Today, Holly slept in and was awoken by the tickling sensation by their neck. They jolted up and accidentally bonked Ryuki on the head with theirs. Holly recoils with a small pout. “Ouch! Hey, what are you doing?”

Ryuki likewise holds their nose in pain, but they dramatically flop back down on the bed. “I have been slain! Woah is me, the mighty kyonshi has fallen. Felled by such a cute enby elf!” She dramatically shakes her limbs before going limp. Without the necessity to breathe, Ryuki does look almost scarily dead. Good thing she is only a yokai-kyonshi? Holly isn’t too familiar with yokai particularly, and they don’t focus on it while they are laughing at their friend’s antics.

“You’re such a drama queen! I guess that means it’s okay to…” As their voice trails off they flop onto Ryuki, who wickedly grins and wraps her arms around Holly. “Eeeeeek!”

Ryuki laughs evilly. “Aha!! Good luck escaping my grasp now! This is payback for the blankets, traitor!”

Holly tries to wiggle free but is surprised by how strong their grip is. Not to mention Ryuki’s arms seem a bit longer than they were before. Normally they can’t just trap Holly so thoroughly. They’ll have to use their secret weapon.

“Hey, brat. I need to use the restroom.” 

It worked like a charm. She immediately pulls away and allows Holly to escape Ryuki’s clutches. With their freedom they quickly head to the restroom, but to only take a shower and get ready. They didn’t bring a spare change of clothes so they will just reuse yesterday’s clothes and change them before breakfast. This was mostly to spite Ryuki who realized what had happened and pounded on the door.

“Holly!!!! Oh you’re the worst!” Ryuki’s voice was muffled and broken by laughter, despite their best attempt to be serious. Holly had won this round.

________________________________________________________________________

Escaping the dorm with Mrs. Birch at the front desk was a difficult task. But with Ryuki by their side, Holly was up for the challenge. Ryuki, although Holly cherished her with all their heart, can be a little shit when she wants to be. Exhibit A: She went straight to the nearby lounge chairs and proudly hops between them to get Mrs. Birch’s unyielding attention. Holly felt bad but they used the opportunity to sign themself out, changing the date and time to yesterday night, and scurrying back to their dorm to get changed and ready for the day. This time they are opting for a mushroom-themed cardigan with a fall turtleneck sweater and black sweats.

Shortly after, Holly receives a text from the mouse beastkin to meet up in the cafeteria. When they arrive, they are delighted to find another student: a skyfolk stretching their wings as they yawn. Making a mental note to talk to them after meeting up with the mouse boy, they line up to get some breakfast: pancakes with a side of eggs, cut fruit, and a hot cafe mocha.

The mouse boy nearly smacks into Holly as they turn to walk towards a table. Luckily Holly managed to stabilize themself before the drink spilled onto the floor. They look down at the petite mouse who is frantically apologizing. 

“Oh I am so sorry I didn’t even see you there. I am not normally this klutzy,” he squeaks.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ll find us a table and get us a spot to sit. You go get yourself some food.” At their suggestion, he squeaks and hurries to get some breakfast. Holly barely has time to sit down before he returns with an everything bagel egg and cheese sandwich and orange juice.

Now that he is sitting down and not running about, Holly can get a good look at him. He has short silver hair and wide pink eyes that nervously dart back and forth. His nose is spotted with pink freckles. He is wearing a white collared shirt with a Christmas themed sweater vest and black trousers. A pair of black loafers complete the look. His long tail has a small green bow tie accessory near the tip. 

“Sorry for the wait. I came here as fast as I could!”

“Don’t be. You’re right on time. I don’t think I've introduced myself yet. I’m Holly. I use they/ them/ theirs pronouns.” Holly smiles and takes a sip of their mocha, a wandering thought crossing their mind of whether or not beastkin could drink coffee or chocolate. Surely their dietary needs are still like a human's, right?

“Oh! I completely spaced it! I’m Theo. He/ him/ his, please. It’s nice to meet you officially!” He gives a sweet grin and takes a small bite of his sandwich. “You wanted to talk about the cafe incident, right?” 

“Yes, if you are able to. I know it was a very chaotic time, and all. Even my memory of it is a little fuzzy.”

Theo nods. “Me too, but I remember the cutscene in my game. And then there was that earthquake, right? As it happened, I think I saw a guy enter the cafe. I remember trying to call out to him but then that gas line broke. Maybe it was my imagination, but it looked like the smoke went straight towards him. When I came to, he looked far more feminine. I think everyone had a sex change of some sort. B-but obviously I don’t know for sure! Aside from myself, that is- aaaaaa I’ve made it worse!”

