[h2]Yakumo Sakura[/h2]

The pouting girl wound up sulking for much of their briefing, doing her best to stick to the background... a task made easier by her size, then more or less impossible by dint of still being [i]bright pink[/i] more than anything. While everyone else was running around making preparations, she drank her coffee and asked for more information... well, a map, more than anything, although going over the scenario again had her getting more and more excited for [i]some[/i] reason.

When the group stepped through the portal and started to split up, Sakura was practically bouncing on her feet next to Zhao, frustration at her less than professional attire lost. Why she was excited... well, he was sure to find that one out in a second, as was Masaru. "Hey, hey, Zhao, doesn't this look like the setup for a horror story?"

That explained it. Of all the people she could be friends with, her closest [i]was[/i] basically one administrative accident off being a slasher villain.

"'A motley group of characters all go to a dilapidated mansion people keep disappearing at', that's a [i]classic[/i], although at least we know people have been getting killed... oh, right, and we know better than to split up. That's in the manual, too, [i]and[/i] it's even more important in a situation like this. I wonder if it's some sort of urban legend monster, or maybe we're going to get lucky and it's going to be a proper yūrei? I've always wanted to meet one of those, and this setup is [i]just[/i] like..."

It probably wasn't too reassuring that all the stories and films she was mentioning [i]now[/i] seemed to be schlocky gorefests rather than anything of partcular merit or complexity. Their mission [i]definitely[/i] shouldn't go that badly.