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As the students enjoyed their summer vacations, a long time promise was finally kept when majority of the sophomores were suddenly taken by Johen and caused chaos around the world. In this predicament, who will become each other's only lifeline?
It all started during the morning of the 27th. Momoka, who was comatosed due to her contrecoeur last season, stayed in the island’s hospital during her recovery. When she finally woke up, the sight of her old friend Hanae standing by her bed greeted her. Her old friend had gone missing during last winter after the people saw her leaving home with a suspicious individual. No further information was found about the disappearance until Hanae returned to the academy on the warm summer day, visiting Momoka just when she woke up.
Hanae’s movements were stiff and artificial. She clearly wasn’t herself and was under the control of something. But due to Momoka’s emotional awakening, “Hanae” had no problems with resistance and sedated her old friend. She carried her to a teleportation portal in the form of a red door that connected to another location outside the island. There, a man wearing a bunny mascot head took Momoka into the portal and left Hanae in the academy, with the latter clearly having other targets to pursue in the campus.
Hanae went after Florencio next. She stalked him through the dormitories quietly at first and intended to corner him alone. But the dorm head interrupted her plans by turning into his true form: the Boogeyman from children’s nightmares. After using his authority over the dormitory to lock the dormitory rooms remotely, the dorm head tried to escape. He took Florencio with him, but Hanae weakened him by binding him with a light spirit which was his natural weakness. Right before he was knocked out, Flor sent a blank message to Touma for their emergency protocol. Both the dorm head and Florencio were also captured, joining Momoka in the strange space inside the red door that appeared wherever it was necessary. The Yuurams in the dormitory immediately went to get help, but they were too late by the time that Hanae got her final target.
Lastly, Hanae made her way to Fei’s room. After sabotaging his door, she entered his room and closed the door behind her. Fei was just rousing from his sleep when she arrived and stood by his bed, the same cold eyes looking down at him. Fei woke up excitedly after seeing his missing friend return, recalling how much he looked for her yet got no results with his search. With Fei’s guard down, she managed to drag him towards the red door that replaced the one that Hanae went through. Hanae threw him inside, showing him the unconscious bodies of the previous three victims before sedating him like the rest.
In the Disneyland Tokyo, Arisa and Tatsuya spent one of their summers trying to have fun in the famous amusement park. The whole time that they were there, a familiar face followed them throughout their trip. Tatsuya first became aware about their pursuer when they came into contact with the student themselves. Their stalker turned out to be Friday, who was assigned to take Tatsuya.
Despite Friday’s threats, Tatsuya immediately ran away with Arisa in an attempt to get away from their kidnapper. In their attempt to escape, the amusement park was damaged and Arisa was heavily injured from trying to defend her friend. The girl managed to send a message to her friends as per the newly circulated emergency protocol. After Arisa was left unconscious, Friday took Tatsuya away as his first target and left Disneyland Tokyo in shambles.
Those Who Knew Better (Hokkaido, Japan)
In Nakagawa, Shuichi was doing his usual farm chores in his family’s property. While he was tasked to clean the chicken coop, a distressed lady came into the building. The lady claimed that she was attacked in the forest while she was hunting with her brother. Shuichi attempted to call for help first, but the lady tried to limp back to the forest. She claimed that her brother was resting somewhere since he couldn’t move with his injuries. In a panic, the student followed her only to arrive at a bloody trail where her brother was supposed to be.
The distressed lady turned out to be Amaya, another one of Gillebhrath’s members. Shuichi attempted to escape the forest-like labyrinth, experiencing a similar event to when he first came to the academy due to some form of fateful irony. Amaya ended up sedating the boy due to his protests and took him away from his family, leaving behind the uncleaned chicken coop without any trace of the boy.
Somewhere else in the same prefecture, Dominik and Haruki were attending an airsoft tournament. Before they could even begin the event, a loud alarm sounded off in the arena and put the two boys in a state of confusion. The previously crowded area suddenly became desolate, with only Haruki and Dominik in the middle of the green grass fields surrounded by nothing but empty seats.
In the illusion, a large bearded man grabbed Dominik’s neck to seize him. Amaya approached the confused Haruki, who then jumped at the large man’s arm to try and save his friend. Despite their efforts, both of the students were taken after they were knocked out. Amaya finished her part in the wave and promptly overlooked the two kidnapped boy’s transfer through the red door.
Taken WIthout Help (Boston, USA)
In the east coast, Megumi and her brother Van were spending their summer vacation in their uncle’s home with their parents. While they were planning their day, their family time was interrupted when the house started trembling as if there were an earthquake. The quaking was only limited to the interior of their house white the exterior seemed normal and unbothered.
Van was taken from his room by the same vine monster that attacked the students during spring last year. In the kitchen, humanoid shadows rose and cornered Gumi’s mother and grandmother. Upon seeing her brother being captured by the vine monster, Gumi did her best to defend her family and take her brother back. Johen, who sensed the vine monster’s mistaken target, entered the family’s home using his own portal. After some resistance, both of the teens got taken by the infamous criminal, leaving their family traumatized and upset.
Pleasantly Taken (Kanazawa)
In a tea shop, Iori and her father Mamoru were both enjoying some family time together as they toured the Higashi Chaya-gai geisha district. Their tea time was interrupted by Friday, who had been stalking them the whole day. Finding this as a perfect chance to take the target, he put everyone in the shop in a deep slumber. Everyone but Iori herself.
Despite her situation, she calmly went with Friday after an odd yet pleasant conversation. Friday ensured the well-being of those who went to sleep, one of them being Mamoru who laid his head onto the table. Iori was also sedated after she consented to going without resistance. Friday successfully captured his final target in his assigned area.
From One Druid to Another (Roscommon, Ireland)
Lynn was at an old druid temple with her father and little sister during her summer vacation. It was one of their yearly visits to give thanks to their ancestor. Before they could send their prayers, however, Johen arrived and greeted the family without his usual grandeur. Out of respect for his fellow druids, the red-haired fiend asked for Lynn without much violence. When Lynn’s father tried to protect her and her sister, however, Johen summoned an Elder Tree to distract the older man while his shadow creatures went past the plant barricade that was supposed to protect them.
Upon realizing that the barrier had no effect, Lynn’s father immediately tried to get to the two kids. The Elder Tree captured him and held him hostage in the air while Johen went after Lynn as planned. After sedating her, the criminal carried his target off to a red door that appeared inside a stone arch, leaving her enraged and worried father and sister alone in the temple.
Summer 28
Into Flames and Ashes (Kyoto, Japan)
In Kyoto, Mizuha and Wayze made their way towards the Watanabe Household. It was the first time that Mizuha would visit her family ever since she came to the academy. After talking with Hijiri about the idea of coming home, Mizuha decided to go and face her family again. She took Wayze along with her, hoping that the girl’s energetic disposition would help ease any tension that might arise from her sudden return.
With Mizuha’s family, the two were welcomed appropriately with some snide remarks and underhanded comments. But the family reunion was cut short when a group of robbers entered and ransacked the house while holding them at gunpoint. Mizuha and Wayze tried to save the two shopkeepers who were Mizuha's cousins. They succeeded at the cost of Mizuha's own mental stability, with her cousins constantly screaming at her and calling her a freak. In anger, Mizuha attacked everything in sight including the fleeing robbers. One of whom she injured pretty badly as he escaped. The two cousins blamed Mizuha for everything and demanded that she get out, but before Mizuha and Wayze can leave, a rain of fire and explosions came down upon the Watanabe household. It immediately turned the home into a war zone. The wooden house burned down quickly along with the numerous amounts of kanzashis and combs, which were the family’s lifeblood and business.
Above the burning home was Ifrit, who merely waited for his targets to lose consciousness while he continued to assault the old building. Once Wayze and Mizuha were incapacitated, the fire-incarnate flew down to where they were and took them like the rest, leaving the Watanabe’s household to burn down into the ground.
Forced Separations (Paris, France)
On his final trip, Johen silently shadowed Naomi, Takato, Ellis, Kyo, and Yamato during their trip in Paris, France. It was already the group’s last day in the beautiful European capital. Their next destination was London. They boarded the Eurostar train that connected the two cities, but with Takato resting in Ellis’ smart watch to save travel fare.
During their transit in the underwater railways, their downtime was disturbed by humanoid shadows chasing the rest of the cabin’s occupants away while keeping the group isolated and unable to run away. After they were isolated, Johen finally surfaced and immediately took hold of the smart watch that Takato was resting in. They struggled briefly against the infamous criminal but Yamato, Ellis, and Takato all ended up being taken into the red door by the criminal’s summons. Kyo, who used to be Johen’s primary target, was left behind with Naomi, leaving the two heartbroken and confused at the sudden kidnapping of their friends.
Awakening (C.O.R.E Japan)
After Tatsuya was taken, Arisa woke up in the Rehabilitation Ward of the C.O.R.E Japan HQ and met the Administrative Agent, Sumiko. Sumiko informed her about the Watanabe’s shop getting hit too before she inquired about Tatsuya’s kidnapping. Arisa made a Sophomore Chat Line with all of the students in their year to exchange information.
Kyo was sending weird messages to the chat, so Rion called him to get info. Kyo managed to answer and told Rion about the attack on them. Everyone but Kyo and Naomi were taken and the train conductor that tried to help them died. Sumiko knew about the attack but they couldn’t pursue or stop the high speed train in the middle of transit. She asked Arisa to see if she and her schoolmates would help when the time comes, though there were no specific details and her request was vague. At the same time, students who were called back to the HQ for protection slowly arrived one by one in the HQ lobby.
Arrival - (London, England)
Kyo and Naomi arrived at the St. Pancras Station in London. Iceland agents waited for them and surveyed the Eurostar Train 9016 for damage and casualties.
Remiel arrived straight from Rome a bit after them and talked to the two highly emotional and traumatized kids. After talking to the teacher, Kyo impulsively decided to go to C.O.R.E Russia Headquarters, which was one of the zones that were leading the rescue operations along with C.O.R.E Japan.
Desperation (C.O.R.E Japan)
More students arrived at Japan HQ. Sumiko and Haku gathered them at one of the large multipurpose halls to ask for their decision. Sumiko stated that students helping was not approved by Shunrai yet, but if they really do want to help they have to be sure that they’re not just running on adrenaline and think about the very real and possible consequences of going out into the field for the search and rescue. Hisato called Arisa to get updates and said he'd call the headmaster to see his status and will relay updates.
