Harutora swallowed, confused. His world was a haze, a mess of sensation and sounds- he felt hot and cold, weak and strong, in pain and yet healthier than ever- everything was wrong. There was no rhyme or reason, and for a time, he could hardly breathe, let alone open his eyes. It felt as though the weight of a thousand quilts held him down. He had to wake, though, had to wake- he had to wake- where was he-?! Where- WHERE-

  “NGH-!!” Harutora rolled, throwing up before his eyes had opened, coughing at the acrid taste of bile on his tongue. There was a hand on his shoulder, a moment ter, but he couldn’t open his eyes, or listen, just yet. His brain pounded hard against the backs of his eyes… so much pressure, I can’t think… something feels so wrong…

  COLD-!!! Cold water crashed over him, and Harutora sat up, gasping, spluttering, hair pstered to his face. Finally, it all became clear and easy to understand; there was a man standing over him and holding a bucket of water, grimacing.

  “Sorry, girly. You alright?” Harutora blinked rapidly, shocked and confused- this man had a pair of enormous bck Raven’s Wings, and dark horns twisting cruelly, unevenly out of his forehead.

  “W-What…?” He blinked, trying to acclimate, but it was still so hard to think… What is wrong with me…

  “You’re probably feeling the effects of the spells pretty strongly right now, so let me expin, okay?” Kneeling in front of him, the bird-demon-man-thing raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been brought to another world. Right now, you’re probably feeling disoriented, and confused, right?” He set the bucket aside, shaking his head, tongue clucking.

  “Y-Yeah,” Harutora whispered hoarsely, coughing. “Where am I?”

  “Right. I’ll expin, but slowly. You were summoned to another world to become a beacon of sughter and segregation. You’re here to sughter indiscriminately- kill when you’re told to kill, and hurt on command. Do you understand?”

  “Rather not do that… and really, how can you say that so casually…” Harutora whispered, shaking his head, trying to clear his eyesight- his vision was still edged with reds and bck, and pain crushed at the backs of his eyes. Man, do I just have a tension headache from hell, or what…?

  “Well…” The man hesitated, furrowing his brow. “Sorry, it’s just that there’s no other way for me to expin it. This nation is a bunch of fascist bastards and you’re meant to become their number one killers- you, and the others brought here. The reason that you’re struggling to think, or process anything rationally, is because, included in the magic to summon you were several runes to brainwash you. Whatever we tell you will be perceived as the truth.”

  “Then, you’re lying to me, duh… you hate this nation, so you’re stealing their super soldiers… that’s the goal isn’t it…?” Harutora groaned, trying to sit up fully, panting, propping himself up on one elbow- his body felt so wrong, somehow, but he couldn’t expin it…

  “No, that’s the thing. My people knew what was going to happen, and so we arranged a team to get you out. We’re going to ferry you to safety, once you’ve come to your senses, and then let you choose what comes next. There are others supposed to meet up with us here, but so far there are only five people aside from myself who’ve caught up.”

  “You dodged the question- trying to steal their super soldiers, make us work for you…”

  “Oh. No. That’s not it at all.”

  “Oh. Okay. Then… Why… did you get me out, if that’s the case?” Harutora sighed, and that was when it occurred to her- Where did I come from before? “Wait, I don’t- I don’t remember- where I’m from-“

  “It’s okay, hey,” The man leaned forward and gently pushed Harutora’s hair out of his face as he struggled, again, to focus his hazy vision. “Listen girly, the memories will come back. It’s more that was included in the spell- make you forget home so that you can’t miss it. Less reason for you to argue against being here, if you can’t remember anything else, you know? It should come back, with time. You just need to focus on protecting yourself for now, chickadee.”

  “Girly… I’m not a girl, I’m a man, why do you keep calling me that,” Harutora groaned, sitting up at long st, swinging his legs. It seemed he was sitting on a haybale, though still, there was that sense of vague… wrongness.

  “Are you uh… sure about that?” The man before him spoke, and Harutora swallowed, looking up at him, then down at himself.

  “Yeah- what…” No. No I’m a man, I’m so sure of that, my name is Harutora, and I’m a man…? But no, that, that’s definitely not a man’s body… what the hell-? Is this, part of the magic? Am I supposed to be confused about my gender…? What kind of spell is that…? More importantly… “Why am I naked?”

