Despite the little bravado after gaining his Persona, Ryan did eventually succumb to his own weariness. It looks like things were okay here... Rui got a report from Ayano that the battle in the other dungeon was still ongoing, and a bit of a struggle too. Having sent Sato and Alexei to take Ryan out of here, Rui set off with Kotori to the other dungeon.

---

The battle against this what appears to be a paid off group of shadows was heating up, and their plan was a narrow failure. For until the final moment, it appeared as if it would work... But the shadow in the chair simply clicked it's fingers, and one of the swordsmen instantly appeared to it's side and intercepted Kazuki's attack. It was infuriating. Lashing out, he slew the shadow right there, but it left him open, and he was blown back by the bodyguard's massive figure.

Rui upon arrival was seeing a rough battle, but with some extra hands they ought to be able to beat it now.

"Are you okay Kazuki?",

"Do I look okay...? That damn fat bodyguard is in the way", he seemed a little ticked. He was a lot calmer first he saw him before the dungeon... This dungeon must have been quite an ordeal for him.

"Alright then... Okay I got it. Noboru, Akane, load me up with as much buffs as possible, Kazuki, Matthew and Kotori, keep them busy", among the ones here, he was the only one with a huge area-of-effect skill. That may have been what made this battle so difficult... However, if he gets heaped up with speed and power, he can possibly clear out all the swordsmen, gunners, and lady shadows, leaving the bodyguard weakened in the crossfire, then they can end it in one fell swoop.

Kotori Shirohane - Corporate War Zone: Floor 2, Warden's Office | Sunday

The combined attack upon the small shadow seemed to have a serious effect as it was sent reeling - for a moment, Kotori felt hopeful that they might for once be able to bring down the shadow in just one attack. Unfortunately, however, this quickly turned out to not be the case at all as the small shadow really did buckle beneath the hail of magical and physical attacks - but rather than cause the enormous shadow behind it to dissolve, this only seemed to anger it. Tearing its shackles apart outright, it immediately took a swing at the group, sending Kotori fleeing as quickly as she could out of the way of its enormous fists; narrowly avoiding being struck. A frightful moment passed when she looked behind herself and saw that Alexei stepped right into the path of the giant's attack - but then, together with his persona, stopped the blow mid-swing.

At first, Kotori was just left to blink in disbelief at the sheer disparity of sizes between the giant and Alexei - but she quickly recovered when she saw him straining to contain the massive enemy's power even with the aid of Prometheus. "Diarama," she called to Kikuri-Hime - but just as the healing light enveloped Alexei, the shadow gave a bellowing roar. Looking up, she only saw the aftermath of Rui's attack - Askr's dealt the final blow to the shadow as Rui leapt down and landed safely; the shadow slowly falling backwards and dissolving into nothingness as it did so.

Kotori breathed a sigh of relief - once again, they'd managed to defeat the shadow without any serious injuries. As Ryan, encouraged by Rui, stepped forth to speak with his reformed shadow, she used the moment to catch her breath. And as she did, she once again felt more than a little awkward at being present to hear another person talk about their inner secrets as Ryan, spurned on by the events that had transpired, elected to give other people a chance rather than just shut himself off - which brought a small smile to Kotori's face when she remembered the circumstances of her own shadow. With Ryan's acceptance of himself, the shadow began to glow before transforming into a knightly figure, armed with a rapier and clad with a single wing before dissolving; leaving Ryan to turn to Rui for answers - but that would have to come at a later time as, like most of those before him, the strange fatigue overtook him.

But before they could celebrate a successful rescue however, Ayano informed them that the other group was still facing stiff opposition - leading Rui to send Alexei and Sato to bring Ryan to the hospital whilst she would accompany him and aid the others. Luckily, Kotori had managed to recover from the exertion and quickly nodded that she was ready as Sato headed off with Alexei who carried Ryan; an almost comical sight given the difference in stature between them if circumstances weren't so dire.

Kotori Shirohane - Play of Control: Backstage Penthouse | Sunday

"Kikuri-Hime, Media," Kotori called, a little out of breath once more, after arriving on the scene and seeing the beat-up state that everyone seemed to be in after the long battle they had found themselves in; hoping to ease any pain the might have and let them fight on more effectively. It seemed that the enemies were simply re-appearing whenever they brought them down and thus never quite managed to take enough down to make an real attack upon the main shadow; much to the displeasure of most of those present it would seem, given their rather frustrated faces.

A quick nod from Kotori followed once more as Rui ordered Kazuki, Matthew and herself to keep the shadows busy whilst he, Noboru and Akane would prepare something to take them down. Drawing on Kikuri-Hime once again, Kotori summoned a lightning bolt down upon the first shadowy minion to draw near; a thunderous crack accompanying the bright flash even as the continued fighting was starting to feel increasingly physically taxing despite being mostly magical in nature.

Akane Hanazawa // Mirror World - Play of Control - Backstage Penthouse
Sunday, June 21st, 2015

The plan just wasn't meant to be. While simple, it was their best chance at stopping the infinite spawning but they failed to account the extent of the master shadow's ability as it simply snapped its fingers and one of the swordsman was instantly by it's side and stopped Kazuki's attack. This is never going to end, will it? They can easily beat down the shadows individually, but they just don't have the endurance to fight an endless shadow wave. If they were going to beat this thing, they needed an attack that would hit them all at once or this will never end.

