Running through the forest, Kiara summoned her sword, knowing that she was probably going to have to use it. Currently she was trying to listen for any of the others in hopes that she could get to them and make a team up because— knowing Yukio— the lanterns they needed to light were most likely going to be some sort of demon.

The sound of chirping brought Kiara out of her thoughts, and she looked around her to see some moths flying around her. She stopped running and looked around, shining her light on each of them to get a better look. Each of them radiated a small energy— enough to let Kiara know that there weren't any run of the mill moth, she assumed they were Chuchi, demons that possessed insects. Standing still, she noticed that none of them were actually moving towards her to attack and instead the moment they made contact with her they started fluttering around peacefully.

Kiara looked around at the Chuchi in confusion. She was used to small demons— like col tars— avoiding her because of the demonic energy she held. She had assumed it was because they immediately felt fear by being near her. But starting to flutter peacefully the moment they made contact? That's never happened before.

Kiara glanced from the Chuchi to the flashlight in her hand, getting the feeling that that was what they were attracted to the light emitting from her flashlight— almost as if it was being whispered to her. Placing it on the ground, Kiara watched as they moved from her and crowded around the light. Kiara slowly stepped away, watching as the moths seemed to not have any interest in her anymore.

"What the actual fuck." Kiara muttered as she backed away slowly before turning and continuing on the forest path. As she walked, the Chuchi would sometimes flutter up to her curiously before fluttering away, as if they weren't some blood sucking demon.

As she walked, Kiara spotted a light source up ahead and started walking towards it, thinking that maybe it was a lantern. When she got closer and found out the source was from a flashlight, she was slight disappointed. Cutting through some of the forest, Kiara spotted Izumo not to much ahead of her, her familiars fighting off the Chuchi trying to get to her.

"Hey, polka dot! Turn your flashlight off!" Kiara shouted, and Izumo looked back at her for a split second before turning off her flashlight, the moths slowly starting to flutter away.

"What are you doing here? We're supposed to be competing against each other." Izumo asked, turning to look at Kiara with her two familiars floating

"You really think that? What's the main thing that Teach has been telling us since the exwire exam?" Kiara asked, walking up to Izumo, returning her sword back into the necklace. "It's that Exorcists work in teams. Besides, he never specified how many people could be in a slot."

"What? You asking me to work with you?"

"Well, I mean, it might just be easier, dont you think? Look, if I'm wrong, I'll let you get the slot to go on missions." Kiara held out her hand, "So, what do you say?"

Izumo looked at her hand, taking it after a few seconds of hesitation. "Fine."

As the two walked through the forest, there was a sudden flash of Blue that caused the two girls to stop walking and look behind them, the both of them blinking to readjust their eyes.

"What was that? A demon?" Izumo asked.

"Something like that." Kiara said, scratching the back of her head before turning and continuing down the path. "I don't think we have anything to worry about. Let's just keep walking."

Izumo hesitated before following Kiara, the silent walk to find the peg lantern continuing on.

***

"Well, I assumed the lantern would be big but I didn't think it would be this big— or made out of stone." Kiara said, looking up at a large stone lantern. "At least they had the forethought to give us a wagon for it." Kiara recognized the lantern in front of her as a peg lantern— a demon lantern that only moves around when lit and requires fuel to stay lit. The only problem is that the fuel mostly consists of young girls. And Kiara didn't like the idea of being turned into fuel.

Izumo walked up to the lantern and placed a hand on it, "We need to come up with a plan. The only way to move peg lanterns is when they're lit. The only downside is that it'll probably want to eat one of us for fuel."

"Hm. We could try to gather Chuchi to fuel it, but it would require a lot to do that with just the two of us." Kiara said, trying to come up with a plan. "Oh! I know!"

"What?"

Kiara pulled a small square paper out of her pocket and bit her finger, smearing her finger over the magic circle drawn on the paper. "Come on out, fucker." She said, and in a dramatic explosion of smoke, her familiar, an Onmoraki stood in front of her, it's eyes glowing like lanterns themselves in the darkness. "I found out that Onmorakis can breath fire, so, here's our fuel supply." Kiara said, looking towards Izumo. "Though we still need a way to move the cart, and to seal the lantern from moving around."

"My familiars can do that. They might look it but they're strong. And I can write a seal to place on the Peg Lanturn."

Kiara nodded. "Then I guess we have a plan." She said, a grin on her face.

***

After Kiara's Onmoraki lit the peg lanturn, they had it quickly jump into the wagon by Kiara luring it over to them. Once it was in the wagon Izumo slapped on the seal and her familiars started pulling the cart as her Onmoraki made sure the lanturn didn't go out.

"You know, we make a pretty good team." Kiara said once they started walking back to the camp.

"I guess. You're more tolerable than I thought." Izumo said. "But this doesn't mean we're friends."

Kiara chuckled. "Of course it wouldn't."

"Though, speaking of friends, you and Suguro have gotten pretty close since the orphanage mission we went on."

Kiara's cheeks warmed up, "Oh, really?" She asked, playing dumb.

"Oh, don't play dumb. I know you two are dating. I've seen you two holding hands in the halls when changing classrooms. You're not even hiding it well."

"Well, apparently to the others we are. None of them have figured it out yet. Then again, Sheimi's kind of oblivious and the others are... boys." Kiara laughed. "Congrats on being the first of the cram school class to notice that we were together, though."

"Whatever."

As the two of them walked, a bottle rocket went off somewhere in the distance, and Kiara and Izumo glanced at each other.

"Wonder who that was." Izumo stated.

"Probably one of the boys. Knowing them one of them could of accidentally set it off trying to light the match." Kiara said. "I don't think its anything to worry about."

With that, the two of them fell into silence yet again, continuing their walk back to camp .Though Kiara couldn't help but wonder— What would Bon think of her after he discovered who she was related to? For some reason, the small thought made her heart ache. Taking a deep breath, she slapped her cheeks to clear the thought away, focusing her attention on walking through the forest.

Once they got back to camp, Kiara noticed that other than Takara, they were the only ones to get back. She glanced at her Onmoraki before ripping up her magic circle, her familiar dissolving into smoke behind her and the fire in the peg lanturn slowly died down.

"Congratulations. Both of you have passed the drill in one piece." Shura said once he spotted them.

Kiara looked at Izumo, "See, she said both of us."

Izumo just rolled her eyes and walked up to sit by the fire, her familiars dissolving into the air as well.

"Hey, where's teach? I thought he would be here waiting with you to make sure you didn't do anything stupid." Kiara said, looking around the clearing to see that Yukio wasn't there.

"Oh, he went to investigate whoever sent off that bottle rocket earlier. He should be back soon with whoever forfeited."

"Ah. Must of been one of the boys. My bet is Shima, he probably saw the moths and started freaking out." Kiara chuckled as she moved to walk over to the fire. She let out a small sigh as she sat down, the fire warming her up and chasing away the night chill as she waited for the rest of the class to return.