I’d lost already. I trembled the whole time until the door slid closed. I gently pushed the button inside. There were only eight floors to ascend in the deathtrap. I clutched at myself after the gate slid closed and the elevator began to rise with an alarming shuddering.

After I confirmed the loli dragon hadn’t crushed my eggs, I fished out my cell phone from my fanny pack. After the pain subsided, I was more concerned about possibly having landed on it. There was a fine crack up the screen. CRAP! I re-pocketed it and zipped the pack closed again. This time I kept it on my hip, no matter how ridiculous it looked. The elevator rocked to and fro, causing more alarming scraping noises. Worse than those, there were loud shrieking notes echoing around me from time to time. I recognized the sound of metal grinding against similar surfaces.

When it reached the eighth floor, the elevator shuddered as the gate slid to the side. Somehow I had a feeling that if I didn’t get out quickly, it’d fall down the shaft. If it happened, it would probably happen just as I was about to leave the elevator. The elevator trembled, but it may have been because I was shaking in my boots. I noh-licked my noh-lips nervously as I stared at the portal that offered me freedom and liberty.

When I left the elevator it was by leaping out of it like a sentai frog. As I sprang out, I winced, staring at my feet, halfway expecting they’d be cut off when the elevator cables snapped, causing it to plummet.

……….. *DASH*

Instead of my morbid expectations coming true, I landed safely, skidding to a stop before a door at the end of a short hallway. My head thudded into the door.

I lay there for a time, my heart racing. My cheek rested against the door through the mask. Then the door opened, and I fell partially inside. I slammed down, and looked up.

“Oh... hahaha... Detective-sensei! Don’t mind me! Please forgive me for how I showed up on your doorstep.” I waved my hands spastically. It was as though I really was the sentai fighter. “Despite how I look, I have a major problem. I’m here to beg for..."

I cut off. I saw who I was speaking to. A moment later, the dragoness delivered a savage kick to my head.

The blow sent me flying again through the short hallway. I flew through the air to crash into the floor of the elevator. The noise it made was even worse than all the others I’d heard.

*CRASH* *SCREECH* *SLAM*

It screeched, grated, and ground while it slammed back and forth. I stared up at the ceiling of the lift, my noh-eyes as wide as they could not be. I screamed loudly as I desperately scrambled up. “Nooooo! Don’t kill me!” I begged.

I charged at the office door before me, scanning quickly to confirm my suspicion. There were no other ways to exit from this floor. Staring at the door, I examined the old worn plaque upon it. The name of the detective agency upon it was barely readable. This must have been the correct office, being as it was literally the only one on this whole nearly nonexistent eighth floor. I chewed my noh-lip as I thought. Finally, I tried the door knob, to find that it was firmly locked. My hands started hammering on the door before I even thought while I started screaming loudly.

“Please! Listen to me. I’m so sorry for before! I beg you! I’m desperate!!! Please, help me!” I slammed repeatedly on the door. “Uwaaaaaa!” I yelled.

To my surprise, the door opened again, but this time the girl held a bat resting on her shoulder. She assessed me with those flinty eyes. They glittered menacingly. I drew back quickly, waving my hands. Her eyes blazed intensely. I was caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Speaking of things which could potentially be hard, I clutched between my legs to protect it at least. Fort Winky would not withstand another assault.

“Please, no... I... I’m a victim!” I meant it in many ways. “Y-Yokai..." I stammered out desperately.

“Hmmmm..." She paced a step closer to me, levering the bat towards me accusingly. I winced as a shiver raced along the high-speed highway of my spine. I drew close to the lift. She took another step. I took another, and she matched my pace. Soon, my foot stepped onto the lift. I jerked it away instantly as though I’d stepped barefoot on broken glass. I chose my method of death, so I made my stand just outside the lift.

I waited.

Instead of coming across the hallway to destroy me, she swung her bat as though she might be able to strike me from afar with air pressure alone. I believed for a moment it might be possible for her to do so, but instead the bat rested against a sign at the door.

“Obviously, you’re an illiterate idiot, baka. Hmph. Flat, indeed,” she grunted as she turned her back to me and slammed the door right behind her.

I stared, shaken by this second near-death experience, or rather a fifth?