Trouble in Nebula
Mikado is just finishing up typing the next document assigned by his boss on his desktop computer while sitting at his cubicle in a large office room. When he is done with the last sentence, the man decides to take a quick break as he leans back on his office chair and groans while stretching out his arms.
"Hey Mikado." A dark-brown haired woman said cheerfully as she and two other men walk over to his cubicle with a pile of documents in her hands. "I hope you aren't starting to get tired before overnight duty."
"Nope. Not at all, Erika." Mikado said as he rests his arms on the sides of his office chair. He grabs a paper cup of coffee from the desk beside him and shows it to Erika and her friends. "But if I am, I got something on standby to keep myself awake."
"Heh, totally expected from you, Mikado. Always well-prepared." One of the men who has short dark-blonde hair smiled at him before the other man beside him lets out a heavy yawn.
"You alright, Kyohei?" Mikado asked concernedly.
"Not really." Kyohei replied as he rubs his eyelids. "I couldn't sleep well last night because my air conditioner had to leak all of the sudden at 3 in the morning." He strokes his hand across his swept back dark brown hair as he looks back at Mikado. "And I completely forgot to stop by at a coffee shop during lunch to get myself a cup of my own when I needed to. What a day."
With a wan smile, Mikado extends his cup of coffee to Kyohei, much to his surprise.
"Here. You need it more than I do." Mikado said to him.
"But Mikado-"
"No, I insist." Mikado gives a wink of an eye at Kyohei. "You are supposed to be our department head after all. I can't let the boss catch you dozing off on the job."
Kyohei smiled as he takes the cup from his hand and bows his head to him. "Arigatou, Mikado. You are a lifesaver."
"No problem." Mikado replied, bowing back to him.
"Hmm, are you sure you're not a kind and friendly supporting male character in a romantic comedy manga who serves as the love interest of the wild and robust female protagonist, Mikado? Because you certainly remind me of one." The dark blonde-haired man said to Mikado with a smirk.
"Keep your weird otaku thoughts to yourself, Walker." Kyohei chided the dark blonde-haired man before turning to Erika. "That goes to you too, Erika."
"Yes sir, Kadota-sama!" Erika replied as she stands up straight and bows solemnly to her department head.
Mikado chuckles and shakes his head as his three co-workers walk away and return to their own duties. Suddenly, his smartphone rang and rumble on his work desk. Mikado glances at the screen before picking it up and answering the call. "Hello, Anri."
"Mikado, this is serious!" Anri suddenly cried from the other side of the line, causing Mikado to yelp and sit up straight on his chair with his eyes wide. "You and everyone in your office are in grave danger!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Anri! Relax! What's going on?" Mikado asked in alarm as he held his phone close to his ear. "And what do you mean in grave danger?"
Down at the first floor of Nebula's Itabashi branch, Takashi Nasujima whistles cheerfully as he walks past the automatic sliding glass doors and into the foyer of his former workplace with a metal suitcase in his left hand. On his way to the elevators, the former Nebula employee looks around the entrance hall while ignoring the confused looks and murmurs of his name from his former colleagues as he walks by them. Oh, how he used to love entering through this large open area every morning. The shiny gray marble floor tiles. The gorgeous cherry blossom trees displayed between the three elevators at the other end of the hall. The black reception counter at the right side. The bright blue waiting chairs placed at the opposite. And the enormous company logo hanging above them on the wall.
Being a Nebula employee used to made him feel proud that he has fulfilled his lifelong dream of living and working in Tokyo. But that feeling no longer exists now as he returned to this accursed building. The traitors in charge of this company permanently ruined his life after all, and it is no surprise that every person he walked by feels nothing but total contempt towards him. But in a way, it feels great knowing that he no longer has any attachment to this place. For as long as he does not feel anything for his former company, and this city, nothing will hold him back from accomplishing his goal.
When the two women working behind the reception counter notice him, they quickly get up from their chairs.
"Nasujima-san?" One of the receptionists called out to him as he walks by them. "You are not allowed to be here!"
Takashi ignores her however as he kept heading towards the elevators, which is barriered by several electronic gates. The other receptionist gestures the two security guards who are standing beside the gates to stop Takashi and they obliged.
"Did you know about the death of Hayato Toda?" Anri asked.
"Yes, of course I do." Mikado frowned. "Everyone in the company does. It was a shock-"
"As well as Kyouta Tsukiyama?"
"Yeah…" Mikado grew more confused. "Why are you bringing this up?"
At the foyer, Takashi stops at his tracks when the security guards approach him.
