uch..." I uttered as I sat up from the dried rocky riverbed I had found myself in after running away from a Yôkai attack while collecting firewood. It was the height of summer and even though the inside of the forest was much cooler than the outside, it was still sweltering. Wondering how the people working on the fields must be feeling, I stood up. Having gone shirtless had been the right choice, as I took note of the scratches covering my body while turning around to orient myself. These would heal, but my supply of clothes and my more than lacking stitching skills were drying up. I did not want to run out of clothes to wear and return to civilization wearing a loincloth made of some animal's pelt.

The Yôkai that had attacked me must have lost sight of me, as there was no sign of impending danger. However, in this forest I could not let my guard down; three months in this environment had taught me enough to be vigilant at all times. Picking up the firewood that had scattered all around me, I contemplated the time I had spent training in the forest. The results of the past months had been astonishing, putting it mildly. Not only was my progress in physical training beyond the humanly possible, but I had also reached new heights in my mental strength. Having been thrown into the forest with the words 'I won't help you unless you're about to be killed', I had grown stronger in all areas, as a deep-seated survival instinct, dulled by complacent live in a well-protected society, seemed to have reawakened.

Even though I had expected it, I was neither covered in scars, nor did I have calluses covering my palms from all the menial labor I had to put into sustaining everyday life. Collecting firewood was the least taxing one amongst the daily work. Looking at my toned body, I wondered if my development had anything to do with the fact that only half a soul was living in this mortal vessel. However, there was no other readily available explanation, considering the human body worked differently, normally. A person who never properly worked out could not achieve what I had in such a short period of time. It was as if I had lived in the wild for years and not started out as a man of an average build. Unlike power workout, which I heard Hollywood stars did within a few months to gain the perfect bodies for certain roles in films, my progress was a hundred percent functional.

Jumping out of the riverbed, nearly my own height, from a standing position, I secured the pile of firewood in my arms and began to dash in the direction of the border of the forest. I was running at a speed I had previously only seen in the Olympic games, but unlike in the hundred meter dash, I was sustaining it over a longer period of time without feeling any fatigue. In the past few months I had already gotten used to leaving behind common sense, and fewer and fewer things happening to me had been able to surprise me, until at one point I took everything as it was, accepting that this world, Gensôkyô, was just one in which wonders were everyday occurrences. I explained this impossible development with the spiritually charged nature of the forest and the world at large.

As I broke free from the boundaries of the forest and came out of the woods, I sprinted the last remaining few hundred meters at an even higher speed. Suika had taught me that everything could be used for training, and I had engraved it deeply into my spirit.

"Suika, I brought firewood!" I yelled as I came to a stop before the small cottage I had finally built over the last month. It was still crude, but better than the pile of wood and planks it had been before. The Oni in question emerged, carrying a purple gourd - a treasure of the Oni, which never ran out of Sake - and looked at me approvingly.

"You're getting faster. I think you're ready," She stated, as she looked at the scratches covering my upper body.

"So, we're going deeper in?" I asked excitedly, as I interrupted my work. I had been steadily progressing deeper into the forest over the past two weeks, where the Yôkai encounters became more and more dangerous. While at this point I could already fight with the majority of low level supernatural beings that had their own territories within the outer rim of the forest, there were always the few much stronger roaming ones that had no fixed area of activity. The one I had met earlier was one just like that, a large ox-headed man wearing a Kimono, featuring hoofs instead hands, and lacking legs. I had encountered that one several times already, and each time he had attacked me with great delight, as if it was a sport.

"No, we're going through," Was her definite answer, as she took a deep gulp from her Sake gourd. I stared at her, then at the house I had so painstakingly completed only a few days earlier. "Are you saying we'll be leaving this place behind?" I asked, hoping for a negative answer.

"Only if you don't fail along the way," Suika stated and grinned. Now I would be considered a coward if I lost, since there was the chance that I was subconsciously clinging to this little abode I had constructed and held back while fighting or running away. Sighing, I went into the hut and packed my belongings. Before putting on a shirt I checked if I was bleeding anywhere, but the scratches were only superficial ones. My natural healing abilities were also beyond normal, and by the end of the day, there would be no signs of the scratches left.

"Alright, I'm ready," I said, as I came out of the hut again.

"Let's go."

We were hopelessly lost. Or rather, I was, while Suika was amusing herself about my orientation within this impossible forest. Even though Yôkai Mountain was towering above us as an unmistakable landmark, I had managed to venture deeper into the woods than necessary. I would look up to the mountain periodically, to find that it was getting closer, even though the little Oni had told me to go through the forest to the mountain's left, in an as straight as possible line.

