A ray of sunlight fell on my face, bringing me to my senses. Sun ? Wasn't it a cold, cloudy morning ? I was confused, wondering how I'd managed to fall asleep on the bus, and why it had come to a stop. Looking to my left, I saw Maribelle, unconscious next to me and with a big bruise on her forehead : seeing her made what had just happened come flooding back to me. We were in a forest, then there was a crash...

I looked out the window to my right : sure enough, we were now in a dense forest, and the sun had travelled a long way through the sky, meaning it was already late afternoon. There was no sign of skyscrapers in the distance, nor even a proper road beneath the bus. What was sure was that we hadn't ended up in the park, and that we had been unconscious for hours. I decided to get a better view out of the front window... which I then saw had gone, smashed into millions of small shards that had poured all over the front of the bus, which had crashed into the branch of a large tree. I sat back down, still feeling a bit dazed. How did we end up here ? This definitely isn't the park, since there's no sign of any civilisation anywhere nearby, so we must be in an actual forest... but the nearest one from the middle of the city is several hours away. The driver could have driven us there after we got knocked out by the impact, but why ? She couldn't even see where she was going, let alone be able to drive us so far away, especially after such an impact...

As I was going over the events, trying to put some order into them, I remembered the impact, and turned back to Maribel, suddenly worried : I had assumed she was unconscious, but she had visibly taken quite a blow to the head. What if she was...? Remembering my first aid lessons, I put my ear next to her mouth : it was faint, but I felt her breathing. Unconscious.

Relieved, I straightened her up in her seat to facilitate her breathing, and tried to wake her up : no response. Now that I knew that she was still definitely alive, though, I felt less worried about leaving her alone to recover : standing up, I made my way to the bus's side exit, deciding that it would be more useful if I tried to find out where we were.

...

Stepping out of the bus, I saw that a group of people who had regained consciousness before me were discussing something : the punk-like guy I had seen enter the bus this morning seemed to be addressing the rest of them, almost yelling : from what I heard, he was trying to get everyone to check the GPS on their phones, with little success. Something about that we were apparently in the ocean...? Well, I won't be of much help. My phone doesn't even have a touch screen, yet alone a GPS. Unable to get a proper answer, the punk flung his arms into the air, letting out a frustrated sigh. The blonde girl patted him on the back in an attempt to calm him down; it was then that she noticed me observing them from the side of the bus.

"Oh, another one's up. What's your name ?" Feeling put on the spot, coming into a conversation halfway through like that, I kept my answer simple.

"Renko, huh ? I'm Kinshou Seijou, and this is my brother, Segare. That over there is Koujin Kochiya", she said, pointing over to the green haired girl who stood some distance away. "I assume you're a student, too ?"

Before I could reply, Segare cut me off : "You're not going to go through introductions every time, are you ? I don't care who they are, we just need to figure out where we are so we can call for help." Rude. I wasn't missing out on much by never speaking to him all these times I saw him on the bus. But, if we need to figure out where we are... I looked up at the sky : I'd be able to tell our location if the stars and moon were out, but alas, it was still too bright; the days were short now that we were in winter, though, so with any luck, night would fall in an hour or then, I had no way of telling how far we'd been driven before coming to a stop.

Wait, the driver...

"Where's the bus driver ?", I asked; I hadn't passed her on the way out, and assumed she might be with the rest of the group, but I couldn't see her. "She doesn't seem to be here with you, is she still unconscious ? Because if anyone knows where we are, she must, since, you know..."

My voice trailed off : they were giving me a strange, uncomfortable look. Oh dear, did I ask something that I shouldn't have ? Segare was the first to break the silence. "She ? You mean that fat dude ? The bus driver's, well... maybe you should look for yourself. It ain't pretty, though."

A feeling of dread had started to take hold of me as I walked over to the front of the bus; I knew I wouldn't like what I would see, but curiosity got the best of me. When I was close enough to see the driver's seat, the person I saw was, in fact, the middle-aged man who regularly drove my bus every morning, except now, he had the branch of a tree lodged firmly through his chest, and his mouth was hanging slightly agape, with a trickle of blood running out of the corner.

