W-wow... People...actually read my story XD Usually that happens once during a blood moon or something. Okay, okay... That's easily an exaggeration but I think you get my point :P So yeah, I REALLY hope more people continue to enjoy this, because I'm in desperate need for a confidence boost!

PRAISE ME GODDAMMIT! PRAISE ME NOOOOOOOOW!

...

"Hinoe, wait up!"

The psychic woman exhaled loudly through her nostrils, annoyance covering her like a wool blanket. Great, it was HIM again... What did the guy want this time, couldn't he take a hint and realize she REALLY wasn't a fan of him? Yeesh, she often wondered what her younger sister actually saw in the guy...

Turning around, the woman frowned at the young man in front of her. "What is it, Kishinuma?" She questioned impatiently, tapping her foot against the ground. She really didn't want to waste anymore time than she had to, she had some important business to take care of before mission start.

Yoshiki Kishinuma, a handsome scoundrel with dark bleached blonde hair and mysterious grey eyes to match. He wasn't a bad man by any means despite his appearance, he was gentle and kind, yet fierce and protective to all those he cared about. His younger sister would often brag about how she had the best brother in the world, his girlfriend would often be questioned about why she chose to be with him, and she'd grin and list off a hundred different reasons. He wasn't perfect, he had a reputation as a delinquent during his high school days, and he still has problems with alcohol and smoking.

The man in question took a deep breath, as if preparing to choose his words very carefully. When his nerves finally came to him, he stared straight into Hinoe's eyes, letting her know that he was about to say something serious. "I know you don't have a very high opinion of me," he began.

"Undoubtedly." Hinoe scoffed.

Yoshiki internally flinched, but didn't let it show. "But I need you to listen to me for just a second," he continued. "I love Ayumi, and she loves me. You know that, but you don't like it-"

"The point, Kishinuma!" Hinoe barked, her eye twitching. Seriously, what was with him today? Normally the man was as blunt as blunt could be, why was he trying to sugarcoat it?

"I want to ask Ayumi to marry me." Yoshiki stated clearly. "I want to start a future with her, to have a family with her."

"Why are you telling me?" Hinoe asked, crossing her arms. "I don't see what this has to do with me."

"Well..." Yoshiki scratched the back of his neck. "Is that okay with you? Ayumi and I getting married?"

To tell the truth, it wasn't. The thought of losing her sister to Yoshiki wasn't a pleasant one. Hinoe knew she was being immature and selfish, but she couldn't help it! Even though Yoshiki has proved his love and loyalty to her younger sister time and time again, Hinoe still had a fear that the man's delinquent past would return to him. However, she knew it wasn't her place to decide her sister's happiness, so she simply pushed her personal thoughts aside as she answered.

"It doesn't matter what I think," she explained curtly. "It's not up to me to decide Ayumi's future."

"Thank you, Hinoe!" Yoshiki beamed, bowing. "I swear I'll treat her properly, I'll dedicate everyday to her happiness!"

"However," Hinoe said, not quite finished yet.

"Huh?"

Hinoe frowned and glanced away briefly. "You do remember what kind of business we're in, right?" She looked back at him. "Our next mission begins tomorrow night, and it will easily be our most dangerous, potentially. There's no certainty that any of us will make it back alive, don't propose to her just yet. If you live, then you may do what you wish.

Yoshiki nodded in understanding. "I get it," he assured. It was then that he felt a small bubble of fear form inside him. Hinoe was right, there was no certainty that they'd make it out alive. Hell, all of their missions could easily end with their brutal demise! But... That vision of Ayumi would be enough for him to brave it out.

...

And now here they were, stuck together. The two had came to in the boy's bathroom, which had a rotten stench which nearly caused Yoshiki to lose his lunch. Currently, they made no move to leave the school, instead attempting to contact the two other members of their squad.

"Satoshi! Morishige! Do you copy?" Yoshiki repeated, tightly clutching the radio. "Satoshi, Morishige! Do you copy?" Only static answered him.

"It won't work, Kishinuma," Hinoe, the team's psychic and leader, hissed in agitation. "If you paid attention to the briefing, you would remember that they mentioned that the school was divided up into pocket dimensions."

"But the scientists said that the radio's were tuned so we could still communicate even if we were separated by dimensions!" Yoshiki argued. "Are you implying they were wrong?"

"It's a possibility," Hinoe answered. "Even scientists mess up every now and then."

"Well, it's a good thing we have you, at least," Yoshiki muttered. "We'd be pretty screwed without our team psychic."

"I'm flattered," the team leader deadpanned. "But to be honest, I'd say we're still screwed to an extent."

The blonde nodded grimly. "Yeah..." He agreed. "Hey, Hinoe-"

"Quiet!" Hinoe shushed. "We're not alone."

Yoshiki's eyes widened, and his hand instantly reached for his gun. Following Hinoe's lead, he turned around and aimed at whatever danger was in front of him. And what he saw shocked him into almost dropping his weapon.

It was a child, a young boy no older than seven. What was the most shocking part was his bleeding torso, covered in multiple stab wounds that seemed to never end. He had a sickening grin on his face, in his right hand he wielded sharp, bloody scissors, and his eyes were fixed right on Yoshiki.

"W-what the fuck?" The young soldier whispered to himself. Was this a violent spirit? If so, then all logic would point to shooting the thing, but...

...it was just a kid.

