Hey guys. I would like to know who is your least favorite character in P3, RWBY, AGK, and DW. Enjoy the show!
On a lonely road at night, Minato drives a loud revving motorcycle. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea..." Mira shares her anxious thoughts, now in a white and pink coat. "Maybe we should turn around. I mean that incident twenty one years ago? The sightings, you know?" Mira hangs onto Minato's waist as tightly as she can without crushing him, given her more than average strength. "Minato?" His thoughts was taken over his focus on his partner. Just then, Mira's vision sees a girl on her sights. "LOOK OUT MINATO!" In startlement, Minato turns the wheels and stops the bike with a loud screech!
Minato looks around, wondering what got Mira screaming. But nothing was there. "What was it?" He made sure to classify what she saw.
Mira looks around in confusion. "It was...a girl in a white dress...but..."
The blunette raises his brow. "I don't see any girl like that."
"Huh? I swear there was a girl here!" The robot girl tries to explain. "She was wearing a white dress, I saw her!"
The blue haired collector sighs. "We don't have time for this..."
"Wait! There should be an image in my log!" Mira presses her antenna, only to see nothing. "What? There's nothing there! That doesn't make any sense!" Expressing her disbelief. Minato continues to look at Mira, as she was low key freaking out over this unprecedented event. She turns to her partner. "Maybe it was a ghost like I was saying..."
Minato groans. "I can't believe this...look we're gonna be late alright? Try to suck it up will ya?"
"Um..." Mira was hurt from his words. But just then, the see through lady in white appears behind Mira again. She turns around, only to see nothing again. She wonders if her superstitious fear was legitimate or the fear is messing with her sensors. However, she hears the motorcycle revving loudly, startling her. "Coming! I'm coming! Don't leave me!" She shouts out in fear. As the pair drive off, the girl in white watch them leave towards her home in Yasogami.
Earlier...
It's safe to say business was slow lately. Minato sits alone in Mary's Cafe, being called up by Mary of something important. Eventually Mary would come back, but not without company. Very unpleasant company in Albert Schuman. "Hey Mina-"
"I'm leaving..." Interrupting him as Minato takes the first chance he gets to leave.
Mary's sudden death glare would stop that. "Have a seat..." Seeing that, Minato would sit back down, but not before crossing his arms and sighing as hard as he could.
Meanwhile, Mira would sit alone in the cafe. Despite the business continuing like normal with the customers roaming minding their business, Mira still feels a disconnect to the larger scale of society. Not like how connected she was with the children she befriended. She just hopes whatever Minato and Mary are talking about, it'll be done soon.
"I'm here in official compacity. New Tesla has a job that needs done." Albert explains professionally. "Here, take a look at this." He activates a holographic screen. "A report about an incident that happened in Lake Yasogami last week." The screen shows a middle aged man with messy hair and a small mustache. "The man who died was Shijuro Sakaki. Known for his grotesque mystery novels. The incident occurred in the studies of his home, which serves as the local motel. The cause of death was drowning." The screen then shifts to the corpse itself. The man was laying on the floor of his red rugged floor, his face contorted and mouth wide open. An image Minato didn't need to see today, he thought. "There was no sign of anyone coming or going from the room. The novelist was alone save for the house keeping robot." The screen then showed the innocent looking round looking white robot on wheels with glowing blue eyes. "The room contained a water dispenser which was empty at the time the body was discovered."
"So what happened then?" Mary questions the crime. "The robot forced the water from the dispenser down his throat?"
"For a robot to kill, it'll have to run on an illegal coil. An official coil would easily report on New Tesla and shut down." Albert continues. "Of course the case gets a bit more complicated than that. If this was simply a matter of an illegal coil I wouldn't have bothered you with it." Saying with a small wink towards Minato, which earned him another deathly glare. "Here's the video recorded by the robots camera."
The screen then shows the man in question's back, typing in front of his computer. Wearing a fairly fancy vest, shirt, and pants. "I'd like some water keeboo." The footage glitched a little. "Yessir. Right away." The robot slowly turns to the water dispenser, until it skips towards Sakaki back of his head. "Here you are sir. Your water." The man turns to his robot. "Keeboo? HCK!" His face grits hard as the whole footage completely glitched out until the feed ended.
Minato see's something was off there, but is unsure to put it into words. "Of course the feed would end in the most convenient time.
"Very. And it doesn't return until two minutes later." Albert fast forwards the footage.
The robot was staring at the dead body of its master. "Pardon me sir, may I come in?" The robot turns around to see the hotels maid. Thin, and with black, short hair and dark blue eyes. She gasps at the sight of the dead body and screams.
Albert stops the footage, mid scream. "We inspected the coil of course, but like the robot we found no problem with it. No trace of an illegal coil being used either. Which means that whoever killed Sakaki may have someway of circumventing New Tesla security. That's where you come in. I want you to find whatever was used to interfere with the robot and collect it if possible."
