Rin tapped his finger impatiently and stared out the window, eyes fixed on the dark forest surrounding the base of Mt. Fuji. They had found no one at the shrine, and no one in town, either. Yukio had been trying to contact other exorcists for an hour now, to no avail.
"I'm so tired of just waiting around, we should be doing something," Bon sighed loudly.
"We shouldn't even be here," Izumo huffed, crossing her arms, "If you idiots hadn't run after Okumura-sensei, we wouldn't be in this mess."
"You didn't have to come, you know. You ran after us too," Bon grumbled, eyeing her with annoyance.
"But now that we are here - what's going on? Where is everyone?" Konekomaru asked, silencing the petty argument. It was truly chilling, how silent the town was, "Could everyone have been wiped out?"
"Maybe they just left, because they were scared, " Shiemi offered, trying to remain optimistic.
"Why wouldn't we have heard about something like that? It's more likely something terrible happened suddenly," Shima muttered, looking bored. Bon frowned and smacked him on the head.
"Don't say something like that so casually!"
Shiemi turned to Rin, her eyes wide and full of worry, "What do you think happened, Rin?"
He didn't answer, merely continued to stare out the window into the night. They were sitting in the lobby of an abandoned hotel, claiming the sparse furniture sitting around across from the empty counter. The electric light kept the darkness at bay, but somehow only made their situation seem more eerie.
"Oi, Okumura - she asked you a question!" Bon raised his voice, trying to break through Rin's zoned-out state. When he still didn't respond, Shiemi grew even more concerned.
"Rin?" she cautiously tapped him on the shoulder, and he slowly turned towards the rest of the group, a glazed look in his eye.
"Can you hear that?"
Shima raised his hands in front of him as if surrendering, "Whoa, man, don't say creepy stuff like that."
Except for the low chatter of Yukio's voice on the phone at the other end of the room, the only sound was the gentle hush of the wind outside. Not even the cicadas were out tonight.
"Hear what, Rin?"
He turned back towards the window, "I think it's coming from over there," he droned.
"Uh, okay - what's wrong with Okumura-kun?" Shima laughed nervously, backing away. Bon leaned over and grabbed Rin's tail, which was uncharacteristically still, and yanked it.
"Oi! Okumara!"
"Aurgh!" Rin screamed, jumping up from his seat and falling to his knees, snatching his tail away from Bon and looking at him with confused, hurt eyes - however, the usual mischievous spark was back.
"What was that for?"
"For creeping everybody out! What's wrong with you?"
"Creeping everyone out? What?"
"You said you heard something coming from the forest," Shiemi said, causing Rin to pause, mouth half open in surprise.
"I don't remember saying that."
Shima stood, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead, "Okay, guys. This is too much. I don't have much tolerance for eerie stories like this."
"Sit down and shut up, idiot," Izumo said, "Okumura-sensei said there was some sort of huge, evil force in Aokigahara. Maybe it's having some sort of effect on Rin. You did say you have some level of demon to demon telepathy, right?"
Rin hesitated, "Uh, yeah. I think so."
Konekomaru looked at Rin with concern, "Is it safe for you to be so close, then?"
"I...uh..." suddenly his head snapped back towards the window, tail waving fervently. Without another word, he scrambled to his feet and leapt out the window.
"Okumura!" Bon shouted, leaping out after him, Konekomaru on his tail.
"Rin!" Shiemi shouted, but Yukio caught her before she followed them out the window.
"What happened?"
"Rin just jumped through the window!"
"He said he could hear something coming from the forest!" Izumo added, clutching her papers in her hand.
Shima was still trying to deny anything creepy was happening, "But that's like, miles away!"
Yukio shoved his glasses up his nose, "I still couldn't contact anyone - this town seems to be cut off from the rest of the world. Even my keys won't work here."
"We have to go after them!" Shiemi cried, pleading to Yukio. The teacher glanced at the three of them, then out into the night. He couldn't leave them here - if something were to happen, they would be defenseless. But it might be even more dangerous to take them into Aokigahara. Whatever was happening here was far more than the normal hauntings contained to the forest.
"Alright. Everyone stay close to me, and be on guard. Let's go."
He drew his pistols and headed out the door - only to see a lone figure shuffling towards them in the middle of the road.
"Ahh! What is that!" Shima cried, clutching his staff. As the figure moved into the light, however, they soon recognized the familiar round glasses and shaved head.
"Konekomaru-kun?"
Konekomaru sighed, "I couldn't keep up."
"What happened?"
"Rin just bolted - I've never seen anyone run so fast. Bon is still chasing him. They're headed to the forest."
"It will take them more than an hour to reach Aokigahara!"
"It would take a normal human that long, Rin will get there faster. Which means we need to appropriate a vehicle."
Izumo started, "You're going to steal a car?"
"Borrow - it's an emergency." Yukio stalked to the nearest vehicle and got to work picking the lock. He only knew one thing for sure, and that was they were in way over their heads. He had been nervous before - but now he was scared. Something was happening to Rin.
He had a promise to keep.
No matter what was happening in this forest, he had to protect Rin.