Manami opened her eyes and found herself in a strange place. How did she even get here? It was slowly coming back to her…
She was with her best friend, but for whatever reason now she couldn't remember his name or what he looked like. The world had suddenly turned upside down— literally. She began to fall, but instead of falling down to the ground, she fell upwards towards the sky.
She now found herself standing within the clouds, with a shining bright sun in the distance. Manami tried to make sense of how she got here, and how she would get down… but then, an unfamiliar voice spoke.
"So much to do… so little time."
"..?" Manami looked around, wondering where the voice came from. She seemed to be the only one here.
"Take your time. Don't be afraid."
"I'm not…"
"The door is still shut."
"Huh?" Manami looked around again. "What door?"
"Step forward. Can you do it?"
"…" Manami looked down to where her feet would be— but she couldn't see them past the clouds. She hesitantly lifted a foot and extended it out.
The moment her foot touched the "ground", the clouds around her dissipated, revealing a mirror-like "floor" that reflected the sky around her.
"Whoa..!"
Now that she knew she was on some kind of surface, Manami slowly took a few more steps forward, but then stopped once more.
Where could she even go? There was nothing— or no one— here.
She suddenly felt rumbles under her feet, making her stumble. She looked over to see something appear nearby, looking as though it rose from under the reflective surface.
"Power sleeps within you..."
Manami felt rumbles again and looked the opposite way to see a similar shape rise.
"If you give it form…"
And a third shape rose in front of her.
"It will give you strength."
Manami noticed that these things around her were like pedestals, and different weapons floated above each of them. A sword, a shield, and a staff. She slowly approached each pedestal to inspect the weapons, as well as read the plaques on the pedestals…
"The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction."
"The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all."
"The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin."
"Choose wisely."
Manami once again looked around to find the source of the voice, but to no avail. It seemed that the only way things would progress was to choose a weapon.
She looked at each weapon once more, but quickly decided to approach the sword and grab it by the hilt.
After all, the sword was what she always chose in the video game RPG's she played.
"Your path has been set."
Manami watched as the pedestals sunk back under the surface, but noticed something dark nearby… it looked like a shadow, but who would it belong to if she was the only one here?
"There will be times where you have to fight."
"Huh?" Manami gasped when she noticed the shadow rise and take form. It looked almost like an overgrown insect, with long antennae and buggy yellow eyes… except that they were glowing. She took a step back when the creature slowly started to approach her.
"Keep your light burning strong."
The monster suddenly lunged at her, and Manami instinctively swung the sword in her hand in an attempt to block it. While she failed to block, she successfully slashed it and it dissipated.
But Manami quickly turned to see another shadow emerging from behind her.
"Gah?!" She quickly jumped back and slashed at it, effectively destroying it. She looked all around, keeping her battle position, until she noticed a door appear behind her.
"The day you will open the door is both far off and very near."
"..?" Manami slowly approached the door, reaching with her free hand to touch it.
"You mean this door..?"
But, before she could touch it, the door cracked open on its own, revealing a bright light that was so intense that she had to close her eyes.
When she opened them, she was no longer in the middle of the sky. This place was now familiar, she recognized the cityscape of her hometown, as well as the pier where she and her best friend— whose name she still couldn't remember fully right now— would often hang out.
Except she was far beyond the pier, standing atop the ocean water. How was this possible?!
Though, when she looked out the opposite way from the pier, she could see the sun about to touch the horizon. It was about to set…
"The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes."
Suddenly, as the sun finally dipped under the horizon, the ocean turned a murky dark black. Something began to emerge from the water, and Manami got her sword ready. She expected one of those little insect-like shadows again, but was surprised to see the monster getting bigger… and bigger…
Until it stood over twenty feet taller than she was.
"Don't be afraid."
Manami somehow found comfort in those words and went to charge at the giant monster. She slashed at it's legs, and even managed to climb it's arms and attack it's face.
"You hold the mightiest weapon of all."
"HA!" Manami slashed again into the monster's face, before it suddenly shook her off, grabbing her and slamming her down to the ground.
"!" Under her, she could feel the dark ocean water. It was shiveringly cold, and she could feel herself slowly sumberging. She struggled to break free of the monster's grip, but to no avail.
The water covered her mouth and nose, and she struggled for air… then struggled for consciousness.
As she blacked out, she heard the voice speak one more time…
"Don't forget… you are the one who will open the door."
"GAH!"
Manami shot straight up, panting heavily like she had just been saved from drowning at the last possible moment. At her bedside, her cell phone was ringing, vibrating harshly on the wooden surface that was her nightstand.
With one hand, Manami went to reach for her phone, while reaching with the other to hold her chest as she caught her breath.
"H-Hello...?"
"Manami!" She recognized the voice immediately. It was her best friend, His name rung crystal clear in her mind: Kai.
"Where are you?" He asked, worriedly. "I thought you'd be at the carnival today! Is everything okay? Was there an emergency? You're not sick, are you?"
At that moment, Manami looked to the digital clock on her nightstand to see that she was waking up almost an hour and a half after she was supposed to.
"U-Uh... I'm actually almost there!" Manami lied, jumping up from bed and quickly reaching for the first clothes she could find on the floor and changing into them.
On the other end of the line, she could hear Kai take a sigh of relief. He was standing just outside the carnival.
"Alright, good." He said, sounding relieved. "For a second I thought maybe you were under the weather. I don't think I'd be able to enjoy the summer carnival without you around. We were BOTH looking forward to it after all. Especially since they got some new stuff we gotta check out!"
Manami had taken that time of Kai talking to brush her teeth. She went to run towards the front door, grabbing her wallet and phone charger that she had left for herself on the side table.
Manami bolted out the door and dashed down the road. She lived in a city, but it was right on the coast. While running down to the pier, where they held the annual summer carnival, she ran parallel to the shoreline.
Manami was a fourteen year old girl with brown hair that grew down to the middle of her back, and she also had matching brown eyes. She primarily enjoyed playing video games and hanging out with her best friend, Kai. She was a fairly laid-back person, but was always one to speak her mind when the necessary times arose.
