Nightfall (IC)

[palad1n]

Shiratori Kaguya
April 3^rd – Evening
Shinjuku, Streets – Near Yamagumi Bar

“So, what the fuck are you two dumbasses hoping to accomplish? Outta here without your precious maids and butlers and shit there ain’t no one who’s gonna wipe your princessly asses. Tha hell do you intend to do if you run into some of the weird shit that’s been going on at night? Die horribly?”

Kaguya flinched at the harshness and foulness of Rinko's language, unused to such blatant display of rudeness.

But it's not like the delinquent doesn't have a point. Kaguya admittedly hasn't thought of what she would do if they run into some of those weird phenomena, nor had she truly thought that both she and Laura could very well die doing this investigation. For someone like her, dying seems so far off and surreal, something that won't happen to her and Laura.

'But Rinko-san was right, wasn't she?' Kaguya thought to herself. 'They said strange deaths have been happening all over the city... That means both Laura-chan and I could die if we continue...'

It's not like she has some hidden talent or ability to protect herself if the situation calls for it; as Rinko said, without her clique, servants or money, Shiratori Kaguya is a completely normal girl. Her status and title as a Queen doesn't mean anything outside of the school.

That is why her answer to that question is rather obvious.

"I don't know. I haven't thought about that."

Kaguya is an honest person; even if it hurts to admit it, she doesn't see the point of lying when she really hasn't thought of anything about Rinko's question.

That is why she can readily admits it.

However...

"But Laura-chan and I won't die horribly!" She denied. "I don't know what we would do when we encounter those weird phenomena, but we'll figure something out. We're doing our best, so I'm sure it will turn out okay!"

A truly outrageous statement that is said with conviction.

It was something that could only be said by someone who hasn't truly "seen" the world with her own eyes. Something only someone like Kaguya - who lived a strict yet safe routine - could say while truly believing what she just said, despite the possibility that the delinquent had revealed to her.

An innocent conviction and naivete that is borderline ignorant, even foolish...

But that is why Kaguya could do it. For Minato and all her friends that had fell to the mysterious happenings, the Shiratori heiress would march towards the unknown without hesitation.

"You agree with me, right Laura-chan?" The black-haired girl turned towards her blonde friend, violet eyes expecting her half-British friend would agree.

Laura Leonhardt, her best friend and fellow queen, is also the only one who could make her rethink her decision; as the voice of reason for the naive and inexperienced Kaguya, the blonde is her metaphorical brake so to speak.

If Laura agrees, then there is no stopping Kaguya from going through despite the dangers; her resolve would be unshakable, and it would clear away any remaining uncertainty in her heart.

That is why to clear away any doubts that appears from Rinko's comment, Kaguya eagerly awaits Laura's answer.

[Katie]

Mizunoue Mizuki
April 3^rd – Evening
Shibuya, Otonokizaka High School – Literature Club room

Mizunoue Mizuki blinked.

She then grit her teeth, folding her arms. If she was an honest human being, perhaps detrimentally so, then Tendou Touma was the exact opposite. He was someone who used underhanded methods all the time. Normally, he would have at least pretended to be unwilling, regardless of their gender. That sort of dishonesty was just the sort of man he was.

To see him so open about his intentions… that was scary. More importantly, it provoked a thoroughly unpleasant feeling that seemed to embed itself under her skin.

“At least try to be less of a creep next time, Tendou-kun. Pretend you aren’t so eager next time, like you usually do.” Her words are icy, venomous. The amicable feeling of the Literature Club had broken down to its fundamental basis—that of superior to inferior. The President, who naturally stood above the Vice-President, had their word as effective law.

“Seeing as he has agreed without my consent, we’ll make an attempt to investigate, Sakurauchi. Your sister was… a good club member, so it is the least we can do.” Mizuki dodged the word people normally would use, her judging gaze locked on her vice-president. “Is there anything else you would ask of us?”

[Tobias]

Taka Nishi
April 3^rd – Evening
Hachioji, Izanami Hotels – Room 408

Taka collapsed into an overly plush chair, made for two, indolently splashing his leg over the side of one of the armrests. Another dead end. It was so damn frustrating. When things had first started, Taka had been confident, almost disgustingly so. Sure the situation concerning "the lost" had confounded other, lesser, but hadnt the Nichi family proven again and again how much smarter, more clever, better they were then all the other supposed great minds of Tokyo, even all of Japan?

...Maybe that was so, but the hell of the matter was that the enemy, if enemy there was, had struck lethally from the first attack. Asuka had always been the brains of the operation. Mei had the wisdom, and Taka the correct mix of disarming charisma and ruthless self interest to achieve the family goals, but for years, it had been the daughter who had taken her mother and brother and wielding them like a pair of knives, cutting into the purse strings of the country.

Taka shook his head, taking out an expensive cigarette lighting it, and clasping it between his lips negligently.

"You first." He responded to his mother.

Mei shrugged. "One of the girls," she began, taking a drag from her own, cigarette smoke wafting and intertwining around the ceiling. "Has been talking about how scared she is when it comes to the lost" She 'secretly' cuts the price for any security contractors or salary man who can make a claim to have a preventive or a cure. Right now i'm just losing money, but maybe..." Mei shrugged again.

Taka nodded through a drag of his cigarette, then nodded at a suitcase next to the single, gaudy bed. An expensive, upscale love hotel was still a love hotel. Wordlessly Mei handed it to him. Taka began to change.

"I hear tell there is a politician up to his eyes who cant stay away from the tables. Embezzling, cutting deals he shouldn't, taking bad loans..." Taka rolled his eyes, and his mother did likewise.

"So the usual?" Mei asked wryly.

