Hands shuffle through papers as a printer produces more documents, the now-amature detective yawns out, eyes wrinkled with exhaustion. Mifuyu grabs the last paper from the dock and takes it inside her walk-in closet. While it was aligned with clothes to the side, there was a noticeably large board at the end of her closet wall. She pins it up and pins up two pictures of the gruesome murder as well next to the article. Even though her printer didn't have any colorful ink she would have to work with what she had.

Mifuyu crosses her arms and examines the injuries in the picture. "Claw-like injuries and drained of blood...no wonder people like to assume it's some type of animal. Or a monster of some kind." She shakes her head at the thought. A normal person would assume a wild creature attacked the two unsuspecting boys and call it a night but the way the blood was drawn, and that there was none left...was peculiar. Mifuyu turns away from the corkboard and settles a hand on her chin. It would be a lot harder than she thought to figure this out. The only way she could really examine what had happened and how this supposed creature got in the basement was to investigate. She huffs. "Guess I'm gonna have to go down there...to investigate."

"Mifuyu! You're going to be late!"

"Gah-!? What? Shit, I'm coming!"

…

"Thank you for coming, Miss Satomi. I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

Mifuyu sits down across her therapist's desk, sinking into the comfortable blue chair. A week had already gone by and she had forgotten that she had scheduled an appointment with him. His office was always so warm that she had to almost always take off her brown jacket. Mr. Fukumoto had snow-white hair with sharp lavender eyes, glasses decorating his face. He was always so straight-forward and to the point, but knew when to be kind and considerate. He had come into her life shortly after her father passed away and had been watching from afar. Sessions would always go with the usual questions and small-talk to which Mifuyu, as she grew older, found herself sometimes skipping her therapy sessions. Not anything against him but because she thought it was pointless and a time-waster. But this time she had no other choice but to see him. Her nightmares would get progressively worse and her aunts would worry.

"I'm fine."

The ravenette briskly says as she stares out the bay window to her right, trees moving slowly with the wind. His office is out quite aways from the city which was one of the highlights as other patients have told Mifuyu. It feels calming and quiet, puts one at ease. However, for Mifuyu, it was anything but.

"I see. How is your home life at the moment?" Questions like these wanted to make Mifuyu's eyes roll but she was obligated to answer or else things would get a bit too personal. "It's as normal as it could be, Mr. Fukumoto."

"Aha, you still stay that even though I said you could call me by my first name?" He asks, laughing a little. Mifuyu shrugs in response and crosses her leg. "I'm only here to talk about my nightmares. I am not really in the mood to, uh, talk. You get me?"

A stiff silence greets the room and the therapist pushes up his glasses.

'Ugh, he does it too. Why does it bother me now that he does that?' Mifuyu gripes inwardly and shakes her head to which he tilts his head in question, but she waves it off. "Right. You want to get down to business." He pauses and carefully thinks of what to say next.

"I have heard about your school and...the incident. I mourn for the losses and it must have rattled you as well, I take it?"

A flash of seeing the corpses first-hand creeps in her mind which makes her hand tighten. Mifuyu says nothing.

"It's alright if you wish not to talk about it, Mifuyu."

"It's fine. It shook me up...yeah." Mifuyu interrupts, her eyes moving to her jeans. Not wanting to look at him. Another wave of silence ticks by.

"I presume you have nightmares of this incident, then? Or...is there something more?"

Mifuyu's teeth snatch a little bit of her skin inside her mouth, biting into it when remembering her nightmares. It always led to that. But keeping quiet was only going to make him pry, right? That...was his job. "I do. It always...um, starts with me finding them. But whenever I turn around, the door isn't there anymore." Her voice lowers a little.

"You don't have to talk about this right now, Mifuyu." He interjects, holding out his hand. Mifuyu looks up, her eyes full of worry.

"Please. I don't want you to cause yourself harm by talking about something that troubles you. I will write down what you've said but you don't have to finish. Take your time."

Mifuyu's eyes twitch and her hands go into fists. "Y-You say that but...I have to talk about it, Doc." Mr. Fukumoto looks up from his paperwork and blinks in surprise at Mifuyu's facial expression. Twisted in confusion.

"I-I know you're not a doctor but...I can't take my time. I don't have time. I need this out of the way so I can..!" Suddenly her head pounds and she yelps, holding a hand to her head. The therapist's lavender eyes grow with worry and he stands from his seat, walking over to the troubled youth.

"Mifuyu, please. Calm down. Why are you in a hurry?"

She immediately gets up and paces the room. "The door shuts and I can't get out. So I obviously look for a way out, right? Right. But there isn't an exit. It's pitch black in that fucking basement. I can't see a goddamn thing!" Mifuyu exclaims, her heart racing. The therapist hesitantly watches her walk around his office.

"I'm just stuck in a basement with rotting corpses. I try to call for help or try to wake myself up but it's almost impossible! Whenever I pound on the wall and beg for help, I sound like a kid again. I hate that, too." She strains and then stomps her foot.

"Mifuyu..-"

"And then! I see that damn priest again! Not only dealing with two fucking kids dying at my school but my memories come to collide with that too?! He's mocking me. Saying I can't do this. Saying I'll never be someone like my dad- and!"

"Mifuyu..!"

"WHAT?! I'm telling you how I feel! That's what you wanted, right?! I need to get this off my chest or else I can't focus! I-"

Mr. Fukumoto gently places a hand on her shoulder and the ravenette stops her movements, looking down at the floor. "I never asked for you to hurry up and tell me what is going on, Mifuyu...I never want to make you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. You're going through something traumatic and your memories are tampering with what you're seeing. Now, please...let's sit down and talk."

The session goes by as planned and Mifuyu quietly gets in the car with Hina to which her scarred hand holds onto her aunts, giving it a tight squeeze before pulling it away. Without a word, they drive back to their apartment while a lone figure in the distance watches from afar as their hair flows in the wind.