Minato then asks something in his mind. "How come New Tesla can't handle this and needs to ask a Collector like me to do it?" Knowing them personally, he knows there is a caveat involved.
The blonde New Tesla operative then lets out a devious smile. "We rather outsource, its the ghosts you see..."
This almost causes the blunette to jolt "Huh?" Out of all the things to say, he seriously says this? Minato thought in outrage.
"Lake Yasogami is a man made lake created when a dam was built 21 years ago. Its rushed construction and bad weather led to an accident that claimed large number of lives. Ever since that tragedy, the area has become famous for sightings for the paranormal." Then Albert winks. "Spooky don't you think?" As he feels like being playful for his former apprentice.
Minato however is not taking this. "You gotta be kidding...what kind of sick joke is this?" Seventy percent of himself really wants to punch him right now.
Mary speaks up before things would get heated. "Anyway, we're taking this job. You onboard?"
Then the young collector glares at Mary. It felt like a bad joke as if he had a choice in this. But it doesn't take long until he brings his answer. "You know I'm only doing this cause of the money. Not for you." He then stood up and leaves. "Lets get this over with..." Expecting this to be an easy job knowing how ridiculous this ghost story is. Must be some hacker. Wouldn't be the first time he encountered one."
Albert then spoke up. "Oh! Before I forget!" Reluctantly, Minato stops. "Its gonna be a long trip. I thought I could give some wheels to make things easier for you."
Minato cringed at the idea of Albert giving him a gift. Trying to butter him up no doubt. "I'll pass..."
"Well I already have it on your garage anyways. So...you're welcome." Albert replied with confidence. Having enough of him, Arisato just walks off. Not wanting to acknowledge his presence any longer.
Mary would sigh from this. "The kid really needs to grow up..."
The blonde would continue to smile. "He's been through a lot. Give him time. Assuring Mary. Despite his feelings, he still can't help but be proud of Minato polishing his skills. It only made him hopeful of the possibility of Minato coming back to him. Unaware of his ex-apprentice's true feelings.
Back in Minato's gas station home, he would find something cloaked. He pulls out the robes, revealing a sleek motorcycle. He would notice a little note. It's written in cursive by Albert. Saying, 'A gift from me to you. This baby served me well in my younger days.' The blunette only groans as he crushes the note and throws it away. "Whoa!" He turns around to see Mira has discovered this new bike. "Who gave us this?!" Clearly impressed by the motorcycle.
Minato rolls his eyes and decides not to answer. "Lets just go. Hang onto my waist."
"Wait...w-w-waist?" Mira notices the seat is only for one. Which means she has to hang onto him. Touching him...holding him..." Her face glows red.
"Hey." Mira jolts back to reality. "It's getting dark. Lets go." He said in a monotone, but also a little demanding tone. It unsettled Mira since he wasn't like this not too long ago. But she sucks it up and takes a seat behind him. "Say...I looked up Lake Yasogami...I have a bad feeling about this...
Arisato ignores her concerns and revs up the motorcycle, startling the green haired robot. "Whoa, this is loud." He mumbles to himself, as the wheels spin through the ground and starts moving. Trailing through the streets, Minato can feel the wind flowing through his face. Its similar to when he swing through the buildings with his grappling hook gun. Although this is different. He wouldn't have to worry about the next building. He can just enjoy the wind as much as he can. But then he refocuses. He has a job to do. Eventually, they reach the mansion. After this little mishap with the so called ghost Mira thought she saw, Minato would get off the bike and shifts to his partner. "Mira?"
The girl stands in attention. "Yes?"
"There will be other guests here. Try not to stand out will you? We can't have anyone be suspicious of us. So no laughing, no crying, no stories of ghosts. Got it?" He asks her.
Mira begins to get nervous, unsure if she could with how worrying this whole scenario is. "Right. I'll do my best not to." Unaware, a bat with glowing red eyes watches them.
Inside, they look around the spacious mansion like hotel. It's more lavish than they thought. The two were met by the butler of the mansion. "Thank you for waiting Mr. Minato Arisato. Welcome to our establishment." An old man in black combed hair with white streaks on his side. He bows to them. "If I may take this moment to introduce you." The man in the dark blue suit then presents a frail grown woman with very short grey hair. "This is Miss Marisa Sakaki, the current head of the hotel." He introduces Minato to a frail grown woman with very short grey hair. Her expression makes her look emotionally drained.
"Please forgive my appearance. It has been a trying week..." The lady lowers her head.
"Miss Sakaki's younger brother was the late Mr. Shijuro Sakaki, the hotel's previous owner. Then another well dressed man showed up, but he doesn't share the same manners.
The maid in the blue wavy hair Minato saw on the feed then walks into the new hotel owner. "You must be tired ma'am. Shall we?" She carefully holds her arm.
"And should you need anything at all, I am Makita, the hotel manager." The manager finishes the introduction.
