Back home from the island, Shiina sets out to her weekly kendo class. While practicing, she meets a painfully shy new girl named Akira Sakura. Shiina comforts the nervous high schooler, who flees the dojo after a mere glimpse of Hoshimaru (disguised as a quirky backpack). Perplexed Shiina begins to wonder about what may have driven Akira off, without considering the deadly secret and supernatural similarities she and the insecure teenager really have in common.