Keiko , Mitsuya and Casanova hurry down the stairs to Hageshi Heya. Along the way , they would have to use the scanner again , but mostly throughout the journey it was just Keiko explaining to the other two. Mitsuya started the conversation :
" Keiko , catch me up to speed. Exactly how did you get on this boat ? What happened to your siblings , and what type of place is this ' Hageshi Heya' ?" Keiko , who had been leading the way this entire time , struggled to gather his words. He had to stop a few times to gather his breath. By now , Mitsuya was under the impression that Keiko was as weak as he was when he was five years old. This kid literally looks like he's about to pass out. " Ok , we just met. One question at a time. My name is Keiko Shimura. I'm 13 years old , and my family is from Osaka , Japan. I have 3 siblings , all of them are younger than me. My parents weren't very well off , so my grandfather raised us. When he died , our parents began to be able to live without any debts. My mother had gone into labor with the fourth child , and we were home alone. But then a man came to our house , claiming that he had been sent to take us to the hospital to see our parents. He even showed us a document with their signature on it. I was skeptical at first , but with no other relatives , we just went with them. We found out all too late. And we were punished after trying to escape. After being held in a warehouse for several days , I was separated from my younger two siblings , and brought here. I've been down here for over three weeks , watching as prisoners come and go. I don't know what happened to my parents , or to my brother. He could have been stillborn. I'll never know." Mitsuya listens to this story with heartfelt eyes. He is sorry for Keiko , and he feels as if he could connect to him. Casanova also feels the same thing. At this moment , three orphans are standing in the same place sulking over their memories. Suddenly Mitsuya becomes alert. He turns to Casanova - " Casanova, do you feel anything ?" Casanova shakes his head. He turns back to Keiko. " I'm sorry Keiko. I truly understand how you must be feeling. We'll help you find your siblings and get back to your parents. That's a promise , okay ?" The boy is noticeably skeptical , but nods his head. " Alright." Casanova , who has had his back up against the wall this entire time , approaches them - " So , what do you know about Hageshi Heya ? What kind of place is it ?" Keiko takes a deep breathe :
" The Hageshii Heya is a secret battleground hidden from the public view at the unknown lower level of the boat. Being a gambling company and all , the Stylings Group only opens it up to the wealthiest of its patrons. Prisoners from the human trafficking network are taken and pitted either against one another , or against fighters proposed and confirmed to be worthy opponents by the audience. However , the audience has made it a habit of concealing their faces in order to avoid being caught engaging in suspicious activities. Most of the time , these battles are to the death , or until one admits defeat. But for prisoners who admit defeat , they are instantly sent sold off either way. Those who win get a prize , ultimately followed by being sold. These prizes aren't real , but just a symbol of being given a new owner. As for me , I've admitted defeat twice while down there , but they still kept me here. Your friend should be engaging in her battle as we speak. They usually make us wait a few hours."
Casanova takes a piece of paper out of his pocket , and kneels down to where Keiko is : " Listen , do you know anything about these people ? I'm going to read their names to you :
Tone Tomoko
Shizuka Matsuo
Shirai Hitomi
Nobuhiro Watsuki
Noriko Fudo
Kuba Ryota
Nakai Shinji
Keiko shakes his head. " No , I haven't heard of any of them. Do you have any pictures." Casanova grins. " It just so happens that I do." He takes out a picture of a fair skinned woman with brunette hair , who appears to be about 18 years old. She has green eyes and peculiar pearl earrings. " This is Tone Tomoko. Recognize her ?" Keiko instantly becomes alert - " Yeah , I saw her down here a few days ago. She lost her fight in the Hageshi Heya. But I don't know what happened to her after that." Casanova takes out another photo , this time of an average man who appears to be 20 , with glasses and pitch black hair. " This is Kuba Ryota." Keiko also recognizes him : " He lost his fight. He died down here." After a few seconds , Keiko questions Casanova- " What is all of this for ?"
