Once in their cave, Suko had brought his brothers together as well as their mother for this important ordeal. Rin had invited their friends from around the country that consisted of Jun, who was a blue kitsune with nine tails, supposedly being the wisest creature, even though he's merely a child at heart. Himiko is a spider-like monster with the top half of a human and six eyes called a jorōgumo who likes to weave and knit using her own silk. And then there's Tsunoi Tokugawa who is an oni, a green-skinned ogre/demon-type monster who once hailed from Yamatai-koku, formerly one of the warriors defending the ancient tomb of the shaman-queen, Himiko.
The only one who wasn't present at the moment due to his massive size was a kaiju named Zraga. He sleeps underwater outside the shores of Japan in the Pacific Ocean. Suko took out the note and placed it onto the burning campfire. The note singed and evaporated into smoke and ash and as everyone watched, the smoke from which that note came from, it formed a shapeless cloud with who glowing dots for eyes.
And then it spoke in an echoing voice, "Younglings, come join us in our secret realm where creatures like you can live happily away from the humans. Find the human location known as New York City in America. The entrance to the realm can be found in the shadows underneath the arches of Central Park. But do not linger for long, the entrance will only open at night and will remain open come the dawn. Good luck to you."
Once the message has been delivered, the being in the smoke vanished into nothing. Everyone was speechless and gave each other surprised looks. Now this was a shock indeed. This unknown force sends them a message inviting them to this mystical world where they can live free from an any humans. But the question was if they were going to agree to these terms and conditions. America was on the other side the Pacific Ocean away from Japan and this New York City place could be anywhere. They had heard of the place, but never knew where it could be.
"What could this mean?" asked Akami.
"This sounds amazing!" chirped Himiko excitedly.
"It does sound nice to get away from it all." Tsunoi acknowledged with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I don't know about this." sighed Suko, rubbing his hair. "New York City? It's a long ways away. We don't even know where it is."
"Zraga may help." Jun suggested, after licking himself. "For all we know, the guy has been all over the ocean in various places. Maybe he'll know."
"I have a bad feeling about this." Suko replied, still feeling doubtful.
"What are you saying?" Rin asked, looking at her boyfriend.
"This city is a pretty huge place, as I'm told. Tons of people all over it, maybe more." explained Suko.
"Perhaps the humans won't care that much." Hideo spoke up in defense.
"They may notice you, you and maybe you..." noted Suko as he pointed at Kimiko, Tsunoi and Jun, respectively. "I mean, what are the chances, really?"
"You heard the note, bro." Yoshi countered, putting a hand on his older brother's shoulder. "We'll be living in this realm hidden inside of the city. Who knows? Maybe we'll get to see need things while we're there. Besides, it may as well be better than living inside of this empty cave high in the mountains all our lives."
"It is getting kind of boring here." Akami nodded in agreement.
"Are you boys certain of this decision?" asked Yuki-onna, who was also having a tense feeling about departing from the comfort of their cave to move into a giant, populated city in America full of humans.
"Well, face it." Rin spoke up. "I think it's high time that we all had a change of scenery. Don't you think?"
"We might make some friends." Himiko replied, giddily.
"I hear the food there is tremendous." exclaimed Tsunoi. "This diet of wild boars is starting to get to my hips."
"Think about it." Hideo said as he stood up and got behind his brothers, bringing them together in an unneeded embrace. "All of us together in the big city, doing who knows what, lots of sights to see, I can already tell it'll be fun. I'm already up for it. What about you, bros?"
While there others were sharing some excited nods, Akami, Yoshi and Suko where still thinking it over. Yes, New York City is a very large city full of people and who knows where this Central Park may be in that city. And they've lived in the same high in the mountains for the entirety of their lives, safe from the humans, but only because the humans were afraid of them. But it wasn't the Edo period anymore and is long behind them at this point, but there are still humans are there that fear the worst.
Of course, living in a cave can be tiring and chances are that it can get really tedious when they areliving in world of technology, cars and other new trends life can offer nowadays. Perhaps it wasn't too bad. After all, New York was a most popular place, according to the humans. What did they have to lose?
"I guess it wouldn't hurt. This does look like a nice wake-up call." Suko finally decided. "Plus, we really need to get out of this cave."
"Alright!" Hideo cheered.
"This is gonna be a blast!" Kimiko clapped her hands.
"You boys are bringing me along with you, right?" Yuki-onna asked strictly, lifting an eyebrow.
"Of course, we are." Akami replied. "We would be lost without you."
"Good." Yuki-onna said, giving a smile.
