"Seems like it's coming from Watanuki's bag." - Kira points out. But before they can verify, a tiny thin, string-like creature crawls out of the bag and launches itself directly at Kira like an arrow.

She appreciates that she is indeed an assassin, a failure or not because it's the sole reason she is still alive. With an incredible reflex, she dodges the creature's attack.

"Don't let it touch you." - Watanuki warns, and they spread to the side of the room, preparing for the next attack from the creature. However, instead of launching for any of them, the creature seems to be occupied at the center of the room, on top of the ancient book that contains the cure to Watanuki's eye.

"They are eating the words." - Doumeki, for the first time, points at the creature and runs toward the center of the room, trying to save the book.

"No!" - Watanuki and Kira scream.

The creature turns and snaps at Doumeki's hand, but thanks to Watanuki's quick reflex, it only nicks his hand without much damage. Looking around for something to contain the creature, Kira quickly slams a small wooden box nearby to capture the creature along with the book inside.

The atmosphere falls into a deep silence, panicky but uselessly staring at the words being eaten away until a silhouette appears at the door.

"Good evening!" - Yuuko waves happily - "What is going on here? It looks like you are having fun!"

"Nooooo!" - Watanuki yells - "There is nothing fun here, Yuuko-san, please help us. A creature is eating away the book we were looking for."

"Heh?" - Yuuko's sight falls on the wooden box that Kira is currently sitting on before gazing around at the wall - "Well, there will be a cost."

"…" - None says anything.

"Are those written by your grandfather, Doumeki-kun?" - he gives her a slide nod - "Then the price is all of those amulets?"

"Ah" - he agrees without hesitation.

"Open the box, Kira-chan." - Yuuko commands after obtaining the amulets in her hand, and Kira follows. The creature springs free and aims at the stack of books next to Watanuki - "Oi, there are delicious words here."

Yuuko whistles, drawing the creature's attention to the amulet held with her finger. She successfully captures its attention as it launches itself incredibly fast at Yuuko or the amulet. When it is inches away, Yuuko drops the amulet, and the creature follows suit.

"So it's drawn to words." - Kira silently watches everything happening in front of her.

"Here is another one." - Yuuko drops another amulet after the creature finishes the first, leaving nothing but a blank piece of paper. At the third amulet, Kira hears the creature shriek as the ink escapes the paper and ties itself around the creature, turning it into a black cocoon. The cocoon shakes for another few seconds before rendering completely still.

Only when Yuuko picks up the cocoon does Kira hear air flowing through her lungs again?

"What the hell is that thing?" - she touches her forehead, it's damp.

"Bookworm" - Yuuko stops, assessing the cocoon before putting it in her bag - "It feeds on valuable words. Because all books and amulets in here were written by Doumeki's grandfather, a powerful person, that's why it's here."

"Doumeki's grandfather…hm…that explains his glow." - Kira nods at herself.

"But this place has been here intact for years, why now?" - Doumeki questions.

"Hm…I don't know. Then it must be you guys who introduce the bookworm. The barrier here is strong, and you guys broke it by coming inside. And that introduces all sorts of things."

"It came from my bag." - Watanuki remarks and looks into his bag, which only has a few books and a pencil case. He flips through them and stops at one.

"It must be from this one." - Yuuko glances at a few pages inside, they are all messed up.

"Oh nooooo, what am I going to say to Himawari-chan." - Watanuki holds his head, crying out loud, looking miserably at the messed up book.

"Himawari-chan ah?" - Yuuko repeats, and Kira does not miss the hint of worry flashing through her facial expression.

"What's with Himawari? The dark-haired girl? Is it related to her dark aura?"

"It's all gone." - Doumeki breathes heavily as he flips through the book with instructions on how to get Watanuki's eye back from the spiders.

Tsuji Private High School, Class 10-4, Friday

Kira sighs sadly during the break after two consecutive Math periods. Tsuda is always too intense, and with all that is going on right now, she cannot focus.

The Dimensional Witch, the spider's grudge, Watanuki's eye,…too many.

"It's okay Hyuuga-chan, thanks for trying though!" - Watanuki smiles gently at her, which makes her feel even more useless. She sucks at school, sucks at being an assassin, and now she sucks at helping friends too? No, she cannot let it happen. But how can she fix this? She cannot offer her own eye for Watanuki's because her Father will definitely kill her or worse erase her name from the family tree. The Hyuuga clan's law prevents killing clan members but definitely does not prevent exiling someone. And when you are exiled, you can be killed. If she deems useless because she is missing one eye, might as well offer her life to the spider.

As Kira tosses and turns in her tiny head, a shadow passes by and is followed by thick footsteps and screams.

"Satoru-sama!"

"I love you"

"Please take my letter!"

"Please take my chocolate"

"Wow, people are crazy, I'm telling you." - she shakes her head.

"It must be tough to be popular I guess." - Watanuki agrees.

"Nah, he totally deserves it." - she claims - "ah, did you return the book to Himawari-san?"

His shoulder drops sadly.