"Hold it right there." One of them said sternly to him with his hand up.
"Hello Nomura." Takashi casually greeted the security guard.
"Keep your mouth shut." Nomura warned him. The former employee looks over his shoulder and sees three more security guards walking over to him from behind. One of them already has his hand on a taser gun attached to his belt on standby in case things become aggressive. The ten employees in the foyer stand idly from the distance and watch the ongoing display in apprehension.
"Takashi Nasujima, you are not allowed to set foot in this building. Turn around now and we will safely escort you out of the premises." Nomura said firmly to Takashi.
"You don't want to make a scene here." The security guard beside Nomura added flatly.
In response, Takashi chuckled as his lips curved into a lopsided smirk.
"Please listen to me, Mikado. You must get everyone to evacuate the building now!" Anri cried.
"What?" Mikado said incredulously.
"Sorry boys…" Takashi blissfully closes his eyes and breathes in through his nostrils. Nomura and the other guards glance at each other as the former employee blows out a heavy sigh. He opens his eyelids and said icily to them, "The scene has already begun."
"The one who murdered Toda and Tsukiyama?" Mikado widens his eyes as he continued listening to Anri on the phone. "She's heading to your location!"
Suddenly, as soon as the doors of the center elevator slides open, Saika steps out and runs over to Takashi and the security guards with her katana in her hand.
"What the?!" One of the guards behind Takashi cried. The two guards in front of the former employee turn around as Saika jumps over the electronic gates, twirls around and swings her katana diagonally at Nomura from his left shoulder down to the right side of his torso.
As they notice his blood splattered across the floor, the employees and receptionists scream in terror as Nomura looks down at his wound with his eyes wide in shock and horror. He groans as he falls back and collapses onto the floor. The employees and receptionists quickly turn to the entrance and try to escape from the building. Saika sees this and quickly thrusts her hand at the sliding glass doors. When the terrified civilians reach them, some of them pressed their faces and bodies against the glass while others are slamming their hands and fists on them as they scream for help.
The other security guard in front of Takashi desperately tries to draw out his taser gun, but Saika quickly thrusts her katana through the center of his chest and out from his back.
The guard behind Takashi who already had his hand on his taser gun detaches his weapon from his belt and aims his weapon at the serial killer.
However, when Takashi turns around and face him, the guard pulls the trigger, and nothing happened.
"What?" The guard looks down at his taser gun in confusion as Takashi casually moves to his right and walks away. Saika suddenly runs over to the guard and stabs her katana through his stomach, causing him to drop his weapon. He vomits blood out of his mouth before the serial killer removes her sword from his body and pushes him down to the floor. The two remaining guards scream as they turn to the entrance and run away from the black-haired woman, joining the other terrified civilians in crying for help.
Takashi opens his suitcase and takes out Kyouta's storage case. After removing the key card and piece of paper from it, he tosses the case away, picks up his suitcase, and walks over to Saika. When the blade of her katana finished absorbing the blood of her recent victims, the serial killer inserts her weapon back underneath her left sleeve and turns to Takashi, who gives her a calm smile.
"Time for phase 2." Takashi said. The black-haired woman nods her head to him before walking over to the terrified people. She goes over to the nearest one who is a middle-aged man in a dark grey suit. She grabs his left shoulder and forcibly turns him around. While the man drops his jaw at the sight of her, and some of the civilians turn around to watch, Saika's teeth breaks out into a grin as her eyes glow red.
"Are you saying that Toda was-" Mikado cuts himself off when he sees everyone present in the room, including Erika, Walker and Kyohei, staring at him upon hearing the name of one of the recently deceased board members. He chuckles nervously and lowers his phone as he said to all his co-workers, "I-It's another Toda, everyone. Someone I knew back in my middle school. Sorry for the confusion."
Mikado bows his head apologetically to his co-workers before they turn their attention away from him and return to work. He hastily gets up from his chair and walks out of the room. He lets out a sigh and places his phone against his ear again as he walks over to the railing in front of him.
"Sorry Anri. What do you mean by that? Are you saying Toda was actually murdered?" Mikado inquired.
"Yes! I know the news say he died in a car accident, but that is not true." Anri explained. "His killer tricked him into running her over. And after he got out of his car, she murdered him from behind when she had the chance and stole his possessions before heading to Kyouta Tsukiyama's home the following night."
Perplexed by Anri's explanation, Mikado stayed silent for a few moments to comprehend what he had heard from her and said, "Anri, how do you know all this?"
"I…um…" Anri struggled to think of a response without bringing up Celty and the existence of her world.
"Or is this some kind of joke?"
