The priest stared straight back at the oni, his expression unchanging as she asked if the prior fight counted as a request. A few more moments passed before he snapped his fingers, causing a shrine maiden to walk out from a side room with a small box in hand. When she opened the box, though, what the group would see was not money or riches, but instead a set of medicinal pills that emanated a relatively strong herbal scent. Ren scrunched his nose instinctively, but decided to peer a bit deeper in to see what they looked like. They seemed to be a deep green, though with a faint golden luster that made them feel far more otherworldly, and each seemed to be about the size of a marble, if not slightly larger.

"These pills are able to expunge any corruption from the world of mirrors; you must consume the entire pill in order for the effect to take hold. Each of you will be given three for free, but any more will have to be purchased, as the time and resources required to create them are no small order. We shall hold onto them for the moment, but any time you wish to obtain any, let one of the miko here know and they shall deliver accordingly."

With that statement, the miko snapped the box shut and left the room as Izawa moved to address the next question—the girl who seemed to be crackling with electricity.

"Well... Rather than asking me that, young lady, you may be better off asking your parents. I cannot answer questions of heritage, but they may very well give you the answers you seek," he said, his non-answer casually dodging around her question before he turned back to the rather rude young man from earlier...

Who seemed to be giving more excuses than simply apologizing. Shame.

"The fact that there were circumstances that caused you to be evicted from the shrine grounds before is not something you want to be telling the priest of the shrine, don't you think? In any case... To answer your questions in order:
First, it depends on your tolerance to the world itself. In a manner similar to this world's diseases, your bodies will gradually build up an immunity after multiple visits. At the moment, it may be no more than a few hours at maximum for you.
Second... The answer to that is both yes and no. No one I know has found any residents of the city willing to negotiate at length, but the possibility of such beings always exists.
Third. I don't believe I need to mention anything more than special effects movies, correct? Even putting the possibility of them assembling aside, the more people that enter, the higher resulting risk comes forth if we cannot successfully cleanse them all every time.
Last... Well, there lies another problem. We have used most of our resources in prevention and restraint, and have thus barely even ventured into the world in search of answers. We know nothing other than what has been said and what we have done, but what we do know is that it is a strange amalgamation of modern architecture and old Edo-era buildings. You may find some familiar points of reference from the city you all live in, but I cannot elaborate on what I do not know. However, the possibility exists for the creation of outposts in the future, but at the moment our resources are spread too thin to work on such projects."

The last question was, at least, easy enough to respond to, and soon enough another miko came out from a side room to deliver a spool of thread to the dullahan as Izawa took a deep breath.

"...Does that answer everything? In that case, I await your return in the future. Best of luck to you all."

Ren sat in silence as the question-and-answer session bounced inside of his head. Between a possible doomsday scenario, the existence of youkai and an alternate world, and the powerless person that he was that had quote-on-quote 'potential', things were still slightly difficult to process. The girl who had the bravery to confront the gashadokuro (or one of the girls, at least) seemed to be singling him out, but there was another person here who had done even less that he had...
And seemed to be twice as eager to jump into the fray despite seeming younger than he was. At least the old man had a gun or something, which would explain a lack of chastisement on that front, but still!

"...Ren. Amazawa Ren.. I'm just a normal human in an extraordinary situation, I guess," he said, sighing as he stood up from his seat within the barrier. "I... I'm going to head home to rest a bit. I think I still need some time to process this whole thing; probably gonna come back tomorrow or something. As for the possibility of getting hurt... Well, if it means not watching the city go up in flames, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it, right?"

With a sigh, the young man walked out of the shrine's back entrance before noticing that a girl had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation. Opting to just let the priest handle this matter, the young man gave a bow towards the priest before leaving for real, slipping back around the building and into the crowd as he headed home.

What a crazy night.

---

The afternoon of the New Year was definitely a time that Ren would've expected to have been far more busy for those at Koumi Shrine, but it seemed as if most of the resident had handled their yearly visits earlier in the day, if not the night prior. It... Was a bit strange, he had to admit, but the priest standing outside the shrine waved to the young man once, motioning him to come over to speak with him. When he did, Izawa cleared his throat before beginning to speak.

"The New Year really is quite chilly this year... In any case, if you recall from last night, there were a few side rooms from which the miko were entering and exiting. We've repurposed one of them for anyone attempting to enter the city of mirrors to use as a place to relax, check requests, or otherwise cleanse themselves after a trip. There are already a few people waiting inside, and to be honest, I wasn't expecting you to return. Just to make sure... You are willing to do this, correct?"

