"My name is Kitahara Mizuki, a 16 years old highschool girl at Hokubu High. I lived an ordinary life at school, though a lonely one. I can't remember it well but I graduated middle school without any friends. For some reason people avoid me at school then, and it changed somehow before I realized it. So I've decided, I'll also graduate from my lonely school life in highschool. I say that but, even though I've been social with everyone around me, I still don't have the confidence to be close with anyone. As a result, I'm not part of any group of friends yet- No no! I choose to not be! Yes! that's it."

The day shines bright today just as any other day. The weather's not too cold despite Hokubu town being one of the northernmost among the other province.

"Mizu-chan! Did ya hear me?" the call snaps Mizuki out of her daydream, she turns to her friend who now looks slightly annoyed by her 'out of there' look "like I said, don't you find it annoying? If he actually cares about me that much should be obvious. Thats what couples do after all right?" Mizuki just smiles to the sassy girl's complaint of her busy love life.

"Saotome's not easy to impress huh? What's this, the 3rd guy already?" a long haired schoolgirl comments on the troubled girl's love problem. Mizuki just laughs gently, humouring the idle chattering without fully agreeing with her to avoid offending the girl in question.

It's at calm days like this that Mizuki reminisce her previous school life in middle school. "Huh? That's weird.." she thought, "what was my middle school like?" Her thoughts are slightly inconsistent, or rather she'd lost access to her childhood memory somehow. Her eyes darted to another lass having just arrived and already placed down her bag on the seat next to her. A faint melody fills the air. The girl speaks something in her direction but Mizuki can't really make out what the message are, sunken underneath the unexplainable tune. Suddenly the whole class turned silent except for that faint tune whispering in the wind. A familiar tune no louder than a sleeping person's hum. "This is my..." Mizuki woke up.

It was all a dream, defeated by the fatigue of afterschool chores, she'd fallen asleep in her class while the sun already shy away from the day. "I overslept after class! This is too reckless." she rushingly packs her things and makes her way through the hallway, heading home "hope they haven't locked the main door" She tried recalling the event on the day that'd drained her energy so, but nothing in particular comes to mind except for the ghostly rumor entailing the school's condition at night. It was the talks of her classmates and pretty much everyone at school, and it sticks out in her memory. A ghastly rumour that she'd rather not think about especially now of all times. Even having it just passed briefly in her memories is already making her see things in the corner of her eyes.

"No no, that's not gonna happen to me!" she desperately takes her mind off such thought.

As she reaches the main entrances, or in her case, the main exit to the building. She's hit with another dilemma "It's.. already locked..." she fell to her knees in a dramatic fashion. Tired from having ran all that meters for nothing. "But wait-" She got back on her feet "If I recall, there's another old door with a stairway out on the second floor" An alternative exit.

And a hand.

It touches her shoulder and spooked the living soul out of her, a masculine hand, yet gentle. But it caught her off guard as she did not thought there are still people in the building. Her reaction also in turn spooked the boy. One of her schoolmates apparently as he's wearing Hokubu High's uniform.

'never saw him before.. or maybe I did?' she thought as she jogs her memory. Seeing him already triggers a faint memory from today's event, at an intersection to school once just barely and at school behind her today almost every recollection of today's scene have him in it like a central figure of a drama.

"A girl like you shouldn't be here, not at this hour" He had a serious expression. Seems he mean it.

"Uhh.. I'm sorry, I kinda overslept.." that last part sinks under her breath because even she herself feel stupid saying it out loud.

"Huh? What kinda excuse is that? You have no idea how dangerous it can get at these hours, better make your way back home as soon as possible!" a bit stern, but more of a warning rather than a scold. The boy leaves in a different direction after saying what he has to say.

