Maggie awoke with confusion and a pounding head Gah, why can't I just stop doing that? Now I know what to av- she stopped mid thought when she noticed the furry face above her. "Oh! I- uh- I must not have- uh... had water recently! That's why I passed out. Yeah. I'm very sorry for troubling you. Thank you." Maggie smiled genuinely for the first time she could remember. Well, she can't be all that bad if she's so helpful and kind. She gets up slowly, still slightly shaky, but stable enough to stand still. Taking a step in the direction she had been trying to travel, she collapses to a kneeling position. "Oof. Why aren't my legs doing as well? Hm... Maybe I can teleport."
And with that, she closed her eyes and opened thim in the same spot. "Hmmm... Something's keeping me from teleporting. Well, shoot." With a grunt of effort, she stands back up, a little less stable, but still able to stand. Maggie snaps her head to the cat-lady's spot and gasps "You need to go to school. You're already really late 'cause of me. You should go. I'll rest here until I can walk well enough to make it home. Really, thank you for helping me." A goofy grin forces itself upon Maggie's face.

“Hey kids, wanna see a dead body?”

The voice was sudden and taunting, having appeared from seemingly nowhere. One second both Maggie and Ren were alone in the alleyway. The next, a tall man in a suit and fedora stood before them. A smile played on his lips while one of his eyes remained close; the other showed a deep yellow color.

Both of them should have been able to recognize him immediately. Kenji Nagato. The only CEO in Miso City, and the guy who pretty much ran the place. He was known for being an eccentric among other things, his nature the very principle of unpredictability. Even now, he stood with a casual demeanor as he addressed both girls.

Why he was even here, lurking in the shadows was beyond anyone’s guess.

“So yeah? Wanna see the body?”

Back at the school, Yoshino raised an eye at Stukov’s arrival. He just had to show off, now didn’t he? There was probably a renegade fire truck on the loose in the city now with the toy store criminal gutted to boot. Yoshino wouldn’t be surprised either way.

“Quiet being a pretty boy and come on already,” she told her assistant. “Unless you want my worshipper to make you into a life-sized icicle,” she added, referring to her equally annoying secretary. Knowing her, she had probably already called the police to report one missing Yoshino Tsugumi.

Akane took the Russian’s advice of course, letting her grip slacken a little, but not by much.

The first thing out of the girl's mouth sounded like an excuse, but the thanks sounded more genuine, and the girl's smile really was pretty. Watching the other girl get up tore Ren to pieces, not literally, metaphorically. She wanted to help but she didn't, yet. Mostly because aside from fighting, and catching Maggie, only trying not to let the girl's head hit the ground, Ren didn't normally touch strangers, or really anyone but Seth.

"You need to go to school. You're already really late 'cause of me. You should go. I'll rest here until I can walk well enough to make it home. Really, thank you for helping me."
Ren grinned softly, "I'll be fine, Seth, that's my twin brother, will fill me in." She was just about to say something else when another voice cut across her, “Hey kids, wanna see a dead body?” Whipping her head round, Ren saw the shady man, he looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't place where from. Seth's voice came through, slightly faint, thanks to the distance, A dead body?! Why do you get to have all the fun? Also, thats ahhh…… how do you say it? … Ken–gee? Nag-a-too?…… Close enough, that's how it's spelt anyway. Mister what's-his-face. Yup him. Ren sent him a mental eye-roll, Yeah, thanks Seth, very helpful, as always. and considering it was said in complete silence you could hear the sarcasm literally dripping of each word.

“So yeah? Wanna see the body?” Snapping back to her reality, instead of Seth's in the school, Ren refocused on the man, her tail lashing wildly, side to side, brushing repetitively against Maggie's leg. Flicking her ears, which were fully visible, her hood having slipped off in her mad dash to catch Maggie, Ren contemplated, sure a dead body sounded both gross and cool, and Seth would kill her if she didn't go see, but also, she was supposed to be keeping a vaguely clean slate, not go searching for trouble. And then there was the girl. Ren didn't want to leave her alone, and she sure as hell wasn't going off with a guy that looked like that on her own either. no matter how much of a big-wig he was round here.