"Don't worry about me, Kai. I'm feeling great!" She assured her best friend.
Despite her saying this, Kai could hear her audibly panting from the other side of the line.
"Well, if you say so…" He hummed. "You are breathing a little heavy there. Well, I made sure to pay for admission for two, so I already got you covered!"
"Aww, Kai! Thank yo— WHOA!"
HONK!
Manami had gone to cross the road without looking, and was only a few inches from being getting hit by a car. She waved with her free hand while wearing a sheepish grin, though she didn't really have time to stop and apologize and kept running.
"Breathing heavy?" Manami said to Kai. "Your service choppy? I'm fine!"
She turned a corner and could see the carnival in the distance. She ran for the entrance, where she could see Kai up ahead.
"Really?" Kai asked. "It's something on my end? Strange... well, either way I'm not going anywhere. Hopefully I'm some place you can see me."
"Yup, I can see you!" Manami thought to herself, as she ran to approach him from behind. She skidded to a stop right next to him.
"I'M HERE!"
Kai turned his head to see his best friend, sweaty and absolutely panting. He wasn't going to say anything, but… then he saw her bed head.
She forgot to brush her hair.
"..." Kai sighed, going to hang up his phone. "You overslept, didn't you?"
"What? NO!" Manami put her hands on her hips. "What makes you say that?!"
"... I don't mean to alarm you, buuuuut…." Kai pointed to his hair, meaning that she needed to look at her own.
"..?" Manami quickly pulled out her cell phone to turn on the front facing camera and look at herself. It was incredibly obvious that she didn't brush her hair.
"..." Manami put the phone back in her pocket, wearing a straight face. "It appears that I didn't brush my hair during the several hours I was definitely awake."
Kai smiled nervously. "Well, good thing I have a brush in my bag for such an occasion, but let's get inside first."
The two friends approached a ticket taker and handed him their tickets. After getting a weird look from the ticket taker and walking inside, Kai went through his bag to find the hairbrush and hand it to Manami.
"Thanks…" Manami gave him a sheepish smile and went to brush her hair.
Kai and Manami met in pre-school, and were best friends since. Kai had jet black hair, and eyes that were a similar brown to Manami's. Though he stood an inch or two taller than her, Kai was a much more soft spoken and gentle person than Manami.
His strengths were on the inside, with his smartness and kind nature. On the outside, he appeared frail and sometimes weak in comparison to Manami— and he was often bullied because of it.
Thankfully, Manami would come around at the best times and fend off any threats.
Manami looked around, seeing the hustle and bustle of the festivities. It definitely looked like there were more stands at this year's carnival, which meant only one thing— more stuff to do!
After Manami finished brushing her hair and handed the brush back to Kai, they walked down the first line of stands, playing games along the way.
They stopped at a stand that had a ring toss, but Manami noticed that Kai was looking at the prizes. In particular, he was looking at a necklace.
It was a bright green crystal, shaped like a crescent-moon. Next to it was a matching crystal necklace, but this one was blue, in the shape of a star.
"You kids wanna toss some rings?" The attendant at the stand asked, gesturing to the different colored bottles.
The outer bottles were green, then the inner bottles were yellow. In the center, there was a single red bottle.
"Sure!" Manami answered, and the attendant handed her some tossing rings.
"Which one do I gotta land for a necklace?" She asked, pointing specifically to the necklace Kai was looking at.
Kai looked between her and the necklace. Did she want the same necklace that he wanted..? He would've let her have it, of course, but… he couldn't help but feel a little bad because he wanted it, too.
"The yellow bottles, or the center red bottle." The stand attendant replied to Manami.
"Pretty tough to land 'em."
"I got this!" Manami said confidently, going to toss her first ring. It bounced immediately off the rim of a yellow bottle and fell to the side.
"... okay, for real this time!"
She threw another ring, and missed. She ended up tossing all of her rings, missing each and every one... terribly.
"..."
"Sorry, miss."
Kai stepped forward to pat Manami on the shoulder. "I-It's okay Manami! If it helps, maybe I can try? I mean, it can't hurt, right?"
He then looked to the stant attendant and cleared his throat.
"Hey, can I have a go?"
"Sure thing, kid! Have all the tries 'ya like!" The attendant said, handing Kai several rings.
Kai took a moment to mentally prepare himself as he looked over the bottles. He then went to throw his first ring, and missed. He tried throwing several more and missed each and every one.
"..." Kai started getting embarrassed and frantic, only thinking about Manami witnessing him fail over and over, despite that he also watched her fail at throwing the rings.
He let out a small whine before closing his eyes and throwing the last ring in his hand, and…
CLING!
He opened his eyes, to see that the ring was not only on a bottle, but… it was on the red bottle in the very center.
Kai stared at the ring, his eyes growing wide. "E-Eh? I... I did it?"
He jumped when he heard Manami squeal and was suddenly taken by the shoulders.
"You didn't just do it, you got the HARDEST one!" Manami cried, shaking his shoulders and bouncing in excitement.
The stand attendant chuckled and turned towards the jewelry.
"Winning the prize for the lady?" He said, giving Kai a small smirk.
"W-What do you mean?" Kai smiled, his cheeks turning a small shade of pink.
"I mean, if she wants it, I have no problem with it. Really!"
Manami shot a glance to Kai, her brow raised. She wanted to win the necklace because he wanted it, not her…
"Well, since you got the center ring, I'll hook you both up with a prize. How's that?"
"Really?!" Manami gasped as the attendant grabbed up both the moon and star necklaces, and went to dangle them in front of the kids.
Manami reached first and, to Kai's surprise, took the star necklace. She went to put it on, then noticed that Kai was looking at her.
"... something wrong?" She asked, suppressing a grin that would've given away her intention of letting him have the necklace that he wanted.
"N-No! Of course not!" Kai quickly assured her. "Um... I'll be taking this one. Thanks!"
Kai took the moon necklace and put it around his neck. He looked down at the sparkling green crystal, looking quite pleased with himself.
