Chapter Text
Opening Theme: Face Down (Japanese Cover) – Sunrise Skater Kids
Original by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlL5hhNiyrw
“Now, I’m certain you’re all wondering what is happening. Why are your leaders looking so distressed if they invited you all here?” The voice cackled mockingly, the distortion from the static grating to the ears.
“Plain and simple, really. They didn’t. I did. I kindly request all of your participation moving forward, lest you end up with blood on your hands and conscience. As I’ve made clear to your leaders, your dear friends in Switch created a doorway from my world to yours. I have taken over Hold Hands, infiltrated your network, and hold your fellow idols in Alkaloid hostage. ES is in possession of six artifacts that I’m looking for. Find those six for me and send them to my world, and I’ll leave your system just as I originally found it, as well as release Alkaloid.”
“Of course, I understand if that makes you all apprehensive. After all, it DOES sound quite sketchy to give a disembodied voice six artifacts when you have little knowledge about either. Could even cause a great cATaclYsmiC event!” The heavy distortion and eerie, hysterical laughter made Rinne’s eardrums feel like they were at the edge of bleeding.
“So…I propose a second option. Seven of you, six of whom I will choose, will join Alkaloid in my realm, and don’t say there aren’t enough sets of the gear to do that; I know you have more as backups for experiments. When you do, the ultimate goal will be to survive THREE CONSECUTIVE alternate universes intact. That means all eleven of you must survive. After all eleven live three consecutive universes, I will release all of you from my realm.”
“The beauty of this? Both options can be done! While eleven of you are in my realm undergoing my trial, the rest of you will be scavenging for those six artifacts. Whoever completes their task first does not matter.”
“W-wouldn’t it though?” Everyone turned their attention to Tomoya, “T-that second option sounds like you would s-still be in ES’s network.”
There was a brief pause before a low, dark chuckle emanated from that screen, “You are quite perceptive, little rabbit. That would be the case.”
Rinne ground his teeth as he thought. So much for a choice.
Eichi narrowed his eyes, words light but filled with venom. “In that case, you would just keep coming back. It would be wiser on our end to get you those artifacts instead of splitting our attention to do two things.”
“That would also be the case. I do love it when humans know the reality they are facing.” One could hear the shit-eating smirk the entity was making as it spoke.
Rei, in a brief flash of anger before returning to a carefully crafted neutral state, whirled on the leader of Fine. “Are you saying we are to leave Alkaloid alone in there?”
“Absolutely not,” Eichi returned the careful neutral sentiment, words with more bite than usual, “I care for all idols and do not wish them harm. If there is a way to resolve this without anyone getting hurt, I will take it.”
“That would be a hard thing to do, then.”
Eichi slowly turned his attention back to the screen, “Could you explain what you mean by that?”
“While you don’t have to send anyone else…I still have four playthings in my realm.”
Rinne glared harshly at the offending screen, Niki having to reach for his hand to ground him before he could do something that would make the situation worse. That is if things could get worse.
“If you decide to do that, these four will just go through however many alternate universes it takes for you all to find those artifacts. People are going to get hurt, regardless. Aoba Tsumugi, there’s one other precaution that was created in anticipation of…too much mental strain, correct? Pull up that file.”
With shaky hands, the operator pulled up the file in question, finding it, oddly, untouched. It took a moment for the implication to set in, hands covering his mouth in horror. Alkaloid spoke out to him, trying to figure out what was going on out there.
“Speak. Tell them exactly what that function is.”
“I-it’s in case anyone undergoes t-too much mental stress. If they get too close to a full mental breakdown, i-it’s supposed to automatically activate the Recall function.”
“So, with the changes I’ve made to that Recall function…How long do you think these four’s sAnItY will last on their own? With no one else to communicate with or support them? After all, once I send them into the first alternate universe, what is StOpPinG me from shutting off the little bit of communication they have with your operator here? Or keep them from hearing me? Like so?”
