Fox Of Moonlight

Madoka's morning started with the sound of her favorite song blasting into her right earlobes. She jolted awake, and scrambled to turn off her phone before she went deaf.

The room fell back into silence after. Madoka leaned back against the wall, wrapping herself in her blanket to face off the chilly morning at the start of April. Her phone read 5:30 AM, meaning it was too early for Madoka to be out of bed right now...there was no text from anyone this early in the morning, naturally...her newest text was one from Arisa at 11:00 PM last night telling her to 'go to bed'.

Out of habit, she reached out and sent a text message

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Ringo: Arisa-senpai, are you awake yet?

Arisa: [running_image.jpeg]

Arisa: Yes

Ringo: Eh, how long have you been awake for?

Arisa: An hour. You get up too late.

Ringo: I get up at a REASONABLE time, senpai!

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The conversation died soon after, presumably because Arisa actually went back to her run. Madoka rolled in her bed, hugging the blanket close before giving out a weary sigh.

"Time to head to school then."

School passed by her in a blur. No like seriously, Madoka was practically through her third period - which was English where the teacher was teaching them about 'present perfect' and 'past perfect', things that Madoka already knew - when she snapped back to reality after Natsu asked her about a question in class.

"Ishikawa-san...?"

"I-I'm fine, just thinking."

She thought back about what Chizuru said yesterday...Madoka KNEW she agreed to join Chizuru's cause and their first trial would be the massive 7v7...she was still NERVOUS AS HECK...because what if she screwed up and the team did horribly and their future opponent just laughed in their face and...

No no, calm down Madoka, you're overthinking it again. If it gets really bad, you could ask Arisa-senpai for some guidance. With skills like hers, she might be playing for a really good team out of Hanamura for all she knew!

"Ishikawa-san, are you ignoring us?"

"Eh?"

Madoka's mini-me bounced back to her head space. She was surrounded by Sena, Tora and Mira as they came over for break...and of course, Natsu was there as well.

"S-sorry, I was just thinking...really hard about something. I didn't mean to ignore you, I swear."

Luckily, her friends didn't seem to mind and continued with their conversations. And so the rest of the school day flew by a blur until it was time for lunch. Madoka excused herself, grabbed her bento box and went out to where she and Arisa would usually have lunch at while giving her a text to notify the fiery senior.

And then Madoka waited. She waited for a while, around 10 minutes, only barely noting that the usually punctual Arisa was later than usual...but it was no cause for alarm yet...especially when 3 minutes after that thought crossed her mind, a gruff voice called out to her.

"Oi, Ishikawa."

"Arisa-senpai!"

Madoka caught a glimpse of her older friend's signature twintails and turned to greet her with the brightest smile ever...but then when Madoka ACTUALLY looked, it wasn't Arisa at all! It was a beautiful - like, imagine Tsubaki-tier in looks - girl with...fox ears on her her head and with make-up that looked like it took three hours every morning to do.

"Just kidding~ Well, aren't you a little cutie, Arisa-dono didn't tell me you were this adorable."

"W-who are you...? U-um, sorry, I thought you were Arisa-senpai..."

The girl laughed airily and sat down right besides Madoka, and it made Madoka feel like she just sat next to some mystical being right out of some anime. And no one could blame her, because up close, this girl's skin was virtually FLAWLESS even under the make-up and Madoka reasoned that no real human being could look so ethereal.

"Arisa-dono was called to assist the teachers today, much to her chagrin. And I thought that maybe her little friend she had been having lunch with for a few days now might get a bit lonely. You are Ishikawa-dono, are you not?"

Madoka nodded stiffly, apparently her improved social skills was proven useless in face of this other girl. The mysterious fox, however, did not seem to mind this silence from the poor first year.

"My name is Inari, please, call me as Inari, Ishikawa-dono~ Please do not be afraid, I'm just...socially curious, after all. Say...do you play football?"

Football.

Football.

That word triggered Madoka's sports-obsessed brain like she was a sleeper agent. Instantly, most of her social anxiety get blasted away as she nodded her head rapidly

"Y-yes! Yes I do! I really really like it!"