Glancing at the girl, Ren tilted her head, a question, you wanna? Although considering the girl's state, Ren would certainly be surprised if she said yes.

Seth was heading down a corridor, with absolutely no idea if anyone was actually following him. After replying to Ren's sudden, disbelieving thoughts about a dead body, he complained out-loud; "How come Ren get's offered a chance to see a dead body?" Then suddenly remembering there was probably others behind him, Seth turned round, asking of them; "So…… what do you wanna see? Class, cafeteria, library, spot's court…pitch…thingie, somewhere else?" He tried to focus solely where he was, trying his best not to influence Ren's decision. Although he kinda did want to see a body, but he had the same slightly discomfiting feeling Ren had at that prospect.

“Hey kids, wanna see a dead body?”

"Huh? Uh..." Maggie couldn't think of what to say. That... That's an interesting offer. I don't know how much I really want to see one, but I haven't seen one before... Ren seems a little curious, so I guess there's power in numbers. She seems like she does care about my wellbeing...

“So yeah? Wanna see the body?”

"Uh... Su- sure. Where would we go to see a dead body...?" That's all Maggie could muster with her strength barely able to hold her up. With a stranger in front of her, she had to appear strong, so she put all of her focus and energy into standing up and shaking as little as possible. He seemed familiar to Maggie, but in rememberance of her previous head-splitting headaches, she decided to not think further into it, switching her focus to Ren. She's pretty. Without realizing it, Maggie's face went back to a goofy smile/grin as she was glancing at the female feline. After a few seconds, she caught herself and turned her attention back to the guy. "So where would we be going?"

Haruki is once again, lost at what to say. He's usually grinning easily and physically affectionate to his friends (if he has any), but Akane was kind of...creepy. Haruki didn't mind her much at first since she looks like the quiet type, but when Haruki looked at her and saw her face and heard her say she likes him, he softens and decided that he likes her, too. Then she saw her arms and felt her grip, and then right there, Haruki was experiencing the chills in his spine. Something he didn't expect to feel, being a boy who could see dead people. He was slightly grateful when Akane followed a someone's advice and loosened her hold, not by much, but it's progress for Haruki.

"...can I...call you Senpai?"

Haruki heard Akane say, and wonders what is she going with this, because Haruki has no slightest idea what is going on. He grins and pats her head affectionately. "Sure you can, Akane,"

While Haruki is pretty sure he won't be able to use his one arm for a while, and he has this feeling that he may someday regret that decision, the girl hasn't done anything harmful on purpose so she must be nice, right? Ever the optimist, I am.

"How come Ren gets offered a chance to see a dead body?" Seth's outburst surprised Haruki. He blinks at the mention if a dead body. He ignores Seth's question on what part of the school they want to see. Haruki has been spotting a couple of ghosts in the school, but he didn't manage to meet them with the tour and Akane attaching herself to him. Haruki raises a hand politely to ask a question to Seth. "Quick question: do you know how exactly old the school is?" he asks, really wanting to know and making a mental reminder to research more about the school. Interesting city. Must mean interesting school, right?

Hikaru Shouto

With all the commotion happening, Hikaru couldn't help but be curious, he turned back and saw a tall, somewhat lanky man, who was supposedly a CEO, not that Hikaru cared too much, but raising an eyebrow to his question,

“Hey kids, wanna see a dead body?”

Again, Hikaru couldn't discern what this man's thinking, it was too clouded. "Interesting offer, Mister CEO, but is it all that wise to do so to a bunch of kids?" he utters, though Hikaru's interest is piqued at the offer, he got the vibe that this was a tad bit shady.

Hikaru glanced at the weird ruffling of clothes of Ren, This does confirm my theory, is she a wolf hybrid of some sort? he asked himself in a stupor before snapping back to Kenji.

“So yeah? Wanna see the body?” he continues, with an eccentric looking smile, almost menacing. "..." "Whatever, why not, you don't normally get the chance to see a dead body." he says, unconsciously glaring at Kenji, and shrugging at the bizarre nature of it all.

