Yuna could only partially see her best friend because the ice oni blocked her field of vision, but the eyes of the black-haired girl were wide open. Hikari looked around, her head wavering, and when their eyes met, she grimaced whereupon a trickle of blood flowed from her mouth.

"Hikari!" Yuna shouted, beating down Yukiko with all her strength. She scrambled to her feet and started to run when she was grabbed by the ankle and hit the floor face-first. She raised her eyes again to see that an ice spike had pierced Hikari's chest. The black-haired girl cried and gasped, while she stared at Yuna.

"HIKARI!" shouted the huntress again and kicked her opponent. "We have to help her!"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" yelled Yukiko and dragged her back.

"She's dying!"

Abruptly, the ice oni stopped and looked over to Hikari, who was bleeding from both her chest wound and her mouth. "Oh God. No," she breathed.

Yuna jumped up and ran over. "Oh God. Hikari, hold on!" She glanced over at Yui, who was lying down and tried to crawl across the floor.

Shit, what should I do?

She squinted at Nisha, who was still busy with the ice golem. She looked back at Hikari, who was making hasty little breaths.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" shrieked Yukiko, who rushed at Yuna and tore her to the ground. She struck the huntress as she yelled, "YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED LONG AGO!"

"Stop it! We have to save her!" The high-school student tried to stop the attacks, but the oni was completely in a rage.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" They rolled over the ground. With every breath, a low whistle came from the black-haired girl. Yuna kicked her opponent a few times and punched her, but she simply couldn't stand the monster's unleashed power.

They rolled around again, whereupon Yuna lay on her back and Yukiko was sitting on her once more. The huntress craned her neck to see her best friend, who was still breathing. "Hold on, Hikari!" She reached back into the face of the ice oni, but she grabbed her hand and pressed it to the ground.

"Now it's over." A clump of ice formed and held her hand firmly to the ground. "Don't you see that you're killing everyone who means something to you?" Yukiko hissed. "Your sister will die too, because of you!"

"No!" Yuna replied. The ice oni also grabbed her other hand and froze it in the same way to the ground. "No!"

"Time to die, Masuda!"

Yukiko straightened up and pressed her hands on the huntress' face again. Yuna shuddered and screamed as she scraped her feet on the floor. She squinted at Hikari again, but she looked lifeless as blood ran down her chin.

With tears flowing, Yuna stared into the hateful eyes of her opponent. She had failed again. After Yoshiro, Hikari also died because of her. And if Yukiko went crazy, she would surely kill Yui and Nisha too. And there was nothing she could do. Her pitiful attempts to free herself were doomed to failure.

The face of the oni was totally distorted by hatred. "Yes! Die!" she breathed excitedly. Then Yukiko tore her eyes open and gasped, before the tip of the Katana was driven from behind through her larynx.

She let go of Yuna and raised her hands, whereupon the huntress hastily gasped.

"Leave my sister alone, bitch," Yui hissed angrily.

Blood dripped on Yuna's face. "Yui! Don't! Don't kill her!"

"I'm going to slaughter you all," Yukiko croaked.

"Yui! Don't!" the huntress screamed.

The sword point disappeared. The middle-school student lifted the sword aside.

Eyes wide open, Yuna watched the blade move, then yelled, "NO!"

Yui swung the sword with both hands from left to right. Yukiko's head whirled away, bouncing off the ground and rolling, her body slumping lifelessly over Yuna.

"NO!" The blue-haired girl looked to the side. Her vision was clouded by all the blood gushing from the ice oni's throat, but she caught another glimpse of her opponent's face before the head began to dissolve. She looked to the middle-school student, who breathed heavily and clung to the sword tightly.

"She wanted to kill you..." Yui breathed as she lowered the sword. "She would have killed you. I had to do something."

"Yui..." Yuna wailed. She stared into the violet eyes of her sister, but then a jerk went through the blonde. The huntress could see exactly how the irises of Yui's left and right eyes turned red, and then she tore them even more open. The Katana clattered to the ground and the middle-school student took a step back.

