At a hair under 6 feet tall (~181cm), he was not exactly a tall man, but he certainly stood out in a crowd in Japan. Though he was not particularly muscular, there was a certain wiry strength there, reminiscent of a man used to construction work. The bright red mane of hair on his head made him stand out even further in a sea of black and brown heads.

Gazing around the various stalls surrounding the shrine, and at the faces of the people around him, he was lost for a moment in the sea of humanity surrounding him. The sounds and sights of the crowd, along with the overbearing heat truly painted a picture of a Japanese summer in Kyoto. The only thing missing was the buzzing of cicadas in the background.

Soon, the moment passed, and from behind, he heard a soft tenor voice call out to him, breaking the spell. "John-dono, our group is gathered over by the road. The bus will be here in a few minutes."

In a smooth baritone voice, John answered back, "Thank you Toru-san, let's head there now."

The two slowly pushed through the crowd, heading towards the bright red torii gates marking the entrance to the shrine grounds. From his slightly higher than average vantage point, John saw his tour group was already queuing up alongside a large coach bus. As John and Toru came up on the bus, a shout began to arise from the group of shrine-goers behind them. Looking towards the noise, John saw a slight form in a large coat moving rapidly towards the tour group gathered in front of them, and a flash of something held in two hands around it's waist.

John's body moved on its own. He had no idea why he was doing so, but something instinctual made him run towards the mysterious form in a coat. Maybe all the training he received back in the military was kicking in. He quickly dashed the last 10 or so yards between himself and the tour group, leaving Toru in his wake. Soon, he was between the mysterious form and the group, squaring his body as if for a fight. Stretching out his arms, knees slightly bent, and slightly raised on the balls of his feet, he stood waiting for it to get near him.

The form in a coat got closer moment by moment, until finally, it stood directly in front of John. John could now see that the flashing he had seen before was a knife held in two gnarly green hands. In fact the form in the coat appeared to be a goblin, like something out of a an old JRPG. He would have taken a moment to ponder this impossible sight, but the goblin's movement took away his chance. The goblin tried slipping to the right, but John's outstretched arm came down and his hand grabbed at the collar of the coat it was wearing. He managed to grab a hold of the coat, and pull it, along with the goblin, back towards his body.

Suddenly John felt a sharp, hot pain in his stomach. He looked down to see a knife sticking out of him, and those two green hands holding it. As he felt the life flow out of him, he felt his knees buckle. Suddenly, the two hands holding the knife seemed to disappear into the aether, though the knife stayed stuck in his stomach.

As he laid on the pavement, slowly dying, he heard shouts of alarm, and the sound of an ambulance in the distance. Somehow, he knew it wouldn't arrive in time. Finally he pondered, 'A disappearing goblin, huh? Sounds like one of those isekai novels? At least no one else got hurt.' As his vision faded to black, he heard the sound of cicadas buzzing...