Chapter Thirty-Two: Parade of Secrets

In the Castle of Voltiana...

King Ayrad and Queen Ayame were busy eating steak and rice, along with some white cake, in their dining room. They looked up when the door opened, seeing their guard, Xar, walk in.

"Hello Xar," Queen Ayame stated, as she ate a piece of steak. "You look pale, everything ok?"

The car stood straight, but his eyes seemed worried. "Excuse me, your Majesties, but one of the dancers for our Dance Competition is missing!"

King Ayrad dropped his fork. "What? When was this?"

"We just found out, sir! All the dancers have checked in, but Shizuka Nakamura hasn't even been spotted, much less checked in!"

Queen Ayame wiped her mouth. "Well, have Kenshi look for her. The other members of Squad S-1, keep them on security detail. If Hikari Hisatomi can't handle one section on her own, those two boys at the game booths can help her."

Xar bowed. "Yes, your Majesty!"

He left, preparing to contact Fujii on his watch. Queen Ayame took a piece of cake. "Dear, you don't think something bad will happen to this festival, do you?"

"Of course not! We have not only the strongest warrior in the land, but we have our daughter out there too! Not to mention those others, each with rare and powerful abilities."

The Queen ate her piece of cake and took another. "Well, if needed I can send in more Squads, just in case."

"We'll save that for a last resort. Don't want to worry our guests."

"You're right, of course."

Xar stood outside the gate, using his watch to place a holographic call to Fujii. When the call picked up, he saw Fujii was in a bar, with numerous women draped over him.

"Kenshi Fujii!"

Fujii immediately looked up, a bit of red on his face. "Oh, Xars! What's up? Need anything?"

"First off, it's XAR. Second, a dancer for the Dance Competition has gone missing."

Fujii immediately seemed to come back to himself. "A dancer has gone missing? Who?"

"Shizuka Nakamura. She was last seen hanging around the area with her daughter just last night. Try checking her home, she might be there."

Fujii coughed as more women climbed onto him. "On it!"

The call hung up, and Xar shook his head. "He's probably got someone pregnant."

Meanwhile, back at the Festival...

"A-S-U-K-A! ASUKA! A-S-U-K-A! ASUKA!"

Dachii was still watching the parade as Akari kept vigilance over the area. He held a chocolate bar in front of her wave, waving it like a toy.

"You sure you don't want any? Are you REALLY SURE?"

"Yes, Dachii."

"You'll come around, eventually."

She rolled her eyes, as a giant parade float, which seemed to resemble the King and Queen, slowly drove past them. It immediately caught Akari's eye.

"Woah, they did a good job."

Dachii stood up. "How about we hop on?"

"What? Are you crazy?"

"Maybe! Imagine how cool it would be to ride around on your parents, literally!"

Akari folded her arms. "We're supposed to stay here."

"Yeah, to watch the stage. But there's nothing to watch, so let's RIDE."

2 minutes later, she and Dachii were on top of the vehicle seated in the highest seats as the drivers and other occupants looked at them.

"Princess...? And that strange human...!"

Akari nudged Dachii. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this, crazy human."

"Ahh, you'll enjoy it."

She sighed.

As they went down the streets, Dachii saw Marachii and Luca standing next to a booth. Both of their eyes widened when they saw the pair on the float."

"Dachii?" Marachii asked, confused. "See, THIS IS WHY, this is EXACTLY WHY, you don't leave him with a GIRL!"

Luca gave a quiet laugh. "Ha. That looks fun. Let's go join."

"Wait, no—-!"

But before he could protest, Luca grabbed him and jumped from the booth onto the top of the float, where Dachii greeted them with:

"Hey, what's up?"

"NOW A WILD BOY AND THE OTHER HUMAN? Great, just GREAT!"

Akari did her best to sit still. "Well, looks like you two are now as much of a part of this foolishness as I am."

Luca sat down, stretching. "Well, duh. It got boring, watching people play games."

Marachii looked down at all the Voltians watching them, who were clearly unhappy with the new turn of events.

"BOO! BOO!"

