"Yuuta, have you heard about the Midnight Channel?" asked Rikka while we sit across each other in our clubroom.

"Like every cult-related phenomenon that you always interested in, no," I answered.

I guess it's time for another urban legend of the week. As of recently, Rikka has been particularly interested in "supernatural" rumors and legends in our city. Two month ago, it was a house who eats naughty children. A couple of weeks ago, it was a street which if you go in there fast enough, you could ended up in a parallel universe. How does she always finds a new one has always been puzzling to me. Maybe there's some kind of website or underground network for these kinds of things, I don't know.

Now, this Midnight Channel, Rikka told me, was apparently some kind of a hidden broadcast where if you look at a TV on midnight when its raining, you could see your soul mate. I have to be honest, compare to the other legends that she's been telling me, this one is comparatively light.

"This may seems like it was harmless on surface. But what if, this is a grand conspiracy by an evil goddess to annihilate humanity!?" Rikka propose.

Of course.

I'd like to question about how does matchmaking has anything to do with destroying mankind, but at this point, it's easier for me to just play along.

Since the weather forecast this morning said there's a high chance that its going to rain in the evening, Rikka will probably want our club to investigate this rumor tonight, and sure enough, she does. Well, at least we can do this in our own house this time. The last time we tried to investigate Rikka's latest legend, we got arrested for trespassing. Also, checking out these legends does finally gives our club a semblance of an actual club activity.

Although, calling our little gathering as a club at this point is a bit too generous. Rikka and I are pretty much the only one who are still using this clubroom.

Now that we're at our senior year, Nibutani decided to focus on her study to get into the university she wanted. She wants nothing to do with us more than before. Tsuyuri-senpai has graduated and busy with colllege, and Dekomori has just transferred to another school due to her parents work.

I can't really believe it myself, but I kind of miss the days where those guys are still around. Even though being in this club gives me headache from time to time, I can't say that I don't enjoy it. Rikka and Dekomori antics, Nibutani head butting with Dekomori (sometimes literally), and senpai being, well, senpai, all of those things warmed up to me over time. Now that they're gone, its like there's some kind of a empty feeling in me. Like a puzzle missing a piece.

In a way, its weird. It felt so unease. Sometimes I wonder if Rikka felt the same way I do. The feeling of lost isn't something she experienced the first time. By the way she acted, it doesn't look like she's bothered much.

Maybe her acting normal are just a facade.

Maybe she did felt lonely.

Maybe all of this legend exploration are her way to cope.

"Yuuta, what's wrong?" Rikka asked. Without realizing, her face was already just a few centimeter away from mine, which led me to blush a little.

"Ah! Eeehhh, nothing!" I answered.

"You spaced out there for a while and its not the first time, are you sure?" She asked once more with a concerned face. Its hard to to lie to her when she's making an expression like that, especially when her face are so close.

But, not wanting to bother her and all, I answered, "Yes. There's nothing to be worry about."

Rikka still looks concerned for a while, before seemingly dropping the matters entirely while muttering "Okay." She was silent for a while, but not long after, she said, "If you have something to talk about, just let me know, alright?"

I nod in response. Hah, making her all look worried like that, I'm-

Wait.

Did Rikka actually just shown her concern for me while she was rambling?

Normally, when she's in the middle of cult-mysticism rant, she would go on and on without noticing me. Because of that, I could just pretend to listen to her while occasionally respond by saying "Uh huh," or "Is that so?"

But nevertheless, its awkward to continue like this, so I decided to change the subject to the first thing that popped into my mind.

"So uhhh, Rikka! Have you decided to what are you going to write down for your Career Plan form?"

"Eh? Oh. I didn't really thought about it."

"You know you can't write down you're going to discover the Root again like last year."

"...I can't?"

I sighed. Maybe Rikka hasn't changed much after all. "Well, not unless you wanted to get an earful by our homeroom teacher again. We're in our senior year after all, she's going to expect at least for us to take this seriously."

Rikka seems disappointed hearing my respond. She thought hard with her arms folded and her eyes closed, before finally came up with something. "I think I got something, but I'm not sure yet."

"What is it that you aren't sure about? Is it something that has something to do with your, eh...hobbies?"

"Not exactly. Its just that, well, I don't know if this is something I wanted for my future."

"Why so serious? Its not like deciding this means that this will be your future. You could always changed your mind later."

"Well, I know this isn't something to be fussed about. But, after you asked about it, it makes me want to consider my future for real. I mean," Rikka paused. " Even I know I couldn't stay like this forever."

"...I see."

"What about you Yuuta? Have you decided?"

"Uhh well, now that you asked me, I haven't thought about it much myself." I did think off the topic to distract her, after all. But, seeing her trying hard like somewhat inspire me. Although I tried thinking about it for a while, I came up empty.

In fact, pondering about it deeply just makes me depressed for some reason. Or rather, I felt anxious?

Rikka and I chatted for a while in the clubroom before noticing that the sky has turned orange and decided to go back. When we arrived at the school gate, she said, "Yuuta hold on."

Hearing her words, I stopped and look back to her. "What's wrong?"

