Okay! Back to the grind.

Sure, Lady Crane's Mystic Services might be bankrupt, and okay, Mitsuru was technically homeless, and alright, maybe she had more important things to be doing than hunting "ghosts" in the woods at night. But! Those things? Were hard. Very, very, very hard. So, they could wait for tomorrow.

Besides, maybe if she cobbled together a good enough video, it would "go viral"! And if that happened, it'd basically solve all her problems anyway! All she had to do was take her beat-up old smartphone, record some ghoul or goblin, and upload it to the internet. Then would come the fame, then would come the money, and before she knew it, she'd be renting high street retail space again in the blink of an eye! All she had to do was find some terrible but intriguing creature worth recording, and as luck would have it, she'd heard rumours about a particular cryptid that would do just the tri--

"--EEEEP!"

Mitsuru jumped out of her skin, scrambling back away from the screaming light. Lucky for her, though, this was no otherworldly entity here to drag her to hell for some undisclosed sins. Much the opposite, the face she saw was a familiar one.

"O-oh! You're... Katharina, right? What're you doing here?"

---

Katharina Strophe

There's a good moment of silence passing as Katharina recovers from the jumpscare that is meeting another human (!) being when you don't really expect one. Frankly, it's probably just any being that does the trick here. She takes some deep breaths to still her heart, similiarly to her TeddiFroggiursa next to her, before replying, "Yes, Katharina here. I'm doing a night shift, a literal one ... gonna have to clock in in the middle of the night, and I'm on my way there."

Another deep breath, just to make sure her heartrate's sort of back to normal, "What're you doing here?"

The reply might be swallowed, however, as the fog around them suddenly intensifies - and it seems like the air itself is whispering, every direction filled with ghastly sound that doesn't combine into words, but ideas ... Imagery of death, and something dangerous approaching.

Mitsuru Kagami

This was good. This was great! Instead of being mauled to death by some kind of horrid ghoul, she instead got to have a nice talk with an old friend. Well, old acquaintance, she supposed. They only met once, back when they were doing volunteer work on the Sea Mauville, so maybe "friend" was a little forward. Still! Nothing better than a little chit chat! They could gossip, catch up, get up-to-date on all of the nursing and the mysticism and... The homeless, and the bankruptcy, and... And the... Um...

This was bad. This was terrible! Instead of being mauled to death by some kind of horrid ghoul, she had to engage in small talk with someone she barely knew! The mere idea of it made Mitsuru's stomach drop into the abyss. Please, ghosts, take her now.

"Oh, well, y'know. Just getting some exercise, taking a walk, putting my steps in, hunting ghosts, getting some fresh air... The usual!"

All the while, she was totally unaware of the encroaching gloom.

"But, if you're heading to work, then I probably shouldn't keep you, huh?"

---

Katharina Strophe

Katharina's social skills are sharpened to pick up what others might not want to have heard, so naturally, she replies, "Ghost hunting?" to highlight the other's more whispered words. "True, I have the feeling there's more ghosts around these days ... probably because of the war." She sighs, her expression turning to a frown as she looks around, sorrow quickly making room for skepticism.

"Yeah, though I don't mind a break from the lonesome spooks ... except it seems like ..." She falls silent as she stares at something behind Mitsuru, before reaching for the other's arm to pull them closer, away from- "We got company."

The shape is only discernable to be monstrous, but there's a huge, red glowing orb visible even through the thick fog that has gathered around them. "Is it bloodmoon already again?" she whispers, wracking her brain for the lunar calender, but there's not much time for that either, as the silhouette moves.

Mitsuru Kagami

"Ah... Aha, ha ha, yeah... There sure are, aren't there...?"

Try as she might, she just couldn't escape that war, could she? The mere thought of it was enough to drag her mood down, and the longer it lingered in her mind, the further down it went. And yet, try as she might, she just couldn't climb her way back up, could she? Mitsuru was a Krabby in a bucket, constantly trying to climb out, only to be pulled back down by the other Krabby. Who were also herself? If that made sense?

Whether it did or not, it ultimately did not matter. Before she could reach whatever conclusion or dead end awaited her, she was brought back to reality by a sinister red glow and low rumbling growl.

"I-it should be, but, well, uh..."

If there were ever a ghost or a ghoul in need of hunting, then it was surely right in front of her. Yet, the mere idea of trying to fight this thing was enough to make her throat drop into her stomach. Surely, there had to be some other way, right?

"Maybe... Maybe it's actually a nice monster?" She hoped aloud, taking one very small and very cautious in the direction of the beast. "U-um, hello, Sir! Can, uh, can we help you?"

---

Katharina Strophe