[IC] RE: Inkan no Hason [KradKazumi x Yamamoto Hideki]

[KradKazumi]

Sotoki

---

Sotoki had planned to go to Tokyo today to buy a new computer. His old one had malfunctioned and is no longer usable nor fixable. He could buy one in his prefecture, but he wanted ones from the main city. However, before he went to the train station, he visited the forest first, and that is where he is at right now.

Different animals gathered around Sotoki after seeing how he took care of one of them "Hello again to all of you." he said with a smile. Tako, his pet, went and played with the other animals, Sotoki is bringing him along. "Sorry, but I don't have any food right now." he told the squirrel that's staring at him. He always brought a snack or two for them, so many thinks he have some everytime he goes there. Sotoki stood up and Tako jumped into his messenger bag, that's where Sotoki told him to hide "We have to go now. Goodbye." then he bid farewell and walked to the station.

After arriving there, he bought a ticket and waited for the train to arrive. He brought his bag to his face and Tako popped his head out "Don't come out, okay?" he whispered to the cat "Be a good cat and behave." then the train arrived and Tako went to take a nap inside his bag.

Inside the train, Sotoki looked for a seat immediately. Once he sat beside the window, he opened his phone and looked at the time there "If I remember correctly, this ride will take a few hours." then he frowned 'I have to stay with all these people the whole time?' he thought as he looked around him and especially at the person beside him. Sotoki let up his guard and became wary of the passengers 'For all I know there might be a criminal in here.' then he hid his phone and was on guard as he waited for him to arrive to his destination.

---

Airi

---

"Airi-chan, be careful next time." said her grandmother. Airi had tripped and fell on the floor "Ow... Sorry." she was in a hurry because she forgot that her friends invited her to go to Tokyo. She always liked going to Akihabara, so she agreed right away when she was invited "I'll go now! See you later!" she said as she went out the door.

While running to the station, she checked her things "Bag, ok. Phone, ok. Money, ok!" she cheerfully exclaimed. Then she neared the station and saw her friends. When they saw her, they waved "Sorry.. for.. being late.." she huffed "You're really forgetful aren't you?" said by one of her friends "Well, let's go now." prompted by another. Airi nodded and headed inside with them.

They bought their tickets and when the train arrived, they went inside right away and sat. Airi began thinking of what she could see and buy in Akihabara. She really likes that place and it is the place where she haves fun all the time. Then someone poked her "..ey.. Hey! Airi!" her friend has been calling her for a while now "Ah? What is it?" then her friend sighed "Do you have everything on you?" Airi nodded to her while patting her bag "Good! We should be there soon." then Airi patiently waited while conversing with her friends.

---

Nikko

---

'Well then. See you later, Yoshimi-san! :)' typed Nikko on the keyboard. He invited her to meet in Tokyo today. Nikko was given permission to go to the big city only for today and took this opportunity to meet his internet friend, Yoshimi Kawakami, for the first time. Though he had seen her before in photos, they never really met yet. After shutting down the computer, he took his bag filled with things that he needed then headed outside. "Take care Nikko." said to him by his mother while walking to the door "I will. Goodbye." he said to her then putted on his shoes and went out.

He quickly opened his umbrella as soon as he went out "Hah... It feels hot as usual..." he said while grabbing his jacket, he wore them to cover his body some more. He also wore a flat cap for better protection 'It's still actually hot. What with these clothes, but it's better than getting burnt.' he thought as he started walking, his destination is the train station.

After arriving, he bought a ticket and waited for the train. And as usual, he felt some gazes 'I guess I look pretty weird to people.' he thought, referring to his albinism and his clothes. The train arrived soon after and he entered with a sigh. He sat beside the window and leaned on it "I wonder what the big city looks like..." today is going to be his first time in Tokyo, but he studied about it a lot. His parents only agreed for him to go there since it's his birthday today. Nikko continued to watch the scenery while waiting for him to arrive to his destination.

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Hideki

---

Another average day for Hideki. The young man was sitting on the couch in his house's living room, watching the news on the television. He was holding a glass of orange juice, taking a sip from time to time. He let out a sigh as he put down his drink on a coaster placed on the table in front of him.

"I wonder what I should do today...", Hideki said to himself as he took the glass, drank all its contents and then stood up and started to walk to the kitchen to put the empty glass on the sink. "Yuriko is always with her friends so I never get the chance to even talk with her, mother and father are always busy and my friends probably have their own plans...", he said while walking back to the couch. He sat down again and flipped through the channels, bored with what they're showing right now. One channel had a drama show on, another had a variety show which he didn't find too interesting. He sighed once more then laid down. He stared at the ceiling, contemplating about what he should do for today. Then a thought hit him.

'...Oh! I know. I should go around the city today. It's definitely better than lounging around all day in the house,' Hideki thought to himself then stood up. "Alright," he said then started to walk to his room located on the second floor of his family's house. He entered his rather average room and started to walk to his closet. He picked out some clothes then placed them on his bed, preparing them for when he leaves. He quickly went outside and rushed to their bathroom and took a fast shower. Hideki exited quickly and ran back to his room. He put the clothes he prepared on and walked in front of the mirror. "I guess it looks good," Hideki said to himself.

He was wearing a white shirt with black v-shaped stripes and black slacks. "Kinda plain though. Oh well," he said, satisfied with how he was dressed. He grabbed his wallet and the keys to his room from his desk drawer. "Hmm. Okay, I have enough cash that would probably be enough for my trip. I already know what I'm going to buy, but bringing a bit more money probably wouldn't hurt," he said then he put his wallet in his small bag. "Alright, time to go," he said, exiting the room and then closed the door. He walked down the stairs, went to their front door and put his shoes on. He opened the door and went outside, closing it afterwards. "Ah, it sure is a pretty nice day. Perfect for a stroll," he said and then proceeded to walk to the heart of the city.

---

Yoshimi

---

Okay~ See you later, Nikko-kun! c: Yoshimi typed on the keyboard as a reply. She'd been invited by Nikko to go to Tokyo to meet. Yoshimi was happy because she would be able to make another friend. "I get to meet him today~ Ehehe, I'm rather nervous. What should I wear? I guess I should wear something I normally wear~," Yoshimi said to herself after turning off the computer. "Young mistress," the voice came from an old man. "Ah! Hiroshi-san~ You're just in time!", Yoshimi gleefully said. "I'm meeting up with a friend today. What do you think should I wear?", she said, smiling. "Hmm... I think my lady should wear something that would make her look elegant," the old servant said. "You're right~ Help me pick something out! Oh, and can you please help me prepare the things I'm taking with me~", she said cheerfully. "As you wish, my mistress," Hiroshi said then bowed. A few minutes later they'd finished preparing. "Thank you for helping me, Hiroshi-san. We were able to finish quickly~", Yoshimi said. "It is my pleasure," he said. "Well then, I should get changed now. Thank you once more," Yoshimi said and bowed to Hiroshi. The old male smiled, bowed back and then exited the room.

A few minutes later, Yoshimi has changed into the clothes she, with her faithful butler's help, had picked out. It was a long, flowing white dress. "I wonder if I look good...", Yoshimi said to herself, looking at her reflection in the mirror. She smiled and let out a soft giggle. "I guess this is fine~", she said, and then grabbed a sunhat from her closet. "There we go! Hehe~", she said. "Oh! I shouldn't keep myself occupied with dressing up. I might keep Nikko-kun waiting," Yoshimi said. She quickly grabbed her purse and checked the contents. "Okay, I have everything I need~", Yoshimi said then walked out of her room. "Time to go~", Yoshimi said outside her clan's manor. "Ah, my lady," Hiroshi said before Yoshimi was able to depart. "Hmm? What is it, Hiroshi-san?", Yoshimi asked the old servant. He handed her a vertically long bag. She opened it and saw that it was her spear. "Ah! This is...", Yoshimi exclaimed. "It would be better if you brought that with you. You know the old saying, it's better to have something and not need it than to need it and not have it," Hiroshi said with a smile. "Hehe. Hiroshi-san, you're always looking out for me~", Yoshimi said and smiled. She thanked the old butler. And then she waved at the servants that worked at their place and then she left.

Some time after she finally reached the train station which was originally her idea. She bought a ticket which was going near the place she and Nikko agreed to meet in. She waited for the train to arrive. Some people were staring at her, probably because of the weapon she had but was trying to hide. A bead of sweat dropped on Yoshimi's face because she wasn't used to this kind of pressure. A few moments later it finally arrived. 'Ah, the train's here,' Yoshimi thought, then entered. She sighed because there wasn't anybody that was staring at her anymore. She took a seat and waited for the train to reach their destination.

---

Harashi

---

"Harashi, wake up," the voice came from an old lady. "Huh...?", groaned Harashi, laying down on his futon. He turned to look at his grandmother. The brown-haired young man sat up and rubbed the back of his head. "What is it, grandmother?", Harashi said and then stretched his body. "It's your turn to clean the yard today," she said. "Ehh?! It is?", Harashi said. "That's too much of a pain, grandmother... Can't you do it yourself?", he said. "Now, Harashi! I'd have kicked you out of this household long ago if you weren't related to me. You have such a bad attitude. Being like that won't get you anywhere in life!", Hanako said to Harashi. He was astonished, he didn't know his grandmother could act like that. "Sigh... Fine. I'm sorry, grandma," Harashi said then stood up. "I'll go clean the yard now," Harashi said then smiled. Hanako smiled back. "Good."

Some time later, Harashi finally finished cleaning the yard. "Ah, what a pain~ I'm so tired... I'm going to take another nap now that I'm done," he said. He put the broom back in the shed and walked back to his room. "Grandmother, I'm done," Harashi told his grandma who was coped up with some other chores. "Ah, good. Thank you, Harashi," she said. "I'm going to take another nap. I'm exhausted...", he said. "Haha, very well then," she said, smiling. Harashi was lying down on his futon. "Ahh... Time to take a nap again!", he happily said. 15 minutes later he realized that he couldn't fall asleep. "Agh! Why can't I go to sleep?!", he angrily said. He sighed. "What a pain... Guess I'm going to go read some books," he said then stood up and walked to the bookshelf in his room. He picked out 3 books, one was about astronomy, one about biology and the last one about chemistry and decided to read them. Some time later he'd finished reading. "Alright, what should I do now? Hmm... It's certainly a change, but I think I should go buy some books myself in Tokyo. That place should have many books, unlike here...", Harashi said. "Okay then...", he said to himself and started to prepare all the things he needed for the trip. After that...

"Okay, I've finished preparing... Time to go, I guess," Harashi said to himself and then sighed. He'd changed his clothes and had already prepared the contents of his bag. He went out of his room and walked to the living room where his grandma was. "Grandmother, I'll be out for a while. I'm going to buy some books," he said to Hanako. "Ah, okay then. Be careful, Harashi," she said. "I will," was his reply then he went out of the house. He started to walk to the train station. Once he arrived he bought a ticket and waited for the train to arrive. Some time later the train he was waiting for finally came. "Sigh, finally," Harashi said. He walked inside and took a seat. He pulled out a book he brought along with him and started reading it. He patiently waited for the train to arrive at the station in Tokyo.

[KradKazumi]

Sotoki

---

The doors of the train opened as soon as it reached its destination. Sotoki stood up and headed outside while keeping his guard up. After getting out of the cab, he sighed then opened his phone to check the map he installed on it before "Akihabara.. Akihabara..." chanted him as he walked to the exit of the station. Akihabara is where he's going since it's where he can buy what he wanted. His cat took out its head from the bag and stayed like that as they traveled.

The phone displayed the route that he can take to get to Akihabara from the station that he is in, Sotoki started walking. There were many people around him, but he didn't guarded himself like he did in the train. The people wasn't a bother to him that much now as he thinks he can do well within an open area if somehow a fugitive came to do his evil deeds to Sotoki. Minutes passed and finally, he arrived at Akihabara and now looked around it.

"So many things here..." he was quite amazed at the different objects that he saw. But he managed not to get sidetracked "Well, let's look for a computer." Continuing his shopping, the cat beside him suddenly meowed "Hmm? What is it?" looking at where Tako was facing, he saw a pet shop "Oh. You probably sensed something there." Sotoki wasn't in a hurry to buy what he needed. A trip to a pet shop wouldn't hurt.

The pet shop had many merchandise for animals like dogs, cats, birds and more. "So what do you want here?" asked to the cat, and like a reply, Tako meowed at a pet food "Oh. It would be nice to have something else other than the ones at house huh?" He grabbed the pet food and went to the counter then left after finishing his purchase.

After shoving the pet food inside his bag, he continued to look for a computer. Eventually, he found a building that sells one. Sotoki entered it and looked at the computers "Wow... These are expensive." but he has enough money to buy at least one of them. Since there are different designs, he continued looking at them and will buy what he liked. A few minutes after, he picked a computer set that had black and green designs. "I guess we're done here." he bought the set and went out of the building.

Sotoki breathed a sigh of relief after going through everything that he needed to do just to get a new computer. He went to sit at a park after buying a can of soda from a vending machine "Let me just sit here for a bit." then he went to recover his energy first before leaving again.

---

Airi

---

"We have arrived at Akihabara." said an intercom. Airi's friends quickly stood up and one of her friends, Saki, dragged her hand "I-I can walk!" she told her, but she kept dragging her "You might get lost." mocked her friend "I'm not a kid." she pouted and everyone just laughed at her.