Soon we came upon a relatively shallow river with wide riverbanks covered in pebbles, a recourse from the dense forest surrounding it. The water was flowing gently, since the elevation level of the area was still rather flat, and I decided to take a break and fill up my inner reserves with the clear and cool water. Suika did not need water, she had her Sake, which I had only ever tasted on my wounds. The fact that it had burned as if I had actually been torched was proof enough that it was potent alcohol. Not to mention that it possessed healing properties, which seemed to have seeped into my body over time; in the first month I had sustained a collection of rather gruesome wounds from encounters with the supernatural, and it was all thanks to the Sake that I was not only alive but also without visible scars.

Just as I put my flask underwater to fill it, something suddenly shot out from the water and grabbed my wrist. Even though the river was so clear, I could not see what it was and nearly let go of my container. However, after a moment I realized that the pull was not very strong, as I barely had to move a muscle to stay on shore. Tilting my head questioningly, I inspected the invisible force locked around my wrist closer, noticing that it seemed to repel the water around it. For a split second, as long as it took for me to blink with my right eye, my left eye opened and beheld the world in its most truthful form. I had learned to use it on my own, without the need of a trigger like Byakuren's sutra, but it was still only limited to nothing more than a snapshot-like view. In that instant, I saw that a humanoid figure, submerged underwater, clung to my wrist with one hand.

As the instant passed, I grabbed the invisible hand and pulled, causing a great splash of water as something landed on the shore. Not letting go, I intensified my grip, pulled the humanoid in and grabbed where I assumed the neck to be with the hand that had been freed from its clutch. It missed its mark and touched upon something soft, causing the humanoid to squeal in surprise - with a female voice. In the next moment, a mass of water appeared out of nowhere and knocked me down. Despite this, I did not let go of the invisible female's wrist, causing her to fall with me.

In the meantime, Suika put down her gourd and watched the whole ordeal with a baffled expression, looking down at her Sake and back at the situation, maybe wondering - for the first time in her long life - if she was drunk.

"Reveal yourself, I won't let go!" I proclaimed while sitting up, and grabbed at the thin air before me, where I presumed the invisible female to be. It was right on the mark, but I got hold of a small hard object, which I reflexively pulled on, causing it to come undone. Looking at my palm I was surprised to see a golden key in it. Turning around, I found that apparently that key had literally been the key to the girl's invisibility. A girl, looking to be in her late teens, wearing a blue overalls, was revealed. She had similarly blue hair, which was tied in twin-tails, and wore a green cap with a white wisp-like symbol on the front. Her blue eyes were looking at me fearfully, but also with a desperate strength, as she pointed at me with a blue, futuristic-looking rifle.

"Give me back that key or I'll shoot!" She exclaimed with a shrill voice and motioned with the rifle's barrel at my right hand, which was holding the golden key. I took the opportunity to throw it up into the air, causing the girl to look at it with a surprised expression, giving me ample time to use my freed right hand to take hold of the gun and yank it from her hand. I let go of her wrist with my left and caught the key before she could fully realize what had happened, put it into my pants' pocket and pointed the weapon at her, all in a fluid succession of moves. "Fueeeh!" Was the cute sound she made as she saw herself staring into the barrel of her own gun.

I took my time to get a closer look of her, noticing that under her completely dry overalls she seemed to be wearing nothing. The suspenders, which were at least sufficiently wide, were the only thing between my view and her bare skin. Before I could get drawn in by the sight of her beautiful smooth and white skin, I noticed that she was carrying a large green backpack, apparently filled to the brink and ready to burst at its seams.

"Now, let's not get violent. Who are you?" I asked, reinforcing my inquiry with a little shake of the weapon. I had never fired any gun before, and I did not even know how to use this futuristic piece of hardware, but the girl before me appeared to be unaware of that. The bluff had worked.

"I-I-I'm-Kawashiro-Nitori, I'm-a-Ka-ka-kappa, I'm-o-o-one-thousand-three-hundred-and-forty-one-years-old-and-I'm-an-e-en-engineer-of-the-Kappa-society. I'm-si-si-single, my-favorite-food-is-cu-cu-cucumber-and-" The girl machine-gunned her self-introduction, stumbling over her own words, until I felt the need to stop her. "Okay okay, relax. I won't harm you, calm down," I said and sighed, lowering the gun.

The tension slightly escaped the self-proclaimed Kappa, and she looked at me with suspicion. I looked back curiously, causing her to startle and look away, as if ready to run and dive into the river. However, she stopped herself and turned back, visibly gathering her courage.

"P-P-Please, return my key and my water rifle!" Nitori stuttered and looked me in the eye with determination. Within a few seconds of my scrutinizing gaze she shrank away nervously and started to look elsewhere, apparently most preferably at my shoes or her own heavy worker boots. In the meantime I took a closer look at the gun I had taken away from her, wondering how exactly this was a water gun. Turning my head, I saw Suika looking in our direction with an amused expression, so I decided to play a prank on her, by shooting her with the water gun.