"No! I'm serious! Mikado, you have-"
"I know we are in a relationship, but this is not…fun…"
Mikado trails off and lowers his phone when he sees the elevator doors at the other side of the facility sliding open to reveal a man and a woman whom he recognized as his co-workers from other departments of his office. As if the wide smiles they all have on their faces was not enough to send shivers down his spine, he sees another employee walking down the corridor and heading towards the elevators while flipping through the documents in her hands. The man suddenly walks out of the elevator and over to the unsuspecting employee. He got her attention when he grabs her by her upper arms, causing her to gasp and drop her documents. The man glows his eyes red as they gaze at each other, and it made the woman freeze and close her gaping mouth. And a few seconds later, the woman's eyes turn red too and her lips curve up into the same wide smile as the man has. Mikado now turns his attention to the woman who has stepped out of the elevator and tilts her head to the side as she stares back at him from a distance. She suddenly turns to her left as she hastily makes her way over to him.
"Hello? Mikado? Are you there?" Mikado could barely hear Anri's voice as he backs away from the railing in horror.
"A-A-Anri…" Mikado places his phone against his ear again with his voice trembling. "I-I'll do as you say."
The man whirls about, not caring that he had dropped his phone, and rushes over to the fire alarm on the wall beside the door to his department. He slams his fist against the glass case and pulls the lever down, causing sirens to ring across the entire facility. As the possessed employee comes closer to him, Mikado hurriedly opens the door to his department and yells at his co-workers.
"Everyone! We must get out of here now!"
"Mikado?!" Anri cried anxiously as she could hear the sirens ringing in the background. "What's going on?! Mikado!"
When she did not get a response, the bespectacled woman hangs up her phone and turns to everyone in Kasumi's car.
"He's not responding back to me, but I could hear the alarm ringing in the background. He must be doing what I told him to do." Anri said worriedly.
As she stands outside and beside the door to the driver's seat, Celty quickly types a message on her phone and shows it to everyone in the car.
"Saika is there. We must get to your friend's office now."
"Let's roll." Kasumi said to Celty before the headless rider whirls about and runs over to her motorcycle at the other side of the basement carpark. The red-haired woman closes her car window as she steps on the brake and pulls down the lever. Kida, Anri and Shirley quickly put on their seatbelts, and the bespectacled woman frowns while looking down at her shinai on her lap.
"Mikado…" Anri murmured. As she sat beside her, Shirley places her hand on her left shoulder.
"He'll be alright." Shirley said reassuringly to her as Kasumi adjusts the rear-view mirror and stares at the reflection of her roommates.
"Are you guys ready?" The red-haired woman asked. Anri lifts her head up as she and Shirley nod solemnly to her. Kasumi turns to Kida as he sat beside her on the passenger seat. "Ready to stop a serial killer from another world, buddy?"
"Something that seems straight out of a Junji Ito manga?" Kida takes a deep breath. "Let's do it."
The two friends bump their fists together as Celty drives her way out of the carpark with her motorcycle. Kasumi steps on the gas pedal, drives her car out of the lot, and follows the headless rider from behind.
While the sirens continue ringing throughout the facility, Takashi and two possessed employees walk through a corridor in the first basement floor, making their way to the electrical room where he can disable the alarm system. After finding the grey metal door at the end of the corridor, he turns to his right and draws out Kyouta's pistol from his pocket with his free hand. He removes the safety lock from the gun and orders the two possessed employees to wait outside. The former employee now opens the door and steps inside to see three mechanics and a security guard standing in the middle of the large room filled with switchboards, meters, backup generators and other kinds of machines and panels.
"What the-" One of the mechanics uttered as Takashi holds up and aims his pistol at them. The security guard aims his taser gun at him and pulls the trigger, but nothing happened. As the guard glances at his weapon, Takashi quickly walks over to him and slams the bottom of his pistol onto the top of his head. As the guard slumps to the floor, Takashi aims his weapon at the mechanics again, causing them to hold their hands up in fear.
"Where's the fire alarm panel?" Takashi asked.
"Sir, please. Don't shoot." Another mechanic pleaded. Takashi frowns as he holds up his pistol and fires a bullet at the ceiling, causing the three men to cower.
"I won't ask again! Where's the god damn fire alarm panel?!" Takashi asked, aiming his pistol at the three men once more.
"I-I-It's just right there." The third mechanic said, pointing his finger at the control panel on their right.
"Then turn it off!" Takashi demanded. "Can't you tell it's noisy around here?!"