Mitsuya explains it to him - " It's a long story , but I think that we can tell you. We are mages , and our friend was captured and brought here. In addition to having to save her , our master sent us here because there has been supernatural activity regarding people here in Yokohama. All of the people that I have told you about have apparently committed suicide. Their last known is this boat and its general vicinity , but their bodies have all been discovered at the bottom of skyscrapers around the urban area. And to top it off , their spirits have been rumored to appear to strangers around the places that they passed. Our goal is to find the next target , and prevent it. He or she should be on this ship right now , or should be present in a while. All of these crimes have taken place within hours of each other." When he finishes , he looks at the starry - eyed Keiko . " You said you were mages , right ? I heard stories of you while I was in grade school. Apparently mages are bad people , but I never believed it. My grandpa used to tell us stories. What type of magic do you have ?" He's so excited. Casanova grins - " As for me , I have a shadow affinity. The guy over there has a weird combination - Time Magic , Space Magic and Wind Magic." Keiko looks past Casanova's pointing to Mitsuya. He pauses for a moment - " Haven't I meet you somewhere before ?" Mitsuya looks concerned - " If I met you , I would remember your face. I don't forget things very often." Keiko looks assured , but just brushes it off. " Anyway , the Hageshi Heya should be directly behind that door right there. But I warn you , there's typically a guard watching over the entrance. He might not be easy to get around. How are you gonna do it ?" For a moment , there is silence until Casanova breaks out in laughter. " Oh , we can get past them no problem. Remember Mitsuya's ability. Time Stop." Mitsuya has his normal face - " How do you know that it'll work ? My heart stops every time I use it." Casanova stands up - " You think I haven't been watching you Mitsuya ? I've seen you training , and I know all about your new honed ability. You figured out a way to prolong your heartbeat. In fact , you figured out a way to prolong your entire body to move faster while your opponent has an altered sensation of time. This time , you just can't stop anything that can't think. Basically , all moving objects. So when you use the basic form , you can stop moving things but at a greater risk." Mitsuya grunts - " Even so , I haven't tried it on anyone. And the longer that I use it , the weaker I get." Casanova doesn't seem to care. " Mitsuya , you froze me. At least try it. It's our only way. Well , not the only way , the easiest way."
Once the door opens , there are about 5 armed guards standing before them. They simultaneously lift their guns' ' Hey , what the hell are you kids-" , instantly stopped. Mitsuya takes a deep breath and looks at his pocket watch - It's still ticking. He looks back at Casanova and Keiko behind him. " I hate both of you right now." They stand there , frozen in time. Mitsuya grabs both of their hands and drags them across the room to the door. He closes it behind him. Suddenly he grasps his chest , and falls to the ground. Casanova and Keiko return to normal , and stare down at him. " Are you alright ? Do you need to take a break ?" Keiko says as he kneels down to face Mitsuya. Mitsuya quickly stands up. " Nope , I'm fine. Now , what we have to worry about is right down there." Casanova observes that they are standing at the entrance of the balcony area. About 50 or 70 people sit in front of them , all with opera masks on. A few servants caring fine wine tend to them. Mitsuya , Casanova and Keiko run to the area with the least people. They haven't been noticed yet. Below them , they have a clear view of the spectacle. The large man is still standing before Julianna on the crimson platform battleground. Casanova observes the nonchalant look on her face. " Yeah , that's her." The fair girl dressed in the black kimono , with the white hair and crimson red eyes standing below them. Mitsuya , however , is scared to death. He falls on the ground. " NO , IT CAN'T BE. THAT GIRL …. SHE LOOKS ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE HER." Casanova looks down at him - " What the hell is wrong with you ?" Mitsuya is in a sorry state , as if he's having a PTSD attack. It's hard for him to breathe , and his face begins to turn red. He is only calmed down by the sudden touch of Keiko - " Hey , whatever it is , it's going to be okay. Believe me." Mitsuya looks into his eyes , still hyperventilating. He calms down , and takes a deep breath while looking towards Casanova. " If you're okay now , I think we should wait. I want to see this first. It won't take long." Mitsuya and Keiko stand up and join Casanova's side at the balcony. As they peer down , Julianna is about to begin her match. The man holding the large sword runs towards her , his large steps echoing throughout the room. He roars his fury , only to be met with Julianna's nonchalant face. She just stands there , arms folded. " Why isn't she doing anything ? He's coming right towards her." Keiko and Mitsuya utter at the same time. Casanova grins - " She's gonna win. Just watch." The man runs before her , and when he is close to her , he reaches to grab her. The only problem is that he missed. By the time he is across the battlefield , Julianna is on the other side. No one saw her move. " WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ?" Keiko is excited now. The man turns around , and looks at her confusingly. She smirks. He tries again , swinging his large sword and yelling his war cry. " It seems like you're almost unintelligible." He goes straight for her , but is stopped when she jumps in the air. An air breaking kick lands directly on his head , causing his head to bleed. He falls directly towards the ground , in an unconscious state. Julianna lands on top of his head. From the audience , there is silence. But not for long.
