Today was going to be a busy day.

  Yu had so much to do, it overwhelmed her, which was why, the moment she got out of bed and put her earbuds into her ears, she moved to the rhythm of her music first and foremost, before she made a list in her mind, to attempt to crack down the big tasks into small do-able steps.

  She also did this to distract herself and try to calm down and not to worry too much.

  Actually, she made two, lists that is, one was what she had to do, and the other was what she needed to do.

  Technically there was also a third list somewhere, as she tried to plan out every odd step that she needed to take, or well, things she might've forgotten, and, or that were necessary for today; in order to prepare herself for any eventuality.

  First, she needed to get ready and to do this, while still planning, she went into her bathroom.

  She lived in a small two-room apartment with no kitchen. There was a caféteria in the same building, though, and wise people would know that sometimes all you needed, was a kettle.

  Her so-called bed was an accumulation of fluffy pillows, in which the fox-spirit could comfortably curl up in. Due to the static charge that these caused, her curls liked to halo her head, similar to an intentionally braided and hair sprayed crown - just with a pinch of deranged chaos, in which her hair attached itself to the most random strands, and this creation of a chaos crown was exactly, what she had to deal with daily.

  This mostly untameable hair was blue - A dark night blue that, to the untrained eye, and or to an eye that could not disperse the glamour, seemed black to.

  Or rather, depending on the sun, it was more of a dark ebony.

  The little tanglers were part curly and part wavy, even so, the moment Yu stepped below the waterfall shower head, it lost every structure, as if it had never been there - just to regain it, the moment it had dried a little.

  Sometimes the young woman thought her hair was very inconsistent, and sometimes she wished that her hair would be the only thing of hers that was blessed with this characteristic.

  Since her motivation was fuelled by interest, which was inherently coupled with said motivation, right away. In detail this meant that everything fluctuated a lot, thus making her moods, and what she pursued inconsistent as well. So much for her wish then… she regularly thought either grumbly or sighed to her friends about it.

  The lukewarm water was nice on her pale skin and as she relaxed, she was glad that she had not previously forgotten, to put down her earbuds, and had turned on the small speaker next to the shower - which was hopefully as waterproof as it claimed to be - instead.

  After a bit, she stepped out of the shower, which had glass walls and a set of double doors. Subsequently, she brushed her teeth, which she simultaneously did to putting on her silk bathrobe.

  She took her hairbrush and detangled her smooth waves, twirled the strands into a bun and fixated them with a scrunchie.

  Then she finished brushing her teeth, especially her canines, and left the bathroom.

  She turned back and put her earbuds in again and turned off the speaker.

  Afterwards, she went to the wardrobe opposite her pillow pile and diagonally to the room's door.

  She pulled out the boxes that were inserted in the wall to save space and functioned as a wall wardrobe/ shelf, and sorted through her outfits.

  She took a look at her smartphone and debated, whether she should follow her first impulse or pay more attention to the weather - especially today's high temperature.

  She would probably change her clothes for the gig anyway, but instead of deciding right away, she put two fits on her desk and decided to eat first.

  Of course she loved Inari, but she could also devour multiple Gimbap in one sitting. Even though these were both not necessarily breakfast dishes, she didn't mind it, because sometimes she needed low-effort food.

  Regardless she was not in the mood for it today, even though it was easy to have them stored and ready-made.

  Yu remembered then that there was a bit left-over Onigiri and Tamagoyaki in her fridge. Thus she reheated it, made herself a small bowl of miso soup and checked the time.

  She needed to get her laundry from the cleaners.

  Additionally, she needed to check her violin, check if she had spare strings and she needed to check, who of her band members had time today.

  Tsubame-san and Tachibana-san had promised to be there. But she needed a bass, and so with a bowing ?????♀? emoji, she pleaded with Miura-san to also attend the slightly short-notice 'Happening'.

  It took a while until she replied, though.

  By that time, she was done eating and had mused enough, over which outfit she should wear today.

  Yu had thus decided and when her phone buzzed, she wore a red shirt, a black pair of trousers, below various hip chains and the same scarlet colour was reflected on her sport shoes, which were more like the famous ‘chucks’.

  She put on three silvery rings on the fingers of her right hand: Index-, Ringfinger and Thumb. And four on her left hand: Thumb, Ring- and two on the Middlefinger.

  She switched the arrangement sometimes or wore it like this everyday but she definitely switched the rings more often than the positioning, due to her owning too many rings.

  She put in silvery earrings as well, she really loved the colour, it also fit her skin tone and reflected in her dark blue and starry eyes.

  The earrings had three little Koi dangling from fine strings. It looked like they were jumping over Yu's shoulder especially, due to the fact that they were softly swinging, when the fox spirit was moving.

