The fluorescent light of the small 24/7 convenience store buzzed quietly above Haru Hyoudou as he leaned against the counter, lazily scrolling through his phone. It was almost midnight, and business was dead, as usual.
He yawned. "Just another boring night," he muttered, sipping on lukewarm tea from a mug that had the words Just Do It printed in fading letters. His eyes drifted toward the window. "I wonder how my family in Japan is doing…" he wondered.
It had only been a week since he graduated from college with a degree in biology, not that it meant much now. He took this job just to cover rent while figuring out his next move before heading back to Japan. Finishing college was supposed to be the end of the road… but now that it was over, what next?
Then the bell over the door rang.
Ding.
A girl stumbled in, covered in blood. Her hoodie was shredded at the sleeves, crimson staining the fabric and violet hair showing. Her eyes glowing faintly red locked with Haru's, wide with panic.
"Help… me…" she whispered, before collapsing on the floor.
For a split second, Haru froze. His brain screamed Call 911, but something deep in his gut, some old instinct he hadn't felt since childhood, told him this was different.
He dashed from behind the counter and knelt beside her. "Hey! Stay with me! What happened?"
The store manager rushed out of his office at the sound. His eyes widened when he saw the girl. "Haru, get her to the back, now!"
"What?" Haru looked up, confused.
"Just do it!" the manager snapped, urgency sharp in his voice as he moved past Haru and peered out the window. "Quickly move!"
Without another word, Haru gently picked the girl up and carried her into the workers' lounge behind the store, questions spinning in his mind. What happened to this girl? Who is she?
As he laid her down on the couch, she began to stir consciousness, returning, slowly but surely.
1 hour earlier...
The same girl who had just entered the shop. Yuzu Lopez was walking along the sidewalk. Earlier that day, she had just returned from a college party that her friend Aima had convinced her to attend.
"Hey, Yuzu!" Aima had called out cheerfully, knocking on the dorm door. Yuzu barely lifted her head from the pillow, still groggy from helping her professor late into the night.
"Go away," she muttered in a sleepy tone.
"Come on, I got your coffee. Black just the way you like it."
That got her up.
Yuzu forced herself off the bed, opened the door, and immediately took the coffee from Aima's hands. "Thanks, Aima," she said, still half-asleep.
"You're welcome!" Aima beamed. "So… I was wondering… wanna go to a party tonight?"
"I'm not sure," Yuzu replied quietly. Being an introvert, parties weren't really her thing.
"Pleeeease?" Aima begged with exaggerated puppy-dog eyes.
"…Fine. I'll go," Yuzu finally said with a reluctant sigh.
Later, the two headed to campus for their lectures. During the day, Yuzu was approached by Chad, one of the more popular upperclassmen who invited her to the same party Aima had mentioned. He assured her she didn't have to worry about hazing, since she was already a senior.
That afternoon, she also had a meeting with her professor Miss Jean, better known on campus as "Professor Oopsie" due to her reputation for making groundbreaking discoveries through accidental methods. Their conversation had revolved around a new experiment, and Jean asked Yuzu to drive out to a nearby forest to retrieve a van filled with materials for their next project.
After class, Yuzu went to the party hosted by Chad. She went with Aima, who stuck close to her. The crowd was a mix of seniors, a few juniors, and several members of Chad's fraternity and the sorority led by a girl named Mari.
Mari had a long-standing jealousy toward Yuzu for being chosen as Professor Jean's assistant, but to Yuzu's surprise, Mari approached her with a smile.
"You should join our sorority," Mari offered sweetly. "We're all huge fans of Professor Jean."
Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "You… are?"
"Oh, totally. We even mix a little science with magic."
Yuzu gave her a skeptical look. She didn't believe in that kind of stuff—but before she could reply, Mari stepped closer, her tone sharpening as she started pressuring Yuzu to accept.
Feeling uneasy, Yuzu lightly kicked an empty beer can to create a distraction. The sound drew Chad's attention, who immediately walked over.
"Everything alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Yuzu replied quickly. "I just tripped."
Chad didn't buy it. He glanced at Mari and said flatly, "She's not joining your group."
Mari scoffed. "Why do you care?"
"She's with us," Chad said. "You and your little coven can back off."
Mari's eyes narrowed, but she didn't reply. Chad gently guided Yuzu away from her and down to the basement, where a handful of people were gathered.
"We don't just party," Chad told her. "We hunt things. Dangerous things. Supernatural threats."
Yuzu blinked. "You're kidding."
"We need your help," he said. "There's something shady going on with Professor Jean and we need proof she's connected to it. We think you can find it."
