It started as a shotgun plan late one afternoon; "Hey let's go up to the mountains tonight! We've all graduated, let's go celebrate! My cousin just opened a hot springs place up there, she says she'll give us a discount!"
There was a resounding agreement, and then a debate started over who should drive. It boiled down to either Maki, Shima or Rikuo. Shima's car wasn't big enough. Maki could've borrowed her aunt's minivan, but eventually admitted that Rikuo was a better large vehicle driver than her (despite his terrifying inclination to see road rules as mere suggestions).
She'd get him one day, she said. Just wait until they went off-roading.
And so Rikuo rolled up in his stupid rich kid Kia Carnival, bags were crammed into every conceivable space, and they set off for the mountains.
Kiyotsugu sat in the passenger seat and navigated. Kana, Maki and Torii sat in the second row of seats. In the last row sat Shima, Tsurara and Yura.
They took a break at a rest stop at the foot of the mountains. It wasn't well attended—the shop windows were stained, the bins hadn't been emptied in a while, but it still provided a place to sit and watch the sun go down. Tsurara struck up a conversation with the sole attendant.
Dark blue-grey clouds were rolling over the city by now, thunder and wind bringing the promise of rain. When the first drops began to fall, they piled back into the car, and set off up the mountains.
They'd expected this part of the drive to be monotonous, but the excitement was still going. Shima and Tsurara were hanging over the back of the seats to play MarioKart with the second row; Kiyotsugu was singing along with the radio; Yura could've been dissociating while she waited for her turn in MarioKart, or she could've been sleeping with her eyes open.
Rikuo was focusing on the road, veiled by both the rain and the oncoming night. The car was loud, filled with the sounds of the radio and Torii yelling angrily as Kana hit her with yet another red shell. Shima was hacking up a lung in the backseat while Maki cackled, not taking her eyes off the racetrack.
"You said these were Thai sweet chilli!" He accused, "These are Thai third-degree burns! What crazy—uh?"
The car had stopped.
Rikuo was leaning over the wheel, squinting at something on the road ahead.
A…person? They were standing quite still, shoulders slumped and head hanging low.
"Hey, Yura." Rikuo raised his voice a little, shutting off the radio, "Yura!"
"What do you want."
Ah, so Yura had been sleeping with her eyes open after all.
"What's in front of us?"
There came rustling noises, an oof from Shima, and Yura's dark head appeared over the back of the seats to peer angrily at the person on the road.
"Human." she announced after a moment.
Rikuo laid on the horn.
The road wasn't exactly narrow, but this crazy was standing right in the middle of it. He couldn't get around unless he wanted to hit the person, the cliff face, or drive the car off the mountain.
"Oh, for the—" Rikuo started to unbuckle his seatbelt, taking off his glasses and putting them on the dashboard, "They must be drunk."
"Wait, don't go out." Maki said, suddenly awake, "This is too weird. What if it's a trap?"
"Why…would it be a trap?"
"This is the most common way to get up to the mountain towns. Lots of younger people come through here on the way back from the city. People disappear up here, Nura."
"It'll be fine." He assured her, "Trust me."
"No, Rikuo, she's right." Kana said urgently, "This doesn't feel right."
Something in her tone of voice must've convinced him.
"Alright, I'll take something, if it makes you guys feel better."
A fumble for any sort of weapon ensued.
"There's a tire iron somewhere, isn't there?" Shima piped up from the backseat.
"It's in the boot." Maki dismissed, "Probably buried under luggage."
"Oh. Toolkit? For, like, a spanner or something?"
"That's…yeah, that might work. Check the floor back there."
It turned out that the toolkit was also in the boot.
In the end, Rikuo left the car with a can of Skin Guard Extra.
He left the car running. As he approached the person, one hand was hovering just above his waist.
"Hey!" he called, "Hey, can you hear me?"
No response.
Slowly, he circled around. The…something about the way he moved was unsettling. It was difficult to tell who was in danger here.
In the front seat, Kiyotsugu suddenly scrambled upright, staring out the passenger side window in horror.
"Did anyone see th—" There was a thud of knee on glovebox, "OW! DAMNIT!"
Out on the road, the person shot upright.
Rikuo let out a brief yell of surprise as they lunged at him, throwing him down onto the road. They rolled around for a few seconds before he delivered a burst of Skin Guard Extra straight to the person's face. They shrieked, high and ululating.
Yura threw open the car door, a talisman already crackling in her hand. It lit the road up in pure white, an ear-splitting BANG echoing over the mountains.
Rikuo scrambled upright and dashed back to the car.
"THAT IS NOT A HUMAN PERSON, YURA!" he shouted, slamming the car into reverse.
"Huh?" Yura said, confusion crossing her face, "What do you mean, not human?"
