Kanako ended up falling asleep in her uniform as her room partner never came. She even ended up sleeping through dinner, only to be woken up by a sound of knocking on her dorm's door.

"H-huh? W-what?" she said groggily, as she still reoriented herself after just waking up. She quickly put on her shoes and came to the door, opening it with a sour look on her face.

It turned out to be one of the older students, telling her about the Midnight Run. She just stood there with a blank look at her face as she explained what it was and how it was tradition for new students to join. After she finished her explanation, she didn't even bother waiting for her answer before going along, probably to speak to the next new student.

"Huh, Midnight Run," Kanako said to herself once she was gone. "Sounds bothersome. Don't think I'll participate."

She then took a glance on the clock on the wall, only to find that she had missed dinner entirely. Her empty stomach, reacting to the revelation, immediately let out a most unladylike sound as it told Kanako to fill it up by any means necessary.

"...I won't be able to sleep like this," Kanako said, rubbing her stomach. Despite her slim looks, the girl was a heavy eater, and she couldn't stand not having dinner like this. If the older student hadn't woken her up, she would probably wake up at midnight by herself.

"...Might as well join, I suppose. Perhaps they would give snacks? I can't sleep anyways and there's nothing to do here."

And so, Kanako left the dormitory, walking to the gathering point as she had been instructed.

She didn't care much for the speech the leader of the older student was saying; something about ghosts and other usual stuff in a dare like this. She already expected there would be older students hiding on the bushes scaring them off as they pretended to be ghosts. It's the oldest trick on the book, really. If she heard any odd noises or saw any strange figures on the distance, she would just ignore them and go on on her merry way.

And thank God they gave them snacks.

"On your marks! Get set... GO!" The older student threw his hand up and a jet of flame briefly lit up the area while darkening the shadows beyond the treeline.

[i]Impressive. I wonder if those are normal pyro effects or some flame elementalists' power.[/i]

As most of the other students ran, she instead took her time, opening her bags of chips and began munching on it. No need to rush. She already got her goal after all. The path was dark though so she had to be careful on her way.

Eventually though, she ended up alone as everyone else had already gone ahead. However, she noticed a boy casually walking in front of her. At least someone else was taking this whole thing not seriously.

"Ah, hello," she said to him after she catched up to him. "Nice evening, huh? Not too warm and not too cold either." Might as well start a conversation since she got nothing else better to do.

[@Kalleth]