  She turned again to face the mirror next to her closet and lost herself a bit in her own reflection, fascinated by the jewellery she had put on.

  Then with a start she realised, she had forgotten to do her hair and even though it was cheating, she used a small spell.

  Blue powder like smoke encapsulated her curls and put her hair in an updo, with multiple ringlets accentuating her high cheek bones and inconspicuous make-up.

  Smiling, she grabbed a hair pin, this was made of a Magnolia tree branch and had crystals in the form of said flower on it as well.

  "Okay.", she said to herself and grabbed her bag.

  A black one with a lot of colourful buttons - among other's they were from her favourite books, movies, singers, bands and Anime. It was highlighted by a lesbian flag next to the patch of a white fox that she had taken ages to sew and embroider on, because the cloth had been so thick and well she rarely stitched anything...

  Both.

  Even so she crafted weapon's herself, such fine work really had tested her patience.

  She recalled that building her second violin had been less of a hassle than this.

  "Oh shit...", she had checked her watch and in a hurry left her apartment, went in again for her keycard, before the door closed and then hurried down the floor and into the elevator.

  Finally, checking the grumbly, but affirmative reply of Miura-san.

  Yu was late for her class.

  Yes, it was true that she was about to turn 842 and that she had had plenty of time to study, but there were reasons, as to why she restarted it intermittently.

  And largely being late, of course, didn't help finish her classes, but what could she do? She had no concept of time and more often than not she skewed it, but this is for a later juncture of this tale.

  Yu hurried out of the elevator and tried to reply to her other band member's, answering questions about sound-check, which outfits would make the most sense, and if they should try out the recently opened Karaoke bar, which had a 30 % discount today.

  In one message, she answered all the questions, separating each answer by some empty lines in-between.

  This, all while she was running and in the moment she had jumped into the subway. Maybe halting the seconds a bit, so that she was still on time. Sort of.

  She apologised for her small jump, but as everyone around her saw that neither the door of the station nor the door of the train had closed, it was only silently frowned upon.

  Thus, Yu hit sent and took hold of a hand-rest above her.

  She would have to avoid the train next week, but it was okay. As long as she would make it to her 'Introduction to Models: Wood and Metal' seminar, it was all well.

  As the name suggested, this class taught students how to create a construction from draft to model. But it also had a lot of sessions that worked with virtual 3D programs, in which the courses of the Game Designers' were also attending - among other's.

  Yu found it very exciting, and it was the perfect opportunity to hone her skills and also learn more about computers, or rather getting back into how they operated, the moment she returned from the visits to her parents.

  Though she would work on her model today, one of three to be presented at the end of the term; online or in person, and if you were very uncomfortable, you could also write a report as well. All had to track their progress though and how they overcame obstacles.

  In general, the professor's counted more on the 'enhancing their pupil's abilities', rather than their ability 'to parrot the course's topics and forget them in the next term'.

  No one profited from this, and Yu only knew about this, due to an unlucky wormhole incident.

  Three stations later, she was still in a bit of a rush and collected the material, she had bought and stashed in the storage room.

  She breathed a solemn sigh to slow her breathing and then sat in front of the model of a temple. It had gothic elements, because Yu was really fascinated of the Persian dome constructions.

  Of course, it wasn't a perfect replica of any actual building, and she had added foxes into her framework, to give it a more personal touch.

  She had bought fake glass and started to cut it, after taking off her bag and sitting down.

  Some of it, she cut into rectangles, others were cut into shards and painted with glass colour.

  It took her a lot of hours to get the glass in place, and she was not finished, when Tsubame-san called her, as had been agreed on, so that Yu would leave in time and not get into the afternoon traffic.

  Yu was very reluctant to stop her work, especially since she was now in the zone, but she had no choice. After all, she had been the one, who had pestered her bandmates into performing. Therefore, they would probably be very disappointed with her, if she didn't show up today.

  So, she went out of class, putting everything back into the storage room, and then heading to the coast.

  She used a bus to get there in time. As expected, it had gotten a bit warmer. It was not too warm yet, but Yu was still delighted, of what she wore, when she arrived at her destination. It was Miura-san’s flat, she was the only one with a big enough flat to practice in.

  And this flat also had air conditioning, which was a true blessing. However, only an hour after practising Yu was in a rush again... her laundry...

  She needed to use temporal magic again, but she managed it and got her laundry back into her room. She was, as a precaution, picked up by Kaneko-kun, Muira-san's adoptive brother, to ensure that she would not be late.

  Night had already fallen, when they got to the pier.

  It was still very warm, and the air bristled, due to the sudden drop of temperature. Yu had changed into a Yukata inspired lavender dress and a thin pair of leggings and black boots. Though, she knew, she would very soon get rid of those, it was not the time - not yet anyway.

