[IC] Eɴᴛᴇʀ — Into an Isekai World

Eɴᴛᴇʀ — Into an Isekai World

[mickilennial]

By all appearances the Tarashima Forest looked like a Japanese wooded area.

A lone red torii stood in the distance, corroded by moss and rainwater, as two old, crumbling statues stood to its right and left. The old stone pathway leading through it was undoubtedly old as overgrowth began to try to escape the cracks within its masonry. In front of the torii was a long waterfall and on the other side, near the cliff-side that overlooked the lower depths of the wooded area were three bodies, still unconscious and unaware that they had been transported from their beds in Japan to a world of fantasy, strife, and intrigue.

Ebisawa Honami, Ikazuchi Hiroko, and Iyasu Kaito did not know each other. They were not individuals who had gone to the same high school or held any significant relationship with one another. They were bondless strangers, but as the clock struck six o’clock in Yokohama, all three of them would experience something they all would share and would all link them together for better or for worse. Magical energy would have surged through them when they were sleeping. Anything they had on them would be sent with them and their bodies would ache as divine energy shot through their body in a quick second. They might’ve not been able to tell as their bodies awoken into a dirt mound in the wooded area that was far removed from their native Japan despite looking more or less like they had been thrown in the deep Japanese wilderness.

But this was no prank. This was divine will. How they would come to their senses and speak with each other was certainly going to be interesting. Even if they did come together and figured out they were in a different world, it would be quite a while indeed before they would have any inkling of why.

[Polaris North]

---

Forest - ???

---

Hiroko had lived a rather normal life since her graduation from high school. Sure, she was living alone. Sure, she was living in a rickety apartment. And sure, she's barely getting by. But at least it didn't have the craziness of her earlier life where she had to deal with so many other things - like her mother and her drinks. Though, she often still thought that maybe she could get out of that kind of lifestyle. Maybe she could get into some college after a while. It was a far-off thought and she was pretty sure that it wouldn't happen, but at least nothing crazy will ever happen in her life again. She was just a cafe worker and a newspaper girl. What could possibly make her life more exciting than it currently was?

So when she opened her eyes, she had expected to stand up, get dressed and head to get some newspapers. She was not expecting to wake up in a forest.

She had sat up and paused to look at her surroundings. Everything seemed real enough, and it didn't seem like she was having some sort of bad dream that involved her being lost in some forest. Hiroko then turned to herself to see what she had been wearing. And indeed, she was in her clothes that she had crashed into bed earlier - a green parka and a black shirt and pants. She patted herself down and felt that her 'essentials' were still there.

"Okay..." She muttered to herself as she stood up and dusted herself off. Hiroko had surveyed her surroundings yet again before a grumble was released from her throat. "Now where the hell am I?" Obviously, she was in a forest. But where? And how exactly did she get here? She was pretty sure that she did not have the capability of sleepwalking. And even if she did, it seemed like a far fetched idea that she had walked all the way to a forest without anyone noticing and waking her up. It was ridiculous.

Taking a stick of cigarette, she lit it up and took a drag. Obviously, panicking was not going to help her. She can't say that she had gone through worse, but she could still reign in the weirdness. All she needed to do was get back to civilization - maybe meet some others along the way - and then go back to her old, regular and boring life. Seemed like someone just wanted to play a practical joke on a bunch of strangers and she was unlucky enough to find herself as the victim. Or... no, that also didn't seem like it was possible. After all, who would have the resources to kidnap someone from their home and then throw them into the forest - all the while them not waking up?

"Get out now, speculate later..." Hiroko muttered to herself as she began walking, unknowingly towards her future companions.

[Hero]

---

---

---

---

Iyasu Kaito was a creature of habit. His morning routine was mundane, but one that hadn't changed in over ten years. He would wake up from his slumber with a yawn and stretch his hands above his head, his sleepiness causing him to forget the wall was right there as he would hit his hand. After taking a moment to rub his sore knuckle, he would take in a deep breath and sit up. Jumping up from bed, he would then stretch the rest of his limbs and go on to the bathroom for some minor self grooming.

So when he stretched this time and found no wall to hit, despite his grogginess he knew something was off.

