I want to thank everyone who reviewed last time, new readers and old ones alike, seriously, thank you! Writing for you is one of the best things I do in my life (and I don't do much because I'm a couch potato).
Also, a quick reply to Blitza because it is necessary: No, Natsume merely felt repulsed by the fact that someone was being forced into marriage.
Which brings me to this: I have decided that there will not be any serious romantic feelings portrayed in this story, but I will provide you with lots of interaction between the characters. Note: This may change because I'm an indecisive piece of lovely broccoli, so if you do wish to see a pairing please tell me. I'm a person easy to convince, do not hesitate! BUT, of course, it will have to be the majority asking for it.
Also, a quick question: I was thinking of titling the chapters from now on. I am also planning on editing the previous ones at some point, because OH MY POTATO, SO MANY MISTAKES!
And another very important thing that I assume some of you have already heard about; WE'RE GETTING A FILM NEXT YEAR! NATSUME YUUJINCHOU MOVIE! :)
Ok, well, here we go! Chapter 9! WOOHOO!
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sasada remarked with a look of disappointment, yet Nishimura ignored her completely and purposely leaned as far back as the chair would allow him, dangerously dangling. "Say something to him, you're his friend so he'll listen, Natsume-kun!"
"-?" Natsume's chin was raised from the hand on which it rested and his elbow slid down. He considered Sasada's troubled frown directed to him and nervously scratched his arm. "Sorry, I wasn't listening…"
The brunette's shoulders slant down. She sighed in defeat.
"See, he's still sleeping." Nishimura titled his head back, with hair hanging down oddly and upside-down eyes looking accursedly at Natsume. "The only thing interesting enough on TV yesterday was that movie where Natori Suichi plays the main character, but I doubt you'd be interested in that… right?" he smirked playfully.
"I wouldn't watch that movie even if it was the only film left on earth," Natsume admitted.
"Natori Suichi, huh…" Sasada adopted a dreamy expression, but she took care to wipe that wondrous grin off her face quickly.
"So that means you were on your phone. Well, that's certainly progression. Congratulati- WAAH!"
Nishimura would have fallen on the floor along with his chair like an overgrown watermelon, hadn't it been for Natsume's quick intervention. He grabbed the back of the chair and pushed, successfully suspending it. Nishimura dragged his feet over to the floor and the chair landed on all four again with a grumpy bam.
"Nice save, thanks!"
"You won't be so lucky next time," Sasada warned.
"Ah, hey!" Out of the blue, Nishimura's face beamed, having spotted Kaiyo's flowing black hair as she entered the classroom. "Good morning, Matoba-san!"
She stopped before reaching her desk and looked at them, the strap of her bag sliding down her shoulder slightly. Natsume couldn't help but remember her request from the day before…
'…Please call me by my first name…'
It made sense now.
"Good morning..." She replied with a bright smile. "Nishimura-san… right?"
Natsume could almost hear Nishimura's internal squeak. The boy nodded, happy that he was remembered.
Then her eyes fell upon Natsume.
Did she know? Had Susu told her?
But she only smiled a little, simply acknowledging his presence.
He made a polite wave with his hand. Nishimura made an indiscernible low sound, having witnessed the exchange.
She most likely had no idea. If Susu had acted on the orders of someone else, that he would not inform the girl about it was expected. But still, there was only one person Natsume could think of that would order the ayakashi around even though it was another's familiar. That man didn't know the meaning of 'holding back'. Susu had surely told him. What conclusions would Matoba-san reach?
Calm down, Natsume mentally mumbled. There wasn't much Matoba-san could know. He had only learned that the pendant Susu stole was important. Even though Natsume was seen… like that… Susu probably had no idea that him, the human, Natsume, was the same as that white-haired yokai-like someone that had gone after him to retrieve it. No, he didn't seem to show any signs of understanding the situation and recognizing his pursuers.
"I wonder how long it will be until they replace them…" Sasada mumbled, gazing at the ceiling fan that swirled above their heads.
"Them?" Nishimura titled his head.
"The windows. It doesn't feel right to be in another classroom." She remarked.
