Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, if anyone is still waiting that is.
And by the way, I may have spelled rejuvinating wrong, I have no spelling correction and don't have money to afford microsoft office with just to write fanfiction.
Arc II - Chp. 9 ; 35 - Disappearance
Amagi watched Masazumi with a blank look on her face as she lifted a mug high with a wide smile.
"Cheers!"
The group of Toori, Kimi, Horizon, Amagi, Makiko, Azuma, Noriki, Tenzou, Adele, Ayumi, a distressed Hituro, Genji, Kiyonari, Margot, Malga, Neito, Kenji, Persona, Futayo, Shirojiro, Heidi, Suzu, Naomasa, Kuina, and Masazumi clacked mugs together. Amagi, Hituro, and Horizon watched as the others took a whip of their mugs contents. Tomo decided to sit it out as well instead of drinking the beverages they had all gotten.
"Whoo!" the drinkers cheered with a laugh.
"Well, guys..." Masazumi stated. "Tonight has been really fun, thank you all for this."
Kuina smiled and waved her hand at her. "Oh, don't worry about it, it has been rejuvinating for me as well..."
Masazumi nodded. "Other than what happened with Neshinbara, this has been the greatest night of my life!"
"So far..." Toori pointed out. "Wait until you lose your virginity."
Masazumi gave a nod. Amagi turned her gaze to the side. "Great, they're drinking beer and the like..."
"To Masazumi!" Azuma said aloud.
"To Masazumi," yelled the rest of them, minus the automatons and Azuma.
"Speaking of Former Commander Neshinbara..." Amagi said, looking to Kimi. "It has been a couple of hours since that incident." She turned to Horizon. "Wish to continue it, my automaton friend?"
"Gladly..." Horizon turned to Kimi. "Maybe now would be a good time to talk and straighten things out before we depart this facility."
Kimi looked away. "I don't know... The fanfic writer has been kind of a dick lately..."
Horizon let her head down and shook it. "Can't you atleast be more mature then? For the sake of the war at least.
Kimi thought on that statement for a breif minute before coming to a conclusion. "Alright, but it is for you, Horizon. Not for him."
"Whatever..." Horizon turned to Toori. "Now... get out of the seat so the rest of us may stand out."
Hituro gave a loud sigh. "Finally! I don't have to be so cramped up anymore!"
"Oh..." Ayumi wrapped a loose arm around his shoulders. "You didn't like being between two girls? I thought boys liked tight spaces."
"Not when one of them is shoving food down your throat. I had to run to the bathroom to get it out twice! That was not fun."
"Oh, quit your complaining, Hituro..." Toori said. "It was all fun and games."
"Oh, sure..." Hituro threw his hands up. "Let's just all have food crammed into our mouths by some crazy person. That's the life of the party right there..." He crossed his arms.
Toori laughed nervously as the rest of the group got up from the table. "Okay, let's go get Neshinbara and go home."
"Judge." the group, minus Genji, Ninji, and Kenji, said with a nod.
Genji put his hand up. "Um..."
"What is it, Genji?" Makiko happily inquired.
"Well, he's not here..."
The group's smiles faded.
"What?" Toori asked.
"He left, long ago actually..." Kenji informed. "He said he had something he needed to do."
Kimi placed her hands on her hips. "He probably went home... He can be such a punk sometimes..." Hituro shook his head at the comment in the background. "Come on, let's go tell him good night in person then... He needs to know he's still at least concerned about by somebody in the world..."
Tomo nodded. "Yeah, I was kind of rude to him back at the table hours ago... I never once considered his feelings in all of this."
"Alright, then let's go." Toori said, waving the group to follow him. They started to walk out before he turned his head over to the table where Tsukasa, Ichijou, and Kazu were at. "Hey! We're leaving, you guys coming?"
Tsukasa turned his head just enough to see his sharp eye. "Oh, you are now, huh?" He let his chair fall on all fours. "Alright, I'm gone..."
Ichijou put down a large cup. "Same, was getting bored." Kazu gave a sigh and proceeded to stand up as well.
"I guess I have no choice. What, are we all going home now?"
"That question is correct." Amagi informed. "Mister Kazu, we are now headed over the residence of Toussaint Neshinbara to tell him good night. Would you like to accompany the group of Plum?"
"Nah..." Kazu started walking ahead of them. Ayumi watched him.
"Aw... but why not?"
"Because..." Kazu started. "It'd be a waste of my time and it is past twelve o' clock... I got to get some sleep."
