"It should be here."

The musing echoed through the streets from Elric.

His eyes turned to his device, looking at the location mapped on the screen, and he paused, turning his gaze to the side.

There was the dark alleyway, and just as instructed, he turned his gaze forward and backward.

Noticing the quiet, he affirmed himself before silently stepping.

The second he did, he could already feel the pull on the button in his pocket, and he brought it out, walking toward where the pull came from.

He couldn't see it, but he could feel it, the place the button should be put in.

He paused, turning his head one last time to confirm if no one had truly seen him.

And when he noticed the still, quiet alleyway, he turned forward, his hand reaching forth with the button.

WHIISTLE

Just before his hands stretched fully halfway, a faint whistling came from behind him.

His heart pounded ferociously, an overwhelming feeling of danger rising within him, forcing him to quickly turn back.

But he had only welcomed that thought when he felt hands silently wrap around his neck.

CREAK!

His neck bones creaked from how tightly they were locked within the arms from behind.

His hands dug into the ones holding him as Elric tried to bend forward to throw the assailant, but shock and even more horror covered his face when he felt his feet dangle off the floor as his body curved back.

He tried to scream, but not even air escaped his lungs.

The grasp silently tightened again and again, thick red veins wriggling through his eyes as foam spilled from his lips.

The last breath of air was squeezed from his throat before his eyes rolled back and his hands dropped to the side.

Gently, he was lowered to the ground and silently dragged out of the alleyway.

A minute after the occurrence, another student stepped into the dark alleyway.

Repeating the same set of cautionary actions, he dipped his button and stepped inside.

And just thirty seconds after he went in, somebody else also stepped into the dark alleyway.

It was a figure with most of its features hidden behind a dark hoodie.

In his hand, a button.

He turned back, looking at the alleyway before pushing the button in and waiting.

That figure was none other than Everlearn, his cold blue eyes gazing at the ripple in the space before him.

When he saw it fully open before him, only then did he step in, disappearing into the ripple that closed behind him.

__________

"You in?"

The call was received by Everlearn, who raised his device to his ear.

"I am." He whispered calmly.

"Good. What's up in there?" the other side asked.

Everlearn looked forward.

Just as he had guessed, that invisibility ripple was actually a teleport vortex, the exact same thing that had happened in the combat class when students had stepped into the glass wall just to be taken into that void of space.

The same thing had happened when he stepped through the ripple, and he had been taken.

Around him was a wide hall, stadium-like, with seats rising in a spiral higher into the air.

There were both Newcomers and Students, either seated silently or roaming around aimlessly.

The room was pitch black, with only red motes of light drifting about, casting faint glows that barely pierced the darkness.

Everlearn sat among the seats, not too high, not too low, right in the middle, keeping silent and blending into the setting of others.

"It's like they're preparing for a meeting or something similar."

"The Newcomers aren't doing much but sitting, and some of the second years sometimes descend to the ground and exchange something with each other without a word before they turn back to their seats."

"Dark Market Exchange, hmm?"

Boss Ash's musing came from the other side as Everlearn's eyes furrowed.

"Dark market?"

He had heard that word before, and in the next moment, the words crossed his head.

_________

"Photon!? Is that, are you dealing with the dark market?"

________

Those words...

They had come from the dorm officer after he had burst into his room due to him mistakenly blowing it up with the Nano Photon Blaster.

"The first years are there for initiation into the cult."

"And the black market exchange most likely has something to do with the Darkies Cult."

Boss Ash's words came from the other side, though Everlearn couldn't really say he understood what she was saying.

"I've gotten all I need. You can leave there now."

Her last words, before the connection was severed.

Everlearn lowered his phone.

Turning his head around the hall, he scanned, but… There was no exit.

When he had come in, he had simply been dropped at the center, just like the ones arriving now.

The void there rippled, but only when the students dropped in.

It didn't remain after they left, and their drop-in location was random.

Wherever the door was, it wasn't in that place.

And what's more, the button that had been taken from him wasn't returned.

He was more or less trapped here.

But quickly enough, he noticed an occurrence.

There were a couple of doors at the upper side of the hall, and he noticed a few individuals wearing thick black robes that hid their features, walking to some of the first years and leading them back through the door.

Interestingly enough, those first years never returned when the robed figures exited, and another group of Newcomers would follow them.

And these too would never return.

It occurred to Everlearn that they were most likely being led out through that door.

He waited patiently, and after some time, they walked toward him.

Two of those robed figures.

He thought that if they were close enough, he could see their faces, but even that was hidden behind pitch-black masks fully obscuring their features.

"Come,"

Both spoke at the same time to Everlearn, and just like any student, he stood up and silently followed them as they disappeared into one of the doors.

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