Mizuki continued to make her way to leave the school, a bit unsettled by the boy's words she hurried back. She felt a growing sense of dread, 'This has to be just my imagination' she attempted to shook off the growing anxiety inside her. But that in turn only feeds it more 'what's this feeling? It's like someone is watching me! and really closely!!' She started running fast, 'is it that guy from earlier?' occasionally she looked back to find nothing behind her and continued on her way and right before she reached the windowless stairs to exit the building, she felt a chilling breeze behind her, her earlier suspicions further ignites her disquietude, she quickly turned her head like she did a few times earlier but this time, in the corner of her eyes, something like a big lump of shadow is blocking her view, but upon longer observation, it turns out to be a ghastly figures towering over her almost like it's going to bust a hole through the ceiling, or rather it's head already is touching the ceiling, part of it phases through. That thing seemingly haven't any eyes, was what she thought until it approaches her and it's long straight hair sways side to side, little by little revealing its red eerie pair of scornful eyes, staring sharply into hers.

'What's that? What's these? What's going on?!' suddenly her body feels heavy, like she's wearing a plate of armor, she lost sense of her body and yet her legs are still capable of supporting her weight, though they're no longer listening to her will, but instead the ghost's 'Run! My body! QUICK!!! My legs aren't listening to me?!' Her blood streams ice cold inside her veins, even the thump from her own heartbeat registers in her sensory organ. She feels her body swaying as if she's falling but she's not. the signals from her brain are telling her to get away from there but somewhere down the road it got lost and never reached the rest of her body

'if I'd known things would come to this, in the first place, I wouldn't have..-' A familiar voice greets her, she gathered her remaining strength and turned for the voice that greets her, a figure of a young man is watching her from a few meters away, the boy from earlier, he approaches her and started talking, it seems like he's trying to help, but she can barely make out his word, as if she's underwater. But she couldn't care less, she needed all the help she can get so she reached out for him in a desperate attempt and flexed all her oral muscle to form any semblance of a speech "H-HEL-LP" Many thoughts run through her mind right now, the fact that she's caught in this mess, the fact that the ghost is not going after him, the fact that he seems so familiar all throughout today. But only one goal she has now, to escape this predicament.

"Yo, you look like you're struggling" He greets Mizuki "I can help you" an offer of help. "But ghosts can be really clingy, even if you're healed, you might lost some things importants to you. Some receives treatment for the rest of their life and still be haunted, it's a terrible scam I'm telling you" he continues explaining regardless of whether she coherently responded to him or not.

"Though it's not like I can selfless help you out of this too. You see, you have to help me help you" He motions his finger "so here's the deal, do you want to escape for now but live in fear for life? Or die an easy death?" he offered as if she had the luxury to choose.

'What.. is he saying? what is he after? I can't hear him at all?? I don't have time to think about it even if I do hear him!! What does he want?' As she clings desperately to what little control she has of her consciousness, she's judging his motives purely from his body language in all this 'What is he trying to tell me? 2 fingers? 2 solutions? 2 drawbacks? 2 options? I can't make out completely what he's saying but..' a resolve burns inside her at this moment. 'I'm tired of being scared! Running away! Being left out as a result, those days are better off gone! If I'm ever presented with another chance to choose my life, THEN SURELY...-!!'

"Moreover, even if one leaves your body, the effec-" her faint replies cut him off mid sentences "F-F-FI-GHT" he paused, focusing on her voice. The lights in her eyes right now is different from the desperate one she had earlier, almost, like it's a different person. "I.. F-FIGH-T!! FIGHT!! I-" having received the answer "So you went with the third option huh..?" He closed his eyes.

"I can... hear him.." finally his words registers in her ear "Understood, that seals the deal" He said as he casually continues to instruct her "now repeat after me". Suddenly his voice is as clear as ever, in fact, it's the only sound she can hear at this moment. Not even the murder of crows' cawing outside reached her auditory senses. Not even her own gasping breath. It was only him and her in that seemingly closed off space. She can't make out what he said but for some reason her body does, her tongue as if having a mind of it's own, uttered the mantra he taught her, she feels her oral muscles moving about but can't make out the words. Upon uttering the mantra, a flash of light blinded her eyes for a second, she caught a glimpse of the boy smiling gratefully and in relief as if he'd just been freed of a long cruel fate.