"...Well, that conversation confirms that entire thing was real, so I have no reason to think otherwise any more. Even if I'm useless right now, I'll find some way to help the efforts here. Sitting on my hands just doesn't feel right," Ren responded before bowing and donating a 500 yen coin to the shrine before entering.

The center of the shrine, as before, had the glowing portal still hovering in existence, but what was of more interest to him right now was the side room. It seemed unlikely that any requests had come in so soon after this place opening up, but maybe the people already there were ones he could reason in letting him tag along to gain some sort of valuable experience or knowledge.

One of the first to arrive on the following day would be Aya, who was partially roped into the mystery involving the misadventures at the City of Mirrors when she was caught while spying yesterday. Surely the only reason that happened was because Aya let her guard low, thanks to some sort of barrier making it hard to distinguish what was happening inside the room they were having their 'briefing'.

Well, it didn't matter anymore, now. After hearing everything it became clear that Aya would be a good addition to the forming party.

The first thing Aya did after, arriving not very much after Ren, was look out for Izawa, the priest from yesterday. She had a couple of questions she wanted to do before going to this other word. She found him talking to the boy who first noticed her presence yesterday and waited before they finished their exchange to come in and say, "I have a question I'd like to ask, Priest Shinohara. It's about the purification, or antidote, pills. Is there any chance to use them to 'heal' the youkai we find on the other side? Oh," Aya chirped as if remembering something important she forgot to say. "My grandparents sent their regards to your temple's god. They said they couldn't bring any suitable gifts yesterday, because of how crowded the place was, so... here's some of our best sake."

After handing the old porcelain bottle to the priest, Aya proceeded inside, taking a look at the building's layout for the first time. "Hi," she said casually to the only other person over there, that being Ren, before she continued to look around.

"Hm, is that so? I find this very hard to believe Kenji." An old man said, sitting across of him while stroking his beard. He eyed the white haired male. After they were dismissed and he had introduced himself to the others, Kenji had left for the shrine he was currently residing in. Kenji had recounted the story to the priest of the shrine, finding it only apt to explain everything to excuse his extended absences from the shrine. "However, you rarely lie and you look serious. I shall believe what you are saying but I will keep my mouth shut. The last thing I want is to think the head priest of this branch of the Amaterasu shrine has gone senile."

"I only need your permission sir." Kenji said, lowering his head as he did so. He may have been older, and more wiser than this old man, but he still had semblances of respect for him. There were only few humans he held in such high regard. The kind priest of the shrine was one of them. He will not forget what the old man had done for him.

"Then you have my permission." Kenji nodded and then stood up. Before he could leave, however, the old man spoke once more. "Take care... and good luck. And be sure to protect the others, as you are born to do." The words rung in his head - as you are born to do. He nodded and then left the shrine. Yes, he was an okami, a protector. The one who is responsible for warding off yokai from travellers, but also a cause of fear for one misstep can cause his kind to devour the traveller.

---

The white haired male travelled to Koumi quickly and arrived to only hear the end of the conversation of Ren and that other woman who was eavesdropping, Aya, if he remembered correctly. He inclined his head to Izawa, the reigning priest of the shrine, as a greeting. He then stepped inside the shrine and followed Ren and Aya towards the room that had apparently been redesigned so they can enter and exit the city of mirrors without trouble - and to also lounge there and take requests and to purify themselves without the need for pills.

He looked at the floating portal, peering through it to see the other side. Not much different, actually, it looked like the place they were in last night. He sighed heavily, thinking more and more that this was going to be a lot more dangerous than he originally thought. But what was he supposed to do? Say no? He couldn't certainly let the world end and he certainly couldn't leave humans to fend for it themselves when the source of the disease was their world.

"Good morning to you two." He said, bowing his head as a form of respect.

"... I'm Tanikawa Ayumi."

With that, the black-haired girl was quick to leave. She wasn't sure what to do about... well, any of this, but one thing stuck out in her mind. She had to show her parents. Maybe... maybe they would know what to do. It was really the only thing she could think of doing right now. And so, she rushed home. Her mind was still reeling from everything that had been revealed to her so shortly ago, so it was only natural for her to return to somewhere that was more safe and understandable to attempt to work out just what she could do next.

When Ayumi arrived, kicking off her shoes, she called to her parents.

"I'm home!" she declared, hurrying further inside. When she spotted the dark-haired form of her mother, she was preparing the New Year's meal.

