---Tatsumi Seiichiro---
When we arrived at the hotel, it was about eleven in the morning. The three of us had slept on the plane, so we won't need to take a nap before we leave for Silent Hill. In fact, after such a long plane ride, I'm sure all of us are ready to start the investigation. But, of course, as soon as we get to our room, Tsuzuki wants food.
"Tatsumi, can we order something to eat? I'm hungry."
"Didn't you eat an hour ago?" Kurosaki asks.
"Yeah, but they don't give you much to eat, I want a real meal."
"We'll get something before we leave." I say, setting my suitcase beside one of the beds.
Tsuzuki smiles, but it slowly fades as he thinks about something. "Er...could you order, Tatsumi? I don't think they'll understand me."
I sigh. "Yes, I will order." Luckily, between Kurosaki and I, we know enough English to get by. Tsuzuki, however, knows little more than a handful of words.
"Thank you, Tatsumi!" he says in broken English, two of the English words he actually does know.
I begin to look for a menu when I remember that it is morning. Most places will probably be closed or only offering breakfast right now. However, I am pretty sure the hotel offers a free breakfast down in the lobby. Perfect!
"Actually, it is still only breakfast time. Let us go down to the lobby, the hotel offers free breakfast."
At this, Tsuzuki frowns. "But, Tatsumi! Those free hotel breakfasts usually don't taste that good."
"Tsuzuki-san, we must take what we can get, unless you do not want to eat at all?" I speak calmly, but he knows that I am dead serious. He whines, but gives in, knowing there is no alternative.
"Fine. You are so mean, Tatsumi!"
One second he's thanking me, and the next he's calling me mean. So very like Tsuzuki. "We are in a foreign country and have a limited budget. We must save money where we can."
Tsuzuki walks out, and Kurosaki and I also go down to get some food- since the town we are to investigate is deserted and thus we will have no access to food while there- then bring it back to our room to do some research before leaving. Kurosaki pulls his and Tsuzuki's laptop from Tsuzuki's suitcase and starts it up.
"Mmm, this muffin is actually pretty good!" Tsuzuki says through a mouthful of food.
I shake my head. He has the personality of a 5-year-old sometimes. Happy with me, then angry at me, then complaining about the food, then he actually tries it enjoys it. Still, I can't stay mad at him for very long.
"There are a lot of rumors about Silent Hill." Kurosaki suddenly says, eating his breakfast while he browses the internet. Tsuzuki and I move to sit on either side of him to see what he is looking at. Tsuzuki frowns at the screen, which is filled with various search results, all in English.
"Can you tell what all of that says?" He asks.
"No, not all of it, but from what I can tell, all of it has to do with something supernatural. Apparently it used to be quite a busy town."
"But it's abandoned now, right?"
"Yes."
"Then what happened?"
"Did you not read the case files, Tsuzuki-san?" I ask, glancing over at Tsuzuki. He gives a sheepish grin.
"Ah...not really..."
I sigh. All that time on the plane, and he didn't even look at them. "The town has quite a history dating back to the 1600's. Rituals have taken place in it, and it's been used as a camp for prisoners of war. It became a famous tourist town later on. Cults started up and human sacrifices and necromancy were performed. The goal of these cults was to resurrect a god that they believed would bring an age of paradise by killing humans. There's also mention of witches, demons, a fire and plagues. Of course, not all of this can be confirmed. Though some of it is fact, some is merely speculation, though the town's history is deeply involved in the supernatural."
Tsuzuki frowns. "If that's the case, demons may have gotten into the town, which would explain why it's abandoned. But that still doesn't explain how two Shinigami went missing. It wouldn't make sense for demons to stick around in an abandoned town, and there would have to be either a lot of them or some very powerful ones to take down a pair of Shinigami. Surely the ones sent on the mission to begin with were strong to be given a case in a town with such a history. The Shinigami must still be in there somewhere and just lost contact. I don't see how they could just disappear. It just doesn't make sense."
As much as I want to tell him that he's probably right about the Shinigami, I have doubts that they are still alive. It's been a week since anybody last heard from the pair, and Shinigami don't just go missing like that.
"The only way we are going to know anything for sure is if we go check it out." Kurosaki says, bringing up a different window on the laptop. "I'll write the Chief and let him know we've arrived at the hotel and that we'll be away on the case for a while."
