Mr Ashliford followed Mimi as she bolted at top speed for the back of Blackverde High. He could hear 2 distressed voices coming from behind the school and broke into a full run in response. As he rounded the corner he spotted Mimi trying to wake Etsu up by 'mreowing' and gently batting at her. Next to his daughter was a Far Eastern-looking girl with an open and partially used First Aid kit sitting next to them. The girl was trying to wake his daughter up with no success. A boy, who looked to be of the same, or similar, haritage as the First Aid girl spotted him and silently pointed to Etsu.

Mr Ashliford recognized that the boy was on high alert and look-out and left him to it in order to focus on his daughter. The kid likely knew more about what was going on and what the threat was, anyway.

Reaching them, Mr Ashliford knelt down beside his daughter and patted her cheek gently. He noted that her arm was banadaged and would need looking at later.

“Baby Girl? Sweety, Sweetling, it's Daddy. C'mon, wake up Baby Girl.” He said.

“Uhm, excuse me?” The boy's nervous voice interrupted.

Without him turning to look at them he continued, “She's, uh... She rescued Asahana and I from a knife-wielding attacker. I think she fainted in the aftermath from the shock and stress. Maybe it would be best if you take her to the hospital?”

Sensible boy; he liked him.

Mimi went over and rubbed against the boy as she walked past him and towards the car, apparently agreeing with his idea. Mr Ashliford decided that the kid and Mimi were right and picked Etsu up, not wanting to delay any of them getting away from where there might be another attack.

Standing, Mr Ashliford regarded the boy.

"Your name?" He asked the kid.

“Jiro Tanaka.” The boy answered, still focused on being the look out.

“Uhm... About her, uhm, uh...?” Asahana interrupted, struggling for words and drawing Mr Ashliford's attention around to her.

He saw something nearby for a second and hoped that it was just a pile of clothes and not a dead body his daughter had created. She was not old enough to have kill count.

Nope.

Nuh-uh.

He was dealing with that possibility.

Not right then.

“Fainting?” Jiro offered in response to the girls linguistic struggles.

“Yes! Fainting! Uhm, I, calm her. She...” Asa mimed sleeping, using her hands as a pillow.

Right on cue Etsu lightly snored for two breaths.

Jiro tried not to laugh. After what had happened, it struck him as disproportionately funny.

“Not the hospital then, I guess.” Mr Ashliford said, looking at his daughter and trying not think about the strange almost-odor he could smell from the direction of what he had decided to believe were just a pile of clothes, “Home it is.”

He turned his atten back to the girl.

"Name?" He asked.

"Uhm, Asahana Hoshino."

He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Do either of you need a ride home?" He asked.

"No." They both answered at the same time.

"I'm good." Jiro added.

Mr Ashliford nodded, then told them firmly to get home before he departed; that almost-smell was getting stronger and he didn't like it. He considered dragging the other 2 into the car.

The pair of teens watched as he hurried over to the waiting (enormous) cat, who anxiously sniffed at Etsu as they went out of sight around the building.

That was when Jiro's ears caught a strange sound coming from the school-

“Time to go." He said to Asa, "Now. Unless you want to see more of those things.”

The both bolted out of there, content to let the creatures claim the body... And, truthfully, both surprised and flustered that Mr Ashliford hadn't seen the corpse so close by.

Both of them regretted not taking the offered ride home, but they didn't want to answer any more questions about what had happened. They had no answers anyway.

A moment later Mr Ashliford briefly confirmed that the pair had left. He jumped back into his car, something inside of him screaming to get away now.