The third mechanic did as he was told as he walks over to the control panel and simply presses a red button to deactivate the alarm. When the sirens die down, Takashi smiles at the three men as he puts the safety lock back on and inserts the pistol back into his pocket.
"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Takashi asked. The three men simply stare at him in confusion as the former employee turns around and makes his way out of the room. "Take care of them."
After he leaves, the two possessed employees suddenly enter the room and glow their eyes red as they approach the mechanics. While walking his way back to the elevators, Takashi pulls out his phone and contacts his accomplice.
"You may now go up to the fifth floor. I'll see you there."
Saika steps out of an elevator when she arrives at the fifth and highest floor of the facility. Upon hearing the screams and cries of help coming from the lower floors, the black-haired woman goes up to the railing and looks down to see the ensuing chaos happening below right now.
She notices at the left side of the fourth floor, a few possessed employees managed to burst through a door to a workroom, causing those who are hiding inside to scream in terror. Another display that catches her eye is a man and a woman running away from three possessed employees along the corridor at the third floor. They reached the door at the right side of the building that leads to a stairwell that could get them to safety, only to stop at their tracks and scream when they open it to see three more possessed employees waiting for them. The man and woman turn around and could only continue screaming as their pursuers finally grab a hold of them. Finally, at the garden below, two women are running away from a group of possessed employees, but one of them fell onto the grass when the heel of her shoe broke. The employees take the opportunity to pin her on the ground, but the other woman turn around and grab her friend's arm, trying to pull her out from their grip. Unfortunately, it was in vain when a possessed female employee suddenly runs up to her from her right and pushes her away. After pinning her down on a wooden table behind her, the woman lets out one last scream before the possessed employee stares down into her eyes.
As she continues watching these displays of chaos and listening to the helpless screams throughout the facility, Saika kept a wide smile on her face, but tears began forming in her eyes as well. She closes her eyelids for a few moments to allow them to cascade down her cheeks. And after wiping them away, Saika reopens her eyes and backs away from the railing. She turns to her right and continues walking down the corridor, making her way to the large pair of metal doors at the end of it.
When they arrived at their destination fifteen minutes later, Kasumi quickly parked her car into an empty lot she found at the right side of the large open field carpark outside the building. Celty on the other hand simply drives her motorcycle over to the entrance and parked her vehicle several meters away from the sliding doors.
Kasumi, Kida, Shirley and Anri quickly got out of the car, with the red-haired and bespectacled women opening the trunk to grab their bo staff and shinai respectively. After closing the trunk and locking the car, the four friends hurriedly run over to the office's entrance to meetup with Celty, who looks down at the red ball in her hand and sees it glowing brightly.
"What is it, Celty?" Kasumi asked as she, Kida, Shirley and Anri stand alongside the headless rider.
Celty puts away the ball and types a message on her phone. "The ball is detecting her presence. She is here."
"Where is everybody?" Kida asked as he and the others notice through the glass windows that the foyer is completely deserted. Aside from some suitcases and folders lying around the floor, the entire area is devoid of any life.
"Saika and her accomplice have already made their attack. We must be prepared to fight whoever she has possessed." Celty's device played her latest message.
"Possessed?" Shirley asked.
Celty quickly types another message. "Right. I didn't tell you all back at the apartment. Saika has the magical ability to possess the minds of anyone who gazed into her eyes."
"You mean turning people into zombies?! No way I want to go near her then!" Kida cried, waving his arms through the air for dramatic effect.
"It's only when you look into her eyes, dummy." Kasumi said flatly, glaring at her friend. Celty now takes out a small metallic grey cylinder-shaped device that looks like a pocket-sized flashlight and types a short message.
"Kasumi, look into this device." Celty plays her message.
"What?" Kasumi stares at the headless rider in confusion. Suddenly, Celty aims the device at Kasumi's eyes and presses a button to create a brief flash. The red-haired woman yelps as she shuts her eyelids and shakes her head.
"Hey! What did you do?!" Kida asked in alarm.
Celty hastily types on her phone again. "Don't worry. It's a special device to protect your eyes from Saika's magic."
"I see." Shirley said while Kasumi blinks her eyelids a couple times as she regains her vision.
"You'll now be able to face her without getting possessed. But the effects last for only an hour. So be careful." Celty wrote.
"An hour. Got it." Kasumi nodded to her.
"Well then, hit me." Kida said as he steps forward. Celty proceeds to use the device to flash the eyes of Kida, Anri and Shirley as well. When she is done, she puts the device back into her pocket along with the red ball.
"That's a pretty convenient device you got there. Did you create it yourself or was it anyone back in your world?" Anri inquired.
