Inside the S-1 Mansion…
Dachii stared out of the window as he took in the horrific scene in front of him, almost star-struck.
"Ayana…?"
He stepped into the room, looking around before picking the blade up. "Great. What is this…"
The blade suddenly felt hot in his hands, and then it melted, mixing in with the puddle of blood. Dachii analyzed the blood puddle next.
"Did she get hurt…"
He noticed a trail of it led out the window, and he peeped out. The trail continued on the ground for a few feet, before abruptly ending. "Well then…"
He climbed up and out of the window, landing outside. Once he was on the ground, he started to follow the trail of blood. "Let's see where this goes…"
Fujii, meanwhile, stepped into Ayana's room. "Hey, Ayana! Just wanted to make sure you're feeling at home, and everything's okay—-!"
But then, he noticed what was going on inside her room. "The hell? What the hell happened here?"
Outside the mansion…
In the dark of the night, Dachii went walking down the driveway and down to the roads, where he noticed some bloody footprints on the ground.
"Hmm…"
The footprints led further down the road, where Dachii noticed a strip of tattered clothing, almost appearing like a piece of a robe. He picked it up.
"What is going on here…?"
After examining the piece, he noticed another trail of blood, this time leading around the corner of the street. Once he followed it, he spotted one last line of blood, leading into a small gray building, the door closed.
"Huh."
He scoffed and made his way to the door, finding that the handle was unlocked when he touched it. Then, he opened the door.
Meanwhile, inside the S-1 Mansion…
Aoki walked up the stairs, prepared to head into the bathroom. She stopped short of it when she saw Fujii, looking through the guest room door.
"Everything okay, sir?"
He jumped back, almost surprised. "Aoki! Didn't see you there! Yeah, everything is okay. Just fine! The new girl and Dachii are missing and it's a weird pile of blood in the middle of the room, but otherwise than that, things are peachy!"
Aoki's eyes widened and she rushed to look inside the room. "WHAT?"
Fujii nervously scratched his head. "Heh. I hope she didn't kill him. And vice-versa."
"Sir! We have to go out and look for them! We can't just let her be alone with Dachii!"
"Yeah, uh, I was getting to that. Grab the crew!"
Soon after, the Squad was outside, most of them tired and weary. Hikari ruffled her messy hair, yawning.
"What's the meaning of this? It's so late…"
Saori had a teddy bear in her hands, squeezing it with all her might. "Are we going out? Can we get some ice cream?"
"My back is so sore…" Marachii groaned.
Fujii pressed a button on his watch, and a sleek, technologically advanced car rolled up. "No time to waste, soldiers! Dachii and Ayana are missing!"
Akari and Hikari both groaned and shook their heads.
"What a coincidence," Akari scoffed.
"I KNEW something was wrong with her!" Hikari added.
"Time to save his life, again…" Luca remarked.
They all piled into the car, and Fujii reversed out of the driveway, driving slowly but deliberately. "Everyone keep your eyes peeled! They couldn't have gotten far."
Meanwhile, in another part of town…
Dachii entered the building, and the first thing he noticed was the music playing. Then, he noticed there was a form of disco ball hanging from the ceiling. The last thing he noticed was the dance floor, right before he saw that he wasn't alone.
"What the hell is THIS?"
He had walked into a club. Inside, there were a bunch of hooded figures, all dancing to strange but catchy music. There were a few mingling with each other off to the side, a few sitting at the nearby tables, but most were in the center, dancing on the floor.
"Is this the Masquerade…?" Dachii thought. "No, can't be. The hell is this? Some underground club? Why would Ayana come here? How?"
A bunch of hooded figures started dancing in a line, moving in rhythm to the music. Further inside, Dachii noticed one figure in particular, who was acting as a DJ, continuously increasing the tempo of the music.
"Break it down!"
Most of the members were too focused on the music and atmosphere to realize Dachii had entered the building. Dachii continued to stand, taking in what was happening.
"The hell is wrong with my life? Ahh, to hell with this…"
Before he could turn around and leave, a figure wrapped an arm around his shoulder, leaning closely in.
"Well, well! You're not supposed to be here, are you?" the figure spoke, with a voice that was undeniably a young man.
"Who are you…" Dachii flatly asked, the corner of his eyes barely acknowledging the person next to him.
The figure pulled back his hood, revealing a fair-skinned guy with long white and purple hair, and black eyes. He had a bright smile on his face. "Like the music? Great! My name is Masaru. You should probably put this on."
