The night is dark and cold and uninviting. A heavy fog hangs over the streets even as Sayo escapes the gloom of District Gamma-- the overcast sky doesn’t look too different from the roof of the underground, but at least the air smells fresher.
And... as usual for the sinister sector, ever so faintly of death.
Unless that is just him. The other few shadows who roam the streets don’t bother him: once he makes eye contact somewhere and watches a stranger quickly look away, almost fearful. Even here, he cannot simply be a lost child.
Though, tonight he is truly not a lost child. His asking around has told him exactly where to go, at last. He moves with purpose, short legs covering ground at an urgent pace.
(Even if he’s wrong, his time is better spent here than trying to sleep alone.)
The apartment complex is one of the more obvious buildings in the sector, now he knows what he’s looking for. He isn’t familiar with the concept of apartments, but it’s where his brother is said to be now. Where those scientists have chosen to keep him.
It must be another hour -- stopping people to question them, being stopped and asked where he’s going, slipping into places he doesn’t belong, climbing flights of stairs -- before he reaches the door to the right room.
A warm excitement rushes over him, but it fades quickly when there is no answer to his knock. Maybe he’s asleep...? He opens the door carefully.
“Niisama...?”
The room is empty of life. Sayo steps inside, searching for any sign someone lives here.
The bed (not a futon like he’s accustomed to, but the modern replacement they all seem to be given here) is unmade, and he peers into the closet to find clothes inside. None of them the distinctive outfit Souza wore on outings, but--
On the floor he spots an unmistakable string of beads, picks it up immediately. One of his necklaces...
Not a sign something happened to him, he insists. He just didn’t wear it today. And he... isn’t home, in the middle of the night.
A sound somewhere between a sigh and a whine escapes the boy, and he throws himself down on the bed, necklace still clutched in his hand.
He... has to wait here; he doesn’t have anywhere else to go. He buries his face in a pillow, the only comfort the light scent still clinging to it, like their room in the citadel...
It’s impossible to place when or how he falls asleep.
@shoyuumono
