The sun filtered through the window, striking Mochi's eyelids with an almost annoying warmth. She felt exhausted, her body heavy as if she had run a marathon. She opened her eyes reluctantly, blinking against the light.
"Ah… an unfamiliar ceiling," she murmured with a sleepy half-smile. She had waited years for the dramatic opportunity to say that line.
It took a few seconds for the gears of her memory to fall into place. She wasn't in her room.
She was at Haruka's house.
* * *
A few hours earlier, in the early hours after the incident.
After the final crash and the disappearance of that Anomaly, Mochi remained frozen by the window, staring at the trail of destruction. Her mind was a whirlwind of logistical questions.
Her bedroom door was now a collection of splintered wood hanging from the hinges. She didn't dare go downstairs to check the front door, but judging by the brute force of the blows that had echoed through the entire house, she imagined the worst. And then there was her most painful loss: the mini fridge. Her faithful companion lay crushed in the middle of the sidewalk, a heap of metal and white plastic that would never chill another can of soda again.
Mmnngghhh! she groaned internally, clutching her temples. Some neighbor must have seen it. Her parents would find out. Even if she managed to sell them the story of a particularly violent break-in, her freedom was gone. They probably wouldn't let her stay home alone again until she turned thirty.
In the middle of her existential crisis, a taxi screeched to a stop in front of the house, tires burning. The door flew open, and Haruka jumped out with an expression of absolute panic that reminded Mochi of the night she had first encountered the cat anomaly.
"Haruka, up here!" Mochi waved from the window frame, leaning halfway out.
Haruka let out a deep sigh of relief. But then her gaze dropped to the crushed mini fridge on the ground. For a split second, she stood completely stunned, processing the sight of a murdered appliance lying in the street.
Moments later, the sound of frantic footsteps racing up the stairs announced her arrival. Haruka burst into the room, panting. She was wearing her long dark coat, but her rush had revealed a secret—beneath it, a light cotton shirt and loose pajama pants with kitten patterns peeked out. On her feet were house slippers, and her white hair, usually immaculate, was now a mess of rebellious strands pointing in every direction.
She was disheveled, exhausted, and poorly dressed.
Seeing her like that, Mochi felt a strange, comforting warmth spread through her chest. Haruka had crossed the city in the middle of the night, in her pajamas, just because Mochi's cry for help had terrified her.
"Are you alright?" Haruka asked. Her voice, usually firm, was filled with genuine worry.
Mochi took a moment to find her words, moved by the sight of her friend.
"Yeah…" she finally replied, lowering her gaze as a soft smile escaped her lips. "I'm okay, Haruka."
Mochi began recounting everything. It took her several minutes to explain every detail—from her encounter with the golden-eyed clown and the black rose, to the moment she defeated it.
Mochi had expected a severe scolding. She thought Haruka would blame her for not using her training the moment she first encountered the clown; if she had tried to sense the Ether back on the street, maybe the ambush at her own house could have been avoided.
However, to her surprise, Haruka's response was not what she expected.
"Actually, that's what saved you," she said, crossing her arms. "When you use your perception to track Ether, you emit a signal. Anomalies can notice it—they realize they're being observed. If you had done that on the street, in front of him… you probably wouldn't have made it home."
Mochi felt a chill run down her spine. Luck had been on her side, but she knew she couldn't rely on chance to protect her forever. I have to take this seriously, she promised herself.
"So, Haruka… should I stop trying to sense it?"
"For now, be careful. I'd rather you only use it when I'm nearby," Haruka replied, beginning to pick up some of the debris in the room. "You need to keep practicing to master safer methods."
"Safer methods? There's another way?"
Haruka nodded, pausing to look Mochi straight in the eyes. She explained that the goal was to achieve passive perception. Seeing Mochi's confused expression, she decided to use a clearer analogy.
"The way you use it now is active perception. Think of it like a submarine's sonar: you send out a signal that bounces off the anomaly and comes back to you. It gives you information, yes—but it also reveals you to anything that knows how to listen."
"And passive?" Mochi asked, fascinated.
"With passive perception, you don't send anything out. With time and training, your body becomes naturally sensitive to fluctuations in the environment. You perceive presence without emitting any signal at all. It's subtler, more difficult… but much safer. I didn't mention it before because I didn't think you'd have such a talent for attracting trouble so quickly."
Mochi simply smiled, a mix of pride and embarrassment.
Given the severity of the attack, Haruka wasn't willing to leave her alone. She suggested that Mochi stay at her place for the weekend, assuring her that the Agency would handle the repairs to her house before her parents returned from their trip.