Before the boy's feet leaves the ground, he's floating, glowing, shining, blinding. Just like a school of fish attracted to a bread crumb thrown into the water, tens, no, hundreds of thousands of orbs of light of various sizes enshrouds him from all direction, flying at tremendous speed. She could see them out the windows, they were flying from the skies kilometres away, millions of glowing tadpoles. Around the globe, the mysterious balls of lights emerged from all sorts of material and surfaces. They appeared from all sorts of things and place, some even comes from people though not everyone can see them. Animals detected them, the tree's bark reacted to them some people detected and reacted in their own way. They all come from all sorts of place around the world, millions of them, each so bright they're visible from outer space and flew at blinding speed in a single drection, a single coordinated destination, all entering the boy before Mizuki.

'Just what is he? This feeling.. it's different from before. It's still cold but it's kind of.. gentle..' she suddenly forgots the predicament she's in, awed by the beauty of the phenomenon in front of her. She's losing a big deal of her energy to the ghost, she's on the verge of passing out, she saw the boy's face, it was a different person from before but what caught her eye more than the face swap 'is he.. crying..?'

The ghost reacted to the spectacle happening next to them. After the light show ended, the boy stood upright on his feet, almost touching the ground. The ghost that was attacking Mizuki reacted to the boy as if only finding out about him just now. It fled the scene. Confused and scared of the whole turn of events.

In a split second, before anyone could make a move, the blade in his hand turned almost transparent, it's properties changed right before he shove it inside a figure. It touched Mizuki's intestines. The guy stabs Mizuki with his blade before she could see him coming, but she's fine, suprisingly.

However, it does affect her, she feels pulled out from her own body despite not moving an inch from her initial spot, she felt distanced with her sense. That also scared the ghost away as it fled the scene. The gentle cold shifted to a more violent one, she felt exposed.

She looked to her hand and her nerves are glowing, her whole body feels light and she can see her nervous system flashing through her clothes He then touched the tip of her finger and a streams of light buried themselves along her arm, making their way up her brain. Mizuki feels her body getting stretched but not in a painful way, she felt herself expanding like a balloon as he slowly opened her belly she could feel chill running down her spine. Her veins are glowing as if responding to his touch. A strange sensation filled her thoughts and she passed out. 'Areh.. what in the world.. did he do to me..

She watches the boy observing her losing strength with a smile on his face did 'I.. make.. the wrong choice.. after all..' Mizuki blacked out. 'I have to get back home.. Mom and Dad will be worried.. I can't die.. without having made any friends..in highschool.. there is someone.. I have yet to meet..' she monologues as she passes out.

The boy who stabbed her just look down at her limp body, cold and blank stares as if he no longer has any use for her. What scheme could he have in hiding behind that expressionless face. The boy possessed Mizuki, having control of her body.

This body.. I guess I'll return her home for the day." he grins.

"Where... am I..?" Mizuki woke up to a blank canvas, a world, a realm with no hint of shape or dimension. She looked around to see nothing but white. Filling the space in between her and the horizon, if any, are unicolored spores of different intensity and opacity. They float, almost suspended midair, very subtly moving in the vacuum of white. A scenery of suspended snowfall in every color but white scattered about in the vast emptiness.

"Welcome, to the Soul Cavity or as people like to call it 'inside the heart', or as you Joushion would call it, Rei Kan." The boy greets her. "I'm..." a brief pause in his introduction, hesitant almost " ..Daisuke. Kishimoto Daisuke" a smile surfaces as he finished introducing himself. He seems like he was waiting for some reaction looking her way. She could not come up with a proper response. The situation was too bizzare, she has questions, too many to even know where to start. Hesitantly "Umm, yes.. I am-" she almost followed his pace but then cut herself "NO! who the hell introduces themselves like that?! put on some clothes first!" The first question among many that managed to surface from her jumbled and confused mind. Among all the crazy thing that is going on right now, this seems to be her priority. But of course she could not talk to him seriously if she keeps getting distracted by his exposed appearance. "What do you mean?" he grins "If we're talking about clothing..." he points towards her "shouldn't you be more concerned about yourself?" he bounces the question back to her "even calling you naked would be an understatement right now" directing her attention towards her current state. Mizuki gasped, she looked around herself. Where her arms was once were, the position of her legs, her torso, her whole body. It is still blurry in her mind but now that she's actually paying attention to them, her own illusion shatters. There were no body. What was once a maiden's tiny hand now replaced with a mass of arbitrarily coloured mists and smokes. They are shaped almost like her former limb but it would be farfetched to even see them as one. So is the case with the rest of her body. Her lower torso, her hips, her neck, her feet. They are gone. The absence of it all almost throw her into a vertigo as she lose all kinaesthetic senses.

