"We are here!" (C)

"Okay, you've got it. Seems like this is some kind of spiritual, holy place." (I)

"Yes! Don't you think so? I can practically smell the spirituality!" (C)

 

I am sure Chiaki would be able to drive every monk insane with her modern outlook on being spiritual.
However, I wonder if I really can smell the surrounding energy that covers the whole area like some kind of fog.

 

"Sniff, sniff!" (I)

 

I really think I sense something in the air.
Maybe I will notice if I inhale more of it?

 

"Haaahh-puh" (I)

 

Ehm, why does Chiaki have this look?

 

"Is something wrong, Chiaki?" (I)

"You see... I have to say something. But please don't get this wrong. It's not meant to be rude." (C)

"Just say it!" (I)

"You... Could you stop breathing?" (C)

 

Okay, objectively seen this was rude.

 

"Please, elaborate." (I)

"It's just, whatever makes this place holy, your last breath sucked most of it inside and in exchange evaporated vast amounts of this demon stuff. I don't know much about this, but I guess it might be bad manners to do that to this place, as well as a minor offense. You know, like leaving tons of garbage on the campsite. Just a bit more severe." (C)

 

I get where she's coming from.
Defiling this place would certainly be wrong.
Fortunately, if anything my lungs are just for show.
I don't need to breathe.

 

"Fine. I'll try to keep it inside." (I)

 

Maybe I should also limit talking as much as possible.

 

"Great. Now let's get in!" (C)

 

Chiaki is the first to rush in and leave us behind.
Clearly without any plan or sense for a destination.
The few people I see may already contemplate if they should call a rescue team in advance.
Kuri and I trot in the direction where we have last seen her.

 

"Kuri, you've got an idea where she went?" (I)

"I think her energy is there!" (K)

 

It's a convenient asset that she has those predatory senses.
Disturbing, but convenient.
We walk some more but still can't find her.

 

"Are you sure, Kuri?" (I)

"I'm sorry. I'm not good enough. Too much else is here." (K)

"You don't have to blame yourself. It's fine. I'm sure we will find her." (I)

 

Well, this whole forest reeks of energy, so it's understandable that it's difficult to pinpoint a special source.
Chiaki's behavior is not too surprising.
She was always too reckless.
Maybe that's a given with so much lifeforce.
That might do things like heal your wounds faster or prevent injuries in the first place and give her too much recess energy to spend.
I would just want to have an inkling of her whereabouts.
If I just could see her.

 

Huh!?

Something's wrong with my vision.
I stop for a moment close my eyes and hold my head.

 

"Mum?" (K)

"Uh. My eyes feel funny." (I)

 

I open up and...

am overwhelmed!

 

Suddenly I see too much at once.
My vision is all over the place.
Not just where I am but everywhere.
I see myself from the side, observe a place we've just passed, detect some squirrels from above, notice even the slightest movement.
There's a crow and it...

Ouch!
It pecked my eye out!
It didn't hurt but the image was enough to affect me.

I start to realize that everywhere around me thousands of eyes formed.
All connected to my vision.
It's strange but I somehow can adjust to this sensation even if this should be a total sensory overload.
Maybe the critters inside me help with the processing.
I want to get out of this state as it isn't too pleasant.

But then I find Chiaki.
She's got in the view of one eye and promptly hundreds more pop up and relay her image and position to me.
She seems to have noticed them and looks a tiny bit afraid.
While I don't really get how it works with showing me her position I now know where to go.
Maybe because whatever makes them connect to my vision also counts as a connection to my body.
I can simply follow that link like I'd know where my arm would be.
I could teleport but she isn't too far away.
I take Kuri and cross the distance before Chiaki gets a panic attack.

 

"There you are! God, how can you just run off into the depths of the forest?! Do you have completely lost it now?" (I)

"Oh, my! That was you! I totally freaked out for a moment. Could've warned me somehow. I was so close to running for my life!" (C)

"If you had been running at random I might have had to cut off your way with tentacles. So please don't." (I)

 

I know I could do this but it wouldn't have been pleasant for both of us.

 

"That's difficult to get used to. I mean, was this number of eyes really necessary?" (C)

"I can't control this. My body tends to overreact." (I)

"Well, then I hope I will always stay on the good side of that reaction. And don't get caught up." (C)

"Don't think that's a problem. General ideas are something they've always got until now." (I)

"Good to know. By the way, what do you think about this place? This meadow looks perfect for my training!" (C)

"If you say so. I don't know what you want to train." (I)

"First, I want to meditate to activate my lifeforce and then look if I can use it in that state somehow." (C)

"Please, don't hurt yourself." (I)

 

I can already see her being overeager and crushing her hand against a tree, breaking all the bones inside.

 

"If I do, can you mend the injury?" (C)

"I have no idea. It would be better if we don't try to find out. Do you really want this vile tentacle stuff fiddling with your body?" (I)

"If it helps?" (C)

"Stop it. Just get started." (I)

 

Surprisingly she just sits down and closes her eyes.
I try not to disturb her and just watch while taking care of Kuri.
Even if she looks like a small child she is very calm.
It seems to be enough for her to cuddle my side instead of jumping around and playing in the forest.
I am fine with peace and have no problems being lazy at times.
Promptly Chiaki opens her eyes again.

 

"I think I did it." (C)

"What exactly?" (I)

"I have some kind of focus. I think I can use it now!" (C)

"Be careful!" (I)

 

• Please don't break your body!
   
• Please don't break your body!

 

She starts to concentrate again and for a moment her fist starts to glow.
I expect a laser beam, but instead, she shoves a nearby tree which visibly starts to shake.
A smaller one might have got broken.
She grins at me.

