Chapter Text
Today was as normal as any other for him in his teenage life. He went to school, met up with his friends and senpai's, hang out together, and proceeded to walk home with everyone.
And by everyone, he meant Mitsuba, Senpai, Amane senpai, Tsukasa senpai (though personally he never felt like one to him), Aoi senpai, Akane senpai, and Yamabuki senpai.
It was unusual for them all to walk home in such a big group, he wasn't even very close to some of them. Despite all that, it still felt normal.
But maybe that was a sign he was just too ignorant to notice.
Kou wondered what did he do in his past life for things to end up like this.
They had all stopped by a 'cultural carnival' that had been set up to reminisce about the past and give young people like them a chance to 'experience' what it was like by having them play all sorts of activities.
To be perfectly honest, this reminded him of everytime the school had 'History Week' where the students were tasked to decorate the school and make it look like whatever time period they had picked. Then the students would play games such as riddles, treasure hunting, and a bunch of other stuff.
He had no idea if the fake village the organizers had created was even closely accurate to whatever time period they were basing it off. But hey, the multitude of trees, old village huts, no pavement roads, and creepy villagers wearing terrifying oni masks and traditional clothing were definitely convincing enough to make him secretly wonder if they had actually traveled back in time instead.
Now if only he could finish up this activity...
"Are you done yet hella-lame-traffic-safety-earing?!!"
A flurry of pink powered shrieks summoned him back to reality.
"Huh? What-" his hands almost lost hold of the fine wooden splints he was holding and destroyed his work. Looking up, he only saw the bored face of his pink friend.
"Mitsuba." he uttered, annoyed. "How many times do I have to tell you not to randomly yell at my face?! I almost had to start all over again because of you!!!"
"It's not my fault that watching you try over again and again just to make a tiny little basket is boring." Mitsuba's hands grabbed onto something with such delicacy as he spoke.Immediately, a lovely picnic basket came into view. "You should really just leave these things for me to handle."
Kou rolled his eyes.
"We were supposed to make lanterns, not baskets." it took everything in him to not call his friend an annoying and cocky pink flamingo. "How did you even end up making that?" he couldn't deny what his friend made was beautiful "I thought your specialty was photography."
Mitsuba's chest puffed with pride as a smug smile formed onto his face. Kou groaned as he knew what was going to happen next.
"Well actually-"
"Kouhai, have you seen Ao-chan?" an all too familiar voice appeared out of nowhere. It was no other than Akane as we all expected. Standing next to him was Lemon, while in his grasp was a giant purple caterpillar plushie.
"No, I haven't see her Aoi-senpai. Wasn't she with with Senpai?" Kou ignored the annoyed and sulking Mitsuba in the background. Aoi-senpai came at the perfect time.
"Unfortunately not. We tried looking for Yashiro-san as well, but couldn't find her either." worry bloomed into his heart as he heard those words. He noticed how Aoi-senpai's grasp on the caterpillar plushie tightened
"Not to mention those twins who were with them are gone too." he added bitterly.
Oh. As much as that was technically bad news, Kou couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of relief knowing that Amane-senpai was probably with them. Everyone knew how Amane-senpai felt about Senpai. So even if they were in danger, he could at least depend on Amane-senpai to protect her- *cough cough* them from harm. Plus, if Tsukasa-senpai (that never felt correct to say) was with them as well, then that served as a double whammy too.
"Lemon and I even tried calling them, but none of them picked up their phones." and pointed to Lemon who was still trying "We'd try calling you two, but then we realized that we don't have your numbers. I'm extremely worried for Ao-chan's safety and plan on calling the police next."
He's only worried for Akane-senpai's safety, huh? Typical Aoi-senpai.
"Why don't we try find them together first?" Kou suggested.
"Together?"
"Yeah, together. This carnival is pretty big. Maybe the four of them got lost somewhere? Plus, maybe because it was set up to be like someplace in the past, they decided to have poor connection too."
Akane's eyes focused onto him like a shark wondering if he was worth being prey before answering "Alright, searching together isn't a bad idea. Though I'm quite sure we already searched everywhere. Maybe there's someplace we left behind." and turned around to begin their search. "And if the they did intentionally make the connection bad here for the sake of sticking to the theme, they must be beyond stupid." Akane grumbled.
"Or maybe they just really, really wanted to stick to it." Even though deep inside he secretly agreed, Kou didn't want to think so negativly about the organizers for that. "C'mon Mitsuba, Let's go look for our senpai's!" and pulled Mitsuba away from the activity station.