The center monitor showing Alkaloid flickered briefly before resuming, though the unit was noticeably panicking a bit more as they attempted to get more answers from Tsumugi.
“Although…stress they endure from multiple universes isn’t the only danger. I have my pets, too, both of my own and borrowed.”
The staticky monitor faded to black as the voice boomed through the middle monitor. HiMERU and Rinne shared a look that began communicating a theory, before turning back in horror as the voice summoned a shadowy, wolf-like creature near the captive idols. All four legs were double the length of its body, with the front two ending in near human-like hands. It was hard to tell what looked like fur and what were shadowy tendrils moving on their own accord. The eyes glowed an unholy yellow, with large fangs protruding in a similar color.
The four idols backed up several steps. The voice came back to the right monitor, static resuming. “Now, my pets are quite obedient in my realm. They’ll listen to my instructions. After all, I can’t lose one of my bargaining chips due to reckless actions. As for when they are in your world, however…let’s say the distance between us is a bit farther than in my realm…and they may be more prone to do more than I say.”
“What the hell do ya mean by ‘when’ they are in our world!?” Rinne harshly stood up, not caring for the clattering of the chair that fell behind him.
“…That’ll be easier to show you,” Something in the tone shifted, causing all of Rinne’s hair to stand on end. The middle screen changed from showing the liminal space to Tsukasa’s FaceTime with the two Knights in the elevator. “Sena Izumi and Tsukinaga Leo, on the ceiling of your elevator there is a two-way latch meant for maintenance. Open your side of the latch.”
Izumi and Leo shared a confused look before the former set the phone down on the floor. The voice crackled, “Make sure the camera is facing the latch.”
Izumi paused a moment before rotating the phone so the camera faced the ceiling latch. Izumi crouched slightly and cupped his hands, ready to give Leo a boost to reach the latch. Balancing one foot in Izumi’s hand, Leo slowly unlatched it and pushed it aside to reveal a second, glass door on the other side, with another of those shadowy creatures creepily smiling at them.
Leo screeched and toppled out of Izumi’s grasp, falling hard on the elevator floor. Izumi looked up and fell backward himself, scuttling on his hands and feet into one of the corners. The creature, eerily human-like if not for the exposed, dagger-like teeth in a large grin and soulless yellow eyes, held a hand up to the two through the glass, slowly moving four of its fingers up and down in a stiff, unpracticed wave.
“At least my more humanoid pets are more obedient in your world. Though they do get hungry…”
“You so much as dare to harm them I’ll-” Tsukasa stood up as well.
“You’ll do what, Suou Tsukasa? What can you do trapped in that room?”
“What do you mean trapped!?” Tsukasa’s voice cracked ever so slightly.
“Ah, I forgot to mention that catch! While everyone else is looking for those artifacts, I had to make sure they would cooperate and not do any funny business! As such, your leaders are held hostage here, too! They can’t leave their meeting room. There needs to be someone to host our little watch party if you decide to send more people in! Be thankful I chose a room that had an attached bathroom and kitchen, otherwise that would surely get messy! “
The room was oppressively silent, as were the others on the call. The voice rambled on, “As you can probably guess, I can have my pets come and go wherever and whenever I want and report back to me. It wouldn’t take much for me to send one of my particularly hungry ones into that room if anyone falls out of line.”
“One last rule for those in your world. Your rooms where you are in the call will be safe havens from my pets. I will allow Sena Izumi and Tsukinaga Leo to go to those rooms before we begin. However, once we start, only one person per room can leave at any one time. They can look around for as long as they like, but no one else from their room will be able to leave. That means there will be eight of you at a time out and about. Coordinate however you wish with each other. Disobey, and you will be the executioners of your dear leaders. Perhaps I’ll be lenient enough to allow multiple infractions and take one leader out for each infraction. That all depends on my mood.”