Opening his eyes slowly, he could see the sky above him. Blinking a few times, his other sense slowly started to kick in; he felt the hard ground underneath him, heard some sort of wildlife in the distance, and smelled the grass he was currently laying down on. Slowly sitting up, he observed his unfamiliar surroundings, the sheer amount of green throwing him for a loop. Was he dreaming? Pinching his cheek, he determined the pain felt real enough, but he had no idea where he was.

Standing up, Kaito looked around as he took a few steps. "Uh..." He voiced his confusion, a somewhat moot point considering he had yet to see anyone else around.

[Carlyle]

ᴇ ʙ ɪ ꜱ ᴀ ᴡ ᴀ ʜ ᴏ ɴ ᴀ ᴍ ɪ

---

_{Location: Unknown Forest}

Timeframe: Dawn

---

Honami figured it would've been a day just like the day before, the week before, and the month before. Fight herself to get out of bed for school, go to school, and then go back home to waste away her life like the secluded person Honami was. It was a rinse and repeat routine, seemingly impossible to break without a change in Honami herself. At least Honami had her bed, where she could truly be happy, far away from the troubles of the world. Yet, what if she wasn't happy? What if there was some underlying factor bothering Honami, who had no one close to speak to in her moment of need?

Whatever it was, perhaps it could explain how Honami wound up in the middle of nowhere.

The sound of water softly splashing into a pool roused Honami out her sleep, who figured she had forgotten to shut off the water. Seconds later, the water was accompanied by the sound of someone approaching. Was there someone unknown in her home? Had someone broke in, intending to kidnap her or steal her family's belongings? Flickering open her eyes, Honami was greeted not with her bedroom, but with a forest and two others—a boy and a girl.

The boy appeared to be still sleeping, as if he had no idea he had been dumped in the middle of nowhere. Honami had no idea in regards to what was going on either, and probably the girl that was walking towards the two of them. "Where are we? Who are you?"

They were standard questions, but the girl didn't seem to be the one that kidnapped them and dumped them in the middle of nowhere. Feeling around as she stood back up onto her feet, Honami noticed that her bag had been dumped with her, and was quick to pull out her phone to see if she had any service around here.

"No service." Honami muttered, much to her dismay.

---

@Hero@Polaris North

[Polaris North]

---

Forest - ???

---

Hiroko had traveled for only a few seconds before she saw two figures. And from what she could see, they were at least human. Better than encountering a bear or something far more dangerous in the woods, at the very least. She decided to come closer and see if they had any idea of what was going on. Even though they may be the people who had thrown her in here - which was highly unlikely as they look just as confused as she was - she might as well ask to see how she can get out. She huffed out her smoke once more and then crossed her hands behind her back, bringing the cigarette out of sight as well.

Before she could even speak, the other girl had beat her to it - questioning who they were and where were they. Her lips formed a thin line. So they were definitely not the ones who placed her in here... and they also didn't know what was happening. Great. At least they could all be lost together. Three heads are better than one, though even she wasn't sure how well they'd fare in something like this. "Ikazuchi Hiroko." She replied, letting her arms fall down next to her as she felt an itch to take another drag, but avoided it since she didn't really want to piss them off thanks to the smoke. "As for where we are, my guess is as good as yours."

Hiroko had turned briefly to the male who was still in a dazed state. She couldn't blame him. Even she needed to stop and take a cancer stick just to calm herself down for the moment. When the girl had gone out to take her phone, Hiroko thought that maybe they'd get lucky and be able to get out of here without having to put up too much effort. She had a job tomorrow, after all, and she'd rather not miss it. But alas, it was not to be. "Unfortunate." She muttered under her breath before looking around. "Well, I don't think we'd do much by just standing around here. Maybe if we can find a river, we can find civilization." She suggested to the two, giving them both a brief glance as she awaited their decision.

