Chapter 1.7

I come to, sprawled out in a trash-filled gutter.

It's raining, half-frozen bullets, as I crawl-- through the sploshing mud and grit--my clothes drenched, my numbed hands and jaw trembling from the cold.

Dusk...

I...have to...save her...

It takes all of my strength just to raise my limp body, only to fall again--out of the gutter and into the dirt-paved road, as I hear approaching voices.

Little girls--their mere presences filling me with disgust, even in this disoriented state--ask who I am--their deceptively cute voices laced with impious giggles.

"Hey! Isn't that the Legendary Z Tier loser? Alex Strangelove?"

Oh, no! They're from my school...

"Fuck...my...stinking life."

When next I regain my senses:

I find myself suspended above the ground--

My hands and legs held by chains, protruding from the floor and ceiling--

Inside of a room with no other furniture, or windows, that could best be described as a cold, steel box; save for a single, glowing light bulb dangling from the center of the ceiling.

What kind of place is this?

I don't see any way inside, or out.

How am I even getting oxygen to breathe?

I don't spend too long perplexed and wondering, however; as before long, another wretched little girl appears: rising up slowly out of the floor as if it were a pool of clay.

She is wearing a pair of dark shades and a grey police hat, with neatly cropped silver hair, wearing an undersized grey police jacket--her midriff exposed--with a black tie slung over her left shoulder, a black miniskirt and black gloves, and tight pink thigh-leggings.

She's constantly chewing with her mouth, like on a piece of chewing gum.

"Alex Strangelove." She says, calmly and clearly, in a percieved attempt at seriousness--in spite of her unshakeably cute voice.

"As Chief of Security of Irorishiro Academy, I have a few questions I need answers to."

I grin, wobbling weakly as I try to sit up.

"Heh. Shouldn't you read me my rights, first?"

It was meant as merely a light tease--borne out of my present jadedness--however, the girl in police uniform is not at all amused: her mouth lowering, in a disdainful frown, as her sunglasses droop to reveal an intense, fiery stare--burning with the unbridled passion of a thousand suns!

"FOOL!" She roars at me, the muscles in her cute, round face and neck visibly straining.

"In this domain, you have NO rights!"

Already sufficiently terrified, I watch tensely as she proceeds to take off one of her gloves, and--hopeless as I am to defend myself--delivers it in a SMACK across my face:

In a devastating, earth-shattering blow--

Exuding enough force that I can hear the cracks form in the ground beneath me, at the shuddering impact.

Oof, she's definitely a Power type!

It takes me a moment to recover, from a subsequent near-coma, while my decidedly "bad cop" interrogator uses the moment to quietly refit her glove-shaped weapon back unto her hand.

"Young man," the little girl half my size orders me, "you'd best follow my instructions, so long as you're my guest..."

"This room: is my Yuna's own creation!"

"My very own 'pocket prison!'"

"A dimension of my design, possessing no means by which you can conceivably escape-- unless I so will it!"

Ack, so this entire room itself...

Is actually Yuna Yamamoto's System power.

That said, although she's saying such ominous things about there being no escape...

The only emotion I'm feeling--

Is pure disgust!

"So you're Chief Yamamoto, in his Charming Form, "Yuna...""

"Essentially, a 60-year old man, with a wife and daughter, masquerading as a High School-aged girl...dressed in a kinky police uniform cosplay."

"Silence!" She blares at me, before calmly continuing:

"Your fellow students discovered you: barely conscious on the refuse pile, following a ten day-long unaccounted for absence from the campus!"

She halts, shovelling a stick of gum from her pocket into her mouth, glaring at me.

"I wish to know everything that's transpired--"

"Between your departure from Kanazawa hospital, up to this point!"

Geez! I'd heard rumors about Yamamoto...

Mostly, that he takes his position WAY too seriously...

But this is taking things to a whole new level!

She's acting like I have something to hide...

I wonder why exactly that is?

If anything, I could perhaps get some help with saving Dust by complying...

So, with nothing to lose, I tell her all that had happened: starting from the moment I stepped out of the Old Tokyo terminal, to my encounter with Dusk, the battle with the Jabberwock, all leading up to--

"No one's guarding the door."

I said this, just as Dusk was taking me into the department store basement: with strangely no sign of Erebus, and the doors already being wide open in advance of our arrival.

"He must be on break." She plainly replies.

I looked to her, seriously. "Dusk...about what happened--"

"No." She quickly returns, shutting her eyelids.

It'd been three days since our encounter on the hill, and she hadn't spoken to me since.

I had figured I offended her, or maybe she regretted the whole exchange (after all, she was very emotional at the time.)

So...I kept my distance. Gave her some space.

That is, until she showed up at my house that morning, in a terrible state.

I remember I could barely recognize her with her hair untied, and the vacant stare in her eyes; nor was she carrying her usual scent of breakfast, as she asked--in a droll, unenthused voice, lacking her usual flair--whether I'd like to inspect the newly installed ventilation system in the department store basement.

I agreed, hoping it was a symbol of reconciliation between us.

Little did I suspect...

I was being lead straight into a trap.

It started with the sound of gunshots and grunts coming from upstairs.

I looked to Dusk. "What's going on there?"

She remained silent; unmoving.

Soon after, Erebus appeared in the doorway.

