Mythia: So, here's the chapter with Ichinose Tokiya! Threya Midnight can't sit still, being all, "TOKIYA~ I NEED HIS CHAPPIE OR I MIGHT DIE."

Btw, I just had a wonderful vacation to the 4th most haunted place in the US. Awesome, right? :D

And here I thought that Key West, FL was a tropical place! Turns out, there's drinking bars everywhere, bad parking spaces that charge you, LOADS of historical houses they didn't bother turning down, and the beaches aren't even real! Wth? The sand was freaking imported!

So yeah, enjoy! :)

The boys of STARISH refused to go back to the past until Syo explained what happened. Though, Syo stayed silent for a while, as if he had no voice. After a few days passed, he spoke to Natsuki while he was watching over him.

"...Na-Natsuki." Syo's voice was shaky, and his breath was quick, as if he ran to him from a mile away.

Natsuki, who was doing a Piyo-chan puppet show for Syo (in his little own world), looked up, surprised. "Syo-chan! Are you alright?" Natsuki asked right away.

Syo hesitated, intaking heavy breaths. "...Y-Yeah."

Natsuki gave him a soft expression. "You don't have to force yourself to tell us, Syo-chan. Take all of the time you need," he spoke slowly and comfortably, as if Syo couldn't understand him if he spoke too fast.

Syo looked at him with a grateful expression, but then shook his head. "I've kept everyone waiting for too long. We need to save Nanami no matter what it takes," Syo said with a sad look on his face.

Natsuki nodded quietly hearing this, though he was still worried for what was about to come. After all, Ittoki came back flushed, as if he was being burned in a fire. Syo appeared with his shoulder stabbed and his head bleeding, as if he was in a knife fight. It just...it just seemed like their lives really were at stake to him. He was scared of death. He was scared of his friend's deaths.

But most of all, he was scared that he would lose Haruka forever.

Haruka was dead, and that's a fact. However, Natsuki had three chances to save her, thanks to Cecil and the muses. And the grace of God for allowing such, watching as He wanted to see how far His creation would go for love and heroism.

Syo coughed, and cleared his throat. "Well, it all began when I was back in the past, on May 31st. Nanami's...d-death day," he explained, a pained expression on his face as he remembered everything that happened then.

He explained it all to Natsuki, and eventually broke out into tears. And yes, he knew how unmanly it was, but no one judged him.

"Thank you for telling me everything Syo-chan," Natsuki said softly, comforting the small male by hugging him and patting his back. "Even though those memories are so painful, you still shared them with me...really, thank you Syo-chan."

Syo cried into Natsuki's shirt, but he didn't mind. He continued to let Syo let out all of the pain he experienced by allowing him to let the tears flow. Sometimes, tears made someone stronger. After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

The next day, Natsuki explained everything to the rest of the members of STARISH. He said, "Syo-chan told me yesterday that there was a man named Master Saizo!"

Masato frowned, nearly passing as a scowl. A very formal scowl. "So our suspicions about this 'Saizo' man was correct," he mumbled, but it wasn't unheard. In fact, they all heard it and ran silent for a few seconds.

"Uhm, he was wearing a golden mask and he was in a room made of gold," Natsuki continued hesitantly. "He kissed Haru-chan and then said that he was done with her and took out a knife. He used the knife to..."

He explained the entire story, leaving nothing out. They all pitied Haruka and Syo, and their blood boiled at Saizo and his dirty tricks. They could see just from Natsuki's description the mask, the slasher grin, the wicked eyes through the gold mask.

Though, Ittoki felt especially guilty. He got to kiss Haruka, and hug her. Syo...well, Syo came back bloody, didn't he?

He felt guilty as hell indeed.

"And that's everything Syo-chan told me!" Natsuki finished.

"...Now I understand why Syo didn't want to talk for a while..." Ittoki actually managed to find his voice through this tragedy they were living in. It didn't even feel real to them, yet there they were, STARIH without the second S...

...and definitely without Nanami.

