About an hour passed on the road for them in relative silence. Seiji did his job in keeping topics flowing with inane conversation, as Saki viewed it. But it made the trip easier to manage. So there weren’t any complaints.

But eventually Seiji turned the conversation to something more worthwhile. Saki felt it was a little surprising that he hadn’t reached it already. “So, I’ve been wondering. Do you have a map of the country or something?”

“No, why? I know where we’re going.”

“But how the hell? You said it’s like Japan, but not Japan, right?”

“It’s close enough that you just need a slight translation of things. The physical land is definitely Japan. I’ve seen a map back in the capital and there’s no mistaking it.” Saki paused thinking back to when she rushed around to understand the new world they were dropped within. “Given that this is created from within Yumi’s mind, it makes sense that she would use something familiar.”

The idea of something familiar gave Seiji pause. He looked around at the environment questioning such a notion. “You sure as hell this is actually Yumi? You don’t think some of Yuki didn’t leak in?”

It was something that came across Saki’s thoughts as well. In fact, the longer that she looked at the world she became almost convinced that somehow Yuki had interfered in some way to alter the world. Or the time he spent aiding Phoibe was the cause of such a strange world. But Saki became less convinced of it the more she gave it serious thought. “This is definitely all Yumi.”

“How the hell are you so certain?”

“Because as much as we would want to believe that this is something that Yuki would be happy to live, he’s also not like that. That’s not who he is. You know that very well.”

“But what other damn explanation is there? This can’t be Yumi.”

Nodding in agreement with Seiji, she couldn’t argue with the thought either. None of them would believe that this is Yumi. “It’s the truth though. We don’t know the deepest secrets that she keeps from all of us. However, the more likely case is that this is caused by those personalities, which are bigger unknowns for us. Being inside Yumi, they have as much to do with what the machine generates as she does. Given that Phoibe’s lost control of the system, it’s probably more accurate to say that they control everything and what we have here is what they want us to see.”

All of the information made it no easier for Seiji to accept. His hand ran through his hair, roughing it up in his frustration. “All you’re saying is that we know jack shit.”

“Pretty much. There’s some point to this world. Whether it is that they just wanted to kill us or make us suffer here, it’s not done without reason. Which means playing along with the rules of the world. If they do fully control the world, they can make things a living hell for us if they want.”

He looked back to Nerine and their time in the village. “You think that they can really do that? Change the world on some crappy whim?”

“We can’t be sure of anything. But I do see it as a possibility. It’s why I’ve been careful about keeping a low profile.”

“But that still doesn't explain why you know where the hell we’re supposed to be going. You don’t know every little damn prefecture here do you?”

“No, but if you focused for a moment on the details you’d see it as well. I don’t need to know everything, because it’s close enough to what we already know. Do you remember where we’re going?”

It was a while ago and it all happened pretty quickly. So Seiji had to take some time to think about the answer. He remembered it being mentioned, but since it was some foreign word to him he didn’t recall it. Crossing his arms in thought made it seem like he was thinking hard about it, but coming up with a lot of blanks. All he was getting from a piece. “Chu? Chi?”

“Chemana,” Saki filled in with the answer. She could see that he wasn’t going to get there any time soon, but had something.

“That’s it! But that’s just a shitty ass made up name. I know all of the prefectures and that hella ain’t one of them.”

Saki gave him a nod of agreement. “That’s right. As it is, it wouldn’t be one. Change it slightly and you have Shimane.”

“In Chugoku? But that’s not what he said.”

“Right, he said Chigo. There were slight alterations to the characters, but it’s one in the same.”

Bringing up an image of the map of Japan in his mind, he placed the location of Shimane for his reference. “But Shimane is clear on the other damn side of Japan! You don’t get much more west than that.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Which is why we’re in a hurry. Being north of Tokyo, we have a long trip on our hands.”

“Is that where we are?”

“Roughly, we’re in the north part of Gunma.”

“That’s like a full ass day drive if we had a car.”

“Which we don’t, so it’ll be a few days before we get to where the rumors are coming from.”

The horse suddenly changed into four horses, giving them more speed. Nerine understood the pressure of time that they were under. Probably more than Seiji considered. She leaned herself up against the cart trying to keep her mental strength together. “How did you come by such rumors? It’s not like the humans would be freely traveling in and out of the demon lands.”

“That’s the part that worries me the most. We may already be too late. I didn’t ask for the source, not likely to get it anyway. But you’re right. If rumors are coming out of West Japan, then it means the demons are talking and that’s not good for any of us. We still don’t even know how real this world is and what effect it is having on our bodies or minds back in the real world.”

“You think we could be hurt in the real world if we’re hurt in here?” asked Seiji, suddenly having more of his world opened up to him with each passing moment. “Like that one movie?”

“Anything’s possible with the way the real world has been turned upside down. Athena and Yori both have been blinded by just making attempts of going inside their minds. Don’t rule out anything for now and think of this like the real world. It’s all we can do if we want to survive to escape.”