After a call with Remiel, Deene and Hisato gave the group chat some notes about Johen’s coeur. They all started researching on druidism and ogham staffs to try and come up with countermeasures for his coeur, but they realize that the best they can do is be prepared. Hisato arrived at the HQ with Deene, Lilianne and Sangchul, excusing himself from them after. A man named Shigure (from the Public Safety Bureau) also arrived at the same time as him, and they both went to Shunrai (the head of the HQ) to discuss the event and matters about Michael (the principal).
Hisato informed the two about Michael’s house arrest in France, so the principal will be late since he’ll be fighting his way out of his own home to get back to Japan. Due to certain reasons, he was going to be replaced as the headmaster by his cousin and prevented from ever leaving, but Shuuei (his bodyguard) would certainly get him out.
Kokoro Island goes on strict lockdown to prevent anyone from getting in or out as a security measure against Gille and whoever was due to replace Michael.
Shunrai and Shigure mentioned that the tracks lead up north to Hokkaido.
Haku went to Shunrai to get approval with the students participating in saving their friends. Shunrai was dead set on not letting them at first, but he ended up giving them a chance with the following conditions:
"If they have the drive, then they should have the resilience. Then how about this? While they're under our watch, no one acts out from impatience. They prove themselves productive in their own researching and discussion endeavors. And once we actually get word about where they are, NO ONE jumps the gun until I say the words: briefing time, kids." He grinned. "Even if it means they already lost one person by then." (Shunrai)
Meanwhile in the group chat that Arisa made, the students had been discussing the kidnapped students and the Gillebhrath members that they’ve encountered. They all decided to do research on the enemy’s abilities and whatnot, starting their first step to gaining Shunrai’s approval.
After an exchange of information, the following was established: Johen’s coeur is largely a research in progress as he deleted his own files, Ifrit is the literal incarnation of fire, and Friday is able to copy other people’s coeurs.
A massive recall to their encounter in Spring 23X1 (Unlock 01) was made. The students were given copies of the kidnapped student’s files (which had everything except the student’s personal background and history) to come up with countermeasures in case Friday used their kidnapped friend’s coeurs.
Students were also given detailed accounts from Yuurams about the attacks in Spring 01. The Yuurams were mainly for cleaning and surveillance, hence they also record any event that occurs in the island despite not being able to fight directly. Their Yuuram Journals contained records of the previous events, filled with detailed descriptions of the encounters thanks to their photographic memories.
Zone 3 (Moscow, Russia)
Kyo and Naomi arrived at Zone 3, C.O.R.E Russia HQ. Aimi and her cousin Nikita guided them to their room. After that, Nikita left the three to report to the higher ups.
After a while of rest, the three were called to the operations room to join the call between C.O.R.E Russia and C.O.R.E Japan in order to let them see their friends.
The Russo-Japanese Call More students arrived. Research continued. Enteii entered the Multipurpose Hall to ask Sumiko where she should be stationed for the Japan HQ and Russia HQ call. Sumiko allowed the students to join the call and see Kyo and Naomi’s conditions. Call was shut down at first when Nikita broke the phone after hearing Enteii. The students continued their research while waiting for the line to go back up. (Because Nikita doesn’t use Litophone, tsk)
The call finally commenced. Naomi tried her best to recall the event, but Kyo remained quiet and didn’t want to say anything. This irritated Nikita and he punched Kyo without any second thought while admonishing him for staying quiet. They ended up fighting for a bit while Kyo says his own account of what happened. He passed out after Nikita elbowed him to the stomach.
Naomi and Kyo were both sent to the infirmary to be healed. Kyo for his physical injuries and Naomi for the curse that was placed on her.
The call continued and Nikita reported about traces of Gille being scattered all over Russia the past year. He also reported about the witness accounts that he received from the Iceland HQ Agents.
“The student’s group was in the business premiere section at the time. As for how they didn’t notice the chaos, I’m assuming that they all fell asleep since they seemed to have been on a long tour around Europe. But by the time they realized it, their cabin was empty and the creatures already found them. Johen appeared not long after that and attacked them. It only took around 20 minutes to capture them.
From the two’s account, it seemed that Johen wanted to offer some sort of knowledge to Uzuki Yamato that he didn’t have. As for Valliere Ellis and Sugawara Kyohei, they were also taken as it was mentioned. Tamara Naomi is most likely cursed by some sort of spell that causes her to be in pain despite having no injuries. We’ll try to break whatever it is, but multiple people died just from the stampede that occurred before they were taken.
There were no agents on the train at the time. Iceland agents that were tailing the group and looking out for them from afar was all somehow distracted or incapacitated. Tamara and Sunakawa would have been trapped and alone during the last remaining hour of the train ride to London, St. Pancras Station.” (Nikita)
After the call, everyone returned to their research. Dinner was served and after that Atsuki offered to use his coeur on the items that the kidnapped victims left behind to see their history. Once everyone was sent to where they were staying in the rehabilitation ward, the students were allowed to occupy whichever room they wanted. Meanwhile, Naru and Hisato confronted Shunrai in the briefing hall about using the students for the search and rescue. In the face of the two deities who didn’t want the students to be used as fodder, Shunrai merely smiled and told them that he was just doing his job based off of someone else’s ideals. They confirmed that the plan to use the students as bait in Spring 01 was the Russian C.O.R.E’s idea and was approved by the council members. Apart from that, they also confirmed that Huifen purposely opened the barrier and let Tatsuya take most of the blame.
Captivity (No Name)
The students all woke up in their cells and recognize their teammates. They lost any item that could have been a weapon or tool, but their phones were still with them, albeit there being no signal.
The Dorm Head was in the same cell as Florencio and Dominik, still bound and weakened by the rope made of light. Unable to move or talk much, he only remained quiet majority of the time.
The students all wore an anti-coeur collar that prevented them from using their abilities to try and escape.
The layout of the cell block was determined to be a rectangular room with glass cages spread out on all sides. It was made so that the kids could easily be viewed by clients but separated so that they wouldn’t be able to band together to escape should the glass doors ever open.
The statue called Jet King arrived to watch over the students. Upon seeing Mizuha’s extremely long hair, which was her coeur slowly going out of control, he cut off the excess hair and allowed both her and Wayze to shower. A girl with twin tails arrived to give them their new clothes.
After the two girls changed, the students were left with the Jet King for a bit until Friday arrived to extract blood from some of the students. Doll Hanae came along with her. Flor and Takato’s blood was extracted and the students were left with Doll Hanae. Some of the students tried to talk to Hanae, but to no avail. Despite being chided for betraying her friends, the doll remained still and unmoving- only a husk of the confident and strong student that she used to be. The Dorm Head told the students that she can’t be saved because she was already long dead and the one that was with them was only staying to torment them., much to the student’s despair. Eventually, Hanae also left to work on other tasks for her new bosses.
Summer 29
To Safety (C.O.R.E Japan)
At 3AM, an air ambulance suddenly flew into the humongous headquarters’ air space and landed on their landing zone. The ones who arrived with Shuuei, Michael, and his little brother Solomon arrived at the Japan CORE HQ. Michael knocked out as soon as they arrived and the three were sent to the VIP ward on the top floor of the rehabilitation ward.
Shunrai and Shuuei talked about protecting Kokoro Island from the false crown that the Levesques will sent soon. The Mikamis and Shirasagis are all protecting the island from who would become ta fake ruler.
Only Levesques in Michael’s blood line can control the island and make it safe. Should a fake headmaster arrive to the island and try to seize control of it, the Shikis and the deities themselves will sink the island and kill all of the people there.
Enteii took care of Solomon the whole night and allowed the headmaster to rest.
Tears and Kisses (C.O.R.E Russia)
Naomi and Kyo were in the infirmary with Aimi after the Russo-Japanese Call. Kyo was knocked out for quite some time, but eventually woke up while Aimi and Naomi were discussing about Russia HQ. Upon him waking up, Aimi cleaned up the blood off of Kyo’s face quickly before leaving to get some ice for his swollen face. While he was gone, Nikita and the healer that he called for, Rufina, arrived to heal the two students and get them ready for the field later.
Rufina looked over Naomi and confirmed that the curse put on her was a curse that the Russia HQ agents were familiar with. The curse was a trial for Naomi. If she succeeded and fulfilled the conditions, she’d reap blessings from it after. But if it was removed, nothing would happen, she just wouldn’t receive the benefits.
Naomi denied removing the curse and decided to try and overcome it. Rufina gave her a vial with her tears to help ease the pain and allow Naomi to move better when she needs to. Then, Rufina moved to heal Kyo’s face with her coeur. Aimi returned in time with the ice and the two agents left the three students alone to rest for the rest of the night.
Family Heirlooms (C.O.R.E Japan)
At 8AM, the headmaster woke up and got added to the #sophomore-line-chat. He also immediately asked to talk to Shunrai and they discussed C.O.R.E and academy’s fate.
With his family disowning him, Michael had to convince Shunrai to support him instead of his family who has been going on a downward spiral with how they control C.O.R.E and the Academy itself. After much convincing and promises of a proper partnership and future negotiation about their reward, Shunrai relented and agreed to help Michael.
Michael planned to overthrow his family and start their relationships over with their partners such as the Shiki’s, but he needed to make sure he fulfilled his promise and gain support from students.
After their discussion, Michael called for Lilianne and Deene to talk to them about his escape. Ulrik came with them as Lilianne’s guard. He revealed that Deene’s paternal side of the family, the Blancs helped hide him from the Levesque’s who were sending hitmen after hitmen to kill him after he and Shuuei escaped their mini Versailles.
The Iversens sent an air ambulance from one of their partner companies to get Michael out of the country, which allowed him to escape with his life and arrive at the HQ without much worries.
Michael gave Deene an old family heirloom that the Blancs wanted to give to him for his birthday. It was an old limiter that needs adjustment to fit Deene and his abilities, so they gave it to Enteii who then sent it to the research facility.
Michael reassured Lilianne about her parent’s safety and thanked her for her family’s constant support. Deene asked why he was up for assassination and the headmaster answered:
"Because I didn't want to follow my family's ideals anymore." Though that was just the surface level, he knew he had to delve deeper... "In our family, only people of my bloodline can control the island and allow it to become habitable for humans, spirits, and nature to live in. Our idealism has always been to be pacifists, if that sums it up. But for my family, Shinnou, CORE, and the students are only means for them to look away from the world and be at 'peace'."
