*****
Omoyo
*****
The day of the festival at the Shirogami Shrine had finally come and the roads were packed with people swarming the various tents and food stalls. Or, at least that's what normally happens on those things. But, unfortunately, that was not the case this year. There were still plenty of people out and about, but not enough to call the venue packed.
It was hardly a surprise, really. First, there was the appearance of the Piper. And now there were all these fires. People were sure to think twice before going out. My own folks weren't exactly thrilled, but there was hardly anything they could do to stop me from going, being far, far away at the big city and leaving me in my lonesome.
With that said, however, I was not in any mood to be here either. Nor did I think we should be here.
"There's no helping it," Toshiro had said back at the clubroom. "We already signed up to be helpers during the festival. No matter what, we need to help out. The shrine's also short on workers, so if we cancel, it'll really put a damper on people's trust with us."
"I get where you're coming from, Toshiro," I said to him. "I really do. But is that really what we should be doing when someone we know is in trouble?"
"And what do you propose we do, dear little Homura?" asked Aika.
I scowled, always irritated how Aika treated me like a little kid even though I was like a year older than her. But I put aside my irritation and replied, "Well, for starters, we can try looking for him. Between Toshiro's clairvoyance and Yuuna's sensory power, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"
But, unfortunately, Toshiro shook his head.
"I tried doing that as soon as the police said he was missing," he said. "But I couldn't see a thing. Not a surprise, really. It only takes half an hour to an hour to get to the nearest city by train, and he had more than that much time. This town is one thing, but the cities are usually full of dampeners. You know, those machines that get in the way of psychic powers."
"I know what a dampener is," I snapped, annoyed at being treated like an idiot.
"The point is," Toshiro said, "there is nothing we can do but to wait and bide our time. Until then, we need to go about business like usual. So we're all going to the festival, end of discussion. Especially you, Oota! Don't you dare skip out!"
Flashback ended, I surveyed the venue but other than sensing a few nervous feelings and some stubborn spirit, I didn't find anything unusual. Everything was pretty much normal, at least by however much the town's current situation would allow.
Among the dozens of festival goers I spotted Yuuna and Kyouko huddled together taking selfies in the middle of the road.
"I seriously don't get it," I muttered.
Aika happened to overhear and asked, "Don't get what?"
I flinched when I realized I spoke my thoughts out loud, and hesitated to answer Aika.
"It's nothing," I said to her. But she wasn't about to just let it go.
"It didn't sound like nothing," she said. "Come on. We're friends, aren't we? Spill."
She glanced at me with eyes that sent chills down my spine. At this point, I knew Aika wasn't going to let it go until I spilled everything. So that's what I decided to do.
With a sigh, I said, "If you really must know, I was wondering how those two could be all buddy-buddy with each other like that now." I jabbed my finger at the direction where Yuuna and Kyouko were. "I don't get how Yuuna could forgive Kyouko and be friends with her again after everything that happened, with those cruel pranks and nearly getting her killed."
Suddenly, Toshiro butt in and said, "If you ask me, I think that Yuuna easily forgave Kyouko because of her connection to her old life."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Deep down, Yuuna missed everything she lost because of the accident," Toshiro explained. "She probably feels that, in a way, by forging a new relationship with Kyouko, someone from her past, she was able to get back some of the things she lost. Kyouko, for her part, actually liked Yuuna a lot. She was just angry at Yuuna over a misunderstanding. She might act all mature, but she's really childish on the inside and didn't understand how seriously bad her pranks were. But I'm sure she's learned her lesson and won't do anything like that bullying stuff again."
I frowned at Toshiro and put my hands to my hips.
"Since when are you such an expert in psychology?" I asked.
Toshiro puffed his chest out proudly, beamed, and said, "I'm just that amazing."
I frowned deeper.
"You weren't just throwing out wild guesses, were you?" I asked.
Toshiro flashed a mischievous smile and said, "Who knows? Maybe, maybe not."
*****
Hisao
*****
"Ugh!" I groaned as I trudged down the road.
I know festivals are supposed to be fun and all, but I was never much of a nightlife person. I would still rather be at home, streaming shows on my phone or computer instead of enduring a feeling of disorientation that came from the bright lights clashing against the nighttime darkness combined with the loud noise generated from a gathering of lots of people. In a nutshell, I was just a teensy-bit, slightly miserable.
As I wandered the road that had tents lined up on either side, I could hear store clerks and sales pros inside beckoning for others to try out their food or games as loud as they could while mouthwatering smells hit my nose. The food was enough to get my mind off my earlier-described misery.
If you're wondering why I was just drifting through without helping out, it was because I was given a break time to freely enjoy the festival.