"It was actually created by a mage named Rita Mordio." Celty responded with her latest message on her phone. "Funnily enough, your voice reminds me a lot of her."
"Huh. That's good to know." Anri replied with an arched eyebrow.
"Why do you even have such a device if you don't have a head at all?" Kida asked before holding up his hands. "No offense."
Celty types her response on her phone and shows it to everyone while placing her right hand on the side of her hip. "I didn't want to take it with me, but Rita insisted in case I ever need to help anyone who do have a head. She may be a genius but quite the stubborn one."
Kida shrugs his shoulders to Kasumi, Anri and Shirley before they and Celty turn to the sliding doors and approach them.
"They are not opening." Kasumi commented. Celty holds up her phone to detect huge amounts of magic being used on the doors before typing another message to her allies.
"Saika must have use her magic to lock them and prevent anyone in the facility from escaping. Thankfully, it seems I'll be able to open them." Celty plays the message before putting her phone away. She thrusts her hand and fires a long stream of black smoke through the gap between the doors. The headless rider pulls the stream back, causing her smoke to paste against the back of the glass, and it splits in half to push both doors out of the way.
Kasumi and her friends look amazed as Celty pulls the stream of smoke back underneath her right sleeve. The headless rider now steps forward and extends her left arm to the side, firing another long stream of smoke to form a long and crooked black scythe. After grabbing its snath with her other hand, Celty turns back to Kasumi and her friends and gestures them to get in the building with her.
"What else can this chick do?" Kida commented as Kasumi and Anri hold up their weapons in front of them.
"Let's go!" Kasumi shouted before all five of them run into the office and through the foyer.
They climb over the security gates and walk towards the elevators. Celty gets out her glowing red ball again and holds it up in the air. She briefly turns side to side until they all see the red ball glowing its brightest when the headless rider is facing the right, implying that their main target has headed to the right wing of the facility. She puts away the ball, takes out her phone and types another message.
"She's at the right side of this building. Let's make our way to the highest floor."
After Shirley pressed the button on the wall, she notices her bespectacled friend looking down at her shinai apprehensively.
"What's wrong, Anri?" Shirley asked concernedly.
"I'm only realizing this now but…even if their minds are now being controlled by Saika, these are still innocent people who have their freedom taken away and doing things against their own will. How can we possibly fight them?" Anri asked worriedly. She and her friends turn to Celty when they notice her typing another message. She shows her phone to them when she is done.
"Major tip. If you find yourself facing anyone under Saika's control, hit them hard on the head."
"How do you know that?" Kasumi asked as one pair of elevator doors opened.
"She's a bounty hunter after all. She must know everything about her target before going after her." Kida explained before he, Anri and Shirley step into the center elevator.
Celty types another message and shows it to Kasumi. "Yes, your friend is right."
"Very well then. You're the expert here." Kasumi said.
"Come on, you two! We must stop Saika now!" Anri cried to Kasumi and Celty. The two women nod their heads to each other before joining the others in the elevator. Shirley presses the button to the fifth floor, and the doors close in front of them.
Meanwhile, about twelve possessed employees dressed in silver goggles and white hazmat suits line up horizontally as Takashi and Saika walk past them and the round metallic processing machines. The former Nebula employee and serial killer are also dressed in similar looking hazmat suits as they are currently inside one of the facility's manufacturing rooms. And although the room looks just like the other two manufacturing rooms at the same floor, this one contains what Takashi came here for.
When they reach the end of the room, Takashi and Saika make a left turn and walk over to a pair of metal sliding doors. They notice two control panels built beside each door, and that is when Takashi opens his suitcase and pulls out Kyouta's key card and piece of paper again. Saika holds up a similar looking key card and piece of paper she had taken from Hayato's car and they both walk up to the panels. After Saika puts her katana aside against the wall, she and Takashi glance at the numbers printed on the papers, place the cards against the scanners, and press the correct buttons.
"Kyouta Tsukiyama, identified. Hayato Toda, identified. Welcome." A voice announced from the panels. Takashi and Saika back away as the doors slide open. After Takashi picks up his suitcase, both of them now step into the room. The lights suddenly turn on, revealing the place to be filled with shelves containing bottles of specimens of infectious diseases. The brown-haired man grins and whistles before turning to Saika.
"Saika, we hit the jackpot."
As Kasumi, Kida, Anri, Shirley and Celty waited inside the elevator, the orange-haired woman turns to the headless rider and asked, "So…do you have any friends back in your world?"
Celty types her response on her phone. "I had a friend named Shankly."