He looked up at the ceiling and frowned along. "I agree with that. For how long will we have to use the classrooms of those that are in PE? It's very distracting to have to move along with all our stuff every time. Breaks my conversation, you know."
"For once, you say something that I can totally relate to."
Natsume's fingers, wrapped around his thin wrist, squeezed with force, cutting the blood flow around it and dying it white. He kept his gaze fixated on the lines of his notebook.
"You should have seen the principal's face yesterday, Natsume! While you were in the bathroom, he walked in and started shouting when he saw that the rumours about the windows were true. I thought his eyes would pop out!"
"Hey now, don't say that out loud!" Sasada scolded.
"I tell you guys, this is going to become one of the school's major ghost stories that we will pass down to the next generation. All we have to do is come up with a creepy and ridiculous explanation. Forty years ago, they say, a student found herself mysteriously locked inside a bathroom stall, when she saw a strange face reflected on the water inside the toilet, and-"
"This school didn't even exist forty years ago!" Sasada decided to stop his momentum, for the sake of the future.
"Why do you know that?"
Sasada rolled her eyes.
"Come on, it definitely sounds fun. Right?" He glanced at Natsume.
Basically, Nishimura's gaze meant 'cheer up'.
"I guess so?" he responded with a timid shrug.
"As if we don't already have enough creepypasta school stories… Especially now that-"
Sasada didn't complete her sentence. Her eyebrows and corners of her mouth fell, eyes blinking and avoiding the boy that had been, more or less, the cause for the rise of all those stories. A student had been attacked by a mysterious lunatic, who was still on the run… It was better if Natsume was kept out of all the weird theories concerning his case. No need to remind him of the incident or stress him out.
"It's mid-October… and nobody has mentioned Halloween yet…" Nishimura changed the subject.
"This is not America, you know."
"Yeah, but Halloween's great! We need to have it here too! You get to dress as whatever you like and threaten the adults for sweets for a whole night!"
"You're too old for that now."
"One is never too old to be a child sometimes"
"Halloween…huh." Natsume mumbled. He wasn't a fan of scary things. Still, the idea of dressing up as something scary sounded like fun.
"Oh? You're interested?" Nishimura turned around, a mischievous spark in his eyes. "You're already on my list then, Natsume. I'm thinking of planning something… I don't know what it is yet, but I'm inspired!"
Whatever had Nishimura come up with? Natsume and Sasada exchanged confused glances.
And then it came, the obnoxious ringing of the morning bell. Sasada sighed, fixed her glasses and trudged to her seat. Nishimura melted back into his chair with the exhaustion of a high school student that got tired just by thinking about the rest of day's work.
Natsume let his chin rest on his hand again, exhaling deeply. He observed the windows, full of smudged fingerprints, not having been cleaned properly in a day or two. It was uncomfortable to have a view on the yard from a ground level; everything seemed just too big to contain in a single picture. He couldn't see the top of the trees anymore, and the road was barely visible behind the green wired fence.
Then he spotted it.
A short, skeletal creature with a long slender neck and mud-red wrinkly skin, watching with beady crimson eyes from behind a tree trunk.
Natsume felt the hair on his arms rise and an unpleasant, tingling sensation ran from the base of his neck down his spine.
.
.
.
"There's a yokai in the yard."
Natsume silently nodded, without turning to look at the girl who had leaned on the wall next to him. They were both staring at the creature, whose intense gaze didn't leave them for a moment. It stood still, holding its ground, aware that it had been noticed.
"For some reason, it seems to be interested only in you. Do you know why?" Kaiyo calmly asked.
Indeed, it acted as if the students that wondered in close proximity around it in the schoolyard, totally oblivious to its presence, were not even there.
"I've been told that I smell good to ayakashi…" Natsume replied, not a twitch appearing on his face.
"Is that so." She sighed and took a step forward, leaving the comfort of the wall behind her back. "Well, in any case, I'll get rid of it before it causes any trouble."
"Wait a minute. We can't know if it really means any harm."
"What else could it mean by staring you down like that? It will probably jump at you from behind and scream something along the lines of 'I'll eat you' if you don't stop it."
Natsume shuddered at the mental image because it had become quite a frequent experience in his life.