"Now, the hard part is actually getting to the town. Since the town is abandoned and has such a dark history, I'm sure that nobody is going to bring us there. Besides, it would take us about half a day to get there by car. Now, I could try to get us there via the Shadow Dimension, but I don't know how close I can get. It's quite far for that and would take a lot of energy."
"I can always get us there by Shikigami the rest of the way." Tsuzuki offers, "I don't want you to use up so much energy at once, especially before we even start the case."
"How about this, then. I'll see how far I can get us without tiring myself out, and you can take care of getting us there the rest of the way with a Shikigami if need be."
"Sounds good!"
"Alright. Make sure you have everything you need, because it might be a while before we are able to come back here."
"I'm ready." Kurosaki says, closing the laptop and putting it into his suitcase.
Tsuzuki grabs his trench coat and quickly gets it on. "Me too!"
"Alright. Let's head outside and I'll get us all into the Shadow Dimension there."
The three of us walk out, me being the last one, take the elevator down to the first floor, leave the hotel and head over to the side of the building. A quick glance around confirms nobody is nearby to see us suddenly vanish. I pull in the shadows nearby, using them to open the portal to the Shadow Dimension. They creep up and begin to form a dome around us, until soon we are completely enveloped by darkness.
---Kurosaki Hisoka---
The sign in front of the town is old, but legible. "Welcome to Silent Hill" I read aloud to nobody in particular. The lights hanging over the top that would normally illuminate the welcome sign at night are broken, both of them having shattered light bulbs. There is a thin fog surrounding us, seeming to come from the town itself.
"This place looks creepy..." Tsuzuki says, staring into the town ahead.
"Given its history, it should be." I mumble, mentally going over all the things that had presumably happened in this town. Rituals, sacrifices, necromancy, plagues, abandonment...its no wonder people avoid the place.
Tatsumi starts forward. "Let's keep going. The faster we get through this, the better."
Tsuzuki and I follow. It feels as if we a damning ourselves by walking past that welcome sign. I'm not sure if it's because of the town's history or some kind of dark aura emanating from it, but it's very unnerving.
"Why is it so foggy?" Tsuzuki asks as we enter the town. The fog really is getting thicker, and it's becoming hard to see.
"I don't know, but stay close together. It will be hard to keep track of each other if we can't see each other." Tatsumi says, glancing at each of us before looking forward again.
Tatsumi doesn't have to tell me to keep close before I wander closer to Tsuzuki. I don't like the feeling of this town. Despite Tatsumi and Tsuzuki being right next to me, it feels as if, by being only a few steps away from them, they will vanish, leaving me all alone in this giant town. The fact that I can't feel anything outside of Tsuzuki and Tatsumi is disturbing. I'm so used to feeling the presence of others that, by there being nothing other than them, it makes me feel as if I'm stepping right into one of my own nightmares.
"Are you okay, Hisoka?" As usual, Tsuzuki knows when something is bothering me.
"I'll be alright. It's just kind of unnerving...I can't feel anything, other than you and Tatsumi, of course. There's just...nothing. It feels so empty."
Tsuzuki's worry deepens. "You can't feel any other Shinigami in the area?"
"No...though I can only stretch my powers out so far. If there is anybody, they could be beyond my range. But...Tsuzuki...just prepare yourself for the possibility that there is nobody else alive here." I don't like having to say that to him, but I have to. I don't want him to have false hope and be crushed if we don't find the missing Shinigami.
"I know..."
It's silent for a moment, both Tsuzuki and Tatsumi filled with worry, only adding to the already unsettling feeling of the atmosphere. "Where should we start?" I ask, breaking the silence.
"I'm...not sure..." Tatsumi says, clearly upset with the fact he doesn't know where to begin. "Normally it would help to split up, but, in this situation, I'm not sure that's a good idea."
Not only is it not the best idea, seeing as none of us have any clue as to where we are going and can't see more than five feet in front of us with such dense fog, but I honestly do not want to split up. For once, the thought of being alone frightens me.
"Let's just look around and try to find something." Tsuzuki says, also seeming to not want to split up. "Hisoka, you can pick up on traces of the Shinigami if you come across any, right?"
