A Call for Help (AceofSpades)

Kotori and her grandpa stood around at street where they were waiting for Keisuke and Haruno. Grandpa had insisted in getting early but apparently too early. However on the bright side, she had some time to finish her taiyaki. "I wonder how Risa is going to be like," Kotori wondered as she bit into her taiyaki. Her grandpa was standing there besides her, deep in thought. She was pretty sure he was thing the same thing she was thinking.

Keisuke and Haru soon met up with Kotori and her grandfather. Keisuke had a cigarette, he didn't often smoke but when ever he felt close to madness or in madness is calmed him down, even if it was merely a placebo it worked for him. "Akane has promised to show us the Risa, however he only gave us an hour. That was 10 minutes ago. It's a five minute walk from here, so if we hurry then we can get to see Risa and perhaps get some answers." Keisuke said taking out the cigarette and putting it out.

"Akane also mentioned that if Risa rejected any visitors before we got there then it's all over."

Kotori and Isao both nodded to confirm that they understood. "Okay, let's go then. Lead the way," Grandpa said as he looked at Keisuke and Haruno.

After a short five minute walk the four were at what appeared to be a large cave just outside of Death City. "This cave is where prisoners are kept, it runs directly under all of the city, including the school." Keisuke says walking into the dimly lit cave. From the look of it it seemed ad though very few light inside of the caver were operational.

"Risa is in heart of it all. Where everyone who fell to madness is. So if you don't have the nerves to go through everything, then you can walk away now. If you wish." Haru said following after Keisuke into the cave.

The look of the cave made Kotori a little nervous but she was determined to meet Risa. She nodded to her grandpa as if to say she was alright. Grandpa had a good reason to worry; he knew about Kotori's wariness. "Okay, thank you. Let's get over this, shall we?" Grandpa replied back to Keisuke and Haruno.

"Are you two coming along or not? There's only 43 minutes left" Keisuke never liked to be near what the NOT (Normally Overcome Target) students called 'MC' (Madness Center). There was a brief light for a moment deep in the cave but it soon went out. It was Keisuke's lighter. People weren't supposed to smoke, especially those going into the MC.
Supposedly it made the people think their cell was on fire. Keisuke was ahead of Kotori and her grandfather. The area was dimly lit so Haru stayed near Kotori and her grandfather incase either of them needed some help as to which direction to go, so that they wouldn't run into a wall.

"Yeah we are," Kotori replied back as they went into the cave. The intensity made her want to go mad herself or maybe she was just super nervous. Either way though, she couldn't help but feel a chill down her spine. "Is it me or is the cave supposed to drive you insane?" Kotori asked.

"No. I think your body is just overreacting to the sudden burst of madness. IT should pass as we get nearer to the MC." The four soon stumble upon a large steal door the seems to block off all entrance. Keisuke knocks on the door and the door is soon opened. On the other side of the door is a well lit hallway so the light seems to almost flood the once dark cave. The man who stands on the other side of the door couldn't be any older than Keisuke or Haru.

"It's 'bout time you all showed up. You got 40 minutes." The man sees Kotori and her grandfather. "The name's Akane☆Hoshi." Akane probably looked familiar to Kotori, considering he works at the Taiyaki shop as a waiter. Keisuke and Haru walked into straight forward hallway. The huge wave of madness that shot out when the door opened made Keisuke drop the cigarette he had in his mouth to the ground of the cave floor, Keisuke stepped on it when he walked into the hallway.

"Risa's allowing visitors, your lucky." Haru followed Keisuke into the hallway.

Kotori gaped at Akane. "I-It's y-....no never mind. Thank you," Kotori said. She was about to say 'It's you!!!! What are you doing here?!?!?!?!' but she would sound like a mad woman so she held it back.

When Akane said that Risa was accepting visitors, Kotori didn't know if this was a good thing or an unfortunate thing. Despite that, Kotori followed the group.

Akane seemed slightly confused at Kotori's confusion. She knew that he worked at the Taiyaki shop, why was it so surprising? His partner worked there too. "Just follow the hallway down then take the left at the fork." It seemed odd for him to be giving directions even though he was following them instead of actually showing them towards Risa's room.

The party of 5 soon ended up at the fork, took the left and after a few more minutes of walking they came across another door. A blonde male stood in front of the door. He probably was the same age as Akane. "I'm guessing these are the people. Well there's still 35 minutes. The name's Clay Sizemore
by the way. And it's nice to see you again Taiyaki girl."
The last part clay said looking at Kotori, after all he has been one of the waiters at the shop. Clay opened the door an inside was one large glass window that divided the room into two. On the other side of the glass was a girl who perfectly matched the description from the journal. Except she was in a straight jacket tied to a chair.

"We had to restrain her, other wise she could have broken the glass wall before we had it replaced with that new glass your looking at now. Akane said as he, along with Clay and the other's walked into the room. that half of the room that everyone was in was empty. Clay closed the door behind them. The madness in this room was immense, but Akane, Clay, Keisuke, and Haru acted like it was nothing at all.

