”Hm?” It had been another long day of Yasuko’s usual antics. He spent the day interning with his mentor at a local idol show in the heart of Yokohama. It was like any other day. Wake up, get dressed, do his make up, get to work. It wasn’t easy being an artist of his caliber but the sight of seeing the stars of the show, shining as bright as they could for the crowd to gaze upon? It made it all worth it. So there he was at 1 in the morning. His head down and throwing his bag onto his bed, eating the leftovers in the fridge and reading a text from his boss about the job tomorrow at 10 am. Just life as normal.

Ping!

A screen flashed before Yasuko’s eyes. He didn’t have any sort of projector in his room last time he checked. Was it coming from his phone? Soft eyes went to the phone to confirm that theory. The screen was a welcome message of some kind, with a choice? It gave a small message with three options for Yasuko.

Welcome! Please choose a class:

1. World Beautician
2. Zealot of Identity
3. Face Sculptor

”What the hell?” It was too early in the morning to be making decisions like this. He needed to rest for work tomorrow. But the mystery plaguing the phone did tempt him. His soft fingertip hovered over the options presented to him. World Beautician did have a nice ring to it. But Face Sculptor? He pressed down and hoped for some kind of explanation.

You’ve chosen “Face Sculptor” as your class.

”I didn’t want that!” Yasuko whined at the strange game. ”I wanted information on it you stupid…” His voice faltered while a wave of sudden exhaustion crept over him. He hadn’t taken a bite out of his microwaved dinner before he fell asleep.

He awoke some time later in intense discomfort. This bed had gone from a top of the line memory foam mattress to something that was like sleeping on a piece of wood. He could tell just by how much his back hurt from just lying down. Drowsy, unfiltered eyes fluttered open inside of a sanitized hospital room. The air was ripe with dust and that odd scent hospitals had. A mixture of soap and fresh laundry that carried itself throughout the room. It took his cute head a total of four seconds to realize where exactly he was before panic had set in. ”Wh-What?! How'd I end up in a hospital?” he asked himself. A quick observation showed he was in one of the beds but wasn't hooked up to an IV drip or anything. And if that wasn't enough of a shock, everything was in English instead of Japanese. What the hell was going on?

He sat up and hurried into the bathroom before noticing his make up had already been applied. Even trying to type it off with a towel didn't seem to ruin it. Almost as if it was painted on. Yasuko looked at his phone in confusion for answers that were elsewhere. He would have to hunt them down then. A dainty hand fell on top of the door handle and pushed down to lead him out of the room. Now in the halls, he noticed the distinct lack of people around. It wasn't the best sign when a place like this was a ghost town. Was this some kind of dream or something? Yasuko continued down the hall until the sound of somebody coming closer could be heard.

And wow.

This man was pretty cool looking. The fierce look, the blue and unnatural hair color. All of it was a canvas of rebellion that resonated inside of this dork's heart. He caught himself staring at him as the blue hero ventured closer. Out of habit, his voice heightened in pitch to make the female leaning appearance that Yasuko was well known for back in Japan.

”Uh, s-sorry! Do you work here? I'm trying to figure out what's going on. I just woke up…”

It didn't take much searching for Kurai to find a bathroom among the many doors that lined the seemingly never-ending hallways. He took a moment to look over their body and see if they'd been harmed during transport. Thankfully all his bits and bobs were still attached. Except for the brand new red tattoo on the back of his right hand, he didn't even have a scratch on him. Seems his kidnappers were extra careful, but why did they brand him? Sickos.

The next step he took was to check his pockets. Surprisingly whoever it was didn't empty his pockets when they took him. Kurai still had a bottle of his signature blue temporary hair dye, a small notebook, and... his cell phone! Completely undamaged too! He immediately tried to dial his sister and let her know what was going on. Unfortunately, he didn't have any signal.

Just as he was reeling back to throw the useless thing something he heard stopped him in his tracks. 'Stop you fool. Even if you can't make calls it can still be useful.' The voice suddenly emanating from the back of his head stunned Kurai for a moment. It was the same one he'd heard before when he was waking up. “The fuck was that?! Hello?!” He shouted as he spun around to examine his location. No answer came. There was nobody there but him. At least not one he could find. “Son of a bitch. Maybe I'm more fucked up than I thought...”

It was probably some side effect from whatever drug they used to knock him out. Whatever it's not anything he hadn't dealt with before anyway. Neither the kidnapping nor the taunting voices were anything new. More than a few bad experiences of various kinds prepared him for this.

Besides, there were other things to worry about. Like using the dye he found in his pockets to turn his hair to his preferred color. When he was done he looked in the mirror to make sure it looked fine. Still wet, but good enough for a hack job. At least it was blue.

After he was satisfied Kurai continued his search for a weapon. Luckily the bathroom he was in held a mostly unrusted pipe. Still, he didn't want to take any chances so he did what he could to protect his hands. He took off his blazer so he could wrap it around his right hand and the pipe. It also did well in covering up the tattoo he had on the back of his hand.

