I squinted as the daylight shined right in my eyes, ignoring the odd message that popped up in front of me. The world that once seemed too dark and silent had exploded into light and sound. I could make out a multitude of different conversations as they occurred around me, adding more and more voices to the cacophony that seemed to appear suddenly.

Around me, I found Akisame and Yasuda also disoriented by the sudden change. Everyone had been a little creeped out by the insides of the Transition Torii Gates, so it was understandable that they kept their volumes low, fearful of the infinite darkness.

Now, we had seemingly landed in the middle of a bustling congregation. I immediately saw more Transition Torii Gates at different corners of wherever we ended up. A sea of clouds lay behind them, concealing what lay behind the gates much like how the Fog Well had.

The gates’ impossible heights set them apart from their surroundings as well. Some expanded out into that infinite darkness, forming white-paved roads for the people standing in front of them to walk on. Others I saw ended similar to ours with caravans and people who stepped out into the plaza.

Their gazes spoke of their familiarity with the massive teleportation gates, and I noticed how almost everyone didn’t really react to how crazy these things were. I held myself back from screaming out how absurd this world was.

Instead, it seemed like the people wandering around the paved ground were more focused on their feet, moving along various laid out bricks of different colors. I found more colored brick extending out from the torii gates we exited from, and my eyes followed them as they extended to a large, open-air pavilion with red pillars holding up its ornate roof. The lines of people seemed to merge together somewhere and disappear inside a pair of massive redwood doors with reliefs of Japanese letters carved into them.

“Everyone! Gather up here!” I looked up to find that female Samurai, Hasumi, had started to direct both the villagers and other Samurai.

“Stay together so you don’t get separated here! We’ll stop by the Census Building to get you all-“

She cut herself off as a distinguished group cut through the crowds of people. And I say distinguished because they didn’t simply push people out of their way; no, two barriers of blue rose up from the floor, letting me see how every brick of the floor had markings similar to a Shikigami.

The barriers forced the people out of the way slowly, getting a few murmurs of annoyance before they saw just who walked through.

A woman wearing long, flowing red robes that trailed on the floor. A yin and yang symbol was embroidered along a dark sash she wore around her waist, which a small jade pendant hung from. Heavy wooden shoes knocked on the stone floor with every step, and her hair was done up with a fox shaped hairpin. When she stopped in front of our group, I was able to see that her eyes were closed almost as if she were asleep.

“Your majesty,” she said, voice neutral. The woman then deeply bowed to Shizuka and Minamoto in order. “I see you have brought back the Exorcist of the Sleeping Woods. I greet you, too; your legends don’t do a good job in portraying your stature.”

“Er, thank you.” Minamoto bowed awkwardly.

Shizuka just huffed, clearly annoyed. “Shut up, dog. What do you want?”

“Reporting to her majesty— His majesty, Hajime Satsuki, requests yours and the Exorcist of the Sleeping Woods’ presence.” The woman said, not rising to Shizuka’s insults.

“Of course I know that.” Shizuka said, crossing her arms. I locked eyes with her as she shot a glance my way from her peripherals. “We just need to get these people settled. They need it.”

“I am sure Miss Commander can handle that, your majesty. Your presence is a neces-“ she paused as her head turned to face me.

I flinched at the sudden attention. Despite her eyes being closed, I knew that her attention had landed solely on me, and I only grew more unnerved as one of her eyelids cracked open. Her iris was black like many others, but pulsing rings of blue seemed to stare deeper into me.

My sixth sense reacted to that. Suddenly, there wasn’t a pretty attendant in front of me. Instead all I found was a massive, snarling beast of some kind. It stood on four muscular legs, and a plume of white clouds flowed from its neck and upper back like the mane of a lion. Two pairs of black eyes with concentric blue circles within their irises stared back at me.

[Inugami Shiro regards you]

For a second, I felt like we had just taken a peak from each other at the same time. It was an odd feeling, but not like the time I was overwhelmed by the tree in Minamoto’s soul. Guarded, I would say.

“You have an honest soul.” She said much to my confusion, closing her open eye.

“Uh… thanks, you too? No that doesn’t-“

Ignoring me, she turned back to Shizuka. “His majesty wants you to attend the Dai Tengu Summit Meeting.”

I released a sigh of relief as I got out of that situation. However, unlike me, Shizuka tensed at the woman’s words, and I wondered what they meant exactly. Given how she reacted, I felt the gravity of whatever the meeting set in.

And then promptly forgot about it.

After all, why should that concern me? Such an important thing that required the Queen of Toshiki as an attendee definitely wouldn’t allow me to join.

