[IC] Boundary's Edge -- An Urban Fantasy RP

[Polaris North]

Kenji had not noticed the obvious kitsune appearing, but he did take note of her later on when he saw her again. Though he was quite aware that the kitsune race is quite mischievous, he didn't put any blame on her. This didn't seem like an illusion after all. He could feel the spiritual presence of these yokai, and even get their scent. Either she wasn't doing this or she was a very powerful kitsune - however, evident by her having only three tails, he guessed it was the former.

His, for now human, ears perked up when he heard a shout but didn't think anything of it as he didn't understand what the word meant so he simply dismissed it. He looked back at the oni and then chuckled before jumping back to avoid a swipe made by a skeleton and promptly blasted it to pieces. "Ah, if only I was then this would have been easier yes? Unfortunately, I am but a mere yokai - an okami, if you want to be more specific." He answered honestly, seeing no real reason for him to lie about his race. He guessed it was his still human appearance that threw her off. He tirelessly wrote the fire symbols and hurtled multiple fireballs and the ever increasing amount of small skeletons with the humongous one looming over them. Though he fears that if this were to go a lot longer, then he would eventually tire out. Even with their extraordinary stamina, there is a limit. "You raise good points. Perhaps a subspecies then. And no, unfortunately, sealing talismans would prove just as effective on me as it would on that skeleton."

He kept an ear out for the boy who had ran towards the in as he began to speak. Oh? A talisman? What an amazing coincidence. Once he was sure that none of the skeletons were close enough to do any harm to them for even a moment, he turned back to look at the young man. Yes, that was perfect. If it was, indeed, a sealing talisman - then it would put an end to that giant skeleton and the hordes of smaller skeletons. He was certain that he and the black haired oni could make a clear path towards the skeleton. Slapping that onto the skeleton should solve their problems. Then the black haired woman with the bokken suddenly shot lightning at one of the skeletons but quickly retreated. Was his speculation of her being a raijuu correct? Though it seemed to shock the girl as much as it did to them. He wondered why.

But there was no time to keep dawdling over something like that. He could speculate more later. There were more pressing matters at hand. Then, a silver haired girl stepped up and then claiming that she was fast. The oni then told her to place the talisman on the skeleton and that she'll clear a path towards it. "Be careful." He told the silver haired girl before turning to the oni who had been trying to catch his attention and then signaled towards the giant skeleton.

Oh, so that's how she was going to play it. "I'll cover for you then." He said. Once the oni had charged towards the giant skeleton, he began to rapidly draw the fire symbol in quick succession and sending fireballs to the skeletons that got too close for comfort to the oni. Hopefully, with her kind of physical strength, it would be enough to remove the skull clean off its shoulders and end all of this once and for all. Though he had the gut feeling that they really need to use that talisman or else it wouldn't end.

[Cuccoruler]

Sven smiled what Kiyoko gave her name. "Nice to meet you Kiyoko, if your sure you can do this then do it. I'll stay back and handle any stragglers. Oh and as some extra incentive: If we all get out of this alive, free Wurst for everyone on me!" Sven announced to the group, he hoped that having a reward at the end of this would help spur on the others to do their best. Thanks to Svens up bringing as a sort of knight in his family he had some knowledge of battlefield tactics and understood the importance of moral.

Sven looked at the surrounding area to see more of the skeletons heading towards the humans in the group. "Guess I'm staying back to help protect the others." Sven said cracking his whip in the air causing some of the skeletons to look upwards at the sound for just long enough a moment that he could swing his whip at the legs of about three nearby skeletons breaking their legs and causing them to fall.

As Sven continued to knock more skeletons down a sort of laughter could be heard in the air. It echoed from him, it seemed that he was having a bit too much fun now despite the situation. One of the effects of being a Duallahan included a sort of echoy laugh, though this was due to a weird effect where not only was his head laughing, but so was his body, at least it was through the flame.

[blumenk]

The new year's eve was one of the few days where the shrine is full of people. Perfect for someone wanting to go unnoticed like Takeshi, who was thrown out from it a few months ago when he tried to sneak into it in the middle of the night while looking for a supposed ghost that lived there. That incident was no more than a small setback in his plan, with him deciding to wait a few months until they forgot about his face and no better day to try to do it than the new year celebration. Eating some wurst he bought from a German food stand, Takeshi went into the less populated back of the shrine, and while eating his wurst, he looked into potential spots to hide his camera without being discovered. As Takeshi looked into various places in the bushes he heard some steps coming his way, so Takeshi hid in the bushes because if someone saw him fiddling around with a camera in the back of the shrine one may think he was doing shady stuff in there or that he was a creep.

