Desolated Neighbourhood

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|| CHAPTER 37 | Desolated Neighbourhood ||

"A deserted world that had never been a home to lives has no right to be called one's area of comfort.

"With a spell that rips through time and space, one that slashes between dimensions just to create a space that captures trapped young ones, such atrocity shall never be punished by death. Should life give away its blessings to the sinned souls, fate shall never be fixed once more.

"Instead, a vow created by the Sun God, a promise to bestow one of the creations of the worlds.

"Ones that punish and ones that guide.

"Ones that sing the song of the dead and ones that plants the tree of lives.

"Ones that are bound with chains and unable to rewrite their fates.

"So, they shall be so for eternities."

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"Something's definitely off here."

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The tone that Orion had stated firmly spoke of his belief in the situation at hand. Some cowered in fear, watching his pair of vivid crimson eyes boring holes onto the ground with a glower that kills.

"W-What do you mean?" Riveria tried to bravely speak up to the male as he looked around again.

"I think you've all noticed this. There's literally no one here," Orion spoke to them calmly, contrasting to his usual behaviour.

TOO calm, they'd say.

"Oi, why are you not angry and cranky all of a sudden?" Yuzuru teased the ash-blonde male with a straight face as the latter tried to hold himself back, but failed since the gold-eyed male kept teasing him about it.

"Shut up, you, useless little piece of sh––!"

"Shush, Orion. Calm thyself. There are innocent children here," Yuzuru hushed the angered boy dramatically with his index finger suddenly placed over Orion's lips, just a few millimetres apart.

Vexed by the young Ichijou's dramatic tease, it was clearly his defeat when he showed no sign of retaliation to Yuzuru's shushing.

"Hmm... This park seems new though," Innyse pointed out. "There is no sign of human contact within the vicinity aside from the tracks of our footsteps," continued the werewolf as he proceeded to scan the area with a spell only known to him.

And as the boy pointed out, the park did seem new. All the benches and facilities were squeaky clean like no one had ever touched it before.

No trash, no rowdiness.

It was quiet aside from the constant chatters of the students.

"Yeah, I noticed that all the houses are desolated too," Arnettia added quietly, pointing his thumb into one of the houses.

Zannera and Elloise were busy peeking through the opened windows, perhaps even trying to find a way to peek between slightly moving curtains from the inside.

To their expectation, there was no one in the houses either.

"Maybe we should search for the area. Let's divide into groups," Vinnetra suggested as the others agreed with him.

The suggestion Vinnetra made was better than nothing. Loitering around with none to work with or even no leads to go through would make them more anxious.

It was a great opportunity to explore the place.

Though some were hesitant to nod their heads, the idea of just waiting for their teacher to come and find them left a bad feeling running down their spines.

It was only a hunch.

But the premonition of a worse fate than getting lost got stuck in their heads. It was as if someone was trying to tell them to get away from the place as soon as possible. One might interpret it as to move away and not run.

They were doubting their next move, but all worries came to an end when Shizuka came up with a cube in her hands, grinning excitedly.

"Why don't we randomize our group members?" she prompted giddily, chuckling at the confused faces returned. "I thought it would be exciting for us all to work with new people, seeing how we've just met each other a few days ago."

Watching their irresolute stares, Kishi then stepped in with a hand placed over Shizuka's shoulder. "I agree," he stated, "You guys are too gloomy for someone who got lost once or twice. Believe me, this happens all the time when we're out on a mission."

"Oh, right. You're Spirit Wielders," Vinnetra finally connected the dots as to what Kishi was implying. 

The porcelain-faced boy mirrored Kishi's grin and clasped his hands. "Why not, then? I'm in for the treat." 

"Great!" Shizuka smiled brightly and shook the box she was holding. Not waiting for any other response from the others, she placed the cube in the centre and paper cranes came flying out.

One little guess they had was that it was somehow connected to the magic tool Asuma used before upon choosing a class representative.

It was comforting to meet the ever-so-fickle paper cranes that wouldn't land on their hands.

Albeit their naughtiness, they finally landed kindly onto their opened palms.

Finally folding open the cranes, they saw numbers plastered upon the colourful papers of the cranes' bodies. They then divided into five groups.

Group One consisted of Arnettia, Mizuki, Mizuto, and Cyth.

'Oh, we are going to set them up later,' the young Spirit Wielders thought to themselves seeing how fate also brought Mizuki and Mizuto together. Devil horns and tails were visible on them as they observed the two.