As I pulled the trigger, incredible recoil caused the rifle to kick upwards, and what I perceived to be a white beam shot forward, tracing a line over her body and through the forest behind her. A split second later, everything that had been touched was cut in half in a violent explosion, as the little Oni was knocked back behind the split tree she had been sitting on, while the foliage behind her was blown away.

I stared at the rifle in my hand in disbelief, remembering that it had been aimed at me only moments ago, then turned to look at Nitori, who was staring at me with a pale face and big eyes. Then I remember that I had hit the little Oni.

"Oh shi- Suika!" I cursed and called out to her, but a hand rose from behind the severed tree.

"I'm fine..." She said, slowly standing up. A red line had formed on her face, and just as she stood up completely, her clothes seemed to remember that they had been cut, as they chose to fall apart right then, starting in the middle of her petite body. Before I could react, Suika balled up her right fist and gathered them back together with her power. A vein visibly popped up on her forehead as she looked in my direction, seeing the weapon in my hand.

"Yo, Kyôma, what's the big deal? You want a beating?" She said, a false grin spreading across her face that showed off her pointy fangs.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know... I mean..." I was grasping for words, when I turned around to Nitori in an effort to push part of the blame on her. "You said this was a water rifle! What's with this destructiveness!"

"Eeek! B-b-but, it-it is a water rifle! It sh-sh-shoots a beam of highly pressurized water from a tiny hole in the front," She brought forth stuttering, while shrinking further under my desperate glare. I turned back to Suika, who was approaching me dangerously, her right fist still balled up, grinning up at me.

"Uhm... oops, hehe," I muttered, out of options.

"This is Ibuki Suika, my master," I explained to Nitori, who was shaking in her boots as she stood at attention before the little Oni. The dozen or so bumps on my head were still stinging from Suika doing what she called 'cooling my head'. I was lucky she had not decided to drown me in the river or pay me back in kind with the now confiscated water rifle.

"I-I-I-" The Kappa stuttered in the presence of Suika, even more than she had after I had threatened her with her own weapon. "I-It's a pl-pleasure me-meeting you, g-g-great Oni!" She finally brought forth while prostrating before the little Oni. I was taken aback by the severity of her fear from her, and must have made a questioning expression, since Suika found it necessary to educate me.

"The Kappa, just like the Tengu, used to be our servants. She must remember how it was during our reign back in the good old days, isn't that right, Kappa-chan?" The little Oni explained and put a hand on the Kappa's shoulder, who seemed to solidify into stone, while at the same time flinched so hard I thought she would break into pieces. Considering the fact that I grew a number of bumps and my ears were ringing from my master knocking me around a little, I could see where the fear of the little Oni came from.

"Don't worry, Kappa-chan, I'm not back to take over Yôkai Mountain. I'm just passing through with this idiot here. This guy's name is Kagami Kyôma. He's a human, kinda. But just call him idiot," Suika finally said, introducing me in a less than favorable manner. However, after all that happened, I knew better than to protest against such treatment, and kept my mouth shut.

"Anyways, we are lost-"

"You're lost, I'm just having fun watching you."

"I'm lost, so could you show me the way through the forest, please, Kawashiro-san?" I asked in the most amiable tone possible, correcting myself without letting any irritation show on my face at the jab from the little Oni. Nitori looked up fearfully, but seemed to pity me under the circumstances, as if I were a fellow sufferer. She placed herself in perfect seiza, opened her backpack and rummaged through it for a bit, until she pulled out a device that looked like a smart phone.

"This device is an electronic map. It can show you your current location while updating as you move. Please take this and find your way out of the forest," She said, probably happy at the opportunity to guide Suika out of the Great Yôkai Forest and avert a possible crisis for all Kappa and Tengu living on Yôkai Mountain.

"That's a GPS device, isn't it? I have a feeling that this won't work... Are there any satellites in Gensôkyô?" I cautiously inquired.

"What's a satellite?" Nitori tilted her head and asked.

"I knew it!"

When I explained to Nitori what a satellite was, her fear from Suika and me took a backseat, and her eyes began to sparkle with overflowing interest. Although I was not sure myself how the GPS system worked exactly, I could at least explain that it was done by determining your location through satellites and sending it to a device on the ground. Which also led me to believe that the device the Kappa had given us was useless in a world without satellites.

"This satellite idea is quite interesting. It reminds me of the mission to the Lunar Capital. Nobody thought of mapping the world like this in Gensôkyô though. Maybe because there are other factors at work which can cause people to get lost," She explained, seemingly having forgotten her initial fear towards us. "No, this device, a GPS you called it? It works differently. In Gensôkyô we have several spiritual hotbeds, collections of spiritual energy, you could say. This device was built to locate these points, calculate your distance from them and find your exact position in relation to them."