Manami couldn't help but smile at his expression, and they thanked the attendant as they walked away. They didn't walk far before Manami caught a whiff of barbecue.
"You hungry?" She asked. "I am."
"Yeah, I can eat! That barbecue does smell good." Kai replied with a grin.
"Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to find a churro cannoli stand. Those things are rare!"
Manami and Kai had gotten their food and went to sit at their favorite spot: the pier. Whenever they could, they liked to sit here together and watch the sun set, usually while eating ice cream or popsicles.
Today, they ate kabobs— and to Kai's enjoyment, there was a stand that sold churro cannolis, too.
After eating their kabobs, Kai was eating his sweet treat while Manami was holding her star necklace up as the sun was about to start setting.
"I love the way this crystal sparkles when you hold it up to the light!" Manami said, grinning as she admired the beauty of the shining crystal.
Kai gave a nod, only able to hum in agreement since his mouth was full. He swallowed as quick as he could so that he could respond.
"I know! Aren't they great?" He grinned at her. "These kinds of accessories are simple, but they're striking and go with everything. Plus the fact that ours kind match is a nice bonus."
Manami scoffed. "We WOULD be best friends for almost a decade and just now get matching necklaces."
'Yeah, I know!" Kai laughed. "A lot of other people I knew have came and went over the years but... you're the only one who never drifted from me."
Kai took another bite of his churro cannoli and then noticed that Manami had gotten quiet. He looked over to see her looking out to the sunset, looking lost in thought.
"Something wrong, Manami?" He asked, after swallowing his bite.
"... no," Manami forced a smile to him. "It's just…"
She seemed to be having trouble finding her words, and looked back out to the sunset again.
"Every year, I always have a little bit of dread because the carnival is always on the last day of summer. We always have to go back to school the next day. But... I mean, remember how nervous we were when we were leaving elementary school and getting ready to go to junior high? And now we're starting high school tomorrow…"
"Oh yeah…" Kai nodded. "I won't lie, I'm nervous too."
There was a pause before he spoke again.
"But hey, it can't be that different, right?" He asked her. "Besides, we're still going to the same school together... It's not so bad, right?"
Manami thought about that for a moment. "Yeah... you're right." She smiled, feeling a little better. She then looked down to the crystal star in her palm.
"Let's make a promise…" She looked up at him. "That we'll always be friends. That, even when we grow up, we won't grow apart."
Manami smiled as she held up her necklace to the sunlight once again. "These necklaces will be the symbol of that promise!"
"Really?" Kai asked, going to hold up his moon necklace next to hers so that he can also see it glisten in the sunlight.
"..." He smiled, feeling his eyes water a little. He let out a light sniffle. "I'd actually really like that."
He looked over to her, still smiling. 'You're my best friend, Manami. And... it would be an honor if I could stay yours, no matter where life takes us."
Manami smiled from ear to ear after he said that, and she used the arm that wasn't holding the necklace up to wrap around his neck and give him a tight hug, almost making him drop his cannoli.
"Alright…" Manami said. "Then it's a promise! Best friends 'till the end!"
"Mm!" Kai nodded, also using his free arm to wrap around Manami's shoulders and hug her back.
"Best friends 'till the end, Manami!"
After watching the sun set, Manami and Kai returned to the festivities. Nearby, they could see a stand displaying a bunch of trinkets and oddities. In front of it there stood a tall boy with wavy blonde hair that covered one of his eyes.
Just as Manami was looking at him, he turned his head and his grey eyes met her chocolate ones. He gave her a gentle smile, which made her cheeks burn for a reason she wasn't entirely sure about.
The blonde boy approached the two of them. "Hey now... from your necklace I can see that you're a lady with very sophisticated tastes! Perhaps you'd like to see our traveling antique shop…" He gestured behind him.
"Treasures and knick-knacks from distant lands that the world has never seen. You might find something you like."
Before Manami or Kai could respond, a shorter boy with matching blond hair and a strange green fusion of a headband and hat peeked out from behind. He looked just a bit nervous, as if he was trying to put a smiling act on.
"Just letting you know that the items behind glass aren't for sale... not yet anyway." He said, softly. "Those are for an auction we're holding later on... but you can go see them if you wish!"
The older blonde patted the shorter on the head. "That's right! You best go see those marvels while they're on display now. If you have any questions, my name is Russell, and this is my brother, Fletcher."
"..." Kai raised a brow suspiciously. "I don't like this guy... he looks sleez—"
Just then, an older woman with short strawberry blonde hair stepped out and stood next to everyone at the entrance.
"Oh, hello there handsome!" She greeted Kai. "Maybe you and that friend of yours might be interested in taking a look at our antiques? You know, what we have is so elusive we might as well also be a traveling museum. I'm sure you can find something for that special friend of yours!"
She winked to Kai, who just stood there blushing intently. Unfortunately for him, he was never been the type to turn down a pretty face.
"WEEEEEELL, when you put it that way... um... maybe we should give this place a little looksee…"
Manami gave him an unamused look. Kai nervously rubbed the back of his head.
"Who knows, we might um... see something cool?" He said, with a bashful chuckle.
Manami rolled her eyes and stepped forward first to go inside and look over the items.
"Distant lands, huh..?" She asked in a whisper, that only Kai could hear. "I highly doubt that…"
"Hey, won't hurt to look!" Kai whispered back to her.
"You were just about to say that the first guy looked sleezy…" Manami said, earning a nervous chuckle from him.
They looked around, and saw that most of the items seemed to be charms, jewelry, and accessories from cultures that looked... very unfamiliar to them.
If anything, they looked more like props from movies and tv shows... or things cosplayers would buy. It all just looked like works of fiction rather than anything from real world countries.
"Huh…" Kai leaned down to look at what looked like an action figure. "Are these from like, old TV shows or something? Who the heck is 'All Might'?"
"Look at this head band," Manami pointed out. "What's the weird swirly logo on the metal part?"
"... what are we even looking at?" Kai asked her.