[Carlyle]

ᴇ ʙ ɪ ꜱ ᴀ ᴡ ᴀ ʜ ᴏ ɴ ᴀ ᴍ ɪ

---

_{Location: Unknown Forest}

Timeframe: Dawn

---

The girl—now known as Ikazuchi Hiroko—whom Honami spoke to had no more information than she did. No one knew where they were, and phone service was nonexistent in the forest. Placing the phone back into her bag, Honami stood to her feet and grumbled. Whenever they found their way back to civilization, her sensei was surely going to let Honami have it. The silver-haired girl was known to oversleep, and even sometimes skipped class altogether, which often got her into trouble. Honami had a gut feeling that he was going to make sure she had another meeting with the school's guidance counselor; she was sure of it.

"Ebisawa Honami," Honami replied, taking a momentarily glance at the male that seemed to still be in a daze. "I'm not sure about this guy, but that's probably for the best." She wasn't keen on putting forth effort—in all honesty, Honami would've preferred to go back to bed—yet at the same time, sitting around would've only made things worse. There was no instant ramen, no dumb cat videos or video games to play in the forest. Ensuring her own survival, Honami thought, was more important than slacking off for once.

Turning her attention to the forest surrounding the group, Honami took a moment to analyze their surroundings. Noticing a red torii not too far off in the distance, Honami pointed in its direction. "What about over there? We could see if there is a monk or someone to help us get back home." Honami explained, looking back to Hiroko and the yet named individual. She knew that there was a few shrines not far from her home, so they must've not been far from Yokohama, right? Regardless, wherever the torii led too, it was surely better than just standing around in the middle of nowhere.

---

@Hero@Polaris North

[Hero]

---

---

---

---

Despite knowing the situation should have been alarming, Kaito was calm all things considered. He was more curious than concerned, absentmindedly looking around as the two girls spoke to one another. The scenery was beautiful, he wished he had a camera so he could take a picture. It wasn't until he heard Ebisawa introduce herself and mention him as a guy, to which he spun around,r eady to introduce himself, only to get somewhat dismissed.

Opening his mouth in shock, he closed it shortly afterwards as he rubbed the back of his head. Well, they were complete strangers, so maybe her reaction wasn't entirely unwarranted. Hm, now that he thought about it, why was it just the three of them? They both looked younger than he was, plus he was a guy, so he supposed he should try to ease any worries they had. Except, judging by the way they spoke, they probably weren't the least bit intimidated. He wasn't exactly threatening.

Clearing his throat, he decided now was as good a time as ever to introduce himself. "Um...I'm Iyasu Kaito, by the way. Sorry, guess I'm not entirely awake," He smiled somewhat contently, although his eyes were once again enraptured by the green around them. "This place looks like it's from one of those scenic areas that you see in magazines," He noted, even if it wasn't anything useful.

[Polaris North]

---

Forest - ???

---

It was a good thing that Ebisawa Honami seemed just as eager to get out of this forest as she was. Dropping the cigarette behind her and stomping it out with her heel discretely, hopefully not being caught in the process, she turned her gaze to where Ebisawa was pointing. Indeed, the red torii was completely in contrast with the nature around them - showing signs of civilization. Her mouth twitched into a smile as she nodded. "Sounds like a solid plan to me."

Then the guy finally spoke, Iyasu Kaito. She nodded in his direction to acknowledge that she had heard and understood what he had said. Hiroko reached up to fiddle with the edge of her coat for a moment as she mimicked Iyasu's reaction to their surroundings. Had she known how she got here and that she was fully intending on going here, Hiroko would agree that this was a beautiful place. The kind of place where photographers would go to. Once more, Hiroko merely nodded at him in agreement before turning heel and beginning on walking.

"At least we're not going to be stumbling in the dark." She offered the optimistic thought to the group, looking up to the sky where rays of sunshine were beginning to peek from the horizon. They would have sunlight to guide them in the unfamiliar territory even if they didn't end up finding anyone by the shrine. Hiroko could only think of the consequences of having to travel in the dark - in the woods with three people who barely knew each other.

[mickilennial]

The old road had seen better days.

