49A/N: SETOMARY FTW. And KonoEne. Little bits of KidoKano
Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN KAGEROU PROJECT
It was Mary's turn to search the room for any hidden exit. The two had been at it for an hour now. Seto was resting, his tall body stretched on the floor. They had been given food as promised, and they found that a box would definetly not have fit through the hole. A mechanical arm had reached down from a small hole about the size of a plate. Seto sighed. There was no helping it. They were prisoners until the kidnappers released them. He was about to close his eyes when Mary screamed. He stood up quickly, searching for the young girl.
There.
Oh frick.
The young medusae was standing in the center of a giant hole. Around her, the tiles had dropped off to somewhere, and she was standing on the final one. Seto watched in horror as the tile broke and disappeared, Mary falling to the seemingly bottomless abyss. He yelled out, then suddenly he noticed that the floor was no longer there. He gasped in surprise, and fell.
Konoha awoke to bright light flooding into the box. He shielded his eyes, and saw two smiling girls looking in.
"Wha?" He mumbled. Then felt a jolt of shock as he realized that the raven haired one was grabbing Ene's phone. The cyber girl was yelling her annoyance and disapproval. "Let her go!" He exclaimed, trying to grab the phone back, but the brunette simply pushed him back. Since when was she so strong?
"Easy. We're making this more interesting." She said. The raven haired one chuckled and reached into the phone Ene was shocked into silence as she was plucked out of the phone and grew into full size.
"What is this!?" The cyber girl yelled out. Then before any of them could react, she was heaved back into the box, and the lid was shut. She huffed. "Now it's really crowded in here." She said. Konoha blinked and looked down.
"Feet."
"What?"
"You have feet."
"... You haven't changed one bit." Ene whispered under her breath. Konoha stared at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing." He didn't give up though. He wormed his hand out from behind him and grabbed her arm.
"No, it's not nothing. You know something about my past. I want to know what it is." He said. Ene shoved his hand off.
"I said it's nothing. It's nothing to do with you."
"Ene. Tell me please."
"No."
"Ene."
"Why would I tell you?"
"Because maybe I can help!" Konoha grabbed her arm as she turned her face away. "TAKANE. Talk to me!"
"I SAID IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU HARUKA!" Then her hands flew to her mouth. Konoha's eyes widened. Ene blushed and hid her face. "Sorry." She mumbled. Konoha could only stare in shock as he put the puzzle together.
"I'm... Haruka?"
Mary opened her eyes. She was in a large glass container of some sort. Below her was a large pile of sand. Holding the case up was a large wooden contraption of some sort.
"Seto?" She called. No answer. Then before her eyes, a 16 year old girl appeared, smiling.
"Hey Mary." She waved. The young girl could only stare in confusion. "Ah. You can't hear me can you." She walked up closer and waved her hand over the glass. Three holes appeared. "Better?"
"Yes. Who are you?" Mary asked. The girl thought for a second.
"My name's Fracture. And I don't think you'll be very friendly with me after this. But don't worry. You'll be going home soon."
"Wait! What's going on?" Fracture blinked.
"Well. This is a test. For what, you have to figure it out. But as soon as I leave, a 5 minute countdown will start. And Seto, once again, will have to rescue you. Deal?" The brunette smirked as Mary's eyes widened. Then she waved her hand again, and the holes in the glass disappeared. And she too, vanished. Suddenly, Mary found herself tipping to the side.
"Ahh!" She exclaimed. Then she landed on the bottom. Around her, sand littered the ground. She looked up. More sand was falling through a tiny hole. It took her a moment to realize the situation.
She was in a giant sand timer.
Seto woke up in a small room with three doors.
"What the..." He said. Before he could take a step, a girl appeared in front of him.
"Before you ask, my name is Fracture. Mary is in perilous danger and your job is to save her. Choose one of these doors as the path you will take. Each will lead to her, but you only have 5 minutes to make it to her. All these doors have a danger that you will have to face. But remember. 5 minutes. Start now." She disappeared before Seto could ask any questions. He paused, then saw a clock on top one of the doors.
4:51
He crashed through the door straight ahead, not really caring if it led to some... danger. He just needed to get to Mary as soon as physically possible.
