Cold winds blew through the forest in the morning of a summer’s day. Dew drops hung at the tips of tree leaves. It was colder than Haguko, up there in the mountains. The brief summer’s storm had left a rather misty atmosphere behind as it passed the town. Cicadas were out, crying loudly as usual. But in the misty forest they gave off a rather haunting presence. 

Himari and the others stood on slightly sloped ground. Wet soil, dry leaves, twigs, rocks, worms and a few small animal carcasses made up the terrain. The police officer stood facing them a few feet down on the slope. 

"H-How..How did you get here???", Himari asked frantically. 

The officer began snickering. His thick eyebrows contorted so grossly out of shape when he laughed. “Ito-san, you coward”, he said, “I can’t believe you tried to run away..from me! You’re really one shameless woman, I mean..why would you run away..if you hadn’t done anything wrong??”

He dodged my question, Himari noticed. 

“Of course I didn’t do anything.”, she said, struggling to maintain her composure, “It was you!”. 

The officer paused for a second and glanced at her with an approving look; almost as if he was admiring her for her deduction. 

“You did it! You murdered those innocent officers and messed up their bodies and wrapped them around a tree in my backyard! You did it to frame me! Now tell me, how did you get into this forest with us???”

He stared at her and answered thoughtfully. “Hmm, I don't think I want to answer that question. Not yet anyways", he smiled slyly and continued, "Very clever, by the way. The other night you hid the fact that you knew what I really was.”, he began pacing towards Himari, “But it was also very stupid of you, Ito-san. You see, if you had revealed the truth to me then we could have struck a deal then and there. You keep quiet and let me do my thing and in turn, nobody dies in your backyard”

“And then what? Let you continue kidnapping and possibly murdering innocent people??”, Himari retorted, “you would have murdered those two innocent police officers either way because all you care about is sabotaging any investigation into the mountains!”

“Hm”, the officer smirked, pausing a few feet in front of her, “Well, you’re right about that. Anyhow, Ito-san, you can expect that I won’t let you go this time"

Himari straightened up. “Well, that works out just fine, because we won’t be needing your permission to go anywhere”, then she said, looking determined. “Akiko-san, let’s get out of here.”

Akiko nodded fiercely and pressed her metallic pendant. 

Nothing. 

Usually when she pressed master Mizoroge's call button it would make the faintest ringing sound. But this time, nothing. Akiko pressed it again. And again and again. She then looked at Himari with a troubled expression.

"Hima-chan", she said guiltily, "I'm sorry. I think I've broken the call button."

The officer smirked wide.

“What?”, Himari asked in a low voice, “Akiko-san, what do you mean you broke it?”

“It means that I’ve broken it. It’s not working. I must have pressed it too many times earlier!”

“No..”

Himari stared helplessly at her friend. Murasaki, who was standing further back, saw this and stepped in front of a very confused, very frightened Asa and Botan. He knew something was wrong.

“Come onn..”, he mumbled to himself, “Let's get rid of the bastard and be done with it"

“Perfect!”, the officer exclaimed, “Your teleportation-thingy is broken, you guys are stuck here, I’m stuck here as well..”, he said enthusiastically, “There’s nothing we can do but make a deal”. He paced towards Himari a bit more. She stood, frozen in fear and guilt. 

What was going on?? Last night and this morning, she had been ready to fight. Her plan had been to confront the fake officer if he were to attack the two innocent officers. Now he'd killed them. What made sense now was to get rid of him or capture him for information. So why was she suddenly scared and guilty? She glanced at Asa and Botan. All she wanted now was to escape. But like the officer said, now they were stuck there. 

“Our deal is…”, the officer began, “you and your two friends come with me, Ito-san, and in exchange..”, he paused to give them a scornful smile, “..in exchange, those two brats over there get to go home safe…ish”

"What do you mean, safe ish?”

“Well, I mean I’d have to…erase their memories first, don’t I?”

“E-erase their memories??”. Himari looked around at her friends and the kids, “you can do that?” 

The officer smiled smugly, “How do you think I’ve been pulling off my disguise missions? I can’t kill off all my subjects, that would leave a very..suspicious trail.”

Himari felt her heart start to race. There really is no escape from this thing, is there?, she thought. Stay calm, stay calm, she told herself repeatedly. Can we try to outrun him? 