I nod. "I might have to touch it, depending on how long it's been since one of them have been around whatever object it is, but yes. I'll keep alert for anything. It won't be hard, seeing as there is absolutely nothing else in this town for me to pick up on. If I find anything, it'll probably belong to them."
Tsuzuki looks around, apparently trying to find something amidst the fog. "I don't see any demons. If there were any, I'm sure they would have attacked us by now. By the descriptions we heard, the place should be crawling with them."
Tatsumi suddenly stops. "Do either of you hear that?"
Tsuzuki and I also stop walking. Now that I'm listening, I can hear what sounds like a dull static coming from a radio or a television. Was it something from the Shinigami? We try to follow the sound, and know we are going in the right direction when it gets louder.
"There." Tatsumi says, leaning down to pick something up. A radio? He plays with the dial, but it emits nothing other than static. Still turning the dial, he puts it to his ear, presumably seeing if he can hear anything. For a brief moment, he loses his composure, fear flashing across his face before he quickly masks it.
Tsuzuki frowns, concerned. "Tatsumi? Is something wrong?"
"No, it's fine. Did you happen to hear anything other than the static?"
"No...did you, Hisoka?"
I shake my head. "It just sounded like static to me. Did you hear something?"
"I thought I did but...ah, probably just my imagination. This thing is broken, though I don't know what it could be doing here. Kurosaki, see if you can pick up an any traces left on it. I'm not sure what it would be doing here, but somebody must have had it recently."
I take the radio from Tatsumi's hand and grip it, trying to find any lingering energies left on it. I can feel Tatsumi's fear quickly flash through me, fear of the words barely audible amongst the static emitting from the radio. Why...ill...chiro... Whatever it was, I can't make it out, though Tatsumi certainly had gotten something out of it, and it had terrified him. Other than Tatsumi's, however, I can't seem to find anything. There's no way a radio would still be working if it was left here for so long that the traces of whoever held it are gone. So why can't I find anything? "I...can't' pick up anything, other than you, Tatsumi..."
"Nothing?" Tatsumi asks, raising an eyebrow. "Did I somehow overpower it when I picked the radio up?"
"No, I should still be able to pick up on any other people that have touched it recently. Everyone has a different signature, so if anybody else touched it, I'd be able to pick it out from yours. I know your signature well enough."
"Tatsumi, Hisoka!"
I turn around at the sound of Tsuzuki's alarmed voice. A creature stands before us, humanoid in appearance, but disturbingly not human. It has no face, just a single hole where a mouth would be, and looks as if it's trapped in a sickly flesh-colored straightjacket. It walks forward unsteadily, and I swear the static on the radio has gotten louder.
The shadows nearby begin to quiver as Tatsumi readies to attack. "A demon?!"
Tsuzuki shakes his head. "It doesn't look like any kind of demon I have ever seen. I don't know what this is..."
The creature stops walking, wiggles, and rears back, as if ready to spit something out. The three of us quickly move back just as a foul, horrid-smelling substance sprays from the hole that is its mouth. Before another move can be made, a shadow leaps out from somewhere beside Tatsumi, piercing through the creature and beheading it. A shrill cry comes from the creature as it falls. Its body twitches on the ground, some dark liquid oozing from its neck where its head once was, forming a puddle around the body. It finally stops moving, laying lifeless in its own blood.
"I think we found the problem..." I mutter, almost afraid to raise my voice any higher.
"But it died easy enough...Shinigami wouldn't lose contact because of things like that." Tsuzuki says, still not taking his eyes off the monster.
Tatsumi adjusts his glasses. "That may only be one of many. Either way, now we know there are definitely demons of some sort in this place."
"Still...that wasn't a typical demon. It looked too...human..."
I glance over at Tsuzuki. "It is humanoid in appearance, but it is far from human, Tsuzuki."
"The point is, we haven't dealt with anything like this before. I can assure you that that is not the same as the demons we usually face."
It isn't until now that I remember the radio in my hand. Strange, it's gotten quiet. Did the batteries die? It had gotten so loud when that monster was near...then just went silent when the monster died? I think this case is already getting to me. Radios don't react to monsters. Wait...is it starting up again? I stare at the radio, and, sure enough, can hear the low static, gradually getting louder. Before I have a chance to point it out, another shadow flies by and another screech echoes through the silence. The static fades as Tatsumi kills another monster.