“It’s okay! I completely understand what you mean. I am similar. Well, sort of. But my friend and the others I’ve talked to say similarly. Which… you remember right?” Holly asks, to which Theo nods. As he explains being AFAB and being grateful for his body, Holly can’t help but wonder about Ryuki. She said she was a woman, but before this incident she identified as a cis guy. Was she trans this whole time? Or maybe she figured herself out in a day? They’re sure going to ask Ryuki later. The only reason they didn’t yesterday and this morning was because so much has been happening these past few days. Holly was so deep in thought that they didn’t notice Theo squeaking to get their attention.

“Oh! Huh? Sorry, I was lost in thought there.”

“Oh it’s okay. I was just worried there for a moment. You don’t really know what side-effects this has, you know?” 

Holly nods. “Yeah. And you’ve given me a very good lead. You see, I’m looking for a person, but I wasn’t sure who. Do you remember what the person looked like?” 

“Let me see… I think they were beastkin like me, but really feminine. Um…” he thinks hard for a moment but eventually he shakes his head. “Sorry. It’s really fuzzy. I think they talked with some people? I was too busy trying to look out for myself at the time. Sorry.”

“Oh! Don’t worry, this has been very helpful, thank you!” Holly reassures with a smile. “Let’s eat before our food gets too cold,” they say, and both of them eat in earnest. Holly contemplates on the information. Let’s see… who was by the entrance? It was a beastkin who was very feminine. They had to be by the entrance, but also near other people. Wait… Morgan and Shay were by the entrance with Luna. Luna was very out of it too, and seemed very disoriented. Could it be Luna? It could be a coincidence, but still… better to be sure. She IS a beastkin after all. If she’s still on campus that is. She could be anywhere at this rate. Hmm…

Breakfast concluded with small talk, getting to know each other. Afterwards, Holly thanked Theo again for his time and went to chat with the skyfolk girl from earlier. She was more than happy to chat about the incident, but didn’t have much more information. When they checked the nurse’s office again, there were 2 cafe victims but they had the same info as Rahlia. Nothing new. 

For a change of pace, they tried checking out the gym, the computer labs, library, the counseling center, anywhere they could think of on campus. Nothing. Feeling a bit desperate, Holly ended up going back to the gaming cafe. But even that was fruitless. When they arrived, the doors were closed. It’s unsurprising, as there was supposedly a gas leak, but even when they peaked inside the window, it looked tidied up and not at all like an earthquake/ gas leak disaster. (To be fair, Holly is unfamiliar with what it would look like aside from movies and media portrayals of such incidents.) 

By the time they finished checking everywhere they wanted to check, the sun was already going down. Not surprising because it’s winter, but disheartening to Holly because they weren’t expecting it to take this long. With a sigh, they walk back to campus. Perhaps I should try messaging Morgan and Shay. I forgot yesterday, and maybe they have had more success than I have. As Holly begins to pull out their phone, they overhear a commotion. Looking over, they see a small crowd amassed around a… fight? Holly hurries over and gently pushes their way through the people to get a better view. Nearby some crushed debris is a womanly fox beastkin with blue hair done up in big twin tails wearing a golden shrine maiden outfit. An extremely muscular tiger beastkin man with bloodshot eyes and a fanged scowl was climbing out of the debris. Without a shirt. In the middle of winter. Normally, that would concern Holly, but they were focused on him suddenly lunging with sharp claws extended towards the woman. 

Before anyone could react, the woman deftly dodges his lunge to the side. When he turns back to attack her again, she sidesteps, grabs his arm, and uses his motion to help assist her in shoving him into a poor wooden bench which cracks and splinters effortlessly under the force. It seems that knocked him out, as he makes no effort to get up. The small crowd cheers but then quickly scatters when the woman shoos them all away. Holly is determined to stay so they don’t budge.

“Hey! This is a dangerous area so shoo! Get out of-” The woman stops and stares for a brief second. “Another one? Oh dear. This really isn’t good. By any chance were you also at the gaming cafe?”

Holly raises an eyebrow. “Yes, I was, but I don’t remember you there.”

The woman scrunches her face in worry. “Yes, I ran into Morgan and Shauna earlier and heard about it from them. I actually work at the Starlight Cafe nearby. My name is Nina and you are…” She makes a gesturing motion with her hand and a screen pops up into the air. Huh. That’s certainly something you don’t see every day. “Holly?” 

Holly stares at her, dumbfounded. “...h-how did you…?”

Nina shakes her head. “Sorry, I really don’t have a lot of time to explain this. I’m from SoulSeeker Online- SSO, and I am one of Lady Amaterasu’s shrine maidens. I would really love to explain all of this, but I need to get this guy secured before he- Oh no!” Nina rushes over to where she left the unconscious beastkin, only for him to have disappeared. Was he feigning unconsciousness? What a crafty feline. 

“This isn’t good. I need to find the others, and fast. He was corrupted by Tsukiyomi.” Nina is about to scurry off but Holly catches her arm.