"Get those humans and that dirty kid away from the Princess!"

"Just disgusting! How dare they?"

As some of the crowd began to cheer for Akari, she waved and went back to sitting down. "At least one of us is beloved. Speaking of which, shouldn't Hikari and Fujii be down this way?"

Luca narrowed his eyes as they got closer to the food booths. "Yeah, they should. Unless they went into one of the shops."

While those two looked for the others, Dachii looked around at the rest of the festival. His eyes crossed an alley, and it seemed like a man in a hood was staring right at him.

"What?" he thought. "No, no way..."

But when he looked a bit harder, no one was there. "And see, this is why I need my sleep."

"Sleep?" Marachii asked.

"Don't...mind that."

The float passed the food booths, but no sign of Hikari or Fujii was visible. "They don't seem to be here. Where would they be then? They wouldn't abandon their posts..." Akari wondered.

The float abruptly stopped. Dachii stood up to look.

"Did we hit a pedestrian or something?"

Luca looked as well. "Oh, the dancing."

A group of young Voltian girls in gray cheerleading uniforms began to get in proper formation.

"We ! Love! VOLTIANA!"

"OH GOSH," Dachii stated, covering his ears.

"We! Love! Voltiana! We! Love! VOLTIANA!" They then began to dance, getting cheers from the crowds as girls did twists, flips, and even stacked up on top of each other.

They all moved in perfect sync, and one girl used her magic to make a bright light of sparks above them. Akari clapped for them.

"Well, that isn't bad. They're doing great."

Luca snorted. "And when did you like dancing?"

"I like a lot of things, LUCA."

When she looked at the other three, she was surprised by their confused reactions. "What?"

"Nothing. You're just so brooding and serious." Luca replied.

Her eyes glowed white, and Luca immediately coughed and stated: "Well anyways, we're moving again."

While they kept moving on, the sky began to grow dimmer and dimmer, and fireworks continued to shoot out from tanks and cars behind them.

Meanwhile, in another part of Asuka...

Kenshi Fujii was looking around a particularly prestigious neighborhood in the Asuka District. The mansions were numerous stories high and were decorated in gold, silver, and gray-white colors.

He knocked on the door to one of the houses, and a young man with bushy white hair answered. General Fujii?"

"Yeah! Been a while, Kiyota!"

"Whatever. How's that pretty, PETTY Princess doing? Still occupying the spot I should have had?"

"Look, you're always welcome to join a lower Squad..."

" I want the TOP, I only come for the BEST of the BEST! If you can't understand that, get off my lawn."

"Wait! I need your help."

He scoffed. "With what?"

"A woman, Shizuka Nakamura, and her daughter haven't been seen since last night, and she's supposed to be one of the top dancers for the Annual Dance Competition."

"Oh, that pompous woman? I'm not surprised. Probably just assumes she's too good, and rich, for that competition, so she ditched you."

"But why would she leave without a word?"

"Why else? Either something happened to her, or she just is too good for you now. Just like you all were for me. Hmph."

He stepped back. "Look, Fujii. If I were you, I'd just ignore it. Go dust off that princess's shoes or something. But if you insist, her house is the last one on the next street. The gated one. Hard to miss."

"Right, thanks, Kiyota!"

He closed the door in Fujii's face. "Well, he needs more manners."

Fujii left and made his way down the street. Due to the festival, most people were busy attending, so as he turned the corner and approached the house, it was eerily quiet.

The gate was open, almost as if it had been recently used before. Fujii slowly crept into the yard, walking along the driveway. The car was missing, but all the doors and windows were closed.

"Okay, creepy..."

He walked up to the door, knocking on it. There was no response.

"Hello? Shizuka?"

Still nothing.

He tried to push open the door and mysteriously found it unlocked. The inside seemed normal. The furniture was straightened, the floors were clean, the air was fresh, and even the plants inside were maintained.

"Nothing unusual here, but if she isn't home, how is her house so well kept?"

He began walking down the hall, checking every room. The bathrooms were clean, the guest rooms were organized, and even the garage was spotless.