"Oh God." She stared at her sister on the floor. "What are you?!"

"Yui! I can explain everything!"

"Your eye!" Goose bumps overcame Yui as she remembered the terrible dream. The dream in which her sister had a red-glowing, right eye and fought against the monsters. But... it was not a dream! Tears came from her red eyes and flowed down her cheeks. "No, no... this is a nightmare!"

"Yui! Calm down!"

"You're a monster! You're also a monster!" The blonde sank crying on her knees. "Mom... mommy!" she wailed and lay down.

"Yui! Pull yourself together!" Yuna looked again at Hikari. She tugged at the blocks of ice that still held her captive. "We have to save Hikari! Yui!"

Completely disturbed, the middle-school student went into the fetal position and wrapped her arms around herself. She squinted and shook herself.

"YUI! God damn it! Pull yourself together!" the blue-haired girl roared, but her words didn't arrive at her sister. "SHIT!" she cursed and looked back to Hikari. "Hikari! Say something!" She kept tearing at her shackles. "NISHA! NISHA! Where are you?!" Yukiko's body was completely dissolved by now. Yuna peered over at the remnants of the ice golem, but the creature had crumbled into a pile of ice. She couldn't see her friend anywhere.

Again she tore at the shackles and breathed quickly and shallowly. "Come on!" she screamed and kept pulling. "COME ON!" Again she burst into tears. How could she get into this inhuman situation? How did she deserve this?

I can't give up!

She pushed herself up with her feet until she came to one of the ice shackles with her head. She bit into the ice and started nibbling and sucking on it. With her tongue, she rubbed her saliva against it and kept trying to free her hand.

God. Please help me!

She struggled farther. The blue-haired girl couldn't determine how long she had worked the ice, but at some point she could move her hand a little. "Yes!" She continued until she finally freed herself. She turned on her stomach, her still-caught wrist cracking menacingly.

She quickly searched for the sword, which lay a bit away from her. She tried to reach it with her free hand, but it was too far away. She rolled around and pulled it with her foot up a bit, then she reached for it. The huntress had to hit the ice block a few times, but then she was finally free.

Immediately, she slipped on her knees to Yui and looked worriedly at her sister. "Yui! Yui!" She shook the girl's shoulder, but she didn't react. Hastily, Yuna wiped her hands on her top and lifted Yui's left eyelid, but she didn't react any further.

The blue-haired girl looked at Hikari. She jumped up and ran over. "Hikari! Hikari, can you hear me?" She patted her best friend's cheek. "You can't be dead!" She groped for her pulse at the throat, but there was nothing left.

Yuna narrowed her eyes and shed more tears. "No. Hikari..." Maybe the oni could help! Impetuously, she fumbled at her skirt, whereupon she got her cell phone out of her skirt pocket. She dialed Boss-sama and held the device to her ear, but there was no ring tone. She looked at the display and realized with a start that she didn't have reception. "NO!" She slapped the device against her head and twisted. "FUCK!"

She looked up again. Nisha had to be somewhere too. She backed away from Hikari and scrambled to her feet. As she passed, she looked at Yui, who still didn't move. The blue-haired girl stumbled to the remains of the golem and searched for the class representative.

"Nisha! Where are you?!" Under a heap of ice, she discovered a paw. "NO! Not you too!" She ran, dropped to her knees and began to dig in the pile. Within a few seconds, she had dug up the cat, which was freezing cold. "NISHA!" She pressed the animal to her chest and wrapped her arms around it to warm it up. "Nisha! Wake up!" She felt the cat's chest still moving. She carried her over to Yui and sat down rubbing the cat until she opened her green eyes. "Nisha! Thank God!"

The animal gave a tormented meowing, then it began to deform and grew larger. Within seconds, Yuna held her naked, shacking friend in her arms. "Are you all right?"