Ichijou nodded. "Sorry, but I don't feel like going to visit him either. My dorm is on the other side of the complex next to his. I'll accompany you as far as the dorms go, but after we get inside, I'm leaving." Tsukasa gave a nod.
Toori turned to him. "So I guess you're not coming with us either?"
"Sorry..." Tsukasa lifted a hand. "And I'm not going to go with you guys to the dorms either, I'm going on ahead. I've been dying for a good night's sleep for a little while now. Bye bye." Tsukasa started up ahead and soon got out of the bar. Hituro turned to watch as the other guys of the Special Tactical Unit squad made their exit. Toori turned to him.
"Aren't you going to go with them?"
Hituro shook his head. "No, I care about Neshinbara greatly. Had I had known he left, I would have accompanied him... But a certain someone kept me busy..."
Ayumi gave a chuckle. "Is it too late to say I'm sorry?"
"No..." He let his head down. "But my stomach still hurts..."
"Sorry..."
"Let's just let it go..." Ayumi gave a happy nod.
The group walked out of the club and into the darkness of the midnight. Masazumi practically led the way as they approached the dorms after half an hour of walking.
"Ah, here we are..." Kimi said, folding her arms under her large breasts, hoisting them up. The group walked in and went down the stairs to get to Neshinbara's dorm. Neito could help but sniff the air.
"Hmm... Something's off..."
"Heh?" Toori said, still smiling.
"Oh, nothing, my King..." Neito chuckled and nervously waved off to him. "It must just be my imagination."
"Okay." Toori said. The group approached the door and Kimi, with a sultry smile, casually knocked on it. The group, smiles still present, awaiting for him to answer. "Hmm?" Kimi blinked. She knocked on the door again, harder than before. There was still no answer.
Neito sniffed the air again. Kimi looked down at the door crack to see light escaping from it. "Neshinbara?" Kimi called, and knocked again.
Neito sniffed the air, now concentrating on the scent, then her eyes widened. "Quick, open the door!"
Kimi kicked the door open. It swang open, revealing an empty room with bags spilled on the floor. Kimi gasped at what she saw.
"W-what's going on?" Suzu asked. The group ran in and looked at the small puddle of blood present on the floor, not far from the bags.
"Neshinbara!" Tomo called. She ran past the group, Naomasa carefully picked up the polishing box and the letter addressed to her.
"Hmm..."
The group walked further in, surveying the area. Tomo ran far into the apartment and to his bedroom. Hituro looked up at the ceiling as Amagi walked in as well.
"My best guess..." Amagi began, catching Hituro's attention. "That something happened here not long ago..." She turned to him. "We must have just missed it by half an hour..."
Tomo ran back into the room. "He's not in his room or in the bathroom. He's not here!"
Makiko observed the area. "You don't think he did this to himself, do you?"
"No way!" Toori said. "Neshinbara's depressed, but he's not stupid. He's the smartest guy I know!" The group could only blink at him.
"Hey guys..." Naomasa said, catching their attention. "Check this out..."
Masazumi and the others gathered around and looked at what she held.
"Suzu..." Naomasa held the earphone system. "I believe Neshinbara got this for you. There's even a letter I think he wrote himself..." Naomasa handed Suzu the material. Suzu held the object close to her chest as Tomo took the letter.
"Would you like me to read it, Suzu?"
"J-jud." she said with a light voice.
Tomo cleared her throat. "Suzu, I am very sorry I could not write this out in a way you could read it... I don't know how. I hope you had a good time tonight, ate a lot of goodies and spent plenty of time with Toori. They say stars gleam and shine like diamonds far beyond our reach, full of magnifinance and beauty. Well, I thought of you when I saw them tonight, because you are nice, kind, and beautiful like the stars... So, I picked something out for you to plug into your audio recepter system. It's a music player. There are no songs on it, but you can get one of your friends to put some on.
-Sincerely, your friend.
Toussaint Neshinbara..."
Tomo closed the letter and relunctantly handed it over to Suzu.
"Thank you..."
"Yeah..." Tomo said softly.
"This is addressed to me, and there's another to Persona in the bag." Naomasa said. "I'm going to assume he went out and bought something for all of us."
"Whoa, really!?" Toori exclaimed.
Shirojiro lifted up Persona's gift. "He must have spent all of the money he had saved up if he did that..." He put it down. "Idiot..."
"What happened to him though?" Neito asked.
