Editing BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 1 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 5===

Even in bright weather, entering the deserted complex changed the air entirely. It was a gritty texture filled with the smell of dust, and despite the sunlight, it felt cold. There was an unsettling vibe that brushed against his skin like something lifeless.

Raquel headed straight for the site of last night’s confrontation with the Bugman. The marks of the struggle still lingered around the buildings. There were large holes left from where the Bugman had been kicked away by Raquel, as well as holes created by thrown debris. Raquel stopped in the middle of the T-junction, crouched down, and placed her hand on the sidewalk. She closed her eyes as if listening intently. 

Naoto had no idea what kind of power she was using, but according to Raquel, she was trying to trace the tracks of the insect that had escaped last night.  The insect had fled to Spinner, and she was planning to find Spinner's whereabouts by following it. 

"It's fading already. I should have chased after it right away last night." After a while, Raquel said quietly and looked around. Sitting on the curb and watching her, Naoto stood up, patted the sand off his bottom, and returned to Raquel's side.

"Then you should have chased after it yesterday."

"…Because some idiot was dying, I was busy dealing with that," she replied, a bit irritated.

"Oh… sorry for the trouble." As if pointing out who the "idiot" was, Naoto averted his gaze. 

Come to think of it, that was right. The wounds he had suffered last night had already disappeared, and he was starting to feel as if it had all been a dream. When he first woke up, he had shivered at the vividness of the sensations, but people were fickle creatures.

"So, what now? Can you not find them?"

"Don't underestimate me. I just need to make it easier to detect the traces." Looking up at Naoto, who had peered in, Raquel answered a bit sulkily. She then touched the ground with the hand she had been holding up and began to slide her fingers as if drawing in the sand. To Naoto’s surprise, red letters started appearing on the ground, even though there was no ink or anything.

It made him shiver slightly, thinking it was blood. But more than that, Naoto was interested in the characters Raquel was drawing.

"Those... are..." A small voice escaped Naoto's lips. He recognized the letters Raquel was drawing. They weren't exactly the same, but they were very similar to the numbers he often saw above people's heads.

"These are ancient characters. I'm creating a magic circle to help with the magic." She seemed to have taken Naoto's murmur as a question about the unfamiliar characters. In a cool voice, as if teaching an incompetent servant, she continued to spread the strange characters around her with her white fingers. Feeling that he shouldn't step on it, Naoto backed away as Raquel's fingers expanded the red characters. As if reacting to the sound of his footsteps, Raquel suddenly stopped writing and looked up.

"...No one lives here, do they?" she murmured. Drawn by her voice, Naoto looked around at the eerily quiet housing complex.

"I heard there was an accident in this housing complex a long time ago. That's why no one lives here anymore, and it's been abandoned."

"An accident...?"

"I wasn't around when this place was first built, so I don't know all the details," Naoto said, scratching his cheek as a preface. While Naoto was talking, Raquel had returned her gaze to the ground and resumed drawing characters.

Although she didn't ask him to continue, he assumed she was listening since he had brought it up. Looking out at the desolate housing complex, Naoto recounted the story he had heard.
Before this housing complex was built, there had been a small hospital on a hill in front of it. Now, only the iron towers supporting the power lines remained, but back then, it had been a hospital large enough to accommodate inpatients.

However, an incident occurred just before the housing complex was completed. An unknown pathogen had leaked from the hospital, contaminating the entire area around the housing complex and dissolving every human being within the premises.

"Humans... dissolved?" Raquel asked.

Naoto nodded. "It was like their clothes were left behind, but the people inside them had completely disappeared. Since there were no bodies left, the only explanation was that they had 'dissolved.' At least, that's what was announced after a thorough investigation. It sounds crazy, I know. Anyway, that's why this housing complex was never sold and has been abandoned ever since."

He wasn't entirely sure about the truth of the story. Even now, it was often talked about in whispers, with people speculating about ghosts, government conspiracies, and even aliens.

"I see..." Raquel murmured sadly. Surprised by her unexpected reaction, Naoto turned to look at her. But Raquel was still expressionless, just as she had been a moment ago, and was busy moving her hands.

(Was I imagining things?)

Although he had a nagging feeling, he hesitated to ask further because of the sadness in her voice. Before Naoto could ask anything, Raquel finished drawing the pattern and stood up. She walked to the center of the completed magic circle.

"I'm going to search for traces of Spinner's insect now. It will take a while, so please don't disturb me." With that, Raquel spread her arms, closed her eyes, and began to concentrate. A breeze blew in from nowhere, gently lifting Raquel into the air. As soon as her toes left the ground, the red characters she had drawn began to glow faintly as if waiting for this moment.

(Wow, that's amazing, it's like magic... no, it is magic)

Even though he knew it was magic, Naoto was awestruck. It was a phenomenon beyond reason, different from tricks or stage illusions.