" WHAT THE HELL ? I BET 50,000 DOLLARS FOR THAT ?"
" HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY BEST FIGHTER !"
" SHE MUST HAVE BEEN CHEATING. NO WAY A GIRL THAT YOUNG COULD BEAT SOMEONE AS BIG AS HIM."
Julianna sighs and projects her voice to the crowd - " AYE , LISTEN UP. I'VE BEEN STUDYING MARTIAL ARTS SINCE I WAS 3 YEARS OLD. THERE ARE A FEW OPTIONS TO EXPLAIN THIS. EITHER I'M JUST THAT GOOD , HE WAS TIRED , OR YOU HAVE SOME REALLY BAD FIGHTERS. EITHER WAY , IT WAS NICE OF YOU TO ASSUME THAT I COULDN'T WIN." The entire crowd goes silent , but suddenly erupts into chaos. They begin arguing and cursing at Julianna , who remains unphased. Casanova takes this as their chance. " Okay , she caused enough tension. It's time." Casanova stands on top of the balcony railing and jumps down to the center of the floor. Everyone's eyes instantly land on the confident young boy standing in front of them. He turns to Julianna standing behind him - " You got yourself into a little situation , I see." She smiles. " Took you long enough , Cassy. Good to see you." Mitsuya and Keiko watch from up top. Suddenly a red alarm blares , followed by a booming voice on the intercom. " INTRUDERS PRESENT IN THE LOWER AREA. EVERYONE REMAIN ALERT AND ON WATCH FOR THREE CHILDREN. ALL MALE." Casanova sighs - " Oh, great. MITSUYA , KEIKO , COME OUT." Mitsuya and Keiko jump down as well , and all four of them are surrounded by about 40 armed guards in not even 10 seconds. They aim their weapons directly at them. They all assume a regular fighting stance , but then Mitsuya realizes something. " Keiko , you don't know how to fight , do you ?" Keiko shakes his head. " It's okay , we'll be done with this in little time." He was serious , because within 2 minutes almost every single guard was on the ground either unconscious or pretending to be unconscious. Casanova casts a concealing spell on the four of them. " It's time to go , right now. Julianna , where are we headed ?" Julianna thinks quickly - " Go to Uzumaki Communications Tower. We can camp out there for a while." Casanova's wings appear from behind him. He prepares to grab everybody. Outside , everyone is panicking , and the alarms are still blaring , but no one can hear or see them. They all run to the basement , to the elevator , which goes to the upper deck. Outside , the sun is still shining brightly. Casanova grabs everyone. " Hang on tight , this is gonna be a bumpy ride." In less than 3 minutes of flying , the kids are on the roof of the tower. They each fall down from Casanova , trying to catch their breath. Mitsuya is exasperated - " You almost dropped me three times, idiot."