I felt faint : not only due to the gruesome scene in front of me, but the overwhelming feeling of confusion that was taking hold of me also contributed to my unease. What about the woman ? I clearly head a female voice. And the blonde hair Maribel was looking at ? There's no way anyone else could switched places with the driver, and I know I saw her, so why...? As I exited the bus, wanting to escape this dreadful view, the others had their eyes turn down, avoiding my gaze; Koujin, however, was staring at me with great interest, seemingly unaffected by the general mood. I was in no state of mind to pay attention to her, though. As I sat down against the bus, all I could think of was how I wanted Maribel to wake up as soon as possible, so that I wasn't alone in this situation any longer.

...

Sitting there, I noticed something that only made matters worse : we were in a sort of clearing in the woods : in front of us, the path was much too narrow to carry on down it in the bus, but, looking the other way, back to where we must have came from, the trees were also far too dense for the bus to have driven along; it was as if we had been dropped from the sky into this clearing.

I closed my eyes, trying to get ahold of myself. There must be an explanation to this. The bus can't have just teleported here. Wait, actually... Maribel's dreams suddenly came to mind. She travels to faraway places in her dreams, doesn't she ? So, maybe... With her still unconscious, though, I couldn't go much further along that train of thought; instead, I absent-mindedly started to listen to what the others were talking about . It seemed like they had came to the agreement that they should fetch firewood for the night. Well, I guess the bus won't be very warm with most of the windows broken... Does that mean we're going to have to stay the night here ?

"You saw her ?" Koujin asked abruptly, startling me : there she was, barely a metre away, looming over me with the same interest in her eyes as earlier. Her... the bus driver ?

"Who, the blonde-haired woman driving the bus ?" She nodded, so I continued. "I only caught a glimpse of her from behind, but I heard her voice when we came to a stop in front of the hole." She nodded again, as if I had confirmed something for her. "Then I was right. Something unnatural happened in that bus. All I'm sure of is that not everyone experienced the same thing in that bus, since some saw a man, apparently the regular bus driver, whilst we saw beyond that..." She was staring into the distance as she spoke : she was talking to herself more than to me. I found comfort in her words, though : I hadn't imagined everything. We're in a strange, almost supernatural situation, but hey, at least I'm not insane.

She sat there for a while, silent, still staring ahead of her; trying to find something to say in order to keep the conversation going, I remembered that she didn't seem to recognise the driver.

"Do you usually take a different bus in the morning, then ?" A flash of surprise crossed her face as she remembered I was there, before it turned into a frown. Looks like I read further into her words than she wanted me to.

"I... am not a student. I was merely in transit before getting involved in this... incident." She turned away, before nodding once again, and, looking back down on me, said : "Be careful. This place may be dangerous." And at that, she left me alone again. So much for keeping her as company. Everyone here is either rude or weird. Must be the stress. Curiously, thinking that made me realise that, despite everything, I wasn't overly stressed out : sure, I was a bit overwhelmed at first, and the sight of the bus driver made my stomach churn, but as a whole, this felt... Almost familiar.

Well, this is hardly the first time I've gotten into strange situations as part of the Sealing Club. I mean, Maribel brought me into a spaceship in one of her dreams !

Then it hit me : this just doesn't feel real to me. I'm treating like this is one of her dreams, like I'm going to wake up at any minute and be back to normal.

I didn't want to delve too deep into that : if it was a dream, that will make everything easier. If it isn't... It was the possibility of an easy way out that was keeping me more or less level-headed in this situation, so I was content to just rely of that hypothesis.

I rested my head back against the bus, watching the others going in and out of the forest, bringing sticks to a growing pile near the bus. Leaning further back, I saw the sky. The one thing that will always remain constant, guiding me no matter where I am... I was a little surprised by how late it was getting with still no sign of any stars; I then heard the sound of footsteps coming out of the bus.

She was awake !

...

"Merry ! You're all right !" Even though I had made sure she was alive, it was still a great relief to see her up and on her feet. She looked around, searching for where my voice had came from, until she saw me.

"Renko !", she exclaimed, flinging herself into my arms. Well, she definitely is all right, I thought, slightly winded by her tackle. "Yeah, I'm fine ! Well, my head hurts, but apart from that... I was unconscious, I take it ? How long has it been ?" Instinctively, I looked up at the sky again, even though I knew there wasn't anything there to guide me.