Feeling tingly on his back, Mizuto shuddered, knowing full well the cause behind his goosebumps.

He stiffly turned his head back to take a small peek at what his childhood friends were planning but soon regretted glancing at them when he saw their evil smiles.

Even the demon in disguise of an angel couldn't bring himself out to silence them.

Moving along, the second group consisted of Elloise, Riedence, Kishi, and Nerea.

Riedence seemed a bit out of place since his group consisted of some of the brightest and most cheerful ones in class.

Though the boy was a guy of a few words, that didn't stop him from getting along with Elloise and Kishi's loudness. He also had Nerea to calm both of the rowdy boys down, so he didn't need to worry about that.

Shizuka then dared to approach the scarlet-haired male as she gave him a little chocolate, which he gratefully accepted and finished in mere seconds. Now she knew that he had a sweet tooth.

Maybe she should bring some chocolates more often? She took a mental note of it.

Onwards, Group Three was filled with chaos.

Just, utter chaos.

Yuzuru, Yllfore, Zannera, and Avangenille. They were loud ever since the group was formed. Vinnetra regretted that he suggested that they should raffle some numbers instead of just choosing the members.

Though it would be better if they just chose the members themselves, it was a bit of a hassle, truth be told.

Even Shizuka admitted that she wanted to work with new people, so randomizing the members was the best option they could take, seeing how most agreed as well.

'Will that group be all right?' most thought to themselves as they sweat-dropped at the sight of them.

"Just make sure you don't stir any trouble. It would be a pain to deal with afterwards," Shizuka reminded them, silencing them almost immediately when they were met with a sickeningly-sweet smile of the girl.

They were used to the cheery, sweet side of her that they almost forgot that Shizuka was a disciplined child.

Mess one step and they're in for a long lecture.

The fourth group consisted of Shizuka, Isseiris, Orion, and Vinnetra. The girl was grateful that her group was not full of loud people.

Well, aside from Orion.

But the trigger won't go off unless someone said something to offend him.

Lastly, the final group consisted of Seiya, Keita, Riveria, and Innyse. The 'ultimate-quiet-group,' they dubbed them.

The group was full of quiet and people who just spoke a few words.

"Okay, we'll meet up exactly here. If no one's back before twelve, the ones who have will go search for them, got it?" Vinnetra asked cheerily, raising his index finger.

"Got it."

"Aye, aye."

"You know, Vin sounds more like the class president than Goldie over there," Zannera commented. The mentioned elf pouted and tried to complain, but before he could do so, Isseiris cut in.

"The school's probably going to look for us if we don't get back by ten or so," the vice representative mentioned.

"Oh, yeah, I think we have Potions Class after this," Yllfore guessed as the light-blue-haired male nodded in confirmation. "The teacher will definitely be searching for us when we don't show up when class starts."

"Soooo, we'll change the meeting time into ten then?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then. You all have your pocket watches, right?"

"Yup."

"Got them."

They all showed their pocket watches to confirm that they indeed have one of their own.

It was a device given by the school specifically as a way of welcoming them to the new world of knowledge they were about to dive into. Though it looked like any normal old watch, Shizuka had confirmed that it had several layers of magic imbued into it.

Albeit not knowing what sort of spells were placed into the watch, she could guarantee them that it wouldn't cause them any harm.

Putting their pocket watched back into their own Spaces, they went different ways with their groups.

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"Okay, first things first, where are we heading?" Vinnetra asked his group while walking backwards, facing them with his hands behind his head.

"This area is quite large. I suggest that we check the houses first," Isseiris stated plainly while looking at his map.

'Well, he sure likes cutting straight to the chase,' Shizuka noted mentally, keeping quiet as she looked around. She knew there wasn't anyone there, but it still felt odd that there was no one other than the students.

"Uhh... Is it okay if we just barged right in?" Vinnetra sweat-dropped at the thought of barging into people's houses.

Even if there wasn't anyone residing within the untouched buildings, it still felt wrong for him to step into the empty houses without permission. It was more edging when there was furniture in them, despite nobody living in them.

"It's not like anyone's here," Orion pointed out to the black-haired male casually as he hummed in response. "We can just check freely, don't stress over it too much."

The words Orion uttered were more than reassuring to Vinnetra.

Vinnetra slouched forward, losing his usual cheery self and sighed. "I... guess so."

"I wonder what happened here..." Shizuka thought out loud as she looked at every corner, checking if there's any signs of people anywhere.