After explaining everything , Julianna was finally caught up to speed on Keiko's backstory , and the steps that they took to get there , all she could say was - " That sounds very tough. But in the end , you achieved the first part of the mission. Congratulations." She was met with an ' are you serious face' from all of them. As they made their way to the bottom floor of the tower , Julianna led them through conversation. " This tower is where I keep a lookout. I can see almost everything in the downtown area from up there. But I don't live here. There's a hotel a few minutes away from here. The Vanya Lodge. Himura reserved me a room there after my parents both died a few years back." In Mitsuya's mind , he thinks " How many orphans did the guy pick up ?" Julianna leads them to the bus stop , and they all sit together on the bus. In less than 10 minutes , they would be in front of a 5 story building that looks somewhat like a modern bookstore. When they walk in , they are met by a young woman in front of a large desk , on the phone with a potential customer. She puts up her hand to signify that she will be done in a moment. When she gets off the phone , she smiles widely. " Hello , Julianna. How are you ? You didn't come back last night." Julianna shakes her hand - " Good Ms. Cal. I had an interesting day to say the least." They both laugh , and the woman peers behind her to the three boys. " Who are they , potential boyfriends." Julianna looks at them as well , and her eyes stop directly on Mitsuya. He makes eye contact with her. " Not at all. Just some friends touring the city sent by my uncle. I had to show them around today.''Ms. Cal looks suspicious , but then grins. " Do you think that you'll need another room ?" Julianna shakes her head. The woman leads the three of them upstairs to the third floor , past the indoor pool and the dining hall. At the end of the hall , there are two rooms. Room 367 and Room 368. Julianna uses a key to open the last room , 367. " Casanova , and Keiko , was it , you can take the other room. Mitsuya can stay with me." There is a look of noticeable tension on Mitsuya's face." We'll meet up in 30 minutes." Casanova has this stupid grin on his face , while Keiko looks as innocent as ever. Julianna grabs Mitsuya's hand and closes the door behind them. Before them is a large room , with a couch , a TV , a desk , a bathroom , an elongated window curtain , and two beds. Julianna sits on one of the beds and takes her shoes off , staring at Mitsuya. " Nice to meet you. I've heard alot about you from Casanova and Himura. I'm Julianna." She reaches out a hand to him. Mitsuya stares at her , before hesitantly reaching out. Julianna is phased. " Is something wrong ?" Mitsuya is distraught , but is called back to attention after she says his name three times. " OH , nothing. You just remind me of someone." Julianna's eyes become more heartfelt as she looks at Mitsuya. She smiles. " Well , I hope that we can become good friends. I want to get to know you , especially since we'll be living together from now on. I think you're an interesting person." Mitsuya smiles back at her , and they both begin laughing. " Nice necklace. Where'd you get it from." Julianna clenches it close to her chest. " Oh , I don't really know. I've just had it for a long time , I forgot who gave it to me. It was probably an heirloom or something." Mitsuya looks at it - " It matches your eyes." Julianna looks at him. For the next 15 minutes , they would talk about things that Mitsuya hadn't discussed with anyone since Angel. He felt like this could have been the start of something special. Until the moment that she said - " Well , because I've been held captive for the past 20 hours , I think I should take a shower." At this point , Mitsuya was questioning something. " Should I… yeah , I'm just gonna wait on the balcony." Some time later , she brought up a peculiar question that Mitsuya was not prepared for. " Himura told me about your sister. Did you ever think that her sight may have been taken from her as an offering ? Like , to a spirit , or a demon as a result of what you did ?" Mitsuya gave a calm , secluded response. " No , I never actually thought of that, because I never believed in spirits or demons." Julianna brushed this aside. She whispers under her breath. " There's always the possibility that it's psychosomatic from some experience not involving magic." , and continued talking to him about something else. It turns out that they would make a perfect pair.
15 minutes later , Julianna, Mitsuya , Casanova and Keiko were all sitting on the floor. Julianna laid out a map on the floor. " Okay , seven people in all have committed suicide. We couldn't get much information from the Grand Orient , except that Keiko saw the people in the photos. Their spirits are somehow trapped in the realm of the living , and they can't pass on to the afterlife. Each person has been found at one of these buildings labeled on the map , in the red dots. These are : Sakura Press , The L'Oreal Office , The Shinkiro Sports Office , The Akira Memorial Tower , and three abandoned apartment complexes. What do you guys notice about these places?"