She desperately pulled her supposed limbs closer to her face, but it only makes the obvious all the more painful. "THEY'RE GONE!!!" she finally acknowledged them, though maybe forced to by her senses. "HOW??" her brains chaotically tries to make sense of what is happening "How can this be-?! the last thing I remember, is...I-" she scrambled for prior information for how it turned out this way "I.. got.. stabbed.." that traumatic memories finally registers back in her mind "does... if so then.. am I.." as the chains of information lined up, she can reach a conclusion, but accepting that conclusion is a lot heavier than simply and reaching it. She is now a talking humanoid shaped blobs of energy. "is this what..?" her non existing eyes teared up "..death is.." she started to cry "but that's just.." her reality starts to hit her "there's still... much more I.. have yet to-" she can't even finish her sentence "much more...I-" "*sigh* there's no stopping her now. Well I'll give her some time" Daisuke muttered as Mizuki cried her heart out.

He sits there with her, observing the state of the Soul Cavity while waiting for her to express her emotions.

After she have wailed and cried her heart out for about an hour thinking she was dead he approached her to explain "you're not dead. But you will be if you don't control your SP now" Mizuki in her tears "SP?" reasonably puzzled. Daisuke explains "Spiritual Properties, basically your soul or life energy for a lack of better words. I'm not gonna go through this too deep for now, we'll just have you maintain your own spiritual gate since this is your first time manifesting into an SP form, which is yesterday" Mizuki remembers "Yesterday? ..You?! you're the boy who stabbed me!" unable to retort to that he tried to distract her "like I said, I'm here to help you control your SP. And your body's fine!" Mizuki suspects "why should I trust you?! trusting you is how I got attacked yesterday.. by you!!" He responded "But if you think about it, because I'm the one who brought you here, I should know a way out too, right?" She's confused "that doesn't make you any less suspicious, in fact just the opposite!!" he sighed "well I would explain everything but you don't have much time, for now I'll just briefly-" but she protested "No I'm listening. explain everything" to which he just pointed behind her.

Mizuki turns and sees her lower torso falling behind her, unable to keep up, neither with her nor its own form, she's breaking apart by the second. Mizuki panicked seeing she is now just half of what she was earlier and at the off chance that he might be telling the truth about her condition. Furthermore, since they two are the only, 'thing', in this space, she does not has that much option anyway "o-okay okay! Let's say I believe you. What do I do???"

Daisuke grins, like he'd been waiting for her to say that "The first rule of SP: SP never forgets." He starts explaining "Thats the main principle keeping you together right now. SP or as you Joushions would call it Reichitsu, are what makes up your soul and they're able to hold memories. You can imagine them as the DNA of your soul. In your normal human form, these are your nervous system connected to your brain. That's why you still remember the events of yesterday, and yourself." Almost in disbelief, Mizuki mutters "my brain..?" D responded "that's right, your brain still works in this state, and it still hold the command too over the SP, whether in your conscious state or subconscious state". Mizuki is just silently nodding and trying to process what she had just learnt from him, then for a moment have a blank look on her face. Though thats what it would look like if she actually has a form. From Daisuke's point of view, she is just cluster of floating multicolored fog silently listening without much reaction, a long hmm and now she says "Okay I got it!" Daisuke unconvinced "N-no I don't think you do, but let's just proceed anyway..."

