The sound of dripping filled the silent bathhouse.

It was almost completely empty, since most people were busy at the market due to the arrival of Asur.

Two men were sitting in the corner of a wide hot spring.

Hikaru was sitting cross legged in the hot water, his nose barely above water level, while he seemed to practice something akin to meditation.

Meanwhile, Helgi was leaned up against the side, his arms behind his head while he was thinking. Water slowly dripping from his tied up blonde hair.

(This guy is way too suspicious, I've only been with them for less than a day. Yet I can already see that Yuri is acting..peculiar.. Around him. Comfortable, yet very awkward at times..he must have noticed as well. So why is he pretending to be oblivious..what is this man's intentions..)

Helgi's eyes shifted to the meditating man whose eyes were closed in concentration.

(Actually, I wonder if that's why Yuri never showed any interest in women before..that would explain so many things..)

His thoughts wandered, the warm water making him relax.

The bathhouse was divided into two sections by a thin stone wall, separating the men's and women's baths.

The current quiet in the bathhouse, made any noises even more audible than usual.

Through the quiet, a young girls voice cut through any semblance of calm.

“Hey! Don't call me cute! I'm a guy!”

The girl exclaimed loudly.

“Wha! Where are you touching! No it's not fine even if we are both women! I mean I'm not a woman, damnit!”

“They aren't small! They're better than carrying useless fat that slows you down! Hmph. Not that I care of course.”

“Huh? My skin? I don't use anything, why? Hey stop touching meeee!”

The complaints continued loudly, being the only audible voice out of the rest.

(...Yuri...You're too loud...)

Both men thought simultaneously while giving a wry smile.

Helgi began to chuckle while Yuri's tortured voice continued its complaints.

Small bubbles formed where Hikaru was holding half of his face beneath water.

He sat up and began to wholeheartedly laugh with Helgi.

“Even if he..or I guess now it's she..looks different. Yuri is still Yuri.”

Helgi smiled slightly.

“Hmm..has Yuri always been this..unique?”

Hikaru chuckled while asking.

“Well..I wouldn't know about always..” Helgi slowly fiddled with a long strand of his hair.

“But since the first time I met Yuri, I would say so..actually. This is the perfect opportunity, I can tell you the story of how we met, and you can decide for yourself”

Helgi offered.

“Do tell, I am quite interested in the character of the original Yuri.”

(Has she always drawn peoples eyes to her? No matter what she does, the way she does it..It's different from any of the humans I have observed during my years..what could the reason be..the reason my eyes are always drawn to her..)

Hikaru thought to himself, his eyes looking at his own reflection in the water.

Helgi watched him silently, his eyes squinting slightly, before he continued.

“Alright, but in exchange, I want you to tell me more about this goal of yours. The relics, you called them?”

Hikaru nodded and Helgi began his story.

“Like I said before, it started when Yuri was in a military base, attempting to recover a statue that was uncovered there. As for why Yuri cared about a statue enough to break into one of the most well guarded facilities in the world. Well, I'll get to that..”

–

The darkness was the best cover he had.

No..it was the only cover he had, so he had to make sure to make the best use out of it.

A man dressed in black from head to toe. Even his face was covered with a black mask. Every piece of clothing clinging tightly to his body, and not leaving much to the imagination.

A wire fence was blocking his path.

Beyond it, the darkness of the moonless night was illuminated by the powerful lights shooting out from light projectors. Giving a glimpse of the mass of patrolling guards as they cut through the darkness.

He had to get past them, somehow, without being detected by any of the guards that so densely populated the area that there wasn't even a ten meter distance between each guard.

“If I couldn't manage this much, I would be a disgrace to the name Yuri..”

A filled black bag lay by his feet.

Taking out some pliers from it, he began to soundlessly clip a hole in the wires, large enough for him to fit through.

Finally finished, he hid the bag. He couldn't take it with him, no matter how useful the items inside were. He needed all the mobility he could get.

Climbing through the fence, he looked at his destination.

A door leading inside the facility. The only entrance.

If he was detected, even if he got to the door, it would get locked.

The only way he could get through to there without being detected..was to take a very large risk.

“An opening...an opening...chance..!”

He slowly walked out from his hiding place.

Entering the absence of light, he just...casually walked.

Making sure not to bump into or walk too close to any of the guards.

Yuri just, walked casually, with as much confidence as he could muster.

He made sure to slow down and speed up his walking accordingly, so none of the passing light beams shone on him, doing this while still making sure it seemed natural in his walking.

In the pitch black darkness, he was indistinguishable from the rest of the guards when they walked in the dark.

It was the perfect cover, the only thing anyone could make out, was the general shape of a person. Since the figure was walking confidently and no one else was reacting to it, it was assumed that it was simply another guard.

It was the perfect cover. As long as no light touched him.

(Just a bit further..and I'm there..)

