Shape of a Miracle EP 2 - FreezeFrame

Metallic monster

"There you are."

Ishida freezes. He knows that voice. His bike, however, continues speeding through the sidewalk overlooking the river, carrying him right into the direction of the originator of that voice. Right to Keisuke Shimada.

He snaps his handlebars to the right and crashes into a dark alleyway. He flies head first into a pile of freezing snow, but at least Shimada didn't notice him.

Then, in its own placid tone, another familiar voice speaks up:

" Huhhh? "

He pulls his head out of the snow and peaks just a little out of the alleyway. Back to the sidewalk overlooking the river on the other side of the road. Shimada stands tall but relaxed, holding a see-through umbrella and wearing his middle school uniform, seemingly unfazed by the freezing temperature around them.

Next to him is the harbourtor of the above comment: a popular girl from his class, the very same girl he overheard snarking on those transfer students earlier. Unlike Shimada, she doesn't have an umbrella and seems much more vulnerable to the elements with her shaking bare legs and wet white snowflakes stuck on her long black hair. She does however, make up for it in her thick purple coat and fluffy hood.

Suddenly his vision is obscured by Tikki popping up right into his face

"Ishida are you okay?"

"-SH!" He hushes and lunges back into the shadows of the alleyway. He doesn't want to be spotted.

"You came here to see that cat-girl, didn't you?" he hears Shimada ask.

"Wha- what makes you-?!" the girl cries.

"I have." he says, nudging his head to the house in front of him, the very same one Ishida is hiding beside " This is the place, right? Where she was spotted last night."

The girl reluctantly sighs and faces the river, holding tight onto the railings like a teddy bear. "...Do you think she'll show?" she asks him.

Ishida silently scowls. Just a few hours ago this chick was laughing at a girl for recounting something a little unbelievable. And now here she is, waiting for this magical super hero to show up. What a two-faced brat.

"Of course." Shimada finally answers, leaning back against the railing "in fact, I can see her right now."

"Huh?" she mutters.

"She's sitting on the roof."

She whips her head hard to the house in front of them, yelling: "Oh, what do you take me for? an idio-"

But she falls silent.

No... seriously? Ishida turns around and sprints down the alleyway to the back of the house. He looks up at the roof.

There she is.

He can just about see a pair of black cat like ears sticking up from behind the peak of the roof. It's her. It's Mew. He found her.

But so did something else. On the side of the roof from her, a silver, monstrous figure crawls up the roof, sneaking up behind her.

"It's an akumatized villain!" Tikki shrieks " They're going to take her miraculous! Ishida, you have to do something!"

"H-hey!" he yelps, barely making an effort to be loud so as to not get his classmates to hear him from the other side of the house.

The creature crawls closer and closer behind her. Rising its spindly fingers into the night sky, ready to snap and inflict whatever magical power onto her. He looks back at his classmates at the other side of the house, still gawking at the cat-themed superhero above them.