http%3a%2f%2fi.imgur.com%2f8pr9NKc.png [http://i.imgur.com/8pr9NKc.png] t this point, with my wounds healed up, all I wanted to know was if Suika and Riguru were safe. Of course, going to the Gorakuin involved walking through the village, which was torn in an all-out bloody battle. Judging from Rin's way to deal with the five intruders I gathered that if I encountered one of those that could survive an explosion to the face, there would be nothing I could do. Even then, I wanted to know.

Thus, I set out back through the disintegrated door, past the smoldering craters caused by Rin's blazing skulls, and a pile of ashes that I guessed belonged to the one that had been eradicated by one of the big green ones. Remembering her destructive power, I wondered how humans could survive in this world, if the Yôkai decided to hold a feast. Not all people possessed spiritual powers like the Hakurei Miko. Even if they did, wounds that would be fatal to a human could be shrugged off or regenerated by Yôkai easily, so a battle of attrition would always end badly for the human side. And for all intents and purposes, I still preferred to think of myself as being human, regardless of whether people from the outside world would still think so or not.

Past the broken front door, I stepped back out into the village, into the raging fires and hot-blooded battles. Seeing as apparently only the female Yôkai had lost their minds and the males had been designated as targets, I, as a human male, was doubly in danger. All I could do was try and avoid any and all confrontations and charge straight to the Gorakuin. With that in mind, I accelerated and began to sprint, faster than any human could. At this point, a person looking on would be able to tell with their naked eye that my speed was far above that of the fastest Olympic sprinter, maybe somewhere close to a cheetah's. However, my mind was on the fact that this focused speed would also garner unwanted attention.

Surely enough, from alleyways and broken front doors I passed, Yôkai emerged to see what had sped past them, and some began to give chase. I decided that going on a straight line to my destination was the best choice now, as statistically speaking, it would gather the least pursuers. While the path was not very complex, there were still some turns I had to take, which could lead me into the arms of Yôkai or allow ones that were simply faster than I to catch up. Luckily, there were no buildings taller than two floors in this village, so I began to jump, as if to prepare for a long jump. From my experience in the forest and the forced descent into the dark pit that led me here, I felt that I could make it.

I pushed myself to the limit and took off in a vertical line, straight over the first house, where I would have had to turn a corner. As I marveled at the impossibility of jumping that high, I realized that in all my hubris, the landing point had not been within my calculations. Before launching myself from the ground I had not known what would await me on the other side, and now that it came into view, I regretted jumping. There was a group of Yôkai running through the street, and each one of them had something pointy or sharp sticking up into the air; one featured spiny hair that would put hedgehogs to shame, another had a cone-shaped head, and some wielded spears or halberds. They were not aware that by the time I would land, they would be right underneath me, but I was aware that it would be a painful meeting for me.

"Hey!" I shouted, and they stopped dead in their tracks to look around. In the next moment, I impacted the ground only one step in front of the first in the group, missing a deadly encounter with their individual weapons. As if in slow-motion, I turned and looked into the eyes of a female Yôkai featuring needle hair, which was that of utter surprise, before I jumped again, to cross the next building. I was sure they would follow me now, but at least it was a better fate than getting impaled right away.

One more jump and I landed in the street leading up to the Gorakuin, where I broke out into a final spurt. Despite the impossible physical activity, I did not feel exhausted, and my breathing was comparably stable. Only two months earlier, just the initial sprint would have left me panting. Behind me, I could hear the onslaught of pursuers I had gathered on the way here, but if I got to Suika, none of them would pose a problem anymore. Crashing through the front door with little regard to causing property damage - I convinced myself that it would be forgiven, considering the gravity of the situation - I ran past the front desk, where Yûgi jerked up in surprise, the empty bottles of Suika's sake scattered around her. Apparently she had been sleeping, and I wondered how she could have, through all this, but at the same time I was grateful that she neither witnessed me breaking down her front door, nor was affected by whatever caused everyone to go on a rampage.