"Huh?" Seth thought for a second, also asking Ren, but neither had any clue, "Dunno, old? It's been here as long as I can remember, but we, Ren and I, Never really paid attention to it till a few years ago when we first started attending. Sorry. Those two probably know though." He said indicating Akane and Ruki, "Or at least their sister will." He shrugged, ear twitching. "Oh, and you don't need to raise your hand for me, just don't talk if someone else is, yeah?"

Ren gave the tiniest start of surprise when the girl agreed to go see a dead body, or at least questioned where it was. Noticing the slight tremor that ran through her, Ren wrapped an arm round the other girl's waist like they were friends, but also supporting some of Maggie's weight. Since Maggie looked like she would go, Ren figured it would be safe, or at least as safe as one can be going off with a shady-looking guy to see a dead body. Wait…… why did they even want to see a dead body? Surely it would be gruesome, right? When Seth's question of the age of the school came through, she nearly laughed out-loud, it just seemed too funny, her debating about dead bodies, and him about the age of the school. dunno, she shot back careful to keep her 'poker' face, ask Akane, or Ruki, though Yoshino's more likely to know. She was distracted however, by Hikaru saying something behind her, she hadn't even realized he was there. Glancing round and spotting him, she hopes he knows how to take care of himself if anything happens cause she'd probably be limiting her concern to herself and Maggie.

Maggie let out a small gasp when Ren's arm went around her waist. She wasn't expecting such an... intimate move from the girl, but it was probably better if the man thought they were friends than two random girls, so she let herself lean a little to look less stiff and mirroring Ren's action, placing her hand on the girl's waist. Maggie was surprised to hear a third voice, and turned to see it was the first person to walk off when she had mistaken that one girl's anger for bullying.
He seems so nonchalant about seeing a dead body, as if he sees dead people often. I'm just too curious to refuse, and I do feel a little safer with other people around me, even if I don't really know either of them that well. With that, she looked back to the man and said with her most neutral tone and said "alright, sir. Please show the way." And gave a slight nod, and a little lingering pain forced her to quietly wince and put more weight on Ren.
Normally, dead bodies wouldn't really attract Maggie usually, but the fact that someone dressed up well saw a body that was extremely... something to make him want to show others made it so hard to say no. It was so intriguing that she needed to see what made the man want to show a dead body to younger kids. This city is weird...

“Wonderful! Looks like we’ll be taking a field trip for class today.”

Kenji’s smile perked up as he spun on his heels and walked away, motioning for the students to follow him. In any normal circumstance, alarm bells would have been ringing if any outsider saw this scene. In this situation…the alarm bells would still be set off.

“Here we are!”

The suited man raised his arms to introduce a whole lot of…nothing. Nothing in sight. Just a dead end to the alleyway, the lighting grainy and dark. In the blink of an eye, there suddenly lay a knife in Kenji’s hand. With expert ease, he twirled and tossed the thing near the group's feet with the blade embedded in the ground.

“Well go ahead now. Make some dead bodies,” he said, letting his words hang in the air. When he let the gruesome implications set in, he smirked and followed up with, “Hey, hey, I’m only kidding! I’m not that sick in the head, right? You guys wanted a body, so I’ll give you one, free of charge.”

The knife was gone. One blink and it disappeared. Replacing it was, in all actuality, a dead body. It was strewn about with pale skin and dirty, black hair. By its frame, it looked like a woman who had maybe drowned, despite the fact that there was no water. Misty, sightless eyes stared out into the world of the living without so much as a twitch.

Kenji placed his hands in his pockets, backing away hastily.

“Well it’s really been fun, but I’ve got places to be,” he said while clutching his fedora to his head. “Bye now! Oh, and stay in school!”

Another blink and…he was gone. Well that was pretty pointless, albeit morbid. What was his deal anyway-did the corpse just move?

Back at school, things were going well…relatively speaking. Hearing Haruki give into her sister’s request, Ruki burst out into another round of loud mirth. Seriously, he really didn’t know what he was getting into. Not that she would inform him of Akane’s…interests.