Yet Ittoki completely understood one thing, and it didn't lift his hopes up. Despite how great his last moments with his composer was, he felt completely useless. He still couldn't prevent her woeful death, shame on him he felt.

"So, now everyone knows what to do if you go on the exact same day and time as Kurusu, right?" Cecil asked.

Everyone nodded their heads. "So, now who wants to go next?"

No one said a thing at this.

Cecil frowned. "No volunteers? None at all...?" Well, he knew he couldn't blame any of them. He didn't want to volunteer, after seeing what happened to the ones that already went.

Then, an unexpected hand raised up slowly. They all turned to the former HAYATO, with his navy blue hair and somber eyes.

"I'll go."

"Oh? Icchi has the guts to volunteer?" Ren teased him.

Tokiya shot him an annoyed look and then nodded at Cecil, muttering, "Why are you picking on me when you weren't going to stand up anytime soon? Unlike you, I'd like Nanami-san alive now, and I'm not going to let fear keep me from it."

"Tokiya...gambatte (do your best)!" Otoya smiled at Tokiya pitifully. Tokiya just looked away, sighing.

"Come, Ichinose," Cecil said, gesturing him to stand in front of him. Tokiya was very nervous, he didn't know what day he would be transported to, nor what he was supposed to do to help Nanami. He stepped in front of Cecil. Cecil began chanting the magic words.

"Enchanto Time!" Cecil said, his necklace shining brightly as ever. The muses' powers enveloped Tokiya in a blinding light, and in a blink of an eye, he was gone.

"May the blessings of the muses and kami-sama be with him," Cecil said, placing the necklace under his shirt. Everyone nodded and left the room.

After the bright light faded away, Tokiya found himself on the crowded streets of the city.

He was wearing his disguise. What was I doing here again? he wondered, thinking for a moment. ...Oh, I was out buying a gift for Nanami-san to repay her for the food she gave me while I was writing my song.

That meant today was May 30, one day before her death. Checking the time on his watch, Tokiya found that it was 7:32 PM, and he remembered that he stayed out until around 10:30.

Where was Nanami-san now? Tokiya immediately tried to call Nanami, and was waiting for a while for her to pick up. However, like I said, it was a while. So when he was about to end the call, a quiet, meek voice spoke.

"H-H-Hello?" Haruka's voice was surprisingly shaking, making him wonder where she was. Was she somewhere cold? Or was she somewhere suspicious...?

Despite that, Tokiya felt the strange sensation once again come at Haruka's voice. His heartbeat quickened, and his throat constricted inside. "...Nanami-san? Where are you?" he forcibly urged.

"I-I...I'm at...mmph!" She got cut off. Tokiya widened his eyes at the sound of a moan escaping her lips on the other line.

"N-Nanami-san?!" He was blushing. Wait a minute...don't tell me this is Saizo...! His expression ran alarmed.

"I-I can't t-tell you, Ichinose-san...S-Sorry!" I heard her shriek, and then she hung up. Tokiya swore he heard kissing noises. It sounded like a make out, and he knew he couldn't tell himself otherwise.

He decided that the warehouse was his best bet, since that's where Natsuki said that Syo saw this Saizo there, kissing Haruka and making her moan. Unforgivable, that b*stard, he thought to himself angrily.

He found his car and drove through the dark streets. The houses were indeed all abandoned—so were the cars. It felt like a haunted street for a horror movie. I'm sure you can picture that in your head, with the bare dull trees around with creepy faces morphed on the bark, and the unleveled dark grass around the small fences with its white paint chipping off and all that.

At last, he found his way to the warehouse, and parked far away from it. As he neared the destination he had to assume it'd be, he hesitated. It was cold, there was no one around...should he call the police? Some backup, of some sort?

Though...they'd probably think of him as some dumb prankcalling teenager that had no sense of seriousness. And Tokiya was all about seriousness, even when he was being ridiculous.

