Chapter Forty-One: Lab Rat:

The trip to Todai took an hour. Tsuzuki looked for signs as he followed Yu. He could sense the Eda-Kimoto clan behind this. Yet, he needed to break down the details. This looks like Shichiro's work, the shinigami thought. But, it looks too advanced. Haruka, maybe? But how?

"We're here!" someone spoke up. Tsuzuki looked up to see Yu stood in front of the Todai main entrance.

"Right," the shinigami said. Yu pushed open the doors. Inside felt so cold that Tsuzuki saw his breath.

"This way," the junior whispered. Only their footsteps echoed as the men hurried down the hall.

"No use," Yu said after he tried to switch on the lights. "Power's out." An idea came to him when he remembered something. "Hang on." The junior pulled his iPhone and turned it on. "That's better."

"Impressive," Tsuzuki said.

"Yeah," Yu replied. "This thing has saved me many times."

"I see," the older man replied. Yu led him to lab door. He frowned when he noticed the lock.

"It's a keycard lock," he complained, dropping his shoulders.

"Is there a manual lock?" Tsuzuki asked.

"Yeah," the student said. "Hang on." He reached into his jacket pocket. It took about a minute to find the key. Yu quickly unlocked the door. The snitch of death bitch-slapped them in the face. The men had to back up fast.

"What the hell?" Tsuzuki asked. Yu went right inside.

"Wait!" the older man called. He raced right after him. More footsteps filled the air and it still felt cold too.

"It's just up ahead," Yu said. "Follow me!" Both men walked further inside. Tsuzuki looked around as Yu felt around for the desk.

"We kept everything in notebooks," he said. "I just need to find the drawer." The Shinigami looked until something caught his eye.

"Hey," Tsuzuki spoke up.

"Yeah?" the junior whispered as his fingers found the metal handle of the third left drawer.

"Is this your project leader?"

"Huh?" Yu turned and looked up. The iPhone dropped to the hard floor. Yu backed up pale.

"Ai�" he whispered. Her corpse looked as deranged like the victims of the virus. Yu trembled at such a sight. He clenched his fists. "I was afraid of this! It's gotten her too. Damn it! Ai, you unleashed this monster out of our control!" He tightened his resolve. "I have to stop this!" He turned back to the desk and resumed his search. Tsuzuki paused when he heard a low growl. His eyes glanced behind him. An uneasy heat licked his cheek. His eyes grew wide.

"Hey," he whispered. "Hey!" Yu didn't look up. Relief blocked out his brain.

"Found it!" he said. "The notes are right-!" Yu turned around too late. Invisible claws ripped at his body. His eyes widened fast as blood leaked from his mouth. The black nothingness began to grow fur. Yu body sank backwards. Tsuzuki grabbed him and the notes before they hit the floor. In a flash, they were gone.

Tsuzuki reappeared in the Ju-Oh-Cho's lobby. He got right on his cell phone.

"Hisoka?" he asked. "Get Watari down here right away! I need help with one injured and I found information on the virus!" He did his best to contain Yu's bleeding.