It was little wonder that I didn't brake my neck. Standing there I had no clue as to what had happened nor where I was. I had to have been running as I was breathing heavily but I did not get the sense of dread that anybody or thing for that matter had been chasing me.

Looking to my left then to my right I don't see any of the Mushi, spirits that I've seen since I was a little girl. For a long while I had wondered about how they were crossing over into this dimension. Until I arrived here they had always been transparent and out of phase. There had to be some sort of rift or portal here.

Though I pay that no mind. Furthermore what was I doing holding this bra? It wasn't mine and clearly I had snatched it from somewhere when I had been hit with one of my regressive states. I blink at it then glance around again half expecting a naked woman to appear giving chase because of my theft.

I listen, I didn't hear anything save the distant sound of running water. A stream is close by but I cannot determine where I am. Fortunately I was on a path but there were so many roots that it amazed me that I had not tripped during my flight. On the good side the path had to bring me back to the campus. On the bad it was overgrown and not to maintained so I was off the beaten path.

I look for landmarks but nothing stands out. Then I get the idea of turning around and heading back that way. I hesitate about that and glance back to the bra. Maybe someone was skinny dipping and I got up to some mischief. Maybe the undergarment had been removed when two lovers found themselves in a tryst.

It sounded appealing to have a look so spinning on my heels I head back in that direction knowing that my regressed self wouldn't have been interested in the sorts of things that I am.

Needless to say, the situation was... confusing. "Muh? Man kan hdha...?" That was rare, slipping into Arabic... By now, Saira's upbringing kind of encouraged actually thinking in English. But when you get confronted with something notably absurd like this? Yyyyyeeeah. Moreover, while you're in the middle of trying to hike to investigate possible supernatural events (something she felt... oddly nostalgic for - not realizing that just under the surface of a large memory purge, she... had done that a lot.), and you see some girl just running past with a bra?

Yeah, you're going to need a sec to think.

But in her largely-khaki outdoors outfit - somewhat-cargo shorts, a vest over a simpler white shirt, and a small backpack - Saira cut the figure of someone who... definitely still had her bra and wasn't about to ditch it any time soon. But she also didn't have much time to think about it - as soon as the girl was resting on her walking stick, the weird other girl was walking back over to her! "O...kay. This is already getting weird."

Miatro Pentes was a woman who enjoyed the things she liked. Her main one was enjoying the beautiful charms of a human girl, leading to her coming to this island. Her eyes gleamed in enjoyment as she casually moved through the forested region of the island, a fair bit from the main buildings so she could easily slither around and maybe find a good hunting ground to call home. She smirking as she noticed two heat signatures nearby her position.

Smirking lightly as she moved carefully from tree to tree using her long body to reach gaps between the trees to keep above since not alot of creatures bothered looking upwards. Her eyebrows raised when she saw the two targets.

As I moved back along the trail I had just come from my mind turns over the luscious sites that I was going to see if the pilfered bra was anything to go by. A bra that was all but forgotten as I pondered things over. So far I saw no Mushi, I couldn't recall the last time I had seen one today. The spirits were stronger here, connected to the land in a way I haven't yet figured out.

It was possible that I had been looking for whatever rift they were using to pass from their dimension to our own but I couldn't recall the last, oh, I dunno. I had been in the process of looking at my wrist watch when I heard a voice.

Another student. “Oh, hello. What's weird?”

She certainly was a looker and certainly not the one I was looking for at the moment but I was in no rush and she was easy on the eyes. I probably had a good deal of time. I couldn't hear anything else, not even the sound of running water now.

"What's weird? Uh. ...You just ran by with a bra and... are t-turning back around...?" Saira said, realizing she was definitely on the backfoot in this conversation. She, did, too? Seem to be lifting her posture a bit, clutching her walking stick in the right way to look as if she was preparing to possibly use it in self-defense. ...Though, honestly, she wasn't entirely sure why.