“Thank you…Senpai,” Akane said quietly, loosening her grip significantly now. She brushed her head along Haruki's arm affectionately, a small smile finally breaking out onto her otherwise stoic face.

Overhearing Seth’s outburst about the dead body, Ruki again laughed knowingly. This time she actually took the time to explain.

“Ah, must be Nagato-san trolling again,” she explained to Haruki since he was new to the city. “Oh yeah, his requests always have a price you know. Wonder what prank he’s pulling on Ren right now! As for this school….well, I dunno. As old as Onee-chan? Don’t tell her I said that!”

The girl adjusted her glasses, pondering now as she looked up at the old ceiling above them.

“But seriously…this place is pretty old. Can’t say how old, but I’d guess as old as Miso City. Makes sense when you think about it. I mean, we are the only school in this town.”

It was wrong, all wrong. Ren's fur was standing on end, long before they reached the alleyway, Still holding Maggie, now more for comfit, she had followed, her tail lashing in ever increasing arks. Flicking her ears, madly, both Seth and Ren shared mental fear, warnings pinging back and forth until neither could tell whose was whose. “Here we are!” jumping a foot in the air, although not literally, Ren snapped her head round, eyes wide as a girl from shojo manga, very big, A hiss rising in their throat. Yes their; Ren and Seth no longer differentiated between each-other, they just were, thinking and acting as one, but not necessarily in a good way. Both had frozen, watching, waiting,… knife!!!!

“Well go ahead now. Make some dead bodies,” A hiss burst forth, snarling throughout the alley, feral and chilling, not affecting the strange man at all. “Hey, hey, I’m only kidding! I’m not that sick in the head, right? You guys wanted a body, so I’ll give you one, free of charge.” They didn't normally blink often, unless they were surprised, but they felt the sudden overwhelming urge to close their eyes. Succumbing to the urge, they paid attention with their ears, least he make a sudden move, but the sensation passed, quicker than it came, and when they opened their eyes the knife was gone, replaced by a body, gruesome and …wrong. Flinching at the smell, they looked on, watching in shock as the suspicious man backed out of the alley, far too fast, but neither that nor his words were something that was registered. "Don't touch it," they rasped, sounding only a little like Ren, still enough to be passed off as her, unless you paid attention, in witch case there was two voices, though only one could be heard. No one was attempting to touch the body at the time, but if they did they could be framed, not the exact thought that went through their heads, it was more a feeling of…… that the body was not something to touch.

Seth froze up, stopping still, and stiffening like frozen ice-cream. He heard Ruki talking but couldn't understand the words. It no-longer mattered if the others found something weird about him, other than the cat tail and ears; weird enough to begin with. knife!!!! the thought sprang up, shared, he could see, if blurrliy, what was going on, and everything else was filled in by Ren's thoughts. They saw the knife thrown, nice knife it was too, and land in the ground, heard the sound of the man speaking. A hiss burst forth from both, the two on Ren's side, but also the body of Seth, unlike the one in the alley, this one didn't resound, it exploded and died, there and then gone. For almost every movement 'Ren' made, so did 'Seth', or their body anyway, blinking, listening, tail's lashing, ears twitching. 'Seth' flinched, shying away from something the others in the school couldn't see, and when his voice came out grating and odd, "Don't touch it," there was a sensation of eeriness to it; a ghostly second voice, almost, but not quite, in sync.

It moved!!!

Letting go of Maggie, if she hadn't already let go of Ren herself, they dropped low, the hunter with it's prey, cat instincts taking over, shoving most of the conscience that wasn't already hiding, back to rear seat of this 'freak show', to observe, not to take part.

Seth's body at the school mimicked most of that, the only part it didn't was mimicking letting go of Maggie, as it was not holding a person to begin with.