Just thinking about it kind of gave him a migraine. Not to mention, he still felt their malice from their curses at the moment. "Our ancestor created the island's current inhabitants such as the Rampaca, the dorm head, and many more spirits and creatures that now live there. He's also the reason why Watatsumi decided to protect the island from underneath. However, that was just his deeds.... In truth, my family had 0 hand in helping him with a feat as great as creating a haven for Users and the guardians that protect it. Yet, we stand here living off of his glory while making everyone else do the work for us and suffer losses while they remained in their closed off walls.... Sacrificing everyone else to keep themselves safe."
".... I apologize. I went on a long rant." He coughed. "But they want to kill me because I didn't want to follow their way of life anymore. I wish to change how we manage C.O.R.E and Shinnou as a whole, and they couldn't accept that. And since my brother is now here, they don't.... need me anymore. They have a child that they can raise and use to continue their selfish ways." (Michael)
They talked about Johen right after and what Michael knew about his older brother’s former prodigy. Michael said that he didn’t know a lot, but the fact that his powers were limitless in a way was established. Faes’ loyalty to him cannot be swayed to the student’s nor CORE’s side because of their whimsical nature and the fact that Johen can control them by force.
Remiel is one of the only people that can match him, but since he was tied to the Vatican at the moment and the church may not allow him to risk his life to defeat Johen, Michael said they couldn’t rely on him for that. He also mentioned that Remiel was an orphan, so he had no relatives who could match Johen in terms of prowess.
Michael’s older brother, Antoine, mentored Johen when he was in the academy. Johen left a bit after Antoine died. This information matched with Lilianne’s vision. Michael also revealed that his family had druidic ancestry, but they have been devoted Catholics for a long time now so they’re basically tainted and cannot gain access to the same knowledge that Johen does.
They are only knowledgeable about simple spells and curses. While they cannot teach the students about those two, they can at least help give them information about how to ward them off.
They ended their discussion and Michael gave Lilianne and Deene his private number. The two students left and Michael continued to rest because of the curses inflicted upon him.
Searching (C.O.R.E Japan)
The students also woke up at 8AM. Some of them didn’t sleep, but they spent most of the morning triangulating the location of the areas that Gille seemed to be the most active in.
Aleksei suggested a few places in Russia that they could use as possible dock points for Gille’s ship while Yui found out that there was a shipwreck in the area that they were all focusing on through her father.
Souma, Shion, and Lilianne triangulation based off of the information they received from Souma’s brother, Touma’s family, and the kidnapping sights in Nakagawa.
The students relayed a message to one of the agents about one of the kidnapped victims. Chloe Mitchell, who was also taken relayed a message through Lynn’s phone about calling Canada HQ and telling someone named Brian Mitchell that she was fine.
Toshio arrived in full vacation gear, got into an argument with the others, then stormed off up at the rooftop.
Meanwhile, Naru and Hisato were locked in a room with Shunrai to prevent them from helping others because of their knowledge. Souma and Lilianne went to sleep to talk about certain things in her dreams while Sumiko submitted the location report that the students made to Shunrai.
In the Cells (No Name)
At 3AM, their phones all start vibrating and a flood of messages suddenly notify them. It was the #sophomore-line-chat. They could contact their friends now.
The non-kidnapped students asked them if the place they were in gave any clues as to where their exact location was, but to no avail.
Mizuha and Gumi inform them of what they’ve experienced with the statue, the child, Friday, and Doll Hanae.
Lynn sent them a picture of her with the anti-coeur collar.
Not long after their signals started working, the child that delivered the clothes to Mizuha and Wayze earlier returned.
The girl’s name was Linnea. She was one of the kidnapped children a few seasons back and she was now fully working for Gille even as a child.
Gumi, Iori, Chloe, Lynn, and Van tried talking to her and played games with her. She mentioned things about ‘fixing’ them early before pointing at one of the battered bodies in cell 8. Chloe almost became a victim, but Linnea left her alone after she was distracted with a game.
Gumi and Van played charades at first, then ‘Never Have I Ever’. The child was sweet and cheerful, but after revealing that she killed her dad for being ‘evil’ and that her mission was to eradicate everything ‘evil’ in the world, the students became perturbed.
Despite trying to convince Linnea that what she and Gille was doing was wrong, the girl didn’t budge. It was also around this time when the boogiemen started appearing, warning the girl of their turn in visiting the students. It seemed that everyone was only allowed to visit the students one by one….
In between her brainwashed speeches, Linnea went back up to get the rest of the student’s clothes and allowed them all to change before it was the malicious boogiemen’s turn to visit them. She knew that the students wouldn’t be able to do anything like go to the bathroom and change if she left them to the entities.
A 3:45AM, the boogiemen arrive to terrorize the students while Johen is ‘asleep’. Their main target is the dorm head, who was actually one of them until he was caught and enslaved to work for the academy.
The boogiemen started harassing each student, egging them on to retaliate so they have a reason to act against the students and hurt them.
Cell Blocks In the cell block, a large boogieman stood in front of Cell 6 and admonished the dorm head for betraying his kin. The rest of the smaller boogiemen scattered around in each cell and interacted with the students separately.
The boogiemen’s purpose was to incite fear and feed on it, particularly on children. But since the strongest boogieman, the Dorm Head, betrayed their purpose and that’s a taboo. The boogiemen revealed that they only ‘partnered up’ with Johen to get to the Dorm Head again and absorb him and his power into the one that currently reigned as the strongest.
The Dorm Head warned everyone telepathically that they shouldn’t breathe in the smell that the boogiemen had, as it caused their emotions to get worse and make them go into a downward spiral with no salvation.
At this time, an unknown address sent a message to the #sophomore-line-chat that contained what they needed to survive: The name of the dorm head.
Despite Dominik and Flor’s attempts to pull him back, the Dorm Head kept on getting absorbed his consciousness was already fading. His mind was muddled when Iori started calling out for his name, but it forced him into action and he tried to pull away from the creature that was trying to absorb him.
In Cell 8, the screaming of a child could be heard. When the students looked, the child was being lifted up and feasted on by the swarm of the boogiemen that suddenly left the students as soon as they saw that the kids were awake. The battered man that Linnea ‘fixed’ earlier was now awake too, but he was largely ignored by the creatures even though he was also in the same cell. He looked towards the children and talked to them via telepathy and informed them that there were more children in Cell 9. True to his word, a group of children were all backed up in the farthest corner and watched on in fear as the one child that was being swarmed died from the boogiemen’s scent.
Cell 1 Mizuha and Wayze were cornered in their cell, with Wayze being the main focus on the dark entities’ appetite. Trying to protect her friend, Mizuha did her best to keep herself and Wayze from inhaling the smoke.The boogiemen were already aware that Mizuha was becoming corrupted and mocked her for it. They showed Wayze an illusion of the monster that Mizuha could become.
Wayze defended her friend who was desperately trying to protect her. Humoring the two’s friendship, the dark entities offered to spare their lives if they gave them a good reason- to which Mizuha responded:
Accepting her reason, the boogiemen agreed to harvest Mizuha and Wayze when the time is right. But the two believed that they’d be sacrificing their futures for the safety of everyone else. The covenant was sealed from the mix of Mizuha and Wayze’s blood.
After the covenant was sealed, the rest of the boogiemen proceeded to torture and kill everyone slowly while the two watched. Mizuha tried using her coeur even with the anti-coeur collar on, only to be zapped twice and then restrained by her and Wayze’s new protectors.
Cell 2 Lynn, Shuichi, and Chloe were immediately cornered by the monsters. Their breath came out like smoke surrounded the three and they mainly targeted Lynn and Shuichi. As they all tried to gather together and protect each other, Lynn’s leg was pulled by one of the boogiemen in an attempt to isolate her as one of the ‘blessed children’ that the creatures wanted to eat.
Shuichi tried to pull her back upon seeing this to save her. But the pull from both sides caused put strain on the girl, not to mention the claws of the boogieman that pulled at her leg dug them into her skin, drawing blood and injuring her.
In the midst of the chaos, one of the creatures approached Shuichi and read his memories. Using what they knew against him, the creatures questioned why he was trying to save Lynn despite always being the first to abandon people.
They offered to spare him in exchange for giving Lynn and Chloe to them. To form a covenant like Mizuha and Wayze did, but only him for his two cellmate’s lives. Shuichi was reluctant despite the chance to be safe being given to him by hand.
Seeing that Shuichi didn’t immediately say no, Lynn was incensed and her bottled up feelings piled up. She questioned Shuichi’s reluctance to say no and accused him of thinking of himself again- just like before with Canada when he abandoned his teammates.
Ecstatic at the discord that was happening, the dark creatures decided to turn the tables and offer the same thing to Lynn instead with the intent to sow more discord between them.
Cell 3 In Cell 3, the main target of the creatures was clearly Yamato. Takato and Ellis being calm in the face of death caused the boogiemen to focus their attention on the fearful Yamato.
Yamato wanted to sacrifice himself for the two boy’s sake, knowing that he was the #1 prey for the fear-eating creatures. Denying his attempt, Takato and Ellis instead tried to protect him knowing that Kyo would be heartbroken if Yamato were to die.
A loud bang was heard from above their cell. On their ceiling, the sound of shuffling and metal creaking was audible in the midst of the chaos and the short moment that the creatures left them for the children.
Cell 4 Momoka and Fei woke up in the midst of the chaos, with Momoka being heartbroken over the revelation that her friend was under Gille’s control now.
The creatures taunted them with how Hanae died, sensing and getting high on Momoka’s despair over her lost friend. Fei continued to remain grounded and helped pull Momoka out of her despair, but after showing both of them the illusion of how Hanae died for Momoka’s sake, Momoka broke down into a mess.
Fei was angry at the distasteful images, but chose to comfort Momoka and prevent her from accepting the dark entities’ offer to let her join her dear friend in limbo.
The two hug, with Fei wanting to do his best for Momoka’s sake, he comforts her saying that they should survive and live on for Hanae’s sake. Momoka accepted it, holding onto Fei for hope to return with their friends back to their families.
Cell 5 In Cell 5, Van was the main target of the creatures. They attempted to incite fear out of Iori and Gumi, but with no success particularly with the former. Despite Iori trying to make conversation with them to understand them, the creatures remained fixated on her fear (or her lack thereof).
Iori chose not to say too much, thinking that things will only get worse. But upon seeing the children across them being devoured by a swarm of the dark entities, she was incensed and shot up to action. Upon seeing the message from an unknown address about the dorm head’s forgotten name, Iori incited the rest of the captured students to call out his name so that he could remember it and save them.
