"Stop that."
"...Stop what? I've literally done nothing."
"You're silently blaming me. This is NOT my fault."
Budo dangled upside-down from the ceiling, ropes tied tightly from his waist to his chest. The light emitting from the portal down below reflected strangely off of his eyes, reminding Ayato of an angry cat.
"I beg to differ," Ayato sighed. He shifted uncomfortably in his own bindings. "I can't believe this."
He began to survey the area once more. He'd done this at least four times-each time finding no possible kind of escape route-but was still convinced that there had to be some way out of this.
"Can't you use your master martial arts to free yourself?" Ayato called out.
Budo looked down at him, glaring profusely. "If I could, don't you think I would've done that by now?"
The room was small, stuffy, and practically boiling from the heat. If it wasn't for the constant uncontrollable beating in his chest, Ayato would've been one hundred percent convinced that they had died and went to hell. But unfortunately, that was not the case.
When Info-chan had told him that something interesting was going to happen tonight, he wasn't aware that she meant something along the lines of occult summonings. This was turning into the longest Thursday of his life.
"Did you have to run in and attack the cult students?" Ayato asked. "Did you, Budo?"
"They were chanting! And the big circle thing was glowing! That's bad!"
"You know what else is bad? One student against six students," Ayato said. "Six students that clearly had the supernatural advantage."
"...I don't think you're being a very good team player, Ayato."
"..." Ayato closed his eyes and leaned back, letting the full depth of the situation sink in.
He was trapped in the occult club, possibly about to be used as some sort of sacrifice. He was trapped in the occult club with Budo, a nauseously heroic, impulsive moron. He was trapped in the occult club with Budo, and whatever these students were summoning was probably out there attacking the students, Taro included.
Taro…
"Shit…" He had to stop this madness and make sure Taro was okay.
Ayato glanced at Budo, who was twisting and jerking back and forth.
"Making any progress?" Ayato asked. It didn't look like he was.
"Arg! I think-Gah! I almost-Ach! Just a bit more!" At least Budo sounded optimistic. "How long before the cult kids come back?"
Ayato shook his head. "I'm not sure. But we should hurry either way to-"
He suddenly heard a small snap, followed by an "aw yeah!" and completed by watching as Budo's bindings collapsed and descended into the summoning circle below.
Fortunately, Budo somehow managed to hang on to the leftover rope, and did not fall into the ominous portal. Using his legs to gather momentum, he swung over the portal and landed inches from the edge.
After steadying himself, he turned to Ayato and posed. "Ta-dah!"
"Shut up and untie me." Ayato grumbled.
Budo, still beaming from his success, hurried over and undid Ayato's binds. "Alright. Now what? Find those occult students and take them down?"
"Didn't you just try that and fail?" Ayato hissed, rubbing at his wrists.
"If at first you don't succeed," Budo began.
"Give up and try something else." Ayato finished. "We need to find out what the source of all of this is. They only have this power because something gave it to them. We destroy that, they'll go back to being the frail goth kids that they were before."
Budo nodded in agreement. "Right. But, um… How do we do that? I've never read anything on occult in my life."
Ayato paused, looking around. The only thing of interest in this room was the ominous glowy circle in the center of it all.
Budo followed his gaze. "Oh…" He frowned. "Oh no. I do not want to go into the freaky circle."
"That might be the only way," Ayato said.
"We don't know what's in there," Budo stated. "For all we know it's the gate to hell. I mean, they literally had me dangling over that thing."
Ayato thought about that. "...I'm going in the circle."
"No." Budo grabbed his arm. "Oh no you're not. No. I mean it, Ayato,"
"You don't have to come, just go to the courtyard and help people like you wanted."
Budo looked at him. "I cannot, in good conscience, let you go in there alone."
"Then come."
"I don't want to."
Ayato groaned. "Then stay. I don't care."
"Ayato.."
"Look, as soon as you let go of me, I am going to go into that portal and stop whatever it is that's attacking the students. There's nothing you can do about that." Ayato assured him.
"Well then, I just won't let go." Budo said.
"What?"
"If I don't let go, you can't go in." Budo tightened his grip. "So I won't let go."
Ayato looked down at his arm, and then over to the portal. "...You won't let go?"
"Nope."
"You sure about that?"
"Yep."
"Alright." Ayato placed one of his legs against the wall and positioned himself.
Budo faltered. "Uh.. What are you-AHH!"
He yelled as Ayato kicked out his leg with all the force he could muster, causing the pair to fall back towards the portal. Surprisingly, Budo's grip didn't loosen, giving Ayato no other choice but to roll over into the portal with Budo in tow. Thankfully, the martial artist was still in shock from the first tug, so it wasn't hard to maneuver them both into the desired location.
Ayato felt the air around him grow cold as they entered the portal. All light seemed to completely vanish around him, and yet, he could still clearly see Budo's distraught face, inches from his own.
"Ayato…" Budo whispered. "If we survive this, I think I'm going to kill you."
"Don't be dramatic."
"Don't be…?! WE ARE IN A CULT. PORTAL. DON'T TELL ME NOT TO BE DRAMATIC!"
"Who has entered our realm?" An ominous voice called out. "Speak your names."
The boys froze. Ayato looked around to try and see who was speaking to him, but he couldn't see a thing beyond the darkness.
Regardless, he decided to answer. "I am Ayato, this is Budo…" An idea suddenly formed in his mind. "We've come to bargain."
Budo frowned. "Excuse me?"