Shibuya.
Based on the text message, Taichi searched for the meeting spot Ren Amamiya and Ryuji Sakamoto had chosen. He'd given the chance to have dinner to Akane, as she hadn't eaten anything since arriving in this world. As for himself, Taichi thought it was only fair to get a free meal from Ren and Ryuji. After all, he was here to save them from getting expelled and sent to juvie. A meal in return for such a huge favor wasn't too much to ask.
"Hey! Taichi! Something bad is pouring toward us!" Mordred suddenly yelled in his mind.
"I've connected to the street cameras! A strange fog is slowly spreading across all of Shibuya and the surrounding area!" Ultraman X warned. "The people covered by the fog have disappeared! Only their bodies have vanished; their clothes and belongings are left behind!"
"Huh? What's going on?" Taichi looked around in shock. People were coming and going, laughing and chatting, a perfectly normal scene.
"Is this a monster's special ability?" Taichi asked, gripping his phone and looking around warily. "I'll contact Akane right away!" He was sure it wasn't the Alien Baltan from the movie, since that one took the clothes with the body.
Akane didn't have a cell phone, so Taichi called the landline on the third floor of Tae Takemi's clinic. "Moshi moshi, this is... CRACKLE STATIC—" The communication was cut off before he could even say two sentences. A harsh static noise made Taichi pull the phone away from his ear.
"The radio waves have been cut off by the fog!" Ultraman X explained. "The fog has now reached the adjacent block... And ever since it started, all of Shibuya has been enveloped in some kind of barrier! It's an energy system I can't understand!"
"This feeling is... Hey! Taichi, I feel my power is growing!" Mordred yelled. "This thing is super dangerous for living people, but it's like a great tonic for me! Things are looking bad!"
"Point me in a direction!" Taichi said urgently. "We have to get out of here first before we do anything else!"
"By the time we noticed, it was already too late," Ultraman X replied. "The fog has already surrounded all of Shibuya."
"But there's good news to go with the bad," X added. "I just found Ren Amamiya and Ryuji Sakamoto on the security cameras. While everyone else's bodies vanished, they're perfectly fine after being enveloped by the fog. The same goes for Morgana, the cat."
"The fog has no effect on the members of the Phantom Thieves?" Taichi raised an eyebrow. "Is something leaking from the Cognitive World?"
"They seem to think so, too. After they couldn't reach you, the three of them used that navigation app to enter a Palace," X replied with a hint of exasperation. His voice then changed. "Wait! It's not just them! I just connected to the camera in Takemi's clinic! Tae Takemi has vanished, but Akane Shinjo is completely unharmed! And she's not the one behind this; she's looking panicked and trying to contact you, too!"
"Ultraman X, find Yukino Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama and see how they reacted to the fog!" Taichi could already see the fog rolling toward him. The people around him screamed in terror as they saw others disappear into the strange mist, leaving only their clothes and belongings behind. It was a scene straight out of hell.
"Yukino Yukinoshita is in a panic. She and Haruno Yukinoshita were just buying clothes in a department store three blocks away, and Haruno disappeared right in front of her. As for Yui Yuigahama... I can't find her in any of the cameras within the fog's range. She's either in a blind spot or she wasn't in the area to begin with," X replied quickly.
"We need to investigate this fog, but before that, let's gather everyone who's still here," Taichi suggested, looking around warily.
The fog swiftly swept over his body, and Taichi clearly felt something leave him.
"Oh, oh, oh—!"
Before he could get nervous, a familiar voice rang out.
"Yo! Taichi!" Something hard and cold suddenly slapped him on the back. Taichi turned to see the familiar armored girl standing beside him.
"Mordred? You... you're real?" Taichi asked, his face filled with disbelief. Mordred had removed her helmet, revealing her delicate face.
"It must be the effect of that fog," Mordred said, pinching her cheek, and then, with teary eyes, tried to pinch Taichi's face with her gauntlet. It seemed she was so excited that she forgot how much it hurt to pinch someone with her armored hand. Taichi quickly dodged Mordred's "shared pain."
"Tch..." Seeing that Taichi wasn't willing to share the pain, Mordred looked unhappy. But she immediately pulled out her sword, adopted a guarded stance, and stepped forward to shield Taichi. "Don't move. Something's coming toward us, and there are a lot of them!"
As the fog began to dissipate, shaky figures started to emerge from the streets and alleyways, moving in a specific direction.
"Heh, just a bunch of cannon fodder. I don't even need my sword to handle them easily," Mordred said as if she understood something. She turned to hand Taichi her sword. "Here, take the sword. You go."
"Think of it as close-quarters combat training."
"...Mordred, you want me to take on all of them? There must be over a hundred!" Taichi's forehead began to sweat.
"Idiot, who said you had to fight them all at once? The street is only so wide; at most, seven or eight of them can gang up on you at a time," Mordred said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, X is secretly using telekinesis to defend you. What are you so afraid of?"
"It's not that I'm afraid; I'm just a little nervous," Taichi swallowed. "I've only fought monsters and Shadows in the Palace. Other than that, I've never even had a heated argument with someone, let alone been in a fight. I'm a bit overwhelmed."
Despite his words, Taichi showed no sign of wanting to run away. His legs were firmly planted on the ground without a single tremor. Mordred was satisfied with this reaction.
"There's nothing to be overwhelmed about! Just run at them, slash with the sword, or kick them, or use your teeth... alright, those things are a little gross-looking. I don't think you can bring yourself to bite them." Mordred's face showed a look of disgust as she looked at the approaching figures.