Raquel remained floating in the air, her senses heightened, without moving. Her long, golden hair, tied in a ponytail, swayed gently as if floating underwater. Even though she had told him not to disturb her, he felt he couldn't. She seemed as fragile as a delicate glass figurine that would shatter if he interfered in any way.
Naoto backed away, careful not to make a sound.  He decided to stay a little distance away. With that in mind, he headed towards the nearest building. 

There were two large holes in the building. One was where the monster man had been blown away and the building had collapsed. The other was where Naoto had been buried when he regained consciousness, having lost his arm.

His memory of that time was hazy, but as he got closer, Naoto recalled how he had nearly died there. But there was something strange about this place. At first, it had been a vague unease. But now, as he looked down at the spot, he realized what it was.

Naoto had been mauled by the insect, probably injured in other places as well, and had been buried under the rubble in a near-death state. If a human is injured, they bleed. Especially after losing an arm, the bleeding would have significantly increased the risk of death. Yet, there was not a single drop of blood here.

(It can't be a dream... if it was a dream, this place wouldn't be so damaged)

Naoto recalled the incident that had led to the abandonment of the housing complex. The buildings and clothes had remained, but the humans had vanished. It was very similar to this situation. There were traces of a struggle, but no signs of human injury. It wasn't just Naoto's blood that was missing. Naoto looked over his shoulder.

The corpse was gone. The monster man's corpse, which had been lying near the trees, was nowhere to be found. And... his right arm, which had been torn off by the monster, was also missing.

Had someone taken it away? But who, and why?

If the police had been called by a neighbor, the complex would have been sealed off as a crime scene. Naoto and Raquel wouldn't have been able to enter so easily.

(Did Spinner do it? But there's no reason for him to do something like that.)

If he needed the body for some reason, he could just take it. There was no need to carefully remove Naoto's blood and right arm. He also noticed that the path he had taken to get here had been completely repaired.

Naoto reached out and touched the pile of rubble. The concrete was cold, and the deeper parts were slightly damp.

(Damp?)

It didn't feel like the dampness of blood. Curious, he leaned in and sniffed. If it were blood, there would be a corresponding smell. But all Naoto could smell was a chemical smell, like a detergent.

"Naoto." Startled, Naoto jumped at the sudden voice. Apparently, Raquel had finished her investigation. She was walking towards him, her borrowed shoes firmly planted on the ground. There was nothing left behind her. The magic circle drawn with the red characters had either disappeared along with the light or left no trace.

"I've got a general idea of the direction. I want to go around the town a bit. Guide me."

"Guide you, huh? Can't you just say 'please'? ... Hey, what's wrong with you?" Replying to Raquel's typically arrogant attitude with a complaint, Naoto suddenly glanced at her face. He thought it might just be his imagination, but her expression seemed clouded.

"Are you feeling okay? You look a bit pale." Her skin was already pale, but her cheeks seemed unusually pale. Although, considering she was a vampire, maybe being pale was normal for her. Raquel looked up at Naoto and shook her head.

"I'm fine. Now hurry up and guide me."

"Well, if you say so." When Raquel started walking away quickly, Naoto had no choice but to follow. Convincing himself that that was just how vampires were, Naoto jogged to catch up with the girl. Looking up at the sky, he saw that the sun was quite high. Had the temperature risen a bit?

Before leaving, Naoto glanced back at the abandoned housing complex. It was a place that had been abandoned due to a strange incident. That was how he had always perceived it.
But after talking to Raquel, he had started to wonder. A pathogen that could stay confined to the complex, instantly melt the humans there, and leave no trace outside? Could such a pathogen even exist?

(Well, it was a long time ago)

There was no point in pondering it now.

Shaking off the trivial question like a thread, Naoto left the orderly ruins with Raquel. The trail of Azure seemed to lead toward the downtown area, which was also the center of the city.  For directions, Naoto had chosen a route that went down the road in front of the abandoned housing complex, even though it wasn't a path he usually took. It should be a bit quicker to get to downtown than going back the way they came. However, very few people walked this road because they had to pass in front of the abandoned housing complex.

As they walked down the gentle slope, with no one else in sight, Naoto looked at Raquel next to him. For some time now, she had been tugging at her skirt and blouse, furrowing her brow in apparent discomfort.

"Do your clothes not fit?"  It looked fine to him, but when Naoto asked, Raquel's dissatisfaction deepened. She glared at him.

"I've never worn clothes before. It's uncomfortable and tight. Especially this underwear... it clings and itches so much..." As she spoke, Raquel tried to lift the hem of her skirt.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, stop! Don't do that!"

"I want to take it off."

"Absolutely not! Please, stop!" With Raquel looking at him earnestly, Naoto desperately tried to hold her back. Raquel pouted, clearly dissatisfied, but he didn't care about that. Sure, there were no people around at this moment. But it wasn’t a guarantee that no one would come by. If she took it off and someone passed by, the only scene they would see would be a high school boy forcing a high school girl to take off her underwear.

And what was she going to do with the underwear after she took it off? Carry it around? Who would? Raquel's skirt only had a decorative pocket and no bag. And I only had a bag for my wallet and phone. There was only one possible answer.

