Back in reality

" mizuki!" Aoba called out suddenly the area around them changed, and aoba found himself in what looked like the rhyme field " rhyme?"

A figure then appeared, which was one he knew well, from all the rhyme battles she appears in "usui?" He then noticed she was holding an orb above her head
And behind the orb was a man, The man revealed to be toue "Welcome home seragaki" he smiled

Aoba's eyes widened " I recognise you...." his face from the tv entered his mind " toue..."

" I'm glad that you remember me"he smiled

" from the tv...or somewhere else?" Aoba says confused "your gonna have to do a lot of digging around to stop me" the man smirked. Which just confused aoba even more

" everything will begin when you understand who you are, once you've learned what your powers are, the world itself will undergo a Dramatic transformation Unlike anything we've seen That time is almost upon us"

The world then starts fading "I'm eagerly awaiting it and for the girls return" After the two disappeared aoba collapsed, then awoke to see the grey sky's again

" are you alright?" Tae asked looking down at him, along with kyouka, He rolled his eyes over to her to sure the two of them okay " grandma!" He gets up but too fast, and grunted holding his head " I should be asking whether your okay gram"

"Well just look" she gestured to herself smiling "I'm perfectly fine Thanks to you, kyouka and all your friends"

" aoba you had me worried" kojaku commented

" master..." clear says

He smiled but then remembers two people and turned to tae " where's mizuki?"

" huh?" When he asked that, a sad look morphed on her and kyouka's face, before humming and turning her head " they're right over there"

As soon as he saw them, his eyes widened , he saw mizuki surrounded by kojaku's guys who were checking on him, but he wasn't awake, just lying on the ground, he remembered him begging for help " seragaki....help me..."

" mizuki...." he murmured before he fell

" aoba!" Tae and kyouka called out

" aoba!" Kojaku yelled

" master!" Clear yelled

' mizuki......' we're his last thought

Elsewhere

Toue's scientists were monitoring

" trap rhyme synchronisation Complete" one of the scientists stated

"How was aoba's performance?" Toue's assistant questioned while toue smirked

" his powers manifests When he gets angry or upset" one informed "It's a match for our dataset sir"

" and what about miss kyouka?" He asks

" shes seemed to have mastered demon snow perfectly" the man chuckled " like mother like daughter"

"I've called the police in the old residential district And asked for they're assistance In apprehending him and the girl, but it goes without saying that-" toue cuts him off

" yes I know, But let's try this it's obvious there going to come here, I could actually derive a little amusement From monitoring they're progress"

While Sei watched the screen as the man next to him talked

Back with the group

Aoba was asleep on his head until he started to regain consciousness

Ren got up and noticed " well looks who's back in the land of the living"

Aoba doesn't say anything and continued looking at the ceiling " you feel okay?" Ren asked

".....I've got a bad headache" aoba replied

"..." Ren says nothing, aoba turns and lifts him up and places him on his chest, but stares at the ceiling

Time skip

The others were sitting at the dining table eating dinner, well almost everyone, mink was sitting in the living room with his bird

Aoba walked down the stairs and entered the room

"Hey man." Koujaku said. "You're finally up."

" aoba" Kyouka says relieved

"Master! We've already helped ourselves!" Clear said, holding a bowl and chopsticks, he noticed everyone was here "Okay. I guess all that wasn't just some kind of dream after all." Aoba said.

"What happened to Mizuki Grandma?" Aoba asked. "Him and all the other guys from his gang have been laid up in the hospital since we all got them admitted. None of them have gotten up yet, son." Tae said

"Alright. I should be able to-" he gripped his head in pain. His headaches must be back again. "Oooh really? Take your drugs?" Tae asked with narrowed eyes

"The rest of us are done with dinner so feel free to have what's left here." Tae said. "Right." he replied. "Are you okay after all that grandma?" Aoba asked.

"Look boy. You ended up out on your feet instead of me, why don't you take care of yourself for a change." she said. "Hey Aoba, unless you want Clear to eat your share of dinner you better move." Koujaku played around

"Huh? I wouldn't do something mean and underhanded like that to you Master or mistress!" Clear defended.

"Yeah, well the beanpole is probably scoping the leftovers too!" Koujaku said, giving Noiz a little nickname. "Huh? I'm not that thin alright?" Noiz said, Aoba laughed a small bit

Time skip

Tae had something to say, so everyone say around the table, well apart mink

"I'm sorry you ended up spending all that time and worrying about me." Tae apologized. "Okay." Aoba said. "But Grandma, I gotta know."