The initial lack of a body made Maggie worry. Whaaa...? There isn- it must be a trap... cursing under her breath, the man then materialized a knife. “Well go ahead now. Make some dead bodies,” Maggie tensed up. She's the weakest one here, probably. Either one of them could easily kill me with tha- the man interrupted her thoughts with “Hey, hey, I’m only kidding! I’m not that sick in the head, right? You guys wanted a body, so I’ll give you one, free of charge.” The body that was suddenly in front of them, making Maggie jump a little.
It just seemed... odd. It looked dead. Drowned. The tenser Maggie got from this eeriness, the closer and tighter she clung to Ren. “Bye now! Oh, and stay in school!”Maggie looked up to see that the man had vanished. She heard Ren's voice, a little weird undertone to it, command "Don't touch it," She realized that Ren was tensed up, so she tried to soothe her by saying soft words, like "It's alright. It's just a body. That's what we came here for." Repeating things like that until, at one point, the body moved. As soon as she saw it, she tried to clamp harder to Ren's waist, but Ren had crouched in what looked like a fighting pose. Not seeing the body move any more, Maggie tried to get Ren to move "Uh, miss? Let's just go. We saw it, it's freaky, we're done. Let's just go. The guy's not here any more." All the while, tugging at Ren's hoodie in an attempt to drag the feline girl out of the alley, but she wasn't strong enough.

Hikaru Shouto

“Wonderful! Looks like we’ll be taking a field trip for class today.” the man said then motioned for them to follow, something about his tone just unnerved Hikaru. Pondering this he follows the odd man, and after a bit he found that they were in a dead end of an alleyway, the smell was atrociously bad. “Here we are!” he spurted out. Hikaru, looking around, saw that there no dead bodies in the vicinity.

Kenji, was then holding knife with a smile and then said, “Well go ahead now. Make some dead bodies,” as soon as he said this, the atmosphere of the area became tense, a bead of sweat slid down Hikaru's forehead. Make? What does he mean by 'make'? Hikaru asked himself but he already knew what he meant, taking a gulp and looking around, his attention snapped back to him when, “Hey, hey, I’m only kidding! I’m not that sick in the head, right? You guys wanted a body, so I’ll give you one, free of charge.” with a sigh of relief that was short lived, a dead body suddenly appeared, for better word, it seems like it just materialized and replaced his knife. The body was dark and pale, looking like it was just 'fished' out this morning. Hikaru did see something about a drowned woman in the news earlier.

“Well it’s really been fun, but I’ve got places to be. Bye now! Oh, and stay in school!” he said, clutching his fedora then leaving with as quick as he entered, just leaving the body there in full view. What are we suppose to do with this?

"Don't touch it," uttered a voice that sounded like Ren but, somehow, it wasn't. The voice had an echo, a second voice that was cold, to a degree that Hikaru thought was cold. Though no one, atleast in Hikaru's view, would dare touch that dead body, it's eyes were so devoid that he couldn't help but wonder what the person's last minutes were like. Hikaru did have the gut feeling that he dare not touch the body too, something was screaming at him to just turn away. Seeing Ren go a bit ballistic, Hikaru said "Feline girl, no, Ren, was it? You need to calm down, we could walk away now, that oddball with probably come back to take the body away." Hikaru turning away begins to walk but then adds a conjecture "..." "... Do any of you ladies know the way back?

After saying so, he looked back at the dead body and it looked like it flinched, snapping all his concentration back to it, "What the hell..."

Creak.

The sound echoed in the alleyway like the howl of an animal. Or perhaps it was more like something old and ancient finally stirring from its rest. Either way, the noise was loud enough for the group of students to hear plain and clear. Soon enough, the creaking was quickly to be coming from someplace much nearer than expected.

The corpse was twitching now. That much was obvious. The sound of bones snapping in place and skin gliding against the ground filled the ears of all who were close at hand. With a guttural groan, the seemingly drowned woman flicked open eyes that were milky white, the sclera devoid of any real color.

It looked up now, arching its back as something apparently popped back into place. A creature without thought or purpose, it stared at the students with an open mouthed wail. However, no scream was heard. Instead, a harsh whispering replaced its cries, like sandpaper being rubbed together.

It crawled towards them, back arched and head stretched with hair down. Its legs and arms acted almost like spider appendages, picking up speed to charge at the children for the purpose of…well, best not to stick around to ponder that thought.

