Disclaimer: I do not own K-On or its characters

Spellbound

Chapter 1

*SLASH*

Dark fluids poured through from the opened gap like a fountain, staining the window of the closed music shop. The wounded creature cried a soundless howl and collapsed to the ground. Before the average human eyes could even react to the swift execution that just took place, a foot brutally stomped onto the fallen creature's head just for good measure.

This one won't be getting up. Ever.

Removing her blood stained sneaker from the motionless body, the owner made no attempt to wipe the disgusting filth off her previously white footwear. She merely looked towards the entrance to the dark alley and readied her weapon for the frenzied assault that was sure to follow.

Strangely, neither the fallen body or the blood stain remained there long. Just as the batch of shadowy figures stormed out of the alleyway like a pack of hungry wolves, all evidence of the previous battle slowly began to drain from reality as if taken by the chilly late night breeze.

The wet sensation slowly disappeared from the girl's foot as the dark blood faded along with the foul creature, but she paid it no mind. The vanguard of her attackers had just landed a car length away from her and any moment wasted, however brief, could end in her painful demise.

Focused on her opponent, the young girl noticed this one was smaller in build than the previous creature she had slain. Though much like the other one, the vaguely humanoid figure standing in front of her glowed with a ghostly shimmer. Most of its body emitted a dark aura, barely concealing unnaturally skinny legs. Its upper frame was much wider in comparison and the patterns on its chest resembled a skeletal structure similar to human ribs.

Two bony arms hung loosely on its sides, shaking slightly with each shambling step. Looking at the body alone, the creature appeared horrifying but weak. The kind of undead beast in movies that would only pose a threat when in great numbers.

But its adversary knew the truth: This was anything but a mindless zombie. Powerful magic radiated from the creature's core, enough to make a less experienced version of herself weak in the knees. The same foul energy seeped through small openings in its seemingly shut maw.

No time to waste. She rushed towards the otherworldly being, her hooded figure reflecting in its fist-sized eye. The distance between them vanished in a flash and before the creature could even move an inch, a large army knife was planted deeply inside its very human-like skull, right in the faintly glowing eye.

I've gotten better again.

She allowed herself a brief moment of triumph, which she immediately recognized as a mistake. Her senses snapped her attention towards another one standing further away from her. It stretched its arm and shot it forward like a spear.

SHIT.

She knew she had to dodge this and the fading enemy in front of her couldn't be used as a shield. Quickly dislodging her knife from the body, she jumped to her side but it wasn't fast enough.

Her enemies relentlessly pressed on, not giving her mind the time to register her wound and forcing her to immediately spin around and planting a vicious back stab into another creature that had attempted to flank her.

Damn, this is what I get for being careless. She silently thought to herself as the intense pain spread throughout her body starting from her shoulder, where the the creature's elongated arm had very lightly grazed. Shrugging off the sensation, she readied her knife once more against the four remaining monsters standing before her.

The battle continued.

In the light provided by the lone street lamp in front of the building, beauty and beasts danced a short lived waltz. However "beauty" was not the right word for her. The young girl's movements were not graceful, they were impossibly strong and strange. As though pulled by invisible strings, her every move changed direction on demand even if already in motion. The dark creatures couldn't exploit a missed strike or a wrong dodge, the girl's body stopped and moved whenever needed. Momentum simply did not exist for this acrobatic dancer when she was fully focused.

Before long, the last of her enemies had fallen and started to fade into the winds. The triumphant fighter sheathed her knife on her belt and pulled down her purple hoodie. With a flip of her hand, she untangled her long black hair and they fell perfectly against her back.

"Alright..." She reassured herself and walked inside the alley, fully knowing what awaited her was likely to be the body of another human victim. Over half a dozen local residents in these areas had fallen prey to those things, and the rate of these attacks were still as spontaneous and random as ever.

Still, she remained hopeful. She had came rushing towards this place as soon as she felt the presence of those creatures emerging. Maybe I have saved another...

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the sight of a yellow headband on the ground.