Just when things were looking bad, Rui and Kotori showed up. With them here, it looks like they have already finished on their end. While thankful for their aid, Akane couldn't help but feel disappointed that they needed their help after all. With a sigh, she shrugged it off while giving a nod in confirmation of Rui's order. Summoning Setanta, she casted Rakukaja on Rui while having Setanta cast Matarukaja.

Rui felt the power flowing into him, it was convenient that Akane had Matarukaja, meaning their follow-up was going to be that much more powerful. At the same time, Rui had been using Sukukaja on himself too, and once that was done, he began.

"Immediately after my attack, swarm the bodyguard and the shadow", he ordered. There were a lot of them here, six of them in fact, meaning this was going to be a brutal follow-up. Soon it was time, and Rui charged forward, summoning his Persona, and with one swing of his blade, the Persona rapidly flew across the room all over, slashing the entire area with a mighty Gale Slash. The buffed version did some real work, instantly destroying the squishier gunners, mages, and swordsmen, leaving only the bodyguard. Now was the time, the crucial moment where they could get rid of the bodyguard even for a single moment, so that they could get to the shadow.

"Everyone! Now!"

Kotori Shirohane - Play of Control: Backstage Penthouse | Sunday

With the numbers evened out a little, it seemed that the tide was starting to turn. No longer needing to focus on defeating the enemies just to gain some breathing space, everyone had enough time to prepare some buffing spells for which Kotori was rather thankful. Akane strengthened everyone's offensive power whilst Rui was the target of multiple buffs, culminating in a wide Gale Slash by Askr that ripped through the various shadows with ease - so much so, in fact, that all but the burly bodyguard were destroyed in that strike; leaving the rest of the group free to attack it - and the main shadow if they could take it down quickly enough.

As Rui called for the attack, Kotori gave a quick nod before pointing Kikuri-Hime at the bodyguard. After a deep breath, her call for "Zionga" was immediately answered by an even louder than usual thunderclap as Akane's group-wide Tarukaja amplified the lightning bolt to a great extent - so much so that it left Kotori blinking in surprise; looking between the bodyguard and Kikuri-Hime - and she could have sworn the latter shrugged ever so slightly before they focused back on the task at hand.

Akane Hanazawa // Mirror World - Play of Control - Backstage Penthouse
Sunday, June 21st, 2015

"Right." she acknowledged the order, without taking her eyes off the enemy. With Rui all powered up, they were finally nearing the end of this long and exhausting battle. A moment, all they needed was to create was a single moment so they could clobber that bodyguard and finally get rid of the main shahdow. With a single swing of his blade, Rui's persona destroyed all the enemy shadows except for the bodyguard and main shadow.

The moment was finally here, timing it just right, Akane, along with the others, summoned their persona and ordered an attack the moment Rui gave the order.

"Kill Rush!"

The attack was a resounding success, the bodyguard was destroyed, as sturdy as it was, against such concentrated fire it fell. The shadow in the chair immediately cowered the moment the last minion shadow fell, and without mercy the party was upon it, blasting it with all their spells and attacks, before it went flying, the chair turning to splinters as it transformed back.

"This was certainly a... Distasteful experience...", Kazuki commented.

"So this shadow belongs to... Seighardt?", Rui turned around to see the one this party was out to rescue, Seighardt. He recognized him from Drama Club. Made him wonder why Leiko wasn't in here right now raving on about the theatre, then he remembered... He was the one in charge of choosing the parties.

"Whatever it is you've experienced, running does no good. Seighardt, your past is set in stone, but your future isn't, I think you'll make the right choice", he said, walking towards the exit to wait.

@Oblivion666

The battle would reach the climax with Sieg waking up to see the monster being blown back and change back into himself normally. He was waiting for them to keep striking him down but some guy told him life advice which made him frown as he expected that he would make the right choice in this matter, to which he further frowned.

He would stand up and walk over to the shadow who was staring back at him waiting for what Sieg would say to him. A head tilt for confused yet a grin to show he also figured the events would only repeat themselves. "So? You agree that you everyone is pointless and just needs to obey you right? If so yell at that man! He shouldn't be expecting anything of you! Its you who should expect of him!"

Sieg listened to his shadow lecture him to which he nodded. "Well you are mostly right, I did like having control over people. Yet when you try to befriend people normally, they only end up using you for your money. So I decided that I would control them with promises of getting them what they want and would ditch them before they could ditch me! It was the only right way to handle such!" Sieg would yell before folding his arms and pouting. "Yet I can't keep doing that. I can't keep holding onto said fear. After all these guys came to rescue me from dying and I don't even know them. So if some people are willing to die to help me, then I'm sure some people out there exist that will be friends with me, without seeing my money."

The shadow stared at him and shrugged while giving him a smile, before being enveloped in a blue light. Sieg would gaze up at this man in regal clothing, with a scythe who was nodding his head in approval.

"Thou art I, I art thou. My name is Saturnus, the brightest star."

The figure disappeared leaving Sieg to stand there as he looked back at the rest of the group. He was about to walk towards them but his body started feeling really heavy. "Did someone increase the gravity or is it just me?" Sieg would ask before collapsing onto the ground unconscious from today's events. Most likely his parents were going to ground him, or spend a ton of money to find the criminal who did this in the first place.

