Chapter Thirty-Four: Encounter

The day continued, and soon it was late afternoon. Akari, Hikari, and Marachii went back outside to meet up with Luca and Dachii, who both had plates of food in their hands.

"Oh, hey!" Dachii exclaimed, his mouth full of chicken and rice.

Akari folded her arms and glared at the two. "You both think you're slick, don't you?"

Luca ripped right through a slab of steak, not even using a fork. "I don't know what you mean."

"Whatever. We have news. Important news."

They both stopped eating as Hikari and Marachii stood next to her. "What news?"

She leaned in close, making sure no one else was listening. "A dancer has been murdered, her daughter has been kidnapped, and we have to dance in her place."

Dachii stared blankly at her. "Someone's dead, and we have to DANCE?" He almost looked as if he could faint.

"Yep. And whoever killed her is targeting someone at this festival."

"Oh, wow." Luca went back to eating his steak. "So we have to bust a move on the dance stage just to bring them out?"

"Probably."

Hikari began to walk into the street. "Well, where do we go to apply for dancing anyway?"

Akari followed her, pointing to a building that looked almost like a courthouse. "Right there. Just write our names and they'll look it over and accept."

Then she made her way to the courthouse. "Come on, team." Hikari walked after her as Dachii, Luca, and Marachii stood there.

"I don't WANT to dance. I wanna go back home!" Dachii moaned, and Luca put more steak in his mouth.

"I mean, we could always run," Luca replied, bits of steak falling out his mouth. Marachii sized the two girls up.

"They're gonna catch us, aren't they?"

"The Princess most definitely will." Luca yawned and went after them. "Well, seems we have no choice."

A few minutes later, they were at the entrance to the courthouse. Akari knocked on the door, waiting for an answer.

"Hello? Excuse me, it's Princess Akari."

A man in a tuxedo opened the door. "Princess Akari! What can I help you with?" He immediately took notice of the group and their outfits. "Oh."

He sighed. "What happened?"

"Sir, we want to become dancers for the Dance Competition! It's urgent, so if we could apply right now—-!"

He squinted. "Woah, woah, woah. All five of you want to dance in the competition? It's already full! One of our dancers is missing, sure, but she's bound to turn up soon!"

Akari lowered her voice. "Sir, Shizuka has been murdered."

He gasped. "What?"

"We're here to secretly apply so that no one gets suspicious. We want to draw out the people behind this attack on her, and help her daughter, who they may be using to capture someone here."

He took a step back. "Are you serious? A nefarious plot at the Asuka Festival? One of the biggest events of the year?"

"Yeah, it seems something bad might happen soon. So, can we come apply?"

He took a moment, before taking a deep breath. "Fine, I'll allow it, but to make it fair, only two of you can dance as a team."

"Oh...we'll figure it out, then." The man stepped aside to let them come in, and Akari and the others walked inside. Dachii stood outside, hesitating.

"Man, I REALLY don't wanna dance," he thought to himself. As the others walked deeper into the building, the guy looked at Dachii, tilting his head slightly. "Are you coming inside?"

"Oh, uh...I need a moment! Go on without me!"

"Humans." He shook his head and closed the door. Once he was gone, Dachii began to walk back to the food booths, stopping by a chicken booth a few blocks away from the Courthouse.

"Yes, human? Don't think just because you're part of General Fujii's Squad means you get free food."

"Well, my wolf friend bought me some food just now, so I don't have anything but a few dollar bills, but is this good enough?"

He placed a 20$ bill on the counter, and the man and a couple of nearby customers laughed.

"Humans! They're so funny!" Then the man put his hands on his hips. "But seriously, kid, do you have any coins or not."

"Uh, no, I just said I needed someone else to pay—-"

"Then, NEXT!"

"Hold on." Another guy, wearing a hood, walked up. His voice seemed oddly familiar, and Dachii could tell by his skin color that he wasn't a Voltian. He also had short hair and BROWN eyes. He seemed young, no older than 20.