"This is going to sound crazy, but I think this radio is reacting to the monsters."
Both Tatsumi and Tsuzuki look over at the radio in my hand, which has once again gone quiet.
"That's...convenient." Tsuzuki says.
I stick the radio in my pocket, despite feeling silly for keeping an old radio that has somehow made me believe it alerts us of nearby creatures. "Let's keep moving. Standing around here isn't going to get us anywhere."
As we walk on, we pass several abandoned cars on the sides of the road. The houses all look old and dilapidated. There are no lights on, the only source of light being the sun, and even that seems to try to avoid this town. There are no animals. Not even a single bird in the sky. The place has definitely been abandoned for quite some time. At least the trees are still green and alive, though, other than them and some grass here and there, greenery is in very short supply. Funny how you don't learn to appreciate things such as plants until they aren't there anymore. I guess it's true what they say: you don't know what you have until it's gone.
"Still can't feel anything, Hisoka?"
"No. Nothing. I couldn't even sense those monsters. Maybe we should look for places the Shinigami likely visited, like indoors. There might be some things there they touched that will give me something." If they had been here, chances are they were terrified, so if I could just find something they touched, I'd at least be able to pick up their fear.
"That sounds like a good idea." Tatsumi says, "Let's take a look around the larger buildings. The creatures probably aren't inside, so we can get away from them as well."
For a little while, it feels like we aren't getting anywhere. It's hard to figure out where you are going when you can hardly see your surroundings. I wonder if it's always been so foggy? Never have I seen such a dense fog, it's ridiculous. How could anybody live in this? No way it could have always been this bad.
The shape of a large building catches my attention. A hospital. Seems a good place to start to me. We might be able to get some information and possibly find the two Shinigami, if they are even still around.
I grab the handle to the door, hoping to pick up traces from somebody, anybody, but there is nothing. I frown, open the door and walk in, Tsuzuki behind me and Tatsumi behind him.
Inside the building is rather dark, with the only source of light being what little sunlight there is coming in through the windows, which certainly isn't going to help anywhere but the immediate area. Straight ahead of us is a door, to the left of which is a sign that reads, "office". Probably a good place to start. Hopefully they will have some flashlights or something.
I walk forward and open the door to the office. Once inside, I begin going through the drawers, trying to find anything that could helps us. Pens, doctors' files, patients' files, paperclips, staplers...nothing particularly useful. I suppose the files of the patients could possibly have some clues as to what happened to the people of the town, but that isn't going to help us track down the missing Shinigami, and right now, that is our top priority.
"There are a lot of patients' files here, we should stop by here again before we leave the hospital and take them with us to examine later on."
"That sounds like a good idea." Tatsumi says with a nod.
I look over at Tsuzuki, who is currently rummaging through a cabinet. "Find any flashlights?"
"No. I can probably help with that, though." He pulls a few blank ofuda out of a pocket somewhere on the inside of his trench coat along with a marker. Spreading them out on a table, he begins writing on one of them. Once done, he holds it up. The ofuda suddenly shines bright, casting a decent light on the room.
Tsuzuki grins. "It's not the best, but it will work." The light fades out and he hands it to Tatsumi. "Here, I know you don't use ofuda, but this is a very simple one to use. Just focus a very small amount of energy into it when you need some light. It'll gradually wear out though, so keep that in mind. I'll make a few more."
Tsuzuki may be viewed as incompetent due to his laziness, but when it comes to ofuda, he certainly knows what he is doing. He's the most experienced with them out of everyone in our division, probably one of the best out of all the Shinigami. Another reminder about how much work I still have to do before I can catch up to his skill level.
"Can I make my own?" I ask before Tsuzuki begins working on the second one. The more experience I can get, the better.
"Sure! Just watch how I do this one, then you can do your own."
I nod and watch Tsuzuki mark his. Why can't his handwriting be that nice when he's filling out paperwork? He could probably take up calligraphy if he wanted to. His strokes are somewhat fast, yet it comes out looking so much better than his usual handwriting. I'll bring that to his attention next time he does a sloppy job with his paperwork.
Once the second ofuda was done, Tsuzuki slid another blank one over to me and handed me his marker. "Just write it how I did. It's basically just a spell to dispel darkness."
