"AAAAAAAA!"

A scream tore through the corridor.

Human.

All three of them reacted instantly.

It cut off halfway through.

The silence afterward felt worse.

Hiro moved first.

Natsume was already behind him.

At the same time Kaito threw the blanket off himself and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

The moment his feet touched the floor the room lurched violently sideways.

Pain slammed through the back of his skull.

His vision blurred hard enough that he immediately caught the bed rail before his knees gave out completely.

The IV line tugged sharply at his arm.

"Kaito. Stay here."

Hiro already had one hand on the doorframe.

"No."

"Kaito—"

"I will come"

He forced himself upright again and took a step away from the bed.

His legs held.

Barely.

The throbbing in his head had sharpened into stabbing pulses now. Every heartbeat pressed painfully against the bandaged wound.

"I can help."

"You can barely walk."

"I’m walking."

Hiro stared at him for one second.

"You’re holding the IV pole."

Kaito looked down.

His hand was clenched tightly around the pole beside the bed.

For a second nobody spoke.

Natsume stood beside the doorway with her arms folded, watching him silently.

Kaito let go of the pole slowly and straightened again through the dizziness.

"I want to see," he repeated.

His voice came out rougher this time.

"I’m not staying here while something’s happening outside."

Hiro looked at Natsume.

Natsume looked back at him.

Something passed silently between them. A quick exchange. Mutual understanding reached without words.

Then Hiro sighed quietly.

His shoulders dropped slightly.

He turned back toward Kaito.

"I’m genuinely sorry about this."

Kaito frowned faintly.

Then Hiro walked back over to the bed, placed both hands flat against Kaito’s chest—

—and shoved him backward.

Kaito hit the mattress hard enough to bounce once.

The IV line snapped taut. The pillow slammed into the back of his head and sent a sharp flash of pain through his skull.

"What the—"

The door slammed shut.

A lock clicked immediately afterward.

"Kaito, stay there," Hiro said through the door.

Footsteps.

Fast.

Two sets.

Getting farther down the corridor.

Then silence again.

Kaito stared at the ceiling for several seconds.

The room felt strangely empty without them in it.

He sat there breathing slowly through the irritation and dizziness while the pain in his head settled back into a lower steady throb.

Locked room.

Weak legs.

IV still attached.

Outside the small glass pane in the door, the corridor remained dim and empty.

Whatever had screamed was somewhere farther down the hall.

Somewhere he could not reach.

Kaito slowly lifted an arm and covered his eyes with it.

Then he listened.

The hospital had gone quiet again.

Too quiet.

.

The scream came from the far end of the corridor.

Room 318.

Hiro hit the door hard enough that it slammed open against the wall.

The possessed man stood in the middle of the room.

Middle-aged. Thin. Hospital gown hanging loose from his frame. Bare feet against the tile floor.

Dark energy wrapped tightly around him.

Pulled inward until the energy around the body looked dense enough to stain the air black.

The man’s arms hung slightly away from his sides.

Wrong angle.

Elbows bent too far backward.

Fingers spread open stiffly.

His head hung low.

The second patient in the room had thrown himself against the wall beside the opposite bed.

He was trying to crawl away while dragging his IV stand with him, heels scraping frantically against the floor.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?!"

His voice cracked halfway through the scream.

"Why is he standing like that?!"

The possessed man’s head twitched once.

The patient screamed louder.

"GET HIM AWAY FROM ME—"

Natsume moved immediately.

She crossed the room fast enough that the patient flinched when she reached him.

One arm hooked under his shoulder while the other caught the IV pole before it tangled.

"Look at me," she said sharply.

He was shaking violently.

"He’s looking at me— he’s fucking looking at me—"

"Look at me."

Her voice cut through the panic cleanly.

The man’s eyes snapped toward her.

"Good. Stand up."

"I can’t—"

"You can."

She hauled him upward before he finished speaking and started moving him toward the hallway.

Behind them the possessed man’s head slowly lifted.

The eyes were completely black.

No whites left at all.

The darkness reached all the way to the edges.

Hiro stepped forward once.

Spiritual energy spread across his skin immediately.

Dense.

Controlled.

The pressure filled the room in an instant.

The possessed man looked at him.