I rushed through the corridor and finally arrived at the end, where I threw open the last door, which led to our room. My insides froze when I saw Riguru lying on the floor, her left arm ripped off, with Suika mounting her. She had a hand on the firefly Yôkai's neck, as her other hand was drawn back, ready to deliver a punch for the finishing blow. Knowing the little Oni's incredible strength, I knew that this would most likely cause Riguru's head to pop like a ripe watermelon hit by a hammer. That image entered my mind and I instinctively shouted.

"STOP!"

Suika's fist was halfway down its trajectory, but my voice reached her in time; she crashed the fist into the ground, a hair's breadth next to Riguru's face. I sank down on my bottom as my knees gave out in relief. I had stopped the little Oni, literally in the last moment, from killing the firefly Yôkai. If I had not taken the shortcut, I would have arrived to one less living person in the room.

I did not let emotions overcome me and cause me to blame Suika without knowing the full story; analyzing all possibilities, I came to the conclusion that either of them must have been affected by whatever affected those who chased me. And judging from the fact that the little Oni reacted to my voice, she was the unaffected one.

"Suika! They'll be here in a mom-" I started, but was interrupted by an explosive noise from the front door. They had arrived and made a dynamic entrance, I assumed, but another noise, louder than before, accompanied by the shaking of the entire building, made me think otherwise. A third one, even louder, caused me to suspect that it was building up to an earthquake, but all that followed was silence.

"Yûgi just took out the trash," Suika commented, as she got up from her position on top of Riguru, who remained unmoving. She appeared to have passed out, the stump of her ripped off left arm bubbling to regenerate. I gave myself a moment of reprieve, as I took a deep breath. "What happened to your left eye, Kyôma?"

"I don't know. In any case, this is a full blown incident," I responded. "Half the village went crazy. And I think I might know the cause."

"That Hakuka woman," Suika simply commented. I nodded, as I approached Riguru. She was bruised, but at least still alive. I heaved a sigh of relief, when Yûgi popped her head into the room from the corridor.

"Those damned crazies destroyed my front door!" She snarled. I flinched at the mention of the door I had taken down, but luckily it went unnoticed. "This party's got quite rough, huh? What're they celebrating?" Her ignorance regarding the severity of the situation reminded me of just how carefree Oni could be. Even Suika had gone back to sitting on a seat cushion and drinking Sake, despite the fact that Former Hell had turned back into real hell just outside this building.

"Satori and Koishi have been kidnapped," I finally said. I had no time to sit around and indulge the Oni in their playful attitude regarding even the most dire of situations. Seeing Suika and Riguru safe, to a certain extent at least, I had to return to my previous primary concern. "Reiuji Utsuho and Kaenbyô Rin are already chasing after them, but I'm still concerned."

Suika and Yûgi both looked at me in surprise, when I mentioned that the Komeiji sisters had been abducted. Their expressions grew more grave, prompting me to wonder why, aside from the fact that they were in the hands of someone who could cause a whole gender to go crazy.

"Kyôma, do you know what the next level after mind reading is?" Suika asked me, her face showing concern. I could not answer, as I had never thought of supernatural powers as anything but "some level above me" before.

"It's mind control," Yûgi answered the question for me.

"And I think I know what that Hakuka woman is, now," Suika added. "She is a Nurarihyon."

Suika's mention of O-hakuka's species made me stop and search for the memory of the Nurarihyon for a moment. As far as I knew, this particular type of Yôkai had the form of a thin old man with an elongated head, but otherwise appeared completely human. They would invade houses when the tenants are out and pose as the house owners, by being irrefutably convincing in their roles. In the Hyakki Yakô, the Parade of One Hundred Demons, the Nurarihyon was depicted as the leader of all Yôkai. Piecing those images together, I gathered that O-hakuka was a Yôkai that could influence others through her mere presence. It could be seen as a sort of mind control, as per Yûgi's response to Suika's question, but I still wondered where Koishi and Satori fit into all of this.

"Satori is the oldest mind-reader in Gensôkyô, and thus the most experienced with the minds of the people here," Suika explained, when she seemed to realize that I failed to make the connection. "If that Hakuka can control her and learn everything about the Yôkai of this world, she could extend her reach."

"I'm just wondering why you two are not under her control," I stated.