"Oh, Welcome home, Ayumi-cha-What happened?!" concern palpable in her mother's voice, the woman swiftly rushed to her daughters side. "Your hair is a mess, and your clothing is singed... are... are you alright, Ayumi?"

Ayumi could see the concern in her mother's eyes. She felt a bit guilty for making her so upset, looking down at herself. She really was a mess, scorch marks all over her clothing, especially her sleeve. Would what she was about to do make it worse? She was worried it would. She didn't want to scare her mother, but she didn't know what else to do. Inside, Ayumi felt like the situation was a bit of a joke. She normally prided herself on being confident and independent, but...

"I'm fine, mom," she said, quickly, before raising her right hand. "... Don't... don't freak out, okay?"

She focused, and electricity crackled in her palm. For a moment, her mother's eyes widened in surprise... but then her gaze softened and she let out a somewhat relieved sigh.

Carefully, guiding Ayumi by her shoulders(and leaving her quite confused), her mother pulled her to the side.

"I was a little worried about thinking of how to tell you about this, Ayumi-chan," she began, taking a deep breath, "but now is as good a time as any."

"Mom...?"

"You're a hanyo, Ayumi-chan," continued her mother. For a few moments, Ayumi stared blankly, eyes wide. A hanyo? Didn't that mean she was a half-yokai? But... that meant... "And I'm your yokai parent."

Ayumi watched, bewildered, as her mother raised a finger. Electricity crackled around it.

"... Y... you're..."

"A raiju, specifically, which is why you can use electricity like that. I... I know we should have told you sooner..." the black-haired woman who was her mother let out a remorseful sigh, "But we weren't sure how to. We wanted to wait until you were a little older."

"What... what about dad?!" Ayumi burst out. She had to ask. If her mother was a yokai, did that mean that her father was... was...

"Your father is human, a perfectly wonderful but perfectly normal human," Ayumi's mother said, quickly, "... Are you sure you're alright?"

"... Y-yeah, but... but this is a lot to take in..." Ayumi trailed off.

"... Can you explain why your clothes are burned like this? You said you're fine, but I can't help but worry," her mother added, running a hand through Ayumi's messy hair.

"Ah, I..." Ayumi trailed off. She didn't want to lie to her mother... but then, her parents had concealed her nature from her, so it was only fair that she got to as well, wasn't it? "... I got angry and my elecricity acted up, it caught my bokken on fire and made it sort of explode."

"..." Ayumi could feel her mother's eyes on her. It looked like she wasn't certain that was the whole truth, but at the same time didn't see any evidence of lies. "... I'm just glad you're alright, in any case. We have to talk to your father, too, but I'm sure you need to eat. Go upstairs and change and we'll have a talk over dinner."

Ayumi nodded, weakly. As strange as everything had been, a little normalcy would be welcome.

She was pretty hungry, too.

---

The black-haired hanyo had gotten an early start that morning. It had been sort of a strange numbness she went to bed with, all the strangeness overtaking her. Especially the revelation of her nature... a hanyo? Something that isn't fully human? But... regardless, she felt like there was something she needed to do. She couldn't remain idly by while something threatened so many people, the entire city. Some kind of evil disease raging in the other world.

The blade gleamed on the wall. Raigekimaru. Her family's sword.

Ayumi had been trained in her family's techniques for a while. And... if she was going to go back to that other world... she was going to go back to that other world, she needed something that could cut.

The katana was sheathed and wrapped in a sheet carefully, and then placed inside a black duffel bag. There. No-one would see it. And she could pull it out pretty easily when she needed it.

To avoid any questions, Ayumi left her home quickly. It wasn't that she didn't trust her parents, but she didn't want them stopping her. She wanted to go back to that shrine.

On the way there, her phone's text tone(Infinite Record's single Raid of Sky). When she pulled it up, it wasn't too surprising to see who it was.

"Junko-chan?" she asked, opening her text.

'this is really scary'

Ayumi quickly responded.

'what????'

'satonaka-chan got kidnapped last night!!! her parents are freaking out!!!!!'

For a few moments, Ayumi stared. Satonaka Kotomi was a classmate. A fairly cute girl with a knack for technology... and she'd been kidnapped? ... Last night...

Ayumi broke into a sprint, bursting into the shrine on arrival.

"I need to get through the portal immediately!" she declared, unzipping the duffel bag and drawing out the sheet-covered Raigekimaru immediately, "It can't wait!"

The oni stared at the pills they had been presented, trying to decide whether or not that was a good trade.

