Ryuji POV
We walked out the room and I felt more excited and motivated to take out that bastard Kamoshida.
He won't know what'll hit 'em.
I looked at Chidori and Chiyo at their serious faces. Every now and then, they'd look at each other like they're communicating. It's weird.
"So how will we do this, Morgana?", Chidori asked.
He shushed her.
We heard a voice. Most likely a guard.
"Hm...I thought I just heard something move from over there. Guess it was just my imagination.", one of the guards said.
"And what of the slaves?", another guard asked.
"They're all in the training hall. I'd assume they're screaming in pain by now.", the first guard laughed.
"Very well. By the way, I heard there may be Intruders around so stay on guard.", the other said and left.
"Did you hear that?", Morgana asked Akira. He nodded and looked around.
"They said training hall, right?", I ask.
"I think that's just a little further ahead. Let's go!", Morgana says and leads away.
After a while, we noticed a guard patrolling at the end of a set of stairs.
"Shoot, there's a guard on duty here. The way to the training hall should be pass those bars.", Morgana whispered.
"So what? We take it down?", I ask.
"We won't be doing anything. We don't have powers like Akira and Morgana.", Chidori said.
"So, we'll just hide and let you two take care of the rest.", Chiyo said.
"Fine. But don't let the Shadows catch you. If they do, the security level of the Palace will rise.", Morgana explained.
"And if they don't?", I asked.
"That's kinda obvious.", Chidori said.
"If they don't, then it won't rise. We'll be able to just sneak past them with no problem.", Morgana said.
"Sounds complicated.", I sighed.
"How is that anywhere near complicated? If they catch us, we're dead. If they don't, we're good.", Chidori summed it up.
I nodded and she shook her head.
As Akira and Morgana beat the Shadow, we head to the underground passage from the prison.
"I got a bad feeling.", Chiyo says and Akira stops us abruptly.
"What's up?", I asked and he turned around with a finger on his lips and his other hand to his ear.
We listened to hear two voices. Most likely enemies...
"Hey, have you seen anyone who looks like an intruder?", one voice asks.
"No, nobody yet.", the other voice said.
"I had a feeling there'd be a lot of enemies. It'd be impossible to dodge all of them.", Morgana whispered.
"Then, what do we do? Should we try and take 'em down like before?", I ask.
"It's not that simple. We still have a long way to go, so we should be conserving energy.", Morgana says.
"I-I see... sorry...dammit, I wish I could fight... I'd at least be able to help out a little bit...", I say looking down sadly. "But all I got is this toy from earlier...I'm such a loser."
I felt Chidori rub my back. "Relax. It's not your fault."
I looked up at her and smiled sadly.
"Huh? Do you mean that gun?", Morgana asks.
"Yeah... It looks real n' all, but it doesn't shoot anything...", I sigh.
Morgana gets a starry look in his eyes. "I see...well, there is a way...ok, we'll use that to take down the enemies!"
We all looked at him in confusion.
"What!? Were you listenin' to me? It don't even shoot pellets...", I exclaim.
We hear footsteps coming our way.
"Don't worry, I'm sure this'll work. Attack away, Frizzy Hair!", Morgana exclaims.
"Leave it to me.", Akira says.
"Wait, dude! As I keep sayin', it's not gonna fire anything!", I yell.
Akira goes to attack the Shadow and when he points at the Shadow with the gun, it actually shoots bullets.
"Dude, what the crap...? Are you sure you bought a fake one?", Chidori asked me over the noise of gunshots.
"I did! At least, I hope so...", I say. I bought it from that Airsoft place...! Did he give me a real one...!?
"You idiot!", I hear her whisper to herself.
After they get finished, they return to us.
"Whoa, did that toy gun just shoot real freakin' bullets!?", I ask in disbelief.
"This is a cognitive world. As long as our opponent sees it as real, it becomes such. It's a good thing its realistic-looking.", Morgana says.
"... I don't get it.", I say. Why's he gotta make things complicated?
Morgana laughs. "I wasn't expecting someone with your brains to understand." He looks at Akira and the twins. "How about you? Did you get what I said?"
"We understand perfectly before you even said anything, actually.", Chidori said.
"It's simple logic.", Akira says.
"Heh, just as I was expecting.", Morgana says.
Wait...
"Wait, if it's better havin' something realistic, why do you got that slingshot!?", I ask in annoyance. "And it was just as strong as a goddamn gun! What about your whole cognitive whatever!?"
Chidori sighs.
"W-well, um...", Morgana sighs. "Fine, you can choose to understand it however you want. Oh by the way, we should decide how we divvy up our roles in battle from here on out."
"He totally dodged my question...", I whisper.
"As you can see, there are quite a lot of enemies. It'll be important to coordinate our moves well. I can keep providing Intel for us, but you should decide how we fight, Frizzy Hair.", Morgana says.
"Whaddya mean by "how we fight?"", I ask.
"Basically, what we do in battle. He can order us directly or let us decide what to do.", Morgana explains.
"Well we don't have powers or weapons, so I don't think we'll be able to even get close to fighting yet.", I said.
Morgana sighs. "Fine, we'll see."
We moved on to go to the training hall and heard screams of pain getting closer and closer.
We finally find a door leading to the training hall.
"Kamoshida's... training hall...of Love...? What kinda bullshit is this!?" I yell in disgust. What the hell is wrong with this creep!?
"Shush!", Chidori whispered and closed the door behind us. "You're trying to get us killed?"
We move on past that door and more voices get closer.
The sight of what we saw is just horribly disgusting...even for a human with no morals.
I feel my face scrunch up in a frown. "Dammit! This is bullshit!", I yell.
"How many times do I have to tell you to keep your voice down!?", Morgana says sitting on a crate.
