Raid at the Station.

The fog made it rather hard for the pair to see where they were going, but a minor setback like that wouldn't deter them from their goal, as they made their way across the ghost-infested streets of Tokyo.

"We should be getting close, Senpai, only a bit more and we'll arrive at the station" - Mash said as she pushed back a ghost that tried to tag her.

The station could be faintly seen across the fog, although Ritsuka and Mashu both felt like things were… Too quiet. Sure, they still ran into quite a lot of spirits and ghosts on their way to the station, but not nearly as many as when they first entered this Singularity, and it gave both of them a bad feeling about this mission.

Walking through the streets, under the faint light of the full moon, the pair made their way towards the station and found two corpses in the entrance, both of the police officers.

Ritsuka approached the bodies to get a better look at them. Their faces were frozen with fear, their bodies unnaturally cold, to the point that small bits of frost were starting to form in their flesh. One of them had his gun out, having fired it in a useless attempt to stop their attackers, while his other hand was reaching out for the entrance to the building.

"He tried to open the door, but wasn't fast enough…" - Ritsuka said in a whisper, as he stepped away from the body.

"I feel something strange inside the station. It seems like someone tried to set up a protection spell around the building" - Mashu said as Ritsuka and her entered the station.

Inside, it was entirely different from outside. The fog, for some reason, didn't manage to break into the building, and there were no spirits in sight. While initially the pair thought that the building was closed and that stopped the entrance of any hostile entity, that belief was soon disproved when, after exploring a bit more, found another entrance wide open.

"So whoever is here didn't just tried to set up a protective field, they succeeded" - Ritsuka said as he closed the entrance, just in case - "Did Aiya make this?" -

"There's a chance but we haven't found anyone inside, so maybe she…" -

Just as Mashu was saying, the couple heard a noise coming from another floor, something falling to the ground as if it had been pushed off a high spot. Quickly, they ran to the source of the noise only to find… Nothing.

Nothing, except a vending machine broken, and a can of soda on the ground right next to it.

"There's someone here. Let's scan this area one more time Mashu" -

"Yes Senpai" -

While the two scoured the room, looking for the source of the sound, Ritsuka faintly managed to hear what sounded like grunts from a wounded person, before spotting what seemed to be a few drops of blood in the distance, next to a pillar.

"Hello? Who's there?" - he said to whoever was hiding - "You can come out, we're not spirits. We won't hurt you" -

"Not a spirit, yet you were able to get through the fog at this time of night?" - the voice answered. It was a woman, and she was struggling to breathe - "Either you're the luckiest, or the unluckiest man alive" -

"What are you talking about?" - Mashu said as she walked next to Ritsuka - "From what I can feel, this place has a defensive barrier and…" -

"That barrier, girl, it's mine, and it's not finished. Once the clock hits the 3:33, every single damn spirit in the area will come swarming in, that barrier will fall and we're all going to get killed" -

The person came out from her hiding spot, a young woman with long black hair and red eyes, dressed in clothes like those of a biker gang, and having a huge wound across her right arm - "So if we're playing with borrowed time, might as well at least know who I'm speaking to. Name's Aiya, you?" -

"I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru, she's Mashu Kyrielight. Your sister told us that this is the last place you two spoke, and we came looking for you" -

"Wait, Hana sent you here" - Aiya said as she groaned - "I appreciate the gesture but now she trapped you two with me" -

Mashu turned to look behind Aiya, as a spirit tried to rush into the station only to be stopped by the barrier - "There's still time before 3:33, we can try to get the barrier back up" -

"I would love a girl, but sadly I'm in no condition to be doing spells. One of those fucking spirits slashed me while I tried to finish it by myself. Not only does it hurt like hell, but it also drained my mana, and…" -

"Then maybe we can help" -

"Huh?" -

Mashu then pulled out the paper that Da Vinci gave them before traveling to the Singularity - "We used it to create a barrier around the diner that Hana works at, maybe it can help you finish this one, even without your full strength" -

Aiya took a good look at the item, feeling the huge surge energy coming out of it - "Yes, this will do just fine, thanks a lot. Now I just need something to help with this and…" -

"Don't worry, I can help with that" - Ritsuka said as he approached Aiya and used one of the healing skills that Da Vinci incorporated into his Mystic Code to close Aiya's wound - "That should do it for the moment. How do you feel?" -

The girl moved her arm around a bit to test if it had been succesful - "Still hurts, but now I can do some work. Thanks Fujimaru" - she said with a smile - "Alright then, let's do this" -

Aiya then started to prepare to start the incantation, preparing several talismans alongside the paper given to her by Mashu - "Before I start, I'll have to warn you, once I begin the ritual again, the barrier will fall and the spirits will start coming in. It will take a while before I can fully complete the barrier" -

"Don't worry, you worry about finishing that. We'll cover you" -

"Thanks. Now, get ready!" -

The ritual started, and the barrier quickly fell. The energy that Aiya's ritual started to emit drew the attention of the nearby spirits, feeling like something was trying to block them from accesing that specific "feeding ground", and thus, decided to stop her.

"Senpai, I can sense them! They're coming in, and they're fast!" - Mashu yelled as she got her shield ready.

"Then we'll have to destroy them faster than they can get here. Come on Mashu, we can't let them get close to Aiya!" -