"H-hey! Stop pulling me so roughly hella-lame-traffic-safety-earing!" the pink boy screamed while quickly grabbing hold onto his newly weaved basket.
"Do you have to call me that everytime you cocky pink flamingo??!"
"Did you just call me a flamingo?!"
Ignoring his kouhai's fighting in the background, Akane turned to Lemon.
"Anything?" he asked hopefully.
"Nope." his best friend answered bluntly. "With how many times I've called them, I wonder if they all put their phones on silent."
"What? How could you come to that conclusion?"
"Remember that meditation activity where we all had to put our phones on silent to avoid distractions?" a mini flashback of the eight of them trying out that activity earlier today came to mind.
"Oh yeah. That one." Akane felt a little silly for forgetting that. How could he? It was a complete disaster after all. And it all began because Yugi Tsukasa couldn't stay still nor do as he was told.
Perhaps this was because he was so used to it at school, that somehow it became a normalcy for him. Thank god he wasn't Amane. He might've lost his marbles if he was responsible for such a troublesome and chaotic little brother.
"There is absolutely no way that Yugi-san brought his brother to do that activity again. Nuh-uh." he messaged his temples just thinking of the mere thought. He needed to forget about that disaster. Time to for him to move on. "Where else haven't we looked for anyway?
"I dunno." he shrugged.
Akane let out a sigh of annoyance and frustration "If that's the case, then let's go ask the staff. Maybe they'll know something."
...
"Excuse me miss, but have you seen a girl with purple eyes, and hair tied into pigtail loops around here?" started Akane "She's about this tall, beautiful, and has the prettiest smile-"
"We're also looking for three others." Kou cut in quickly before Akane continued to ramble about Aoi forever and completely forget about the others. "Another girl with long light cream colored hair that ends with soft teal tips with magenta eyes, and a pair of identical twin boys that have dark brown hair and amber eyes."
"That's how your describing Radish-Senpai?" Mitsuba asked from behind. "You should've brought up her radish legs. Then it'd be easier for her to recogniz-"
"Shh Mitsuba! Now's not the time!"
"Oh..." The woman in front of them was tall, and had flowy violet hair and had pale blue eyes. Her yukata consisted of pale blue with magenta hues. "Have you not been able to contact them?"
"We tried." answered Lemon "We called their numbers many times, but they never picked up even once. We even tried looking for them ourselves, but no luck."
"That is very unfortunate." she frowned "But worry not. I think I have an idea on where they could be."
The atmosphere lightened up as the woman broke into a smile.
"Follow me." she called "Just now, I may have seen the ones who you wish to find."
...
"So where are we going exactly, miss?" the five were walking together towards whatever location the woman was bringing them to when Akane decided to open his mouth.
"The location to another activity of course~" the woman smiled while beams of light seemed to surround her. "Earlier, when I saw your friends there, I figured that they were participating in it as well. It may be a short one, but it doesn't mean it's any less significant. Everyone knows that your experience here isn't complete unless you do it~"
After a while of walking, they had arrived at the front of one of the villagers houses. This one in particular was much larger and grand than the others surrounded by all sorts of flowers and plants.
"Woah..." Kou gasped at the sight. It was beautiful to see such a house. So breathtaking yet...
Suffocating..?
It gave off such a warm and hostile vibe.
Surely the inside would be just as deadly lovely.
"How grand." commented Mitsuba as he took a photo.
"Cool." Lemon began recording the scene.
"It sure took us a while to get here." said Akane to the woman. "I didn't even know that this place was here. If Ao-chan really is here, no wonder I haven't been able to find her." before shortly bowing "Thank you for guiding us here."
"Thank you for your help!" Kou joined in while making Mitsuba forcibly bow along.
"You're welcome." she smirked "I'm glad to be of help."
"Why's this place so hidden anyway?" Lemon asked as the five of them headed their way inside "This place is so far away from the other activities. If this activity is such a must to do, then why is it so hard to find?" the rooms were full of light, but no one else was there other than the five of them. Lemon walked around as he continued to record the walls, statues, or whatever furniture there was.
"If you didn't guide us here, I don't think we'd ever be able to find it."
CLICK-CLACK!!!
"Eh??!"
"Huh?!"
"What was that??!"
The boys turned around to see door they entered being closed shut behind them with the woman no where to be seen.
"What happened??!!!" Mitsuba cried tearfully as he held onto Kou as the lights died.
Akane calmly approached the shut door and inspected it.
