What happened.

Reina had her heart in her throat. Aoi didn’t elaborate much more over the phone. Instead she headed back to the apartment to meet with the others, now with Amelia and Cynthia included after a quick call. The atmosphere was heavy as they waited for the older woman to arrive.

Will had seemingly disappeared. The last thing they knew about him was he went into that other world through a portal different to the one they had in the basement of their building. Apparently that had been some time after noon. It was now 12:00 am and still no news of him.

“He’s probably just busy, right?” Amelia muttered. “Some complications came up and he’s a bit late, but nothing he can’t handle.” It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself, and Reina was very much trying to agree with her.

Cynthia sat in silence. Head down, arms crossed, one leg over the other. Her face was pale.

Anna swallowed hard. “W-Will is strong, isn’t he?” she asked Nanami.

“Very strong. Johana and my aunt aren’t good points of comparison because they’re both veteran fighters. Will… He’s okay. I know he is.”

Aoi finally arrived, and yet despite her words, Nanami was the first to rush towards her. “Auntie, what happened!? What do you mean you lost contact with him!?”

Aoi looked tired. Her shoes and blue jeans were dirty with dust and strained with specks of mud. There was a long cut on the sleeve of her sweater, yet she seemed unharmed.

“Sit down. Rest first,” Cynthia ordered firmly. “Reina, a glass of water.”

Reina jolted. Right, she should’ve thought of that.

“And an aspirin, please,” Aoi requested.

“I’ll get that,” Ruth said, running to the bathroom where she knew Reina kept a first aid kit.

Meanwhile, Reina ran to the kitchen, filled a tall glass with water from a bottle and went to give it to the now sitting Aoi. The older woman accepted it gratefully, yet without even a hint of a smile.

Aoi took the aspirin and drank the water in one go. She sighed heavily and began to fill them in. “We were all keeping watch at different spots. We were looking for a mirrorkin, a creature capable of using shapeshifting magic. Belphegor was helping us, keeping animals with us that he was controlling.”

Okay, so far so good. Reina was following and so was everyone else.

“We’ve been at it for three days without any luck, but today something happened at Will’s spot. He went to check it out with one of Belphegor’s ravens following him. Not long after… The old man said he lost the connection to that raven.”

“What? W-What does that mean?” Ruth asked.

Aoi sighed again. “Belphegor can see and hear through the animals he controls. He can speak, too, if he wants. The bird following Will was likely killed, so now we don’t know where he is. That’s the worrying part. We were ready for this to be a long chase, but…”

“Why are you like this?” Cynthia asked, gesturing with her chin towards Aoi’s clothes. “Did you get into a fight?”

“Yes.” Aoi nodded. “Johana and I went to check the portal Will went through. It was… a hostile environment. I haven’t explored that world much, but it was the first time I’ve encountered a large body of water. It was… an oasis in the middle of a wasteland. And it seems the drinkable water drew in some nasty creatures.”

“H-How nasty?” Reina asked, remembering the kobolds that attacked her and Ruth. Small, humanoid lizard creatures that she still couldn’t believe were real even though she had seen them with her own eyes.

“Dinosaurs,” Aoi said, stunning everyone in the room.

“D-Dinosaurs?” Amelia asked.

“Yes, or at least creatures with a strong resemblance to what we think of dinosaurs. Carnivorous reptiles with different features. Some large, some small, some with claws, some with long teeth. Some can fly and others… burrow themselves underground, even. They fight and eat everything they can kill, even if it’s each other.”

“And Will?” Anna asked. She gripped her pants with shaking hands. “Where’s this Johana girl, actually?”

“We didn’t find Will of course. Johana stayed behind. She’s still looking for him. She’s more used to that world than I am. It was my first time fighting those things, but Johana wasn’t surprised. She knew where to aim. We did find a Fire Rex already dead. It had several holes in its body. Large ones. We think they could’ve been Will’s attacks.”

Cynthia let out a heavy sigh. “Then so long as there’s no body, he’s still alive. We best assume he’s unable to come back for some reason. We’ll have to search for him.”

“I want to agree, but other than Aoi here, none of us can fight,” Amelia said. “What’s your plan?”

“We hire hunters,” Cynthia said. “We already have contacts.”

“Wait, there’s the incubi and succubi in the basement!” Ruth said. “Or rather, through the portal in the basement. I bet they’ll help in searching for Will.”

“I’m sure they will, but…” Nanami bit her lip. “We don’t know how to get to that area from the incubi settlement. It should be possible in theory, but…”

“Can’t they pass through the portal here and go back in through the other one?” Anna asked.

“They’d become spirits, right?” Reina said. “Like Ishtar. Living beings from that world that come to ours can’t hold a physical form. Am I right?”

Aoi nodded. “Correct.”

“And… Can’t we let them, um… Possess us for a short while?” Anna suggested. “If only so they can go from one portal to the other?”

Reina shivered and noticed Ruth uncomfortably rubbing her arm. Still, neither of them said anything to protest. If they had to, they’d do it.

Nanami shook her head. “By this point, we all have some manner of magic resistance due to the exposure to sexual energy from Will. Auntie and I might be able to do it if we consciously lower our resistance, but you probably can’t do it since you can’t control it.”

Reina bit her lip. So she had some form of power now but was useless even with it?

“Still… We should tell them. If there’s a chance they can help, we have to,” Aoi said. “Azazel and Ariana in particular. Those two are strong.” She stood up from her seat. “In fact, I’ll go talk to them now. I’d rather not waste more time.”

“Very well, but come back after you’re done,” Cynthia told her. “You’ve been out all day. You need to rest. The last thing we need is to worry about you, too.”

Aoi chuckled. “Harsh, aren’t you? But yes. I’ll be back soon. Hold back on calling hunters for now. I believe Will is fine, too, but I’m not going to wait for him to show up on his own.”

Aoi was the only one to properly sleep that night, and that was only because of how exhausted she was. The others kept themselves awake as much as they could, waiting and hoping for Will to suddenly show up at any moment.

He didn’t.