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[hr][h1]Tokyo Streets[/h1][hr]
"...[i]N-nani[/i]?"

The trembling, bespectacled girl looked up at the man who offered her his blood drenched hand. Yet, though the crimson essence trailed from him like a streamer caught in the wind, it didn't wet the ground or stain her clothes. Instead, it disappeared as if evaporating. He had no shadow, either. But she could see him, standing there as solid as a rock. His blade reflected the sunlight in its cold steel--and it was definitely there, it had left a mark on the ground and everything.

"Ye cried me tae form a contract, didnae ye?" the creature said again, his eyes glowing like dull embers. He knelt down, his kilt barely brushing the cobblestones of the alleyway, and tilted his head at Miyuki.

"[i]E-eto[/i]...Ai amu sorreh, m-mai Engrish iz not varry guud!" She could write it and read it pretty well, given all the cross-culture study of medieval and fantasy literature she'd done, but she hadn't gotten much practice speaking it since high school! It didn't help that this guy clearly had a [i]really[/i] thick accent. "Sah-sank yoo for hepping me!" She fished her wallet out of her pocket, and grabbed the biggest bill she had--a measly 2000 Yen. "Th-theese is all Ai have, s-sorreh!" She bowed her head, and held it out to the man in both hands. What else was she supposed to do?! Was he going to cut her up next!?

"Ah accept!" Lham Dearg grabbed her hand rather than the money, the same hand that now burned with some strange mark. There was a flash of blue flame around both of them--and Miyuki suddenly felt cut off from the rest of the world.

A battle raged around her. She had no idea who fought against who, only that men fought and died with swords and spears in the shadow of great stone castles. The green hills ran red with blood, and the eyes of crows glimmered as they descended to feast. Miyuki screamed and covered herself with her arms as a wave of black feathers spilled over her.

Then she was back on the street, next to the closed shop, in the alleyway where an unearthly man had cut down a vicious goblin and spilled an entire bin of recyclables. But now, strange whispers in the back of her mind filled her with new knowledge.

"You...you're...not human. Not anymore, at least." she said, in her native tongue, as she looked at Lham Dearg. "But you're...my contracted demon? So you'll help me if...another one of those things shows up?" She looked towards the remains of the goblin--and as she did so, she noticed a scrap of paper fluttering underneath one piece of its corpse.

"Aye." Though the demon spoke his own language, somehow Miyuki understood the eerie echo of his voice. Through the power of their contract, no doubt. All of this...this was what that strange dream had been about? Even now she barely remembered having it...but everything was too real to deny. "Ye ainlie need tae ca' fur me by name, 'n' ah wull serve you--so lang as ye let me rammy tae mah heart's content!" Battle. He wanted to fight, to satisfy the deep bloodlust within his soul. A human spirit twisted by bloodlust and a savage grudge, dragged beneath the faerie hills and emerging as a dark warrior. Lham Dearg, the crimson hand...

"Til we meet again, wee lassie..." The demon's body began to disintegrate at its edges, and the wind appeared to blow him away in a cloud of sparkling dust. But somehow, as her hand throbbed and she slowly rose to her feet, Miyuki knew he was still there, watching her. He just wasn't in a material form anymore.

Was this...magic? Ghosts, demons, strange dreams--it sounded like something out of a crazy anime! Shaking her head, she looked once again at the goblin. Its body, too, was starting to disappear...With a quivering hand, she reached down and grabbed the slip of paper before it could blow away. As she held it, the black stain from the monster's blood dried up and flaked away along with the rest of the body.

"Messengers of Hope? That weird cult?" Of course, specifying "that weird cult" in Japan was like throwing grapeshot in a fish barrel given all the different groups one could run into on any given day passing out flyers or doing weird qigong dance routines. But the symbols on the flyer matched up with what she'd seen on the news a few times. The Messengers of Hope, and some other group--the Crimson-something--seemed like the latest bunch of whackos trying to get everyone from the homeless to politicians to lend them an ear. Was the demon...part of the cult?

Miyuki blinked. Maybe, her inner conspiracist whispered, the cult had [i]summoned[/i] the demons! Like one of those fantasy games where an evil organization tried to break the seal on the demon king! 

But she had summoned a demon too. Did that make her part of the evil group? And if the Messengers of Hope had summoned the goblin, had they sent it after her specifically? Or was it random? Why have a demon attack people in the streets?

The details of the flyer noted there was to be a meeting going on later tonight at Inokashira Park. For her that would be a little over an hour by train...Did she dare go to something like that? Even in search of answers?

"La...um...Lham Dearg? Do you know anything about this?" She asked in a quiet voice.

The whisper was [i]inside her head[/i]! She jumped with a little squeal.
[sub][i]"Ah ken ainlie that mony powers ur converging oan this steid. A battle th' likes o' whilk haes nae bin seen afore shall soon be upon us!"[/i][/sub]

"...That's a no, then..." Her demon sounded almost glad for the prospect, but wouldn't be much help. However...she couldn't be the only one this had happened to, right? All those news reports of people getting attacked and claiming they had seen monsters, maybe it happened to them just like her own experience! She had no intentions of joining any strange new-age movement or letting anyone extort her for cash...and she had a rather scary fellow protecting her now!

"Umu!" With a pump of her fists and a tensing of her jaw, Miyuki felt her determination settle. She would go to this cult's little show, and find out what was going on! 

Then she looked at her phone, and saw what time it was.

"Ah! I still have to do the shopping, and get lunch, and figure out what to make for dinner! Awawawawah!" She shoved the flyer into her pocket, hurriedly began throwing the bottles and wrappers back in the recyclable bin (everyone had to do their part, after all!) and then dashed away down the sidewalk!
[hr][hr]
[h1]That Evening, Inokashira Park[/h1]
[hr][hr]
She wore the black hoodie from her fencing club under her jacket now, along with a red scarf that she could wrap around her face if need be. She even had one of her bokken--the wooden swords used for martial arts training--in its cloth tote-bag over her shoulder. As if that wasn't suspicious at all. But she felt a little like a ninja, or a mysterious hero, brooding under a tree as the park began to darken!

Nevermind that her legs were shaking, and she kept looking around as if expecting another goblin, or some mugger, or a crazed religious fanatic to accost her at any moment.

But around this time of day, aside from a few evening runners or people taking a shortcut on their way home from work, the park didn't have a lot of people in it. Surely a big group like the Messengers of Hope would be easy to spot...Would they all be wearing weird robes or uniforms? If she saw them...what was she supposed to do? Should she just...go up to them and ask them?

[i]Hi guys, my name's Miyuki! I contracted a demon this morning, with the cursed mark that appeared on the back of my hand! I don't suppose you know who opened the gates of hell and let all the monsters out, do you?[/i] She closed her eyes and sighed at herself. Why had she let her whimsical side get the best of her now, of all times...?