A trickle of morning sunlight peeks through white clean blinds in a small window to fall upon the face of a comely, pretty face with short cropped hair. His brow furrows and his facial muscles twitches as he dreams. There is a soft clicking sound as the door into the room opens as an older attractive woman of more than thirty years peeks inside and smiles at the face of the boy, and gazes upon his face with an expression of fondness on her face.

“You are sleeping in this morning aren’t you, you lazy boy Madoka,” she laughs. “I will let you sleep in for a little longer.” She chuckles as she backs out and closes the door gently.

“Mom!” Madoka smiles brightly as she dashes into the kitchen, her skirt swirling as she dashes to Midoriya and embraces her.

Midoriya gasps and laughs, gently patting the beautiful girl’s head as she hugs her.

“Good morning, Sugar!” she laughs and Madoka smiles brightly up at her. “Did you sleep well, daughter?”

“Yes!” Madoka exclaims. “I slept wonderfully!” She grins.

“Good morning, Madoka-chan!” a familiar voice greets Madoka. She turns to smile brightly to greet Aoi.

She stands by the kitchen table, clutching her bookbag, and smiles warmly at Madoka.

Madoka grins at her, and rushes over to hug her. It’s all so familiar and wonderful. That face before others makes her feel happy. She spreads her arms to hug her and as she comes into contact with her, Aoi turns into motes of light that drift upwards. Madoka crashes into the chair behind her and stares down in shock down, puzzled.

“This is not your destiny.” A laughing voice comes from behind her. It’s a very familiar yet unfamiliar voice. She turns and gazes backwards, no longer seeing the kitchen around her but seeing nothing, nothing but a fixed expression. It’s a classic monster oni grimace on a figure clad in a dark blue Kimono hovering in the air. Madoka’s eyes widen and she backs away. When he looks down for a moment he notices that he wears a black school uniform with a buttoned up blazer with insignia emblazoned upon its chest. He reaches up to touch his hair and it’s short cropped, and as he does, his memories return.

“What an intriguing dream, you had.” The voice of the squat figure laughs with that peculiar voice. “You dreamed of another parallel world. Be grateful that you did not lose as much.

“Lose? But I… I gained…” Madoka shakes his head. “And lost,” he murmurs. “Who are you, why are you here?” Madoka asks, taking on a defensive position, fists up as though he intends to defend himself.

“You have strong spiritual power, but it sleeps. This version of you is much more blessed.” The Oni chuckles, stepping towards Madoka. “Or perhaps not,” it taunts him.

Madoka withers inside, realizing that he has lost something precious, somehow, or maybe it is something he never had. There is a quality to contentment and happiness that he doesn’t know. 

“Your parents live. You have entered high school in Tokyo. What do you have to complain about?” the Oni laughs.

“What do I have to complain about? I… I don’t know.” Madoka falters for a moment, his stance relaxing. I lost the love of my life. In another life. I have not found that here.

“Your heart yearns for something… you aren’t voicing that feeling inside you. But it is not for you. You can never have it.” The frightening oni with the grimacing expression suddenly lunges at him and Madoka steps back, arms before him, screaming, and for a moment fire seems to consume him, filling him with a familiar agony.

Madoka sits up, screaming and gasping, his body drenched in sweat. He stares blankly for a long moment as he gulps. He thinks about the dreams he just had. More importantly, the memories attached to that other self fill his mind, filling with a sudden strange sensation that he has never felt before. He closes his eyes to control his emotions and clamp them down for a long moment as tears leak from his eyes.

His bedroom door opens again with a click. “Madoka? Are you alright, son?” the gentle voice of her mother says. She looks up at the face and for a moment sees the warm expression of… of someone else. It is fading slowly.

“Mother… I’m alright.” He smiles, putting his hand to his head. “I’m not feeling well. I… I just had a… strange dream,” he murmurs.

“I see…” Mana steps inside the room, approaches him and smiles. “You’re drenched in sweat. Your sheets are drenched. Hurry to the bathroom and I will change your bedding.” She fondly touches his hair.

Madoka looks at his mother’s face and smiles. Inside a warm feeling spreads inside of her, originating from the remnants of his other self clinging inside. He feels relief at seeing her face, though it is strange to feel that way since she has never gone anywhere.

“Yes, mother.” He smiles, barely restraining an urge to embrace his mother as he stands. He is taller than he used to be. He has had a growth spurt since the vacation last year. Yesterday he was proud of it; now he is filled with a mixture of conflicting emotions about it.

