[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ORzOOfS.png[/img][/center]
[color=a187be][center][sup][h2]毛利美佳[/h2][/sup][/center][/color]
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	[url=https://i.pinimg.com/736x/0b/8a/bc/0b8abcc05822c30c49a8b764ccb652b9--anime-girl-pink-anime-girls.jpg][color=7ea7d8]Mika's[/color][/url] breath caught in her throat, her heart hammering in her chest. The light from her phone flickered, as if low on battery though she knew it was not.

As if demons were not confusing and [i]terrifying[/i] enough, Mika now found herself face to face with a cat-like creature. A stranger, though the glow from its lanterns felt comforting in the oppressive darkness. Somehow it felt familiar. It felt safe.

[i]How was Mika to know that was her first mistake?[/i]
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“Are you… Are you the one who sent the messages?”[/color] Mika’s voice was soft and wavering; her unease was as clear as crystal on her soft features, her eyes wide with fear and… Hope? She clutched her phone to her chest, as if the small device could somehow quell the pounding muscle behind her ribs.

Could this creature truly offer her the power to save lives? The power to push away the darkness, to bring back the light?
There was another noise, perhaps a growl, perhaps just the wind, from somewhere deeper in the school grounds and Mika flinched involuntarily.

Why her? She was nothing special. She wasn’t a hero.

Mika pulled her rain coat tighter with a whimper, though the movement was futile as she was already thoroughly soaked. She shivered, but it wasn’t just the cold night air that caused her skin to prickle.

Demons weren’t real. This creature couldn’t be real. And yet Mika [i]knew[/i] differently; she could feel it in her bones. She knew it with the same sureness that she knew her own name and her friends’ smiles.

All she had to do was take the creature’s tail. She reached out hesitantly; what if she hurt it? What if she grabbed too hard and made it yelp? Mika had never been one for violence, and she loved animals. She was the kind of girl who wept at animated movies when the cute, animal sidekick got injured.

Someone yelled for help again, and Mika gave a cry of surprise and panic. Was that-? No, it couldn’t be; Kiyoko wouldn’t be on school grounds at this hour. The night was getting to her, that was all.

Mika could feel terror welling in her chest. Eyes wide, she looked about her, frantic, trying desperately to place the source of the sound in the gloom, but the light from the lanterns ruined what little night vision she had. Everything outside of their glowing ball of orange light was an inky black, that seemed to undulate with evil.

Mika swallowed.

She had to be brave.

[color=a187be]“I- I-“[/color] She stammered. Logic told her not to trust the creature; she was a sensible girl, she knew not to blindly trusts strangers. But logic also told her that demons weren’t real.

There was no place for logic in this world.

[color=a187be]“O-okay.”[/color] Mika whispered, resolute. She nodded, setting her jaw. She could do this. Even if the caller [i]wasn’t[/i] Kiyoko, they sounded desperate. They needed help. [i]Her[/i] help.

Mika was a good person. She always tried to help where she could; she was always running fundraising events for local charities at the school, offering to help younger students with homework, doing chores around the house and garden for her parents and neighbours.

This was no different right?

[color=a187be]“I trust you.”[/color] Mika said with a conviction she did not feel.

She reached out, wrapping her fingers around the creature’s tail.