With her hands still firmly attached to Ren's hoodie, Maggie made a break for the alley's entra- wait. Which way was it...? The boy's words were a mimic to Maggie's thoughts: "... Do any of you ladies know the way back?" Wait, I thought we walked straight back. Now we have to choose...? Left or right? Left or right!? Leftorright?leftorright?leftorrightleftorright..........? The... Thing behind them was gaining on them, so Maggie just wished she could teleport, but is too afraid to leave her newfound friend behind. Nor did she wish to endanger the other boy who had stayed behind with them. "I don't. I thought it was a straight back." A light bulb metaphorically goes off over her head and she tries to go down the middle! Duh!
... And hits her head on brick wall. Ow... That didn't work. Left. With that, she turned left, and ran as fast as she could, Ren's feral pose being dragged to a point of slowing Maggie down considerably. It was like a maze. So many twists and turns, never truly escaping. At one point, when they had enough distance from the dead-woman-undead-thing, she hefted Ren up like she was going to help a drunken Ren walk, trying to get through to the human side of her, through this base instinct that's kicking in. "Ren? You ok? We need you to be you again. This reaction isn't helping. Please come back to us. Ren...?" Maggie kept repeating variations of these phrases as they tried to escape the dreaded thing-that's-chasing-them.

She wasn't listening, word's just bounced off her cat ears, meaning nothing to either of them. All of it; meaningless noise. As the body moved, twitching to start, and then moving, spider-like, their attention snapped to it, following every move. Even being dragged away by her hoodie wasn't enough to stop 'Ren' from catching every move it made. Dragging their heels, the Seth side of things wanted badly to stay and fight, to beat the crap out off that……… thing. And so one moment, when they were being dragged away, the two had lunged forward, lugging Maggie a few feet in the opposite direction, before suddenly moaning and slumping back down, enabling Maggie to keep dragging them.

Somewhere along the way they had twisted round in an effort to escape, and so, that meant that when they lunged forwards, Seth’s body, still at the school, had lunged straight smack-dab into a wall.

Most of the ‘maze’ was a blur to them, not even paying proper attention, just struggling to break free and fight, but Maggie wasn’t letting go. When Maggie stood them upright however, or as uprightish as she could, the cat side faded, not by much, just a little, just enough for words to make sense, "Ren? You ok? We need you to be you again. This reaction isn't helping. Please come back to us. Ren...?"

Oi, Idiot! What the hell do you think you’re doing! …… I’m not! ……fight……No!……Sethren……NO! …… knife, defend, hunt, kill,…… Ren?? ……… Help her. The girl. …… no, fight…… Seth!??……yes!, no, I’m…… us…… run, flee, fight, blood, die, ………Ren, Ren, what’s going on?…… I dunno.…… together, …… NO!…NO!, ……Ren? ……Seth, go away.…… No. ………

Ren, finally gaining control yelled silently: GET OUT OF MY FRIGGING HEAD!!!!! to which Seth replied with a silent, I’m not in your head, you’re in mine. Ren staggering upright, yelled at him; I DON'T CARE, JUST GET OUT NOW!!!!! before focusing her attention on the scene in-front of her. The…… what even was that?, Zombie Seth commented, GET OUT!, was coming round the far corner, Maggie was beside her, and the boy…… was, …… Ren couldn't see him, but he was likely round here somewhere. "Uhhh…… is that thing chasing us?" She knew she was asking the obvious, but sometimes it just had to be done, now was not one of those times, the thing, Zombie!, Shut it!, was getting closer and closer, penning them in and forcing them backwards, "Run?" Ren asked, vaguely remembering that Maggie had been running, and that she had been dragging Ren along as well, probably saving her from a terribly grim fate.