He steps out of his room and towards the bathroom. He steps into it and slides the door behind him as he takes off the damp tee shirt and wet shorts, deposits them into the laundry basket by the washing machine, eyes himself in the mirror, and stares at himself. The appearance is familiar to him, and yet the other self lingering within him gazes upon him and is filled with disgust for his muscularity. His body is fit. His appearance is handsome, though a little plain. The absence of breasts feels strangely odd to him. He reaches down to touch his genitals and shakes his head.

His other self had mourned the loss but now the feelings are mixed up. He runs his fingers through his short hair with a sigh and that troubling sensation spreads through him. He walks to a seat by the hand shower, starts to soak down his body with the sprayer, and sighs with an expression of relief, feeling the water rolling down his body. When he finishes soaking himself, he starts shampooing his hair. By reflex, he reaches a bit too far back as though oddly expecting the hair to be longer. He flushes slightly, moves on to rinsing his hair, and then soaps up and rinses his whole body before stepping into the bath and sinking down into it.

He sighs and sinks down, but finds that he’s too big to immerse himself in it as he had expected to be able to. Once again, Madoka isn’t able to fight tears. Something is seriously wrong.

Madoka rubs himself down with a towel, drying his body and his hair, and absently wraps the towel around himself as he steps out of the bathroom. As his mother walks past him, she gives him an odd look and he notices that the towel is wrapped around his chest, barely covering his genitals. He blinks and blushes as he shifts the towel down to his waist, feeling a little self-conscious to be bare chested.

Madoka steps inside of his bedroom and closes the door as he finishes the drying task and steps over to his closet to select a checkered button up shirt, a fresh tee, and a pair of black pants. There aren’t any classes today. He looks at the uniform hanging up on a hanger on the door of his closet door and smiles wryly at it. It’s just as it was in his dream. A black uniform with buttons up and down and ironed pants. The chest has a blazoned insignia for the school that he is attending.

The high school exam was not difficult. As he stares at the uniform, feeling a little wistful about the breezy cute uniform that his other self wore, he jumps a little as his cell phone rings. He looks over towards it on his side table; he notes his friend’s name Tatsuo flashing as a Street Fighter melody plays. Madoka dashes to the bedside table, wrestling his pants on, and breathlessly answers the call.

“Hi there, man.” Tatsuo’s voice comes over the line.

“Hey, Tatsuo. What’s up?” he asks, sitting down on his bed.

“Oh not much. I was thinking we should hit up Harajuku and see if we can score a date or two today. What do you think?” Tatsuo’s voice was grinning.

“Oh sure, that sounds okay.” Madoka chuckles.

“Alright! Let’s do it. Plus I was thinking while we’re there we can hit up a shrine to pick up a horoscope and pray for our test tomorrow.”

“That’s a good idea.” Madoka smiles. The idea definitely seemed a good one.

“Good morning, Madoka.” Madoka’s father grins at him as he walks into the kitchen.

“Good morning, Father!” Madoka bows and smiles. He has that same deep feeling of happiness at seeing his Father’s face as seeing his Mother. He seats himself at his usual place, and looks up at his mother as she steps over to the table with a frying pan held with her left hand in an oven mitt. She uses a pair of cooking chopsticks to deposits four sausages and a rolled omelette onto his plate to go with the miso soup already in front of him next to a cup of morning tea. Madoka smiles warmly at his mother.

“Thank you, Mother. It looks good!” He grins.

“I’m glad!” she laughs. “What will you do today, Madoka?” she asks, as she moves over to her father’s side and deposits his sausage and rolled omelette on his plate. He smiles a beaming expression at her and she smiles back at him.

Madoka chuckles a little at the warmth between them. “Ah… Tatsuo wanted to go to a shrine today to pray for success tomorrow.” Madoka decided not to mention the part about going to Harajuku to hit on girls.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea! Such good boys!” She grins as she deposits her own smaller portions onto her plate, and steps to the sink before returning to the table and starting to distribute small bowls of rice, scooping them fresh from the rice cooker at the table. Nobuo and Madoka bow as she hands each of them their bowls before scooping her own.

The family eat together quietly, sharing warm smiles from time to time as they enjoy their meals.

A shadowy figure gazes at Madoka’s figure as he leaves his house and walks up the street towards a nearby train station. It chuckles. The boy will be his toy.

