MYSTERY I: The "good" girl and the truth

I am going to kill it, even if it's a god.

Be bright, be a sunshine. Be the brave, be the inspiration for others to step out of their comfort zone. Be someone they hate yet they praise. Life is a marathon against a megalodon of the ocean, waves crashes in your face and renders you breathless. As if, you are two steps away from reaching the death’s door. Every day is a race. Every day is a chase. Everyday is a dive into the unknown.

Hikari had grown up watching such stories, embedding every lesson and inspiration she learns from them into her actions and motives. And yet, sometimes she wants nothing more than to leave the thread of morality in her heart, thumping against her chest, knocking senses of righteousness into her heart with every beat. She mustn't become what knows nothing but harm. And yet, when Yukio mentioned that the culprit was finally here, she couldn't help herself.

Rationality left her body like steam off a hot meal. Hikari sprinted out of the classroom from the backdoor of the room, a pen in her hand was gripped tight. As if the light had left her eyes, her body moved on its own. Her ears throbbed with burn of adrenaline and heat of her racing heartbeat.

Be useful. Be useful. Be useful. Be useful.

The mantra chanted itself into her mind and her heart weighed with uncertainties and anger. Just why? She had been able to conquer nothing in her life. Words never come out right from her mouth, only ever ending up offending those around her. It was only ever him who didn't shun her for the kind of person she is. Yes, Hiroshi was rough around the edges, he didn't always talk nicely but he never mocked her for picking up a paint brush over a pen, he never told her to tone herself down for the world. He expressed how he hated being approached but he never said it was because of who she was, it was simply the way Hiroshi was. He hated people. But he let Hikari close. Closer than anyone else…

In a world that imprisoned me, he was my sanctuary. My paradise.

She finally put a halt to her feet, panting from the lack of air in her lungs.

I will butcher that damn fox.

Hikari's jaws clenched together, she was ready to jump on anyone that made a motion around her. Alas, when her nerves came down to a calm, the corridor was but a whisper of winter. The chill in the air increased causing Hikari's skin to perk up with goosebumps. Her throat tightened, fright slowly creeping at the back of her head.

Rustle.

The closed classrooms made sounds of soft footsteps causing Hikari to be on alert. She looked around, frantic and riled up, the end of the corridor was a shroud of darkness, not even the distant moonlight light up the paths to it. And yet-

“Who's there!?”

She called out. Hikari realized that she might be the first to die if she was in a horror movie, unfortunately for her, she didn't care. She lived on pure anger and thrived in life with strong hate for the world. Whether it was a kidnapper, ghost or a deity, she will fight it and break its neck for taking her lover away.

Her phone rang, once, twice, then thrice. However Hikari's mind was lost in the trance that the end of the corridor made. Perhaps it was the pareidolia in her mind or- the actual figure in the middle of the darkness. Twitching ears on top of his head and a tall figure. The red in its eyes glowed. Beautiful. Is what Hikari thought, beautiful and yet deadly. The figure reached his hands out, as if in a trance, Hikari felt compelled to follow it.

Am I going to be the next missing person?

Am I- going to die?

In the end, it didn't feel so bad to disappear. Who knows? Maybe she'll reunite with her love again. The the nights she kept calling Hiroshi's phone despite no one ever picking it up, just in hopes of hearing his voice one last time. Life was but a void in which Hikari had always felt like drowning. Drowning and ceasing to exist, forever and ever. It was an abyss that seemed like the only cure for the constant ache in her heart. The ache that only ever Hiroshi was able to calm. Maybe she should've thanked Kai one last time before coming here, despite his flirtatious behavior and tough love, he had always looked out for her, even if it meant going against her. But before she could take another step further and lose herself to the darkness, a hand covered her eyes, the leaking moisture of her eyes smudged against the strong cold palm. The lack of vision heightened her other senses- muffled groaning and a familiar honey scent in the air tickled her nose, it was not the person behind her but rather-

“Let go of me, you bastard! Ah-!”

Sounds of thrashing echoed in the corridors and yet, no guard showed up. Hikari flailed, grasping the air to reach out to the familiar scent but the hand over her eyes kept her in one place until-

“We give up, stop hitting him now!” A familiar voice called out from what seemed to be from inside of a classroom.

And it was then, when the hands over her eyes finally let go. The view before her did nothing but baffle her. A laugh of exhaustion and disbelief left her dry lips, her heart was racing in a pace unfamiliar to Hikari. Kaname stood over the figure she had seen in the dark.

“Kai- what the hell are you doing here?!” her voice cracked when she called his name. Kai stared with an ashamed glare in his eyes, his hands reaching over his head to take out the fake fox ears clipped on it. From inside another class, came out- Saqib, Kai’s known close friend. A pipe of sorts in his hand.

“Is someone going to explain to me what is even happening!?” Hikari finally lost it, storming her feet towards her silver haired friend, she pulled his heavy body up by his collar. Now that she was noticing, he was not in his normal clothes but in the kannushi attire. “Speak! Tell me what are you doing pretending to be a damn fox!? Were you behind the missing people!”

Saqib wanted to interfere but held himself back. Hikari was raging and Kai’s silence did not help sooth or answer any of Hikari’s questions. Finally, an audible sigh cut the tension in the air in half.

“What a drag…” Yukio walked up to Hikari, ruffling her hair to calm her down. In its own strange way, it worked as Kaname and Yukio removed Kai from her clutches, pulling them apart.

“He isn't the one behind people going missing.” Yukio declared, glancing coldly at the “nine-tailed fox” and he avoided his gaze.

“However, he is the Nine-tails we were looking for.”