But before he could come up with a convincing argument, a certain raven-haired boy walked up to them, already forming a friendly grin. Natsume turned to him with his hand raised as a greeting. Following behind him was a short, caramel-haired girl. "Tanuma, Taki!"
"Hey Natsume." Tanuma nodded and looked at Kaiyo. "You must be the new transfer student. I am Tanuma Kaname."
"I'm Tooru Taki. We're Natsume's friends." Taki introduced herself as well, stepping forward.
Kaiyo smiled back. "I am Matoba Kaiyo. Pleased to meet you."
"They're from another class," Natsume explained.
"Ah, I see."
Of course andTanuma would be worried after yesterday's events. He even brought Taki with him… the two were conspiring, it seemed. Natsume felt grateful for their attention. He hadn't talked with them for a while. Tanuma was probably a bit mad since Natsume had been purposely avoiding him. He just wished he could get the chance to properly apologize at some point.
"Natsume." Tanuma quietly called.
Taki and Kaiyo were immersed in a conversation, not listening to them.
"Is everything alright?"
Natsume hesitated. "…It's… fine."
"It's just that you've been silent these days."
"...Sorry about that. I didn't want to get anybody involved. There was nothing you could do about it."
"Nothing I could do about it, huh," Tanuma repeated dryly.
Realising that he had phrased it wrong, Natsume hurried to clarify, feeling a painful pinch of guilt. "What I mean is, there was nothing to be done, really. It wasn't anything serious."
"I just hope you know what you're doing."
'Me too' , Natsume thought.
"You'll tell me if it does get serious though. We're friends, Natsume. Don't make me say that all over again, it feels like when we first started talking with each other on a daily basis, the time we were barely friends and more of acquaintances." Tanuma exhaled and looked up again, scratching his cheek awkwardly.
"I'm…" …sorry, is what he'd say, but Natsume flinched. He realized that he was once more planning to deceive Tanuma and run away for his own convenience, despite being fully aware of the boy's feelings. Natsume felt the need to fix things at the very moment. "Actually, there's something..."
"Something?" Tanuma blinked, back straightening immediately, eyes livening up.
.
.
.
'Sure. But don't be late or Touko-san will worry! Give your friends my thanks.'
Natsume shoved the white cell phone back in his trousers' pocket, thankful that Shigeru-san had no objections to him returning home on foot and with Tanuma and Taki's escort. He looked up. The two were already waiting for him at the end of the staircase.
"I heard there's a yokai." Taki immediately tried to explain her presence, but Natsume gave her a reassuring smile. Tanuma had already told him that he was going to drag Taki into this.
"Yes… it's been watching me all this time." Natsume winced once he stepped into the sunlight. On the roof, where there were no walls to offer protection, the wind was free to harass them from all directions at full speed. The leaves that were blown on their bare hands were sharp enough to give them 'paper-cuts'.
They strode to the green wired-fence, all rubbing arms and unrolling sleeves to warm themselves up.
"Actually, I have a favour to ask you…" Natsume looked at his friends with honest, embarrasses eyes. "I told Shigeru-san that you'd walk me home. I'm sorry, I didn't ask you first if you could…"
"No, that's fine. He'd worry if you were to return by yourself, right?" Taki said.
"Yeah. Don't make a big deal out of it. Of course we'll do it." Tanuma nodded in agreement.
"You guys… thank you." Natsume's lips curled to form one of his purest, warmest smiles, a bliss that spread all over his face and made his eyes light up. Taki and Tanuma grinned to each other.
"So, now that we've sorted that out… Is it still there?" The raven-haired boy gestured towards the yard, of which they had a perfect view.
Natsume's chin lowered as he quietly searched among the trees.
There it was, not having moved an inch all morning. Its crimson eyes showed no discomfort as it coldly stared back, serious and calculating. It made the hair on his arms stand on edge. Sometimes, he did get creepy stalking yokai like that that, in the end of the day, would finally approach him and timidly ask for their name to be returned. It probably was one of those.
"I'll try talking to it," Natsume announced.
"Eh? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Taki mumbled worriedly.
