The rewinding town
Toma approached his destination, a small town that had suddenly lost all connection to the outside world. The only reason for that to happen would be Innocence. He approached the entrance, stopped and observed. It looked like every other town, the difference was that there was no soul there, no people, no stray animals, no birds. He contacted the Order and informed them that he had arrived. After everything was done, he took a deep breath and walked towards the entrance. He felt like he was passing through a sheet of water and was a bit surprised how easy it was to enter. After a second of complete darkness, a light shone in his eyes, he was on the other side of town.
"Hmm… this may pose a bigger problem than what we really thought. Better tell this to HQ."
===Time skip===
Miranda was going insane. She can't even remember how many times she'd re-lived this day and wished to escape. The most infuriating thing was that no one else noticed or remembered it.
'What should I do?' – she wept silently as she turned a corner.
She was in an alley when 2 hulking, scary monsters fell from the sky.
"EEEEP!"
They were about to attack her when 2 strangers also came and stopped them in their tracks.
"Are you OK, miss?" – the boy asked her.
"I'm FREEEEEE! Finally!" – she shed tears of happiness and ran away leaving 4 pairs of eyes looking at the direction she fled to.
"What the hell was wrong with that woman?" – one of the level 2 Akuma sked absentmindedly.
"Don't ask us. We're just as clueless." – Robin deadpanned and waved them off.
The ridiculous moment was over and they resumed their standoff. The two sides leaped at each other and attacked. Lenalee managed to land a solid kick to the Akuma on her left and Robin almost managed to cut off an arm. Suddenly the Akuma froze and Robin frowned at the tingle of Dark matter. Lenalee was confused for a moment but that gave the two Akuma a chance to slip away and hide themselves.
…
The town was beautiful but it felt wrong. And this sense of wrongness wasn't only due to the Innocence, there was something else Robin couldn't quite describe, yet. They had just come from the outside. Lenalee looked around in awe as Robin rubbed his stitches. It irritated his left eye a bit and he also tried to hide the jolt he felt while passing through the barrier surrounding the town. It had felt like a jolt of electricity had passed through his nervous system. How he knew that – ask one Komui Lee and his crazy invention.
So, he and Lenalee were walking around, scouting the town when suddenly his eye activated. She was a bit startled but was getting used to its random activation whenever they got close to an Akuma. She shot him a look and nodded. Robin looked around and soon his eye locked on the two Akuma. He jerked his head in their direction and ran off, Lenalee after him. They soon reached an alley where the 2 Akuma, a pumpkin-headed one and another that looked like a pendulum, in front of them was a trembling, gloomy woman, scared out of her wits.
"" Innocence activate!"" – they both said at the same time.
….
Ice was waiting near the butcher's shop and waited for his 2 comrades to come. They were trying to see if they do manage to take the Innocence would the town stop rewinding and allow them to properly escape. They had tried multiple times but all were met with failure. With a bit of snooping around, they managed to narrow the possible accommodator. It was the gloomy woman, so they decided to get rid of her.
Suddenly his two companions rush over. Ice was a bit surprised and got pissed when Kazekiri and Pang talked at the same time in a way that he didn't understand anything of what they said.
"Shut up! Decide who will tell me what happened and speak! I can't understand a thing you just said." – Ice shouts at them.
The two Akuma face each other and start doing rock-paper-scissors. Ang won in the match.
"So! Tell me what happened." (Ice)
"There are Exorcists here!" – he screeched in panic.
Kazekiri agreed from behind.
"Are you sure?" (Ice)
"Yeah! They had their weapons out and attacked us! We retreated or we would've been goners!" (Pang)
"The gloomy woman got away, too." (Kazekiri)
"Damn! We need a new plan! Come here! I think we should…" (Ice)
===Meanwhile outside the city===
Road floated down, Lero in her right hand. She gently landed a few meters away from the entrance.
"Hmm~…" – she hums sweetly to herself and starts walking towards the city.
She holds Lero and swings him back and forward, he clearly doesn't enjoy it but stays silent.
"Lero…" – he says quietly because he knew Road could do worse.
She stops and pokes at the barrier separating the town from the outside. She poked it with her index finger and it crackled with sparks of greenish light. She pulls back her finger and watches it regenerate, unimpressed. Road smiled and spun Lero around like a pinwheel. She then pointed his sharp top towards the barrier and walked forward.
"Leroooo! Stop it! Please stop it Road-sama, ithuurts!" – he screeched as he was forced through the barrier.
Road continued forward, not paying attention to his plea. Soon both of them were gone. From behind some bushes, Toma's head pops out as he looks around. He breathes a sigh of relief and with trembling hands calls HQ.