Cell 6 Flor and Dominik were initially protected by the Dorm Head’s own shadows, preventing the rest of the boogiemen from getting to them. But as the largest boogieman attacked and started absorbing the Dorm Head, the two students lost their protection.
Seeing that the dorm head was being absorbed, the two tried their best to pull him back deeper into the cell and away from their assaulter. Upon hearing Iori’s call, Dominik tried calling out to the Dorm Head too.
Cell 7 Tatsuya was already being feasted on by the boogiemen when he woke up. Haruki did his best to protect his friend, but the entities outnumbered them and pulled them apart.
Tatsuya tried taunting and distracted the creatures by challenging them to eat him already, something the creatures took as an open invitation. They bit onto the two students immediately, injuring them right before they got distracted by the younger children in Cell 9.
Forgotten Name After the Dorm Head heard and remembered his true name, he regained his original strength and absorbed the rest of the boogiemen that tried to hold the students hostage along with the largest one that tried to absorb him first. The one that made a covenant with Mizuha and Wayze escaped, but instead of chasing after them, he shrunk back to his smaller blob-like form and healed the students with the first aid kid from his dimensional pocket one by one. As he healed the students, he talked about the reason why his kin was after him and why they were kidnapped upon Flor, Dominik, and Haruki’s questioning.
Boogiemen The boogiemen are creatures that were born with the purpose of feeding on the fear of misbehaving children. They’re free spirits who often claim one territory, which is a house with a child and a family that believes in its existence. Once that child grows up, they look for a new location to settle in and continue to feed.
They’re extremely prideful creatures who value their freedom more than anything. They went after the Dorm Head, who used to be their strongest champion, simply because they all felt that his servitude to the academy and C.O.R.E betrayed their purpose and he did a taboo. The Dorm Head’s submission to his name and to the children he was supposed to feed on was a slight against all of them and their purpose. The Dorm Head was supposed to take over the Shinnou Dormitories 300 years ago, but he failed and got defeated by the Shiki’s. Then, he was turned into a caretaker by the founder of the academy.
The other boogiemen ‘partnered’ up with Johen to get to the Dorm Head, but they had no actual contract that prevented the creatures from harming the children.
The Dorm Head became weak because he purposely forgot his name out of spite, but the children reminding him of it helped him regain his power and their beliefs and prayers strengthened him much like how fear strengthens his ex-brethren.
The Reason Why Haruki asked why they got kidnapped and why these things were happening to them since last year. The Dorm Head honestly tells them that it’s probably revenge for what the Levesques, the ones that own the Academy and C.O.R.E, did to Johen’s loved ones.
The Dorm Head was aware of C.O.R.E’s plans to use them as scapegoats or sacrificial lambs to capture Johen back in the Spring of 23X1 and he kept the younger students who weren’t part of the list or the highschool department away from the MS/HS building at the time.
The Dorm Head’s true masters were the Shiki’s, the family leading Japan C.O.R.E under the Levesque’s ideals, so he also knew about the conspiracy and extreme pacifism that the Levesque’s had that lead them to kill their own children. The spirits also knew that they killed the last two headmasters, but did nothing and just waited for humans to stand against them on their own.
The time of the gods were nearing due to the stagnation of humankind with the Levesque’s selfish ideals. So the Dorm Head gave them a warning from himself and the spirits: To not be like the Levesques who shut everything unpleasant away and kept themselves in a fake garden, overindulging in peace that was built on the blood of everyone else.
It’s revealed that Johen used to be part of C.O.R.E, but only vaguely. He left the academy and C.O.R.E after one of the previous headmasters died and went on the run with his wife. His wife got killed by the Levesques when they pursued him.
It’s speculated that he’s doing this to shake the Levesque’s power by making students lose trust in them and the academy.
Friends or Foes? The Dorm Head asked the students to make sure they don’t stagnate. They didn’t have to do something drastic to save the world, but simple things like caring about each other and believing in what you can do.
As they talked amongst themselves, footsteps were suddenly heard beyong the metal door that’s been keeping them from escaping. Thinking that it was the buyers finally taking a look at the goods, the Dorm Head prepared to attack them, but once the door opened, the ones that greeted that dorm head and the students introduced themselves as their ‘seniors’ who had come to save them.
The Dorm Head recognized them as former Shinnou Academy students, but was wary of the scary goons behind them. The male with lavender hair introduced himself as Nath and the girl with pink hair introduced himself as Alice. They were all working for an underground C.O.R.E organization called Ulula, under their boss, Leonardo Gagliardi.
They realized that the glass cages opened with biometrics and facial recognition, so they had one of the goons shapeshift his face into Linnea’s face after being shown a picture of her missing poster to open all of the cells. Once they did, the students, children, and battered man made their way to the upper deck for their escape.
Nothing Is That Easy Once they reached the upper deck, Johen stood at the other end of the ship expecting them. He told the students that the academy had sunk. Some were happy, some were disturbed. But their responses prompted him to show them a vision of the future that they will behold with their current mindsets and (lack of) action. Refusing to accept such a future, the students stood up against Johen’s expected future by saying that they can change it now. Just by having knowledge about the possible bad end that they might meet, they could do they best to finally change and help prevent a tragic outcome for themselves and the people on the island.
Despite being amused by their newfound resolve, Johen scoffed at their sudden ‘change’ of heart now that they know that possible future that lies ahead. He responded that rather than fighting against futility, they should just accept that their usefulness only existed if they became his slaves for his business.
Ulula’s ship crashed into Gillebhrath’s ship, yet the latter didn’t move or tip over from the force of the other thanks to Johen’s coeur enveloping the whole of their ship. A crossing bridge connected the two ships from Ulula’s but Johen blocked the way and summoned lightning that scattered the students apart and away from the escape route. The lightning also weakened the Dorm Head once more, despite it not harming the students at all.
Haruki and Wayze were the furthest away from the exit, while the rest were relatively close. Nath attacked Johen with javelins made from his seeds, but Johen managed to gain control of them and made them target the students to stop them from fleeing. The man with the hat and facemask tried to stop them, but since Johen closed his eyes to his coeur, he couldn’t nullify its effects. Instead, he rushed Momoka and Fei to the Ulula ship.
Goons attempted to tackle down Johen, but he killed them with the black thorns that also caged Haruki. The Ulula members tried their best to keep the javelins away from the students. All of the javelins impaled themselves into the walls or the floors of the ship, but one managed to pierce Wayze, giving her a mortal injury if left untreated.
Mizuha, seeing her friend heavily injured, went into a frenzy and tried to come after Johen, who was already suffering a mild cardiac arrest because of Alice’s coeur. She was stopped by another Ulula member and carried back towards the exit while Nath and Alice sent goons after Johen and used their signature combo attack to make them explode and possibly restrain Johen from coming after them.
Thinking Twice In the chaos, the students saw how the Ulula members would easily sacrifice the rest of their members to try and attack Johen. Despite escape being open to them now, majority of them decided to stay for the caged Haruki and Lynn, with the latter only being imprisoned after Johen disappeared under the corpses of the fodder that the Ulula members used. Knowing that Johen was still surely alive, Nath rushed the students to the ship, but after seeing the carnage and the disturbing actions that they took, they thought twice about joining the Ulula members for their ‘escape’.
Forced Separation Despite Iori and Flor’s attempts to remain in Gille for their schoolmates who were trapped, the two were forced aboard the Ulula ship by Nathaniel and subsequently kept in place by the goons.
After they were split, Johen subsequently ‘came back to life’ and pushed Ulula’s vessel away from theirs using his coeur and then closing up the upper deck. Gillebhrath’s ship was a convertible submarine, so they went back down underwater as soon as Ulula’s ship was far away from theirs.
Return to The Cells Those who stayed were sent back down to the Cell Blocks by Johen, only he no longer separated them and gave them one large glass cage to share together for the upcoming showing. Johen feeds them sandwiches and stayed to talk for a while.
In the midst of their conversation, Yamato asked why he was taken there in the first place- to which, Johen revealed why he was so interested in the boy: Yamato’s grandmother was someone from the Shirasagi’s, one of the prominent families in Kokoro Island. In his usual sadistic tone, he told Yamato that they could have protected him from the Uzuki’s all along, yet they chose not to. Even when he arrived at the island, they never told him that he was a part of them, much less take him in. Unable to process Johen’s words, Yamato was left to think about the new revelation about his family.
Johen left for a bit to retrieve the rest of the children that were going to be put up for auction. Once he returned, there were 5 children who were sent to the cell next to the students. They ignored the students in a rather pompous manner, but the student’s attempt at talking with them eventually bore fruit. The children told the students vague details about them such as: The people they’re sold to are often the ones they have to kill. Their coeurs are best used for silent chaos, subtle attacks and assassinations.
They came from worse places and Johen was the one who took them in. Their origins was that of a war camp, but before they could continue their discussion, Johen returned with his first buyers.
The First Sales Three clients arrived with Johen. All of them wore different masquerade masks to hide their identities. They immediately went to the children first, at some point arguing over the young children in the other cell with a lot of potential. The first buyer bought three children.
Johen made sure to let them know the usual protocol: they pick which one they want and he spends time training or fixing them before sending them off to the buyer after a certain timespan. Payment is usually wireless, but can vary from being up-front or for later deposit.
The men picked between the students as well. The first ones chosen from the students were Lynn and Van, since they seemed the easiest to break and fix with the fastest turnaround time.
Lynn was forced to show the client buying her coeur. Johen summoned a white gerbera flower for her, which was actually a gift from the faes who favored the young girl, but upon using her coeur on it, it didn’t turn out to be like what she usually created. The plant that came to life was like a rotten plant whose healthy green hue earlier turned purple, screeching as it approached Lynn.
Rather than disappointed, Johen and the client was delighted and the transaction went by smoothly after.
The third client also chimed in about wanting doll-like students, hence leading them to pick Gumi and Haruki for their beautiful appearance and defiant stares. He wanted the students right then and there, but due to the organization’s ‘quality control policies’, he had to settle for getting them later. All three clients finished their turn and left with Linnea, who was waiting by the metallic door. Johen remained in the cell block to talk to the students again.
Synchronicity Haruki questioned Johen and his coeur’s similarity to his, with both of them deriving their abilities from a form of tarot deck from two separate but similar concepts: the tarot and the ogham.
Johen agreed to diagnose the reason why Haruki’s coeur often acted up despite already having an idea. Using his coeur, Johen peeked into Haruki’s memories and took root in one aspect of their coeurs that connected. Haruki realized the connection that was made after Johen peeked at his memories, but Johen simply shrugged, pretending nothing happened.