"Yeah?" she replied. "What's the Reason Mizuki did all that?" Aoba asked. "I wish it was simple." Tae said, her head down. "I suppose it's about time I should stop and tell you all everything about this sort of little tale. Many people have put a lot of value on this information I might actually be putting your lives in danger by telling you all of this, however since they all know who you are and might help you. And I need all of you to listen to this alright!" she said.

"I really should answer why Mizuki was doing what he was doing, he was under a form of mind control." she said.

"Mind control?" Kyouka said surprised looking up to the conversation

"And it was..Morphine?" Aoba asked. "Exactly. But my guess is Morphine isn't just some legendary gamer gang like you think it is." she said.

"Hmm?"

"What?" Kojaku asked. "I bet my last 500 yen that they're probably getting financial and computer network backing from the Toue Concern." she said.

"Wait a sec. Isn't he that old dude who bought the island and started building that Platinum Jail complex?" Noiz asked.

"But Grandma? Why would that connect him with Morphine? And what was it they wanted from you?" Aoba asked.

"A long time ago, I took myself and my doctorate degree to Toue and got a job in one of his labs." she said.

"Of course all this happened a good 20 years ago at least." she said. "So Grandma, you actually worked and researched for that guy, Toue?" Aoba asked. "I was researching the human brain in a mainland laboratory. When I first started I had no idea that the lab and Toue were even connected. I can only imagine what my answer might have been if I actually knew." she explained.

"There's a word now for what I was doing back then, neuroplasticity the notion that the brain could take on a variety of tasks, specifically could restructuring and repurposing take place after brain death. We investigated the effects of drugs, nutritional therapies and anything that makes brains work differently. All of this had the ultimate goal of providing a group of benefits to people who have suffered any kind of brain damage. That's what I was led to believe, I soon found out they weren't being truthful with me." she said.

" huh?" Aoba looked at her confused

"But this is what he was doing, he was trying to find every avenue he could into people's minds and then control them for his uses!" she said. "You mean to control their minds of some kind?" Kyouka asked.

"Yes. That's exactly it." she said. "Turned out everything I worked on is that lap was focused on nothing but that purpose. Now and then there was still times when I would question what was going, on one doubt led to another and a lot more a little bit of digging that seemingly unpublished paper. The author proposed the theory on how to completely replace someone's Consciousness. I read it word for word, and it's like every bit of my energy was leaching out of my body!" She clenched her hands tighter

"I wasn't helping anyone! I was teaching that slime how to hurt them! I had died on the inside from the sheer waste of it all!" she said.

"I stopped researching, quit the lap, and did what I could to start piecing my life back together. I decided that the best way to not have any contact with Toue would be to restart my life on this island and hope for a quieter one." she said.

"However in spite of all that someone tracked me down and asked me to come back." she said.

Aoba and kyouka were surprised by this

"Obviously I decided not to. I wasn't going to do anything Toue again. And I ment it!" she said. "So they ended up using Morphine to control Mizuki and coerced me into coming back to them!" she said.

"Okay. So the thing that wanted was to get you working for Toue again?" Aoba asked. "Well, yes..." she said, looking down.

"They look like a corporation but they operate like gangsters." Koujaku noted.

"Spoken from personal experiences." Mink said. "What's that!?" Koujaku challenged, standing up from his seat. "Hey! Knock it off you guys! This isn't the time!" Aoba ordered.

Koujaku sat back down. "Anyway, mind control, Mizuki and the others, how did they manage to do that to all those guys?" Aoba asked.

"Think about it. Toue was able to brainwash them." she said. "Brainwash them?" Aoba repeated

"Another piece of the puzzle is all of these young people who have been reported missing on the island, right? Plus we've been seeing more people on the streets who look like they've been on a drug bender of some kind. And since I actually helped out with the research I can only assume that they are responsible for what's going on. They're tearing those kids' minds apart and then putting them back in the city like they're the mice in the alley's of a giant maze. They might be observing them or they might be using a city to off-load failed experiments!" she explained. "You're kidding!" Aoba said.

"That's messed up if you ask me." Noiz said, kyouka's eyes widened and was slightly shaking

"What do you mean by failed experiments?" Clear asked.

"Meaning that Toue couldn't control them or fix them after they broke them." she answered.

"What I mean is they're making envelipes out of those kids and dumping them!"