"That's nice." Shirley smiled at her.
"Wait, had?" Kasumi arches a brow.
Celty types on her phone again. "He died 3 years ago."
Everyone went silent for a moment before Shirley said apologetically, "I'm sorry."
"Way to damage our spirits, Shirley." Kida murmured.
Suddenly, the doors slide open to reveal seven possessed employees standing outside at the corridor. They all turn to the visitors inside the elevator, and Kasumi, Kida, Shirley and Anri wince at their wide smiles. Two employees try to grab them, but Celty quickly uses the snath of her scythe to push them back. The employees bump against the others behind them, and they all tumble onto the floor like a pile of bricks.
"Hit them now!" Kasumi shouted before she, Kida, Anri and Celty quickly go over to them.
Saika narrows her eyes and turns around to the doorway when she sensed something happening outside the manufacturing room.
"It can't be." Saika said icily.
"What is it?" Takashi said, turning his head to her.
"This aura that I'm feeling…someone from my world is here…fighting my followers." Saika explained.
"Then what are you waiting for? Deal with them! And when I'm done, order your followers to commit suicide and don't leave a trace of it." Takashi ordered.
"Understood." Saika replied. She walks out of the room and grabs her katana from the wall while Takashi goes over to the shelves to begin choosing which bottles of infectious diseases that he would like to take with him.
The headless rider slams the bottom of her scythe onto the foreheads of two possessed employees lying beneath her. As one of them tries to get up, Kasumi quickly swings her bo staff down onto her head to knock her unconscious. She turns to her right and swings her staff horizontally to knock out another employee.
One employee grabs Kida's left arm as he gets up, but the dark blonde-haired man quickly punches him across his face, causing him to let go. He brings both his fists down onto the top of his head to knock him out. Another employee wraps her arms around Kida's torso from behind. The dark blonde-haired man quickly turns himself around and did a backward run, slamming the woman against the railing. After she releases her arms, Kida turns around, grabs her head, and slams the back of it onto the railing.
Finally, Anri swings her shinai down onto a man, who grabs her weapon and pushes her back. The man gets up and swings his left fist horizontally at her. But Anri quickly ducks down to dodge his punch and thrusts her shinai onto his gut. The man yelps as he throws his head down, and Anri takes the opportunity to get up and swing her shinai down onto the back of his head, sending him lying flat on his face and slipping into an unconscious state.
"Sorry." Anri bows apologetically to the man before she and her friends hear the loud sounds of running footsteps. Shirley runs up to the railing and looks down to see many more possessed employees running through the corridors, heading to the nearest stairwells, and making their way up to their current location.
"We got more of them coming!" Shirley yelled to her friends in alarm. After dematerializing her scythe, Celty runs up to the railing and forms two large orbs of smoke over her palms. She tosses one of them over to a group of possessed employees at the right end of the fourth-floor corridor. When the orb made contact on some of them, it bursts into a thick cloud of black smoke. All the possessed employees cough heavily as it went into their lungs, causing them to roll their eyes back and fall onto the floor unconscious. She throws the other orb at another group heading to the stairwell at the left end of the third-floor corridor. They too are consumed by her smoke and collapse in similar fashion.
The headless rider whirls about and fires huge amounts of smoke at the two stairwells next to both sides of the elevators, creating two tall black walls to block the passageways. She finished just in time before the possessed employees from their side of the building reach the top and begin slamming their fists and dragging their fingers against them.
The headless rider turns to the others, points her thumb at the metal doors at the right end of the corridor they are currently at and runs off.
"We're right behind you!" Kasumi cried to Celty as she and her friends follow the headless rider from behind.
However, it wasn't long before they see the door at the left end of the adjoining corridor in front of them burst open to reveal Kyohei, Erika, Walker, a possessed woman, and a possessed security guard, who all came up from the second floor.
"Get them!" Kyohei yelled while pointing his finger at them. They run over to them with Kyohei in the lead. The headless rider summons her scythe and gets ready to fight.
The tall dark brown-haired man reached the metal doors first and placed himself in front of Celty and the others. The headless rider tries to use the snath of her scythe to push him, but Kyohei wraps his hands firmly around them. With his strength, Kyohei pushes Celty back and sends her falling. But Shirley and Kida catch her in time. Kasumi and Anri yell as they run past their friends and charge at Kyohei.