"If it does anything funny… I guess we will all just have to run away. Though there's no knowing if it will follow us…"
Tanuma smirked nervously. "In the end, you're the one doing everything by yourself. We're just watching."
"We're here for support." Taki corrected.
It felt safer this way. Natsume could throw a punch or two if push came to shove. But the other two would be completely helpless, not even able to see it.
Taki frowned. "I think we should go grab some brooms for good measure."
"Brooms?" Tanuma raised an eyebrow.
She nodded. "Better have some form of protection. What do you think, Natsume-kun?"
"Eh? Ah… It's… not a bad idea." He admitted, thinking back on all the times he had used his own school bag as a weapon.
"How are we going to get brooms, anyway?" Tanuma put on a very troubled expression.
"I'm on cleaning duty today." She explained.
The three friends hurried to the room where all the cleaning equipment was kept, ignoring the inquiring glances of students that were cleaning the hallways or going to their after-school activities. The boys allowed Taki to search through the mess of old mops, buckets, and sprays. She raised the first broom she found with a proud smirk and handed it to them.
Tanuma and Natsume stared at the broom in awkward silence. It was just a piece of wood with uneven hair sticking out at the end that was tangled with dirty fluffy clusters, bits of paper and dried glue.
"Nobody uses these anymore. You should be glad they haven't been thrown away yet." Taki said, noticing their disappointed expressions as she came out of the little room with another two brooms which were not in a very good condition either. "Come on, let's go."
Walking on the grass with a broom was a rather weird sensation. If someone tried to sweep the ground, he would be basically getting dirt off the dirt… They strode across the yard confidently, but Natsume could tell they were just as tense as he was. He looked up from the grass, the green fibres that hugged his shoes, and saw it, with its eyes, the red rubies trying to pierce his very being. Tanuma and Taki stopped behind him, clutching their brooms in a warning manner.
This time, the yokai moved, or rather, its finger did. Slowly, painfully slowly, they slithered across the rough brown tree trunk as the ayakashi withdrew its arm. Then it took three step forward, limbs handing awkwardly from a leaning, staggering body. It wore a simple black yukata, loosely and quite messily tied around its chubby waist with a white cloth. Black hair, straight and oily as if drenched in water, covered almost all of its face, with the exception of the glowing red orbs. Its long red neck had several ripples, wrinkled and distorted.
Yet its features didn't make Natsume budge. He drowned the urge to run, as he had done countless other times, and peered straight into the soul-sucking red pits, calmly.
"This is not a place you should be wandering around at," he spoke.
It revealed a mouth with rows of sharp teeth. "I am not wandering. I am waiting." Its voice was distant, echoed, crackling like frost.
It walked, getting closer and closer, at its slow, unsettling pace. Tanuma winced, having sensed it, and held his broom a little higher. Taki imitated him, her eyes frantically darting around, desperately trying to locate the source of danger that upset her stomach.
"This is not a place to wait at." Natsume calmly replied.
"I do not abide by human rules." Slowly, slowly, it trudged forward, closer and closer. Now Nastume could clearly see the freckles and spots on the wrinkly crimson skin, the dirty broken nails, the stray strands of hair that stood out.
Natsume's grip on his broom tightened, but his worry didn't show at the slightest. With that expressionless face, he stood frozen, waiting for the yokai to speak out its desires.
"I am searching for a certain child of man. A child of man that I want to offer a gift to."
"A gift?"
"You are that child of man. Please accept it…ThE giFt oF DeAtH!"
The shrieking ayakashi attacked so fast that Natsume almost didn't have time to shield himself with his broom. The large body impacted with the stick, pushing him down with its weight. His elbows dug into the earth as he strained his muscles to withstand the force. Natsume groaned from the effort.
"Natsume!" Tanuma cried and swung his broom with all the power he could master. The wood slammed against the yokai's side and it produced an ear-piercing scream, but still didn't let go of its target.
The long neck stretched and the hair-covered face approached him. Through the teeth of the terrifying smirk below the red eyes, a black, rotten thing protruded. Natsume struggled to move away, but the yokai's hand grabbed his chin and painfully twisted his head back towards it. He shivered from disgust as the dry, rough tongue slid across his pale cheek, right under his eye. The row of sharp teeth came closer, ready to dig into the tender flesh and-
Taki managed to strike the yokai's elongated slender neck, the sound of wood smacking flesh scaring away a few birds on a nearby tree. The screeching ayakashi's neck shortened back to its original length and it stepped back, caressing the spot where it had received the blow.