Just then a middle sized man march in. "Hey! How much longer will I have to wait?!" Minato turns his eyes to see this unpleasant man. "You are a lousy maid, you know that?!"
The maid who was trying to take care of Marisa, responds in worry. "It won't be long sir, I'm very sorry."
The manager adds on. "My sincerest apologies Mr. Hageyama. Whatever you need, I'll see to it personally."
Hageyama is wearing a white suit with a grey hair. "That's more likely." Then he shifts his focus on Minato and Mira. "Ah, and you must be the Collectors that were sent from New Tesla. Very brave, aren't you afraid you'd meet the same fate your predecessors did?" Then he goes upstairs, laughing. Minato already knows he's going to be a nuisance.
"That was the journalist Master Hageyama. He's doing research for his biography of Mr. Shijuro." Makita reassures Minato despite his less than welcome presence.
Then someone approaches from the top stairs. A small girl wearing a black/white dress with white leggings, black heels, and bat ears prop on her head. If Minato didn't knew better, she was dressing up for a Halloween party. Mira in particular was enamored by the girls look. "Oh hello. Some new faces I see." She politely greets them with a hint of grace.
"Who's this?" Minato thought.
"She's cute!" Mira also thought.
"My name is Elizabeth Greenhough Smith. It's very nice to meet you." The blonde girl introduces herself.
Once Mira hears that name, it got her thinking. "Elizabeth? Where did I heard that before?" She scans her until Elizabeth grabs Mira's cheeks unexpectedly. "Wha?!"
"You really shouldn't stare at people like that you know. It's terribly bad manners you know." Elizabeth said, not upset, but seemingly finding Mira's surprised face amusing.
Terribly surprised and worried of what to do as she tries to be polite and not suspicious, Mira nods in instinct. "Uh-huh!"
Elizabeth then lets go and gives Minato a smirk. "That's a very well made robot. I'm impressed."
After this odd interaction, all Minato could do is raise his brow. "Just what's her game anyways? She's defiantly not a normal girl."
"If you'll come with me Mr. Arisato, I will show you to your room." Makita leads Minato and Mira to their room. But before he leaves, he eyes on the two other guests. One of them has a spiky grey hair, with grey eyes, a slate grey and black two tone zip-jacket, and matching pants. The other one is dark skinned, green medium hair, red eyes, a thin undershirt, an armband, and white pants and brown chaps. Already he could tell they might be up to no good.
Both Minato and Mira follow Makita as he reaches for their room. Little did they knew, someone was already sitting in the chair of the room. It's Minato's former mentor wearing a tropical blue shirt and magenta shorts. Even down to the flowers around his neck. "Oh my, is this your room? What a coincidence!" Faking shock, and hiding his amusement.
Every fiber of the young Collector's body is on the verge of freaking out seeing his face again. "What. The hell. Are you doing?" Minato refrains from causing any hysterics as Makita walks off with a bow.
Albert Schuman winks to his former apprentice. "I'm on vacation." Minato takes note of the book he was reading. A cross on front with three scratch marks on it. "I planned on an island getaway, but at the last minute I decided that coming here would be much more interesting." He walks up to both him and Mira as he shifts his focus on her. "Is this the partner you recently required Arisato?" Minato looks more bothered but keeps quiet. Albert leans closer to inspect Mira's frozen smile, looking more like a statue than anything. "Ah, I believe her name is...Mira wasn't it? There's a similar robot back at the tower's front desk. Nice piece of work."
Mira's expression is a normal smile, and she stays that way while Albert is talking. "Act Normal! Act Normal!" She nervously thought to herself.
Minato then steps in between Mira and Albert, and face to fact towards his former teacher. "What do you want?" Feeling all kinds of confrontational with the knowledge of New Tesla's cut throat behavior, especially when Shido Yurizaki's creations involved.
Albert doesn't seem to mind. He never did react to Minato's back handed attitude lately. "Just reminding you that you oughta be more grateful after everything Mary has done for you. After what happened, you were practically a shut in. Until she helped you return to society as a Collector. And you repay her by running off to Dedendo and keeping her out of loop?"
Minato's eye twitch, he is all kinds of building rage. "...you were stalking me?"
Albert then frowned, almost rare in Minato's eyes with how he was nothing but smiles whenever they are around. "I'll admit, you surprised me. I didn't think you would ask about Numbers."
Upon hearing this, Arisato now feels the need to beat him up for spying on him, and disrespecting his privacy. He was moments away from losing his cool. Even gripping his sword hilt. "...tell me. What if I am? What changes?" He says in a threatening tone.
The blonde then chuckles. "Heh...calm down. I'm just saying its strange that you would suddenly ask for that kind of stuff. No offense, but you been overdramatic lately."
Minato rests his grip, but still glares at him. "Just leave. I don't have time to waste on your games. And for the record, if I figure out what's spying on us that's one less expensive spy tech you'll have." He made sure Albert knew he was serious.
