2 Part Two: The Oni and the Android

Nozomi looked up at the man, now known to be nicknamed YAGOO. He had black short hair, wearing a standard business suit and a wide smile on his face. Nozomi hesitated to grasp his hand for a short while.

"Don't worry, you can trust him," Tamashi's voice echoed in Nozomi's mind, "He isn't emitting a hostile aura"

'You can detect stuff like that?' Nozomi thought, before shaking YAGOO's hand. He got up to his feet, dusting off his green kimono.

"So, you are?" YAGOO reiterated.

"O-oh, I'm Ito Nozomi. Please, call me Nozomi," Nozomi bowed respectfully.

"Ah, nice to meet you, Nozomi," YAGOO smiled, "Can you tell me why you landed in our offices? And… why you have a sword?"

"Well, I'm not sure why here exactly, but I can tell you why I came out of a portal, I suppose," Nozomi explained, "Oh! And the sword part can be explained, too."

"I see," YAGOO thought to himself, briefly dropping his smile. He quickly put it on again and looked at Nozomi. "I'll gather our top-ranking managers to hear you out. Please, follow me."

Nozomi nodded, as he began to follow the two through a hallway.

"So, what is Cover Corporation?" Nozomi asked.

"In layman's terms, Cover Corporation is a talent agency," YAGOO described, "We recruit talents to be a part of our idol lines, such as Hololive or Holostars. These idols act as online entertainers, playing games or singing. Although, today, all of our talents went missing. That's why we'd like to question you."

"I understand," Nozomi confirmed, as he continued walking.

Soon enough, the group reached a door. YAGOO opened it to reveal three more faces sitting at a table, those being a black-haired woman with red streaks and glasses, a brown-haired woman with sunglasses and a ponytail, and a green-haired man with glasses and a large build. YAGOO took a seat next to the black-haired woman, with the navy blue-haired woman sitting next to YAGOO.

"Before we begin this meeting, I'd like to introduce everyone," YAGOO said, looking around at the group of five, "Everyone, this is Ito Nozomi. He fell into our offices just now through a portal of some sort. I called him here to clear up a few things."

"Alright, I'll go first," the brown-haired woman with sunglasses said, leaning in towards the table, "I'm the liaison between the mortal realm and the Underworld. You can call me J-chad."

The green-haired man spoke up next, "I'm Daidou Shinove. I'm the manager for Holostars, our all-male branch."

"You may call me A-chan," the navy-blue haired girl said, "I'm a manager for Hololive, our all-female branch."

The black-haired woman hesitated to speak for a moment. "...Enma," she said with a blank expression, "I manage the English-speaking members of Hololive."

"It's good to meet you all," Nozomi bowed respectfully, taking a seat next to Enma.

"So, Nozomi, would you like to share your story?" YAGOO asked.

"O-oh, yes," Nozomi stuttered, "It started when…"

...

"A twisted world tied to our own, hm?" YAGOO pondered.

"Sounds kinda fishy to me…" Daidou said harshly, giving Nozomi a side glare.

"Stranger things have happened," A-chan pointed out, "Aki-san comes from another dimension, remember? Who's to say other worlds don't exist?"

"J-chad, do you know anything about it?" Enma asked the brown-haired woman.

"No, this is the first I've heard of it," J-chad looked down.

"I believe his story," YAGOO looked at Nozomi, "I don't think he has any reason to lie, and his testimony lines up with everything we know. Besides, it's the only lead we have."

"You've got me there," Daidou nodded.

"Nozomi, you can open wormholes to the other world, correct?" YAGOO asked.

"Yes, sir," Nozomi confirmed.

"I'd like you to investigate this bizarre place," YAGOO expressed, "Your Tamashi friend said there were others in that world, yes? It could be where our missing idols are."

"Yes" Nozomi bowed, "I'll be there right away."

"Excellent," YAGOO smiled, "Enma, A-chan, please accompany him."

"Of course," the two said and bowed in unison, walking towards Nozomi.

"As for J-chad, I'd like for you to get in contact with Death. He ought to know something about this," YAGOO said.

"Yeah," J-chad said, nodding and rising to her feet.

