The current time is 9:40 am. Suga wears a tucked-in black shirt, trousers, belt, Yokai Controller Association overcoat, and boots. Suga rode his bicycle while carrying a black katana in his left hand, heading towards the town entrance road, with Nellson standing in the bicycle basket. Suga arrived at the road previously blocked by a four-meter-high wall and wire fence. Suga looked around; the atmosphere looked quiet, with no people walking or passing vehicles.
“This road should take us to Kagohara village.”
Nellson nodded, and black smoke began to billow from all over his body. From behind the black smoke, Nellson reappeared two meters high. Nellson ran with the assistance of his six wings, like front legs to stabilize his run then take off. Nellson flew forward, grabbed the armor on Suga's back, and brought Suga flew with him.
Suga and Nellson flew over the wall fence and followed a dull asphalt road lined with the shady trees of the forest to the right and left. Nellson flies low, with only the average height of the trees here. Suga flew while looking at the scenery on his right and left and the dull asphalt with vines that reached the middle of the road. Sometime later, they arrived in the hilly area, with a severe landslide that blocked access to the main road in front of them.
"We land Nellson."
Nellson landed on the dull asphalt road below them, not far behind Suga, who also landed stably.
The landslide in front of them was severe, with land and trees piled up to five meters high, more than one kilometer in length, and it collapsed part of the road onto the plains several meters lower on the other side of the road and destroyed the trees. Suga looked surprised.
"This landslide disaster is severe."
Nellson nodded.
"Yes, it seems like everything is according to the news, and this disaster is not being handled because no one lives in Kagohara village anymore."
Suga crossed his arms and nodded.
"That's right, and I can't tell if the cause of this disaster is purely a natural disaster or because of the Guardian gods' actions."
Nellson nodded.
"Yes, because some Yokai are very strong, even strong enough to cause natural disasters."
Suga nodded.
"Right, now we continue to Kagohara village."
Nellson moved away from Suga, then flew towards him, grabbed the armor on Suga's back, and took Suga flying with him.
Suga and Nellson flew over the part of the asphalt road affected by the disaster, then over the road that cut through the wilderness area with tall and shady trees on their right and left. After flying past the remaining asphalt road, they arrived at the end of this road, which turned out to have suddenly ended, towards the wilderness with shady trees. Suga was surprised to see this; Nellson and Suga landed at the end of this asphalt road. Suga looked around, and there was no sign of Kagohara village's whereabouts.
“Hmm? I thought this road led to Kagohara village.”
Nellson looked around them with an astonished expression.
"What is this? Did Ishikari's mother wrong?”
Suga's expression turned doubtful.
“I don't think so....”
Suga appeared to realize something; his expression then turned disturbed.
"I don't know what happened; I'll record the situation around here."
Suga took out his smartphone from his overcoat's inner pocket and recorded his surroundings. Without Nellson and Suga realizing, something was watching them from inside the forest. Nellson looked curious.
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"Should we check into the forest?"
Suga nodded.
"Good idea, let's just walk."
Suga walked into the wilderness and was followed by Nellson.
Suga walked through the forest in this dim atmosphere. Sunlight tried to penetrate the shady tree leaves and cast slanted pillars of light. Suga walked while keeping an eye on his surroundings. Nellson walked near Suga, also looking around him warily. Sometime later, Suga stopped his steps because he still could not find Kagohara village.
"We'll try flying to see further, Nellson."
Nelson nodded. Nellson flew vertically, with Suga still standing on the ground. Suga saw Nellson fly higher and higher. When he reached enough height, Nellson hovered in the air while flapping his wings. Suga concentrated, holding his black katana sword in a standing position using both hands, which he positioned in front of his body.
"Yokai Controller Technique, Sight Swap."
Soon after, Suga sees what Nellson sees, and vice versa.
Suga could see that as far as Nellson's eye could see, there was no sign of Kagohara village's whereabouts. Suga controlled Nellson through a premonition, and Nellson turned his body and looked around him, but there was still no sign of Kagohara village's whereabouts. There was only a vast wilderness, hilly areas, mountains, swamps, and Kagohara town in the distance. Suga thought.
"Strange, where is that village located exactly?"
Suga's attention was then fixed on the fire lookout tower with a surveillance room above, and a row of windows on each side of the room.
After confirming that Kagohara village was nowhere to be found, Suga broke out of his concentration stance. Suga controlled Nellson through a premonition; Nellson flew vertically and landed back on the ground near Suga. Nellson faced Suga with an astonished expression.
"That village was nowhere to be found."
Suga crossed his arms; his expression changed in astonishment.
"Yeah, I don't know what this means."
Suga's attention was then drawn to the fire lookout tower in the distance.
"Fire lookout tower over there might hold a clue; we go there."
Suga pointed towards the tower he meant. Nellson looked curious.
“Should we fly there?”
Suga shook his head.
"We walk while looking at the surroundings in case there are any signs of Kagohara village. You can shrink your size to rest.”
Nellson nodded; black smoke began to billow from all over his body, then enveloped his whole body. From behind the black smoke, Nellson reappeared with the size of an owl in general. Suga started walking from here, Nellson watched Suga for a moment, then flew after him.
Suga and Nellson kept on exploring the wilderness and still found no sign of the Kagohara village whereabouts until finally, they arrived at the fire lookout tower, with a height twice of the tallest trees in this forest. This tower has a sturdy metal frame that supports a surveillance room surrounded by a metal balcony. There are electrical cables connected to this tower. The tower looks dull, with its metal frame rusted in many parts and vines growing almost halfway to the top. A zigzag staircase is next to this tower, used to reach the surveillance room above. Nellson looked at this tower curiously.
“This tower looks like it hasn't been used for a long time.”
Suga nodded.
"Right, let's try to go inside."
Nelson nodded. Suga walked up the stairs; Nellson watched him for a moment, then flew after Suga, preceded him to the front of the surveillance room above, and landed there.
Suga arrived in front of the surveillance room, which looked dull with dusty windows panes, lined all four sides of the room, and had a metal sign that read "Powered by: Japan Forestry Agency." This surveillance room has a single entrance door with transparent square framed glass pane in the top half of the door. Suga walked around the surveillance room balcony surrounding it and did not find Kagohara village's whereabouts, even though Kagohara town was visible in the distance. Nellson flew after him and landed on the railing near Suga. Suga's expression turned surprised.
"The village can't be seen from here either; we'll unlikely find any clues here."
Nellson nodded.
"Should we just get out of here?"
Suga's expression turned doubtful.
"Since we're already here, there's no harm in checking it out."
Suga walked towards the entrance to the surveillance room, then peeked into the room through the dusty glass pane on the door. The atmosphere in the room looks neglected, with things a little messy and dusty.
Suga tried to open the door, but it was locked. Suga used the tip of his katana to break the door handle and succeeded; he then opened the door and walked in. Nellson, who had been watching Suga, flew into the room and landed on the table. Inside the room, there is a single bed with a metal frame and a thin mattress, a small kitchen, a TV mounted on the wall in one corner of the room, a desk in the middle, and a dashboard containing a radio communication device and several computer screens. Suga looked around him curiously, then walked over to the dashboard. Suga tried to turn on the radio communication, and it worked, surprising Suga.
"Even though it was abandoned, some of the devices in this room still seems to be functioning well."
Nellson checked the piles of documents on the table and realized something.
"I found an activity log notebook here, Suga."
Suga turned to Nellson, then walked to the desk in the middle of the room. Suga opened one of the documents on the desk, which said "Activity Log" on the cover. Nellson read along curiously. Suga said.
“This log book is from tens of years ago. How long has this place been abandoned?”