"AH! So bright....! …Where am I?"
Immediately as she slowly woke up, Rika found herself flashbanged with a silver wall, a pain in her head as she clutched it in an unfamiliar hallway. Assessing the scene, the only other person who even seemed to be nearby was her brother. And they were both in some sort of... odd white uniform…
'Great, now both of us have been kidnapped… I hope this isn't some Urashima Taro nonsense…' Rika thought, jostling her brother, who was still out cold, "Ritsuka! Hey, wake up! Wake up!" She shook his body vigorously, his comfort taking a backseat to trying to make heads or tails of their current situation.
"Ugh….! Where am I?" He finally arose slowly, with a throbbing pain in his head, which he found himself clutching.
"That's what I was going to ask… Do you remember what happened?"
"No, I take it that you don't either? Or know why I'm dressed in clothes that I don't remember having?"
".....Yup."
The two slowly and tiredly stood up in the middle of the unfamiliar hallway, mulling over their current situation.
Getting drunk? Hell no. Kidnapping? Well… It wasn't particularly a fun idea… But realistic. Likely the most probable answer.
Well, damn.
"So… how do you suppose we got here?" Ritsuka asked, his voice hushed, yet not too worried.
"I have no clue… You're acting like waking up in the middle of some random hall is something completely rationalizable." Rika said, her voice much harsher
"We're the only people here–"
Suddenly, in the midst of their walking and bantering, they saw a young man in the same sort of uniform walking alone, and opted to try to get any sort of info from him.
"Ah, excuse me!" Rika shouted. Realizing that the young man likely couldn't speak Japanese, they had to attempt to ask him in English. "Um, do you know where we are?" She asked slowly and shakily, unsure of whether he'd understand.
"I'm just as confused. Do either of you two have any ideas?" He replied in a quiet voice, the accent revealing that he was American.
"No. We just… woke up on the ground."
"...So you're in a similar situation to me. …Shit, this is weird. We're all dressed up in similar outfits, like an academy or some fu-messed up cult…" he caught himself, seeming self-conscious about the impression he was giving to his fellow "victims".
"Cult? Like rituals and sacrifices and stuff?" Ritsuka spoke, his own voice somewhat shaky
The American man nodded, "Yeah… where're you from?"'
"Japan. You're an American, right?" Rika asked, trying to inject levity into the situation.
"I am… damn, were we trafficked?" Irenaeus murmured.
Ritsuka, acting on the mutual curiosity and skepticism, tried to build a bridge, if nothing else, that they could possibly have a chance to survive together, and decided on a formal introduction: "I'm Ritsuka and she is Rika. I hope we can work well together, however long that is."
"I'm…. Irenaeus." The sweater-wearing man, now known as Irenaeus, responded in kind.
"Um.. Are you guys okay?" a lilac-haired young woman asked, her voice both curious and somewhat unsure and shy-seeming, seeming to have been nearby this whole time. "I don't mean to intrude… but there's a presentation in about 10 minutes. If you're lost, I can help get you there."
The three looked at each other and nodded, a shared sense of "WTF" and "Let's figure this bullshit out" as they all headed to the venue.
The trio had taken in… a lot of new info regarding Chaldea (that being both the organization and. An observation center made to save the world… but what did they have to do with it? Why were they taken to save the world, instead of the likes of the military, NATO, or hell, even some of the world's best assassins? The young African American man raised an eyebrow throughout the entire duration of the thing as if they were trying to convince him that the food they were feeding him was chocolate, and totally not their own shit, while the Fujimarus had a quizzical, but far less skeptical look as well, and a prevailing but unspoken question lingered:
"Did that have anything to do with the blood drive they took part in?"
On the other hand, this could be an elaborate ruse. Maybe this was some sort of kidnapping scam meant to help push a conspiracy theory, and everyone here was in on it or was a paid actor? Maybe the "Director" was the leader of this scam or elaborate prank?