Reasons Eventually, the talk came to Yamato’s origins once again. With Haruki and the rest of the students realizing that he was once a trainer under C.O.R.E, Johen proceeded to complain about how his training regimens was twisted into something that seemed like it was created to harm or kill the students on purpose. Adding to that, he also criticized the current generation’s lack of ability to reach their true potential.
Dominik also criticized Johen as a privileged person who only ran away from his problems. While Johen didn’t mind the criticism, Haruki brought up that it was simply free will that allowed people to do what they wished. Whether they stayed to create change or run away, it was a result of the very thing that made them human.
At the end of their conversation, Johen mentioned that person he wished to support with the change they wanted to bring forth, but no one knew who it was. He then left the room once again to get the new batch of clients.
The First Auction Johen returned to the cell block in 30 minutes, bringing along two more clients with him. One of them was Client #69, a man the red-head specifically called for along with Client #68 because of Dominik constant ‘daddy’ jokes.
Upon seeing Dominik, who Johen said was rutting and looking for a sugar daddy, Client #69 became excitable and immediately came to see them up close from behind the glass, licking his lips as he thirsted for him and the rest of the students.
Client #68, recognizing one of the students, turned to Johen with a tempered smile and questioned if this was a mistake, since one of the students was his son…. Dominik.
Dominik immediately recognize who the man was as well. Johen leaned in to whisper something to Dominik’s father, Dmitri, something that made him accept the current scene in front of him.
Dominik, recognizing that the man was his father, demanded that he buy all of them there to save them. Offering that he’ll come home if his father saves them all from that place, the young Lazarev heir hoped for a way out of the dark cell that they’ve been trapped in for two days now. His father however, begged to differ. Client #68 rejected his son’s pleas, admonishing him for getting himself into this mess and now begging him to get him out.
Dominik was enraged at the respond, but despite the rejected plea for salvation, his father offered to buy them at twice the price. Client #69 wasn't having that however and immediately went into a bidding war for Dominik and the rest of the students, even going as far as to pay as soon as he won the bet.
The auction ended with the students being sold for 200 billion U.S. Dollars, with Client #69 winning. He immediately paid for the students to prevent Johen from selling them to anyone else, unaware that four of the students were already paid and spoken for. Dominik’s father left, admitting defeat and disappointing Dominik even further.
As soon as the money was transferred and was sure to be received by Gillebhrath the next day, Johen made immediately killed the man in a surprise attack that caused him to be dragged into a form of hell where the spirits of the other children that he bought from Johen was in. As he was a bad customer in Gille’s eyes, they took this opportunity to make the most money out of him and then kill him once they were done.
Client #68 seemed to be in on the whole charade, yet he was no longer there when Johen sent his auction rival off to be killed by the same children he abused.
After that, Johen left the cell block once again, leaving them for a total of 12 hours to sit and talk about possible ways in which they might escape.
Degenerates (Ulula)
Wayze’s Condition The students who came (and were forced to come) by the Ulula members were livid once the enemy’s submarine sank into the sea. They were already wary about the group of people that easily sacrificed their own to let themselves escape and even left most of their schoolmates behind for Johen to pick on once more. But there was the more important matter of healing Wayze and getting her stabilized before she lost anymore blood.
They all went down to the infirmary of the ship which was well equipped despite the residents of the vessel not being pleasant. A nasty Ulula member named Rachmov, who had been picking on the students as soon as they arrived, came back with a collar remover so that they could use their coeurs. But his intentions clearly weren’t pure, as he realized that Mizuha was already teetering between the third and fourth stage of Corruption and that removing her collar was a sure way to get her killed because her coeur wouldn’t be under control.
Iori and Mizuha’s collar was removed first by Rachmov, but he immediately left after despite knowing that the rest of the students needed to use their coeurs to save Wayze. The Dorm Head, who was now palm-sized, sent Iori after him to get the collar remover back and along the way, Iori met a mysterious man named Nagao who helped her try to get the collar remover from Rachmov. Nath arrived soon after, prompting Rachmov to run off in dislike for the man. The three went back to the infirmary with the collar remover in hand.
Nath made the javelin disappear so that the students could do first aid as soon as it was gone. All of the student’s collars were removed and they all managed to stabilize Wayze for the long travel. With Mizuha and Flor offering healing liquids for Wayze to consume, Iori stopping her bleeding with her wool as much as she possibly can and bandaging the affected area, and Shuichi slowing down the bleeding and reversing some of the time on the wound, Wayze’s conditioned seemed more hopeful as they started the long travel between their current location and C.O.R.E Russia Headquarters’ checkpoint base near the area.
Mizuha was visibly upset about Wayze’s condition, but Alice’s arrival and comments about Wayze caused the girl to run after the two Ulula members who were also chasing after Rachmov.
Nagao realizing that she was corrupted asked the others if it was okay letting her wander around alone and what her name was. The dorm head mentioned her name as Watanabe Mizuha, to which Nagao’s eyes widened in surprise at recognition of the name. Nagao reminisced about a certain child, realizing that if his child was with him, she’d be around Mizuha’s age.
Meanwhile, Rachmov was being chased by the duo of Nath and Alice, and the duo was being chased by Mizuha. The two senior members attempted to kill Rachmov for going against orders and removing Mizuha’s collar knowing she’ll get worse. They almost succeeded. Mizuha stepped in to kill Rachmov too, but the elusive man managed to escape by becoming elastic and hiding in a small space where they can’t reach. Still, he was heavily injured and would need a few hours to recuperate.
Three hours later, Flor decided to look for a charging outlet and met the Chef that gave them sloppily made sandwiches. The two talked, with the chef and his sandwich reminding Flor of his dad at home. Flor found out that Nath and Alice used to be Shinnou Academy students who went ‘coo coo’ after they graduated or were always crazy the whole time. The chef introduced himself as Gedeon, one of the criminals who were on death row but were practically saved by the walking jail known as Ulula.
Encounters (C.O.R.E Japan)
At 1PM , Souma and Lilianne woke up and decided to work on the monsters with the rest of the students.
Sumiko finally returned and saw that the students were still gathered in the operator’s room. After confirming that they’ve all rested, she received their questions and answered them.
Do you guys have data on the poison that comes from the shadows? Particularly from the one that shoots spikes from its mouth?
“Yes. You know I can’t feed you that information with the files about them, but I can answer it instead. I went through the papers myself so just take notes.” She raised one finger to answer his actual first question.
“First, the poison from the monster that shoots out spikes is supposedly nothing special. It’s just a very concentrated mix of bacteria that enters the blood stream, causing painful but slow blood poisoning. He may have used his coeur on it as well due to the fast yet slow effects it has on the victim.
As soon as the ‘poison’ enters the body, the blood poisoning starts immediately, but it progresses slow, leaving the victim in an agonizing while the poison slowly but surely makes their way to the victim’s heart. Upon reaching the heart, death is guaranteed. Otherwise, it’s still possible to save the victim with a healing coeur to slow the progression of the poison. In lucky cases, healing coeurs may even remove the poisoning completely if you have someone who has a high level of coeur potency....”
“With no treatment, no body cannot withstand the potent hemotoxin.” She nodded to Lilianne mentioning the term. “It was made to punish the victim with its slow but painful progression. The fact that it was laced with a curse through coeur doesn’t help either, so healing by coeur is one of the only ways to stop it.” (Sumiko)
Have you recorded any other monster that was with Johen from his recent sightings?
"Second, most recent monsters have been described to be like Boogiemen. The kids that were in the Eurostar recognized them as such when the Iceland agents asked them about their accounts. They're very malicious creatures that feed off of children's fear, so I reckon you may or may not have encountered them when they were young...."
"However, seeing as how they appeared to be under the employ of Johen, it seems that they found an anchor to stay in our realm. Majority of the Eurostar passengers that encountered them suffered some form of torture under their watch, so I can only assume that they're sadistic creatures."
"But ahem," she coughed, "You don't employ them. You enslave them." They're generally free-spirited entities after all. "I say not much is known about them because they're pretty much top-secret files. There's only information about his capture in our archives, but for more specific information as for how they function and their culture, those are unrecorded and only people like Shunrai-sama might know about them."
"We can speculate, yes. But I personally don't believe it to be so." Mostly because of her knowledge about how he was captured, which she was about to impart on them. "300 years ago, the dorm head, then known as one of the strongest Boogiemen attempted to take over the academy and the children that gathered there to feed on their fear and open access to the island for the rest of his brethren. However, the Shiki's, Shunrai-sama's clan, defeated him. He was supposed to be disposed of, but the founder of CORE and Shinnou Academy asked the Shiki's to bind him to them as their slave. Then, the founder himself 'adjusted' the dorm head's temperament and purpose using his coeur, turning him into an ally and protector of the children in the academy."
"His enslavement prevents him from hurting anyone or betraying Shinnou. Hence, he's spent 300 years on the island with constant surveillance and fine-tuning to make him adapt more and more to life with humans. Only the Scarlett's are allowed to tinker with him..." She squinted at specimen... "And no, we don't have the autonomy to treat him as a specimen because he ultimately belongs to the Shiki's and the Levesques, not us." (Sumiko)
Do you have any data about what shadows are made of?
"Shadows are made of void-slash-nature energy. Basically the portal that Johen uses to teleport to and fro places..
"It's from a realm that you also call the void. It's the first time I've heard of it in truth, but I would not be the best person to ask for information about it..." She made an X sign with her arms. Sorry Rion, she's not knowledgeable about realms and whatnot... All of this is very spiritual. "But if it helps.... The person you'll talk to about that man might have an idea." (Sumiko)
After answering their questions, Sumiko let them to the respective meetings rooms where they’ll meet people who can answer their questions. Rion was sent to meeting room 5 to talk with the Shiki’s, a clan who specializes in omnyoudo. There, he talked to Shuuei (Michael’s bodyguard) and Natsui (Countermeasure Agent), with Michael supervising the two brothers. Meanwhile, Ringo and Yuha were sent to meeting room 3 to talk to a veteran countermeasure agent who knew Johen since he was young, Chaimu Adachi.
Meeting Room 5 Rion asked the two Shiki’s about curses as planned. Natsui said that you can’t ward off curses unless you know that they’re made of. Druid protection charms don’t have an effect unless you make a pact with them first either. Humans have the latent ability to sense curses or communicate with the druid trees, but some people have it on and some people won’t.
