Uso dayo!

The timing, the proximity to their hideout, everything, all of it.

Dogs barking in the distance—too close for comfort—haunted the darkness as Kokichi ducked into the crumbling remains of a building. They'd all scattered the moment he'd given the word. It was like clockwork, everyone darting into the night, just like they'd all practiced hundreds and hundreds of times before. The only difference had been the circumstances. Someone had been watching them for a while on their trek home.

This was hardly a drill.

Shouts joined the barking, closing in, and Kokichi clasped a hand over his mouth to stifle this ragged breaths. Why were there so many? What were they doing here? Where did they come from? They'd chosen their location well—not a settlement nor even a camp for miles, deep in the recesses of No Man's Land, far outside of their jurisdiction. Their priorities. Kokichi couldn't wrap his head around it.

Slowly, carefully, he skulked through the darkness. He needed to get to higher ground—no, that would just be a convenient dead end, wouldn't it? He needed to know where everyone was, though. That they were okay. He could figure out the details later.

More than anything, he needed to find Kai and Kii.

Kokichi peered over the sill of a window, keeping low to the ground, gauging the whereabouts of his pursuers. Out in the street, a trio of people convened, a dog straining on its leash among them. The pressed uniforms were unmistakable.

"Did you see where any of them went?"

"Division C followed several into the forest to the west." That must have been Ran with Go and Kei.

"What about their ringleader?" How did they know about that?

"I think most of them fled deeper into the city—"

Kokichi didn't have the chance to learn any more as the dog lunged in the direction of his hiding place. He ducked before its handler could stop him and escaped deeper into the building. They likely wouldn't expect him to go up, would they? He needed a better vantage point. Besides, he knew Kai wasn't the type to creep enclosed spaces like he did.

There was a crash and bang in the room behind him just as he skirted into the stairwell.

Too late to change course, Kokichi made a break up the stairs. As he turned onto the landing, he spotted the dog barreling in through the door he'd entered not seconds before, barking at his heels. His heart pounded in his chest as he swung onto the second flight. The second floor, he just needed to get through the door and he could slam it closed—

Except there was no door on the second floor, collapsed onto the floor after its hinges had given way to rust.

Okay, third floor it was.

His lungs burned as he scrambled up the next flight. He couldn't tell how close the beast was, the barking echoing up and down the stairwell in an ear-splitting cacophony. He didn't risk looking back to check. Slowing down would be his downfall here. He blew past the landing, tearing up the second flight, and he swore he could feel it snap at his ankles.

He wasn't going to make it.

He would make it.

He wasn't gonna make it.

He had to—

The metal door slammed shut in the mongrel's face, and Kokichi collapsed to the floor, wheezing.

He didn't have time to rest at this point. What the hell was he supposed to do now? The door rattled as the dog scratched and pounded against it. Those damn agents couldn't be far behind. Was it too much to ask for a single moment of respite to catch his breath and think?

He coughed and spat as he dragged himself back to his feet. A look around the room told Kokichi that it was an old office building he'd taken as his poorly-conceived refuge of the night. Desks were littered about the open space in disrupted cubicles. He waste no time lunging for the nearest desk and dragging it to the door as a makeshift barricade. It'd buy him some time at least, but as much as it'd keep those agents out, it kept him in.

The elevator door was closed, blocking access to the shaft. Kokichi opened a window and peered down at the street below. The third floor was too high up to escape out here.

So now what?

A jarring screech sent a jolt up Kokichi's spine as the desk budged ever to slightly. They were trying to ram their way in. He didn't have much time, so he would just have to make time.

It was time to do what he did best.

The desk screeched across the floor as the three agents finally forced the door open into the empty office space, and Kokichi thanked every star in the sky that it didn't tip over. He couldn't see them as they fanned out to search, a hand clasped over his mouth to stifled the sounds of his breathing.

"Where did he go?"

"Hey, the window's open."

"You're telling me he jumped from the third floor?"

"Start checking under desks. The brat has to be hiding here somewhere."

The voices got fainter as they made their way to the farthest parts of the room, just as Kokichi had hoped. He peeked around from beneath the barricade desk, gingerly rubbing the back of his head where it'd hit him as it was pushed by the door. The agents' backs were turned from the door, the thought of their target hiding under the barricade itself lost on them. Ever so quietly, he backed up, back towards the stairwell door.

What he'd neglected to account for, unfortunately, was the Doberman they'd left guarding the exit.