Those events played through Yuzu's head as she walked toward the forest to retrieve the van.
Once she reached it, she checked the cargo. Inside, she found bundles of leaves, sticks, and articles of clothing arranged in disturbingly human shapes. Her brow furrowed. She shut the doors and drove back to campus, confused.
She tried to enter the lab but found it locked. She called Professor Jean, who answered quickly.
"Wait for me at the parking lot," Jean said. "And make sure no one sees you."
With a nod to herself, Yuzu ended the call and returned to the van.
That's when she saw him.
A tall, cloaked man stood by the vehicle. A gleaming metal hook hung at his side.
That's not the professor.
Before she could react, he charged at her.
Silent.
Fast.
He struck her with the hook, slicing her arm. She tried to fight back, but his strength was overwhelming. He grabbed her by the throat.
Desperate, she shone her flashlight into his face.
The moment of distraction was enough. She pulled free and threw herself into the van. The engine roared to life, but as she pulled away, the hook slammed into one of the tires.
Even with the damage, she drove swerving through dark backstreets, barely keeping control. When she could drive no further, she pulled into an alley and climbed out, her legs shaking.
With blood staining her side, Yuzu stumbled forward until, at last, she saw it:
The warm glow of a 24/7 convenience store.
Back to Present
Yuzu's eyelids fluttered as she slowly regained consciousness. Her body ached with every breath.
"The last thing I remember…" she mumbled, "was… walking into the store…"
"Hey," a calm voice greeted her. "So, you're finally awake."
She turned her head weakly to see Haru sitting on a nearby chair.
"Who are you?" she asked hoarsely. "And… where am I?"
"In that order," he said gently, "I'm Haru Hyoudou, and you're in the staff room of the convenience store. You stumbled in all banged up. What happened to you?"
"Yuzu… Yuzu Lopez," she answered, then took a slow breath. "I saw something. I don't know what it was… but it wasn't human."
She explained what happened from the cloaked figure to the hook and the strange van cargo. Haru listened silently, unsure if he should believe any of it until the manager stepped in.
The moment Yuzu finished, Haru looked up at the manager, his expression saying everything: You believe this?
But the manager simply nodded, his face grim. "Judging by her injuries… yeah. I believe it." But in the manager mind "why the Hook attack her"
Haru looked between them, his disbelief softening.
"You can't stay here," the manager said to Yuzu. "But I know somewhere safe."
Then he turned to Haru. "Do you remember how to get to Coffin's Bar?"
"Yeah, I remember… but why there?"
"They can help her," the manager said. "Better than a hospital can."
"What? Why not the hospital? She's hurt."
The manager's voice grew firmer. "Just trust me. Get her there. As for you," he added, turning to Yuzu, "rest for a bit. It's a long walk."
Yuzu nodded faintly, her eyes already beginning to close again.
Later, Behind the Store
At the back exit, the manager handed Haru a jacket.
"Stick to the side roads. When you get to the bar, go straight to the bartender and say: 'Bloody shot, long pine.' Got it?"
"Got it," Haru said, helping Yuzu to her feet.
Their pace was slow due to her injuries. Along the way, they talked softly, discovering they had gone to the same college just at different times.
"You studied biology?" Yuzu asked weakly.
"Yeah. Wasn't expecting to use it to patch people up, though," Haru joked.
"I'm studying biochemistry" Yuzu added
"Want to get some pizza" Haru asked and Yuzu agree
Eventually, they reached Coffin's Bar, a weathered place with red neon lights flickering outside.
Inside, a young woman cleaning the bar looked up. Haru approached and said, "Bloody shot, long pine."
She nodded and pointed them toward a staircase leading down.
At the bottom was a large underground space dimly lit, with sectors carved into what looked like an old bunker. A young man in scrubs approached and guided Yuzu to the med bay.
Haru stayed outside and slumped onto a bench.
Just as he began to doze off…
The hallway door opened again.
A short girl with blonde hair, dressed in a dusty denim jacket and scuffed boots, limped in—one arm wrapped in gauze. A taller girl, maybe her sister, quietly supported her and was accompanied by a young male doctor and it looked like he suffered from a chemical burn.
What's a farm girl doing in a place like this and that doctor what happened to him? Haru wondered.
He kept quiet. Too much weirdness for one night.
Then came more footsteps from the stairwell.
An old woman with a shotgun slung across her back, a tall girl with pure white hair and a matching white owl on her shoulder, and an average-looking boy with some pale complexion about Haru's age followed closely behind.
Haru sat up slowly, watching them descend into the room.
What the hell kind of place is this?
To be continued...