"Maybe forty minutes longer than I have ? I don't really know, but we've both been unconscious all afternoon." She nodded as I was speaking, as if she didn't really care about the answer; from her reply, it turns out I was right.

"Listen, Renko, do you know where we are ?" She was looking around us with great interest, although there wasn't much to see but trees and bushes.

"The stars aren't out yet, and nobody can seem to locate us with their GPS, so, nope, no idea." Again, she nodded : she obviously knew something, and was leading me into it with her questions.

"Right..." she started, before checking around her again, more furtively this time, as if making sure nobody was listening in on us. "Well, I have an idea. It's just based off a feeling though, so don't take it as fact, but... You know the place I often visit in my dreams ? With the scarlet mansion, and the bamboo forest ? Well, that place is on the other side of some kind of border, and where we are now feels like I'm on that other side. Somehow, I think we've breached a boundary. At least, we're not in Japan any more, I'm quite sure of that."

I wasn't sure how to react : in a way, it answered the question as to how we ended up so far from the middle of Tokyo in only an afternoon, and would explain why I felt like this was one of her dreams. The problem was, nowadays, she was aware of when she was dreaming or not, so if she was asking me these kinds of questions, she can't have travelled here on purpose...

"How did it happen ? You've never done anything like this before, not to mention-" She cut me off, eyes wide open and vigorously shaking her head. "No, no, no ! This has nothing to do with me ! I would never just drag us here out of the blue without asking! And what about everyone else ? No, it wasn't me !" I had thought as much, but hearing it from her was a relief. The relief was short lived, though : if she hadn't brought us here, then this wasn't a dream. And if it wasn't a dream, then we wouldn't be able to wake up. Also, if it wasn't her, how did we end up here ?

A flash of blonde passed through my thoughts.

The bus driver ! The mysterious woman must have been the cause behind all this, now I knew that it was nothing to do with my friend.

"Merry, I just remembered something : when we were in the bus this morning, did you pay any attention to the driver ?"

She gasped, the same frightened look from this morning returning into her eyes, as if she was once again staring at the back of the driver's seat. "That woman..." She shuddered. Yes, she had definitely seen her too. I wanted to find out what she knew.

"Who was she ? Do you know her ? Why are you so afraid of her ?"

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Finally, she answered me. "No... no, I don't know her or anything. And, I don't think I'm afraid... It's just that, when I saw her, I felt overcome with... with something, I can't say exactly what, but it felt like she was drawing me in somehow, like I could have lost myself in her presence... I felt like we were linked in some way." She shook her head, regaining her regular composure. "It was a bit overwhelming", she said, putting on a smile, "but I'm all right now. Instead of worrying about that, couldn't you fill me in on everything that's happened since you woke up ?"

This was just like her : when a problem seems too imposing, she'd just force a smile, shoving it away for later, telling me not to worry about it either. Not that it works. I was sick with worry the whole time she was in quarantine after the chimera attacked her.

...

Nevertheless, I played along, presenting the few people I knew by name as I saw them going in and out of the forest, collecting a growing pile of firewood. I also mentioned my conversation with Koujin : it seemed to reassure her a bit that someone other than us two had seen the mysterious blonde woman, too. As we talked, night had started to fall, the first few stars starting to glint in the navy-blue sky. She noticed that I was paying close attention to the sky, and was looking at me expectantly. "So ? Can you tell where we are yet ?"

I didn't answer straight away, turning back towards the clear sky ahead of us : this was the best view of the night sky I had had in ages, since there was no sign of light pollution from any nearby city. That also means that there is no nearby city... There were barely any stars visible yet, since night had only just begun to fall, but from the few I could see, I drew the conclusion that we both already knew.

"The stars... aren't where they should be. I'm not even sure which stars those are. It's as if... well, it's like we're not looking at the sky from the same planet anymore."

We fell silent, not knowing what to say, contenting ourselves with looking up at what we now knew was an alien sky. All day, there had been signs pointing to us not being in Japan, or maybe even not on Earth, but it felt strange having it confirmed like this; the sky was objective, there was no debating it any more. We were beyond lost.