"I don't know. There was no signal or warning. Riguru, in the middle of our conversation, just jumped up and attacked me. I didn't feel anything at the moment it happened," Suika responded. Yûgi shrugged her shoulders as her only input for the matter. It meant that either O-hakuka's power chose random targets, or needed specific properties to trigger. However, there was too little information available at the time, and any conclusions made now would be mere conjecture.

"I suppose you won't just leave the situation be, Kyôma," Suika inquired, her expression a casual call to arms. Despite the fact that one of O-hakuka's underlings had nearly killed me accidentally, in an attempt to just bring me to a stop mid-sprint, I was raring to chase after Utsuho and Rin, to bring the Komeiji sisters back.

"Of course not!" I pumped a fist into a palm and grinned. Yûgi smiled knowingly, and Suika got up, picking up her Sake gourd in the process.

"Yûgi, take care of the cockroach here, while we're gone," She said and pointed at the collapsed Riguru.

"You owe me one for that."

"Yeah yeah, you'll get some more Sake when I come around next time."

This casual conversation suggested a long relationship that was friendlier than my impression of it had been when I first witnessed their exchange at the front door of the inn. Suika exited and I followed, nodding to Yûgi in a gesture of gratefulness. With one last look back to the regenerating firefly Yôkai, I followed.

Beyond the front door, the street and parts of the houses on the opposite side had been transformed into rubble. Three craters, each bigger than the previous one, extended from it in a straight line, with several still twitching bodies scattered about them. So this was Yûgi's way of "taking out the trash". I knew she was an Oni, but this was just another reminder that they were in a completely different league from anything I had encountered in Gensôkyô so far.

"I assume you know where they went," Suika finally said. I knew that our departure must have looked as if we had a plan, but now that she mentioned it, I was not sure I knew where to go. The little Oni saw my response and shook her head with a resigned expression on her face. I looked in the direction of Chireiden and closed my right eye to focus on the vision in my left.

"Even from here, I can still see the trails of their spirits," I said. Those were not Satori and Koishi's, but Utsuho and Rin's, who were giving chase. The trails led straight up and disappeared in the darkness above. "They went up. Back to the surface, I think."

"Well, then it's time for you to learn how to fly, Kyôma."

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"I'm almost there, oh great teacher," I responded, my words dripping with sarcasm. I would never forget her throwing me down the black hole, into the spider Yôkai's trap and to my potential death. "I can run faster than any human and jump farther, but the concept of flying just won't enter my mind..."

"Is that how you've been trying to do it all this time? By thinking about it?" Suika said and walked up vertically, into the air. "Flying is just like walking on solid ground. It requires about as much energy, and it should come to everyone naturally. That's why Yôkai can fly faster and for longer than humans, for example. They just have more physical strength and stamina." She stopped and sat down into her usual pose, and uncorked her gourd to drink some Sake, all while floating in midair.

Maybe due to the latest change to my state of mind, I suddenly understood what she meant. Instead of picturing myself soaring through the sky like a bird, I just had to imagine myself walking in the air. It was not that common sense had to be abandoned completely, but rather, partially replaced with what was considered common sense in Gensôkyô. And being able to fly was apparently common sense here.

"That... makes sense," Was all I said. Suika smiled, got up and began to fly away, while I started to run alongside her. "Let's see you do it, Kyôma!" She accelerated, and so did I, soon reaching my top speed, at which point I began to jump, just like earlier. I landed once, twice, thrice, and performed the long-jump that had taken me over a two-story house previously. However, this time I intended not to land.

I launched vertically forward, but felt the constraints of gravity on my body disappear, as I shot up into the air in a straight line. If my mind had not been prepared for it, I would have panicked, when I looked down to see the ground getting further away. Suika was next to me, grinning. Without wasting a thought on the potential challenge of maneuvering in midair, I focused on the fiery trails of Utsuho and Rin's spirits, which I was rapidly approaching.

Suika was following me, at this point, as she seemed to be unable to see the glittery particles. As I nearly touched them, I turned my head upwards, and my body followed, performing a sharp turn in midair, during which I could feel the increased G-forces on my body. No gravity did not mean no physics, and inertia was still a very real thing that affected everything with mass. I shrugged off its effects; as long as I did not faint from the blood rushing from my brain to my legs, it was nothing worth mentioning. In the next moment, without decelerating, I shot straight upwards, following the path Utsuho and Rin had taken only moments earlier.