  “Aurelia is out looking for clothes- when you were summoned, the clothes didn’t come with since they’re not organic or part of you. Er, Aurelia is one of my comrades,” He added, reaching out a hand balled into a fist with the ring finger extended. When Harutora only stared bnkly, he snorted and withdrew his hand.

  “Sorry, local thing. Anyway, nice to meet you, but yeah, that’s what’s going on. We wanted to throw a wrench in the pns of a cruel monarch, free their would-be sves and make a certain king have a very bad day. Your freedom is a byproduct of our goal, so don’t sweat it. Got a name?”

  “I… I don’t know,” Harutora shook her head, blinking and looking around properly for the first time, now. I swear I was a man before… so I’m probably not Harutora either, huh…? Why do I think these things… I’m clearly a woman… maybe I should be more worried about finding clothes, but… “I feel… so tired…”

  The haybale on her smelled stale, like rot; but really, the entire barn was in such a state. Holes filled the roof and walls here and there. If nothing else, it was some shelter, at least, from what seemed to be te-afternoon sunlight. Beyond that, there wasn’t really anything to identify the pce by. A naked young girl with the ears and tail of a fox slept across the way in a pile of what might have been potato sacks, and there, a man snored against the wall, simirly cking coverage. His arms were discolored, like charcoal, dark in a way that humans could not be- more like stone than flesh.

  “You can lie back and rest a while longer if that’s what you want,” The young-looking man smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t cop a feel and I’ll keep my eyes to myself. We had to split up. There were seven of you, and seven of us, each tasked with bringing one of you here. Aurelia brought you, and she’s out looking for supplies. My other comrade who’s caught up has gone out to look for the others.”

  “What… what am I? Are you a demon?” Harutora asked, softly, raising an eyebrow.

  “Say, before I answer that- mind if I give you a name?” The young man smirked, and Harutora angled her head, confused. “Come on, calling you no-name would be boring. Hard for you to know who I’m talking about, too.”

  “Um… well, okay…”

  “Alright, what if we call you Haru? It’s a word in a nguage from beyond this world, seems fitting for you.”

  “Fitting… why?” Harutora angled her head, swallowing. So hard to focus, so hard to think, she felt as if she might fall over right there, at any moment…

  “Well, it means little spring, or new beginnings. Plus, it’s pretty like you,” He added with a smirk that felt more pyful than flirtatious. “Beyond that, you and that word are both from another world.”

  “Pretty, huh… you got a mirror…?” Harutora- no, Haru, pushed at her still-sopping hair, trying to look herself over as best she could. It was white, but with streaks of bck, too choppy to be a gradient exactly. Reaching up, as she felt a twitch in her scalp, she found small, round ears, covered in wet fur. “I’m like you…”

  “No mirrors, sorry, but you should ah, look behind you.” The young man ughed, and Haru looked behind her, eyes widening at the sight there- she hadn’t even noticed it, but it responded as naturally as blinking, or breathing; a rge, bushy tail of more white into choppy bck streaks.

  “What… what the hell…”

  “You’re a demon, like me. I don’t really know what kind, but you are. There are blood tests that can be done, and such, but now isn’t the time for that. For now, we wait for the others to show. No mirrors on hand, but you’re pale and freckly with green eyes, if that helps at all.”

  “I-I see… I feel so…”

  “Bnk? Empty?” The gentleman offered helpfully. “It’s the magic again, as disgusting as it is. Your personality is dampened, your free will is weakened and your rationale is all but erased. It’s not something to worry about- or well it is, but you’re in good hands.”

  “Don’t wanna sleep… scared…” Haru whispered, shaking her head.

  “Scared of what? Can I help?” He asked, stepping forward some and sitting on the haybale beside her. “My name by the way, it’s Cecil.”

  “Cecil… you don’t look like a Cecil.” Haru snorted, closing her eyes, and Cecil ughed, gently guiding Haru’s head down onto his shoulder.

  “If I was going to do something inappropriate, I’d have done it already. Come on, get some rest, I’ll be right here. If anybody tries to come in, I’m pretty good with magic. I’ll blow them up- kaboom.”

  “Mn… still don’t want to sleep…”

  “Still scared? I like my women like I like my wine; aged about sixty years and kept in my-“

  “Not that… granny hugger… I just… don’t feel right,” Haru whispered, breaths shallow, but she was already bcking out again, grateful for something to lean on.