What..no...this can't be right. The suddenness of her realization created cold sweat all over her body, something even her intense battle with the monsters had failed to achieve. Her sharp eyes lost their focus as torrents of emotions threatened to overtake her senses and her normal train of thought had violently crushed to a halt. You aren't suppose to be here...

She walked faster towards the figure.

Sakuragaoka blazer and uniform...

Please...anyone...ANYONE but you please. Blood was rushing up her head now and she ignored the selfishness of her wish. Akiyama Mio fell to her knees and scrambled towards the motionless figure lying face down on the ground by the wall. Her unflattering movements on all four a stark contrast to the swift maneuvers and agility she had displayed just moments before.

Finally reaching her target, Mio held up the unconscious figure's body against the wall and immediately checked for pulse.

Still alive, but barely.

Before she could feel relieved, her eyes widened in horror at the chunks of flesh missing all over the girl's body. At least four fist sized bites had been sunk into her, purposely missing the vital organs to keep the blood flowing, along with several slash wounds. The supernatural bite wounds sealing the torn vessels and arteries shut, preventing blood from bursting through and killing the victim. However the magic holding them in place would not stay for long. The last remnants of the creatures were already disappearing from this world and if something wasn't done fast, there would be nothing left to save.

Mio looked up at her fallen childhood friend's face at last. Tainaka Ritsu's expression showed no sign of agony or horror. She seemed almost...peaceful, as if resting from an arduous day's journey. Long bangs draped wildly over her face without that signature yellow headband to tame them in place.

"I won't let it end like this." Mio gazed at Ritsu's closed eyes. "Even if..."

Then she smiled sadly. "But you won't have to put up with my selfishness forever...I don't think I can stay with you for long after this."

12 Hours Earlier

*YAWN*

A pencil doodled lazily between lines of history dates and names, forming shapes barely resembling music notes.

Tainaka Ritsu looked at the the back of her old teacher and sighed. The gray haired woman should be in a retirement home, not here tormenting her with useless historical trivia that certainly will not show up on her college entrance exams in the coming spring.

On top of that, the old crone's writing speed was incredibly, incredibly, incredibly slow and her handwriting so very, very, very hard to read. More than once a student spoke up and questioned just what they were suppose to copy down. Which achieved nothing but earning them all long and dragged out explanations that delayed the seemingly unreachable ending even further.

The brown haired senior adjusted her yellow headband slightly and frowned. I'll catch up in a few minutes...not like I'll be the only one slacking off. She looked around at her classmates who were all dozing off or secretly on their phones, then focused her attention on the masterpiece-in-progress in her notebook.

The small figure drawn in her notes was quite the spectacle. Its eyes were uneven, its nose denoted by a small dot, practically nonexistent and there were no hair or brows to speak of.

Gotta start somewhere. Ritsu encouraged herself and promptly began adding more details to the doodle she had made of...herself. Yes, Ritsu-sama will be the lead vocalist in the greatest band in the world! Even if she couldn't sing and had no part in any band whatsoever... she frowned at the sad reality. In fact, even her drawing of the music notes sang by her pencil sketched self would probably take people quite a while to figure out.

However there was someone she knew that could sing. Someone whose voice she remembered so well even after all these years. Ritsu turned her head and stole a glance at the diligent beauty sitting in front of the class.

Akiyama Mio paid no attention to the rest of her snoozing peers. Her posture was completely straight and her left hand moved continuously to write down everything that appeared on the blackboard.

What the hell could she be possibly writing down nonstop. The old lady's not even done finishing a new sentence. Ritsu seethed. Stupid teacher's pet.

The unwarranted anger she felt against her former best friend made her abandon her little sketching project completely. A different time, she would have been shocked at her own attitude towards the shy girl that had always hid behind her at the kindergarten playground, but this was different.

This "Mio" sitting in front of the class was not the Mio she knew. The Mio she knew would be in the back of the room, away from the teachers who always picked on her to answer because her grades were good.

The old Mio would never react to her pranks with a cold and emotionless stare then walk away. The old her always had the most animating reactions, followed by retaliating strikes against Ritsu's head...

That shy, smart and caring Mio was her most precious friend in the world and would never move away then slowly cease all contact with her for three long years.