As I passed by a red tent selling cotton candy, I happened to hear some kids shouting, "Gung-gung! Iido! Iido! Faidi faidi!"
The kids were yelling to an old man in Chinese, who, while smiling spoke back. I didn't understand a lick of Chinese, but I was under the impression he said something like, "Slow down! Don't be in such a rush!"
One of the kids, I noticed, looked oddly familiar. I tried not to stare too much while pondering where I saw her before, but after catching a quick glimpse of my school's Kendo club captain passing by, I realized that the girl was like a mini-version of the Sword Princess.
In case you forgot, the Sword Princess is the nickname of some girl named Hanako from long, long time ago who reached Kendo tournament nationals. She belonged to a rival school, so my school's Kendo club saw her as some kind of enemy and kept a poster of her only to keep the hate going after years and years.
Could that girl be her grandkid or something? I wondered.
In the end though, I decided it was none of my business and pulled out my phone for an overdue login to some of my games. But no sooner did I open the app, I felt someone grab hold of my arm.
I turned around to see a lady standing behind me with her round cheeks flushed pink, as if she had just run a marathon.
"Excuse me," she spoke breathlessly. She pulled out her smartphone and showed me a picture of a young boy in a yellow t-shirt with a cartoon dog printed on the front. "Have you seen my son? This is him right here. I just took this picture about an hour ago."
It was pretty obvious what the situation was. The lady's son was missing and she's out looking for him. Since this was serious, I took as careful a look at the photo as I could, and racked my brain. But no matter how hard I pushed its gears, I could not recall ever seeing that kid. And even if we did run into each other, I was sure to not notice, being preoccupied both with my thoughts and my smartphone.
The mom probably realized what my answer was going to be because she withdrew her phone while wearing a visibly frustrated look.
Flustered, I wondered to myself, what should I do in this situation? My mind raced trying to think up the best solution as fast as possible. I was rushed by the lady's further souring demeanor.
"If you want, I can take you to the staff tent to get help," I suggested. That area doubled as the volunteers' break room and broadcasting station where announcements are made, spreading news all over the festival venue through strategically placed speakers. If there was anyplace to go about a missing kid, it would be that tent.
"Then take me there!" the mom demanded. Her whole attitude made clear that her patience was stretched to the breaking point, so I rushed to bring her over to the staff tent.
Once there, I introduced her to one of the people in charge and let them take over. But that would not be the end of it.
Mirai and the others were also at the tent. And as soon as I told them what happened, Mirai sprang to his feet and said that we all HAD to go out and help. The others quickly agreed.
"Can you tell where he'll be?" asked Isaneko.
Mirai grinned, flashed the "V" sign and replied, "Easy-peasy."
It was then that I remembered Mirai's power was clairvoyance.
He took a moment to close his eyes and use his psychic power to search for the missing kid. His smile quickly slipped into a frown and his eyes flew open.
"Not good," he said. "We need to get to him now!"
"Why? What's wrong?" asked Omoyo.
"I saw the kid's future," Mirai said. "And it's not a good one. He's in the woods behind the shrine grounds. It's not much of a wilderness, but it can still be dangerous if you're not careful. In a few minutes, he's going to panic and get himself hurt, bad! We need to go now!"
Yuna quickly got up, but suddenly Mirai reached out and grabbed her hand.
"Wait, no!" he cried out, sounding a bit panicked.
Yuna looked at him with bewildered eyes. She opened her mouth, but then remembered that she couldn't talk and quickly pulled out her phone. But before she could get a word in, Mirai spoke.
"W-we can't all go," he stammered. "Someone needs to stay behind to work with the shrine staff. Yeah, that's it! That's why, please stay here, Yuna."
I didn't really think much about it and just watched, but Yuna, and Omoyo, looked at Mirai looking unconvinced.
"Toshiro, just what - ?"
Omoyo was going to ask Mirai something, but then Isaneko suddenly cut in and said, "What are you all standing around for? In case you all forgot, we have a kid that's in trouble right now."
"R-right! That's right!" Mirai cried out. "Sorry, Yuna. Just hold down the fort for us! Thanks!"
He left no more room for discussion, grabbing my hand and pulling me along as we all ran out of the tent. We all followed him as we raced around the shrine grounds and dove into the dark woods. I followed Mirai as best I could, faithful that he would know the way. But the woods were way too thick, with branches and tree leaves hitting my face and getting in the way of my sight. That combined with the cloak of night made it almost inevitable that we would all end up separated from one another. It wasn't until I ran into a tree that I stopped and realized that I was alone.
"Ow!" I cried out. It was more out of surprise than pain. I had my Psy-Armor on so nothing could really hurt me. "Hold up, guys!"
I called for the others to wait for me, but didn't get any response back.
"Guys?"
Still nothing. I was all alone.