The priest did mention that they were to be rewarded, but he didn't mention what sort of rewards, so perhaps this was a good trade? Yagra was expecting something more substantial she could use — perhaps more money — but she was not one to try and pressure someone into giving more than they promised. Unless of course, if they were tricking her somehow.

"Not what I expected, but thanks anyways, old man. Oh, I almost forgot. I'm Yagra, pleased to meet you all."

As they were leaving, she had thought of roping in that okami and anyone else she could get her hands on for a night of drinking, but unfortunately, she did not manage to catch them before they went on their way. Shame, but another night of drinking alone wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for her.



"Yo, old man!" Yagra greeted the priest as she walked towards the shrine. Her clothing this time around was vastly more practical — albeit still in the yukata category — than yesterdays; with the sleeves and hem already tied up for unrestricted movements. "How are you doing?"

It wasn't some noble intentions, or thoughts of any greater good that drew her here. It was simple boredom and the prospect of doing something new. Something to break the monotone of taking boring odd jobs. Perhaps she could even earn enough to indulge herself and go to one of the more expensive establishments in the city. Highly unlikely, judging from what that priest gave them, but still, it was something new to do.

Humming to herself, she entered the shrine, shouting out a greetings to those already inside. The okami was there, but more surprisingly the coward from yesterday. "OH! Its you! After you ran with your tail between your legs yesterday, I wouldn't have expected to see you here." Yagra laughed loudly at that. "So you finally grew a pair, huh? Don't you worry! You can c-"

Just then the electric girl burst into the room, making a huge fuss about something. It looked troublesome, so Yagra decided to not get involved right away. She wasn't here to be involved with anyone's private matters after all.

Sven was only confused by the answer he was given. So they weren't asking for help from others because they wanted to keep this in japan only? Was that what he meant? Sven just couldn't wrap his head around it. "Well whatever, I'll be bringing a friend along tomorrow anyways, he should be able to help." Sven said as he started to sew his head back on. Once he finished doing so he was one of the last people to leave as it took him awhile to sew his hat back on.

Once he finished he put on his coat and tried his best to cover his neck before leaving. Once home he made a quick phone call and started to explain the situation to an employee of his named Sho Nakano. For the most part he that Sho would have a better idea about the japanese legend stuff. One thing that Sven was not knowledgeable about.

---

The next day Sven came by the shrine. This time he had with him a bag, it had thread in it and a needle, along with a few packages of dried meat. He knew it was kind of early and some of the other people may have come forgetting to eat breakfast from the excitement. "Hope you don't mind, but I brought a friend of mine along, his name is Shou, should be a good help to us." Sven said with a smile to the others. "Oh and if anyone forgot to eat something this morning I brought some dried meats with me." Sven added taking out a package of jerky.

As Sven took out the jerky he noticed Tanikawa had also appeared in a bit of a frantic look. "Woah kid, calm down a bit, you need to explain whats going on to the rest of us, no point going into a portal with no idea of a goal." Sven added, hoping that Tanikawa would listen to reason.

Shou Nakano

Shou received a very strange call from Sven, saying something about Japanese myths, creatures a portal to a "Mirror World"... If it was anyone else, he wouldn't believe, but Sven sounded pretty serious and he couldn't imagine him lying after that call.
"Well, got nothing better to do anyways..." he mumbled, taking his equipment and going to meet with him.
Surely it was strange though, something about another world connected to ours, a disease and a seal... It couldn't be said that Sho was unfamiliar with the Japanese mythology, as his family always had a deep respect by the Kodamas and other spirits. But he had never heard about a portal connecting this world to another world...

Sven said to meet him in front of the shrine. The shrine wasn't unfamiliar to him, but himself wasn't the type that would go there very often to pray. Paying respects to the old and wise Kodama that inhabit the forests and mountains was something he did daily due to his connection with nature. But that didn't mean he would disrespect a sacred shrine.
Before entering the shrine, he bowed slightly before entering and purifying himself at the chozuya. He could already see Sven goin inside, but Shou didn't wanted to disrespect the shrine gods, so he insisted on paying his respects, ringing the bell twice before bowing down and doing a brief prayer. Since he was a child, he always got scolded by his grandmother when he entered the shrine without praying, so it became almost like an habit for him.
Bowing again after finishing he went to where he saw Sven getting in.

Already inside the shrine, the first thing that caught his attention was the side room, on which were a number of people already waiting inside, presumably they were together with Sven when everything happened the last night.
"Hey Sven! So, what was about all that you told me earlier?" he asked.
"It sounded like you had a pretty entertaining night yesterday, huh?" he said, laughing.

