A friend reminded me that I have chapters to upload, hehe. As usual, SM doesn't belong to me. Enjoy 3
At the Hikawa Shrine, Rei was not having a good day. School had been stressful as rumors about her grandfather's shrine had to started to circulate even more. Girls and teachers alike were giving her cautious side glances that irritated the living heck out of her and back at the shrine, Jade was missing from his work again.
Grandpa had hired Jade only a few weeks ago to be a live in attendant at the temple, he didn't ask for any pay, just room and board, which was really all the temple could afford anyway. But there was just something about him that felt off to Rei. He seemed attentive enough about his chores when he was actually around to do them, but for some strange reason it felt like he wasn't an actual believer of their faith, and Rei just couldn't find it in herself to trust him.
So needless to say Rei's temper had been building up all day and by late afternoon her patience was non-existent. It was at this time that Ami, Makoto and Luna made their way up the stairs to Hikawa Shrine. They passed a few girls who were tittering to themselves about the guy who had sold them their amulets they had just purchased.
The trio looked around and saw that there was quite a crowd of girls around the stall Jade was manning and decided to stand aside and observe the temple while they waited for the crowd to thin out. Two crows from above started to circle around the temple area and started to caw aggressively.
The trio looked up questioningly at the crows as Rei appeared turning sharply from around a corner.
"I sense an evil aura! Evil spirit, Begone!" She yelled throwing an ofuda at Luna.
The ofuda hit Luna smack dab in the middle of her head as she fell back in Ami's arms while doing so. Makoto leapt in front of both Ami and Luna defensively.
"Hey! What's the big deal here?!" She yelled.
The trio not quite what Rei had been expecting stopped short in front of Makoto. Rei grimaced at her error and bowed low.
"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry! My powers have gone haywire recently. I never used to make mistakes like this at all." Rei explained.
Ami peeled the ofuda off of Luna's forehead rubbing the moon mark on her head. "Be that as it may, is it customary to be throwing ofuda's at visitors?" She handed the offending ofuda back to Rei.
Rei blushed hard taking the ofuda back and twisting in her hands. She tried to explain more, "Pheobos and Deimos don't usually cause a fuss unless there is something suspicious happening near by. They protect the temple in that way and I had felt strange energy coming from this direction. Again, I am so sorry." Rei felt terrible for accidentally assuming that they were evil spirits.
Luna and Ami looked at each other, clearly beyond being a Sailor Scout, Rei had other powers at her disposal.
Makoto nodded looking up at the two crows perched nearby. "When did your powers start going haywire would you say?" She asked.
Rei paused and thought for a moment. "I don't know. A few weeks I guess. A little bit before those awful rumors started circulating about the temple." Rei responded.
Makoto played with her hair absently. "Oh you mean the one about the girls going missing from bus 66?"
Rei visibly winced as if Makoto had struck her. She visibly deflated even more. "Yes, those rumors."
Ami was intrigued. She was starting to connect the dots. "I heard something about the missing girls, but what does that have to do with the temple?"
Rei turned to Ami, pain clear in her eyes. "They're saying that either grandpa or I have something to do with missing girls because it seems like all the disappearances are happening right outside of the shrine." Rei fumes. "But I swear on my honor as a miko, we have nothing to do with the disappearances! We don't know why they're happening either!"
Makoto locked eyes with Ami. She knew that Ami had started figuring out what exactly was happening around the Hikawa Shrine. But how did they give Rei her transformation pen when Jade was right there?
Luna nudged Ami's hand with her head trying to convey a message to her. "It seems like the new temple attendant is popular with the girls." Ami abruptly changed the subject and let Luna down onto the ground.
"Yeah, I guess. Although I don't understand why." Rei replied grateful for the change in subject.
Makoto saw where Luna's thought process was going, "How long has he been working here again?" She asked Rei.
"Oh, for a couple of weeks I would say. Why do you ask?"
Makoto shrugged, "I was just wondering. Isn't that a little bit sus? Oh look Ami, the booth is freed up now. We can get our charms now."
"So it seems." Ami turned to Rei and made a short bow of goodbye. "We're sorry for taking your time, miko and for startling you."
Rei bowed. She felt like there was something that the two girls were trying to convey to her in their short conversation, but she couldn't quite pinpoint it. "Again, I am so sorry, and thank you for your patronage." Rei looked back up seeing Makoto waving as she walked towards Jade's booth. She smiled and waved back. Despite the misunderstanding, they seemed really nice and now that she had gotten a minute to talk to them, their auras felt anything but evil. They were able to calm her down and it almost felt like she had know them forever.