Hiro moved first.

His palm struck the man’s chest with a sharp explosive burst of spiritual force.

The impact cracked through the room.

The possessed body staggered backward two full steps.

Dark energy burst outward from the impact point in ragged strands before dissolving into the air.

Hiro followed immediately.

Second strike.

Same spot.

Harder.

The possessed man slammed into the wall beside the bed hard enough to shake the IV monitors.

More dark energy peeled off the body.

The ghost was still adjusting to the host.

Still syncing movement.

Hiro saw it immediately.

He drew back the third strike—

—and the possessed man caught his wrist.

Cleanly.

One hand.

No strain.

Hiro’s expression changed slightly.

The man’s head tilted slowly sideways.

Past normal range.

Further.

Further.

The neck bent until the angle became visibly wrong.

The black eyes locked onto Hiro.

A grin spread slowly across the patient’s face.

Hiro’s jaw tightened.

"Okay," he said quietly.

His voice flattened.

"You’re done learning."

He ripped his arm free and stepped backward.

At the same moment Natsume came back through the doorway.

Her hands were already moving.

Seal lines burst across the floor in pale gold streaks. Four anchor points struck the corners of the room and connected instantly, racing upward over the walls and ceiling.

The barrier sealed shut around the possessed man.

The ghost hit it immediately.

One palm slammed into the barrier wall.

Dark energy exploded outward across the seal lines in violent black waves.

The barrier shook.

Held.

Hiro rolled one shoulder slowly.

Natsume did not look away from the seal structure.

"Don’t break my barrier."

"When have I ever broken your barrier."

"Twice this year."

Hiro ignored that and went back in.

The barrier opened just enough for him to enter.

He threw three fast strikes.

The ghost blocked the first.

Took the second directly to the ribs.

Then countered instantly.

Its leg swept low.

Hiro stepped over it—

—and the possessed man drove an elbow into Hiro’s side during the recovery motion.

The impact landed hard against his ribs.

A crack echoed under Hiro’s spiritual armour.

He grunted sharply.

Answered immediately with a close-range spiritual burst directly into the ghost’s sternum.

White light detonated across the room.

The possessed body staggered backward violently—

Then both palms came forward at once.

Dark energy erupted outward in a flat concentrated wave.

Hiro took the hit directly in the chest.

The force blasted him backward into the hospital bed hard enough to bend the rail sideways.

Metal screamed.

Hiro caught himself before falling.

Blood touched the corner of his mouth.

Natsume was already moving.

Both palms extended toward the barrier.

Seal lines pierced through the wall of spiritual energy and sank directly into the possessed man’s chest.

Extraction.

The ghost convulsed violently.

Dark energy hammered the inside of the barrier from every direction at once.

The seal structure trembled hard enough that cracks of gold light flashed across its surface.

Natsume planted her feet harder.

Her shoes slid backward slightly across the floor.

Her jaw tightened.

Hiro could see the ghost weakening now.

The movements were becoming unstable.

The dark energy around the body started fragmenting apart at the edges.

Almost out.

Then Hiro saw movement outside the room.

The second patient.

The one Natsume had dragged into the corridor earlier.

Standing upright again.

Perfectly still.

His head tilted sharply to one side.

Too far.

Black eyes.

Hiro’s expression snapped cold instantly.

"Natsume!"

The possessed patient lunged.

Straight toward her back.

His mouth opened unnaturally wide as dark energy gathered between his teeth.

Hiro reacted without thinking.

He fired raw spiritual output directly from his right hand.

Just force.

The blast crossed the room instantly and hit the second patient in the shoulder.

The man spun sideways into the doorframe hard enough to crack wood before collapsing to the floor.

Natsume turned immediately.

Saw the body.

Saw Hiro’s raised hand.

Realized what had happened.

Then looked back toward the barrier.

Too late.

The seal structure shattered.

One moment of lost focus was enough.

The first ghost exploded through the collapsing barrier in a wave of dark energy.

The room temperature dropped instantly.

The lights dimmed.

Cold pressure flooded the space between the walls.

The first possessed man straightened slowly.

The second patient dragged himself upright from the broken doorway.

Both pairs of black eyes turned toward Hiro and Natsume together.

They stood between them now.