"As for Shinove and I, we will stand by at headquarters in case any new developments arise," YAGOO grinned, "Good luck and stay safe, you three."

Nozomi smiled and nodded, "Thank you, sir."

He unsheathed his sword and directed his energy towards the tip for a minute. He then sliced the air, creating a tear through space.

"Amazing…" Enma watched in awe. She was the first to jump into the large wormhole, followed by Nozomi and then A-chan.

...

The party of three landed in the small shack Nozomi found himself in when he first encountered the Malice that nearly took his life. They walked outside, taking in the horrific sight.

"So, this is it…" A-chan shuddered, "Your descriptions didn't do it justice…"

"Yeah, it's pretty creepy," Nozomi looked around, not letting down his guard.

"You must really like this place, huh?" Tamashi said teasingly, "It's only been a few hours and you already wanna come back?"

'Shut up,' Nozomi thought bitterly, 'You got directions for us?'

"There's a settlement not too far from here," Tamashi informed, "There's likely to be at least someone there."

'Alright, thanks,' Nozomi acknowledged, looking towards the group.

"Tamashi just told me there's a settlement nearby," Nozomi relayed, "Follow me."

Using Nozomi as a GPS of sorts, the group began their trek towards the settlement. Eventually, they reached the settlement, but noticed a skirmish going on between a group of tiger-like Malice and what appeared to be two girls.

"Battery… fifteen percent…" the first said, as she launched a missile from her arm towards the group, clearly tired from the battle. She had brown hair and yellow eyes, and was wearing a somewhat revealing outfit with a camo print, as well as a pair of glasses.

"Grr…I won't let you hurt anyone!" the second snarled, swinging her twin blades at the beasts. She had white hair and red eyes, and was wearing an odd outfit and an oni mask near her left eye. She also had what seemed to be two horns growing from her forehead.

"Roboco-san! Ayame-san!" A-chan shouted at the group, worried.

The girl with the two horns looked over at the group in shock. "A-chan? Enma? What are you-"

She was cut off by the slashing of a Malice, bringing her to lay on the ground unconscious. This prompted Enma to unsheath a katana and A-chan to pull out a book.

"Are you ready?" Enma asked Nozomi, as she went into a fighting stance.

"Yeah," Nozomi said, unsheathing his sword, "I'm ready."

He and the other two girls dashed into the fray, greeted by the brown-haired girl.

"Thank you for coming," she said, smiling.

"We couldn't just let our idols die, could we?" A-chan modestly said before muttering a spell and summoning a strike of lightning to take down a Malice.

"That's correct. It would be an awful shame if you were to die." Enma rushed the group, swinging her katana and slicing through a large amount of creatures.

"Nice to meet you two," Nozomi said, sweat running down his forehead as he defended himself against the onslaught of Malice, "I promise I'll formally introduce myself once this is all over."

Nozomi briefly looked over at the girl with the oni mask, who was slowly getting up. "Y-yeah, I promise, too…" she said, using her hand to clutch the injury caused by the Malice on her side. With her spare arm, she directed a small group of what looked like small spirits to invade the enemy. They weren't terribly effective, but they were able to distract them and score Enma and Nozomi some easy victories. Before long, they had defeated the creatures.

"You guys don't look like you're doing too well," Nozomi said, looking at the two girls, "We need to get you out of here."

"W-wait…" the girl with the oni mask said, still clutching her wounds, "Risu-chan is here as well… we found her unconscious in the forest, so we brought her here… but then we got attacked by those things…"

"I see," A-chan nodded, "Where is she?"

"She's in there," the brown-haired girl pointed at a nearby house. A-chan burst through the door, looking down at a small brown-haired girl with a pink hat and a large bushy tail. A-chan leaned down to check her vitals.

"She's alive, but her breathing is unsteady. We need to go," A-chan told Nozomi.

"Right," Nozomi acknowledged, as he directed his energy towards the tip of his sword and sliced through the air.

"Everyone, get in," he said, as the brown-haired girl and the girl with the oni mask limped inside. A-chan rushed through the portal, carrying the girl with the tail in her arms. Enma and Nozomi soon followed, and the wormhole closed.

...