Tarashima had been a place that conflict had arose time and time again, a forest that invited strife. The statues just before the Torii were a testament of that. The two were known by the natives of Tarashima Forest as Gekido and Kanashimi, though they must have looked foreign to the Japanese outsiders given the stone engravings upon their bodies were not in Japanese nor was the style reminiscent of anything that decorated the Japanese woodlands, or not as far as they could tell. If any one of them would look at it, it would seem strange and alien, like a language they had never seen before. But in a second they would know what the engravings meant as if they understood it. Two simple phrases on each statue, recalling something that the Japanese outsiders could not know the context of.

_{I hate of which I am. I shall never forget.}

The path continued forward, though a loud boom echoed through the skies. It sounded like thunder. But there were no clouds in the skies above; in fact, there were no signs of storm for what they could make out in the skies above for miles. The forest shuttered, as a sudden gust of wind swept the leaves from the path, causing Hiroko’s coat to flutter as she buried her hands in her pockets. There would be no breeze afterward.

[Carlyle]

ᴇ ʙ ɪ ꜱ ᴀ ᴡ ᴀ ʜ ᴏ ɴ ᴀ ᴍ ɪ

---

_{Location: Unknown Shrine, Unknown Forest}

Timeframe: Dawn

---

When the man had finally come to his senses, Honami shook her head. At least someone here was focused on getting out of wherever the hell they were, even if Honami was likely to crawl back into her bed whenever this whole ordeal was dealt with.

"The quicker we get back home, the quicker I can go back to bed and forget all about this like it was just a passing dream..." Honami mumbled as she grabbed her school bag and began to follow Hiroko without a thought to if Kaito would follow or not. She wasn't about to play babysitter for some guy who was clearly older than her, therefore it was Kaito's loss if he wanted to keep admiring the forest rather than following the two girls back to civilization.

By the time the group reached the torii, Honami frowned as her eyes glanced over the two statues. They were undoubtedly foreign, with writing that she, or likely anyone else, could read. However, as the clock ticked by, the foreign letters began to make sense, leaving Honami all the more confused. How could anyone possibly understand a language she's never heard of or seen, but understand it within a blink of an eye? Surely, this had to have been some weird lucid dream. Her brain was simply playing tricks on Honami while she laid in bed, unable to wake herself up from whatever this dream was or will be.

Boom!

A loud echo bounced among the mountains and trees, as if thunder had just rolled in. Yet, when Honami glanced up at the sky, there was no sort of clouds or any bad weather nearby. Still, the trees shook and a gust had blown past the group, fluttering the edges of Honami's skirt and Hiroko's coat before the wind came to a sudden stop. "Just our luck. First, we find ourselves in a forest, and now? Freak weather." Honami uttered with a sigh. If anything, she hoped her umbrella was still in her school bag.

---

@Hero@Polaris North@Inkarnate

[Polaris North]

---

Forest - ???

---

Forget about this ordeal - now there was something Hiroko also wanted to do once she got back home. Certainly, it was an experience that you would want to tell your friends and family eventually, but she would also like to erase this from her mind. It was much too odd and much too freaky to really happily recount to anyone. When they had encountered a road, Hiroko had breathed a sigh of relief. Even though it didn't look like it had been maintained, surely it meant that it lead somewhere. Aside from the temple, it had to branch off to a town close to them and they would finally be able to find some form of civilization, get a signal and call for help.

Noticing the statues as well, she squinted at them. Hiroko wasn't the best at memorizing the various deities her culture had, but she was pretty sure that these two were not statues of them. They looked unfamiliar - absolutely foreign. The words inscribed seemed to be of another language and she would have looked away had it not been for the fact that she understood them a second later. She blinked once. Then twice. And then looked at it with confusion. Hiroko was certain she had not studied whatever language that was. The most she knew was English and Japanese and she was pretty sure that it was neither.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a loud sound - what seemed to be thunder - followed by a very strong breeze that was enough to lift her coat a bit as she shoved her hands inside the pockets to keep it down. With Honami's comment, Hiroko had looekd up to see what she saw - clear skies. "Well, hopefully the temple is still intact so we can spend some time there should it rain." She said with a resolute nod before moving forward again and keeping her eyes out for anything that moved. For all she knew, an animal could be stalking them right now and thought of them as easy prey.