Behind them was a vast and edgeless spread of tall trees. Himari glanced backwards to inspect it. She tried to imagine a formation for them to make a quick escape based on their powers. Her dominant mind-reading power, in addition to what it's obviously used for, had a powerful recoil effect. When she'd channel her powers into her hand, anyone that she'd touch would back off for a few seconds and lose control of their senses. Akiko had superhuman strength which was great in a fight. 

But where would we even run to? It’s just miles and miles of forest.

She vaguely remembered a place in the mountains called Kojima Pass that she’d encountered while hiking as a kid with her family. There had been a cave or a crater of sorts in that area. She remembered being deeply fascinated by the landscape, that she wanted to keep returning to it every time they hiked, although it was far away. 

Maybe there, Himari thought, maybe we should go there.

"Hima-chan", Akiko whispered.

“Get the kids out of here. Murasaki and I got this. We’ll take care of him and join you guys soon."

“What if he tampers with your memories?"

“Well right now we’re facing that risk one hundred percent no matter what we do.”, then she flashed one of her signature Akiko smiles – the cheerful and bubbly type – and said with a wink, “Don’t worry. I’ll come get you no matter what”

Fine, Himari thought, Kojima Pass, it is. 

“Hima-chan”, Akiko then said in a low serious tone, “when I say now, you duck and run behind me. Go grab the kids, and run. We know he’s good with disguise but we still don’t know the full extent of his power. While we figure that out, you run somewhere safe-”

“Alright, time's up!”, the officer announced, “Chop chop! The deal, Ito-san. Are you in or are you out?” 

Himari glanced at him, lost for words. From the corner of her eye she saw Akiko bring her hand up behind her, and make a sign with two fingers. She remembered this. She learned this at the academy. They'd used it in trainee missions. The hand sign with two fingers held up was their official symbol for “fight or go”. It was used as a green light symbol. While some students deviated from this tradition to use other different symbols after they graduated, Himari realised that her friends had retained the same one that they learned at the academy. For a second she glanced back at Murasaki. It was a sign for him. It meant that they were going to fight, that he should be ready. Any moment now. 

Then Akiko raised all her fingers and began counting – slowly, discreetly, so that Murasaki could see. Five. Himari took in a deep breath. Four. She glanced at Asa and Botan, their frightened gazes meeting hers. Three. Himari exhaled. Two. Akiko gave her a final nod and wink. One.

As Akiko’s last finger came down, Himari turned back in a flash and ran. Her feet moved on their own. On her way, she grabbed Asa and Botan by the hands and dragged them along. 

"Ito-san, wait!!", she could hear them yell among other things but to her right now the priority was to get the kids away from danger. What was she thinking??? Involving a couple innocent kids in this mission. 

“Not so fast, Ito-san!”, the officer screamed. He bent down to touch something on the ground. Akiko saw this as an opening. She rushed over to him, did a handstand, and spun her legs, kicking him in the face. The officer lost his footing and stumbled back. Akiko's shoe managed to cut him near the ear. A transparent fluid leaked out of it. But he got back up fast.

"Phew!", he yelled, pacing towards Akiko, "great warm up. Just like back at the academy"

Academy? Akiko thought to herself, what academy?

"Gotta say.. just a little bit stronger than master's kicks", the officer continued, 

Master?

He stopped and smiled, "but nothing that I can't handle. Now.."

Then he moved fast. Before anyone can think. This time no touching the ground. Instead he clawed at the air as if trying to grab a handful of it. 

Suddenly his form changed into a volley of air bullets. 

Oh so that's how it is, Akiko concluded, he can become anything that he channels his power to – even the air and the wind.

The bullets came at her fast. She jumped out of the way and screamed, "Murasaki-kun!".

"On it!", came the reply. Murasaki ran down the hill, to where the bullets had flown past Akiko. He moved his hand, manipulating his own shadow off the ground.

The bullets then circled back; targeting Akiko again. But Murasaki intercepted just in time. "En garde!", he yelled and the bullets crashed headlong into a giant dark shield. Quickly the bullets transformed. And began to spread out like a thin breeze. Murasaki expanded his shield to envelope it. Realising that he was about to be cornered, the enemy transformed again. This time back into the officer. He tried to back away. But Akiko was faster. She came around and swooped in behind him. 

"Whoop! Not so fast", she said and smashed her fist against his skull. The officer tried to regain his balance. But Akiko overwhelmed him with a barrage of punches. "URRAA!", she grunted as she delivered a final uppercut, making the officer fly back and drop at the foot of a tree.

"Aargh!", he groaned, materialising. He panted, worn out and weary, but his face was still determined. He wasn't done yet.