“Now, do decide if you are going to send more people in with Alkaloid, leaders. We don’t have all the time in the world to ask everyone’s opinions on the matter.”
Eyes widened and some tremored in their seats. Madara was the one to speak up first, teal eyes hard as steel. “Do we get to know who the six mandatory people are?”
The voice lowly chuckled and Rinne could feel it was staring at him. “Tell you what. I’ll reveal four of the six now and the other two after you decide. The seventh will be a volunteer…though if no one volunteers I’ll just pick another…and there will be punishments if any of the mandatory six try to resist.”
All of the bees looked at each other through the corners of their eyes. The voice’s pitch heightened in amusement, “Though, it seems those four are already well aware. Right, Crazy:B?”
Everyone’s heads snapped to them. Rinne’s fists were at his side as he snarled at the monitor. The voice continued mocking, “Did you think I didn’t know about those visions Alkaloid had? Or that you four knew? I’ve been inside your system for over a week and you all kept your phones on you. It would be hard not to overhear. Since you four already know SO MUCH, it’s only logical for you four to join them. Though, if your leaders decide to not send anyone else, there’s no need for you four.”
It mocked them in fake astonishment and disbelief, “Guess that means you would be abandoning them. And after everything Alkaloid did to save your unit during the MDM? After you just started to make up with your little brother, you would abandon him AGAIN?”
“To hell with ya, ya fucking cruel asshole!” Rinne would have lunged at the thing if he could.
“Cruel?... I was merely stating the facts and asking questions! You want to see what cruel really is?...I’ll show you.”
The static left the right monitor and the center returned to the liminal space. Shadowy tendrils shot up from the white and grey ground and wrapped around Mayoi, Aira, and Tatsumi, binding them to their spots. The voice ordered, “Can’t have you three interrupting. My pet, feel free to roughhouse the redhead. Though don’t horribly maim or kill the kid. Just enough to show I mean business.”
The wolf-creature let out a guttural screech before beginning to stalk toward Hiiro. He attempted to keep his distance, but the long legs easily caught up to him, grabbing him by an ankle and dragging him back. It gripped him by the waist and hoisted him up in both hands, peering down at him as it drew the teen closer to its face and teeth. Rinne was about to shout that it made its point before he became stunned as Hiiro jabbed his thumb into one of the creature’s eyes. It dropped him as a pained scream shook out of the shadow creature, giving him time to run away.
The voice was hysterical in its laughter “KYaheheyheha! Looks like we got a fighter! Go ahead and show him the error of his ways! Just keep the bloodshed to a minimum! Red is SO HARD To gET OuT of WhITe ANd GrEY!”
The creature roared, lunging after Hiiro. It grabbed him by the leg and yanked him under itself. It held him down with one of its hands on his waist while the other slowly began applying pressure to his neck. Hiiro choked as he kicked and scratched in vain to break the hold, his friends helpless to stop it as they fought their restraints.
“Do you understand now, Amagi Rinne?” The voice came back.
“Okay, I fucking get it! Just stop!” Rinne felt tears burning the corners of his eyes. Several of the other leaders were in horror at what was transpiring.
The voice went back and made a sound akin to the snapping of fingers, making the creature cease, though it still shoved the teenager across the floor like a hockey puck. Hiiro remained on the ground coughing and hacking as he tried to refill his lungs with air. The others, now released from their confinements, one by one rushed over to their unit leader, with Mayoi and Tatsumi keeping themselves between the younger two and the wolf-creature still staring at them.
“Now then, what is your answer? Will you send more into my realm?”
“Fine. I’ll go in,” Rinne beat everyone to it speaking in a low, dark tone, “But just so ya know, ya’ve fucked with the wrong people. I don’t care how long it takes or if I have to destroy multiple forms of ya. I will tear ya limb from fucking limb and grind your remains into dust, just so that ya won’t be able to come back and harm anyone again. Even if it costs me my final breath, I’ll make sure to be taking ya down with me.”