Kasumi goes over to Kyohei on his left and swings her bo staff diagonally at his head. But the man swings his left arm diagonally in the air to deflect the attack. As Kasumi turns around, Anri runs over to Kyohei on his right and swings her shinai horizontally at him. But Kyohei swiftly turns to her and swings his right arm horizontally to deflect her weapon. He quickly lifts his leg up and kicks her on the stomach, causing Anri to yelp as she backs away. While the bespectacled woman is distracted, Erika and Walker quickly run past her while the possessed security guard grabs the cord of her shinai. Anri gasps as the possessed female employee goes behind her and wraps her arms around her upper body. She groans as she holds onto the hilt of her shinai to prevent the guard from taking it away while struggling to endure the tightening grip around the female employee's bear hug.
As Kasumi and Kyohei continue fighting each other, Shirley and Kida help Celty get up in time before the dark blonde-haired man sees Walker running up to him with his fist pulled back. Kida quickly goes over and ducks down to dodge Walker's horizontal punch. He retaliates by delivering an uppercut to the bottom of his chin as he gets up.
Meanwhile, Erika runs over to Shirley and Celty. The headless rider swings the back of her scythe's blade horizontally at Erika to prevent herself from killing the possessed civilian. But to the surprise of her and Shirley, Erika quickly jumps high in the air to dodge the scythe and even performs a somersault above the two women. Shirley and Celty turn around to see Erika landing back on the floor on her feet and she suddenly charges at the orange-haired woman. Shirley squeals as Erika grabs her upper arms, but Celty quickly dematerializes her scythe, runs over and punches the possessed woman at her right cheek, causing her to release the Englishwoman and stagger to the side.
Erika recovers from the blow and turns to Celty with a wide grin. Shirley quickly runs out of the way as Celty gets into her fighting stance and clenches her fists. She and Erika charge at each other soon after.
Kasumi delivers two horizontal strikes at both sides of Kyohei's body with her staff. But both attacks were quickly blocked by Kyohei's arms. He suddenly swings his right fist at Kasumi, who quickly backs away to dodge the attack. The man now lifts his left leg up and delivers a kick to the red-haired woman, and she holds her staff up to block the attack. But the impact of his kick still sends Kasumi staggering back. When the man sees his opportunity, he quickly runs up to her and wraps his right hand around her neck. Kasumi gasps in pain as she drops her staff and Kyohei briefly lifts her up in the air before slamming her onto the floor. As he pins her down, Kasumi grunts as she struggles to breathe and pry his fingers off her neck.
Walker successfully throws a punch across Kida's left cheek with his right fist, causing the man to twirl around as he backs away. As Kida rubs where his opponent had landed his punch on, Walker goes up to him from behind and prepares to deliver an overhead strike on the back of his head with both fists. Kida whirls about and delivers a powerful punch to Walker's gut, causing the possessed employee to lean his body forward and lower his arms. The dark blonde-haired man throws two more punches across both sides of Walker's face before he grabs his hair and yells as he pulls him over to the railing and slams his forehead down on it. As Kida releases him, Walker wobbles side to side momentarily as he backs away and collapses onto the floor.
Kida turns to Anri who is now struggling to breathe as the female employee's bear hug is becoming too much for her to bear. The security guard finally manages to yank the shinai of her grip. He grabs the hilt and cries maniacally as he prepares to swing the shinai down onto her head. However, Kida quickly runs past Anri and the female employee and grabs the cord of the shinai as he brings it down. Kida lifts his leg up and kicks the guard in the gut to pull the shinai off his grip.
"No way!" The female employee cried before Kida turns to her and Anri.
"Do it!" Anri cried to him. Kida thrusts his shinai at her, and Anri quickly tilts her head to her left to have the tip of her weapon collide onto the forehead of the female employee instead. The female employee groans as she unwraps her arms around Anri and tumbles onto the floor. The security guard yells as he runs up to Kida from behind, but the dark blonde-haired man swiftly turns around and swings the shinai across his head. He watches the guard spins around, wobbles his head side to side and collapses onto the floor on his face.
As Kasumi is nearly out of breath, Kyohei lifts his left fist up and prepares to finish her off. But that turns out to be a mistake as Kasumi sees her opportunity to retaliate. She swiftly swings her right fist across Kyohei's left cheek. The man groans as he turns his head to the side. But when he tries to turn back to her, Kasumi delivers three more swift punches across his left cheek. Kyohei struggles to keep his composure as he shakes his head in an attempt to recover from the blow. He yells as he tries to bring down his left fist onto her face right now, but the red-haired woman manages to strike first by punching him directly on his face. This causes Kyohei to throw his head back, release his grip around her neck and fall to the side. As both Kasumi and Kyohei get up from the floor at the same time, Kida goes up to the man from behind and swings Anri's shinai down onto the back of his head. While he is distracted, Kida picks up Kasumi's bo staff with his left foot and kicks it to her.