The ceiling of the gigantic cavern seemed just as far up as the hole I had fallen in had been deep, but I soon saw a glowing hole up above. I decelerated, to prevent myself from flying into potential stalactites. Far below, the village had turned into a collection of matchboxes, illuminated by its lanterns and the burning fires, in a sea of blackness. Looking back up, I noticed that the glow was caused by melted rock, surely the result of Utsuho charging through. It was wide enough for the Kasha's wheelbarrow, so I would fit through without a problem.

"We're going through there," I yelled down to Suika, before accelerating again and flying into the molten hole fearlessly. Heat assaulted me from all around and I thought I was reminded of my earlier visit of the lower layer, the sea of lava. However, this did not deter me in any way and I ascended through the path Utsuho had blazed into the solid rock, when finally a light at the end of the tunnel became visible that was different from the red glow of cooling rock that surrounded me.

In the next moment, I left the underground behind and shot up into the air above ground, to the sun past its zenith. The blue sky coupled with the view of the landscape took my breath away, as I finally gained a sense of perspective resulting from my newfound ability to fly. For a moment, I opened both eyes and stopped in midair, slowly spinning around my own axis to take it all in. Suika came to a stop next to me and showed me a knowing grin when she saw my expression of pure marvel.

"That's the face," She said, a hint of pride in her voice. "I like your expression. But don't forget what we came here for."

"I know," Was all I said, and closed my right eye again. I was surprised to see that the trails of spirit dust split up and went in two directions; one in the direction of Yôkai Mountain, the other towards the South-West. Utsuho's was the former and Rin's was the latter, which was accompanied by a very faint dust denoting the fairy that could see spirit residue. I realized that once Utsuho lost the trail of those she was chasing, she would be in the blind. Having seen her destructive heat first hand, she could not be left alone and frustrated, searching for someone in a dense forest. She was a catastrophe waiting to happen.

"They split up. Rin to the South-West and Utsuho to the North-East. Let's go after Utsuho!" I explained to Suika, who did not have the same vision as I did.

"I'll go after the Kasha then," The little Oni responded and left me speechless.

"You know Rin?"

"Heard of her from Reimu is all. Go after the bird and do something about her temperament. She wanted to take over the surface world at one point, so give it your best," Suika dropped a bomb at the end with a carefree grin, before she shot off in the direction where I saw Rin's ember-like spirit dust lingering. She must be able to see it herself, after all, is what I thought, when I gathered my determination and followed the light spots inducing trail that Utsuho left behind.

Flying through the air already felt natural, but it seemed to be about as fast as I could run on the ground. I stayed only a few meters in midair, so in case I became unable to fly for any reason, I would not fall to my death immediately. However, this still meant that I would not have to do anymore parkour through the forest or avoid stepping into well-hidden rabbit holes in the field. There was nothing in midair that would hinder my movements. The distance we had put behind ourselves on foot over the course of several hours the previous day was melting away in mere minutes. I flew over the mountain pass we had meandered through, over the hills where we met Riguru and above the forest where we had to circumvent trees and other obstacles.

I was soon nearing the gigantic mountain, where the trail of blazing lights made a sharp turn upwards. Only now that I was so close to it could I see how tall Yôkai Mountain really was. Its tip disappeared in the clouds, and no matter how I looked at it, it must have been taller than Mount Fuji. The fact that its ascent was steeper made the contrast even more apparent.

Just as I wanted to fly up after Utsuho, something white shot out from the trees below me. I saw metal flashing and instinctively dodged with my entire body. As if time slowed down, I watched a gigantic blade cut through thin air where my upper body had been only a split second earlier. If I had tried to avoid it with the least movement possible, I would most likely have lost a limb. The moment was over and all I could think of was getting away from this position. It was the right decision, as the assailant followed up the missed vertical slash with a horizontal one, but I had already dropped down towards the trees. At the moment, I did not feel up for a battle in midair, as I had only begun to learn how to fly straight less than half an hour ago.