---

Seth groaned, Ren's yell echoing round his head. He ached all over, sitting on the ground as he was, wait why was he sitting on the ground. getting a vague image come through of the thing that had been, no, was chasing Ren and the other girl, Seth helpfully supplied a name, Zombie, and got yelled at for his effort. Clambering to his feet, he shook his head still a little disorientated, having been in a alley and now suddenly back in his body at the school. Ren still wasn't accepting that that thing was a zombie, so Seth finally decided shutting up, might be the safest idea, Ren was in a mood, and when she was like that something would die, or at least be destroyed violently, in the most destructive manner possible. He could almost feel the rage simmering off her from here, she hated that she had been weak enough to need to be dragged round by a girl who until a few minutes ago had kept collapsing. He could also tell that Ren was blaming him for it, for taking over, and merging, for being there. A feeling that thrummed through him, displeasure showing, it was a feeling he'd rather never have felt.

Hikaru Shouto
Eyes becoming wider as the 'dead' body started to twitch, and eventually turn into something inhumane, something not of this world. It's turned and twisted in such away that a cold bead of sweat dropped down his forehead, mouth slightly agape. As it twisted, it started scuttling towards him and the two other girls. Quickly turning around and running as fast as his legs could carry, adrenaline pumped through him. Noticing that he wasn't as fast as the two other girls, but that thing was faster than all of them, he had quickly make up a decision. Hastily picking up a piece wood that was lying around the dump, he decided that he would atleast try and stop that thing, since they would probably get caught by it.

Mustering up all the courage that he could, Hikaru turned around and got in the way between the girls and the monster then promptly said, "This... This thing, it's too fast, it would've caught up to all of us." he said outloud as he gripped the piece of wood ever tighter, "Get out of here, I- I'll manage somehow." Sweating as that monster basically crawled closer to Hikaru gulping he prepared for the inevitable.

Maggie was relieved to see Ren back to herself, and smiled when she asked "Uhhh…… is that thing chasing us?" and "Run?" And simply nodded, saying "Yep. Run." She turned to run alongside Ren and the other guy, when she heard the guy's voice. "Get out of here, I- I'll manage somehow." Stopping after the one-and-a-half steps of running and turned to the guy "Woah, woah, woah. Run first, fight later." Looking between the two, she adds "Let's move." With that, she tugged at his clothes as she started to run off.
She saw it turn the corner. Man that thing is gaining. We need to figure our way out of this alley way. We didn't take nearly that long to get to this body. What's going on here? Turning to see it gaining, Maggie yelped a little at how close it was. "We need to get out of here. Can either of you get to the top of one of these buildings? I could teleport, but I don't want to leave you two to this thing." Panting and running out of energy, Maggie realized she might have to face off with that thing. "I can't... keep running... much more... any... *huff* plans...?" As she lost energy, she kept slowing down more and more. Hoping for a miracle, she keeps exerting her muscles as much as she could. She figured she had about 12 seconds before that thing caught up to her.

Maggie answerd Ren's questions with a nice short concise; "Yep. Run." And Ren was happy to comply, twisting to bolt, then hearing the boy's voice, "Get out of here, I- I'll manage somehow." and, just like Maggie, Ren stopped, spinning on her heel to face the boy, the one who was just throwing fuel on the raging fire that consisted of her angry emotions, "No you will not." she snapped, just as Maggie said the same in a more… diplomatic way. "Let's move.". Nodding, trying her hardest to keep her cool, or as cool as one might be in the hot waters they were swimming, Ren grabbed the boy's arm, dragging him backwards as she talked; "Come on, if you want to be a hero" she spat out the last word like it had personally offended her "Do it in a better place, here's to open, and you'd do better to have something at your back, or at least protecting your sides." Then depending on whether he ran or not, she kept tugging him along, following Maggie's lead.

"We need to get out of here. Can either of you get to the top of one of these buildings? I could teleport, but I don't want to leave you two to this thing." Ren snorted, "First, you can't teleport, but we'll discus this later. And yes I could probably get to the top of one of these buildings, but not with the two of you. I can only climb it on my own. And" she was practically spitting, although not quite literally, "I am NOT letting anyone else fight for my honour, or for that matter my Life!" The meaner side of Ren was starting to show, ready to bite at anyone.

