I'm walking down the busy streets. I'm clad in my school uniform and my bag is on my back.

The weather is sunny, with no clouds, and no wind- perfect weather for walking home.

A wide smile is present on my face because everything has gone perfectly today.

"After the classes, I've successfully retrieved the camera from the changing room. It was easy, no one stood in my way."

"Tho I had detention today right after the first class. Mr. Muraoka was acting like always, I don't care what he does after school and it won't affect the way I see him, let it be good or evil, I don't care"

"Carmilla was absent."

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, someone pulls me into an alley.

"Huh?! What the he-..." I trip over my legs as I run my eyes, looking up to see who just did that.

"Hey... what's your problem huh?!"

My eyes widen as soon as I get a clear view of the person that's towering over me. My heart starts to beat fast and I get a hard shiver running down my spine.

"Oh..."

"C-Carmilla...?" I say, scared out of my mind, my voice shaky and afraid.

"Nakamura Shoji, I thought that you were gone? That's weird..." She says calmly, caressing her cheek.

"Y-You... r-re-really think... so?"

"Now that I think about it... I don't remember killing you in the end... just freezing you..." Her voice holds a little bit of curiosity in it.

"It seems that my theory about the memory wipe is real... but... that doesn't matter right now..."

"The only thing that matters right now is if she'll spare me... or just kill me like a fucking mosquito...?!"

"Carmilla... you don't need to do anything... I didn't tell anyone about you!" I stand up slowly, my body shaking as I look into her pink eyes.

"Hmmm... Lemme think Shoji~" She says with a cute voice as she leans over towards me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"You've lied to me, you're plotting with that exorcist, you've seen my horns, and you know things that you shouldn't know."

"Carmilla... I-I won't tell anyone! I swear! We can even partner up! I'll help you! I swear!" I say as my eyes are wandering around, avoiding her eyes.

"Oh, Shoji~ Shoji~. What would a human like you be able to help me with, huh~? Maybe if you had a mutation, but judging by your weak presence, you're probably at Authority Level 1~"

"She's looking down at me... my pride... why do I even allow this in the first place?! She doesn't even see me as a person worthy of even sparing, when sparing someone comes from the pity felt towards someone else..."

I look straight into her eyes, biting through my fear I also wrap my arms around her neck.

"You underestimate me don't you, Carmilla?!"

"Of course, I do~! I consider you a worthless, pathetic being~"

"Then give me two days... two fucking days... and I'll defeat you, Carmilla."

"Yes... I'm certain... I wasn't just doing all that preparation to die right here... the camera is in my bag, if she kills me now, then I might even lose my trump card... and Kaori will be sad that her camera was destroyed..."

She leans her chin onto my shoulder softly. I can feel the pride she's feeling right now, just from her movements.

"Hmmm~...? Two days and you'll defeat me, huh~? Oh, Shoji~ Shoji~! You never learn, don't you~?!" She says cutely and then starts to laugh maniacally. Her horns and tail start to slowly grow out of her body.

"A true demon..."

"HIHAHAHI~! YOU'VE HAD A CHANCE, NAKAMURA SHOJI~! I SOMEHOW DID LET YOU GO THE FIRST TIME, BUT THE NEXT TIME WILL NOT BE THE SAME~"

Her nails start to slowly dig into the skin of the back of my neck. It hurts like hell but I just stand here, trying not to scream out of pain, or tell her to stop.

"THIS WHOLE DECLARATION OF YOU DEFEATING ME IS SO SILLY AND IMPOSSIBLE THAT I WILL DIE FROM THE LAUGHTER~! HAHHAHAH~"

Her horns and the tail slowly start to disappear, as fast as they grow out of her body. The insane laughter I'd immediately gone, but the mischief and sarcasm were still there.

She leans away from me and steps back about two meters away from me.

"Very well then, Shoji~. In two days, at the place where I ambushed you yesterday, 10 PM..."

"It will be the place where your life will end, do you understand, Shoji~?" She smiles slyly at me, her eyes start to glow a little.

"I'll be there, but after I win, it will officially be the place where you promised that you'll never try to kill me again."

Her eyes stop glowing and she turns around, her silhouette fading away into the darkness along with her voice.

"Kisses and hugs, abaya, Shoji!~"

After I'm sure that she's gone, my legs finally release all the pressure and I collapse onto the ground. My heart is beating fast like hell, my body is shaking and my breathing is heavy.

"Oh my God... I thought I'll shit myself there... how was I even able to gain so much confidence before her... she's a literal demon... she could've just killed me with a snap of her fingers like back then!"

I was too lost in my thoughts to even notice that someone was running towards me. I feel someone put their hand on my shoulder and as I return to reality I'm met with the sound of heavy breathing.