Ritsu recalled the near euphoria she had felt when the new transfer student had turned out to be none other than her long lost best friend. Then the crushing sense of betrayal that slammed into her chest when that said friend merely nodded at her greeting after school and then immediate departed away from the school gates.

She had originally thought that maybe some serious incident happened and made Mio even more introverted than before, but she had been wrong.

This Akiyama Mio 2.0, as Ritsu dubbed her, was the perfect school idol. Her classical beauty was admired by every student and she treated everyone kindly in return, everyone except for Ritsu.

Her grades were top notch and her athletic prowess only added to her appeal. Ritsu had stared in bewilderment as her former scaredy-cat companion sprinted past the competition in track on the first day of gym without an effort, wondering just how the heck Mio was able to run with...with those ample assets attached to her chest.

On rare occasions, Mio even went out to karaoke's and fast food joints with her gang of fangirls like any other normal school girl. Yet she also managed to keep everyone away from getting too close, nobody knew how or where she spent most of her free time. Some people have claimed they ran into her in the shopping district, neighboring towns or at the train station, but she never explained what she was doing.

But the students didn't care for her mysterious solo adventures. As long as Mio gave them some of her time, they were happy to just hang along and never question anything else. It was clear that she no longer had a best friend, but it didn't seem like she needed one either, much to Ritsu's displeasure.

"And we are done for the time being." Her teacher's declaration brought Ritsu back from her daze.

"Woot, time for lunch." She looked at the oversized clock hanging in the back of the room: five minutes before noon. But her brief moment of bliss was interrupted by the sounds of squealing Mio fangirls asking their oh-so-wonderful mistress out for lunch together.

Making no attempt to hear the conclusion of this everyday occurrence, Ritsu quickly grabbed her lunch box and headed up the rooftop.

"Oh, oh, Ricchan! Ricchan!" Yui held her hand up.

"Yes, Miisssu Hirasawa ?" Ritsu jokingly answered, lowering her voice and doing her best imitation of their English teacher. She somehow knew what was coming but she had long promised Mugi and Azusa that she wouldn't get upset over this topic this anymore, so she simply played along as best she could. Lunch time was over and it was only a few more minutes until they had to get back in class for afternoon lessons anyway.

"I spoke to Mio-chan again this morning on the way to school!" Yui declared happily while skipping down the last three steps of stairs in one leap.

"Is that so...I'm surprised Queen Miopatra's royal guards would even let you near her."

"Well, I couldn't at first! But Mio-chan saw me and made the others wait for her by the school gates!"

"Right..." Any mentioning of the utter devotion and obedience of the Mio fanclub was enough to turn Ritsu's smile upside down into a frown, but if there were anyone she had to make an exception for, it was Yui. The cheerful girl had always been by her side since starting high school and was essentially her best friend after Mio went away.

"So...what did you two talk about?" Ritsu forced a smile when she noticed Yui didn't continue.

"Well, nothing." Yui answered.

"Eh...what?"

"Nothing, we just exchanged some greetings and talked about what we've been up to recently!"

"Oh..."

"But this is the best part! At the end, she asked me how you were doing!" Yui exclaimed excitedly.

"Mio-senpai did?" Azusa chipped in from behind.

Ritsu raised an eyebrow in response, somewhat skeptical of what Yui just said. But part of her brightened up at the information and secretly hoped it was true.

"Right! I mean, I know you two haven't been getting along but I was so surprised when Mio-chan asked first!" Yui continued. "I think she really wants to get back together with you! You'd take her back right?"

Behind her, Mugi quickly put her hand over her mouth to barely hide a snicker. The Kotobuki heiress looked at the surprised face of Ritsu and the flushed expression on their younger companion Azusa, then at the oblivious Yui who continued to walk forward without a care. Unable to contain her laughter but didn't want to startle the crowd of other students who were all returning from lunch, Mugi excused herself and ran off towards the direction of the bathroom.

"It's not 'getting back together' Yui-senpai!" Azusa finally corrected, a slight blush on her face.

"It's not?"

"It's not...I mean" Azusa answered sternly. "It's the way you said it, you're making it sound like..."

