Conquest Arc:

Chapter 25: Unexpected guest

Yu Narukami

Foggy – Evening - 19/11/2012(Monday) – TV world, Inaba
(4 days before Conquest arrival)

They all stared in disbelief over the view in front of them. Even with all the fog, a huge branch of tree was clearly in sight, and in their way to their destination.

"…Since when?" Yosuke scratched the back of his head.

There's no longer an access to Yomotsu Hirasaka, as the branch grew on their path. They all turned to where the branch came from, but only fog was seen covering half of the studio entrance. Then they turned upward, but sky of cloud was blocking the view of the possibly building-tall tree.

"I don't know." Yu responded.

At least they made a right decision to visit at evening, who knew what kind of trouble will appear if they visit before Dark Hour. However, another problem appeared with the path itself.

"Maybe it happened during our fight with Yog-Sothoth?" Naoto thought, her hand at her chin.

"Whatever it is, let's search for another way to Yomotsu Hirasaka." Yu gave his order as a leader. And so the Investigation Team moved into the foggy land not far from where they stood.

?, TV world, Inaba

They reached to a giant tree isolated by other trees in the middle of the forest where a small shrine was placed under it. The trees here were too rare to get lost, but the fog prevented them to fully use the advantage. The leaf was brown in color and the branches were thick and rusty. Seems like an old tree used for rituals in horror movies.

"All these trees are too big; it's giving me the creep." Chie shuddered, clinging Yukiko by her side. Even Teddie and Rise are scared, which they took a chance to grab Yu's arm.

"Hey, what's that statue in that shrine?" Kanji pointed towards the small statue inside the small shrine under the tree. They all took a closer look at the stone statue. There's an old Japanese reading besides it, though it was too dusty and blurry to read.

"Can someone translate it?" Yukiko asked around, but not even Naoto can decrypt it.

The Investigation Team looked clueless as they shrugged their shoulder and went ahead deeper into the forest, crossing tall grasses with the fog growing thicker as they went ahead.

Unaware to them, a small figure was watching the whole scene.

About half an hour later, they realized that the forest isn't as open as they thought, countless sharp tree branches stood between their path and they don't even know which way was correct. It's like a dungeon with only 1 floor assuming the size. Plus, they were back at the giant tree where they originally arrived.

"It's like the forest itself was sealed, and I can't find a path leading to where Marie is." Rise said after summoning Kanzeon and analyzing the area. They all sighed in failure and decided to end today's mission.

"Let's head back and rethink this through." Yu concluded and they went to the exit point.

Once again, they were unaware of someone following them.

Night – Amagi Inn

After another busy night at the kitchen, Yukiko took away her stress by busying herself with work. She sometimes skipped her work, focusing on resting to strengthen her persona. Tonight was busier than usual, and she stayed late to clean the dishes.

Cring!

She turned back to the kitchen after switching off the lights. She could hear someone moving over the plates. She switched on the light and check, but everything was the same. Was she too tired? Thinking that she was imagining things, she went to the bathroom to change.

It was then she could swear that someone or something had been following her and watching her. She could clearly hear footsteps of someone walking down the hall. She knew of previous incident weeks ago that happen where Nyarlathotep always tried to kidnap a girl at night. She might be the next target.

Panicking, she dashed to her room and locked the door. She searched for the number of the first person on her mind.

"Yukiko, you aren't asleep yet? What's wrong?"

"Chie, I feel like someone has been following me into my house."

"R-Really?! Stay in your room, I'm coming right now!"

"Thanks Chie. I'm already in my room, so I hope whatever out there won't knock on my door-"

She trembled slightly when she heard a knocking sound coming from her door. She stood from her bed and walked towards the door, but realized the knock came from the window.

"Yukiko? Yukiko, what happen?!"

She slowly walked to the window and reached her hand for the curtain.

"Yukiko, please answer me!"

Not answering Chie who was on hold, Yukiko grabbed tightly the curtain with the continuous knock behind it.

Flip!

In quick manners, Yukiko flipped opened her curtain and almost couldn't believe her eyes.

"I finally found you, Amaterasu-sama!"

If you want to describe this creature in a single word, it would be… bird, a bird costume to be precise. Similar to Teddie's costume, the yellow feather was detailed by the street light outside the inn. He has a long beak like nose and round eyes. In conclusion, he's almost similar to Teddie, but a bird.

"Surprise!"

"…"

"Yukiko, what happen?!"

"Surprise!"

"…"

"Yukiko, who's voice is that?!"