"Essentially." Taka was busy strapping on expensive Rolex replica. It was no cheap imitation, it had parts of the real thing. Something like this had no purpose but to full the discerning of eye of even someone who had seen and examined the genuine article. Even the fake had cost about half what a real Rolex would have cost.

"Supposedly he just drained the last of his account and is hoping to hit it big at a cash game tonight"

"Is this really the time?" Mei said disapprovingly. It was true money increased the options available, but she wasnt sure it was worth going after a decent score when Asuka lay as dead.

"Im gonna let him win.." Taka said coolly, taking a moment to enjoy mei's uncharacteristic raised eyebrow.

You have to understand the wily old hostess. For her a cocked eyebrow was like a startled shout.

"It just rumor, but supposedly he has nose deep in some hush hush stuff related to the lost. Its probably to much to hope that this asshole himself has much for me, but I bet he has a name, or somewhere to start floating some money. Ill cut the table to him and me. Once we are heads up, he is gonna start losing then have several lucky hands in a row right when he gets desperate."

"And that's when you what, buy him a drink to celebrate?" Mei guessed, following the thought.

"Yup. Ill spike his drink if I have to, got some meth if I need it, but probably wont. A gambling loser who strikes it rich, plus a few drinks..." Taka shook his head. That kind of heady moment of victory would make it almost impossible to keep one's teeth together, even if he really, really should.

"You want me to come with you?" Mei asked, glancing towards her own room where several sheer garments hung. Expensive clothes that highlighted her overripe, mature charms. Taka seriously considered it. A beautiful woman could be a potent loosener to a man's tongue, but ultimately he shook his head.

"Lets not put all of our eggs in one basket. If this guy turns out to be completely worthless, ill blow a bunch of money for no reason. See if you can hit up some of asuka's clients. Folks love her. One of them might have come up with something on their own.

Thinking of asuka again made Taka scowl involuntarily, there was the frustrating feeling he was somehow missing something. Something only Asuka would figure out. Without her around...Taka almost like a side character in one of those RPGs you lost automatically when the main character was KOd. the battle was lost even while he was still standing.

Shaking his head of the morbid thought, Taka applied entirely to much of an expensive cologne and completed his transition to a fop with more money then sense. Mei and her son paid at the front desk, and split up, each hailing a cab and setting off once more into a seedy world that somewhere, maybe, had a way to bring the missing third of the Nichi family home.

[Erlkonig]

Amano Kaede
April 3^rd – Evening
Bunkyo, Sakurai Apartments – Room 500

"That's... Impossible." Kaede's brows furrowed, as she stared at her close friend with an aghast expression. "You can't seriously believe that, can you? The only thing connecting a mysterious case of amnesia with coma patients is some shitty anime, there's no way that something like that is po... ssible..." As she spoke, however, Kaede's jaw slackened, and her shoulders loosened with growing dread.

Not possible? She thought, mockingly. Not a single thing about this has made sense in the first place. Yuuta, he... He was so happy, so full of life before it took him without warning... Diseases don't work that way. As Kaede's eyes glistened with horror, she looked at her friend's dead serious face and her body trembled, two slender hands balling up into fists.

"What... What the hell does this mean, Ed!?" Kaede's voice rose without her control in a sharp wail, calling out her friend by his nickname. "This... This kind of thing is so 2012 it's not even funny! I've seen people comment over this shit on the internet and get ignored immediately! World-wide comas and amnesia!? Why would being close make us the only ones that can give a damn, the only ones that can save them..."

The composer's once angelical face was twisted by sorrow, the rapping of her fists against the table giving way to a fit of sobs as she lowered her head into her arms. "...There has to be someone responsible for this." Kaede growled, in a hollow tone. "If what you're saying is on the money... Then this has to have been cooked up."

Her nails screeched against the wood of the table. "Only a sick bastard could imagine something like forcing a person's loved ones to be hurt with no way to help them."

[RacingeR]

Yuu Kurogami
April 3^rd – Evening
Nakano, Amaterasu High School - Entrance

“Tokyo Tower incident.” The maid smoothly replied after flipping a coin. You stared at her, interrogatively.

“A strange light show was reported around Tokyo Tower the night of the 20^th of February. The residents and passerby got freaked out about it, but they were unable to provide any concrete details regarding the lights and their origin. It was also the first reported time witnesses reported seeing strange monsters, although I hear the whole thing was quickly dismissed and downright ignored.” She made a pause to allow you to process the information. “Still, it is probably the most concrete… lead that we’ve got in the list. There are many reports of strange groups of people being seen around the tower, too.”

“Shall I ready a car, miss?”

[RacingeR]

Taka Nishi
April 3^rd – Evening
Shinjuku, Toriyama Bar – Back Room

Shinjuku was your usual base of operations, and you were accustomed to frequent the many seedy bars that populated the place. There were quite a lot of groups that operated in Shinjuku, and the Kamiyama-gumi yakuza group was particularly powerful in the zone, operating many front businesses like this one. This particular bar, however, mostly served as a front for the gambling going on in the back, and one could always find many tables full of people who wanted to gamble in a relatively discrete way.

It was a big, and dark place, with enough light to see if the opponent was cheating, but not enough to reveal the faces of the players if they wished to sink themselves in the shadows, not that such a thing would be that useful. In fact, through your experience, you could easily distinguish the amateurs by those who tried to rely in such simple tricks to hide their identities: most of those accustomed to this business would either not bother hiding their faces at all, or would wear hoods or disguises.

You were currently sitting in one of the tables at the corner, leaning comfortably against the wooden chair, and staring at your target, slowly starting to think that this would be a waste of time, a bad idea all along. The mark was a low-tier politician, surnamed Hiragami: relatively young for what was accustomed in those circles, perhaps on his mid-thirties. Polite, in a vaguely pretentious and self-aggrandizing way, innately arrogant, suffused with a self-confidence that had little basis in reality. The kind of intelligent idiot that was pretty good at leeching on others but a complete disaster otherwise.