The temperature was dropping fast, and a cold wind was blowing down the narrow path. Maybe the fire isn't such a bad idea... As the wind rose, I heard a faint sound floating on the breeze; I couldn't quite make it out, but I likened it to someone singing.

...

"Renko !"

Someone was calling me : looking up, I saw that Kinshou was calling me over to the group, which had formed around a now sizeable pile of branches. Maribel and I approached them; Segare was trying to set fire to the pile with a small lighter.

"Is she an acquaintance of yours ?" Kinshou asked, looking at Maribel. As I presented my friend to the group, a crackling sound came from the firewood : it had been lit. The sudden warmth was a welcome change from the cold night air, but the flickering light it produced stretched the shadows out in a rather ominous way. I sat down next to Maribel, warming my hands with the fire.

Well, here we are. We're all in Maribel's dream world. Usually, it's fun, like some sort of adventure, a game even, but now that we don't have an easy way out, it's suddenly a whole different feeling...

Looking at Maribel, she was also lost in though. Is she worried ? She usually has control over these situations, but now, we're lost in this little world of hers...That wasn't the only thing that made this different to our usual escapades, though. To my surprise, I felt upset that, unlike when she brought me along with her on her adventures, it wasn't just the two of us. Here, we're far from being alone. We're not in an adventure together as the Sealing Club, now that's there all of these other people with us... Why should they get to see her world, too ?

The same sound as I had heard earlier snapped me out of my childish thoughts : now, I was sure that it was singing.

"Humans inside this forest clearing..."

The snippet of song I could make out echoed around us, seemingly coming from everywhere at once. A chill ran down my spine, and I realised that my hand had moved onto Maribel's of its own accord. The night had become noticeably darker all of a sudden...

Unlike me, though, some people seemed to rejoice at the sound of singing : standing up of their feet, some of the guys proclaimed that they were saved, that they'd be brought back to civilisation now that they had found someone else in this remote forest. What they're saying does make sense; after all, it's just a girl singing. Why does it make me feel so uneasy ?

It seemed like Koujin felt the same way : rising to her feet, she tried to stop them : "Don't. It isn't safe. We don't know what is out there. Do not separate from the group, or anything could happen to you."

However, her words of caution were met only with laughter from the people she was warning; rallying together a small group in favour of investigating the source of the song, Segare embarked on his expedition, reassuring his protesting sister that he would be fine. Koujin sat back down, silent : I couldn't be sure due to the flickering light of the flames, but she seemed to be trembling slightly with anger. I'm only worried because I'm a bit of a coward... but she seems to know something more than I do. Is there really some kind of danger out there ?

The song drifted through the clearing again, slightly more distinct now.

"...Along this path you should not have come..."

I couldn't make out the group who had gone looking for her any more. Has it suddenly gotten darker again ?

"Merry, is it just me, or is it getting...?"

She nodded. "Darker ? Yes, I noticed it too." Worried whispering could be heard all around the group : it seemed like everyone had been thinking the same thing, and we had just confirmed it. Realising that the others were listening, Maribel leaned closer, almost whispering into my ear :

"Remember the dreams I told you about ? The ones where I get chased through a forest by some kind of creature ?" I nodded; when telling me about those, she was never sure if she could call them dreams or nightmares : sure, it was terrifying, being chased like that by something you couldn't even see properly, but at the same time, it was exciting, and since it was a dream, you could just wake up if it got too much for you. If you were stuck with the creature, though, with no easy escape option such as waking up, then it would clearly be a nightmare...

"Well," she hesitated, as if unsure whether she should continue or not; from the look on her face, I knew what to expect, anyway. "Well, it felt just like this. The same tension in the atmosphere, the same feeling of dread looming over me. Can't you feel it, too ?" She looked straight at me, with an uncharacteristic intensity in her eyes. "Renko, this time, it isn't a dream. If something happens to us, I can't... I can't get us out of this."

Her expression had grown solemn, as she diverted her eyes back down to the ground. The song was still audible, seemingly closer to us now.

"...Anyone, who, this song, is hearing..."

Seeing her take this situation so seriously was a blow to my morale : Maribel, the same girl who stood cheerfully up to a chimera, was now worried about something we weren't even sure was a danger. Yes, now, we're not on an innocent little visit during one of her dreams. Now, we're stuck here, and the terrifying things that turn a dream into a nightmare before waking you up, those fleeting moments of fear before you escape back to reality, those moments won't just abruptly end, they'll go on and on, until either you escape, or...