"Sorry to interrupt ya'll's alone time." He said with a smirk, stretching his arms out--

When suddenly, a row of little girls piled in from the stairwell: all dressed roughly, in leather jackets and cropped jeans and spurred boots and dusters and ten gallon hats, all brandishing rifles and sixshooters--all aimed at me.

I start to raise my hand ro activate my Charm Ring as a bullet whizzes by--

Erebus had fired off, as a warning.

"Don't even think about using that there ring of yours!" He barked.

"Stay as you are, or we'll blow you sky high!"

Gritting my teeth, I could only watch in horror, then...

As Dusk proceeded to calmly walk toward their group, straight past the gun-toting girls--unhindered--to be at Erebus's side, wrapping one arm over his chest.

"Nicely done, babe." He said, pulling her close by the waist, as she limply allowed it.

"I'm...sorry, Alex." She said to me tearfully.

Then, Erebus pulled her into a kiss--

Firing his pistol off into the air with one hand.

At this prompting, a girl from his crew ran forward with a rope to tie me, while I failed at trying to establish eye contact with Dusk as she continually averted her stony gaze.

"Give it a rest." Erebus snorted, upon noticing my futile endeavor.

"She's mine, and always has been."

My heart bleeds at simply hearing these words, but I have to stay focused.

"What are you planning to do with the pods!?"

"Heh. I have a new business associate, who'll be very pleased if I can deliver them to him in one piece."

He nudges Dusk with his elbow.

"You'll be pleased, too...won't you babe?"

I look at her, desperate for answers.

"This isn't something you would do, Dusk!"

"What is he holding against you?"

I thought I glimpsed a brief flicker in her eyes--a subtle cue in confirmation, perhaps--but nothing more.

Then, I watched as Erebus--

Holding up his hand, to reveal the Charm Ring on his finger--

Proceeded to transform:

Becoming an orange-tanned, tall and lean girl with long, twintail-braided dirty blonde hair topped by a black ten gallon hat; wearing a twopiece outfit consisting of: a brown and white cow-spotted tube top; navy blue colored denim short-shorts, with dark fishnet stockings; and tall, brown leather boots with dark iron spurs.

"It's nothing personal, amigo!" This little girl version of Erebus said--in a strong Southern-American accent--cocking the wide brim of her hat with a playful wink.

"This dusty old town simply ain't big enough for the likes of me--"

"So, it's time I finally moved on up!"

Following this, a rag soaked in smelly chemical was then pulled over my nose and mouth, from behind: and immediately, I began to feel light-headed.

Last I saw, Dusk was turned from me...walking away...

And, after that...everything went--

"Strangelove!"

Just as I'm wrapping up my story, Yuna had shouted--

She's gawking at me, staring wide-eyed.

"Earlier, when you spoke about fighting the Jabberwock--"

"You said you used your Charm Ring!"

"Is it really true, Strangelove?!"

Confused by his reaction, I give a slow nod.

"Yes, but...my friend Dusk, she's--"

Before I can finish, she slams her hands down unto the bed, after which she leans-- uncomfortably close--up to my face.

"Never mind some Old Tokyo savage!"

"What's the condition of the 500 sleepers?!"

Hastily, I fumble for a response:

"I don't know, damn it!

"I was unconscious before I could see anything!"

At this she leans back, scratching her chin.

"Hmm, we shall have to arrange a scouting party."

I shake my head, sighing in my distress.

I know it's selfish of me, but I can only worry about Dusk's wellbeing right now.

Erebus couldn't have...killed her, right?

No..no way.  No matter what he was planning, she was still his coworker, with clearly more going on between them behind the scenes--as loathe as I am to admit...

It would take an absolute monster to betray that relationship.

Alhough, I swear...to little girl Jesus..

If he so much as harms even a SINGLE hair on her head, I'll--

"There's no time to waste!" Yuna alerts, raising her hand; prompting, as she does, the dimensions of her so-called "pocket prison" to start to fizzle and fade--

Then suddenly, I am somewhere new.

I recognize the school infirmary:

Its high tech appearance of dimly fluorescent lit, metallic walls; modern furniture and equipment.

I am seated on a hospital bed, dressed in a light blue gown, watching the triage of girls in white nurse outfits busily skirting around to tend to their patients at the other curtained beds--mostly treating battle wounds, varying between all levels of the grotesque.

Yuna is standing at the side of me, and looks me over as I slowly stand--

Then waves me off, like some annoying fly.

"Go get changed, and return to class!" She commands. "I'll speak to the Commander about arranging a scouting party, right away."

With this, she is turning away to leave and--

"Wait!" I step forward, stopping her.

"I'll be joining the scouting party too, right?"

She turns, glowering at me: her eyebrows like a pair of reared, fuzzy grey caterpillars.

"You? A Rank F who doesn't even use their Charming Form?" She chuckles. "Don't be foolish, Strangelove! This is a mission for higher ranks only."

"This operation now falls under the direct order of Commander White."

I couldn't believe it.

Dusk was in trouble, and I couldn't lift a finger to help.

Yuna, unconcerned, then turns on her heel to carry on at a brisk pace, down the corridor; while I remain, stood there, waiting until the sound of her footsteps disappear, to finally let out a huge, frustrated sigh I'd been holding in--

Slinking to the floor, like deflating balloon;

Landing on top of my face, groaning at the pure unjustness of it all--

Having lost the life I was just starting to build for myself, there in Steakhouse; only to end up right back at the very place I was trying to escape...