Frantically, I pulled out my phone, turned on its flashlight function and looked around, but I couldn't see any traces of my clubmates. I strained my ears, but other than natural, but creepy, forest sounds, I couldn't hear a thing.
A swear word left my lips.
"Now what do I do?" I wondered aloud.
Like Mirai said, the woods around the shrine weren't much of a wilderness. You could even call it a dwarf when compared to the lands claimed by the town. However, woods were woods, and people still get lost in them from time to time. Without Mirai and his clairvoyance, I wasn't sure I'd be able to find my way out.
I sighed.
"Guess I got no choice but to wait," I mumbled. "I hope they find that kid."
Whatever my situation, the kid's took priority. I had my Psy-Armor, so I was sure to be okay. But that kid's probably normal. And if Mirai's clairvoyance was right, something seriously bad could happen to him. Mirai and the others should be able to do something about the kid on their own, but I still felt bad that I wasn't going to be much help. Though, I was unsure just how much help I'd be even if I managed to stick with them.
Just as I had decided to stay put and wait, I heard grass rustle in a way like someone stepping on them. The sound repeated and got louder and louder until I turned around. Standing just a few feet away from me was a man in a plain kimono, colored pavement gray. I was careful not to shine my phone's light on his face, but the light was still bright enough that I could clearly see his face, well sort of. His whole face was covered by a white mask with red line squiggled to form the feature of a snarling dog. Well, I think it's a dog. The features of the mask did look like a dog's, but it had two extra lines across the sides that looked like whiskers, like a cat fish's.
I was a bit relieved at first, thinking that my ticket out of the woods had just walked up to me. But then I got wary. By the look of his getup, he was a festival goer, but what was he doing here? Although I wasn't one to talk, the woods were part of private property. And I don't think anyone would be here after dark, all alone, unless they had a good reason.
"H-hi!" I called out. "Uh . . ."
I wasn't sure what to say. But then the man lifted his left arm and pointed his long-slender finger that way.
"The boy thou seeks is through there," he whispered. For some reason, it almost sounded like there were two guys standing next to me, speaking into both of my ears. "But thou must hurry, for the child is in mortal peril."
I perked up. The masked guy spoke in a weird way, but I understood him well enough. Basically, he was saying that the kid I was looking for was in danger. In that case, I couldn't waste anymore time.
"Thanks, weird dude!"
I gave my thanks to the stranger and ran off, following the direction his finger had pointed. It was dark, and I kept ramming into hard trees and waded through bushes full of pointy branches. I'd be a mess if I didn't have my Psy-Armor to keep all that off me.
"Hey!" I called out. "Is anyone there?"
I couldn't see a thing in front of me, even with the light from my smartphone. And since my calls got no answers, my only choice was the press on, keeping as straight a path as I could. All the while, I could hear that guy's voice speaking to me, constantly reminding me that the kid was in danger.
"Hey!" I called out again. But still, I got no response. "Damn it!"
Frustrated, I swore and wondered to myself what was I going to do. I know I needed to find the kid as fast as I could, but it seemed like I was never going to find him. Was I going the right way? Did that weird mask dude even point me in the right direction? But more importantly, will I make it in time?
Questions and dark thoughts swirled in my mind in a seemingly endless spiral, but then a voice shouted into both my ears.
"There! To the right! The boy!"
I turned right and there was the kid, identical to the photo I was shown, right down to the strand of hair on his head. He was turned his head right and left, bent down like he was hunchbacked while circling around in clear fright.
"He stands atop the edge of a cliff!"
That's not good, I thought.
"Hey! Kid!"
The kid instantly straightened up and turned around. He had heard me and looked my way. However, as soon as our eyes met, his widened in a state of fright.
"No!" he cried out. "Stay away!"
He turned around and ran, and I ran after him.
"Wait!" I shouted. "Stop! Don't!"
But my pleas fell to deaf ears. The boy kept running and soon enough disappeared downward.
I was horrified and cried out, "No!"
I didn't really think about it at the time, but at the same time, I think someone cried out together with me. Lots of someones.
Before I could even think, I chased after the boy. I felt a slight tap against my back, and in my panic, I activated my power and when I kicked off, a force of explosion launched me forward like a cannonball flying out of a cannon.
Like I said, I was panicked, so I didn't give the comic book hero move any thought whatsoever. My eyes were solely on the boy falling to an abyss of darkness.
I kicked and kicked, and kicked. The added explosions to each kicked was just the boost I needed to reach the kid, catch him in my arms and then softly touch down on the bottom of the cliff.
I'd like to say that my landing was as cool and graceful as a comic book hero, but that would be lying. As soon as my feet touched the ground, my knees buckled and both me and the kid tumbled onto dirt.
I rolled to a stop on my back. And rolling my eyes to the top of my head, I could see the boy had done the same. We both laid on the ground, arms and legs spread out like we were going to make snow angels and faced the sky where streaks of light bloomed into colorful flowers.
"Aw man." Although I wasn't particularly interested in fireworks, I still had hopes of watching them someplace more comfortable. I have a thing for experiencing things in optimal conditions.
The fireworks show didn't even last a minute before the night sky became dark and all was quiet again.
After the show ended, I spoke up.
"Hey," I said. "Hey, kid."
