Caught in the web of feelings
Strange woman
Whereas Mio felt embarrassment now only content was. If it was somebody who she did not knew before, Mio would definitively feel embarrassed over all of her senses, but with Ritsu it was somehow normal, fluid. Their talk just kept going as they walked through the cold streets of Nara in the February sunset, trying to find the decent place in the city which offered many, but none good enough for two girls in love.
They've walked through the narrow street, and then through another which was even narrower.
"Ritsu, do you even know where you're going?" Mio asked her friend, concerned cause they were walking, turning left and right and they were still in the narrow streets which somehow perplexed around each other. Turning point is when they realized – they were next to the college gates again.
"Of course! I was just observing surroundings!" Ritsu slammed her chest in fake pride.
"Yeah right." Mio grabbed her wrist, pulling her in another direction and they came to the main street in the matter of minutes.
There, on the grey streets filled with tall buildings which housed many people, cars roared loudly, passing by them as they've made their way downtown, where Mio supposed that she'll actually find a decent place.
"Nara is really different." Mio said, turning around to observe her surroundings, which now were a mix of the car lights combined with the light show of semaphores, which changed colors, reflected on the wet streets – snow was slowly melting away.
"Who would say that it's so urban here?" Ritsu repeated the thing which she said many times over the time they've spent in this town.
"Do you miss home, Ri-chan?" Mio asked her, kicking the bent soda pop can on the street. Big truck passed, squishing it flat and Mio got spooked, jumping away.
"Yeah… It is kinda depressing going around, seeing the faces but knowing that this town is not actually where you belong, and where you grew up. Isn't it weird, Mio-chan? All those people know Nara as their home, and as they pass us their minds are filled with thoughts and memories completely different than ours."
"Wow… Ritsu.. I haven't had any idea that you're thinking about such serious things."
"But isn't it true?"
"Yeah."
Turning silent, Mio continued walking downtown, not really paying any attention to her surroundings. Ritsu was the one who led her, holding her palm, looking truly confident about the way she was leading. They've hit the corner of Yasuragi street, with the huge crossroad appearing in front of them.
"So, expert, which way we should go now?" Mio mocked Ritsu, who stood with the sweat dropping from her forehead, turning around.
They've failed to see the woman with a white kimono, bamboo hat and cowl over her head, standing and watching them from the corner.
"Drink water, drink tea… really, the weather today is bad but tomorrow shall be better. Girls, might I inquire about the way you two are going?"
Mio screamed like a little girl, grabbing Ritsu and shoving her in front of herself, protecting from the unknown threat.
"Oi, Mio-chan, what's wrong? Seen the pantsu stealing Oni?"
"Aargh, stop joking, Ri-chan!" Mio smacked Ritsu across forehead.
"Ouch! Anyway, I'm Ritsu, this is my friend Mio, but she's scared of you so I might ask you to leave."
Ritsu blubbered, turning to leave, only to feel the cold fingers embracing her wrist.
"Drink water, drink tea. I might have directions if you need them."
"Ritsu, let's just leave!" Mio was scared. Woman had some unnatural aura about herself, something intimidating and scary, and the fact that she hid her face made Mio even more scared.
"Mio, Mio, Mio. I would not be Ritsu if I was to run from the first person I saw on the street if she looks a bit out of the way. D'you, per chance, have some good place for the cute pair of girls like us?"
"Drink water, drink tea. There is a good place to go. If you might follow, I will show you."
"No! No way! Ritsu, let's go! We will find the way on our own!" Mio pulled her, but Ritsu stubbornly refused, as she always did once she set her eyes on something.
"Let's follow, Mio-chan? What's the worst that could happen?"
"She could eat us!"
"Don't be silly." Ritsu smirked, pulling Mio who weeped, while dragging her feet across the concrete.
"Goodbye cruel world, I'm leaving you today, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye." Mio sang to herself as tears rolled down her cheeks, and Ritsu pulled her by the wrist.
"What is your name?" Ritsu asked the woman who led them.
"Drink water, drink tea. My name is Mami."
"Gosh, that line is annoying! Can you drop it?" Ritsu snarled, because woman kept repeating same words before every new sentence she said.
"Drink water, drink tea. I can't. It's my blessing… and my curse."
As Mami said curse, Mio shrieked and Ritsu could feel how she stopped pulling on the other side – Mio fainted.
"Drink water, drink tea. We are here."
"I will prefer some ale, thanks!" Ritsu smiled, dragging Mio inside what was a pub, a charming, western style place, looking more like a pub in the center of Dublin than like a place in the middle of Japan.