While waiting for the person to leave a question surged on his mind, what was this person doing on the back of the shrine? Could it be that they had discovered his intentions and they were looking for him? There was no point wondering if they were looking for him and not scanning his surroundings, so he took a look outside the bush to see who was there. To his surprise, no one was there, which seemed strange as he was 100% sure he heard some steps coming to the back of the shrine. While it certainly was weird the sounds of the crowds may have fooled his brain. This hypothesis was proven wrong when he heard steps coming from the same direction of the previous ones, thought this steps made different sounds so either they were not the same person or at he was using another type of shoes.

Hiding again in the bushes Takeshi waited to see what happened, and like before, the steps stopped after a while, the difference being that this time there was a sudden yelp before an eerie silence. Not knowing what exactly happened he decided to wait in his position for a bit more, this time grabbing his camera and carefully placing the lens outside the bushes ready to record what was happening. Once he turned the camera on, it showed nothing as if something was covering it, for a moment he thought he had forgotten to take off the lid. Upon checking the camera Takeshi found that indeed he had taken off the lid, the problem was that a skeleton hand had grabbed the lens and was holding it tightly.

Takeshi first thought was try to run away with it to his home and lock it up, maybe keep it as a pet and show it to friends and family, but before he could stand up and run two other skeletal hands grabbed him by his legs and started pulling him away from the shrine. Takeshi was not going to let some skeleton hands drag him down wherever they wanted, so he started grabbing branches and burying his nails into the dirt to try to stop the hands from moving him, unexpectedly the hand that was holding his camera earlier was now in front of his face. Takeshi formed a nervous smile as the skeletal hand formed a fist and headed straight to his face, knocking him out.

Takeshi woke up with his head hurting like hell as he took a moment to calm himself and analyze the situation. A couple of skeletal hands tried to grab him, but apparently, they had given up since he recognized his surroundings as the forest near the shrine, so he wasn't too far away from where they had taken him. His camera was missing, and he seemed to suffer some eye damage as the sky had turned red.

---

Slowly walking to the shrine, Takeshi began to hear a lot of noise, not like the one the crowds were making previously, rather something more chaotic. Slowing down his pace he peeked from a corner to see what was happening, and of all the things he could have expected, seeing people fight a group of skeletons was not something on his mind. If not for the fact that the skeleton hands grabbed him earlier he would have guessed he had walked into a movie set. Either way, he wasn't a fighter, nor he had a weapon to fight them. Instead, he was doing what he did best, and despite the lack of a good camera he started recording the fight with his phone.

[easy modo]

The teen girl that entered the shrine looked somewhere on the middle of being a typical background mob to a side character, if the foxy stuff didn't count. Her hair was a rich shade of brown in twin braids, and her eyes had a cinnamon tint. Obviously, she was not in uniform; it was holiday season. Instead, she wore a white hoodie with a blue camisole and black shorts underneath, and white-yellow sports shoes with grey striped socks.

As if lost, the girl looked around the shrine. Her ears and tails sprang up as she locked eyes with a girl, snow white in hair and sapphire in gaze, also surprised by her sudden appearance. The kitsune walked over to her slowly, the same slightly startled expression persisting for a little while.

"Excuse me, but is every one of us here lost?" the girl inquired, twitching her right ear lightly. "I... was just taking my stroll, you see."

At the same time, she began to sniff as if noticing that the girl in front of her had a little tinge of cat in her scent.

While all this was happening, one of the three warriors that appeared in the fighting was overrun by the skeletons. Those that hounded him suddenly returned to their business, and the warrior was gone-- vanished into thin air. Some of the skeletons, both lightly wounded and severely disfigured, suddenly had their damages fade away into nothingness and return back to whole.

[TheFake]

— Shrine —

He only had a limited amount of bullets and the tide of skeletons was showing no sign of stopping. Donald stepped out and intercepted the arm of a skeleton before smashing its skull apart with the butt of his pistol. He really ought to have taken his bodyguards along.