"Oi Nakano!" A voice called from below the stairs. It was Jun from Azusa's class.

"What are you doing hanging on the senior's floor? You know who we got coming up next, wouldn't want to be late for that!"

"Alright, I'll be right there!" Azusa answered and hurried away while waving goodbye to the two seniors.

"Wait Azu-nyan...you forgot goodbye hug!"

Several students turned their heads at the words while Yui attempted to grab the smaller girl.

"What, no!" Azusa ran off before she could be subjected to another hug session, in the middle of school no less.

"You'll have to pay it double on my birthday this Friday then!" Yui rushed to the edge of the stairs and called after her kouhai.

This last bit of conversation set off warnings in Ritsu's head. Not that she had forgotten Yui's birthday, she just had been putting off getting her a present all this time because she wasn't sure what to buy and time was running out...

"You know Yui would be very happy if you simply showed up and enjoyed yourself." Ritsu recalled Mugi's words as she walked down the unfamiliar street alone in the late afternoon.

"You want me to be the only one to show up without a gift?" Ritsu had protested until Mugi finally gave in and confessed to her Yui's little secret. "I found out about this indirectly too, so don't let her know I told you this...she wanted to keep it as a secret until she's actually gotten good at it...basically, Yui has been..." Mugi had kept the last few words to a tiny whisper.

"WHAT, Azusa is teaching her? No way..."

A few phone calls and a train ride later, Ritsu now wandered alone in a town she had never been to, trying to find the music shop Mugi had told her about so she could buy Yui a set of guitar caring kit and a tuner. Small gifts sure, but nevertheless she felt it was appropriate and hopefully they will keep Yui motivated in her pursuit of mastering an instrument.

She checked her cellphone and cursed under her breath. It's already half past six in the evening and she's still completely lost. I really wish I had gotten that new model with the built in GPS now...

Daylight did not last long during the cold month of November, and Ritsu soon found herself accompanied by only the artificial glows from street lamps and nearby stores as people gradually disappeared one by one. Hopefully her family won't be too worried, even though she already called her mom to inform her this little detour she's taking after school.

The shop better not be closed by the time I'm there. She worried, noticing some of the other establishments on the street had already turned in for the day.

Before she could continue her search, Ritsu's phone buzzed in her pocket, the word "Mom" flashing over the tiny cellphone screen.

"Hi Ma, what is it." She answered finally.

"When are you coming home?"

"Soon, I just gotta find the store first."

"You still haven't even found the place?"

"Errr...no, but I know I'm close." A simple lie.

"Just come home already, I know you're a big girl and can find your way around but it's getting dark now and I'm worried about more than just you falling down a rabbit hole."

"Like what..."

"Like people."

"What people!" Ritsu questioned indignantly.

"Like muggers! And other people...you've heard the rumors of the disappearances in nearby towns right? They say the police are completely stomped and won't even report them openly..."

"Oh come on, who's gonna be interested in little me!" Ritsu rolled her eyes. It's not that she had no self esteem about her looks, she just didn't...care?

"It's not like I'm..." Whatever word that was suppose to follow choked up in her throat instantly. What name was she going to say? Someone who had all the curves and femininity that guys were interested in? Someone like...

"Oh I found the place! Talk to you when I'm back on the train!" She lied loudly and clumsily tucked her phone back into her pocket. A young man bumped into her and gave her an annoyed look, but Ritsu was still too surprised at the name she had almost spoke out on the phone to care.

A few rounds of fruitless searches later, the sun had completely dipped below the horizon and the cold wind only served to make Ritsu's mood worse. She couldn't take the chilly temperature anymore and was finally contemplating the idea of heading home, when suddenly...

*SMACK*

A door opened on her left without warning and her face smashed right into it.

"What's your problem!" Ritsu bellowed in agony and rubbed her nose, then wiped her eyes as tears threatened to leak out from the excruciating pain on her nasal bones.

"My most sincere apology, miss, I..." Came the panicked reply. "Oh..."

OH? What the hell does OH mean? OH is not the damn response you give when you just nearly broke someone's nose. Ritsu thought furiously, she struggled to open her eyes...