This "Director Olga Marie Animusphere…" (if that really was her name) didn't seem to be the type of person to authorize this sort of thing, that being the kidnapping of civilians, given her sophisticated bearing and all….but then again, maybe this really was a lie, & she was in on it or really was the head honcho? Not likely, she wasn't that much older than them, and there WAS a certain earnestness to her despite her haughty bearing… and the situation was waaay far too elaborate for just kidnapping. Why go through all these complexities just to kidnap some people? Surely there could've been better candidates available….
….What on Earth was really going on?
Was humanity doomed?
Were they gonna get any answers from waiting around? Hell no.
"Come on, let's go," Ritsuka whispered, and the three began to trail her. They followed after her, their legs devouring the distance as they tried not to get lost. They strided in such a way that nobody would've questioned their presence there, the most determined and serious looking of the people marching to their destination being the most confused and lost as to what was really going on.
After a massively stressful attempt to follow Director Animusphere, they finally arrived at some command room, and against all odds, snuck in, by closely trailing one of the supposed workers, the determination of the people in front of them clouding their senses as the three snuck in.
"Hold on a minute!"
Rika was the first to shout out, prompting almost everyone, including the Director, to look towards the direction of the voice
"What's this about saving & preserving the world?"
"I would also like to know what this whole deal is here." The two men in the trio interrogated both confused, worried, and slightly angered at their perceived predicament.
"...Will anyone here tell me who those three are, and why they snuck in here?" The Director asked, her voice soft but with a distinct overtone of lividness.
"Ah! The two Japanese people are Ritsuka and Rika Fujimaru." One person on one of the computer-looking things shouted
"The other one is Irenaeus Wilson!" Yet another person on those similar machines replied.
"From the looks of things, they've never had any exposure to any part of the moonlit world. They're basically civilians."
"And how did they get here, then?"
"....We received some adverts and were told to go for a blood donation," Ritsuka stated.
"...Oh no. Oh no no no no nononono…" The Director began to realize what was up and sucked in a breath before turning to the three, a look of dawning horror on her face as she looked them all dead in the eyes. "You aren't meant to be here. At all."
"What do you mean?" Irenaeus asked, his voice dripping with worry, his previous accusatory tone disappearing as his mind raced about the possibilities.
"I meant you guys weren't meant to be involved in this… At least, not right now. Look, we'll send you back out soon enough, and you won't have to worry about this stuff anymore. When we're done, you'll go home."
"We want answers." Rika retorted. "Whatever you're trying to do, let us in on it now. We were brought here for a reason, right? We need to know what we're in for."
"No. It's much too dangerous not just for us, but for you guys too."
A young man with long blonde hair spoke up, his accent very much betraying his British origins. "I agree. You three at best would be harmless but ineffectual, and at worst, a potential liability to all of us."
"How can we be liabilities if we don't know what we're here for?" Ritsuka replied, his voice slightly raised. "We got taken here, really, against our will and you don't wanna explain anything to us?"
Director Animusphere seemed to already be fed up with this, and opted to at least give the newcomers some explanations. "Enough! …Look, fine, we'll take you along with us and fill you in along the way, but you have to listen to me and the others, who are going with us. Change of plans, we'll go to a minor Singularity instead of starting with France. Team A: You guys are going to have to stay together this time around. Someone, please get the 3 newcomers to their coffins!"
"Coffin?" Irenaeus began to ask, his voice pitching
"Yes, they're called 'Coffins', don't question it."
"Director Olga, are you sure this is a good idea? To willingly allow civilians to get involved with all this with no training?" The blonde-haired man asked. "Even if this is a minor Singularity, anything happening to them would be-"
"Look, if it's just for the sake of getting them to shut up about everything, between this and the other options, this is the one that leaves the least amount of damage on my conscience. Worst comes to worst, we'll have them patched up. …Trust me, alright?"
The blonde man looked at her with some hesitation and closed his eyes in silent acquiescence. "Very well then. I'll also take some responsibility too if things go wrong…"