Or a bigger gun.

"This talk of a talisman sounds as good as anything I could come up with. Let's have a go at it."

The old man aimed the pistol towards a further group of enemies and fired several spaced shots as he walked forwards.

"Stick together and watch eachothers backs."

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

With a nod of his head, Ren handed off the talisman as the electric dashed into the shrine to ring the bell instead. Though he felt particularly bad about leaving this whole ordeal to a complete stranger, Ren himself had no confidence that he could do anything on his own at the moment. The sudden appearance of a girl with... Fox tails and ears... Was more trivial than anything, but--

Hold up, was the one with the brush being overrun?

A few drops of sweat formed on his forehead as he watched the scene, his hands clenched into tight fists before the sound of a bell resonated through the shrine grounds. Ren looked about in confusion as the sound of the bell slowly rang louder and louder with each swing after it was struck, and how what he had assumed to be the skeletons gaining the upper hand was nothing more than an illusion.

So that fox-tailed girl...
Probably a kitsune. God damn it all. Friendly? Didn't quite seem that way.

The sound of the bell seemed to be much larger than what anything of that size should reasonably have been able to create, though that may have been in part due to how much force it was stuck by. The young man instinctively covered his ears as the ringing resonated throughout the shrine, causing the giant skeleton to stop its advance and hold its head in pain.

...

Could that thing even feel pain?

"I think this is a good a time as any to try, then!" Ren shouted as the ringing of the bell began to die down. "G'luck!"

As that was going on and most of the group was focused on handling the gashadokuro, a magic circle behind the bell began to glow, and soon after a white portal seemed to open on the other side, where an older man was seated, his brow creased in concentration as the portal seemed to waver. A few moments later, though, the gateway seemed to stabilize, and the man let out a sigh of relief.

"To think that this seal would fracture now... In any case, you people over there! Please, hurry and seal that youkai away! As things are right now, it would cause untold amounts of destruction if it made it back to the city!"

Ren turned his head in surprise at the sudden appearance of a new person, but rather than make a beeline for freedom, instead turned around and gritted his teeth. If worst came to worst and everything fell out, then there was no way he would live with himself. He was the backup, and that was that. No more, and no less.

[Kuroyomihime]

Well, that has been a major disappointment. Who would think that, with the New Year's festival as crowded as it was, things would be that uninteresting?

Not that it mattered that much for Aya. She didn't understood why her family had the tradition to come out of their way to pay their respect to the god(s) of this particular shrine when their own mountain had a shrine dedicated to them. According to her grandparents (the ones who actually raised Aya), it was just to keep good relationship with the neighboring kami, honoring the time they shared in the past (i.e.: old people business).

"What's the point when the humans themselves only do this because it's a tradition? The age of gods and mystery is pretty much dead, everyone knows that," Aya thought as she found a slightly less crowded spot and began to play a fighting game, plugging her headphones to see if she could drown a bit of the background noise. "Mhmm, mhmm, at least the food isn't all that bad. I guess it was worthy the time to come all the way here, after all," the youngish tengu thought out loud as she reached for a plastic bag with a few anko filled dorayaki.

[VitaVitaAR]

Ayumi didn't really know what was happening. But what she did know is that ringing the bell had done something to the huge skeleton. The gashadokuro looked like it was suffering, like it had become overcome with pain. Well... whatever something with no nervous system had instead of pain, at least. Ayumi didn't know what was happening. But she did know there was something that she could do. She didn't understand, or entirely notice, the electricity crackling around her hand, around the bokken, charring the smooth wood of the training weapon. The black-haired girl just ran, both hands on the weapon's hilt, as she made her way right for the yokai skeleton's head. She wasn't really thinking.

She was acting. There was a monster, and it could hurt people. So... so...!

The wooden tip of the bokken tore towards the skeleton's huge skull. As it did, the electrical crackling became powerful enough to ignite the blade, setting the sword on fire. Ayumi didn't understand anything about what was happening, but she had to hurt it...!

[Kidd]

Kiyoko had flinched when the woman--who appeared to be oni--was immediately on board. She nodded and looked between her and silver haired man as they offered to clear her a path. "Thank you," she said, grateful for the simple but direct advice: stick it to the skeleton. Her lips pursed as she stared ahead at the monster in question, the task suddenly much more daunting than she expected. But, she had offered to step up and she wasn't going to let others remain in danger because she couldn't back up her talk. As she was given the talisman, she eyed it for a moment and drew in a deep breath. Here we go, she thought.

