[@SMS][@chukklehed][@Sarcelle Renard]

[b]Uchima Senior High - Hallway Outside Newspaper Clubroom, Practice Building???[/b]

The insectoid eyes were not blinded.

Yet the eerie sloshing noises they made as they focused upon the charging Yuuhei suggested that he had caught their attention.

Gears whirred. Pistons chugged. The ever-shifting mass of black ooze that was its torso lanced out once more, a black, slimy tentacle ripping forth from underneath those eyes, the air cracking once again as it caught the teenager's attacking arm with little effort. And then it squeezed.

Immense force clamped onto Yuuhei's arm.

And it swung.

Yuuhei was nothing but a ragdoll to it, a minor pest that served as an obstacle to what it truly wanted.

So the teenager was flung away like Natsume, and the monster continued to charge. Continued to close in on Tsubaki.

And attacked with a tentacle once more.

---

Yet even in their pain, Yuuhei and Natsume would hear a soft, ethereal voice.

A comforting voice.

[i]A simple test; can you state your name?[/i]

Once again -

[hr][@Mistress Dizzy]

[b]Uchima Senior High - Another Hallway, Classroom Building, 2nd Floor???[/b]

Jin fell.

If they could still feel through the haze of pain and the slow deterioration of their senses as they continued to bleed, the shock of the wooden floor meeting their body would lance through, cracking bone and twisting muscle. Yet even so, there was a warmth. Not the warmth of blood rushing through a broken body. A warmth in the heart. A warmth that seemed to pulse with energy.

Something was calling to Jin. Something inside them.

The crippling cold of the thing that had picked it up was returning. Ice began to form on the wood beneath Jin's cheeks, sharp, jagged pieces that were freezing their blood. A hostile cold.

The warmth inside Jin continued to call.

It would be for the best if Jin, body shattered and slowly wasting away, chose to answer.