"Catch!" Kida cried. Kasumi grabs hold of her staff and yells as she thrusts her staff onto Kyohei's gut. The man groans in pain as he backs away. And when he lifts his head up, Kasumi delivers two swift horizontal strikes across both sides of his head before the woman finally finishes him off by thrusting one end of her staff at his forehead. Kyohei whirls about and collapses onto the railing in an unconscious heap.
Erika uses her right fist to throw a punch at the left side of Celty's lower torso, but the headless rider moves to her right to dodge the attack. The possessed employee tries to grab her neck with her left hand, but Celty grabs her wrist and pulls her arm down, causing her to stagger forward. The headless rider quickly throws her helmet down onto the top of Erika's head, causing the woman to back away as she releases her. Erika shakes her head for a moment before looking back at Celty and yells as she tries to run up to her. However, she fails to see Shirley running up to her from her right and slams the bottom of a fire extinguisher onto the right side of her head. Erika whirls around before collapsing onto the floor on her back. Both Shirley and Celty watch her closes her eyes and slumps her head to the side as she falls unconscious.
When they hear more running sounds, Shirley and Celty turn to the left end of the corridor and see more possessed employees running up to them. Celty quickly creates another large orb of smoke and throws it at them. As the possessed employees stop at their tracks and cough heavily, she fires huge amounts of smoke at the space between her and them to create another tall black wall.
As they could hear the thuds coming from the other side of the wall, Celty hurriedly types on her phone and plays her message to Shirley. "Thanks for helping me."
Shirley nods her head to her before they turn around and run over to Kasumi, Kida and Anri who finished moving the bodies of Walker, Kyohei and the other two civilians to the side and having them slouching on the floor and against the wall behind them.
"We're so sorry." Anri bows apologetically to them before she and her friends go over to the metal doors. Kasumi notices a panel beside the right door.
"It requires an authorization code." Kasumi said to the others.
"Hope this works." Kida said as he passes the card that he had taken from the unconscious security guard to his friend. Kasumi inserts the card into the thin slot above the buttons.
"Identity confirmed." A voice announced. As the metal doors slide open, she and the others can hear more running sounds coming from the stairwell which Kyohei and the others came from earlier.
"You and Celty go on ahead! We'll hold them off!" Shirley said to Kasumi as she faces the adjoining corridor along with Kida and Anri.
"Are you sure?" Kasumi asked.
"Yes." Shirley nods and looks over her shoulder. "Bring peace to Suzu."
Kasumi solemnly frowns and nods back to her friend. "I will."
The red-haired woman removes the card while the headless rider summons her scythe again. Both Kasumi and Celty head inside the room while Shirley, Kida and Anri hold up their fire extinguisher, fists and shinai and prepare to fight.
As the metal doors close behind them, the latest group of possessed employees arrived at the top of the stairwell and stand at the other end of the corridor. Anri and Shirley lay their eyes at the man standing at the front, and the two women drop their jaws and lower their weapons. As a wide grin takes form on his face, Anri's eyes trembled as she recognizes him.
"Mikado…"
Inside the manufacturing room, Kasumi puts on a spare hazmat suit she had taken from a locker. The headless rider did not need to do the same as she is already wearing her biker suit and helmet. After Kasumi grabs her bo staff from the wall, the two women step into the decontamination area, and the doors close behind them.
"Decontamination in progress." A voice announced before Kasumi and Celty could see and feel foam spraying all over their suits and helmet. Thirty seconds later, the dryers from all corners of the small room blow the foam off their bodies with great force.
When the procedure is done, the doors in front of them open, allow them passage into the manufacturing room. As the two women walk in, they immediately see Saika and the other twelve possessed employees in hazmat suits all smiling devilishly at them. Kasumi takes a good look at the black-haired woman armed with a katana in her hand.
"Is that her?" Kasumi asked Celty, who nods her head in response.
As she remembers the brutal nature of her former schoolmate's death, Kasumi clings onto her bo staff and quivers with rage. Saika mockingly tilts her head to side as Kasumi widens her eyes, grits her teeth at her and yelled angrily,
"SAIKA!"
Sovereign: I would like to thank Darth Necron, LayLay lives, and GrimTarouOffical for reviewing and following my story. Thanks!
This is the first chapter I've written for any story in 2023, so Happy New Year everyone! I'll be back to writing my stories on a regular basis on February. Stay tuned and read and review! :)
And to all my readers living in Asia, Happy Lunar New Year!
