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One Foggy Night (5): As the seasons shift, the temperature changes too. It’s not uncommon for fog to roll in, sometimes from the mountains, sometimes out of nowhere. This fog is particularly thick and difficult to see through; Destiny City has issued several weather warnings and cautions being out or driving at night. It’s easy to get lost and difficult to see obstacles. Not to mention the strange, smothering sensation of dread and fear that rolls in with the fog. While there is sometimes the sensation of being watched, it worsens when the sun goes down. Some have even said they’ve caught glimpses of a tall, horned figure traveling with the fog. The news has reported that this is probably just a side effect of climate change and suspects that weather patterns should return to normal towards the end of the month.
Cinta could hardly believe that a large amount of October has come and gone. She began the month folding a variety of autumn-themed origami and decorated her room and parts of the house with them. She admired the leaves changing color and detaching from their trees. Moreover, she partook in drinking pumpkin spice latte multiple times and kept up to date on seasonal events, even news of strange unaccounted appearances just in case. Best of all, she was able to begin breaking out in warmer clothing dotted with her favorite aspects of fashion- fashionably fall mori.
Yet, something was missing… a new hat? Or yet another scarf? No, not another scarf. She had a few too many already. A hat it is, she decided to herself, earlier today. Cinta made up her mind to go around the local shopping area in search of a new seasonal hat. A modest, perhaps slightly older in style, but still cute hat.
To that end, she spent an embarrassing amount of time in search of a hat. Moreover, she had to debate to herself just what kind of hat she wanted in the end after reducing her choices down to two. It was surprisingly tough! In the end, she walked out of the hatter with a new brown hat brimmed with a neat ribbon with fake autumn leaves attached. She liked it so much that she wore it out of the store. It sat comfortably on her head, and it made her feel quite happy.
Since it was October, however, that meant that daylight was growing shorter and shorter. Cinta walked into the store with the sun in the middle of the sky. She left the shopping area when it largely set from the sky.
Cinta walked home cheerfully despite the air growing chillier. She tightened her scarf as she walked into her neighborhood.
“How strange… I didn’t know it was going to get this foggy,” Cinta uttered to herself as she glanced around. “Much too foggy… wait a minute.”
She paused and stared. Staring frozen in space. Within the thickened fog was a tall shadowy figure with a horn on its head and it was somewhat unsettling. Cinta took a step back and attempted to brace herself. Her mind raced with possibilities. ‘Have I seen you before? Are you a youma..? You sure don’t feel like it nor are you speaking… and honestly, I kinda don’t wanna deal with you…’ were the kind of thoughts that coursed through her mind. Admittedly, it’d be highly irresponsible of her to just ignore the maybe-it’s-a-youma and go the other way, but then again, that figure sure looks kind of familiar…
“Ah! I saw you in the news!” she gasped and squinted. “You’re that weird tall and horned figure…”
Somehow, just as she divulged this fact openly, the fog somewhat thickened momentarily causing the mysterious to vanish with little to no trace left. This caught Cinta by surprise, but there was nothing she could do about it. Strange things coming and going before her were nothing new to Cinta. And, it seems that the news was right- it was nothing but a strange mysterious figure stemming from imagination and perhaps an effect of climate change. As if to confirm her thoughts, the fog thinned slightly, revealing the familiar path home to her.
Cinta breathed a sigh of relief and briskly walked the rest of the way home. Surely it wouldn’t follow her and invite itself to her home, right?