"Looks like she locked us in." he said with an annoyed tone.
"That was quick." commented Lemon as he zoomed in his phone onto Akane. "Even if she did, how'd she do it so fast?" talking as if they weren't currently in a potentially dangerous situation right now.
"Why'd she lock us in here???!!!" Mitsuba tightened his hold to Kou's arm. "What does she want from us???!!!!!"
"I can think of some possibilities." Glasses began "One, she lied to us, and decided to lock us up in here as a sick prank. Or two, this actually part of the 'activity' she was talking about and now it's our turn to play it."
"Or three, this whole 'cultural carnival' is all just a kidnapping ring in disguise in order to lure in victims." Lemon casually added.
The three boys stared at him with petrified horror.
Lemon clearly didn't understand the gravity of his words.
"Waaahaa! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO???!! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO???!! AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"
"Calm down, Mitsuba!" said Kou while trying to separate Mitsuba from his arm. "You're going to crush my arm!"
"WAAAAAAAA!!!!! WE'RE GETTING KIDNAPPED THEN SOLD, THEN NO ONE'S GONNA FIND US AGAIN!!!!!!!"
"Let. Go. Of. My. Arm!"
Meanwhile in another corner...
"If this is an actual kidnapping ring, then, then, then, then-" Akane pulled his hair in frustration while Lemon watched.
"AO-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!"
He wondered what he said wrong.
...
"Okay, okay, so since we've all finally calm down, let's think of what we should do." a visibly shaking Akane said towards all of them. Though in reality it looked like he was actually trying to lie to himself to cope.
"First, let's not assume the worst, and actually look for a way out of here." his lazer focused gaze on Lemon did not go unnoticed. "I've thought of a plan for us to do. We'll search for clues in pairs. Me and Lemon are going to check out the right side of the house, while you two kouhai check out the left side. Find anything you can, and if we don't find anything, I'm calling the police."
"Any questions?"
"Um, why do I have to team up with hella-lame-traffic-safety-earing?" questioned the pink one.
"He's your friend, isn't he?" Akane replied as he and Lemon went their way. "Plus, I don't want to deal with annoying kouhai's who aren't capable of keeping their mouths shut."
"I'm not annoyin-"
The door was slammed shut before Mitsuba could finish.
"I can't believe I'm stuck with hella-lame-traffic-safety-earing..."
"Stop calling me that!" defending himself from continuously being called such a nickname was tiring "It's time for us to go check out our part of the house." and pulled Mitsuba away.
There wasn't much to check as the rest of the house was in disastrous condition. At least, the places they checked. Everything around them was either rotten, decomposing, or turning to dust. As if the whole place was abandoned long ago. The litte furniture there was so old they'd definitely collapse if touched. (Not that they were speaking from experience or anything.)
All the windows were closed shut, and they couldn't find any alternative way out either.
"We're doomed if this really is a kidnapping ring." muttered a hopeless Mitsuba. "They're going to sell us, and let whoever buys us to use us in porn!"
"Stop talking about that! You always say that!" snapped Kou "Has it always been a secret wet dream of yours to be used in porn?!"
"Nothing like that is going to happen." he assured while opened the door to a room they haven't checked yet. "This isn't a kidnapping ring, and nobody, absolutely nobody, is going to be used in por-"
Any positive thought Kou had was instantly massacred as soon as the door was wide open.
He was frozen, paralyzed even, while his brain tried to process if what he was seeing was even true. His breath hitched, while a sickening pit of dread rapidly formed and took over him. Feelings of pure horror were forcibly injected into his veins before inevitably, hedropped to his knees, as his eyes continued to bask in the horror like he was some sort of masochist.
IfeelsickIfeelsickIfeelsickIfeelsickIfeelsick-
He couldn't hear Mitsuba's prolonged terrified shrieks, nor could he hear the concerned voices and footsteps of their senpai's heading their way.
All his attention was devoted to the uniforms laying on the floor.
Specifically, the school uniforms.
There were two pairs of cream colored sailor dresses along with two pairs of light blue shirts with cream colored pants of the same exact size laying crumpled on the floor. The fishlike ties were there, a pair of knee length socks were there... A pair of stockings were too. Not to mention the four pairs of all too familiar shoes...
(If he focused hard enough, maybe he'd be able to ignore the skull brooch that stuck out from the pile...)
Everything but the owners of said uniforms were there....
He swallowed down the nausea begging to get free. Ignoring all the sudden screams filling the room.
His ears were ringing and before he knew it...
Darkness overtook his vision too....