It seemed the voice grew quiet at the outburst, though its words sounded like it was grinning, “I do love that fire of yours…It’ll be all the more fun to snuff it out.”
All the other leaders gave Rinne looks of shock as if they couldn’t believe he was more than willing to put himself on the line in a rigged game. The voice turned its attention to the pink-haired teen, “Now you, Oukawa Kohaku…”
Said teen stood from his seat, eyes steeled in determination, “Ya don’t have ta threaten me. Y’already pissed me off.”
“Good. Because if you tried to refuse…granted, most of your precious ones are already with me…except your cousin there.”
Kohaku instinctively pulled Tsukasa behind him. The static crackled in time with the voice’s laughter, “Oh, don’t worry. I won’t harm any of the leaders before we begin. Though the two in the elevator…he’s quite close with, no? It would’ve been such a tragedy if my pet were to, say, cut the cable and caused the elevator to plummet, or to open the latch and enjoy an early snack.”
It did not escape Rinne’s notice when the two teens held each other’s hands in solidarity, or perhaps to keep the other from lashing out.
The voice hummed for a minute before sounding uninterested, “I can tell there’s no need to threaten the other two. You already look like you had made up your mind a while ago, HiMERU. As for Shiina Niki… why bother wasting words threatening when peer pressure will do it for me?”
HiMERU’s eyes narrowed and he bit the inside of his lip before crossing his arms, glaring intently at the monitor as he stood. Niki stood from his seat, too, a look of determined anger set in stone, “I’m going to enjoy helping Rinne-kun carve you up, asshole.”
It lowly huffed a laugh, “Well, this should make your decision easier with how driven these four are. What do you all say?”
The room was quiet, eyes shifting around to each other and nowhere in particular. The lingering issue of who the other three would be persisted. When Rei and Eichi finally decided to look at Rinne, the serious, determined expression in his blue eyes made them look at each other and nod in agreement. Seeing this, Keito nodded as well with a solemn but serious air about him. This led to a domino effect of the others gathering their courage and nod along, hoping that they weren’t just sending more of their friends and fellow idols to their dooms.
“Hehe, it’s quite nice seeing just how driven and unified humanity can become. But it’s nicer, still, to see it fall apart.”
Everyone glared at the voice, all now sufficiently done with the toying and games it was playing. Hokuto spoke up, irritation evident, “Who are the other three?”
“Hmm, the extra two I’m choosing…Let’s take a look at everyone, shall we?” The center screen switched to a desktop background of some unknown computer, pulling up various profiles of the idols of ES. Rinne had an inkling as to who exactly was going to be chosen, going by what he remembered from Aira. It hummed to itself as it shuffled through various idols before stopping on one.
Isara Mao.
“This one will do nicely as my first pick.” Hokuto’s eyes widened in disbelief while Mao started shaking so badly he had to sit on one of the couches in the dorm room where they took the call.
Rinne inhaled, knowing who was going to come up next.
The voice stalled on another picture, cackling, “Something about this one tickles my fancy! I’ll pick you, too.”
It stopped on Akehoshi Subaru.
Rinne felt his mouth part slightly. He wasn’t in any of the visions that I know of! Unless-
“Then I volunteer.” Hokuto stood from his seat, blue eyes glaring harshly at the static, “There was nothing stating a leader couldn’t be a volunteer to go into your realm.”
The voice didn’t answer for several seconds. It began crackling, “Indeed there wasn’t. Quite clever of you to find that loophole. Very well, I’ll honor your wish, Hidaka Hokuto.”
“Now then, since we have our little crew picked out, time’s a-wasting! Go ahead and meet Aoba Tsumugi in their little workshop in the basement and get ready. Once everyone is ready and you lot have entered my realm, I’ll be sure to greet you before we get started in earnest!”