The next day, everyone prepared themselves for the long trip ahead of them. They journeyed across Japan to the east side of the island to find some sort of transport. Naturally, they had to keep out of sight from the humans in order to get there. It was a long hike from the cave in the Hakkōda all the way to the seaside. Tsunoi had to carry Jun on his shoulders, after he got too tired to walk any further. Finally they happened upon a loading dock with fishing ships porting and ready for departure.
Suko overheard the longshoremen shouting and speaking aloud, but he was finally able to hear which ship that was headed for New York City. Everyone had to sneak their way past the humans before they made to the exact fishing trawler they were looking for. They hoped into the ship without anyone seeing them and found their way into the vessel's cargo hold, which they will remain until they've reached their destination. Of course, it was going to be a long trip.
Suko peered out of one of the ship's portholes to see a giant mass from under the water in the distance. He smiled, knowing it had to be Zraga. He was going to travel underwater, since he was too big to fit on the ship. Finally after what felt like hours, the ship's whistle blew and began to depart the dock and set sail upon the Pacific, toward its destination. Everyone sat back as they tried to getcomfortable in the cargo hold as best they could. Three hours had gone by and nightfall had arisen over the ocean and Tsunoi was beginning to feel hungry as his stomach growled.
"Where the hell you going?" demanded Rin once she witnessed Tsunoi starting for the door.
"I'm wasting away. I need some food. I'm gonna see if they have any eats on this giant tub." He was only able to crack open the door just a tiny bit before Suko slammed it shut on him before he could foolishly go any further.
"You want to caught?" He warned him.
"Pfft. We have no trouble getting on this boat. They're not gonna see me. Besides, I've gotten over the fish I've been eating over there." Tsunoi remarked as he gestured to one of the open crates that originally contained some fresh catch.
"Fine. But stay out of sight." Suko ordered him sharply.
"I got it. I got it." replied Tsunoi as he quietly left through the door.
"If he gets himself caught out there, he's gonna be all damn kinds of sorry. And I'm not going to save his ass." exclaimed Rin with irritation in her voice.
Long story short, there were wasn't very enough food that Tsunoi could've found any where on the vessel to speak of. Thankfully, he was able to get around the ship without any of the crew seeing him. When the search turned into a wild goose chase for Tsunoi, he settled on a crew member's lunch box. All that was in it was a sandwich, an apple and some coffee. It would have to do for now.
Manhattan, New York City, New York
January 26, 2019
Suko and the rest were awakened by the ship's whistle and he maneuvered over to the porthole to see that they were passing the Statue of Liberty. The giant statue of a woman stood proudly in all her glory as if welcoming the vessel. Then everyone approached other portholes to get a good look outside andstared on with awe and amazement. There it was, the big city itself and all the buildings and such. The place was indeed huge. There was the Empire State Building, its windows gleaming from the morning sun.
"Wow. It's better than the postcard." Hideo gasped as marveled such a brilliant sight. Everyone has gone a long way from their home in the mountainous region in Japan to come all this way to the Big Apple. This was just part of what they'll see later on, though as there was still plenty of the city to go around. For once, Yuki-onna and Kuchisake-onna felt like they could belong in a giant place like this. It's like they belonged there. A feeling that they've neglected for years.
Once the ship had ported along the loading dock in the Hudson River, everyone had to again sneak their way past the humans unseen. And once off the ship finally after spending weeks upon it for so long, they got their first real view of the city in person. It was certainly massive to say the least. Of course, they were hiding behind some cargo in order to accomplish this feat.
"Gosh, it's so big and yet, so wondrous." Yuki-onna exclaimed, looking all around at the collection of buildings and skyscrapers.
"So where did they say to go again?" asked Akami.
"They said Central Park. Not sure where that is." Suko answered, scratching his head in confusion.
"But this city is so big. Where the hell do we even start?" asked Kimiko in distress.
"A better question would be 'How do we even get around the humans'?" asked Tsunoi.
That's when the brothers noticed some rags and sheets on the ground and decided to use that fornow. Tsunoi, Kimiko and Jun had to wear the sheets around them to disguise their appearance from the humans. Well, they still received some strange glances from the onlookers. Suko and the gang marched up and down this city from one crowded street to another, from Battery Park to Broadway, the city seemed to go on and on for miles. Akami was reading from a book on the city that he curiously picked up.
"'New York City is known by many names such as 'the Big Apple' and 'the city that never sleeps'." He read out loud. "'In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, and environmental sustainability and as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity. The New York Yankees have been renamed twice from the New York Highlanders and the Baltimore Orioles.'"
"The hell you doing?" asked Suko.
"Just dabbling in some personal info in case we get a chance to sightsee." Akami replied.
