Disappearance

Chapter 5: +Reverse

"I have no choice but to stay alive..."

"Neru, you can help him, right?!" Teto asked, clearly worried.
Neru nodded confidently. "Rin just helped out with her card, hang in there Soto!" With that, she held the two cards up, a light began to emit from the two of them.

Multiple payments, accepted. Initiating card sequence.

In response, the spear was forcibly pulled out, making Soto yell in response. It was then that Neru cursed under her breath, but Teto heard her.
"What? What's wrong?!" She asked frantically.
"My card only works..." Neru hesitated for a moment before revealing the card. "It's a resurrection card, I completely forgot it was. So...Soto has to..." She trailed off.
"Neru, the card will still work, right?!" Ritsu asked worriedly.
"I'll be okay.." Soto said in a breathless tone. His sudden response seemed to throw everyone off for a moment.
He placed his hand on Teto's gently, as hers was holding his injury. She nodded. "This will work, if Soto thinks it will then I do too. It's okay Neru."

Challenge completed. Proceeding to the next floor. Remaining players: 5

"Wait five?!" Neru exclaimed, just as the floor beneath them gave away.
In order to prevent him from being left behind, Teto held onto Soto as they fell to the floor below.

Error made. Correcting... Remaining players: 6
Commencing next challenge.

Before anyone was able to breathe a sigh of relief, Luka did a head count.
"Where's Teto?!" Ritsu and Ruko asked simultaneously.

Looking around, Soto was lying on the ground, but Teto seemed to have vanished. That is, until Luka looked up. "She's up there!"
Neru clenched her fists. "That's gotta be the challenge that machine was going on about."
"Teto can do it, she has to." Ritsu said softly, looking up.

Where..am I?
That was Teto's first thought as she woke up. Everything was white, and when she tried to speak, nothing came out. It was like her voice box was muted.
What's going on? Where is everyone?
Walking forward, she was greeted with Miku, slain as she was before. If she could scream, she would.
This is your fault.
The sudden voice behind her made her spin around, only to see Len engulfed in flames.
You just HAD to wake him up, didn't you? Now look what you've decided for everyone!

Soto slowly opened his eyes to be greeted by a very relieved Luka. She pulled him into a hug immediately. "Can you please warn us the next time you do something so stupid? Everyone was scared for you, even Teto!"
Of course he'd get scolded, he didn't think, he just acted. Selflessly. Like his card described.
He took a quick look around before his eyes were drawn to the sphere everyone else was looking at. Standing up quickly, he could just make Teto out.
"What the hell is going on up there?" Ruko asked.

Stop, please! I didn't mean for this to happen!
Teto was knelt down, covering her head. Tears streamed down her face, she was terrified.
There's no escape from what you've done!
With those words, she felt herself falling, falling with no way to stop it. At first, she was terrified even more, silently screaming for help and reaching out for a hand that wouldn't appear. When she felt her body hit water, and sink in, she couldn't move, she was still reaching for help.
I can't move...why? Why am I so calm..?

"Luka, here's your warning!" Soto said suddenly, running towards the wall before she could grab him. Neru ran after him, easily keeping his pace. "I'll help, get her out of there!" With a nod, they continued on quickly.
A boost from Neru got Soto to the surveillance camera, which he used to jump onto the sphere Teto was trapped in. Without hesitation, he punched a hole into it, managing to squeeze inside and get to her.
Just when she thought she was finished, Teto saw a hand reaching for her. She pushed through her paralysis and reached for it.
"Teto!"
Soto?!
With everything she had, she finally grabbed his hand, being swallowed by a bright light.
Soto, outside of Teto's vision, had no other options. He leaned down and kissed her lips, and right on cue, the sphere shattered.
When she first woke up, she was surprised, but she calmed down and closed her eyes to kiss him back.

The two landed safely on the ground afterwards, the challenge was seemingly won.

Part one, complete. Please initiate part two.

"What?!" Ruko exclaimed.
The group looked around before finally spotting the hooded figure from before. They were unusually silent for once, but only for a few moments. They lifted their hand, making one wrapped card appear in front of everyone. "The player with the red card must be the one to participate in this portion of the challenge." They recited.
Soto nodded, seeing he and Teto had blue cards. Looking around, they saw Ritsu open the wrapper to a red card. Before she could panic, Ruko placed her hand on her shoulder, holding her player card up. "I'll be taking her place."
Once her card was accepted, Ruko's blue card turned red, trading places with Ritsu's.
"And the cost?" The figure mused, but they weren't the only ones surprised to see Neru step forward.
"Neru don't!" Luka protested.
Neru reached into her pocket, pulling the locket Len gave her for her birthday out. She looked at Ruko. "You can do this."
The locket was instantly destroyed as payment, and Ruko was sent into another room.

She looked around before crossing her arms. "Alright, all-knowing machine, see if you can surprise me." She challenged.
In response, the environment around her was changed to her earliest memory of meeting Namine Ritsu. It was when she was first performing +Release. However, this didn't surprise Ruko at all.
"It's not a surprise, disappointing for a last request." She said, still managing to smile a bit.

The group had a clear view of the room through transparent glass. Ritsu knew exactly what was going on, that performance was rigged. There was a bomb threat in the middle of it originally, and Ruko was the one who got her safely out of the arena from backstage. She knew what was going to happen. "Ruko! Get out of there!" She screamed.

Taking a deep breath, Yokune Ruko walked to the center of the crowd, where the fake threat was in reality. Here, she knew there wasn't a false threat. This was really going to happen, so she wanted to protect Ritsu. She wanted to protect everyone.
Closing her eyes, she listened to Ritsu sing, until the very end of the song when the timer expired and the flames consumed her.

The floor below the group gave out as Ritsu screamed Ruko's name.

Challenge part one: Completed. Challenge part two: Failed. Cost: 1. Remaining number of players: 5