Natsui suggested that Rion should try out a curse personally to awaken his latent ability by being exposed to it, to which the redhead agreed. Michael went into an outburst about Rion’s carelessness over his own life and scolded him for not thinking it over properly, but he eventually relented and allowed Natsui to curse Rion with a truth curse that affects Rion and the people he lies to.
It came out in a form of a rose on his chest with 13 petals. 2 petals have been used because Michael asked 2 questions that Rion lied to on purpose.
Meeting Room 3 Yuha and Ringo met Chaimu Adachi, a veteran countermeasures agent who met Johen as a teen that was being trained under C.O.R.E. Here, she told them that Johen was a rascal that often caused trouble with his faes and pranks. Chaimu also told them that he became a trainer at a young age, but he left after Antoine died. He destroyed facilities, erased his C.O.R.E records, and stole User information before he left.
Her team was assigned to corner him in a warehouse in Kyoto, but all of them died with worms bursting out of them as soon as they entered the warehouse. Their bodies disappeared and only the dead bugs remained along with Chaimu as the only survivor.
The bugs were parasitic in nature and had hundreds of legs. They fed on human flesh mostly, but they died right away as soon as their hosts died.
Japan HQ, Gardens Michael, Naru, and Hisato talked in the cherry blossom gardens of the headquarters. After asking Michael about the island defenses and reasons why Shunrai call Kokoro Island ‘Onigashima’. Michael answered that it was because Coeur Users are all somewhat similar to ticking time bombs with corruption having a high chance of popping up at any time. The island is basically a place where oni’s (Users) and should they ever pose a threat to the outside world, the island will be sunk by the Shiki’s. Confirming Hisato’s concern about Kokoro Island and Shinnou the whole time that he had told Naru days prior to the event.
However, Michael confirmed that such a thing wasn’t necessary because the moment that someone tried to access the secret of the island, it will sink on its own if the one replacing Michael had an impure motive or didn’t have the ‘divine blessing’.
Naru and Hisato panicked at this revelation, immediately asking Michael to send them to the island to protect it as the guardians of the academy. After some arguments, Michael relented and sent them there. The two students parted with Michael for an hour to prepare and met him back in the rehabilitation ward.
At first, Michael offered them an old teleportation scroll that Johen created. Naru and Hisato burned the scroll with no mercy and instead Chaimu was called to send the two to Kokoro Island using her coeur. Having a scroll of unknown use hidden in the deep archives of CORE puts their security at risk, especially because it is solely created for teleportation. Without knowing Johen’s full capabilities, it is possible for him to use it in reverse to infiltrate.
At 4:30 PM, There is an announcement in Japan CORE HQ for all the students to gather in the cafeteria.
The students decided to finally share their meal while they continue thinking together and see what else they could contribute. After sharing some updates from the students in Russia CORE side as well, they learned that the students on the Russian side will get dispatched.
After their meal, the students started a demonstration time for each and everyone’s coeur and explaining about their skills. Touma compiled all the information:
When Rion came back from the Meeting Room, he relayed the information he gathered and the information the headmaster received from Naru: Gillebhrath will most likely not wait until they are docked to sell the students and Users they've captured.
Deene suggested to conjure the staurolite that Naru mentioned in the line chat. Lilianne conjured the mineral(by rapping the chemical formula for sleeping Lilianne, performed by Deene and Sang) and Sangchul formed them into shivs enough for everyone to use through the help of Deene’s buff skill.
Rion and Souma brainstormed on a new combo skill that would help with removing foreign and dangerous things out of a person’s body.
For some reason, the students formulated a plan to try to fool Johen’s fae by wearing green contact lenses.
Ignorant Peace (Kokoro Island, Japan)
Upon arriving at the island, Naru and Hisato find themselves near the Mikami’s estate in the eastern part of the island. They got surrounded by Wanrams on their way to the Mikami’s gates, but the Wanrams deemed them as non-threats and went back to their positions after sharing a bento from Hisato.
Kei, who saw them arrive, met the two at the gates and led them into the operations room where the student council president relayed the positions of the people at the island. Everyone on the island was already informed of the possible war that may come at sea, and being loyal to the island and not wanting it to sink, the families responsible for protecting the island set up arms against the Levesques.
The Mikami’s were spread around the perimeter of the island in ships. The Shirasagi’s were by the Palais de coeurs, and the Miyanagis were spread out amongst the ships in the docks.
The student council was at the academy and was tasked to protect it.
Naru asked Kei to relocate his clansmen to the forest after finding out that they were out in the open. Kei relented, apologizing about their positioning. After they called the Miyanagi’s back into the forest, Kei sent the two students to the forest to meet Shunna and be guided towards where his clansmen were.
After discussing their participation in the defense of the island, the Miyanagi’s parted to their respective positions. Hisato and Naru were guided by Shunna to the Eastern Ram Beach where they called out for Erudite in an effort to talk to Watatsumi, the guardian dragon of the Island.
Erudite responded quickly and immediately brought them to the Jade Palace underneath the island. Along the way, Naru and Hisato saw the countless children of Watatsumi that were guarding the island’s underwater territory just in case submarines were used in trying to sneak into the island.
The three reach Watatsumi’s lair underneath, where he took on the form of a child while he received Naru and Hisato.
Naru and Hisato asked Watatsumi for help with protecting the island from the front lines. Watatsumi mentioned Arluin during their discussion but since Michael hasn’t told Hisato and Naru the full truth about the island yet, Watatsumi couldn’t say much apart from the fact that Arluin as the man that he made a pact with 300 years ago.
Hisato asked Michael through text if he could remove his limiter for the plan that he wanted to do with Naru. Michael agreed as long he knew what he was doing.
The three headed out onto one of the ships with Watatsumi still in his human form. Upon reaching the deck of one of the Mikami ships. The three waited until Kei gave them the signal and allowed their ship to advance. Everyone was on the lookout for the arrival of the Levesque ships and their hired mercenaries.
Upon the arrival of their enemies, their ship went halfway in the open sea before Hisato and Naru went the rest of the way on Watatsumi’s dragon form.
When they reached a certain point, a Levesque envoy was sent to them. It was a student not older than the two and he was clearly being possessed by someone else and used as a scapegoat for safety.
Hisato had already removed his limiter when they reached the meeting point, his dominion reached the whole of the island’s territory and surrounding seas. By synergizing with Naru, they were able to gather the threads of fate of both their enemies and friends. Ensuring that the souls of their allies would be protected by Hisato while Naru uses his coeur against the enemies. The ships of the Levesque’s stopped advancing and remained where they were under his coeur.
The envoy asked them to surrender, but not willing to be under a greedy and selfish ruler, everyone remained resilient and made sure they were prepared to be attacked during the peace talk. The envoy was tasked to kill himself as a warning, but Hisato and Naru blocked off the connection that he had to the one controlling him and the two retrieved the boy who was being used as a doll.
After a while of back and forth, Hisato finally finished spinning the threads of fate of their enemies. With Naru’s coeur, they incapacitated all of the ones on the other side of the sea, ending the confrontation with no blood being shed. The dragon, students, and unconscious envoy returned to the shore.
The two were sent to rest at the Mikami estate once more before they return to the students. Hisato released the dominion over the island after they confirmed that the hired mercenaries and Levesques were subdued and contained. They were also given anti-coeur collars to prevent them from doing anything or acting out while under supervision. The rain started pouring after Hisato released the area from his coeur.
Hisato and Naru finally changed and returned to Japan C.O.R.E HQ.
Resting in Anxiety(C.O.R.E Japan)
By evening, Shuuei arrived to answer some questions that the students have about curses.
Touma asked more details about the Ogham trees, the Willow in particular. Souma asked about the void and was advised about apporting the dimension as an object itself.
Yuha asked about the reason why Kokoro Island would sink. Shuuei answered that there is something there that must not get out, but didn’t elaborate because it should be the headmaster to reveal it.
Chaimu arrives carrying the cage with small Sadoko that the students were allowed to check. After interacting with the creature, it escaped the cage for a bit and appeared to actually have a connection with Johen despite the distance. After a short banter with the students, it just laid and played dead. Soon after, Enteii entered and forced the children to sleep.
Updates - Russo-Japan Line 11:40 PM, Japan CORE received another video call from Russia for updates: Nikita reported that they received word from Ulula, a walking jail-mafia group that works under Russian CORE and are the ones to do their dirty work. It is approved by the council despite some protests.
They found Gillebhrath's vessel in the middle of the triangulated area that we matched with your HQ's findings. Half of the kidnapped students was retrieved, but Wayze G. Mapps is in critical condition and Mizuha Wataneb is on her way to level 4 corruption.
After retrieving half of the students, the enemy vessel submerged but their coordinates have been marked.
The list of the students who were retrieved:
Wayze G. Mapps
Mizuha Watanabe
Shuichi Tokita
Momoka Koizumi
Fei Rosendahl
Florencio Ricci
Iori Amemoto
Chloe Mitchell
Shunrai reminded the Russia side that the students are still under Michael Levesque’s rules and despite Russian CORE’s protocol with the corrupted, they shouldn’t touch Mizuha. To which Nikita responded that they cannot promise anything because the one handling the students is Ulula.
After the call, Shunrai alerted Canada CORE to dispatch for Russia's side for their expertise in handling the situation.
Summer 30
In Transit (Ulula)
Purple Snow Another three hours later, Mizuha was still missing from the infirmary. The Dorm Head and the rest of the students remained in the only safe zone in the ship where no goon bothered them and watched over Wayze the whole time. Most of them were asleep, but Iori, Flor, Nagao, and the Dorm Head all went out to look for Mizuha now that Wayze was safe.
Mizuha had been walking around aimlessly the past six hours when she decided that it was time to return to the infirmary. Rachmov, however, wasn’t going to let her go so easily now that he has recuperated. Knowing that he’ll be killed soon, he decided to enact his final crime by killing a Corrupted, which was always his favorite job back when he was ‘free’.
Rachmov attacked Mizuha relentlessly, causing another chase in the ship. As Mizuha ran, her Corruption spread to the goons she passed by and eventually caused a large explosion of Corrupted coeur Users within the ship.
The chase ended up with them on the upper deck and out in the open, where Mizuha’s corruption affected a goon trying to piss peacefully in the sea. The man was affected immediately and attacked Mizuha, Rachmov, Nath, and the students who chased after Mizuha which were Iori and Flor, indiscriminately and injured them. Due to all of the chaos and people getting hurt, along with Rachmov’s constant taunts, Mizuha lost control of herself little by little. Wayze woke up as soon as the chaos in the upper deck started, feeling the burn of the boogieman’s covenant on her arm and making her realize that something was wrong. With her healed injury, she managed to find her way up slowly by surely, only to witness Mizuha’s relentless attacks on everyone around her.