The main issue was that he was definitely an idiot, an arrogant one at that, to the point you weren’t sure you could trust anything he’d say: he looked like the braggart type, and now that you had let him win a few thousands and had gotten him nicely drunk, it was obvious that he was the type that liked to try and make himself sound so very important to anyone within earshot. Furthermore, there was definitely an issue with this guy’s background. To be more precise, he was part of the nationalist party, and worked under Kurogami Yuki, as he had gladly just revealed.

That Yuki herself was a twenty-something woman politician that had been receiving a great push to become Tokyo’s governor as of late, something completely unprecedented in the heavily conservative side of things, but you guessed there was a first time for everything, and the Kurogami were an old family of monsters, the type of family that could be counted between the owners of Japan. You barely ever had dealings with the big families of the country; as Asuka had put it once, there was very little to gain in interacting with them within your ‘business’, except for a lot of trouble. It was simply not worth it. And the Kurogami were very powerful within the country, to ridiculous extents.

This Hiragami might be a low tier politician, the type that would probably get swept under the rug easily, and you had a guess it’d be very soon, but he had a rather powerful background to him. Which meant that you’d rather be subtle when it came to interrogating him, lest you end up placing a mark upon yourself.

You had already gotten the guy to the perfect point: happy after winning back some yen, drunk out of his ass (you hadn’t even bothered spiking his drink, the man had downed four bottles of good beer one after the other, which had apparently been enough to put him in a more than inebriated state), and you two were the only ones left in the table.

Now, it was just a matter of how you would go about this.

[Vritra]

Yuu Kurogami
April 3rd – Evening
Nakano, Amaterasu High School – Entrance

“Tokyo tower I see, I see…”

Certainly a good place to start after all the place was a magnet for absurdity and the extraordinary. Standing upon the heart of the leylines the modern tower of babel is soaked energy. The positivity of hope and yearning and the negativity of resentment and apathy, truly the jewel sitting upon the crown of twilight gives off a luster that even the gods can’t resist. I know because every game and novel that uses Tokyo as a setting uses it as a significant object in some way. Final boss location, magic focus you name it!

Or maybe it’s just plain old things naturally flocking to iconic and large landmarks but hey making it sound all grand is just more fun, SO MAGIC SHIZ IT IS.

Now that the destination had been settled the question was how to gain the answers I sought…

Night, night, night, this incidents always seemed to happen under the veil of Nights starry wings so if I want to truly catch a glimpse of the strange truth behind everything I would need to wait until the sun is ready to be swallowed into the underworld to battle the great serpent that makes its den there. Sadly I can’t just goof off until night, things to do, ground work to prepare. Who were the suspicious groups were would be a useful start and since I doubt they would just be there in their fancy pajamas recruiting people. The Convenient introduction of plot elements sadly is limited to fiction …except when it isn’t but that’s not something to believe in.

Scoping out the area and compiling leads on persons of interest …that sounds positively dull, but I shall nonetheless wish upon a star that some beauty has gotten themselves into trouble or these strange groups are walking around with large signs above their heads.

“Yeah, yeah I guess if we’re going to do some investigation today we should head out.”

Ho, hum time to go do work that probably won’t produce any notable results, wooooooooooo…

At least exchanging messages with Elora will give me som-

.
..
…

Ah?

Ara ara what’s this, stopping in my tracks as I simply stare quizzically at my phone. No response? Now that’s just strange there doesn’t seem to be a reply, how strange, how strange I thought I had properly taught Elora-chan how rude it is to ignore people. Hardening my gaze I gently grind my teeth in irritation. First boredom now this, what an aggravating day.

“Hmph, wait Kaede.”

Waving my hand to put everything on hold I crisply walk back over and retake my seat with an annoyed determination. There were so many things to do yes but one must not neglect the fundamentals, it seems like Elora-chan had forgotten a few important things in the short absence I took to begin setting up my investigation. Ah, my dear friend you’re going to make me cry, with my mouth twisting in annoyance I begin to tap out messages on my phone.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

And so on, short lines deliberately broken up into separate messages to perfectly communicate my meaning, being rude is just down right terrible and unbecoming of a lady and I can't just sit back and let that happen, how could we possibly call each other best friends if I let Elora fall into disgrace.

And now I wait for her to give me a proper response.

[Ayakashi]

------ Mizuhara Mitsuki April 3rd – Evening Nakano Streets Spiritual Rank: 1 Self: 100

Kaori is really on the edge, and this is something novel and extremely rare to say the least... This 'person' that I could see, this individual that was no doll but a mere human to my eyes -- apparently my guess that things were actually 'wrong' with her seemed to be close to the truth: Kaori mentioned something about this woman's shadow, and the longer this encounter was going on with this strange woman the more I felt like it was time to leave and do something else...

The urgency in Kaori's tone, her nearly desperate behavior to protect me from this person... something was definitely amiss here, and I couldn't trust my perception of the world. I had to trust Kaori here, she was my ears and eyes.

Yet... why can't I run? I want to run away from here with Kaori but... it feels like my shoes are glued to the floor, that something is pulling me to stop me from running away; are my feet just weak? It's... it's looking worst by the seconds, we have our backs to the wall and... and...

"H-Hello to you too... I'm sorry, but I have to go grab some coffee with Kaorin here... uh, can we talk later?"

She greeted us right? We could try to be nice to her? Maybe excuse ourselves?

'I-it's all going to be okay right... right? Kaori? Hello? What can I do... what can I do?!'

[Airen]

Elora Griffin
April 3^rd – Evening
Nakano, Amaterasu High School – Student Council room

...It seemed that Yuu was really blowing up her phone.

