The Library Exploration Team
Mana and Jody was in the living room. It was nice and big. Mana was cleaning her assault rifle on the brown couch as Jody read the book in the recliner.
"Hm." She closes the book.
"What did you find?" Mana asks her.
"The book contains some information of Lab Discovery. After seeing those pictures, I'd say the people were containing something in that lab for some reason. Then there's this on the bottom corner of the first page." She opens the first page and shows to it her.
On the bottom right corner was a nearly faded out cocoon
"That looks like a cocoon." Mana pointed out.
"I was thinking about that as well. Maybe that underground library has the missing pages somewhere."
"If we're doing an underground library expedition, we're going to need three people who can help and I know who." Mana smiled as she took her phone out. "All three of them used to be in the Library Exploration Club. They both work up at the space station where the Justice Elite League is right now and they both work in the same department no. Their other friend has been brainstorming for another book series in a next year or the year after that."
"You mean Hana Fujigawa, Kanami Matsuzaki and Ruri Okamoto?"
"They have a lot of experience spending time and working in the Great Library since fifth grade. All three of them can come in handy to help us with this mission." Mana pointed out.
"That would be fine. Those three did help us to fight off The Fierce Hunt when they were in Japan about four years ago." Jody nodded her head. "Is Hana and Kanami working today?"
"They might be on break right now. I'll call them now."
Above the planet was the orbital space station called The Citadel. It was the size of half of the moon. There are many different facilities inside The Citadel. Two women were inside the cafeteria and they have a perfect view of the planet. They were both wearing their silver jumpsuit uniforms for work today. The first woman has braided green hair and violet eyes. The second woman has short light blue hair and brown eyes. Hana and Kanami were on their lunch break right now. Kanami was gazing at the window as Hana was drinking a Japanese beverage.
"So what are you doing for tomorrow, Hana?" Kanami turns her head to her friend.
Hana sets her drink down on the table. "I'm going to reorganize my office tomorrow when I leave tonight. What about you?"
"I'll be visiting Ruri and Kazumi tomorrow to hangout then visit the Grand Library. You should come join me tomorrow after you're done reorganizing your office."
"Thanks." Hana smiles at her close best friend. She felt her phone vibrating in her pocketbook. The detective takes it out to see who's calling. "Looks like Mana is calling."
"I wonder why she's calling." Kanami wondered.
"I'm not sure." Hana said and answers her phone before bringing it up to her ear. "Hello Mana. How are you?"
Kanami finished her juice and picks up their trays to throw it in the garbage. She walks towards the garbage can and threw everything in the garbage can and recycling can.
"Okay. Yes. I see. So you need our help. We'll be there this afternoon. Alright. See you and the others this afternoon."
Kanami sat back down in her chair as Hana set her phone on the table. "What did Mana want?"
"Mana and Commander Jody need our help to find the missing pages in an underground library and a few pictures to examine." Hana explains. "I'm going to text Ruri in a few minutes to meet up with us after work."
"How come we're meeting them today?"
"They might've found an important clue about Leo and Panther's disappearance to that other world."
"Oh good!" Kanami smiles with joy.
The two women got out early and they were standing in the middle of the forest that was close to Mana's house. They started walking to Mana's house to see their friend Lucrecia having a conversation with Haruto and Zoey.
"Hey you two!" Haruto waves at them.
"Hello Haruto, Lucrecia and Zoey. How are you three today?"
"We're doing good. Ruri is already inside with Mana and the others." Zoey stands up and led the two women inside the living room.
Kevin looks up his phone and smiled. "It's good to see you two again. How's work?"
"Work is fine, Kevin." Kanami said.
"That's good to know." A young woman steps out from the kitchen. She was wearing a blue shirt, khaki shorts and green shoes. Her green hair is long and has hazel eyes underneath her glasses. "Looks like the gang's all here."
"That's true." Kanami nodded.
Hana notices the book on the table with the pictures. "Those must be the one you told me about, Mana."
"That's right."
"May I?"
Jody nodded her head.
Hana snaps her fingers and witch's hat magically appeared on her head. She outstretched her hand saying, "Enlightening Encyclopedia!"
Her hand glows white and a white encyclopedia book appears floating above the table. With a wave of her hand, the book opens and several hologram screens appears in front of her.
"Let's see if Hana's magical book can find information on this book." Kevin said.
Hana started looking up information on the book Jody and Kevin brought. While she did that, Kanami picks up the brown book. "So this book contains some information about Lab Discovery?"
"That's correct, Kanami. From what I read, something was captured and has been inside Lab Discovery. But it doesn't mention what was captured."
"Hm. That's odd." Hana said as the white book lands softly with a thud on the table.
"What's odd, Hana?" Kevin asks her.
"The book that Rex and Cody found is not from around here on Earth." Hana picks up the brown book and started to inspect it.
"That book is not from around here?"
"No. I came up with zero results with my ability. I believe we should investigate the shrine and underground library to find the missing pages."
"But what about the pictures?"
"The pictures might be taken in China, but it won't hurt to check the underground library that Zoey mentioned to see what else is there." Kanami answered.
"Which shrine did they find the book?"
"In a shrine near the Daigo-ji Temple in Fishimiku. And the underground library somewhere near Dharma Pass." Kevin answered.