"Shoji... I was trying to catch up to you and I lost you... eh... why are you... in an alley like this... huh...?" I turn my head around and the person who's behind me is no one else than Haruki.

"Oh Haruki... Finally moved your ass out of the house, huh?!"

My cheeks flush red after a moment of realization.

"I bet it must look pathetic with me on the ground like some victim! I need to get up fast, or else my pride will be crushed with no saving!"

I quickly stand up, scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.

"Why are you so red, Shoji~?" Haruki says with a mocking tone in his voice.

"Fuck you."

"Got a little mad~?"

"Shut the fuck up Haruki." I frown at him, embarrassed because of his remarks.

"Anyways, why were you absent for like two days?" I ask curiously.

"Oh! Yeah yeah! I wanted to explain it to you yesterday, but you made up that priest excuse or whatever you were talking about!"

"You fucking idiot... if you just were there back then, then nothing bad would happen!"

I grab his collar out of frustration.

"What are you talking about?"

I look at him for a moment and I release his collar from my grip.

"What am I doing?! He's clueless... it's not his fault... I mean it kinda is... but it isn't!"

"Ehh... Never mind, don't think about it."

He then smiles mockingly like an idiot.

"Having a bad day, huh~?"

"I understand, but that doesn't give you any right to just lash out at me like that~! Man, I'm sorry that you were bored all day today and yesterday... but I wanted to explain everything to you yesterday, and you've just made up excuses to avoid meeting up!"

"Hey! I'm telling you again that it wasn't an excuse!"

"Blah blah blah."

I start to walk out of the alley with Haruki following me.

"Where are you going, Shoji?"

"I'm going home, I need to do something, yknow?"

"Yeah yeah... For sure I will tell him that I'm going to cut out all the clips where Carmilla is visible out of the video from the camera."

"Why are you going home so early? I thought that as we finally met up, you would want to see what I was spending so much time on for the past two days...?" His voice seems to hold a hint of disappointment in it.

"Hm...? So there was a real reason behind it, you're not kidding?"

"Nope."

I stop walking and I look over at him curiously.

"Okay, you've got my attention. Tell me, show me, whatever."

"Now? Like right here? Uhh... I can't! Not right here! We need to go to a more... uhh... empty place? Like, look around at how many people are here!"

"Since when are you so self-conscious, Haruki?"

"No no! Youre wrong! I'm not self-conscious or anything like that... it's just... uhh... just trust me, okay?!"

"Whatever, but y'know what? I don't see any logic in why I am leading the way if you're the one who should be?" I scratch my chin in wonder.

"Oh... I think that's kinda my fault... haha!"

"Whatcha mean?" I raise my eyebrows in wonder, looking at his embarrassed face.

"No, it's nothing! Nevermind! Let's just go!"

He takes the lead and I follow him without even asking where he even going to lead us.

After some time we're about to enter an abandoned building, but I stop before the entrance.

Haruki turns around to look at me in confusion.

"What's wrong, Shoji?"

"You scared~?" His cheeky voice and this sentence remind me of the shrine.

"I don't like places like this after the shrine... y'know it was kinda traumatic..."

His cheeky smile fades and a look of confusion appears on his face.

"What are you talking about, Shoji? You weren't in the shrine with me... no... I haven't even told you about it...?"

My eyes widen and I cover my mouth.

"I've messed up..."

"...He's right... he doesn't remember... shit... I need to somehow crawl out of this uncomfortable situation."

I look at him for a moment, forcing a playful smile and rolling my eyes.

"Just kidding hehe~! Let's go inside and finally show me the thing you were talking about, ya~?" I walk into the abandoned building and he quickly follows me.

"What even is this place? Some old unfinished parking?"

"Yeah, something like this, but helicopters were meant to land on the top floor."

I stop walking and turn around to face him.

"Okay, no more yapping! Show it to me, Haruki." I say with a serious tone.

"Oh... okay, okay! It's kind of embarrassing to do this when someone is watching, but I am the one who wanted to do this in the first place."

I stay silent, waiting for him to do anything.

"So, Shoji... I was in a shrine on Friday... now that I think about it, Harumi probably told you that I was here right, she told me that you were out shopping with your sist-..."

"Haruki, get to the point! I've already told you that I have an important thing to do! I'm not here to listen to the obvious things I already know!"

He's stunned, his mouth hangs open.

"Chill out, Shoji... it's not that big of a deal... I know that it's not probably anything important like you're saying, but fine... I'll get to the point."

I clench my fist, trying to somehow stay calm.

