Hololive: Reflection

Part Ten: A Long Line of Screw-ups

The two pink-haired girls helped the bodies of their friends up, taking them back to their cabin. They also dragged the body of the man who planned their demise, the man with the red helmet and armor, inside the cabin to discuss him. They set his lifeless corpse on the ground, while they set the injured bodies of Nene, Polka, Lamy, Botan, Rikka, and Izuru on the bed, the couch, and various chairs they found in the cabin.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Aloe," Calliope made conversation, "I guess not even retired members are safe."

"Hah, I guess not," Aloe laughed, "I would've thought those in Heaven or the Underworld would be safe from being transported to a place like this.

"Speaking of, you feel it too, right?" Calliope asked, "Since you're a succubus-in-training, do you feel Death-sensei's presence?"

"I can't say I do," Aloe shook her head, "But it's odd. People can definitely die here, but there's no Death to retrieve their souls, or at least not a Death we can feel."

"It's possible that red guy was a reaper from this world," Calliope suggested, "It would explain why he went after me. Residents of the Underworld like their territory, after all."

"No, I'm not sensing any Miasma on him," Aloe sniffed the man's corpse, "If he really was a resident, he'd at least have some."

"You're right," Calliope sighed, before looking at their friends, "You think they'll recover?"

"Nene and Botan seem like they won't take long before they heal," Aloe looked over as well, "Lamy, Polka, and Izuru might take a while longer to recover, considering their wounds were bloody. And as for Rikka, he's going to be inactive until we find a technician or something of the sort."

"I understand," Calliope nodded, looking back at the man's corpse. She thought back to the last thing he said.

Hypnos, huh...? she mused as she wryly smiled, I should've figured this curse would come back to haunt me...

She got up to get a better look at the man's body. With a fierce expression, she took off his helmet.

And what she found was a black haired teenager wearing glasses, with a tattoo on his neck displaying the number 005.

...

"WAKE UP, MAN!" Tamashi woke Nozomi up gleefully, "Today's the day!"

Day for what...? Nozomi rolled over groggily in his bed.

"Come on, man! Today's my date with Ayame-chan!" Tamashi sounded like a kid on Christmas morning.

Forcing himself to get up, Nozomi put on his black framed glasses and green kimono and started for the Cover Corporation offices.

God, man, we're not gonna be able to go into the other world because of this, Nozomi shook his head, quite angry about the turn of events.

"Ugh, loosen up a bit, will ya?" Tamashi groaned, "Everyone should take a break every once in a while. You should ask Roboco out today."

I-I couldn't... Nozomi blushed, looking down, Maybe eventually, when I know she likes me back.

"Oh, come on, my guy," Nozomi could feel Tamashi's eyes rolling, "She hugged you and she held your hand? She totally likes you back!"

B-but the hug was out of concern, I'm sure she'd do that for any of her friends, Nozomi reasoned, flustered, And she held my hand because she needed someone, she was just really sad about Anemachi...