Seed Pocket

Chapter 45: General Meian

"Did anyone see what happened to Kiku?" I asked the girls once Mari created a light with her fire.

"No. It's like she just disappeared," Yuri replied, perplexed.

"Kosai and Shitai might be in danger. We should go together as a group and see if we can find them," Touwa said, already forming a plan.

Together, we all started walking in the direction that the two dark haired girls went. As we walked, we called out their names, but there was no response. After searching the whole room, we realized they had gone missing too.

"What do you think happened, Touwa? How can three people suddenly disappear?" I asked, my concern increasing with each passing moment.

"Let's think about this for a minute. First of all, we have no idea if Kosai and Shitai disappeared at the same time as Kiku. Since they went off alone in the dark, there's no way we would've seen them disappear. They're both naturally quiet too so even if they did scream, it probably wouldn't be loud. Did anyone see or feel anything right before Kiku disappeared?"

"I did see some strange shadows when the lightning flashed, but I thought it was just from the chandelier."

"Shadows? Can you describe what they looked like?"

"Well, the one that really grabbed my attention looked vaguely humanoid. It was kind of tall and had a spiky head. I can't say much more than that since I only saw it for an instant."

"Interesting. I'm beginning to think this is the work of a general. We should search the mansion together and see if we can find the general and the others. We'll have to be careful not to get separated."

"That ******* (illegitimate child) will pay for making fools out of us!" Mari shouted, clenching her fist.

With that, we ventured deeper into the mansion. As we walked through the barren hallways, I had the unnerving feeling that we were being watched.

"Aah!" a shout came from behind us.

We turned around to find that Akino was gone.

"Akino, where are you?!" we shouted.

There was no response. Akino had disappeared like the others. After that, it seemed like every time we turned a corner, someone disappeared. Soon, it was just me and Mari left.

"Hold on to my hand, Mari," I said, reaching for her free hand.

"W-why?! W-what are you doing?!" she squeaked as I grabbed her hand.

"We can't lose each other this way. Everyone else has disappeared. It's up to us to find them and save them."

"Y-yeah. Y-you're right."

With each step, Mari seemed to grow redder and redder.

"We're just holding hands, Mari. It's not that big a deal."

"S-sorry," she replied, unusually submissive.

As we walked down the dark and creepy corridors, I suddenly heard a voice coming from behind a wall.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered to my companion.

"Hear what?" she whispered back.

I put my ear to the wall and motioned for Mari to do the same. As soon as both of our ears touched the wall, it spun around. Bewildered, I looked around and saw that we had tumbled into a hidden room.

"Welcome! Welcome!" a female voice called happily.

"Oh boy. Another intruder. Why can't anyone leave me alone?" a somber male voice said.