"Nice to meet you, Name's Shou. I believe Sven has already told you about me." he said, smiling to the other who were there.
Shou was pretty much a normal guy to most people, but those with unusually strong sense of smell could feel a very particular and unique smell emanating from the boy, it smelled like poison and herbal medicine. The notes of lavender and other good scented medicinal herbs mixed together with the familiar smell of poisonous plants were, to those who could smell it, a clear indication that something was off about him. He had never noticed it though, nor any other normal human would, due to the smell being very faint.

Most of the people who were around him were pretty normal, except two of them: a silver haired man using an eyepatch with an uncommon tone of yellow in his eyes and a pretty girl wearing a yukata and wielding a kanabo, which immediately caught his attention.

The girl wearing a yukata was talking with another girl about the her running away or something like that. But what drew his attention was the feeling that the girl passed. She was laughing heartily while she talked, she looked like the type of person that was very carefree, who liked to enjoy her life, she looked like a strong woman, both in personality and body, but she also passed a sensation of freshness, of youthfulness and vigor, like she was always overflowing with energy. He didn't knew exactly what, but something on her told him that she was different from others.

"She certainly looks cute on those clothes." He thought to himself.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, moving with an unusual agility near the girl, moving around her excitedly, studying the girl.
"Sorry if I'm being rather indelicate, but... You're also not human, right?" he asked, looking to her eyes with a sincere smile on his face. By his expression you could see he was genuinely curious about her.
Shou did knew about his family's unusual lineage and their deep connection with the nature and the Gyokuto, so the question he did didn't sound dumb on his head. At least not on HIS head. Shou isn't known to care about what other people think about him.

That was until a girl stormed in the shrine, saying something about needing to get in the portal immediately, while holding a sword.
The girl caught Shou off-guard, especially the way she stormed in with a weapon on her hand, making him give a big jump back, again moving with an unusual agility, especially his jump.

"Calm down! Breathe in, explain what's happening first. What is this portal you are tal-" he stopped talking as soon as he turned around, seeing the big glowing portal at the center of the shrine.
"Oh... Never mind... You meant THAT portal." he said, looking to the glowing thing curiously.
"Say Sven, that is the thing you told me about on the cellphone, right?" he asked, without taking his eyes off the portal.

And for the first time since he arrived on the shrine, Shou was quiet. Not talking or walking around. He just stood there looking at the portal with a very curious expression.

“My name's Takeshi; you may not have seen me with you guys since I was hiding in the corner of the shrine videotaping your fight, either way, a pleasure to meet you all and hope we can meet again under less dire circumstances.” For a night where he expected to finds nothing, he had won the lottery, though the importance of his mission didn't pass through deaf ears. Since he was an average human he couldn't expect to fight the monsters like his youkai companions; instead, Takeshi would try to do the thing he is best at and try to leave some cameras in there and pick them up later. Hopefully, they could record something interesting about the things on the other side.

As he watched the footage of his phone before going to bed, he remembered that his video camera was still on the shrine. Takeshi would make the priest more angry with him if he came back for it this late at night, he had to go for it tomorrow, and may as well explore the near surroundings of the city of mirrors while he is there. Ready to go to the shrine he packed in bag binoculars, a flashlight, batteries, the pills the priest gave him, an old camera he had and a first aid kit, as well as carrying his Dad baseball bat if he had to defend himself.

Reaching the shrine, he happily told the priest “Hey guess who forgot his cam-” Takeshi stopped as Ayumi stormed into the room, wanting to go to the portal immediately. Using his interruption to examine the room he noticed two people that weren't yesterday. “I came here wanting to do the same thing, just let me retrieve my camera,” he said to the Ayumi “But before I go for it I have to ask, what is a high school girl and the owner of a perfume shop doing here? Were they also abducted last night? Are you human of youkai?”

Ren waved hello in turn to the girl who had just entered the room, only vaguely remembering that she was the one eavesdropping on them all the night prior, before more familiar faces seemed to file in. While the okami (whose name he hadn't quite caught last night) seemed to be a man of few words, the oni was just as raucous as she had been last night. He couldn't deny the 'coward' claim, sadly enough, but to be fair, he had no weapons or anything then! At the very least, he could be a pack mu-

The sudden appearance of the electric teenager demanding to move through the portal caught Ren off guard, his head jerking to look over at her before noticing the (assumed) weapon bundled beneath layers of cloth. The glint of metal caught his eye for a moment, and Ren realized not long after that she was indeed carrying an actual weapon.