"Woah! Woah!" Airi's eyes sparkled in amazement as she saw what was behind the shop's windows "You're such a kid Airi." said Megumi, another friend of hers "Am not!" said by the girl while glaring at her friend. "Hey Hey! Let's just go and buy things!" and everyone went from shop to shop. Clothes, "Would this look good on me...?" asked Airi and her friends gave her a thumbs up. It was a blue and white blouse that kind of resembled the sky. Accessories, "OH! I need a new watch!" Airi raised her arm, showing that she has no watch right now "Oh right. The other one broke at school." recalled Mika, another friend. Airi's watch hit the ground hard in school when she accidentally slipped on waxed floor. Then they went to some more shops and bought things to their heart's, or wallet's contents.

At the park, all of them sat on the benches and shared their delight about what they bought to one another. Airi had two bags and the others had three or more. She isn't really a shopaholic. Her friends was buying things and she was just dragged with them, but she didn't regret it as it was fun and she got nice things. "Hey, I didn't mind it earlier, but now that I think about it, those guys have been following us." said Saki out of nowhere. The rest was prompted to look at where she pointed and Airi was the one who was surprised of them all. Two men with a necklace that had the symbol of Airi's shrine was near their spot 'Mom...! I thought I asked her to stop with that...!' Her parents always sent people to guard her wherever she went. Airi found it tiring and told her
parents to stop doing it. But it seems that Airi's words just went in the right ear and out with the other.

"You're right..." "I wonder who they are?" "This is scary..." her friends gave their comments one by one. "E-Everyone! You can go home now!" told Airi "What? Why?" then Airi became nervous, she needs an excuse "I-I have somewhere else to go after this and my parents are there~ Ahaha..." she was given suspicious looks, then Mika spoke "Eh? I hoped that we could go around the city some more, but if you say so." after her was Megumi "Well, we'll just go eat then go back to the city." then they bid her farewell and told her to take care.

Airi sighed then turned to the two men behind him "You two!" she shouted "What are you doing here?" the men walked in front of her and Airi felt scared for a bit but managed to calm down after realizing there's no need to feel that way "Hah... I don't need to ask do I...?" but she quickly smiled "Sorry for making doing this all the time." then one of them spoke up "Do not worry about it, it is our job after all." then the other walked nearer "Let us bring those for you." he said, referring to the shopping bags "Oh. If it's okay with you." she said with a smile and the two men took them. "I won't go home yet though. I need to eat~!" but her bodyguards didn't mind and just followed Airi.

---

Nikko

---

Nikko was blinded by the sun after not seeing the outside for a few hours. He covered the window that was beside him at some point because of the sunlight going through. Quickly, he opened the umbrella after realizing that he forgot to do so "It's hard to travel like this..." he sighed. Looking at his arm, he saw his watch and learned of the time "I need to head there now. She might be there already too." They had agreed to meet at the park in a certain district. He picked that place because it'll be near to where he'll be after leaving the station.

People looked at him with curious looks as he walked. The way that he looked like was eye-catching after all. Albinos are pretty rare and isn't talked about that much, so some people question him in their minds to why he looked like that 'I feel awkward...' he thought after noticing them. But he forgot about that soon enough after thinking that he should buy something for his best friend's first meeting.

Fortunately, he was close to an accessory shop. Nikko entered it and looked around immediately, he's still considering that Yoshimi's already there. He decided to give her a bracelet that isn't too cheap nor too expensive. After searching through their merchandise, he picked a bracelet with white and pink colors. It was affordable for him, though he felt quite nervous all of a sudden "I wonder if I picked the right thing?" he's not knowledgeable about what girls like, but the bracelet looked nice and would fit a girl. After asking the clerk to wrap it in a gift wrapper, he went out of the building.

He went to their meeting place afterwards and stood beside the fountain "I hope she doesn't find me weird." he was carrying an umbrella and is wearing a jacket right now despite weather, he felt quite uneasy about it. Nikko continued to wait for her while thinking of how to greet Yoshimi.

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Hideki

---

Hideki let out a yawn as he walked around the streets of Tokyo. He was contemplating where he would go next as he didn't really plan ahead much. He was thinking and at the same time walking, which was rather difficult. He stopped at a pedestrian's lane because the road sign had just turned to 'Stop'. This gave him some time to think. Hideki looked down and started thinking more. Then he thought of something. 'I'll go buy some horror novels,' Hideki thought. A smiled appeared on his face. He was excited to get at least a few novels of the horror genre. Hideki has been an avid fan of said genre for a long time. He was usually intrigued with the situation of the characters, wondering how and why they could experience such terror. But he shrugged it off since they're all fictional.

With his thought of buying some novels, Hideki decided to go to the mall and go to the bookstore there. He was hoping that there were some good new stories that he could possibly enjoy. As soon as he arrived at the mall he walked to the direction where the store was located. Upon reaching his destination, Hideki was rather pleased because there were a lot of new stories. He picked out a few, about 7, and decided that that was enough. He walked to the cashier and gave the money needed to pay for the books. After the transaction Hideki left the store.

Now that he has bought some new novels he thought of what to do next. It didn't take much time for Hideki to think since his stomach answered for him. He was hungry. Hideki decided to get something to eat so he went to the food court in the mall. He was looking for a takoyaki stand. He was successful in doing so and bought a few pieces. He ate them and then decided that that he spent enough time in the mall. He decided to exit the place and go roam around the city some more. And so he did.

Some time later he decided to take a breather and go to the park. After arriving there he took a seat on a bench and let out a sigh. Hideki was exhausted what with all that walking around. He'd bought a can of orange soda from the vending machine earlier, just in case he wanted to take a rest. He opened it and took a sip. "Refreshing~", Hideki said. He then took another sip before putting down the can next to him on the bench. Hideki looked at the paper bag which contained the novels he'd bought. He smiled and opened it, taking one out of the bag. He opened it and started reading and from time to time took a sip from the can. 'I've never been more relaxed...', Hideki thought and kept reading, not letting anybody disturb him.

---

Yoshimi

---

The train finally arrived at Yoshimi's destination. She went out the train and exited the station. After reaching the outside Yoshimi stretched out her body a bit and then let out a deep breath. "Tokyo is still beautiful as ever," Yoshimi said to herself as she was looking around. The memories of her when she visited this city when she was still a child came flooding back to her. She smiled with the sudden return of these memories. But then she remembered that she was here to meet Nikko so she shouldn't take her time strolling around alone in the city because she might keep him waiting.

They decided to meet at a park. Since Yoshimi always used to go to Tokyo when she was young she'd almost memorized the place. She tried to remember where it was because a lot has changed in Tokyo. "Hmm... That place is in this district... It's not too far from here~", Yoshimi said to herself, trying to recall where it exactly is. Then she smiled. "Ah, I remember now~", she said. Yoshimi started walking around, turning a few corners. Sometime later she arrived at the park where they decided to meet up in.

"Here we are~ Ehehe, I hope I don't scare him with this spear...", Yoshimi said nervously then walked around the park, trying to find Nikko. She assumed that he wasn't there yet so she decided to take a seat near the fountain first. But as she was heading to the fountain she saw a figure wearing a jacket and holding an umbrella. "Hmm?", Yoshimi thought as she approached the person. "Excuse me~", she said. "Hey there, Nikko-kun~"

---

Harashi

---

Harashi sighed as the train opened its doors. He'd finally arrived at Tokyo. He ran a hand through his hair as he went out the train and exited the station. He yawned. 'Hmm... Tokyo isn't as extravagant as I thought it was,' Harashi thought and started walking to the nearest mall in the area. He sighed once more because he had to go through the pain of trying to find the mall. Harashi knows the layout of Tokyo a bit and was trying to remember where it was. 'What a pain...', he thought, still walking. 'I think I'm close though...', Harashi thought. The next corner he turned and the mall was already in front of him. 'I knew it,' he thought and smiled.

Harashi entered the mall. It was lunchtime on a Saturday and there were a lot of students, like him, in the mall who were hanging out with their friends. 'There sure are a lot of people here... Well, it is the weekend. So I shouldn't really doubt anything,' Harashi thought then scratched the back of his head. 'Man, it's loud... What a pain in the head,' he thought then sighed. He ignored the noise and just started to walk to the bookstore. He arrived at his destination and picked out several Science and English books and then walked to the cashier to pay for them. After that he exited the store.

'Alright, now that I've bought these books... What should I do now?', Harashi thought. Then suddenly his stomach grumbled. He forgot to eat before leaving, and his grandmother wasn't able to remind him to eat. 'Well, I still have a good amount of money... I should get something to eat,' he thought and nodded a bit. He started to walk to the nearest fast food restaurant. He bought a burger and a sundae. He took the time to eat them. "Alright, good to go," Harashi said to himself after eating and then left the place.

'I wonder if I should go home now or stay here for a while,' Harashi thought to himself. 'Eh, guess I'll stay a bit. It wouldn't hurt,' he thought and then went out the mall. He walked around a bit but he didn't go far from the train station because he might get lost. As if he would though. He looked around at the stuff that the stores outside sold. He didn't plan on getting anything that would put a big dent on his allowance so he just looked at the merchandises. "Sigh, if only I had a bit more money~", Harashi told himself and then kept roaming around until he felt tired and decided to take a break in the park and wait a little before going home. He saw that there was a vending machine nearby and decided to buy a drink. He got a can of root beer. He took a seat at the nearest bench, opened the container and then started drinking. 'That's refreshing,' he thought. He decided to just lounge around the park for a while. He took one of the books he bought and started reading it. 'Time to play the waiting game now...', Harashi thought.

[KradKazumi]

Kuruoshi

---

"W-Why are you doi- AAAAAAGH!!" screams of pain echoed in the Bakemono Shrine. "Stop this at once Kuruoshi!" shouted by an old man with a naginata. Behind the old man were younger people with the same weapon "Have you gone mad?!" added by a man. Kuruoshi didn't mind the crowd behind him and continued walking forward. Just before him is a scythe with red lines, the artifact of the shrine. "Gaaaaaah!!" one of the people rushed to attack the heir of the shrine, but the next thing he new, he was on the ground with a dagger on his throat. "Y-You!! How can you kill one of your comrades?!" and that's when man with the black coat turned around "Comrade? Hah. Don't make me laugh." said him as he sent kicks to the corpse below him "This! Who tried to kill me?! This! Who's trying to stop world salvation?!" then his final kick threw the dead man to the wall. The power of the scythe's already getting to him without even touching it "Just stay where you are and let's start with the Apocalypse Ceremony." No one moved. Either they are scared of dying or just accepted defeat.

The scythe is getting closer and closer to him with every step he takes. The power continuously gushes to him as he neared the artifact. "Come out! COME OUT!" he shouted as the scythe was taken from its proper spot "Hahahahahaha!" the laugh filled with darkness echoed through the main hall. "What have you done...?" said by a shrine member as he knelt "We're done for..." said by another and fell to the ground as well. All continued to accept their defeat, except for the old man "... It's not yet the end...!" then he ran outside. "Oh?! You're actually scared?!" mocked Kuruoshi "Good! Good! Run! Run in fear!" The other shrine members ran with the head priest. Kuroshi on the other hand stood before two great doors "You're about to open soon... Hehehe... Hahahahaha!!" then he headed to Aichi.

The head priest stood before the giant bell "This is our only hope." the shrine members didn't understand it at first, but they soon realized what he meant and then readied their selves. Some went beside the giant bell and some raised their naginatas to guard the ones beside the bell "Do it head priest! We'll sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the world!" encouraged one of the guards. Raising his naginata, the head priest spoke "Once I remove the seal, start making the bell move." he said to the others. He reached for the seal then started chanting. The others started move the bell as well, but it moved only a bit and would take time to make a sound.

Numerous Shades appeared and were flying towards them in high speeds. "DO NOT GIVE UP EVERYONE!!" shouted a member then all yelled their battle cry. Ding. The guard were holding their ground, but the shades outnumber them. Plenty of the dark creatures slips through their defense. Ding. Two of the shrine members were now possessed and are being killed on the inside. "Just a little bit more...!" struggled the head priest. Ding Ding. Only seven of the shrine members are alive now. One by one, all of them are getting possessed and broken on the inside. But the bell finally resonated the sound that would reach other shrines "Huff... Final-- Ahhhh!!" and now there were none.

"I'm sorry old man, but you're too late." Kuruoshi thought as he heard the bell give its best sound. Right now, he's flying using the power of the scythe and is picking up speed. And soon after, the Bokarutau Shrine is in his sight "Let's give them a fright." he removed the dark mist that's making him fly and started to dive down the sky. He kept on falling and falling then hit the shrine like a meteor "HELLO EVERYONE! I'm here to kill you." he gave the astonished a smile filled with darkness. Slash, he cut a crowd of shrine members "More! Spray more blood! Die some more!!" and continued to rip their bodies apart. Once he was done with them, he looked around him "Where's the artifact I wonder?" After scanning through the buildings, he found one that looked like the main hall "Must be there then!" he quickly ran towards the building. Inside, he saw a hammer with unique designs and is glowing "Hoho... You're not going anywhere." then he swept the air with his scythe and split the hammer apart. The artifact lost its glow and fell to the ground "Now... Let the game begin."

