With no other options and clearly lost, Marika decided to tour the old school building. Stepping through the entrance gate, she saw how truly old and in ruins the building was. Nearly all the glass windows were broken, stains visible on what she could assume used to be pure white walls.

Thorny rose vines grew everywhere, as if Mother Nature was reclaiming the entire building for herself. It was like a haunted house no one would dare go near. But oddly enough, something drew her to it.

“This is crazy…” she whispered as she took pictures of the area with her phone.

She stepped through the door, entering the lobby. She could imagine students walking to class and commuting with one another. She could almost hear the chatter of the noisy hallways.

“It’s odd… I’ve never been here, and yet…”

“Who’s there?!”

Marika jumped, falling back as she saw a figure walking down the hall towards her.

“I-I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to trespass! I just got lost and, and..!” she soon stopped as she recognized the face. “Wait… you’re that girl from before.”

“Ah. Nice to see you again.”

Feeling a bit relieved, she stood back up.

“What are you doing here?”

“This is kind of my home.”

“Home?”

“Yup. I’ve got nowhere else to go. So, I live here.”

“Ehh, that’s crazy.”

“And what about you? Weren’t you and your friend camping?”

“Well, we decided to leave, but… I got separated from her and now I can’t contact her.”

“Hmm… would you like me to help?” the mystery girl offered.

“Eh?!”

“I have a friend who’s out on a job. But I have a way of contacting her. Maybe she can find your friend.”

“Uwaa~ thank you!!!” Marika hugged the girl tightly.

“So tell me, cutie, what’s your name?”

“C-cutie?” Marika’s heart skipped a beat. “T-Tani Marika. And what about you?”

“Mm…” the girl pondered a bit before saying, “Just call me ‘J’.”

-----------------------

Mako held her neck, looking at her fingers to check for blood.

“It healed…” she said, sighing.

After storming off, she had quickly gotten lost, so she decided to stay in one place and wait for the others to find her.

She hugged her knees, thinking about Nana. She tried to comprehend what she had meant, but the more she thought about it, the more confused and frustrated she became.

“We’ve met before.. What? That can’t be… I.. we.. no..!”

“...Mako…”

Her ear twitched. She thought she heard Nana’s voice calling to her.

“Mako..!”

“Nana?” She stood up, looking around. She couldn’t see through the thick fog, but she felt like the girl’s presence was there.

She then saw a path in front of her and thought she could see Nana’s figure.

“Mako… come here.”

Suddenly, Mako fell into a trance. Her arms limply fell to her side as she started walking toward the unknown path.

Meanwhile…

The hunter girls were on lookout, when they heard what sounded like a howl rising in the air.

“What was that?”

Takayanagi opened one eye, looking at the young hunters.

“Was that a wolf?”

“Maybe.”

“Eh? Do you think it could come this way?!”

“It won’t, Ryoka.”

As they were talking, static starting going off on Takayanagi’s communicator. She pulled it out, adjusting it before talking.

“Rena, is that you?”

“Incorrect~”

Her eyes widened a bit, “Oh, Jurina..! What’s going on?”

“I got a cute girl here with me.”

“Uh-huh…?”

“And she’s lost out here. So I was wondering if you could help get her back to her friend.”

“I’m on a stake out right now, with some juniors. I can’t leave,” she said firmly.

“Ehh~ please, Churi?”

“Why is she even there with you, anyways? Isn’t the barrier…?”

“Hm? Oh, that. That’s right. Her name is Marika. I think she’s one of them.”

“Eh..?!”

“Huh? One of who?” Another voice spoke.

“Oh, nothing! It’s something on our end,” the girl Jurina quickly said before whispering back to her. “Churi… what about the girls you’re here with? Do you think they could be ones, as well?”

“I… hadn’t thought about that,” she looked over to the young hunters. “But, I think it’s possible.”

“Then bring them here. And if you can, like I said, bring Marika-chan’s friend.”

“Oh, alright. But tell Rena about this, too.”

“Of course! Who do you think I am?”

Takayanagi chuckled. “Right. We’ll see you there.”

After hanging up the call, she slowly got up, looking at the girls.

“Alright, listen up,” she announced. “Something’s come up. We’re gonna be moving location, so no time for dilly-dally. Come with me.”

“Eh? Changing location?!”

“Where, exactly?”

“Nowhere special… Just an old, abandoned school building.”

-----------------------

“Mako?! Where are you?!” Yuka called out as she and Nana were looking for their friend, accompanied by Rena. She groaned as she felt her stomach growl. “Ugh… hungry.”

“You two need a break?” the hunter girl asked them.

“W-we’re fine! Really…”

“Yuka, there’s no need to push yourself,” Nana said before looking back at Rena. “I just ate, but Yuka needs some food.”

Rena nodded before pulling out something from her bag. It was a small burlap sack with what looked like red berries. She poured out some into Yuka’s palm before eating some for herself.

“Thanks!” Yuka said before eating one of the berries. The sweet juice seemed to explode in , even for its size. “Yum! It’s super sweet!”

“That’s good,” Rena said with a smile. “Let’s keep going.”

“Un!”

Yuka snacked on the berries as they walked, squealing in glee from the sweet flavor. Nana looked at her, analyzing her reactions and eying the red fruit. She noticed her staring and glanced at her.