Madoka feels a chill as he starts walking towards the train station, and look around anxiously before breaking into a jog. There is an odd sensation of anxiety suddenly overwhelming him. He rubs the goosebumps on his arms as he jogs towards the train station, and the sensation fades.

He reaches an intersection at a red light and jogs in place while waiting for the walking light to go green and the chime to go off. A few people around him at the intersection smile at him. He’s somewhat taller than most of them at the moment. He smiles in return for their smiles, and when the light changes, he jogs across the street and continues to the stairs down towards the station. He jogs down them quickly and down the hallway to the station proper down a few turns away. He slows when he spots Tatsuo, who raises his hand with a ready grin.

Tatsuo has classic dark hair and is slightly taller than he is. He wears a shirt with blue patterns on it and a pair of slightly shredded blue jeans with his hair styled in a very macho greased look.

“You look greasy today.” Madoka chuckles as he greets Tatsuo. Tatsuo grins at him in return.

“You look a little nerdy. Not bad looking though, very neat.” He grins and checks his watch. “Ah, we need to hurry. The train is coming soon. C’mon!” He gestures.

Madoka follows and the two go through the ticket stands, swiping their IC cards in separate stands, and rush through the small station, through a small mall and downstairs to a platform. On the right platform a train is arriving bound towards Shinjuku and Harajuku. The two rush towards it as doors open, wait politely for others waiting to board and step in afterwards, standing and holding the poles near the door. A jingle plays and the doors close as the train starts moving forward.

“Are we going to the shrine first?” Madoka inquires with a smile.

“Nah. We’ll hit up Harajuku first.” He grins.

“Oh… alright.” Madoka smiles. A sensation of anxiety fills him again and looks around the inside of the train, not seeing anything out of ordinary, but something feels strange to him. As he stares at the interior of the train, everyone in the train seems to disappears and he sees a vision of the other him sitting in a corner seat of the train holding hands with another girl. She has long brown hair with light blue eyes. The two sit there and cuddle together openly. Her other self wears a brace on her legs. Remembering how difficult it was to walk makes his knees buckle and shake, but more than that, the feelings for this girl are strong. He reaches out with one hand towards her, clutching the pole next to him desperately, and suddenly everyone re-appears as a hand roughly shakes his shoulder.

“Madoka… c’mon… it’s Harajuku. Why are you staring off into space?” Tatsuo asks, laughing. “Stop daydreaming. That’s not like you.” He yanks Madoka off the train; he gasps, clamping down the emotions welling up inside of him, and looks at Tatsuo with a weak smile.

“Oh, sorry... “ Madoka manages with a sigh.

“What’s the matter with you? You’re different today.” Tatsuo frowns at Madoka as people walk past.

Madoka shakes his head. “I’m fine. Let’s go,” Madoka murmurs.

“Yeah… alright. Cheer up!” Tatsuo grins and punches Madoka’s shoulder lightly, who chuckles a little.

The two head out of the station, through the IC checks and a crowd to the exits. Madoka looks across the road into Harajuku and smiles a little. The thought of going there to try to pick up girls seems a bit odd to him, but it should be fun to walk around even if things don’t work out. He feels an odd sensation while waiting at the crosswalk, and looks over his shoulder toward the entry to Yoyogi Park across the shrine bridge. An oddly familiar figure stands on the bridge amid the crowd. The people around him unconsciously seem to part for him. He stands erect and Madoka is certain that the eyes are firmly fastened to him. He can’t make out the features of the tall man, but even so there is a familiar quality to him.

Madoka is tugged across the intersection suddenly and hears the walk tune going off. He blinks and looks around. “C’mon! You aren’t listening, Madoka. Don’t act like a girl. Just because you have a girl name doesn’t mean you should start acting like that,” Tatsuo admonished him.

“Ah… sorry.” Madoka blinks, putting a hand to his head. “I know, I don’t like my name either.” Madoka laughs.

“You’re a cool guy anyways despite all that, usually,” Tatsuo says as Madoka follows him. “You used to be kind of girly, but you grew into a manly frame over the last year or so. You look cool now. You have to develop a macho, you know? Maybe getting a date or two will help.” He grins.

“Ah… maybe.” Madoka laughs, running his fingers through his short cropped hair.