"Here. Get the kid whatever he wants." He tossed a handful of coins on the counter, and the man watched him suspiciously for a moment but grunted and collected them.

"Sure. What you what, human?"

"Oh, just a plate of chicken." As the man went off to cook the food, Dachii found the other guy as he was leaning on a wall in front of the booth.

"Oh, thanks for that."

"Don't mention it. How about you sit down, let's talk."

"O...okay?"

As he and Dachii sat down next to the wall, he pointed at the booth. "See that dude right there? Jackass, if you ask me."

"Well, he isn't exactly pleasant."

"Of course not. None of them are."

Dachii looked at him. "So you're a human?"

"You could say that. What's your name?"

"It's Dachii. With my strange powers, I'm surprised you didn't know it, with the way these people gossip."

"Heh. Call me Omari."

As Omari leaned back, stretching out his legs, the Voltian cook walked up to the counter. "Your food is done, human."

Dachii collected his plate as the man grunted at him again, and he sat down next to Omari.

"Well, I see you're a human in their military. You must be here on business."

"Yep."

"Must be something big. Got any time to check out that massive dance competition they got going on?"

"Oh...maybe? Why?"

"Ehh. Maybe this time it'll be good. Real entertaining."

"I've never seen one, so I hope." Dachii had a weird feeling about the guy, but he seemed to be nice, so he tried to put off his reservations.

"But, I guess I'll see how it goes. I have to patrol it anyway, to make sure nothing happens to it."

"I see. Smart. It'd be bad if such a major event were to get ruined."

Dachii began to eat his chicken, as Omari patted him on the shoulder. "You here with your squad, or is it just you?"

"Well, definitely not by myself, I can say that."

"I see." He rested his head on the wall and closed his eyes, as Dachii continued to eat his chicken.

Meanwhile, in the Registration Courthouse...

Akari, Marachii, Luca, and Hikari were seated on some chairs, as the man who let them in stood before them. "Well, before we begin, let me introduce myself. I am Makoto. I'll be the Director of the Dance Competition."

They all nervously waved. "Okay. Now then, each of you sign your names right there on this paper. Then I'll need you to narrow down which two you want dancing."

He first handed the paper and pen to Akari, who wrote down her name. Then she handed it to Marachii, and he passed it on to Luca, and finally, it reached Hikari's hands. As she signed her name, Marachii looked around and saw someone was missing.

"Wait, where's my brother?"

Makoto pointed to the door. "That other human chose to stand outside. He should have come in by now though."

Everyone got up and opened the door, and Dachii wasn't there. Akari growled. "Ugh. Why. Why would he leave?"

Hikari noticed some food booths nearby. "He probably went to get more food. I'll go get him, you guys can...decide who's gonna dance."

"Okay, just please hurry up."

She walked out of the door and they closed it behind her. She looked around for Dachii, pushing through the crowd.

"Dachii? Dachii, come on! This is not funny!"

As she walked further down the block, she had only one thought in her mind. "I'm gonna kill this boy!"

After a few more minutes of walking, she found Dachii sitting down, flipping a coin with someone.

"So, if I get heads, then you'll give me 30 coins?"

"Yep. But if you get tails, you owe me a drink."

"A drink? But I'm broke and I don't drink—-!"

"DACHII!"

He looked up immediately, dropping the coin. It rolled into the crowd as Omari sighed. "There goes a good coin."

"Oh! Yes, Hikari?"

"How dare you leave us worried—-?"

But her expression turned to shock and she gasped when she saw who was sitting next to him...

"You...!"

Omari looked up at her, with a seemingly confused look. "Huh? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Dachii looked between the two. "You know Omari, Hikari?"

"I..."

"Oh, believe me, Dachii, we've never met before."

He looked at her. "Right...?"