He went through the rooms upstairs, but yet again, the bathrooms and bedrooms, even Shizuka's, were cleaned.

"This must have been recent. Not even a crease in the cover."

He then headed downstairs, preparing to check the basement. When he opened the door to it, a foul smell came out.

"Ew! What is that?"

He took a deep breath and walked down into the basement.

Meanwhile, back at the Asuka Festival...

Hikari was somewhere in the middle of the festival, being pushed around by guests as she looked for Fujii.

"Sorry! Sorry! Excuse me!"

"Young lady, PLEASE watch where you're going!"

"I'm sorry!"

Hikari made her way into a nearby park, where more booths and stalls were set up, and in the middle...

"Let's get to WRESTLING, shall we?"

In the middle of the park, a table and two chairs were set up. A huge crowd surrounded them, and when Hikari got closer, she saw ARATA, who was busy arm-wrestling a buff, older-looking man.

"Come on! Put some fight into it! You old bat!"

"Who you talking to, boy? Show some respect!"

Arata began to win as the man's hand for closer to the table, but their arms locked there as neither could get the advantage.

"Yeah! That's what I like to see!"

Soon after, he charged his arm up with his magic, and using the shockwave of energy, he slammed the guy's hand down, knocking over all of the crowd in the process. The announcer, who was revealed to be Jukai, came up to the table.

"And our winner is: ARATA!"

"ARATA! ARATA! ARATA!"

"Yeah, I do this."

He noticed Hikari watching from behind the crowd. "You! That girl from Squad S-1! What the hell are YOU doing here?"

"Uh, well..."

The crowd parted and turned to look at Hikari.

"Isn't she that noble who possesses an Element?"

"Yeah, she's General Himeka's sister!"

"Wow, her eyes look nice! But what's a doll like her doing here?"

Arata pushed the man off the table and patted the empty spot. "Come on, girl! Let me see how I do against an Elemental!"

"But I'm only here to look for Fujii!"

"Don't care!"

As the eyes of the crowd bore into her, she reluctantly went and took a seat in front of Arata, who began to laugh a menacing laugh.

"Well now, seems we've got an unexpected challenger, Ms. Hikari Histomi!"

He cleared his throat as the two began to lock grips. "Ready, BEGIN!"

Hikari instantly felt an immense amount of weight on her arm, and it felt like her arm was about to get crushed under it.

"Haha! This is easy work!"

But she remembered the words Fujii told her: "Use the strength."

She held firm and pushed back, beginning to push Arata's arm near the table.

"Woah! How strong ARE you?"

"I...don't...know...!"

As he charged up his arm, she immediately touched her own body, sending a pink glow radiating through it, and she felt as if she'd just had a great warm-up and was ready for the rest of the day.

In turn, her arm was able to withstand the force of Arata's shockwave, which again knocked the crowd over.

"Oh-ho-ho! Looks like they're in a STAND-OFF!"

As both of them pushed harder, Arata began to charge his entire body with a shockwave. "EASY...WORK...!"

It released and sent everyone flying, including the competitors. Jukai got up, remarking:

"I think we'll call that a draw."

"Have ANY of you seen Fujii?!?"

Meanwhile...back in Shizuka's house...

Fujii walked down the steps to the basement, but once he reached halfway down, he got a call.

"Yoritomo? Yeah?"

"Fujii, one of our dancers, Shizuka Nakamura, hasn't shown up!"

"Yeah, I'm in the process of investigating that right now! I'm in her house, but nothing seems out of the blue. Except this damn basement."

"Oh? Well, she was known for keeping some terribly disgusting horses in there, so I wouldn't be too surprised if—-"

Fujii's mouth hung open, and his eyes immediately widened. "Uh, buddy, I'll have to call you back."

"Why?"

"Complications."

In front of him, was a tattered mess of hay, clothes, and papers. And, hanging from the ceiling, was the body of Shizuka Nakamura, which was pierced by two massive bone-like appendages.

And on the wall behind her, was a message:

"If you're reading this, the target has been found."

—-