With Ryan and Seighardt being taken to the hospital after their entire ordeal, they all made their ways home. They wanted to talk about why there were two this time... Was it because the cult was picking up their activities? Unfortunately, Kami wasn't present today, still investigating, but likely he may have some answers for them. Kazuki walked away from all this less than pleased. It appears he was not used to these more difficult scenarios, seeing as he handled the previous dungeons okay whenever he participated, but this one seemed to try him.



"Welcome, to the Velvet Room"

Ryan's vision began to return to him, but before him was something far unfamiliar, the gentle track of an opera singer being the second thing he heard. All he saw was blue, then as his vision sharpened, he began to make out a table, chairs, and a long nosed man at the other end. There were silhouettes seated at each table, only one was clear... He didn't recognize this other person, wearing an attire that appeared to be from an era a century old, with a cravat and all that. In any case, he noticed that he himself was in a simple suit, or rather, tuxedo. He had a bow tie after all. It was unusual, but he felt he could get used to this.

On the other end, Seighardt's consciousness began to return to him too, and before him was a room of nothing but blue, tables and chairs possibly fancier than the ones he was once used to, which was quite certainly something. He noticed another silhouette seated a ways off in a tuxedo, but he didn't quite recognize this person. He looked down and noticed he was wearing a surcoat with a cravat, it was a brilliant blue in design too. It felt only a little strange to him, but he rather liked it.

Eventually, the two would bring their eyes to the one in front, the long nosed man.

"This is a place between mind and matter, dream and reality. It appears you two are new guests... I daresay, almost everyone has arrived, most pleasant", his voice was concise, a little strange, but very clear, a huge contrast to what his origins seemed to be.

"I am Igor, and this is my assistant, Henrietta, we will be the ones who will assist you, and the other guests, in your journey", he pulled out a deck of cards and drew two. They matched the engravings both Ryan and Seighardt had in front of them. The Lovers, and the Star.

"My, so you have drawn the Lovers. An arcana that represents relationships, in modern times has become the symbol of a strong bond between two as the name suggests, lovers, but it may also refer to one's relationships with other people in general... Family, or friends", then he turned to the other card.

"And this is... The Star. To work towards a goal is one of life's greatest treasures, to shine high and bright, like an inspiration... Despite your... Turbulent past, you still have a goal to work towards that means the world to you no?", Seighardt shifted slightly in his seat.

"I will not pry... However, I'm afraid that concludes our brief meeting", he clicked his fingers, and Henrietta, the gold haired assistant beside, walked around the tables with two keys upon a cushion, both of which she placed in front of Ryan and Sieghardt, one for each.

"This key will allow you to come and go from here as you see fit, but until then... Farewell", and with that, the two blacked out, only to wake up again in the hospital.



Rui was on his way out and onto the hospital. It seems news of the kidnapping was getting major, he was seeing police officers everywhere around the hotspots of the town now... If the cultists were to try anything, they'd be caught, or at least that's what they seem to hope. Kami managed to establish that the cultists don't actually know about the nature of the mirror world, so what was compelling them to throw people in there? Well... In any case, it appears Kami was getting close, he managed to get an early leave and hasn't been seen since. Ayano was beginning to worry too.

In any case, off to the hospital. He was starting to become a regular there...

Kotori Shirohane - Play of Control: Backstage Penthouse | Sunday, June 21 2015

With the combined strike against the bodyguard, it too fell - and without enough time to summon new shadows, the main foe was suddenly in a decidedly outnumbering situation; albeit on the receiving side now. The team surged forward and struck out against the shadow as it desperately attempted to wave another fast stack of cash into the air - but between the magical attacks, ranged fire and melee attacks being rained down upon it, it had no chance. Sent flying from the last strike, the shadow and its chair exploded into a shadowy mess - and then reformed once more into a more human form, if one excepted its unnaturally golden eyes.

Kotori meanwhile was simply glad for the brief respite to catch her breath. A single dungeon was already draining enough - but a second right afterwards was really pushing her stamina. She hoped that these double kidnappings were the exception rather than the rule - or, worse yet, that it was only a sign for further increases. Either way though, she looked up between deep breaths as Rui encouraged the kidnapping victim - Sieghardt, as he'd called him - to accept his other self. The shadow meanwhile began taunting the boy anew - but this time, it did he did not fall for its tricks. Instead, Sieghardt agreed.

Judging by his words - which Kotori once again felt rather awkward to be listening to so uninvitedly - he seemed to be from a rather well-off family. However, that had not exactly brought him much joy or friends; at least none which wouldn't call themselves such without expecting something for themselves in the future for it. A small sympathetic smile came across Kotori's lips when Sieghardt declared to no longer rely on such false friends but rather to seek out some true ones - it seemed that no matter one's circumstances, people always were in some way afraid of rejection or solitude.