While Elora had intended to respond to the texts afterward, not wanting to appear like she was ignoring the members of her council now that everyone had arrived at the scheduled time, it's with a somewhat embarrassed smile (the phone's vibrations were shaking the table) that she unlocked it again with a quick, practiced swipe of her fingers.

Scanning...

Scanning...

Scanning...

Going over it all quickly, the young woman represses a sigh at the impatience of her fellow student, but ultimately types out a response with her usual smile, understanding in the end that 'Yuu was just that kind of girl.'

Spoiler:

You do know I'm in a meeting, right?
The council president must greet everyone as they arrive, it's only polite to them that I do! Texting while greeting is super rude!
Besides, it's dangerous to just be waiting around in places, you should go straight home if you're bored.

It's a counter lecture to the attempt at a lecture, however:

Spoiler:

I prefer Elephant Ear ice-cream myself.
Tuxedo-cats are certainly cute, but I don't think I have a favorite kind of breed, most cats are adorable!

But anyway, I have a few errands to run today, but if you really want to go get ice cream and are too stubborn to go home, I could meet you there for a little bit if Rika doesn't mind.

...She's ultimately a bit too pleasant of a person to not compromise when possible.

[RacingeR]

Masayoshi Kotetsu
April 3^rd – Evening
Shinjuku, Streets – Yamagumi Bar

You would always remember this moment.

The moment common sense ceased to function. The very moment your whole world came crashing around you and you had your first taste of what was to come.

You watched the girl stumble in the direction of an empty table in the corner. By that point, a few others had noticed her strange behavior, but only you and Katsuo seemed to have noticed the blood. In fact, you could still smell it in the air… the woman was bleeding quite a lot, whatever wound she had gotten definitely wasn’t light. And yet, she was still able to remain mobile and just stumble a bit despite it all?

There was something off here. Very off.

Then, many, many things happened at the same time.

First, you heard the sound of the door not merely being slammed open, but instead being crashed through, kicked off its hinges and thrown straight into the establishment, slamming on some poor guy who had merely been nursing his beer, and had received a massive cranial trauma for his trouble. Katsuo’s eyes widened, as his mouth hung open.

“Kotetsu!” He suddenly shouted, grabbing you by the shoulder and then throwing you against the floor in one move, before following suit. As you fell, your eyes wandered towards the direction of the entrance…

You saw that a man wearing a gorilla mask had entered the establishment, robust and tall, imposing, and more importantly, wielding a fucking AK-47 as he screamed something unintelligible. He was followed by a few other masked men, one impossible asshole with a toucan mask and a pistol you couldn’t identify by eye, another guy with a submachinegun and a crocodile mask, and a lanky woman with a tiger mask and what looked like a M4A1.

“GET THE BITCH!” the gorilla-masked man screamed, just as Katsuo’s weight hit your body and knocked the air out of your lungs. Then, while everyone else in the bar was still in a completely stupefied state, the madman blindly opened fire with his rifle, not bothering to look where he was shooting at.

The very first burst hit the barman straight in the head, vaporizing his brains in a cloud of blood. The clientele of the place started to react with obvious panic and terror, but most of them were unable to escape the hail of bullets that easily eliminated half the men and women who had been drinking just moments ago. As the corpses hit the floor, the rest threw themselves to the ground in a panic, managing to flip some tables for a rather useless cover.

As you were stunned, staring at the scene, you noticed the strange woman from before reacting very calmly, despite her wounds, flipping the table over as she knelt on the floor, on one knee, extracting from under her trenchcoat what looked like a Desert Eagle. You saw her take aim in a collected, leisurely way, as if she had done this a thousand different times. The man in the gorilla mask noticed her, letting out a curse as he redirected his aim, but it was too late.

There was loud detonation, and Mr. Gorilla’s chest suddenly sunk inwards, as blood came pouring from under the mask. The rain of bullets stopped as the man slumped backwards and fell.

“Fuck! There is the damn gaijin! Go, go motherfuckers! Kill her fast!” The toucan-masked man shouted in a commanding voice. “We don’t have time! The Distortion will hit soon!” as he said so, he moved laterally towards a fallen table, shooting at the woman once and missing by hair. You noticed more people in animal masks coming in after the first group.

“Holy shit…” was all Katsuo managed to utter, taking in all that had just happened. It seemed as good as a comment as any.


Shiratori Kaguya
April 3^rd – Evening
Shinjuku, Streets – Near Yamagumi Bar

“Ah…” Laura had been caught by surprise, although she had expected that the weight of the decision would fall upon her at the end. Thing was, Rinko’s words had made her consider the situation in a different light. What she had done tonight had been impulsive, and more dangerous than she realized. It was true that she was more street-wise than you, but not by much; she was still a true sheltered ojou-sama, born and raised as such. To put it simply, her knowledge when it came to this whole situation had been much more lacking than she had expected, even to the point she had gotten lost.

The delinquent had made her realize that the enterprise she had embarked upon put at risk not only herself, but also you, and that she held little capacity to protect you in a worst-case scenario. To put it simply… right now, she was regretting her actions. And while she was caught in her hesitation…

“You are an idiot.” Rinko said in amazement as she put an unlit cigarette on her mouth. “A complete and utter idiot. Maybe I should just knock you both out for your own safety.”

“Why are you getting that worked up over them, then?” Rei replied with a sly smile. Her friend shot her a vicious glance, which she replied by sticking her tongue at her. Meanwhile, Laura scoffed at their words, and pulled you to the side.

“I… I agree with you, Kaguya.” She finally replied, however, her face was deadly serious. “However, Hitomori has a point. At the very least, it is clear to me that we’re going about this the wrong way. Maybe we should-“

And then the world went to hell in a handbasket.