With a shrug, Schuman just exits. "I wish you a fun time." He waves one last time before leaving. "Oh! And I would like for you to join me in the lounge tonight. We can catch up proper there." He finally leaves.
The young Collector heavily sighs. It took a lot out of him to not freak out. Mira would notice how awkward and intense that exchange was. "Minato? Are you alright?"
The blunette would open his eyes to see that book Albert was carrying and place on the table. The way he was presenting it looked like he wanted Minato to see it. It almost made him sick how he is still trying to help. But since Sakaki wrote it, it must have something. Why would a veteran like Albert bring attention to this so obviously? He grabs it and starts reading it.
Mira awkwardly stood there. "So um...about on where are we going to sleep..."
Minato then remembered. "Oh right...We only have one bed." After some thought, he decides. "I'll stay in the couch. The bed's yours."
"Um, are you sure?" Mira didn't expect this.
"Yeah I'm used to it." He bluntly said without a care in his tone.
Mira nervously replies, "Why yes, of course, that's what I was thinking. hehehe..."
Meanwhile in another room of the hotel, the guest in grey rests his legs on the rooms table as he lazes around the couch, while the green haired one is talking someone on the phone. "It looks like they haven't suspected anything though. Also this world really relies on technology more than ours do. Sounds like this could be an easy task." She states her opinions as she carries a dark blue book, that was clearly not hers.
"Just make sure what's causing this interesting turn of events. I want to see the extent of these coils power." A very seductive voice was heard from the other line.
The greenette nods. "Yes ma'am." She hangs up. "These 'phones' are too similar too scrolls. We might as well call them scrolls." After letting out a sigh.
"Convenient, ain't it? I like the name scroll anyways. What's even a 'phone?'" The grey one said while doing the on-quotes finger gesture.
The dark skinned greenette sighs again. "That hardly matters Mercury. Bottom line, they have the better energy source. We have to take this seriously."
The one named Mercury would grin. "Maybe. But just like in our world, we do what we do best. We take it!" He said confidently, as they done it before, they will destroy everything.
On another room, Marina looks at the window, look upon the red moon in the sky, she then closes her eyes and lowers her head in shame, knowing what is going to happens next. "I'm sorry." Unaware, a hooded figure stands like a statue on top of the roof, with the wind flapping the long caped hood.
The sun rises upon a new day for the motel. All night and all morning, Minato reads more of the books of the deceased novelist. He wasn't much of a novel reader, but from the looks of it, it gave him some perspective on this place. With that said, he feels Mira can handle the reading better than him. He absorbed as much as I could and decides to wake the sleeping robot up. "Hey, Mira."
The green haired girls open as the hologram menu saying 'SLEEP MODE' deactivates. She sits up in nothing but a pink tank top and jeans. "Minato. Good morning."
He had to wait a considerable time to wait for her through most of the morning. "Just how much sleep do you need?"
Hearing his question, she gladly answers. "Well approximately..." Just then she sees Minato's eyes lowered in slight annoyance. It's clear he's not interested in the accurate estimate. As seen from the last time she went on a tangent about her robot body. "Um...I suppose similar to a human..." A simple enough answer she hopes satisfies.
Minato would then moves on quickly from this. "Nevermind...Just follow me." Said in a dissmissive tone. The duo goes to Shijuro's book room. Mira inspects the room while Minato just focuses on the shelf in front of him. "I'm going to need you to scan on these books." He simply orders.
Confused, she asks a question as she opens up more hologram menus in front of her. "Um, why can't we download them on the internet?"
The blue haired Collector lets out a groan. "Because sometimes we can't trust the internet for accurate results. You going to need to learn these kinds of stuff. I'll be right back." Minato leaves the room without looking back.
Mira was on the verge to check the internet on her interface, but shuts it off and pouts. "The least he could do is be a little grateful that I'm trying..."
Minato then gets to his motorcycle and drives off to where the dam used to be active. It looked abandoned alright. After some exploring, he found a gravestone around the forest next to it saying, 'For those who lost their lives during the construction of Lake Yasogami.' Minato then explored all over the dead part of the lake. Minato drives all over the abandoned dam Then to the control room of said dam. It was locked however, so dead end. He looks around the dead atmosphere. Truth be told, he never feared death, so he has no problem personally inspecting the area. He could imagine how things went wrong. But then he gets slight visions of the dam running. He rubs his head, wondering if something's wrong with his head. Mira's words must be getting to him. After cursing to himself, he takes a look at the hotel. It looked pretty small all the way up here in the dam.
Back with Mira, she is in the middle of reading the books, with a displeased and disgusted look on her face. This kind of horror genre was defiantly not for her. Then..."Hey."
"YAAAAAAH!" Mira comes back to reality realizing its her partner. "JEEZ! Don't sneak up on me like that!" She begins sweating all over the place and her tail is wagging uncontrollably.
Minato is still acting calm despite Mira's outburst. Albeit a bit annoyed. "All I did was say hey. And didn't I told you to not attract attention like that?"