As she did so, the shadow smiled - before beginning to glow in a by now familiar bluish light; signalling another transformation from shadow to persona. Sieghardt's was a princely humanoid clad in fanciful clothing, wearing a half-mask over its face and holding a one-handed scythe of sorts - Saturnus. Turning around Sieghardt seemed a little confused for a moment - uttering some words before the all-too-powerful fatigue overtook him and he slumped over. With matters thusly taken care of, two more members of the team were assigned to bring the unconscious boy to the hospital. The rest briefly met up at the warehouse - but without any real leads and Kaminari not being present, there was little left for them before heading home on their separate ways; something Kotori was a little bit thankful for after the entire ordeal.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School: Classroom 2-2 | Monday, June 22 2015

The ringing bell signalled the end of the lesson; the teacher reminding everyone to make sure to finish up their exercises for the next class before dismissing them. As the usual buzz began - students discussing their afterschool plans, heading to other classrooms to meet their friends or just packing their things - Kotori was left finishing her notes once again before checking them over. She gave a small nod in passing greeting when anyone said goodbye as they walked past her second-to-front row seat on the way out before she too packed her books and, with a by now mostly empty classroom around her and similar hallway ahead, headed out without having to deal with the usual afterschool rush out.

As she walked down the hallways, Kotori considered visiting the newest kidnapping victims in the hospital - but remembering the uneasy feeling she got whenever she had to visit that place, she decided against it. She felt a little bad for the selfish decision - after all, she'd been pleasantly surprised when so many people had come to visit her. With a small sigh she continued onward nonetheless.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School: Agriculture Club | Monday, June 22 2015

A faint knock could be heard from the Agriculture Club door, albeit barely. Kotori waited another second or five before slowly opening the door to the club room. "Good afternoon," she quietly greeted with a bow - before looking up to see if anyone was even there before her. In doing so, a small smile crossed her face at the familiar but ever pleasing sight of the dozens of plants of various kinds and colours all around the room.

With all their attacks together, the small shadow fell to the ground before its larger guardian could retaliate. Unfortunately, it did end up retaliating anyway, forcing everyone back as it swung fists. Alexai managed to stop it for a second with his persona, and in that split second Rui jolted in a blur of green, delivering a decisive blow straight down the shadow's center, the explosion of metal that was his attack blowing the giant back into the abyss it came from. With that taken care of, the smaller of the two shadows dissolved into its previous state of being, with the victim himself being the only one that can fight left.

The dark-haired boy appeared from behind the group and walked over to his shadow, Sato feeling the weight of the bow and arrows hanging on his back as he watched the cultist's latest victim confront himself. With no connection to this guy, Sato didn't know what to think about what was said between the two, but the air felt a little lighter when he said those words...



The boy's shadow transformed into a stoic figure, a blue saber at its hip. A persona, to be exact, and that meant another member to the team. Sato hurried over to the boy's side just as he started to fall, and with Alexai's help, lifted him off the floor. The two third-years looked at eachother and then at the other two team members. "We'll take him to the hospital," Sato said, "You guys should go help the others."

As he and Alexai carried the boy out back through the eerily vacant dungeon, Sato reflected on what had been said. "I can change..." He muttered to himself, feeling the taste of those words on his tongue. That's the same kind of sentiment he'd had when he faced himself back then. Was it really possible to change everything? Sure, he could change himself... but what about the people he'd hurt? The friends he'd lost... could he fix that? Before long they found themselves back in the real world, the fresh air revitalizing Sato's tired body. Alexai volunteered to take the unconscious boy over to the hospital, and Sato was left standing in the dim warehouse where the left-over members of the team waited, along with their navigators. By the looks of it, it didn't seem to be over for the other dungeon team, but Sato could only hope they were alright.



JUNE 22ND 2015, MONDAY
Afterschool
Tap




Sato considered going to visit the latest two victims at the hospital, but with no real connection to either, he decided against it since he'd just be adding to any crowding up. Besides, what would he say? 'Sorry that you got kidnapped and stuff'? It frustrated Sato, that they could only react to the cult instead of preventing anything. If they could just save someone before they got thrown into the mirror world, they wouldn't need to get hurt... Or, is it better that they survive through the mirror world...? Everyone who has gotten a persona faced themselves, and came out better for it. Is that worth the risk of death? Can you only know life when you face death?


Sato rose from his seat and closed his books, chair squeaking on the wooden flooring, just as a surly student was about to murder the pencil-tapper. He wasn't getting any studying done anyway, with all the thoughts buzzing around in his head. It was all so frustrating... They were all, after all, just teens.

Most of them couldn't even drive. How were they supposed to stop a cult?

Ryan awoke to the sound of operatic singing and a piano, he opened his eyes and saw blue. Nothing but blue everywhere, the floor was blue, the ceiling was blue, it reminded him of a song he had heard a while ago. But that wasn't even the strangest thing, that title went to the man sitting before him. He was even smaller than Ryan, with all the extra height seemingly going to his nose. Beside him was a very gorgeous woman with blonde hair, somewhat out of place in this strange place. Finally he noted his clothes, high quality and surprisingly, not blue.

The man introduced himself as Igor, he was the owner of this place, "The Velvet Room" it was called. Meanwhile the woman's name was Henrietta, a fancy name for a fancy lady. It was just then that Ryan noticed the other occupant of the room. A blurry silhouette he couldn't make out, all he could tell was that they were wearing a surcoat and cravat. Very nice.

Ryan blushed when his card was revealed to be The Lovers, but as it was explained he nodded. Made sense. The other person got The Star, which sounded much cooler to be honest. Henrietta walked towards him and the blurry person, giving them both keys before Ryan blacked out.



Ryan woke up once more to the sound of repeated dinging and fingernails tapping rapidly on a nearby table. "Who's phone is on?" He asked as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes. Suddenly he was enveloped in a crushing hug as he finally realized who was next to him. His mom's eyes were red and puffy, normally perfect straight blonde hair disheveled, as if she hadn't combed it in a week. She looked him in the eyes with her own striking blue eyes and sniffed in a bit of snot as she tried to find the words to describe her worry.