"Didn't you see its face?" he asked, taking a corner in reverse at 80 kilometres an hour, There was an emergency phone station about thirty metres down the hill — Rikuo used the parking bay to execute the fastest three-point turn of his life and took off down the mountain, doing over twice the speed limit.
The back seats were a general clamour of confusion, everyone yelling at once.
"SHUT UP, LET HIM TALK!" Maki roared.
"Its face split." he said into the silence, "When it grabbed me, I looked into its face and it split in half. I could see its skull. Kiyo, Yura, do either of you know what kind of youkai it could be?"
"Kind of youkai?!" Torii demanded.
"Hey, uh, Tsurara?" Shima asked. There was a sound of rustling cloth, and a soft thump.
"Tsurara?!"
"Oikawa?"
Oh no, Yura sounded worried. That was never good.
"What's wrong with her?" Shima asked. The second row twisted to take a look.
"Uh, someone tell me that's the lighting." Maki said.
"What's happening?!" Rikuo asked, "What's wrong with her?!"
Even his terrifying driving skills required two eyes on the road, especially at this speed.
"She's, uh."
"She's just white." Maki said in disbelief, lifting Tsurara's hand to compare it to her own, "I mean…I'm talking paper whi— KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!"
"Um, I don't mean to scare you guys." Shima said.
He was twisted fully around, one arm hooked over his headrest as he squinted out the foggy back window.
"Nura, can you turn the back wipers on?"
"Hm? Uh, yeah, just a sec."
Rubber squeaked over the misted window.
Shima made a noise like a dying mouse, and plopped back down into his seat.
"Uh…"
"Is that…" Torii, whose eyesight was second only to Rikuo's, leaned so far over the back of her seat that she nearly fell over, "You're joking."
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Rikuo shouted, "I don't have eyes in the back of my head!"
He was afraid. They'd never seen him afraid before. Even in the midst of haunted buildings, he'd always sported a smile and offered a comforting hand.
"I think…I think we're being chased." Shima managed.
There was absolute silence.
"Yura, how many talismans do you have?" Rikuo asked, fear disappearing instantly.
Yura rustled through her coin purse.
"Three, four…lotteria coupon…eight….twelve...thirteen. I've got thirteen, and my Shikigami summons."
"Can you send one back?"
"I…suppose so, yes."
"Please do. I don't want that thing to catch up to us. Kiyotsugu, open my phone. The passcode's two-three-oh-nine-oh-two."
"Uh…two-three-oh-nine-oh-two. Got it."
"Go into my contacts. Click on 'Karasu', and call. I'll need you to hold the phone to my ear."
The car was suddenly deathly silent, the dial tone sounding louder than a fire alarm.
It rang.
And rang.
Then—
The person you are calling is not available. Please leave a message after the tone.
"…That's weird. Try again."
The person you are calling is not available. Please leave a message after the tone.
Rikuo slammed a hand on the side of the wheel. Kiyotsugu actually startled backwards, nearly dropping the phone.
"Uh, okay okay. Sorry. Lower in the contacts list, there's 'Kejou and Kubi'. Try them."
The person you are calling is not available. Please leave a message after the tone.
"Is there a signal?"
"Three bars."
"Damn it. What's going on?!"
They were nearly to the bottom of the mountains by now, the lights of the city were in sight.
"Try calling my mother."
The person you are calling is not available. Please leave a message after the tone.
"Try my grandfather."
The person you are calling is not available. Please leave a message after the tone.
Panic was beginning to creep across his face again.
"Yura, can you reach into the boot?"
"I think so, yes."
"There's a pocket on the side of my bag."
"Which side?"
"The side with the writing on it."
Undoing her belt, Yura hooked one arm around the headrest and began rummaging around in the back.
They were out of the mountains, onto the flat ground.
Once they passed the train tracks, there was a clear run though—
The crossing lights began to flash.
"WHAT?!" Rikuo screeched.
There was no way they'd make it over the tracks without getting hit.
Or was there?
Rikuo might've taken the chance if he was alone, but with a car full of humans…
He hit the brakes.
"Yura, have you found it?"
"No."
"Get Shima to. Keep your talismans out."
The forty-seven seconds it took for the train to pass was the longest forty-seven seconds in the world.
When the boom gates rose, there was a figure standing in the middle of the road.
Everyone swore, some more colourfully than others.
"Shima, did you find it?!"
"Is this a sword—"
"Give it here!"
The sword, sheathed in plain wood, was hurriedly passed to the driver's seat.
Rikuo flicked the high beams up.
In the middle of the road stood the third lord of pandemonium, blood-red eyes locked onto the car.
"What?!" Yura yelled.
Rikuo had gone completely still, staring in horror.
"Oh…" he breathed.
"That…that's a problem."