First, you heard Rei make a scared sound between a squeal and an exclamation, a ridiculous, almost laughable sound that indicated the girl couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Then, you saw Rinko’s face distort, her eyes opening wide and nearly bulging out. You followed their stare.

There was a big, generic white van parked in front of the nearby bar. From there, you saw twelve persons wearing animal masks come out, and enter the bar. Twelve heavily armed persons. Then, in seconds, you started hearing the sounds of gunshots and shouts of anger and agony.

At that point, the scary delinquent that had been practically threatening you moments ago did something unexpected. Expression still contorted, she put an arm around Rei, and another grabbed you. Then, she threw her body forward against Laura, dragging all three of you to the floor with her in a bundle.

However, the armed people didn’t even bother to look your way, entering the bar and laying siege to their insides with a hail of gunfire.

[Mormarth]

Masayoshi Kotetsu
April 3rd – Evening
Shinjuku, Streets – Yamagumi Bar

An explosion is a violent reaction, a sudden outburst of heat and light and sound that shouts its presence for all to see, effecting the whole world, and in a sense, it would never be the same after.

So, in a sense, my guess was spot on.

The door crashed open, figures in masks entered, armed, illegal firearms, Gorilla mask had what looked like a Kalashnikov, possibly imported from Russia? Widespread usage, manufactor, usage, common firearms, animal masks.

I of course, couldn't grab too much information, because as I stilled for a brief moment, Katsuo-san bore me to the ground, as was his job, to be fair, though he did not have to be so rough with my body.

Heh.

Four assholes, some foreign pistol, a compact auto, and an M4.

I have hobbies, alright?

The big man, the front-runner in the gorilla mask, screamed something, quite obviously as was the case, they wanted the girl, now, instead of being a calm, reasonable person and shouting for the bar-goers to get down on the ground...

He opened fire with his rifle, spraying the bar wide, a sharp screaming racket raked across my ears as I felt the motion of air above my body, I heard rather than saw the man behind the bar get riddled, heard a weight hit the floor.

He didn't ask for any of this.

People started to die.

There was no need for any of this.

The woman, the gaijin, the one who had brought them here, knelt down, face impassive, drawing a gun from beneath her coat, bulky, obvious, powerful, Israeli make, the firearm was obvious.

The Desert Eagle roared and Gorilla went down like the dog he was.

Things continued to move quickly, Toucan took command, took cover behind a table, more masks poured in through the door.

Mention of a distortion.

Of course.

I thought this through rather calmly, likely shock.

What were my options?

I could go forward, try to retrieve Gorilla's rifle, chances do not look high, this is not my business, I have no reason to involve myself with butchers directly, disgusting vermin they may be.

If I could not go forward, I must go another way, to remain here is to remain in the line of fire.

It is a common practice in buildings under the aegis of Yakuza to provide a discrete exit for those it is required for, a back door, leading to an alley, a side street, it is too noisy in here.

I shuffled around on my belly, catching Katsuo's attention.

'Back Door.' I mouthed, They'll move up eventually, an as reckless and selfish as the gaijin was, I had no desire to back her horse by remaining here.

The best bet would be to remain low to the ground, move slowly, but purposefully, so as to not draw the eye of a jumpy gun, the room is chaotic enough, who'd notice a few more stray bodies.

I needed to find their vehicle anyway, an insult like this would not go unrecognized.

[palad1n]

Shiratori Kaguya
April 3rd– Evening
Shinjuku, Streets – Near Yamagumi Bar

She knew it would turn out alright.

Laura-chan agreed with her, which is only natural; helping others like this is definitely right. She can accept that they are doing it wrong, having no plans at all, but at the very least she took solace in the fact that what she is doing is right.

Even Rinko is a nice and decent person underneath that delinquent exterior; as Rei helpfully pointed out, the girl seems worried about them.

It is wonderful. Maybe they can even work together to unravel this mystery..

Before the world went to hell.

It all happened so fast. She heard Rei's surprise, she saw Rinko's eyes widening in disbelief, she saw twelve people in animal masks coming out of a white van and entering a bar, and the next thing that she knew Rinko had dragged all four of them to the floor.

What is happening?

It hurts. She had never been tackled to the ground like this before, and she could feel pain from her knees. She wanted to take a look, to see if it is scraped by her hitting the ground; what if it's bleeding? She must take care of it before it gets infected-

But she couldn't. Rinko is pressing all of them to the ground hard as if their lives are on the line, so Kaguya could only endure it, looking at Laura beneath her.

It must have hurt. Laura fell backwards, so hopefully she didn't hit her head...

But then she heard it. Screams, shouts, and a loud sound that she had never heard before. It was not overly loud, more like a sound from a firecracker, but-

Kaguya knew it was nothing of the sort.

She saw them carrying something when the masked men entered the bar, and she heard that same sound - though some has different sounds - followed by screams seconds before Rinko dragged them all to the ground.

It took her a few seconds to realize that those were gunshots.

And when she realized that fact, Shiratori Kaguya froze.

Gunshots...? Why does those men have guns? What are they doing in the bar? No, they're shooting people...? But this can't... why is this happening? I should stop them-

But she can't.

Despite all her talks of helping people, despite her belief that she will figure out the truth no matter what might happen, and despite the fact that Kaguya had ignored the possibility of dying...

When faced with a situation where death is truly possible, she can do nothing but to be frozen in fear.

Her breathing become erratic. Tears started to form in her eyes. And the thought of unraveling the mystery or saving Minato disappears from her mind.

At this moment, the only thing that Kaguya can think of is to survive the event that is happening. That is why she stayed silent, choked back a sob, and stayed prone as she prayed to survive the evening.

Because at this moment, there is nothing that she can do.