"Who did this to you? Are you okay? Did they take anything from you? Do you need anything? On a scale of one to ten how much do you hurt?" She shot off rapid fire as she grabbed him by the shoulders, letting go after the last question.

"One second." Ryan said groggily as he adjusted to his new surroundings. He was in the hospital, a hospital bed to be more specific. He vaguely wondered if he had dreamt the whole thing, but no. He felt something in the back of his mind, a presence that he had felt earlier in that weird world. Persona. The word came to his mind out of nowhere, yet it felt very right to describe the presence as such.

"Ok, no I didn't see them, yes I'm okay, no they didn't take anything, some water would be nice, and I'm just kinda tired. That's it." Ryan smiled at his mother's concern, it felt good after a month of her just being absent.

She nodded once and got up to go get some water, the clicking of her heels against the floor being the last thing she left behind as she went to grab the water. Ryan relaxed a bit, but flinched as a loud ding sounded off. The last thing she left behind was her phone. God that thing was annoying. Ryan tried to reach for it from his bed, but he couldn't quite get his hands on it. He sighed and resigned himself to having the constant dinging as his background noise for a while.

@floodtalon@oblivion666

Rui got the numbers for both Sieghardt and Ryan's rooms, by now the others might suspect he'd be here right now to tell these two about what had transpired, but Kazuki was here too. He also got a call from Kami saying to meet him in the park later, said he had a few things to show him. Same with Kazuki. Fortunately... Sieghardt and Ryan were both put in the same room. There wasn't anything severe, so they didn't need to have different rooms... This made things a lot easier.

As soon as Ryan's family had gone home, with promises of visiting him after dinner. It seems despite his problems with moving around, and fitting in, he actually had a very loving family.

"Quite lively huh?", he said as he entered. Kazuki followed right after.

"Ah, good to see you're both awake. Now, let's get down to business", he announced, closing the ward door behind him, stepping in, the two standing over their beds. They began to go over the details of everything they saw, what was happening, the entire thing about the cults and kidnappings too.

"We're asking you both to join us. You don't have to, and even if we told the police, no one would believe a word of it", he looked at the two of them, then finished off,

"So, are you with us?"

Matt || During the day

All's well end's well as the events of the day before ended up wrapping up ‘nicely’ even though it was somewhat troublesome two people being kidnapped at once, Matt didn’t spend too much time thinking about that as he seemed to be having thoughts of something else all day. To the point of being distracted and getting answers to questions he knew wrong, What could possibly be serious enough to stay on a mind as fleeting as Matt’s?

After School || agriculture club

“What am I going to do” Out of Habit the boy found himself sighing while watering the plants, and as per normal while thinking. He did think about going to the hospital but ‘decided’ against it, it's not like he was afraid of the hospital or anything now or anything. until Kotori gave a greeting, Matt didn’t noticed anyone enter.
“Oh, Good afternoon… sorry seems I didn’t notice you come in Hahahaaa…” Awkwardly laughing it was obvious his mind was preoccupied with something.
“Ah hey have you seen-” after a minutes pause he went to ask Kotori something, but stopped dead.

There was someone behind Kotori at the entrance, the very someone he was about to ask about and before the girl or anyone could react Matt bolted and grabbed the girl by the arm while dragging her out the room down the hall.
“Sorry this will only take a bit” Was all that could be made out of the whirlwind few seconds.

“Ah...Um.. I’ve been thinking” After the whirlwind everything seemed to stand still as the boy who caused it all stuttered and mumbled.
“Even though… we are… uh goin out… we haven’t really… uh what i’m tryin to say is”
Catching his tongue and continuing to screw up Matt ended up blurting it out.
“LET’S GO ON A DATE ON SUNDAY”

After all the recent hubbub had faded and Ryan and Sieghardt had managed to obtain their Personas, activity of the Investigation Group's members had returned to normalcy, back to being normal high school students again, at least in the meantime. Classes were fairly the same, although the recent kidnappings have been hampering on her ability to focus on the lessons, and when her Composition teacher called her out on her aloofness, making her embarrass herself when she was unable to answer the question that she was presented with, and she could've been able to answer it as well, were it not for her mind swimming elsewhere. Ayano sighed as she sat down back at her seat, bowing to her teacher and apologizing intently. Somewhere, she could hear the whispers of her classmates about her mistake.

"Don't forget to submit your homework on Wednesday, class."

Said her teacher as the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. She was relieved as the day ended but something was worrying her...during Lunchtime, she overheard Kami's classmates saying something about being absent and being quiet for a while now. Worry overcame her and she got out her cellphone as she walked out of the school gates. Rather than message Kami first, she picked out Akane from her list of contacts and messaged her that she won't be able to attend the club for the day, hoping that she could understand. With that out of the way, she then contacted Kami next, asking where he was and inquiring if he was fine. Her feet were walking with no specific destination in mind as she waited for a reply. The brunette stopped on her heels when her cellphone rang, and thankfully it only took a few minutes. Her eyes looked over the reply, the young man saying that he was at the park. Her eyes lit up, thankful that Kami was able to reply, and without another notice, she began to run towards the park.



