"I wonder how I should punish you, people, first. Should I take your eyes out? Or have the beasts tear you apart? Or better yet, poison you with something that would hurt for a long time. Or have your cocks removed. But no, some of you might be women so that won't work so it's back to the-"
"Holy shit kid! Do you ever stop talking? I thought you were supposed to be an innocent person but you sure got a mouth on you."
As soon as Amane had been let down these people had covered her eyes with a blindfold and put restraining hand-cuffs on her to cut off her access to her core.
These people were not playing around with Amane or giving her any chance to break free. For that they would have had Amane's respect but only if she was not their target.
"Ugh! Why can't we just knock her out? She's too irritating."
That voice had been dubbed as grunt no #2 in Amane's mind. He sounded like someone who was always irritated with Amane no matter what she did.
"We have to keep her in pristine condition to ask for ransom money. We cannot risk anything going wrong with her. Boss also wants to see her before we ask for that money."
Grunt no #1 spoke. Amane liked him because he seemed to be on her side. Or so it seemed.
But in reality, no one was on her side. These people were just playing a sick game of 'good cop, bad cop' with her and hoping that Amane would not realize.
"Man, I cannot see what is so special about this 'Lady Yoko' except her looks. She looks like a rather ordinary run-of-the-mill girl to me. Just a little 'overdeveloped' in some areas. Are you sure I cannot play with her a little."
That was grunt no #3, aka, also the one Amane wanted to torture. He had been making lewd comments about her this whole time and Amane promised that he would die by her hand once she was out of her binds.
'I wonder how long it would take for people to notice that I am gone and then come after me. I don't think I can take this idiocy for more than a day.'
But even if Amane wanted to be found early, she doubted that it would be that easy. These people had planned a lot to kidnap Amane.
"Hey, our ride is here. Throw the girl in the back and let's go now."
Amane felt her body being picked up and thrown in the back of, what she expected, was a truck. Someone climbed up after her and there were a few more things thrown around her.
"Hey, that reminds me. What should we go with that girl we pulled into all this? Won't she become a problem if we let her be? She did play a big part in making this kidnapping possible. What was her name again? Nami-? Nahada?"
"Are you talking about Nadia?"
"Yeah, right! That girl, Nadia. She was quite desperate for money so she borrowed some for us in return for her helping us out. How does it feel to know that your friend betrayed you?"
Amane would have been pissed off had Nadia been her real friend. But she had realized early on that Nadia had wanted to use Yoko for something.
After all, how could someone with such high self-esteem as Nadia come crawling back to someone like Yoko who had humiliated her?
Only someone desperate would do that.
"So, how does it feel to be betrayed by someone you trusted? Nadia was a friend to you, right? Are you going to cry? Feel hollow because your friend betrayed you?"
Grunt no #2 seemed to be getting off right now. There was a real pleasure in his voice as he spoke.
"Oh, that? I knew I was going to get betrayed a long time ago but that's just life."
"You are one weird kid. You are the first one who did not cry and beg us to let go. Are you sure you are right in the head, kid?"
Grunt #1 asked that but it was obvious that he was not expecting an answer out of Amane. He just sounded tired of all the bullshit he had to deal with.
And Amane would have sympathized with him in any other situation.
But she was currently tied up with the chains all around her and trying to deal with her situation. There was an itch on Amane's back she could not scratch that just made her mood even worse.
"You are a decent man. Too bad I still want to rip you apart as soon as I get a chance to-"
And the man finally decided that he could not take Amane's mouth sprouting death threats anymore. He quickly blocked Amane's mouth off with a cloth and knocked her out with the hold of some ability.
"I hate kidnapping kids. They seem to be getting weirder and weirder every year. The last one we kidnapped was weird as well and the one before that as well."
"Right. And isn't there that one kid who kept on speaking like he knew the future and was too jumpy? I remember his speaking that this was some kind of 'novel world' and 'protagonist' bullshit."
"True, he was weird. I am glad the boss took him off our hands so that we don't have to deal with him anymore."
___________________________
If anyone asked Nadia if she had a good night's sleep or not, then she would say that she had a decent one.
But one deep look at her face would reveal how thick her make-up was and how much she had used to hide her dark circles.
After all, the simple fact that she had aided someone in kidnapping Yoko was keeping her awake. This was not a simple matter if Nadia was found out.
But what other option did she have? Nadia had needed some serious cash and she was willing to do anything for it.
And it was not like kidnapping was something Yoko was unfamiliar with. The police would find Nadia and then things would be alright.