  -

  “Wake up, c’mon Haru wake up,” Somebody was shaking her, and the white-haired girl blinked her eyes open rapidly, swallowing and sitting up. “We need to get going soon, okay? Cecil said he caught you up to speed, I hope that’s true.” Above her stood an odd woman with red-blonde hair… her left eye was blue, and her right was green. Behind her, a tail tipped with a heart curled around slowly, nguidly, along with a set of shimmery wings like a dragonfly’s, if shorter and wider, shimmering like tiny rainbows.

  “I’m awake,” Haru whispered, nodding. “What’s going on…?”

  “Bad people are looking for us, we need to go. See if these clothes fit you,” She added, spping a pile of fabric into Haru’s still-naked p. “We don’t have long before they arrive here, maybe ten minutes. Get dressed, okay? Quick,” She added, turning on her heel and walking toward the man with stony arms sleeping on a haybale, dropping a wad of clothing onto his p as well.

  Not paying much mind, Haru pulled on what turned out to be pin boy shorts and jeans, socks, boots. The boots were worn, and smelled of old leather, but fit her fine enough- though, the socks were much too big. Finally, she yanked an oversized sweater over her head, wincing as she realized the fabric was rubbing uncomfortably against her tail.

  “Can I help you with that?” Cecil asked from behind her, and Haru turned, swallowing.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just gonna cut a hole in the waist for your jeans, if you’ll trust me. I’m really good at it, my wife is a rabbit demon and her tail is the bane of her existence sometimes. Quick spell, don’t even have to touch you.”

  “O-Okay,” Haru nodded, and no sooner had the word spilled off her tongue than there was a sound of ripping fabric and a loose tug at her ass; and there was a hole. It wasn’t pretty, or stylish, but she was able to stuff her tail through it slowly as Cecil hurried off, waking the smaller fox girl who seemed to be struggling to wake.

  “Have the others arrived back…?” Haru asked, looking around, there was a new figure here, a masked and cloaked one whom she could make out no details of. “It’s so…” She trailed off, mind going bnk.

  “It’s okay, Haru, just try to focus on me, okay?” Aurelia threw a weak smile in her direction. “It seems that only the six of us made it here- we were supposed to be fourteen. We’re unsure if the others are dead or just forced to hole up but we need to get moving, there are patrols sweeping our way.”

  “The people who summoned me…? You mentioned why, but…” Haru queried, angling her head.

  “Yeah!” Cecil chimed in. “Everything went wrong, they wanted tall, pale, human men and they got anything but.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  “We don’t really have time for this,” Aurelia snapped, but Cecil cut her off.

  “They deserve an expnation, if they’re to follow us blindly. At least a quick one for now.”

  “Yeah…” The young man with arms like coal spoke, sitting up. “What’s going on, exactly?”

  “Long story short for now, okay?” Cecil quipped back, and Haru raised an eyebrow, looking up at him tiredly. “Starria. Humans are great! Above all, we hate things that don’t look like us! We’re going to summon seven heroes to kill the foul demons, the things that look different from us! Follow?”

  “Yeah,” It was the young-looking fox-girl to speak up.

  “Okay. Summoning went wrong and they got you. Now we’re getting you out.” There was something missing from the story, but Haru was too exhausted to try and figure it out, so she just ced her boots quietly, thinking.

  “Sorry, by the way, I wasn’t able to find any bras, Haru, but I found this.” Aurelia held up a strip of bandaging, smiling weakly as if apologizing.

  “Do I need that…?”

  “Trust me, you’ll be gd to have it when we must run, it’s better than nothing. Shirt up for me, or should I reach under?”

  “Okay,” the young woman raised her sweater, unthinking of the others around, who politely averted their eyes anyway. Aurelia worked deftly, crushing Haru’s tits down and fastening the bandage behind her back.

  “Now come on, let’s go. If they find us, they’re going to kill us all- we aren’t like them, after all,” Aurelia beckoned and headed for the door, where her masked companion was waiting with a small firearm in hand.

  “So, you guys have guns…?” Haru blinked, sleepy. “In this world, I mean…”

  “Not now, girly,” Cecil cpped her shoulder, walking forward. “Come on. We need to get moving.”

  Tunabun