"...A youkai's food you shall become !"

As the song seemingly finished, a blood-curdling scream tore apart the silence of the night : it came from some distance away, in the direction in which the small group had gone. It lasted a few seconds, a horrible, tortured howl, before being cut off by a loud crunch. After a moment of shock, panic spread through the group : some screamed, other jumped to their feet, wanting to flee, but not wanting to end up alone in the unknown of the forest; Kinshou, silent, had gone white with fear. I pulled Maribel up on to her feet, asking her "What should we do ?"

Her only response was a look of confusion and fear; her mouth opened, but closed again without a sound. She's just as frightened as I am.

Just then, Segare burst through the bushes, wide-eyed and out of breath, causing another wave of panic in the group until his sister recognised him. "Segare ! You're all right !"

She ran up to him, about to embrace him, but he kept on walking straight ahead, as if he couldn't see her. It truth, it had grown so dark since the scream that I could barely see him, either. As he walked, he was saying something, but it was hard to understand through his ragged breathing.

"The girl... he approached her, but as she turned round... she leapt on him... I saw claws, and wings, she wasn't human... she tore him apart, limb from limb, and then everything went dark..." He broke off, shuddering too much to talk. Kinshou comforted him, holding her brother in her arms, but the rest of the group was now beyond control : people were desperately trying to convince each other to flee with them, to hide, to do something, but they all seemed paralysed with fear; I myself didn't know what to do, I just held Maribel's hand tightly, refusing to let go.

Then, a second scream rang out, as gruesome as the first, which pushed the group over the edge. Some ran off in little groups down the path, while others went to hide in the bus; I was about to run off, dragging Maribel with me, but Koujin stopped me. "Not down the path. We'd be too much of an easy target." She pointed into the undergrowth, in the opposite direction to where Segare had come from. "Follow me."

The idea of running off the path into an unfamiliar forest during such a dark nights wasn't reassuring to me. What if there's something else even worse in there, something that we won't even be able to see properly ? As I hesitated, I felt Maribel squeeze my hand : she looked at me and nodded, her eyes full of determination. She's right. We need to flee.

...

Off we ran, hand in hand, not even looking back to see if anyone else had decided to follow us or not. We were running into the unknown, the flash of green hair in front of us as our only guide through the forest. The wind was blowing through my hair, rippling through my clothes; the further we ran, the more it felt like we were just the two of us again, on one of our adventures exploring something under the moonlight as the Sealing Club, boundless in our freedom as we made the mysteries of the night our own. I felt a rush of adrenaline, pushing me to run even faster. "Come on, Merry !", I exclaimed in a mix of fear and exhilaration, almost dragging her by her hand. Koujin noticed that we had almost caught up, and ducked further into the undergrowth, gesturing to follow her. We followed, trying to run in spite of the bushes and brambles in our way, snagging at my sleeves, tearing through my tights. Maribel and I almost fell over many times, but we somehow managed to keep each other on our feet, despite almost running on all fours at times.

...

Eventually, Koujin found a clearing with a large tree, whose roots formed a large archway which she ducked under. Maribel and I soon followed, collapsing into a tired heap in the dark entrance formed by the roots.

As we caught our breaths, the adrenaline dropped, and I realised what a state I was in : my arms and legs were a mesh of cuts and bruises, and my muscles were burning from the sudden effort. I rested my back against the large roots : taking in my surroundings, despite the darkness, I could tell that it really did look like a cave made by roots, and thanks to the way the moon was almost straight above us, I could see outside, but it was too dark to see in. We should be safe here... if we can stop breathing so heavily, at least.

I felt something heavy yet warm come to rest against my shoulder; I was briefly startled, still on edge, until I realised Maribel had leaned her head on my shoulder. I felt my heart flutter : I could feel her warmth, her soft breath against me. It was...

I adjusted how I was sitting, so that I could pass my arms around her waist. To make it more comfortable for both of us, of course. Fast asleep, she didn't react. The sound of her slow, regular breathing was sending me off to sleep, too...