With that, the voice ceased to speak further. Rinne’s legs shook, the adrenaline leaving his system as quickly as it entered. No one moved for several heartbeats…
Until Subaru started pulling Mao along with him, a rare look of strong determination filling his being. That was enough of a push to make Crazy:B begin to file out of the room, followed by Hokuto. The door clicking shut was unnaturally loud in the quiet hall.
“Hi-” Before Rinne could speak, Hokuto raised a hand to stop him.
“Do not feel that my involvement was forced because of you in whatever way you are thinking,” His warning tone indicated he knew Rinne was going to try and put the blame on himself.
“This entity is threatening people we all care about. It probably knew to some extent that I would get involved when it picked Akehoshi and Isara. Like you, I will not stand idly by while it threatens and harms those I care about. While I don’t understand what is going on with these ‘visions’ or what that second entity it referred to is aiming at, I do know I will be of more use in there than out here.” Hokuto nearly walked by the rest of them before HiMERU put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
“So, you’re thinking the same thing that HiMERU is?”
Rinne began gently urging the group to start heading towards the basement by way of the elevators, despite inwardly wanting to take the stairs after seeing that creature in FaceTime. He spoke in a hushed tone by HiMERU and Hokuto, “What is it?”
“It’s clear the entity is not specifically stating what it is nor what these artifacts look like for a reason. It’s possibly because its identity is linked to these artifacts, or that knowing its identity would lead us to naturally deduce the true intentions with said artifacts and outright refuse to retrieve them. However, it may be possible to discern its identity while we are doing its trial.” HiMERU conjectured.
“Okay, but how would we get that info to the people out here? It can cut us off from communicating once we enter.” Rinne gently pulled Kohaku’s sleeve towards him, giving the kid a better angle to hear from. His other hand held onto Niki’s, rubbing small circles over the chef’s knuckles.
“HiMERU believes that isn’t quite the case. While we can’t directly talk to them, they will still hear us.”
Hokuto leaned in, “It did say the leaders were going to be watching the trial or something along those lines, right?”
“So we somehow relay ta’ info we learn indirectly?” Kohaku mumbled.
“Okay, but they’re stuck in that room, aren’t they? How do we get that info to those who can go out and about?” Niki intertwined his and Rinne’s fingers, his own thumb soothing over little scars.
“I think ta’ call is still goin’. So ‘ey probably are watchin’ and listenin’ too.” Kohaku gestured to Niki with his chin.
“HiMERU also believes the entity can’t be in two places at once, considering it had to go to the liminal space to summon that creature to harass Alkaloid, and that static stopped when it did. We might be able to use that to our advantage by splitting its attention between us in there and the people out here.”
The raven-haired teen paused a moment, lost in thought, “I’m more worried about everyone else with those creatures around.”
The four bees grimaced at the memory of those teeth and how creepily one of them smiled. Kohaku tried reasoning, though he was unsure, “At least Hiiro-han showed ‘ey can be fought by normal means…”
By the time they reached the elevator, the doors let out a ding before opening. Leo and Izumi darted out, freezing only when they saw the group. A tense silence stretched on before the two attempted to recompose themselves before going to leave.
Izumi leaned a bit closer to Hokuto, “I’ll see if Yuu-kun can figure something out.”
Hokuto blinked a few times before his eyes narrowed slightly, giving a curt nod. Leo whispered a hushed “good luck” before rushing off with Izumi, more than likely going to stay with the rest of Knights.
Rinne paused at the odd interaction before eyeing the elevator. The doors didn’t close, as if the entity was keeping them open just for them. Why on Earth they would want to go on an elevator they clearly know a creature resides above was more of a rhetorical question he asked himself. Not like they were given much room for actual choices thus far.
He was the first to enter, promptly closing the latch and trying to not let the creepy creature’s smile and the sound of nails tapping the glass get to him. Everyone else filed in, the ride down being silent until Rinne casually remarked, “Odd exchange there, Kita-san.”