Upon exiting the bathroom he promptly swung it at the nearest window to see if he could get outside or at least a better view. No such luck as the pipe just bounced off the glass. “Shit this place was fitted pretty good huh?” Kurai hadn't expected such an old building to still be as sturdy as it was. That didn't stop him from swinging at other windows as he made his way down the halls. Each strike ended the same, however.

After wandering for a while he finally came upon Gabriel and Yasuko. However, after futilely attacking the windows for so long Kurai was getting pissed off. He hadn't yet found a way to get out and then he got bombarded with stupid questions one after another. “Do I look like a god damned nurse to you two?!” He shouted as he hit another window. “Calm down. Use them to accomplish your goals.” That damn voice again telling him what to do only made him angrier. It wasn't wrong though...

Kurai lowered his pipe and took a breath. He spoke through gritted teeth. “No. I don't work here and I'm not here for some exam.” After he took a moment before speaking normally again. Now that he'd calmed down he seemed fairly nonchalant about their situation. “I passed out while getting ready for orientation at university then woke up here. This your first time being kidnapped?”

Damn. Kurai was hoping that they'd learned to stop asking stupid questions after his first display yet here they were commenting on his suit. He took the pipe away from the window and pointed it at Yasuko. While he spoke he waggled it at them. “Why don't you mind your own damn business, Pinky? We all got our own shit. I'd tell you to swap clothes, but nothing that's on you will fit me.”

Ugh, he was stuck with some beauty queen too. This was going to be just great. At least they were asking some good questions this time instead of more stupid bullshit. “Well now you're using your head. Let's walk and talk.” Kurai began making his way through the halls once more without waiting for an answer. “Who knows why they took us? You rich or something? Family got some connections? Usually, people take me to try to threaten people. Either for money or for political reasons.”

As they went down the hallways Kurai opened each of the doors they came across. Most of the rooms were abandoned examination rooms or beds for patients. They stumbled upon a meeting room with a large circular table in the middle covered with papers. A sigh escaped his lips before he spoke. “Better than nothing. Start looking around and see if there's anything important.” He doubted that there would be anything worthwhile lying around, but it was worth it to check. Especially if this was some sort of fucked up escape room. After giving the room one more look to make sure it was safe he entered and began reading the papers strewn about.

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Good looks like Pinky wasn't going to be a problem. They may just get out of here yet. Although it seems like the beauty queen was just another rich kid. Why were they freaking out over his suit then? Maybe they weren't that well off. They were dressed pretty decently though. “Probably money then. Only thing we seem to have in common.”

Kurai looked over Yasuko and gave an inquisitive eyebrow raise when they mentioned 'son of a billionaire'. Were they talking about him or themselves? He thought that they were a woman based on their appearance and voice, but you never know. Whatever it wasn't any of his business. Even he had enough tact to not just bring something like that up lest they take offense.

When they found the meeting room Yasuko said something that he actually agreed with. “You're right. This place DOES look like shit. More of a reason to get out of here as soon as we can.” He said while scanning over the papers littering the room.

The dirty look that he gave Yasuko when they mentioned a colonoscopy said it all. Kurai was unamused and was likely to give them a colonoscopy with the pipe if they kept testing his patience. Thankfully while they were goofing around he managed to find something useful. Or at least something that seemed to be talking about the mission they were tasked with. “Looks like some of the doctors were doing experiments here. Electroshock, new drugs, you name it. Real nasty stuff. Most of it happened in the basement so if we head there we should be able to figure something out. What do you say? Wanna do some spooky shit?”

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What? Of course, he was going down to the basement. Was that even really a question? “You saw that damn popup thing. We have to figure out this place's secret and free some idiots who got themselves caught like us. But worse I guess. If we want to get out of here, we need to play the game.” For now at least.

So Kurai began making his way to the basement. To his surprise, the pink-haired man didn't start following him. He was almost about to commend their courage to stay alone in an unknown location after being kidnapped. That quickly changed when he heard whining and the sound of footsteps in the halls.

They even tried to save face and act like they were the one doing HIM a favor. So dumb. He opened his mouth to tell them off, but a voice in the back of his mind stopped him. “Let them be. They are scared. You must have acted similarly at one point.” Once again it made a point he couldn't refute. Damn thing seemed to know just how to get at him. “Sure. Just don't get in the way.”

The doorway to the basement couldn't be any more stereotypically creepy. “Exactly. In and out. No need to be scared. If they wanted us dead they would have killed us before we woke up.” Unless whoever took the pair wanted to torture them, but there was no need to worry Pinky further.

The instant they got to the bottom of the stairs Yasuko latched onto him like they were on a date at a horror movie. With the position they were in Kurai could finally tell that they were a man. Or at least they were very flat for a woman.

He couldn't help but chuckle at the sudden change in demeanor. There was a certain pleasure in watching someone's tough exterior break down. No matter how flimsy it was. “Adorable.” Kurai placed his left arm over Yasuko's shoulder before continuing to explore the basement.

For the most part, things looked like what one would expect from a hospital basement. It was used mostly for storage, but most of the supplies were missing from the shelves. After looking around for a few minutes all they could find was a solid steel door held shut by a massive padlock.