"Drink water, drink tea. Might I join you?" Mami asked, making a small bow.
"Erm… I don't think she would appreciate it." Ritsu scratched her head with insecure look in her eyes, pointing to her fainted friend.
"Drink water, drink tea. I shall acquiesce to your wishes."
With those words, strange woman left, and suddenly she disappeared. Ritsu just shrugged, going inside.
Inside of the pub looked like a regular drinking place, with the dark orange walls, red leather booths made with ebony wood, same as counter where barmen stood, doing his work which right now was cleaning one particularly messy glass – it was used as the ashtray by some really rude customer. Before the counter there were three high chairs without the support for the back, and whole place looked a lot bigger than it was from outside. It had a scent of cigarettes, vine, and a female perfume, which belonged to the silver haired woman who sat in one of the booths, hiding her face with a black bonnet.
"Osu! Whadup, barmen?" Ritsu smirked, slamming both of her palms on the counter.
"Oi, Ritsu! I haven't seen you for a long time!"
I probably haven't told you, but Mio's brother was sixteen now, and since they've had some connections, he started working as a barmen in this very pub.
"Ritsu… if your brother works here, how comes you haven't thought about it firstplace?" Mio asked her, coming closer.
"Eeh… I was…"
"She was probably lost." Satoshi, her brother, smiled.
"Shudup, Satoshi!" Ritsu smacked his forehead.
"Anyway, how's your college going, Nee?" Satoshi asked, finally finishing cleaning the glass, brushing his sweat off.
"Oh, it's fine!"
Satoshi turned around to Mio, without even asking if Ritsu was telling the truth.
"She is really doing great!" Mio defended her friend. Really, Ritsu improved her grades in a last period of time.
"She really matured." he smiled.
Later, Mio and Ritsu sat in the booth, each on the other side, enjoying hot chocolate – Mio explicitely urged Ritsu not to drink, and Ritsu had no other choice than to go along with her wishes. It was their first date together, after all.
"Who is that woman over there?" Ritsu asked her brother, as he came closer to sit, earning angry glare from Mio – she wanted to be alone with Ritsu.
"Oh, that silver haired one? I don't know. She came here, ordered a drink and she's been sitting like this four hours already."
"Spider waits in his web, waiting for a prey to come closer. That's how the circle of life and death is. I am here because I'm waiting for the very important person." woman said, in a strong, feminine voice.
"Pft, he probably dumped you." Ritsu put her arm on the top of the booth, looking at woman as she sat right next to where they did. As she said it, silver haired woman turned around, piercing black eyes like onix embracing Ritsu's figure. Ritsu got startled and then her eyes widened in amazement.
"Awesome, awesome! Where did you got those contact lens?!"
Woman, somehow shocked to her sudden question, blushed and took a small mirror, inspecting her beautiful, pale face with black colored lips.
"We're not given the chance to pick who we are. Those are my natural eyes." she smiled, with a little, charming smirk.
"That is even more awesome!"
"Ri-chan, don't strike the conversation with the random strangers!" Mio grabbed her polo shirt, pulling her down where she was.
"But she seems kind, Mio-chan!"
Ritsu saw somebody on the door and she smiled, waving.
"Who is that now…" Mio was irritated by this. She wanted to be alone with Ritsu and now, heaps of people just kept coming, one after another.
"Drink water, drink tea. It's good to see you, Ritsu."
"Likewise, likewise, Mami! Come, sit down with us!"
"RITSU!" Mio really got angry now.
"Oh relax, Mio-chan. Those people are nice, can't you see?" Ritsu smiled, hugging Mami around shoulder, as she sat next to them. Odd thing, which Ritsu noticed, was how cold Mami's body was, but she decided to ignore it. Probably it was about bad circulation, she thought.
"Drink water, drink tea." she said, and Satoshi misinterpreted it, coming in five minutes with a glass of cold water and tea which fumed with a rich, rose scent.
"You will really drink water and tea now!" Ritsu nodded her newfound buddy, and Mami took a cowl up, taking tea under it. Sound of slurping was heard, and then she put the cup down, letting a sigh of enjoyment.
"Can I see your face?" Ritsu asked some time later, as Mami sat there quietly in awkward silence, because Mio kept staring with a scared look in her eyes.
"Drink water, drink tea. Faces are but mirrors of the souls. If face is not visible, soul shines outside, brightly. I don't have need for showing my face."
"Yeah, yeah, drink water, drink tea. But I'm curious!"
