The sun shone brightly in the clear, blue sky. Warmth drifted down, heating up the brown spikes of Kai's hair.
He had chosen to sit outside during lunch since autumn seemed to be cooling quite fast. His friends had opted to stay inside.
Taking another bite of his food, his eyes wandered around the courtyard, bored. They quickly catch a flash of red as Sky walks by.
"Hey! Sky!" Kai called out.
Sky's head snaps up. Frowning uncertainly, she walks up to him, taking a seat across from him. "Yeah?"
"I never got your name," he quickly said. In truth, he didn't know what he would say next.
Sky snorted. "You just gave me one."
"That white-haired girl called you Sky," he retorted.
She gritted her teeth, frustrated. "Skylor."
Kai smirked. "Okay, Sky, I—"
"It's Skylor," she snapped.
"Alright, Skylor," he corrected. Looking at her in concern, he said, "You're unusually irritable."
"I'm not irritable." She rested her head on her hand, closing her eyes.
Kai snorted. "Really?"
"Yes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a walk." The redhead stood up, leaving Kai at the table.
Kai quickly finished his food, racing after her. "Hey, I was wondering if you'll go to the café with me sometime." That sounded like a terrible attempt at asking her out, he thought.
"So you're trying to ask me out? Because, if so, no."
Kai stuttered. "It's— It's j-just a friendly outing!"
"Friendly outing?" Skylor echoed.
"Y-Yeah." Friendly outing? Ha. Why in Ninjago is your heart racing then? He was probably just nervous, right?
"I guess I could go," she contemplated.
"Really? Great! When do you want to go?"
Kai never got an answer, because a scream sounded from ahead.
That one's a dragon, this is a dog, that's a Walloper... Vania stared at the clouds drifting in the sky. She had gotten into a habit of seeing what clouds looked like when she was bored. And right now, she was very bored.
After Harumi had led Vania away from her friends, and told her to do something while muttering something about researching masks, the golden-blonde had ended up walking by someplace called a pizzeria.
Suddenly, a random guy wearing the weirdest costume she had ever seen popped out of nowhere, demanding answers to where Skylor was. "Where's Skylor!?" he snarled.
Vania shrieked. Several more guys wearing the same weird costumes had appeared by then, and they were covering their ears.
Wow, I must have been very loud, Vania thought as she shut her mouth and looked at them with wide eyes, slightly shaking.
The strangest thing that happened then was a four-armed person leaping down from a building top wielding the sharpest swords she had ever seen. Stranger was the fact that the person was wearing a super creepy, red, demon mask.
Demon-Mask sent the Weird-Costumed People running for their lives, as he or she had threatened to slice them to pieces just by raising the swords. Well, okay, that wasn't exactly possible, but those swords were sharp.
Demon-Mask turned around to face Vania. Only then did she get scared.
"Uh... I can fight! So... don't try anything! Okay... I don't know much, but I know basic defense!" Vania performed a fighting stance, but she was quite sure she was doing something wrong.
She also wanted to slap herself. Vania could practically hear Hailmar, Captain of the Winged Guards, yelling at her for the foolish mistake. You don't simply reveal your weaknesses to the opponent! That will only make it easier for them to beat you!
"Don't worry, I don't want to hurt you," Demon-Mask assured her. Demon-Mask's voice didn't sound as reassuring. The voice sounded quite familiar, but not. That... sounds unsettling, Vania thought.
Demon-Mask turned to leave, but the words leave Vania's mouth before she could stop herself.
"Who are you?" she blurted out.
Demon-Mask paused. "Uh... the Quiet One." It was obvious that the person didn't really think of their alias before.
As the Quiet One left, the blonde heard someone yelling from behind her.
"Vania? Vania! Are you okay? I heard screaming," Skylor said as she and what Vania assumed to be her boyfriend rushed up to her.
"Oh? I'm perfectly fine. Although, these people wearing weird costumes asked for you. And there was also this four-armed person who saved me. Who's your boyfriend over there?"
Skylor and Porcupine stared at her.
"D-Did you say, four-armed person? That— That's ridiculous!" Porcupine said.