At the nickname, Hokuto merely flickered a glance over to the redhead. “There’s…history, let’s just say.”
When the elevator doors opened on their floor, four of the five trudged out, steps heavy with dread. Before HiMERU could leave, the doors slammed shut, trapping him in there alone. He slammed his fists on the door before the voice spoke in his head.
I will only need to borrow you a moment. Please be patient.
The others outside whirled around, about ready to try and pry open the doors themselves, when the voice spoke, causing a sharp, ringing sensation to bounce around Rinne’s head.
I will only borrow him for just a moment. He will come out soon.
Rinne held his head in his hand as he recovered. Looking around, the others were in a similar state.
~*~
Inside the elevator, HiMERU’s COS PRO phone buzzed. He glanced at the caller ID, but it was nothing but scrambled blocks and pixels. He gripped his hair as another ringing sensation filled his mind with the entity’s voice.
Sorry. Had to get a bit more creative on how to talk to you one-on-one since you lot became more on edge before the meeting. Just a little bit of knowledge, just for you. I want you to answer that call, and I’ll talk to you through there.
HiMERU tsked but nevertheless did as he was told.
“What is it?”
“My, my, temper there. There’s something I need you to hear. It’s a conversation I had with this kid not all that long ago.”
There was a brief pause filled with nothing but phone static before the entity began speaking to someone else. “You seem to hold him in high regard? Don’t you?”
HiMERU felt his blood freeze upon hearing the familiar, adolescent voice in near-perfect cadence to his own, “Mm! Onii-chan is so cool! He helped create my idol persona! Even if he sometimes acts too business-like, but he’s my brother, so I deem him perfect!”
The voice came back to the present. “He’s here in my realm, you know. Safe and sound. If it wasn’t for my intervention back then, he would have perished instead of going into a coma.”
For the first time, HiMERU stuttered in shock, “H-how? You were only released a week ago!?”
“Hehe…my nature makes it impossible for me to be completely sealed off from humanity. I’ll let you in on a little secret. The only reason he hasn’t woken up yet is because I won’t let him. You can get him back, though.”
His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. The entity’s sickening smile could be felt over the phone, “Have I caught your interest?”
He grit his teeth, “Nothing so far has made ‘me’ think once that you are capable of being so magnanimous. What are you suggesting?”
“Nothing as cliché as becoming a mole or something like that for me, if that is what you were thinking. He can return to the living in the same way you all will leave if you complete my trial. You just have to make sure he is with you those three times. Instead of eleven, it would have to be all 12 of you to survive. Of course, if your group makes it through those three universes without him, you will all leave, except for him. Then again…that would be quite difficult to explain why there are two of you, right, HiMERU?”
He wanted to say something as bold as Rinne did earlier, something that would convince even himself that he would do anything to save him. Nothing came to mind, knowing exactly what the entity was suggesting.
“How would your friends take it if they found out you aren’t who you say you are? Especially that Kazehaya Tatsumi…I understand that those two were quite close at Reimei. He talks about him practically as much as he does about you and that Sazanami Jun. That revelation and truth could be shocking enough that it could send him spiraling to an early game over. Or…maybe it would make him snap? Turn on you, perhaps? And how would he, and everyone else, react to that revelation coming from ME and not YOU?”
He managed a growl, “Goddamn it! You…”
“Put it this way. You can save him by going in. Just understand there are complications to doing so…and there’s a time limit. Take too long in either completing my trial or admitting your secret yourself, and I’ll take the liberty of doing it for you. Good luck.”
With that, all he could hear was the empty, hollow-sounding dial tone. The doors reopened, revealing the concerned party. When the rest of his idol unit noticed the phone still in his hands, an eerie understanding came over them. HiMERU darkly muttered, ignoring the confused look on Hokuto’s face at the tension, “Seems we only delayed that vision.”
Ending Theme: Rasen – jon-YAKITORI ft. Ado
English Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVld7njUsOc