---

Sotoki

---

Once Sotoki was satisfied, he stood up and carried what he bought "Let's go now, Tako." the cat leaped to his shoulder as he walked towards the station. As he was doing so, a growl came from his stomach "... I didn't even notice." he haven't eaten his lunch.

"Katsudon." he ordered to the person behind the counter and gave him the money. When his change came back, he quickly checked if the amount was right 'Good.' It was the right change. Even with these things, he's still being careful. He had experienced receiving lower amount of money than the supposed to be amount before.

After picking a table, he set down his food "I hope it's not poisoned..." he looked at the other customers and they seem to be doing fine. "Well. Itadakimasu." then he split his chopsticks and started eating. Below the table, he had opened the cat food that he bought for Tako earlier. He also checked if the cat food is safe before he bought it.

Sotoki finished eating a short while after "Come on Tako. You're done too right?" then it forced its way into the bag and made himself comfortable there. "Time to go home." he said to himself and started to head for the station, but something happened. People were running. He ran to the people and heard 'Monsters!' as he got near "What? Monsters?" but he just scowled at them "Are you all making fun of me?! That's why I can't trust other people!" then he ignored them and cotinued walking. He regarded the running crowd as a bunch of people trying to scare others for fun.

Then a black mist flew above him "What?" he stopped walking. He turned around, then he was dumbfounded "W-What the hell is this?!" a giant smoke was coming towards him. No, that wasn't it. Something was amiss, it wasn't a smoke. "W-WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?!" The smoke was miasma that were coming from unknown beings. Some have a skull, but beneath the head is a giant mouth that was devouring people in its path. Another resembled a human, but it was much more like the ghosts you can see in the movies or television.

Sotoki had ran unconsciously, probably human instinct "Please tell me this is a dream...!" but he was proven wrong as the person beside him that was also running suddenly got swallowed by one of the monsters "Gahh!!" he ran faster due to fear. He left the computer that he bought earlier, he had no time for it anymore.

And just then, he heard a clattering noise, much like one that comes from teeth. He turned his head and there "Ah." he stood frozen stiff. He wanted to move, but his legs betray him. Escape, he wants to escape, but he has no way to do so. Before him is a giant mouth, ready to bite him. 'So this is how I'm going to die? Without knowing what is happening? Hah. Life is so cruel.' he thought as he closed his eyes.

...

...

But he didn't die. He opened his eyes and saw a spear in front of him, pierced into the demon's mouth "MOVE IT!" a hoarse voice shouted at him. He quickly moved out of the way and the next thing he saw was a person in a kimono, lunging a spear at the monster. Then the man faced him "Quickly! Go and run with them! Head to the shrine in-" but before he finished his sentence, a black ghost had possessed him "AHHH!" he started to lose his sanity as he sat on the ground.

---

Airi

---

Running. Airi continued to run. 'Why did this have to happen?' is what's repeating in his mind. "Run quickly! We'll take care of this!" was the last thing she heard from his two bodyguards. She did as they said, but when she tried to look back, two monsters had swallowed their torso, and that prompted her to run. She doesn't want to die, she doesn't want to waste the life that was saved by people that she cared about.

Airi had witnessed the abnormality that is happening right now as well. She was about to get attacked by one of the monsters earlier when her bodyguards came to her rescue. She has been running since then. "What is happening?! I don't like this...! I'm scared..!" she exclaimed as she closed her eyes while running, she doesn't want to see them anymore, she doesn't want to see what is happening around her any longer.

But then she tripped, she wanted to stand but Airi felt that she didn't trip because of the ground, and she was right. A boy around her age was on the ground, staring in front. Her conscience didn't let her run, she felt the need to bring some sense back to him.

"Hey! Hey! Are you alright?!" she asked the boy and reached out her hand. Slap, her hand was rejected by him "W-Why did you do that?" he looked at her and said "I don't trust humans." Airi wondered what he meant and if he said that because he's going crazy or he means it. "W-Well... We don't have time for that! Come on! Let's run...!" she already grabbed the boy and dragged him up.

She ran with him and eventually reached a part where the police had gathered "We're safe!" she proclaimed. Just when she was about to stop running, the boy stopped him "Keep running." he said and did what Airi did to him. "O-Okay.." she wondered why. The police was there, they have tools that can protect them, so why did he made her run more? "If you think the police is enough for this, you're wrong." he began explaining. "You also saw the smoke right? It was really huge, but the ones creating the smoke are just about the size of a human. If creatures that small managed to produce a smoke that big, what do you think is the reason?" then Airi answered her quickly "... There are many of those creatures." the boy in front of him nodded. "What's your name?" the boy asked her "Huh? Ah.. Err.. A-Airi Kazumi..." then the boy introduced himself "I'm Sotoki Fujisaki. Kazumi-san, we're going to head to a shrine in Edogawa." Sotoki didn't tell the reason why, but she just followed her. He was going to the right direction anyway. The shrine in Edogawa that Sotoki referred to must be Airi's house after all.

---

Nikko

---

Even though he avoided the sun's heat, it still is very hot for Nikko "Hah... This is troublesome..." But just then, someone called out to him "Could that be?" Looking at where the voice came from, he saw Yoshimi that's carrying something long. Nikko wondered what it was but then he felt nervous all of a sudden. Thoughts like how he should greet her, how should he talk with her and such suddenly flowed into his mind 'Ahh! Calm down Nikko. Just talk to her like you always do.' he relaxed after thinking then greeted her "Hello Yoshimi-san. It's nice to finally be able to talk to each other in person." he gave her a warm smile as he said that. Nikko actually felt happy, to be able to have a real life friend, a best friend. Then he remembered. He grabbed what's inside his bag and after confirming that it's the gift, he took it out "Here's for you Yoshimi-san." he gave the present to her then asked "I'm just curious but, what's inside the bag?" but then he thought that it might be rude to make her talk about things while standing up. "Actually, let's go eat first." then after confirming that Yoshimi's following him, he ventured into the business district.

Nikko ordered crab sticks and tempura then waited for Yoshimi to make her order before paying and leaving the cashier. They sat down and started eating. After a few minutes, they finished "I hope the gift is to your liking. I'm not really familiar with that kind of stuff, sorry." he said with a wry smile, actually feeling a bit jittery, must be the effect of meeting in person. "Uh.. So. What's inside the bag?" he asked, but then people started running. He had a bad feeling about this "What's happening?" Just when he went to look, a person was eaten right before him. Looking behind him, a monster, similar to the one that ate a person, was heading towards her "Yoshimi-san!!" he ran towards Yoshimi. He grabbed his umbrella and tried to stop the monster "Run! Quickly!" he continued to stop the monster, but he might give in soon. What is this creature? Where did it come from? Endless questions popped into his head, but what he's prioritizing right now is the safety of his friend.

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Hideki

---

Hideki was sitting on a bench, still reading some of the books that he'd bought. He had already finished one and moved on to another. He let out a sigh and decided to stop for a while, thinking of getting another drink because it was a hot day. But then he heard something peculiar: screaming people. He turned around and saw that there were monsters killing and eating people. "...?! Crap!", Hideki shouted as he barely evaded one that tried to attack him. He fell to the ground but quickly got up. "What the hell is happening?!", Hideki exclaimed. He picked up the books he got and started to run away. "Hah... Hah... What on earth is this!?", he yelled, still running.

There were many corpses of dead people, many parts of them missing. Usually the limbs or the torso. "Ah, no... One of them's chasing me...", Hideki said as he looked back and saw one of them, following him. It was extremely agile and looked horrifying. It rushed at Hideki and tried to tackle him but Hideki was once again able to evade. "Tch... I hope mom, dad and Yuriko are okay...", he said under his breath. He looked around and saw a broom lying around. He quickly grabbed it and turned around. Hideki saw that the monster was heading for him, its mouth wide open, about to eat him. "Hraagh! Not a chance!", Hideki said as he drove the broom into the monster's head. It pierced the odd being's head and it disappeared. "Hah... Ugh...", Hideki said, tired. But even though he was tired he still tried to run away. He found a secluded spot. He laid down there, trying to catch his breath.

"Ah... I've never felt this tired before...", Hideki said, still lying down on the ground, hiding from the monsters that were continuously devouring other people. "Why is this happening...?!", he whispered to himself. A few seconds later he finally caught his breath. "I need to get away from here quickly," Hideki said and ran away from the monsters as fast as he could. Later, he appeared at the other side of the park, chaos and terror are all that can be seen.

"Oh my god...", Hideki exclaimed. '...! This must have something to do with the shrines...', he thought. Hideki ran again and tried to get back to his home, worried that those monsters have already destroyed it. But before getting back to his home he noticed that there was a guy trying to protect a girl from getting eaten. He stayed back and observed what was going to happen. "..."

---

Yoshimi

---

Yoshimi giggled a little at how Nikko reacted at first. "It really is~ I finally get to see and talk to you in person as well~", Yoshimi said and then she smiled. "Hmm? What's this?", Yoshimi asked as Nikko handed her something. She opened it and inside it was a bracelet. "Ah! It's so cute. Thank you~", she said and then put on the bracelet Nikko got for her. She smiled even more. Then Nikko asked her something about what's in the bag she was carrying. "Ah, this is-", but she was cut off by him, telling her that they should go eat first. She nodded and followed him.

Nikko ordered his food which were crab sticks and tempura. Yoshimi decided to get some chicken teriyaki. She paid the cashier and followed Nikko to where they would sit down. They ate for a few minutes, then finished. Nikko told Yoshimi about how he wasn't familiar with what girls like. "Ehehe, it's fine, Nikko-kun. It's really cute, in fact~", Yoshimi said, pointing at the bracelet. "Though, I wasn't able to get you anything... I'm sorry. Hehe," Yoshimi said. "Ah, about what's in the bag...", she said, but was once again cut off. This time by panicking people. "What's going on...?", Yoshimi wondered.

When suddenly she saw a person get mauled and devoured by a monster. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was her first time seeing someone get brutally killed, let alone die in front of her. She was astonished at what happened, still staring at the body of the dead person. When she came back to her senses she saw that a monster was about to attack her. She put her hand on her spear, planning to retaliate but was then shocked by Nikko, trying to stop the monster. "N-Nikko-kun!", she said. Nikko told her to run, but of course she wouldn't do that. Once again she put her hand on her spear and took it from the bag, quickly stabbing the monster with it. It disappeared.

"Are you okay, Nikko-kun?!", Yoshimi rushed to the boy's side. When suddenly she noticed that there was another person looking at them from the overgrowth. "Nikko-kun, get up, follow me," she told the albino boy. "Ah, excuse me!", she said to the person who was staring at them and approached him "...?!", the young man looked at her. "Wow, you were... Able to kill that thing in one hit," he said, surprised at the girl's power. "It's nothing. Are you okay?", she asked the boy. "I'm not hurt. Those things... Do you know what they are?", the guy asked them. "No, I don't," was her reply. "I see. Let's get out of here first, discussing things out in the open with those things running around is plain stupid," the boy said and started to run, signalling them to follow him. Yoshimi was still carrying her spear, in case any more monsters appear. She made sure that Nikko was following them. To lose a friend she'd just met would be extremely tragic.

After some time running and fending off monsters the boy stopped in front of a shrine. "Good, it hasn't been destroyed yet...", the boy said. "This is my place, get in. Quick," he added. Yoshimi and Nikko nodded and immediately entered the house. "We'll stay here for a while," the boy said. "My name is Hideki Yamamoto, by the way," he said. "My name is Yoshimi Kawakami. This is Nikko Tsukiakari, thank you for helping us," Yoshimi said. "No problem," Hideki replied. "Just keep quiet and they probably won't locate us," Hideki said. Yoshimi and Nikko nodded, following Hideki's orders to stay quiet.

---

Harashi

---

Harashi was reading some of the books he'd bought earlier. He got bored and decided to stop. Since he'd already eaten he decided that he was going to go home now, but the unexpected happen. As soon as Harashi stood up from the bench people started screaming and running. At first he thought he was getting pranked but it was no joke. Mysterious monsters appeared and killed many people. Harashi stood there in aghast. "W-wha...-", he uttered. Then he realized that he needed to run, quickly. And so he did. He ran as fast as he could. He tried to lose the monster which was following him but it was almost as fast as him. Yet he still managed to out-speed it a little. As it was lunging for him he managed to do a quick roll and evade it. "This is some crazy crap...", Harashi said. He ran into the woods in the park in an attempt to hide and lose his persuader. He managed to elude the being, which left when it couldn't find him.

"Hah... Hah...", Harashi groaned. "This is the biggest pain I've ever experienced...", he said. "God, I hope this isn't happening at Yamagata...", Harashi said, thinking about his grandparents. He hoped that this cataclysm hadn't spread to other places yet. He decided to go away from where he currently was. He bolted once more, going to the same direction he was running to when he was being chased. That moment he reached the other side of the park. There was carnage everywhere. Lots of dead bodies. "Unbelievable...", Harashi murmured. He noticed that there was a girl and two guys that were running away together. He decided to follow them as sneakily as possible.