Suddenly, she was off: she followed behind the oni. She was indeed fast, as promised. She kept up with the larger youkai's athleticism easy enough, one foot in front of the other. Yagra was making good on promise to clear a path, though there were many skeletons. Kiyoko dropped at one point, sliding like a baseball star under a particularly grabby skeleton. She hopped up again easily. Yagra came to a sudden and violent stop just in front of her and--just like that--they were before the enormous skeleton.

As the oni swung her kanabo, Kiyoko followed up with a sudden leap, taking her high into the air above the swinging club and its wielder. While some might be yelling in the moment, Kiyoko was almost grimly quiet. Anxiety seized her heart as she looked into the dark eye holes of the giant skeleton but she slapped the talisman against its face as she dropped next to Yagra.

[Cuccoruler]

Sven watched as Kiyoko ran at the skeleton with the talisman. She was fast that was true but she was also agile, something that Sven wasn't quite expecting. "Good goin kid!" Sven said before turning his attention towards the skeletons. He cracked his whip at a few more hitting them in the chest this time and making them fall to pieces. However due to the texture of his whip some of the skeleton parts were getting stuck on it. Thankfully a good crack got them off but it was still time consuming.

He watched as the oni girl went running towards the giant skeleton as well in hopes of putting it down herself without the aid of the talisman. He only hoped that the oni wouldn't end up hitting Kiyoko.

At this point Sven had noticed a portal opening near them. He looked towards the humans of the group. "Might be a good time to run out of here, I'll cover you!" Sven said cracking his whip again to get bones off of it before swinging it at more skeletons only knocking them down this time though as his hit seemed to be a bit lacking in power that time. A mistake that was for sure.

[blumenk]

This whole experience felt straight like a videogame, Takeshi thought to himself as he continued to record the events on his phone. The giant skeleton who was attacking the strange group of people had stopped his movements when the bell started resonating through the shrine. Takeshi was contemplating on making a run for it now, before the skeleton began to start moving again or he developed tinnitus from the bell. His chance to get out would come when a strange portal opened up. Was he really in another world? While it could explain some of the strange stuff happening, like the red sky of the floating hands, it seemed strange that he was dragged there. Takeshi really ought to talk to someone who could explain what was happening, like the man on the other side of the portal.

He stopped recording and was a little disappointed he couldn't record when the giant skeleton was defeated, but his safety and the possibility of someone answering what the hell was going on outweighed that. Putting his phone on his pocket he carefully waited for a chance to run towards the portal, as soon as the man who was using his spine​ as a whip said it was time to run out of there, and that he was covering them. While clearly not meant for him, it didn't mean that he couldn't use this to sprint toward the portal, giving a small thank you to the man as he passed near him. Crossing the portal he was face to face with the man Takeshi blurted out the first thing his mind though “Who the hell are you!?”

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

Ren watched with bated breath as the white-haired girl leaped forward to follow behind the oni, making good on her promise to break through the horde. While the teenager from earlier had jumped into the fray was well, Ren found the sudden appearance of the shrine's priest to be of the most note here. Everything was strange here, yes, but the fact that he seemed to know more about the situation than all of them combined probably meant more than it seemed.

The sound of an explosion quickly dragged Ren's attention back to the group engaging the gashadokuro, and its source seemed to be pretty obvious at this point; the teenager's bokken had essentially blown up on impact, causing the giant skeleton to recoil for just enough time for the speedy girl to slap the talisman on its head. The youkai, as well as all the smaller skeletons around it, seemed to stop moving before their bodies seemed to crumble into dust...

Save for the big one, in which case everything except the skull seemed to disappear. So long as it was just the skull, then...

With the problem at hand now settled, Ren turned towards the shrine's priest, who was rapidly beckoning the group to come over; of course, someone else had beaten him in getting through the portal, but the question he asked didn't seem to put the priest in a very pleasant mood.

"Is that any way to speak to your elders?" he asked, whacking the boy on the head with a paper fan as the group funneled back in through the portal. "No manners, I swear. You ought to learn some instead of stalking around the shrine like you were. We may not look it, but this shrine has eyes everywhere—both literally and figuratively, but mainly the latter."