So he stepped right inside, into the darkness that seemed like it'd fall apart quickly. The first thing that reacted was his sense of smell. It's so foul in here, he thought in disgust, wrinkling his nose. But he quickly disregarded that thought, because that was nothing compared to the crowding thoughts of Haruka in his mind.

Then, his next thought was wondering if Natsuki was right about the 'everything was made of gold' part. It could've been an illusion of the eyes, where instead everything was painted a gold color. A distracting bright annoying shade of gold, must he add.

His eyes locked on the small door. If everything really was made of gold on the other side, Tokiya was critically wondering where Saizo had gotten it from. Most likely he stole it, from someplace because of how sick and insane he must've been. Even as he was about to open that door.

The door creaked slightly as he opened it slowly, allowing only a small crack. Listening for any noises, he heard none. Tokiya blinked at this, but his brows hastily narrowed in suspicion.

He waited for a few more minutes. Still, no sound emitted from the gold room.

Then, looking at the light already trying to escape through the crack, Tokiya had lost his patience and swung the door open. He closed the door behind him, and just by looking at it, he knew that everything really was made out of gold.

The first thing he saw was the golden throne perched on the top of a golden stage-like platform, with a crown arrogantly on the side of the stupid chair. On the side, he noticed and spotted many gold weapons.

Tokiya spoke of them aloud carefully. "Swords, axes, hammers, bows and arrows..." Beside them were a variety of shields.

One of the shields were made of a thin piece of gold, considerably light and durable for close-combat, or for when someone throws a punch. Then, there was a yellow-colored, but noticeably not gold shield, that was very heavy but not impossible to lift. "What is this made of?" Tokiya's eyes widened slightly. "...Is this—"

The door slammed open suddenly, and a man with a gold mask stepped in with a struggling Nanami in his arms. Seeing Tokiya made him laugh like a madman. "Ooh, an uninvited guest from STARISH, I presume? What a wonderful surprise!" chortled Master Saizo.

Tokiya's eyes narrowed to slits, glaring at the masked man like death itself. Nanami's eyes were like a frightened puppy—no, like a petrified kitten that was being thrown into a wild river with jagged rocks and I don't know, piranhas in them!? She was scared to death!

The navyhead's thoughts had to snap at more maniacal laughter. "Sorry, but, since you found our secret hideout, you must die~!" Master Saizo pulled out a gun and pointed towards Tokiya.

"NO!" Nanami screamed in horror, thrashing around wildly.

"Nanami-san, I'll be alright! Please, don't worry!" Tokiya was secretly more afraid than he had ever been in his entire life. This was a matter of life and death, and there he was, frozen and fazed on what to do. It was unlike himself, where his thoughts would, or should be sharp and rapidly thinking.

"Oh? I think she should worry because you're dead now~!" And Saizo placed his finger on the trigger of the gun.

He was about to fire.

Then, it was like his mind was completely blank. On either side of him, there were the shields. One gold, thin, and easy to carry, whereas the other heavy and yellow, but not gold.

Everything seemed slow. The bullet racing towards him was almost purposely moving slowly for him to make a choice.

Which one should I use!? Tokiya shouted in his mind. What'll get me to freaking live?!

*PLEASE READ!

Mythia: Well, there you have it! My twin sister Sia wrote a few of these sentences because I had trouble writing these days. My mind is so blank because I'm struggling to write my Heart no Kuni no Alice OC fanfic, 'The Foreigners of Wonderland.' There are 13 OCs, and there might be more. Thus, it's natural for me to see a bunch of rainbows in the sky...right? (My sister says there's no rainbow, but I told her that she was a big fat liar because I saw twenty of them)

*So anyway, here are the choices! Ichinose Tokiya could either:

A) Use the thin gold shield to protect him from the bullet

OR

B) Use the heavy NOT gold but yellow shield to protect him from the bullet

Think about this. Read between the lines, or the ones in italics. And ALL CAPS.

Please vote in your review!

Off to playing Final Fantasy XIII! Ciao nya~! *dies against giant Sanctum enemy flying thingamajigger that just exploded my companions*