Iori and Flor did their best to try and reason with Mizuha while Nagao was protecting them. Nagao had already realized by this time that the Corrupted User in front of him was his daughter, the one he left behind with his deceased wife Akemi. With her black hair turning brown, Mizuha and her mother were spitting images of each other. Wayze also called out to Mizuha and reached out to her, wanting her friend back so they can all go home together.
At this point, the ship was almost docking at Cape Crillon Russia HQ’s checkpoint base
With her friend’s voices reaching Mizuha, Rachmov who was extremely injured at this point, was interrupted by Wayze as she tried to reach out to her friend. The rat stabbed Wayze in retaliation, knowing that this was the final action he needed to push Mizuha over the edge.
Seeing Wayze’s body drop and be tossed aside so easily, Mizuha flew into rage and her corruption finally entered stage 4. Mizuha started attacking everything and anything around her, but in her mindless rage and despair, Nagao reached out to her and pulled her into a hug, eventually being pierced together by the same knife that Rachmov used to kill Wayze.
Nagao apologized for leaving Mizuha behind and not saving her sooner as she struggled, but in the end, they both found peace in their tragic reunion. Wayze, Mizuha, and Nagao pass together along with countless Corrupted users with a veil of purple snow falling from the sky.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upv7kEEKrac
Struggling in Grief The Ulula ship finally docked. Nikita, Aimi, Kyo, and Naomi who arrived earlier and were watching the whole thing through telescopes. They witnessed both the massacre from afar and the carnage that was left behind after when they climbed the ship to retrieve the other students along with the bodies of the deceased. Nikita, noticing the covenant that was trying to take their souls, cut off the boogieman’s connection from Mizuha and Wayze’s bodies, setting their souls free.
They were all sent to the infirmary underneath the base to rest and recuperate while the agents arranged for everything upstairs to keep them away from the purple snow.
Lying in Wait (No Name)
The Grand Auction While the students had no choice but to sit by, they spent much of their time talking with Johen whenever he came back from entertaining guests. Eventually, Johen returned to retrieve Gumi and Lynn for the final show, where they will be resold again despite already being sold to other clients earlier. The two girls left the Confinement Hall and were lead by Johen to the Grand Hall, where hundreds of their customers waited.
The first one up for sale was Megumi, who was sold to Dmitri.
Dispatch (Cape Soya, Japan)
Briefing Hall After the call, Shunrai, Enteii and Michael discussed about the dispatch of the students who are from Russian side.
Shunrai advised Michael that he could retrieve the students before they were dispatched. But hinting on Michael’s hesitation, he realized it was because the headmaster was already considering sending the students out there.
After a heated argument, to which Shunrai told Mike how he has skipped on admonishing his students for their own mistakes and therefore the students indulged in their unrestrained selfishness. After stating his own condition for the students to join, Shunrai told Mike to leave and the other did so, despite still wishing to talk more to iron out their differences.
The remaining agents were called for a briefing before they are sent to Cape Soya. Seeing the pitiful number, Shunrai announced that he’s choosing which ones to remain as operators while the rest would be out on the field. Being full-fledged agents, they are also instructed to assist the students as newbies. Five agents are tasked to stay back to escort the students later after the headquarters have been locked down.
Before Shunrai was able to depart, he was stopped by Naru and Hisato asking for updates. After hearing of the dispatch and Michael’s plan with the students, they decided to offer their help with reconnaissance instead as they cannot help with the rescue efforts directly. Despite Shunrai’s refusal, the two insisted and it ended up wasting his time. Grudgingly agreeing to bring them along, he also announced that he will punish them after they land.
Multipurpose Hall On the morning of Summer 30, all students who wished to volunteer and join the agents with the rescue mission were asked to gather in the Multipurpose Hall of the headquarters by the headmaster. Michael explained to the students how they will be treated as full-fledged agents and will be obligated to follow orders. Asking if they still wish to go to the rescue mission despite that. The students are given two choices and was asked to submit where they wish to go: Cape Soya(Japan CORE) or Cape Crillon(Russian CORE).
After submission, the CORE agents assigned as escort noticed that some students didn’t specify their own Cape of choice, which led to a discussion that those who didn’t choose will be forced to stay back. They brought this issue to the headmaster who decided to explain the problem to the students. Unfortunately, some of them took this as an offense for being tested again and turned against the headmaster. Michael remained patient, understanding and in control despite his own agitation. However, he realized that despite his wishes to treat the students as equal, they are still children in the end.
Cape Soya After a few hours of flight, Shunrai started the briefing for the recon team: "Foreign vessels are detected not too far off from this point. Those ships aren't coming any closer to our target, as expected. But that also means you are likely to encounter Gillebhrath's clients. The initial priority was to secure an escape route for the captured as fast as possible, but change of plan. Do your best to find the location of all the kids as fast as possible and keep an eye out for client exchanges. We don't want them getting out of there with any of the kids unnoticed."
"Secondly, our initial plan will take place after. Judging from is functions, it's most likely a remodeled military ship. There should be more than one exist and pod dispatchment rooms. Secure the routes, stay vigilant."
"Third, but least significant for now. Scout for the enemies, we need to have better ideas on which members of the organization is on board. This information will actually be vital to the rescue party later, but if you are ordered to pull out and attend to another mission, by all means do so. We need to keep our priorities on making sure we don't lose any of the students from the ship."
Tsukumo assisted the newbie team and taught them the basic usage of their equipment before sending them out.
Gillehbrath Ship Using stealth submarine pods that arrived in different points, Team Suisei (Hisato and Naru) arrived in the enemy ship with the rest of CORE recon teams. Discovering that the cameras instantly block the corridor, they resorted to maneuvering their way around using the air vents. With Tsukumo and Shunrai’s operational support, as well as Naru’s ability to hear the student’s bells, they made their route towards the confinement area. With the help of the other recon teams, they started the blueprint mapping of the surrounding areas and passages.
Along the way the team passed by the following:
Private empty chambers on the ship’s second floor that houses clients during their trade.
A room full of flowers that’s being processed and releasing dangerous fumes.
Several function rooms
A receiving area
Grand Hall, which is currently empty but the tables and chairs have been prepared.
Laser detectors in the hallway that was easily evadable
Several defense mechanism that would trigger an alarm for the whole ship, close to the confinement.
The Gillehbrath present in the ship:
A slender black-haired man (he revealed that Johen has the capability to tap into coeurs to ‘fix’ them)
A masked woman in red inside a meeting room enjoying tea with her confidant.
Along with the masked woman, a grey-haired man wearing a silver suit. His hair showing similarities to the man caught in camera during the Russian Ambassador’s assasination.
Johen sitting in a room with several clients talking about future endeavors and investments.
Hanae Tsuji who appears to have access to disable all the security mechanism.
The other teams reported finding the following:
Control and security room.
Unmasked lady in black in the private quarters.
Three children running around in the north end of the hall freely, most likely ‘fixed’ trading goods.
Friday was present in another private chamber.
Ifrit was present in the reception area.
Before the teams could disable the security mechanism leading to the confinement, Soya reported that more clients have arrived in the ship and the recon teams were instructed to retreat within twenty minutes. The other teams suggested to disable the security system so Team Suisei could proceed and confirm the kidnapped student’s status. However, Hanae Tsuji’s presence made it dangerous to do so without alarming Gillehbrath.
Team Suisei requested to wait three more minutes to see if she will leave the area so they could proceed. Unfortunately, the allotted time has passed without any changes.
The other recon teams updated their location and were also met with blockage in the third floor. All teams were ordered to retreat the ship.
Despite the hesitation to leave, Suisei followed the orders without protest and were able to arrive back to their pods safely and later on, report their findings to Shunrai in Cape Soya.
Standing Up Again (Cape Crillon, Russia)
8 hours later, Nikita asked the students who they just retrieved if they want to participate in the rescue operation rather than staying in the infirmary and recuperating. Most of them were still asleep, but he didn’t mind checking up on them again later knowing that they needed more hands if necessary. Iori and Flor were the first to volunteer.
Those from C.O.R.E Japan that chose to come to Cape Crillon arrived and they were greeted by Nikita as well. Those who were being dispatched were given the standard C.O.R.E Russia uniform, after they were brought to Mizuha and Wayze’s bodies to pay their respects.
Laciann Vasiliev lead the briefing for the rescue operation. Thanks to the information given by the reconnaissance teams, they could proceed with the rescue mission as planned The students were separated in 6 teams whose tasks and members were:
Team A will take over the control room.
Dolore (NPC)
Team B will be in charge of securing the escape route.
Nikita (NPC)
Koizumi, Momoka
Rosendahl, Fei
Tokita, Shuichi
Team C will go down to the Confinement Hall.
Vasiliev, Aimi
Amemori, Shion
Sunakawa, Takato (Kyo)
Tamara, Naomi
Team D will head to the Grand Hall.
Hanae, Yui
Qian, Aleksandr
Ricci, Florencio
Serizawa, Ringo
Team E goes in as a backup, and be ready to attend to any team that will need reinforcement.
Amemoto, Iori
Mikami, Atsuki
Teramura, Toshio
Shimada, Akako
Team F will be on standby outside as backups as well.
Rolock (NPC)
After they were given the necessary information and their equipment, the teams were immediately dispatched via submarines. Once they reach Gillebhrath’s vessel, which was aptly titled No Name, they were to converge with the C.O.R.E Japan rescue teams and help each other rescue the kidnapped students.
Heading Out (Cape Soya, Japan)
As soon as the students arrived, they were given the standard C.O.R.E Japan uniform and gathered in the base’s briefing hall. Shunrai lead the briefing, where the main teams that the students would be in were the Confinement Hall and Grand Hall rescue teams. The students split into two groups as follows: Team Izayoi is in charge of securing the Confinement Hall.
Iversen, Lilianne
Martinez, Demain
Sanohara, Souma
Kwon, Sangchul
Yuzuriha, Kaede
Team Kogarashi is in charge of rescuing the students put up for auction in the Grand Hall
Serizawa, Rion
Daskalov, Tomoko
Touma, Shigekazu
Mikan, Arisa
After they were given the necessary information and their equipment, the teams were immediately dispatched via submarines. Once they reach Gillebhrath’s vessel, which was aptly titled No Name, they were to converge with the C.O.R.E Russia rescue teams and help each other rescue the kidnapped students.