"It's okay, Watanuki-kun, she would understand."

"Thanks, Hyuuga-chan. I will tell her after school today." - they nod at each other, and the bell chimes, signaling the break is over.

Kira found out after the fourth period in the morning that it was her turn to clean up today. With a heavy sigh of disappointment that her Friday night plan of immersing herself at Ninja Internet cafe for Counterstrike is ruined, she drags her feet and begins clearing the tables and chairs to the side so we can sweep and mop the floor. Amidst the peaceful cleaning process, a sudden and immense wave of winds shoots at her. The wind is strong enough to fling her body against the wall. It takes her a second to stand up and position herself behind the wall beneath the windows, patiently waiting for the winds to stop.

"Seriously, these weird things need to stop!" - she huffs in frustration. Even since her family stepped foot in Tokyo, she has encountered more and more supernatural events. She even found someone who suffered the same condition as herself, though she was not sure if it was a good or bad thing.

After another few waves, the wind strength and speed decrease rapidly and completely stop. Waiting for another few seconds, Kira finally looks outside, into the empty garden right outside the classroom. She shifts her sight around, then up, and there it is, three tiny dots, no people, floating above the trees. She swallows hard, blinking multiple times to make sure she is not mistaken. She contemplates whether or not she should remain hiding or getting closer to the the situation.

"Never attack until you know the opponent's ability." - Father's voice echoes around her ears. In this situation, the smartest thing is to keep hiding. She cannot fight them. They are supernatural beings. They can fly. They probably can perform spells that would turn the entire human population into spiders or something even worse. She suddenly remembers the half-spider, half-human creature in "Demon Slayer" that stung Zenitsu. The image makes her shiver; she definitely does not want to become half-spider, half-human. She would rather die.

Despite all the horrible visions she created in her mind, Kira decides to jump outside the window and approach the flying beings who seem distracted by something. Hiding herself behind a tall tree, her eyes widen to see Watanuki, who is communicating or talking.

"Holy…Are they babies? Babies with sunglasses?" - she murmurs when her eyes land on the three beings - "They are kinda cute, flying babies."

"Who is it? Who is spying on us?" - one of three babies turns in her direction, yelling, and she panics. Their cuteness distracts her for a split second, making her forget that they are supernatural beings and their senses should be enhanced. The baby raises his hand, and a strong wind shoots her way, but thankfully, she grabs the tree trunk tightly so she will not be blown away like last time.

"Stop it! She is my friend." - Kira hears Watanuki's faint voice, and the wind stops right after.

"Who is she? Why can she see us?" - Another baby asks, sounding angry.

"She is like me. She can see your world." - Watanuki explains and helps Kira back to her feet. She murmurs a "thanks," earning a soft smile from him.

"What happens here? Who are they, Watanuki-kun?" - she rubs the dust off her skirt and shirt.

"They are the crows who follow Zashiki Warashi." - Watanuki adjusts his glasses.

"And now she is kidnapped because of him!" - one baby or "crow" points his angry finger at Watanuki.

"The Zashiki Warashi?" - her voice fills with surprise - "You guys are her crows?"

"Of course" - all of them speak in unison.

"Where did they take her?" - Watanuki asks - "I will come with you."

"We will show you the way, you better give her back to us unharmed, or we won't forgive you, human!" - the three crow babies huff.

"We will get her." - Watanuki nods at the three crow babies before turning to Kira - "You should go home, Hyuuga-chan, I have to do this."

She eyes his figure up and down, taking in his appearance wholeheartedly for the first time. Watanuki Kimihiro has short black hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. His body is as slim as a twig. There is zero percentage of muscles, for all she can tell. He looks like a typical nerd who gets bullied at school until they transfer to a different school. All to say that he has zero percent of survival against a supernatural being. But she can be wrong.

"I will come with you, Watanuki-kun." - She sighs. With her, maybe their survival rate will improve slightly. But who knows, she may freeze up when they encounter whatever entities are behind the spiders, and they will both die or be turned into spiders. The thought once again makes her shiver - "If we are being turned into spiders, please kill me, okay?"

"You don't have to..." - Watanuki refuses, but it's too late. She already made up her mind because no matter how hard she thought of a way to get Watanuki's eye back, it all came down to finding the source of the problem, the one who took the eye in the first place. This is it, and maybe, big maybe, it may give her the courage to overcome her fear and be able to become the assassin Father wants. If not, dying won't be too bad. Father wants her dead anyway.

"Let's go!" - the three crow babies wave their magical fan. A strong wave of winds wraps around Watanuki and Kira, and, in the blink of an eye, they all disappear into thin air.

When their bodies make contact with the ground again, Kira feels a wave of nausea threatening to reveal her lunch. Watanuki is in the same situation as he holds his head between two legs.

"Weaklings." - A crow baby coffs.