[HokumPocus]

---

Kaito uttered a soft grunt of worry as he realized he was being left alone in the forest. He quickly strode over to what had caught the girls´ attention and said nothing as he read the text engraved on the statues. His lips pressed against one another in his typical way of showing worry, but for the first time in a long time there was a sense of helplessness added in as well. He had only been in this strange land for a short moment, yet in his heart Kaito was aware that whatever had happened to them was far away from the reach of what conventional therapy could deal with. He hugged his reference journals tightly against his chest, their current uselessness evaporating the sense security they usually gave him.

A monstrous noise tore through the forest, causing Kaito to flinch. The loose strands of hair that weren't secured by his relaxed ponytail twitched from the wind that briefly enveloped them. He raised his journals in front of his head to shield his face from any debris.

"Hgnk!..." he whined. The sky looked nothing like how it was supposed to during a storm, so it had to have been something else. Fear crept into his mind as he began to ponder what that "something else" could possibly be. One of the girls had suggested they take shelter inside the temple, a relief to the worrywart.

"I agree. Seeking civilization can help us know where we are." he said gently. "But... we should be wary. That might have been a noise of aggression just now." Being more unnerved than they were about their predicament was embarrassing given he was the only man and the eldest of the three, but establishing some kind of plan was definitely worth it.

[Carlyle]

ᴇ ʙ ɪ ꜱ ᴀ ᴡ ᴀ ʜ ᴏ ɴ ᴀ ᴍ ɪ

---

_{Location: Unknown Shrine, Unknown Forest}

Timeframe: Dawn

---

Reaching into her school bag, Honami was in luck—her umbrella was inside. Despite her family's riches, the umbrella was of cheap quality, and could easily be torn asunder by heavy wind. Though, it wasn't like Honami couldn't get another one. Japan was home to thousands of umbrellas sitting in storage caddies across the country, and it wasn't uncommon to wind up with a hoard of them.

"Are you really afraid of a little wind?" Honami snapped back at Kaito, more annoyed than anything. Compared to Hiroko and Honami, Kaito seemed to be quite the wimp. The silver-haired girl shook her head. He was a guy, and they were girls. Kaito should be the one leading the charge; not cowering behind them! It certainly didn't help his case that he seemed to be older than Hiroko or Honami, either. Leave it up to a high school-aged kid to lead the way, why don't you.

"Whatever. Let's... let's just move on." Honami replied, looking further down the trail. It seemed to lead somewhere; somewhere hidden behind the brush that seemed to grow in density the further they walked the path. Only the gods knew what lurked inside, and yet Honami marched on in hopes of stumbling onto some sign of civilization, like the temple the torii belonged to.

---

@HokumPocus@Polaris North

[Polaris North]

---

Forest - ???

---

Hiroko hummed to acknowledge the fact that even Kaito seemed to agree on getting to some form of shelter to get their bearings. Once more, it would be highly unlikely that they were somewhere too far so they can see a place of civilization from a high vantage point like the shrine. Of course, even this plan wasn't perfect and she would be lost if none of them can recognize where they are. She dug her hands further inside her pocket and looked over at Honami as she snapped at Kaito.

"He's nervous." She pointed out as she placed a placating hand on Honami before sending an apologetic smile. "The faster we get to shelter, the faster we can calm down." With that, she let her hand back fall from Honami's shoulder and returned her hand inside her pockets. Hiroko did understand why Honami seemed to be irritable considering Kaito seemed to be older than them and was male and yet he seemed to be the most cautious and the jumpiest. But she wasn't going to blame him for that.

"Yeah." She absentmindedly agreed as she followed the high schooler as she continued her trek forward. However, Hiroko kept her eye out for anything that might be out of place. She kept close to Honami but made sure that Kaito didn't lag behind too much or that would be disastrous. They would need to stick with each other for now. There were merits to being in a group after all. Now... hopefully they reached the shrine soon and hopefully it was still intact.

[mickilennial]

The brush ahead seemed to get thicker as they walked further on the path, making it hard to see what was at the end of the path. But whoever pushed the brush back first to try to make out what was beyond would’ve been the first to lay eyes on the Shrine of Kioku. A lone shrine that had not been visited in many years. It is where the road through Tarashima Forest ended. Nobody had visited Kioku in decades. These outsiders would be the first since… well, since Kioku had been remembered. Not that they would know what this place was.

