"As always, thank you for stopping by, Solus~," a cheerful teenaged female voice said as Solus walked out of the wooden hut-themed store. Solus rubbed the back of his head and clicked his neck as he gazed up at the twilight sky to see it on the cusp of switching to nighttime.

"It's getting dark...," Solus uttered aloud. Solus lowered his gaze to the bag of cherry tomatoes before he handed the bag to Nebula.

"You two head on back. Oh, Nebi-chan, could you ask Forge to start preparing dinner if I'm not back by eight," Solus requested. Nebula quietly whined and hummed as she ruffled the top of the cherry tomato bag. Nebula reluctantly let out a sigh and barely nodded her head.

"Ok...," Nebula whispered as she and Tsarina floated off Solus' tails. Tsarina cheerfully waved to Solus while Nebula nudged her head against Solus' shoulder before the pair of spirits floated away in the direction of their home, with the silverwood shrine and its many silverwood torii gates being visible atop the mini snow-covered mountain.

Solus watched Nebula and Tsarina briskly float directly towards the shrine donning mini-mountain. Solus glanced around the unoccupied street, his eyes twinkling as he sensed his surroundings for any traces of spirit energy. Solus fixed his vision on a nearby alleyway situated on the opposite side of the road-wide river channel. Solus nodded to himself before he leapt across the channel, over a passing wooden raft-esque boat, and landed on the other side before heading down the alleyway.

Two hours later, at the Sakamoto residence, Lumina aggressively tapped her fingers against her shoulder as she sat on the sofa, and Forge floated about the kitchen. Lumina groaned and formed a sphere of her lime and blonde mana and flicked it at the colourless mana crystal on the wall-mounted TV.

"Urg... why can't he just leave finding the missing spirit to the police? Hmph...; no I shouldn't say that... gramps' would do the same, especially in this situation," Lumina uttered in her mind as Lola, with a towel wrapped around her tails, climbed onto the sofa and sat next to Lumina.

"Whatcha' watching?" Lola asked. Lumina shrugged and looked at the TV to see it was on the news channel.

"The news, apparently.". Lumina rested her chin on her palm.

"What's a... yo-ki am bre warming?" Lola asked as she pointed at the TV. Lumina glanced at the TV, and her heart almost skipped a beat as she saw the message on the news.

"Residents around the Hytal Street area are advised to remain in their homes due to the high accumulation of stray spirit mana and chakra in the area," the news anchor explained. Lumina sprung to her feet and called for Nebula, who came flying out from her and Solus' bedroom while wearing a bedsheet like a cloak.

Meanwhile, Solus made his way through the alleyway, following the trail of spirit energy with its concentration growing as he walked into a mini street located between people's fenced-off gardens. Solus peered up at the nearby street sign labelled Hytal Street as the hum of the yellow light mana crystal-powered street lamps hummed.

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"How can someone with such short legs run so fast?!" an annoyed male teen voice exclaimed in between the collection of footsteps. Solus turned his head to see three teens (two males and one female) in the Velkenfall Academy uniform chasing a short humanoid kid spirit wearing a trash bag as a cloak and a small metal circular bin lid as a hat down the street. (the spirit is a feminine-looking Wu-ling; the spirit has dark chestnut skin, a beachball-sized fluffy and curly almost black dark red sheep wool-like afro which also covers their eyes)

The spirit continued running like a certain red crustation until they briskly waddled past Solus before ducking behind Solus' wall of kitsune tails. Solus glanced back at the spirit as they peaked their head out from the side of Solus' tails. Solus raised an eyebrow and repeatedly blinked as he and the spirit locked eyes.

"You've got a... peculiar Azu-," Solus managed to say before he stopped as he heard the footsteps of the running teenager stopped and were followed by heavy panting. Solus swivelled his head towards the teenaged trio, and after inspecting each of them he deduced the female must be the ring leader given she appeared to be the strongest and the least fatigued. Solus raised an eyebrow as he looked at the female teen and seemed to recognise her. (The female student is a slightly short dark tanned teenaged half demon/half demi-human cat [has demon horn-shaped blonde cat ears, and she has a thin pink demon tail with a heart-shaped tail tip]; she has knee-low spikey light blonde hair which ends are tied together around a large doughnut-shaped silver ring, and silver eyes with a black right sclera)

"Weren't you the girl listening to Erinabeth by the fountain?" Solus asked as the female teen fully caught her breath and stood up straight. The female teen gave a quaint curtsey and nodded her head.

"Yes, that would be correct Sushido Howlastroph did indeed interact with the cute squirrel by the fountain, and Sushi is also Sakamoto's classmate," Sushi stated as she pointed at Solus when she said his surname. Solus raised his eyes when he recalled Sushi doing the Spirit Union Aptitude test and getting a perfect seventy.

"Yeah... you're the delinquent-looking girl's sister, right?" Solus asked.

"Sushi is Indeed.".

"So, mind telling me why you three are chasing this spirit...". Solus glanced back at the spirit hiding behind his tails.

"Oshi," Oshi stated as they adjusted their bin lid hat.

"...right Oshi here?" Solus asked as he finished his sentence.

"Well, combined with hearing it from... Erinabeth... and the third-year spirit wielder in front of the school with the flyers. Sushi and her friends decided to help with the search," Sushi explained pridefully.

"I see... but what was with the running?" Solus asked as he itched his ear. Sushi and the guys shrugged while the guys muttered amongst themselves.

"That's what Sushi'd like to know; the moment Oshi saw Sushi, Oshi ran away.". Solus nodded as he listened to Sushi, although his ability to comprehend her speech was less than stellar given Sushi's insistence on referring to herself in the third person.

"I think... I got that," Solus uttered, "So, Oshi, would you mind enlightening us?". Oshi meekly nodded, making their afro wobble like jelly.

"I mistook her for someone else...," Oshi mumbled shyly with a blush on their face.

"Would that someone be her scary-looking sister?" one of the male teens remarked snarkily, to which Oshi nodded as they held the bin lid hat. Solus amusedly smirked, but a faint nearby snarl triggered his ears. Solus slowly drifted his hand to Oshi as the snarling drew closer. In the blink of an eye, Solus wrapped his arm around Oshi before he Light Dashed forwards in a straight line right before a human-sized flame-looking spirally, slightly viscous energy feline paw smashed on the spot Solus previously stood, cracking the road in the process. (Light Dash is a move where the user coats themself and others in contact with them in light mana(yellow coloured mana) and moves at lightspeed)