Chapter Text
Mahiru, dazed and confused, found herself waking up on the beach when the last place she remembered being was at school. Then, she and Nekomaru found an unconscious Sayaka bleeding out on the sand. And now, Nekomaru was screaming.
“Get a hold of yourself!” she yelled, “Freaking out isn’t going to save her! We need to stop the bleeding and get her to a safe place.”
“R-right.” He took off his jacket and started wrapping it around Sayaka’s stomach before tying it off. She winced, but didn’t wake up.
“I wish we knew where Mikan was,” Mahiru said as she looked around. She could catch glimpses of buildings past the trees inland, but the sun was making it hard to see.
“I wish we knew where anyone was,” Nekomaru said. She looked back to him carefully picking up Sakaya bridal style. “Actually…where are we ?”
“We’ll have to find someone to tell us. Come on, the sooner we do, the sooner we can get Sayaka some help.”
She heard his heavy footsteps dig into the sand behind her as they headed for the closest building.
As they rounded to the front, they realized that it was some sort of resort or hotel. There was a swimming pool in front of it and further back were smaller buildings. To the left was another building, though it looked boarded up.
"Hey! Up here!"
They looked up to see Teruteru and Gundham looking down at them from the hotel's balcony. Both looked unharmed, but they also appeared confused. Teruteru looked like he was seconds from having a heart attack.
"Thank goodness you two are here!" the cook yelled, "We got two people bleedin' out up here!"
Mahuri and Nekomaru shared a look before running up the stairs.
"Seems you two have also found a waning soul," Gundham said morbidly, "And she too hails from the same order."
"Same order? Bring her inside," she said as she waved Nekomaru in.
The top level appeared to be a dining area with several wooden tables and chairs. Gundham pointed to the floor, where two students, Leon and Chihiro, were lying. Chihiro was bleeding heavily from their head and Leon…he looked like he'd been beaten brutally. He was covered in blood, his face was swollen with bruising, and his arms and legs were bent weird.
"Who…what the hell is going on?!" Nekomaru struggled to say.
Mahiru herself was at a loss for words. She honestly wanted to cry. Why were these three attacked so viciously? "They need help…" she finally forced out, "Has anyone seen Mikan?"
"No," Teruteru said, "We just woke up. Did you guys-?"
"Yeah," Nekomaru said as he lowered Sayaka next to Leon, "And I've got a bad feeling we aren't the only ones. We should split up and-"
"We can't leave them here!" Mahiru said, gesturing to the injured, "They'll die!"
"I was getting to that! You and Teruteru should stay here and wrap them up as best as you guys can. Me and Gundham will try to figure out where the others are and bring them back here. This seems like the tallest building, so being in here means we’ll be less likely to be surprised if our kidnappers come back."
"They are as good as found," Gundham said as he headed for the door with Nekomaru.
"Bandages," Mahiru said as she looked around, "We could probably use some of these tablecloths, but we'll need to cut them into strips.”
"Knife!" Teruteru suddenly yelled, causing her to jump, "S-sorry. I meant we can use a knife. I think there's one back in the kitchen." He stood up and hurried to go look for one.
Once Nekomaru and Gundham walked down the stairs, they discovered another problem.
Gundham lifted his arms out in front of himself dramatically and called out, “Go fourth, my Twelve Zodiac Generals! Lead us to our mortal comrades.”
There was a pause as nothing happened. It only took Nekomaru a second to realize what was wrong. He’d been around the breeder long enough to know whenever he called his hamsters, they appeared.
Not this time.
“Cham-P?” Gundham called. He felt around in his scarf, then his jacket. “San-D? Maga-Z? Jum-P?!” He pulled his scarf off of his neck, something Nekomaru had never seen him do, and gripped it tightly when none of the hamsters appeared. “Who dares to separate The Great Overlord of Ice from his subordinates?!”
“Maybe they got separated from you when we were taken here.”
“Impossible! They are not allowed to leave my field of influence without my permission. Even if one were to slip into another realm, I would know of it.”
“If we were knocked unconscious, you wouldn’t have known.”
“No being is powerful enough to break a contract so tightly woven!! If my Dark Devas of Destruction are left without guidance, they will surely live up to their name. Even now, they are most certainly feasting on the body of the wretched worms who brought us here and commanding their offspring to do the same.”
“Maybe they’re with one of the others?”
“The only other being they would tolerate without my intervention would be the Dark Queen, but I highly doubt they would choose her over me. If they are with her, then her hold over them is surely strained by now. We must find them quickly.”
Nekomaru nodded and they started jogging. It seemed a little backwards to worry more about hamsters than their classmates, but he knew arguing with Gundham would only slow them down. Plus, he knew how important they were to him. He treated them better than he treated himself.
