CHAPTER 1

Miho had a terrible nightmare this night.
She dreamed that she was in the dark, surrounded by cats like the kitten she had met near the dorm.
They encircled her by far. They formed a perimeter around an area where she was smuggled. They meowed something strange, some kind of mantra, with their tiny kitten voice. Something Miho didn't understand.
A symbol appeared before her and they pronounced a name that was familiar to her in a very robotic way...
Piyotan.
She didn't want to be spotted by the cats and hid somewhere, until another incantation sounded, and there she no longer understood anything. The only thing she was able to understand hitherto was Piyotan.
A piercing, very loud cry and colors alternating rapidly between red and black passed before her eyes with the vision of a cat skull in the middle, keeping it white, static, hurting her eyes and her ears.

That nightmare awoke her shortly before her alarm clock and she dared not go back to sleep. She got up directly.
It remained in her head during the entire time she was getting ready for school. When she closed her eyes, she saw the cat skull and the violent alternation of colors behind. If she was epileptic, she could have a seizure.
She thought about Piyotan. Why had she dreamed of her? She had certainly not seen it, but she had heard the kittens calling her name.
She left shortly after and crossed her friends on the way to school.

"Miporin!" Saori called. "I heard meowing under my window last night..."

"I had a terrible nightmare last night... and there were cats inside," Miho told.

"Oh, I slept well," Yukari said .

"Me too, I haven't dreamed of anything," Hana added.

"I slept like a log as usual so nothing and nobody could get me out of my sleep," Mako muttered in her habitual voice.

"More or less Saori, I also dreamed of Piyotan, I don't know why..."

"Piyotan? But you don't have much in common," the ginger replied.

"After all, it's probably just a dream," the bright brunette continued.

"Maybe, but I hope it's just a nightmare, it was really awful, especially now that I come to make me worrying about her..."

"If something had happened to her, we would know about it," Mako intervened. "And in this case, we haven't been told about anything."

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's okay," Hana reassured her.

As they advanced towards the school and passed near the dormitory, they crossed Nekota.
"Hey, you know if Piyotan will come today?"

Miho felt suddenly bad.
"I don't know, why?"

"I knocked on her room's door this morning, she didn't respond, maybe she's ill?" the girl with fake cat ears added.

"And Momogaa?" Hana asked.

"She is looking around the dorm, do you think I should go for her?"

"We're going with you!" Yukari said cheerfully. "I love looking for things or people! Maybe we'll find a tank-"

"Yeah, but if we're late, we'll get landed with Sodoko" Mako interrupted.

"It's not her today, you're lucky, it's Gomoyo" the girl with long blonde hair continued.

"Oh, okay then! She swallows all conceivable reasons", the bright brown-haired went on.

They took the road to the dorm and began to look for Momogaa.
They called her several times in vain, until after about a quarter of an hour trying to find her, the girl with the peach-shaped eyepatch joined them.
"We've been looking for you everywhere!" Yukari exclaimed.

"But where were you?" Nekota questioned, worried.

"I was looking for Piyotan... I walked several times around, I knocked many times at her door and she still doesn't respond, do you think we should break down the door?" the freshman asked.

"We should already look inside by the window before trying anything, even if we have to break into her room," Hana explained.

"On which floor is she? Because we won't climb the walls..." the lethargic continued.

"On the first floor..." the girl with the eyepatch sighed. "But my room is a few doors away from hers."

"There's only one solution, we have to force the lock or even the door," Yukari finally said.

"My key may work, after all, maybe it's the same lock as my room," Nekota told, getting out her keys.

"We should see it", Miho ended.

They returned to the dormitory and went, on the indications of the two members of the Anteater team, to the door Piyotan's room.
They knocked one time, more or less gently. No answer.

"It's been an hour since I try to make her react..." Momogaa whispered.

"Open! Piyotan!" Nekota called to be heard.
Still nothing.

They retried one last time, without success, which greatly began to worry them.

"Nekota, do you have your key?" the commander asked.

"Yes, I have it."

She went into the lock and turned it, and after a few minutes trying to force the lock with her own key which had a similar shape, Nekota managed to open.
Some kind of heaviness and a strange smell were emanating from the room. They were in the small hallway and saw nothing there yet, but as soon as they passed the door...
If the room was a mess, it wasn't the problem. However, the walls were stained with a red substance at some points, and under a long trail of blood next to the window... a form, lying motionless, with silver hair, was facing the wall.
Piyotan.

Momogaa rushed at her friend and shook her.
"Piyotan, Piyotan!"

She was already stiff and cold. Tears in her eyes, she turned to her comrades:
"It's over ..."

She turned the body, discovering a wild, emotionless stare, and an unhealthy expression on her face, which wasn't like Piyotan. As if in a fit of madness, she had smashed her skull on the wall, as evidenced by the deep wound, the coagulated blood on her forehead.
And behind her body, a white kitten, also with its eyes open, dead. It was the kitten that they had seen the day before on a window.

"Oh ..." Nekota muttered, unable to shed a tear as she was shocked.
Her throat could hurt her as if she was strangled, nothing came out. She was paralyzed by the sight of her dead friend.

"Oh my god, no!" Yukari let out, very shocked.

"Was she fine last night?" Miho questioned.

"Yes ... When we parted, she was perfectly normal, why?" Momogaa replied.

"She seems to have been mad before dying... Did you hear anything suspicious?" Hana asked.

"No, we hadn't noticed anything, it's terrible..." the girl with fake cat ears blew.

"I'm awfully sorry for you," Mako said.

"It will never be the same without her..." the girl with the eye patch sobbed.

"Poor Piyotan... may she rest in peace," Saori whispered.