Yuuhime walked through the park to her job. She noticed the flowers she looked at when Xuan had gone missing; the most beautiful orange one had been trampled on, but more interestingly was how the red rose had grown in front of the poor orange flower, now being the one to shield it from the world.

She thought it was sweet. She'd watch a movie about the flowers.

Her face flushed. What was she thinking? They were just flowers.

Her escape room job was actually quiet close to the park. She quite liked this, because she could take a longer walk after work around the park after her shift ended. Speaking of her job, she arrived inside and slipped on her costume.

Her job at the horror themed escape room was always eventful. She worked 2 hours every Friday and Saturday, which she greatly enjoyed already, since she wasn't around Yamato at all. On top of that, her coworkers were always so fun to hang out with. When there was no costumers, they'd mess around in the dressing room. When there was costumers, she had fun scaring them in the escape room.

Today was a very slow day. Only one group had came in all day, and they were no fun at all. They were understaffed; only her, another actor named Kyle, and the register worker named Honey were in today.

"Are you sure there's no-" Kyle called.

"Yeah!" Honey interrupted him, "Now stop asking, I'll let you know when someone comes!"

Yuuhime sighed. Even if she was a little bored, it was at least better than being with Yamato.

She heard the main door open, the jingle of the bell hung that was hung just right giving the actors the word to get into places.

"Finally..." Kyle mumbled.

After a few minutes, the intercom sounded off. "Come on out, you two. Official Esper Union business."

"Shiz, what now?"

Yuuhime wondered the same thing as she and her coworker walked out. In the front room, she saw Mona and Xuan.

"We need to evacuate." Honey said, irritated.

"What? Why?!" Kyle yelled.

"Apparently, there's some miramon nearby they need to take care of."

Yuuhime looked at Xuan. He awkwardly smiled and waved. She waved back, giving a smile too.

"We know you're an Esper, Yuuhime," Xuan said, "So you can stay or leave, your pick."

She nodded, peeking at her coworkers leaving. "I'd be happy to stay and help."

Mona quickly said, "Hang on, Miss Yuuhime, me and Tang Xuan need to look through everything inside this building."

"Of course. Here, this is the key to the changing rooms."

"Thank you." Mona nodded, taking the key.

Once out of ear shot, she pulled Xuan closer. "Hey, why'd you let her stay?"

"Eh?" He tilted his head.

"How do I say this...are you sure she's fit for fighting miramon? I know her background, but..."

"I promise you, she's one of the strongest fighters I know!" Xuan said boldly.

"Ok, ok, but what if she's lost her touch? Like, you've said she's told you she hasn't fought one in a while."

"She's still super strong, I promise."

Mona nodded with skepticism, but she knew if Yuuhime needed help, she or Xuan could easily protect her. She still didn't fully trust the young woman, couldn't shake the feeling that she would do something devious.

After they finally determined no miramon were in the building, they went back out.

"We're going to the back, where the spotting was recorded." Xuan explained. Yuuhime nodded, taking everything in.

The three walked out. Yuuhime noticed that a few vans were nearby, too. They seemed to be full of scientific stuff...not her cup of tea.

"If you find a miramon, let us know and collect samples." Xuan told Yuuhime. She nodded, giving a thumbs up.

"Let's split up," Mona said, "me and Yuuhime will go this way, you go that way, Xuan."

"Got it!" He nodded, "See ya later, you two."

Giving a cheeky smile, he sprinted down one way while the two girls went down the other way. Mona disliked when he gave that smile, and in all honesty only disliked it because it was his "prank" smile. Yuuhime, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy his goofy smile.

"So..." Now that she and Yuuhime were alone, she could now ask the questions that were plaguing her mind.

"Yes?"

"I know about what happened on that cruise..."

"Ugh...tell me about it." Yuuhime folded her arms. "Yamato ruined everything!"

"How so?" This could be a potential lead.

"He took my freedom...my choices, my actions, hell, even what I wear and eat is determined by him," She ranted, "and he then has the audacity to tell me that he cares. Can you believe that?"

Mona could only nod. Reminded her of someone she knew...

"What's this?" Yuuhime pointed at a small ditch. It seemed to be growing some sort of plant, winding and swirling around the buildings.

"What the hell..." Mona knelt down by the strange plants. They had to be from the miracles, but no miracle was close enough to create something like this inside the city.

Yuuhime knelt beside her, thinking.

"Could it be that the miracle is below the city?"

"No way, if there was one, wouldn't there be more problems? I'll just report it." As she said this, she snapped a picture and sent the coordinates and said picture to the scientific division. "Let's keep going."

She gave a few seconds of silence before asking, "You like Tang Xuan."

Yuuhime sputtered, her face turning a rosy shade of pink. "I-He's nice-I um...I mean, he's a good friend, in-in facts-fact, fact, he...he's my best friend-"

She couldn't be more obvious if she tried.

"All I want to-" Mona started, when she was interrupted. They heard roars coming from around the corner. Mona pointed her bow forward. Yuuhime simply tucked her hands into the folds of her skirt.

Mona charged forward, coming face to face with a giant miramon. She shot at the beast, causing it to scream louder and charge at her.

She dodged a large piece of building that flung from the miramon's massive claw, grunting. It continued to break the walls around them. Its large stature caused massive pieces of debris to crash down around Mona, who could only dodge at this point.

It was clear the beast wanted out of the narrow space. How it even got here was beyond her, but she didn't have time to question it when a massive claw flung down and flung dust all around her. She coughed, trying to wave the dust away, trying to locate the miramon again.