What the hell?!

Before he could make a remark on the situation, a few of the others arrived, including one face he wasn't familiar with in the least. While the two older men attempted to calm her down (mainly the dullahan, but thank the gods for rationality), the spontaneous questions of the one who Ren had internally dubbed as 'that guy' didn't seem to help the situation as much as it seemed to be pestering for the sake of personal curiosity.

And how the hell did he know it was a kidnapping?!

Before Ren could make his own remarks on the situation, though, Izawa walked in with an exasperated expression on his face.

"Calm yourself, Miss Tanikawa. We became aware of the incident soon after dawn broke over the horizon, but before any of that, I need to relay a few messages to you all... As it seems that some people would ask and leave without an answer," he stated, glancing at Aya for a moment before placing her gift off to the side. "First and foremost: if I haven't said it yesterday, I shall state so now: I have no idea what will happen if someone past the portal consumes a pill. I strongly urge you to consider the costs and benefits to doing so if ever given the chance, though I do ask that you report any results if you do go through with such actions. With any luck, you may succeed and allow us to learn more about the nature of that illness.
Next--and this is addressed to everyone here--there have been a few reported cases of missing people since last night. I would assume one of them is Miss Tanikawa's friend; am I correct?"

Without even waiting for a response, Izawa walked over to the requests board and calmly waved his hand over it, seemingly creating three pieces of paper out of thin air, and on each was written the name of a different person and a description of their appearance.

"Interesting magic trick, is it not? In any case, this leads me to my next point. After last night's incident, one of the miko examined the talisman that you used to seal away the gashadokuro last night and found a very interesting inscription on it. By applying it to a few of the charms that we already had here at the shrine, we were able to create small bounding arrays that can be used to reduce the onset of infection. The problems, though, are twofold; one, the array only sustains four people at maximum, with each be carrying one charm on them to activate its effect; two, that travelling near another group with a similar array will cause both to malfunction and cease to work until you move a sufficient distance away from another. The charms themselves will be on loan but free otherwise, considering how you will all be forced to work in small teams.

Considering how Miss Tanikawa's acquaintance is likely on the line here, I will let her pick out the members of her team from among you all. The rest of you may decide among yourselves how to divide up. The charms are hanging on the side wall over there, if you haven't noticed already; the reward for each person saved will be 20000 yen, split among the group that successfully escorts them back. I wish you the best of luck."

With that explanation done, Ren's brow furrowed as he walked over to look at the listings, then back over to Ayumi. To say he wouldn't mind being part of any group right now was a bit of an understatement, but given the results of last night, it seemed unlikely that anyone would want to listen to him if he was to take the role of 'leader'...

"... The oni, the... the wolf, and... that shady guy. Now let me go through the portal," Ayumi stated, flatly. She didn't bother with names and she didn't care to explain herself. She didn't want a party in the first place. Her mind had already stubbornly locked onto doing this herself. Involving people from outside of her class, outside of her entire school, simply felt wrong to her. But she had to go through that portal in order to save her friend, and it seemed like the only way she'd be allowed through the portal is if she did that. It pissed her off, deep down. She wanted to go and save Satonaka without having to drag anyone else who wasn't involved with her into it. Besides... even if it was something like the gashadokuro...

The dark-haired girl's grip on Raigekimaru tightened, electrical currents playing across her hand as it did. At the moment, all she cared about was saving Satonaka Kotomi. She wasn't a strong girl. She got tired out just from a few moments of PE. Satonaka just wouldn't be able to deal with something as bad as that. Even if she was stronger, she didn't have any sort of abilities to use for self defense at all. She could get seriously hurt, or worse...

Ayumi couldn't let that happen.

"Can we go now, or what?"

The young girl was growing impatient.

Well, at least she'd make sure the shady guy was around strong yokai if he tried anything.

@GreenGoat@Polaris North@PKMNB0Y

The previous knight had been an entire series of unexpected events. So here he was on the upper floor of a warehouse that he owned in a very convoluted and roundabout way. On the table in front of him lay an array of weapons much more useful than the small pistol from the night before. With a small smile on his face and watched by the pair of men standing by the doorway he made his selection and put the pair into a large sized camera bag with the Canon logo on the front.

---

The old man showed up, though withiout the bag. It had occured to him that he did not even own a camera to complete the disguise and Donald send one of his associates to find a suitable expensive one for him. He was now late, but it was better to be late and prepared. Until reaching the shrine he had a grin plastered on his face like a tourist but it quickly disappeared upon coming across the group, to be replaced with his usual carefully good natured expression.

