By the time Sayaka made it home, it was well past dinner time. Despite the fact that the monster and the girl were long gone (or so she hoped), Sayaka had been careful to walk extra slowly and pay attention to every single person arround her, just in case. She'd walked in the most open areas she could, and spared no effort in making sure she was surrounded by people at every possible instance.

If there was one thing she could take away from whatever had happened to her, it was that the monster that had dragged her away had wanted to do... whatever it had planned on doing alone. She could take some solace in that, and just pray that she would be safe at home.

Just as Sayaka arrived at her apartment complex, her phone rang. Glad for the distraction, Sayaka snapped it open and answered it without bothering to look at who was calling - if she had, she might have remembered what a certain friend of hers had told her was going to happen tonight. If she had, she might not have answered the phone.

"Hey, Sayaka? I- Jeez, this is embarassing..."

Her heart sunk. Memories of the previous afternoon's encounter with Hitomi came flooding back.

Oh no.

"K... Kyousuke? What's up?"

She laughed awkwardly. She knew what was up. She had been so caught up in the events that had transpired after school that she'd completely forgotten, completely lost any chance she'd had to make a move (not that she had planned on making one anyway), but now it all came rushing back to her, as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head.

"Well, ah... I wanted you to be the first person I told. Or is it 'we' now? Well, anyway, the thing is-"

Sayaka snapped her phone shut and stuffed it in her pocket. The feeling of hot, burning tears began to prickle the sides of her eyes. Rubbing frantically at them, Sayaka took a deep breath and took off blindly, forgetting completely about the monster, the redhead, about being followed- All she could think of was Kyousuke.

She just wanted to get away.

Incubus was a pretty lucky Phantom, if he did say so himself. He had successfully driven ten Gates to despair, transforming them into Phantoms just like himself, in the past six months alone. Not only that, but every last one of them had been a cute young girl. He licked his lips at the memories. Now they were cute Phantom girls, and every one of them was eternally grateful to him for assisting in their being released from their Gate.

After the last few, though... Someone had picked up on him. To be more precise, a wizard had figured out his taste in Gates. They had figured him out and had been following him for a while now. The past few Gates he'd targeted had all been saved, every time, by that little girl of a wizard. Now, Incubus' boss was starting to get more than a little frustrated with him. All his past successes would mean nothing if he couldn't bring more Phantoms in in the future.

So this time, Incubus knew, he had to make his last stand. He'd kill the wizard, drive the Gate to the depths of despair, and take home a new sweetheart to his harem of Phantom honeys. Maybe he could get a break from Gate hunting, if his luck pulled through.

Ditching the wizard had been fairly easy. He had been in the city trolling for Gates longer than she had been in it hunting for him. He knew his way around - and more than that, he knew his target's hangouts. Although this was the first time he'd approached her, he'd been following her for a little over two weeks now. He hadn't survived as a Phantom this long just by rushing in to drive his Gates to despair over the fear of death, oh no, Incubus got into their heads.

He loved watching girls break. He loved being the ones to shatter them into a million pieces. Even if he wasn't under orders, he'd probably be doing it anyway.

"Kamijou Kyousuke, huh...?" The Phantom, in his human form, grinned to himself as he stood outside the boy's hospital room. Dressed as a patient, he'd watched his target come here fairly regularly, and he'd already been formulating a few plans on how he could put the object of her affections to good use - but the thing was, he was just so damn lucky!

The little bastard had gone himself a girlfriend, and even better, the first thing he did was go and call Incubus' target to give her the good news. What a piece of work. Incubus couldn't help but laugh to himself, practically skipping down the hospital stairway. He looked at his cell phone gleefully - he'd captured a few pictures of the young couple's first precious few moments together. This would be perfect!

Was she crying right now? Was she in denial? Was she angry? Maybe she'd be rushing over here to confront him and confess herself? He shook his head. He'd picked up on the fact that this girl tended to deny herself like that, so that seemed pretty unlikely... Either way, this was going to be his easiest Gate yet!

Incubus slipped into the shadows as he left the hospital, making sure not to be seen by anyone. He had more than his share of experience in hiding and slipping through the cracks, and he wanted to finish everything tonight. The Gate, the wizard, everything. Perhaps, if he timed this right, he could have a Phantom ally to back him up for when he tracked down the wizard to finish her off.