'I did nothing wrong. Everything is alright and I am alright as well.'
Nadia counted slowly in her mind, trying her best to maintain her cool. If she showed any obvious signs then she would be found out in an instant.
"Good morning Nadia. Did you keep watch the whole night?"
Lady Ely greeted her as she came out of her tent. Her hair seemed all over the place but she looked refreshed after waking up.
Lady Faridha looked fresh as well. It seemed they had a good last night's sleep while Nadia was up and worrying about what would happen next.
"Ah, I did keep watch most of the night but Yoko replaced me in the last stretch so that I could get some sleep. But I did not see her when we woke up."
'Act natural. Do not let them suspect anything.'
This was the mantra Nadia was sprouting in her mind. She could not let these people know just what she had done in the past few hours.
She had watched the kidnappers enter Yoko's tent and take her away. Nadia had averted her eyes away from the scene so that she had no idea what happened when she was questioned.
After all, if she did not see it then it was as good as not having known.
"I see. Then we should start our day and allow Yoko her freedom as well. I am sure she will be back soon."
Lady Ely sounded optimistic but Nadia knew that her hopes were about to be dashed. Yoko would not be back anytime soon.
The breakfast ended without any eventful thing happening and so did lunch.
By the time dinner came around, it was time for everyone to leave the forest and end the test. But Yoko was nowhere to be seen.
"What could have happened? Where could Lady Yoko have gone to in this dead of the night?"
Lady Ely sounded worried but the group ultimately decided to go back out. There was nothing they could do but report this to the higher-ups now.
Neither Lady Faridha nor Lady Ely had the necessary ability to uncover the truth. It was a fact that Nadia was so thankful for since it gave her time to cover her tracks well.
It was not until Nadia was standing in front of their teacher Emily did she realize she had succeeded in her task. But instead of relief, Nadia felt dread.
"So you are saying that Yoko Tsurugi disappeared in the middle of the night and never came back? And she did not say anything to you people as well?"
"Well yes."
Their teacher Emily rubbed her brows before snapping her fingers. She had a screen-like device in front of her hands but every second her expression shifted until it landed on a cold indifference.
"Well, it seems like Lady Yoko did not leave of her violation but someone forcefully took her out. In simpler words, she was kidnapped by someone but we have no idea how that happened or how these people got into the test site."
Nadia knew how those people got in. It was because they had connections and money at their disposal.
These two things could open any kind of doors for anyone. Nadia had seen the effect of money firsthand when she had been really small.
"K-Kidnapped? But h-how?"
"Lady Ely, calm down for now. I am sure Lady Tsurugi is alright. If those kidnappers went this far to take her then they won't kill her off that easily. We should not jump up in a panic and reach conclusions like this."
Nadia had no idea how Lady Faridha was so calm and collected. She did not even look a little bit worried about Yoko's position.
"This is a mess but don't you people worry. I will talk with the school board and then we will go after Lady Tsurugi. You all should relax for now and try not to stress up."
That was easy for Miss Emily to say. She was not the one who had her life on the line here. But Nadia tried not to stand out too much.
'Pretend like you have nothing to do with it. I cannot get caught right here and now.'
Nadia played dumb this whole time but no one expected her to speak up either. They all knew that she had a weird relationship with Yoko right now.
"Miss Emily, there is an emergency. We just checked and another student is missing currently."
"Another one? Who is it this time?"
Emily had a pained look on her face. Her eyes looked annoyed at the prospect of someone casing trouble in such delicate times.
Nadia would have felt sorry for her but the teacher had the power to ruin Emily's life currently.
'Is this lucky for me? If another person is missing then the teachers will not be able to divert their whole attention toward Yoko. This is really good news for me.'
Nadia knew her luck had turned tides with this news. Not only was Yoko out of the way but now this as well.
"W-Well, the one who is missing is Aqua. You know that shy beard from your class who rarely speaks up. Apparently, she never returned from her bathroom break and we cannot track her down either."
The helper teacher looked worried but Miss Emily looked like she had a headache.
Nadia knew who these teachers were talking about but she had never really interacted with Aqua to know her well. Something about that girl had always struck Nadia as 'off'.
"Ugh, fine. Let's hurry up and find her as well. What a mess this simple test turned out to be. I will surely opt out of teaching this course next year and save myself all this trouble."
Miss Emily sounded more annoyed than worried but that was a given. She was an expert in tracking people so it should be a child's play for her to track down her missing students.