Chapter 45: General Meian

"Does anyone know what happened to Kiku?" I asked the girls once Mari created a light with her fire.

"No. It's like she just disappeared," Yuri replied, perplexed.

"Kosai and Shitai might be in danger. We should go together as a group and see if we can find them," Touwa said, already forming a plan.

Together, we all started walking in the direction that the two dark haired girls went. As we walked, we called out their names, but there was no response. After searching the whole room, we realized they had gone missing too.

"What do you think happened, Touwa? How can three people suddenly disappear?" I asked, my concern increasing with each passing moment.

"Let's think about this for a minute. First of all, we have no idea if Kosai and Shitai disappeared at the same time as Kiku. Since they went off alone in the dark, there's no way we would've seen them disappear. They're both naturally quiet too so even if they did scream, it probably wouldn't be loud. Did anyone see or feel anything right before Kiku disappeared?"

"I did see some strange shadows when the lightning flashed, but I thought it was just from the chandelier."

"Shadows? Can you describe what they looked like?"

"Well, the one that really grabbed my attention looked vaguely humanoid. It was kind of tall and had a spiky head. I can't say much more than that since I only saw it for an instant."

"Interesting. I'm beginning to think this is the work of a general. We should search the mansion together and see if we can find the general and the others. We'll have to be careful not to get separated."

"That ******* (illegitimate child) will pay for making fools out of us!" Mari shouted, clenching her fist.

With that, we ventured deeper into the mansion. As we walked through the barren hallways, I had the unnerving feeling that we were being watched.

"Aah!" a shout came from behind us.

We turned around to find that Akino had disappeared.

"Akino, where are you?!" we shouted.

There was no response. Akino had disappeared like the others. After that, it seemed like every time we turned a corner, someone disappeared. Soon, it was just me and Mari left.

"Hold on to my hand, Mari," I said, reaching for her free hand.

"W-why?! W-what are you doing?!" she squeaked as I grabbed her hand.

"We can't lose each other this way. Everyone else has disappeared. It's up to us to find and save them."

"Y-yeah. Y-you're right."

With each step, Mari seemed to grow redder.

"We're just holding hands, Mari! It's not that big a deal!"

"S-sorry," she replied, unusually submissive.

As we walked down the dark and creepy corridors, I suddenly heard a voice coming from behind a wall.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered to my companion.

"Hear what?" she whispered back.

I put my ear to the wall and motioned for Mari to do the same. As soon as both of our ears touched the wall, it spun around. Bewildered, I looked around and saw that we were in some hidden room.

"Welcome! Welcome!" a female voice called happily.

"Oh boy. Another intruder. Why can't anyone leave me alone?" a somber male voice said.

We turned around to see an… interesting sight. The people who owned the voices were actually one person. The right half of the person was a cheery blonde woman in an iridescent dress. The left half of the person was a gloomy black haired man in a black tuxedo. Let's just say they were a sight to behold.

"What did you do to our friends, you ****** ******* (female dog-like illegitimate child)?!" Mari shouted, getting to her feet.

"Aren't you a feisty one?" the woman laughed.

"Please leave me alone," the man pleaded.

"Um… If you don't mind me asking, who are you exactly?" I asked tentatively.

"I'm Hikari and he's Yami! Together, we make General Meian, the greatest youkai of all time!" the woman proclaimed, striking a pose. "C'mon, Yami! You have to pose too!"

Yami weakly lifted up his arm and mimicked Hikari's pose.

"Was that supposed to impress us?" Mari asked, choking back laughter.

"Yes! This is our 'Perfect Synergy' pose! Are you trembling in awe of our perfect synergy?!"

"Sure… You didn't answer our question. Where are our friends?" I asked as politely as I could.

"You mean those annoying little pests? They're tied up in the cellar," Yami grunted, looking at the ground.

"What did you call them?!" Mari growled.

"Don't hurt me!" Yami cowered.

"You heard him, Tomato! He called them pests and rightfully so! One of them had the gall to chip one of my nails!" Hikari exclaimed.

"Tomato?! You're asking for it!"

"Calm down, Mari. We need them to tell us where the cellar is," I whispered to my short-tempered friend.

"Like we'd ever tell you where it is! Isn't that right, Yami?!"

"Can I just go back to bed? Rain makes me sleepy."

"C'mon, Yami! Pull it together! There are only two of them left! Once we capture them, you can go to bed!"

"Alright. Let's get this over with."

Meian charged at us awkwardly. Hikari tried to go fast, but Yami couldn't keep up. Let's just say it was a sight to behold. Mari was ready to attack, but I stopped her.

"We can't get rid of them yet," I said, grabbing her arm.

"And why the **** (Underworld) not?!"

"We need them to show us where the cellar is. Why don't we pretend to get captured and when they take us to the others, we can give them what for."

"Fine. If they hurt you, I'm going to knock them into next week, even if we aren't in the cellar yet."

I nodded so we pretended to look scared as the general charged. Honestly, it was hard not to laugh as Hikari half dragged Yami over to us.

"Whew! We… gotcha!" Hikari proclaimed as she gasped for breath.

Meian grabbed each of us and dragged us away. You would think a person with two brains would be smarter than this, but that's not the case apparently. I thought for sure that we would have to really sell our act, but they fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.

Eventually, Meian stopped in front of a trapdoor of some sort. After opening it, they dragged us down into its dark depths. At the bottom, we saw our friends suspended from the ceiling by chains. As much as it pained me to see them like that, they didn't seem to mind at all. I couldn't help but notice Kosai and Shitai were missing. I guess they were still wandering around the mansion.

"Hi, guys! Did you get captured too?!" Akino greeted us like we were going on a picnic.

"Oh yes! The fearsome General Meian caught us with relative ease! We didn't stand a chance against them!" I exclaimed in mock awe, hoping the others would catch on.

"That's just terrible, Hana! I too know the might of General Meian! Nobody can stop them!" Yuri replied, catching on.

"Y-you really mean that?! S-stop! You're making me blush!" Hikari giggled, letting Mari go.

"I mean it as much as this!" Mari shouted as she punched Meian in the face.

The blow caused Yami to let go of me so I got up and quickly used Kojomaru to cut the others free.

"H-HOW DARE YOU?!" Hikari screeched.

"For once, I agree with you, Hikari. Is it time to show them our final form?" Yami asked, rubbing his nose.

"What a great idea, Yami! I was just about to suggest that myself!"

Meian struck a pose similar to the one before. Yami didn't hesitate this time.

"Is that it?! You guys are hilarious!" Mari laughed, unable to hold it back anymore.

"Let's see how long you'll think this is funny, shall we?!" Hikari proclaimed. "FORM CHANGE! AKUMA!"

Suddenly, Meian started to grow and change. Yami became pitch black and grew a horn while Hikari became pure white and grew a halo. Their arms now resembled those of a monster, with long, sharp claws. This battle is going to be harder than I thought.