"Surprise, Amaterasu-sama!"

"…"

"Yukiko?!"

"Surpri-"

The cops were seen that night around Amagi Inn after hearing a scream.

Cloudy - Morning – 20/11/2012(Tuesday) – Junes, Inaba
(3 days before Conquest arrival)

They all shifted their eyes between Teddie and the new presence at their meeting table in Junes. Yosuke was confused as he turned to Yukiko who quickly shook her head, clueless as well. Yu wasn't sure if he needed to send the news of this bird to Sumaru City or not, but he still need to ask something from him.

"Let's start from the beginning, who are you?" Yu began.

"I am Tengu, the guardian of Nakatsukuni, the central land. I'm a loyal retainer of the great goddess of heaven Amaterasu-sama, and I will continue to serve her!"

Yukiko hid her face in embarrassment when the others stared at her. The voice of the bird known as Tengu was loud enough for the entire court to hear.

"Isn't Tengu a dog?" Kanji asked, confused by the name.

"In myth, Tengu is described as a bird-man." Naoto corrected him.

"By the way, Tengu really look like Teddie with the costume, don't you think?" Yosuke said.

"You're right. Could he be Teddie's relative?" Rise replied, but there's no answer after her.

"Tengu, where are you from?"

"I just told you, I'm the guardian of Nakatsukuni! I saw you all walking yesterday before sensing the presence of my lord, Amaterasu-sama!" Tengu looked angry and pointed at the team. "Who are you all, nearing my lord with an oddly smell? *sniff* *sniff* …You smell 'powerful'! I won't let you all near my Amaterasu-sama!"

They all sweat dropped as looked at the poor Yukiko. "He insisted that I'm the real Amaterasu, not my persona." Yukiko said.

"How is that even possible? Could it be that he see us based on our persona?" Chie wondered.

"Oh yeah? How about we test it?" Yosuke stood from his chair and crossed his arm like a master talking to his disciple. "I am the great Susanoo-no-Okami! Bow before me, Tengu!"

"!"

Tengu froze suddenly; he sniffed Yosuke for a moment and quickly bowed his head. "Oh great Susanoo-sama, please forgive my rudeness! I never meet you in person other than Amaterasu-sama! Please don't slay me!"

A large smirk was clearly seen at Yosuke's face as he turned to Teddie who returned a smirk. Their face clearly said 'What shall he do for me?' However, Yu quickly stopped them from teasing him any further.

"Tengu, as the guardian of that place, do you know a way to enter Yomotsu Hirasaka?" Yu asked, without introducing himself as his persona.

"Yomotsu Hirasaka? Ah, yes! Izanami-sama's forbidden place! I know that place! If you follow the right path, you can reach Yomotsu Hirasaka from Nakatsukuni! But the path was sealed after years ago, and Amaterasu-sama abandoned me at that forest! *sob**sob*" He proceed to pull Yukiko's skirt to wipe his small tears but got hand-chopped by her.

"Do ya' all have idea what this guy talkin' about?" Kanji looked very clueless while adjusting his glasses.

After hours of asking, the Investigation Team looked disappointed. Tengu had no idea why the forest was closed, but he confirmed that Yomotsu Hirasaka was on the other side of that forest. In the end, Naoto had to inform Mitsuru and Tatsuya about the information, hopefully they'd think of something. Tengu doesn't recognize Teddie as someone he knew, so it might just be coincidence with the outfit, at least they thought it was.

"Where are you going?" Chie realized Tengu was clinging to Yukiko as they all went home.

"I'm staying with my lord!" Tengu said, hopping next to Yukiko with his small legs.

"I want to stay with Yukiko too!" Teddie dashed towards Yukiko, only to be pulled by Yosuke by the neck.

"You're not going anywhere for these few weeks!"

"Why are you so cruel, Yosuke?"

"No you can't! You will disturb Yukiko!" Chie greatly protested, but to her surprise, Yukiko had a different plan.

"Actually, my inn is short in hand these days, and Tengu said he's good at handling customer. He could be our mascot, like Teddie in Junes. So I'm thinking of letting him stay in my inn until the prophecy end, then I will think about what to do after."

Seeing as how Tengu was enjoying her company and Yukiko's own decision, Tengu became a worker at Amagi Inn that very night.

21/11/2012(Wednesday) – Amagi Inn, Inaba
(2 days before Conquest arrival)

And to everyone surprise, Teddie found a new rival in town. The news of Amagi Inn new mascot quickly reached Inaba. Teddie was furious as ever when he heard about it. After a quick discussion with the team, Yu decided to visit him at the Inn.