The aura he was giving off was terrifying to her. She gulped. "Y...yeah. Look, Dachii, let's just go."

"Fine, let me take my food."

"Come ON, Dachii!"

She quickly grabbed him as he held on to his plate. Omari stood up and dusted himself off. "Well, Dachii. See you after the Dance Competition?"

"Yeah, sure."

Hikari hurried to get him away, pulling him along. "Sheesh, you're tugging at my arm! What gives?"

"We need to get inside. NOW."

"Ow, ow! My shoulder!"

Omari watched them turn the corner, and then he slowly walked away, chuckling.

"Well, damn."

Hikari brought Dachii back to the Registration Courthouse, banging on the door. "Hello? Open this door right now!"

Dachii squirmed out of Hikari's grip. "Normally, I'd love this, but WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?"

The door opened, and Makoto was standing there. "Oh! You've retrieved him."

Hikari didn't waste any time and grabbed Dachii again, bringing him to where the others were. They all immediately looked up when she came in.

"This woman is crazy—-!"

"Akari! We need to talk!"

Akari lifted an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"

Hikari leaned down and whispered to her. "This is bad, let's go in that corner over there."

While she led Akari away, Dachii sat down next to Marachii and Luca, shaking his arm. "Why does she have such a strong grip?"

Marachii gently punched him in the arm. "Why did you leave? We were all supposed to come in together!"

"I just felt like it. So I went to get more food."

Marachii groaned. Luca tried to listen in on what Hikari and Akari were discussing.

"Yes, Kari? Why are you so tense?"

"Look, the guy I saw earlier, the one who had the little girl, he was TALKING. TO DACHII."

"What?!?"

"Yes. Not an 'oh, excuse me,' type of talk, they were literally sitting together and CHATTING LIKE FRIENDS."

"Wait, could that mean...?"

"I don't know, just make sure Dachii is one of the dancers!"

"Alright then. Do you really think that he could be...?"

"Well, only one way to find out."

"Right."

Makoto entered the room, and he gave Dachii a piece of paper to sign, handing him the pen.

"What's this?"

"Sign it, it'll show you're a candidate to dance in the competition."

"Oh gosh."

He reluctantly signed the paper, and Akari and Hikari walked up to Makoto. "We know who will be dancing."

"Oh? Who do you pick?"

Akari stepped forward. "Me and Dachii."

Dachii fell out of his chair, surprising Marachii. "Dachii! Are you okay?"

"Please, be a joke..."

Makoto began to put a check next to their names. "Are you sure? This is a final decision."

"Yes. We are sure."

Makoto checked them off. "Okay, Squad S-1! You have your dancers!"

He looked outside, seeing evening was approaching fast. "And it seems that it's getting close to Dancing Time! I'll go verify this with the other supervisors, and you should be all set. Be ready to dance by 11 P.M."

He left, and Marachii slowly helped Dachii up, who had a blank look on his face. "Me...? Dance...? Never..."

Akari looked at him. "It'll be fine. I know how to dance." She studied him as she said the words, thinking about the situation.

"I wonder how this plan will go..."

Just then, she got a call from Yoritomo. She left the room and accepted it.

"Yes, Director?"

"Did you guys register?"

"Yes, me and Dachii will be dancing in the competition."

"Why did you pick him? You could have had Hikari, or even Luca would have been a better choice. Does he know how to dance?"

"Probably not, but listen..."

She lowered her voice. "The guy Hikari saw with Shizuka's daughter, is the same guy she saw today, talking to DACHII."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, so it can only mean one of two things, either they want Dachii to help them find their target..."

Yoritomo immediately knew the other option. "...or HE IS the target."

Meanwhile, in an alleyway...

Omari went into another alley and found a door. He opened it and walked inside. Inside, Shizuka's daughter was sitting, tied to the couch.

"Aww, don't you worry. Soon, your sole purpose will be complete."

He smiled. "Soon, we WILL have what we've been searching for."

—-