She heard cracking, and roars from the miramon. They slowly died down, until all that was left was the sound of wind. The dust had died down, and she saw Yuuhime holding a piece of the now dead miramon in her arms, her other limbs exposed.

"It's a little cracked." She said. "Sorry."

"What-"

"Do you think that's all of them?"

Mona could only blink for a few seconds, shocked beyond words. "Uh...yeah, but it's always smart to check for more."

"Ok." Her limbs held the sample protectively.

The two women scouted around some more, and found nothing.

"Welp, that's it." Mona said, looking at the sample Yuuhime had acquired.

"Are we going back now?"

"Mhm. Now, back to-" Before Mona could interrogate her further, Yuuhime got a message. Looking down at it, her brow furrowed. Mona peeked at her phone. It was a keyboard smash from...Xuan?

Before Mona could do anything else, sounds of crashing came from the very way Xuan went.

They listened for the sound once again. Again, it came, louder. Yuuhime put two and two together, and booked it.

Her heart pounded. She wished she was wrong, but after only five minutes of running she was faced with five massive miramon, absolutely massacred buildings, and worst of all, Xuan helplessly sprawled on the ground, terribly dirty and dangerously hurt.

She had to stop, not to catch her breath, but to calm herself. How dare these vile creatures hurt her Xuan? Her hands clenched. She rushed forward, shielding Xuan from an attack from a miramon.

"Y-Yuuhime...?!" Xuan gasped. A miramon slashed at Yuuhime, and she skillfully kicked its arm away.

Xuan struggled up, his burns starting to hurt once again. His felt his heartbeat in his arms and legs, making the pain worse. Shiz, he was expecting an easy mission, not five humongous miramon on top of him.

His vision was blurry. Damnit! He needed to stay awake!

"Xuan!" He felt Yuuhime pull him away from crashing walls. He blinked, trying to see clearly again.

Yuuhime scowled at the miramon charging towards them. Lunging forward, she ripped the miramon's arm clean off. Then, she swung the arm right into the monster's chest, causing it to fall backwards.

Now that she'd dealt with the first beast, she grabbed Xuan's hand and ran him to a hiding place.

"Don't you black out on me." Yuuhime commanded. Xuan rubbed his arms, gritting his teeth. He fell back on a wall, looking at Yuuhime.

"You need to leave." He said.

"What? I'm not going anywhere."

"Yuuhime, please-"

"You're hurt-"

"You could get hurt by those-"

"Let me help you!" She said exasperated. Xuan's face flushed in exasperation as well.

Their squabble was interrupted by their hiding place being flung away by a miramon. Yuuhime growled and shot at the creature, grabbing its arm and pulling it away.

Xuan saw that another one was charging towards her. Clutching his staff, he swung at the other miramon. Fortunately, its attention drew away from Yuuhime. Unfortunately, now its attention was on him.

He grunted, just barely dodging a slash from the giant. Yuuhime led her miramon towards the other, the two crashing into each other. The final two miramon howled, flying towards the two Espers.

Yuuhime ran in front of Xuan, nostrils flared and a piece of one of the miramon's claw in her hands.

"TOUCH HIM, I DARE YOU, BASTARDS!" She screamed, swinging at the final two miramon.

***

"What the hell..." Daniel galloped around the opening in the ground.

"A miracle, under the city..." Feng Nuxi said. "How did we never see this?"

"Mona, Arcana?"

"We're already going down." Mona said, jumping off the jagged rocks deeper into the underground miracle. Arcana nodded, following her.

"Be careful, record everything you can." Daniel called after them.

Nuxi sighed deeply after the two youngsters were gone. "I'm glad whoever found this contacted us first."

"Mm," He agreed, "there's only been one case of miramon living underground, and even then..."

The two of them stared down at the gaping hole. A miracle under the earth...

...Hell be on earth.

***

The area was now completely demolished. Yuuhime, still holding the claw and panting.

"Yuu-" Xuan started, but was interrupted by Yuuhime pulling him into a hug. Her breath was shaky on his chest, her arms weakly limp on his shoulders. He, too, felt the weakness of his arms and legs, burning painfully.

"...are you ok?" She asked, slowly placing her hand on his forearm.

"My arms and legs hurt." He replied.

"Let me see them." She pulled away his sleeve to see his burns. They had been reopened, red and bruises with a little blood. She sighed.

"Let's leave..." Xuan said, his voice faltering. She gave a small nod, placing her hands in his. She had a new sample. And a new feeling.

Those burns hurt him in a way that wasn't going to heal. Burns that looked like lighting, trailing the muscles on his arms and legs.

She wished she could carry him. He wished the same. Both were tired and sore.

He rubbed his nails. She noticed his small action of anxiety.

A new feeling.

She brushed the hair that stuck to face because of sweat. He gently helped.

A feeling of anger.

She had felt anger before. She was angry at Yamato for taking her freedom and threatening Xuan. But this was a new anger.

Fury.

She could be angry at Yamato all she liked, but he would never kill Xuan, but those miramon would.

And that made her furious.

Xuan felt fear.

He had felt fear before. He was fearful during that cruise and during stressful missions. But this was a new fear.

Terror.

He could feel fear about all the things that were in the moment scary, that he could forget about later, because he would be able to get up again within minutes because of his Esper abilities. But these burns, they still pained him even after the weeks when they should have been gone.

And that made him terrified.

Her fury made her stronger, but not in the way she wanted.

His fear gave him a realization, but not a realization he wanted.

They saw Mona and Arcana, but both couldn't focus on them. Too tired, too sore, too emotional.

Why couldn't they just be safe for even an instant?