"It looks like we have some work this morning."

The amount of people going in at such a quick pace, added with Ayumi's frantic explanation of her missing friend almost made Kenji's head spin. Though he did take note of the new arrival whose name is apparently Shou. He then placed all of his attention to Izawa once he came striding inside and then telling everyone about the pills and how they weren't exactly sure how it could affect anyone who has already been tainted by the illness. Interesting, so if it could affect them and perhaps cure them, then they would have a solution. Though he shouldn't probably get his hopes up. It was hard enough trying to fend them off, it would be harder to make them swallow a pill.

Then there was the case about the talisman. So they could only be grouped by four or less huh? Well, that would be difficult but at least it wasn't limited to only two. Then Izawa told them that Ayumi should choose the first group as it is her friend who was missing and she expressed the want to find her.

And was pleasantly surprised that he was among her chosen team along with the new girl Aya and the oni Yagra. He nodded in response. So finding someone already on the first day huh? Interesting. The group hadn't even been her for a day and they already had three requests on top of them. Hopefully everything goes well. The gashadokuro was hard to beat, what else was in that world? More dangerous yokai exist out there and he was quite worried about what they will be encountering.

"Your impatience is understandable." He told the raijuu. "Let us go then." He continued, prepared to delve into that world once again. He would follow once everyone was through the portal.

It seemed there were more and more people coming into the room, more than she remembered being here last night. Perhaps she did not notice them, or perhaps they were called in there by those who were present at the gashadokuro incident last night. There was one that fitted that description, studying her intensely as he moved around her.

"Huh? What is it?" Yagra looked back questioningly, before taking another swig from her sake gourd. "S'there something on my face or something?"

"Hey! Sorry if I'm being rather indelicate, but... You're also not human, right?"

Oh, so that was it. Simple curiosity. He seemed to be a friend of the nukekubi, and seemed to come from far away as well. Youkai wasn't easy to identify nowadays when most of them were hiding their identity after all; for one who haven't seen an oni before, seeing her must be like a mountain man seeing the sea for the first time.

"First time seeing an oni?" She laughed, before offering him her sake gourd. "I don't blame ya. We've all been hiding from the humans after all. Can't tell if anyone's a youkai most of the time."

She must say, this was turning out out to be very entertaining; already there was work to be done, and money to be earned. It was unfortunate that people got lost in the mirror world, but she had absolutely zero doubt that they would be rescued in time. You lose when you start despairing before you have done everything you can after all.

"... The oni, the... tengu, and the wolf, then. Now let me go through the portal."

There it was. As Yagra had expected, her, the black haired tengu and the okami from last night was chosen first. A inevitable outcome, considering how important this seemed to the lightning girl. All of the youkai the girl had chosen were known to be strong, an obvious choice when trying to make sure nothing will go wrong. Yagra was not about to complain however, for work was work. Plus, she get to save someone in the process, a win win for everyone.

"Can we go now, or what?"

"Calm down," Yagra stood up and put a hand to the girl's shoulders. "Rushing in blindly would just inconvenience everyone, including whoever it is you're trying to rescue. Don't worry, we'll rescue them."

She moved to enter the portal first, resting her kanabo on her shoulder. Yagra gave a friendly slap to the okami's back, and a nod towards the tengu.

"Oh and call me Yagra."

With that she went over to the mirror world, seemingly nonchalant in the face of unknown danger.

Sven looked over at Shou then back to the portal. "Yes I meant this portal, neat looking isn't? Just try not to lose your HEAD in the excitement ok?" Sven said with yet another pun added to the conversation. Once a group had been chosen to go with the main girl Sven couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. Did this mean he didn't leave an impression? Or was it because he was seen as weak? I'll just have to prove myself then. Sven thought.

He turned to look at the old man from last night who had so rudely left without even giving his name. "Old man, you gonna ever give us your name? Cause if you aren't, I'm calling you Stummer Mann." The words Stummer Mann of course meant "Dumb Man" in german. Sven was getting a bit tired of this man's attitude, he spoke to everyone sure, but he never spoke to single person, like he was above them. This was getting on Sven's nerves and he would have no problem talking to him in German and just insulting him to his face. If he wasn't careful he really would lose his head over this.