With that minor lecture completed, the priest motioned towards the empty main hall of the shrine; as the other visitors were out near the donation box and the mikos busy handling those affairs, the place was relatively silent...

Which may have been in part due to the glowing circle beneath them that extended itself into a barrier around them.

"...In any case... Introductions. I am the priest of Koumi Shrine, Shinohara Izawa. I feel as if explanations are in order, considering how I failed to maintain the seal on today of all days.
This shrine is a gateway to what my ancestors called the 'city of mirrors'; though its true name has long since been lost to time, the land itself has not faded into obscurity. Centuries ago, our world and that world were split apart, with only a few places from which they could be accessed if not sealed away. That seal, however, seems to be weakening. Regardless of my attempts as of late, the hole in the barrier here seems to be growing stronger.
Here begins the root of your last problem and the start of many of mine. This 'city of mirrors' has long since been tainted by disease and corruption, and though I can purge the spread of it with things like the circle beneath your feet, I cannot feasibly defeat any creatures that end up making their way through. If this shrine was to fall, then the city would likely soon follow, and what would come after..."

Izawa trailed off for a moment and, after shaking his head, continued on.

"...Would not be pretty. I fear that gashadokuro that you have just defeated is only the harbringer of troubles to come, and so I must ask: can you travel through the portal here to handle problems that may occur? I know many of you are of supernatural origin, given your recent performance, and contacting anyone like the police or military would likely lead to me being brushed off as insane."

At the conclusion of that lengthy amount of exposition, Ren took a moment to stare at the priest before asking a few questions of his own.
"...Well, what about me? I've got no way to fight or anything, so--"

"The fact that the gashadokuro's minions dragged you in meant that you had more than enough potential within you. It is simply a matter of finding it."

"...What about that whole 'disease' bit? Aren't we all infected, then?"

"As I said, this barrier cleanses impurities like those. However, if you spend too long without removing them within this other world, you may end up falling and becoming like the enemies you face."

"...And the fate of the city is at stake?"

"Yes. Of course, I would assume that as word spreads about this ordeal, other people might ask requests of you as well. Any rewards they might give are yours for the taking; of course, if anything urgent arises, we will let you know posthaste and also reward you accordingly."

With a sigh, Ren placed his right hand on his forehead and stared up at the ceiling from his place on the floor, the light and darkness intermingling with every passing moment.

"...Aaaaagh, I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I? Feels really hard to accept this as reality, though..."

"That is to be expected. If you have any more questions, I would be happy to answer them; otherwise, I would recommend you leave through the back entrance so as to not cause a disturbance outside."

[GreenGoat]

"Alright!" She shouted the moment the girl slapped the talisman on it. "Well that was good going everyone. I guess it would be time to celebrate the occasion with sake now, right?"

Well, that was quite a situation. It was a good thing several of them were willing to help. That okami, that odd nukekubi, that uh... lightning girl? She had forgotten what that certain youkai was. Now that the threat was gone, it was time to celebrate. If they ransack the shrine — no one seemed to be living in it anyways — they should be able to find something to eat, and with her gourd with unlimited sake, they'd be able to celebrate like it was no tomorrow. At least, until Yagra noticed the priest.

"Geh."

Priests and youkai don't usually go well together. It was very likely that she'd be exterminated on sight along with the others here. Keeping to the back of the group discretely, she took off the cloth tying up her sleeves, and used it as a sort of bandana or headwrap instead, trying to conceal her horns as much as possible. It was not that she was afraid of the priest, but she was wary of causing trouble that might threaten her peaceful life in the city.

In any case, the priest was revealing some very heavy information to the group. A city of mirrors, disease, purging and more.

"...Would not be pretty. I fear that gashadokuro that you have just defeated is only the harbringer of troubles to come, and so I must ask: can you travel through the portal here to handle problems that may occur? I know many of you are of supernatural origin, given your recent performance, and contacting anyone like the police or military would likely lead to me being brushed off as insane."

Yagra almost choked on her sake when the priest mentioned he knew some of them were youkai, but relaxed when he seemed earnest enough about needing their help. And if he needed their help...

"Well, that's quite a bother isn't it? That corruption, I mean." She stepped closer to the priest, Izawa, smiling all the while. "So you're saying that if we helped you, we will get a reward right? Then that skeleton counts right? Are we going to get a reward for that?"