And to their surprise, Tengu was popular and well received by the customers. The workers in Amagi Inn were very fond of him, except the part where Tengu refused to drop the 'Amaterasu-sama'.

"Grrr, no one must be cuter than me! I'm bear-y angry!" Screamed Teddie as the Investigation Team entered the inn.

Windy - Afternoon

It was afternoon when Tengu and Yukiko had a break time at the resting hall with the rest of the Investigation Team.

"Here's your drink, Amaterasu-sama, the holy water from the heavenly ice land." Tengu lend Yukiko a can drink from the vending machine.

"Where's the drink for this Susanoo-sama?" Yosuke kiddingly said, but Tengu took it very seriously and rushed outside, return in mere seconds with another can from the vending machine.

"Please forgive my rudeness, Susanoo-sama!" Yosuke turned poker and silent for a moment and felt guilty.

"Y-You can stop that, really. I'm not your real master or anything. Please go on and serve your Amaterasu."

"I cannot ignore those who are close to Amaterasu-sama!"

Tengu's determination was surprisingly strong, even Yosuke wasn't sure if he's happy or not. Just then, Yu's phone rang.

"Excuse me." Yu left the room.

"Hello, Tatsuya-san."

"Nice hearing you sound good. It's a mess over here."

"Toudou-san and the other will go to Mikage-Cho today, isn't? Did something happen?"

"*deep sigh* …You don't want to know, boy. But don't worry. We can handle on our side. By the way, about what you said yesterday, apparently Father Time knows something about it and he said you can't access that place until Conquest week is done. Sounds like a locked dungeon, don't you think?"

"I see, don't worry about this side too, we can handle it. I hope Toudou-san's team will make it in that pyramid."

"Glad to hear that."

Yu went straight to the room after talking with Tatsuya of Sumaru City.

"Who is that?" Naoto asked.

"It's Suou-san. It seems like we can't go further into Nakatsukuni. We just need to wait for Conquest's week to end and maybe we have some clue after that."

"Man, that sucks. We'll be stuck here doing nothing for a while." Kanji doesn't look happy.

"Let's hope for the best for them." Rise said positively.

"By the way, how's Shadow Operative doing?" Chie asked Naoto, the closest person to Mitsuru in the team.

"I think they'll be fine."

Cloudy - Night – 21/11/2012(Wednesday) – Iwatodai New Dorm, Tatsumi Port Island
(2 days before Conquest arrival)

Labrys was in her room at night, after finishing another meeting with Mitsuru. She explained that Labrys's kidnapper most likely have a connection with Kirijo Group but not within Kirijo Group itself. Labrys determined to find the kidnapper and lessened the burden of her friends.

She turned to the window in her room and watched the cloudy sky covering the moon on the sky. As the moonlight reached the dorm, she resolved herself to wait for news from Mitsuru. Sometimes, patience is all it takes to get a second chance at something.

And sometimes, the chance is right in front you when you don't realized it.

"Huh?"

Night - Amagi Inn

After a hard work today, Yukiko and Tengu left the kitchen and dress themselves. For some reason, Tengu never removed his costume since he came here. Is it because the inside was still empty like how Teddie first time didn't have a body? Yukiko refused to think thoroughly about it.

"Amaterasu-sama."

"Hmm?"

Tengu, before returning to his temporary room, called for Yukiko.

"Whatever mistake he did in the past, please forgive him."

"What are you talking about?"

"I strongly refuse to say this because Amaterasu-sama might be mad, but…"

He quickly bowed his head as he spoke.

"Who is that?"

Labrys placed her hand on the window and observed a figure standing on the road in front of the dorm.

"I saw him months ago in Nakatsukuni! If Amaterasu ever cross path with him, please reconcile with him!"

"I don't get it, who?"

"T-Tsukiyomi-sama!"

Yukiko widened her eyes.

"Tsukiyomi?"

Labrys stared at the figure on the street for a moment and identified it as a man. In a short time when the moonlight revealed his face, the figure dashed away from the street.

"!"

A young man with blood colored hair and an X scar on his face disappeared from Labrys's view before she could think of chasing him.

A/N: This chapter is easy to make except making Tengu's character. Just in case, Tengu means 'heavenly dog' in Japanese. Not much in this chapter and cool, I have more than 100 followers! Thank you for continuing to read my story. Next chapter will return to Naoya and the rest at Mikage-Cho.