Kotori smiled. "Nice to meet you too Clay," Kotori replied as he opened the door. Then she looked through the window and her first reaction was pretty much nothing. Risa did look like a doll......one with crazy eyes at least. "Risa......how could have this happened?" Kotori's grandfather muttered besides her, talking to no one really.

"You needn't worry Isao. She is currently stable. In fact that's why she's not saying anything. She's been waiting for you." It seemed shocking how Keisuke could know who Kotori's grandfather was, but when you take the journal entry and how he reacted to hearing about Risa it made sense that the two were one in the same. The madness seemed to grow weaker when Keisuke said 'Isao' but it made sense, and it proved that the girl in the straight jacket was really Risa.

"Not to be a damper, but you got half an hour. Better make everything count from this point onward."

Isao nodded. Then looking at Risa, he said, "Hey Risa. Remember me, Isao?" Now that he thought about it, it was a pretty stupid question. Of course Risa knew it was him! "Risa, we need help with a certain type of menace form....peace menace form specifically. Do you know anything about that?"

Risa looked surprised at the thought of the peace form. "That's something I haven't heard in a while. I know many things about it. What about it would you like to know?" Risa's voice doesn't seemed to have changed in the least sense Isao last heard her voice. No one else talked, everyone knew that this was for Isao and Risa to talk.

Isao smiled. "Everything you know about it.....though we do need help how to perform it," Isao replied, thinking for a bit.

"It's preformed like a normal soul menace." The madness in the room was decreasing and soon fell to a level that no one in the room could feel, as if Risa no long was in madness at all.
"The peace form is one of the weakest forms of soul menace, when used incorrectly anyway. When it's used right it is the most powerful force. It is the easiest to master because of this, but it is also the most difficult to control. It is also easy to be consumed by its power because it is simply just raw madness. It is only know as the peace form because it only effects the one using it instead of all of the people around that person.
That is all I know about the peace form. I'm sorry if I couldn't be more helpful."

Isao chuckled. "Nonsense, you helped us a lot. We didn't know anything at all about the form until you just told us about it,". However Isao, inside, was a bit worried. Raw madness? Did that mean that after learning this form, Kotori has a chance of being mad? Then he turned to the others. "Do you have any questions do you want me to ask?".

"I have one, but it's more of a personal affair. I'll just come back later to ask it." There's a small beep. The clock that's above the door shows that it's been 30 minutes sense Akane said the time.

"Let's be on our way then. Now that we know more or less than we set out to know. Haru said as she and Keisuke left the room with Akane and Clay following behind.

Kotori and Grandpa followed but before Isao left, he waved goodbye to Risa and turned quickly away, never knowing if she waved back or not.

As they got out, Kotori asked in confusion. "What does she mean by raw madness?". Grandpa, nearby, began to listen in interest.

"How do I put this simply..." Keisuke took a moment to think as the party of 6 came back to the fork and was now back at the normal straight forward hallway back to the cave. "I supposes the easiest way to explain raw madness is simply Asura. Though it probably was never noted other than by lord Death, Asura fell to madness. But his madness was of a completely different level. It was powerful enough for him to swallow his own weapon partner. And that was what drove him, the madness. Raw madness is, what I suppose you could call, the off spring to 'Asura madness'. Raw madness is just the level below Asura madness.
It's doubtful that you'd go and swallow your weapon partner. No Asura only could because his weapon partner was a knife. In any case, Raw madness and Asura madness are close to each other but Raw madness can be contained and not spread. Which is what results in the peace form. I suppose you could call it the ultimate sacrifice, sacrificing your own sanity for the safety of others." It seemed like a long winded explanation. But the short version seemed to be just that Raw madness was just a step below Asura madness and that Raw madness is controllable. By the time Keisuke was finished the party of 6 had become the party of 4 they began with and the four of them were back in the cave.

Kotori frowned. She liked the idea of helping others but at the same time, didn't want to lose her sanity. If she went into madness like Risa, she could lost everything. However Grandpa was anything but relaxed. "So out of 10, how easy is it to become crazy when learning the form?"

"I can't say for certain how possible it is. But when you look at a soul menace user and how the attack slowly chips away their soul, you realize it's how often you use it. I think it's the same here, but in this case the more often you use it the close you come to losing your sanity. If you feel like you've over used it, such as when you feel almost afraid of your own shadow, then it may only be a few days before you feel back to normal" It seemed like another long explanation, but at least Keisuke cut it shorter.

"Oh okay then. I'll just use it in emergencies," Kotori suggested. Not necessarily a helpful one but it was the best she could think of.

"You two should probably head home. It's been quite a day." Haru said as the four came out of the cave. It was probably just after noon, but still with all of the new information it felt almost like it was 6 in the afternoon.

Grandpa nodded in agreement. "I agree. Oh and Keisuke? Since Kotori and I are leaving you can do your question with Risa alone," Grandpa said. Then after saying goodbye, they walked back home.

*exit*