“Want one?” she offered.

“Ah.. s-sure,” she took one, placing it in and chewing a bit.

“It’s good, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Right~?” Yuka giggled as she ate more, not noticing Nana’s expression as she realized the taste.

“These are… Blood berries?”

She looked over at Yuka, who seemed blissfully unaware of the blood-like taste the fruit had. To her, it was just like eating any other berry. Then, she looked at Rena, who had given her the berries to begin with.

“Why would she have a stash of those? She’s a hunter. So that means, she’s human… right?”

------------------------

Manatsu was growing weaker, and everyone became tense as Mako, Nana, and Yuka haven’t returned. Natsuki started to fear the worst had happened to the three of them.

“This is bad… If they don’t come back…”

“Should we go find them?” Natsumi asked. “Maybe they’re playing hide-and-seek…”

“Natsumi.. You have a point,” Akari admitted. “If they’re out there, we need to go find them. Before anything else can.”

“But, if something has found them, if we go out and try to find them… we could get caught too,” Nao said. “Whatever’s out there--”

“We have to face it.”

Natsuki’s words made the girl go silent. She could see in her eyes she was serious.

“Yuka was right… Nana, too. We can’t run away for much longer. We have to fight back.”

“But with the problems we’re facing here, are we really going to risk being killed? Manatsu-chan is still sick and...”

“I-it’s..fine…” Manatsu weakly said with another cough. “Nao-chan… it’s fine… everyone.. needs to hurry.. To get to safety… to find Mako and the others…”

“But if we leave you here, you’ll..!” Nao spoke, tears forming in her eyes.

“I’ll… b-be okay… We were… always together.. So I know… we’ll still be together.. after all this…”

“Manatsu-chan…” Natsuki knelt down to her side.

“Y-you guys... go… Go to that place…” Those last words came out as a whisper. Manatsu’s eyes slowly closed, and she stopped moving.

“M-Manatsu…? Manatsu..?!” Nao shook her, but she didn’t respond. “No… Manatsu, you can’t die! Not like this! Not yet!”

“Nao-chan…”

Nao hugged Natsuki, crying into her chest. Akari and Natsumi were silent while Tomu placed a blanket over Manatsu.

“Rest in peace,” she whispered.

After breaking the hug, Nao stood back up, wiping away her tears. Without saying anything else, the girls just took their things, placing some wild flowers around Manatsu, and left.

-----------------------

Mako kept walking forward, her eyes empty. She swayed a bit as an unknown force led her somewhere. She didn’t know where she was going, but whatever came over her, she let it lead her.

“Mako…”

She suddenly blinked, snapping out of her trance. She found herself at the entrance of a rose garden.

“Eh..? When did I..? Where is this?”

She walked through the arch, seeing roses wrapped around and blooming around her. The entire garden was overtaken by the thorny rose vines, as if creating a defense around the garden flowers.

As she walked, she then noticed something strange about the flowers. Along with the roses, she saw red fruit that looked like apples growing on the vines.

“Since when did roses bear fruit?” she asked as she got closer.

She picked off one of the fruits, holding it in her hand. The fragrance of the roses dizzied her thoughts, her lips. She could feel her fangs growing sharper.

Giving into her hunger, she bit into the fruit, tasting it.

“Blood..?” She munched the fruit, red juice from it on her lips. “It tastes… like blood.”

“Mako!”

Mako suddenly felt a surge of pain in her head. She dropped the fruit, holding her head and falling to her knees. Taking in sharp breaths, she closed her eyes tight.

“Mako… don’t you remember me?”

“I don’t..! I don’t know..!”

“We’ve met before. You just don’t remember. It was so long ago…”

“Ngh… I don’t understand.. How can that be?”

“You were once human.”

“..!” Mako suddenly had a vision of her and Nana in another life. She suddenly had trouble breathing.

“That night… under the blood red moon…”

She suddenly looked up, seeing a hallucination of herself.

“You were killed.”

“Th-that can’t be…”

“It’s true!” her hallucination said. “You died. 1000 years ago.”

“1000… no way..!” Mako shook her head. “Is that… possible?”

“Why do you think Nana acts the way she does around you? You and her were friends! How do you think she feels that you forgot about her?!”

“I-I…!”

“You have to remember!” the voice suddenly changed. She looked and saw the illusion was now Nana. “Please, Mako… I miss you.”

“Nana…”

“Go back to that time, Mako. Let your mind go back.”

“Go..back…” Mako felt her mind drift off again. She collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

….

“Mako-chan. Nee, wake up!”

Mako groaned as she woke up, squinting as she saw the sun in her eyes.

“Wait… sun?!” She screamed and covered her eyes, jumping up. She shut her eyes tight as she was afraid of the sun burning her skin. However, she didn’t feel a burning at all. “Huh? It doesn’t hurt?”

“Mako-chan, what are you panicking about?”

She looked over to see her sister, Natsuki, wearing an unfamiliar uniform.

“Nee-chan..? Why are you wearing that?” she asked, looking around. “Where are we..?”

“Eh? Are you in a daze or something?” Natsuki asked her sister. “We’re in school.”

“Huh? School?”