Rini’s soul nearly left her body, when the jet-black tombstones emerged from nothing right in front of them. As if they had been there from the very beginning, waiting for them.

Akira pointed the flashlight straight ahead. The words engraved in a ghostly white color glistened in the light. The lines were stiff and skew on the bumpy, rough texture. Rini blinked, trying to see through her blurry vision.

“This is your demise, Akira.”

“Enjoy your trip to hell, Kazuya.”

And in front of Rini, the words said: “Rest in a thousand pieces, Rini.”

Rini felt terror taking over her very existence. She shrieked and bumbled sideways, seizing Kazuya’s arm and clutching it to her chest. She forcefully shut her eyes for a few seconds, and fluttered them open again, just to confirm it wasn't a nightmare.

It wasn't.

She and her teammates were still in the middle of the dark forest, and the tombstones hadn't budged an inch. Was the demon going to show itself now? Would they be eaten alive? Or even worse… could it be that they would turn into demons themselves?

Beside her, Kazuya disrupted her thoughts. He growled and wrenched his arm to his chest, removing it from her grasp. “Seriously, I told you already. Stop clinging to my arm!”

“Well, I can’t help it!” Rini turned her head to meet his gaze. “It just…” Her broken sentence hung in the air, when she noticed a sharp movement behind Kazuya, in the corner of her eye. In that instant, her body froze. She was unable to speak. She caught a glimpse of a shadow behind a tree.

Grinning from ear to ear.

Her heart skipped a beat. It was the demon, she just knew it. They were going to die.

Kazuya and Akira raised their eyebrows upon noticing the fright displayed on her face. They swung their heads and peered in the direction of shrubs and trees beside them. Then, the shadow manifested.

“Who’s there?!” Akira yelled.

Rini’s heart hammered in her chest, as the shadow plowed forward, twisting its way through the trees. Its movements were uncoordinated, each step slow and arduous. It hunched its shoulders, its arms pinned behind its back. As if it was hiding something.

Rini's instincts screamed at her to flee. To leave her teammates behind and save herself before it was too late. And she hated to admit it, but she wanted to. No, that wasn't it.

She just didn’t want to die.

The shadow slightly raised its head, exposing its features. Rini's heart pounded like a drum when realization dawned upon her. She knew this person.

“Aina…?” Akira said with a trace of uncertainty in his voice.

Rini stared at her teammate, as she emerged from behind the trees. Grime and dirt had painted her face as brown as her dark hair. Her eyes appeared empty of emotion. She plodded towards them with a wide stance, barely able to maintain her balance.

Rini’s gaze drifted down to her appearance. She was missing her cardigan and boots, the mud coating her legs up to her calves. Three rifts had ripped the middle of her t-shirt as if an animal had attacked her with its claws.

But there wasn’t a drop of blood on her.

Rini should be relieved, really. But she wasn’t. The fact that Aina had shown up a few seconds after the tombstones, could only indicate one thing.

“Aina is the demon,” Rini said, almost in a whisper.

“That’s impossible!” Akira said. “If she was the demon, the tombstones would’ve appeared the second we stepped into the forest. There’s no way the demon is her!”

“Then why?!” Rini screamed, her throat burning. “Why did the tombstones appear at the same time as her?”

The silence between them was as thick as fog. Aina's treads crept into Rini’s ears, as she dragged her feet, moving closer.

“It’s a prank,” Kazuya argued after a while. “If you rule out the possibility of the legend being real, it can only be a prank. So that’s what it is.”

Rini didn’t understand a thing. But somehow, Kazuya’s words calmed her down, if just a little. The way he spoke left no room for doubt in his voice. He wasn't trying to convince anyone or even himself, for that matter. He just genuinely believed he was saying the truth. So perhaps, Rini should trust him, too.

Akira didn’t hesitate to approach Aina. Not even a tinge of skepticism was visible on his face.

“Aina,” he breathed out. “I’m so glad we found you. We were really worried, you know.”

Aina sluggishly raised her head and her eyes bore into Akira's, like razors.

“I see.” Her parched lips barely moved, as she spoke. Her voice was so hoarse, Rini wouldn’t have recognized it if she didn’t who was speaking. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Every muscle in Rini’s body stiffened when Aina removed her arms from behind her back.

“To kill you.”