Mitsuya notices it instantly - " All of these places are within 15 miles of each other. And if you observe here , it's like it's moving in a pattern. Keiko , hand me that marker." Keiko throws the marker at him. Mitsuya begins drawing lines on the map , while Julianna hovers above him. Casanova just watches. " You see that ? Each location succeeding each other is either directly north or east of the previous one." Julianna continues. " There are a number of buildings in that vicinity. Exactly 20. We can't cover all of those in one night." Casanova raises his hand- " So what do we do ? If each of us went , we would have to cover 5 places at once. And Keiko isn't a mage." Julianna sits back down beside Mitsuya - " We wait." Casanova gets back up and heads for the door. " Wait , guys." Keiko stops them from moving. " Do you think that my brother and sister could be involved in this ?" Mitsuya looks at Julianna and Casanova , then responds - " I don't think so. But if they are , then we'll find them , and we'll protect them. I promise."
At 11:30 P.M. After Mitsuya and Casanova had taken extended naps , and Julianna took Keiko shopping for new clothes, Mitsuya awoke. He had felt as if something was hovering over him , but when he opened his eyes , he couldn't see anything. " Must have been the wind." The room was dark except for the flash of the TV , and he could hardly see because he was so sleepy. He looked across the room. Julianna wasn't in the other bed. Instead , the curtain to the balcony was open. He could see her figure gazing into the moonlight. Mitsuya decided to go to the bathroom. He hovers above the sink , a towel in his hand. He wipes the cold towel against his face, trying to become more alert after that over 5 hour nap. He takes the towel from his face , his eyes still closed. But he still feels something. It's like there's a chill running down his spine. Mitsuya stands still and opens his eyes. The next thing we hear is his air defining scream. Behind him , stands a woman dressed in all black. She looks scary , at least to Mitsuya. Her face is so pale , like death incarnate itself. He falls to the ground , and scrambles to get out of the bathroom. As soon as he takes hold of the handle , he bolts out of the room. But before he closes the door , he sees something. She has things with her - children. Two of them. But he can't distinguish them from their dark form. Mitsuya runs to the balcony , where Julianna is sitting. She stands up , alert as ever. " You felt it too , didn't you ?" Mitsuya , failing to catch his breath , nods. " Yeah , I saw her. Tone Tomoko. But there's something else. There was another presence in there too. I don't know what it was. It was right there - I swear-" He is cut off by Julianna. " Those weren't the actual spirits. They were projecting over the spirit plane. Which means that there's some other force , because weak spirits can't do that." Julianna closes her eyes- " I feel it. It's close." Mitsuya rushes out , ready to wake up Keiko and Casanova. " Don't , Mitsuya. We have to hurry up. I think we can handle it on our own. Plus , we would be endangering Keiko. Casanova should stay here and watch him." Mitsuya is hesitant , but agrees. " Where is it coming from ?"
At the same moment , Kaoru is with Himura and Mayomi. " I feel something. It isn't normal. It's strange. And it's close to Mitsuya. Should we get worried ?" Himura reassures her - " I think that they're fine for now. If I think that they're in trouble , I know what to do. Trust me." Mayomi intercedes - " Where is it coming from ?" Kaoru struggles with her answer - " There's something interrupting the connection. I can't tell. It's like this force is messing up the boundary of thought. Himura and Mayomi look at each other. " Could it be…"
Julianna takes out her phone , and looks at her tracker. " Kamine Temple. It's coming from there."
She prepares to jump off of the balcony , but before she does , she grabs Mitsuya's hand. " You know that regular mages that aren't gifted can't affect spirits with attacks , right ? But there is a way." She looks directly at him with a grin. " Your soul. Be careful not to lose it." They both jump off , but Mitsuya is nevertheless confused.
The last thing we see in this chapter is the city illuminated by the brightness of the lights coming from the skyscrapers. People are still enjoying the festival in the streets. A bell rings in the distance , signifying midnight. Seemingly no one is paying any attention to the sky above. For there is something in front of the moon. It's hovering , quietly watching over the city. A broom. But the person on the broom is even more startling. A fair skinned woman, with blond hair , mostly covered by a hood. " You two , I have special plans for you. Tonight , is the ultimate requiem."