"C-cold. I'm so cold!"

Yuna saw Yukiko's school uniform, which had stayed behind. She grabbed the fabric and laid it over the gray-haired girl. "Where are your clothes?"

"At the e-entrance."

"I'll get them!"

The cat girl shook her head. "It's a-all right. Did we w-win?"

Trembling, the huntress looked at her friend, then shook her head. "No."

"Where is Yukiko?"

"Dead."

"Then we won."

Yuna sobbed. "Hikari is dead too. And Yui has transformed."

For a moment, the gray-haired girl stared at the other girl. "Yui killed Yukiko?"

"Yes."

"And Hikari?!"

The blue-haired girl turned her head and looked at her dead friend. "She didn't make it."

Leaning forward, Nisha looked at the body. Tears came from her eyes. "No... Hikari..."

"It's my fault," Yuna admitted.

"No. No way! " the gray-haired girl protested.

"Yes." The taller girl slapped her hands over her face and shuddered, crying. "If I had told her the truth, she would have listened to me."

"You can't know that." The class representative knelt in front of Yuna and grabbed her by the shoulders, the clothing sliding to the floor. "That doesn't have to be! Do you hear me?!"

"I should have died long ago. It was my fate to die, but I resisted," she sniffed. "Now Hikari had to die because of me."

"You're talking complete nonsense. It has nothing to do with you," Nisha said.

Yuna stared at her and shouted, "Everything has to do with me!" She wiped her tears away, but they just didn't stop. "Its my fault. I would like to tell her that I'm sorry. I want to ask her for forgiveness so much. For everything I did to her."

The cat girl nodded silently and looked over at her dead friend. "That can be arranged."

Snuffling, the blue-haired girl rubbed her eyes and looked at her. "What do you mean?"

Nisha forced a smile. "I have to make a confession to you." Nervously, she stroked her gray hair. "I wasn't sincere with you."

"W-what do you mean?"

The green eyes caught the huntress' gaze. "I'm not an ordinary Neko Hengeyōkai, but a Bakeneko," said the cat girl.

Yuna remembered the legend of the Bakeneko, a cat that lived so long that it became a Yōkai. They were supposed to bring curses and misfortunes to the people. It was said, that they can turn into humans and master necromantic spells.

The blue-haired girl blinked in astonishment. "You can bring back Hikari?" the huntress asked cautiously.

"No." The gray-haired student got a sad expression and pointed to the mark on her hip. "Haruka has sealed my powers so I will not become a threat. That's why I live with her so she can keep me under control. Only my transformation skills work. But I can open the seal."

Yuna nodded quickly. "You would do that for me?"

Tears streamed down Nisha's cheeks. "Of course! I would do anything for you. You are my best friend, Yuna-chan!"

Now the Masuda girl had to cry again. Tears of relief left her eyes and she hugged her friend vigorously. "Thank you! I thank you so much!"

"Thank you, because you're my friend." They pressed against each other, but then Nisha broke away from her. "I hope you still like me afterwards."

"Of course. How could I not?"

The cat girl looked down. "You will see my true form."

Smiling, the blue-haired girl put a hand on her bare shoulder. "You're my friend. Nothing can change that in this world. You will always be my friend, no matter what."

"I hope so."

The class representative wiped away the tears and stood up. She took a few steps away from Yuna, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, they glowed red.

The huntress winced, but didn't turn her gaze away.

Nisha clenched her fists and took a deep breath, but then the glow in her eyes began to flicker. The mark on her hip flashed and glowed brightly. She gritted her teeth and her whole body tensed. The eyes shone stronger and the mark began to flicker. Fine cracks formed in the glow of the mark and then it shattered and disappeared.

Instantly the whole room was obscured, so that Yuna could only see dense clouds of fog around her. Everything was wrapped in a dim, red light. A sound remotely reminiscent of a cat's distorted purring resounded and echoed from all sides at the huntress. She still looked where Nisha stood last.