He had been waiting in the shadow of the city wall for Robin and Lenalee to come out when he saw something in the sky. Like every Finder worth their wage, he carried a few essentials other than his phone box, one of them was a pocket-sized telescope. He froze the moment he saw the Noah head his way, so he took all his things and hid in the bushes.
[Black Order, European branch listening.]
"T-this is Toma, Finder, assigned to Exorcists Lenalee Lee and Robin Gray. I call to report seeing a Noah get inside the city."
[WHAT?!]
"A Noah entered the city." – he repeated.
[We'll inform the Chief. Stay hidden and report any major changes to us.]
"I got it."
The call ended and Toma returned to his previous position, too afraid to get closer to the town, in case it exploded.
===Back with the 3 Akuma===
"…and after that, I say we get outta here before other Exorcists arrive." (Ice)
"Yeah!" (Pang)
"We'll kill 'em!" (Kazekiri)
"You ready for this?" – Ice asked his two companions.
"Ready for what?" – a girl's voice suddenly asks.
The 3 Akuma turn around and freeze at the sight of Road, leaning on Lero with a playful smile.
"R-road-sama…"
"Now, mind telling me what were you whispering about in here?" – her eyes gleamed as the Akumas trembled in fear.
===With Miranda===
"Waaaait!" – someone shouted.
Miranda stopped, expecting someone angry but instead saw the two strangers.
"I-It's you!" – she smiled slightly.
Robin and Lenalee stop in front of her and Lenalee is panting a bit.
"Yeah, Miss…" – Robin begins.
"Miranda Lotto." – she introduces herself.
"Nice to meet you miss." – Lenalee and Robin shake her hand.
"D-do you need something from me?"
They look at her with determination.
"Actually, we do." (Robin)
"We were wondering if you might know why were you attacked by those Akuma. Also, if you may tell us what's happening in this town. We asked several people but no one knew what we were talking about." – Lenalee says with a smile.
Miranda's heart feels warm. No one had treated her so kindly in a long time.
"Yes, I… know but… do you mind coming to my apartment? Tthere are a lot of people watching." – she asks them nervously.
"Lead the way." – Robin gives a small bow.
Miranda leads them, too afraid that everything will be over as soon as midnight strikes. Soon they reach her apartment and she serves them some food and tea.
"So, Miss Lotto, can you answer our questions? What exactly is happening with this town?" – Lenalee begins, feeling that Miranda would be a bit more comfortable talking to another woman.
"Every night, after midnight, this town just returns back to this same day. It happened multiple times and NO ONE else notices this! I-I just want it to stop but I can't do anything!" – she wailed.
"Please calm down Miss Lotto. We're here to fix this too. As well as to deal with the Akuma." – Lenalee patted her shoulder.
"R-Really?"
"Yes, we are Exorcists, this is our job." – Robin says and eats a cookie.
"Exorcists? Like those…"
"No, no! We fight real demons; the Akuma you were attacked by were just some of them." Robin slightly frowns at the implication they don't only fight Akuma, and the truthfulness behind it "Now, do you think there might be a reason for those two to attack you? They seemed really determined." – Lenalee prodded.
"N-no, I have no idea why. It never happened before."
They continued talking like that late into the night. Robin and Lenalee getting useful information while hearing Miranda's life-story and other suspicious things from it. Suddenly the clock strikes midnight and Miranda freezes.
"Miss Lotto?" – Robin asks but she ignores him.
Miranda quickly went to bed and fell asleep. Suddenly, numerous clocks appeared all over town and flowed towards her.
"What's going on?!" – Lenalee screamed due to the wind.
"I don't know!" – Robin struggled and stumbled.
He fell backwards and braced for the impact his shoulder was going to soon make with the old grandfather clock. It never came. His shoulder just passed through it and sparks danced across his skin. Good for him that Lenalee had closed her eyes and didn't see him wince due to the sparks.
'So that's how it was!' – Robin thought.
Out of nowhere, it was day and bright outside. The clock struck 7:00 and Miranda woke up.
Meanwhile Road floated lazily above the town, swinging her feet in the air. The three Akuma were quivering behind her.
"Now, this is interesting! I'm gonna look around and have fun. You three!" – she faced the Akuma.
""Y-Yes, Road-sama!""
"If you find the Exorcists or the Accommodator, capture them alive and inform me! I want to play with them a bit~." – she smiled and flew down, towards one of the side streets.
The three gulped and finally were able to relax a bit. Road was just as scary as every other Noah and they didn't want any trouble with her, so they also floated down and donned their human disguises.