“Just to be clear, we’re not here to browse the girly shops. You didn’t have that in mind, I hope?” He eyes Madoka.

“I… it didn’t cross my mind.” Madoka laughs. Okay, maybe a little bit. Harajuku is a fun place.

Tatsuo rolls his eyes. “Good.” He chuckles and leads Madoka into the Otome road, and The two walk through the thick crowd into Harajuku. 

Tatsuo stops him at a corner by a crepe stand, and stands there staring to make eye contact with the eyes of girls around his age going along the path. Madoka observes him for a while and laughs a little, and after a while, attempts at the same technique. Finally, after blushing at meeting a few eyes, he stops. Being aggressive isn’t easy for him as it is for Tatsuo. He resumes leaning back and watches Tatsuo posing, and then, bored and a little hungry, he turns his gaze towards the crepe stand across the narrow street nearby. After waiting a long period with nothing seemingly happening, on impulse Madoka decides to wait in line for a crepe with a cheerful smile. He crosses the street.

Tatsuo notices him move into the line of the crepe stand and he sighs visibly, putting his hand to his face, shaking his head.

Madoka ignores Tatsuo, studying the menu and grinning, deciding on what to order. While waiting, a girl with short hair steps into the line behind him. He notices and smiles, nodding to her, looking back towards the menu. The girl steps beside him and smiles where he can see. Madoka blinks and smiles again.

“Oh, hello.” He bows slightly. She bows slightly in response to his bow.

“Hello! You like crepes?” she asks with a small smile.

“Ah… yes… I mean… I haven’t had one in a while, but yes.” Madoka responds. He takes in the scent. The odors are slightly clouded somewhat by the scent of a nearby hamburger restaurant, but the sweet fruity smells do waft from the crepes and the scents make his stomach growl loudly.

“You are really hungry,” she points out with a laugh.

“You’re right.” Madoka blushes and laughs, embarrassed.

“Didn’t you have breakfast?” she asks.

“Yes… I don’t know why I’m already hungry again,” Madoka comments.

“You’re funny.” The girl grins. “What is your name?” she asks.

“I’m funny? Really? Ahaha…” Madoka laughs. “I didn’t think so. Ah, my name is Fugui Madoka.” Madoka bows a little. The girl stares at him for a long moment and her smile spreads to a grin.

“That is such a cute name for a boy. I like that. I’m Fujita Harue. Nice to meet you.” She smiles.

Tatsuo gapes at him from across the street with a frustrated expression.

Madoka chuckles a little, noticing Tatsuo’s expression, but focuses on the cute short haired girl. “Nice to meet you too.” Madoka smiles.

“Want to walk together in Harajuku today? I don’t have anything better to do, I mean… I mean I’m alone today.” Harue smiles deprecatingly.

“I’d love that.” Madoka blushes and smiles, and notices that it’s his turn to make an order. He walks up to the counter and the girl does at the same time with a smile.

“Oh… I’ll treat you, okay?” Madoka smiles at the girl.

The girl nods and flushes slightly. “I don’t mind you treating me. I’ll repay it.” She smiles warmly.

Madoka looks at the menu again and smiles. “I would like a strawberry banana crepe, please.” 

The woman behind the counter studies him for a moment and nods, smiling, then turns her gaze towards the girl beside him.

“And what would you like?” she asks politely.

“Chocolate with berries.” Harue smiles and the woman nods, bowing. She tallies up the orders.

“950 yen.” Madoka removes his wallet from his pocket, removes a 1000 yen note, and hands it to her. The woman bows as she accepts the note and exchange it for a 50 yen coin.

“Lucky! You should take it to a shrine.” She smiles as she hands it to Madoka who grins and accepts the coin, staring at it for a moment. It’s amazing that it worked out that way. I didn’t have any of these coins on me at the moment. What are the odds?

The two step to the side as Madoka pockets the coin and Tatsuo walks over with a grin on his face.

“What is this? Did you find a date already before me? What a stud you are!” Tatsuo asks with a teasing expression.

“Ah… I…” Madoka looks at Harue, blushing slightly, who looks back at him and blushes slightly herself.

“I don’t mind calling it that.” Harue grins and takes Madoka’s arm. Madoka blushes and stiffens slightly, looking down slightly at her, then looks at Tatsuo.

Tatsuo shakes his head and laughs. “You beat me. I’ll try to find one too. We’ll double date then.” He grins and walks back across the street, looking even more determined, suddenly.

