Ren walked into the elevator, feeling grimmer by the minute. He had come to the address Reino had given him and was now heading up to what was most probably the singer turned manager's apartment.
He had received a phone call from Reino that morning. A short and cryptic message, asking Ren to come over as he had some important information regarding Kyoko. If Ren hadn't been so desperately worried about Kyoko's strange behavior , he would have only come up to deliver a sharp blow on Reino's jaw.
The elevator doors slid open and Ren made his way to Reino's apartment. As he raised his hand to ring the doorbell, he had a faint feeling that something was not quite right. He didn't trust Reino one bit and his instincts nagged at him. But he put aside his fears, fully on guard and rang the bell.
The door opened slowly and he stepped inside looking around for Reino. To his surprise, there was no one behind the door! Before he could run for it, the door shut itself with a loud bang.
Ren felt an ominous chill run down his spine. There was an evil, managing atmosphere in this place. He silently cursed himself for coming all alone and unarmed . He slowly made his way inside the apartment and froze when he heard voices.
They seemed to be coming from inside one of the bedrooms. He cautiously went towards the bedroom door which was shut and pressed his ear to the door . There were sounds of laughter and talking inside. One of them was Reino and the other was..
Kyoko!, Ren realized. He pressed his ears closer and listened intently.
"That felt great Reino!", he heard Kyoko moan. "God..I thought I was in heaven.."
Ren clenched his fists, his heart pounding in anger. Heaven?
Reino chuckled and there was a brief interval of kissing And moaning. Ren was now at boiling point and banged the door open. He looked around and blinked. The room was empty!
"Show time over!", he heard a voice announce drily behind him. He turned to find Reino casually leaning against a wall, surveying him with amusement.
"You bastard!", he growled, stomping over to Reino, itching to break every bone in his frail body. "You brought me here to listen to a recorded tape of you and-"
"That was no recording.", Reino interrupted. "The voices you heard were live, Ren Tsuruga."
Ren stopped in his tracks and frowned. "What do you mean?", he asked, the anger still evident in his voice. "You mean to say there were invisible people in that room?"
Reino chuckled and strolled over beside him. Ren could feel a different aura about Reino since their last meeting. The man now seemed to be radiating some kind of power.
"I brought you here because I have something important to tell you concerning Kyoko.", he said quietly. "Something that concerns her life and safety..but you might find what I have to say so unbelievable and fantastic, that I had to do all this first in order to convince you."
He paused , looking piercingly at Ren. "Do you believe in ghosts and spirits?", he finally asked.
Ren stared at him in amazement. He had obviously not expected a discussion on the supernatural. But Reino was looking at him so gravely, that he could not help wondering that there was indeed something strange going on in that place.
"I never did.", he replied. "But something about your place makes me feel that I was wrong."
Reino waved a hand towards the door and Ren felt a tremendous wind blow through the apartment. It felt like a tornado inside. He tightly held onto the door frame when the wing suddenly died down. Reino closed the door and locked it.
"My spiritual room, as I like to call it,", he said leading Rsn towards the drawing room," is where I lock up the spirits in my captivity once I am done torturin the hell out of them. I often catch wandering spirits and trap them here for my amusement. I enjoy their company, though they hate me intensely.", he chuckled to himself. "And of course the poor souls can never fight me! I can torture them and do as I please with them. I have a particular fetish for female spirits.. They are surprisingly good in bed.."
He motioned Ren to a sofa and sat down himself. Ren remained standing Nd glared at Reino." So you are responsible for Kyoko's condition !", he said through gritted teeth, advancing menacingly at Reino." I'll kill y-"
"Oh please, only Kyoko can be excused for coming up with an explanation like that seeing she isn't one of the most intelligent people on the planet.", Reino interrupted unflinchingly in a bored voice. "I expected you to be a little more intelligent Ren Tsuruga."
Ren stared at him for a few moments and sat down. "What do you want to tell me?", he asked in a forced polite tone.
Reino smirked before answering. "Today you're charming girlfriend was foolishly trying to resist my attempts to seduce her..", he grinned when he saw Ren clench his fists, "when I noticed a wound on her body."