"Drink water, drink tea. Be prepared." she said. Ritsu felt anxiety for a moment, for an unknown reason. Almost like she was to see something really horrible but why? Woman, aside from her weird way of talking, and appearance, was quite a normal person.
"I need to g-go to a toilet!" Mio said, standing up swiftly, going on a toilet. Her body trembled like crazy, she felt her stomach being tied in a knot and somehow, she knew that if she saw her face, she would never got over it. And then she heard Ritsu's scream, along with Satoshi's.
"Ri-Ri-Ri-chan?" Mio asked.
Ritsu ran into bathroom, scared out of her senses. Her face was pale, eyes wide like she just saw a ghost and she heaved, being on the verge of tears.
"Ri-Ri-chan, w-what happened?"
"She.. she…"
Ritsu tried getting back to her senses, so she turned the cold water on, after locking the doors behind herself, splashing her face with the water, taking a deep breath to calm herself.
"She does not have a face!" Ritsu screamed.
"WHAT?!" Mio screamed back.
"She does not have a face, Mio! She's a yokai! I don't know what she wants, but we need to leave this place! I have a bad feeling!"
They've left security of the pub toilet, all in hopes that they'll succeed in running away. Peeking their noses through the door, they've seen the pub being empty. Stillness was almost mesmerizingly unnatural, so both Ritsu and Mio wanted to stay inside. But they knew – they've had to leave. Not wanting to end up being a total coward, Ritsu kicked the door open, screaming – but nobody was there.
"Ri-Ritsu-chan, i-is anybody there?"
"Sergeant Ri-chan reporting! No visible threat!"
Mio fearfully took a step out.
Atmosphere in the pub was gloomy and very, very tense – you could almost cut it with a knife. Some unexplainable terror hanged behind the corner in the dark, and light bulb which picked a worst time for starting to die out, blinking in broken intervals, wasn't helping at all. Already, night was out, and Ritsu's brother, on top of everything, wasn't there.
"Satoshi-kun, y'there?" Ritsu yelled. Only after yell Ritsu has heard a weak, silent sob, coming behind the counter.
Running towards the source of the sound, she found it soon and – it was horrible.
Laying on his back, Satoshi's mouth were opened wide in an expression of a pure terror. His eyes blank and eyelids fluttering, tears combined with white foam from his mouth dripped over his catatonic face. His pants wet, below his hips there was a dark spot, smelling like body secretions. Whole of his body, also, trembled.
"NII-CHAN!" Ritsu screamed, grabbing her brother, shaking him.
Mio took a water from the bar, washing his face as Ritsu cried, holding her brother's face on her chest.
"This is unforgivable." Mio suddenly said in her coldest, meanest voice ever.
"Mio…" Ritsu silently weeped.
"This is totally unforgivable! I'm going to destroy those fiends! Nobody makes Ritsu cry! They're going to die!"
"Mio, calm down! Sato-kun is fine!" Ritsu tried to calm her angry friend.
"Oh, I won't! This is the last time those damned things will destroy our happiness. First Azusa, then Yui, Mugi, now you! What else is going to happen, giant spider taking me away?! Tell me, how long this terror is going to last, Ri-chan?"
"Drink water, drink tea. Their terror has ended, but yours is yet to come. Bearer of Earth, be forever trapped in the realm of Atsuchi!"
Mio barely had time to scream when faceless yokai appeared. She raised her pale white hands and Mio felt sting in her neck.
Ritsu helplessly watched huge spider appearing from the shadows, stabbing Mio in the neck with a giant stinger. Soon, her face lost the color and she fell unconscious. Afterwards, it grabbed her limp body with huge legs, wrapping her in a sticky silk until her head, only, was visible. Suddenly, a fiery portal appeared and spider pulled Mio through it.
"Drink water, drink tea. You will be dealt with soon, bearer of Fire. Tsuchi shall have her feast tonight."
"NOOO!" Ritsu screamed as Mami stepped through the portal, grabbing her long kimono.
"Drink water, drink tea! Let me go, you inferior mortal!"
Mami started burning Ritsu's hands as portal sucked them in, but Ritsu didn't wanted to let go.
"Never! I love Mio! Mio, I will never let them eat you, I promise!"
As she screamed, fire engulfed her and the portal sucked them whole. Ritsu blackened out.
As her eyes open in the strange realm behind the fiery portal, Ritsu is faced with horrible, unescapable truth. Mio is gone, taken hostage, to be eaten or worse. Armed only with love for her friend and her will, Ritsu embarks on the solitary adventure to save her love and best friend.
Next chapter: Realm of Atsuchi!