[This is not Earth, but it is a world resembling Earth, so some places might be different.].
"Kitomi, wait for meeee." A girl in black school clothes and cyan hair ran towards another girl running from her while laughing.
"Kiruka–Chan can you even catch me? I told you not to always stay in the library and come out with me to go to fun places, hehe hehe, good luck catching me." The white-haired girl said with a giggle.
Kitomi Haruko, thirteen years old, and a middle schooler ran from her friend playfully teasing her as she did.
Kiruka Ayami was the same age as her and naturally in the same class struggled to catch up to her best friend due to her carrying both their bags with her, if she didn't have them, she would have been the one being chased by Kitomi.
As Kiruka saw Kitomi getting further away, she pouted and then took in a breath of air and exhaled it. In the next moment, she began sprinting towards Kitomi with two bags in her hands.
Kitomi, who was chuckling momentarily, tripped but did not fall. She turned around and saw that Kiruk was upon her swinging her bag towards her with tremendous force
Kitomi panicked and caught the bag, falling on the ground in the process.
Kitomi yelped as the weight of the bag dragged her down, rolling onto her side with a loud thud.
"Ouch! Kiruka-chan, you're trying to kill me!" she groaned, hugging the bag tightly to her chest like a shield.
Kiruka finally caught up, panting heavily but wearing a triumphant grin. She bent over, hands on her knees, and said between breaths, "Heh… got you. Library legs or not, I win this time."
Kitomi puffed her cheeks in mock anger and sat up. "That doesn't count! You used the bags as weapons!" She poked the bag Kiruka still held. "That's cheating, you know!"
Kiruka smirked and adjusted her glasses, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "All's fair in love, war, and chasing best friends who refuse to study properly."
The two girls giggled together. Kiruk helped Kitomi up, and the two walked to school.
—
Homanri Middle School is a school filled with youths who have the drive to study.
Kitomi Haruko is a simple girl barely known in the school. Her presence wasn't really remarkable if Kiruka Ayami wasn't seen by her.
Kiruka Ayami was Kitomi Haruko's best friend, and despite not being the smartest, she does make a good pair with the smartest, often hanging out and talking about one another's interests
Kitomi was not paying attention to class, her mind occupied by something else. She was worried about Kiruka. She had been acting strange these days, and sometimes, she even skipped their meetups. She didn't ask about what she was doing because she respected her privacy.
Truthfully, Kitomi noticed changes a month ago, and it was very abnormal, and she also wondered how the girl who didn't have that much stamina to run or strength to throw her bag at her like that. There was definitely something strange going on.
Kitomi closed her eyes for a few seconds and opened them. "Huh, where's everyone?"
When she opened her eyes everybody in the class was gone but their shoes were on top of their seats. Kitomi thought she was dreaming but quickly brushed that off. She had never had such a realistic dream before.
"...Am I hallucinating?, yeah that may be it, I haven't slept in a few days." She sighed.
Kitomi rubbed her eyes and glanced around the classroom again. The desks were still there, the sunlight filtering lazily through the windows, but the faint dust motes hanging in the air felt frozen, like time itself had slowed. Every shoe was placed neatly on each chair—lined up, waiting, like they belonged to invisible students.
She stood up, her chair scraping the floor loudly. The sound echoed unnaturally, bouncing off the walls longer than it should have.
"...Kiruka?" Kitomi whispered, though she knew her friend had been sitting next to her moments ago. The desk was empty, but her shoes were balanced neatly on the chair, as if she had simply vanished out of them.
A cold shiver crawled down Kitomi's spine.
Then she heard it—faint laughter. Not the bright giggle of her friend, but a distorted, warped chuckle that seemed to come from the walls themselves. Kitomi spun, her heartbeat thundering in her chest.
The classroom door creaked open by itself, revealing a corridor bathed in an unnatural crimson glow. On the walls, faint graffiti-like marks shimmered—symbols she didn't recognise, but which made her stomach twist just by looking at them.
Kitomi hesitated, clutching the strap of her bag.
"This… This has to be a dream."
She forced one shaky step toward the door.
Just then, something flickered at the corner of her vision. She turned her head and froze.
Perched on the edge of the blackboard was a creature. Small, almost cat-like, with elongated ears and a tail that seemed to dissolve into wisps of smoke. Its eyes were round, glassy, and impossibly bright—like two moons staring directly into her soul.
"Finally, you can see it," the creature said in a voice too smooth, too human.
Kitomi staggered back, nearly tripping over her own feet.
"W-what… are you?"
"Me. I'm in the form of your delusion an entity you contract to become a world fixer to rid the world of worldly delusions ."
Kitomi's mouth went dry.
"…My…" What?"
The creature leapt down from the blackboard with eerie grace, its paws making no sound on the floorboards. Its tail coiled lazily in the air, fading in and out of existence.
"Your Delusion," it repeated matter-of-factly, as though she should already understand. "I'm the proof you've awakened. You've glimpsed what others can not see. The hidden layers, the fractures in reality. This school, your classmates—gone, consumed by a worldly delusion. A parasite born from fear, grief, and despair."