"We need to focus on finding this realm. Central Park's around here somewhere." Suko reminded him.
"Alright. But you'll be missing out on the new dinosaur exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History or even trying out some delicacies in Chinatown. I've always wanted to try out some of those potstickers."
"Let's just find this realm and we'll check out some stuff later, okay. Now I think we-" Suko looked to see Tsunoi gone. Darting his head in all directions, he sighed when he saw that he was starting a giant inflatable rat dressed as a blonde-haired man with tanned skin and a dark blue business suit. Suko quickly grabbed him, bringing him back to reality.
"Sorry about that. You could get easily lost in a place like this." said Tsunoi.
Finally after a few more hours of searching, everyone decided to find a place to chill out for a moment. They sat down on some benches to catch their breath, rest their weary feet and try to gain their bearings.
"So what, uh...did they say? They said that it opens at night, correct?" Yoshi asked everyone.
"Yeah. So if we do find this Central Park, we'd have to wait until it gets dark out." Suko spoke, leaning his head back in exhaustion.
"Well, we still have time. I hear they have some killer shopping centers here." Kimiko suggested, hoping to get a little culture out of the city.
"And have humans asking questions about a giant spider thing running around the store? Fine. Go on with your bad self." Akami sarcastically grumbled.
"Hmph!" pouted Kimiko with her hands to her hips in annoyance.
"We got to ask somebody for directions. Anybody." Jun replied, scratching himself.
With no other alternative, the group scatters in the hopes of finding someone to help them find where they are trying to get to. To be fair, most of the people of this city tend to be less than welcoming. Some are rude, either calling them inappropriate names or telling them to piss off, some are in too big of a hurry to get somewhere to even notice them, while there are some foreigners -immigrants, if you will - that are still having trouble speaking the English language.
"Excuse me, but I-" Akami tried his best to ask some people passing by, but none of them even acknowledged him. "I beg your pardon...If I could just...have a moment of your...time."
Then suddenly, he came across a young, teenage girl with short, blonde hair with a pink barrette and blue eyes and black mascara. She wore a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a skirt with Mary Janes. Akami stared back into here eyes, her cerulean oceans; never has he seen a beauty before. It's almost too good to be...
"C-Can I help you, sir?" asked the girl nervously.
"I'm sorry." He shook himself back to reality to focus on his question. "Me and my pals are looking for Central Park? Do you know where that is?"
"Central Park, you said?" The girl asked, hoping she heard him right.
"Well, if you could that the subway over there, it should help get the Central Park in a flash by train. I wouldn't take a cab, though. You never know if you might get caught in traffic." The girl instructed, pointing towards the entrance to the subway on the other side of the street before she got a good look at his attire, something she's not familiar with.
"You're not from here are you?" asked the girl matter-of-factly.
"What gave me away?" Akami asked with a shrug. "Well, anyway. Thanks. Bye now."
After he took off, the girl keep her gaze on him as he darted down the street to look for his brothers and friends. Even though they had just met seconds ago, the girl found something intriguing about him. Not just his outfit, but there was something off-putting about him.
"Kim, come on. We're going to be late." One of the girl's friends said, dragging her along.
Akami rejoined his mother and brothers as well as their friends. Some of whom were curiously getting into the culture of the city. Tsunoi was already dining on this new dish called pizza and found it quite enjoyable. Kimiko was too distracted by the mannequins in store windows adorning fabulous dresses. Jun was observing a blind old guy sitting on a bench, eyeing him a bit too closely before Hideo had to pick him up and carry him away.
Once they made way to the subway, everyone found themselves going underground into a network full of trains that go all around the city underneath the surface. Naturally they had no certain way of properly getting through the ticketing gate or knowing how it works, so they had to either squeeze or crawl their way through the hard way. Of course, this caught some attention from some residents around them, but the guy behind the booth was too distracted by music to even notice. There was a limited about of people down by the tracks, despite being a busy city today, so thankfully, there wasn't enough humans to see them and wonder what they were.
"So we just sit here and wait for...a train to arrive?" asked Yuki-onna, sitting down to rest her feet.
"That's what the woman said, yes." Akami confirmed with confidence.
"And they say this is fastest way to get to the park?" asked Suko, having a slightly unconvinced feeling about this as she sat down next to his mother.
"Let's just hope so." Yoshi retorted.
"I'm hoping the hardest." exhaled a disgruntled Tsunoi as he just slumped onto the ground, completely exhausted, while Kimiko clasped her hands on his shoulders. "This city is so fucking huge, my feet are getting tired of carrying all over the place."