Mira calmed down. " I know, I'm sorry! But I calculate story information and images deeply and that makes reading a VERY immersive experience!" She explains as clearly as she can, as her face spells a lot of anxiety due to reading these horror books Minato gave her.
The Collector just sighs. "Look, we don't have time for this. Just try to get it down by the end of the night." He knows how fast robots process text, so he needs her expertise while he focuses on other things.
"O-Okay bu-" Minato then closes the door before she can finish. Making her whimper a bit. As she looks at the book, she really doesn't want to continue this. The gore, the fear, she wasn't kidding when she said it was very immersive with how accurate her mind perceives the events of the book. She hoped Minato could see that, but he's been acting more cold ever since this job was taken. Then she remembers what her father said.
"Mira, it is not enough for you to store data in your memory. As you process a piece of information, use it to create an image. If the information seems incomplete, fill it in using memories you already stored. When you're given new information, you must access all the images that are related to it and rebuild them accordingly."
Mira remembers his voice like he never left. All of his teachings gave her perspective on how to handle her power he gave her. He was the reason she can go on in this confusing life. "...I miss you Father..." She knows what she must do, despite how hard it is. Just then she heard a sudden snap sound. She turns around, startled. "Tha-That's just the house right?!" She then gets back on reading. "I'll pick up the pace a bit." As happily as she can, hoping to not tempt anything.
Eventually it was dawn. The night is now filled with fog all over the forest around the lake. The journalist Hageyama is running through the foggy forest. A shape of a long haired girl in white is all he see's while he is sprinting. But suddenly Hageyama found himself drowning. The long haired girl just watches as the man frantically tries to escape the sudden lake he fell into, until the struggling ends.
Back at the hotel, Minato walks through the hallways of the hotel. He noticed how quiet this place is. Just then he felt something. A feeling, that he's not alone. Unaware of the girl in white in the same room was flickering the lights of the living room. It felt like something threatening, but also not. He merely just returns to his walk and goes outside. In the lounge bar, the Steel Fish, Albert was sitting alone in a table. "So, you knew about the Numbers being here?" Minato walks in, with an unamused look on his face. "And you never thought of telling me."
"What, and talk about Numbers in front of Mary when you already avoided doing that?" Albert replied.
Minato sneers. "We are not a team."
Albert doesn't let his words break the mood though. "Look, just have a drink." In an assuring tone.
A waiter walks in. "There you are, thanks for waiting." He gives Albert some alcohol and Minato too.
The young Collector glares at Albert. "You know I don't drink."
Albert lets out a chuckle. "Come on! Your nineteen! You're practically an adult now!"
The former apprentice groans. "I am not gonna destroy my body any faster due to these things. I'll pass, thank you." He leans the cup away from himself.
Albert would softly slap his head as if he made a playful mistake. "Oh that's right. I secretly introduced you to alcohol during your training and you spited it out all over the floor. I suppose that's partially my fault too." Arisato only glares at him. "I'll...fix that...Waiter? You got some Cola on you?"
Time passes and Minato eventually gets his cola drink. He looks at the dark color and fizzy radiance. Anything to feel a lot more at ease, Minato grabs the cup and takes a sip on the large cup filled with ice, cool, cola. After he lets out a sigh, he eventually focuses himself. "I did a little investigating. From what I heard so far, there was only one death during construction. The other was a couple of students that brought in a coil. The more I look at this, the less it sounds like an accident."
"Why do you say that?" Albert listens carefully.
"There were no towers twenty years ago right? That means the only coils that was available at the time has to be Numbers. We both know how dangerous they can be. Something must have happened. Also, if everything I said falls true, then a Number should still be there." Minato said without any kind of falter or hesitation, not different from a detective.
Albert laughed. "I'm glad you haven't lost your edge." He said with some pride in his tone. He then refocuses to the subject. "You're only half right though. The accident was just that. A tragic but otherwise unremarkable event."
Minato grits in outrage and clenches his fists hard. "You son of a bitch..." He hates how Albert has no respect for life.
Albert then raises his finger to calm him. "Now hold on. Well you were right about a Number getting involved in all of this. That's the part of this unfortunate story you got correct." Albert brings out his phone, and inside, an image of a man with black hair and middle aged. "This is Kenjiro Kuroda Professor of Physics." He swipes the phone, showing a girl with long black hair. "And this is his student, Haruna Enamori, a native in Yasogami. At the time Numbers Coil 189 was loaned to Kuroda laboratory. Enamori used her access to borrow it."
Minato flinched at the thought of what happened next, then closed his eyes, imagining what could have happened. But truth be told, for something as chaotic as Numbered Coil, anything could have happened. "She most likely activated. And her body wasn't found in the aftermath."
"The Bureau sent out search parties twice in the years that followed." Albert continues. "But both times the teams apparently encountered ghosts. Their bodies were found later, drowned."
