6) In Matt Oda We Trust

Part 3

In the middle of the night and in Konoka and Asuna's room, Matt is sleeping away on the couch out like a light. While he is snoozing away, a dream came into his subconscious mind.

In his dream, he is standing in a huge gray and bluish room with nothing around him, as if he is in a vast opening subspace void. He looks all around the area but sees nothing that comes to his sight.

"Where am I?" Matt questioned, "What is this place?" Matt looked around some more but still couldn't find anything.

Just then, Matt felt something touching his left foot. He looked down and jolted of what he sees: a woman's hand grabbing his foot. Matt flinched in fright as he tries to shake off the hand that is grabbing his foot. The hand let go, but that didn't stop there. Matt observes the hand and notices something else is coming out of the ground with hand. Out from the ground and on its feet is a shadowy figure appearing in front Matt. But after a few seconds of the figure to adjust its body, the shadow figure formed into what gave Matt a jolting and scared jump, a curvaceous woman. Her eyes and mouth appeared on her face as she makes an evil look to Matt. He shook in fright even more, but things got worse when he noticed something else.

Appearing out from the ground again are more shadow figures, and they all turned into women. But not just the same one as the first woman, they all turned into different shapes, sizes, and looks of women. All their eyes and mouths appeared as they evilly glared at Matt Oda. Matthew began to shake like an earthquake and sweated like a fountain.

Then Matt hears something coming from the woman-formed shadows.

"Matthew… Matthew…" the first shadow woman said. Matt's eyes widen. "Come here, Matthew…"

"Come here, Matthew…" said another shadow woman. "Come and play with us…"

"We won't hurt you…" said another, "We just want to torture you…"

Then all the shadow women laughed evilly together. Matt slowly backed away in fright, and then in a flash, he ran away from the shadow women. Matt ran as fast as he can, but to his scared surprise, the shadow women were gaining to him.

He ran with all his might, but he tripped and landed on the ground. He tries to get up, but something is pulling his feet to prevent him from running away. Matt looked and screamed in fright when he sees multiple of women's hands grabbing onto Matt's feet. He tries to shake them off, but there were too many of them holding onto his feet.

Matt looked up and sees the shadow of women getting close to him. As shook a lot in fright and sweated a lot like a waterfall.

"HELP! Somebody help me!" Matt screamed.

"So, you're terrified of girls and women," said a womanly voice.

Matt flinched when he heard the female voice. Then, a shadow appeared over Matt's head as he looks up what's above him. There he sees a young woman who is not in its shadow form but wearing a white shoulder-less shirt and a long gray skirt. She also had long black hair. However, Matt couldn't see the face of the woman for the shadow is blocking her face.

"Who are you!?" Matt panicked and question.

"You really want to stay away from female people forever?" said the woman in the clothes. Matt tilts his head in confusion after what the woman said. "I'll be waiting for you the next time we meet again." Then the woman slowly disappears, leaving Matt trapped with the hands grabbing his feet.

"Hey, wait!" Matt yelled as he tries to call the woman back. "Who are you?"

Matt looks back at the shadow women who are now close to him as they stared evilly at him. They all surrounded Matt, and he widens his eyes, bites his lips, and sweated a lot. The shadow women pulled back and then swiftly reached to Matt Oda.

"EEEEEEYYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"


"AHHH!"

Matt screamed as he awoke from his nightmare. Matt breathed heavily and sweated a lot. He touched his chest to feel his heart pounding away like a fast beat on a metronome. Matt looks around the room and sees Negi, Asuna, and Konoka sleeping in their beds. Matt then spots a clock on the table that says 6:03. Matt also sees the rising sun's rays gleaming through from the opening cracks of the curtains. Matt looks back at his feet and makes a troubled look on his face.


Later that morning, Negi, Matt, Asuna, and Konoka were walking down the crowded streets as they head toward to Mahora Academy. Negi, Asuna, and Konoka were happily talking to each other, but Matt feels a little worried about the dream he had last night. Konoka noticed Matt's state and begins to question him.

"Hey Matt-san, is something wrong?" Konoka asked.

Matt heard Konoka and replies, "Oh, no, just thinking about the crime we have to solve. We gotta really be prepared to apprehend those criminals, so I'm thinking of how to capture them."

"I see…" Konoka replied with a smile.