“Shit let's look around. Maybe we can find a key or some secret door.” Kurai even tried searching the walls for hidey holes, buttons, levers... anything that would help them really. When he couldn't find any he grabbed hold of the padlock and yanked as hard as they could. Which promptly set off a siren and red flashing lights. “God damn it! Of course, the damn alarm system is still working!”

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Kurai completely agreed with Yasuko's assessment of the hospital. Despite spending his fair share in a hospital room after several incidents he hadn't seen something like this before. Even when he got himself into the places he shouldn't have been. “Ain't that the truth. As if it being abandoned wasn't creepy enough. It looks like someone already looted the place.” Something he'd been planning to do, but nothing useful remained. At least not anything that wasn't already long expired. How long had this place been here?

Thankfully Yasuko managed to find the key to the door, but it was too little too late. Being the impatient man that he was Kurai had already triggered the alarm. Shit. If only he waited a few seconds longer. As he let out a long string of expletives his partner came over to unlock the door. It didn't do anything to stop the alarm, but at least they were able to get through the door now.

As he opened the heavy steel door Kurai answered loudly so he could be heard over the siren. “Yeah looks like the stealthy option is out of the question. Let's hope there's some way to turn off the alarm when we get in there.” He then proceeded forward into the clean white hallway behind the door. The hall seemed sterile and almost new.

Kurai walked down it until the pair found themselves in the middle of a crossroad. Three halls stretched out in a cross pattern around them. A sign on each one showed them what awaited at the end of each one. The left read 'storage'. The one in front of them apparently lead to a security room. Finally, the sign on the hall to the right had 'laboratory' on it.

He looked over at the other man with him and sighed. “Let's shut off this damn alarm. Fucking thing is giving me a headache and all this flashing isn't helping anytime.” Kurai blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes before continuing. At the end of the hall, he was met with another large door. This one didn't seem to be locked at least.

Kurai didn't seem to learn his lesson as he moved to open the door before consulting Yasuko once again. After yanking open the door he was greeted by a wall covered in small screens showing the live feed of functioning cameras. As well as two men sitting in office chairs staring at the pair in the doorway. They quickly began shouting about how they shouldn't be here and charging at them both.

Once they got out of their chairs Kurai quickly closed the door. “Wow. This really just can't be easy huh?”

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Yasuko had a good point about hospitals doing all sorts of stuff in labs. Well, that was mostly in movies and stuff like that, but with the situation they found themselves in could Kurai really say it was all that unlikely? Everything seemed staged to get them to play along with whatever it was their captors wanted. “We'll probably have to check it out at some point to... 'save the patients' or whatever it was that mission wanted us to do.” He said with no small amount of disgust in his voice. As much as he hated it they'd have to play along to get out of here. For now at least.

Just when Kurai thought he saw a ray of hope in the situation things quickly turned sour for the pair. The security room that he thought would finally allow him to turn off the alarm instead turned out to have yelling people. “Shit. I don't know, but they weren't happy we were here. Why the hell would kidnappers leave a security room unlocked? I mean... that was them, right? Who else would be here?”

It didn't take long for the door he slammed shut just moments before to fling open again. Kurai quickly put a hand on Yasuko's chest and pushed them back as he backed away from the door. Once more the guards began yelling questions at them like 'Who are you people?!' and 'How did you get here?!' “What the hell? What do you mean?! You're the ones that brought us here!”

Or so he thought. The guns that were suddenly pointed at the two of them quickly changed his mind about that. Who would go through all the trouble of setting this up just to try to kill them? It made no sense.

Despite Kurai's familiarity with their previous situation, this new predicament was one he hadn't experienced before. Not from a kidnapper at least. With all the fights he got in it was inevitable that he ran into someone brandishing a knife or other such thing. However, he couldn't help but fear for his life when coming face to face with an actual deadly weapon.

Before he could react the pentacle that suddenly appeared on the back of his hand began to glow. Not that anyone could see it beneath the blazer he wrapped around it. That didn't stop the same mark from appearing on the ground in front of Kurai though. The smell of sulfur filled the hallway and the guards put their fingers on their triggers. He waved his arms in front of him causing the blazer to fall off his hand. “Hey! Whoa whoa whoa! There's no need for all this!”

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth the pentacle on the ground shot a pillar of red light into the ceiling. “What the hell is going on?!” Kurai didn't know what to expect next, but it certainly wasn't a spear thrusting out from the opposite side of the mark. The silver spear adorned with purple gems cut clean through one of the guns aimed at the pair before piercing through the throat of the man holding it.

“Holy shit...” That was all Kurai could manage to utter in response to the sheer absurdity of the situation. The red light emanating from the mark on the ground dissipated and what was left in its wake was a man. A man clad in heavy silver armor with gold trim and adorned with purple gems. Horns graced both sides of their head reaching above their short blonde hair.

They forcefully removed their spear from the guard's body and simply stood their ground in front of Kurai. With the sickening gurgle of a man choking on his own blood, the guard fell to the ground clutching their throat. The man kept his back to the pair as they spoke in a deep monotone voice. “So, at last we meet, Summoner.”

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