Soon enough the 3 stopped in front of a shrine. The boy leading them told the two to go up. After going up, Harashi soon followed. He was trailing them, hoping that they won't notice him right now. Although he planned on showing up later, he didn't want to get caught now. He's gotten so far as to get to a safe place. Once the three entered he went to the side of the house at the top of the hill and sat there, taking a rest. "Hah... I guess... It's time for me to show up," he thought. He knocked on the door. "...?!", the young man leading bolted for the door. "Who is it?!", Hideki asked. "Help me please!", Harashi told him. He partially opened the locked door and took a look at the young man who was asking for their assistance. "...Get in," Hideki told him. "Thank you... Hah... My name is Harashi Hanazawa," Harashi said, grateful to the silver-haired boy for helping him. "No worries. My name is Hideki. That girl is Yoshimi and that guy is Nikko," he said then reached out his hand to Harashi for a handshake. Harashi acknowledged Hideki and shook hands with him. "I'll help as many people as I can. But I'll also need help in finding my parents and sister," Hideki said. "It might be a pain, but I'll help you," Harashi said. "Just to pay you back for helping me now," he added. Hideki smiled. "Thank you," he said.

[KradKazumi]

Aki, Sotoki, Airi

---

Aki ran towards the group of people running and threw his chain sickle to a monster "Run everyone!" The chain sickle moved like a snake in the air, obliterating several creatures in one sweep.

Sotoki and Airi was with the running crowd "What is that thing he's using...?" wondered Sotoki as they continued running. "Look! He's coming with us!" Aki swung on posts and nearby buildings and kept charging that way. The monsters now had their eyes on Aki and the people being victims were lessened. "Come here!" Aki said to provoke the monsters. He would do anything to protect others, even if it means him dying. The chain sickle that he's using was just acquired by him earlier, but he managed to know the principles behind it and how to manipulate its power.

The monsters' amount increased and increased, trying to overpower the sickle-user. But he managed to hold himself even with the increasing horde of enemies. "He just moved differently." Sotoki proclaimed as he saw a difference on Aki's movements "What do you mean? I think nothing's changed." Airi couldn't see what Sotoki is referring to. It's quite surreal as well since the fight's going on a bit far from them. It's also hard to see such things when there's a crowd around you and the one you're observing is being surrounded. 'Something's different about Sotoki.' is what she thought. No normal human couldn't see such a thing, unless he was just bluffing.

"I'm not lying. He's become slower as well. The continuous swinging of the chain has strained his arms and he's losing his focus." Sotoki continued to share his observations that not one people around him can even relate to.

All of a sudden, Aki started falling. His sickle didn't reach the post that he wanted it to stick to "Agh! I can't... bring them to the people...!" He did his best to grapple himself to a building, but even if he managed to save the people, he didn't manage to protect himself. The monsters were following Aki like homing missiles, and as soon he changed course, they finally reached him. He didn't notice that he sent his sickle to a part where he'd go nearer the monsters. "GAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!" he screamed, but the crowd of people had not cared much as they wanted to live and kept on running. The walls of the building were filled with holes produced by the monsters. Aki was continuously barraged by them. He was possessed and now was eaten, killed mentally and physically.

"No..!" Airi gasped after witnessing the death of their current hero "You were right...!" she looked at Sotoki "Let's keep running... We can mourn for his death later." He sounded a bit cruel, but there was nothing that he could do. If they stopped running, the monsters would keep up with them. The tragic hero had brought many of those spirits near them and upon his death, they might return to their original preys.

Airi, on the other hand, was thinking about something else other than the death of Aki. How did Sotoki manage to notice such small things? Thinking about it, why did he tell her that they're go to Edogawa? What's in Edogawa? So many questions, but he doesn't want to be rude and ask him about things when she's the one who brought him with her here.

"Earlier, you saw me right? On the floor." spoke Sotoki all of a sudden "I was looking at a man in a kimono and stayed looking at the direction of that person. He told me that I should go to a shrine." then his face turned grave "That person died before he even managed to finish whatever he was going to tell me, but I managed to know what shrine he's referring to. I saw the crest of the Aoihoshi Shrine on a necklace he's wearing. That's how I knew." then Airi shared the grave expression that Sotoki had. He just learned that another one member of their shrine had died. "They've done so much..." she cried, but she kept trying to hold it as she did so.

The inevitable happened, the people around Sotoki and Airi were getting killed faster than earlier after the monsters completely devoured Aki. "Let's take another path!" he commanded Airi "O-Okay!" They ran into a different direction. Sotoki suggested that idea because there was a reason, a quite cruel one. The crowd can buy time for them to run. He didn't tell Airi about that as he was sure she will find it cruel and will be against it.

They ran for quite a bit, but as expected "Kazumi-san! Duck!" they both fell on the ground and a massive spirit moved above them. Airi looked in front of her and saw that there are more of them "T-There's more to come...!" She was starting to get scared herself. Sotoki stood up and pulled Airi along "L-Let's go!" it was noticeable in his voice that he felt frightened as well.

Ran and ran, so they did as Sotoki looked for a way to lose their chasers. For some reason, he had been feeling something odd, but that feeling helps him. He managed to avoid places where the monsters are "Hah.. Hah..." he was starting to get tired though. But then, he felt that he lost grip of something. Stopping on his tracks, he looked behind him and saw Airi on the ground "Kazumi-san!!" he ran to her, but there were monsters getting near her already "No!" he refused to let the person that he had trusted, he trusted someone else for the first time. All of a sudden, he felt something on his hands "What?" there were two daggers that had unique designs and symbols on them "Isn't this...?" but he had no time to think. "Die!" he shouted to the monsters as he leaped to them. In a blink of an eye, they vanished.

---

Nikko

---

A long stick suddenly pierced the monster in front of him "W-What?" he was startled, but he came on to his senses when Yoshimi asked if he was alright "I am fine." Looking behind him, she was there, holding the spear that defeated the unknown being "I would like to inquire as to why you have that and why you know how to use it, but there's no time." then she prompted him to follow her. Does she have an idea as to where to go?

He stood up and followed behind Yoshimi, it looks like she was headed towards a witness who seemed to be surprised about her defeating the monster in one hit, it was amazing after all. "They just appeared all of a sudden... What are they?" he added after Yoshimi answered the boy's question about what the creatures are. Then he suggested to get out of the place first, Nikko nodded. Yoshimi and him followed the boy. Nikko occasionally checked behind him to see if there are monsters tailing them. He had brought his umbrella as well since its good enough for protection than having nothing at all.

As they neared the place that the boy was leading them too, several monsters had appeared and Nikko had tried to guard himself with the umbrella, though that umbrella broke after a few more uses and he had to throw it away. Yoshimi was doing fine with her spear though, he'll have to ask her about it later.

They reached a house afterwards and the boy said it was his home "Hah... Hah... Alright..." Nikko was catching his breath. He wasn't used to running and doing a long run all of a sudden has put quite a strain on him. Before he entered though, he saw a metal pipe lying around. He decided to pick it up before entering.

The house had no signs of being attacked or anything "This looks like the safest place for now." Then the introductions started, Yoshimi introduced Nikko to him "Nice to meet you, Yamamoto-san." then he thanked him as well for helping them. They were told to keep quiet, it'll be troublesome if the monsters found them out.

After thinking for a few minutes, Nikko spoke "I think those were wraiths." he said, referring to the monster with the huge mouth "I'm not entirely sure but... it fits the description that my parents told me." he is also part of a shrine family after all. Legends such as that have been told to him by his parents, though they were supposed to be myths only. "Just thought that I should share what I know." he said then someone started knocking.

Nikko quickly stood up and held his iron bar "Be careful." he told Hideki, who was getting near the door "Who is it?!" shouted Hideki. "Help me please!" the voice from outside said. Hideki checked who it was and after confirming that it was a normal person, he let him in. Another one has joined their group "Please rest for now." the guy who introduced himself as Harashi Hanazawa was gasping for breath. They shared greetings afterwards.

Suddenly, Nikko felt something 'What..?' he felt something coming from the outside. Grass, sounds of the grass swaying abnormally. "Something's amiss." he said out of nowhere. He stood up and slowly walked towards the shrine doors. The iron bar was already raised, a bad feeling's surging through him. Then he was startled. BANG. "W-What?!" the door was shaking. BANG BANG. "Have they found us?!"

---

Kuruoshi

---

Kuruoshi had sent wraiths and shades all around Tokyo "Hehehehe!! Die imbeciles." he planned on destroying Tokyo first. There's already two shrines in Tokyo, he doesn't feel the need to destroy them but... the more destructions, the weaker the seal. "Let's see those shrines get destroyed." his sadistic laugh continued.

The Wraiths had found one of the shrines that protects the seal. Now they're about to get in.

---

Nikko

---

The doors cracked "This is bad..." he putted his guard up once more. He felt the weird sensation again, but this time was more specific. "Five wraiths..." he said. For some reason, he sensed movements on the other side. BANG BANG BANG. "It's breaking!" then the door fell down and revealed behind it were wraiths, five in total. One already started to charge "Stop!" he sent his pipe down and all of a sudden he felt a more strong feeling. Then behind the wraiths appeared a tree, no, that wasn't it. Creaking noise, the tree was moving "A-An ent?" the tree creature sent its huge arm to a wraith and continued to attack it until it was defeated "Is it helping us?" First wraiths, now an ent, the day is becoming more and more unrealistic.

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Hideki, Yoshimi, Harashi

---

"...?! Now what?", Hideki said when something suddenly started banging on the doors. He was a tad surprised. He then remembered about the things that tried to attack them, and how Nikko said earlier that they could probably be wraiths. "Tch... Not again...", Hideki said. The banging grew louder and louder. Yoshimi put her guard up. She was prepared for any attack. Eventually the door finally broke, and behind it were five wraiths. As soon as they broke down the door she rushed at them. But she was stopped by something.

"...! What is that?", Yoshimi asked as a wooden creature appeared and smashed its limbs against the dark beings. She didn't expect something like that to appear, though she wasn't afraid of it. She felt safe in the presence of the creature. "I-is that an ent?", Harashi said. "Ent?", Yoshimi asked. "They're beings that protect nature. They're mythological, but I don't understand why there's one in front of us," Harashi said. "Well, if there are wraiths and shades in Tokyo, then we should be surprised if there's also an ent running around," Hideki jokingly said. "...Whatever," Harashi embarrassingly said.

"Well, that's that...", Hideki said. "I think there's a bunch of plywood in our household. I'm going to look for some to barricade the door again," he said. He stared at the ent for a second. "When will that thing disappear, I wonder...", Hideki pondered for a second. "Ah, whatever. If it's here we're safe. I'm just going to get some barricading materials. Stay here you three," Hideki said and then walked off. "Alright, I can finally rest...", Harashi said. "Excuse me... Don't you need any help?", Yoshimi approached the boy. Hideki turned to look at her and smiled. "Well, as much as I'd appreciate your help I can do it alone. And you need to protect those two just in case those things come back," Hideki pointed at Harashi and Nikko. "But the ent is still outside. It protected us earlier from those wraiths so it would probably remain here and keep protecting us. "Hmm... Touche, miss Kawakami. Fine, you can come search with me," Hideki said and then signaled her to follow.

---

Hideki, Yoshimi, Harashi

---

"Hmm. There's probably some wood in the storage room...", Hideki told Yoshimi. "We should just search the entire house," he said. He entered the storage room and turned on the lights but unfortunately there was no wood in there. "Sigh. Nothing. Well, there should be at least a hammer and some nails here...", he said. He searched around some more and eventually found an old hammer and container of nails. "Alright... Now all we need to search for is wood...", Hideki said to himself. "Let's split up," Hideki said as he put down the hammer and nails. "Let's meet back here after 10 minutes," he told Yoshimi. "Okay," she replied. They went into different directions after that.

He entered a room which his family only goes into for special ceremonies. "I'm sure there's no wood here...", Hideki said then sighed. But then he remembered something. There was a katana in the room which was essential for his family's traditions. "This is...", Hideki said. He grabbed it and unsheathed it. It had a black blade and there was an engravement of a dragon with lightning bolts surrounding it on its hilt. He took a look at the scabbard and there was, yet again, another image of a dragon engraved on it. Just then he noticed that there was an inscription on the blade. "Hmm...? What's this?", Hideki wondered. It was hardly readable. "Ka... Kaminari o... What? I can't read the rest...", Hideki said. "Sigh, whatever," he said and then sheathed it again. "Though, having a sword would be handy. I could use it to protect myself...", he thought for a moment. "Alright, it might be rude to our family... But I need this to protect people," Hideki said. He took a long piece of cloth and tied it around his waist. He took the excess length of the cloth and tied it around the sword's scabbard. "Okay, I guess that's fine...", he said. "Time to search for wood once more."

"Alright, I finally managed to gather some wood...", Hideki said to Yoshimi after meeting back with her. He'd gotten some from the shed at the back of their house. He just remembered that there was wood there. "I'm sorry, I wasn't able to help too much... Ehehe...", Yoshimi said. "It's fine, though this might not keep them away from entering the house for too long, it'd be enough of a distraction for us to be able to run away...", he said. "Oh? A sword?", Yoshimi pointed. "Ah, I found that earlier in our family's ceremonial room," Hideki replied. "Come on, let's go back to those two," Hideki and Yoshimi returned to the two.

"Anything happen while I was gone?", Hideki asked, placing down the materials. "Nothing interesting in particular," Harashi said. "Alright then. Come on, help me with this," Hideki said. "Sigh... Do I have to? Well, fine. What a pain...", Harashi said as he stood up and scratched the back of his head. "Hmm... Nikko, you stay there and rest. You seem rather frail," he told the albino boy. "You too, Yoshimi. You must be tired what with all that running around and fending off those monsters earlier," he told Yoshimi. She nodded and sat down on the couch in the living room. Harashi and Hideki then proceeded to board up the doorway.

