[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/b2N69y5.png[/img][/center]
With a breathless chuckle, Nanami sat down. [color=1966ff]"I say we've still both earned these though,"[/color] she said, taking a box of strawberry pocky from her bag. The jog had been a fairly short one, but had cheered her up a great deal, and looked to have done Saya good. Flipping the box open, she held it out to share.

A ripple in the nearby stream caught her attention. Her smile vanishing, Nanami stared. For just a moment, among the glimmers of reflected lamplight, she thought she'd seen eyes looking out. Several pairs of bulging, inhuman eyes. [color=1966ff]"What...?"[/color] Tensing, she craned her neck. The talk of magical girls and monsters had to be making her imagination go haywire. [color=1966ff]"Did you see that?"[/color]

[b][i]"No need to be afraid."[/i][/b]

[color=1966ff]"Ehhhhh?"[/color] At the voice in her head, she dropped the box, pocky sticks spilling all over the ground - which wavered before her, cast in thin blue-green light as if she were underwater. [color=1966ff]"Ok, either I'm losing it, or we've got ourselves some kind of actual monster. Let's get out of here!"[/color]

She jumped up, only for a torrent of water to burst out of the stream, shifting like putty and taking on a solid form in front of her. An alien form, all fins and tentacles, those six yellow eyes fixed on her as she backed away.

[b][i]"You want to be the best, don't you?"[/i][/b] That voice sounded in her mind again, eerily calm, and cold. Hearing it brought the sensation of ice water trickling down her spine. [b][i]"You want to be special. Noteworthy. In that case, we can both help each other."[/i][/b]

The being reached out a hand, gripping Nanami's shoulder. Its form dissolved, seeping under her skin, permeating her very essence. Nanami's scream gave way to the gurgle of a drowning person as she collapsed, writhing. Her own body felt more liquid than solid, searing all over like she'd been plunged in acid. She could have sworn her flesh was melting, yet when she stretched out her arm like a frantic swimmer, she saw it was still whole.

Her lungs burned for air - and drew in a sudden deep breath as she surfaced back into reality. The pain was gone. Shaking and panting, she brought herself to one knee. [color=1966ff]"W-What the hell just happened?"[/color] Everything looked normal once again, but she couldn't shake the presence of something else in the park. Something otherworldly, something wrong, like whatever she'd just encountered. Raising her head, she gasped. [color=1966ff]"Saya!"[/color]