Kazuo furiously drilled his feet into the concrete again and again in an ultimately futile attempt to stay ahead of the vicious catgirl, who hadn't fatigued a bit and still lingered behind Kazuo, occasionally taunting him with a cackle. Kazuo's entire body was hot, sweat was dripping from his brow, and his legs ached. As he charged through the crossing on the other side of the road, he tried to look both ways even though it didn't matter — after a few minutes of sprinting there had been no sign of cars or people. That is, until he made a hard right, hoping in vain that it might give him some kind of leverage against his pursuer.

Ahead of him was a girl about his age, who appeared to be wearing the same uniform. This didn't give Kazuo any sort of immediate relief, in fact, odds are this girl was some kind of accomplice to the creature behind him, or at the very least another foe. It wasn't until she also turned and started running that Kazuo felt that she might be considered normal, or at least as normal as a girl appearing in this strange world could be. He looked behind him to see how the cat would respond, and he was shocked to find that she was slowing to a halt.

[b]"Two of them?"[/b] she observed out loud, suddenly becoming apprehensive. [b]"I've never seen two appear this close together before ~nyan! Oh, what's a kitty to do?"[/b]

Kazuo didn't know how this would interfere with whatever plans she had, but he was happy to take advantage of the opportunity. Pumping his legs like never before, bag and bow clattering against him, he focused his efforts on trying to follow the girl and close the distance between them. He didn't quite know how to call out to her. There was a very strong possibility this was all some kind of feverish delusion on his part, and he had been running through the streets like a madman, chased only by his own mind. He looked behind him, and the catgirl was gone. His fatigue having caught up with him, Kazuo stopped to catch his breath. The usual aches and grievances of exhaustion beside, his head still pounded, and he felt himself becoming dizzy. He tried to steady himself on the nearby wall but missed and ended up collapsing to his knees, holding himself over the ground with his hands. His glasses fell, turning his vision into even more of a fog than it already was.

[b]"Dammit,"[/b] he wheezed. [b]"What kind of illness is this? Am I going insane?"[/b]