---

Kuruoshi

---

"More destruction! More death! Hahaha!", Kuruoshi yelled as he sent out more shades and wraiths. The tall man kept sending out even more of those evil monsters, he watched as they devoured and killed people. "Soon, I will be able to change this world! Hahahahaha!", Kuruoshi laughed insanely. He knew that there were two shrines in Tokyo so he sent even more monsters there. "DESTROY THEM ALL!", he yelled.

[KradKazumi]

Sotoki, Airi

---

The monsters vanished, Sotoki had defeated them "Hah... Hah..." he looked at his two hands one more time "Why are these here...?" They were the artifacts from his home, the Toketsu Shrine. The daggers had their shrine's symbols on them, in fact, the currect crest of their family was based on these "Though, them being here is handy..." It's still a mystery to how did it suddenly appear on his hands.

"What is that?" a voice behind him asked. Sotoki turned his head to see Airi "It's our shrine's artifacts..." Though, he worried about something else first "More importantly, are you alright?" he asked to Airi, who responded with a nod. Suddenly, Sotoki sensed more creatures coming to their direction "Let's get out of here for now. We're almost there." but she knew about that. They only need to run for a little more and they will arrive at the Edogawa Shrine.

Ever since Sotoki received the artifacts, he felt strange sensations. His eyes had become sharper, he notices even birds that are far away. His reaction time has been pretty good too. When monsters suddenly appear, he managed to defeat them right away. Airi also felt relieved about them being safe more now than before. 'Weird... Does this artifacts have powers?' he thought as they ran.

Out of nowhere, Airi spoke some words "Megami no Hogo." then something appeared. "What is this...?" After she said those words, a shield that looked like a light appeared before them "Did you do this?" then Airi snapped back to the world "Ah? Hah? Wah!" and seemed surprised "W-What is this?" she asked Sotoki "Huh? I thought you did this... Gah!" They were in an alley, and right now, several spirits are coming towards them "Back!" they quickly tried to go leave the alley using the other end of it, but there were also beings coming from there. "We're stuck!" Sotoki raised his daggers, ready to fight off the horde.

Airi was shaking "N-Nooo... I don't want to die just yet...!" the swarm of monsters got nearer and nearer. "They're coming!" then they all opened their jaws as they got near their preys, but they failed, they were blocked. "H-Huh?" the shield of light appeared as the monster got near "It is a shield!" Sotoki exclaimed in joy "We can survive this!" he said then looked at his front, a shield was blocking the monsters too. The unknown creatures stopped, confused as to what happened, but soon got hold of themselves.

"Come on. Run!" they both ran and ran in the ally, all the monsters were thrown off. "A crack! The shield's cracking!" noticed Airi. It seems the shield wasn't invincible. Once the amount of hits reached the maximum hits that the shield can take, it'll probably break. "Let's hurry up, Fujisaki-kun...!" they ran faster and faster, then the end of the alley was seen "We're here!" then the shield broke. "Don't lose hope!" he cheered for her. Sotoki jumped in front and slashed the remaining monsters in front of them. And alas, they managed to escape.

"... Huff.. We have to.. find a place to hide...!" Airi panicked while looking for a spot. They were now in a park, a vast open area. The fountain was near them "Let's.. use that fountain... Hahh..." pointed Sotoki in front of them "T-There?! But we'll get soaked..." then the worrying girl was hit on the head all of a sudden "Ow..! What was that for?!" Sotoki had hit her, but not that strong "It's better than dying! If you don't want to, I'll leave you here!" he returned to his harsh self. "Fine!" she said in defeat.

They ran towards the fountain and went inside "Kyah!" the water startled Airi as it was quite cold "Shh..! Keep it down...!" whispered him as they hid their selves. Sotoki can feel the presence of several beings even though he cannot see them, it must be one of his new abilities. "They're getting nearer...! Stay quiet, okay...?" he reminded Airi and was replied at with a nod. Even Airi knows that the monsters had a little distance between them now. The clattering of bones can be heard. She felt very nervous, scared at the thoughts of her getting in danger, enough to bring her to tears again.

SPLASH.

A noise made by something hitting water echoed throughout the fountain. 'Crap..!' Sotoki gave Airi a glare, which she responded to with a shake of her head then she whispered "It wasn't me...!" they both looked at the source of the noise and there lies a white staff filled with unique decorations "Ah! It's our shrine's!" surprised, she jumped out of the water. "Wait you idiot! Agh. Now they found us!" Upon standing up, revealed to them was a field of darkness.

---

Nikko

---

The ent defeated all the wraiths and stood outside "It's fairly strong..." Everyone felt relieved after learning that its an ally. Harashi explained what an ent is. Though, while they were discussing things, Nikko just stared at the ent. Something, something is making him look at it. "I wonder why it's here?" there should be a reason to why an ent suddenly appeared "Did someone bring it here?" Nikko went outside and took a peek, but found no one.

After going back inside, he saw that there's only two of them now "Where's the others?" then it was said to him that they went to gather materials for barricading the door "Oh. Okay." He didn't felt frightened that the skilled fighter of the group left them. The ent was outside, he felt very assured about it.

Nikko walked back to the ent, approaching it "Hey." it didn't budge "Where are you from?" then it turned its head and looked at him "Can you tell me where you came from?" then it pointed at a spot where there were cut off roots "Oh." Looks like the tree just went up and became what it is now. Still, what caused it to do that?

Very curious, he was very curious indeed. "Mind if I hold you?" but he reached out his hand to the animated tree anyway. Upon touching it, he felt something surging, like energy. He moved his hands, feeling the roughness of the tree. "Huh...?" then he continued, and then tapped it with his palm. The ground shook "Gah?!" he fell to the ground, the ent became a tree, its roots flowed underground "W-W-What? What happened?" Nikko lost his calm for a bit. Was it because of him? He tried tapping it once more, and it released itself from the ground and became an ent "Huh..." then he didn't touch it again.

Returning inside, the others had returned at the same time. Harashi was just lying on the other side. No one saw what happened. Then he pondered about the events, until he was called by Harashi "Ah? Oh. Okay." then he did as they said. He sat on the floor with Yoshimi "Hey... I think the ent is related to me." he said to Yoshimi "I kind of experimented with it... and I did a couple of things to it." then he told her about what happened when he touched and tapped the ent.

As they were discussing, the roof broke, as well as the floor. "What? Wait... that's..." Nikko walked towards the naginata. The sensation that he felt upon touching the ent came back to him, its the same feeling he has now. The feeling got more and more powerful as he became closer to it. And when he touched the naginata, he felt all kinds of things. The ground, the soil, the grass, trees, he felt all of them "H-Huh...?" But it all disappeared afterwards "W-What was that...?" though it was weird, he'd probably looked weirder with all his actions.

He sat beside Yoshimi once more and observed the naginata. It had leaves and vines as decoration which resembled nature. "... This is our family's artifact. It's what our shrine worships." But what happened? Why is it here? How did it come here? He thought of those things as he observed the naginata.

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Yoshimi

---

Yoshimi sat down beside Nikko as she watched Harashi and Hideki barricade the front door. Then Nikko told her about how he placed his hand on the ent outside and how it reacted oddly, as if it was somehow connected to him. "That's rather odd...", Yoshimi said, putting her hand on her chin, thinking about the incident. Then suddenly the roof broke. "Huh?", she was startled. Something flew through the roof and then pierced the floor. It was a naginata. "Why did it suddenly just appear here?", she wondered. She observed as Nikko went near it and touched it. He made some odd movements for a few moments but eventually stopped and returned to normal. He walked back next to her and sat down. Nikko held the weapon and stared at it, and so did Yoshimi.

It looked rather odd, the naginata. It had decorations of leaves and vines on it.. She stared at it as Nikko held it. Then he said something. "An artifact... That your shrine worships? I see~ It just so happened that... My clan also worships some sort of artifact," Yoshimi said. "It is to be passed on to the next heir of our shrine," she said, then she remembered the spear she was carrying. She approached the bag it was in and opened said bag. She took it and observed it. "Ah! This is supposed to be the artifact! Why did Hiroshi give it to me? It's not supposed to leave the ceremonial room... Even if I'm the heiress...", she exclaimed. She noticed how it had its own design too. It had etchings of waves, like water. "Sigh... Well, it helped us so it's fine~", she said and smiled. She was a kind person, she always forgave those who made mistakes against her. She looked at the spear again. "I guess I'll use it for now to protect everyone~", Yoshimi said, still smiling. She held the spear next to her just in case more monsters appear.

[KradKazumi]

Sotoki, Airi

---

"N-No... Is this it for us...?!" Airi gasped at what she saw. Around them were the monsters, forming what seemed like an endless black sea. Sotoki and Airi backed off from the edge of the fountain by instinct "Calm down... We'll think this through..." he whispered to Airi. The monsters are not moving for some reason, this gave the two some time to think.

Just as the two reach the center of the fountain, Airi stepped on the staff "Kyah..!" she screamed, surprised that she stepped on something. "Shh...! It's just the staff...!" Sotoki assured her. She looked beneath her and the staff was there. Something about the staff was familiar after all. She ducked to get the staff and when she took it out, she felt something flow into her. After getting a close look to the staff as well, she realized that it was the artifact in their shrine "I knew it... This is our artifact..." Sotoki got his shrine's as well. Her getting the staff of the shrine probably isn't just some coincidence.

Airi stood up and looked in front of her "W-What is this?" Red glows, that is what she saw. The sight of black creatures had red glows mixed into them. "Hey Soto-" she looked at Sotoki and saw a blue glow inside of him instead "What...?" he asked to her after getting called "Did something happen...?" Airi is bewildered. What was happening?

She moved to where Sotoki was and told him what happened "Hmm... That is your shrine's artifact huh..." he observed the staff she was holding "And you felt a strange sensation after picking it up. Plus you also see me having a blue glow and the monsters red glow?" Sotoki immersed himself into thinking "Maybe..." he went over his thoughts once more "I think you see my glow as blue because I haven't been corrupted or something... And those monsters, which are kinda like fallen spirits, had the red glow because of them being undead...?" he only had his imagination in this. "Well, we'll go through it again later. Now's not the time to think." then he noticed movement "Ah great...!"

---

Kuruoshi

---

Kuruoshi was at a building, watching the sea of monsters and the two humans on the fountain "Hehehehehe... How naive." The monsters stopping wasn't actually an advantage, in fact, it's a huge disadvantage. "With the wraiths and shades not moving, the two aren't trying to do anything. They're being careful or are thinking of how to get out of the place." then he smiled "Too bad for them, they picked to stay than to escape while the corrupted spirits aren't moving." He looked at the black creatures and more are piling up into the crowd "I guess this is good enough." Then he snapped his fingers before leaving.

CLICK.

---

He went back to the shrine. Kuruoshi stood before the sealed gate, which is now slightly open "You will all be released soon... Just you wait." then he laughed abnormally.

POUND.

Something pounded on the giant doors "Hmm... I guess it's time to release you. Heheh... Hahahahaha!" he slashed on the gap of the doors, and black smoke came out of the gap "Go obliterate all that stands in your way! HAHAHAH!!" then the creatures ran and ran.

---

Nikko

---

Yoshimi observed the naginata with him then she said that her shrine has an artifact as well "Oh. I guess all the shrines have at least one of these." Still, what is it doing here? His home is pretty far too, how did it get here? These questions still lingered in his head, but they will stay unanswered for now. Nikko sighed as he gave up, but then Yoshimi jumped on the spot and Nikko did the same after being startled "W-What is it?" he asked the girl.

She held a spear "That was your spear earlier right?" However, it looks like it was the artifact of Yoshimi's shrine. It had unique designs as well, this one resembled the sea. "It's decor is quite nice too." he said. Yoshimi decided that she will use the spear to protect everyone and putted the spear next to her. Nikko sat back once more, and now thought of something. Sensing the grass, ent, energy, naginata with nature-like designs. Then it hit him "Maybe..." then he stood "Ent! Jump." he stretched his palm to the direction of the door where the Ent is. After Nikko told the ent to jump, it did what he said "Oh... I had expected it a bit, but it still surprised me." It seemed like the ent was related to him.

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Hideki, Harashi

---

"Sigh, what a pain... Do I really have to do this?", Harashi asked and sighed. "Yes, you do. You said you'd help me in any way, didn't you?", Hideki said. "I kinda regret making that decision now...", Harashi replied. "Well, if you regret it, you can go outside alone if you'd like," Hideki said and smiled at him. "Er... No thanks, I'd rather stay here and work than stay out there," Harashi said. "Good, then get back to work," Hideki told him. "Right... Sigh...", Harashi said and went back to barricading the door, when suddenly something crashed through the ceiling. "W-what the?!", Harashi said, surprised.

A naginata had somehow fallen from the sky and pierced through the roof. "W-why did that thing just suddenly appear here?!", Harashi said. "Hey hey, don't worry about that too much. You work on the hole in the roof and I'll take care of barricading the front door. Alright?", Hideki said. "What?! I have to work on the roof?!", Harashi exclaimed. "I'll help you once I finish with the door. Now get to it!", Hideki said. "Fine...", Harashi said and sighed. "What a pain..."

