The place, where I arrived, was strange. It was in a dark, narrow alley somewhere in Tokyo. There was a neon sign in front of it which translated to a "Bubble heaven". It was a bathhouse, at least officially.

To get inside I turned into a bug, and flew in, just to experience the true nature of that establishment. It was a brothel, where women would, on top of the standard 'washing your back' offer additional services.

I guess the guy I was looking for was a returning customer there. I found him almost perfectly at the time I was supposed to look for him.

I did the exploration, got outside, then waited, observing from the wall. He came walking from a nearby parking lot, then went inside. He had an appointment, but I wasn't really keen on watching him fuck some girl, so I just stayed outside until he came out, then followed transforming myself into a crow to keep up with his speed.

He went back to get his car, then drew away to a hotel, where he had a reservation. He stayed there until the morning, then again, by car, left the city. This forced my crow form to break some biological laws.

He drove for a whole day, before arriving at some deserted place. It looked like a village in the mountains. As I learned a bit later it was a closed mine, where people decided to settle while there was work, but when deposits of whatever they were digging there got dug out, the people probably eventually also left.

He parked the car, then went in.

I had to switch to a rat form to follow and stay at a distance because he clearly could notice me. The entrance and initial corridor were dark, but further in there was light. He went quite deep, then even descended by some shitty elevator.

As a bug, I followed him, deciding to stay in that form, as I landed on the bottom of his pants. There was no way he could notice me there, focusing on what was ahead of him.

He left the elevator, to go through another tunnel, and then through that tunnel, he arrived at a small caver. It had pools of water residing there and was very, very wet. You could hear the waterdrops falling off the stalactites. That place was darker because nobody actually decided to put the wires and lamps inside.historical

He used his smartphone to illuminate the path ahead. All the way until he arrived in front of a reinforced metal door. It had a scanner for his fingerprints and eyes. Then he also had to put the code in, until it opened itself.

Inside was another elevator. This time though, bigger and 'proper' if you could use this word to describe it.

The metal box probably you and I were used to thinking about elevators. Just bigger. Much bigger. You could park a van inside, and there still would be plenty of space left.

He rode it down for a very long time. At least several minutes. It made me start to wonder how deep the city was actually built. To this day I don't really know.

We emerged at the base of this massive, reinforced pillar of concrete. Outside were buildings. Mostly rather small. two, max three floors. Most clearly houses, but a few probably had different purposes. There were some people walking around with intent. They clearly weren't just having a casual stroll around, but rather tasks to fulfill.

We went towards the city center, which was close by. In the middle, there was this familiar, seemingly levitating and turning sphere. The device, or if you prefer the sapling.

My guy chose one of the buildings. A bigger one, and went inside. There were guards outside, but they didn't try to search him or stop him. They basically ignored him.

Inside there were a couple of rooms, with more people, but he headed straight to the staircase leading to the second floor. It was basically right next to the entrance, spiraling up. We emerged in front of a wall with a door, guarded by two other guys.

He went past them, to knock on that door. I heard a familiar voice before the guy entered.

Inside was a nice office-like room. No desk, just a big table with a lot of paper on it, pushed all the way to the opposite end. Both left and right walls were covered completely with bookstands filled mostly with tomes, but also a few other things. There was only a small opening for a door on the right.

Closer to the door we used to enter were a couch, a coffee table, and a cabinet resting against the back wall, right by our side.

And there, with a glass of wine in his hand, was sitting Blue. He had a black bathrobe on and was wearing nice cozy slippers.

He clearly offered my guy a drink, which the man had to pour himself. He picked something I didn't recognize either by the bottle or by the name, but if I were to guess, I would say it was sake.

Then he joined Blue by the table, and they started talking. I was too excited and furious at the soon-to-be-dead man to even listen. All I did was wait. Praying for them to shut up, and for Blue to stay alone in the room, so I could rip his spine out, and then shove it into his mouth.

At some point, the man pulled a flash drive out of his pocket and placed it on the coffee table. Blue looked at the item, but only with his eyes, and just briefly before nodding. I couldn't care less, getting more and more frustrated, because they wouldn't shout their mouth. I had to wait longer.

Thankfully, it only several minutes. Then my guy left the room, and the two of us were finally alone.

Blue picked up the flash drive, placed the empty glass of wine on the table, then stood up, heading towards the door hidden among the bookstands. I flew after him in my bug form.