She hadn't realized what time it was. Thankfully, there was still a chance to make it.

Tanikawa Ayumi had become quite absorbed by her practice. Her competitive nature wouldn't allow her to be outdone, and part of a method of self-motivation she had given herself was to challenge herself to always do better then her last practice session. The bokken felt even more weightless in her hands as she moved, but at the same time, she hadn't noticed just how much time had passed. Checking her phone, however, swiftly brought her to this realization.

She'd pulled on her coat, wrapped her scarf around her neck, and packed up her bokken before breaking into a sprint. New Years wasn't a time to miss, after all.

It was crowded, too. The shrine was pretty much swarmed with people, and stands where everywhere. As attractive as the stands were, Ayumi was confident that she could check them out later. First she wanted to visit the donation box, then drop off her New Years prayer. After that she had free reign to do whatever she wanted... As she made her way to the line, however, she noticed some shady-looking guy running off to go behind the shrine.

What was with that? It looked pretty suspicious... there was no way she was going to let that stand! Breaking away from the line, she jogged after him, pulling out her bokken as she did and slowing to a halt behind the shrine, and...

Nothing. He wasn't even there. Where had he run off to? Ayumi looked around, frowning. That was just weird. People didn't just disappear, after all. That made this even more shady. Where was this guy hiding that she couldn't see him anymore? She thought she'd seen something really weird, but she couldn't have, right?

... Right? She didn't see skeleton hands grabbing that guy, right?

She didn't buy that for a second.

But when you suddenly feel something grabbing you from behind, you start believing in outlandish things pretty quickly. Before she could turn and try and hit whoever it was with her bokken, letting out a yelp of surprise...

Things went dark.

[hr]

When Ayumi opened her eyes, she felt a little sore, like she'd been unceremoniously dropped onto some kind of particularly hard surface. As she sat up, she discovered this was pretty accurate. She'd been tossed, on her back, onto the... steps of the shrine? Had... had she been tossed somehow? Was that what happened when she was grabbed? But where was everyone? Ayumi shot to her feet, and one of the first things she spotted was the shady guy she'd seen in the first place.

Before taking in anything about her surroundings, she clutched her bokken and raised one hand to point.

"What did you do?!" she demanded, "And where did everyone go?!"

Ayumi trailed off for a moment. After her kneejerk reaction, she realized that assuming he turned the sky red and made everyone run away was kind of ridiculous.

"... Okay, maybe you didn't do all of this, but running off like that was kind of shady..." the black-haired girl said, looking around to try and understand just what had occurred.