Hideki had finally finished barricading the door and Harashi had finally finished repairing the roof and had help with fixing the floor in the attic. "Ahh... Finally done...", Harashi said. "I'm exhausted," he complained after getting back to the living room. "That wasn't too bad you know. You're just not used to working, you lazy piece of-," Hideki cut off what he was about to say with a cough. "Sorry, that was nothing. Ahaha," he said. Harashi gave him a nervous look. "W-what were you about to say there?" Harashi nervously said. "Don't mind that," Hideki said. "Ah, I forgot to give you guys some refreshments. I'll be back, hold on," Hideki said. "Sigh... That guy scares me for some reason.

---

Yoshimi, Hideki, Harashi, Yuriko

---

"Ahaha, why does he scare you, Harashi-san?", Yoshimi asked. "He seems like a nice person~", she added. "He makes me uncomfortable because, even though he doesn't show it, he's kinda harsh," Harashi replied to Yoshimi. "Well, I for one believe that he's truly a nice person. He even helped us stay here," Yoshimi said. "Well, yeah... Good point...", Harashi said. And then Nikko suddenly stood up and raised his palm to the barricaded door. He yelled "Ent, jump!" which surprised Harashi and Yoshimi. Not because Nikko suddenly yelled it out but because the ent did just as he said. They stared in awe. "D-did that just happen?", Harashi said, baffled. "I think so...", Yoshimi said. They sighed. "Today sure is weird... Ahaha, what if it just so happened to be a dream? I hope so... It really pains me to see those people die...", Yoshimi said and lowered her head, still sitting down. "Hey, don't feel down. We'll manage to help the others...", Harashi said. "Sigh, let me just rest for a bit," Harashi said.

"I'm back, anyone want some drinks?", Hideki said as he returned with a pitcher of juice and 4 empty glasses. "Don't worry, it's not spiked. If it was I would've put drinks in your glasses already," Hideki joked. "Anyways, here you guys go," Hideki said as he poured the juice into the four individual glasses. He took a sip. "Ah, refreshing. The taste of strawberries are better when it's a hot day," Hideki said and took another sip. "Ah, I love strawberry juice~", Yoshimi said and took a glass and then took a drink. "Mmm, yummy~", she said, giggling. "Hey, let me have some of that too," Harashi said and got a glass. He took a sip. "Whoa, this is good," he said. "Told you," Hideki said.

And then all of a sudden someone started knocking on the barricaded door. "...?! Shhh! Keep quiet...", he said. He slowly stood up and walked to the blockade, listening carefully. "...Nii-chan?! Onii-chan!", the voice said. "That's...! Yuriko?!", he yelled. "Are you okay?!", Hideki said. "I'm fine, but why did you block the door?! And what is that wooden creature outside?!", she said. "Sigh... It's hard to talk like this, go to the window in the kitchen!", he said and ran to the kitchen. "Ah, Hideki-san, who was that?", Yoshimi said. "...My sister," he replied, still running. "Yuriko! Thank god, you seem okay," Hideki breathed a sigh of relief. "I-I am... I managed to get away from those things somehow... What was that wooden thing? And is the tunnel open?", Yuriko asked. '...She knows about the secret tunnel. I don't need to worry about this Yuriko in front of me being a shape-shifted monster now,' Hideki thought and sighed. "That was an ent. Don't mind it, it helped the four of us survive earlier. And yes, the tunnel is clear. You know where it is, I'll open the path for you," Hideki replied. "Okay," she said and walked to the back. "You three, stay there," Hideki said and went to their basement. "Huh... Guess he is kind, he's doing everything for his sister. Or maybe he's just a siscon...", Harashi joked.

As soon as Hideki reached the basement he switched on the lights and turned to the old bookshelf. He pulled out a book titled 'Breakthrough' and the shelf moved out of the way. He entered the passageway and met up with Yuriko, who was already halfway in the tunnels. She ran to him and hugged him. "Onii-chan...", she started crying. "I... I was so scared!", she cried. "There there, it's okay...", Hideki said. "Come on, let's go upstairs," he said and smiled. "Sniff... Okay...", she said, still clinging onto Hideki. They walked back into the basement and Hideki closed the pathway.

"Ah, I'm back...", Hideki said. "This is my sister, by the way. Yuriko, say hi," Hideki added. "Um... Hi...", Yuriko said. "S-she looks so much like you!", Yoshimi said, amazed. "Are you sure you two aren't twins?", Harashi joked. "Ahaha...", Hideki said. He looked at Yuriko who was still sniffling. "Ahaha... I understand how you feel, I was pretty shaken when I first saw those things... And when they killed some people...", Hideki looked down. "Well, enough sadness. Do you want something to drink?", Hideki told her. "S-sure...", Yuriko said, still a bit shaken. "Okay, I'll get you a glass. Take a seat on the couch," Hideki said. "Okay," was her short reply.

"Ah, Yuriko-chan!", Yoshimi said. "W-what is it?", Yuriko asked. "My name is Yoshimi Kawakami! Don't worry, we'll protect you! Just believe in us!", Yoshimi said to Yuriko who was sitting down on the couch. She sat down with her. "Just be strong, okay?", Yoshimi told her. "Hehe... Okay...", Yuriko said and wiped a tear from her eye. Yoshimi smiled, and so did Yuriko. "Here you go, Yuriko~", Hideki said and gently placed a glass of strawberry juice he'd prepared earlier down on the table. "Thank you, onii-chan," Yuriko said and then drank from it. "Delicious...", she said softly. Hideki smiled. "Well, I'll be looking outside frequently in case more of those things come here...", Hideki said.

[KradKazumi]

Sotoki, Airi

---

A snapping sound reverbrated in the air "What was that?" Sotoki looked into the sky and caught glimpse of a human "... Who...?" he was surprised. What was that person doing? Why isn't he helping them? But before he could even think it over, the monsters moved. "FUJISAKI-KUN!!!" Airi started to panick once more "W-Wait! Stop panicking!" then he quickly started thinking. Earlier Airi chanted some words and a barrier appeared afterwards "Mega.. Me... Megami.. Hogo.. Megami no Hogo!" Airi heard him and somehow, she felt the need to say it.

"Megami no Hogo!" she screamed with her staff raised and the light started forming something. The monsters kept rushing in a horde "Please work...!" Sotoki prayed, and he was heard. Airi braced herself "Kyah!" the monsters attacked, but they were blocked by a giant shield "Come on Airi!" Sotoki said. His plan is to use the shield to block them off as they run. Sotoki grabbed Airi's hand to make them stay together. One getting lost in the crowd of monsters isn't good after all.

They charged themselves to the spirits, Sotoki did what he could with his weapon as they did so. "Keep chanting the spell!" he commanded Airi "A-Alright...!" she did what she was told, and the barrier recovered again and again when it neared its limit. She kept saying the spell as they ran, holding off the monsters. However, Airi could feel the strain of using the spell continuously, Sotoki had noticed it as well. "Please hold on for a little bit longer!" he cheered to Airi.

They were getting close to the gates of a certain district "I can see it!" it will be easy to lose them once they get to the end of the monster crowd. Airi though, had finally reached her limit "Kazumi-san! Kazumi-san!" the barrier had started to crack already "Ah..!" Sotoki carried Airi and started to run. He hoped the barrier won't break just yet.

Closer, he's getting closer. "Almost... there...!" then he leaped into the district gates. The shield flickered and broke soon after. Then suddenly, "Hurry! Run to the shrine!" he heard a different voice and looked above the stairs "Who...?" The girl had a furious face "JUST RUN ALREADY!" she was carrying a huge javelin "Get ready to die you monsters." She said then threw the javelin at the gate. Once the javelin hit the ground, an explosion occurred, making plenty of the pursuers vanish "Hah! Filthy wraiths and shades!" she mocked the creatures. Sotoki, still carrying Airi, gave the girl a glare while he said "Thanks." though it came out harshly. He continued to run towards the shrine.

---

Nikko

---

When the others spoke, Nikko looked like he only realized now that there were other people around him as he was quite startled "Ah... I'm not exactly sure why it did that though..." but the truth is he has a hunch that he almost completely believes to be true, just a few more push and he'd come to a definite conclusion. Then he noticed that Harashi looked very tired. Looking at the roof, then at the floor, they were already fixed. Quickly he went to return to his spot earlier then sat and said "Sorry for the trouble." he apologized. He felt quite responsible as the naginata belonged to them, though technically, he wasn't in fault. Just then, Hideki returned with a couple of refreshments, making a joke about it being spiked isn't anything to worry about. Nikko took his share after everyone said it was actually good "Oh. You're right! This is amazing." he complimented.

Knock, knock, knock. All of a sudden, someone started knocking on the door. Everyone quickly put up their guard, Nikko as well as he already grabbed his naginata. "...Nii-chan?! Onii-chan!" a voice of a little girl was heard outside "Onii-chan...?" he looked at Hideki as he was the one to react first, it seems that the girl was referring to him. The girl outside was panicking, scared of the ent that stood guard outside. As soon as she mentioned that, Nikko thought that maybe he should make sure that those weren't monsters mimicking Hideki's little sister. Luckily, only one presence was outside, he breathed a sigh of relief. Hideki quickly went to talk with her sister at the kitchen. "Good thing her sister wasn't attacked by the wraiths." said Nikko who waited patiently on the floor after they were told to stay for Hideki was going to take her little sister in. Harashi made a pun about him being a siscon and Nikko just chuckled "That couldn't possibly it..."

Soon enough, Hideki returned with a little girl who he introduced as her sister Yuriko. "... A little girl version of Hideki?" the little sister of his really looked identical to him, the others noticed that as well and made jokes about it. Yuriko was shaking though, and his brother already knew of the reason, the atmosphere got heavy but was lighten up by Hideki soon enough. He headed to the kitchen to get a drink, and Yoshimi suddenly went to the little girl to cheer her up. "That's right. You'll be safe here with us." added Nikko after Yoshimi gave encouraging words. Hideki returned again with a drink for Yuriko and said that he would look outside frequently "I guess I will do that as well." then he closed his eyes "With the ent I could feel like I'm outside as well." then something suddenly became off about the ent, but it disappeared soon enough. "Well, I will do that everytime." then he sat back and drank his drink while thinking of things about his 'power'.

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Hideki

---

Hideki stared out the small gap in the barricaded window, making sure there were no monsters around. Harashi was asleep on the floor. Yoshimi was asleep on the couch with Yuriko. Nikko was sitting on the floor looking as if he was meditating. "Hmm... No sign of the enemy yet... Good," Hideki said and then sighed. "I really hope those monsters don't come back, but that seems unlikely...", Hideki whispered to himself. He looked at the sword he was carrying, observing it. 'What was that engraved on the blade...? Kaminari o... I couldn't read the rest...', Hideki thought. He once again let out a sigh and leaned on the wall behind him. He ran a hand through his hair. 'I hope we can get through this...', he thought.

Hideki wondered if the ent was still outside. He peeked out the crevice and saw that, indeed, it was still there. He let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," he said softly. "But... That thing... Hmm?", Hideki noticed the naginata Nikko was carrying. It had a design as if it came from nature itself. 'Odd...', Hideki thought. He didn't go near the weapon though. Just observing it from a considerable distance was enough. 'Kaminari... Lightning?', these words ran into his mind as he thought of the engravement once more on the sword he acquired. 'Man... I should seriously stop thinking about that, I'll just be wasting my time...', Hideki thought and decided to get some shut-eye for a while.

---

Hideki, Harashi, Yoshimi, Yuriko

---

Hideki had fallen asleep for only a short time, about 30 minutes. "Ugh, my head hurts...", Hideki groaned. "Sigh... This is what happens when you wake up from a good nap... Oh well," Hideki said and stood up. He stretched out his body and then sighed. He decided to look outside the small gap again. "...Nothing's changed...", Hideki said. "This is boring, but at least we're not getting attacked... If Yuriko gets involved it'll be all my fault...", Hideki worriedly said. Just then Harashi woke up. "Unnngh... What time is it?", Harashi murmured. "Sigh... It's only been some time past lunchtime...", Hideki replied. "I see...", Harashi said and then sat up. Harashi looked down at the floor, seemingly in deep thought.

"Hey...", Harashi said. "What?", Hideki replied. "I've been sensing a lot of odd things for a while now...", he said. "...? Like what?", Hideki asked. "Like, I can feel the ent outside move... For some reason," Harashi said. "Seriously?", Hideki said. "No joke," Harashi quickly replied. "Huh... Odd," the silver-haired boy said. "Hmm... Yeah," the lazy, brown-haired boy said. Then things fell silent for a while, Harashi was back to laying down on the floor and Hideki was staring out the window.

A few minutes later something odd happened. "...Huh? You hear that sound?", Hideki said. "Yeah...", Harashi said. The ground started trembling soon after which woke up Yoshimi and Yuriko and most likely disturbed Nikko's meditation. "W-what the?! An earthquake? Now?!", Hideki exclaimed. "Yuriko, come here!", Hideki said and then embraced Yuriko in an attempt to protect her from any falling debris. Yoshimi took Nikko's hand and tried to hide with him under the table while Harashi ran into the middle of the room with which there was barely any furniture and crouched while covering his head with a cushion..

