The air inside Saori's home was heavy—thick with silence, tension, and bitter frustration.
Jasmine's team sat scattered in the living room. Dust particles floated in the morning light that crept through the windows, but none of them moved.
Sol clenched his fists.
"We searched every street. Every alley. The forest. The mansion. The church. The docks…" he said, his voice low.
"But we found nothing. Nothing in our hands."
Tatsuya leaned against the wall, arms crossed, eyes closed in silent rage.
Izumi sat beside Hiroshi, quietly staring at the floor.
"So what now?" Arisu asked. Her voice cracked.
"We just wait? Hope they come back?"
Amelia suddenly stood. "Where is Ryker?" she snapped.
"He should be here—he should be explaining all this!"
"Because of him," Sol growled, standing up, "we lost every single girl we swore to protect!"
He looked around the room, eyes burning with fury.
"And because of him… Yumi is gone."
He slammed his fist into the wall, cracking the wood.
"I punched him, yeah. But it wasn't enough."
"He deserves worse."
Saki looked down, biting her lip. Mio wiped a tear from her eye.
"We trusted him…" Mio whispered.
"He gathered them all in one place. And now…"
Everyone went silent.
Jasmine stood quietly by the window, arms crossed.
"He made a mistake," she said. "But we don't know everything yet. Blaming him won't bring them back."
Sol turned to her sharply. "Then what do we do? Just wait for him to mess up again?"
"Enough," Jasmine said coldly, eyes narrowing. "We're heroes. And right now, we're wasting time. Either we move, or we fall apart."
Everyone went silent again.
A long pause.
Then Izumi spoke quietly, "…So what now?"
In underground
The air in the underground chamber was damp and stale. A flickering light above barely illuminated the rusted chains binding the wrists of nearly twenty girls. Whispers of confusion and fear filled the room.
Aisa sat against the cold wall, her wrists red from struggling. Beside her, Yumi leaned back, breathing heavily, while Akira examined the cuffs holding her down.
Suddenly, from the dim shadows near the far wall, a familiar voice echoed.
"Aisa?"
The girls turned their heads quickly. Aisa's eyes widened.
"Saori!?"
Saori stepped forward, her clothes dusty and torn, but her expression calm. Behind her, a tall, serious-eyed boy followed—Huzur, the silent but sharp teenager from their class.
"You're here too…" Yumi said in disbelief.
"They got you?"
A dim yellow light buzzed overhead.
Saori's eyes fluttered open, her body aching from the cold floor beneath her. Her vision was blurry, her wrists sore—metal cuffs dug into her skin. For a moment, she didn't remember where she was.
Then, a voice.
"Saori?"
She turned her head sharply. A familiar face was sitting just across the room—Huzur, awake and breathing heavily.
"Huzur…" she whispered.
"Are you okay?"
He nodded slowly. "Yeah. I think… I think we were drugged."
They both scanned the room. It was wide and empty, the walls of stone, a single rusted door at the far end. Chains hung from bolts in the walls. Several were already occupied by other girls, unconscious or barely waking.
Saori's heart pounded.
"I found you…" Huzur said quietly.
"But I couldn't find the others. I couldn't find where we are."
He looked down, shame flickering across his face.
Suddenly—the heavy door creaked open.
Their heads snapped toward it.
A man in a black coat and a silver mask stepped inside. His boots echoed ominously on the stone floor. He looked at them—his face hidden, his eyes cold.
He didn't speak.
Behind him, two guards dragged an unconscious girl and chained her beside Akira.
Saori narrowed her eyes.
"Who are you?"
The masked man turned toward her but said nothing. He simply tilted his head, like observing a test subject.
Huzur stood up shakily, still cuffed.
"Let us go."
The masked man stopped. He stepped closer to Huzur, leaned slightly in.
Then, in a deep, mechanical voice, he spoke.
"You're lucky. You woke up."
Then, without another word, he turned and walked out. The door slammed behind him.
Boom.
The silence after was worse.
Saori whispered,
"That wasn't just a guard… he's part of something bigger."
Huzur looked down at the chains.
"And we're already too deep."
Akira's voice was cold. "And now we're stuck, waiting like prisoners."
The room fell silent.
Then a girl from across the room spoke up, angrily.
"All of you heroes—you promised to protect us. Instead, we're chained like animals!"
The other girls murmured in agreement, frustration boiling over.
Aisa looked down, guilt creeping in.
"We tried… we didn't know…" she whispered.
"It doesn't matter now," Saori interrupted. "We need to figure out how to escape. Complaining won't break these chains."
Huzur stepped forward and knelt beside the cuffs.
"I've been studying the locks. They're reinforced. Custom-made. No simple key."
He paused.
"But maybe… if I can trigger the rusted mechanism with pressure and heat, I can break one link."
"That's our only chance," Yumi said.
"But how long will it take?"
Huzur met her gaze.
"Too long. But it's better than doing nothing."
Aisa looked up at the ceiling.
"Ryker… please find us."
In garege
Ryker stood alone in the vast garage, his boots echoing against the smooth concrete floor.
The silence was unnerving.
Three sleek black cars stood in perfect alignment, untouched and polished. The garage was large enough to fit ten, maybe more.
"Only three cars…" he muttered, narrowing his eyes. "In such a massive space? That's odd."
His instincts kicked in. Something was off.
He began pacing, inspecting the walls, the corners—nothing.
Then, something pulled his attention upward.
The ceiling.
Right in the center, above the space between the cars, a shape carved faintly into the concrete.
A triangle.
His eyes widened.
"That's not just design…" he whispered. "It's a trigger."
He stepped back and scanned the layout again. Three cars. Triangle. Placement.
Then it hit him.
"It's a puzzle."
Without hesitation, he walked to the first car and began pushing it with all his strength.
"Ahhh—move!" he growled, muscles straining, sweat beading on his forehead.
He aligned it with the first point of the triangle.
Then the second car.
Another push, his breath ragged.
"Damn it—almost…"
Finally, the third. It took everything he had left.
He lined them up—a perfect triangle matching the ceiling's shape above.
The room went still.
Click.
Ruuummble.
The ground in the center of the triangle began to quake. A section of the garage floor split open and lowered slowly, revealing a hidden staircase descending into darkness.
Ryker stepped forward, a crooked grin on his face.
"There you are…" he said coldly.
"Let's see what you're hiding."
And without looking back, he walked into the underground, the door sealing shut behind him.