"Wow", Murasaki said mockingly, "for someone who talks big you aren't much of a threat" 

His defeated opponent's fierce eyes glanced back at him. 

"Murasaki-san, please", Akiko said, "we're hardly done here"

"Heh you're right..", the officer spoke strenuously, "I'm just getting warmed up.."

"You said that before too", Akiko replied, "Do you always get absolutely wrecked during warm ups?"

Murasaki burst out laughing, "Good one" 

"I know"

The two did a fist bump as the officer watched, panting in complete frustration. 

Meanwhile, Himari was running up the hill along with Asa and Botan. She made it a point not to look back. But she couldn't help wanting to. Are they okay?? Should I really have left them there?? She kept thinking. 

"Ito-san, where are we headed?", Botan asked eagerly. 

Himari replied, out of breath, "There's a possible safe place..that I used to visit as a child with my family. I think we can.. rest there for a bit"

"Is it..Kojima Pass?"

Himari looked surprised, "How do you know about Kojima Pass?"

"Well.. uhh.. we researched the mountains one time", Botan answered furtively, "w-when Daiki went missing, you know, and that was really the only.. place with a name.. that stood out"

"Yes.. you're right, Aoki-san, that's.. where we're headed"

"Ito-san, we could have fought that thing", Asa said, gloomily.

Botan glanced at her as if she'd lost her mind. Asa continued, "I..don't really know what that thing is.. but I think we should have.. helped them at least"

Himari stopped to turn around and face Asa. She spoke seriously, "You don't have to feel responsible, Kobayashi-san. They are good at this kinda stuff. It's what they do. We, who suck at fighting, we gotta run"

"You suck at fighting?", Botan asked, perplexed, "How come? I thought you all studied fighting together. I thought you were gonna fight this evil force."

"Hm", Himari smiled briefly, quickly picking up her pace again. The two followed her. 

"I stopped fighting a long time back. My friends kept going", she answered. 

"But why?"

Himari continued running and climbing, in silence. Asa and Botan exchanged looks and shrugged it off, continuing to follow the witch doctor. 

A few feet below, on the ground crawling with bugs and insects, sat the officer. He was exhausted, breathing arduously and glaring at his two opponents who'd just brought him to the ground.  

He scoffed, "Look at you two. Celebrating like a couple of kids after landing their first hit"

"Well we're young at heart. Although Akiko-san here is about 50, no?", Murasaki asked cheekily.

"Fourty-one, you idiot, I'm fourty-one!!"

The officer scoffed again, "Heh, oh yeah? Well it's a shame you'd have to die so young"

With that he slammed his hand against the ground. Suddenly he vanished and a giant hornet leapt from the soil and up into the air. Large buggy eyes, long and heavy limbs, huge clanking pincers, and massive dark wings that blocked the canopy; something right out of a horror world.

"HREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!", it released a defeaning screech.

The two covered their ears in anguish, but Murasaki quickly analysed its features; orange head, yellow and brown antennae,  large clypeus and cheeks. 

"Vespa Mandarinia", he quietly concluded.

The hornet violently clanked its giant pincers at them.

HREEEEEE!

"What did you say??", she screamed and jumped to avoid the pincers from crushing her.

"Vespa Mandarinia. It's a Japanese hornet!", Murasaki yelled.

"Nerd!"

Akiko jumped again. Another pincer attack.

This time more violent. She swerved and landed at a safe distance.

"Jeez look at this thing!", she yelled, "Murasaki-kun, what's the plan???"

"Well", Murasaki began, "first we have to sever its stinger!". He scurried about to get away from the pincers. "If you get stung, you die!" 

"Just like that??"

"Just like that"

An ordinary hornet couldn't kill with one sting. But considering the size of their enemy, Murasaki had to assume the worst.

The insect flapped its wings rapidly and turned to face Murasaki.

"Ah shit", he muttered.

Then it flew at him, the stinger pointed directly at his neck. Murasaki backed off. Fast. He ran sideways, the creature in pursuit. Closing in on him. 

Come on come onnn

He looked around for a strong enough tree. 

There it is!

Murasaki hurried towards a tall and thick oak tree. The hornet flew right behind him. Ready to strike. Any second. 

He got close to the tree, backed up against it and as the stinger came up to his neck, he jumped out of the way. 

CRACK! The hornet flew right into the tree trunk. Its stinger was stuck. 

HREEEE!, it shrieked and struggled violently. 

Not a second to waste. Murasaki's shadow was casted on the ground. He thought of picking it up. But it was too small. He could only manipulate shadows to create an object of their own size. 