"Big brother..." The ghost cackled, his voice strange and muffled. It was then that Yoshiki noticed the lack of a tongue, and he couldn't help but feel bad for the kid. His death must have been much to brutal. But child or not, Yoshiki had to be cautious. A violent spirit was willing to kill, no matter who they were.

"Be careful, Kishinuma," Hinoe warned. "That thing is dangerous..."

"Big sister..." Now the child was turning his insane eyes towards the team's psychic. "I...want...to...plaaaay..."

Suddenly, without any time for the soldiers to react, the boy lunged towards Hinoe, scissors raised high above his head. "GIVE IT BACK!" He screeched like a banshee, some blood squirting from the remaining portion of his tongue. Soon, he was on top of her, and without a second thought plunged the scissors into the psychic's throat, laughing at Hinoe's pathetic attempts to get away.

"HINOE!" Yoshiki cried, eyes bulging from his sockets. He quickly reacted, aiming his rifle and firing three rounds towards the violent spirit. All three made contact with the child's arm and shoulder, and with a gasp he dropped the scissors he had used to just murder Hinoe.

"It...it... IT HUUUUUUURTS!" The ghost shrieked, tears falling from his eyes. "IT HUUUUURTS! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" Bawling from the unimaginable pain, the spirit ran towards the walls, vanishing through them to retreat.

Yoshiki slid over to Hinoe, dropping his gun. "H-Hinoe?" He whimpered, taking in the sight. "Hinoe...?"

There was no doubt that the psychic was dead, her throat brutally torn open from the scissors the violent child spirit had used. Blood flowed out from her fatal wound, forming a small puddle that soaked Yoshiki's knees through his uniform.

"No..." Yoshiki whispered, backing away slowly. "No...No... NO!" He pushed himself against a wall, his horrified eyes unable to tear themselves away from the corpse in front of him. "HINOE!" He screamed, finally turning away to let go of his lunch. 'W-what am I going to tell Ayumi...?' He thought to himself. 'Hinoe was her best friend and sister, and now...'

"Kishinuma! Kishinuma, snap out of it!" A familiar voice barked, causing him to open his eyes.

He was on the ground, sprawled out like a rag doll. He glanced up, and saw Hinoe looking down at him, her eyes filled with both worry and annoyance.

"H-Hinoe?" He whispered. "W-what happened?"

Hinoe sighed and shook her head. "You tell me," she retorted. "That ghost child came in here, and all of a sudden you just collapsed! You were out cold, and the spirit was about to come after me when it just...vanished."

"Vanished?" Yoshiki repeated, thinking for a moment. "It...It was all just a hallucination then..."

"Hallucination?" Hinoe wondered. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." Yoshiki began, sitting himself up slowly. "In my hallucination, the ghost killed you. I shot at him, and he retreated back to the walls."

"So he causes his victims to hallucinate, then," Hinoe deduced. "That would explain why he vanished, if you shot him in your hallucination. Did you kill him?"

Yoshiki shook his head. "I got him in the shoulder, but nowhere vital," he explained.

"Then he's still out there somewhere," Hinoe concluded. "We should get moving, it's not safe to remain in one place."

"You're right," Yoshiki agreed. "The sooner we get the bomb in place the better, right?"

"We'd have to find Mochida first."

"Kishinuma?" A sudden voiced asked, startling the two. "Kishinuma, do you copy?"

"Is that.." Hinoe started.

"Morishige?!" Yoshiki exclaimed, grabbing his radio and staring at it with eyes wide in surprise. "I'm here, Morishige!"

"Then it looks like it worked..." Morishige murmured to himself through the radio.

"What do you mean?" Hinoe asked. "What worked?"

"Captain, you're there too?" Morishige questioned. "Well, anyway... When I found out that my radio wasn't working, I tried changing its frequency. See, part of me doubted that the scientists were wrong, so I hypothesized that maybe the radios had a frequency change upon our arrival. So by changing its frequency I was able to get a hold of you."

"Morishige you're a goddamn genius," Yoshiki praised lightly. "Did you get a hold of Satoshi yet?"

"I'm afraid not, Kishinuma," Morishige groaned. "I mean, I found his frequency, but there was no response."

"No response?" Yoshiki gasped, assuming the worst. "Does that mean he's-"

"Let's not jump to conclusions, Kishinuma," Hinoe said, trying to calm her fellow soldier. "Perhaps Mochida just dropped his somewhere."

"I say our next objective would be to go searching for him," Morishige suggested. "It may be hard though, considering the pocket dimensions. We can only hope that he's in one of ours."

"Where are you, Morishige?" Hinoe asked.

"The roof, Captain," Morishige said through the radio. "Though I doubt you'll see me if you manage to find a way up there. Let's just focus on finding Satoshi, we'll plan more after that."

"I believe I'm supposed to be giving orders," Hinoe said blankly, but then nodded. "Alright, sounds good. Keep in touch, Morishige."

"Will do, Captain."

After breaking contact with Morishige, the two soldiers turned to each other, nodding before heading out into the hallways.

...

Did you enjoy it, guys? Not the most action packed chapter, it was mostly acting as setup. But anyway... NEXT TIME! Hinoe and Yoshiki continue their search for Satoshi, Satoshi himself struggles against the hulking Yoshikazu, and Morishige bumps into an unexpected surprise! Don't forget to review. And remember, stay wykkyd!