 

"Not perfect but a start." (C)

 

We proceed in this way and I hope Chiaki won't chop too many trees.
I contemplate creating some flesh dummies for her but am unwilling to do so.
Too close to the horror genre and simply gross.
Suddenly Kuri jolts up.

 

"Something's coming, mum." (K)

 

Uh, I knew that Chiaki's training might attract monsters.
Yet I should confirm.

 

"Something bad?" (I)

"It's very quickly coming to us." (K)

"Okay, Kuri. This is important. I don't want you to kill everything just because you can. Chiaki can't be harmed but that doesn't mean we're exterminating everything because it's there. If possible scare them off. Force them away. Only if you have no other choice but to retaliate you can defend yourself. Or us while you're at it. I don't want that anything happens to those I hold dear. That includes you. Can you follow that?" (I)

"I love you too, mummy!" (K)

 

And she hugs me.

 

"So, what about that monster which comes after us?" (I)

"Yes, it's there." (K)

 

She points to the undergrowth and some kind of large, black, smoking wolf jumps out.
It doesn't need great observation skills to realize that this is not the common wildlife of the area.
The wolf rushes straight at Chiaki, who I guess tries to prepare to defend herself but is totally panicking.
It leaps at her and...
gets impaled mid-air by giant black spikes.

These at the first look seem to be massive but then I notice they're made of black smoke.
Following them, I see that they indeed form out of miasma at their base.
And tracing them a bit further I see that their source is Kuri.

 

"Was that right, mum?" (K)

"Uh, I guess. Don't think we could've talked it out with that thing. But remember, if you can, please try talking to them first. Killing is only the last effort. If there's anything you could do before, do it please." (I)

"Okay, mum." (K)

"Chiaki! Are you alright?" (I)

"Y-yes. Was just a little startled. Thank you, Kuri!" (C)

"Do you still don't want a demon for yourself?" (I)

"Ehm, no. This demonization thing is not really my thing. I'll just proceed with my training." (C)

 

At least she seems to make progress.
Impressive was when she from a standing position jumped five meters up in the air.
I still caught her when she came down again, not trusting her ability to cushion the impact.
Also, Kuri had to prevent some more times that something hunts her down.

Let's say, I've now seen enough ways how something can get brutally mutilated by hardened miasma.
Yet there weren't too many.
I guess we could scare most of them away.

After a while, it slowly starts to get late, and that we should go home before it gets too dark.
I would want to use the bus the normal way, as the only other would be to traumatize Chiaki again during the transport.
Suddenly a light flies in our little meadow.
The thing is, it looks and moves clearly unnatural.

 

"What is this?" (C)

"Uh, could this be a wisp? I've heard of them on the sidelines. Yet they're supposed to be just kindled methane in swamps." (I)

"Well, this one is the real deal! Hey, doesn't it look as if it wants to play with us?" (C)

"Careful, Chiaki! These things don't have a good reputation." (I)

"Don't be like this! It looks pretty! See, I think it wants us to follow." (C)

"Chiaki! What makes you believe that it's a good idea to follow an ominous light? Didn't we want to avoid any kind of attention? They are said to lure travelers to their doom!" (I)

"What could possibly happen? In the worst case you can surely get us out again. With your powers you can deal with everything!" (C)

"I am sure I've told you that I don't like those powers. They're creepy and it always feels so wrong. So please, let me avoid that." (I)

"Yet you use them rather frequently. Or what was with these eyes?" (C)

"This was absolutely not planned! It didn't feel great and you kinda forced it since you ran off on your own. I can't do much about getting regularly into problematic situations. But there is no need to willingly force them to happen." (I)

"Oh come on. It's just a light. And it looks so cute! If we stray too far I promise we will simply stop and return. You can even teleport us and I won't complain. Now come let's go after it!" (C)

 

Why do I have the feeling she didn't listen to me?
However, now she again runs away, yet at least waits for me.
The only thing I could do, aside from trotting behind, would be to use something demonic to stop her.
And I promised myself that that's not the way I would use them.
It's not okay to force one's will onto others like this.

The will o' wisp seems to be inclined to have us following it.
It's not too fast and always waits to make sure that we are able to catch up.
If that's not suspicious I don't know.
Maybe I should just grab Chiaki and save her from her own recklessness.
I'm sure the fact that she can now jump five meters in the air made her overconfident.
Even if she seems to have forgotten that she had to meditate for around ten minutes to even get in the right state.

However, I guess that she's right in so far that I should in any case be able to protect her from the worst.
I might be unwilling but using my powers to save her or using my powers to force her to act reasonably, both possibilities are unpleasant.
So I prefer the alternative where I don't have to dominate my friend and stay in good grace.
And hey, maybe nothing happens and I don't have to react in the first place.

...

Who am I kidding?

We still follow that yellow glowing thing which absolutely reminds me of the bait of an anglerfish.

 

"Kuri, if something attacks, please help. But nothing over the top." (I)

"Sure, mum!" (K)

 

Sigh! For a world-annihilating calamity, she's really sweet.
Even though Chiaki for some reason won the discussion if we want to follow an unnatural lure light into an obvious trap I at least constantly remind her not to separate from us.
If whatever waits for us is after her she has to be close enough for us to protect her.
There might be a way to do this remotely but I don't have the capacity to think this through yet.

Promptly I feel a shifting sensation around me.
As if the air got suddenly exchanged.
It reminds me of when I passed the barrier at the Honozuki shrine.
And that's when I realize...

 

"The heck?!" (I)

"This is so strange." (C)

 

We stand in front of a shrine.