Then he saw it. The hornet's shadow. Casted on a nearby tree. It was colossal. He could create a huge weapon with it to sever the stinger and incapacitate the hornet.

Murasaki focused. His hands moved to shape a large axe. Akiko should be the one to wield it. Not him. He could handle shadows. Shadows were weightless. But once solidified into objects they had weight. With his physical strength he could only wield certain weapons. This axe wasn't one of them.

SNAP! The tree trunk finally gave in. The massive creature had struggled free. And it was out for blood, coming swiftly at Murasaki. 

The weapon was almost done.

"Akiko-san! CATCH!", he threw the incomplete weapon at her and moved his hands to shape the rest of it. It came to its final form mid-air, just in time for Akiko to jump and grab it with her superhuman arms.

"I'm here, you bastaaaard!!!", she screamed, lifting the axe high. The hornet turned towards her. Akiko, still in the air, spun the axe violently above her head. And then..

SLASH!

Landed with a clean slice, right at the base of the stinger. Blood gushed out from the wound as the beast shrieked wildly. Akiko watched with an unapologetic expression. 

BONK! 

Murasaki banged its head with a club made out of his own shadow. The creature went limp and unconscious. The weapons then disintegrated into the air and returned to their original shadow forms. Soon, the officer materialised on the ground, completely passed out and bruised badly. 

"He's out", Murasaki commented.

"Well you did knock him out", Akiko said,  "So..what do we do with him? We can't hand him over to the order like we do with our usual encounters"

"You're right", Murasaki said thoughtfully, "I think we should hold onto him. We can interrogate him that way. He's shit at fighting but he definitely knows about what's happening in this town". Then he frowned and bent down to inspect the officer's skin. "It's strange..", he said.

"What's strange?", Akiko asked.

"He needs to touch whatever he shapeshifts into. But today he changed into this officer twice without touching anything remotely connected to him.", he glanced at Akiko suspiciously, "Why isn't he turning into his true form??

Akiko thought for a second and said, "I guess we'll have to ask him". Murasaki nodded and created a body bag and a rope out of his shadow. They poked a few holes in the bag and put the officer inside it, tying him up tight. 

"There's no place we can keep him for now. Can you carry him?", Murasaki asked Akiko, who had already picked up the body bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Yup!", she said with a smile, "Let's go see Hima-chan!"

Up ahead, Himari glanced back watchfully. She wondered if her friends were alright. Her head was swimming with all kinds of anxious thoughts. Are they okay?? The memory of her face in her superior's pool of blood flashed in her mind.

"Ito-san", Asa approached her, "are you alright?"

Himari looked at her, taken aback, "Uh yes. Of course", she replied rushedly, "Thank you, Kobayashi-san. A-are you guys okay?"

"We're fine"

"What's the matter, Kobayashi-san?", Himari asked.

"Do you..really think we'll find Daiki and Takashi?"

Himari sighed and nodded. "We will. We have to", she said determined, "Like I've always said, we have to confront this force of evil". She took Asa's hand and pressed it warmly in both hers, "We'll find them, Kobayashi-san"

"Don't worry, Asa", Botan interjected, "Knowing Daiki he's probably fighting a yokai or something right about now. Takashi is probably fighting with him. Maybe they even found the drone". There was a hint of hope in his eyes but Asa could see it was on the verge of vanishing. He was also beginning to tear up. Faintly. 

Asa walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Let's go", she said. The three continued on their journey. 

Darkness soon surrounded them and night approached. Unlike daytime, the forest was covered in a thick mist at night. Crickets began to cry and moonlight peeked in through the canopy up above. It got colder. Shadows of trees fell on other trees creating a perfect illusion all around them. It felt lonely and macabre. 

Himari, Asa, and Botan walked with their phone flashlights turned on but as they got deeper into the forest, their phones abruptly stopped working.

"Great! My phone's dead", Botan complained.

"Yeah mine too", Asa said and looked at Himari. 

"Hm..", Himari looked suspicious, "mine as well. Strange.."

"This has been happening a few times since we came to Haguko", Asa pointed out.

"True!", Botan exclaimed, "Our phones have been acting out occasionally.. that's weird.."

They thought about it in silence before Botan cried out. "Ah this is just miserable. We've been walking for hours!!", he said, "Asa, Mr. And Mrs. Nakamura must be worried sick about us!" 

"We should have worried about that before taking this up, Botan", Asa said, matter-of-factly.