It was no normal wound and I am the only person apart from Kyoko to be able to see it.", Reino leaned over, his voice barely a whisper. He was clearly enjoying creating a dramatic atmosphere.
Ren frowned, trying to recall any such wounds on Kyoko's body. "I don't quite understand..", he said slowly. "A wound that no one else can see? Where exactly was this wound?"
"On her upper left chest.", Reino replied without thinking.
Ren's eyes narrowed dangerously as he slowly processed this. "And how did you know that?", he growled in a low voice.
Reino was tempted to reply that he had been feeling up Kyoko's body by putting his hand down her shirt but decided against it. He had't invited Ren to his apartment to start a fight.
"I have powers and ways of sensing these things.."? He covered up smoothly. Ren relaxed a little but he still looked slightly suspicious, so he continued on hurriedly.
"The point is that the wound was not inflicted by a human or an animal. It was a spirit. Possibly a vengeful one.."
A dead silence greeted this revelation. Ren stared at Reino in disbelief, wondering whether to believe his crazy theory or not. A few minutes ago, he would have knocked over Reino for fooling with him. But after what he had witnessed in the apartment, he was forced to accept Reino's words.
"Why are you telling me this ?", he asked, his suspicions returning.
Reino looked at him for a few seconds, his face impassive. "I would love to solve this little problem on my own.", he admitted. "But my powers of persuasion have little or no effect on strong minds , like yours or Kyoko's. and since she refused to tell me of her own free will what exactly happened with her, I am powerless to help. But she trusts you. She will confide in you. And then only can I help."
He paused before adding," I love her as much as you do Tsuruga. That perhaps is the only thing we share in common. Like you, I hate to see her under the mercy of someone she can never win against."
Ren gave a him a small nod, feeling a grudging respect for him. But he could not and would not do shake off the dislike and mistrust that he held against Reino .
Reino got up and led him to the door. "Kyoko should be home by now.", he informed Ren. "She wanted all her shoots cancelled for today. I therefore suggest you look for her there."
Ren rang the bell, waiting impatiently . To his relief, Kyoko was home.
"Ren!", she cried in relief , flinging herself into his arms, dragging him inside. Ren looked at her in alarm, as she hurriedly closed the door. He had never seen her look so frightened .
She flung her arms around him again, sobbing. "There's something horrible about this place !", she said in between sobs. "Ever since I moved in, I have this horrible feeling that someone is following me..watching me all the time! Do you know what happened on set today?" She then flooded Ren with her experiences on the set and also about the episode with his clone.
As Ren listened, he felt a familiar chill in the apartment, not unlike the one in Reino's.
"Kyoko.", he said urgently. "We need to get out of here now! You're right! There's something wrong about this place. You're in danger but you'll be safe in my place . A-"
Ren broke off, as he felt something slice through him. He let out a gasp of pain as he felt something slice out immediately after. He watched, stunned, as Kyoko slowly stepped away from him, an evil smile gleaming on her face. She held a bloody knife in her hands.
Ren looked down at his stomach in disbelief. Kyoko had just stabbed him!
As the realization of his wound hit him, he collapsed to the floor, clutching his wound to stop the bleeding. Kyoko turned her back and went to the telephone. "Who are you..?", Ren managed to get out hoarsely. He refused to believe it was Kyoko.
The woman turned, a demonic smile marring Kyoko's sweet face. "Someone who hates Kyoko more than anyone else in the world.", she said coldly and turned back to the phone. Ren blacked out after that, starting to feel rather weak. Before losing consciousness he made a mental note to murder Reino for leading him on like this. I should never have trusted him in the first place! He was lying all the time just so he could get me out of his way!
The demoness smiled when the person at the other end picked up the phone. "Hello Hana?", she spoke into the receiver." Remember the Kyo blackmail case? This time I have a bigger scoop. Kyoko Mogami stabs her dear boyfriend in her own apartment. The knife is still here of course. With her finger prints. Get your team here quickly for the story of a lifetime."
She put down the phone with a satisfied face had transformed back to its original features. Kyoko would be arriving in a few minutes and then..Her smile grew wider as another idea hit her. She picked up the receiver again and dialed 9..9..9