The group pondered on the thought until it hit them. Masazumi stared at the small blood puddle. She blinked at it as Futayo stood beside her. "Neshinbara..."
"Don't worry, Masazumi." Futayo told her. "I'm sure something trivial only happened..."
"Look at this..." Masazumi said. "How could this be trivial?"
"His curse maybe. I've seen how bloody those bandages get." Futayo lifted her hand off of Masazumi's shoulder. "I'm positive he is fine."
Masazumi only looked down.
"Maybe... he'll be back in school... tomorrow?" Adele suggested.
Makiko looked to a red digital clock inside the next dark room "Guys, I need to go catch some sleep. I'm sorry."
"Judge." Shirojiro said. "I've spen enough time of this past week thinking about his sorry ass... I'm leaving."
Masazumi only sighed as the rest of the group headed out. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion... I have to admit though, the boy's attitude and situations are getting on my nerves too... But it is not like he can flip a switch and just be... happy. Masazumi looked to the side with a scowl. Now that I think about it, I've never seen him happy at all, except on the battlefeild... Masazumi stood up and walked out.
Hituro stared at the apartment with Amagi. He looked at her as the automaton returned the look.
"Is there something wrong, Hituro?" Amagi questioned.
"It is just... something does not feel right... Not right at all..." He sighed. "We better go... Maybe Futayo is right... Atleast I hope she is... But the amount of blood is unnatural, even for how his hand has been lately." Amagi turned her attention to it as well as Hituro. They both glared at it.
"I just don't understand..." Hituro continued. "Why would he just suddenly drop whatever he was doing and run out of here with a bleeding hand if it left that much blood on the floor? He even left his lights."
"Yes, I see your point." Amagi surveyed the area. Could there be a different force behind this? Is it England? No, it couldn't be... It is definately not KPA Italia either... Wait, Amagi! What are you thinking? You can't seriously be considering the boy's status, could you? You don't care for them, they are the enemy... She turned to Hituro, who had his arms crossed as he stared at the blood. Yes, they are the enemy, the enemy of the entire world... And I am the only one to have access to their group. If I don't accomplish my mission, then the world could be in danger...
Amagi glared at Hituro as he continued to face the other way.
"We better go..."
Amagi snapped out of her mind. "Huh?" Hituro turned to her with a soft face.
"Come on, Amagi. We need to go."
"Uh, sure..." She nodded. Hituro continued forward, and stepped aside to let the female through first. He glared at the blood for one last time before turning out the lights and closing the door.
Masazumi groped his throat, caressing it. "Damn it!" He looked up to he figure shrouded in smoke. It now stood over her, it's sharp yellow eyes shining down a blinding look, awaiting to finish her off. It has no real face, a feminine chin and mouth, it wears a large metal mask shaped like a horn and has those insane yellow eyes... like those of a demon. "What the hell are you?"
"Don't you know?" it stepped onto her chest, pushing her into the hard black floor. Masazumi screamed as she could feel four sharp, hard toes boring into her skin. She looked at it to find a peachy pale white, with black dripping oozy leather accomidating the reptilian shaped leg. It looked mechanical in nature, but smooth like flesh. Masazumi slowly traced it up to see the leg become much more human, more feminine. She looked up as the creature leaned in, finally showing it's head. The helmet stuck far out, covering most of its face like a large horn shaped in the form of Lypee Katerapsi, and she could see those eyes, those evil yellow glares, angled like a human predator.
It came closer and Masazumi began to see something else. The front of the mask became a sick pale transparency, almost like a web's. Veins were present near the edges where its opacity vanished. She began to see a face. Masazumi could easily recognize it. It was the face of Horizon Ariadust, the automaton version of her!
She smiled a calm smile. Just the sight of her smiling made Masazumi push herself further into the flooring, trying to get away from the lie.
But she could see her, Horizon Ariadust, silver bangs, yellow eyes, evil eyes, a black vein web on the edges of her face, vanishing only centimeters from the solidness of the mask inside. She opened her mouth.
"I'm... your... friend."
Masazumi's eyes snapped wide open and she shot up with a gasp. Panting heavily, Masazumi stared down at the covers over her. She looked around slowly, trying to catch her bearings. Am I home? She felt her face, then body, then sighed. Was that... a dream?! She looked at her hands, they were trembling. "No way, it felt so real."
Masazumi pulled up a sign frame holding the time. "4:34 AM huh?" She closed it and looked to the side into the darkness. "Horizon..." She lowered her head. "Please be okay..."