"I'm just hiking. No... underwear other than what's under my clothes, y... you know?" A nervous smile.

Miatro raised an eyebrow faintly at the sight of the two girls. One was a unique one wearing very little, while the other was busy trying to understand what was going on. It was rather funny for the serpent as she smiles slowly getting closer with slow movements through the trees. Grinning while hidden up above before deciding to play with them and her tail rustled some bushes behind them to spook the pair.

The Huntress using tactics to try and get the pair into a panic like mode when no doubt they knew what rustling bushes could mean on this island.

“Oh!” My gaze shifted to my left hand having forgotten about the bra. Though my mind works quickly noting that the other girl is gripping that walking stick tighter as if expecting the worse. I wave my right hand in front of me laughing a little unaware that we had other company.

I do not get any closer, however, weary of that stick though I smile about her comment on undergarments. “This? I couldn't find my basket and figured that this would have to do for berry picking. It was that or trying to bunch them up in my shirt and the last time I did that I ended up ruining the shirt so ...” I babble coming up with the first lie that entered my head. I wasn't even sure that it was the right size.

But rather than back peddling and trying to keep my lies consistent I change the subject in order to make her a bit defensive and get her thinking of things other than the bra that I had fond or stolen, not really sure which.

“You sure about that? You want me to cheek?”

I gaze at her with a smile then hear the rustling which causes me to jump at the suddenness of the sound. I spin looking all around not afraid of one of the Mushi … oh, I was afraid of them alright but one my mind was the owner of that bra that I was carrying looking for the material I held.

“What was that?”

Saira was looking on edge, more and more, with... the weird-sounding lie that the girl was giving. Unless you were some kind of titty monster, would a bra even be worth it for gathering berries...? Hm. And. Wait, and then she's starting to flirt, c-come on! Maybe she's some kind of underwear kleptomaniac! And having sex in the middle of an expedition is... is a bad idea, right? Even if Saira wasn't all that convinced she wanted to in the first place! So she's not sure which motives are going on here, so... "Y-you're not flirting very well if you... you're checking for underwear I'm not wearing. Pay attention!" She chided, backpedalling a bit...

Only to hear the bushes rustle. When the other girl asked what it was? ...Saira didn't. Normally she'd pride herself on being careful and scientific and testing what's there. But she was just on edge enough, and just equipped with a weapon enough, to instead... turn around and just club the bush.

"Eeek! D-don't startle me!"

There was no student hidden in that bush unless the first whack with that stick rendered her unconscious but I doubt that. The girl would have felt it connect with something hard. I looked closely at the bush.

“I think you killed it ...” there were no animals on the island and if there was no student present there were few other possibilities. A Mushi? Someone flinging a rock into that bush? I glanced around again trying to figure out if someone was tossing rocks into the area and the best point at which they could do so but failed to determine that. Still there was something that made me uneasy at least until two things happened.

The first being that nothing immediately sprang out at us. The second was when I glanced at the girl again. “It's so hard to pay attention … particularly with how cute you look when you get flustered. In all seriousness what caused that noise?”

I moved a little closer but remained outside of striking distance of that stick not wanting to be hit myself. I looked closely at the bush. Certainly the wind didn't do that, right?

Miatro's eyebrow playfully raised at the actions. One was being rather unique in her actions while the other hit the bush with that walking stick. Smirking as the serpent moves her tail dodging the swing before wrapping around the stick and suddenly attempting to yank it away from Saira into the bush. Licking her lips and time for the playtime. "Oh my, oh my...~" Her sultry voice casually cooed out but keeping herself hidden while moving silently through the trees.

"Two lovely girls out here in the wilderness." She hissed out focusing on the 's' of her words. "What brings an entertaining couple like you two out here?" She playfully asks watching their reactions and planning on continuing her fun playtime.

"Hey! Don't just... start flirting with me immediately after... I..." The addition of, seemingly, a third person to this meeting was something that caught Saira's attention enough to make her forget what she was saying, or at least to finish it. Add to that her stick being taken away, and Saira was basically also focusing on ... other things than Midori's teasing now.

