Second Night

She turned on her laptop and looked up major accidents alongside the road that her incident occurred in. Much to her surprise, she did succeed in saving the kid, but there were not reports of her dying. "There was someone who jumped in front, crazy fellow, she was actually the one who made me turn the truck around quickly!" the driver said as Rika clenched her teeth. "This liar! I saved that kid! He was driving asleep!" she said as she gritted her teeth even more. Rika changed out of her red suit and placed it on her drawer. "Whatever, this might just be some weird dream. I hope so." She said as she looked at her reflection on the mirror for one last time before falling asleep fully.

Morning came and her hopes would die down. She opened the closet and saw the red suit right then and there. "I-It was not a dream, huh?" She said as she broke down and cried just remembering everyone that was killed that night. It turns out that she was not as desensitized to death as she had thought. "I-I am alive. That is all that matters." She assured herself that survival was the most important thing that she had to do, and she did it successfully.

Two full days have passed as she lived her life on just as normally as she did. Nothing weird had happened so far. Rika turned the television on and tuned in to the news. As the news reporter discussed about the possible chances of rain and how important an umbrella was going to be tomorrow night, the next thing she would hear from him would make her shudder in fear. "Also keep in mind that we are going to have another instance of a 'blood moon' or the moon turning into a hue of red tomorrow night as well. So, always wear protective eye gear when looking at it." the broadcaster said as he ended the weather segment. "A-A blood moon. It is going to happen again." Rika said as she stood up from her seat and gulped down the fears that she felt.

Indeed, it did. Semi then asked her to hang out for tonight, but Rika knew that she would be gone, that she would be out fighting. "N-No. sorry, I have a thing to do tonight, Semi. Maybe another time." She said. "Huh? That is odd, you never have anything planned at all, Rika." Semi said as she pouted. "Alright! Tomorrow then!" She said as she big her friend farewell. Rika wanted to tell her everything, she wanted to tell Semi that she was about to fight tonight, she was about to fight for her life. And it was a battle that she might not survive. She wanted to tell Semi that she was scared, scared that she might not live on that borrowed life of hers once more. But at the same time, the thought of her head exploding just like that in a snap made her pull away from doing so. She knew that the life of being a Red Moon Renegade was something that she had to forever hide from the people.

Rika was now in her room, locking the doors and putting on the red suit that was given to her in her closet. It was nearing midnight already, the moon was full on red. The anxiety that she felt was palpable. And that was when it finally happened. In the blink of an eye, she was in the apartment of Vicis already. There were about ten people here with her, including Mikoto. All of them looked clueless except for Rika and Mikoto, however. A screen appeared, it was Vicis. "Good evening. I am Vicis. Your lives are forfeit, I will use them however I want to. If you wish to live, kill this monster." He said as he had that same old cold expression etched on his face as he said so. The monster looked like a samurai who had come from the past.

"Heh. Come on, this is nothing, it is probably like a reality television show or something that they stream around the world." A confident and arrogant man said to the others as they began to believe him. "Please open these boxes, they are for you. Goodluck." Vicis turned off the screen as once again, nobody put on the red tights. There was a stalwart man with long hair slicked back in the room with them who did so, however. "That's surprising, he actually put it on." Mikoto whispered to Rika.

After two minutes they were transported once again to what looked like a cemetery in the outskirts of Japan. Several screams and panicked reactions from them were heard as Mikoto just was not giving a single care at all. He was probably sick and tired of this, same as Rika. "You, why did you put on the red suits?" He asked the long haired guy. "Because you two were the only ones who looked like you knew what you were doing." The deep voiced long haired man replied to him.

"What is your name?" Rika asked him. "You can call me Kuro." He responded. "Do you mind telling me what exactly we are doing?" Kuro asked Rika. "It would be better if I just tell the others as well." She added. Rika called for the attention of everyone there as she wanted to tell them the truth. She expounded about the importance of the red suits and how the pointing system was graded. Kuro had a puzzled look on his face as the others were just flat out not believing in her words. "I call bull crap, come on! Are you cosplayers or something? Looks like you lost sight of reality, young lady." The arrogant man uttered out as soon as she finished talking.

Rika got annoyed and was definitely triggered right about now. "Fine, I gave you the chance to save yourselves, don't ever say that I didn't." Rika said as she scoffed. "Yeah, that is just about what happened when I first told the others about what this Red Moon Renegade thing is. I just gave up after that." Mikoto added.

"How about you, do you think I am only making it up?" Rika asked Kuro. "I am going to have to see it for myself." he replied.