The attacker followed me down, and in that short moment of reprieve, when we were both falling, I could get a closer look at him. In fact, it seemed to be a girl around the apparent age of Rin, and about as tall. She had piercing red eyes and featured short hair of a striking white, wore a white top with detached sleeves and a black hakama. From the deep cutouts on her sides I could see that she used bandages, sarashi, to bind her chest. She reminded me of the Hakurei Miko, Reimu, in many ways. However, on her head, between a pair of what I assumed to be canine ears was a red Tokin hat, from which six bonten-fusa, small white fluffy pom poms on two strings, hung. The entire outfit was a trademark of the Yamabushi sect of Buddhism, but in Gensôkyô they were more commonly associated with a very special type of Yôkai: The Tengu.

She carried an absurdly large sword, which was almost as long as she was tall, shaped like a Katana but as broad as my hand. Even if the blade had been dull, getting hit by its sheer weight would crush bones. In her other hand, as if the sword was not enough, she was holding a large white round shield, big enough to cover her entire upper body, emblazoned with a large red maple leaf, from the Japanese maple variant, called a Momiji.

I landed on an opening in the forest where a small stream flowed into a pond, and a moment later, she landed on the opposite side of it. The water was very shallow and would not prove an impediment to her, if she chose to charge at me through it. With the shield facing me and the sword held steadily in her right her eyes were staring me down.

"You have invaded Tengu airspace, intruder. Prepare to be cut down!" She announced and braced her feet to charge forward. I took a second to admire the elegance and effortlessness in her martial stance, the complete opposite of the raw formless combat that Suika taught me. From where I stood, I spotted a fluffy white tail wagging rigidly, appearing on the left and right behind the shield covering her form. Due to the situation I found myself in, I could not bring myself to assume that she was a dog type, and the tail was a display of playfulness. Instead, a rigidly wagging tail in a wolf meant it was asserting its dominance and ready to attack; I gathered that this Tengu before me must have a wolf base.

"Wait, I'm not an intruder! My name is Kagami Kyôma, I'm here to help you!" I shouted, just as she took the first step forward. She stopped dead in her tracks, but did not lower her guard.

"What do you mean? Explain yourself quick!"

"I followed a highly dangerous element to this location," I quickly added. Whether I meant Utsuho or whoever kidnapped the Komeiji sisters, I was not too sure of; either seemed to be very dangerous to me.

"All I can see is you, a clearly dangerous element. You smell of Oni," The Tengu growled, revealing her long canines, as her eyes grew sharper. I knew of the hatred and fear of Oni that all Tengu shared, and I guessed that was why Suika chose to split up with me.

"I'm not an Oni, I've just been around Oni lately..." Was all I could say. It was not even an excuse. "The dangerous element has kidnapped a... a person who is important to me, and has gone up the mountain. A... companion of mine is already chasing after her. There is no time, I have to follow her!" Despite my innate calmness, I could not help but get more and more frantic; there was no telling what was going on above the clouds, but I wanted to be there to help.

"... Is the hell raven your companion?" The girl's voice finally lost a little of its edge. I was surprised to learn that she knew Utsuho. "We let her through since she is a beneficiary of the Kami of the mountain. She seemed to be in a hurry, even though the Kami are out right now..."

"The Kami are out? Do you know if anyone else is up there right now?"

"The living goddess should be there... in either case, nobody slipped by our watch before the hell raven," The Tengu girl explained with suspicion in her voice, as she sized me up again. I looked up into the sky, only to see the dying lights of Utsuho's spirit trail; there was really no other trail. In the first place, I had come after Utsuho assuming she was going after somebody's trail.

"There's no time to lose. You can follow me and watch me closely, if you want, but I need to get up there!" With these words, I jumped with all my might, and once again, threw off the shackles of gravity.

"Hey, you!" She followed, at a speed far above mine, catching up with me in mere moments. "I will keep my eyes on you. Nobody can escape my vision." Was all she said, her sharp eyes fixed on mine with the glare of a predator.

"My name is Kagami Kyôma, what's yours?" I introduced myself, turning to look at her while shooting up towards the clouds, a smile playing on my lips. Maybe I had found myself a reliable companion, considering her strong sense of duty and wish to protect the peace of Yôkai Mountain.

"I'm Inubashiri Momiji, patrol officer of the Tengu Dominion."