  Again, she wore a lot of accessories, chains, belts, earrings and in her now open hair, there rested a multi-layered silver chained hairpiece. Her dress was frayed at the seams, because she had worn it so much, but also slightly due to the original design of it.

  Otherwise, it was very tightly-fitted, and the cloth had the ability to be cooling and warming in a proper temperature range.

  Yu gathered together with Ai-chan, Inoue-chan and Shiori-chan. Muira's brother had already disappeared after dropping her off. This was due to Inoue-chan having a crush on him and Ruika-kun generally trying to be elusive and doing whatever.

  No one even knew that much about him, not even his sister.

  Yu had divined for him once and during that two-hour session he had told her, that he was not interested in women.

  He had also told her that it was hard for him to put himself out there.

  But Yu assured him that there was no worry to be had, he could still wander about and brood, as much as he wanted and be scared, as much as he wanted.

  He would not be able to run from that, which was intended for him by fate.

  Yu had been a bit vague even though she knew a bit more.

  But as long as she didn't see proof of Inoue-chan knowing about this, she would not tell him more.

  When she thought about it, Yu chuckled, because she didn't mind not telling him, and it probably was for the best that he ran away at the moment. It would make it easier for him to be caught by that person then.

  The blue-haired woman spoke to her bandmates and helped set up the drums for Inoue-chan and gave each of them encouragement, before they took position and started playing.

  Yu loved it to start with the 'Crimson Moonlight' song, because it started very slow and especially, due to the surrounding noise, the notes were very faint and only slowly would pique the listener's interest and lure them in.

  Once she started singing, Yu was surrounded by people and still she noticed her.

  Her eyes followed her and every now and then, while Yu performed, Yu found the other's gaze with her own, accidentally and also consciously. It was not that she wanted to hurry through the performance, quite the opposite, she wanted to drag it out, to give even more, which also affected her bandmates and maybe was also the main reason, why the saxophonist rushed in to support them at the next jig like song.

  Yu felt a bit like a phoenix displaying courtship as she danced, specifically in the instrumental moments and the instances Shiori-chan sang.

  After about an hour, they were done and enjoyed the applause, except for Yu.

  Flowing towards each other

  Instead she darted to the woman and immediately wanted to leave the scene with her.

  However, the other left on her own, faster than she could say anything to her, so she decided to follow her.

  The fox-spirit was very happy that the other hadn't run away, rather they had talked, and Yu grinned a bit, using her hand to cover her mouth shyly.

  She chuckled in an attempt, to soften her grin, but it was not working.

  The moment this vibrant glance found her own, she grinned again, while she examined the other's eyes, she saw the hint of red in one of her eyes and her heart sputtered a bit.

  'She is so beautiful, and she also has fangs. Is she a dragon? What is this bloodstain in her eye?', she ruminated in her mind, and also tried to figure out how to continue the conversation. The vibe of seeming ancient and powerful, was what had her presuming that the other was a dragon. Lei did not possess the downturned dragon eyes. Her outer corners were only slightly elevated, but they were definitely more open and the middle part a bit rounder. Her pupils definitely larger.

  Yu’s eyes were vixen shaped, perhaps mostly due to her being a fox-spirit, regardless the middle part of her eyes was also wider, which showcased more of her large irises.

  "Would you like to join us? We would head to a Karaoke bar.", Yu's neck and ears blossomed to a colour reminiscent of a Sakura in bloom. The next question was whispered according to her hesitance. "If you don't want to hang out, with so many strangers.... I also know a great place for .... Ramen?", she lowered her eyes and her lashes fluttered like a scared butterfly.

  She waited for the other's reply, when her phone buzzed, it reminded her, of her deviation of the plan, which she had made...

  Still, her bandmates knew of her spontaneity, regardless she would have to inform them though.

  The night breeze was cool, but not cold. After this hectic day it felt rather soothing on Yu’s skin. What made her loose her focus was the constantly buzzing phone on her thigh, which didn’t deserve to get her attention. Would they please get the hint?

  The three of them were most likely already on their way to the Bar anyway, there was no point in disrupting this moment? Especially since, for once in a long time Yu felt like this was, what she was meant to do, without even a shred of queasiness in her mind.

  Her breath hitched as the moment stretched and the light in the other’s golden eyes distracted her enough that she really didn’t know if the time that passed were seconds or minutes. Not that she usually hat an accurate sense of time, anyhow, but it seems worse now somehow, as if the other was a distortion zone.

  Band Member’s in this Chapter:

  Ai Miura- san - Bass

  Shiori Tachibana - Guitar and 2nd Vocal

  Inoue Tsubame - Drums