Suddenly the tremor stopped. Then the floor near Harashi cracked a little. "...?!", Harashi was surprised, but he was able to move back before the floor fell. Then one of the weirdest things soon happened. A huge sword suddenly rose from the ground. "H-huh? This is...", Harashi said. "Why is this here?", he said as he approached the blade. "Our shrine's artifact...", he said. He touched it and suddenly the damages that were done in the living room were gone, everything was back to normal. "...What the heck just happened?", Hideki was baffled. "Uh...", Yuriko was confused. "Harashi-san... Could that possibly be your shrine's artifact?", Yoshimi asked. "Ah, yes...", Harashi replied and looked at the greatsword. The large blade looked like it had drawings of cracked earth. "Wonder why it's here. But then again, a naginata flew through the roof earlier... So I shouldn't be surprised," he said. He put it down since it was pretty heavy. "H-how can you lift something that big?", Yuriko asked. "Ah, it's not really that heavy...", Harashi said. "Ahaha...", he laughed a bit.

[KradKazumi]

Tenshi

---

Meanwhile, Tenshi was fighting the monsters "Come here!" she said as she ran around. She raised her hands, then the javelin that was thrown earlier returned to her "Heh! Let's try this trick." then she concentrated on something, and next she threw the javelin once more "Take this!" The javelin, midway, splitted into smaller versions. It rained on the wraiths, and there were several explosions "Woah. I'm good at this." One of the shades approached her. Quickly, she commanded the javelin once more and it flew straight to the shade before going back to its proper owner "How weak!" she called to them. "Iyaaaaah!!" then she splitted the javelin into two. "Come!" the monsters flew straight to her, but she spinned the javelins in front of her, shredding the incoming spirits continuously.

"GRAAAAAH!"

A roar came behind her. Out of instinct, she jumped to the side and a noise made by something that fell was heard. Quickly, she stood up and readied her split javelin "What is it now?!" A dust smoke in front of her had a shadow with the size of a tiger, no, a little bit bigger than that. As the smoke continued to fade, she continued to brace herself, then suddenly-

"AAAAAAH!" she screamed, the creature jumped all of a sudden towards her. She managed to dodge then throw her javelin "W-What is that thing?!" it looked like a dog with scales and red spikes. The sight of it is intimidating, but she tried to push away her fear "C-Come pipsqueak!" She threw her javelin once more, the second explosion was sent to the dog "How do you like-" then seemingly out of nowhere, the beast was already in front of her "Eh? W-What...?" and the jaws of it locked on her "GAH! AAAH!! IT HURTS!!" She called the javelin back and exploded on the back of the beast "... AWAY! S..tay...!! Away...!!" she also sent kicks below it, but the beast just tightened the grip of its teeth on her more "GAH! NOO!!!" then all life left her with a fountain of crimson red liquid.

---

Nikko

---

'Nothing... Nothing...' he spoke in his mind as he observed the surroundings with the grass, trees, and the ent. So far, there was nothing suspicious. He had kept his eyes closed, but he could hear some movements outside. Though, because nothing was happening, he fell asleep on his naginata, which made him look like he was still doing what he was doing.

Rumble Rumble. He woke up after a couple of minutes as he sensed something rumbling 'Earthquake?!' he looked around him, but everything was fine. Hideki and Harashi was just chatting at the corner. 'That's really weird' he thought. Maybe it was just a dream, but he had to be sure. An idea came to him then. Closing his eyes to concentrate, he felt what the nature felt. Rumble Rumble RUMBLE RUMBLE! It was getting louder and louder "I knew it..." he mumbled. He opened his eyes "...Huh? You hear that sound?" and was about tell them "Cover yo-" A tremor started on the ground. Yoshimi and Yuriko woke up. Yoshimi grabbed Nikko and hid under a table. Hideki rushed over to Yuriko and protected her from falling debris. Harashi just ducked and covered his head at the middle. Soon enough, the rumbling stopped, but something weirder happened. A large sword emerged from the ground "Huh?" but he wasn't as surprised as he thought he would be, probably because of the naginata. Harashi went over to touch the sword and everything was fixed in the building. The sword turned out to be Harashi's artifact and everyone talked to him about it.

They had calmed down and everyone just sat on the ground while waiting for nothing in particular. "Hmm. Maybe I'll go see that ent." then he went to check the window and he couldn't believe his eyes. The ent was breaking down as a huge dog continued to attack it "No..." he went back to the others "We have to get out of here!" he said to Hideki and the rest "Outside- !" Sound of wood breaking came from the door. The door's barricades cracked and snapped. It was being rammed by what he saw outside "Too late...!" Nikko readied his naginata and started thinking of what he could do. But his train of thoughts was interrupted as a huge canine broke into the shrine. He wanted to move, but he was too stunned to. Then he thought of everyone, and that's when he took action "Move everyone!" then he made the trees outside turn into ents by accident 'I can do that...?' he saw hope. Nikko called the ents and the two animated trees fought the huge dog "Let's go now!" he said to everyone in the room. However, the ents died early. "How...?" they were on fire. "Run!" the dog charged.

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Hideki, Yoshimi, Yuriko, Harashi

---

"I still find it odd that our shrine's artifact suddenly appeared here...", Harashi said. He sighed as he looked at the huge sword. "Well, let's just get over it...", Hideki told him. He turned to look at the window and noticed that Nikko was looking outside, seemingly baffled. Then Nikko rushed to them, "We have to get out of here!", the boy said to Hideki and the others. The sound of cracking wood suddenly came, it was coming from the barricaded door. "W-what the?!", Hideki exclaimed. "Yuriko, let's get you out of here! You three! Come with us!", Hideki commanded. But Nikko started to move. He controlled two trees and turned them into ents. "W-whoa...", Harashi said. "Amazing...", Yoshimi said. But the ents didn't last long enough. They quickly burned down and turned to ash. "Crap...", Hideki said. The beast suddenly started to charge at Hideki and Yuriko. "Onii-chan!", Yuriko was frightened. She clung onto Hideki while Hideki turned his back to the dog to try and protect her.

"Hyah!", Yoshimi yelled all of a sudden. She blocked the dog's attack with her spear and pushed the creature away. "Are you guys okay?", Yoshimi asked the two. "We're fine... Thank you," Hideki said. "I'll take care of this," Yoshimi said and prepared her next attack. "...No," Hideki replied. "Huh?", Yoshimi said. "I'll help you with this," he said and then he drew his sword. The blade let out sparks as it was unsheathed. '...?! Is this what the engraved writing on the blade meant by Kaminari?', Hideki wondered. He let out a sigh. "Hey, Harashi. Mind taking care of Yuriko for a bit?", Hideki told Harashi. "What? Why are you talking as if you're about to die?!", Harashi yelled at him.

Suddenly the dog charged at them again. Hideki blocked it quickly with the blade. "Because I probably am," Hideki said and smiled. "I'm fully prepared for my own death, but I'm not prepared to let Yuriko die," he told Harashi. "...You fool," Harashi said. "If that's the case then I'll help you!", Harashi screamed at him, but he was met with a punch to the gut by Hideki. "Gah...", Harashi said and fell to the ground, unconscious. "Hey, Nikko, Yuriko. Is it okay if you two carry Harashi outside?", Hideki told the two. "The two of us will hold this thing off," he said as the dog prepared for another charge. It was much faster this time, to Hideki's dismay. He was barely able to block the beast's bite and he got a wound on his left arm caused by the dog. "Crap...", Hideki said. As he was fending it off Yoshimi charged at the beast and lunged the blade at its tough scales. "What are you two waiting for? Get Harashi out of here!", Yoshimi yelled at Yuriko and Nikko. "Ah, o-okay... Nikko nii-san! Help me out with him!", Yuriko told Nikko.

[KradKazumi]

Sotoki, Airi

---

"Huf... Huff..." Sotoki continued to run. He occasionally looked behind him, but he could see that they were not being followed. Though, to be sure, he kept running to go as far as he can before trying to rest. If possible, it would be nice to reach the shrine. Just then, he felt rustling on his back "You awake?" he asked in huffs. Airi opened her eyes, and was surprised to see that she was being carried, princess-style too "Fujisaki-kun... Ah...! I-I'm fine..." it seems she was embarrassed to be carried that way. "If you're worried about why you're in that state, you fainted earlier and you don't seem like you could walk right now. So, just stay there for a while." Airi only managed to nod before she looked behind Sotoki.

One. Two. Three.

She saw three faint, red lights, but disappeared soon after 'Was that my imagination...?' taking it as a hallucination, she rested on his arms. Sotoki looked at her and wondered why she was able to summon such a shield. Then he saw the staff that Airi was hugging 'Is it because of this?' he thought as he remembered his own artifacts. Was the enhancement of his senses caused by the daggers as well? If so, then him and her getting their shrine's artifacts were definitely just some coincidence.

Then they stopped "Let's rest here for now..." said Sotoki as he laid Airi on a wall. Afterwards, he sat on the ground while keeping his guard up. Anything could happen. Common sense seems like nothing before the monsters too. "Hey. About what you saw earlier." Airi knew what he was talking about right away, the red and blue lights. "Do you still see them? If so, what do you see when you look at me?" Looking at him, she saw a blue light, but it was flickering for a bit "Yes... Blue as before.. But this time, it is flickering..." Sotoki went deep into thought. Blue, Sotoki. Red, the monsters. Flickering, perhaps...? "I think I know what you are seeing." then he looked straight into her eyes "Life." then a confused look appeared on Airi's face. "I feel pretty tired right now. I should have collapsed right now, but I haven't for some reason. The flickering, I think it was doing that because of my condition." then he stood up and held his breath.

Airi saw a change in the light, it had blinked faster than earlier. Then faster, then faster. Now as fast as a heartbeat. It went pale as it flickered rapidly. "Hoah...!!!" Sotoki gasped for breath and fell to the ground for he felt very dizzy. "A-Are you alright?! The light started flickering rapidly and it went pale! I don't know why... but it felt wrong... Very wrong!" Airi tried to stand up, but she was too tired to do so. "... Hah... I... Ha... I knew it... Hah. Hah..." he breathed quickly "You do... see the... life.. Haaahh..." then he inhaled longer, and exhaled. "Now... If what you said about what you saw right now... then you see blue in me because I am alive." he stretched his hand to the right, the direction where they came from to escape from the spirits "Then red because they are... lifeless. Maybe, like those zombies we see in movies, they linger around even if they are dead." but he wasn't too sure about that yet, it was still a hunch.

"... Now then." it seems he had recovered "We should probably get going." they had stayed long enough. Sotoki walked towards Airi then held his hand out "Let's go." he carried her on his back then continued to run. Airi noticed that there were very small blue lights. If Sotoki was correct about his hunch, then those lights should be people. However, it was pretty small, so those 'people' are pretty far.

---

Nikko

---

Just when they were escaping, the beast charged at Hideki and Yuriko. Luckily, Yoshimi managed to block the dog's attack and pushed it back "Let's go!" he told everyone and he waited for them to move, but Yoshimi did not move as she wanted to hold the monster while the others made their escape. Hideki objected first and drew out his blades which made a spark. Giving his sister to Harashi, he told them to run "No... We're not doing that!" Nikko can't just leave his friends behind. Harashi told them that he would help the two, but was just given a punch and fell unconscious right away.

"Hey, Nikko, Yuriko. Is it okay if you two carry Harashi outside?" Nikko wanted to disagree with him, but he had no choice. He just couldn't keep a girl like Yuriko in the face of danger. The beast charged once more and managed to inflict a wound on Hideki. Nikko fought the urge to head into battle with them. He knew he couldn't make Yuriko run on her own too as she needs protection. "What are you two waiting for? Get Harashi out of here!" that brought him to make his resolve. Yuriko was already ready to bring Harashi outside.

Nikko went to grab the unconscious boy and carried him behind "Support the leg..!" even though he was really tall and all, he never really had anything to do which made him pretty weak. 'I should have kept my self in shape...' but there was no time to think about that. The two walked towards the basement, but he looked behind him first "You two better follow us!" he called to them before heading downstairs.

Soon they were outside. Clashes of the battle inside was still audible from their position "I hope they survive..." His goal now is to get away as far as possible from the shrine. However, he needed to make sure that the two that was left behind could follow them "Yuriko, watch out for the wraiths okay? The monsters from earlier." he didn't want to remind her, but there was no other choice. Though, even if Yuriko didn't look out for them, he could still sense the surrounding as they seem to be in a forest. As they walked, Nikko made sure to snap branches to make a trail for Yoshimi and Hideki.

They had been pretty far and he told Yuriko to stop. Deciding to rest for a while, Nikko sat down after laying Harashi on the grass "Hah... Yuriko do not go anywhere alright?" he warned her, but Nikko wouldn't leave her behind anyway. Just when they thought they were finally free, what he didn't want to sense came to his range anyway. Clattering teeth was heard behind him "Haah!" he sweeped his naginata to the side 'I just saw Yoshimi do something like this earlier.' they both had a type of spear, so he thought mimicking her might do a trick. "Stay behind me!" he said to Yuriko. Nikko did as he did earlier to make the ents. Slamming the tip of the naginata on the ground, he animated three trees. The ents circled around Yuriki and Nikko "Don't be scared of them."