"Run!" Natsume yelled, scrambling up on his feet.
Taki swung her broom around once more and then turned around to follow the other two on their wild run. Their hearts were beating like drums and adrenaline flowing through their veins made each cell of their body give energy, reminding them of the danger, urging them to move.
"We need to lure it away from the school!" Taki shouted.
Tanuma made the mistake of glancing back. Although he could not see it, he had a very strong feeling that the yokai was running after them. "…Natsume!"
It was after him. If he could just lure it away and make it lose him… Dragging Tanuma and Taki into this… was it a good choice?
"Bind the spirit that arose from earth, purge the darkness, thou who are light, thou who are my will"
Natsume caught a glimpse of black hair as he ran past the girl. He made a sloppy stop and turned around, beads of sweat being flung off his bangs.
Rectangular slips of paper hovered around the yokai that was chasing them, encircling it. Before it had time to realize what was happening, the paper pieces flew on it and covered it, several layers of them. They glowed brightly and the creature cried horrifically, futilely trying to break free of its paper prison, wriggling its neck. It started to turn into ash, bits of it falling off and decomposing, until it vanished from existence, along with its ear-piercing squeals and red eyes.
"Well, that was extremely stupid. If I hadn't been around…" Kaiyo hissed, walking up to him with an angry frown.
Natsume stood frozen, not sure how to respond. Tanuma lightly tapped his shoulder. "My headache's gone." He mumbled.
"It's safe now, yes? I mean, you exorcised it, right?" Taki timidly asked, looking at the enraged form of the Matoba girl.
"It won't come back. See for yourself." Kaiyo pointed in a dismissing manner at the place where the yokai had last been.
"Ah… Well…" The brunette looked around awkwardly, not sure where she was supposed to look.
"Don't tell me… You can't see them?" Kaiyo's eyes widened.
"You thought we did?" Tanuma asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Why do you know about their existence? No, in the first place, why did you even get involved then? It's dangerous for normal people." She then turned to Natsume with an accusing scowl.
"Look, he had nothing to do with us getting involved. Natsume is one of those 'normal people' you mentioned, unlike you who apparently knows how to deal with these stuff with your exorcising techniques. And we wanted to get involved because he's our friend, thank you very much!"
Taki's angry retaliation pulled a sensitive chord. Kaiyo's face of rage melted into a light frown. She opened and closed her mouth with hesitation, then decided to let her lips form a thin, apologetic line.
"I was carried away, please excuse me."
"No need to be so formal. I'm sorry too, for lashing out. You were just worried." Taki gave her a soft reassuring smile.
"Though I still believe that engaging that thing yourselves was reckless and idiotic."
"That's… acceptable. We're sorry." Tanuma sighed.
"Hey! Hey, guys! What are you all doing out there with the brooms?"
They all turned to look at the building with surprise. A familiar head was poking out of a window from the second floor. Nishimura waved at them with a cloth in hand, grinning toothily.
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.
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"And that's when we ended the conversation."A click sounded as Natsume plugged in the hair drier. "But Sensei, I have no idea why that yokai targeted me. It didn't say anything about the Yuujinchou… It just wanted to kill me."
The image of the red eyes and the long neck were still there, haunting him every time he blinked. Natsume turned the hair drier towards the fat cat, who closed his eyes to enjoy the warmth of the blowing air.
"It must have sensed strong spiritual power from you, that's why," Nyanko-sensei said.
"I don't think that's it." Natsume shook his head.
Just then, a happy, ringing sound echoed in the room, startling both of them. Natsume turned off the hair drier and listened carefully. "That's… somebody's calling me!" he realized and got up, scurrying to his desk, where the white cell phone vibrated demandingly, screen bright and angry.
"What kind of ridiculous sound was that?" the cat remarked smugly.
"Shh, be quiet Sensei-" he pressed the green button that appeared and put the phone close to his ear. "Hello? Ah, Nishimura!"
