Chapter 17

"Look! It's the castle from yesterday!" exclaimed Ryuji in a loud and triumph tone of voice to Isamu and Akira before he run forward through the wooden drawbridge (with Isamu and Akira running and following after him), came to a stop in front of the castle's entrance and take a look at the surroundings around them. "We made it back… That means what happened yesterday was for real too… Yeargh!" said Ryuji before he turned around to glance at Isamu and Akira and suddenly let out a yell and stagger back a few steps with a shock look on his face (which make Isamu and Akira jumped a little before they glance at him).

"What is it now, Sakamoto-kun? Suddenly yelling out like that?" said Isamu in slight exasperation at Ryuji (who's still staring at her in shock silence now) while Akira turned to glance at Isamu and gasped in shock too. "First Sakamoto-kun, then you, Kurusu-kun? What's wrong with you two?" said Isamu as she glance back and forth at Akira and Ryuji.

"Toudou-san! Your clothes!" said Akira as he raised and pointed a finger at her clothes.

"My clothes?" said Isamu in confusion to Akira before she glance down at her clothes and gasped in shock when she saw that she's now wearing her alternate outfit instead of her school uniform. "What the? When did my uniform change to this?" said Isamu even more in confusion now.

"We had no idea either, Toudou-san!" said Akira with a shake of his head. "Although, I'm starting to like seeing her in this outfit, it makes her look kind of dark and alluring and… Gah! What the hell am I thinking!? Get a hold of yourself, Akira Kurusu!" added Akira to himself before he mentally berated himself for thinking bad thoughts about Isamu.

"That happened last time too, huh!? What's with that outfit!?" asked Ryuji.

"I don't know, Sakamoto-kun!" replied Isamu with a shake of her head before she glance at Ryuji. "Why? You jealous or something?" Isamu added teasingly to him.

"I-I ain't jealous!" yelled Ryuji in denial at her words. "What's goin' on here!? This makes no effin' sense at all…"

"Hey!" a familiar voice suddenly called out to Isamu, Akira and Ryuji from their left and when they turned to see who is it that called out to them, they saw that it's the cat-thing named Morgana as he came walking out from behind a corner of the castle toward them and stopped in front of them. "Stop making a commotion outside the castle and it's nice to see you again, Lady Isamu." said Morgana sternly to both Akira and Ryuji then softly to Isamu.

"Yeah, nice to see you too, Morgana." said Isamu as she smiled at him (while holding back her inner urge to picked Morgana up and cuddle him).

"Ah… You!?" said Ryuji in surprise at Morgana.

"What are you doing here?" asked Akira.

"The Shadows started acting up, so I came here wondering what it could be, and it turns out to be you three… To think you three would come back to the entrance when you three barely managed to escape yesterday." replied Morgana as he crossed his arms.

"What is this place?… Is it the school?" asked Ryuji.

"That's right." replied Morgana as he nodded to Ryuji.

"But it's a castle!" yell Ryuji in disbelief to Morgana.

"Pipe down, Sakamoto-kun!" snapped Isamu as she scowled at Ryuji for yelling.

"This castle IS the school… But only to this castle's ruler." explained Morgana.

"The castle's ruler…?" said both Akira and Ryuji in confused unison to Morgana.

"You must mean Kamoshida, am I right, Morgana?" said Isamu.

"Yes, you're right, Lady Isamu!" replied Morgana as he smiled at her before he explained even more to both Akira and Ryuji. "This castle is how his distorted heart views the school."

"Kamoshida… Distorted…? Explain it in a way that makes sense!" muttered Ryuji even more in confusion at Morgana's words before he scowled and demanded Morgana to explain clearly to him, Akira and Isamu.

"I shouldn't have expected a moron to get it…" said Morgana as he glance at Ryuji with an unimpressed look on his face.

"What'd you say!?" yell Ryuji as he glared down at Morgana.

Suddenly, a loud and painful scream of a guy came out from within the castle, which make Isamu, Akira and Ryuji jumped in surprise before they glance at the castle.

"What was that!?" asked Ryuji.

"It must be the slave captives here." replied Morgana.

"Slave captives?" said Akira, shocked.

"For real!?" said Ryuji, shocked as well before they heard another loud and painful scream of another guy. "Oh, shit… it's for real! We saw other guys held captive here in the dungeons yesterday… I'm pretty sure they're from our school." added Ryuji grimly to Isamu, Akira and Morgana.

"Yeah, I agreed too, Ryuji." said Akira as he nodded his head in grim agreement at Ryuji.

"Most likely on Kamoshida's orders. It's nothing out of the ordinary; it's like that every day here." stated Morgana firmly to them before he glance at Isamu. "What's more, you three escaped yesterday. He must have lost his temper quite a bit."

"So he decided to ordered those knight minions of his to punish those prisoners just because we make him mad by escaping from him and his castle yesterday?" said Isamu in anger at Kamoshida for punishing them.

"That son of a bitch…!" swored Ryuji in anger at Kamoshida as well.

"Ryuji…?" said Morgana as he glance in concern at Ryuji.

"… This is bullshit!" yell Ryuji before he charge toward the front door and rammed his shoulder against it to try to break it open but to no avail. "You hear me, Kamoshida!?" yell Ryuji for the second time at the castle.

"Sakamoto-kun! Stop it!" said Isamu.

"She's right, Ryuji. You'll hurt yourself if you do that again." said Akira.

"Yeah, you should listen to Lady Isamu and Akira, also doing that isn't going to open it, you know… Still, it seems you have your reasons." said Morgana sadly to Ryuji.

"Hey, Monamona!" said Ryuji loudly to Morgana as he turned around to glance and approach him.

"It's Morgana!" snapped Morgana in bristling anger at Ryuji as he corrected him for saying the wrong name to him.

"Do you know where those voices are comin' from…?" asked Ryuji as he ignored Morgana's words to him.

"You want me to take you to them?" said Morgana apprehensively at Ryuji before he glance at Isamu. "… Well, I guess I could take and guide you there. But only if Lady Isamu comes with us."

"Very well then. Let's go." said Isamu as she nodded to Morgana.

"It's settled then!" said Morgana as he briefly jumped up in excitement. "And what about you?" asked Morgana as he glance at Akira.

"If you guys are going into the castle then count me in too." replied Akira.

"For real!?… Thanks, you guys." said Ryuji as he smiled quite widely and in relief to Isamu, Akira and Morgana.

"All right, let's do this. Follow me!" said Morgana excitedly to Isamu, Akira and Ryuji before he turned around and run off and they run after him.