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Hideki, Yoshimi

---

"Hideki-san, are you okay?", Yoshimi asked Hideki whose left arm was bleeding. The monster had bitten him there and the wound certainly didn't feel pleasant. "I'm fine...", Hideki said. "Let's focus on that thing for now," Hideki told Yoshimi and pointed his sword at the hound. It howled and charged once more, this time even faster than the earlier attack. Hideki quickly made a slashing motion with his katana. Bolts of lightning surrounded the blade and hit the dog. It yelped. "...?! Lightning?", Hideki wondered. "...I understand now...", he said. "Hideki-san, you should rest for a bit," Yoshimi told him, worried about the wound the creature had inflicted on Hideki's left arm. "Okay...", Hideki replied and sat down near a corner.

"I'll take care of this," she said. She charged and stabbed the dog. It didn't do much and the hellhound retaliated by biting Yoshimi's spear. "Agh...", Yoshimi grunted. Suddenly a veil of water was summoned around the spear. "W-water?", Yoshimi was surprised. The dog yelped and moved back. It growled at a low tone. The veil moved up to surround the spear head. "Let's see here...", Yoshimi said. She made a slashing motion in front of her. The veil let out a sharp blade of water and hit the beast. It howled in pain. The spikes on its back seemed to glow palely. 'Those spikes... Why'd they go pale?' Yoshimi wondered. Suddenly she saw Hideki stand up. "H-Hideki-san! Sit down!", Yoshimi said. "I understand now...", Hideki said. "Huh?", Yoshimi wondered.

Hideki unsheathed his blade once more. Crackles of lightning could be heard. "Haah!", Hideki said and slashed the dog with the lightning-embued sword. It left a wound on the dog. The spikes grew even paler. "I knew it," Hideki said. "What?", Yoshimi asked. "Those spikes on its back. It shows the life force of that thing. The paler it is the weaker the monster is," Hideki explained. "I see...", she said. "And those spikes are close to turning to white. It's about to die," he added. He quickly slashed at the dog, leaving an even bigger wound than before. This time the spikes became entirely white. The creature seemed to stop moving. "Hah... Done," Hideki said.

"Amazing...", Yoshimi exclaimed. "But Hideki-san, what about your wound? Let me see it," Yoshimi said and went near Hideki. The flesh on his left arm was burnt. She gasped in horror. "Don't worry. My right hand is my dominant hand," Hideki said, not seeming to mind the claw wound. "All it takes is some bandages. I'll fix it up later, our priority is to find Yuriko and the others," Hideki said. "But... How will Yuriko react to this?", Yoshimi was worried. "...Well, what can you do about this?", Hideki asked. His personality seems to have changed. "Um... I'll think of something!", Yoshimi said and then ran to the kitchen. "..." Hideki fell silent.

"I'm here!", Yoshimi said as she carried a small container of water. "What's that for?", Hideki asked. "Just stay still," Yoshimi said and put the spear head in the water. Very slowly the water started to surround the tip. "...?!", Hideki was surprised. "Stay still, let me focus...", Yoshimi told Hideki. She moved the head over Hideki's wound. 'Agh...', Hideki thought. He winced in pain a little at first but eventually calmed down. "How does it feel now?", Yoshimi asked. "Oddly nice...", Hideki said. Yoshimi smiled at the boy's response. "Good. Are you relieved of the pain now?", Yoshimi asked once more. "...It doesn't hurt anymore," Hideki responded. As time passed the wounds were mended by the water Yoshimi got. "Amazing... But that took a bit of time to finish," Hideki commented. "Indeed... It would be useful outside of combat though," Yoshimi said. "Mhm...", Hideki said as he looked at his left arm. 'I can't believe she can use water to heal people...', Hideki thought.

---

Yuriko, Harashi

---

'Onii-chan...', Yuriko thought as she escaped with Nikko and the unconscious Harashi. Hideki, her older brother, had decided to get left behind with Yoshimi to fend off the beast that attacked them. 'Please be okay!', she thought more and tried to stop the tears from rolling down her face. She felt emotional as she remembered how Hideki told her to escape as fast as she can with Harashi and Nikko. The battle was still going on and it was rather loud at that time. Nikko then warned her about the wraiths. "Okay, I'll be careful," she replied with a determined albeit scared voice. She noticed that Nikko was breaking some branches and laying them down on the ground. 'I wonder if Hideki onii-chan and Yoshimi onee-san will be able to follow us...', Yuriko wondered.

Sometime later Nikko decided to stop walking for a while because he was tired. He was obviously frail, so Yuriko wasn't surprised. She decided to sit down on the grass next to Harashi, whose greatsword turned into a ring for some reason. Nikko told her not to go anywhere and she obeyed. Suddenly there was an odd sound. Wraiths had appeared again. "Kyah!", she was surprised. Nikko then brought 3 trees to life and made them encircle the three. He told her not to be scared. "Y-yes...", she replied.

"Ugh... Huh?", Harashi woke up and saw that there were 3 ents surrounding him, Nikko and Yuriko. '...Am I dreaming?', he pinched himself to check. 'Nope...', he sighed. 'Hmm... The artifact turned into a ring... Nifty,' Harashi thought as he looked at his right hand. A ring was on his ring finger. It had the same design as his sword. 'Yep... This is definitely my shrine's artifact,' he thought. He sat up and looked at Yuriko who was behind Nikko. 'Wraiths, huh...?', he thought. Harashi stood up. "You two...", he said. "Huh? Harashi nii-san?", Yuriko said. "...Move back," Harashi said. He removed the ring and it quickly turned into the greatsword he'd received earlier. He jumped and slashed one of the wraiths. It quickly vanished into thin air. The wraiths tried to attack Harashi all at once but he was able to kill them all in one fell swoop. "Sigh, what a pain," Harashi said. He knocked on one of the ents. "Hey, it's okay now," he said as if nothing happened.

[KradKazumi]

Sotoki, Airi

---

The lights that Airi had been seeing for a while now was getting larger and larger as they ran. "Hey..." she called to Sotoki "What is.. huff.. it...?" he had been running for a long time, maybe it had been half an hour too. "I didn't feel the need to tell you this earlier but... I keep seeing lights, blue lights there." Airi pointed in front. "Huh? Why didn't you tell me that? That was really important. Those could have been people." and much better if they were people in the shrine. "Ehehe... Sorry." Then she was hit on the head lightly by Sotoki.

Sotoki continued to run towards where Airi had said to have blue lights, though a little bit slower. Running without stop, Sotoki felt his legs giving out, but he didn't mind it. It had been a wobbly ride for Airi too, she noticed what was happening to Sotoki "Fujisaki-san... You can put me down now." she said to her. Sotoki nodded then they stopped. As he putted Airi to her feet, he suddenly felt alerted "Wait." Going in front of Airi, he focused his eyes to the front, to the left, to the right "Something's... I think I just saw something..." then all his attention was brought in front.

Far from them, up a hill, he could see something going towards them in high speeds. Only barely, he could see something red on a... dog? "W-What...?" the girl behind her gasped "I-I could see three lights... Red...?" Sotoki's eyes enlarged "I have a bad feeling about this!" he quickly grabbed her hand and ran towards the blue lights that Airi said she saw. Sure enough, she could run on two feet again, Sotoki felt assured. Feeling concerned about the lights, Airi looked behind, but she could no longer see them 'I hope that was just my imagination...' but she can't help but think that it wasn't as it she saw them clearly.

Soon enough, they arrived at some long stairs. They stopped and catched their breath "Hah... Hah... We're here...!" Airi felt the happiest "Huff... Grandmother..." she quickly stepped on the stairs and started going up. Sotoki just followed and didn't object as Airi looked like she really wanted to go up right away. 'Her grandmother huh...' then they continued to climb. Airi see the lights now, there were at least eleven of them.

Blink.

Did one just flicker? Airi had a bad feeling. She hurried up some more, and Sotoki had wondered why? But he already had a reason in mind, Sotoki hopes it wasn't as he thought though.

---

Nikko

---

Nikko was about to tell the ents to attack the wraiths when Harashi woke up and told them to move "Huh? Ah. Alright." he moved back with Yuriko while he kept his naginata ready. Harashi removed the ring, which is his artifact, and it turned to the great sword. He slashed one of the wraiths, then many of the monsters attacked him afterwards "Look out!" he called to him, but then some other monsters had went to Nikko and Yuriko.

Raising the naginata, he slashed it down and defeated one of them, but that wasn't the only one, more had come to take them down. However, two of the ents came to their rescue as they fought off the monsters. Nikko and Yuriko walked backwards some more until they had bumped to the other ent "Oh. It's the ent..." then he felt the energy once more. 'What is this?' then four wraiths went straight to the two. Nikko guarded Yuriko as he wished deeply for something to defeat these all as he cannot do it with the naginata alone, he had no knowledge on using the spear. Then that's when it happened "H-Huh? Branches?" Four sharp branches stretched out from behind the two and killed the spirits. Quickly, he looked at where these came from and he saw that these were from the ent.

He didn't know what happened. Did he do that? It was only him that could have done it. 'Was it...?' he touched the ent one more time and that's when he finally saw that the reason he feels the energy flowing was because when he touches the ent, their energies had kind of merged and flowed together. Well, that was what it looked like as he had felt the flow on his hand. Then he tried to think like he did before one more time. He deeply wished for the branches to return, and that was what happened. The energy flowing was felt by him again when the branches moved. "I learned something new again..." he mumbled. "Yuriko, sorry for scaring you." he just thought that maybe she was startled when the branches came out.

Looking at Harashi, he had defeated all those that assaulted him as he went and knocked on an ent before going inside their circle of protection. "You're actually powerful, huh." said Nikko. He closed his eyes then tried to feel anything, but he had only felt six presences and that would be him, Yuriko, Harashi, and the ents. "We are safe for now." then he looked at the path that they came from "We should wait for Hideki and Yoshimi first... It would be risky, but we have to." he suggested.

[Yamamoto Hideki]

Hideki, Yoshimi

---

"Well, it's about time we left," Hideki told Yoshimi. Yoshimi nodded and followed Hideki as he walked to the formerly barricaded door. "Do you know where they are?", Yoshimi asked. "Not exactly...", Hideki replied. "Ehehe, I see...", Yoshimi said. "Well, for now we should just head into the forest. We might find them there," Hideki said. "Okay," was Yoshimi's short reply. "Oh, but before we do. Make sure to keep your guard up. We might encounter more of those monsters," Hideki warned Yoshimi. "I understand. Let's go now," Yoshimi said. "Right," then they walked into the forest.

"I always feel relaxed in this place... It seems to be at peace," Hideki said and then he took a deep breath. "Though, that's not a good enough reason for me to drop my guard," he added. "Hey, Yoshimi," Hideki said. "Hmm? What is it, Hideki-san?", Yoshimi asked. "Do you think... We'll be able to stop whatever's happening?", Hideki asked. "Hmm... Of course~ And then afterwards we'll celebrate by having a feast in our shrine~", Yoshimi said cheerfully. "Haha, you're so optimistic...", Hideki said and then smiled. "Well, it'd make no sense to be pessimistic in an already bad situation, right? So I'm trying to be as optimistic as possible~", Yoshimi said with a smile. "Sigh... Honestly all I want to do is protect Yuriko... I don't want her to get hurt, even though getting hurt is an inevitable fate for us humans," Hideki said. "Well, I'm certain that you, no, we will be able to protect her," Yoshimi reassured Hideki. He smiled, "You're right... Thanks," Hideki said. "No problem, Hideki-san~", she happily said.

"We've been searching for some time now... Where are they?", Hideki said. "No worries, I'm sure we'll find them sometime soon," Yoshimi replied. "Yeah... Let's just keep searching," Hideki said. Just then he noticed that there was some rustling in the bushes behind them. "...?! Be quiet...", Hideki whispered to Yoshimi. "E-eh...? Why?", Yoshimi asked quietly. Suddenly an odd white blob emerged from the darkness of the forest. It looked like it was searching for something. "Crap... What is that...? Let's keep quiet...", Hideki whispered. All of a sudden the creature rushed at them and tried to wrap them up in its body. Hideki was able to evade, but Yoshimi wasn't.

"Hyah! Ugh...", Yoshimi groaned as the creature pounced on her and started to engulf her with its gelatinous body. "Ah! H-Hideki-san...", Yoshimi yelled. "Yoshimi!", Hideki said as he dove and reached out his hand. She tried to grab his hand but it was too late. She'd already been taken by the lurker. "NO!", Hideki shouted. Hideki was filled with rage. He unsheathed his katana. Suddenly the sky started to darken. "RELEASE HER!", Hideki yelled. Lightning bolts struck the trees around him, causing a fire. One bolt hit the blade and was somehow absorbed by it. "HAAH!", Hideki yelled as he slashed at the lurker with his lightning-imbued sword. The strike landed and made the creature shriek in pain. Hideki could somehow control the flow of the electricity and used that to prevent Yoshimi from getting electrocuted.

Yoshimi had been released by the creature. She was on the ground, gasping for air since she wasn't able to breathe inside the lurker. "Die," Hideki said. He raised the katana and sent it down. At the same time a bolt of lightning crashed down onto the lurker. It let out another blood-curling shriek. The creature turned into a puddle of nothingness after the attack. "...", Hideki fell to the ground, unconscious. At the same time Yoshimi rose up. "Unh... Huh? Hideki-san?!", Yoshimi exclaimed. She went near her. "Thank goodness, he's okay...", Yoshimi said. "But... He fell unconscious...", she said. "I guess... we should rest here first," Yoshimi said.