The sensation of his mind leaving it's body was terrifying. Suddenly he was floating outside of himself. On the carpet under him he could see the slumped forms of him and his team mates. Between their still bodies the book cover was glowing in a red light. Masako was looking at him like she could see them which being a psychic, she could.
"Takigawa-san!"
Houshou glanced up to see Lin and Naru floating cross legged in mid-air with a dead pan expression like they did this every day. "Are you ready?" Naru asked. Houshou nodded. They all floated down and touched a finger to the book's cover. Instantly red light spread out, enveloping them. "Good luck!" Masako said. "Try not to get separated," Naru advised. Then Lin shouted an incantation and the book sucked them into a hurricane of red light. Gravity seemingly shifted, and they were carried upward inside the twister. Lin shouted over the roar of the wind, "Stay together! Join hands!" He grabbed Naru's wrist. Arms and legs star-spread and clothes futtering wildly, Houshou tried to get closer to them, but the whirlwind only pulled him farther from reach. Helplessly he watched Lin and Naru get sucked away from his sight. Why did this always happen to him?
Then suddenly he was pushed out of the spiral of wind to the colder air. He just had time to remember the stuff on hurricanes that he had learnt in primary school before he went into freefall. He vented high pitched scream that the wind stole from him as it slapped him in the face, distorting his features and bringing tears to his eyes.
Through a blurred vision he could see the green carpet of trees spreading beneath him, coming rapidly closer until he could make out the individual tree tops.
…
Branches stung his arms and face as he gabbed at them, desperate to slow his decent. He bounced off some pine branches earning numerous scratches and bruises. Then he fell into a carpet of brown leaves, scaring the bejabbers out of any creepy-crawlies that happened to be unfortunate enough to live there. To his surprise the impart didn't kill him, although he twisted his ankle and jarred his tailbone badly. He lay there for a while, staring at the pieces of sky that could be seen in between the dense pine trees, wondering what had happened to Naru and Lin. The only possible course of action would be to find Mai and hope they were there. He got up stiffly, inspecting his dirty and tattered clothes. He paused. These weren't the clothes he had come in. He wore brown linen pants and heavy, laced boots. His shirt was white, and he wore a felt vest and hooded cloak. Slung over his shoulder was a rucksack made of leather. The contents of which he had no time to explore before the sound of a horn made him spin around.
A similarly dressed figure stepped out of the woods, letting the horn sink. His cloak was green like the forest, and a bow was slung over his shoulder. The cowl of the man's cloak cast his face into shadow. Houshou let out a groan. Why me? He thought again. "Who art thou, who wanders through my forest, oh traveller?" A youthful voice proclaimed loudly. Houshou sat bolt upright at it's sound. "Yasu!" The figure shrugged of his hood, revealing Yasu's face in a puzzled frown. "I'm afraid we do not speak the same…" "Yasu it's you! Thank god," Houshou exclaimed. "Wait… you don't…?" Yasu shook his head gravely. "I'm afraid you have mistaken me with someone else, however I would be glad to – "You're Robin hood?" Monk interrupted. How I wish I'd read that stupid book! He thought angrily. Naru was the only one who understood this world, and he could be miles away. Meanwhile Yasu laughed. "That is correct my dear friend. Shall we see if thy purse is a full as thy wit?" "Er… I don't have any money," Houshou told him. "Then reveal the contents of thy bag!" Sighing he opened his bag, struggling with the unfamiliar ties. Yasu bent forward to inspect its contents. Jerky strips and a water canteen.
And a bible. "A bible? Aren't though a saint," Yasu laughed. He was definitely doing to much of that, Monk thought. He sounded like a cheerful maniac. "Very well, it seems that my hospitality must be given without pay. What is thy profession?" Monk frowned all this thy and thou was giving him a headache. "I'm a monk." "A monk!" Yasu cried. "Like a friar? Welcome. We have another of your kind- "A monk, not a friar," Monk said annoyed. "There's a huge difference: Friars go around preaching to people, while monks…" Yasu was clearly not listening. Cheerfully he took him by the arm and all but dragged him though the woods to wherever the fabled feast was to be held.