And then some.
Kido had fallen asleep sometime along the taxi ride. The driver had been slightly suspicious of two random kids walking out of the forest, but he didn't ask anything besides the address. Kano had taken care of the rest. Finally back home, Kido was relieved to see that everything was still in shape. Kido opened the door to the base. Inside, Momo, Hibiya, and Shintaro sat on the couches, facing each other. When the door squeaked open, all heads turned that way.
"Ah! Danchou!" Momo exclaimed. "We were so worried about you! But these girls said you guys would be back and then they took Konoha and Ene and they saidthattheywouldbebackaswellsoItriedaskingShintar owhathethoughtweshoulddowbutthenhesaidthattheporta lyouguyswentthroughlookedfamiliarsonowhe'stryingto remember."
Kano blinked.
"Ah...What?" He laughed. Momo took in a breath, ready to speak again, but Hibiya stopped her.
"What's she's saying is that there were these weird girls that took you guys, Seto and Mary, and Konoha and Ene through this portal. Obaa-san tried to ask her NEET brother what they should do, but he said something about the portal being familiar." He explained. Kano nodded. Kido frowned.
"Well, I'd like to confirm the story, but for some reason we don't remember much about it." She said. "If Shintaro can remember, maybe we can get to the bottom of this." Kano smiled and grabbed her hand leading Kido to sit on the couch. Momo stared in awe at the physical contact between the two without Kido hitting him.
"When were you two so close?" The idol blurted out. Hibiya banged his head on the table, and Kido blushed. But the strangest thing to them was that she didn't pull away. Kano laughed at Shintaro's gaping expression. The former NEET blinked a few times.
"She's right. When did you become so close?"
"That's not really the concern right now. Let's just focus on getting you to remember what this... portal is all about." Kido cut in before Kano could say anything embarrassing. "What do you remember about the portal?" She directed the question to Shintaro. He bit his lip and tried to grab his phone, but with Ene (And his phone) gone, all he grasped was empty air.
"I just remember it being before I left school."
"Which was..."
"Two years ago. Around the time some of my schoolmates died." He muttered the last part quietly. Kido and Kano glanced at each other, Kido squeezing the blonde's hand for support. Two years ago. Two years since Ayano died. She mentioned an interesting classmate. Was Shintaro this same person? Kano bit his lip, and put on a mask of calm composure.
"So... What was your classmates names?" He asked. Shintaro turned away.
"There were three. Haruka, Takane, and... Ayano." He replied. Kano didn't react, but Kido, not having anyway to hide it, sucked in a breath at the final name. Then Shintaro's eyes widened. "That's it. Ayano. I saw the portal with her. We were..." He cringed, like something hurt. "The heck? I can't remember..." Kido pressed her lips together.
"Well... Try. It may give us a clue to what's going on." Shintaro frowned and sighed.
"I've been trying for the past hour now. I can't seem to get anything. Why don't you try remembering?" He retorted. Kido glared back, then closed her eyes, settling into the couch.
"I don't quite know... All I really remember was being a victim of kidnapping, and Kano and I escaped... Seto and Mary were there. And Konoha and Ene." She said. "Other than that, it's all blurry." She frowned. Kano turned his head up, acting like he was in deep thought.
"I remember something about a ship. Maybe we should go to the harbor?"
"But where we ended up was a mile away from there." Momo raised her hand in question.
"Don't you find it strange that you guys only seemed to forget when you woke up in... wherever you woke up?" She asked. Kido glanced at her and nodded.
"Good observation. Maybe we should go back there and try to see if there's any signs of the trail." It was agreed then. Mekakushi Dan was going back to the scene of the crime!
A/N: Soo... that was a corny stop there... But I had to do something.
Will Mekakushi Dan find the secret of 4WP? Or will Shadow and Fracture think of some new excuse to get them out of trouble?
Find out in the next chapter of In a Box!
Kido: You suck at cliffhangers you know...
Quiet: HOLYMOTHEROFFRICK!
Kano:.. I'm here!
Quiet: You know I find it funny that you guys came at the verry end of this chapter... Where were you guys earlier?
Kido:... I don't remember...