"So the principle is the same as that behind the GPS, huh?" I ignored the remark about a Lunar Capital for now.

"From your explanation, I gather that this must be the case. In this instance, the Moriya Shrine, the city of the Kappa society and the Geyser center entrance are used to determine your position, since they are the closest," Nitori stated as she switched on the device. The screen came to life and showed an arrowhead in the middle, which I assumed determined our current position. The background started to become clearer, as the small river formed, followed by the surrounding topography. With a skillful swipe from her two fingers, the map shrunk and more of the overall area became visible. It looked like any map in geography class, with rivers in blue, low elevation in green and high elevation in brown. Right next to our position, which was in yellow, a peak of dark brown rose up.

"This is Yôkai Mountain, and about halfway to the summit is the Moriya Shrine. The spiritual power emanated by the Kami living there makes for one point," Nitori proceeded to explain, as she pointed at the darkest spot of the elevation.

"Wait wait... are you saying that this device uses the energy given off by Kami as a fixed point? What if they decide to take a trip somewhere?" I asked, unbelieving of the fact that this device could have such a remarkable flaw.

"Yes, but they never leave the mountain, so it's alright," The Kappa responded innocently and considered the topic over, as she continued. "This here is the Kappa society." She touched a macro key on the side of the screen, turning the geographical display into a political one. She pointed at the biggest red dot, at the foot of the mountain on the other side of the forest. I saw that there was a tiny dot labeled Moriya Shrine further north and a slightly bigger one labeled Tengu society near the top of the mountain.

"Lemme see, lemme see," Suika suddenly said and easily pulled Nitori's arm down to her eye level. Before the Kappa could react, the little Oni had already seen the locations of the Tengu and Kappa societies. I assumed that she did not really need to see the map to be able to find her way there, but it appeared that Nitori did not know that.

"Uhh..." Was the only response she could produce, tears in her eyes at the fact that she had not only revealed her own hometown but also that of the Tengu to an Oni. "Don't worry, I have no interest in enslaving you again," Suika stated, her choice of words clearly dangerous. "But I will visit you and ask for some Sake."

"Uhhhhh..." Nitori made, as she seemed closer to starting to cry out loud than ever before.

"Err, Kawashiro-san, where is the Geyser center entrance?" I asked, trying to change the topic. Sniffling, the Kappa touched another macro key, which turned the map into an economic one. I wondered just where could economy be found in a largely unpopulated forest, but I saw that there was a road leading through it and up the mountain to the Moriya Shrine, which had a torii label instead of the red dot it had had before. Surrounding the Kappa city were small sticks, and I assumed that this meant they were growing some kind of crops there. Only the Tengu society did not appear to have any label, meaning that maybe they did not produce anything. On the other side of the forest, the direction we had been trying to go in, was a black dot, labeled Geyser center entrance.

"What exactly is the Geyser center?" I finally asked, knowing that geysers were obviously naturally formed fountains of hot water and steam, keeping in mind that Gensôkyô might have other notions of this term.

"It's from where the hot springs of Yôkai Mountain are heated," Nitori responded and pointed at the dot. "The main facility is located underground, the surface is a tourist spot with a large geyser shooting up periodically to let out the excessive heat from the nuclear furnace. Not that many tourists come to visit, since it's still part of the Great Yôkai Forest." As she continued to explain, she slowly regained her composure and even returned to her previously excited self. I realized that she must really be a technophile, as she began to line out the functions of the facility, which was also used for nuclear fusion tests aimed at unlimited free energy, and... did she say nuclear furnace and nuclear fusion tests?

"Wait, hold on. Did I get you right? Nuclear fusion?" I had to make sure I was not just hearing things. "Are you saying nuclear fusion is being performed in Gensôkyô?"

"Yes, is that so strange?" She had the nerve to ask.

"But isn't that really dangerous? As far as I know, couldn't an accident from that destroy everything in a radius of several kilometers?"

"Yes, it is, but it's really fascinating!" Nitori was a scientist through and through - and clearly a mad one, if I might add.

"Where did you even get the knowledge about nuclear fusion from? Even in the outside world energy creation through that hasn't been properly researched yet. How do you contain it, so that radioactivity doesn't just irradiate everything here?" I bombarded her with questions. I had experienced the Tohoku Earthquake when I was younger, and learned of the fear that stemmed from the consequences of having nuclear power plants that were outdated by several decades, facing a situation in which multiple such power plants could experience meltdown due to a Tsunami disabling their coolant facilities. I never wanted to experience something like that again, and wanted answers regarding the security of the nuclear fusion performed in Gensôkyô. Of course, I did not understand enough of the properties required during fusion reactions, but I knew that everything nuclear bore an innate danger to all life.

