A/N Welcome to our collaboration story, The Disappearance Of Tezuka Kunimitsu! This is our first time attempting something like this, so feel free to tell us if anything's wrong.
Enjoy the prologue!
-Disclaimer on profile-
"What are we here for, Fuji?" Tezuka asked calmly as all the Seigaku Regulars crowded around a secluded table in a corner of the library.
"It's for this." Fuji reached into his bag and pulled out a thick, sleek book. It was a hardcover book, and it was a deep brown colour. Nothing looked really interesting about it, except for the fact that there was nothing written on it. If you looked to the side, to the spine of the book, there would be brown there as well, and no indication of what it was. There was no title, no author, not even a pattern on it or anything. Just a deep brown cover.
When Fuji opened it, all the pages turned out to be blank. That is, except for the first page.
On the first page, two words were written in a simple font.
Main Character
"What is this?" Eiji looked at the mysterious book curiously, frowning and leaning a little closer to it.
"It's supposed to help Team Bonding." Fuji smiled, and ran his hand lightly over the hard cover. "Nee-chan recommended it, and it's actually quite fun."
"And how are we supposed to play this… game?" Inui asked, because he had no data on the book, and he was always eager to gather new data.
"All we have to do is enter a name here," Fuji pointed at the blank space next to the two letters. "And a story will build up. I assure you, it happens to be very fun." His smile widened at the sight of all the confused looks.
"I need to study for my test, I can't be playing games." Tezuka stood up to leave the table, pushing the chair back lightly and then stepping backwards.
"Too late," Fuji sang as he grabbed a nearby pencil and scribbled the words Tezuka Kunimitsu in the book.
All at once, the Seigaku Regulars were forced to shut their eyes. They flailed about with their arms, jerking back and forth, completely shocked as to what was happening to them. When the power controlling them let them see again, they opened their eyes to some strange, new discoveries.
First off, Fuji was staring into space. His cold, lifeless eyes terrified them into thinking he'd been brainwashed and the people had taken his soul as well.
Second, Tezuka was gone.
"Buchou?" They all started panicking, looking around for the brunet with frameless glasses. "Where are you?"
"He's gone." The hairs stood straight up on their necks as they all turned to look at Fuji as one.
"...Fujiko? Are you okay?" Eiji asked quietly, seeing how listless Fuji looked. His face held no expression; in fact, he looked quite like he was sleeping.
"I am not this 'Fujiko' you speak of. My name is Shun, your guide to this game." The dull monotone voice that clearly didn't belong to Fuji made them all jump.
"Game? Fuji, what are you playing at?" Inui was puzzled.
In response, Fuji (or is it Shun?) held up the closed book.
On the cover of the book, words had appeared magically.
The Disappearance Of Tezuka Kunimitsu
"You are all part of this game now. Once you open the book, you will have to complete it. Are you ready?" Fuji/Shun asked.
"What game? What are you doing? Where is Tezuka?" Oishi asked worriedly.
"Tezuka and Fuji are in this book here." Shun held up the book. "I am using Fuji's body to communicate with you. I will guide you through this game, and help with questions." He paused. "If you wish to retrieve the two, you must finish the game."
Shun looked at them all seriously, and the regulars gulped. It was scary, seeing someone else control Fuji's body. After all, the facial expression on Fuji – or Shun's face was something Fuji would never show to them.
"Will you play the game?"
The Regulars looked at each other. Then, slowly, they backed away.
Or more like they tried to back away.
"You are stuck in your standing positions. Time has frozen. Answer my question." Shun told them.
"Let us think about this." Inui replied calmly.
"What is there to think about? We want to get our Buchou back, don't we?" Echizen muttered quietly and pulled down his cap.
"Then it's decided. Let's play." Kaidoh's face, sullen as ever, was steady, lips pursed and ready to hiss.
"You made the right decision." Shun responded, opening the book. The regulars leaned over to look. Now there were more words on the page.
"This book has many chapters. In each chapter is a different genre of book. At the beginning of each chapter, you will pick one of your group to enter the book. If all goes well, they will return by the end of the chapter."
"What do you mean, if all goes well?" Kawamura asked nervously.
"In the middle of the chapters, you will have to make decisions. Make the right decisions, and you will pass this chapter. Make the wrong decision, and you will have to restart the chapter, along with the temporary main character that you sent into the book not being able to get out again."
"So if we make the wrong decisions someone's life is at stake?" Inui furrowed his eyebrows.
"Wrong. During the whole book you are playing with Tezuka and Fuji's life at stake."
"So no pressure then." Momo muttered under his breath.
"Chapter 1." Shun's voice boomed. "Pick your character."
"I will not be leaving." Inui said quickly.
"What? Why?" The Regulars all asked at once.
"If I were to go, you would probably make the wrong decisions without me. There's a 87% increase in the chances that we'll lose no more people by making wrong decisions if I'm here, calculating percentages." Inui said simply, nudging his glasses just a little bit higher on his face.
"So…" Oishi, Eiji, Momo, Kaidoh, Echizen and Kawamura looked at each other.
Then they started an intense round of JanKenPon, each face furrowed in concentration.
"You'd better make the right decisions!" Eiji said bravely as he stood still and got ready to be sucked into the book.
"Of course." Inui wrote Kikumaru Eiji down into the book.
Again, the Regulars eyes were forced closed, this time with much less jerking and swaying, and when they were opened again Eiji was gone.
"Chapter 1. Teenage love." Shun's voice surprised them all. As he read the words on the page, more words began appearing, filling up more and more pages.
The rest of them eagerly hung onto every word, sucking it all in to make sure they made the right decisions.
"Eiji never knew what hit him…"