[VitaVitaAR]

For a few moments, Ayumi was too stunned to react when her bokken exploded, charred wood and electrical sparks scattered across the area, some crumbling to ash and others smouldering on the ground. Her feet hit the ground as the enormous skeleton was sealed away. As the gashadokuro was reduced to a skull, she quietly held up her hands and starred at them. They crackled with electricity. But.. how? How could she be doing something like this? Almost numb to the situation, the girl dully turned and headed through the portal. It was all so... overwhelming, the fact that she could produce electricity from her hands, powerful enough to make her bokken explode, was icing on the cake so to speak. After a few moments of simply staring at her hands as the priest tried to explain so many things to everyone, she finally remembered herself.

There was one pressing thought on her mind. The electricity had faded, but the moment she concentrated again it flared to life and circulated around her fingers.

"... Why am I electric?"

It was dully asked, her attitude tinged by her shock, as she raised one crackling hand.

[Polaris North]

The sound of the bell bothered Kenji, more than the others. To others, it would have hurt as each swing caused a louder bang. To Kenji, the last ones were just deafening. He almost dropped his guard and get attacked by the skeletons, but animal instinct took over and he swiped the skeleton away with sharpened claws. Ears and tails threatened to pop out due to his lack of concentration. But it ended before he could transform halfway. It was good too, but it made him stop for a moment or two.

Kenji sighed in relief once the talisman has been placed upon the gashadokuro's head, rendering every danger around them (besides themselves) incapacitated. The smaller skeletons disappeared and only the head of the gashadokuro remained. His eye lingered upon it for a moment, processing what had happened. He had not seen a yokai rampage in years, and even then, nothing was as aggressive as this one. They were usually peaceful, now just wanting to blend in with humans more than anything.

He followed the others to the portal, keeping to the back while trying to erase the ringing in his ears. His Celestial Brush was safely tucked in the folds of his clothing and he listened closely to what the priest had been saying. City of mirrors, his grandfather had mentioned that. It was old folklore with the humans, forgotten by many, but it remained with his family. He thought of it as only legend for why was there a need to separate themselves from the humans. They were getting along fine now, so he brushed it off and placed it at the back of his mind.

Finding out that it was all true wasn't something Kenji had expected. But the explanation was sound and the rampaging yokai was enough to make him believe the shrine priest, Izawa. Ah yes, the shrine priest. Someone he has never really met before. He only met with another one to whom he gives the gifts for New Year. Anyhow, hearing that the world's fate is at stake and it rests in their hands to not let the disease spread to Earth wasn't something that settled in quickly to the okami.

But he held not questions. He heard the oni ask about the reward and the raijuu asking why she is electric. He wanted to reply but decided to leave it up to the priest to tell her about it, thinking that the priest would have a vast knowledge about the yokai that dot Japan.

"Giving a stake like that makes it all the more harder to refuse." He mumbled. From this, one would be able to decipher that he agrees with working with the others to save the city, and most likely, the world.

[Kidd]

Kiyoko stared up at the skull as the rest of it and its minions faded around her. "We did it," she laughed, looking to the oni. Though her smile faded as she noted the sudden change in mood and her blue eyes flickered back to the shrine. It seemed as if the group was growing by one every time she turned her back. She could manage crowds when she had to, but the evening had be stressful enough as it was. Hesitantly she returned to the shrine to join the others, her brows furrowed at the priest for them. He was older but handsome with lovely robes, warranting at least curiosity from her.

He confirmed that the others were youkai as well, though it was pretty obvious after the fight. And his explanation had her scowling by the end. She eyed the silver haired okami after his agreement, eyes narrowed as irritation laced her words. "It's dangerous. We could get hurt--or worse." Though as she spoke, she knew she'd allow herself to get roped in. Hell, she had run at the gashadokuro head on. Admittedly with the help of a powerful oni, but it was nothing to scoff at.

"You especially," she added, her piercing gaze finding the human boy's. Potential or not, she suddenly tense. The others were clearly capable, but he had contributed little. "I don't like seeing humans get hurt."