"Yeah?" The kid replied back in a soft, but clear voice.
"You okay?"
There was a short pause.
"Uh-huh."
"You know," I said, "your mom's looking for you. She's really worried."
"Uh-huh," the kid replied back. And then, after a short pause, he added, "She's going to be oni-mad at me, isn't she?"
"Probably," I said, thinking back to how understandably irritable the lady was. "Better be ready to be yelled at."
After trudging through nature for several minutes, me, Homura and Lady Isaneko finally found our lost companion who got separated from our party during our quest, as well as the target of our quest through the leaf dungeon. Well, jokes aside, I was mighty relieved to see Oota and the kid together and almost unscathed (give or take a scratch or two) after finding them in a clearing beneath a cliff. Although, I nearly had a heart attack when I first spotted them lying on the ground.
As soon as me and Homura helped Oota and the kid to their feet, we all made our way back to the festival grounds, and to the broadcast tent where we reunited the kid with his mom. The mom was really happy to see her son safe and sound, and we got a lot of praise from the other grownups. I couldn't help but be pleased about that since it meant that our club will now get even more popular. But for some reason, as the mother and son duo departed the tent for home, Oota put his hand to his chest in solemn prayer, as if he was sending the kid off to war.
Of course, I had a lot of questions about this whole mess, like: why was the kid in the woods in the first place? How did Oota manage to find the kid first? But more importantly, why did Lady Tsubaki, former head of the Shirogami Clan, insist that I bring Oota to the festival in the first place? And how was that going to help with my own plans?
Because of all the hubbub the grownups made, I missed my chance to really delve into those mysteries until it was time to go home, and missed my chance entirely to get some answers. I was especially curious about what happened to Oota while he was lost in the woods.
I had goals, you see. Stuff that I absolutely had to accomplish no matter what the cost. Protecting Homura from the Piper a few months back was only one of them. I don't want to give away too many spoilers, but let's just say that there was a moment in my life where I was able to see the future far beyond a mere fifteen minutes. I think I told the others as much when we met during the aftermath of the Piper Case. And I had plans to meet that future head on.
But whether or not those plans would actually work is something I could not say. Unlike Lady Tsubaki and her ancestors, I didn't have the power to figure out how to get the best possible ending in this game called life. My power is mainly just digging up spoilers and going from there.
Don't worry, I told myself. The plan will work. This is a plan with Lady Tsubaki's seal of approval.
But Lady Tsubaki's power isn't all it's cracked up to be anymore, another more negative side of myself said. After all, didn't she just lose everything to a coup? Since she couldn't do anything about it except run away, doesn't that mean there's a chance that things could go wrong with the plan too?
Shut up! I shouted at myself. It will work! It will!
But no matter how much I try to consciously deny it, the fear and uncertainty I had would not go away. It had always been like that, but in recent days, it's gotten much worse. This was, of course, thanks to this whole arson case, which was never supposed to happen.
Could it be because I changed the future? I wondered. Is that why that case happened? What if something even worse happens in the future? It could throw the whole plan out of wack.
"Mirai? Mirai!"
Lady Isaneko's voice snapped me out of my dark place and I turned to respond.
"Yes, My Lady?" I clicked my heels together, put my right hand over my chest, and bowed. "What can this humble servant do for you?"
But Lady Isaneko wasn't in the mood to humor me.
"You can drop the act," she said. "It's just us two right now."
I looked around, surprised to see she was right. It was just us two in the middle of road at night with blinding white lamp light hanging over our heads.
"Where'd everyone go?" I asked.
"Oota and Yuna split two crossroads back and Homura's stop was the last right turn," Isaneko explained. "We've already gone past my house, but I wanted to talk to you."
"Really? Sorry about that," I apologized. "I was so deep in thought, I didn't notice."
"Care to share those thoughts?" Isaneko requested.
But I shook my head.
"It's nothing useful," I told her.
"So mulling over some self-doubt then," Isaneko said.
"Was it that obvious?" I asked.
"To me, at least," Isaneko said. "We've known each other for a really, really long time. We are partners, after all, working together to achieve our own individual goals, using the same tools given to us by our mysterious supporter in the shadows, and following the advice of Lady Tsubaki. Though I still fail to see how their advice this time around can help us in any way. I was wondering what would happen to Oota tonight, but as far as I can see, there's no change. Furthermore, is it even possible to make Oota even stronger than he already is? I'm all for gaining more power if it guarantees we get what we want in the end, but I think he's plenty powerful enough as is."
I shrugged.
"Who can say?" I said. "I saw Oota save the kid with my third eye, but that was it. Anything before that was a complete blank. I guess only time will tell if we did gain anything from this. All we can really do is keep an eye on him and go from there."
"I suppose so," Isaneko agreed. "But to think that our plans centers almost entirely around a semi shut-in nerdboy. I can see why you'd be worried."
"That's a bit harsh on Oota, don't you think?" I said.
Isaneko just shrugged and turned to walk away. With nothing more to say, it was time for her to go home. But after taking a few steps, she suddenly stopped. She turned around again, opened her mouth to say something and then closed it, appearing to change her mind.
Finally, she said, "Good night, partner."
With a wry grin, I replied, "Good night, partner."
And then we turned our backs to each other and went our separate ways, unaware of a disaster over the horizon.
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