"You exhaust yourself too much, jelly belly." nagged Yoshi. "Two minutes in, you're healthy as a horse. An hour later, you're sitting on your ass, not a care in the world."
"Shut up, I was just listening to this song in my head." The giant brute grunted.
Some music turned Yuki-onna and Suko's attention toward a band of street performers panhandling a few feet from them. Yuki-onna scooted closer to her son, a bit turned-off and uncomfortable by the scene. Never had she ever seen people performing with instruments like that before, much less out in public. Than suddenly a man in a dark blue business suit noticed her and got a good look at her and the brothers. Hopefully, this random stranger wouldn't get creeped out by them at all, let alone try to draw any unwanted attention to them.
"Hey, uh, you all come back from the comic con?" He asked them.
"What is this "com-ee" con you speak of?" asked Yuki-onna, unfamiliar with the term and, of course, this earned a confused stare from the man.
"I'm sorry, we're new here." Suko explained as best he could, hoping not to seem suspicious in any way.
The man huffed in confusion, but decided it wasn't worth explaining and when back to waiting for his train. Speaking of which, everyone heard the rumble of a train fast approaching from the tunnel on their end. All brothers both darted over and peered down one end of the tunnel to see if it was really coming. It was dark down the tunnel, but it turned out they were looking in the wrong direction and the loud whistle of the approaching train blared, getting their attention at the last minute, giving them the chance to move out of the way before it hit them.
The second the doors opened, everyone immediately crammed themselves inside before passengers aboard the car could have a chance to get off themselves. But, thankfully, they were aboard the train and should be able to get to Central Park in no time. More passengers boarded the train with them, making it more crowded once the train took off down the tunnel system. Most of the gang was having trouble moving around and there was a bunch of people talking on their phones, reading the paper and so on. Suko almost felt claustrophobic from being crammed into such a tight space full of humans and wondered if this is how things usually were in the Big Apple.
About a few more minutes had gone by before a woman's voice over the speakers said 'Columbus Circle'. That was their cue to get off finally. It may have been proven easier said than done, since it was a large city after all and because the subway was crowded of civilians, there were more people wanted to get on the train than those getting off it, but it was less of an issue for the spirits there. Once off the train, they marched up the steps to find a map somewhere. Kimiko and Hideo couldn't help but catch a glimpse at all the advertisements on the walls. How perplexing, they thought.
Finally there was a map by the ticket booth of the transit. Suko looked around to see that they were right near the park. Everyone found the way out of the subway through some underground stores and up an escalator, which was like moving stairs. There they were at Central Park. And there was a magnificently large statue sitting there, which they passed by into the bowels of the park. The brothers caught sight of people in carriages drawn by horses.
"So we have to find an arch in this park." Suko replied as he looked all around.
"There's plenty of arches around here. We should just pick one?" asked Kimiko.
"They said it opened at night." Kuchisake-onna replied took up at the sky, seeing it was late in the afternoon and closer to sundown. "And it's almost nighttime. We still got a few more hours left."
And so they waited in the park for nighttime to come. Suko sat on the bench with Rin as they both basked in the city's glory from inside Central Park. The others had gone to find some food to eat while they waited. Yuki-onna and Kuchisake-onna had to refrain from killing anyone so not to draw any attention or cause a panic within the vicinity. The two watched Jun playing around with some dogs in Sheep Meadow. Rin giggled a bit as she found it cute that Jun was making a few new friends. Dog usually chase after foxes, but everyone knew that Jun was no ordinary fox. Hideo, Akami and Yoshi sat on the Hernshead by the lake, having their own scenic view of the buildings. Then Tsunoi and Kimiko returned with some chili dogs and a couple churros.
"Guys, they got so much food around here." Tsunoi cried in delight as he crammed a chili dog into his mouth.
"Where you two get those?" asked Rin.
"These people were just giving them out on the streets." Kimiko replied, taking a bite of a churro.
Rin shook her head with an amused smile, having a good feeling that they brought grabbed them without paying for them. Few more hours had gone by and it was nearing dusk. Everyone got back together and waited until it was completely dark before they searched for the nearest arch. Walking underneath it, it was dark as it could be that you'd have to use a flashlight in order to see.
"So where it is?" asked Jun, looking around. "This gateway?"
"I just has to be-" Suko said as he placed a hand on the wall before realizing there wasn't a wall there anymore. Nothing but darkness there. As everyone watched, there was this otherworldly blue, misty glow that revealed a cavernous tunnel with a flight of stairs leading down into the darkness. Carefully, they all trudged down the steps and disappeared into the pitch black tunnel, awaiting to see where it took them.