Panting and heaving, Ayano arrived at the park as fast her legs could carry her, once there she began to search for Kami, and thankfully it didn't take long for her to see him sitting down at a bench nearby. The brunette waved over to him and he waved back, the exchange made her feel awkward to say the least, but nevertheless, she walked on forward to him. When she was facing him, she bowed and greeted him, saying that she had heard his classmates talking about not having seen him for quite a while now, she sat down beside him as she said that. The boy explained that he had a good reason for disappearing out of the blue, he had been poking his nose into new information about the cult and quiet honestly, she was intrigued to know more about what he had learned. However, said information had to be put on hold for now, as Rui and Kazuki were the ones that really had to know about it. Ayano nodded, saying that she could understand and could wait until then. The atmosphere between them were certainly awkward, it always has been...

Like any other ordinary day at school, the class dismissal bell rang as a stampede of students darted towards the door, longing for freedom away from the clutches of academics. One particular student, unlike the rest, went at her own pace while she packed away her belongings into her school bag. Shizuka was about to start towards the agriculture club, one of her commitments during Mondays, when a pair of familiar faces approached her desk. "Hey Shizuka! Nozomi found this new crepe shop at the edge of Shinza Shopping Square, wanna come with after your club meeting?" An excited Rinko flashed a bright beam as she spoke, the other friend flashing a peace sign as if she earned some kind of victory for her find.

For a moment, the raven haired teen smiled and became excited along with them but was suddenly reminded by the thought of the manager, Kenji, asking for her to work more shifts due to summer break nearing day by day. With a discouraged frown, Shizuka replied, "I would've very much loved to, Rinko-chan but I have errands I will need to tend to after my club meeting. Perhaps... this weekend?" She sounded unsure in her response, but her friend took it as a positive response despite the uncertain tone.

"Kay, it's settled then. This weekend it is!" Before Shizuka could retort against the sudden pick of a date, Rinko's excited face was too much for her to say no to. With a nod, the fellow freshman accepted the invite before excusing herself to head to the agriculture club room.


After parting ways from her friends, Shizuka made her way towards the club room before catching the sight of the female upperclassman at the door. Jogging slightly to catch up to her, the freshman greeted Kotori and the other upperclassman in the room upon entering along with her. "Good afternoon, Shirohane-senpai, Harves--", Shizuka stopped mid sentence when she was suddenly grabbed by her arm and lead out towards the hallway without an explanation.

"Se-Senpai?" With her heart racing from slight excitement and nervousness, the shoujo delusional girl called out to Matt as he pulled her away from the club room. Once he came to a pause at the middle of the hallway with less presence of students, Shizuka nervously fidgeted with her face directed towards the ground. After the sudden rush which came to an awkward, nerve wrecking pause, even the girl felt anxious with what he wanted to tell her.

As she quietly listened to the male upperclassman speak, the raven haired teen blinked with flushed cheeks at the mention of 'going out' with him. The girl herself had not realized that they were 'official' but she supposed it was due to the fact that this sort of experience was all new to her. Thinking about it properly... Wait, they're official? "Se-Se-Senpai, w-we-- I-I mean yo-you a-a-and I--?"

While Shizuka incoherently stuttered in a desperate attempt to confirm what he had just said, the other suddenly blurted out something that she could not quite catch, mostly due to his Japanese speaking being incomprehensible for a moment. Even the few students who had happened to pass by the scene turned their heads toward the upperclassman, wondering what he shouted out. It took a long pause of awkward silence until Shizuka picked up on the word 'date' and the word for a day of the week? Date?

"E-Eh? U-Um, I-I would lo-love to...!" At this point, Shizuka could feel her heart could burst from her chest and was this really happening? Was this not one of her shoujo delusion fantasies she keeps having?

Ryan took a minute to process what he was told and stared at Rui. He frowned, pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. This is insane. Cultists kidnapped him and threw him into an alternate dimension where his had emotions turned into a monster that tried to kill him. And then when he admitted that they were right, the bad emotions turned into a good monster that could fight for him. It sounded like a plot straight out of an anime or some JRPG. But if joining this Investigation Team meant saving others from ending up dead, than he couldn't reasonably say no.

"I'm in. If it means saving lives and taking down criminals than I can't just pretend that I'm not a part of this. Besides, I've always wanted to be a Phoenix Ranger." He said jokingly. Ryan smiled and reached out his hand for a handshake. "I'll try and pull my own weight, I promise."

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School: Agriculture Club | After School

Her glance about the room was interrupted a few moments in when Kotori's gaze fell upon the only other figure in the room - Matthew had arrived first, as usual, and was already watering the plants. He, in turn, seemed to have been deep in thought as well - something that seemed to be occuring more often as of late - as he only turned around once she had announced her own presence with her greeting; something he now returned. For a moment, she wondered if he was perhaps worried about the kidnappings - after all, Ryan had expressed interest in joining the club - before he spoke up again, asking if she'd seen someone.

It was at that point that Kotori in turn remembered overhearing him talking to himself not too long ago; leaving her to give an awkwardly quizzical look at his words - only for Matthew to stop mid-sentence when another soft voice spoke up from behind her. But before Kotori could as much as shake her head to answer Matthew's question or turn to greet the younger member of the Agriculture Club, Shizuka, a veritable whirlwind rushed across the clubroom, past herself and snatched up Shizuka; leaving Kotori to merely blink in surprise at the spot that Matthew had occupied just a moment ago before slowly turning to see the vacant spot from where she'd heard Shizuka's voice.