"Brat." - She curses in silence and eyes around, assessing her surroundings. The crows drop them in an abandoned area with traces of human activities. There are shop signs, wooden furniture, money machines, half a bathtub, picture frames, toothbrushes, broken glasses, stuffed toys, trash, and cigarette buds scattered everywhere on the ground. In front of them is a single building in the entire area, broken but still standing. She shifts her focus further - "No town or city nearby. No other tall building. Where the heck did they bring us to?"

An assassin's second most important skill is the judgment of their surroundings.

"If you are not in the area where you can take action, do not take action." - Father's voice echoes around her ears as she takes in a deep breath and maps a plan.

"She is in there." - The crow's voice echoes from above, pointing their tiny finger at the crumbling structure - "It's the spider's lair."

"Great! Just what I need. Outside of Tokyo and inside the tiger's den." - Kira wipes the sweat on her forehead, she can feel a heavy, long-lasting headache coming if they survive this. From her training, she can easily figure out the area where they are currently located. Since 3, she has memorized the entire Japan map using satellite images and key geological features for every landscape so that, in case she is kidnapped, she would be able to navigate and annihilate the threats.

This area is Rikuzentakata, a town northeast of Tokyo that was destroyed in a large earthquake and tsunami in 2011. She contemplates her plan of attack as she knows there won't be any tall buildings in the area. For an assassin, a creature of shadow, light and exposure are detrimental enemies. Fighting out in the open means a lower success rate. What should we do?

"Watanuki-kun, you go in and distract them. I will find a different way to take them by surprise. If possible, I will rescue Zashiki Warashi. How does that sound?"

"But,...but what if you got hurt?" - his eyebrows furrow in concern - "I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"Don't worry, I have... abilities." - She winks, and the plan begins. They divide into two different routes, Watanuki heads straight for the front door, while Kira sneaks toward the back of the building. The crows also divide themselves into two groups: two follow Watanuki, and one sticks to Kira's side. Since there is a lot of debris, broken glass, and bricks on the ground, she has to be extra careful with every step, limiting the amount of noise to the minimum to avoid jeopardizing their plan. She glances at the floating crow baby above her, mouthing:

"How about a little help?"

"You are too heavy for me." - The crow baby pouts. He then looks at the fan, the one he used to create tremendous winds earlier - "I can use the wind."

"No," - she mouths and waves frantically for him to stop quickly. The wind will not only carry her but also all the glasses and bricks beneath her. If one of those debris falls, the operation will go down the toilet. She sighs, getting back to the extremely slow footsteps - "They are not helpful at all!"

After what seems like an eternity, she finally reaches the back of the building. She peeks through the broken walls to see Watanuki, who seems to be speaking; his head perks upward, so she follows. About 20 feet above the ground is a gigantic web that covers the entire atrium in the middle. Each strand shimmers under the soft amber sunlight like they are forged out of liquid gold - a deadly beauty. And there they are, the army of spiders that have kept Kira's heart bobbing in her ears since the beginning; there must be hundreds of them, surrounding the webs and all over the broken building, sized as big as a human teenager. One can easily devour Watanuki and maybe 5 more adults without getting full. And in the middle of it all, a black figure with long, shiny golden hair that is shifting back and forth elegantly. The figure wears a short, gothic-styled dress that reveals skin in areas that make Kira uncomfortable. It may have been better if the figure was human-like, but it is not. Its skin is blueish and blackened like that of a decomposed corpse. Its head bobs back and forth as it continues the "conversation," but she hears nothing due to the distance. However, she knows the conversation is not going well based on Watanuki's expression. She needs to hurry up.

She swallows hard before advancing, holding her breath with every single step. She is grateful for Father being harsh on her. If he had not, she would be dead by now. Her focus heightens, drowning out all other sounds. The only thing that matters right now is to find a suitable hiding position with a good viewpoint and to calculate the next step. She finally finds a qualified position on the third floor, which gives her a good look at the entire situation. Up close, she can feel the dark aura and an overwhelming stench of dead flesh emitting from the figure, sending shivers down her spine. Coldness engulfs her entire body as sweat pools on her forehead and palms.

"What the fuck have I done? Why did I agree to this? Why, Why?" - she panics as fear rises. Flashbacks of her horrendous past flush back. The more she tries to suppress her fear, the more she fails. Her breath hitches, and the figure turns around. She covers her mouth tightly. Adrenaline pumps through her veins so strong and loud that she imagines the veins will pop any minute - "Fuck, fuck, I'm going to die."

"Hm...I know you are there. Come out, come out, little birdie." - The voice is soft and feminine, which is so different from her expectations. How can that "thing" sound like that?

"LET HER GO!" - the baby crow that has been following Kira suddenly reveals itself and lunges toward the figure, but it is shunted away easily with a single flick - "AHHHH!"

"Hehe, stay quiet, please, little birdie. Noise really hurts my ears." - Kira muffles her voice by pressing harder and harder against her mouth. She starts counting, trying to regain posture using a few little seconds that the baby crow buys by sacrificing itself. As expected, the footsteps do not stop, it's still creeping near where she is hiding. She prays, for the first time in many years, "Kami-sama, please give me strength," and reveals herself.