He handed Dachii a robe, and Dachii half-heartedly took it, slipping it on. "Yay. Now what…"
"You're looking for someone, aren't you?" Masaru asked. "Non-members don't usually stumble into this place."
"And this place is…?"
He grinned even wider. "Haven't you guessed it? It's a CULT."
"Wow. So shocking."
Masaru tapped his chin. "I wouldn't stay here too long, though. The people here are…strange. They're not like the ones you see out there."
"Then why ARE you here…?"
"My best friend, of course! She insisted I help her out!"
Dachii briefly analyzed Masaru, coming to a conclusion. "You're not part of this, are you…"
Masaru shook his head. "Smart! What gave it away?"
"Well for one, you look like a human."
"Oh. Heh, that's because I am! I come from Arkendale. Probably shouldn't have said that out loud, but who HONESTLY cares, really?"
He patted Dachii on the shoulder. "Well, I've gotta reunite with my interests! Best of luck, to you!"
He pulled his hood over his face and got onto the dance floor, dancing with the other strange figures.
"This place is weird," Dachii thought. "So, so weird. If Ayana's here, she definitely has some explaining to do. Or something."
The DJ continued upping the tempo of the music, and the crowd responded by dancing faster and faster until they began moving at speeds that Dachii even struggled to keep up with. Masaru even started to wavier, taking a minute to sit on the dance floor. The figures around him seemed to pay him no mind, continuing to dance.
"Well, time to go further inside…"
Dachii slipped through the crowd blocking his path, spotting a hallway at the end of the dance room.
"She's probably in there. I know how this goes."
He made his way into the hallway. Two robed figures appearing to be guards were standing at the door, but they didn't even flinch as Dachii walked past.
Inside the hallway, it was noticeably more cramped. There were numerous doors on either side of the hallway, but all of them were locked.
"Huh, maybe she's up those stairs?"
He took note of the stairs leading upward, and he walked up them, with two more robed individuals standing by as he did.
Once he was upstairs, he saw a large balcony that overlooked the dance floor at the bottom, where the members of the cult continued to dance. Masaru was still down there, now back to dancing himself.
"Where the hell could she be…!?"
There were various tables on the second-floor balcony, but most of them were occupied, the cult members sitting in them talking in a language Dachii couldn't hope to understand. At the far left, there was a figure sitting by themself in the back.
Dachii walked over to that table and sat down, staring at the cultist from under his hood. "Hello. Uh. Did you see a girl come in here not too long ago? She's a brown-skinned, black-haired human who usually walks around pretty guarded."
The cultist didn't respond. In fact, their stance didn't even change. Dachii waved his hand in front of the figure's face, but nothing happened.
"Oh, okay, I see. You're one of those. Alright. Whatever. I'm going."
He stood up, but once he did…
…the figure grabbed his arm with an unnatural speed, with an even more uncanny grip.
"What the—-?"
The figure slowly stood up, raising its head. "You…"
"…darkness…destroyer…DESTROYER…"
Dachii tried to pull his arm away, but the person under the hood had a tight grip.
"…DESTROYER…"
And then, the figure let out a terrible, inhuman scream, which immediately alerted all the other cultists.
"Oh, hell no, get your hands off now," Dachii demanded. "NOW."
But it was too late. By now, all the cultists had turned their attention to Dachii, with all the second-floor ones now standing up. The DJ stopped the music, and the lights inside the club shifted from bright and vibrant to dark red.
The cultists began to advance on Dachii, each repeating the same thing.
"Destroyer…destroyer…destroyer…"
Dachii ripped his hand away from the first cultist, who in turn responded by grabbing him by the scruff of his neck.
"Well," Dachii remarked. "This is beautiful…"
But before they could get too close…
WHOOSH.
The arm of the cultist holding Dachii fell to the floor, and its former owner stood in silence. As everyone stopped, a robed figure stood in front of Dachii, a blade raised.
"Get back!"
Dachii recognized the voice, and the figure threw off the robe, revealing herself to be Ayana.
"Oh. There you are, Ayana."
She turned to face him. "Dachii! You weren't supposed to follow me here!"
"I'm not supposed to do a lot of things."
As the cultists continued their advance, Ayana took Dachii's hand. "Shit. We need to leave. Come on, let's hit the first floor!"
"Okay."