"Oh..." Ritsu said stupidly, suddenly feeling dumb for repeating the same word she had just deemed inappropriate in her mind.

Mio stood motionlessly in front of her, a purple hoodie hiding the long black hair everyone at their school adored. Jeans and white sneakers decorated the rest of her body. Her fangirls wouldn't have recognized their heroine like this even if she headbutted them one by one...but when amber locked onto gray, Ritsu acknowledged who this was right away just from their brief eye contact.

For a moment, neither moved or said anything. Ritsu was frustrated at her inability to vent out her anger at Mio. She had so many insults and complaints ready, but the thought of what Yui told her in school somehow kept all the harsh words at bay.

A few more awkward seconds passed, and Mio finally broke the ice.

"Sorry, but I have to go..." She said flatly and readied to leave.

"Oh..." Ritsu repeated again, unable to come up with anything else.

Mio raised her eyebrows slightly at Ritsu's stiff behavior, then stopped herself and looked into amber eyes with concern.

"You're not...lost are you? I can take you back to the station if you want."

"No, I'm not a kid anymore!"

Argh, I sound like a rebelling teenager, but it's not enough to be be seen as hostile...right? This was starting to irritate Ritsu in a new way she never thought possible.

"Oh..." Came the awkward word again, but Ritsu's head was too busy figuring herself out to catch the emotional tone hidden in the taller girl's voice.

This time, Mio turned around and began walking away for real. A sense of guilt and desperation suddenly came over Ritsu.

"Wait...err..."

At the sound of former best friend's call, Mio turned around, almost too eagerly.

"Can you tell me where this store is?" Ritsu held up a torn piece of magazine ad that Mugi had given her.

Mio stepped a little closer to get a better look at the small paper under the street light. Her eyes squinted at the tiny letters, then suddenly relaxed. Lips curled up slightly, Mio looked up again with a hint of amusement on her face.

For once, the subtle change in Mio's expression didn't go completely unnoticed by Ritsu. She felt dazzled by the first real smile Mio had given her since she came back to their town. Her cold cheeks suddenly felt warm and the nostalgic memories of their childhood together threatened to flood back all at once.

Fearing there might be a blush on her face, Ritsu quickly attempted to divert the attention away as best as she could.

"Hey...do you know or not!"

The voice came out far louder than she intended and the effect was immediate.

Mio straightened herself up and pointed at the very building she had just came out of. Then stomped off in the opposite direction.

Baffled, Ritsu tilted her head and stared in astonishment, unable to comprehend why she hadn't noticed the windowed displays of instruments that had been right next to her all this time. When she attempted to catch a glimpse of Mio again, the hooded figure was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, the wooden doors swung open again and a stranger poked his head out.

"Hey you coming in or what? Thinking about closing early tonight."

Surprised by the young salesman's brashness or just feeling exhausted by her brief conversation with Mio, Ritsu blankly answered with the only word she could muster:

"Oh..."

The hauntingly empty streets did nothing to deter the lone figure from checking every back alley in a methodical and thorough process. This had became routine for her by now.

In the seven months since she came back, Mio had been faithfully carrying out her self imposed mission in her hometown and its surroundings. It started out only once a week, but gradually grew into every other night, and sometimes she would spend consecutive nights on guard after suspiciously long periods of peace.

The strain often caught up with her, and she struggled to maintain the aloof idol facade she held in school. Of course, the angry looks a certain brunette constantly sent her way did not help in that regard at all.

Ritsu had predictably took Mio's indifference toward her hard and reacted in a very Ritsu-like way. The silly pranks she knew so well came at the beginning, and when Mio forced herself to respond with nothing but more apathy, they gradually ceased, replaced by brief but angry stares that happened whenever her school idol image was on full display.

"Stupid Ritsu..." Mio murmured to herself, her lonely voice the only companion she had on yet another night of solitary patrol. Music and headphones were out of the question when all her senses had to be ready. Tuned to the enemies she had vowed to protect her friends and their home from.

Those...things. She had no words for what they were, and neither did the people who introduced her to this world of macabre horror. They only knew that any traces were completely impossible to locate during the day, and the danger emerged slowly under the cover of the night.