Kitomi's legs trembled. She hugged her bag close, like it might protect her.
"This isn't real. It can't be. Kiruka was just here. We were in class, I—"
"Kiruka is here," the creature interrupted, tilting its head. "But she's caught inside the Delusion's labyrinth. If you don't act, she—and everyone else—will be digested into nothing."
The crimson light in the hallway pulsed, almost like a heartbeat. The graffiti-like symbols shifted, becoming twisted shapes—faces screaming in silence, reaching hands stretching out of the walls.
Kitomi stumbled back. "What do you mean act? I-I'm just a normal girl! I can't—"
The creature's round moon-eyes locked onto hers, impossibly calm. "You can. Contract with me. Accept my power, and you'll become a Fixer. A magical vessel of order, able to destroy Delusions before they consume your world."
Kitomi's lips quivered. Magical vessel. Fixer. None of this made sense. And yet—her heart clenched. If what it said was true, Kiruka was in danger.
She whispered, "…Kiruka."
The creature's voice lowered, almost soothing, almost manipulative. "All you have to do is agree. Say you want to fix this world, and I will lend you strength. But remember—once you accept, there's no turning back."
The crimson glow brightened, shadows stretching long across the floor. From the open door, Kitomi heard faint footsteps echoing. Uneven. Scraping. Something was coming closer.
The creature's tail swirled like ink in water. "Decide quickly. Will you chase after your friend—or will you let her vanish?"
Kitomi bit her lips, and after a while, she concluded. "Fine...I'll be a fixer."
The bunnys ears twitched before it jumped towards her and then within a flash of light transformed into a moon necklace with rabbit ears on it. "Now to transform, say this, I Shall Delude Myself To Fix This world."
Kitomi clutched the cold metal of the necklace, her knuckles white. The air in the classroom had grown heavy, smelling of ozone and old paper. The scraping footsteps in the hallway were louder now—rhythmic and dragging, like something heavy being pulled across the floor.
She closed her eyes tight, the image of Kiruka's triumphant grin from earlier flashing in her mind. She couldn't let that smile vanish.
"I... I shall delude myself to fix this world!" she cried out, her voice cracking but determined.
The moon pendant erupted in a blinding, silver radiance that swallowed the crimson gloom of the room. Kitomi felt a strange sensation, as if her body were becoming weightless, dissolving into stardust and reforming in a pattern she didn't quite understand. Lines of light etched themselves into her skin before sinking beneath the surface.
When the light faded, Kitomi stood in the center of the silent classroom, but she was no longer wearing her black school uniform.
Her outfit had shifted into a sleek, midnight-blue dress that seemed to shimmer like the night sky, accented with white lace that looked like frothing clouds. A long, translucent cape trailed behind her, and in her hand, she felt the weight of a weapon—a spiral lance that felt like an umbrella topped with a crescent moon that glowed faintly.
She had elongated cat ears that were flopped on both sides of her head and a long furry tail that disappeared into smoke at the end she could feel near her back.
"The first transformations are always the quickest..." the creature spoke gently.
Kitomi was startled and looked around from where the voice came from. "Listen up Kitomi, I am a creature that makes contracts with humans to save this world from Delusions, creatures who cling onto beings plagued by despair or cursed lands, i merely manifested your Delusion and took control of it so you can become a Fixer, after this battle is over you are on your own."
Kitomi stared at her hands, which were now covered in elegant, fingerless gloves. The weight of the lance felt surprisingly natural, as if it were an extension of her own arm. She reached up, touching the soft, velvet-like texture of the rabbit ears atop her head, her face flushing crimson despite the dire situation.
"I... I have a tail?" she whispered, her voice sounding clearer, more resonant than before.
"Focus, Kitomi," the creatures voice echoed directly in her mind, sounding more urgent now. "The source of this Delusion is close. It has sensed your transformation. A Fixer's light is like a beacon to the hungry."
The classroom door didn't just creak this time; it shattered.
A mass of ink-black shadows poured through the frame, coiling and twisting until it took a vaguely humanoid shape. It was tall—nearly touching the ceiling—and its face was a blank, porcelain mask with a single, weeping eye painted in the center. In its hands, it clutched a distorted version of a school bag, dripping with a thick, tar-like substance.
"A... student?" Kitomi gasped, recognizing the silhouette of the school's winter coat beneath the shadows.
"It is a minion, a human who has been deluded you can purify it after you defeat the Worldly Delusion that is affecting this school!!." The entity within her delusion spoke with urgency.
Kitomi clumsily pointed the spiral lance at the deluded. "S-so what am I supposed to do?."
"You fight of course, why do you think you have a weapon for? Also you're now a fixer and a fixer always have a special ability marching their delusion." The entity spoke wisely.
Kitomi gulped, her hands shaking. "B-but what exactly is my delusion."
The entity grumbled. "Your delusion was in the form of a Worldy creature named a Kuroneko or in your simple human classifications, a long eared cat that appears innocent but instead is a deadly predator, they act like wolves upon the sight of a crescent moon, howling and bathing under its light. Your special ability has to do with crescent moons or moonlight, by using the light of the moon you shall be able to purify the deluded."