Knocking on the door, Lucas waited for someone to answer. A few minutes had passed, but no one responded. Deciding to see if the door was unlocked by any chance, he turned the knob. Pushing the door open, he looked around, but only saw the minimal, monotonous furniture

 

“What are you doing here, Lucas,” a voice came from behind Lucas.

 

Turning around, as if there was nothing wrong, Lucas gave Akio a packet. “Your packet of missing work,” Lucas paused. “I’m sorry about last time.”

 

Akio grabbed the packet, accidentally touching the tip of Lucas’s finger. “No, I just went overboard. I shouldn’t have done that. But, you forgave me after all,” he said with a beaming smile.

 

Having apologized, Lucas tried walking past Akio. “I’m going back to school now.”

 

Akio stopped Lucas, “what’s the rush?” He closed the door. “Stay a little longer.”

 

Thinking that it was better to finish this mission faster, Lucas simply agreed. He walked slowly, taking in the layout. There was a kitchen and living room visible when you entered the house. A bathroom was across the kitchen and a bedroom next to it.

 

It was strangely simple. Unlike a house, it was more like... an apartment. “Is this all to your house?”

 

Akio paused for a moment, “what do you mean?”

 

“The house is big outside, but it’s small inside. There should be more to this house.”

 

“Oh, I thought you meant something else.” Akio sighed, and went into the kitchen.

 

Taking noticing of Akio’s nervousness, he sat on the white couch. A cup of coffee entered his vision. He took the cup and held it instead of drinking it.

 

“What's wrong? Do you not like coffee? Or is it not to your taste?” Akio craned his head.

 

Lucas glanced, and took a sip. “No.” The coffee made him feel nauseous.

 

Akio smiled, “that’s good to know. I learned how to make this coffee just for you.”

 

Lucas set the cup down. “Is there anything else?”

 

Akio scratched his cheek, “can you help me with the papers? It’s been too long since I went to class.”

 

It’s only been three days. Lucas thought as he grabbed the packet, “which one do you want to start with?”

 

“Let’s do math first,” Akio sat close to Lucas.

 

Lucas held his chin and looked at Akio who was writing. The atmosphere was harmonious, yet he felt cold. He could feel the goosebumps under his shirt. Time ticked by, and he started feeling dizzy. Wanting to go to the bathroom, Lucas stood up, but he stumbled back down.

 

He held his forehead. Why am I feeling dizzy all of a sudden? Just as he was wondering, Akio scooted closer.

 

“Are you alright?” He held a hand out to hold Lucas.

 

Lucas slapped his hand away instinctively. He calmly looked away, “I think I’ll just… head home.”

 

Akio dropped his hand, “why not stay here?”

 

Lucas’s vision was becoming more distorted. “I-” He suddenly lost balance.

 

“Just stay.” Akio hugged him.

 

Lucas felt his eyelids become heavy.

 

He moved and a blanket fell off. He heard a muffled voice, but couldn’t distinguish what they were saying. He squinted his eyes open. The room was covered with an orange glow.

 

“You’ve been sleeping a lot lately, Lucas.” Akio was squatting by the couch.

 

Getting up calmly, Lucas stumbled his way out.

 

Akio grabbed Lucas’s wrist, “where are you going?”

 

“Police,” Lucas spat out. “You drugged that coffee. Did you not?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Lucas turned around, “I became dizzy just after entering your house. I didn’t ingest anything before, but the only thing was that coffee.”

 

“Lucas,” Akio gripped tighter, “you got it wrong. Look, I can prove that the coffee wasn’t drugged or anything of that sort.”

 

Akio picked up the cold coffee and drank it down in one gulp.

 

A minute passed, then five minutes passed. Akio was still wide awake.

 

Akio smiled, “see, the coffee wasn’t drugged. And even if you reported, on one will come.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I can just… buy them off with money.”

 

“Well,” Lucas yanked his wrist out of Akio’s hands, “I need to get home now.”

 

Akio watched as Lucas walked out the door, “see you later.”

 

The surroundings grew quieter as Lucas walked home. The street lamps flickered. He rubbed his reddened wrist. He turned a corner and saw Noir sitting under a light. “How long have you been here, Noir.”

 

Noir replied statically. I cannot answer you.

 

Lucas stood in place. He heard the static noise coming from Noir, and that answer was unlike Noir. Although he only spent a couple days with him, he knew how Noir talked.

 

Yo- you mustn’t… Noir stopped.

 

“I mustn’t what?”

 

Noir shook his head. Leave.

 

Lucas walked closer and tried picking Noir up. However, his hand only touched air. In the next second, he saw Noir disappear. Raising his eyebrows, he looked around but didn’t find any trace of Noir. Pulling back his hand, Lucas continued to walk home. He had some questions for Noir to answer.

 

Arriving home, Lucas noticed the front door was unlocked. Closing the door behind him, he slowly crept through the the house. He couldn’t hear a single breath of a person.