As the car hit a bump, I suddenly jolted awake. The sun's rays hit my open eyes, as blinding as a white sandy beach.
Kuromaku sat beside me in the driver's seat as we headed towards the bakery Sophia had told us about.
It was an old-fashioned bakery with no dine-in area. You simply bought the bread and left. That alone explained why it didn't attract many customers.
But that wasn't what made it suspicious. Despite barely making any profit, the bakery was still standing and operating to this day. And just like Naoki's mission, a bunch of kids have been missing ever since it appeared.
Even weirder is that recently, all of its employees had seemingly vanished, leaving only a single cashier to manage everything.
Naturally, many investigators have tried to… well, investigate these strange events. Yet every single one of them said the same thing after leaving the bakery, that it was completely normal.
Still, something felt off. All of them acted strangely afterwards, as if they'd lost the ambitions they once had.
After these incidents, the royal family sent their own spies from time to time, instructing them to be cautious and only observe from the outside. While some of them acts like regular customers ordering from the menu.
That's when they noticed something unusual, the cashier reacted differently whenever a customer placed a specific order. They speculated it was a code phrase, and now they wanted me to use it.
"Four red egg pies and a milkshake. Aren't code words supposed to sound cooler? And milkshakes... in a bakery?"
Actually what even are red egg pies? Are there no blueberry pies on the menu?
"We're here."
Kuromaku pressed the brakes, bringing the car to a stop in front of a rundown-looking bakery. Parts of the walls were cracked and patched up with sheets of metal.
And apparently, it wasn't in the middle of the city. It was in the middle of the slums. The children that were missing were of course also slum dwellers.
That was probably the real reason why nobody ever comes here.
"Is this really the place?"
Kuromaku handed me an earpiece. I noticed he was wearing one as well.
"Put this on. I'll guide you once you're inside."
"I already know what to do."
Still, I slipped the earpiece on. It was reassuring to know I wouldn't be completely alone.
I stepped out of the car and walked straight towards the bakery. Opening the doors, I was surprised, the inside was actually clean.
There were no tables or chairs. Just a single counter displaying baked bread behind a glass case. Cakes and pies sat neatly inside as well.
The cashier was a woman in her thirties... at least, that's what the report Sophia gave me said. In reality, she looked about my age, and noticeably smaller than me.
She was wearing a brown apron over what looked like a standard green uniform.
"Is there anything I can get you, sir?"
"Yeah. I'd like, um... four red egg pies and a milkshake."
She let out a small shriek when she heard that, glanced at me, forced a nervous chuckle, and quickly disappeared into the back.
I knew the earlier reports mentioned the cashier acting strangely whenever someone ordered that, but I didn't expect it to be this obvious.
Then again, the investigation was halted just before all the employees disappeared, so maybe this cashier was new to all of this.
I slid my hand into my coat, resting it on my gun, just in case this was all an act to let my guard down.
A few moments later, she returned carrying a tray of four stacked boxes tied together, each labelled Red Egg Pie, a vanilla milkshake on the side, and the receipt placed neatly on top.
She handed the tray to me with a polite smile. I took it with one hand, balancing the tray whilst keeping my other hand free.
"Can I keep the tray?"
"Of course, sir. It's reusable as well."
And that was it.
I calmly walked out of the bakery, utterly confused. I half-expected her to attack me from behind, or for something, anything, to happen.
But nothing did.
I reached the car, where Kuromaku was still inside, listening to the radio.
"Hey, what now?"
He stared at me, completely bewildered. "I have no idea."
"Aren't you supposed to tell me what to do? Seriously, you have one job."
"You're not a kid, Saitou, you should know what to do next."
"Fine. Let's just check all the boxes."
I got back into the car, and the two of us began opening the boxes one by one.
Halfway through, I noticed something strange about the receipt.
"Hey, look at this."
"What?"
"The receipt has these weird numbers at the bottom. They're, like… in a different font."
"What numbers?"
"1… 2… 7… 5… 6."
Kuromaku leaned in to look at the receipt. His expression shifted, like something had just clicked.
"It's probably a code," he said. "Maybe for accessing an underground section of the bakery."
"What? Another damn code?" I muttered, staring down at the receipt. "I'm done with this."
The numbers blurred together as irritation crept up my spine. Codes, riddles, hints. Why does everything always have to be wrapped in layers of mystery?
Children were disappearing, and all we had to show for it were pastries and a string of numbers printed in the wrong font.
I clenched the receipt in my hand. Before Kuromaku could say anything else, I shoved the car door open and stepped out onto the cracked pavement.
The heat hit me immediately, the smell of dust and rusted metal hanging heavy in the air.
I started walking back towards the bakery, each step faster than the last. I wasn't about to stand around decoding puzzles while something was clearly wrong with this restaurant.
If they wanted to keep secrets underground, then I'd go underground myself.
Puzzle solved.
Halfway there, Kuromaku's voice crackled through the earpiece.
"SAITOU! What do you think you're doing?"
"Fixing the problem."
"What? It's only the second code, why are you this mad?"
I ignored him and continued forward. Reaching the bakery, I pushed the door open once more.
The same cashier stood behind the same counter.
Before she could say a word, I raised my gun, irritation plain on my face.
"Just take me underground, I really don't have time for these stupid puzzles."
***
After struggling to convince the cashier to lead me underground, I eventually lost my patience and shot one of her fingers off, blood splattering onto the floor, before threatening to put the next bullet through her head.
Apparently, that was very convincing.
"Hey… don't you think that was a bit brutal?" Kuromaku whispered through the earpiece.
"Well, it's her fault for pretending she didn't know anything. That, and I'm sick of codes."
Our conversation ended as the cashier led me to a metal trapdoor at the back of the bakery.
A keypad was embedded beside it, clearly meant to unlock the hatch. As she began entering the code, Kuromaku spoke again.
"See? This is what the numbers were for. You didn't need to do all that." he said mockingly.
What caught me off guard wasn't the mockery, it was the fact that he could see exactly what I was seeing.
I stayed silent, watching closely as the cashier typed in a different code from the one on the receipt.
I let out a quiet chuckle. Kuromaku went silent, and laughing to myself made the cashier flinch.
"U-Um… sir," her voice was shaking. "W-we can go in now."
"You first."
She obeyed immediately, stepping into the dark staircase without hesitation. Even I had trouble seeing how far down it went.
I followed, my shoes hitting the concrete as we descended down and down and down and down.
At some point, my earpiece flared to life, glowing a bright blue and illuminating several steps ahead.
"So you are useful for something."
There was no reply.
After what felt like an eternity, we reached the bottom. A massive, broken hall stretched out before us, filled with cobwebs and dust.
The only light came from my earpiece, bathing everything in an eerie blue glow.
On the far side stood a huge iron door, at least twice and a half my height. A keypad was mounted beside it, completely free of dust.
Clearly, it was still being used.
But by who? Well I'm about to find out.