Suga’s gaze looked far away; he used his sheathed black katana as a cane to help him feel the road ahead. Suga focused his hearing and carefully walked forward. Suga tripped over tree roots several times and almost fell, but he could balance himself. Suga walked alone in the middle of the forest, which was now quiet, leaving only the sound of the night wind blowing through the shady trees.

Sometime later, Suga heard the sound of fast footsteps, making him startled and stopped. A woman is wearing a shabby short-sleeved one-piece dress and worn sneakers. Her skin was pale and covered in bruises. This woman’s long hair covered her face, and the almost dark forest made her face can’t be seen. This woman moved quickly and alertly around Suga while continuing to shorten the distance. Suga began to realize that the sound he was hearing was getting closer.

“Hello? Is someone there?”

But there was no answer. Suga faced several different directions while trying to reach forward using his right hand and a black katana in his left hand, which he used to feel the ground around him.

The woman had been standing near Suga and was silent, making Suga unaware of her presence. Suga walked not too far before this woman without realizing it. This woman moved to the side quickly, causing a sound that startled Suga and made him face toward the origin of the sound, which then returned to quiet. Suga faced in several directions with his gaze far away because he was blind, but only darkness was in his sight right now. Suga thought.

“There’s someone here....”

The woman moved quickly again and was about to attack Suga. Suga was shocked, pulled his katana from its sheath, and prepared to attack. Suga looked a little anxious, gasping for breath.

“What do you want?”

This woman just stood a few meters in front of Suga without answering. Suga walked in front of this woman; she was trying to reach for Suga with her right hand, which had sharp, sturdy nails, and almost touched Suga, but Suga didn’t realize it. This woman walked carefully without making a sound from behind Suga and was about to bite his neck. When she was almost biting Suga’s neck, Nellson flew from Suga’s right direction.

“Damn, I lost track of him.”

Nellson’s voice surprised Suga, and he turned towards the source of the sound. From the tone of Nellson’s voice, he was still quite far from Suga. This also surprised the woman a little, who then gave up her intention of biting Suga and moved away. Not long after, Nellson flew closer to Suga and landed on the ground near Suga.

“That man moved abnormally agile.”

Suga nodded, then resheathed his katana.

“It’s okay, Nellson. Come closer to me.”

Suga kneeled, and Nellson walked over to him. Suga looked down and whispered something to Nellson; Nellson then whispered something back to Suga’s ear. Not long after, Suga’s sight returned. Suga stood up and looked around him with a surprised and slightly lost-in-thought expression but didn’t see anyone around them. Nellson looked at Suga with an astonished expression.

“What’s wrong, Suga?”

Suga came to his senses, then turned to Nellson.

“It’s okay; we’d better get out of the forest quickly.”

Nellson nodded. Suga walked away; Nellson watched him momentarily, then flew after Suga. Without the two of them realizing it, the woman who was about to attack Suga was standing behind a large tree and watching them.

The time now is 2:30 am. Suga walked into the surveillance room, Nellson flew into the room and landed on the table in the middle of the room. Suga closed the door, walked to the table then sat on a chair.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Now we have proven what this tower officer said is true. Though I must admit what we experienced was perhaps even stranger.”

Nellson nodded.

"I don't know who that guy was."

Suga remembered something.

“I remembered the stories of victims who saw people they knew who had gone missing under strange circumstances. Bodies covered in bruises and pale as corpses... there's no mistaking we also saw what the victims saw before they went missing.”

Nellson looked surprised.

“What happened to the man earlier? I don't know why he's acting violent.”

Suga's expression turned serious.

“I don't know either. That guy doesn't seem like the human form of a Yokai. This is the first time I have experienced something like this. We'd better return to the inn; it's not safe here."

Nellson nodded. Suga packed his things into his backpack. Suga descended the fire lookout tower stairs; Nellson had landed below. Black smoke began to billow from all over Nellson's body and enveloped him. From behind the black smoke, Nellson reappeared, two meters tall. Suga reached the bottom, then stood with his back to Nellson.

“Let’s fly away from here, Nellson.”

Nellson ran towards Suga while leaning forward and using his six wings as front legs to stabilize his movement. Nellson took off and flew toward Suga, then grabbed the armor on Suga's back using his legs' talons and took Suga flying with him. Suga and Nellson flew higher and higher, then disappeared into the night sky's darkness.

Back to a few hours earlier, the time is now 7:00 pm. Ishikari was wearing her pajamas and had just finished dinner, walked into her bedroom on the second floor. Ishikari walked towards the window and was about to close it, but her attention was immediately drawn to a girl wearing a shabby high school uniform whom Ishikari had previously tried to chase. Seeing her missing school friend again made Ishikari shocked and scared at the same time. Her friend's face was not visible and was covered by her long hair. Ishikari's friend pointed to the side as if telling Ishikari to go somewhere. Ishikari was getting more and more scared, which made her breath short. Ishikari immediately closed the window and locked it, then closed the window curtains. Ishikari ran towards and climbed onto her bed, then covered her body with a blanket. Inside the blanket, Ishikari looked really scared. Not long after, a girl's voice was heard with a slightly hoarse tone.

“Why are you avoiding me, Ishikari?”

Ishikari was surprised because the voice sounded close to her. Her friend turned out to have climbed the roof from the veranda in front of Ishikari's room; she then opened this window quickly and stably using the strength of her hands, even after just one try. The sound made Ishikari startled in her blanket. Ishikari's friend entered the room, then walked to and stood near Ishikari, who covered her body with a blanket on the bed.

“Why Ishikari? Does my appearance scare you?”

Ishikari didn't want to answer and tried to stay silent while covering her mouth and nose with her hand. Ishikari's friend was about to open Ishikari's blanket; the nails of both hands were sharp and sturdy. But soon, Ishikari's friend stopped her actions and started moving as if her head felt a disturbing pain.

Inside the blanket, Ishikari tried to hold her breath using her hands so her friend wouldn't hear her. Ishikari finally got up the courage; she opened the blanket, only to find that her friend had disappeared. With a scared expression, Ishikari's attention immediately fell on the broken part of the window. Ishikari got up from her bed and walked towards her bedroom window. Ishikari looked around; her friend was also nowhere to be found.

The following day, the time was 8:00 am. Suga wore a long-sleeved shirt, dark blue jeans, and sneakers. Suga walked out of the inn’s entrance while yawning, stretched due to lack of sleep, and drank canned coffee. Not long after, Nellson flew out of the entrance and landed near Suga. Suga remembered something and then stopped in his tracks. Suga took out his smartphone, and called Ishikari.

In another place, Ishikari was sitting at the second-row desk from the back near her classroom window while watching the male teacher explaining math lessons. Ishikari felt her smartphone vibrate, making her a little surprised as she thought.

"It's rare for someone to call me at school hours like this."

Carefully, Ishikari took her smartphone from her school bag inside her desk drawer and rejected Suga's call. Suga looked a little surprised, then remembered something.

"I forgot that she must be at school at this time."

Ishikari chatted with Suga and asked why did Suga call her. Suga replied that he asked for her phone number because he wanted to ask something to her mother. Ishikari gave her phone number, along with an additional message:

"I want to talk to you after school about my friend who had gone missing."

Suga was surprised to read this message and then replied to this chat:

"Of course, I'll see you after school."

Ishikari carefully put her smartphone back into her bag.

Back to Suga, his expression turned serious when he found out that Ishikari wanted to talk about her missing friend. Suga turned to Nellson.

“Ishikari suddenly wanted to talk about her friend who had gone missing.”

Nellson looked curious.

"She probably saw her missing friend wandering around again?"