Minato then shows slight concern but tries to hide it. "All cause of the Numbers if I'm not mistaken." He really doesn't want to humor the idea of ghosts being real and attacking people all of the sudden.
"That does seem like the obvious conclusion." Albert sighs. "As you guess, they never found the coil. But the ghosts stopped appearing ten years ago. So no more teams were sent out."
"Hm...from what I gathered...Shijuro moved to Yasogami ten years ago. The same time the ghosts stopped appearing...what stopped the ghosts then? You think he knew something the Bureau didn't?" Minato's eyes squints. This whole mystery was beginning to annoy him without having all the pieces of the puzzle present. Really not fun being in the dark about things all the time.
Albert would look away, also sharing how lost he is on this too. "That seems likely, but unfortunately I have no proof."
Arisato would sigh, just letting this thing go for now. It bogles his mind that he found himself in a ghost related mystery. Its like he's in a Scooby-Doo episode. All that's missing is a talking dog to lighten the mood. Lord knows he needs it. What could have sparked this madness? The best he got was knowing more than he should have. It's the only thing that makes sense. Just then, he thought about it deeper. The Bureau goes without saying that too. They would want to know everything in the world no matter the cost. He can see the ghosts seeing them as threats. Anyone with a brain can see that. And then it dawned on him. Didn't he told Mira to investigate about the gho..."Shit!" He suddenly stood up and runs off in a hurry.
"Huh?" Albert was startled by Minato suddenly running away. "Hey! You didn't try the chefs recommendation!" Albert tries to call to Minato, but he was already gone. Maybe he shouldn't have joked too much as he follows Minato. But not before throwing his tip to the chef in case they don't come back.
Back at the hotel, Mira was on the shower, feeling like she needed to after reading non-stop horror novels. Kneeling down, holding on to the wall and covering her mouth in disgust. "I can't take it...Sakaki's novels are too gruesome! He describes pain and suffering with so much detail its sickening! It all felt so real...I can almost smell his characters fears..." She turns off the shower. Eventually calming herself. "Still, despite all that I did noticed something. His book settings were reminiscent of Yasogami Village, as it looked in the past." With this clue, she knows what to do. She opens up her coil on her chest and it glows blue as she recreates Yasogami Lake before the incident in her head. It all digitally forms before her eyes. "This is the image I created of Yasogami as it appeared 20 years ago." Remembering her fathers words, she recreates the details of the location and fills in the blanks with the current one. She looks around the environment. "There is a clue here somewhere. I know there is." She is determined to find something, no matter how miniscule it is. Unaware of her true surroundings. "If I can just find i-" Then she trips. "Huuuaa! Agh!" And lands on her shoulder. Unaware someone is in the room with her. "Ugh...I was concentrating so hard on the image that I forgot where I was for a second...I didn't know I could fall...heh heh..." She weakly laughs in embarrassment. "Can't let Minato see me like this. It probably wouldn't better his mood..." She figured she might as well get back to this at a better time. Knowing how understanding Minato is, she could give herself a break. As she gets her towel, she notices something on the floor. She picks up a random soap. The thing that made her trip in the first place. She doesn't recall it being there before. Shrugging it off, she goes to her room, still oblivious on the person hiding on the bath tub.
Mira tries to find her clothes, but it was nowhere to be seen. "Not here? Is someone playing a joke on me?" She looks around to find someone to help her. But then she notices something. "The room looks different too." The furniture position and other pictures are either moved or completely different. She scans the area but then her HUD reads, error. "An error? My functions aren't working?!" She turns behind her to see a window. She hears something. Something loud. Once, she opens the window, it automatically turns into a dangerously heavy storm outside. Even down to the whole place below is completely flooded. "Huh?!" She stood there in disbelief. "What's going on?! Where am I?!" What makes it more confusing is that she notices cars and trees. But she didn't recall that many cars.
Then from nowhere, red haired woman in a blue dress walks behind Mira, carrying a golf club covered in barb wire, with a sadistic grin. "hehehe!"
"Huh?!" Mira dodges the golf club and then slips her feet to the ground.
"hehehe!" The red head then shows her arm. It is torn enough to see her bones and flesh. "Not a great look isn't it? Take a good look...My arm got that way when I hit some barb wire while being washed away."
Mira tries to move away, but something prevents it. Like an unknown force is limiting her control. "Why aren't I moving? It's like I'm frozen!"
"Would you like an arm that matches mine?!" She shouts out in glee, raising her club in the air.
Minato runs through the trees, as fast as he can. "If Shijuro knew something, then there's no doubt they'll target Mira!" Then he gets a phone call. He answers without slowing down. "Koorogi, tell me what happened!" He told Koogari to give him an energy scan on the scene of the crime earlier.
"Hey now! What's the rush?" Noticing the panic in Minato's voice.
"Lets just say if I slow down, you might need to fix Mira again if we're lucky! So what is it?!" He demands again.