The gang reached towards the front gate of the academy as they slowly start to walk inside the campus. But after they entered, someone shouted and got the gang's attention. Appearing and coming close to Negi and the others are the three cheerleaders Sakurako, Misa, and Madoka.

"Sakurako, Misa, Madoka, what are you doing here?" Negi asked.

"We are here to Matt Oda," Misa said as she catches her breath. "And it is urgent."

"Take it easy girls and relax," said Matt calming the cheerleaders. "So, what's the problem?"

"Well, we've encountered crooks that stole some jewels or something yesterday," Sakurako stated.

This got Matt and the gang blinked in surprise. "Wait, crooks that stole 'jewels,' you say?" Sakurako nodded in response. Matt thought that they were the thieves who robbed the jewels yesterday at the store the team was investigating. "Continue your report, what else did you heard or see about the crooks."

"Well, it's getting worse," Madoka continued to talk, "they said they're going to rob the most important item of this city, the Mahora Crowned Emblem."

Matt and Negi were calm, but Asuna and Konoka jolted in fright when they heard the last part of Madoka's statement. Matt and Negi noticed the two girls' reactions and knew that it is a terrible sign.

Matt continues to talk more about the group of thieves. "Did you girls get a good look at what the criminals looked like?" he asked.

Sakurako tries to remember about the crooks, "Uh…, no…, except for the leader of the pack. She was tall and dressed in jeans and a collared shirt. And she had long brown hair with a ponytail on the back of her head."

"Hmm… seems odd about this thief," Matt responded curiously.

"Oh, by the way," Misa interrupted. "I happened to hear the leader's name. She goes by the name…umm…" There was a pause for everyone, then Misa remembered the name.

"…Mieko… Mieko is her name."

But when Matt heard that name, he flinched in fright and widens his eyes. "No…," he said to himself quietly. He stood still with his frightened look on his face.

The cheerleaders noticed Matt's frightened face. "Hey Matt-san, is something wrong?" Misa asked. "You looked scared."

"Huh…? UHHH… No, No. It's nothing. Thanks for the report. We'll get onto the case and apprehend those crooks."

The cheerleaders grinned at Matt Oda. "Good luck, Matthew-san." Sakurako cheered to Matt, "I know you will succeed." Matt smiled in exasperation and gave them a thumbs-up. The cheerleaders left the scene and headed to their classes.

But after the three cheerleaders left, Matt makes his frightened look on his face again. "Why her!? Why it had to be her!?" Matt thought to himself. "Of all the crooks I have to face, why this woman? I can't believe she's here…An–"

"Matthew, Matthew!" Negi shouted to get Matt's attention. Matt heard Negi's voice and snaps himself out of his fear. "Are you alright, Matt? You dazed out there."

"Me? Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Right now, we need to find those crooks before they pull off another heist." Matt turns to Asuna and Konoka with their worried look on their faces. "And I assume this emblem is essential to you two?" Asuna and Konoka looked back at Matt.

It is…" Konoka nervously replied, "If any happens to it, then…" Konoka starts to make a tear coming out from her right eye.

Asuna couldn't bear to see Konoka crying, so she took action. "C'mon you guys, we have to report this to the dean."

"But what's this emblem so important for?" Negi questioned.

"No time to talk, let's go!"

Asuna and Konoka rushed off to Dean Konoe's office. Matt and Negi didn't understand what's going on, but they followed the two girls to the Dean's office.


Somewhere off from Mahora's City limits is an abandoned warehouse all boarded up for closure. Inside contained two huge mixture containers, stairs and platforms, boxes that are old and dusty, and hooks that hang from the ceiling with rusty chains.

In the corner of the warehouse are the group of thieves preparing for the heist of the emblem. They got their hacking devices, lock picks, and break-in tools together, ready for the robbery.

The leader, Mieko, checks on a goon who is looking on her laptop. The laptop depicts the security that's covering for the Crowned Emblem.

"How's it going?" the leader said.

The goon with her laptop replies, "Well, the infiltration from the outside perimeter of the academy will be tight. But the inside where the emblem contains will be a snap if we perform our tasks perfectly."

"Good," Mieko said in amusement. She then looks out a broken and boarded window and sees the Mahora City from an opening hole. "Soon, Matthew Oda, you will be so hopeless to stand a fight against me."