"Haruki... you're so fucking stupid... I'm here fighting for my life! Saving time to get prepared and you're shortening it, just like if you agreed with Carmilla!"

"So basically I was in an abandoned shrine, y'know the one that someone from the police leaked to the media and they're talking about it on the news?"

"Yeah, I know, what about it?"

I immediately remembered how I thought that he was lying when I watched the news.

"Oh... that's why he told me that it's top secret! I thought that he was just lying for no reason, but it seems that back then it was the truth."

"So I've found a ring in the shrine, and I can't take it off, but-..."

My eyes widen and I look down at the ring of his finger. The memory of the kitsune talking about the ring flashes before my eyes, making me shake in fear.

"How haven't I noticed before?! The ring! It's on his finger! He's in danger! The kitsune!"

I grab his collars desperately and I look straight into his eyes.

"Haruki?! Have you noticed anything weird happening around you lately? Are you feeling off?"

Suddenly a black slime-like liquid starts to leak out of his ring. It looks the same as the black substance that was on the ground back in the shrine.

"Oh!" Haruki gasps as he steps back and the slime wraps itself around me.

Suddenly the slime just morphed into a human, holding my neck tightly, its fingernails so sharp that they drew some of my blood.

"HARUKI?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE?!" I scream in terror.

Suddenly the creature starts to speak in a rather emotionless voice.

"Master... this stupid guy has grabbed your collars... should I kill him right now?"

"Oozarith! Stop it! It's not an enemy! It's Nakamura Shoji, I told you about him earlier!" Haruki's voice holds some authority that has never been noticed before.

The humanoid gets away from me and falls on its knees, giving me a bow.

"I apologize for threatening you. I thought that you were the enemy, but if you are my master's friend then I'm sorry."

I step back, frowning at the humanoid.

"That thing should at least pretend to have emotions when apologizing... fucking monster."

I walk up to the creature and I start to squeeze its cheeks.

"What the hell is that, Haruki?! It feels so fucking human! Is this even a girl or a guy?!"

"Ah of course in the end you're always thinking about one thing, don't you?" Haruki says with a cheeky voice.

"Just answer my fucking question! What the fuck is this?!"

The creature starts to speak, so I put my hands off its cheeks.

"Master Haruki is my master. I was named Oozarith and I'm protecting my master from people who have bad intentions."

"Haruki...?"

"What?"

"How did you get a fucking slave in your hands?! Where?! When?!" I say in excitement, realizing how nice that must be.

"I didn't get it on purpose! It just came out of the ring one day! That's why I was absent because it wants to kill everyone who seems to be at least a little bit suspicious!"

I look down at Oozarith.

"Oozarith, yeah~?"

The humanoid nods.

"Oh God... here we go again..." Haruki mutters under his nose, sighing deeply.

"Can you turn into a girl~?"

"Oozarith could if its master wanted it to be. Oozarith was created to serve its master in any way possible."

"Are there any limitations in your morphing ability, Oozarith~?"

"No, Oozarith doesn't have limitations."

"Hmm... it seems that this creature is in existence without free will, nor emotions to begin with..."

I look over at Haruki with a hopeful smile on my face.

"Hey Haruuuki~? Could you bo-..."

"No, I won't." He says coldly.

"Oh man~! We are friends, why can't you just give me a small favor, or a slave from time to time~?"

"No is a no."

"Ehh whatever."

"So, can you take the ring off, Haruki?" I point at his ring curiously.

"No, I've tried everything, but I couldn't succeed in taking it off. It seems that I'm stuck with it."

"So you believe in the supernatural, don't you? After all, you have a living proof here- Oozarith."

"I think I do, but Shoji I have a question for you."

"What is it?"

"How come you're not surprised? I mean you seemed frightened when Oozarith wanted to kill you, but you're not surprised that things like this exist. It's like magic, isn't it?"

"Not magic, it's called Vymir."

Oozarith finally stands up from the kneeling position and looks into my eyes.

"What did you say? 'Vymir'?"

"Vymir? What is that even supposed to mean?" Haruki asks curiously.

I look at Oozarith and then back at Haruki.

"Can you somehow... uhh... make this thing go away? I'm talking to you, not it."

He looks at Oozarith and smiles kindly.

"Can you return to the ring, Oozarith?"

"Yes. Understood, master."

The humanoid melts into the dark liquid and enters the ring.

"So Vymir is everything around us, or at least I understand it like that."

"It's kinda like the soul of the world, which also empowers our souls, some people less and some more."

"Sebas also told me about magic spells that you can cast using this inner energy, or some other unique mutations that some people possess."

"For the magi,c it had a weird pronunciation... something like... ugh.. Ka... Yano...?"