Shinichi’s flashlight was going dimmer again. Obviously, the little trick with the runaway battery hadn’t worked as well as he wanted it to. He’d managed to fool the batteries into thinking that they had more juice left than they did, but it had only really given them an extra five or six minutes of light. The beam wasn’t flickering, yet, but it was really only a matter of time.

Maybe he could bum some off Heiji tomorrow. If the other detective wasn’t using them, of course. Or maybe even if he were. Shinichi could be awfully persuasive sometimes, or so he liked to think.

Yuffie started motioning at him again as they got into the next hallway, continuing their awkward game of charades. The meaning, at least, was easy enough to understand. They were almost there. Where “there” was the detective could only guess, though they seemed to be heading towards the file room from a few nights ago. Did Yuffie want her file? It made a certain amount of sense, and yet there was no way to be certain. There were other rooms off in this direction as well, and another set of stairs. Shinichi sighed, waving his flagging flashlight at his incomprehensible guide.

“Lead on, MacDuff.”