Manami shrugged, and they went further back to see things that looked like armor and weapons behind glass.
One of the weapons stood out out from the rest. It looked like... a giant key?
"... well... that's... different?" Kai said, as he looked closer at it.
Manami snickered while also looking at it. "I'd hate to have that thing on my key ring. What a BIG door that must open."
"I'm starting to wonder if they made all this stuff themselves…" Kai mumbled.
"I really doubt some ancient culture ran around whacking people with giant keys."
"Yeah," Manami agreed, shaking her head. "Wanna get out of here?"
"Yeah…" Kai nodded. "Seriously, this stuff is a bunch of ju—"
Right then, he noticed a tan-skinned girl with long dark brown hair and a tuft of pink hair. She seemed to be upkeeping everything, but she then noticed Manami and Kai.
"Are you enjoying what you're seeing so far?" She asked, smiling kindly.
Kai smiled back in a dopey way as his face went red.
"Why yes! All of these things are absolutely fascinating. You have quite the wonderful collection!"
"Seriously..?" Manami groaned.
"He's such a sucker when it comes to women…"
In that moment, another girl stepped out— this one with darker skin and her hair tied in a tight bun at the back of her head. She also seemed to be wearing a large armored gauntlet on her left arm.
"Well, if this stuff is so interesting, then how about getting something?" She asked.
"Actually," Manami interjected. "We were just about to leave—"
"This looks like it would suit you!" The gauntlet girl said over Manami, pulling out a strange ball that's red on top and white in the middle. When she offered it to Kai, she pressed the button in the middle and it grew in size to fit completely in her palm.
Kai was rendered once again flustered and bashful in the presence of another girl. While he was distracted, Manami felt the urge to look back at that weird key in the display case.
Something about it seemed kind of... compelling.
She stepped up to the glass, getting close enough to read the information just beneath the display case.
"This Key is said to have magic powers. Only those with strong hearts are worthy to wield it."
"..." Manami scoffed, shaking her head. This had to be either superstitions from an ancient culture that didn't have science, made up words meant to sell it to gullible people... or both.
"Whatever…"
Manami turned to look at the other weapons on display, but glanced back to notice that the giant key had disappeared!
"Huh..?" She looked around for a moment before realizing... the key was now gripped firmly in her hand!
"?!" Manami almost yelled out in surprise, but caught herself in time. None of the others had noticed this happening yet.
"Okay, just play it cool…" She thought. "I'm just gonna put this back riiiight here…"
Manami slowly and silently reached to set the key next to the glass casing. Once she set it down, she quickly pulled her hand away from it, like it was infected.
"... phew…" She went to wipe the sweat from her brow, only to realize the keyblade was back in her hand.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
She immediately saw the gauntlet girl look over, and Manami instinctively hid the key behind her back.
"..?" The gauntlet girl raised a brow suspiciously, but didn't seem to notice the key behind her back… but she did notice that the display case was empty.
"What the... HEY! It's gone!"
"H-Huh?" Kai blinked, snapping out of his infatuation with the other girls. "What's gone? Wait, wasn't there something in there just a second ago?"
"Uhh…" Manami began to sweat.
"But that's not possible!" The girl with the pink tuft of hair cried. "Where could it have gone?"
The two girls then went to walk over to Manami, who was shrinking in intimidation.
"Excuse me, but did YOU see where the weapon in this casing went?" The girl with pink hair asked her.
"Did anyone suspicious walk in here? Did you see ANYONE take it and leave?"
"Wait a sec…" The gauntlet girl then reached behind Manami and pulled out the giant key, making everyone gasp.
"What are you doing with THIS?" She asked with a frown.
Just as Manami opened her mouth to respond, the key disappeared from her hand, and appeared back into Manami's.
Everyone stared at Manami in disbelief.
"What the... Manami, how'd you do that?" Kai asked.
"I don't know!" Manami sputtered. "It just—"
"Never mind!" Kai cut her off. "Just... give it back to them, please!"
"Russell! CLARA!" The girl with pink hair cried. "WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"
"Wait!" Manami held up her hands. "This makes just as much sense to me as it does to you!"
She then went to offer the key to the girl. "Look, PLEASE take it! I don't know what's going on, but I don't want this!"
"Rose? Paninya?" They all heard Russell call, and they could hear footsteps quickly approaching.
"What's going on? What kind of problem? What's going—"
He stopped the moment he saw the giant key in Manami's hands.
"What the... hey, put that back this instant!" He yelled at her. "That is a valuable antique you're holding!"
"How did she get it anyway?" The strawberry blonde, known as Clara, said from behind him.
"There's no cracks or holes on the glass, and the top is still bolted down so she couldn't have lifted it either. Color me impressed!"
"I swear, this is one big misunderstanding!" Kai insisted. "M-Manami would never steal!"
He then looked back to her. "J-Just give it back to them, okay?"
"I'm trying!" Manami snapped. "But when I do… well, you saw! Let me try again..."
Manami offered the key to Rose, who cautiously reached to take it… but the moment it was completely out of Manami's hands, the poofed into glittery sparkles and back into Manami's hand once again.
"... GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Kai cried.
"Well, that's different... hmm…" Russell went to put a hand on his chin, before a smirk curled on his lips.
"I bet you think you're clever, huh? You got caught red handed, and now you're just playing dumb, now that you've been caught."
"Wh-What..?" Manami gasped.
"I've done that before, little lady, and I gotta say while it's cute at first, it normally doesn't end well in the long run. I will say though... I'm quite curious how you pulled it off."
"But I didn't— HEY!"
At that moment, Clara and Paninya both restrained Manami by each taking one of her arms. They couldn't take the key from her, but they could keep her from moving.
"Wait! Please don't hurt her!" Kai pleaded. "She didn't mean it! I-I think she's just as confused as the rest of us! Please, restrain me instead!"
"... why do I have a feeling you'd actually like that?" Paninya asked, frowning in disgust.
"What boy his age wouldn't like being manhandled by a pair of gorgeous girls like us?" Clara gave the boy a wink, which made him chuckle bashfully once again.