The Rescue Mission (Sea of Japan)
The Confinement Hall Team C made their way towards the confinement hall without much problems. Upon arriving, Kyo used his EMP skill and forced the large metal door open. Inside were Dominik, Haruki, Yamato, Van, Kyohei (Takato), and Ellis. Aimi and Shion stood guard at the open door to allow Kyo and Naomi to reunite with their friends.
Soon, Team Izayoi arrived as well. As they all tried to find a way to open the glass wall, Aimi was attacked with an electric wave that made her fly back. Two dolls entered the room with another one leading them as he stood by the steps. The dolls started shooting at the rescue teams while the others tried to break the glass cage open. They eventually did while Shion and Aimi destroyed the dolls that were shooting and attacking them,
Most of them were eventually held back by piano wires, with Lilianne, Souma, Deene, and Haruki being spared as the faceless pawns started filing into the confinement hall and blocking their escape route. After a while of struggle, the students managed to free their friends. Souma and Haruki forced the anti-coeur collar off of his neck with a shiv, and once they succeeded, Haruki’s coeur awakened once more under the stress of the whole event. With Aimi leading the front as she destroyed dolls using her corroding barrier, Haruki made sure to give them space in the sea of pawns as they made their way up the steps.
Once the main doll, Chialla, retreated, they immediately ran up the steps. More dolls had spawned before they left and were counting down to self-destruct. They reached a safe space where Natsui was almost done fighting higher level chess pieces. Natsui blocked off the explosion from spreading any further into the hallways that they were in, allowing the students a moment of rest from the intense escape.
The group takes some time reuniting and talking, with some of them dealing with contrecoeur due to the battle that occurred in the confinement hall. Eventually, a message from another team, Shieri instructed them to move to escape, the other routes have been blocked off by a security mechanism. Arriving on the scene, the mechanism separated the students, along with the three CORE agents: Natsui, Shieri and the unconscious Enteii, from the other agents who were still fighting chess pieces, more dolls and vine monsters. They were also told that the submarines that they were going to use for their escape was removed or missing.
Having no other choice, they all hastily went to the upper deck where they expected to see Johen waiting, but not before watching the rest of the CORE agents burned alive by a mechanism that could disable coeurs.
The Grand Hall Lynn and Megumi, dubbed as Danaan and Electra respectively in order to hide their true names, were taken there was placed on a stage and presented to a large crowd of customers. Megumi was sold to Client #68 (Dmitri) and Client#8.
After the intense bidding war was done, Megumi was first to be fixed in front of the crowd as a final show for the event that had been on-going in Gillebhrath’s ship. Megumi’s brainwashing caused her to feel pain whenever she asserted her true identity and background. To become Dmitri’s new ‘daughter’, Johen put a crack over her memories and filled it with fake ones as Dmitri’s daughter and heiress, Dmitria. Once her new ‘identity’ and ‘guide’ was embedded in her mind, Megumi was no longer and Dmitria’s persona now took over.
Next up was Lynn, whose brainwashing led to cracks in her belief about her status as a human and her locked away fear. Her brainwashing was more subtle, as she did not get a new and reinforced identity, but it was something that would surely show in her future interactions.
Outside of the back entrance of the Grand Hall was Team D and Team Kogarashi, the two teams tasked to save the students. They had to wait on each other instead of charging ahead, hence they witnessed most of the fixing along with Gumi and Lynn’s screams of pain.
Once they had a plan and were ready, most of them entered the Grand Hall to sneak up on Johen while the rest remained behind the entrance as back up. A few minutes into the room, however, the spotlights were cast down on them and Johen welcomed them knowing that they were going to arrive the whole time.
The clients all looked towards them as if they expected them as well. The crowd was promptly led to an escape route in another room, with Megumi going with Dmitri after recognizing him to be her ‘father’.
Behind the group that stayed behind, Linnea appeared to block off their escape route. Florencio and the rest of his half of the group went after Megumi while the ones who faced Johen attempted to get Lynn out of the cage. Aleksei attempted attacking Johen, but to no avail.
A voice talked to Johen mentally, saying that they were bored of the play as the students had no chance against him with lack of pretenses. To which Johen laughed before he decided to let Linnea and his summons to the rest of the work- even though both him and his summons were holding back to give the students a chance.
Johen watched from the air as they struggled against the vine monster that he summoned. Meanwhile, Yui’s attempts to reach out to Linnea were rejected as the young girl admonished them for thinking she was unhappy and abused. Feeling strongly for the girl, Yui attempted to save her by killing her and stopping her ‘suffering’, only for Linnea to be saved by Johen last minute. In Linnea’s stress, she decided that she was going to kill any other Shinnou Academy student that would come across her path- seeing them as evil for always forcing their ideals onto others like how Yui did.
Aleksei ran to his friend and tried to snap her out of it, scolding Yui for doing something so reckless. Wanting his friend to rest, Aleksei tried to soothe her, but Yui had a final task to do so that they could all escape.
In an attempt to stop the crowd, Tomoko used her coeur to make the floor slippery as they all walked toward the emergency exit. The crowd of clients mostly fell and paved a path straight to where Dmitria was.
While Dmitri and Dmitria were trying to escape, they got separated by Enteii’s ice wall. Before they did, Dmitri told his new daughter to pretend that she was here against her will and that she didn’t know him. The students eventually caught up to Dmitria, taking her along with them back to the Grand Hall.
Meanwhile, everyone who was being attacked by the vine monster tried looking for its weak spot- a gemstone embedded in its body. Once they found it, the monster was destroyed and caused the submarine to shake from the impact.
The other agents were killed by the monsters who weren’t holding back against them, while the students managed to remain unscathed due to Johen and the monster’s leniency.
Enteii was injured during the fight, but Flor managed to help her wound heal faster by manipulating the components inside her body. The group escaped and met up with Team B, whose only current member was Nikita as he had let the others escape first earlier. With Chaimu’s help, she created a portal to allow them to escape to the upper deck to meet the rest of their teammates.
The submersible eventually surfaced out into the open sea and all the teams took their chances to go to the upper deck, knowing who they’ll meet.
The Upper Deck A group of agents were dealing with the army of pawns that filed in from the lower deck of the ship. As the other teams caught up on the upper deck, a large explosion of energy decimated the agents who were already there while Johen’s barrier prevented the students and the agents with them from being involved in the massacre.
The agents had realized that Johen’s only targets to kill were them, with the students having a different purpose and hence being protected by him. Gillebhrath’s ship, the No Name, was now surrounded by C.O.R.E Russia and C.O.R.E Japan vessels, ready to attack him at any time. C.O.R.E Japan wanted to prioritize rescuing the kids and escaping, but C.O.R.E Russia was adamant on getting rid of the Johen now that they have him out in the open.
C.O.R.E Russia ordered for missiles to be deployed towards the vessel, causing panic with the students and the C.O.R.E Japan agents. Nikita, who didn’t know of this plan, still accepted it and told the others that he’d stay to keep Johen on the ship. Missiles were already shot, but the C.O.R.E Japan agents managed to stop them in time since the students were still on the vessel.
Johen, in the grand finale of his show, opened a massive void portal in the sky and summoned his monsters to attack the C.O.R.E vessels that surrounded No Name. After which, he summoned what seemed to be a fae whom he dubbed as the Queen of Darkness, sending her off to sink the C.O.R.E Russia ships and prevent them from firing any more missiles while the students escaped.
Naomi created a large diamond lotus flower in the water and kept it afloat using her coeur. The students used it as an escape boat to get away from the ship, but her new skills had caused her to contrecoeur before they could get far. Johen’s curse, however, gave her the reward that she deserved for being able to reunite with her friends and save them. A portion of her stamina returned and it was enough to sail them away on the diamond until actual rescue boats arrived to take them.
In the distance, they watched Natsui, Shieri, and Chaimu fight against Johen in meelee while Nikita faced the fae that Johen had summoned to fight with him. Nikita was struck down by a rain of swords, but Chaimu managed to let them escape in time using her banishing skill.
Now that there was no one left to fight, Johen watched the students leave through his sinking ship. The Queen of Darkness and monsters that he summoned all returned to the void portal above before it closed. He smiled, knowing that this would be their last encounter for quite a long time.
The Aftermath (C.O.R.E Japan)
The students were all returned to C.O.R.E Japan Headquarters. After C.O.R.E Russia’s order with the missiles, Shunrai didn’t find it right or reasonable for them to send the students who started from Cape Crillon back under their care.
Most of the students were in the rehabilitation ward, resting as much as they could from the whole day’s ordeal. Shunrai and the rest of the agents didn’t get enough room to breathe, however, when a C.O.R.E Russia Envoy arrived to reconcile with C.O.R.E Japan, as well as ask for the students under their zone back.
Despite the agent’s initially hostile reception, they had no choice but to bring him to Shunrai in one of the meeting rooms under the condition that he doesn’t talk or interact with any of the students.
Upon reaching the room, the envoy known as Xiao Wen promptly greeted Shunrai and the rest of his agents with a celebratory expression despite the grim status of their headquarter’s relationships with each other. Shunrai surmised that it was Xiao Wen who took over Laciann’s position during the operation and sent the missiles towards Johen and the students, to which the man agreed to.
Xiao Wen urged Shunrai to hand them the students from their zones. Shunrai declined, as expected, but the Russian envoy was able to get custody of Aimi due to her family’s well being as her priority. Only Aimi was allowed to leave with Xiao Wen while the rest of the students were kept in the Rehabilitation Ward.
AImi, meanwhile, was talking to Lilianne during the meeting and warned Lilianne about the envoy possibly being someone who will use her against her family for their support. She instructed Lilianne to hide in the Rehabilitation Ward while the envoy was still here, to which Lilianne agreed.
After saying her goodbyes, Aimi had one final run in with Deene at the lobby where Lilianne’s name was almost mentioned, but since Xiao Wen was there, Aimi improvised and pretended that Deene was asking her for a ‘lil kiss’, since ‘Lil’ is Deene’s nickname for the girl in question. Deene caught Xiao Wen’s eyes easily and after some questioning about Lilianne, he finally left with Aimi and went back to C.O.R.E Russia’s Headquarters.
After everything, the parents were all send a Parent-Teacher-Conference notice, inviting them to Shinnou Academy in Kokoro Island on Fall 10 for a proper discussion about what happened to the students and for Michael to face the consequences of sending out the children on a rescue mission.