[RacingeR]

Mizunoue Mizuki
April 3^rd – Evening
Shibuya, Otonokizaka High School – Literature Club room

You could see Touma quickly wither under your gaze, but unexpectedly, he didn’t hesitate at all to reply at you. “Well, we had decided to investigate anyway, so, I’m only being coherent. It is quite strange for you to arrive to such a conclusion, Mizunoue-san.”

The boy crossed his arms as he sent an equally judging stare towards you. It seemed like the old bickering train was back on track, even if Touma was still slightly off his game.

“U-um…” A small voice interrupted the slightly childish exchange. You ignored him as you looked back at Inoue, who seemed to have taken your earlier words very seriously as she hid slightly behind you. “S-so nee-chan didn’t say anything, then?”

“Your sister said nothing of that sort to us. The last time we met she seemed like her usual self.” Touma replied. “Right?”

You nodded. In fact, you had met up with her three days before she became Lost, during the winter break. No mention of any strange things…

… The last time you met. You blinked your eyes, having a very strange feeling, as if reality had suddenly become inconsistent, weak, like wet paper, easily broken through a push. The last time you met. It had been a normal meeting, right? No, you had seen something. There had been… no, you couldn’t recall.

The strange feeling disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“Did your sister talk to you about the nightmares and all that?” Touma asked the girl, who surprisingly enough shook her head.

“No… I read her diary…”

“You… read your sister’s diary?” Touma’s eyebrow was raised slightly.

“I-It was for a good cause!” Inoue replied very quickly. You had a feeling that this girl was nowhere near as innocent as she seemed.

[RacingeR]

Amano Kaede
April 3^rd – Evening
Bunkyo, Sakurai Apartments – Room 500

“Calm down!” Ed reacted quickly, leaning forward and putting his hands on your shoulders.

“It is too early to jump to any sort of conclusion. We’re lacking in evidence of any kind, and all we have is a faint common thread and speculation.” The detective talked in a calming tone of voice. “I’ve always been taught that it is very easy to arrive to the wrong result if one does not have anything solid to use as a foundation.”

“But, be sure of one thing, if someone is causing people to fall into comas, then it is the police’s responsibility and duty to catch them and make they pay for their crimes!” He affirmed, in a very reassuring tone of voice.

“Plus, it is not like these are the only leads I’ve got.”

[RacingeR]

Mizuhara Mitsuki
April 3^rd – Evening
Nakano, Streets

Kaori let out an ‘Ah!’ sound as she still remained where she was, grabbing onto you. “Y-yes, that’s right, we’re… we’re just in our way to grab some coffee, so…” She again tried to smile as she tugged at your arm, trying to pull you both away from the woman… but neither of you were able to move. Your feet were glued to the floor… it was as if some kind of force was gently but firmly pressing on you, holding you down…

“Is that so? Just going to grab a coffee, huh? A normal, everyday activity…” The woman steps once again towards you. You detect… what seems like a hint of wistfulness, perhaps even sadness in her voice. Then, she once again moves, this time extending both her arms towards you two…

“Ah-!” There’s nothing you can do to avoid it this time. The young woman pats both you and Kaori in the head. It feels warm… definitely like the hand of an human, with nothing of the artificiality of a doll…

You feel Kaori grab you tightly, pressing the both of you together and against the wall, but the panic seems to have faded away slightly from her eyes, replaced by confusion. Then, without you being able to do anything about it, her hand slips inside your bag and extracts your student ID.

“Mizuhara Mitsuki, is it? I’ll do an exception and remember your name.” The bizarre woman stores the ID back into your bag, before grabbing something in her pocket, and slipping it into your hand. You look down to look at what seems like a card.

“Talk later… why not? Since you and me seem to have a bit of destiny, you may contact me later… no, you will definitely want to contact me later. That little friend of yours… Kaori, never let go of her, no matter what, okay?”

You lift your gaze to look back at the woman… but she’s gone. Gone as suddenly as she had appeared. You stare back at the card in your hand. It looked like a tarot card, but one very unlike any you had ever seen. It depicted what looked like a generic, dark-haired man clad in a long leather coat, face half-covered in darkness. He was walking diagonally towards the corner of the card, and his shadow was stretched behind him. It looked extremely weird… and had a smile. The shadow… was smiling and stretching its arm, as if pointing towards the viewer. There was something written clearly atop the card… ‘XVIII – THE TRANSCENDENT’

Following some sort of instinct, you flipped the card and looked at its back. There, the name ‘Lin Yu’ was written in both Chinese and western characters. Below, there was what looked like a cell-phone number… and below that, the word ‘Dawn’ was written, also in western characters.

“Just… what did happen… just now…?” Kaori asked, trembling slightly as she stared at the picture in the card. You looked away from it, and noticed… that the streets were now filled by dolls, going through their business as usual. Some looked oddly at the both of you, as you were still with your backs against the wall, in a half-hugging posture, not that you could actually discern their lifeless eyes.

Then, you looked upwards, towards the sky. The sun was setting, a beautiful red twilight fell upon you. The world was back to its normal sterility, an artificial, orderly world of dolls, except…

There was a crack in the sky.

[Vritra]

Yuu Kurogami
April 3rd – Evening
Nakano, Amaterasu High School – Entrance

Reading Elora’s reply I begin to grind my teeth harder and harder as frustration builds. A burning heart that hungers for more and yet I have nothing to feed it because my damn stupid friend refused to do what I want. Nooooooo of course she didn’t resist or ignore me again. Goddamn reasonable and adequate response I HAD JUST GOTTEN WORKED UP ABOUT GOING TO GO KICK IN HER STUPID DOOR BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SHE JUST HAS TO GO AND DO WHAT I WANT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAH. Writhing in agitation and frustration with no outlet I stare at the ceiling as I try to work out just what to do now.