Nyanko-sensei yawned with indifference and settled down on his green pillow.
"No, I did… Yes… Halloween? How-… Yes….I see… I have never watched one… It's the truth!... I guess it wouldn't be bad… I'll ask…Sure, why not?... Well, it's no wonder he said that… Math huh… Wait a minute."
Natsume searched the mess of scattered books for his math book. Nyanko-sensei decided that it was all too boring and ignored the rest of the chit-chat about some homework that they had been given. At last, Natsume put down the cell phone and sighed.
"Nishimura invited me to his house for Halloween."
"I have no idea what that Hellowin may be but good for you."
"We're going to watch a very scary movie… wait, what was the title again?" Natsume held his chin in thought.
"Oh? Scary movie? Will there be food?"
"Sensei-" Natsume started threateningly.
"I was only kidding, good grief…" Nyanko-sensei played innocent.
"Anyway, why are you sitting on there while you're wet you stupid cat?"
"Who are you calling stupid, you cruel slave-driver! You're the one who insisted I take a bath! Normally, I would be sleeping by now!"
Natsume let the hot air hit Nyanko's face with full force when he turned on the hair drier again. He amused himself with the cat's reaction, which was to hiss and choke from his own saliva. But all of the sudden, he stopped laughing and his expression darkened. He turned the power of the device down a bit.
"Sensei… I've been meaning to talk to you about that dream."
"Not today. I'm tired." Nyanko-sensei replied in his usual demeanour. But the refusal was clear and loud. Nyanko-sensei was reluctant when it came to discussing his past.
"What if I dream that again tonight? What if it gets worse?"
"You're worrying too much."
They sat in silence, the only sound being the hair drier. When the cat was all dry and extremely fluffy, Natsume turned off the lights and made sure that his cell phone was charging. As he bent down to get underneath the warm covers of his futon, he heard his door slide open.
"Takashi-kun? You're still awake?" Touko-san's concerned face showed up, amidst the light from the hallway.
"I was just getting to bed…"
"Oh, I see. Is everything alright?"
"Yes…"
"If something happens, come and wake us up, ok? Don't hesitate."
"Thank you, Touko-san." He smiled at her, the woman he loved like a mother.
She smiled back and slowly closed the door. "Good night."
Natsume finally lied down and Nyanko-sensei hopped on the blanket, curling up in the little curve that Natsume's legs formed. "Go to sleep already. Stop worrying about a little dream."
"Good night, Sensei."
"Pfeh. Whatever."
Natsume slept quicker than the cat did. Nyanko-sensei's eyes remained closed, but his ears stood up for a long time. He was thinking that, no matter what, those troublesome dreams were going to stop. And he knew just the guy for the job… That yokai's name was in the Yuujinchou too. There was no reason for him to refuse to help out.
.
.
.
Natsume woke up abruptly, having sensed a sudden shift as if he had fallen from the second floor to the first. He lifted his head and, still hugging his pillow, tried to force his eyelids to open. Had there been a small earthquake perhaps?
"Nyanko-sensei?"
No response.
He finally realized what was wrong and blinked.
"Eh?"
Wiped his eyes and blinked again.
This was not his room. It clearly was a child's bedroom, judging by the light green ceiling with a big poster of a dinosaur and the toy cars that were scattered on a red striped carpet. He was lying in a foreign, too small bed, covered by a foreign red blanket, clutching a foreign pillow.
"Eh?!"
Just where in the world was he?
It was a little short, I know, and WHY A CLIFFHANGER AGAIN?
But I can tell you're going to love the next chapter. Trust me on this. I've been planning it since chapter six.
Edit(15 days later, while writing next chapter): Actually, I ended up altering everything so I'm not sure that you're going to love it, but I think you'll at least find it an ok chapter... Probably?
Also, I named the chapters! And I think I failed completely, coming up with meaningful names is very difficult. I am going to update chapters without names from now on, and come back later to name them. So I will be glad to receive any suggestions for the names of the future chapters (or the ones already named, if you have any better ideas). Or do you think that they're ok as they are?
Until next time! Thank you very much for your love and support!