"Ugh… not the time, Clara." Paninya groaned.
"Not the time either, Kai." Manami frowned at Kai, who bowed his head apologetically.
"Okay, listen," She looked to Paninya and Clara, who were still holding her arms tightly. "I'm not resisting because I see how this looks from your perspective. I get it."
Manami went to take a deep breath. She then met eyes with Russell, her expression serious.
"But I'm not playing dumb!" She insisted. "If I were really trying to steal this thing, wouldn't I be trying to run with it?"
"Quite the contrary my dear." Clara chimed in. "A true thief would try to win our trust and then make a sneaky escape. Takes a thief to know one."
Clara gave her a wink, but Manami growled in frustration.
"Or what if YOU are putting some weird voodoo curses on these things to force them on innocent people and frame them for thievery?!" She barked, now getting impatient.
"What I want, more than anything at this moment, is to give you back this stupid thing so I can get back to the carnival with my friend! We didn't even want to go in here in the first place!"
"..." Paninya shot Kai a glance. "I beg to differ."
Manami rolled her eyes, suppressing a growl.
"Well," Russell stepped forward. "There's only one thing left to do now... Rose, if you please?"
"Huh?" Manami looked to Rose as she nodded and stepped in front of Manami. Paninya forcefully moved Manami's free hand up to Rose.
"Ouch!" Manami yelped. "Wait, what are you—"
She watched nervously as Rose gently took her hand. With the way she held it, she looked like she was going to read her palm…
Rose closed her eyes, and...
FLASH!
Rose suddenly fell backwards. Thankfully, Russell managed to catch her before she landed on the ground.
"Whoa!" He said as he caught her. "Rose! Are you alright?! What happened?!"
"Rose!" Paninya cried, suddenly getting angry. She gripped Manami's arm tightly and twisted it behind her back.
"OW!"
"Manami!" Kai cried.
"What did you DO to her?" Paninya snarled.
"I-I don't know!" Manami said through gritted teeth. "I didn't do anything!"
"Ugh... I'm okay…" Rose finally spoke, holding her head. She seemed dizzy.
"I'm not hurt, really." She said, much to everyone's relief.
"I saw light... a glorious light, but it was also intense. I couldn't make anything out."
"What..?" Manami asked. "What does that even mean?!"
Kai stood there with his mouth hanging open, unable to think of what to do or say.
Russell looked back up at Manami with a stern look on his face. "... Fletcher! CALL SECURITY!"
"WHAT?!" Manami cried.
"W-Wait!" Kai protested. "Can't we just—"
CLANG!
Manami groaned as she plopped down on her butt in a holding cell. Meanwhile, Kai was at the other side of the bars, on his knees, and groveling at the feet of the security guard.
"Please forgive Manami! She didn't mean it, honest!" He pleaded.
"She literally can't get rid of it! It's cursed or something! Please let her go, I promise we'll never come here again. Even if you slap us with a lifetime ban, that'll be fine as long as you let Manami go—"
"BE QUIET YOU LITTLE BRAT!" The security guard roared at him. "You're giving me a headache! Look, your friend's not going to jail or anything. But she needs to remain here until we sort this out. Now then…"
The security guard exited the room, leaving Kai and Manami alone. There was no hope of escaping either, since the guard left with the key.
"Wonderful…" Manami groaned. "Best carnival ever."
"I'm so sorry…" Kai apologized.
Manami let out a sigh. "It's not your fault… thanks for trying anyway."
She pouted for a moment, staring at the key that was still in her hand and resting in her lap. She reflected on everything that's happened, and tried to think of what to do next.
"... do me a favor and Moogle how a high schooler could get a lawyer to sue shady carnival vendors." She muttered.
"I don't know if you have much of a case… at least of what you can prove." Kai said sadly, crossing his arms.
"... well, I mean, I'm already in trouble." Manami shrugged. "Maybe I could bust out and run from the law for the rest of my life…"
She looked up to see Kai looking at her with a petrified expression.
"I'M KIDDING!" She quickly sputtered. "You know I wouldn't do that!"
"I know, but... this is too much!" Kai said.
"Everything was going fine before this happened. I don't get any of it! Just... don't do something reckless, please!
~Meanwhile~
Two people who weren't from this world were wandering about the carnival. People stared at the boy in the red trench coat and suit of armor as they passed, most of them stopping to take pictures on their phones.
Edward tried to ignore them, but he was getting irritated.
"Geez, of all the days to look for someone, they had to be at a big crowded event…"
At that moment, Ed realized his brother had fallen behind.
"Huh? Al, where'd you go?"
"Smile for the camera, my angels!"
Ed looked back to see a woman taking pictures of her numerous children cluttered around his brother.
"Um, wait... I think there's been a mistake. I don't work here!" Alphonse whined.
Ed stepped in to stop the photoshoot, photobombing the last picture.
"HEY!" He barked. "My brother's not some sideshow attraction for you people to gawk at. If you'll EXCUSE us, we're busy!"
With a glare, the mother left with all of her children. The smallest child gave Al a small wave before he turned to catch up with his family.
"You okay Al?' Ed asked his younger brother. "None of those kids got any snot or anything gross stuck on your armor, right?
"I don't think so…" Al said, looking over himself and finding himself clean.
"You know, despite how distracting that was... it actually feels nice that those kids weren't afraid of me!"
Ed blinked, before smiling at his brother and giving him a playful punch on his metal shoulder.
"Come on, who can possibly be scared of you? You're kindness in a can! Now come on, we're gonna have to start asking questions."
He then approached one of the employees that were in charge of one of the line rides.
"Excuse me! Hey, have you seen something that looks like this?" He went to hold up a picture, but the employee completely ignored it.
"Hey, no cutting in line, kid! Besides... You're too short for this ride anyway."
"..." Ed crumpled the photo in his hand, turning bright red from anger as a vein appears on his forehead.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A HALF GROWN PINT SIZED CHIBIFIED BABY SHRI—"
BONK! Al bonked his older brother on the head with the blunt end of a giant lance that he carried.