"I wanted you to have something," she said while rustling through her bags trying to find something. After few seconds, she brought out the thing she was looking for. Its a small star-shaped emblem with crescent moon drawn across dark night sky and a dragon head keychain strapped to it."This is the emblem of Dark Flame Master which I've pour my mana into. It should increase your mental strength."

To be honest, I'm hesitated to receive something that's related to my past as the Dark Flame Master. But, any gift from Rikka is a good gift so I accepted it. Now that I get my hands on it, upon closer inspection, I have to say, this emblem is quite well made. The moon design is evocative and the color palette is unusual, but eye-catching. I wonder if Rikka made this. She probably bought it in an online store, though.

"So, why do you wanted me to have this?"

"To prepare for the battle to come." She said proudly while standing with her leg spread out and hands on her hip.

"I might regret asking this, but what battle?"

Rikka then pointed out my chest in response. "The Black Flame Dragon, I felt it presence is starting to get out of control. Hopefully, the emblem I gave you could give you the power you need to contain it."

Even to this day, I couldn't completely understand what she was thinking or saying. But, Rikka did seems to worry about me dazing off, maybe this is her way of cheering me? And maybe, she didn't actually meant this is to battle my Dragon?

Although, when it comes to Rikka, its best that I don't dig too much into it. In any case, I appreciated her gift and said goodbye to her. Rikka finally gain her own apartment again just this year, but unfortunately, its the opposite of where I live. I don't really mind her keep staying in my apartment, but she doesn't wanted to be a bother.

Quite sometime later, I finally arrived home. Mom went overseas bringing Yumeha again. I checked the fridge to see if there's any snacks left and found Kuzuha note saying that she'll be staying at her friends house tonight for a group study. I guess I'm all alone for tonight.

I checked the weather outside through the window and saw the sun slowly descending toward the horizon. In just a few hours, the earth will swallow the ball of light completely and the moon will rise while dying the background black. Dark clouds are also begin to gather around the sky. Maybe it is going to rain tonight.

I went to the bathroom to wash my face off, and then check it in front of the mirror. I found out, to my horror, a few strand of my hair have apparently became gray. As if I don't have enough insecurity already, this makes me feels old. I wonder if this is because I've been thinking too much lately.

After that, I went into my bedroom and sit in front of my desk. Now, I don't feel like watching TV at the moment nor do there's any homework for me to do. Thinking back to my conversation with Rikka, I decided pull out the Career Plan form out of my bag and put it on my desk.

I thought over and over about what I wanted to write down while repeatedly tapping my pencil into my desk. I'm not sure why I feel serious about this. Like I said to Rikka, I could just write anything in the form, but I'm not sure. In fact, the more I think hard about this, the more I felt frustrated. Almost to the point that I wanted to just rip and shred the form off. Eventually, I gave up on trying to write anything down and just lie myself on bed while staring at the ceiling.

Day by day, graduation is looming in. It still a few months later, but winter break are just around the corner already. It always somewhat frightens me that time flies pretty quickly. In just a span of the year, my club mates have gone their separate ways, even Rikka started thinking about the future. All the days I've spent feels fleeting, it all just move too fast.

The uneasy emptiness return again. I reached out to the pocket in my pants, brought out the emblem Rikka gave me and held it close to my chest, hoping it'll gave me some feelings of comfort. After a while I felt sleepy, maybe some sleep can help me distract my mind from this feeling. I closed my eyes and in a few minutes, my consciousness began to drift.

I woke up feeling groggy and surprised to find that its 9.30 pm already. I must be tired than I thought. I got up and check the window. Sure enough, it was raining outside. Judging by the harshness of it, the rain might last the entire night. Since I slept quite plenty and there's no school tomorrow, I guess there's no harm in checking out that legend.

After I took a shower and heated up an instant ramen for dinner, I sat down in the living room. I watched the TV while eating my ramen for an hour or so before I got bored and just decided to wait for the phenomenon to start. For a dramatic effect, I switched off the light.

I check the clock, and it shows that it'll be fifteen minutes until midnight. Even though its not technically long, the wait feels excruciating. I felt restless the entire time and the sound of ticking from the clock sounds very annoying in my head, the thunderous noise outside doesn't help either. I brought out the emblem and put in my pocket. I don't know why, I just felt compelled to brought it with me.

When the minute hand of the clock reaches twelve, it happened.

The TV screen in front of me began to show a static image, but slowly it became clearer and clearer.

And then...I saw it.

I don't who or what, but I saw it. There's an outline of a person, but the entirety of its body are colored black, making it unclear to me if its a guy, a girl or even a person. Despite the unnerving appearance, the presence it gives off gave me a very familiar feeling.

It feels...inviting.

Tempted, I stood up from my couch and began to walk slowly to the TV screen. My mind feels disoriented, and each step I took makes my heart beat faster, until I finally arrived just in front of the TV. I raised my hand to tries to touch the screen and, to my shock, my hand went inside the TV. It almost looks like I was dipping my hand into a pool of water.

Then, something grabbed me.

Out of surprise, I tried to pull out my hand, but it was stuck. To make matters worse, I was suddenly pulled in. Despite my struggle, eventually my entire body was absorbed into the screen.