There was no way he would allow that to happen.

"Anyway, you said this is the first time you've worn clothes. So what have you been wearing until now?" As he urged her to move on, his genuine curiosity slipped out.
Raquel swayed her golden hair and replied with a puzzled expression.

"What a foolish question. I said this is the first time I've worn clothes, so of course, I’ve never worn any since I was born."

"That doesn’t make sense! Wait, how old are you, anyway?" He realized he had forgotten to ask since she looked about his age, but now he remembered he didn’t know anything about her other than her name and that she was a vampire. Given that she was a vampire, maybe she was two hundred years old or something outrageous. Naoto’s expectations were turned completely upside down.

"My 'self' came into existence two years ago, and I came out of the coffin four days ago. So, if you want to say it in human terms, I'm two years and four days old." I stopped walking involuntarily.

"Two... years?" That was much shorter than he had expected. More importantly, did vampires grow to a high school level in just two years? Raquel, who had stopped a few steps ahead, urged him to hurry with her gaze. There was a smirk of disdain in her eyes.

"Don't worry. I have at least five hundred million times more knowledge than you do."

"Five hundred million times, huh..." 

Is she like an elementary school kid? Naoto thought, stifling a laugh as he stepped forward to walk beside Raquel again. As Naoto walked, he was mindful of the surroundings. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Raquel making a sour face. He couldn't allow Raquel to go fully naked, but it seemed she still needed quite a bit of time to get used to wearing clothes.
Suddenly, Raquel came to an abrupt stop.

"Hm? What’s wrong...?" Naoto had taken a few steps forward, so he turned around to see what was wrong. Immediately, he rushed forward and reached out with both arms.
As if letting out a breath, Raquel collapsed, limp and lifeless.

"Hey! What now? What’s wrong?!" Was she so stressed by the clothes that she was about to collapse? The joke was right at the tip of his tongue, but he quickly swallowed it back. Raquel's body was abnormally hot, like someone with a high fever. 

"Don't touch me so casually, you servant..." Regaining consciousness, Raquel glared at Naoto with her eyes half-open. But her hands, which she tried to use to push Naoto away, had no strength at all. Her golden eyes, half-lidded and glazed with fever, were fixed on Naoto’s neck, breathing heavily through her parted lips. The dazed look in her eyes burned hotter than her fevered body. But soon, with a weak shake of her head, she mustered what little strength she had left to pull away from him. "Don’t touch me."

"Listen, this isn't the time to be stubborn." Frustrated by Raquel’s obvious attempt to suppress her poor health, Naoto raised his voice. Raquel struggled to her feet and took a deep breath.

"I just need... to rest a bit." As soon as she said that, she stepped toward Naoto with a pained look on her face, lowering her eyelids. 

Her foot sank into Naoto's shadow.

"W-what the-?" Naoto stretched his neck out and stared at his feet in disbelief. He thought he was imagining things. But it was no mistake; Raquel's foot was indeed sinking into his shadow, as if stepping into water or a swamp. With each step she took, Raquel's body entered Naoto's shadow as if descending a staircase, and after a few seconds, she had completely disappeared.

"Ra... Raquel?" He couldn’t even count how many times he had experienced this sensation since yesterday. Yet, Naoto could only stare at his own shadow, unable to look away from what he had just witnessed. 

He tried stepping on his own shadow. His foot didn't sink in, and as expected, he felt the hard ground beneath him. But... "What is it?"

Raquel's voice echoed in his head, as if she were climbing out of the shadow. Her figure was nowhere to be seen. The voice and arrogant tone were unmistakably hers.

"Well, I mean, just now, in the shadow..."

"I just borrowed it as a resting place because I've been in the sun a little too long. Nothing will happen to your body, so don't panic so foolishly." Despite her weakness, her arrogant and haughty attitude remained intact. While that was reassuring, something else caught Naoto's attention.

"Sunlight... right, it’s because you’re a vampire." He had heard that vampires turn to ash when exposed to sunlight.
When Naoto said this, a sense of irritation came from the shadow.

"Could you not lump me together with those inferior vampires? For someone of my high standing, sunlight and holy water are not much of a problem."

"But you just collapsed!”

"That was because I used a large spell earlier and got drained. While there might be some impact, sunlight is nothing to worry about." Naoto couldn’t help but smile wryly at her use of “nothing to worry about.” Regardless of her words, it didn’t change the fact that she was putting on a brave front. It wasn’t as if she would immediately turn to ash, but still, she was trying to endure to the point of nearly losing consciousness—what a stubborn lady she was.

"Whatever. So, what now?" Crouching down, Naoto addressed the shadow at his feet. It felt strange. Talking to a shadow that stretched out like a stain on the sidewalk was something he didn't want anyone to see. From the shadow, Raquel's voice returned, her breath coming in deep gasps.

"Let's head towards the center of town for now."

"Alright, alright, got it." He might as well serve her faithfully while she was weak. With that thought, Naoto started walking down the path, dragging the shadow behind him.