"OW! What the heck was that for?"
"Sorry brother, but there's no time for shenanigans…" Al said. "We got a mission to do, and we can't risk anything go wrong. The Colonel is counting on us!"
Al then looked to the carnival employee. "Eheheh... Sorry about bothering you, Mister!"
He then grabbed Ed by the back of his coat and pulled him away. Ed crossed his arms and kept glaring at the employee as he was dragged away.
~Meanwhile~
Manami and Kai looked up to see someone coming into the room, and Manami frowned at the sight of Russell.
"Oh boy, you again." Manami spat, going to stand up.
"Sorry, I just had to make sure that you didn't take any of the other antiques. My brother Fletcher and the rest of the girls are taking care of the place now. As for you…"
Russell put his hands in his pockets. "I want to make a little proposition for you... and if you accept, I promise we can sweep this whole thing under the rug!"
"R-Really?" Kai gasped. "You won't press charges or anything? Oh thank goodness!"
He looked to Manami, smilin. "You hear that, Manami? We're gonna be okay!"
Manami wasn't smiling, though. In fact, she crossed her arms and raised a brow suspiciously.
"I'm not jumping to that conclusion just yet."
"..." Russell smirked once again, making Manami's skin crawl. "You don't trust me?"
Manami frowned. "If you're gonna call me a thief, then I'm gonna call you a scammer. Why should I trust you when I'm not getting that same respect?"
"Because I can walk out right now and leave you here in that cell." Russell said simply.
"..." Manami heaved a sigh and shook her head. "What do you want? Money? I'll have you know that I'm a broke teenager."
"I'd be willing to work it off, whatever it is!" Kai offered.
"Oh yeah," Russell looked over to him. "You... Kai, was it? I'm gonna have to ask you to wait outside this room for a minute. The terms of these negotiations will need to be confidential."
"... what?" Kai raised a brow, glancing to Manami for a moment.
"Well... um... erm... fine... But just for a minute!"
He left the room and stood right outside the door. He tried to listen in, but the noise from the outside carnival interfered with how much he could hear.
"Now then, as for my proposal." Russell spoke, once he was sure Kai was outside the room. "It's quite simple really... I want you to join my team!"
"... huh?" Manami blinked.
"I'll even let you be my partner!" Russell said. "It's clear that you're no ordinary girl, and I'm quite interested in how you managed to get that there 'antique.' Skills like yours would definitely come in handy in our line work!"
"..." Manami stared at him for a long moment, not saying anything.
"..." Russell started to feel uncomfortable. "What?"
"Let me get this straight." Manami rubbed her forehead with her free hand. "You accuse me of stealing your sword, put me in a holding cell, and now you want to recruit me to your team?"
"Yeah!" Russell smiled brightly. "Sounds good, right?"
Manami suddenly returned a matching smile to him.
"Oh yeah! Sounds great! I'll join! I'd love to work for you!"
"Really?"
"NO, YOU MORON!" Manami screamed.
"I see what's going on here now! You're luring in women to your stupid scammy shops, and then put them in a position to WORK for you or be LOCKED UP. That's human trafficking!"
"Wh-What?!" Russell gasped.
Manami threw up her hands to wave as she mocked him. "'I'll even let you be my partner!' Like I'm supposed to be HONORED about that?!"
Manami continued, her nostrils flaring and her teeth gritted. "You're not just a scammer— you're a pervert! More importantly, you're a PREDATOR!"
"How dare you—"
"Listen up, pretty boy. You can take your 'proposition' AND your 'antique,'" She went to hold the giant key through the bars.
"And SHOVE IT!"
Russell stared back at Manami, quite surprised by her reaction. After a long moment, he finally took a breath.
"Look... it's not like that." He said quietly. "We honestly thought you were trying to pull a fast one on us, but... after talking it over with the others, it's likely you weren't kidding."
Manami simply glared at him, her silence allowing him to continue.
"I've just literally never seen that 'antique' latch on to some one like it did to you... and the way Rose described what she saw within you, 'a glorious light?' There's definitely something special about you! But…"
He sighed and went to rub the back of his head. "Maybe you just need to think about it..."
While Manami and Russell were talking, Kai suddenly heard some screaming.
"Huh?" He looked over to the haunted house attraction nearby, noticing that people were running out of it in terror.
"Strange…" Kai thought to himself. "The haunted house is usually pretty corny… maybe they've updated it..?"
Just then, something strange emerged... a flea-like, shadowy creature that rose from the shadows.
"What..?" Kai's eyes widened as he saw another appear… followed by another... and another... and another.
Suddenly, one of the monsters turned its head, looking directly at Kai with its glowing yellow eyes from the distance.
"U-U-UMMMMMM…" Kai felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand when he met eyes with the creature, and he quickly ran back into the holding room.
Manami and Russell looked up when they noticed Kai barreling in and quickly slamming the door behind him.
"You again?" Russell asked. "Didn't I tell you to wait?"
Manami's brows furrowed at the sight of Kai, who looked absolutely terrified. He then held a finger to his lips.
"... you know what's wrong with him?" Russell crossed his arms.
Manami rolled her eyes at Russell, before speaking in a whisper. "He's telling you to shut up. Take a hint."
She then looked back to Kai and silently mouthed the words, "What's going on?"
Before Kai could respond, they could hear the screams outside the room drawing closer.
Something was wrong…
Suddenly, Manami saw a shadow crawl under the door, and Kai stumbled to the side as the shadow emerged from the floor and took form.
Manami and Russell's eyes widened at the sight of the same shadowy monster that Kai saw outside.
"I-It got in!" Kai cried. "That thing still got in!"
"What is that?!" Manami yelled, trying to open the door to her cell.
"N-No... it can't be!" Russell gasped. "Not again!"
"Again?!" Kai looked to Russell. "So you know what this thing is?!"
"Damn it, there's no time to explain!" Russell gritted his teeth and pulled out what appeared to be a concealed rapier. He swiftly slashed at the lock on Manami's cell, smashing it open.