"Well this may already be too much, for now as long as you can recreate the experience of creating your own body, you should be able to command your SP to regroup" casually he explains. And without much consideration for what that entails, Mizuki agrees "O-ouh.. all I have to do is recreate them right? Recreate.. sounds easy enough" Daisuke made it sound simple enough that even she think it's simple enough. "Yes, just remember those experience. Now, set, GO!!" Caught up in that pace, she follows with a loud call "GOOOO!!!" Daisuke echoes her call too "GOOOOOO!!!" she maintains "OOOOOOOOO" all the while trying to remember what she's supposed to be doing in the first place. Though now that she's actually thinking about it "Oooo... Wait.. Creating my own body... I never had any experience like that before! What does that even mean anyway?!!" He commented on her remarks "that's a good question!" Mizuki retorted back, annoyed "That's not the point here! Help me out here!"

"Well, unfortunately you have to figure that out yourself" Daisuke answers but Mizuki is not satisfied "What's that? I thought you're supposed to help me here?!" He explains "Well well, it's not that straightforward. Every person's perception are unique to themselves. I can tell you my imagery of that process but it won't necessarily reflect your thought process" Exasperated "then, this is all-" she demand a concrete answer from him, but he cut her off to finish his sentence "BUT, I can give you a hint. It's my own idea of it and might not necessarily reflect how your answer turn out to be, but it's a good starting point" to which Mizuki calmed down a bit "say that first then... Geez.."

He chuckles seeing her impatient, and proceeds "a memory from your life, that you feel very much secure of. A moment where you feel the most at ease, most protected, most covered. What you think is what your SP becomes, if you can recreate such experience then it might trigger some similar experience and prompt your scattered SP to gather in one place" she focuses strongly, reaching every corners of her long term memory to find something akin to what he described 'feeling.. of security..' she focuses hard on the concept 'great comfort..' upon trying to think of something comforting, she subconsciously thought up the opposite of it as a reference point. A tremor erupts in that Soul Cavity, a sky quake of some sort. Daisuke turns a bit anxious "be careful where you're looking, you don't want to recreate any unpleasant experience in this space" he warns her. The harder she thinks, the more alien the concept becomes, like chasing the similar pole of a magnet. All the while her Soul Cavity is breaking apart even more.

'This presence.. it's getting stronger and stronger' Daisuke senses something looming in the distance of that inner dimension, almost corresponding to the destruction of Mizuki's Soul Cavity 'at this rate, she's going to kill us both. I need to reverse her thought process.. but how?' he thought. He can already see from the outside, Mizuki is now only a fourth of her form compared to earlier. 'I'll take the shot then' with both of them at risk, Daisuke made one last attempt to reshape her thought process "it's okay Mizuki chan, everything will be alright" he whispered near her, in a calmer tone than any of the time he'd been talking to her till now. Too calm, almost motherly, almost feminine, he changed his voice.

Mizuki's form expression shifted drastically. That line triggered some part of her memory that she'd forgotten. Her form that was on the brink of dissipating now halted in motion, then moved again slowly, 'this voice... where have I..' suddenly a different imagery bolted into her train of thoughts, that of a soothing experience, a sensation, of being hugged. A familiar smell, a familiar voice, a familiar touch. Like a mother's embrace. 'this feeling.. did I ever had this memory... When...?' an experience so familiar to her but yet, somehow alien to her brain. 'i can't recall but.. it feels comforting...'

Her SP floating about in the Soul Cavity now begins to swirl back to her in all direction. Answering her call. The host. Almost like time took a step back, every pieces of her shattered Soul Cavity returns to their rightful position. Returning home. Watching all this happens, Daisuke finally got more lax and fall to his bum on the metaphorical ground "what a relief..."

Mizuki slowly opens her eyes, like she'd just woken up from a good night's sleep 'did I... do it...?' she inspects her surrounding, still the same old whiteness. Nothing changed. Well almost nothing. "The colorful snows... they're gone..." He pats her head "welcome back" Daisuke greets her return "you did great" she doesn't completely understand what he meant, but it somehow put her at ease. Involuntarily she had a smile on her newfound form. "I can take it from here, congratulations on acquiring your first SP form." He puts his hand on her forehead "and good luck" yet another of his comment that she couldn't understand. But before she could process it, her current consciousness fades instantly.

