When Nina came back to school, she wanted to meet up with Anne. She still felt depressed about Kira's death, but she knew that doing nothing wouldn't help. She tried to contact Anne by phone. She texted and called, but there was no response.
She became worried that something must have happened to her, so she went back to school. When she arrived, everything seemed normal. When she finally met up with Anne in the hallways, she was confused by how she presented herself. Anne looked more like a delinquent than anything else, but Nina was just glad that she was safe.
"Hey, Anne!" she called out with no reply.
Anne noticed her, but didn't make eye contact. Instead, she walked past her without even looking at Nina.
Any time that Nina would try to make conversation with her old teammate and friend, she would only get the cold shoulder. Nina had no clue as to why.
Jack, Mary, and Yune were nowhere to be seen at the class. Instead, they focused their time into searching for Annie.
Meanwhile, Anne and Nina both went to their classes. To figure out Anne's strange behavior, Nina decided to follow her after school ended. She needed to know what happened.
Nina expected her to show up at her martial arts club, but Anne instead went the opposite way. She continued to follow behind without her noticing. She hid behind street corners, poles, and dumpsters.
Anne kept walking around the city aimlessly. She just kept walking until suddenly the both of them felt a chill on their spine. As soon as Anne sensed the Night Demon, she rushed off towards it while Nina followed behind.
It was in an abandoned warehouse.
Anne transformed into her Light Guardian form without any hesitation to who saw. However, her transformation was different. Instead of the usual light that surrounded her, a cocoon of metal covered her. It wrapped itself around Anne like silk until it shattered revealing her usual Light Guardian form. Her white streaks of hair flurried in the wind. She was different than the Anne she knew.
Anne rushed into the warehouse expecting a fight. Nina also transformed into her Light Guardian form. She wouldn't let Anne face off against one of those monsters alone, she thought to herself.
But by the time, Nina arrived inside the warehouse, the battle seemed to be already over.
Anne held the large creature by its throat. It looked to be some kind of combination between a rhino and a warthog. And it had so many horns attached to it's face. It squealed as Anne pummeled the creature to the ground. She even grabbed the creature's horns and forcefully yanked them out spilling black ooze all over. She did this all with a smile.
"Another win for Kira," Anne muttered.
Nina was stunned as she watched her friend destroyed the Night Demon in front of her. It was more brutal or horrific than anything that she expected Anne to do. No words came out of her mouth.
When Anne was done, the creature faded into black some leaving behind it's black coin. She breathed heavily and felt a sense of satisfaction for another win. But it didn't feel the same. This time she didn't feel her life on the line as usual. It almost seemed too easy.
Anne looked straight at Nina's horrified face.
"You enjoy the fight?" Anne asked, "I knew you'd been following me. But I didn't want to stop looking for Night Demons to fight because you were there."
"What happened to you?" Nina asked while her legs shook. She didn't think that Anne was an enemy, but she felt a different kind of fear coming off of her.
"Me? I've never been better."
Nina didn't know what to say. And Anne had nothing she wanted to say.
Without a hint of a smile, Anne walked right past her. And when her foot was side by side with Nina's, time felt like it had slowed. Nina had no idea what happened to her friend. But then she blamed herself for not being there for her. She realized that she should have been with her.
When Anne left the warehouse, Nina fell to her knees. She was about to give in.
"How could I lose both of my friends?" she asked herself quietly.
But as she was about to give in to her defeated self, she stood up.
"No. Kira may be gone, but Anne isn't. She isn't herself. Something must have done this to her," she said, "I have to be there for her. And I think I know just the people who could help me."