They don’t wait long for their crepes. The clerk calls to them and hands them their crepes. They stand away from the stand together and study their crepes. His is red and white with an odor of bananas and strawberries tantalizing him. He studies hers as well as she starts eating it. It is filled with berries and chocolate ice cream and it looks amazing too.

“Ehe… nice choice.” Harue observed hers. Madoka laughs softly, noting a puff of whipped cream clinging to Harue’s cute nose. He reaches out impulsively and rubs the tip of his finger over her nose tip and she blushes slightly, looking shocked at first; then she focuses on the whipped cream on his fingertip and laughs. Madoka is more shocked when the girl licks the tip of his finger daringly. Madoka can’t believe it. He turns even more red, and she laughs aloud.

The two enjoys the crepes, looking over towards Tatsuo. Finally, Harue and he fall into peals of giggles after a series of strong attempts to attract the interest of girls have no results so far. When the two have finished their crepes, Harue looks at Madoka.

“Was that good? It’s not very macho to enjoy a fruity crepe like that. I like that though.” She grins.

Madoka blushes and laughs a little. “Ah yes… I probably need to work on that.”

“No… I think it’s fine.” Harue takes his hand and Madoka blushes a little, squeezing her hand.

The two quietly watch Tatsuo together, and finally close to noon he dejectedly walks across the way back to them. “Damn..” he curses softly. He pauses for a long moment and then sighs. “Dude, I’m hungry. I need to charge up my energy.”

“Get a crepe. They’re pretty good.” Madoka points at the stand.

“No. I don’t like sweet food.” He wrinkles his nose. “It’s not masculine.”

Madoka shrugs and smiles.

“Let’s go to McDonald’s. I smell the hamburgers. Come on. I’ll treat you both to something.” He states bigly. Madoka and Harue laugh and nod. 

“I think I could eat something else.” Madoka chuckles.

The three walk down the busy road down the way towards the McDonald’s and walk in. The McDonald’s is packed as expected, Madoka notes. They wait in line at the counter.

“What are your hobbies?” Harue asks while they wait.

“Oh… um.. jogging, gaming, Karaoke…” Madoka trails off.

“Oh! Karaoke! Would you like to do that?” Harue asks, her eyes shining suddenly.

“Oh sure…” Madoka laughs. “I’m not very good, but I do like to sing.” He grins. “Hey Tatsuo…” Madoka blinks, startled as he notices that they are up to the counter now and Tatsuo is making eyes at a cute girl with long curly blond hair very faintly resembling Kanna who is working the counter. More interesting, the girl is looking back interestedly at him. Madoka looks at Harue and she shrugs and grins.

“It had to happen sometime, I guess.”

The four walk away from the McDonald’s at 16:07 after the girl’s shift has ended down the road towards a Karaoke place together. The girl introduced herself to them as Hasegawa Emi. Once she changed out of her uniform, she revealed her identity as a gyaru with full makeup to go with her well-styled slightly curly blonde hair. Madoka is surprised that Tatsuo has managed to attracted the interest of such a cute gyaru!

They head together into the karaoke, and once again Tatsuo graciously pays for the karaoke room. They head inside and enjoy the comfortable couch in the karaoke room, and order drinks quickly. Tatsuo goes first and chooses a super masculine J-pop romantic song for Emi, singing “Slow Dancin’”. When he finishes afterwards, he poses with grandiosity that would rival even Eiji’s dramatic style.

Madoka steps up next and finally selects a Yohio song. When he is finished, Tatsuo laughs aloud.

“Kami, you’re a ringer for Yohio pretty boy,” he ribs Madoka. Madoka blushes and looks away. No, he is definitely not pretty like that. He takes a seat and withdraws anxiously. Harue smiles warmly at him and speaks quietly to him to comfort him while Emi stands up next, quickly chooses a song, and begins to sing “Final Distance” by Utada Hikaru.

They all watch her, stunned at her voice as she sings the part. When she finishes, Tatsuo stands and claps thunderously. Madoka and Harue clap enthusiastically, but more reservedly than Tatsuo.

Finally, Harue stands and selects a song. She takes a pose dramatically and begins singing, and Madoka quickly recognizes “Catch the Moment” by LiSA. He watches her with a broad smile and moves to the rhythm to the song, and when she finishes, he cheers enthusiastically for her. She blushes and grins, posing with a verve.