"Alright, alright. I can't project the video feed on your old ass phone, but I can give you pics of it. Will that do?"
"Just do it!" The Collector shouts.
"Alright, alright" Minato places the phone on top of the motorcycle in the conveniently placed phone plug in case Minato wanted to listen to music. The future can be convenient in bits and pieces. Koorogi then brings out a video feed. "This is the more complete version of the video taken by the house keeping robot. I restored it as much as I could." He see's an all blue screen with white silhouettes of people as he drives, he noticed he is close back to the hotel and it's only a straight line now. There were multiple people on the same room where Shijuro died. this made Minato stop to catch his breath.
He looked in concern. This is all the information he needs to know that ghosts are really going to kill everyone else in the hotel. But just to make sure, "Koorogi! can you compare these people to the same people who died 21 years ago?" But he wanted to confirm things.
"Huh? Sure, give me a sec." Knowing how serious Minato is sounding, he wastes no time.
Minato could not stop looking at Shijuro's face while he was drowning. "You think they had something to do with the feeds breaking up?" He asks.
Koogari then replies. "That blackout in the original occurred because the memory was overwritten in real time. The original data stream was so large that the robot could only record bits and pieces of it. However these people, they must have something to do with the coil. They also have no mass too."
"How though?" Minato mutters. Then he gasps.
"Wait! There should be an image on my log! What? There's nothing there!"
Minato's eyes widen more. "She...actually saw something..." He whispered in realization.
Just then, he hears a loud boom. He turns to his side to see some sort of projectile coming towards him as he turns to avoid the blast. It only took the motorcycle as Minato gets sent flying out of it and crashes down hard on his side. He gets up groaning. Then someone walks up to him. "Well well well..."
Minato turns his head to see the grey haired guest in the hotel as he gets back up on his feet. "Okay, what's the big idea asshole?" He would guess this smug guy is responsible. But he doesn't see anything on him. No cannon or gun.
"Oh I'm just looking for some fun." The grey haired youth smirks.
Mira runs through the hallway while being chased by the red head psycho. "Somehow I've been dragged into memories of twenty one years ago!" She hears the psycho's laughing echoing behind her. "When did it first happened? In the bathroom? No! Before that! It's been happening since I got here! The world of the past has been layered on the real world! And now I can't get out!" As fast as she can she reaches the other side to the main room of the hotel. Only to wince in disgust to see multiple corpses, blood, people going insane. Someone stabbing their own chest, wearing a bull skull for a mask and holding onto a decapitated head. She covers her mouth in shock and horror. I-It's like something out of Sakaki's novels..." Then one of the people grabs her ankles and drags her onto their level.
The red haired girl then looks down on the petrified Mira. "Heeheehee...You entered my darlings room without permission and now you'll suffer for it!"
Mira could feel one of them creeping into her body. "I can't do anything as long as I'm bound to this worlds logic! I'm helpless!" All of the zombie like people crawl their way all over her as they block out any light. "Please Minato! I need you...HELP ME!"
Minato's eyes widen a bit. He felt something is off. But then refocuses on the problem he is in now and dodges the grey clad attackers kicks. "I don't have time for you!" He then dodges one kick that cuts a tree in half. "What the?!" He never seen anyone be strong enough to kick a whole tree like a sword.
The grey one known as Mercury would sway his hair in a cocky manner. "Heh...So that's all you got collector? I thought you'd be fun, but I guess I'll have to kill you then." The attacker lets out a devious smirk, and chuckling.
Outside of the hotel, one of the guests Elizabeth finds the dead body of Hageyama inside his van. As gruesome as it looked, she tries to tough it out. She then notices the same hooded figure from the roof hop to her level. "I found Hageyama. He's past saving unfortunately."
"I wish I could have saved him. But the fog was too dense." The hooded girl explains.
"Its fine. You'll only blow our cover if you went deeper." Elizabeth assures her. "I need you to have a close eye on everyone. Who knows who or when will they attack."
The one named Hood would be unsure of this, knowing how dangerous things gotten. "But what about you?"
"I'll take care of it myself. Elizabeth out." She hangs up. She managed to get a hold on her partner, but not outside the area. So she can imagine it being hard for the others to call for help. So she'll have to handle this herself.
"Wait! Uh? She hung up..." The hooded girl frails her arms in frustration. "Jeez she's stubborn! I guess I have to help out now." She wonders what to do. Despite trying to hide in plain sight, she feels like things are getting crazy enough for her to step in.
Meanwhile inside, Marisa looks onto the window again, looking into the dead of night like always. She always sensed them. Every night. Picking away everyone who steps inside this hotel. As much as she wanted them to stop, she doesn't have the strength to do anything. All she can do is apologize every night. Just then the maid comes in the room. "Miss? We need to go now." She sounds worried.
Marisa continues to gaze outside. "Something isn't right..." She turns around towards the maid. "I'd rather stay here."
