Twice, Kaori listens to Yoshiya's voicemail before she moves.

Without bothering to change out of her pajamas, she slips past the bedroom of her sleeping, snoring father and down the hall of their small apartment. After jamming on a pair of sneakers, she grips the doorknob and doesn't even hesitate the force the door open. Her skin prickles when a wall of cold rushes though the entryway and slips right past her overgrown shirt and into her skin.

Despite the days being a little on the warm side, it isn't summer yet. Kaori was expecting a spring night chill to greet her, but this...The cold is too harsh, too close to the piercing bite of winter. Kaori shivers, less from the cold than from the unnaturalness of it, before rushing down the stairwell of her apartment.

Fear burns through her as she makes her way through the smaller streets, causing the air's bite to evaporate from her awareness. Yoshiya couldn't have made a fake video that good, not with a the barely up-to-date cellphone that he has. But what Kaori saw, that wasn't possible. She's looking up at the sky right now and the moon looks perfectly small and white as it stares down at her from its corner in the night.

It continues to watch her as she makes her way through the quiet residential streets and towards the Koshida-Kaido line which leads right from the Shibuya ward into the Shinjuku district. It shouldn't be her only companion tonight; the four-lane roads should be filled with late night workers driving home and the younger party-goers who have temporarily shrugged off their daily responsibilities.

Instead, Kaori runs through empty streets. The high-rises loom over her as the black sky above presses down upon the silent city.

Something had to have happened. There's no way Kaori should be able to go blocks and blocks without seeing anyone but her reflection in the dark windows. But the place that she's running to, the building from which that tornado had sprung from was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. If that video had really happened, there would have been more than pandemonium in the streets. The National Defense Force itself would have surely rushed to the scene with military helicopters crawling through the skies and soldiers running through the streets.

Kaori's ears prickle as the absence of blades whirring through the air crawls over her spine. There aren't even any sirens piercing the night, only the sound of her shoes hitting the pavement over and over again.

At every empty crosswalk, the streets stretch out around her, forcing her to keep her eyes ahead lest the barren sidewalks draw her to a stop. And she should stop. She shouldn't be here. Kaori should be at home and under her bedroom covers, waiting for tomorrow when the sun would take back the sky from the moon.

Each gasp rattles in her throat. The knuckles of her hand glow white with a desperate grip. She needs to go home, turn right back around along the way she came. It would be safe and smart but...what if Yoshiya isn't there in the morning? What if it's just his voicemail tomorrow and an empty desk across the classroom from her own.

What if he's gone?

"Yoshiya..." The words thin under the towering skyscrapers.

"Yoshiya" Kaori says louder, just enough for herself to hear. She continues to rush forward, picking up the pace as she repeats her friend's name just a little louder each time she speaks.

Her legs scream at her as she drags oxygen into her burning lungs, but she doesn't stop. Regardless of how blurry her vision grows or how loud her heart pounds in her ears, Kaori keeps running. If she goes fast enough, maybe she could search the whole city tonight.

The red lights glaring down at her are meaningless as she zips under them. There aren't any cars to run her over anyway, so why should she waste her time slowing down.

Kaori doesn't see the vehicle, not until the tires' screech breaks through her ears. Red and blue lights flutter across her face as she stumbles back too late to save herself. They react fast enough though, the bumper stopping inches from her bare knees as they shake.

Seconds after they stop, her hands reach out as if she could have caught the car before it hit her.

"Ma'am?!" One of the officers is already out of the car before Kaori's managed to drag her gaze away from the headlights. He hovers several feet away, sweat glistening off his face as he inches towards her.

"Ma'am, are you all right?" He looks old enough to be her dad as he stares at her with open concern.

There's somebody else here and that's good, right? Maybe they know something, anything about why the streets are so empty.

"Young lady, my name is Officer Tanaka. I need you to tell me what you're doing out here in the middle of the night." His tone changes, gaining a touch of parental authority under the concern that plagues his eyes.

Buried, childish instinct emerges past the shock and forces an admission out of Kaori. "I'm looking for my friend, Yoshiya." The next words stretch thin. "I've been trying to call him, but he won't answer."

The cop tries not to frown, but the corners of his mouth weigh down as he glances at the window shield hiding his partner who remains in the police car.

Kaori waits for him to say something, because what could she say next. "I saw him on this impossible video" sounds so stupid.

"Okay, well here's what we're going to do. We're going to take you to the station, and you can give us his description and name. And where you think he last was, and we'll look for him for you."

Kaori just stares as the officer finishes. The skin under his eyes is dark from exhaustion.

"What happened out here?"

The video can't be real, because he wouldn't be acting this calm. He would be shoving her in the car, telling her to get out and away because a part of the city's in ruins and who knows how far it will spread. He doesn't act like this though. Instead, the look of concern fades in his eyes and a dull sheen grows over his gaze.

"Well, nothing scary happened, that's for sure." He nods like he's about to nod right off to sleep.

Apprehension prickles along Kaori's skin.

"There has been a few people passed out here and there, but nothing worth panicking over." The man's gaze wonders past Kaori's shoulder and focuses on nothing at all.

She refuses to take her eyes off of him.

"Hey." The man's gaze lands on her again at his own muted exclamation." "We've been dropping people off at the hospital. Maybe that's where your friend is."

Nope, no. Kaori isn't doing this, whatever this is. There's something wrong here, and it's not just the abandoned streets.

There's something wrong with these people.

Kaori steps back and the officer frowns.

"Hey, where you going?" You need to find your friend."

Kaori drags up some remnant of a smile. "Oh, that's okay. I just remembered. He told me yesterday to meet up by the thing, so I'm fine." And that was terrible. She honestly would have had a better head start by not saying anything and running. Now, he knows she's full of crap.

The officer stares at her, an ember of emotion flickering under the dullness.

"Are you sure?" He asks without lurching for her or showing any signs of movement at all.

"Yep, totally sure. Besides, there's nothing worth panicking about, right?" Kaori's voice cracks at the end of her question and her heart nearly stops. But the officer only nods.

"I guess..." His frown deepens.

Kaori backs away, nearly tripping over her own feet. "Thanks for your help Mr. Policeman." Somehow, her voice carries enough gratitude to sound sincere. She barely manages to turn her back on them, keeping her light jog slow and steady just long enough to get into the mouth of an alleyway. The moment she's out of their sight, she takes off sprinting, her feet slamming against the ground as she runs into the darkness.