Calli", Amelia looked at the apprentice in fear, the girls just like the blonde...couldn't no way defeat something that strange and dangerous.
...she needed to investigate further...