“You’re very good!” Madoka grins at her.

“Yes, that was really good!” Tatsuo compliments her.

“You’ve got a sassy attitude. I like it!” Emi smiles, tossing her hair in a classic Gyaru attitude way.

“Not like that. I’m a bit of a tomboy.” She laughs. “Thank you, though,” she murmurs as she settles down and sips her drink. The four sit talking for a while mostly, going up once in a while to sing, but after a few hours their time ends and they walk out of the karaoke joint onto the street in the afternoon.

“Alright, let’s head to the shrine and make our prayers,” Tatsuo says, leading the way back to Yoyogi Park.

“Oh, to the shrine? You’re very dutiful,” Emi comments.

“Not very.” Tatsuo grins. “But we can use all the help we can get!”

“No… I’m good, probably.” Madoka laughs.

“Well, maybe you are, Madoka, but not me.” Tatsuo chuckles.

The four wait at the intersection to cross towards the shrine bridge. As they wait, Madoka feels goosebumps on his arms again as he waits, feeling eyes on him again. What is going on? he thinks to himself.

When the intersection starts chiming, they cross and walk over to the shrine bridge and across it. Despite Madoka’s odd menacing feelings, the walk is relatively pleasant as usual up the long way through the park to the shrine. The sky is slightly overcast overhead, but the forecast hasn’t said anything about it raining today, thankfully. Madoka attempts to lose the drowning feelings he experiences by initiating a light and pleasant conversation with Tatsuo and the girls, and fifteen minutes worth of walking bring them to one of the large gates into the shrine.

Madoka smiles happily as they approach it. The peaceful and holiness of this shrine start to help him to relax a little, seeing it, even though that strange feeling still nags at him. Just before stepping across the threshold of the shrine with his friends, everything around him seems to freeze and everyone in the large crowd seem to disappear altogether. Madoka gasps, looking around; suddenly a clawed hand reaches to grasp around his neck and a nail pierces his neck slightly.

“No, I don’t think I will allow you to enter the shrine.” The grip tightens on his neck. “You will not be safe there.”

“W-hat…” Madoka gasps, gripping the arm of the figure holding him. Slowly the figure pulls him back and turns him, and once again he faces the grimacing menacing monstrosity face of the Oni that has been in his dream.

“You’re my toy to play with, boy,” he laughs. “I will devour your spiritual power, now. I’ve had my fun in hunting you. Now I will steal away your hope.” His iron grip pulls Madoka towards him and his mask seems to distort as his mouth gapes impossibly enormously.

“N-no…” Madoka struggles fiercely against the arm, but finds that he is unable budge it, and he weakens as the figure pulls him close to it.

The figure draws back and screams as a flash of light slashes between them. The sensation make him feel burned. Suddenly a cloth wraps tightly around his waist and yanks him backwards. The Oni figure snarls and rushes toward him. Suddenly, there is only searing light as he is pulled backwards into the shrine, and after the searing light there is darkness.

When Madoka wakes up, he looks around the room blearily and puts a hand to his head to steady himself as he sits up. After a moment he notices the room is a classic room with tatami, a low table in the corner, and an alcove nearby with a vase with flowers in it. The flowers are multicolored and breathtaking lovely. Madoka stands and realizes that he’s naked. He blushes redly, covering his genitals.

The shoji slide open and a somewhat familiar figure steps inside the room. Madoka recognizes the man, and gapes at him. It is the same man he spotted on the bridge earlier.

“K-Kozuke?” Madoka gapes.

The man grins. “Ah you know me. I’m very pleased to hear it. That you know me is very curious…” He steps close to Madoka and Madoka blinks, eyeing the animal ears on top of the man’s head. They’re like fox’s ears or cat’s ears… What?

“Why do you look like that?” Madoka asks.

“Hm? Look like what?” he says, puzzled, and finally notices that Madoka is staring at his ears.

“Oh! You didn’t know? I’m a shrine lion dog.” He sweeps a deep elegant bow. “I’m pleased to meet you.” He smiles. “Come with me. The Kami who saved you awaits your presence. Will you come?” he asks.

“What? O-of course!!!” Madoka gasps. “But...” He looks around. “Where are my clothes?”

“You will go unclad before the Kami. I know it’s a little embarrassing, but come.” He gestures. “The master awaits.”

“What???” Madoka gasps as Kozuke pulls him through the doorway. What is going on??!!

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