"The Kami of the Moriya Shrine came from the outside world, and they brought the knowledge of nuclear energy. They granted a Hell Raven the power of Yatagarasu, and she has been working part-time at the nuclear furnace. She can generate nuclear fusion inside her body and release it through a control rod," The Kappa explained, in no way dispersing my doubts and in fact increasing my worries.

"What do you mean, inside her body?"

"She ate a part of Yatagarasu and gained the power of the sun. Apparently the sun uses nuclear fusion to create its heat, and we only feel a little of it because it's so far away from us," She proceeded, beginning to delve into astrophysics. "If I hadn't experienced so many solar eclipses, I wouldn't have thought that the moon and the sun are actually spheres in the sky. However, when I found a telescope at the border, I was finally able to verify this thesis, and-"

"So the nuclear fusion is in fact supernatural in nature... then I guess there's nothing to fear," I interrupted Nitori before she could go deeper into details about space, discarding my common sense in the process.

"Yes, there is nothing to fear. If something happens, the Kami will make things right."

Her trust in the Kami of the mountain seemed to be stronger than the fear of a nuclear meltdown basically in front of her doorsteps, but I was not one who could argue against that, considering the fact that I was arguing the merits and dangers of nuclear energy with a Kappa. Sighing, I picked up another topic, which Nitori had mentioned on the passing.

"You said the Kami are from the outside world? When did they come to Gensôkyô?"

"They arrived about four years ago, but time doesn't have much meaning to us," The one-thousand-three-hundred-and-forty-one-years-old Kappa responded, followed by a remark I, as a human, felt completely unnecessary. For me, four years was a considerable amount of time, as that was how long it would have taken me about that long to finish my Bachelor's degree, if I had stayed in the outside world. The fleeting nature of human life was put into stark contrast to the existence of those seemingly eternal beings, so I understood where the envy and fear of them came from.

"You are referring to multiple Kami, but how many are there?"

"There are three, two full Kami and one human, who is an Arahitogami."

Arahitogami, a human who was revered as a Kami during his lifetime, due to performing miracles on par with those of actual Kami. As long as they received worship, Arahitogami would retain a divine position, would not age and at the same time be alive per the definition of humans. Unlike Kami, who are just existing without life as long as they are worshipped, and slowly fading away or becoming Yôkai when forgotten, an Arahitogami would continue his existence as a human, once no longer worshipped. Of course, they would also begin to age again, which is why those who once tasted the fruit of eternal youth try everything to keep it. However, to me the fact that the Arahitogami came from the outside world only four years ago meant something different. I was thinking that he would be able to tell me more about his experiences in Gensôkyô as a fellow human. Then again, a person who was considered a living Kami could have a bad personality, which deterred me from explicitly stating my desire to meet him right away.

"I'd rather not approach Yôkai Mountain. Knowing the prideful Tengu, they would try to attack me and stop me from returning to power," Suika stated nonchalantly, clearly implying that it would end at trying. She had clearly read my wish to see a fellow human from a similar time period. "That Arahitogami won't disappear even after you're done with your training. Then you can go up the mountain yourself. Well, that's if you don't die before then." She laughed off my possible death so easily, and I remembered that she was a true Oni. When looking at her appearance, aside from the horns, nobody would deduce that she was a hundred times more powerful than the strongest human. And her usual behavior, aside from drinking lots of alcohol, was also not very indicative of her actual age, which actually surpassed even Nitori's. "Hey, just now you thought something very rude, didn't you, Kyôma! That look just now makes me want to cool your head again."

"No, I just thought that you are such a good teacher, to be able to discern your disciple's desire to meet the Arahitogami so well," I said in a nonchalant way, at which Suika shrugged with a smile and dropped the topic. "Thank you for everything, Kawashiro-san. We'll get going then."

"Be safe on your journey," Nitori responded and bowed slightly. Waving, I walked ahead, while the little Oni returned the futuristic water-rifle to the Kappa.

"To beat us Oni, you will need something a little stronger than this. But you're on the right track, this stung a little," Suika said with a menacing, canine-exposing grin. Laughing out loud, she followed me, while Nitori slumped down. The last statement had been the last straw to her fear, as her legs became unable to support her anymore. She could only watch us depart, while sitting at the riverbank, burned out as if she had just worked for a week without any sleep.

"Ah, I forgot to return the key to her. Oh well, I'll do it when I come back here," I murmured, as I felt the weight of the golden key, which I had taken from Nitori in our struggle at the river, in my pocket after jumping over a fallen tree. "This reminds me... Suika, could it be that we're headed to the Geyser center?"