“Hold on. You need to slow down. You’re from SSO? You know what, at this point it may as well be true. Who are you looking for? And what is this about corruption? Did Tsukiyomi do something to that beastkin? Is that why he attacked you?”

Nina swishes her tail and lets out a sigh. Once Holly determines that she won’t dart off, they cautiously let go of her arm. “Sorry. I’ll do my best to explain as fast as I can.” The two start walking towards the campus together. “ The world in SSO is actually a real world. What you saw in that cutscene Morgan explained was actually a real battle. Tsukiyomi was able to target civilians on Earth. Are you with me so far?”

Perhaps Holly would be far more skeptical, but after the last few days, as they mentioned earlier, this may as well happen? Another world, magic, gods and goddesses battling? Cute pets and companions- “Wait. Does that mean the pets and mounts are real too?”

Nina blinks, surprised that out of all the questions someone may have had about a new world, that was what Holly asked. “Er, yes. Perhaps after everything settles down I could show you some of them.” Holly’s face lights up in glee. They can actually meet their cute and cool companions!

“A-anyway, after that battle, Lady Amaterasu sent me here to investigate what happened. It seems Tsukiyomi fled to the real world and is now corrupting innocent civilians. Most likely starting with those who were at the cafe.” Nina continued her explanation. “Morgan and Shauna were with me, but they fled as soon as that tiger attacked them.”

“Wait… Morgan and Shauna? Did Shauna crack?” Holly asked, curious.

Nina’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, you realized she was an egg too?”

“Yeah. It seemed obvious to me, but then again I’ve had experience as a former egg myself. I’m nonbinary,” Holly explains with a shrug. 

“Oh thank the goddess. Finally, someone who isn’t an oblivious egg. I am all for finding out who you are at any age and time, but I was starting to worry about a pattern at this rate!” Nina chuckles to herself. “Well, anyway, I need to find the other cafe victims before they get corrupted by Tsukiyomi. You wouldn’t happen to have any info, do you?”

Now it’s Holly’s turn to show off in their own way. “Actually, I’ve been investigating myself yesterday and today. I’ve gotten a lot of different accounts, and I have an idea who was corrupted first.” Holly frowns, contemplating. “I think I do, anyway.”

Holly regales their search thus far including who they talked to and when. They talked in depth about Ryuki’s account as a worker, and ended with Theo’s account and their current lead. “So… that’s where I am currently at. I am on the hunt for a feminine looking beastkin. I… have a hunch that it could be someone called Luna. I don’t know for sure, but at this point in time it seems like the likeliest.” Holly looks at Luna with renewed worry. “...how do you get corrupted by Tsukiyomi?”

“Well, it involves that weird fog you all were enveloped in. Amaterasu protected most of you from being instantly turned, but it seems whoever Tsukiyomi fled to was unable to be protected.” Nina contemplates for a bit. “Knowing what you found out, and knowing what I know, I think it’s highly probable it's that Luna you mentioned. Her name means moon, right? And she’s a bunny beastkin? Bunnies in Japanese mythology have a strong connection to the moon. That would be a hell of a coincidence if it wasn’t her. You said she was by the entrance, right? And that Theo you mentioned saw the fog go toward the person closest to the entrance.”

Holly nods, taking in the information.

Nina continues, “Then she's the most likely suspect right now. It would be very dangerous to face her if she is possessed by the god of the moon, so I’ll confront her.”

“Wait. I can’t stand by and do nothing. I’m going to help-”

Nina cuts Holly off. “I didn’t say you couldn’t help. I need you to help me round up the others. I want to talk with them tomorrow morning, explain the situation, and go from there. Can you tell them to meet at the Starlight Cafe at around 8am? I would say sooner but I know how hard it is to wake up when you are not an early riser.”

Holly gave it some thought and sighs. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see what I can do. This is starting to feel like an annoying fetch quest.”

Nina smiles. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to reward you for your trouble.”

Holly chuckles and pulls out their phone to text Morgan and the others, when they notice a string of texts from Ryuki.

[Hey listen!]

[My parents said traffic is bad so they’ll be late picking me up. Can you believe that???]

[I’m soooo bored. Do you need help in your cute little investigation?]

[I can wear a cute detective hat! I’ll be the Watson to your Holmes :3]

[Oop you’re prolly super busy. All good! I’ll play some pranks~] 

[Oh! I was talking with a bunny girl earlier. She was super cute! Not as cute as you though, bestie~]

[She offered to hang out! I’ll send you pics of our escapades!]

Oh. Oh no. This was not good. Holly has a sinking feeling in their stomach as they read the texts. The last one was sent an hour ago. Was that Luna? It’s the only bunny beastkin they know of. This is very very bad.

[Ryuki, don’t go with her]

[Please read this.]

[She may be dangerous.]

[Ryuki?]

[Ryuki!]