“Kuh, damn Elora.” I’m beginning to think I’m spending too much time around her she’s beginning to work out how to manage things. With my excuse and reason to go bug Elora lost there’s not much left except accepting and going to do that investigation. I could always work out an alternative like bullying the kids at the arcade but… I DON’T FEEL LIKE IT, GODDAMN WORLD ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET AND ENTERTAIN ME I COMMAND IT.

Tch, annoyance and boredom, I’m beginning to hate everything.

Nothing to but…

.
..
…

KuuuuuuuHGRAPHAGRAHAHA FEH, NO you know what screw you and your adequate responses Elora I’LL DO THIS ANYWAY.

Cursing my best friend under my breath I pull out type out two quick texts before stomping off, one to my cute Elora-chan-

(ﾉ≧∇≦)ﾉ ﾐ ┸━┸

Excuse me; I think you mean you will be accompanying me for a day full of delicious ice cream, cats and other entertainment before we prepare for an intimate heart pounding undercover investigation of this gripping mystery. No refusal because you owe me for going out of my way to doing your jobs properly ~

（￣へ￣）

-and one to my cute Nanako to let her know that I will be assuming leadership of the tea ceremony club for a short while and that she should let Elora know. Mmm Nanako is a good girl, although she is only a slightly attractive mob like girl who can’t be fully cute or cool her spirit is rather admirable and the efforts she puts into the tea ceremony club have made it quite fun. It’s always nice to have something like that turn out I am truly glad to have noticed and properly trained her, I’ll have to remember to give her a reward for her efforts later.

Swallowing my annoyance as I reach my destination I twist my body around and deliver a full force spin kick to the center of the door. It’s only proper to announce ones presence so KNOCK KNOCK ya shits.

Yup. yup only proper to announce ones presence and old proper to greet everyone mhm, with Kaede opening the door beam a smile as I raise my hand from my pocket and wave. “Rejoice everyone for the great and noble me has come to be better than you at your jobs.”

Be grateful regular people for I have decided to put effort into this.

[RacingeR]

Masayoshi Kotetsu
April 3^rd – Evening
Shinjuku, Streets – Yamagumi Bar

Katsuo, who seemed as shocked as you were, nodded slowly at you, and the both of you started shuffling, dragging yourselves through the wrecked bar towards the back room, whose door was visible at the other extreme of the room. You couldn’t hear anything but the sound of gunfire and indistinguishable screaming, everything was so loud that you could feel your head hurting, as if a flashbang had just gone off right near your ears.

You were lucky. Had you been too far from the foreigner’s position, you’d have been caught in the initial hail of gunfire gorilla had produced, you’d only have lasted a few more seconds in the floor, perhaps. Meanwhile, now that an indiscriminate amount of fire was centered around the position of the gaijin, the clients on that side of the room were getting massacred.

Three more masks had entered the fray. One wolf-masked man with another Kalashnikov, a lion-masked woman wielding what seemed like a Beretta, and a sturdy rhino-masked man with a strange, futuristic looking submachinegun you couldn’t recognize. Behind, a horse-masked man with another rifle seemed to be acting as a rear-guard. The assailants began to spread around as they concentrated their fire in the foreigner’s direction. As you crawled, you thought you saw her get hit a few times, but she seemed to be fine the next second, moving around at a speed you wouldn’t suspect from a hurt woman, dodging the hail of gunfire as she ran from cover to cover, returning fire once or twice, but failing to hit a target. You noticed… she was moving in the same direction you were, towards the back exit.

You also didn’t fail to notice two other masks quickly entering the bar, grabbing Gorilla, who seemed to be still alive, and running away with him.

Suddenly, the door at the back burst open, and you saw, eyes wide, as seven Kamiyama-gumi thugs armed with pistols entered the fray. Your… company possessed a few guns, that much you knew. You weren’t naïve enough to think they wouldn’t, even if they’d only have them just in case. But they were a pain in the ass to acquire even through the black-market. What were these people from your clan doing here, armed like this? It made no sense, even if this place happened to be the stockpile or something. Not that you had much time to think about it. The whole situation was already too impossible for you to process with common sense.

You noticed Katsuo cursing loudly, probably thinking the same as you. More idiots with guns was the last thing either of you needed.

Surely enough, the one in the lead pushed aside a client that had been about to run into the back room aside, and started shooting in the mask’s general direction. “GET THEM, BOYS!” He screamed loudly, apparently having watched too many movies. None of his shots hit near the mark.

You saw Toucan shake his head as he calmly lifted his gun and put a bullet straight into the face of the thug, who didn’t even get to scream as he fell backwards. You saw that Wolf seemed to be much better that Gorilla with his AK, as he fell on one knee and unleashed a burst that hit another thug in the chest, killing him instantly. With two of them having fallen in a matter of seconds, the rest seemed to recover some sense, and hid behind cover.

The situation kept spiraling out of control as you and Katsuo crawled as fast as you could. By this point, you noticed that you were the only clients left alive, apart from the gaijin, who by this point had emptied her magazine and had been forced to throw herself behind another table to reload.

There was the sound of crystal being broken, and you saw some guy with an eagle mask point a Steyr AUG towards the woman and start shooting. This time, you clearly saw her get nailed in the back by a bullet, but she seemed to shrug it off easily enough, spitting some blood as she cursed loudly. She suddenly got up, and shot thrice towards the entrance. The only reason any sort of resistance hadn’t been overwhelmed by now had been because her fire had kept the masks at the entrance portion of the establishment, but they wouldn’t remain there for long.

You saw that Lioness had gotten hit by this last burst, a hole opened in her stomach. She trembled for a moment, but seemed to push herself back up to keep fighting. They were starting to spread through the sides, trying to pincer her with their fire before she could escape.

She started running at a speed that seemed downright inhuman. Her destination was the same as yours: the back room.


