Chapter 17

As Kai ruminated on the recent events, he realized that although Mai's arrival appeared to coincide with the start of their troubles, it would be unreasonable to accuse her of Kenji's attempted murder or Nana's death.

However, there was still the matter of how Mai could have entered the holding cell to speak with Kenji when someone was supposedly guarding the door. Kai's mind kept churning as he tried to find an explanation that fit the facts.

Kai paced the dimly lighted corridor, the flickering candle casting shadows that echoed his racing thoughts. He realised that in order to discover the truth, he had to consider every possibility, no matter how far-fetched it seemed.

Kai stood before the holding cell, glaring at Jack. He spat out a question with icy fury, demanding to know why he would kill Nana.

But Jack merely gave a derisive chuckle, leaning back against the cold metal wall. "What possible reason could I have to kill her?" he taunted. "You won't believe me even if I tell you the truth. That little girl is pulling the wool over all of your eyes with her sweet face and pathetic story. Don't be so gullible."

Kai clenched his jaw, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the iron bars of the holding cell. "You'll pay for what you did," he growled. "I don't know how or when, but mark my words, you won't get away with it."

Jack just smirked. "Oh, don't be so dramatic, kid. I'm in here, remember? You've already locked me up. it wasn't me, so you should be looking for the real killer, not wasting your time with me."

Kai turned on his heel and left Jack in the holding cell, his anger still simmering beneath the surface.

He made his way to the main room, where the other survivors were waiting for any updates. Sato was the first to speak up.

"Kai, have you learned anything new?" he asked, his tone urgent.

Kai paused for a moment, weighing his words carefully. "Jack insists that he's innocent. He insists that Mai is manipulating us.

"The evidence we've gathered thus far," Sato continued, his voice grim, "suggests that Jack may not be the murderer. If we do, in fact, have a traitor among us, they pose an immediate and severe threat to our safety and must be eliminated as soon as possible."

His words carried a sense of finality, leaving no room for doubt in the minds of the survivors.

"Agreed," Shiro chimed in, "We can't afford to be taken by surprise again. If there is indeed a traitor among us, they must be found and dealt with swiftly."

Sato nodded, his gaze intense. "Very well. We need to regroup and reassess the situation. Arumi, I want you to thoroughly check over the autopsy again.

"Stay vigilant," Sato instructed, his voice commanding and resolute. "Keep your eyes and ears open for any suspicious behavior. We will meet again in two days to share our discoveries."

With his final words, the gathering dispersed, each member returning to their assigned tasks with renewed determination. The hunt for the truth had begun in earnest, with the survivors aware that time was of the essence.

As the group fanned out, each with their own suspicions and fears, the atmosphere in the hideout grew increasingly tense and charged with uncertainty. The clock was ticking, and the truth seemed further away than ever.

Two days passed in a blur of suspicion and anxiety as the survivors went about their assigned tasks. Arumi had scoured the autopsy report for any clues that might have been overlooked, coming up empty-handed. Kai had been meticulous in his surveillance of the hideout, yet had seen nothing out of the ordinary.

And then, just as Sato was about to call another meeting, a horrifying discovery was made.

Toshi burst into the main room, his face pale and his eyes wide with fear. "Mai...she's missing.

Toshi's words sent a chill through the survivors' already tense nerves. Sato's face hardened into an expression of grave concern. "Missing?" he repeated, his voice dangerously low. "How could she have disappeared without anyone noticing?"

"Not only that but Jack was killed in his cell, a whole burrowed through his stomach" Toshi added.

With Sato giving out the order for Mai to be found, he directed Arumi and Kai to join him in the holding cell where Jack had been kept.

Upon examining the wound on Jack's body, Arumi confirmed that it was not inflicted by a blade as had been previously thought. "This is not the work of a knife," she stated, her voice quavering with confusion. "I don't believe any blade could have done this."

Kai, deep in thought, observed the placement of the wound and muttered to himself, "The solar plexus."

As Kai's fingertips ran over Jack's lifeless body, his mind wandered back to his interrupted anatomy training. He traced patterns with his hands, his memory recalling the precise location of the solar plexus. "To find the solar plexus," he mused, "one must locate the area midway between the base of the sternum and the navel."

Kai's realization was dawning, he knew they had missed something crucial, and he feared what that might mean for their safety.

As the pieces fell into place, Kai's mind pieced together the horrifying truth. "The Yomigaeri at the supermarket..." he murmured, his voice barely audible. "It was digging at Kazuo's body, searching for something, something in the location of the solar plexus. And the Yomigaeri itself was killed by a strike to that very spot."

While Mai's position in the mystery remained vague, Kai realised that their main concern wasn't finding Mai, it was the appearance of a Yomigaeri. The gravity of the situation was plain to him: they were confronting a menace beyond human comprehension.

"We have a Yomigaeri problem," he said, his voice filled with urgency. "And it seems to be linked to the solar plexus somehow."

Arumi's cheeks turned pale. "But what does this mean? Are we dealing with a new generation of Yomigaeri?"

Kai shook his head. His mind was reeling with the implications of his hypothesis, his mind racing to prevent their group from falling victim to a similar fate as the supermarket survivors.

"I'm not sure if this is a new breed of Yomigaeri, or something else entirely," he said gravely. "But if my suspicions are correct, we could be facing a threat that is on par with what we witnessed at the supermarket."

He paused, his eyes searching Arumi's for understanding. "And I pray that is not the case."