Himari chimed in, "You don't have to worry about it. I've already spoken to them"

"What??", the two said in unison.

"I mean I texted them because Aoki-san was concerned about them the whole day", Himari replied awkwardly.

"What did you text??"

"I texted that you were with me and that we've fled to a safe place since we were all at the crime scene together"

Botan burried his face in his hands. "Ito-san, that is the worst excuse ever!!!"

"Maybe we should have prepared for this better", Himari suggested defeatedly. 

Asa exhaled, "it's okay, Ito-san. Who could've known? It all happened so fast and suddenly"

Himari sighed heavily and stared into the distance, "I hope Akiko-san and Murasaki-kun are fine"

"They must be on their way", Asa assured, "let's try to light a fire or something while we wait"

Botan exhaled. He felt frustrated. All he wanted was to be there for his new friend. To not end up alone. But they were on such uncertain grounds. A town where people were disappearing left and right. And now, they were turning up murdered And displayed disturbingly in people's backyards. 

He lifted his head up and looked around. It was dark. A few feet away, Asa and Himari were trying to light a fire. He could see them struggling but he wasn't in the mood to help. After all, maybe he was just a terrible friend by default.

In the distance, a light flickered. Botan could see it from the corner of his eye. Slowly, he turned his head. A few metres from where they were camping, he could see flashes of blue and white lights flicker and zap like lightning bolts. He squinted. It looked curved, like the half of an orb. 

"Guys..", Botan called out quietly, "Hey guys look!"

Asa and Himari turned. Botan pointed towards the flickering light, "Look! There's something over there!"

"Whaat the fuuuck", Asa dropped everything that she was holding and moved to get a better look. 

"It looks like some kind of…orb?", Botan said. 

Himari looked at it and then at their surroundings, vigilantly. There was not enough light to see anything and their phones were dead too. But she squinted and tried to make out if there was  anything odd around them. 

Botan fixated on the orb and swallowed hard. He felt scared but at the same time there was an urge to go check it out. Slowly, he began walking towards it. 

"Botan, what are you doing? Get back here!", Asa hissed. 

But he kept walking, silently. 

"Botan, you moron!", Asa hurried over to him.

"Kids, come back!", Himari followed them. 

Soon they found themselves standing on the edge of a giant crater. Massive trees stood all around it and the land caved down into a gaping plateau just a few feet from where they stood. Its diameter was probably just short of a kilometer. Asa and Botan stared with mouths agape, lost for words.

"K-Kojima Pass..?", Himari whispered, her eyes wide with disbelief. She'd only been there as a kid – one of her fondest childhood memories. But right now she was not capable of feeling sweet nostalgia. It felt horrible. She felt nauseous. 

The crater was not empty. Filling up its entirety was a colossal blue and white orb. Its color changed like a frizzy gradient filled with streaks and sparks of electricity. A spark almost hit Botan at one point but Himari managed to grab him just in time. 

"Stay back! Stay back!", she screamed to the both of them, over the loud crackling of electricity. She walked over to Asa who was frozen in place with a shock-filled gaze, and grabbed her aside. 

"Stay back!", she reiterated, "Don't go near it" 

They watched in awe as the orb lit up its surroundings. The sky filled with dark clouds looked scary when illuminated by it. As if a giant flashlight was held up towards it. Trees looked like enormous figures standing around a fire and performing a ritual. No matter where they looked, everything appeared intimidating because of the orb. 

There were no coherent thoughts in their heads to hang onto. After all, what could it be? They've never seen or expected to see anything like it. 

Suddenly something caught Botan's eye. 

"G-guys, look!"

He pointed at something on the ground near one of the ritual-figure trees. Asa was still in a state of shock and awe, her eyes moving rapidly trying to take everything in. Himari glanced over at Botan and frowned.

"What is it, Aoki-san?", she asked. 

Botan moved slowly, trying to get close to it. It seemed like a rolled up sheet of white paper. He bent down and slightly touched it with his finger to unfold it. As its contents came into view, Botan felt a chill run up his spine and around his body. His heart began to race and he felt a chill in his ears.

The map!, he thought, it's the map! 

The map that Asa and I made.

The map that Daiki took with him when he left.

It's that map!! What the fuck is it doing here??? 

His heart began to pound. He could feel his palms sweating up. Botan lifted his head and turned towards Himari and Asa who was standing a few feet away. He screamed, "Asa!!". His voice rang so loud that she snapped out of her trance and glanced absently at Botan. He screamed again.

"Asa I found Daiki's map!!"