She’d vanished. At first, Hato had thought that Lawrence needed to drink another energy bottle, but she rethought that. Usually before Oku re-entered his body she glowed for a few seconds. She didn’t see any of that.

Hato was fucking scared.

She ran to the window, ripped it open and transformed into a dove, flying outside. She wasn’t sure what was happening, but this was not normal. What the hell happened? One second Oku was telling her something important, and another she vanished… Whatever the case, she knew that with Lawrence she could trace her location using spirit energy. Finding him was difficult, but she had a sinking feeling that there was a chance he had… There he was. She flew down to him and transformed back a few feet from the ground.

“Where is she.”

Lawrence just sniffed without even looking at her and kept walking.

“Hello, you need to tell me what you just did!”

She waved her hand in front of his face, and to her horror her hand went right through him. He’d done it. He used the river spirit’s wish to send Oku back to the forest. She heard him mumbling.

“She wanted to go back… she didn’t care about me. I wasn’t ready to lose all of this. But. The time has come. Maybe Mark was right...”

Hato yelled out to him, but nothing was working. She was practically crying by this point.

“I-I-I’ll just transform b-back into a h-human!”

She readied herself, but nothing happened. That’s right… she had scooped power from Lawrence and Oku to be able to do something as advanced as that. Which meant that he wouldn’t even be able to see her bird form.

She was panicking.

“No. This won’t help.”

She calmed herself down as Lawrence walked away from her and thought through her options. She needed something… someone… she knew nothing about any of this.

“Mark.”

Hato looked towards the campus. If lucky, he would still be there for his final class. She took flight and was soon soaring above campus, looking down at the milling students bundled up in their winter gear. Using her advanced vision, she was able to pinpoint him leaving a building, and swept down to him. Landing right in front of him, his surprised reaction sent a few strange looks his way from humans that could not see her, but he beckoned to follow. She did so, and he brought her to an old picnic table out of the way, where they sat.

“Is something wrong?”

“Y-you knew that Lawrence had a wish from a r-river spirit didn’t you?”

“Yeah he mentioned something like that.”

“He used the wish. He wished that Oku could return to the forest. He lost the power to see Youkai.”

“What.”

“He can’t even see me anymore…”

“He’s all the Youkai ever talk about. The human boy that is changing their entire perception of humans. If he abruptly left the Youkai world…”

“I know, they wouldn’t like that. But that isn’t exactly what I care about.”

“Hmm?”

“He can’t see me.”

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“Heh. I’d love to see Youkai suffer a little bit, but you aren’t really a Youkai to me. You’re so much more human than most of the Youkai I’ve ever had the displeasure of spending time with.”

“Oh.”

“That’s a compliment. But while he can’t see you, he can sadly still see me. I’ll set him straight for you.”

“Really?”

“Yep, no problem.”

And with that, Lawrence's locked door stood in Mark's face. He was either not there or wouldn't even hear of what Mark had to say. Even talking about Hato might not have any effect at this point... Damned Oku must have really riled him up for him to not even care about Hato’s well being. He was trying to decide what to tell her when the devil alighted on his shoulder.

“It didn’t go well, did it.”

“No, no it did not.”

“What now?”

“Well, it looks like there’s only one course of action left dear Hato. We have to go to Oku. You said she seemed sad right before she vanished. She’s got more sympathy than he does at the moment… Hey!”

She’d fallen asleep on his shoulder, which was strange, since he’d thought Youkai didn’t need sleep. He nudged her awake, and she came to tiredly.

“What?”

“Something wrong?”

“No, I’m fine. We just need to focus on finding Oku.”

“Just one problem, her forest could literally be anywhere.”

“Maybe if we ask some Youkai around they’ll know! She was always blabbering about how powerful she was you know.”

So they talked to every single Youkai they could find. None of them had any idea of where she could possibly be until they came across an owl in glasses.

“I don’t know about this Oku, but the library would be sure to know!”

“The library?”

“Yes! The Youkai library! Would you like to visit?”

“Well… sure?”

“Great! Hato the dove and guest, please step into the circle!”

The owl took a small pellet out of its jacket and threw it down. A circle appeared and the ground under it which started to swirl and change. They stepped into it and were soon standing in the entrance of an enormous library. Books lined the walls, and other owls could be seen going through them. Some books were replaced magically, while others were put back in place by the owls, which seemed to work here.

“Beautiful isn’t it!”

They walked into the center of the reception area, and looked up. The floors were endless every way you looked. It was incredible.

“This is all the knowledge we Youkai have ever had the chance to get our feathers on! Oh, but you were looking for a certain Youkai weren’t you? In that case, you’ll want to see the master of the library. Jeremiah!”

At that moment something very peculiar slithered out from behind the desk.

A worm.

It was much larger than a regular worm, but a worm it was all the same.

“You have a question?”

Mark was the first to break his stupor.

“You have a western name, is that significant?”

“Ah, my name. Yes I am a western human from the ancient city of Rome. Some call me the father of knowledge, but I simply collect that knowledge and allow it’s use, so that all may find true wisdom.”

“Humans can become Youkai?”

“Well, you could make the case that I am quite a special Youkai. In my days as a human I was a slave under a man named Tiberius Cantonius. He was strong willed, but in hindsight he was quite nicer to his slaves than many others. He would let us enrich our knowledge through his own, and he used to say that a man is only as wise as those he chooses to spend his time with. It was there my love for knowledge grew, and as it turned out, Tiberius had a Youkai guardian. During the war, I was able to save Tiberius’ life when he was about to be run through by a spear. The Youkai, to thank me, allowed me one wish, which I used to become a Youkai as well.”

“Is being a.. Um… worm rough on working with books?

“Not at all! I can do this!”

Jeremiah looked at a book over on his desk and it levitated over.

“Now, back to the matter at hand. What Youkai are you looking for?”

“Oku, she is a forest spirit that takes the form of a fox.”

“Alright… in the O’s… fox… forest… Ah! Looks like she’s on floor 227, bookcase 18902.”

Mark and Hato looked dumbfounded at the worm.

“Oh don’t worry I’ll accompany you.”

With that they were on their way to floor 227 to find the mysterious book that contained information on Oku, and hopefully her whereabouts. They entered a glass elevator, and were able to see much of the building as they rose up to their floor. Soon the library started to get older by the minute. The bookcases looked like they were a thousand years old, but still well kept. They appeared to be over two thousand years old, and counting. Finally Hato saw floor 226, and gave a sigh of relief at only being a floor away.

“Here!”