"That's crazy! Why would Toue want to do such a thing? And why would he want you out of all of his other people who work for him?" Kyouka asked trembling

"I honestly don't know why he wanted me. And his plan might have been obvious by now." she said.

. "So, what happens to the successful ones?" Koujaku asked. "My guess is they hang onto them and perform more experiments. Maybe even replacing someone's consciousness with something that'll be completely under their control." Tae said.

"And what in the hell does Toue plan on doing with that kind of research exactly?" Aoba asked.

"And what's gonna happen to the island?" Kyouka asked hestitantly

"Kind of convenient if you ask me. Take control of the minds of everyone on the island, Toue gets to crown himself as king over an island pull of subjects to cater to his every command and whim." Tae replied.

Else where

Toue sat in his office with his assistant standing next to him and Sei sitting on the sofa near the desk

"I'm not seeing any problems" he says looking at some Results " let's move this forward"

" about the dissidence, you sure you just want to let them come after us like this?" His assistant asked

While toue calmly clenched both hands together " how much time does it take for someone to reach they're greatest potential and how are you sure they've reached it, can you tell me?" Toue questions

" I can't" his assistant replied

" people display far greater powers of ingenuity, physical endurance and mental strength when they're at disadvantage" a poster appeared on screen which said happy anniversary

"Should we extend an invitation to aoba seragaki and miss kyouka while we're at it sir?" His assistant asked

"Of course not" toue replied "Like I said
The greater the hinderance, The more someone reaches for they're strengths" he says

Back to the house

"And if he ends up perfecting his little mind control technique then he can pawn it off to foreign governments when It's ready to sell." Tae said.

"Dammit. That sounds just like a rich guy's idea!" Koujaku said.

"Well for some reason he been sitting on this for a while now. But something has to have happened to make him want to leave all these clues like this." she said.

"The street kids first, and then everyone on the island becomes his puppets." she said.

'No way....Mindless slavery at the hands of some rich bastard...' aoba thought as he thought of everyone he knew

"We have to stop this plan!." Aoba said. "Master?" Clear asked.

"We can't. We can't just sit here and let it happen!" Aoba said, sounding super serious.

"Then we better bust into Platinum Jail as soon as we can. It might as well be tomorrow." Koujaku said. Clear raised his hand. "I'll be by yours and mistress side Master!" he said.

Tae clapped. Getting our attention. "Right! I'm done!" she said. "You've endured my praddling long enough. And I'm sure you're all getting tired now. You probably won't get a lot but you should definitely try to get some sleep tonight." she said. "I'm truly sorry for getting you all mixed up in this mess tonight." she apologized, bowing her head down. "Ms. Tae! You shouldn't!" Koujaku said.

"Master's grandma!" Clear defended.

"It's okay. We understand now." Kyouka said.

"Right. Now get out of here and get some shut-eye!" she said, a smile on her face. Koujaku put his sword on his back. "Let me know right away if something happens." he said.

Noiz was tying his shoes. "Remember your promise to me." he said, getting up and leaving. "I didn't volunteer. You're gonna pay me back for this." Mink said.

While kyouka watched him leave

Clear popped from the outside. "Master? Mistress? If you call for me I shall definitely be there! Any time any place! Bye!" he said, putting up his umbrella and walking away.

Aoba walked inside to see Tae finishing up the dishes. "Man, those guys sure eat a lot. I guess no one can resist the taste of homecooked meals like yours Grandma." Aoba said.

She put a plate in the dish drainer, turned off the sink and turned around. A sad look on her face. "Aoba. There was something else about this I needed to tell you and kyouka about." she said.

While the girl looked down at the table

"Yeah. That's the reason you sent everyone home, right?" Aoba asked. "Mhm." she hummed. "You can tell us anything, Grandma." Aoba said.

" yeah..." the girl spoke

Time skip

All three say at the table in silence until Tae spoke

"You have the ability to project your mind and consciousness into the minds of other people, if you want to" Both they're widened eyes

"We referred to that power as Scrap  back when I worked at the lab."

"What's that?"  Aoba asked

"You trigger your Scrap power over other people by talking.When you say something with emotion in your voice, people do whatever you tell them to." Aoba thought about when Aoba received compliments on his voice as well as when Aoba yelled at Koujaku and Noiz, and when he told Mink's guys to disappear, "You've probably already had a few of those experiences already."