"Kai, take that friend of yours and get moving!" Russell yelled, shooting one last look at Manami.
"What about you?" Manami asked, stepping out of the cell.
"I'll get back to you on my proposal on a better day!" Russell told her.
"Wait, I don't get it! What's happening?!" Kai cried. "What is that thing?!"
The shadow then attacked Russell, but he managed to use his rapier to strike it in between the eyes. But then… more shadows began to materialize.
"?!" Manami noticed that one of the shadows lept up right at Kai, who was too scared to move.
"Kai!" She acted before she thought, and managed to slash at the monster with the giant key and slice it right in half.
As the monster dissipated, Manami and Kai just stared at each other in disbelief.
"M-Manami... you saved me…"
"U-Uh… yeah…" Manami looked down to the key in her hand. "I guess I did…"
"Gah!" Kai shook his head. "We have to get a move on! There's a window right there!"
"Right..!" Manami nodded, and she went to open it.
"Um... Thanks for releasing Manami, Mr. Russell." Kai looked back to the blonde boy, who was still fending off shadows.
"I hope you're still not mad about the—"
His eyes widened at the sight of Russell as he skewered several of the shadows in a row with his rapier.
Just as Manami looked back as well, they both saw one of the shadows ram into Russell's side while another clawed his leg.
"Grah!"
"Russell!" Manami called.
The blonde gritted his teeth from the pain, but he endured it and continued to fight. He looked back at them when he got a break.
"There are more important things to worry about. Just GO! I'll be fine! If I see you guys again, I'll explain everything I know!"
"..." Kai nodded. "G-Got it! We need to bail, Manami!"
Manami was a little hesitant, wanting to hear what he knew, but she quickly decided that he was right: they had to go.
Manami was first to climb out the window, Kai right behind her. After she climbed out, she noticed how different it was outside.
The skies were dark with ominous swirling clouds. The wind was also whipping with strong gusts. It was like a hurricane had appeared out of nowhere and was hitting them.
After Kai made it out the window, Manami grabbed him by the wrist.
"This way!"
She then pulled him and they started to run, her hand still firmly gripped around his wrist. They saw the same monsters everywhere, attacking people and smashing stands that weren't already destroyed or carried away by the harsh winds.
They ran even faster, avoiding the monsters as much as they could. However, it wasn't long until they found themselves surrounded by a group of shadows who cut off their escape.
Manami had no choice but to fight them off.
"Oh no oh no oh no…" Kai whined, his eyes wide. He looked behind them and all around, not seeing any openings. He swallowed nervously, once again too scared to do anything.
[Mission Prompt: PROTECT KAI!]
Despite the fact that there were so many shadows surrounding them, most of them seemed to be preoccupied with other things. Only a few of them were moving in at a time, in small groups.
Manami could see a staircase that led up from the pier to the main road and city up ahead— she figured that she could try to clear a path.
She looked down at the giant key in her hands, feeling a little nervous since she wasn't that experienced in swordfighting... but she pushed those feelings of doubt aside— she knew that she had to protect Kai!
"Kai, stay close to me!" She said, getting in a battle-ready stance. She then swung the key and took out a few shadows, making sure to constantly look around and make sure none of the heartless were going near Kai.
Kai was doing his best to keep up with her, but suddenly, one of the shadows crept out from a portal behind his feet and grabbed his ankle with its claw, holding him in place.
"N-NO!" He yelped, then tripped and landed face first into the ground.
"Kai!" Manami quickly turned and plunged the key between the eyes of the shadow before it could fully crawl out of the portal, setting Kai free.
"Are you alright?" She extended her hand to help him up, but right as she pulled him up, one of the shadows attacked her from behind and slashed her on the back.
"Gah!" She winced in pain and swung the key in an attempt to swat it away.
The shadow hopped back like a flea, but Kai could only stand and watch as Manami held back another small group of heartless who were trying to attack attacking.
He couldn't do anything… except stand back while she was left to defend the two of them.
The fact that she got hurt made him feel even worse. His brows furrowed at the sight of the visible wound on the back of her shoulder.
"Manami!" He cried.
"W-What have I done? She just got hurt protecting me…" Kai thought. "No... NO! Damn it, because of me she's bleeding now! If I keep messing her up... If I keep tripping and falling behind... I might end up getting her killed..!"
He suddenly had flashbacks to his childhood... his own family often got hurt protecting him, because he was a stupid child who kept putting himself in danger.
His father, his mother, his sister... and even Manami...
All the times Manami went as far as to get into fist fights with bullies after they left him on the ground crying. She once even got one of her teeth knocked out of her mouth. She assured him it was okay, because it was a baby tooth so she could put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy, but... he still always felt terrible.
Holding back his tears, he grabbed a large piece of broken lumber from one of the attractions and swung with it. He didn't land a successful hit, but he did make one of the shadows hop back.
"D-Don't worry about me!" He said to Manami, trying his best to be courageous, but his trembling could be seen and heard in his voice.
"Just focus on protecting yourself! I-I'll follow you no matter what happens!"
Manami opened her mouth to respond, but she saw a shadow coming to attack and slashed it away.
Despite her wound, she didn't seem to be aware that she was hurt or even bleeding— possibly because of the adrenaline. Instead, she was realizing that they were wasting time trying to fight these things... more and more were appearing, and it was seeming less and less likely that they would make it to the stairway.
Manami took a few steps back until she bumped backs with Kai, not aware that she got some blood on his shirt, too. She looked up, seeing the ice cream shop where they normally got popsicles to split and share on the pier. It was the only structure that was sturdy enough to remain standing during this invasion.
"Kai, we have to go up!" She turned her head to look back at him.
Kai was still breathing heavily, but he nodded. Just then, another shadow attacked, but he smacked it away with the piece of wood like a baseball bat. The top half shattered upon impact, but what remained could still be used to defend himself.
"Just lead the way, Manami!"
