“The one who gave you your name?” I pondered aloud, the words lingering in the quiet air.

  The small white fox nodded slowly, her golden eyes refleg something distant, memories, perhaps, or a longing that had never faded. “Yeah. She never revealed her real name, so we called her Lumi… because she found us in the winter.” Her tails curled slightly, as if ing around an invisible warmth, seeking fort in the past.

  I felt a straightness in my chest. There was something undeniably heavy in the way she spoke, as if the name carried aire lifetime’s worth of emotions, of memories that refused to fade no matter how much time had passed. I swallowed hard, brag myself for the iable question. “And what happeo her?”

  Ai lowered her gaze, and for the first time since she had merged with Ai, the glow in her golden eyes dimmed, flickering like a dying ember.

  “She died here.” The words came softly, but they carried a weight far greater than their quiet delivery. “We didn’t uand her nguage, but we could tell… from the way she spoke, from her emotions, from the longing in her eyes. She wao go back. To her hometoce she called ‘Jap’an.’” Ai’s voice trembled slightly, her small ears folding back as if the mere mention of the past ainful to recall. “But she never made it.”

  I sucked in a slow breath, my mind reeling at the familiar yet distorted name. “Jap’an…” I echoed, the sylbles feeling strangely f unmistakably close to home. There was no doubt about it. It was Japan. The name had simply been lost in transtion, altered by time and distance, yet it remained. A fragile remnant of something that should in this world.

  Ai’s ears perked up slightly at my response, and she lifted her head to gaze at me, her golden eyes searg. “You know it?”

  I hesitated for a fra of a sed, but in the end, there was no point in lying. “…Yeah. I do.”

  The moment the words left my lips, the flickering light in Ai’s eyes shifted. It wasn’t just a glow anymore. There was something else now, something deeper. Hope? Doubt? Fear? It was hard to tell, but I could feel the weight of her emotions pressing against me.

  She took a cautious step forward, her tails curling in tightly. Her voice came out quieter this time, almost hesitant. “Then… are you…?” She trailed off, the questio unfinished, as if she was afraid of the answer. Afraid of what it might mean.

  Just before I could respond, the grouh us trembled violently, a deep, uling rumble shaking the very foundations of the shrine. My breath caught in my throat as a chill ran down my spine.

  “Wha–” My words barely escaped before my bance wavered, my instincts screaming at me to brace myself. Before panic could take hold, a firm yet reassuring grip enveloped my hand. I turo see Yuzu beside me, her usual carefree expression now repced with sharp, unwavering focus.

  Her dark bck eyes flickered toward the shrine’s entrahe open door trembling slightly from the quake. She tightened her grip on my hand, anch me in pce.

  “Yuzu bery felt magic. It bery came from outside,” she murmured, her voice quieter than usual, yet teh caution.

  Outside. My stomach twisted at the realization. Catherine and Yuki were still out there.

  “It must be Catherine and Yuki!” I blurted out, my heart hammering against my ribs. A wave of fear surged through me, and without thinking, I tried to run toward the entrance. I had to get to them, I had to help. But before I could take a siep, Yuzu’s grip tightened.

  “Bery red witch is bery strong level 330 witch,” she said firmly, her voice calm yet insistent. “Mashiro bery should notto worry and bery stay here and trust.”

  I ched my teeth, frustration bubbling inside me. I hated feeling powerless. Every part of me wao fight that instind rush outside, to make sure my friends were safe. But the way Yuzu looked at me. The quiet fiden her gaze. made my steps falter.

  Before I could argue further, she released my hand and, with a siion, materialized her katana into her free ohe polished bde shimmered uhe dim shrine light, its presenanding and sharp.

  “Yuzu will bery go and check,” she decred, taking a step toward the entrance.

  “Yuzu, wait!” I screamed, my voice filled with urgency just before she could take aep toward the entrance. My pulse raced as I grabbed onto her sleeve, my grip tightening as if I could physically hold her back from charging headfirst into the unknown. “What if it’s another one of those NONO things? You and Catherine wouldn’t be able to ha alone! Let me join you!”

  There was a brief moment of hesitation. Yuzu’s dark eyes flickered toward me, her brows furrowing slightly as if she were weighing my words carefully. Her ears twitched, her tails swishing behind her in deep ption. For a few seds, the only sounds between us were the lingering echoes of the tremor and my oid breathing. Then, with a resigned sigh, she finally relented.

  “Fine,” she muttered, though her tone carried a hint of relut acceptance. “But Mashiro bery stick closer to Yuzu, oki?” Her warning was firm, her gaze log onto mine as if to emphasize the seriousness of her words.

  I barely had time to nod in agreement when, suddenly, a blur of white fur shot through the air. Ai leapt straight toward me, her tiny body colliding with my chest. Instinctively, I caught her, cradling the small ailed fox in my arms. Her soft fur brushed against my skin, but something about her felt different, tense, alert. Her golden eyes, usually filled with mischief, now held an iy that sent a shiver down my spine.

  “It’s… her,” Ai muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.

  A chill settled in my bones. “Her?” I echoed, my fingers unsciously tightening around her small form. “Who is it, Ai?”

  The fox didn’t answer immediately. She simply stared, her glowing golden irises burning into mihen, she spoke agaione eerily calm.

  “You know who.”

  My mind scrambled for an answer, but nothing crete came to me. Who could she possibly mean? My heart pounded as I racked my brain, trying to piece together anything that might make sense.

  “Uhe one you’re talking about is bald and doesn’t have a nose,” I said with a nervous chuckle, “then I have no idea.”

  Ai didn’t reay weak attempt at humor. She merely narrowed her eyes, the golden glow in them intensifying.

  “It’s the witch you saw on the hologram,” she said, her voice steady and unwavering.

  The moment Ai uttered the words, Yuzu reacted with blinding speed. Before I could even process what was happening, she had ed her arms around me, pulling me close in a protective embrace. I barely caught a glimpse of something circur, glowing, shifting, just at the edge of my vision before a sudden force yahe ground away from beh us.

  A dizzyiion overwhelmed me as I felt myself falling. The world spun in a blur, and my breath hitched as Yuzu held me tightly, Ai’s small body pressed between us. Just seds ago, we had been ihe shrine, but now, without warning, we were tumbling through open air. My mind barely had time tister the shift before my eyes caught fleeting images, Catherine, Yuki, just before we hit the ground.

  "Waaa, I’m falling!" The impact wasn’t far, maybe five meters or so, but the nding was anything but soft. Pain jolted through my body as I crashed onto the rough terrain, the shock leaving me momentarily breathless. Before I could recover, my gaze snapped upward, just in time to see several glowing projectiles slig through the air toward us.

  I barely had a sed to react before Yuzu shifted, twisting her body to shield me. A sharp thud followed as the magic collided with her bastead of me.

  "Yuzu!" I gasped, reag for her, but she simply let out a low growl, her ears twitg as if the pai nothing.

  "Heh." A smooth, mog voice rang through the open air. "I could sense your presence while you were trying to sniff me out, you dumb fox."

  My heart pounded as I looked up. There, floating effortlessly above us, was a witch draped in regal purple robes embroidered with golden patterns. Her presence was anding, and the desding smirk pying on her lips sent a chill down my spine.

  Opposite her, Catherine hovered in midair as well, her crimson cloak billowing in the wind. Her staff was already raised, magic brimming at her fiips, her expression cold and unreadable as she faced down the floating witch.