  "Well...yeah." Aoba answered.  "Your voice has the ability to draw people toward you. If you use that power consciously, you can actually take over their thoughts from them. In essence, making them your puppets, if you want. All you have to do know more about a person or make them have deeper feelings for you, is to plant your own consciousness in their mind. They're an open book to you, if you feel like doing the reading. However, there is a risk in taking over someone's mind like that. You will come into contact with that person's subconscious unguarded by the barriers provided by their physical body. That moment is crucial, because at that moment, you can actually destroy a person's unconscious mind and total self with whatever you do or say." 

"So, all that dreamscape crap, the Rhyme trash talk was actually me being inside Mizuki's head?" aoba asked

"I wouldn't doubt it." tae replied

"Now, wait. I talked to Mizuki. He was normal, completely normal. No, wait! Mizuki told me how he had been suffering recently. He was upset about the fall of Ribsteiz and Dry Juice as its best team." 

"You were touching his thought's stream. his unconscious mind, uncensored by his controls. He didn't have a conscious mind to filter those thoughts, so you heard the purest truth from him. How did you reply to that?" tae asked

"I was too preoccupied with myself, so I couldn't give him an answer. And then, Mizuki...He stared to scream in pain and I couldn't...I couldn't do a thing to help him."  aoba lowered his gaze

Kyouka looked at him in shock

"Aoba. You're probably not going to like hearing this. There's a reason Mizuki hasn't gotten up. And you're probably that reason." Aoba widened his eyes let out a gasp.

Elsewhere

Mink was about to drive of when he not ed a certain someone walk Infront of his bike, which happen to be kojaku " hey, thanks for earlier" he said smiled

" what do you want kojaku?" Mink questioned getting straight to the point

You know what I want, tell me, what do you intend to do with aoba....and kyouka..." mink narrowed his eyes at him

" I don't have a reason to share that with you" mink says eyes closed

"How about this" Kojaku says reaching for his sword " I make it so you can't talk anymore" he says narrowing his eyes

Mink smiles a little " it must be nice to be ignorant like you are" he says looking directly at him

" what?" Kojaku asked

" he's good at deception isn't he?" Mink says which confused kojaku " huh?"

Back inside

"You went into Mizuki's mind without a second thought. And then you dragged the truth out of him and left him there to deal with it?" Tae asked.

"No way. You're telling me I destroyed Mizuki's mind? I'd never want to do that!"

"Aoba, depending on how you use your power, you can reshape people or shatter them. That's why you need to realize what you're capable of," Aoba began to tremble

"But why me too?...." kyouka asked raising her head " he's after me too...isn't he?"

"kyouka, you have an ability too, but not like aoba's" tae replied

"You have the ability of the demon snow, a materialisable female sword-wielding phantom." Kyouka gasped

" it initially followed orders coming from the mobile phone which belonged to the previous wielder of its power, that person...that person was your mother..." both of them couldn't believe what they heard

" you...you knew my mom?..." Kyouka asked in shock

" b-but how?" aoba questioned

" she was my best friend, we met when I used to work at toue's company, but I had no idea she ended up as one of his experiments"

Kyouka's eyes widened " she was also the one who helped me learn everything they were planning, later I heard...." she looked like she was struggling with what was about what words she was gonna use " while I worked, I heard...sakura...your mother....was about to be engaged to toue..."

Kyouka stared in shock " But it wasn't for love...if she was married to him...she wouldn't have any free will anymore...she'd have no choice but to obey him, even if she didn't he would have mind controlled her, and he would've used demon snow against anyone who apposed him, and she didn't want that... she was afraid...so we came up with a plan, fake her death then sneak her out under a new identity...it wasn't easy, but we succeeded, I pleaded with her to come with me to the island, but...she refused and said she'd take the power of demon snow, and flee
Elsewhere...that was the last I heard from her..."

The whole time kyouka had tears running down her face

" then...the day aoba brought you home, I could tell without a Doubt, you were her daughter...you looked just like her...and then that man.." she clenched her fist " if he's here....and you have demon snow...then sakura...."

" is no longer alive..." Kyouka finished her sentence

Tae wipes the tears away and continued

"I knew I'd have to tell you all about this someday. But, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Until now, I've been there for you, I've been able to protect you both with this out of the way home kind of like a gilded cage. But, I can't protect you anymore. All of these lies would actually cause you to lose control. I honestly fear the day that Toue decides to come looking for you two. And heaven knows how long it'll take for him to get what he wants from you both."

"I was why...The reason why they went and kidnapped you. Why Mizuki's in the hospital right now. It's my fault. All of it."