They found themselves right in Cover Corporation's offices, greeted by YAGOO and Daidou. Confused and panicked expressions cover their faces as they look at the three wounded girls. They motion towards the group.

"What happened?" Daidou shouted angrily.

"Calm down, Shinove," YAGOO told the green-haired man, then went over to help the injured idols, "Can you call an ambulance?"

"O-of course," Daidou returned to his usual serious expression, reaching for his phone to dial 911.

YAGOO then left Daidou to deal with the injured idols, while he pulled Nozomi, A-chan, and Enma to the back.

"So, some of our idols were found in that world," YAGOO said, "That confirms it, then. There's a very high chance that they were all sent there."

"Indeed," A-chan nodded, "We found them being attacked by those 'Malice' things. It seems they took quite a toll on them."

"Yes," Enma agreed, "Which is all the more reason to find them sooner."

"Let's not be too hasty, everyone," YAGOO said, "We can't rush in there while we aren't at full strength. Having Nozomi go in there after his dealings in the other world was enough of a risk. How are you feeling, Nozomi?"

"I could lie," Nozomi chuckled, "But I'm not that kind of guy. I'm dying for a nap."

YAGOO chuckled in response. "I can't blame you for that," he said, smiling, "You should all go back home. We've got things under control for now."

The three nodded and were dismissed. Nozomi yawned as he walked off.

"Seriously, man? How embarrassing…" Tamashi said.

'Hey, we all need to sleep sometimes,' Nozomi retorted.

"That's true, I suppose, " Tamashi said, followed by a yawn.

...

"Death," J-chad addressed the cloaked man firmly.

"J-chad," he said, turning around and revealing his tattered robes, giant scythe, and skull face.

"What do you know about the disappearance of our idols?" J-chad interrogated sternly.

"You're so easy to read, J-chad," Death looked away for a moment before replying, "...I don't know much, other than that they were taken to our mirror."

"Our mirror? You mean that world that Nozomi kid was talking about?" J-chad asked.

"I assume so. Mirrors don't share Underworlds, so I don't know much about it, but it's dangerous to be in there for too long right now, or so I've heard."

"That's an understatement," J-chad muttered to herself before talking to Death again, "Will you help us?"

"I'm afraid that's something I can't do," Death declined, "I can't take lives in another Death's domain. It is against our code."

"So you're just going to let them die?!" J-chad snapped, "Are you not worried about them?!"

"Of course I am!" he shouted back, quite out of character for him, "My best apprentice is in there!"

J-chad snarled at the grim reaper. "Coward…" she mumbled to herself.

"Do you want to go back to your world?" Death asked.

"Come on, Death, you know me," J-chad said bluntly, "Open a portal to that mirror place."

"Understood," he said. He slashed in the air, opening a wormhole to the other world, into which J-chad entered it.

"Good luck," Death said as the brown-haired woman began her descent into the wormhole. Once the wormhole closed, the grim reaper looked up toward the sky.

"Stay safe, my little reaper."

...

Surrounded by Malice. 'Shit,' he thought to himself, backing up into a wall. 'This is it, I guess,' he thought to himself, closing his eyes, 'Sorry, sis.'

"I possess the power you seek," a serene voice echoed through his mind, "Need only say the word and I will prevent this terrible fate."

"I…" he stammered, "I understand, Uto."

A divine light emanated through his mind, making him go unconscious.

...

GASP!

Nozomi woke up in a cold sweat. 'Wh-what the fuck?' he thought to himself.

"Huh? What's up?" Tamashi asked tiredly.

'Sorry, just a bad dream,' Nozomi thought, deciding to change the subject, 'Why do you sound so tired?'

"Hey man, even I need my beauty sleep," Tamashi said.

'Who the hell are you trying to impress?' Nozomi thought.

"That oni girl was pretty cute, don't you think?" Tamashi said, with his voice at a slightly higher pitch than usual, "Think I've got a shot?"

'Probably not, considering you just live rent-free inside my head,' Nozomi commented snarkily.

"Ouch, way to hurt a man's pride," he said in a disingenuous hurt tone, "Well, I'm still tired. Night, Nozomi."

'Yeah,' Tamashi thought, 'Night, Tamashi.'