Just when he was about to reach it..

A random voice called out to him.

“Hey, we're going on break, wanna come by to the cafeteria?”

One of the guards spoke up, clearly addressing him.

Yuri continued walking, pretending not to have heard anything, hoping he wasn't looking too closely.

“Come on, Jerry. You never hang with me any more”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The guard spoke again.

“Uh, I'm not Jerry, haven't seen him”

Yuri spoke back, but despite his confident walking and way of holding his body. His voice was slightly shaky, betraying his nervousness.

“Hey, you don't sound familiar, are you new?”

“Uh..Yeah, I'm new, just started working here.”

Yuri went along with his assumption, hoping he would just go away.

“That's strange...we aren't scheduled to have any new employees for at least another month...”

The guard made a suspicious thinking noise.

(Shit, he's onto me. I need to run for it....!)

Yuri prepared himself to bolt away, and blend into the darkness and mass of guards.

“Well, whatever, command make mistakes all the time”

The guard shrugged light heartedly.

Yuri almost fell over in relief.

“Well, I'll just be continuing then...”

Yuri excused himself and began to quickly walk away.

“Hey, wait, since you're new, want me to show you around!”

The guard called out behind him and turned on a small flash light, shining it right onto Yuri.

“I can show you how to cheat the vending mach-”

The guard stopped and looked at the person in front of him. A man dressed from top to bottom in black. Wearing a mask. It was the image of suspicion itself.

“SHIT.”

Yuri began running toward the entrance to the facility.

It took the guard a few moments to get over the strange sight of the tights wearing man. It wasn't the fact that he was clearly suspicious that shocked him, but rather just how tight that suit was. It almost made him wish he hadn't found this infiltrator.

“We have an intruder! All personnel to the entrance, lock all exits and entry points!”

But the unwillingness to work was gone after a deep breath. All of the guards were alerted to the presence of the intruder. He didn't even have to use his radio, his loud voice reached everyone.

“Crap, crap, crap!”

Yuri increased his running speed. The lights were now shining straight at him, illuminating him amidst the darkness.

The guards began running toward him carrying stun batons. He was lucky they weren't allowed lethal weapons unless it is a case of heavy emergency.

With this, as long as he avoids the guards reach, he should be fine.

“Easier said than done!!!”

Just barely dodging a sparking baton swung at him, Yuri rolled forward.

He saw someone behind the barred window, the clerk operating the door. He couldn't reach him, the glass of the window was bullet proof, not to mention that it had heavy metal bars surrounding it.

The guard behind the window was just about to press a button and lock the door, rendering Yuri's entry and escape unviable.

“Shit..! I need to reach...! Before he locks..! Run...run...run fasterrrr!!!”

Yuri yelled at his own legs.

It apparently worked, since he increased his speed. Scaring your own body parts by yelling at them proved to be an effective strategy.

He reached the door. He was sure he was too late, even with his magnificent Olympic time running. An average person could press a button faster than the top athlete could sprint a hundred meters.

But, somehow. The door was still not locked.

Not taking any chances, he entered the building and locked it from the inside. Blessing his reliable luck and not sparing any time to consider the reason behind it.

He kept running deeper inside the building. Alarms were going off all around him. Sirens yelling into his ears and angry sergeants yelling at guards and soldiers to find this single person who got so easily past them.

“It should be.. Deep underground!”

He was beginning to tire, but slowing down meant capture, he didn't have a moment to rest or catch his breath. They knew exactly where he was, the cameras following him along each hallway told him at least that much.

The only way down was by taking an elevator.

“Crap...I was planning on doing this undetected. Since they know I'm here, they can trap me in the elevator..”

He stopped right in front of the elevator.

He could clearly hear footsteps approaching from around every corner, and from the sound of clanking metal, he could tell that they took a trip to the armoury, in order to get something easier to hit him with, or to shoot him with.

“...I have no choice!”

He entered the elevator and closed the door, pressing the lowest button.

The door closed and the elevator began to slowly travel down.

One of the guards reported this and received confirmation that the elevator would be taken care of.

The elevator heading down stopped and slowly began to head back up.

The soldiers crouched down and assumed their targeting position, all of their weapons aimed at the entrance to the elevator.

The elevator arrived with a light Ding.

The doors opened, and they prepared to shoot.

But inside the elevator...was completely empty.

Loud arguing commenced over the radio. They deduced through their argumentation over who saw what and who was wrong, that the intruder must have climbed out of the elevator, entering the shaft which the elevator travelled through.

Seeing as how the intruder couldn't have climbed down with the elevator blocking the only way down, it must mean, the intruder has either climbed up, or climbed through any number of air vents leading from the shaft and to various parts of the building.

These air vents were heavily secured from the outside, nothing short of a rocket could blow open the metal grid which let the air out of these vents.