Manami nodded, and broke out into a run through the shadows, slashing any that threatened to claw at their legs. They surprisingly made it to the ice cream shop, stopping in front of a crate tall enough to help them climb up to the roof.
"You first!" Manami turned to Kai, and before he could protest, she started pushing him to climb up on the crate first.
A shadow leapt up at them, but she managed to slash it in half like she did in the holding cell.
"Keep going!" She yelled to Kai. "I'm right behind you!"
~Meanwhile~
"Damn it, it already happened!"
Edward clapped his hands together and transmuted several stone spikes that impale a small group of heartless. Al, meanwhile, slammed his lance into a different group of heartless, knocking them away.
The Elric brothers then started running through the cleared path.
"Brother, what should we do?" Al asked. "There more heartless than we could have anticipated! We need to call for backup!"
"We don't have time to wait for backup." Ed gritted his teeth. "We were sent here to investigate and find signs of a keyblade or keyblade wielder, remember? The mission didn't say anything about it getting this intense! Something stinks."
"Well, we better find them fast, other wise who knows what can happen to them." Al slashed away some heartless with his lance.
"Right!" Ed said, slashing at other heartless with his automail blade. "And with this heartless outbreak, they couldn't have gone far."
Ed clapped his hands and transmuted a stone column beneath both himself and Al, so they could get a better look at the pier down below. He pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked around while Al kept the heartless climbing the tower at bay.
It wasn't not long until Ed spotted something in the distance...
~Meanwhile~
Kai did as Manami told him and climbed up the crate first, before offering his hand and pulling her up. They kept climbing until they were able to get to the top of roof. They took a moment to catch their breaths.
"Now what? Kai asked Manami, who didn't have an answer.
Suddenly, they noticed that the shadows below were starting to stack up on each other like a totem pole, while simultaneously spinning.
They watched in horror as the swarm of shadows grew bigger and bigger, now towering over the ice cream shop and spinning like a tornado.
"?! Now what?!" Manami thought to herself. "Think Manami… THINK!"
She gripped the giant key in her hands tightly and got in a battle ready stance, but Kai could see her hands shaking.
"W-What's going on?" He thought. "Manami... Is she just as scared as I am? No... she can't be. She's the brave one of the two of us!"
"But... if she's too scared to do anything... then what does that make me?"
The spiral of shadows spun towards them and got closer, before it started to tear through the structure they were standing on. It quickly tore the ice cream shop in two, making the halves fall in opposite directions.
"KAI!"
"MANAMI!"
In that instant, Kai and Manami fell in opposite directions, their hands extended towards one another, but being too far away to grab each other's hands...
But, rather than land on the ground, Manami found herself being caught by some one much bigger than herself.
"Got you!" Manami heard an echoey voice, and looked up to see a giant suit of armor.
"Brother, the other one!"
"I know!" Manami saw a blonde boy wearing a trench coat clap his hands, and he touched the ground. A cannon suddenly emerged from the ground under his hands, and it shot with a loud BOOM right at the tower of shadows.
The tower extended a tendril made out of the shadows bunched up together, which acted as a living shield to take the hit. The tendril was blown apart, and the shadows dissipated, but a second tendril extended forth and slammed down on the boy's cannon.
"Grah!" The two boys jumped back with Manami.
Just then, Manami looked up and saw Kai in the distance, lying on the ground. He tried pushing himself up... however, a heavy piece of debris was not only weighing him down, but it seemed that he injured his ankle as well.
Kai gritted his teeth in pain, and looked up to see a tendril heading towards him.
"KAI!" Manami screamed, tying to break out of the armor's grip, but he was much stronger than she was.
"LET ME GO!" She screeched. "HE'S RIGHT THERE! LET GO!"
"NO! I can't!" The boy in the armor protested. "You'll get swept in too!"
Kai looked from the corner of his eye and saw the two strangers with Manami... who were they? And where did they come from?
Just then, he was swept up by the tendril. The shadows were gripping and holding his body as they flung him into the air and pulled him into their main body.
Kai tried reaching out for Manami, but he was sucked inside, crying out for her.
"MANAMI!"
"KAI!" Manami tried reaching as well, but with the armor holding her back, she couldn't reach him.
The blonde boy watched Kai, his eyes wide with horror, realizing in that moment that he failed to save him.
"No... What have I…"
He clenched his fists and looked to his brother. He knew that they couldn't dwell on this, or they would be in danger, too.
"AL, RESTRAIN HER! WE NEED TO GO NOW!"
"WHAT?!" Manami shrieked.
"I-I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, but…"
The armor suddenly opened his chest plate and forced Manami inside, before closing up. The two boys then started to running away from the tornado, the blonde leading the way.
Kai saw this happen from inside the shadowy tornado, his eyes wide.
"No... They're kidnapping her!" He struggled in the darkness.
"Wait! Stop! MANA—"
Kai was pulled into the tornado and enveloped in darkness before he can scream Manami's name one last time.
"KAI!" Manami screamed, pounding and kicking on the inside of the suit of armor, and with tears streaming down her face.
"LET ME OUT! I SAID LET ME OUT!"
In that moment, all she could think about is how she failed to save Kai, and tears started streaming down her face.
"KAI!"
The Elric brothers finally arrived at their vessel and ran inside.
"Al, how soon can we launch?!"
"Huh?!" Manami thought. "Launch?!"
"I just need a minute!"
Al manned the controls with one hand while holding down his helmet with the other. Ed stepped up to hold the helmet down so his brother could work with both hands.
"Stop banging around in there!" Ed barked.
"THEN LET ME OUT!" Manami roared, still pounding on the inside of the armor.
"We're taking off!" The echoey voice announced, reverberating several times around Manami.
"Brother, get strapped in!"
"NO!"
BOOM!
The engines started, and the gummi ship lifted into the air. Manami looked out through the holes of of the armor to see a sky-view of her home, being destroyed by the tornado of shadows.
Everything… everyone...
FWOOSH!
Everything suddenly lurched, and Manami fell back. The last thing she remembered was the back of her head slamming against the cold metal, and everything going black...