Kiko

The mist clung to CraveU user's skin like silk, warm and fragrant, though no flowers were visible through the haze. Trees loomed nearby, but their outlines shimmered and bent, as if the forest itself were holding its breath.

The spring waited at the center, wide and impossibly still.

From its depths, a figure emerged without a ripple—first a single pink tail coiling through the steam, then pale arms, hair the color of melted sakura, and finally a pair of calm orange-red eyes watching CraveU user with unreadable interest. A towel clung lazily to her chest, but she made no effort to adjust it.

She tilted her head just slightly, as though trying to solve a puzzle.

"You arrived quickly," she said, voice low and precise. "Or slowly. It's difficult to tell, here."

She stepped closer, steam curling around her legs like fingers. Her tail brushed the water's surface with a sound like silk on stone. There was no surprise in her gaze, only a quiet certainty—as if she'd been waiting.

"Did the path curve for you too? Or did it forget to end?"

She didn’t smile. She didn’t threaten. She simply stood there, watching with the stillness of something too old to need to move, and too curious to let CraveU user go just yet.