"It's n... not like I need to answer you...!" She shouted back, actually getting right into a clear 'ready' stance for... it seemed, getting right back into thinking she had to fight. No, not particularly unique, we suppose. She did, though, spare a quick glance at Midori. "And l-like she could answer you." Seemingly, referring to the somewhat flimsy lie about the bra. Regardless, Saira was obviously on edge...!

I managed to fluster her a little and while I prepared to press my advantage a third party interrupted. That stick went flying rustling in the brush. I whirl around hearing the voice. She was to close for me to use the bra as a weapon. That's right, the bra. I reckoned it would make a good enough sling in a pinch not that I had ever tried it before.

Surprised at the sudden voice more so than seeing another Mushi I had seen the things all throughout my life. Granted the serpent was solid and in this dimension like most of the spirits I saw on this island. In fact I couldn't remember the last time I saw a harmless one.

The girl was getting ready to fight, which was well and good but I figured what was bound to happen here. To at least one of us.

“Hey!” I glance quickly at the other girl. Well, naturally she didn't by my earlier lie. Then I glance back at the threat. Fighting wasn't my strong suit, had the girl been better trained? Maybe. Still I took a step in front of her whispering as I past.

“Run.” Now I saw no reason why the both of us should be raped not that I was the noble sort but I had all that baggage before I got to this place. Simply put I was damaged goods.

I answered the creature thrusting out my hand with the bra dangling from it. I had hoped to distract her a little. “I'm returning this. Been looking for you.” Of course it wasn't true. Maybe the under garment had belonged to a previous victim of hers, I had no clue. Regardless I was hoping to draw attention to myself so the other girl could get away.

"Hmm now why should she run?" That playful voice spoke still hiding in the foliage around the pair. Before her tail slipped around and attempted to wrap itself around Saira's shoulders to immobilize her arms. Before Miatro casually slithers into view as she playfully smiles.

"I think you both can relax and stick around." She cooed her eyes gleaming with an inviting and almost mesmerizing light to them as she chuckles looking at the rather random girl while Saira was still being wrapped up by her tail to subdue one of them while she could use her eyes to handle the other.

Saira didn't need to be told twice. Her wakening memories were telling her damn well what was about to happen. And though she made it a point to start running indeed? Saira was soon caught just enough by the tail so that, even when she spun around to try a quick punch or other attempt at getting away... it was already too late. "L-leggo! This... u-uh...?!" She... was actually realizing that trying to protest in this situation was kind of weird. It's not like she could really convince them!

...But she wasn't just going to give up either! Shaking, jumping up and down... Saira was making quite the effort to try to escape, as much as she seemed outmatched...

Shit, she heard me! I shouldn't have been surprised, many of the things I had encountered had excellent or strange senses. In a way that might have been better as I hadn't thought it through. Had the girl ran she may have gotten the full attention of the creature and I would have been ignored. She may have triggered the predatory instincts of whatever we were dealing with, which went contrary to my intents.

I paused thinking I was heading in the correct direction only to hear movement behind me. Spinning around I saw that it was too late for the other girl. My little joke doesn't go over too well and I end up dropping the bra. Glancing away to take in the scene around us. The path, weapons, anything of the sort.

This one's female? That was a first. I didn't run freezing up for a second or two before looking back.

“Good eye. But you should let her go.” My mind swims with things that would make the girl unappealing to a snake, a gorgeous one in a strange sort of way I'd have to admit. Nothing witty springs to mind. No disease that can cross species or anything that snakes would find unappealing.

It's never worked before but it was worth a shot. “Please, let her go. I'll make it worth it.” Just how I did not know, the words sort of spilled out before I could consider what I was saying since I only had a few seconds. In any case I wasn't going to run, not that it made much sense not too but it seemed rather distasteful to abandon the girl now.