"Not exactly, we'll be going a little further than that. But you'll see soon enough," The little Oni said and stayed quiet for a while afterwards, leaving me to use my senses and avoid any roaming Yôkai that were active at this time of the day. It was sometime between three or four in the afternoon, judging from the position of the sun, so we would have to hurry if we wanted to get out of the forest before it became dark. At dusk Yôkai activity would be increased, and at night even more dangerous nocturnal ones would begin to act.

At this time of the day, the forest was deceptively peaceful, albeit very quiet. The sun was high up in the sky and even underneath the dense forest canopy sunspots from occasional holes were visible as beams of light, shining down like divine beacons. Within those, particles would dance as reflections, with alluring movements that appeared choreographed rather than the result of air currents.

"Those are wisps."

Suika had explained the phenomenon of particles appearing to be performing a dance. Those wisps would soon disappear, so they made a last effort to lure in victims and feed on them to regain some energy. Only insects and the occasional bird would be fooled, but rarely did those remnants of spiritual beings survive long enough to recover enough strength to actively hunt for prey again. She told me that they posed no threat to me and would disperse if I walked through them. I paid attention not to anyway.

We walked for a while without encountering any wildlife, causing me to wonder about the atmosphere of the forest. It appeared that the closer to Yôkai Mountain we got, the fewer animals lived in the forest, and instead it became more populous with Yôkai. However, even those seemed to have disappeared from the vicinity, and the silence laid itself on my mind in the form of an invisible pressure that assaulted all my senses. While I honed them to their utmost limit, I continued to walk at a normal pace, not paying attention whether Suika was still following me or not. She could handle herself, and she knew the way even without the GPS device I was holding firmly; under these, and any other circumstances in which we were alone, I had to pay attention to my safety first and foremost.

As expected, something was there.

The moment I felt that something staring at me, I knew that it was already within my safety range. It had been able to enter that range without me noticing, and only when it directly looked at me did I realize its presence. I felt no hostility, but the nagging feeling of being watched was something that could not be simply ignored. Turning around, I saw that Suika was taking a big gulp from her purple Sake gourd, after which she looked at me with an expression that seemed to say 'deal with it yourself'. Shaking my head, I sighed and proceeded to continue our journey through the woods. As long as the owner of that pair of eyes decided not to show itself or turn its gaze into one filled with hostility, it could just as well belong to a harmless animal. Even though there was clearly intent in the stare, one that could only belong to a human - or a supernatural being - I did not feel overly concerned by it for now.

I was considering the fact that I could feel a stare, whereas normally people would not be able to tell when somebody looked at them from a hidden position. Even when being almost breathed down the neck, as long as there was no physical sensation, one would not know that somebody was staring at them. However, I had learned quickly that apparently in the wilderness of Gensôkyô, humans developed skills that were unthinkable in the outside world, including "feeling" the presence of living beings.

We continued on for a long time, but the eyes continued to follow us, and I could feel that it was never losing sight of me. It became quite obvious that I was the target, for one reason or another, even as there was still no hint of animosity. Maybe it was a curious Yôkai with little combat capabilities, who wanted to see what a human and an Oni were doing together in the Great Yôkai Forest.

The device I got from the Kappa showed that it would not take much longer before we reached the border of the forest, and then it would be a short distance to the Geyser center. I assumed that, despite not knowing the exact destination, we would arrive where Suika intended to go by nightfall. I just hoped that within the next half an hour the observer would not turn hostile for one reason or another.

My hopes were dashed, however, just as we left the forest behind us. It must have been a more opportune place than the forest, since, as if a switch had been flipped, I could feel killing intent surrounding me from all directions. Dropping my bag and taking a cautious stance, I prepared for the ambush, as a strong buzzing began to fill the air. It was similar, but different from the din of the cicada in summer, endlessly amplified as if somebody had switched up the volume. A multi-colored cloud emerged from the tall grass all around us, and swirled in intricate patterns to create an impenetrable encirclement. The noise became almost unbearable, sounding like a discordant canon of helicopter-engines. I realized that the cloud consisted of countless bugs of all kinds, including some I was almost sure did not exist in the outside world.

"Oh, it's that cockroach Yôkai," Suika commented loudly, so that I could hear her. She did not seem overly concerned about the mass of insects that were surrounding us, and drank some more alcohol, making me wonder how her body worked. If I had been studying to become a doctor, I would have risked my life to ask the little Oni for allowing me to do a check-up on her.

"I'm not a cockroach! I'm a firefly!" An indistinguishable voice came from within the cloud of insects, which parted in one place to reveal a teenage kid with short green hair, wearing a sleeveless white shirt. The upper arms were human, but their color turned darker the closer they came to the insect-like elbow joint, with the lower arms being of a shiny black, like chitin. The fingers looked like insect legs and ended in nail-less claws. A black cape adorned the bare shoulders and parted in the middle, halfway down, resembling insect wings. Short black pants showed off the fact that the legs were the same as the arms, with the feet covered by sleek black boots. Two black appendages protruded from the androgynous kid's head, which were clearly feelers. The pair of green-tinted black eyes peering at Suika possessed pupils much larger than those of a human, and glittered from the refractions of light, making me think that they were compound eyes put into human eye sockets. The boy, or girl, clearly had the appearance of an insect, but possessed a certain beauty and grace, unbefitting of a creepy crawler.

