The first thing Sunny noticed about the Foxian girl was that she looked absolutely terrified to exist.

Not frightened in the ordinary sense, either. Plenty of people were nervous, anxious, or wary when faced with danger. What stood before him now went far beyond that. The small girl looked as though reality itself had personally wronged her in every conceivable way and might continue doing so at any moment. Her wide green eyes trembled constantly with restrained panic, her shoulders remained tense enough to snap, and even the way she stood carried the cautious stiffness of someone expecting a disaster to descend from the heavens specifically to ruin her day.

Which, knowing his luck, probably meant she was dangerous.

She was small, almost alarmingly so, with soft mint-green hair that framed a youthful face perpetually frozen in quiet horror. Loose strands curled around her cheeks while the rest fell messily around her shoulders beneath an elaborate dark cap adorned with charms and strange ornaments. Decorative pieces hung beside her face, swaying faintly whenever she moved, though ’moved’ was perhaps too strong a word. She seemed more like someone attempting not to startle the air around her.

Her clothes resembled ceremonial robes modified for practical use, layered in pale shades of white, teal, and dark blue. Swirling patterns decorated the fabric in intricate designs that gave her an oddly spiritual appearance, while various talismans and trinkets hung from her outfit like protective wards desperately gathered over many years. One particularly large ornament rested near her waist, shaped almost like a sealed lantern or ancient charm.

Then, there was the tail.

A floating ball of green flames, with an animal-like face forming from them. That tail...

...Was currently staring at him with wide eyes.

Sunny blinked, then stepped forward with an ominous grin. He didn’t know what compelled him to do it... but he had to!

***

Huohuo was not having a good day.

Actually, she never has a good day.

What did the Ten-Lords Commission do when she finally escaped that dreadful place? Throw her right back into a Nightmare Seed, because her opinions definitely didn’t matter. Then, after somehow surviving that, they turned her into a Judge of the Commission... which would have been fine, if they didn’t put her in charge of all this Heliobi nonsense!

Why couldn’t she just interrogate criminals?! Sure, it’d still be pretty terrifying, knowing that she was sharing a room with people who likely had blood on their hands, but at least she’d have confirmation that she wouldn’t be harmed...

...That was a lie. In this cruel, cruel world, she might die for stepping on the wrong patch of grass.

Raising her gaze from the still, unmoving stone pathway, she sent careful glances at the two Awakened she unfortunately had to babysit. One was carrying a phone, catching her surroundings as she chatted to her stream, while the other one, her self-proclaimed bodyguard, tripped... on thin air.

’To my right, Guinaifen. To my left, Sushang... these partners stink of *Dark City profanity*!’

Yep, that was it. She was going to die today. She’ll definitely be Cursing Madam Hanya in the afterlife...

...Then again, what if she hears it and comes to haunt her in death? Oh, no... life really can’t get any better.

"But it’s not like today can get any worse, right, Mister Tail?"

She let out a haunted laugh, waiting to receive a scathing response. When she didn’t, she hesitantly asked:

"Tail?"

She heard a gruff grunt behind her.

"Whatever you do, brat, don’t look behind you."

Huohuo paused, before weakly asking:

"...I didn’t know you need to change clothes... uh, fur? Don’t worry, I’m completely uninterested in Heliobi genitals—"

"What?!"

"I’m so so so so so so so sorry please don’t eat me and harvest my organs Mister Tail I won’t even think that you look stupid anymore—"

Her tail flickered.

"Oh, shut up! And I don’t look stupid! Listen, just don’t turn around. I don’t need you screaming even louder than you already are. Ugh, is he staring at me?"

Huohuo’s lip quivered, an ominous feeling welling in the pit of her stomach.

"Wh—Who’s staring...?"

Surely it was nothing, right? Who wouldn’t stare at a floating, talking tail with too much spite for its own good?

"It was that one pipsqueak... hm, what was his name again? Eh, it doesn’t matter — d—damn, this guy’s... still pretty short, actually. Well, we all start from somewhere. Except for me."

Huohuo felt dizzy, tears welling up in her eyes as sweat trickled down her skin. A hollow laugh escaped her lips,

"Mister Tail... he’s right behind me, isn’t he?"

"Correct."

...That wasn’t Tail’s voice.

Resigned to her Fate, Huohuo slowly turned around... just to be met with her worst Nightmare.

Gathering up the last vestiges of her nonexistent courage, she tried to form her best glare... which just looked like she was squinting.

"Before I scream, please go back to whichever hole you crawled out from. Thank you."

True to her word, she screamed.

***

’I... am so confused.’

When he saw that cowardly Foxian girl, he was suddenly overcome with the intense urge to give her a heart attack. So, he called the shadows around him, amplifying his terrifying presence, and gave her a bit of a shock.

Why did he do that?

He couldn’t quite say.

The tail who she called Mister Tail — how original — seemed to be trying to warn her when Sunny approached, but showed no sign of hostility whatsoever. What even was that thing?

In any case, what really weirded him out was how she had the gall to tell him to return to whichever hole he crawled out from while trembling in fear.

How did this little creature survive the First and Second Nightmares? Did she just hide until they ended?

That was sarcastic, of course, since the Spell was not kind enough to provide such an option. At least, it wouldn’t be an option that would allow her to survive. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"M—Madam Hanya, why didn’t you tell meeeee?!"

"I assumed you would have ran away, Huohuo."

"Exactly!"

While Hanya comforted the strange girl who was curled up on the ground, that weird tail guy was floating around his head. Sunny’s brow twitched.

"What are you supposed to be?"

Tail squinted at him, before scoffing as he circled around his head.

"Just because you’re a bigshot doesn’t mean you can forget the debt you owe me... you do remember, right?"

Sunny waved his hands, watching as they passed through the elusive creature.

"Nope."