“… alright.” Shizuka said. Then, she turned and whispered something to Hasumi. The Samurai in question nodded, looking at me briefly. “Then let’s go, dog. You can lead us back to your master, right?”

“Yes.” The woman bowed and turned to lead Minamoto and Shizuka through the pathway that still stayed up. Idly, I wondered what that Shikigami was, considering it lasted for so long.

“I believe this is where we part, my friend.” Minamoto came up to me, patting me on the shoulder as he made his way through the villagers. “Perhaps the next time we meet, it’ll be you teching me.”

I smiled at the thought. We hadn’t spent much time learning about each other’s pasts, and I wondered just how we formed our relationship. It was more of a thing that happened.

“Yeah, stay safe.” I said, happily offering my hand to him. I had already said my thanks enough, but I knew the emotion came across.

Minamoto looked at it for a moment before awkwardly taking it with a smile. “I suppose this is a deal, then?”

“Sure,” I nodded along, not really sure what he meant. “I’ll teach you something… maybe.”

The old man shook his head but laughed anyways. He offered another nod before he turned and began following along with Shizuka and that woman. The Queen nodded to me as well, but didn’t offer a goodbye as she quietly left.

Finally, it seemed like the sudden intrusion had finished, and we were once again corralled by Hasumi. The female Samurai organized everyone with the help of the others, guiding us down one of the colored brick paths to the red pavilion at the end of the plaza.

Unluckily, I hadn’t escaped the limelight entirely. After a couple residents took a look at me, whispers of some “Gaijin” began to reach my ears. Like a cascade, more and more people took note of my presence, and I hurriedly tried to shrink behind Yasuda to run away from the looks.

I could quite make out what most of them were saying, but I caught a varied reaction. A few glares and rude comments echoed in the crowd. I had heard those plenty enough.

It was the more enthusiastic remarks that caught me off guard. Some people seemed absolutely ecstatic that there was another Gaijin in their city.

And that floored me. There was only one other Gaijin-group I knew about who influenced a large populace. The Saints. Already I prepared myself for a meeting with their supposed leader.

“Are they normally like that?” I whispered to Yasuda as we stared at someone who openly proclaimed that Gaijins were their friends. Certainly I could get behind such a notion, but… he seemed a little unhinged.

Yasuda considered for a second too long. “Sometimes. We don’t have that many Saint members who stay in the military, so I am not too caught up on their brand of… zealousness. I have heard they get worse whenever Miss Roth shows up.”

“I…” didn’t really know that to think of that. “I should probably watch out for them, then.”

“Probably for the best.”

Conversations petered out and started again abruptly. The shuffling of feet muffled most noises, and I felt that the line seemed to grow longer the more we waited.

“Mister David,” Akisame tugged my pants and pointed across from us. “Look.”

My breath immediately caught in my throat. Yasuda saw my reaction and added, “I guess Ikshiizu does look interesting.”

I refrained from strangling him and his dumb standard. To say it was interesting is to put it lightly.

The clouds behind a section of Transition Torii Gates disappeared, finally revealing what was hidden. A massive sprawling cityscape with large multi tiered pagoda-like buildings. The city itself seemed to be broken up by a network of rivers with two larger ones that split it in roughly four equal parts.

Honestly, I was confused why people would ever want to move out from this city to those shacks back in the village.

We must have been on a mountain or something because I could barely make out the forms of people walking along the streets. In the rivers, I caught gondolas and small boats meandering down with produce or people as their cargo.

Yet, I think most of my attention was stolen by the sky. Because, rising out of the where the two largest rivers intersected, was a cylindrical platform.

It seemed utterly massive compared to most of the buildings I had seen in the city. I had no idea how high it was, but the structure extended up to where we were currently, which also seemed to be in the clouds. Circling around the pillar like some giant snake, was a black chain that extended out over the city, and I followed it to see a floating island that sat amongst the clouds, idling right over the city itself.

Even my sixth sense seemed to be seeing some kind of city with a massive book floating over it. Not sure what that meant, but according to the system screen’s I didn’t know if I was welcome.

A problem, I reluctantly pushed for later. Or sooner depending on how things go.

In any case, they certainly liked things large and grand… I wondered if someone was compensating for something?

Despite that intrusive thought, it took Akisame and Yasuda combined to push me along the line as we moved forwards. I was too in awe of the stark difference from the villages to actually pay attention.

They had to do it again when I saw the outline of some hazy blue cylinder in the horizon that extended up beyond the clouds and into the Inverse Ocean above all our heads.