@TheFake

[Redacted]

It seemed Takeshi didn't have to wait long before things started happening, being dragged into that world was not a scary experience for him, but he was probably an odd case and had the luck of being near some people who could fight them. He could imagine how different the situation would have ended for him if he was alone with those skeletons. As for the answer the priest gave to Aya, it seemed he didn't know what would happen, so there was no reason for him not to try since the youkai there were as victims as the humans who were kidnapped. He now had two things to do in there, save the people and hope the thing that brought them in was gone for work and to give the pill to some wild youkai to see its effects. Looking at the other people remaining in the room Takeshi decided to lighten the mood in the room before they went in too "I agree with Yagra that we should act calmly, lets try not to lose our HEAD over this and do something we might regret while we are in there.

"Well, I guess that's a—Wait, did you just call me shady again?" Ren asked, taking a double take at the electric girl's declaration to bring him along with her. While he could understand bringing the oni and the okami along (given their fame in Japanese mythos), the young man felt wholly out of place here. At this point, though, he found it better to simply not argue against the flow of the conversation, else that girl's friend might end up stuck in the city of mirrors forever...
Or worse. He shuddered at the thought of what could happen, but instead of backing away from the challenge this time, Ren walked over and grabbed a set of charms, pills, and the description of the only possible girl that could be Ayumi's friend before walking up to the group that had assembled and handing the first two out accordingly. There were another two listings left on the board, but one of them seemed to disappear as if being burnt to ashes before anyone else touched it. Izawa took note of that scene and sighed, but no more.

"Worst comes to worst, I can try to be a pack mule for you guys or something, right?" he half-joked before glancing at the portal again, having not noticed the disappearing description on the board beforehand.

This was really happening, huh?

"Okay. Let's go."

With a deep breath, Ren shook his head and slapped his face to clear his thoughts before walking through the portal.

---

There was a moment of disorientation as Ren crossed the boundary again, but nothing like that moment of unconsciousness like he had encountered on his first arrival. The skull of the gashadokuro form the night before was still where it had been, which... He couldn't quite say it was neither good nor bad, to be frank, but it was... There. The path down the steps to the shrine was wide open, and seemed to be undamaged regardless of the raging youkai that had scaled them the night prior, but...

"Well, from here on out we're entering unknown territory. We should probably memorize the layout of the place as we go... Unless it ends up being one of those wonky labyrinth-style locations, in which case we're gonna need a lot of thread."

A more sarcastic joke this time around, but given how nothing had changed as of yet, the latter comment seemed incredibly unlikely to be true. Now it was simply a matter of trying to hunt down the missing girl before anything bad could happen to her...

He looked around and settled his gaze on Sven. Even the bosuzoku he'd dealt with were more respectful, though they at least knew who he represented. It was doubtful that Sven had any such knowledge.

"I'm Donald O'Rourke and aren't you a little bit old to be so immature? I don't think that such an attidude will help us much."

There were only four people left that hadn't been attached to any group, including the man wh hadn't seemed to have grown up. He didn't know what any of them would bring to this but that they had shown up at all meant that maybe they had potential. He took he description of one of the missing people from Izawa and a charm from the wall.

"Let's try not to fall behind."

He odded to himself and strode into the portal.

Ayumi unwrapped her katana and tossed the sheet onto the duffel bag she had brought the weapon in, leaving it behind in the shrine as she passed through the portal as well... Alongside those she had traveled here with, there was also the gashadokuro's lingering skull. This place still felt so strange and unnatural, but this time the middle school girl wasn't going to let it get to her. She had someone she wanted to protect, someone she wanted to rescue from this terrible place. Regardless of what happened, she wouldn't give up on that goal. No, Ayumi was determined to save Satonaka Chie from whatever horrible things they would come across. Gripping the sheathed katana in one hand, she moved forward quickly down the stairs, not waiting too much for the others behind her.

"We have to move, every moment could be another one where Satonaka-san is in danger," she said, looking back at them for only a moment as she made her way downwards, "So there's no time to waste at all!"

The lingering skull of the Gashadokuro served as a reminder of the battle that had happened the night before. It didn't seem like it would be going anywhere, unfortunately. It wasn't the best of reminders especially since you would never know whether or not the charm would suddenly deteriorate and release the skeletal monstrosity again. He turned his head towards Ren, the human boy. He gave him a smile and then said, "Since it is a mirror world, I'd think it stays constant." No, the joke did not go over his head but he didn't really need to spend some time laughing.

Ayumi had quickly taken to descending the stairs. Again, her impatience was justified. He looked at the others before following the young Raijuu. "Don't you think it would be very hard to find her in this entire place?" He asked to no one in particular. He was pretty sure that this was a damn big place. "If, maybe we knew where she was last seen, then maybe we can track her down from there?"