Now he's alone in Mizuki's Soul Cavity, surprisingly still existing without Mizuki being in it. "I got it, I got it, I'll leave immediately. Sheesh" he utters. As if telling it to someone.. or something. Further in the horizon of that vacuum, a figure dissipates into thin air.

She woke up in the Physical Realm, in her room. Except, her eyes were no longer as it were before, her worlds are now suddenly more bountiful than her normal daily life, she started seeing lives everywhere even on things she had never even imagined before. She even sees the essence of life in every passing human, in every house. Alongside them are flying, crawling, slithering, hopping and floating passing ghosts all in different sizes, shapes and manners. This is when she realizes, her world has just changed, for better or worse.

Mizuki opened her eyes, a young girl, in front of her, a familiar person. However she could not recall who the girl is, just that she used to know her. Mizuki is chasing her, as if playfully. But she can't keep up, the girl is running too fast, and Mizuki's leg is too short, she's a child. A scenery from her childhood. She called out to the familiar girl "No! Wait, don't go!!" But the faster she gave chase the further the girl escapes, into the horizon. Vanished.

Mizuki overheard a conversation. The voice sounded familiar, but this time she recognized it "Mom and dad..?" She's outside her room on the second floor, but the sound is coming from downstairs, muffled by the wall but still distressed. She goes down the stairs stealthily, half of it to not alarm them, half of it because she's scared to find out why they sound so, grieving. But why? Maybe because she somehow felt like she is partly responsible, maybe because she is the one who disappointed them so, maybe she is the reason why they're so sad. "We've tried everything... I don't know where to look anymore.." her mother's voice, it's rare for her to sound so, despaired. At least, not in front of Mizuki. "Tone down, what if she overheard you" her father hugged her mother, trying to calm the crying woman. They both look like they'd just sent away some visitors, visitors that had brought in bad news for them, bad enough to make up this scenery. Mother cannot contain her emotions, "But what else can we do for her? at this rate-"

"Here we go again.. of course it's her.." Before Mizuki could finish hearing mother's sentence, she overheard another conversation. It cut off the sentence from earlier, but somehow awkwardly answers the question she'd had in mind, as to the source of her parent's distressed tone "There it is, Ms. Can't-Get-Enough-Attention." another voice in the distant turned her head, she finds herself not at home anymore, but in school. Her middle school. She's walking down the corridor, nobody is blocking her route, but the walk alone felt very heavy. The weight of all the eyes staring at her, the gaze of judgement. Another chattering caught her attention from behind her, but this time she didn't turn her head. She keeps her gaze down on the floor, unable to lift her head "I heard she did it again.. this time in the Science Lab" a girl told her friend "Really? How many time has it been this week?" the chattering between the 2 girls in the distance registers clearly in her ear, almost forcing it's way in. Even without looking she knew she's the subject of the conversation. "Its not even funny at this point! go be crazy somewhere else!" The condemnation, the judgement, the mocking laughter in the background. The weight of all that emotion crushed her as she walked through. Too heavy, they sink her beneath the floor, she's drowning, unable to stay afloat, a force pulled her down as she desperately reach upwards.

"GAAAHHH!!" Mizuki gasped. She woke up. This time in her room, this time for real.

"Ugghh, my head hurts like crazy" she massaged her forehead. For some reason she felt more exhausted after her sleep, with a headache to greet her wake "It's been a long time since I have dreams like that" she can still recall what she'd dreamt off earlier. Or rather, its a part of her memory that she find quite hard to forget. Though for some reason only today do she remember even having them in the first place. As unforgettable as they are.

"I guess I'll go wash my fac-" as she pulls herself out of bed, she stepped onto something on the side of her bed. It has a rather peculiar texture. Her headache pulses ever so slightly as she stepped onto that thing. She turns to her feet to investigate. "Oh what? it's just Fuu chan" although a bit hazy, she can make out that it is just her favourite plushies that she stepped onto. Not alarmed by that normal incident, she goes ahead to wash her face in the bathroom. Half hoping that it could also wash away her headache.