But where would the girl go? She certainly wouldn't go home... She was the type that ran away from things that hurt her, and if Incubus knew anything about girls, this one would be hurting a hell of a lot right now. Wracking his brain for where the blue haired girl might go, the Phantom leaned against a building to collect his thoughts.

"Got it!"

Incubus snapped his fingers. She'd wanted to blow off her stress at the arcade earlier today, what would stop her from heading back? If he was wrong, it was only a little time wasted, but with how his luck usually was, he'd be willing to bet that the girl would wind up there sooner or later...

Cackling into the moonlight, the Phantom resumed his movements and dashed off into the darkness.

Kyouko was angry at the Phantom for getting away - but more than that, she was angry with herself for losing him. She'd spent an hour chasing after that creepy ass stalker Phantom, only to lose him in the shopping district. She'd tried retracing her steps, hoping that the Gate she'd abandoned might still be around where she'd left the girl, but to no avail. The girl was gone, as was the monster. No more leads.

It wasn't just the fact that Kyouko had lost the Phantom, that now the Gate was in danger - Kyouko needed the Phantom.

The girl placed a hand on her belt. It was a strange looking belt, that looked more like the front of a cage than anything. As if on cue, as soon as she touched it, a voice spoke to her, a deep, ancient sounding, rumbling voice, with no shape or form, as if coming from somewhere deep inside her soul. It was a voice that Kyouko knew all too well - a voice that only she could hear.

"If you don't get me mana soon..."

Scowling, Kyouko removed her hand from her belt. She didn't need the Phantom to tell her twice - she knew well enough what would happen to her if the mana supply she'd been building up from all the Phantoms she'd eaten ran dry. The fact was, there'd been fewer Phantoms around these past few months. She'd never have to actually chase one so desparately like she was now when she'd first started out, but now...

"I know, Chimera, I know..."

Kyouko sighed, staring up at the night sky absentmindedly. She knew that she was an abnormality - that there were "normal" wizards out there, who became that way by conquering their despair, by fighting back against all the odds and staring death in the face. Wizards that didn't need to kill to survive.

The little girl smiled widely at her find. Ornate silver, in the shape of a door or a cage, with aged leather making a perfect circle from one side to the other. A set of sparkling, beautiful rings lay with it, all with fanciful designs on them.

Her? She had gotten this way by finding an old belt that had a Phantom locked inside of it.

The little girl had rushed home with her newfound treasure, eager to show her family. She was certain that it had to be worth something. They would be fed for weeks with the money they would make off of the strange belt and rings, she was sure of it!

Sometimes she wondered... If she had been a normal Gate, would she have been able to make it out alive? Would she have been able to conquer her despair and become a proper wizard, or would she have become like the many Phantoms Kyouko had wound up consuming in the past; a Gate that had falled prey to their own despair?

The little girl screamed as someone kicked the door to their church in. A monster, in search of the belt she had found, had followed her... But it felt something in her father, and its priority changed. It began taunting him, regaling her father with stories of her father's failures - and then it threatened the little girl and the rest of her family... And that had been the end.

Kyouko recalled the face of her father, the man who she had considered one of a kind, her hero once upon a time, as it shattered like glass, giving way to the monster beneath... The monster that killed her mother and sister, all because he fell prey to weakness...

... Not that it mattered. With the that way she was now, all that mattered was finding Phantoms and eating them so Chimera could be satisfied. If that meant letting a Gate or two fall into despair in the process... The jaded wizard would just have to let it happen. It was all about the survival of the fittest, right? If they couldn't work up the courage to overcome despair themselves, then she'd just finish off the Phantom they left behind. Seemed only fair, right?

Sometimes Kyouko wondered if her father would be ashamed of her, thinking like that. She had yet to actually let a Gate purposely fall into despair, but then... It was because he had been so kind, so soft, that he had given in so easily, wasn't it? It was because of that kindness, that weakness, that her family had been killed that night.

Were people like that worth saving?

She wondered what the Gate this time was like. Was she kind like that?

Kyouko quickly dismissed those thoughts. Knowing what kind of person the Gate was wasn't important. It never was.