"The four-armed person also wore a very creepy, red, demon mask," Vania added.
Skylor only seemed to pale at every second. "Weird costumes? Creepy, red mask?"
"Yeah. Anyway, who's your boyfriend?"
If they heard it, they were agonizingly slow at processing the words. Or maybe it was shock.
"I'm not her boyfriend!" Porcupine shouted at the same time Skylor protested, "He's not my boyfriend!"
Vania raised an eyebrow. "Really? Your red faces say otherwise. I guess I could tell you after school at the café Rumi told me about. Anyway, we should get back to school. Don't wanna be late..."
"Four-armed person!?" Seliel exclaimed. "Did you hit your head?"
Vania huffed in frustration. "No! How many times must I say that?"
She, Pixal, and Harumi had ended up being dragged into this mess once Vania started telling them about creepy masks, people wearing weird costumes, and a four-armed swordmaster, while Skylor had tried to calm the golden-haired girl.
Seliel turned to face Skylor. "Did you see this person?"
"Well, no—" the redhead began.
"See! As far as anyone knows, she hit her head and hallucinated everything!"
Harumi shifted uncomfortably. Hmm... Seliel narrowed her eyes. Strange. "Do you know anything?"
"No!" she yelled.
Any people in the café that were within earshot looked at her in annoyance before returning to whatever they were doing.
Seliel looked at Vania again. "So a swordmaster with four arms wearing a creepy, red mask saved you from these thugs wearing weird costumes?"
"Yes!" Vania groaned. "Do I have to repeat everything?"
"I believe what she said is true," Pixal said.
Seliel gaped at the silver-blonde. "FSM, did you hit your head? You're practically a walking encyclopedia!"
"Actually, there is something that matches Vania's description of the mask. And I am not a walking encyclopedia."
As Pixal pulled out her phone, Harumi said, "It was a comparison."
If Pixal heard it, she chose not to say anything. She turned her phone around so that the girls could see the screen. On it were the three creepiest masks that Seliel had ever seen.
"The three Oni Masks. The red one is the Oni Mask of Vengeance. The orange is the Mask of Deception. The purple is the Mask of Hatred."
Vania shuddered. "What's up with the creepy names?"
"The masks were from the mythological Oni. Their powers were derived from three Oni warlords." Pixal pulled up another page. "They were recently stolen from the Ninjago Museum of History."
Seliel leaned back into her seat. "Okay, so this Quiet One person saved Vania from a weirdly costumed gang. Wouldn't that mean this person knows Vania?"
She immediately regretted it as the girls started throwing questions at the poor blonde. Oops.
Morro grumbled as he strained to hear the girls' conversation.
Lloyd's spiky-haired friend, Kai, had returned muttering something about "Skylor's friend seeing a four-armed person."
And then Kai had found out his parents wanted him back home after school and ended up having to run someplace to tell this Skylor person about being unable to go.
Then Lloyd had the crazy idea to eavesdrop.
"Eavesdrop! Are you nuts?" he had hissed at his cousin.
"Hey! At least Harumi is there!"
Morro scrutinized him. "Crushing hard, aren't you?"
The blond's face had turned red while denying. Way to go, Greenie. That is the best way to convince me you don't have a crush.
Morro couldn't decide whether or not he was lucky that the only table available was barely within earshot of the girls.
The only things he heard were something about a swordmaster with four arms, a creepy, red mask, Oni Masks, and stolen.
"So? What are they saying?" Lloyd asked.
Morro sat straight, rubbing his neck from the strain to hear the girls' words. "No idea. Something about a four-armed swordmaster and Oni Masks being stolen."
He watched in boredom as his cousin whipped out his phone to search it up.
"There was a break-in at the Museum of History. The Oni Masks there were stolen." Lloyd continued to scroll through the page until he nearly dropped his phone in shock.
Morro bolted out of his seat to see what scared Lloyd. "What? What? Did you see something?"
Lloyd stared at the screen. "Is it just me, or is that Wu?" He pointed at a photo during an interview from NGTV.
The raven-haired boy had to rub his eyes several times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Yep, that's Wu, he thought.
"Do you think we should ask?" Morro questioned.
"Yeah."