But it was a completely other story for the metal grids inside the building. They were simply normal ones, since an invasion can't possible happen from the inside, because the moment the enemy is inside. It is considered a lost battle.

“The intruder is still in the building, spread out and cover each and every opening in the vents! Go Go GO!”

A sergeant commanded the rest as everyone ran to different directions.

What was left was the empty elevator, with it's doors still open.

BAM!

Something smashed into the ground inside the elevator. No it wasn't a something, but a someone.

Yuri had landed with his face down into the floor, where he lay motionlessly for a moment, before springing back up.

“Phew..thank my luck they didn't bother looking up inside the elevator.”

Yuri didn't have any tools with him, his current skin tight clothes didn't allow him to bring much other than himself.

So he hadn't been able to find any way to exit the elevator.

He had decided to risk it all on a move that a child would use. A move he actually used as a child when playing hide and seek.

Hiding right behind the seeker, so when they stop counting and begin looking, they won't see you. As long as they didn't suddenly look behind them of course.

This was the same, except instead of behind it was above.

Stretching his arms slightly, he pressed the same button again, making the elevator head down.

“Phew...any longer and I'm sure my arms would have given out..”

The elevator arrived with a ding.

The place he was in was a lab. A lab specialising in researching new materials to be used for various things, such as armours and ammunition.

And in one of the labs, was exactly what he came for.

A blue statue, shaped like a fat cat.

It was a statue uncovered in some far off no name city.

It was discovered that it was one of the oldest human creations found. The most amazing part about it, and which was why it was so important to this military base...

Was that it was made from a material unlike anything humanity has produced so far.

Material as light as clay, but stronger than the toughest steel.

“I'm sure I will get a great deal of recognition if I add you to my collection~”

Yuri spoke with a singing voice and glittering eyes. He seemed more like a boy looking at a new stamp for his stamp collection than any sort of master thief.

Grabbing the statue, he headed for the elevator before they could find out he wasn't in the building.

“Why should we be sent down, if anything shouldn't we be upstairs helping to catch the intruder?”

A voice came from the direction of the elevator.

(Here Already!?)

Yuri ran around a corner, clutching the statue tightly.

“Well, we locked all the entrances now, so he can't get out, which means. The only thing is for the intruder to continue toward his goal. Which means he will end up here sooner or later..and we will be here waiting for him.”

Another voice spoke up.

(Okay..two voices..if it's two I can probably take care of them..or at least run past them somehow.)

Yuri thought optimistically while nodding to himself.

“Yeah we will be ready for him. After all, not even a super soldier can take care of thirty normal soldiers on his own.”

(THIRTY!?)

Yuri inhaled slowly.

(What the hell, did they bring all of their soldiers here!?!)

But he really didn't have time to complain at their strange decisions.

He needed to hide, at any moment, thirty soldiers would spill into the labs, and make it a game over for him.

He ran down the corridor. All of the labs were open and filled with big see through windows.

In other words, horrible places to hide.

He heard the soldiers growing closer, despite his running.

Then he saw it, as if lit up by heavenly light. He found his salvation, which would shield him from harm and unwanted eyes.

Yes he found the perfect place, a janitors closet.

Swiftly climbing in, he squeezed himself in among the cleaning equipment and locked the door, clutching the blue statue tightly against his chest.

“Oh crap..this was so lucky...”

Whispering to himself, he listened to all the soldiers passing by.

“So how long are we going to be in the lab?”

“Hm, well we're going on patrols here until we find the intruder I guess, if he's hiding somewhere, we will make sure to starve him out, haha!”

The guards joked.

But Yuri didn't find it funny.

“Crap...what do I do..what do I do. I can't escape..and I can't run faster than a bullet...damnit..”

Whispering, Yuri cursed himself for not bringing any tools and valuing mobility and the ability to stay hidden.

It must have been an entire hour, of just sitting in the janitor closet, listening to the guards walk by almost every minute.

At this rate, he figured he would really be starved out. He hadn't eaten lunch and he was already hungry.

So he had to do something, he couldn't sit here forever..but running out and taking that risk would guarantee filling his back with a plethora of bullets.

He sighed and rested his forehead against the cold statue in his hands. His mind was heavy. He was truly stuck..

Then he heard a very faint crackling.

It was the crackling of a radio. But a very weak and quiet radio.

Looking around, he found a small hand held radio. It was extremely old. Most likely used by the janitor to contact the guards, but it has been long since it was in use, forgotten in this dusty closet.

But it seemed that it was still alive, it's batteries still had some juice left In them.

Holding the radio, Yuri looked at it, wondering how to turn it off to avoid being detected.

Before he could find the off switch however. A voice came from the crackly radio.

“Hey You.”

The voice called out.

“Idiot.”

Yuri tilted his head and pointed at himself. Did the radio just call him an idiot?

“Yes you in the closet.”

The voice continued.

“Comfortable in there?”