The door seemed to give little resistance if anyone interacted with it, the old shrine had seen a lot of strife, though somehow it all seemed intact.

The old forest had taken to the small building, evident by the debris that had found itself into the shrine since an old tree had lost one of its branches during a storm and struck the roof. The result after years of abandonment was not pretty, but the decay was natural. There was nothing of interest inside the room as it was as empty as the state of the structure implied. Dust and spiderwebs had taken to its walls and moss had crept in from the hole that penetrated the rooftop. The idea that forest spiders had taken home in the shrine was probably the only “scary” concept present. With that aside, it was still very early in the day, though when exactly would be hard to tell unless they were good at gauging time or one of them had a cellphone on them. After all, it was the same time in Tarashima Forest as it had been in Yokohama when they emerged in Eferion, though they had no idea of that fact.

In fact, any items they were holding onto when they were transported were the only things they would have onhand unless they were lucky enough to rummage around in the forest.

[HokumPocus]

---

Unknown Forest

---

With a warm smile, Kaito took Honami's words in stride. If he were her age again, he would've no doubt been shaken by them, but his career had made him develop an immunity to this sort of treatment.

"I'd certainly consider this strange situation to be more than just a little wind, heh," he said absent-mindedly, partly lost in his brainstorming. He was finding it difficult to keep up with the pair, even as the member of their trio with the longest legs. Of the two, Hiroko responded in a far more level-headed manner.

"Nervous? Yes, maybe a little bit. That event with the language in particular is what confuses me the most." His brain was sifting through all of the mental conditions associated with symptoms like visual hallucinations, severe memory loss and somnambulism, and the results were disconcerting. He worded his thoughts as inoffensively as possible so as to not startle them, but nevertheless continued to dwell on the various possible explanations for this... occurence. Every part of his body wanted to freak out in reaction, but if he wanted to earn their trust he´d have to put up a strong front.

He made a conscious effort to catch up to Honami, assisted by her being slowed down by the increasingly numerous flora surrounding them. It eventually reached a point where it was almost impossible to know what was in front of them. Feeling a heavy pang of guilt for his behavior, he stepped forward to weather the brunt of the foliage in their way. His body was the largest, so it made sense for Kaito to go first anyways. He walked ahead and intended to continue doing so, but the sight of the decrepit shrine made him pause.

"...Abandoned?" Disappointment tinged his voice, and he bit his tongue to stop any quivering before it started. Civilization, it seemed, was still far from their grasp.

[Carlyle]

ᴇ ʙ ɪ ꜱ ᴀ ᴡ ᴀ ʜ ᴏ ɴ ᴀ ᴍ ɪ

---

_{Location: Unknown Shrine, Unknown Forest}

Timeframe: Dawn

---

Honami shrugged and grumbled under her breath. Maybe Honami was being too harsh to Kaito, and had been projecting her laziness through her annoyment of having to do everything herself. When Kaito decided to take the lead as the party made their way through the thick brush, however, Honami seemed to be sated, and resigned herself to his lead.

Once the group had cleared the brush, the shrine they were looking for was apparent. What they had hoped for, however, was naught but a ruined building, likely abandoned as Kaito had pointed out. Moss coated the shrine, and forest debris had been scattered throughout the property. Seeing a shrine in such a shape was odd, Honami figured, with Japan having placed a high value on religion. Even the Emperor was said to be descended from the gods, so why was this shrine so... desolate?

Still, it was worth seeing if anyone was here. Approaching the door, Honami slid it to the side as carefully as she could to not break it in the process. "Ohayou gozaimasu," The high schooler called out, announcing their presence to hopefully not startle anyone that resided inside. Of course, with the building in such a shape, having guests was probably startling in the first place.

From what Honami could see, however, was an even more sorry state than outside. There was nothing of real importance—the room seemingly empty—and not a single soul was to be seen. Sunlight shone from a hole in the roof, illuminating a cobweb-covered tree branch, but nothing else had popped out to Honami. Not even what kami the shrine represented.