Suddenly the worried maid then smirks. "You misunderstand Marisa Sakaki." Then her body begins to glow until it shifts into the green haired guest. "You don't have a choice." Marisa gasps, unsettled by this sudden change. She never saw anything like it. Then she notices something behind her intruder. Outside the room, the real maid is knocked out on the hallway.
"No..." Marisa fearfully backs away.
"We know that your dreams are connected to that other world. I'm not going to hurt you if you don't resist." The green haired girl approaches her and knocks her out with a chop on her neck. She falls over to the Greenette's arms. She then looks over her pocket and brings up a single dark blue book. With the information she 'borrowed' from another covert group, she knows Marisa is the key to ultimate power. "Lets see what these Numbers can do..." The one named Emerald then leaps out of the window with a levitating platform with rails. She would almost trip, but keeps her balance. "Damn..." She then directs it towards the dam, the source of this whole incident, with no one knowing that she was gone. No one except Elizabeth, who just so happen to reach the room, only to see Emerald get away with Marisa.
"I won't let her get away!" She then throws glowing bats to follow the kidnapper. They fly towards what the missing Number is supposedly kept.
The hooded girl also notices Emerald's getaway. But something about the greenette...gave her a bit of a headache. Almost like...she knew her... "Ugh...that was weird..." She muttered to herself. "Gotta focus! It's time to prove my worth!" She said to herself.
Minato knows that getting hit by the attacker's kicks will defiantly hurt. But he's also fast. "Tch..." He brings out his sword and blocks his kicks, which doesn't effect him at all. In fact, it made a clang sound like he was fighting someone with his own sword. "His feet are made of metal! Gotta be kidding!" Minato dodges his other kicks.
"You keep on dodging and dodging! Is that all you're good at?!" The smiles as he jumps up and axe kicks the ground, causing the ground to crack. This distracts Minato for a second, giving the chance for the attacker to strike. But then...
A gun shot hits the attackers leg, causing him to fall and rub his feet in pain. "Hey Arisato! His feet seems to be made out of metal. He should have bled."
Minato gets up in irritation. "Tch! Annoying..." He hissed.
Then the attacker then whips his leg, causing an energy blast to come out of his leg, making a gun-shot sound. Albert dodges in time. He is not like any soldier in his time. He is the Beast of Grendal, and this grey attacker hasn't faced him, and his apprentice. The grey attacker lets out a cocky smile and does a Spin-a-Rooney, spinning his body and legs, causing a small tornado. Energy blasts are shooting all over the place. Albert and Minato hides behind the trees. "What will they come up next?" Albert playfully quipped. He brings out a little device, then throws it at the attacker while he is spinning.
He took his time, but eventually he sees a less than split second opening and took it. It hits his foot. "What?" Then it electrocutes his entire body. "GUAAAAAAAAGH!" Then the tornado dies down, as he drops down, smoking and his boots melted off and legs revealing his metallic feet.
Minato and Albert walks up to the fallen opponent. "Now, are you satisfied?" The Collector sneered.
After some time, Albert than remembered something. "Say...didn't he sound just like you?"
This only made Minato even more uncomfortable and disgusted. "Shut up stalker..." Insulting Albert.
"Oh you know that hurt." Said with a hint of offense.
In a broken down warehouse near the dam, Mira is chained on her arms and legs. She felt so drained and tired. She can't do anything now that she's trapped. "What does this world look to you? Is it past...or present to you?" She then heard a voice. A monotone voice.
Mira looks up to see the snickering Yoshiko and a male that asked her the question. "Please...who are you...?"
The man walks up to reveal his face. A tan man with short hair and casual clothes.
Albert restrains the unconscious attacker. "Well, I'll admit your tech is stylish. But a little outdated." Quipping as usual.
Just then Minato remembered he was talking to Koogari. Quickly grabbing his phone. "Koogari! You there?"
"I was wondering what the hell was that." His condescending voice can still be heard on his phone.
"Okay the problem is taken care of, so about those people?" Minato continues with business.
"I gotcha." The image reveals itself. "And that's it. Other than that guy in the middle, they are all students that died years ago in the flood.
The images of the dead victims are shown on screen on top of the scene of the crime, and they all are the same faces and shapes of the 'ghosts' on screen. Including one of them being a red haired girl in a blue dress named Yoshiko Moringa. What shocks Minato more though is the middle.
"Wait...him?!"
"Yep, the plot thickens..." Koogari. "Seems to me Sakaki was a pen name after all..." Minato's eyes widen, realizing that all this time...HE was behind it.
"The same man then reveals himself to Mira. "My name is Shiro Kamiki." He is a man with messy short hair, and a brown jacket with a black shirt and jeans. "I believe in your world, I was called Shijuro Sakaki..." Mira realizes it. His face looks just like Shijuro but younger. Shiro Kamiki is the one leading the ghosts to kill his counterpart with no remorse.
To Be Continued...
(Also anyone who got the same voice actor joke between Minato and Mercury have a pat on the back)