It was slightly unsettling because Rei never felt that way about anybody, but she couldn't deny it. Turning back around to go back to the main shrine Rei stepped forward and stopped herself from almost stepping on a pen on the ground. She had never seen it before, and it wasn't there when she had come that way just a few minutes prior. She picked it up.
It seemed to be like an old fancy red ballpoint pen with some kind of symbol engraved on the cap. It was beautiful. Rei pocketed the pen, thinking to herself to put in the lost and found in case the owner came back looking for it. As she walked back to the shrine, her mind kept repeating the conversation that she had with the two other girls. In retrospect, she kicked herself for not asking for their names.
Settling herself down in front of the great fire again, Makoto's offhand question about how long Jade had been working for them finally clicked in her mind. Jade had been with them for a few weeks. Days after Jade joined them was when her powers started going haywire. And a week after that was when the girls starting disappearing.
Rei stood aghast. Was it Jade? Was he the cause of the disappearances? Rei needed to find out. She was furious because if it was indeed Jade, then the rumor's wouldn't be entirely wrong. The temple would somehow be involved and it it shamed her that their place of prayer and worship was being used to kidnap people.
She stormed out of the shrine looking for Jade. Eyes glinting red with the fury of Mars, the sign of Mars glowing brightly on her forehead unbeknownst to her.
Ami and Makoto made their way to Jade's booth and bought three amulets saying they needed to buy one for their sick friend. Jade was effortlessly charming and flirted with the two openly. Makoto could see why he was so popular with the girls. Jade was easy on the eyes and while he was flirtatious, he never crossed any lines to make anyone feel uncomfortable.
Once they had their amulets, they left the shrine opting to sit at a bench out of sight from the shrine, but within seeing distance of the bus stop.
As soon as they were comfortably seated, Ami snatched the amulets out of Makoto's hands and had her Mercury visor on scanning them. Makoto watched on with amusement while also keeping a look out at the bus stop.
"Hmmm. I see." Ami said to herself.
"Were you able to discover something about the amulets?" Luna asked.
Makoto interjected her own thoughts, "Jade is the one behind the disappearances, isn't he?"
Ami looked up bemused. "Yes and yes." She replied. "Turns out that he's been using the amulets as a conductor to cast some kind of hypnotizing spell on the girls who buy the amulets." Ami took her visor off and shook her hair out.
Luna caught on, "Oh. Once they're in a trance they make their way onto the bus and get on it." She nodded to herself. "That makes sense. I was wondering why girls would be taking a bus that people are knowingly disappearing from."
"But where does the bus disappear to and where are the missing girls now?" Makoto asked.
"That's the only thing I don't know." Ami responded reluctantly.
The amulets in her hands started to glow with a very dim light that reeked of Negaverse energy. Ami pouted a little and nodded one. "There is one way to find out." She suggested looking at both Makoto and Luna.
"It's risky, but we might be able to confront Jade and save any more girls from going missing." Luna said. She looked at her two charges. This would be their most dangerous mission to date, and she didn't want to force them to do this, if they felt like they weren't ready for it.
Makoto pursed her lips into a thin line. "I say we do it. We need to get to the bottom of this. It's what Usagi would do."
Ami nodded in agreement. "Okay, take your slip, we'll walk slowly back to the bus stop. Look as dazed as possible, and no talking. Keep your transformation pen on you though. You never know when you'll need to transform."
Luna chimed in. "I'm going with you girls. Hide me in your bag Ami, if all else fails, I'll be able to at least distract Jade while you transform."
The three of them nodded to each other. Makoto and Ami relaxed their faces and put on the most dazed look they could muster and made their way to the bus stop. It was evident that they weren't the only ones in the area with amulets. Several other girls were lined up at the stop in front of them.
They waited patiently as a dense fog rolled in. Through the dim light of the fog they could see lights approaching the stop. It was the 66 bus. Slowly, all the girls at the stop boarded the bus, not bothering to pay for their fare. They simply got on and found a seat silently.
It was no surprise to Ami or Makoto that the one operating the bus was no one other than a Negaverse monster. It wasn't even trying to disguise itself as it let the girls onto the bus. They sat in their seats as the bus lurched forward and to their horror, not 20 feet from the bus stop, a black portal opened up in front of the bus, and the bus disappeared into nothingness.