"I can't... keep running... much more... any... *huff* plans...?" Ren grimaced; humans and their endurance, but then she was being hypocritical, as she knew she'd be panting like that soon, much sooner than she would like. "Plans? Plans? Great idea, lets just sit round a table and plan for a sec, oh, no wait, I always have a back-up plan for when some Zombie is chasing me." Thank-you Seth muttered making Ren bite her arm, leaving a circle of big red angry bruises. What was that for! He complained before shutting up again. "Just let me destroy it, please?" Ren was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, adrenaline thrumming through her, letting her ignore her sore legs, digging up reserves of energy, just dying for a fight.

---

Looking back at the others, Seth shrugged, "Shall we move on?" without waiting for an answer, he headed along the corridor, grinning when Ren finally called the thing a zombie, happy enough to break his mental silence, Thank-you the next thing he knew there was a chomping feeling in his left arm, but no marks. Snatching his arm to his chest, he realized Ren had bitten herself, and so asked in a major complaint, What was that for! She knew biting herself would hurt him, but why put herself at a disadvantage? Deciding it was probably wiser to keep quiet, Seth looked round trying to find something to distract himself with.

The spider-like corpse continued to pursue the group of kids with hellbent fury shining in its inhuman eyes. Its creaking rang out in the dark alleyways, echoing off the brick walls. Despite the sun being out and held high in the sky, it seemed the pathway was darkened significantly, as if they were trapped in some kind of horror flick.

The moving body twisted its neck viciously and suddenly, the sound of bone being snapped adding to the mix of noises. If the drained group dared to look back they’d find the corpse now pursuing them by crawling on the walls themselves. With one mangled, broken arm, the unholy creature reached forward and lunged straight for the boy that dared to defy her.

A brief struggle on the ground occurred, ending with the twisted thing lying on top of Hikaru. Recognizing that it had separated the boy from the others, it crawled slowly off of him to stare him down with quite literally dead eyes, face just inches from Hikaru’s. Opening its mouth into another soundless wail, it revealed a row of missing teeth before lunging in like a predator.

To the surprise of all present, the thing plunged right through Hikaru’s body. It continued to phase through, plummeting down to the ground to who knows where. It didn’t matter at the moment though. All that did was that the damn thing was gone. For now.

Was it just an illusion? Maybe. It felt too real to be a mere trick of the mind. The fact that it had passed right through both Hikaru and the ground rose up one interesting theory.

The woman was a tortured spirit.

Somewhere nearby, Kenji Nagato was chuckling to himself.

Back at the school, Ruki had ceased informing Haruki about the wonders of Miso City to watch Seth moving around like a possessed doll. She couldn’t help but snicker aloud as the cat boy continued to hurl himself at walls and then bite his own arm as well. Probably Ren messing around again.

Wait, she knew about Ren and Seth’s link? How much of Miso City were the Tsugumi twins aware of?

“Heh, you make a nice door stopper Seth,” she called out to the boy. “Righty, righty, let’s go explore some more! Or should we get to class? Third period is about to start. Hmm…nah, Onee-chan won’t be that mad at us. Right Akane?”

The other girl nodded once, continuing to cling onto her new self-appointed lover.

"Just let me destroy it, please?" Maggie looked over at Ren with a little contempt. "Ren, I don't know if either of us can take that... Zombie, you said?" Huffing and puffing her way through the sentence, she finally reallized that the sounds stopped. "Wait. I don't hear anything." Looking over at Ren, she noticed the absence of the guy she was dragging. "And what happened to chivalry-dude?" A quick glance around the alleyway showed that he had just fallen from Ren's grasp.
Continuing to look around suspiciously, Maggie sees nothing of threat. "Hey, guy. You alright?" Maggie stays a good distance from the boy since there's no threat and he's the only potential threat she can see or hear. Remembering Ren mentioning [i][color=00aeef]First, you can't teleport[/i] she turns to face the cat-girl and asks "Hey, what did you mean by that, about me not teleporting? I proved it earlier to that other guy who asked about it. Need I prove it again?" Putting her hands on her hips and looking at Ren challengingly, even though her lips are pointed in the hint of a smile.