"And you shall be our meal. Get them!" The self-proclaimed firefly ordered the swarm of insects to attack. I looked at Suika, only to receive a look that seemed to say 'go ahead, try something yourself and let me watch you fail, first'. Shaking my head, I readied myself for the myriad-legged onslaught. A shiver ran down my spine, owing to the fact that unless I was able to stop them, I would truly feel millions of feet all over my body, possibly crawling into every orifice and suffocate me. With these thoughts, I decided to try a move I thought an Oni with their pointlessly overwhelming strength would; drawing as much breath as possible into my lungs, I held it inside for a moment, before releasing it in a burst forward. With the increased lung capacity from a rigorous training in the past three month, and the near super-human strength I had gained, I was indeed able to create enough pressure to create a small wall of air in front of me, which pushed aside the army of insects assaulting me, as they passed me with no harm.

"Wha-?" The androgynous firefly Yôkai mouthed at the impossibility of my feat.

"I know, it seems impossible, right?" I said, knowing full well that my physical capabilities had reached a state in which they defied common sense. However, I had no time to be impressed with myself, as I took the opportunity to rush forward at the surprised Yôkai. He, or she, tried to take to the air, spreading the wings-like cape; however, the reaction came too late, even as the kid was able to get off the ground. I jumped and propelled myself forward like a cannon ball, and reached out with my hands to grab the firefly's shoulders. Crashing into each other in midair, my weight allowed for me to push down on the Yôkai, resulting in a hard landing on the kid's back, with me on top. The cloud of insects dispersed at this, with their control cut off from the shock the impact had caused to their controller.

"Oh, you're a girl," I commented, now that I was able to get a closer look at my opponent and see the barely protruding breasts under the shirt.

"Of course I am! What did you think?! Now get off me!" She yelled from under me and tried to struggle. I simply mounted her as if we were in a martial arts tournament fight. I knew Yôkai were physically stronger than humans, but it did not seem to be the case with this one, as she was unable to lift me off of her. It seemed that I did not cause her rather petite body any harm with my weight either, though.

"Now, tell me why you can simply ignore the Spellcard Rules and attack humans physically," I began my inquiry. I was wary of her hands, as they looked like they could cause a lot of pain when she decided to scratch me, but other than that she appeared to be powerless. "If you don't speak I won't get off of you." The girl struggled a little more, realizing its futility before long; she gave up and looked at me with defiant eyes. From close up I could see that the black irises had no distinction from the pupils and were indeed compound eyes. Even though the irises were almost double the size of a human's, her eyes were beautiful in their own right. Her finely chiseled, unexpectedly mature face, was complemented by those eyes and gained an aesthetic touch that could never be seen in a human. Maybe I was simply fascinated by such a big bug, just as I had been fascinated by catching stag beetles in the forest when visiting my grandparents in the countryside.

"You just thought something rude, didn't you?" The girl under me commented.

"Why does it appear as if everyone can read my mind these days? I just thought I caught myself a splendid bug," I voiced my opinion, earning me an angry glare. "Either way, behave yourself, cooperate, and I will let you go."

"Let me go first, then I'll talk."

"You don't make the demands when you're the one lying on your back with somebody sitting on top of you."

"Fine, but promise you'll get off of me after I tell you. You're heavy!" She tried to make it sound like an insult.

"How can you say that! At least call me big-boned," I acted hurt, resulting in the insect girl clicking her tongue.

"Anyway, a while ago the feeling of being suppressed by an invisible law was gone. Before, Yôkai had been bound by the Spellcard Rules, which means that humans were rarely, if ever, attacked. But then one day I felt that I could attack humans without using Spellcards. Since then I have been waiting in the forest for a human to come by," She explained, not giving much information after all.

"I guess it was your bad luck to meet under these circumstances then?" I goaded her with a grin.

"I-I was only surprised when you jumped like that. You won't succeed again!" She argued and once again tried to push me off. This time I let her and stood up, pulling her along by one arm. Indeed, the skin around her wrist felt hard and smooth, like porcelain, but it had the warmth of a human's skin. Keeping my hold on her, even as she tried to draw back, I turned to see what had happened to Suika after the insect storm had passed.

"Hey, you promised you'd let me go," My prisoner complained, but was unable to free herself with her own strength. Unexpectedly, an insect the size of a human was no stronger than one, but maybe that was simply due to my training.