'But still... why does my head hurt so much today..?' unfortunately she still has it. And the pulsing is getting stronger the more she move around her room. As if simply keeping her eye open is a constant trigger for her headache to grow more and more painful. Almost too painful that it's causing her to see things 'J-just now.. on the bed..' she shook away the image, the headache is getting to her. Perhaps a change in scenery could wash away her cerebral agony. "I must have imagined it.. let me get some fresh air in.." she places her hand on the window pane. Hoping to unlock them and let in some morning breeze, but she couldnt. The view outside her window that was supposed to be all too familiar to her is different today. Too different that it stopped her on her track. She can't fathom them, those things, outside. In her familiar neighborhood, those unfamiliar things are scattered all around.

In the mountain nearby the residential area, a boy is leaning onto a tree, it is Daisuke. He's at a clearing in a forest. "I guess.. it's about time.. huh.." he says to himself. Anticipating.

In Mizuki's room she finds a whole different world layered on top of her familiar neighborhood. Creatures that she'd only seen in books and TVs are now crawling, ,trotting, slithering, flying, floating, sprinting, walking about in the neighborhood. Outside her window. Ghosts. In all shapes and sizes, some familiar but mostly very alien. Some she'd seen and heard of, but a majority of them look so bizzare she can't even comprehend. Those headaches were just her brain trying to shut off what she's perceiving. But this time, the filter broke, she can no longer unsee them. They're right in front of her, registered in her sight.

A woman abnormally tall and walking in an uncannily human way but at the same time almost like it's awkwardly mimicking a human.

An eye, a group of eyes, floating about, dressed in flames.

That thing, its body is circling almost every house in the residential area, a snake-like body, but also partly human skinned. She looked everywhere but can't find it's head. One thing for sure is that it is still moving.

A dark figure, towering over Hokubu residence. Its size alone is already imposing, but it walks without disrupting the houses at its feet. If it even has one. The figure is gigantic, and covered with hairs, ghastly hairs. It's head sways each time it takes a step, like it's balanced on its neck, loosely attached.

As the figure brought her attention to the sky, she sees plenty more creature, some human like, some animal like, mostly indescribable. Floating, swimming, even rolling, maneuvering in the sky. Obeying none of the physic law, or even anatomical conventions for that matter.

She see ghosts, lots of them. Most of them notices her, some even displays hostility, but the majority of them continued with their daily life as normal as can be. freaked out doesn't even begin to describe her developing sense of fear, she's aghast. She turned her face down to escape the horror. But there she sees the source of her unsettledness from before. The thing she'd stepped on early on wasn't Fuu chan at all, this thing is hideous. It bites into her leg, as if sucking the soul out of her. A head, a severed head, but alive. Before this countless hostilities of different sizes in every corner of her eyes, Mizuki stood alone, defenseless, unprotected, naked. Even in her own room she could not escape them. The absolute fear gripped her throat, she couldn't let out any sound at first, but when she could she let out a hysterical cry while covering her face, the whole neighborhood echoes with her unworldly screams. The sudden change seems too much to bear too fast, Mizuki's way too overwhelmed to realize that she's coming down with a high fever. The person who find that out first is none other than her mom, who bust in through her door responding to that cry. She's shaken at first seeing her daughter's state, but quickly rushes in to provide security for her. It's the only thing she can do in these situation. She never could've shared her fear, she never could've understood what Mizuki had been dealing with. The least she can do "It's okay honey, I'm right here! They won't get you now.." is lie. The extreme terror still squeezes out her scream, she still lets out a continuous cry as her mom tries desperately to calm her down. But the only thing that would stop her soon is exhaustion. Both from the physical reaction and mental fatigue. Though at the very least, even if her conscious mind couldn't see it, her subconscious body perceived her mom. That provides at least some semblance of comfort for Mizuki now, to feel that she's covered by something, blanketed by someone, protected by another . Amidst the extreme fear, a tinge of comfort. Not enough to quell her fear, but enough to calm her enough to send her into a slumber. Mizuki passed out.