The fear of being judged apparently had disappeared into the wind. Murasaki watched her, amused as if she was looking a little puppy yipping and yapping to her. But eventually, Madoka knew to catch herself yammering a bit TOO much had looked a bit embarrassed about having exposed her interest a bit too deeply for a supposed 'friend of Arisa'.

"S-sorry...you can ignore everything I just said."

"Mm? This one actually think what you said was quite interesting...I play football too, after all. For a little team called Hanamura Blossoms, do you know about it?"

T-This girl was a Blossom?! W-wait, does that mean she was older than Madoka? A brief glance at her student ID revealed that...

Yes, yes she was a Blossom.

Madoka's soul almost left her body. But before she could, Murasaki had already pulled it back with a soft giggle of hers.

"Ishikawa-dono, your facial expression...is quite expressive. I have to be upfont...truth to be told, I was already aware that you were a Blossom...I had the opportunity to talk to Yamamoto-sama and she told me a little bit about a peculiar girl with hair in the shade of ripe apples."

Specifically, the two apple-shaped, apple-colored buns on top of Madoka's head.

"Oh...it's just I haven't seen you at practice before."

"Yes, it is such a tragedy...but worry not, I will be there today. My apologies, it is a heavy commitment to be part of a sports team and an acting troupe at the same time. Ishikawa-dono, what position do you play?"

Madoka stopped for a moment, intending to pick her words carefully with this...but all things considered...

"Striker, I think." She didn't catch how Murasaki's expressions seemed to freeze a tiny, nigh-imperceivable amount. "I'm not sure yet though...but Chizuru-senpai planned for me to play as a forward striker in our upcoming 7v7 game. I'm planning to ask for help from Arisa-senpai...I think she's a player from a team outside of Hanamura with skills like that!"

Mursaki produced a fan from her pocket and opened it up quite theatrically, fanning herself while hiding her lips from Madoka which...looked really cool from the first year's perspective...it made Murasaki even more mystical than she already was. Murasaki's long lashes fluttered.

"Ishikawa-dono...this is just a little question from me, so please, indulge this one for a moment. Suppose someone told you that another player had already claimed that position. Would you step aside?"

There was a brief moment of silent as if Madoka was trying to reason with herself on this question.

Would Madoka be willing to give her spot away had someone already resided in it? It was easy to say 'yes, I would' like it was the most virtuous thing to say. But Madoka didn't like to think she was that type of virtuous...

But what if she wasn't good enough?

What if the position didn't fit her.

What is striker wasn't even her true calling? That was also a possibility.

"I think...I wanted to at least be given the chance first, to find myself and my own possibility. I think if I were to give up from a position, I want it to be my choice and not because of others. Sorry, that sounds a bit...selfish, doesn't it?"

"No, I think that is a wonderous thought to have."

Murasaki interrupted her, snapping her fan shut to emphasize her point.

"I foresee trials in front of you, one that will challenge you and your beliefs. Then stand with your thoughts, unwaveringly...yet do not be unmoving, unchanging, flow like river. That is the 'prophecy' I divine for you."

And with that, Murasaki stood up, brushing invisible dirt off her uniform and glanced down at Madoka Ishikawa, her gaze, looking over her now-opened paper fan, showed a feeling that Madoka herself could not name personally.

"I shall be off now, Ishikawa-dono~ Let's see each other once more this afternoon, at the wonderland where flowers blossom~"

"A-ah...yes, see you this afternoon, Inari-senpai!"

However, it wasn't until she was completely out of sight did Murasaki gently layered down her mask for a moment. She tilted her head, gripping her own fan tightly before releasing it with a tiny sigh.

"My...I wonder if that was the correct role to play."

Arisa would not be happy knowing that this little first year was in her position, made worse by the fact that Madoka was a friend of Arisa Nishijima - yet both are unaware of each other's true affiliation. And yet Madoka Ishikawa did not deserve to have an outsider like Murasaki shatter her own aspiration either.

In this script, she would be the audience rather than a player in it...and thus, she had made the choice to stayed silent. Had she made the move now, she would avoid one of many results of the play, but burnt the future for many others...but if by choosing to stay silent...

She supposed she could only watch to see the result of her choices then. Such was the shackles that wrapped around the neck of the audience after all.