Illusion And Magic  

"Here!" Slamming her fist against Principal Hayato's desk, Akane was visibly fuming through her ears, while tanned skin appeared the shade of well-aged wine. "Kimura set these cameras up in the girl's restroom, I told you before, but here! Look at the footage on this one!"

Passing the camera to Hayato over the desk, she leaned away with her arms crossed. Squinting a frown, her eyes were locked against the balding bastard; and as he stood, on his glaringly protruding belly as well.

'At least button up your shirts properly!' She thought seeing how the lower buttons were holding onto dear life.

"I'll have a look and make sure this problem is resolved soon," he responded, picking the camera off the desk.

"Please do! Because if you don't I'm taking this to the police!" With a commanding stomp of her feet, she turned around and left the saggy-faced bastard.

'I'm taking this to the police either way, I just need to make sure he gets kicked out first.' Keeping that thought to herself, she decided to return to her track practice. The nationals were coming soon, and trying to uphold her promise with Daichi she didn't wanna disappoint her friends.

"That was then, I thought everything would work out from that point forward, but it only got worse," done reminiscing about the past, Akane found herself back in her room getting ready for yet another day of sweeping at school.

'Who could've known that the man I went to get help was the mastermind behind the whole operation?' Clenching her teeth shut, she felt like punching Hayato in the face if she could.

"Forget it, I just need to lay low for now," pumping herself up, she made her way out of her house.

Setting her foot down on the streets, she couldn't help but feel guilty about her friends and what happened to them both. The memories of her walks with Daichi kept flowing back into her mind every time she walked her path to school, and when she got in class, Satori's innocent laughs would echo inside her head. Thus, after experiencing those symptoms of guilt from time to time, she changed her path to school and never really went to attend any class.

"Not like it matters now anyway," she muttered to the only friend she had left, herself. 

Continuing on her path, she often looked to her side as if searching for her friend, who was there beside her always. Alas, now there was no one, no matter how many times she looked. After every gaze to her sides, her heart swelled up with emotions making each of her consecutive steps feel heavier.

'Why did you do it? I know I didn't talk to you in those last days, but-' Like a ghost at the edge of her vision, she saw a familiar face breeze right by. Astounded, she stood there wondering if her eyes had failed her or if her mind had turned to showing her visions.

"Daichi?" She mumbled in an uncertain rhythm.

'It was him, wasn't it?' Glancing across the crossroad, she could've sworn that it was her friend Daichi who'd just walked across the street in front. Stretching one of her legs backward, she bolted in the direction she'd just seen the vision. 'Dammit! He's dead, you idiot what are you doing?!'

Struggling to convince herself, she kept following the mirage as it turned around corners every time she saw it. Leading her further and further away from the school's path, the phantom led her to a park where she and Daichi used to play when they were really young. Giving the place a quick glance, she could no longer spy the vision, instead in its place was a man she'd recently been running into far too often.

Waving his hand at her from the swing set, Akira beamed her a smile. Squinting her gaze, she moved closer wondering if her mind was still playing tricks on her or if Akira was really there waving his hand.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

Patting the seat of the swing set beside him, Akira offered her to sit down first. Although a bit skeptical about the whole ordeal, she decided to settle down beside him and talk.

"So? What are you doing here? Are you following me?" Slipping one hand in her skirt's pocket, she kept a firm grip on a dainty pepper spray bottle.

"Not really, but…" Planting his feet forward, Akira stopped himself from swinging as he looked right into Akane's eyes. "The more curious question here is who were you following? Someone important?"

Taking a moment to judge Akira's tone, and potentially his intention, Akane drew a deep breath and finally lowered her guard a little.

"You could say, but how do you know?" The piling list of coincidental meets had her cautiously curious. 

Reaching into his pocket, Akira took out the dainty camera Akane had dropped when they last ran into each other. Holding it between them, he received a disgruntled look from Akane, almost as if she was offended by something.

"I knew it, this is about Kimura and his videos after all!!" Getting up, she reached for her spray and held it right before Akira's eyes. "You can go and tell your boss that he can choke on a bag of rocks because I won't let him get away with anything just because of a few threats!"

"Mizuki…" Calling out to his demon, Akira made Mizuki Turn visible beside him in the form of his former body. "You've got it all wrong, I'm here to help you."

The moment Akane saw Daichi appear out of thin air, the pepper spray slipped through her fingers. Covering her mouth in disbelief, she stumbled back on her feet but managed to keep herself from falling.

"N-no way!" Gritting her teeth shut, she wheezed heavily through them.

Trying to contain her heart, she squeezed her heart tight while making her way closer to the phantom. Attempting to touch the demon, her hands phased through Daichi's body.

"What the hell are you?" She whispered, turning to Akira for answers.

"The guy you promised the nationals," I responded.