She felt that familiar sensation again, the soothing feeling. Beneath the crushing terror, a warmth of another soul. The warmth eventually melts away the terror surrounding her, like ice. She regain mobility, she can move, she broke free.

Mizuki woke up, feeling heavy, as if something is holding her down, and something is, or rather someone. "Welcome back!" She faintly hears immediately after waking up, it was Mom.

"Mom what's this.. I'm not a child anymore" she shy away from her mother's hug.

Hearing that, Mom immediately snap back and carefully observe her daughter's condition, followed by a barrage of question "Did anything happen at school? Did anyone harass you? Or was it on the way back? Are you hurt? Are you feeling alright?"

"Mom...? What's all this about.. you're scaring me..." Confused and overwhelmed, she couldn't come up with any answer to all her question, but instead her own. Her mother's overly concerned line of questioning is worrying her.

"That's my line!" Mom mildly scold her. A swift karate chop bites Mizuki's forehead, but in a loving manner. But still stings a little.

"Ouch! What was that for...?" Mizuki complain.

"That's for almost giving me a heart attack!" Mom answers. "Don't scare me like that, you really don't remember?" Even she is puzzled by her daughter's inconsistent shift of emotions. She recounts the events to Mizuki to remind her.

"You returned very late last week, didn't respond to me and shut yourself in your room for the whole day. The next day you woke up you started crying uncontrollably. You cried so much for hours until you pass out. Then when you woke up again, you went unresponsive again. Awake but barely responding to anything I say. Just eating and sleeping on this bed all day till now. I thought I'd lost y-" she stopped "it's been a while since you'd have one of this fit, you used to-"

"A WEEK?!!" Mizuki's reaction cut her off, shocked at how much time actually passed. Mom grew more worried instead "Gosh, you didn't even realize how long you're out. Maybe you really aren't ready for school yet" she says as Mizuki hurriedly putting on her socks and get ready for school.

They're both worried about different things. Deep inside Mizuki just smiles at the thought. It's not as if she don't have the same idea. She was actually considering it after she woke up earlier all tired and since these past few days have been a bit too hectic in her life. However, a whole week is already too much time and she is not planning to extend her day off "Thanks Mom, but I'm okay now" she heads to the door "If I stayed any longer, I'm not sure if I'll be able to go back" she worries for her healthy school life. Learning from her past mistakes, the forgotten past, she has no desire to recreate that feeling.

"Good grief, this stubborn girl..." Even if she's still concerned about her well being, she understands what her daughter is talking about too. Mizuki's trying very hard to change herself, push herself forward, it doesn't feel right to stop her but also too heavy to let her go that easily either. But it's Mizuki's choice. She respects it, she's thinking for her own good too.

At school, as the other students are idly chattering among themselves, Mizuki sits alone, staring out the window. She just sighes "only in front of Mom do I act all excited, my school life is still..." Something stopped her. It was just a swift instance but it interrupted her enough to raise concern. She thought she'd seen a spectral figure passing by the school ground outside. A girl, a pale girl. She's white all over, hairs, eyes and everything. But as she blinks, it's already gone.

"Alright class, get back to your seat, we're starting soon." The teacher's announcement breaks her focus before she could develop further conclusion about what she'd just witnessed. "Also today we'll be joined by a new friend, so put up a smile and give a warm welcome, okay". The class started getting busy about the news.

"A transfer student? At this time of the year?" One student asks.

"Maybe they're from the city? Do you think it's a guy?" A hopeful female students brought up to her friend next to her.

"I hope it's a cute girl" an optimistic boy wishes out loud.

As the transfer student enters the class, a familiar voice greets the class. Or rather it's only familiar to only one student Mizuki stares in disbelief from her seat. Daisuke's sudden entrance to her school as a transfer student. It doesn't get anymore cliché than this, even more in the same class. "I'm Kishimoto Daisuke, Looking forward to learning with all of you!" He just shows a wide grin on his face, politely he bows. Paying no attention to Mizuki.

Mizuki surprised "HEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!!!"