[blumenk]

Takeshi flinched up a little upon the reaction of the man, he hadn't expected that response, nor the lecture that came with it. It was not the first time he was lectured for his manners or for sneaking around in places he shouldn't be, thought it was the first time he was lectured for both at the same time. Thinking that an explanation may give a better second impression of him, Takeshi spoke:

“Sorry about my actions sir, but they were kinda justified you see, I came to the shrine looking for a ghost because of previous circumstances I couldn't be around in the public area of the shrine, and as for my greeting I do admit it was rude, but I was kinda surprised from seeing a real living giant skeleton” after giving his “explanation” Takeshi stood in silence as the people that were fighting the Gashadokuro came into the room.

Listening in silence as the priest explained what happened. For a self proclaimed supernatural expert Takeshi had never heard of the city of mirrors, given the supposed time elapsed since these events happened it was no surprise that people had forgotten. In an era before the digital archives important teachings and lessons had to be told from mouth to mouth, twisting the original source so much that it became unrecognizable or it was completely forgotten when someone stopped passing it to the next generation. Unfortunately this would bring serious consequences that he had gotten involved with.

Takeshi couldn't just leave and live with the knowledge that his home was in mortal danger, much less knowing that the skeleton hands detected that potential in him that he could use to protect the city even if he was just a normal human. It was clear that he had to help in whatever way he could, but he had questions he would like to receive an answer. After waiting for the group that had arrived to ask their questions first.

“All right, as the white haired man said with the stakes this high there is no way I can ignore this and continue my merry life, that being said I still have four questions on my mind: How much time is “too long” to spend in the city of mirrors? Are all the creatures coming from there immediately hostile to us, or can they bargained with? While these guys were fighting the Gashadokuro I was recording their fight with this cellphone, perhaps we could show this to the police, if there is a small chance of them believing us? Lastly I want to ask about the possibility of exploring the city of mirrors, mapping important locations and knowing how the creatures on the other side live can be helpful in our mission”

[Kuroyomihime]

"Huh, what was that?" Even though she was using phones, Aya still had a perfect awareness of the world around her, including a lot of voices suddenly coming from the spot at the back of temple where she chose to play her games in peace.

Thinking that she could try to overheard what the conversation that seemed to be taking place at the moment, Aya scuttled close to the door, remaining as silent as the very shadows as she pressed an ear against the door. Such an activity was only natural for a tengu such as Aya after all her race is credited for being the creators of Ninjutsu, unparalleled masters of the sword and stealth. If a tengu decided to spy on you, it was as if the darkness suddenly got ears and eyes. You would never find it until your secrets had been leaked.

And so, Aya kept recording everything, wondering what was all that talk about a city of mirrors, a disease and other youkai rampaging upon the world. Certainly, this information was worth knowing, right?

[TheFake]

— Shrine —

The old man ejected the magazine from his pistol and dropped it into his pocket. After reloading and safetying his weapon he dropped it into a pocket on the opposite side, turning to face this newcomer than hadn't really seemed to have done much to help. But what this man said started his mind turning.

"I think that this warrants my attention... and that of my employer. Now that i am aware, I should be a bit more prepared in the future."

[Cuccoruler]

Sven smiled as the skeletons finally fell, it was smile of relief though. The fight was over. Once he saw the others heading into the portal he followed shortly after, putting his spine back into his body with a few more sickening popping sounds. "Now I don't have to act spineless." Sven said spouting yet another pun, he was surprised that at this point no one had rolled their eyes at his puns.

Once Sven heard the explanation of what was going on he had to wonder, had this priest tried contacting other countries about this? Maybe foreign famlies of supernatural beings. "Wait, so I get that you've attempted other authorities, have you considering trying to speak with some of the foreign families of super naturals? I know that they aren't quite yokai, but they can still help. I mean, I actually know of a guy who would be more than willing to help. He's just a bit... burly." Sven said mentioning a friend of his.

As Sven was speaking realized that his head was still off. "Oh right, you got any string? I need to sow my head back on." Sven added, the unfortunate part about Dullahans was that their head's aren't actually supposed to be on their bodies. The only way to keep it on his body was to sew it on. Thankfully Sven like most Dullahans trying to mix in with society had piercings in their neck to allow for thread to go through and keep the head on. This also prevented him from continuously having to pierce his skin.

Sven gave a glance at the silver haired man. "Oh, and while we're asking questions, who are you? I don't know anyone except Kiyoko's name. Or what you are. I'm a Dullahan, if you wondering and my name is Sven." Sven added.