Shiratori Kaguya
April 3^rd – Evening
Shinjuku, Streets – Near Yamagumi Bar

You heard Rei start crying in fear. Rinko remained in place, but her body seemed to have become completely frozen in fear, not obeying her will, her face locked into a rictus of panic.

“Kaguya…” Laura’s eyes opened as she realized what was going on, recognizing the sounds of gunshots… and understanding the situation just from that. Unlike you, she had watched enough violent movies to know what was happening. And she had enough common sense to understand in which kind of danger they were right now.

Yet, at the same time, she was confused and frightened, like you, incapable of keeping a cool head. In fact, given that she was at the bottom of the bundle you four had become, she was even incapable of doing anything to protect you. All she could do was wrap you in her arms, pushing your face against her shoulder.

“It’ll all be fine, nothing bad will happen…” she spoke vaguely comforting words in a tone far too frantic to be comforting, trying to convince herself more than anything else.

After all… when reality was brutally broken and you saw the strange incidents by yourselves… there was nothing you were able to do about it.

[Mormarth]

Masayoshi Kotetsu
April 3rd – Evening
Shinjuku, Streets – Yamagumi Bar

Our positioning was fortunate, we'd been close enough to the woman's position to avoid the first sweep, and far enough away to avoid unnecessary attention. My hunch had been proven correct, the initial barrage of fire was not the reckless act of a fool, they seemed to be intentionally killing everyone in the establishment.

They seemed better trained than thugs off the street, and even those idiots would know better than to needlessly involve civilians like that.

Too well-equipped to be civilian, too uncaring of causalities to be criminal.

Had I fallen into an action movie where some self-righteous foreign woman got a bunch of faceless extras killed in a tragic but ultimately almost pornographic display of violence and firearms?

Typical Americans.

To follow along with the twisted nightmare I'd fallen into, a group burst in through the rear door, our destination, naturally, they were members of our own organization, a hit like this on one of our places would warrant swift reprisal, now, logically, the police would have been here instead of them.

Instead, a bunch of goons swarmed in with more illegal firearms, spouted off something cliche and trite, and promptly started getting butchered like the others.

This entire situation was mindless, it made no sense, people didn't act like this.

People didn't take 50 caliber ammunition in the chest and crawl back up and keep fighting, or just duck out of fire for a moment and be completely fine.

Was this an action movie or one of those war glorifying shooters?

In the end, the goal had not changed, members of our organization remained alive, behind cover, and we still needed to leave.

[Katie]

Mizunoue Mizuki
April 3^rd – Evening
Shibuya, Otonokizaka High School – Literature Club room

“I’m merely performing my duty as a senpai by protecting Sakurauchi from your lecherous heart,” Mizuki said reflexively. If Tendou Touma wanted to fight back, then she would easily oblige. “I’m performing an act of altruism by not throwing you out as we speak, Tendou-kun.”

Even so, part of it was to distract her from that feeling she had forgotten something pivotal. There was something about her meeting with Sakurauchi Sakura, before break had ended, that evaded her. As someone who prided herself on responsibility and reliability, it did not sit well with her that she had merely forgotten some detail about the situation. Even so, she did not let that fact slip. There was very little point in discussing about what could not be remembered.

Thus, she had to focus on the unusual actions of Sakurauchi’s sister, whose words easily drove doubt into her heart. It was all too easy for this girl to betray them like the rest, and Mizuki would have none of that. Caution would be where it was due.

“Was there really a reason to look at your sister’s private belongings? As this is an investigation over why she fell into a coma, why would her personal memoirs be relevant to the matter? Based on the current spectrum of victims, it’s reasonable to conclude there really is no correlation…” Mizuki said it in a soft, reprimanding tone, but she was unsure of how to progress. People hid so much. The only two person she would trust was right next to her… and their duo was precariously close to becoming a trio, like many months before.

[Erlkonig]

Amano Kaede
April 3^rd – Evening
Bunkyo, Sakurai Apartments – Room 500

Kaede grit her teeth, almost struggling the moment Edmund grabbed her shoulders, but as he spoke to her calmly and logically, the fiery gaze with which she looked at him began to simmer down. "Yeah, I get it... You're right."

She shrugged Edmund's hands off her shoulders, falling back into her seat with an expression that could've been called guilty. She usually became like that after one of her episodes- It was no secret that Kaede had a short temper, and while she was quick to forgive and friendly as they came, it did not take much to rile the girl up, and her wrath when she became emotional was something to be feared.

But, in this case, that only made Kaede's guilt heavier. For fuck's sake, girl, he's the one with the badge. Kaede's hands, still balled into fists, only tightened. He trusts you enough to confide in you with this, blowing up won't just fail to achieve anything, it's also an insult to him...

"...Sorry for that. I just..." Kaede's voice broke for a second. "I'm so angry. At myself, at everyone... Yuuta's in a coma, and it's like you and I are the only ones who give a shit about it... And yet, we can't..." She paused, then, trying to get her voice back in control. "All I want... Is to be able to do something. But no matter how much I scream, how much I try to make myself heard... It's useless. I've never felt so useless before."

She bowed her head. "I don't want to fail him, Ed. Yuuta is all I have left. He's all I have ever had."

Edmund did not reply, but no words were needed. The hands that Kaede had shrugged off were quick to comfort the woman, as the detective pulled his friend into a tight hug.

Kaede did not cry, because she was stronger than that and the time for crying was long over.

But she was still glad that Edmund was there.

---

"So..." Kaede shuffled uncomfortably after the whole outburst, her stance now appearing more... Demure. After what had happened, it was clear the girl was making a conscious effort to keep her emotions in check.

She looked back at Edmund, who had once more settled to the couch in front of her, and bit her lip in nervousness before finally daring to speak.

"You said something about other leads..."