Aquila eyes narrowed as she settled into the seat of the one of the two carriages they had rented to take them around town – something was wrong.  The Medieval European-style buildings rose around them, their facades clean as they only could be in a fantasy story world.  The passers by talked to each other in Japanese.

    Aquila frowned.  Something was off about the situation, she knew it.  She just couldn’t put her finger on it.

    “You okay?” Kasumi asked, sitting down beside her.  Across from her, Captain Infinite took his seat.

    Aquila offered her a smile.  “I’m fine.  How are the girls doing?”

    Kasumi poked her head out of the window of the carriage and looked behind them.  “Natsuki and her friends have boarded their carriage.  We should be on our way in a moment.”

    Aquila nodded.  “Good.”  She closed her eyes and reached out with her senses.  There it was!  The barest trace of magic, around both carriages.

    She opened her eyes.  “We should get different carriages.”

    “You think these ones have been tampered with?” Cap asked.

    Aquila nodded.  “There’s just enough of a hint of–”

    A blinding flash of light burst through the windows, fading into darkness.

    Aquila sighed.  “We’ve just been transported.”

    “And to think that I was looking forward to an uneventful day,” Cap said.  “We’d better make sure the other carriage is still with us.”

    The door beside Aquila was pulled open, revealing rough-looking men holding spears and crossbows, all trained on her, Kasumi, and Cap.  Kasumi gave her an alarmed look.

    “Greetings!” the tallest of the men said, stepping forward.  “It is my great pleasure to usher all of you into your new lives as slaves.  If either of you two women are virgins, do let us know – our clientele pay a premium for those.  As for you, sir...”

    “Yeah, I don’t think so,” Aquila declared.  “Seventeenth Stage!”

    The flow of time across the world stopped, leaving the leader of the slavers frozen in mid-sentence.

    Aquila shook her head and rose from her seat.  “Let’s go check on the girls.”

    She got out of the carriage and stepped clear of the slavers, then looked around.  They were in an underground chamber lit by torches, the second carriage just behind them.  A single door led out of the chamber.

    “Well, as far as a set-up for kidnapping people goes, I’ve seen worse,” Cap said.  “It definitely has that ‘no escape’ vibe going for it.”

    “This story must have a ‘captured by slavers’ subplot,” Kasumi said.

    “Good thing the girls were with us when this happened,” Cap mused.

    Aquila stepped over to the second carriage and opened the door.  Natsuki, Sayori, Yuri, and Yukari were all frozen in various expressions of alarm.

    Aquila winced, and reached out with her powers, unfreezing them.

    Natsuki blinked and stared at her.  “What happened?”

    “We accidentally stumbled into a bad subplot,” Aquila replied.  “We got kidnapped by slavers.  Don’t worry, though – I’ve frozen time.  We can just walk away from it.”

    Sayori grinned.  “Good thing we’ve got a human DVR on our side.”

    “Please don’t call me that,” Aquila said.  “Everybody out – I’ve got no idea how long it’s going to take us to get out of here, and the sooner we get started, the sooner we’re back at our hotel.”

    Natsuki was the first out of the carriage.  “And the way out is?”

    Aquila pointed.  “Apparently, through that door.”

Natsuki stared at the room they had just entered.  It was large, rectangular, full of brigands, and the stone walls facing and to each side of her were covered in doors.  A sign was posted on one of them with some arcane looking symbols scrawled across it that Natsuki couldn’t read.  A large table stood in the centre of the room, several writing implements and papers scattered across it.

    “That’s a lot of choices,” Cap said.  “Mind you, there’s that door with the sign...”

    “That sign has got to be a warning,” Aquila declared.  “There’s some sort of giant monster behind it that they feed disobedient slaves to, or something like that.”

    “So you can’t read it, then?” Kasumi asked.

    Aquila shook her head.  “But why else would you attach a sign to just a single door?”

    “So we’re not walking away just yet,” Sayori said.

    “I guess not,” Natsuki replied.

    “Could be worse,” Yukari said.  “It could be boring.”

    “Not sure that’s something that would be worse,” Yuri declared.

    Out of the corner of Natsuki’s eye, she saw Kasumi step over to an open chest by the wall and pull a leather collar out of it.  Aquila glanced at Kasumi and cocked her head.

    “Kasumi, what–?”

    “It’s for...later,” Kasumi said quietly.

    Aquila blinked.  “Oh, fine.  Just let me check it for magic first, okay?”

    Sayori sighed.  “They’re going to be loud again tonight, aren’t they?”

    Cap glanced back at them and said quietly, “Seems that way.  I’ll arrange to get our rooms moved once we’re back.”

    “We really need to get earplugs,” Yukari muttered.

    “So I guess we just pick a door and start exploring?” Kasumi said.

    “Probably,” Aquila replied.  “But, I’ll bet we can narrow it down a bit.  Cap, you’ve got a superpower that lets you see through walls.  What’s behind those doors?”

    Cap glanced around the room.  “They’re all corridors.  I think we’re in a dungeon of some sort.  Mind you, the one with that sign there has a set of stairs going up, and the one just to its left is a room with a bunch of cages.”

    “Cages...” Yuri said, her breath catching.  “Are they–?”

