[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/684ddb45-4fc1-4da4-89c5-42f0263bd666.png[/img][/center][right][sub]April 13th[/sub][/right][hr]
Emi only paused a moment when Nakano startled her rushing past, but then picked up her own pace as well, sensing that the butterfly was moving. With trembling fingers – from fear or anticipation she couldn’t tell – she flicked open her cane, listening as it clicked out to its full length before pushing her way through the gym door, hot on the butterfly’s trail. The cane was mostly to make sure she didn’t trip over anything; the butterfly’s path was as clear as a bell to her, and she didn’t need any help following it. 

Moving with singular purpose, Emi followed the butterfly as it took a left, then another left, heading down what must have been a side hall she wasn’t so familiar with since the renovations. That was no matter; Emi would have followed it off a cliff if it meant finding her friends at the bottom. As she followed, her cane bumped into something slightly to her right, and when her sidestep didn’t prove wide enough to avoid bumping into an arm, she realized it was a person. 

[color=E5C4CD]“Excuse me,”[/color] she apologized hastily, pushing past them brusquely. Next she was met with a door, and the newly-attached braille sign on the doorpost told her it was the girls’ locker room. Excellent, there would be mirrors in there – maybe the appearance of the butterfly meant she could finally go back inside the mirror and begin her search in earnest. Maybe it was leading her there!

Or maybe it was leading her into the maw of some god awful Shadow. 

That thought made her pause, her hand still on the nameplate, but she forced herself to take a breath. The thought wasn't without merit; she knew from experience that diving into these things with no idea as to what she was facing was just asking for trouble. Not to mention that while it was usually [i]her[/i] guiding her friends through the world inside the mirror, she didn’t have nearly that much awareness in the real world, and this time, no sighted friends to back her up. If something malevolent awaited her in there, she’d be powerless. 

[center][i][color=E5C4CD]Then the facade falls away like so much dust.[/color][/i][/center]
The memory sent a chill up Emi’s spine, that foreign yet familiar voice that she’d come to know so well ringing through her mind once again. She knew the speech by heart, having retraced it so many times in the past months, and she knew where it was going. And it was right. With that in mind, she straightened, determination in her sightless eyes as she stared unseeing at the door before her. So she was alone, so what? When things got difficult, it was [i]her[/i] her friends would look to for guidance. She’d find a way back to them if it took her to hell and back, and no locker room Shadow was going to stand in the way of that. 

All of that reasoning took place in the space of a breath, and for better or worse, Emi used the shot of confidence to push through the locker room door before she had time to chicken out again. 

She held her breath. 

And to her surprise, nothing lashed out immediately to eat her. 

Emi took a single step into the locker room, letting the door swing closed behind her with a barely audible [i]thump[/i]. Beyond the door, everything was quiet; her heightened awareness told her that no one else was in there, and the only sounds were muffled conversation from the gym and her own careful breathing. Almost afraid to disturb the silence, Emi swung out her cane in an exploratory arc without letting it touch the floor, and took a cautious step into the room. Then another. 

A third step brought her within cane range of something that sounded like metal; probably lockers. Reaching out, she made contact and walked along them until she came to a corner. The butterfly’s signature, having momentarily faded behind the door and the walls, became clearer as she neared, and turning the corner Emi found it again, seemingly on the far end of the room, unmoving. She followed cautiously, dread building with every step, until she found the opposite wall.

Reaching out, her fingers touched smooth glass – a mirror! Instinctively, she pushed, but scowled when she found that the mirror was still as unyielding as ever. 

Sliding her hand along toward where she knew the butterfly was, Emi tried to reach out for it, but found only cool glass, the butterfly staying in its spot despite her groping hands. After a few unsuccessful attempts to grab the thing – her hand just went right through – a surge of frustration seized her, and she pounded the mirror with the meat of her fist. After all that buildup, all that ominous shit from William, the power outage, the clear signs of corruption all around the school, and what, she was still no further? She was practically touching the very butterfly from that stupid dream and [i]nothing?![/i]

[color=E5C4CD]“What do you [i]want[/i], then?!”[/color] she demanded, desperately fearing that she wouldn’t get an answer. 
[hr][right][sub][@Hero] [@Scribe of Thoth] [@Asura] [@Lord Orgasmo][/sub][/right]