DarknessShe was completely engulfed in the void around her, robbed of her senses. She struggled to remember how she got here, or where here even was, before she came across a frightening realization.
"Who AM I"She struggled, trying to get her bearings, trying to figure out who she was, when a voice rose in her mind unbidden.
"You know what you are?! Worthless! Unfit to share my name!""No..." She pleaded futilely into the darkness, struggling against that voice.
"You're wrong...""You failed every class, AGAIN!" The voice continued to berate her, bringing up images of a monster in her mind.
"You won't be anybody at this rate! Just an empty shell with an empty head!""I'm not nobody. I'm me.""You have failed me for the last time. I forbid you to leave this city, Tsubaki Matsushida.""That's not my name..."
"My name IS SAKURA!" ---
Sakura gasped as her eyes snapped open, staring up at dozens of glowing yellow eyes that made her skin crawl.
Levering herself to her feet, she instinctively knew what she should do and reached out with her free hand, grasping the card she knew would be there.
"I'm not Nobody, and I can prove it." Determination blazed in her eyes, defiance at the man who had told her she would be nothing.
"Come, INARI!"