"I didn't know ofuda could be used that way." I say, taking the marker.
Tsuzuki shrugs. "You can do a lot with them, actually, if you know how to modify and alter other spells. Of course, if you mess it up, it might cause some undesirable effects. Once I accidentally made one explode in my face." He gives an embarrassed chuckle. "My face was covered in ash and it singed some of my hair."
I shake my head. Count on Tsuzuki to manage something like that.
Sliding Tsuzuki's completed ofuda right next to my blank one for reference, I begin writing out the spell. Other than the difference in our handwriting, I'd say mine is a good replica of Tsuzuki's. I hold it up between my thumb and index finger and concentrate a small amount of energy into it in order to activate it. It lights up, just like the one Tatsumi is now holding did. I grin a little, satisfied with the result.
"Alright! Good job, Hisoka!" Tsuzuki says, smiling, then turns to Tatsumi. "Do you want to try too, Tatsumi?"
Tatsumi shakes his head. "No, that's okay. Thank you though, Tsuzuki-san. I'll be fine with this. Let's continue on."
We exit the office with the intent of returning before we leave, and take a left down the hall. As we reach the next corner, Tsuzuki suddenly stops, holding out his ofuda and squinting down the hall. "Is that...it looks like a person! Tatsumi, Hisoka, I think we found one of the Shinigami!"
I look over in the direction Tsuzuki is facing. At the end of the hall to our right, the silhouette of what appears to be a human is standing, moving slowly, as if lost. Still, that doesn't mean it is a human. Though it is taller than those monsters we saw earlier and seems to actually have arms, it could very well just be another demon. A low static reaches my ears.
"Tsuzuki, that's not-" Tsuzuki runs ahead before he even bothers to listen to what I have to say. No, idiot, get back here! "Tsuzuki! You idiot, wait!"
I run after him, Tatsumi running beside me. Something suddenly crawls out from who-knows-where, right into our path. I hear myself yelp as I stumble back, almost falling over from trying to avoid the thing. It moves fast, and suddenly it's at my feet. No, get away from me! I kick it, trying to get it back, but that doesn't seem to do much. It reaches out a bone-thin arm and grabs one of my ankles. I get ready to stomp on it, but a shadow quickly severs the hand. A second shadow pierces through the mid-section of the creature, killing it almost instantly. The hand, however, is still grasping my ankle. Ew. I balance on one foot, lifting my other to pry the hand off. I shudder as I grab the cold, dismembered hand, yanking it off my ankle and quickly throwing it to the side. Gross. I never want to have to do that again.
There is the sudden sound of something large crumbling, and Tsuzuki yells. I look ahead of me, but neither Tsuzuki nor whatever he chased after are in sight. All that remains is a large hole in the floor.
"Tsuzuki!" I run forward with Tatsumi behind me, and stop at the edge of the hole. Getting on my hands and knees, I peek over the edge, trying to see where Tsuzuki landed. It's pitch-black. Not even the light from the ofuda can illuminate any more than the top of the hole.
"Tsuzuki! Tsuzuki, answer me!" I reach out with my empathy, hoping find out how far down he is or to at least find out if he's injured or not. Nothing. I can't feel anything around me, nothing other than Tatsumi. Why can't I sense Tsuzuki?! I get ready to jump down the hole myself, fearing something had happened to him when Tatsumi grabs my arm and pulls me back.
"Kurosaki-kun! What are you doing? You can't jump down there without knowing where it leads! "
I whirl around to face him. "Tatsumi-san, I can't sense Tsuzuki! It shouldn't go down that far to where my empathy won't reach him! He could have been knocked unconscious! He could be hurt!"
"Calm down! Panicking isn't going to help us. We can find another way down and look for him." He puts a hand on my shoulder. "I know you are worried, I am too, but we'll find him."
I nod. I hope he is right. I know Tsuzuki can recover quickly and can hold his own in battle but...ever since the incident in Kyoto, I've been kind of scared. Scared of losing Tsuzuki for good. I don't want that to happen. I may be over-reacting, but I can't help it.
Tatsumi turns around (seeing as there is no safe way around the large gap in the floor), taking up a brisk pace to find the nearest staircase with me beside him.
Please don't do anything stupid, Tsuzuki...