He'd said it would take only a bit - but that was long enough for Kotori to put the thought of what she'd accidentally overheard and the rather strange and flustered way of speaking together. Placing her her school bag beside the chair, Kotori proceeded to finish the watering that had so suddenly been interrupted; most content to wait for the two to return from whatever-it-may-be they happened to be up to - as it looked, there hadn't been any need for herself to worry about them, Kotori thought to herself with a smile upon her lips all the while.

@floodtalon@oblivion666

As expected they joined, Seighardt was surprisingly meek, and Ryan not so surprisingly meek. Still, these two still needed their rest. It seems they would be discharged tomorrow and can attend school again the day after. Although with this meeting concluded, Rui gave the both of them his phone number before setting off.

"If you two need to ask any questions, call me, or try and find Kazuki or Kami, or anyone else on the team. I'm sure you guys can remember that some of our classmates are part of it too", as he said this, the two would properly recall seeing quite a few people at their 'acceptance' of their shadows. Regardless, after this, both Kazuki and Rui left the hospital for the park.

As Rui and Kazuki walked together, there was a tension of silence between them. Out of being proper, or that they simply did not have any kind of deeper relationship to have a chat, but soon Kazuki broke the silence.

"What do you suppose Kami has to tell us?", he inquired. Rui was uncertain, and he knew Kazuki was too. Kami made this meeting seem a little urgent. Maybe it was just a desire to get it off his chest and share the burden of information.

"Who knows. I just hope it brings us closer to ending this. I can't even remember when I didn't have to think about anything but what game I was going to play next, or what textbook I had to study", he commented. Kazuki kept his silence, but pretty soon they came upon the park.

As Rui approached he noticed that Kami was not alone, Ayano was there too. At least it was someone on the team and not someone unrelated to it. Else they might have to find another place.

"Am I interrupting something Kami?", for that brief moment, Kami was conscious to the fact that he and Ayano were together alone until Rui and Kazuki arrived.

"Wha-? N-no... Uhh, no, we just happened to run into each other", he regained his composure. Even then he looked quite ragged, the way he moved wouldn't say so, but little details one could notice would tell.

"Well, you made it seem urgent. So what's the news?", Kazuki asked.

"Right. I guess I'll start by summing up what we've learned so far... First, it's that the cultists don't seem to know the true nature of the mirror world, that they're throwing people in there for one reason or another. I did a little sleuthing behind my father's back since he's assigned to this case. The cultist that was turned into the police station broke fairly quickly, and said that people were being kidnapped for "salvation". Police is still not sure if this string of kidnappings is related to the ones last year, since the ones this year, everyone so far that had been reported, returned quickly... Thanks to us", he took another breath and continued, it looks like he was getting to the new part.

"I found something... Strange. The Lady Asai that the cultist mentioned. I looked into it, there are only three people with the name Asai in Warakuma, two are students, one is an old lady who lives in the suburbs... However they are the ones who are alive, none of them have any involvement or suspected involvement with cults. Though I did find an Asai Serizawa, who closely fits the bill for involvement with cults. She was part of the currently suspected cult, "Junsei Sekai Tensei", or Perfect World Reincarnation. Turns out, she is the wife of the cult leader, she passed away two years ago, shortly before the kidnappings began. Now I'm explaining this, because what the cultist said in the interrogation would make more sense. They believe that the Mirror World, is their "perfect reincarnated world". Even though they've never been there, they're being told by the leader that these kidnap victims are "chosen" for the new world, and that their Lady Asai lies beyond as well. That explains why everything is happening...",

"So what's stopping us from finding this guy and ending this once and for all?",

"Well... It's because no one can find him. His home's been empty ever since Asai had died. I suspect he may be in the mirror world, another thing the cultist said is that he's never seen their leader, that he communicates from "beyond" or... Something", this all seemed strange, but this man hiding out in the mirror world made sense, but made no sense at the same time.

"Hmmm... Well at least we know who we're looking for... Thanks, and good work... I think you should take at least one day to rest, you look ready to fall apart", Rui commented.

"I guess...", Kami sighed out of exhaustion before speaking again,

"Investigation is not turning much up anymore... The cultists must have a base of some kind, even if their leader "hasn't been seen", perhaps there we'll be able to find some clue to get to him...", with that all said Kazuki decided to say goodbye and left for his own devices. Rui left eventually as well, leaving Kami and Ayano alone again.



The tables at this cafe were seeing a slow reduction in customers as lunchtime came to a close. Among those still finishing up, was Mako, Aiko and Akari Yamamoto, and Masahide. Shizuka was on floor at this time. As Masahide began to leave, he was halted momentarily by a few adults, the two in front began to don masks before fully entering, Masahide noticing this turned in surprise before being grabbed by the two that were now behind him after turning his back to them, and was dispatched quickly.

In the cafe meanwhile, a scuffle broke out. Shizuka being the waitress attempted to serve as part of her job, but was taken quite quickly. Aiko was first to jump forward to action, for a moment he seemed to manage something, swiftly punching down one of them before the other smashed him over the head with a baton. As Shizuka was being taken out two of the men jumped for Mako who also fought back. Akari was largely frozen in fear, so were the other people in the restaurant, but pretty soon Mako was being dragged off and the cafe was left in complete shock.