As they ran past the smaller buildings, he did a double take and stopped.
“Why are you stopping?” Gundham demanded, “Are we not in a hurry?”
He walked over to the mailbox and took a closer look. There was no doubt about it, that was a picture of Kazuichi! He looked over to the next one and it was a picture of Fuyuhiko. “Are these little houses supposed to be for us?”
As they were looking down the line, a door behind them flew open and someone stumbled out as though they had been thrown. She landed on her back with her legs hanging in the air.
“Mikan!” Nekomaru called as they ran over to her.
“I-I’m so happy you guys are okay!” Mikan said as the team manager helped her up, “I just woke up here a-a-and-!" She quickly ushered them both into the room. “She was in here when I woke up!"
On the bed laid someone wrapped almost head to toe in bandages. Fried black hair clung to their face from sweat. A ruined outfit and tangled hair laid in a pile at the end of the bed.
"The Mistress of Falsified Realities…" Gundham mumbled, "So the pattern continues."
"What are you talking about?"
"We've found people from our class and class 78," Nekomaru answered, “Teruteru and Mahiru are fine, so are we, but everyone we’ve found from 78 is badly injured.”
“Then I need to see them immediately. Can they be moved here?”
After remembering how broken Leon looked, Nekomaru shook his head.
The nurse hurried over to a desk and started to gather medical supplies into a bag. “Then I’ll go to them.”
Waking up in an unknown location didn’t scare Peko. It wasn’t uncommon for her training to include being kidnapped. As long as she could escape or kill her captors, she would survive. No, what unnerved her was that the last thing she remembered was being beside Fuyuhiko, and now she suddenly wasn’t.
Instead, she woke up in an empty airport. Standing at the window, she could see that it was on a beach and according to the position of the sun, it was early afternoon.
“So it’s likely been a day,” she said to herself. The last time she remembered was around lunchtime.
She turned to observe her surroundings and heard a crash. Immediately, she drew her bamboo sword. She heard the noise again, then an “ouch”, then someone emerged from a door. It was a larger person wearing a white suit and thin glasses. He was rubbing his head. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember where she had seen him. “Don’t move,” she called.
He immediately froze, then visibly relaxed when he saw her. “Peko! Oh, I’m glad I’m not the only one here.”
Peko squinted at him. She recognized the voice, but the appearance didn’t match it. “Ryota? Why do you look like that?”
He looked down at himself. “This…this isn’t…I…one sec.” He went back into the room he’d walked out of, then a minute later walked back out looking like Ryota. “That’s better.”
Now she remembered. That wasn’t the real Ryota, but an imposter. He took off his disguise right before they went to…do something. “My apologies. I didn’t recognize you at first.”
“To be fair, you still don’t.”
She nodded, then sheathed her sword. “Do you have any idea as to how we got here?”
“I…can’t remember, honestly. One moment, we were in class and then-”
“We’re here. Whoever kidnapped us must be skilled.”
“Kidnapped?”
“Clearly. As to why and where, I’m unsure.”
He walked over and looked out the large window. It looked out to the runway, where a plane rested. “Why an abandoned airport?” he muttered.
“We need to inspect our surroundings-”
“Wait, someone just walked out!”
Peko quickly joined him at the window. Walking down the stairs of the plane was their classmate, Nagito. He quickly spotted them at the window and waved both arms as though he wanted to get their attention.
She raised an arm in response.
He began frantically pointing toward the plane, then went back into it.
“What’s he trying to say?” the imposter asked.
“I’m not sure, but it seems important,” she said as she headed for the door.
Again, there was another bang.
“That came from where I was,” the imposter said, “I tripped over some bags when I was trying to get out here.”
Peko drew her sword again and headed for the sound. She hoped it was another classmate and even more so, Fuyuhiko. She opened the door and peered inside.
It was Sakura. She was leaning up against the wall and appeared to be tired.
“Ogami,” Peko said, “Are you alright?”
Slowly, the martial artist looked up. There was blood dripping out of her mouth and her face looked pale. She tried to stand straighter, but her eyes rolled and she fell against the wall.
Peko and Imposter moved quickly to help her sit on the floor.
“What’s wrong with her?”
Peko shook her head. “I don’t see any physical wounds. Can you hear me, Ogami?”
She seemed too out of it to speak.
“There you two are,” Nagito said at the doorway, “I thought you guys were coming to the plane.”
“We were,” the imposter answered, “But we found her and she needs help.”
“Oh, looks like we’re all heroes today,” he said, “I found someone injured in the plane with me as well.”