She jumped down over the railing with him, landing on her feet and catching him. As they landed, the cultists below began to follow, repeating the words of the earlier cultist.
"Okay, you've triggered them. Not good," Ayana noted.
"And who are 'them?' This isn't some Saturday night party, I see. What's going on…"
She sighed. "I'll have to explain it to you later. But, in short terms, I didn't just come here for the Masquerade."
"Uh-huh. Continue…"
"This group of people, these 'cultists,' they've been hunting me and my family—-or what's left of it for a while now. They took my parents from me. I've tried to spy on them for a while now, to figure out their true identity and purpose."
"Huh…? Who are these people?"
"I think…they want to attack the Masquerade. They're looking for someone…someone important," Ayana replied.
"Someone like who?"
"They…they call him the destroyer. I don't know his name, but if you've triggered their hostility, then that means…"
"What? They want me…?"
"No! No. You probably just…remind them of him! I don't know! We have to go! Have you seen Masaru?"
"Yep. The weird dancing guy."
"That's him, alright. Also, he's standing right over there."
He pointed to the dance floor, where Masaru was still dancing, even as the music was turned off and all the other cultists were off the floor. He looked up, noticing Ayana.
"Ayana! Sweetheart! There you are! I'd almost thought you'd left without me. That wouldn't be very fun!"
Ayana groaned. "I see you've met Dachii."
"Of course. You should have told me you made another human friend. I'd have thrown you guys a party of my own! Offer still stands. You've never come to any of my parties in years."
"Are you guys best friends or is this your boyfriend?" Dachii asked.
They both awkwardly turned away, faces turning red as they both hurried to speak. "What? No, we're just friends!"
"Uh-huh," Dachii said, as a group of cultists scooped him up.
"And there he goes!" Masaru remarked. "Wow, he must have really set them off. I haven't seen them this mad in…forever!"
"Can you stop joking and HELP him?" Ayana insisted.
With a slam, Dachii knocked the first wave of them back, but more came to take their places. "Great. They're loaded."
"Hang on, Dachii! We're coming!" Ayana called out, as the cult pulled him further and further away.
As they started to drag him toward the back, a loud explosion of energy rattled the entire building.
BOOM.
And another.
BOOM.
The cult immediately dropped Dachii, all of them screeching and freaking out. As Ayana went to help him, another loud BOOM destroyed the entire front wall, and a car revved into the building.
"Nice, Akari! That's how you make an entrance!"
The car landed, and Dachii noticed his Squad inside the car.
"Yay. My friends have come to save me."
"Ooh, more friends?" Masaru wondered. "Tell me, do they like music and parties?"
"This isn't the time, Masaru!" Ayana interrupted.
Dachii looked around, noticing all the cultists were gone, and the building was now empty except for the three of them and Squad S-1. "Where did they all go?"
"They left," Ayana answered. "One of their bases has been found, and they don't want to leave a trace of their presence. Me and Masaru have to go now too. Please, Dachii. Don't tell them about anything you saw or heard here. I'm begging you. Even if they think something's off about me, you HAVE to keep this secret, can you promise that?"
"Sure," Dachii replied.
"Thanks," she said, giving him a hug. "See you at the Masquerade!"
"Ooh, a masquerade?" Masaru asked. "Am I invited?"
Ayana pulled him along. "No. Now come on!"
And they disappeared through the back hallways, and they were gone. Fujii and the others noticed Dachii by himself.
"There you are, Dachii pal!" Fujii exclaimed. "Now how did you get here?"
"Same way you got here," Dachii remarked.
"Right, right. Must have followed the blood. Where's Ayana? What the hell is this place?"
"I don't know," Dachii said. "She's not here."
"Looks like this used to be a club," Akari noted. "But for who?"
"Doesn't matter," Aoki responded. "Let's just grab our teammate and go. It seems risky just being in this place. And I don't like risks."
She grabbed Dachii's arm and pulled him toward the car. "Ow. Ow. You're pulling. You're pulling."
"Get in the car, child!"
"I'm fifteen. Not five."
While they bickered, Fujii looked around, checking out every angle of the place. "Hmm, something's not right here…"
As Aoki finally got Dachii inside the car, she called over to Fujii. "We're ready, sir!"
"Right, right."
He shook his head and walked back to the car, the feeling of unease never leaving him, even as he pulled out of the now-abandoned club.
And as they left, a figure, shrouded in the shadows, watched them, with glowing, dark gray eyes.
"…"
—-