Unable to keep her mind clear and her attention focused on sensing her enemies' trails, Mio slowed down her pace and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. Her meeting with Ritsu earlier constantly intruded on her conscious and she knew this was not the best way to start a night of...

Oh my god. Mio stopped dead in her tracks and cried out in her mind. I left Ritsu wandering around ALONE.

Without a second thought, she turned around and dashed back to the music store with incredible speed.

Mere minutes passed before she arrived back at the street she had met Ritsu earlier, and Mio impatiently swung opened the door of the familiar building with a thud.

"Akiyama-san?" The startled young man raised an eyebrow. Ritsu was nowhere to be seen in the shop.

"Hi ah...mm...where did the girl from earlier go? I was talking with her outside before." Mio tried to politely inquire, but couldn't completely hide the panic in her voice.

"She left a long time ago. In fact she didn't even buy anything!" The salesman whined. "Anyways, she doesn't seem to be from around here, asked me which direction the train station was before running off."

Mio sighed in relief at the fact that Ritsu was probably on a train home now.

"Is something wrong Akiyama-san?"

"Oh, no I'm fine. Hmm...there was something I forgot to tell her. That's all. We're...classmates, yeah."

"Ah right right, I did recognize her uniform jacket I think. Sakuragaoka too right?" The young man carried a heavy looking box into the back room and came back.

"You know, you don't look too well Akiyama-san. Want me to take you to the station on my moped? Or maybe we can stop by my place for some hot tea? I've told you I live close by right."

Mio gave a polite smile and a bow. "Thanks for your offer Daijiro-san, but I have to pass."

"Ahh come on." The man called Daijiro sported an obvious fake pout while putting on his leather jacket, earning a chuckle from Mio.

The two exited the store together and locked the doors. Mio waved goodbye as the young shopkeeper rode away on his moped, somehow feeling happier than earlier knowing that her friends were safely on their ways home.

Time flashed across Ritsu's suddenly bright cellphone screen: 9:00 PM

She had been standing at the arcade next to the station for almost two hours and the person she was waiting for had yet to show up like the arcade employees claimed he would.

"That little punk..." Ritsu growled, recalling her frustration when when she finally found the gifts she had planned for Yui and then realizing she had been deprived of her wallet.

During her walk back to the station, Ritsu had came to the conclusion that it had to have been the young man who bumped into her earlier in the evening when she got off the phone, and upon spotting the bright lights of the arcade center near the train station, she figured it couldn't hurt to ask if the employees there knew anyone that looked like him.

Surprisingly, they did know him. Even though the only thing Ritsu could recall was the white coat the man was wearing. Apparently, he came to the place nearly everyday and often stayed very late by himself.

Probably to spend all the money he steals, Ritsu had spat bitterly. But hearing that he was often alone made Ritsu a little more daring than usual. She wouldn't try causing a ruckus so late at night by trying to drag him to the police of course, she'd simply ask for her money back and that will be it. Let karma run its course for the petty thief.

The plan made more and more sense as she pondered on, and she decided to wait it out...until now. Patience was never one of her virtues and after another thirty minutes of lone vigil, she had came to regret her decision completely.

Though fate seems to have other plans for her, especially for today. Exactly like she had conveniently ran into Mio earlier and found the store she had almost given up on, the peculiar young man in white appeared into view just as the thought of leaving was finally about to triumph over everything else in her head.

"HEY YOU!" Ritsu marched towards him without restraint.

The person seemed startled by her voice, but quickly resumed an expression of indifference.

"Do I know y..."

"Look, cut the crap. I know you swiped my wallet off me earlier. Just give it back and I'll leave." Ritsu said without letting him finish.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The boy, who Ritsu now noticed was much younger than she had remembered, tried to walk by her without even making eye contact.

The nerves of this kid! Ritsu silently raged. Losing money hurts, but more importantly she needed her wallet to get home and was certainly not going to call her family just to tell them she needed to be picked up after spending nearly all night out.