"There are no animals, too. Not even birds flew past here," Vinnetra gloomily mentioned, not realizing that they'd arrived at one of the three stories houses. The rest of the houses that they've passed was locked or closed, according to Orion's recap.

The red-eyed adolescent suddenly cocked his head to the side. "Huh... The gates on this house are opened..." said Orion oddly calm.

He proceeded to open the gates, allowing them to walk in.

"Maybe someone's here?" Vinnetra spoke hopefully, not noticing the slight movements shaking about beside him. The bush that sat by within a circle of rocks trembled ever-so-slightly, scaring the life out of him.

"Gah...!! Who's there?! Show yourself!!" The raven-black-haired male went into a fighting stance as Orion did as well. Shizuka and Isseiris stayed behind and watched them, also having their guards up.

A side of Shizuka told her that it was probably nothing, but one can never be too cautious in an unknown area.

The bush kept shaking and shaking, but nothing came out of it as it shook harder.

Shizuka was getting a bit impatient, and so was Orion. "Just come out already," demanded the latter to the bush as it shook harder and harder.

The group was starting to think that nothing was there, but that did not explain how the bush kept shaking. "For Gaia's sake! I'm gonna burn it to ashes," Orion ominously declared, walking towards it with his hands were on fire.

Vinnetra panicked whilst the other two sweat-dropped at Orion's chosen course of action. Whilst the black-headed Haile attempted to keep Orion from burning the bush (and possibly the whole neighbourhood down), Shizuka hummed.

"Why don't we just let him burn it?" suggested the girl plainly, seeing nothing wrong with how Orion acted.

Isseiris nodded and agreed to the girl's words. "If there was something there, it would jump out the moment Orion burns it down. And besides, he knows how to control his flames, worry not."

The said male snickered in satisfaction. He placed the tip of his finger upon the shaking bush and burnt it to ashes. The vivid red flames reflected those of Orion's beautiful hues of vision. It slowly stopped as all the leaves and twigs turned into bags of dust, revealing nothing but air.

"Gracious Gaia, this is getting eery... First the deserted houses, now that thing?!" Vinnetra pointed at where the bush was before.

"There must be a reason this is happening. Think positively, Vin-san~" Shizuka cheered the black-haired male up as he calmed himself down, not wanting to make a ruckus. "And besides, I see it as a good thing that nothing's there. Perhaps it was just the wind."

"Yeah... I guess you're right. It was getting a bit windy here."

"Come," Isseiris invited while he led the group inside the house. The once open front door closed abruptly as Shizuka and Vinnetra jumped.

"Okay, now I'm scared, too," the blonde admitted truthfully with a shiver. Whilst Shizuka and the black-haired male clung to each other, praying for their lives to be spared, Isseiris azure hues explored the place.

There wasn't a speck of dust to be seen.

He ran his fingers down the dresser by the door, but nothing was felt either. 'No dust...? That's odd. Even if everything was brand new, there should be at least a few clouds of dust here and there when there's none to take care of these houses...' Isseiris thought with suspicion.

'It's impossible for someone–– or even, some team–– to be taking care of the whole neighbourhood and remain unseen... Unless––'

"Probably just the wind, right?" Orion cut Isseiris' trail of thoughts loose, catching all of their attention with the sound of a locked door.

"Huh? It won't budge."

He kept turning the doorknob, but the door did not budge one bit. Orion and Isseiris tried to blast the door down, with both force and magic.

"What is this door made out of?! I thought this was just a normal, deserted neighbourhood?" Orion exclaimed in frustration as Isseiris tried to cast his map again. "Open, you damn piece of wood!!"

"I can't cast my spells here..." the young Caraell spoke in a hushed voice and tried to cast other spells. It was evident that they were starting to get exhausted and restless.

"What was that?!" both Shizuka and Vinnetra screeched when an audible creak came from behind them, where the stairs were.

Shizuka shivered as cold air got in from who knows where.

The feeling of dread that ran down their spines, grabbing them by the throat that caused the air to remain non-existent the moment an unknown creature stepped into the comfort of their zone.

"U-Uhhh...." Vinnetra stuttered as something went down the stairs, "G-G-Guys..."

Shizuka tugged on Isseiris' clothes, calling for his name quietly. The latter and Orion turned around. Their eyes turned wide as a giant figure stepped slowly down the stairs.

The figure had giant antlers and a big bushy tail. Since the room was quite dark, they could not define its features until it walked closer.

"A-A-A––"

|| CHAPTER 37 | Desolated Neighbourhood - To be continued... ||

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