He remembered hearing ' destruction and death....'

"I was the reason why...."

"no...it's not you..." Kyouka says looking at the phone in her hand under the table

"And I'm sure you've forgotten this, but you used to be quite the Rhyme player yourself."

"Huh?"

"You were involved in an accident, while you were playing the game. And that probably was the point you lost your memories. In order to keep your mind stable and to prevent your powers from destroying everything around you, I made a drug for you. But, the medicine isn't working as well as it used to. My guess is you can only suppress powers like yours for so long."

  "I was playing a game of Rhyme? When I...went and lost my memories?"

Aoba's watch began to vibrate as he received an incoming call.

"Listen to me, you aoba. The root of Scrap is destruction. So...it's meant to kill. Like demon snow. But, depending on how you control the power, that wouldn't be all its good for. Eventually, you're going to have to face yourself and figure out how you're going to control it." Tae placed her hands on Aoba's.  "I...don't know...That's a whole lot at once...Why in the hell do i and have these powers in the first place? I mean...why me and no one else apart from kyouka I know?"

"Aoba...the reason for that is--" Aoba's watch started vibrating again "Sorry." He clicked on it to answer. It was Virus.

Aoba." Virus said.  "Virus." Aoba says surprised

Which kyouka frowned

"Listen to me, man. This is an emergency. You got a whole bunch of cops bearing down at your house." Virus says

"Huh? But, why?"aoba asked standing up

  "Beats me. The only thing that makes them go faster than this is donuts. Just find a way to make yourself scarce. We're dealing with the police ourselves. Just get undercover for now. I'll call you again if something goes down."

  "Right." 

"Just take care of yourselves out there." With that, Aoba hung up. Then, he received another Silent Oath demo of a character walking into a room, then he received an invitation...to none other than Platinum Jail itself.

"Is this a real pass to Platinum Jail?" It had Aoba's name on it which he was surprised

Just then they heard another was Gerard form kyouka's " same with me" she replied, just then hers went off

Elsewhere

mink told kojaku something, and when he finished, kojaku's eyes widened, back at the house, Aoba had to pack up and leave along with kyouka

He was putting on his shoes, when Aoba's watch rang again. Aoba answered it.  "Aoba." It was Koujaku.

  "Koujaku. I'm thinking I'll be heading out to Platinum Jail pretty soon, I'm bringing kyouka with me," Aoba said

"Actually, we got to go, now."

"You're what?! Give me a sec! I'm coming with you, okay?" Kojaku exclaimed

Just then cars pull up and the lights flashed on, which kyouka gasped "Sorry, man! Gotta bounce!" He hung up. Aoba raced back to try heading out another way, pulling kyouka along

" hey! What's going on?!" Kojaku exclaimed but got no respond, just then he too got a pass to platinum jail

Aoba peered out the curtains on a window.  "Get your asses out here, terrorist kids!" It was Akushima, yelling through that megaphone of his, "These are the charges!" He began to name things they did, even though it was to save a persons like, just a certain someone didn't care, and heck, maybe he was bribed.

" captain blow horn..." aoba groaned, Kyouka shivered as he held her

Aoba looked to her, which she nodded

"Ren. We need you, buddy." Aoba said.  "Right." Ren replied. They started running through the house to get out, but stopped as they saw Tae.  "Grandma."

"Get out of here! And whatever you do don't let toue get her!" She said referring to kyouka

" alright here we come!"Akushima yelled with his terrifying smirk

Aoba held kyouka's hand as they raced upstairs and went through the window in Aoba's room, jumping onto the roof and making their way down the alley. 

"Grandma! I'm sorry!"

  "You got police ahead of you, Aoba. You might want to parkour into the north." Aoba jumped onto some stairs on the side of the building and he helped kyouka over the railing

  "Right! Thanks, Ren." They climbed up the stairs and made it to the roof, seeing the police cars out front the house.

After getting off the building, they fled down the roads and raced into some back alleys to remain out of sight, making their way to Platinum Jail.

Noiz was in his place hacking, then noticed two faces appear on his screen " so why are the cops after you?" He wondered " let's have a look" he threw is all mate in the direction of platinum jail

Clear was at what I believe was his home, he reached out to something under a cloth but then stopped and gasped, looking in the direction he heard the sound "master...mistress..."

Mink was smoking his pipe in his hideout when one of his guys ran over informing him something which made him get up

Kojaku was running in hope to make it to the others 'Aoba! Kyouka!'