"Hey, I've been sending text messages to my family making up excuses about why I'm not in bed by now, too embarrassed to speak to them directly. So how about you just be honest for once in your life and give back what you owe." Anger was at a boiling point for Ritsu. The last few words she said, she did so through gritted teeth.

"I don't know what you're talking about and I don't know you." Came the insistent reply, but Ritsu could tell the kid was not as confident as he was before as he constantly tried to avert eye contact.

She stepped closer toward him, causing him to back away nervously. But when the boy looked up once again, this time past Ritsu, the panicked expression on his face vanished.

"What's the matter, bullied by a little girl?" Came a gruff voice, accompanied by a few distant laughters.

Ritsu turned her head to see a couple of noticeably older men walking over from the station. Then to her horror, more chuckles and noises emerged from behind her where the entrance to he arcade was.

She didn't need to turn around to know she was being surrounded by her thief's friends, probably not the good kind of friends either by the way the "leader" was lighting up a smoke while staring at her with a scowl on his face.

Before anyone else can make a move, Ritsu shoved her original target out of the way and ran back into town. The loud yells behind her signaled the start of the pursuit, but she had no time to try to decipher the mobbed screams and focused entirely on getting away as fast as possible.

Dammit, dammit, dammit, what a crappy day! Deep down, Ritsu was afraid. She didn't even entertain the idea of talking it out or maybe make a run for the train station, where security guards or the police would be surely stationed. Instead her fear overcame her and she picked the biggest opening, even though running back to the unfamiliar streets in the dark was beginning to feel like a pretty dumb idea.

For a while, she maintained a comfortable distance between herself and her pursuers, much to her surprise. But the toll of wandering around all evening was beginning to show and Ritsu found her breathing becoming more and more ragged after turning yet another corner that looked somewhat recognizable.

After what felt like half an hour of fleeing, she finally slowed down and stopped for a breather. The silent streets gave her little sense of security, even though her pursuers were nowhere to be heard.

"Where am ..." Ritsu stopped mid-sentence and chuckled to herself. The music shop she had been looking for earlier stood across the street from her, lit by the same lone street light that Mio had used to look at the magazine ad. It seems her legs had led her to the only place in town she had any memories of.

The continued silence finally gave her enough confidence to believe she was safe, at least for the moment. Cold breeze gently caressed her cheeks, now blushed red from the frantic exercise earlier. Ritsu looked toward the starless sky and took the rare opportunity to appreciate the serenity of the night.

Thinking back on her day spent exploring the streets, the town itself was quite rural and lacked the many standards of a modern city. Very few buildings topped four stories in height, and she recalled quite a few of the streets lights on her way here were in desperate need of replacements.

I wonder what Mio was doing in this dump, Ritsu quietly thought. When no plausible answer popped to her mind, she fished for her cellphone in her pockets and readied to call her family at last for help.

Her thumb slowly came in contact with the dial button and Ritsu dreaded the conversation that was about to follow. But before she could send her signal through, a strange feeling rose within her.

"Who's there?"

She turned around quickly and whispered. The silent buildings however, continued being their stoic selves and gave no response.

But Ritsu could feel something. Something terribly wrong with her surroundings, and she suddenly had the strong urge to retreat towards the only light source from across the road.

Her panicked footsteps echoed hollowly around the emptied streets but the sensation continued to follow her. Finally stood directly below the street lamp, Ritsu focused her eyes hard and desperately searched for the cause of her eerie premonition.

Something in front of her stirred and she caught sight of what she believed was a streak of blackness, darker than even the night itself. Her heart began to pound frantically and cold sweat completely drenched her already damp shirts.

Suddenly, Ritsu felt an awkward sensation around her mid section and stumbled backwards.

"Wha..." Stifling pain shot through her body but she didn't even have the strength to cry out as the sensation clawed towards every inch within her. Her eyes felt like they were ready to pop out of their sockets and her veins threatened to erupt from under her very skin.

The intense feeling did not persist too long, and Ritsu barely gathered enough of herself to fall back slowly towards the building behind her. With one arm on the glass display of the music shop, she rubbed her eyes furiously in an attempt to clear up her vision.