"... Who was taken?... I see... I'm gonna come too... Alright..."

When Rui arrived to the scene, it was sunset, police barriers were set up all over, Matthew were there first, but pretty soon a few others of the investigation team arrived. Police told them to get back, but Rui explained that they were friends of some of the people who worked and frequented here, so they let them stand a bit closer.

"Rui you...", he turned to Matthew. He seemed pretty distraught.

"The-they took her... She's...", he shook his head then calmed down.

"Shizuka...", oh the waitress... Rui heard that the officers said three kids were taken. Three...?

"Alright let's-"

"We have to get her back",

"Okay but fir-"

"L-let's go, to that-"

"Calm down! We need to calm down. I'll immediately organize we go out tomorrow. It's too late to go tonight... But we'll get them back, we've always done it haven't we?", he assured. He was being quite frantic, did she mean a lot to him? Likely. He knew they were in the same club though.

"Get some rest, we're going first thing tomorrow morning", with that, he had Matthew head to home while he made his walk home making calls. First Kazuki, then Kami, and then so on. Three people... Shizuka he heard from Matthew, but the other two he could not get a name out of the officers, they obviously didn't want to alarm anyone in case it was someone he or the students knew. Well, in any case, looks like he was going to need his rest.

"I-Is there any particular place in mind...?"

"Oh. Hm... I hadn't really thought about that, hahahaha."

"Then... How about the planetarium just out of town? They say that the summer night sky is breathtaking. I'd... li-like to see it with you."

"A planetarium, huh? Sounds great, can't wait to see it! So this Sunday at the planetarium, it'll be a promise!"


There was something about this day that had put me in an uneasy feeling. Was it perhaps the looming dark clouds? I had no clue, but most of the day went smoothly as it usually did, even receiving a rather high score for my last English exam. The thought of Harvester-senpai influencing me to better my English crossed my mind and I couldn't help but giggle.

The cafe started to finally calm down after the lunch time rush, giving me moments to myself to think about the date tomorrow. What should I wear? Should I fix up my hair? Will the clouds clear up by tomorrow?

I was too lost in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed or even given suspicion towards these group of people in hoods who seemed to have entered the cafe. I wouldn't have really thought anything of it at the time since the theme of the cafe for the week was RPG character classes. I honestly might have mistaken them for people dressed up as mages, even the rest of my co-workers greeted, 'Welcome home, masters!' like they usually would.

But we would soon find out that they had a different motive for being here. Has it been heavily raining for awhile now? I don't remember, but a bright lightning struck as one of them had disappeared. A hand from behind me had suddenly pressed a cloth against my mouth, and as if to keep me from resisting, a strong arm wrapped itself around my arms and waist. What was happening?! Attempting to struggle free nor scream proved to be futile as a strange chemical scent from the cloth was slowly but gradually drifting me off to the darkness despite the loud commotion among the rest of the people in the cafe...

WHACK. Thud. 'W-What was that?', I thought to myself as I attempted to turn to see what had happened to my assailant, but my groggy body was about to fall. A strong yet gentle arm caught me before I met the floor. "Shizu, hang onto me, we need to get you somewhere safe."

"Ho-Hoshikawa-san...?" My nerves loosened and I almost felt tears sting at the corners of my eyes at how relieved I was to be saved by Kenji-san, the manager.

Kenji-san slightly smiled while he supported my weak body to hurriedly walk away from the scene. "Hoshikawa-san, hm? Haven't heard that from you since your first day at work." He chuckled a little before his tone seemed to have become serious. "I don't understand what's going on but we've got to get you out of here."

My vision was blurred as I was being quickly lead towards the emergency exit while the customers and other staff had scrambled towards the front entrance. Just who were those masked people? What were they after? Could they be.... the cult from the rumors...? WHACK. I flinched from the sudden whacking noise ahead of me. "Hah, that'll teach them! I wasn't my own stunt double just for shows!" Kenji-san flashed a grin back at me after withdrawing his fist from the hooded man's face.

Walking away from the scene and into the quiet hallway towards the emergency exit, Kenji-san settled me down in the closet before whispering in a hushed voice, "Shizu, before we head to the exit this way, let me check if the coast is clear. We can't have you in your current state to run for it when something happens. I'll be back as soon as I can, alright?" I nodded slowly and hesitated as a gentle hand patted my shoulder as if to give me assurance that everything will be okay. The closet door was shut closed and everything was dark.

Will we be alright? Has anyone contacted the police yet? Why was this happening to us? I was lost in thought once more as the rain outside had become heavier and heavier with thunder and lightning as accompaniment. Kenji-san's steady and light footsteps paused as he raised his voice, "Just who are you people and what do you want from us?!" POW. CRASH. WHACK. .... After moments of loud scrambling noises, it had become painfully silent until a pair of footsteps clacked against the ground towards my direction. My heart must've been pounding loud enough for anyone just out of the closet to hear, my breathing becoming unstable and ragged.

It must be Kenji-san, right? There was no way a professional sentai actor who did his own action stunts could lose. ... Right? But if it wasn't, ... Will anyone come to help me? Father, mother, where are you...? Please, help me... Why aren't you ever there for me when I need you...? Harvester-senpai... I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill my promi-- Creak. All I saw was a pair of unfamiliar, gloved hands reaching out for me before everything went dark.

. . . . . . . .