"Then we should split up into teams to get our objectives done." Jodi said. "Here's how we're going to do this. Lucrecia, Haruto, Zoey, Hana, Ruri and Kanami, you five will be team one to investigate the underground library. Kevin and Mana are with me to investigate the shrine. We all should find some clues that could help us."
"Fine by me." Haruto said.
Jodi looks at Mana. "After the mission is done, I'll make sure to pay you."
"Thanks." Mana smiled.
Lucrecia, Haruto, Zoey, Hana, Ruri and Kanami heads back outside with the white book.
"If we do find some clues about the White-Tailed at the underground library, it should tell us how Leo and Panther will get back to our world." Lucrecia said.
"But we do have Crow who can summon portals. So, whatever we find in the underground library, we can use it as a backup or Twilight Titans can bring them here." Haruto said.
"True." Kanami nodded.
"Here's something I've been still wondering about." Ruri adjusted her glasses. "You think Leo will be a kung fu master soon?"
"Not sure, but I'm hoping he does become one in the future." Haruto replied.
"He sure made a lot of friends and cross paths with different types of villains and enemies since he came to Tao Palace." Kanami said.
"Speaking about friends, there's several girls who like Leo." Ruri said.
"What do you mean? There's more than several girls, Ruri." Hana looks at her.
"That's not what I mean."
"Then what do you mean by that?"
Ruri smirks at her friends. ""Like" as in more than a friend. They all have a crush on him."
Hana and Kanami just looked at Ruri normally. Zoey and Haruto chuckled. Lucrecia just gave the author a deadpanned look as she remained silent.
"Well, there's no arguing on that logic. I remember you telling me that Kazumi was doing a story about Valentines Day for the school paper. She had Leo, Panther and Lucrecia to be her main subject that day. Those three made the front page." Hana said.
"I told you before that I don't have a crush on Leo." Lucrecia tells her.
"Are you sure? Kazumi and I did saw you watching Leo meditating with Crow that day without making your presence known to him. And I did remember you were surprised to hear from Panther that Leo and Crow slept together in the same bed in Crow's room that night."
"That's because of the nightmares she had from her father."
"I know. But those two really grew close these past five years just as Panther grew close to Leo since you three were six."
"Hm."
"And when you and Panther made up, you always ask Panther how Leo's well-being is, especially when he killed Ellie Collins that night." Haruto said.
"You were really worried that night." Kanami places her hand on the young swordswoman's arm.
"I know."
"Look, Lucrecia, you should really be at his side instead of watching him from the shadows." Haruto smiles at her in a friendly way.
"If you're not sure, then you should listen to your heart." Zoey said.
"Hm." Lucrecia lowers her head a bit.
"It's not a bad idea." Mana said behind her, making Lucrecia startled a little and looks up behind her shoulder. "I can tell you're always thinking about Leo and you and Panther always talk about how things are going and Leo is the main subject for you two."
Lucrecia remains silent.
"Don't worry. I'm sure Panther will be happy when you start talking to Leo and hangout with again." Mana smiles at her friend. "We'll see what happens when they return."
"And Leo is also your childhood friend, I'll have to add. I'm sure there was some great times for you when all of you were young before the incident." Ruri said.
"There were some great times we did when we were kids back then." Lucrecia smiled a little.
"That's nice to hear." Ruri smiled. "Now come on. We should know what we can expect in the underground library."
"Fine with me. While you plan about the unground library, I'm going to join Jodi and Kevin to plan about the shrine." Mana said before entering the house.
"So how big is this library?" Ruri asked Hana.
"According to Zoey, it's big like a normal library and we shouldn't let our guards down." Hana read the message she received from Jody. "There could be traps like the ones at the Grand Library Island. Exploring the underground library shouldn't be a problem for the six of us. It appears there's only one entrance we can take. It's in the middle of Dharma Pass."
"Hm. Would it help if we had extra help on this mission?" Haruto suggested.
"Jody already took care of it. We have Buck and Rowan to monitor us from The Citadel and they know about the mission."
"That's good."
"Then I'll provide each of you a Shikigami for the mission." Lucrecia takes out several flat pieces of paper and sets it on the table. "You still remember you have to write your names in order to summon your double?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"We should start the mission now." Kevin steps out with Jody and Mana.
"Once we find some clues, we'll regroup back here and review what we find." Jody folds her arms.
"Good luck, everyone." Kevin said.
Lucrecia watches her friends got up from their seats and picks up their Shikigami before leaving the table. The young swordswoman drew her nodachi halfway. Her Kuroi tenshi was impressive. She remembers years ago that Panther's aunt, Megumi, gave her the sword when Lucrecia was exiled from her tribe.
The young swordswoman sheath her sword when she heard the car honking. Lucrecia wasn't planning to reveal anything to her friends yet.
Author's Note: This was pretty fun to work on for this chapter. I forgot to mention in Chapter 70 when my characters were training with Rex and Cody, those are their outfits and uniforms to protect their identity from the public. Other characters like Lucrecia don't need a uniform to hide her identity.
I hope you all enjoyed this great chapter, everyone! Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, PM and leave a review! See you all in the next chapter of this story, everyone!