I look around then shakes my head. "But this is beyond messed up!", I exclaim scratching my head and look around again. "How do I open this...?"
"Are you seriously looking for a fight? You have no powers or weapons and last time you almost got yourself killed! What are you thinking!?", Chidori yells.
"Keep it down!", Morgana whispers.
"Stop it...!", we all hear a voice.
A male covered in bandages and bruises walks up to us on the other side of the gate. "Leave us alone...its useless."
"Huh!?", I exclaim.
Another one walks up. "If we stay obedient, we wont be executed like you guys."
"This is ridiculous...", Chiyo says.
"You tellin' me you wanna stay in a place like this!?", I ask in anger gripping onto the bars. Just what is Kamoshida doing to these guys!?
"Wait a minute...Were you planning on taking these guys out of here?", Morgana asks.
We looked at him.
"We can't just leave them here!", I say. He'd actually leave them!? I knew he was bad news...
He shakes his head. "How stupid can you be?"
"What!?", I yell in disbelief.
"These are only humans and Kamoshida's cognition.", he says. There he goes again with that cognition shit. "They aren't real humans that have entered from reality. They're different from you all", Morgana says.
I frown in confusion and anger.
"Meaning, there's no point in saving them! They're different from the real ones in the real world! You could say they're extremely similar-looking dolls.", Morgana exclaims.
Similar looking dolls...? "The hell...? Why's it gotta be so complicated?", I asked. I frowned. "So the school's a castle and the students are slaves...it's so on point yahy it makes me laugh. This really is the inside of that asshole's head."
"I'm glad you finally got it.", Chidori says. "Now all we gotta do, is beat the shit out of him."
Morgana gets down near us and looks on to the slaves getting beat. "Still, this is horrible. It must means he treats them as slaves in the real world too."
What...?
"In the real world, too...?", thinking about it pisses me off as I look closely at their faces. "Wait...I know these guys... they're members of the volleyball team, the one Kamoshida coaches for!", I exclaimed as more and more I realize it
"They must be physically abused every day...there's no way they'd be so beat up normally.", Morgana said.
I widened my eyes. "Don't tell me...they're going thru similar shit in reality!?"
Morgana looked sad. "Most likely. I mean, this proves Kamoshida thinks of them as slaves."
"So it might be for real...I heard that Kamoshida's usin' physical punishment. They're just rumors, but...if they're true, wouldn't it be somethin' to report to the police...?", the more and more I think on this shit, the more I'm getting pissed off.
There's no way in hell he's gonna get away with this!!
"I'll use these guys as evidence. If it all goes well, we can take down that asshole Kamoshida...!", I said and pulled out my phone.
I hear Chidori whisper idiot again but right now, I could care less.
Kamoshida's goin' down!!
I try opening the camera app but it's not working. "...huh...? It's not workin'!? We can use the navigation app, but tell camera's a no-go!?"
"A navigation app...?", Morgana asks.
"That's what we used to come here.", I said. I looked at Akira. "What about yours?"
He pulled out his phone, but looked just as shocked as I was.
Morgana moved around nervously. "Whatever you do is fine, but we're gonna get caught if we stand around like this. We need to head back!"
I moved toward the bars. "Hang on a sec! There's no other way...I'll just memorize their faces before goin' home!"
We checked around each cell so I could memorize each familiar person I saw.
Everything that was happening was disgusting and horrible. I looked at the twins and Akira.
If anything happens to then because of me...
I shook my head at the thought.
No... there's no way that'll happen.
"Hurry! We need to get out of here, quick!", Morgana whispered.
We moved to the door of the training hall of love and left.
We hear voices of guards in high security coming our way and we make a run for it.
We make it to the front lobby but stop as Kamoshida comes up to us.
"...you knaves again?", he scoffs. "To think you'd make the same mistake again. You're hopeless!"
I walk up. "The school ain't your castle!", I yell then smirk. "I've memorized their faces real good. You're goin' down!"
Kamoshida smirks as well. "It seems it's true when they say, "barking dogs seldom bite." How far the star runner of the track team has fallen."
I grit my teeth and look away.
"Track star...?", I hear Chidori whisper. I look at her then back at him.
"The hell are you getting at!?", I yelled.
"I speak of the "Track Traitor" who acted in violence, ending his teammates' dreams.", he says. Then he shakes his head. "Oh, I can only imagine the pain of there others who were dragged under with your... selfish act."
"Track Traitor...? This doesn't sound like you at all, Ryuji.", Chidori says.
"Oh? You havent told them, huh? What a surprise. So, you're accompanying him without knowing anything at all?", Kamoshida asks smugly.
"Don't...!", I start.
"He betrayed his teammates and crushed their hopes, yet he still carries on as carefree as ever.", Kamoshida says smiling widely.
"That's-!", I get cut off. "That's not true!", Chidori yells.
I look behind me to see her shaking angrily.
"You know nothing about Ryuji to even start with that! Sure, he's hot-headed, but he must've caused violence for a good reason!!", she yells then grits her teeth and shaking her head. "You're supposed to be the coach, you're supposed to understand your students!!"
He scoffs. "You've come along with this fool and are now going to end up dead...how unlucky of you.", he turns away to speak to a guard. "Go. Kill them all. Don't sully my castle with garbage."
Two guards come up to us as Akira and Morgana steps up as well.
"Goddammit..."
This is my fault...
A/N: 2163 words. That's pretty long, huh? Sorry, it took so long. I've been pretty depressed and this summer hasn't been going so well for me. My dog died, two death anniversaries are coming up in my family and XXXTentacion just died recently so I'm really, really upset. And I'm really, really sorry for not updating some of my other books as well. I'll get to them soon, I promise...I just need a little time but I know you guys like my books so I'm gonna put in the work to make it special. Baiiii~