"I promised to get off of you. I did," Was my response, a deadpan expression on my face.

"You Oni!" She cursed me, looking annoyed and angry, but also helpless.

"No, I'm just a human. Oni would be that one over there," I said and pointed at my companion, who seemed to be cleaning herself from the insects that had splattered against her impenetrable skin. She was completely unharmed, although her clothes were ripped to shreds in several places. I realized just how close a call my decision had been to divert the insects away from me instead of trying to weather their onslaught by closing my mouth and holding my nose shut.

"That's an Oni? She's just a little girl," The Yôkai dared to speak out loud, as her expression was filled with skepticism. Suika stopped in her endeavors and a deadly glare was shot in the firefly's direction.

"Shall I squash you with the power of an Oni? Even a cockroach of your size won't be able to stand up from that again," The little Oni murmured, loud enough for my prisoner to hear, who went pale at the sheer pressure in those words. I laughed, knowing that Suika was dead serious about it. Whenever somebody pointed out her size, she would rebuke that person in one way or another.

"What should we do with her, Suika?" I asked the true Oni, knowing that it would distress the firefly Yôkai to have her fate in the hands of the one who had just threatened to turn her into an unrecognizable stain by the roadside.

"Take her with us, we can feed her to the hell raven. I'm sure she never tasted cockroach before," Was the simple response, as she looked down on her clothes. "Damn, this is the second time today that my clothes were destroyed. I shouldn't wear human-made ones, they rip so easily." I wondered what Oni in Gensôkyô normally wore, considering the fact that there were female ones, unlike in classical literature; in historical depictions, they went topless and barefoot, only wearing a loincloth made of the fur of a tiger they slew themselves. I felt that if I tried to picture Suika in such an outfit, I would be committing a crime. Just as that thought passed my mind, she spun her head around and glared at me, a reflexive action in response to my thoughts, I assumed. Sighing, I wondered if that was because I had spent day and night with her for three months, resulting in a heightened awareness of each other's minds. After all, I was able to notice the minute changes in her attitude, especially when she wordlessly commanded me to 'deal with it'.

The insect girl's reaction to Suika's words were as expected, albeit a little delayed; her face was filled with fear and she tried to struggle against my iron grip, once again with no result. Suddenly, there was a crunching sound and I felt the pull from the wrist in my hand disappear completely. Spinning my head around, I noticed that I was holding a twitching severed lower arm, with its owner staring at it in disbelief. I followed her example.

"Waaaaaaah!!!" She cried out and slumped down to her knees. "I hate it when that happens!"

Following the spirit of her insect theme, it appeared that this particular one would be able to grow her severed limbs back over a short period of time. I had decided to keep her right arm, which had disconnected at the elbow, as a trophy, since it was proof of the first Yôkai I had completely defeated; the firefly Yôkai had broken down crying and only after many apologies did she finally calm down to a sorrowfully sobbing state. After a while she had introduced herself as Riguru, since she did not want to be called cockroach all the time; after all, her natural base was a firefly. Obviously, knowing her name did not prevent Suika from continuing to call her a cockroach.

I wondered if she was a foreign insect, since the pronunciation she used for her name did not sound Japanese. With my limited foreign language skills I could not even begin to fathom the actual way of writing her name. In either case, our party had gained a new, one-armed companion, disregarding the fact that she was coming along against her will.

The way ahead were hilly plains that soon changed into a more mountainous profile, the further we progressed. Suika had told me that it was the perfect opportunity for some training, so we had been jogging up the steep mountain road for the past hour. I noticed that my breath was not running out as quickly as I had expected, and we soon reached a pass that led us deeper into the mountain range. It was linked to the back of Yôkai Mountain, although its highest peak paled in comparison to the latter. While the former could only be considered alp-like, the latter was like the peak of the K2. Of course it was not that huge a difference, but if I had been told to climb it, I would have described it as such.

"We'll soon reach our destination," Suika finally said, as we descended into a forest-covered valley, just as the sun disappeared behind the mountain peak on the other side. The view was beautiful beyond words, and I stopped to look at it for a while. I noticed that there was a barren area in the middle of the otherwise green valley, the size of a football field, in the middle of the forest. I stared at it, wondering what caused this phenomenon. "Try it with the other eye, Kyôma." The Oni had predicted that I would find it strange, and told me to take a look with my truth-telling left eye. Just as I had done with Nitori earlier, I winked with my right eye and opened my left at the same time, to catch a quick glimpse of the scenery.

The center of the barren area was spewing forth a great mass of dark spiritual energy, like a geyser. I turned to look at the GPS device from the Kappa and noticed that we had long passed the entrance to the Geyser center, so this would be something different.

"That is the entrance to Former Hell," The Oni declared with a proud expression. "That is where you will be training from now on."