Slowly, she could sense her previous eerie feelings somehow solidifying into many concrete and tangible shapes all over the street. She opened her eyes at last and beheld the origin of her fear.

Horrors, tall and dark, surrounded her and stared at her through glowing orbs. Though Ritsu was absolutely terrified at the sight in front of her, she somehow felt like she was properly experiencing the world for the first time.

She could feel the presence of everything around her, from mere bugs crawling in the buildings to the one-eyed monsters in front of her, as if air itself was a part of her very being. Her head was clear, perhaps for the first time all night. As droplets of sweat traced uneven trails down her face, Ritsu couldn't help but feel a certain level of exhilaration as adrenaline pumped through her veins.

The closest creature hungrily rushed toward her, but Ritsu could see, no, sense it coming. She dodged to the side, stumbling again, but managed to avoid the attack completely.

HA! She cried out triumphantly in her mind, but the victory was short lived. Fatigue threatened to overwhelm her and Ritsu, in confusion, finally looked down at her body in an attempt to find the cause.

What greeted her with the sight of a deep and thick slash wound right above her waist. It wasn't deep enough to completely pierce her muscles into her insides, but the fleshy and red sight was enough to drive Ritsu noxious.

She didn't have time to wonder why no blood was guzzling out of her wound. The world that had been so clear and refreshing just moments ago was becoming blurry and spinning out of control. This has to be a dream, she hoped desperately but then she recalled the meeting today at this very place. Maybe it really is a dream...

With the last bit of her strength, Ritsu gave the window one last shove and used the momentum to launch herself into a run.

How fast she was moving, she couldn't tell, but she could feel the creatures were beginning to follow her as well.

She must have stumbled at some point, because she felt stingy pain on her knees, but Ritsu didn't care and continued on. Her hair got in the way of her sight, but she made no connection to the fact that she had just lost her headband.

What felt like an eternity passed, and Ritsu finally found herself stumbling to a halt. In reality, she had covered very little distance. The light of the lone street lamp could not reach into the deep corners of the alley next to the music store, and Ritsu found herself staring into utter darkness. The presences she felt however, were still as distinct as ever.

"Ahh..." A pained gasp escaped Ritsu's mouth.

Images of her family and friends flashed before her eyes. She could still sense her attackers beside her, but her body itself could no longer feel anything, not even the cold ground she was lying on.

As the darkness threatened to completely take over her, the last thing Ritsu felt was the arrival of a much lighter and gentler presence in the area. But she didn't have time to understand the strange sense of familiarity she felt for this newcomer, as her consciousness finally caved under the weight of all her exhaustion.

Mio kneeled in front of Ritsu's unconscious body and took a deep breath, recalling the instructions that had been taught to her more than a year ago.

She tightened her stomach and concentrated all her being into the spell.

"Spell" was what they had categorized it, but it was different from what Mio had imagined.

There were no intricate and ancient symbols being carved into the ground; no words of power escaped her lips; and there was certainly not a magic circle anywhere. Her body simply emitted a soft and gentle blue glow, that grew and transformed into something intense and fierce, like a raging forest fire that couldn't be controlled by men or nature alike. She took hold of the unconscious body lying against the wall and hesitantly closed the distance between their faces. Their cold lips joining another set for the first time in both of their lives.

The blue light began spreading from Mio's body onto Ritsu's and slowly covered the connected couple in a torrent of azure flame, completely illuminating the dark alley yet miraculously leaving no marks on the scorched walls.

A long time passed and the light finally began to dim. Two trembling legs, carrying more weight than they're used to, slowly made their way out of the alley and stopped at the front door of the music shop. Gently laying down the body she had been carrying, Mio took out her spare key to the building and opened its door with a loud click...

A/N:

A little longer than I thought eh...thank you for reading. Please point out any mistakes or inconsistencies! I hope the time transitions weren't confusing or poorly explained...

Some random details:

Yui's birthday is Nov 27th

College entrance exams are normally early Spring, while the start of the school year is mid-late Spring (around April?).

Mio transferred back at the start of their senior/final year. So naturally there is no K-On club...for now.

And how did they all become friends, especially Azusa, if there was no club? Well...