Before leaving the scene of destruction, the two of them worked together to set the front door back into place. Although the hinges were ruined, they managed to make the entrance look intact from the outside. Only someone who tried to open it would realize the house had been broken into.
The taxi ride to Haruka's apartment was quiet. Once there, Mochi took a hot bath that seemed to melt away the tension in her muscles. Despite the adrenaline of the night, exhaustion won in the end: the moment her head touched the pillow in the guest room, the world disappeared.
* * *
Back in the present…
Mochi stared at the ceiling for a few more minutes, lazily stretching her limbs while her tail searched for warmth beneath the sheets. The sun was already high.
I should probably get up, she thought, though the comfort of Haruka's bed was a temptation hard to resist.
She slowly turned her head and found Haruka sleeping on her futon just a few steps away.
The elf breathed calmly. Her white hair lay messily across her face, stray strands giving her an unusually vulnerable look. And yet, even in sleep, her posture held a natural firmness; it was as if at the slightest sound she would wake, ready to draw her fan and fight.
Mochi watched her longer than she intended, fascinated.
With extreme care, she sat up and stood, making sure her footsteps didn't wake her. She walked over to the sliding paper-and-wood door and gently opened it. A cool morning breeze greeted her, brushing her face and clearing away the last remnants of sleep.
In front of her stretched a small traditional garden. Smooth stones formed pathways between carefully trimmed bushes, and in a clear pond, koi fish glided with silent elegance. The place was beautiful, wrapped in a quiet that seemed to shield it from the rest of the world.
Mochi sat down at the edge of the wooden corridor, letting her feet dangle toward the garden. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, wishing that this moment of calm could last forever.
"Did you sleep well?"
The voice startled her slightly. Mochi turned to find Haruka standing behind her, wearing a simple sweater over her pajamas, her eyes still half-lidded with sleep.
"Yeah, pretty well… What about you?" Mochi asked with a soft smile.
"I can't complain."
Soon after, the aroma of toasted bread and hot tea began to fill the kitchen. As they prepared breakfast—toast with butter and fresh fruit—Mochi watched as Haruka regained her usual efficiency even in pajamas, moving with a precision that Mochi, stumbling and yawning, tried to imitate without much success.
They sat at the low table, facing each other, surrounded by the steam rising from their tea.
"I contacted the OHRA headquarters this morning," Haruka said as she spread butter on her toast. "I've already informed them about what happened at your house."
"Really?" Mochi paused with her bread halfway to her mouth.
"They're sending a cleanup and repair team. They assured me everything will be restored exactly as it was. Your parents won't notice a single thing when they return."
Mochi felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders. The knot in her stomach loosened, finally allowing her to enjoy the taste of breakfast.
"Thank you, Haruka… really," she murmured, genuine gratitude shining in her eyes.
Haruka simply nodded, as naturally as ever.
At the breakfast table, it was just the two of them. Haruka had been living alone for years, an independence born from tragedy. She had lost her parents in an accident long before their paths crossed, and although her aunt—an influential politician in a neighboring city—had tried to take her in, Haruka had refused to move. She couldn't abandon the home of her childhood.
After clearing the table, Mochi changed clothes, grateful she had packed a clean set. Haruka was already waiting for her at the entrance.
"Ready?"
"Ready," Mochi replied, adjusting her backpack with a smile.
Under the clear morning sky, the two of them set off toward the OHRA headquarters. The journey passed peacefully.
Soon, the silhouette of the old, abandoned-looking church appeared on the horizon.
"See you later, Mochi," Haruka said as they reached the entrance. "I have some matters to take care of, and I want to thoroughly investigate the anomaly that attacked you. It's extremely unusual for something of that level to go unnoticed by our radar for so long."
"See you tonight," Mochi replied.
They had agreed she would spend one more night at Haruka's place, just to be safe.
Mochi went inside and sat down on one of the creaky old wooden benches. There were still about forty-five minutes left before her meeting with her new team, so she took out her smartphone and got lost in a spiral of videos to pass the time.
However, as the minutes went by, her nerves began to get the better of her. Her ears twitched restlessly at every creak of the building. What if I don't fit in? What if they're too serious… or total weirdos? she wondered, a knot forming in her stomach.
With barely fifteen minutes left, the heavy main doors creaked open. Mochi jumped to her feet, smoothing out her clothes and trying to put on a calm expression she didn't feel.
But the figure that stepped inside wasn't a stranger or some stern veteran agent.
Mochi froze, her eyes wide in shock.
It was Miyu.
The same girl she had rescued from the phone booth in the tunnel. Mochi had completely forgotten to ask Haruka what had happened to her after that night.