Finally giving up on her search, the frustrated redhead decided to return to the arcade to vent her anger by taking it out on whatever unsuspecting chumps who would get in her way. Smirking at the thought, Kyouko withdrew a box of pocky from the depths of her jacket and popped a stick into her mouth, so caught up in her thoughts of tormenting poor students that should have been home studying that she nearly missed the sight of a blue haired girl standing across the street.

Grinning wolfishly, Kyouko pocketed her sweets and let herself meld into the crowd, making sure to keep her eyes trained on the girl. This was perfect. Sure, it figured that as soon as she stopped looking for them, one of them would just magically appear right in front of her, but she wasn't about to complain. All she had to do was tail the girl for a while and hopefully the Phantom would strike again. Tonight, if she was lucky.

Kyouko's grin faded slightly as she got closer and caught sight of the girl's expression.

"Not my problem," Kyouko told herself, looking away guiltily, like she had just seen something she shouldn't have. The Gates didn't matter - they were just means to an end. Phantoms came after Gates, Kyouko killed and consumed the Phantoms, and the Gates (if they were lucky) got to live another day. But it wasn't like Kyouko was doing what she did for the sake of the Gates or anything.

But...

Biting her lip, Kyouko looked back in the direction of the blue haired girl. Despite her reservations about this, the fact of the matter was if she didn't keep watching the girl, she'd lose her, which would mean her lead on the Phantom would be lost again.

But damn was that a sad, sad expression that girl wore.

"Tch. Probably just had a fight with her boyfriend or something," the redhead muttered. Most of the Gates that Incubus had targeted had been sweet, innocent little schoolgirls - people that only cared about themselves, and had never known any kind of real pain - the kind of people that Kyouko hated the most. Having to save their sorry asses just pissed her off. "Ah!"

The girl was on the move. It had looked like she had been coming to the arcade - which would have made things just peachy for Kyouko - but all of a sudden, she'd turned and started walking down the street.

Making sure she wasn't seen, Kyouko crossed the street and did her best not to lose track of the blue haired girl. Lucky for her, it seemed like she wasn't going far. In fact... Kyouko narrowed her eyes. The Phantom wasn't really that stupid, was he? If Kyouko's guess was right, he had probably just placed some kind of spell on the girl (this girl was really bad at resisting that kind of thing, huh?) and was leading her back to the same damn alley that they'd had their encounter in this afternoon.

Well, that made things infinitely easier for Kyouko, at least. She could put together a strategy while she tailed the girl - and if her guess was right, the Phantom was probably closeby as well.

From her experience with this guy so far, Kyouko knew that Incubus wasn't particularly strong, but he made up for it by being incredibly sneaky. He'd manipulate the minds and hearts of the Gates he went after (presumably like he was doing now), work them up and get them right where he wanted them... Then snap them like a twig!

Was there anything in that that she could use to her advantage? Unless she counted the "not particularly strong" part, Kyouko didn't think so...

"- Shit!"

Kyouko's eyes lit up as she saw the girl duck into a different alley - a much closer one! - than she'd been expecting. Shoot! She hadn't thought of anything yet! She pulled a ring out of her pocket, placing it to her belt (the belt's magical voice gave a cry of "DRIVER ON!" as it changed shape), and began to jog in the direction that the girl had vanished in - but before she could catch up completely, a dozen or so horned creatures burst out of the ground, all looking nasty and ready to block Kyouko off.

"Damn it- Ghouls, now?!" Incubus had been getting smarter. He'd never used small fry monsters like them before. Ignoring the people around her that were dashing off in fear, Kyouko swore. This was going south, and fast. Scowling, she pulled out another ring, placed it on her finger, and thrust her hand towards the sky, shouting out a cry as she thrust the magical ring into the corresponding place in her belt. "Transform!"

"L! I! O! N! LION!"

Kyouko closed her eyes as she felt the golden magic circle wash over her. Once it did, instead of a shabby looking girl stood a fierce looking warrior seemingly made of gold. Its helmet's design resembled that of a mighty lion, with bright green eyes and an open mouth, as if it was ready to let out a roar at any moment. On the warrior's shoulder was another lion's face, the body of which spread across the rest of her torso - the armor was completed with various pieces of black and gold all over.

The girl, now set for battle, clapped her hands together eagerly and grinned behind her mask.

"It's lunchtime!"