Chapter 412 – Demon’s Gate

Thanks to the efforts of Nerine, they made better time than they planned on before. Even with the four horses and the late start in the day, it wasn’t until late into the night that they reached the borders. At that point, they stopped. Hiding out in the bushes on the edge of the forest, the border wasn’t as literal as they thought it might be.

While they all had different versions of it in their minds before arriving, it all still came down to imagining it as some wall that stretched across all of Japan splitting in the middle. Certainly, the border did split the country in half. And there indeed was the construction of a wall. It just wasn’t the sort of wall that they imagined. One that made their lives a little more challenging.

“What the hell sort of border is that?” commented Seiji, as it defied his expectations. There wasn’t a wall of stone or rock, even wood. Not even maybe a raised mountain. None of that stopped them. It was a far simpler and reliable wall.

A red barrier stretched over the land culling the nation away from the humans. The only entry point held demons guarding them from anyone. It wasn’t the sort that an army could just march into. All of West Japan was closed.

“They likely patrol the barrier itself as well to maintain and check for breaches,” Nerine spoke, coming from a place of experience. “But any barrier of this size should have some weakness.”

“We don’t have the time to search for it though.” Saki leaned forward a little, monitoring the movements of the demons closely. ‘It’s doubtful that they really get any sort of trade in and out. And it’s also something we don’t have time to wait on…’ Other worries came to Saki though, as she looked at Nerine. ‘If I could, I’d give her the night to rest. But we really don’t have that option right now. The time we lose waiting could be the time we need to stop this world from spiraling into hell…’

“Don’t worry about me. I can keep going still.”

Saki stepped away from their cover and walked deeper into the forest they found. The options they had were limited. She knew as much and they only had one thing to do. “Sorry. I’ll make sure you get to rest once we find Yumi.”

Sensing the change, Seiji pulled back from spying and followed after Saki. Though he couldn’t wait in silence for long before wanting to know the plan. “What are you thinking, Saki?”

“We’re sneaking past their patrols and barrier and entering.”

“I figured that much out already. How the hell you doing it?”

“Nerine?” She deferred the answer over to the expert. All Saki knew was that Nerine would be able to do it. None of the how would make any sense to her other than the most basic of explanation.

‘Still wielding me like a tool…’ Deflecting her frustration with her status, Nerine focused on the barrier to their left. They still had a distance to go before getting out of the range of the demons and any possible patrol. “The simple answer is that I’m going to negate the barrier.”

“Shit, you can do that?”

“…Seiji, she can do anything she wants. You have to stop thinking about what she uses to fight as the limit of her power.”

About all he could do was nod a bit and marvel. Though carrying on a stunned reaction couldn’t last for long. He recovered quickly to get back into the conversation. “Right, sorry Nerine.”

His sincerity turned her head forward to not focus on him. “It’s still not going to be easy if there is any sort of twist on their power. Negating it requires me understanding what it is well enough to craft something accurate.”

“I’m less worried about that and more about keeping out of sight of the demons. What are the chances that they’ll detect you messing with their barrier?”

“Depends if someone keeps it running or if it is passive. Given the level of sophistication we’re dealing with I doubt they have an alarm or alert. I’ll keep us invisible.”

Saki stopped them as she came to a spot that she felt good about. There were no patrols for as far as she could see. The risks would be minimized as much as they could manage. Worse in her mind was that they still weren’t even close to where Yumi was rumored to be currently. Or how old that information might even be now. “Be completely thorough, Nerine. No sound, smell, ultraviolet range, nothing. We can’t predict what sort of detection or senses the demons might have. I don’t want to be slowed down here.”

“Understood. Just stay within my bubble.”

They all walked out of cover into the open. Tension mounted for them all even with nothing in sight. Everything should be fine for them, but the uncertainty and complications still made each step feel heavy and sluggish.

At the edge of the barrier, Nerine stood staring at it. She focused intently on the red glow, while Saki and Seiji stayed behind her, though close. Seiji looked over to Saki as they waited. “You know, we’ve all just been assuming that the rumor could be Yumi or Yuki, one of our friends. What the hell happens if it’s not any of them?”

“We deal with that if it happens. But I doubt that’ll happen.”

“And if a damn war breaks out, what then?”

“I don’t know. Seiji I don’t have all of the answers. I’m winging this as much as anyone else. So don’t look to me for such things.”

“And what about—“

“Seiji, I said I don’t have your answers!” she snapped.

However, Seiji quickly tapped on her and pointed out ahead of them even as Nerine tested the barrier. “No, what about that damn thing?” Standing at the barrier staring straight at them was a human, or more likely a demon that appeared like a human. They shouldn’t be able to see them yet both Saki and Seiji could see the look of their eyes fixed on them. They weren’t searching or confused. They knew exactly where they were.

Saki ground her teeth together. They hadn’t even made it through the barrier and somehow were spotted. “Dammit! We fight…”