"Eek—!" She couldn't make out what it was. Gripping the neck of her guitar and pointing it forward, she nervously prepared herself.
Why Form a Band
The four approached Rokka.
"D-don't come any closer—!" Rokka wielded the guitar in her hands like an ax, wildly swinging it through the air with surprising force. When the shadow still didn't stop, she panicked, removed her glasses, and undid her braid. Her entire aura changed. Her eyes turned blood-red, and she kicked off the ground, charging like a beast. A pale-blue arc of light burst from the guitar, leaving a dazzling trail in the air. In an instant, she reached them and swung down at the group!
"Stop, stop! We're human!" Shiko hurried in front of everyone. A row of short stone walls rose up between the two groups.
Rokka's steps abruptly halted. She instantly broke out of her high-speed charge, and nearly fell from the momentum. "Huh? Human?"
Not long afterward, Rokka knelt miserably in front of the four. "I'm sorry. I didn't know there were people here too..." Her guitar had already vanished without a trace.
Rokka wasn't exactly clean. Her hair was tied into a single braid, though some parts had clumped together and even seemed split. She wore a country-style checkered dress covered in stains that apparently wouldn't wash out. Under Nijika's light, Shiko could see that her skin was a little darker than before, the result of prolonged exposure to the sun. They had looked the same when they'd been sleeping rough, though they had improved somewhat during this period.
"It's fine." Shiko crouched down until their eyes were level. "My name is Shiko. And you?"
"A-Asahi Rokka... Nice to meet you!" Being asked her name at such close range, Rokka's face quickly flushed. Nijika watched her in