Sighing, Honami looked back to her companions. "Well, no one is here. With the weather, though, I don't think the shrine's kami would have issue with us staying here for a moment." A pause. "Probably."

---

@Inkarnate@HokumPocus@Polaris North

[Polaris North]

---

Shrine in the Forest - ???

---

Hiroko had to agree with Kaito on the note of the language they had all appeared to understand. She was not someone who was well-versed in other languages aside from her own and some English that she had learned and picked up from her high school days to her working days. In any case, understanding what was written had bothered her somewhere in her mind but that wasn't exactly the main concern she had right now. One problem at a time - they could tackle that little tidbit once they were in civilization and safe from the dangers of the woods.

Kaito had soon taken the lead after Honami had struggled with the foliage. Hiroko was more than happy to cover the back. She tensed up a little bit, however, as she kept herself alert to any sound that did not come from them. The mere fact that the forest was mostly silent was something that made her suspicious and cautious, but it was not something she was going to voice. Kaito was already nervous, no need to make any more unnecessary comments from her paranoia.

She heard Kaito's comment first before seeing the shrine itself. As she passed the last of the foliage, she let out a hum of acknowledgment to the shrine. Well, it certainly was in a rather sorry state. Obviously, it hadn't been visited for a long time. The forest had already taken over the poor, abandoned shrine. That would have taken years to have that extent of taking over. Hiroko couldn't exactly remember the last time she had seen an abandoned shrine, or even if she had ever visited one. With how devoted the Japanese were with gods and goddesses, shrines weren't often abandoned but it was not unheard of a deity to be forgotten.

The shrine looked like a danger solely for its crumbling structure.

Nevertheless, as Honami proceeded forward, Hiroko followed close behind. Better to have someone to pull the girl back before something bad happens. She peeked into the room first as the other girl proceeded inside. And, as expected, no one was inside and Honami said as much. "Let's hope for that." She mumbled as she entered. Deities weren't really a big thing to Hiroko considering what happened in her life, but it didn't hurt to follow superstitions. Her nose wrinkled at the hole the roof had as well as the fact that some animals may have already claimed this as their home - the spiders certainly did.

"We could stay for a while. But I'm not sure it'll weather a storm." She felt the need to point that out as she inspected the structure more. "We should probably rest before looking for another path to a town. Even if this shrine is abandoned, surely there's a town nearby."

[HokumPocus]

---

Unknown Forest

---

The brief flickers of hope Kaito held were overpowered by the rays of sunlight from the holes in the ceiling. The rest of his party had noticed it around the same time as him.

“We haven´t traveled for very long.” He gulped, both because he was determined and a bit fearful. “So we should keep searching for more signs of life.”

His mind screamed at him to stay here and never leave, but he knew that he had no choice but to keep trudging along the wilderness, whether he liked it or not. He tried to convince himself that the shrine was dirty and most likely infested with insects as a way to encourage his continued exploration, but the thoughts in his head felt disingenuous somehow. It felt as if a switch had been flipped inside him, one that made him see little fears like that worthless to even consider in his current situation.

He exited the shrine quickly, feeling that he´d stay there anyways if he wasn´t fast enough. The crisp air of his surroundings once again filled his lungs, seemingly welcoming him back to the outside world.

“If there´s a shrine, then there has to be people.” Unless, he thought, their buildings are in the same exact state, abandoned and rotten. He kept that last bit to himself.

[mickilennial]

The shrine, picked clean as it was, did serve as a place of shelter in case something happened where the trio required safety from the elements. The forest was quiet and despite the webs that hung above some of the corners of the shrine, there didn’t seem to be any spiders lingering that they could see.

The day was warm and humid. The sweltering heat rising with the forest’s natural mountain air. As Kaito looked for any sign of a village, he would noticed one far in the distance—though it was hard to tell the state of it due to the thick brush of the forest. As he looked closer he could feel something in the air, though only he would be one who could feel it; like his body could feel something in the wind. Though before he could possibly focus on it, a shrill, feminine scream shot out from the woods.

“Get away from me!”