    “Empty,” Cap stated.  “Nobody is in them.”

    “Good,” Yukari said.

    “Well, I’m still not interested in seeing whatever they’re feeding slaves to,” Aquila declared.  “So, let’s start with that door there, and work our way around the room.  Time’s going to remain stopped until I restart it, so there’s nothing out there that should be able to hurt us.”

    “Door number one it is,” Cap said.  “Lead on!”

    “Just keep an eye out for pit traps,” Aquila said, grabbing a torch from the wall, the frozen flame at the end of it looking odd and uncanny.  “And you girls stay close behind us.  I don’t want anybody getting lost.”

    Natsuki took a deep breath as they plunged into the darkness of the first room, lit only by the frozen torchlight.  The passaged twisted and turned.

    “I have something to tell you all,” Yuri said quietly.  “Can we let them get a bit further ahead?”

    Natsuki looked at her and nodded.  “We four need to talk about something private for a moment,” she called ahead.  “We won’t let ourselves get too far back.”

    “Alright,” Cap said.  “We’ll stop and wait for you if we come to an intersection.”

    “Your super-hearing...” Natsuki began.

    “Don’t worry,” Cap said.  “I tune out almost everything that isn’t a cry for help.  I have to.”

    Natsuki, Sayori, Yukari, and Yuri stopped for a moment, waited for Cap and the others to get out of sight, and then Sayori said, “Okay, Yuri, what is it?”

    Yuri took a deep breath.  “I think I really like Cap.”

    Natsuki and Sayori exchanged concerned glances.

    “Captain Infinite?” Sayori said.  “Yuri, are you sure about that?”

    Yuri nodded.  “I think so.”

    “Yuri, we came from a harem story,” Natsuki said.  “We were hard wired to chase any protagonist or hero who crossed our path.  We did it to Daiki Yamato, and we did it to...him.  Are you sure this isn’t just your programming surfacing again?”

    Yuri sighed.  “Look, back when they rescued us you three said that the things you did when our protagonist showed up always felt like things you would have done anyway.  But I never felt that way.  I don’t like teenaged boys.  Now maybe it’s just because unlike all of you, I’m a connoisseur of men–”  She stopped and winced.  “No...I’m not!  I need to stop saying things like that!  We’re not in that story anymore, and I am not a comic relief character!”  She stared at them, the pain clear in her eyes.  “Look, when the protagonist showed up and we started chasing him, I felt like I was losing my mind.  You remember that, Sayori, right?”

    Sayori nodded.  “I remember.”  She glanced at Natsuki and Yukari.  “Every time we chased him, it left Yuri in really rough shape.  She didn’t want to worry you two.  I had to help her out a lot.”

    Yukari grinned.  “Sayori Sakamoto, Team Mom.”

    Sayori gave her a faint smile.  “I guess.”

    “Anyway, this feels like it’s coming from me,” Yuri said.  “And Cap is everything I ever looked for in a man – he’s kind, considerate, polite, strong, and I always feel safe and at ease around him.”

    “But he’s also the only single man we spend any time with,” Sayori pointed out.  “How do you know you’re not just latching onto him because there’s no other choices?”

    Yuri took a deep breath.  “I don’t.  But, it doesn’t feel like that’s what is happening.”

    Natsuki, Sayori, and Yukari exchanged looks.

    “We’re going to Daiki Yamato’s wedding in what, two months, three?” Natsuki said.  “Think about it and give it until then.  If you still feel that way about Cap once we get to the wedding, then I guess it’s probably real.”

    Yuri nodded.  “Okay.”

    “And if you still feel that way once we get there, I’ll help you try to make it happen,” Sayori said.

    “Well, I won’t get in your way,” Yukari declared.  “I’m still a yandere.  I can’t even think about dating somebody until I’ve got this possessiveness under control.”

    “I won’t interfere either,” Natsuki stated.  “After all that being groped by him...the thought of chasing anybody right now makes my stomach churn.”

    Sayori glanced at Natsuki and Yukari.  “We’ll all help, however we can,” she said.  “But Yuri, if you’re going to go through with this, you need to consider a couple of things.  The first is that Cap isn’t Japanese.  Do Americans date like we do?  Do they even do love confessions?”

    “Surely everybody does love confessions!” Yuri declared.  “How else would you know that somebody likes you?”

    Natsuki blinked.  “Sayori’s right, Yuri.  You’re going to have to learn how to date like an American.  If you start with a love confession and it turns out Americans don’t do that, you could drive him away instead of catching him.”

    Yuri frowned.  “Oh.”

    “And there’s another thing,” Sayori added.  “Cap said he was what, over a hundred years old?  We’re just kids to him.  There’s no way he’s going to see any of us as somebody who could be a romantic partner, at least not for at least two or three years.”

    “Do any of us know when Americans consider to be adults?” Yukari asked.

    “Eighteen?” Natsuki wondered.  “I really have no idea.”

    Yuri took a deep breath.  “So, we need to find out how Americans do dating, and when they think somebody is an adult.  And you’ll all help?”

    Sayori nodded.  “If it’s real.  If what you’re feeling is real, we’ll start helping out at Daiki Yamato’s wedding.”

    “Good,” Natsuki said.  “Now that all that is settled, we need to catch up with the others.”