(A/N)

This character/story arc is brought to you by multiple music references.

There will be a lot of them.

(The last half of this chapter has been rewritten see end note for more details.)

Chapter 3

Bring Me Your Horizon.

Something big changed the day Issei and Yuta had met, everyone who knew Yuta knew this as well. The traumatized introvert had slightly broken out of his shell. He finally began talking to his family again, after years of constantly fearful avoidance.

However, that change was only evident on Yuta's side. The two are great friends, but Issei doesn't have the same emotional baggage that Yuta has. The brown hair pervert was always just a regular boy.

That's how the world (including himself) saw him as.

That was until one incident that completely changed the brown-haired boy's outlook on life as a whole.

It was a year ago, and Yuta and Issei were lucky enough to be in the same class.

One day, the teacher had assigned partners for an assignment. Unlucky for the two, they weren't partnered.

Issei didn't really care to remember who he was partnered with, but he remembers vividly who Yuta was partnered with.

A girl who sat right behind Yuta, every now and then he would catch glimpses of her giving a certain gaze towards Yuta.

Somehow, someway, Issei wasn't really jealous that a girl had a crush on Yuta while he had no one. Well... he was jealous, but since it was Yuta, he didn't really want to complain.

Maybe it was because it was Yuta, but Issei was honestly rooting for the two.

Yuta was partnered with the girl, and Issei realized that there was something weird about Yuta's movements.

He was nervous. Issei didn't know why, because Yuta didn't know that the girl had a crush on him. In fact, Yuta wasn't nervous about speaking with a girl.

The way his eyes would snap in random directions, as if looking for something, confused Issei.

And he finally realized why very soon.

In the middle class, the girl had tried to make her move.

Keyword is tried.

He didn't hear what she said (Yuta told him that she just outright confessed to him), but the response from Yuta was not what one would expect.

He snapped his hand up.

"Teacher! Can I go use the bathroom!" When everyone turned towards the boy, Issei's eyes widened.

A large, abnormal, and vile figure loomed behind both Yuta and the girl. Its sharp teeth could clearly be seen, and he even heard it growl.

He turned his head, wanting to notice if anyone else was seeing what he's seeing. However, no one else made any reaction.

It was as if they couldn't see it.

A day later, during lunch, Issei and Yuta had moved towards their regular spot on the roof.

"Yuta." Issei decided to ask, the question had been plaguing his mind ever since that incident and he didn't want it to plague any longer.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"What thing?" Yuta asked, although in the back of his mind he knew what Issei was asking about.

"I don't know, that thing, that monster that appeared during class yesterday. It was right behind you. Don't tell me you didn't see it?"

Silence echoed for the next minute; the only noise present was the wind blowing.

"You…" Finally, Yuta looked towards Issei, clear panic in his eyes.

"You can see her?" He asked. And never before, not since they first met, had Issei seen Yuta so distraught.

"You know about it?" Issei asked.

"I…" Yuta had hoped that he would never let anyone see this scar. This trauma that forever haunts him. Yet the worst outcome happened, the one who he calls his best friend saw Rika.

He could go the fake route, just pass it off as a hallucination, but he knew that Issei wouldn't take that as an answer.

His reaction to Issei's question didn't help him in the slightest.

Life is all about risks, his father had said that a few times.

"She," he hesitated. "Her name is Rika."

He looked towards Issei, who only stood, waiting for Yuta to continue.

"I… I don't know what she is, but I know who she was." He began.

He told Issei everything he knew. He told Issei of his childhood friend, he told Issei of their promise, he told Issei of the incident that killed her.

He told Issei of the monstrosity that crawled out of her dismantled corpse.

"I've been avoiding everyone ever since, even my own family."

Until I met you. A thought that stopped right before Yuta could say it. It sounded too embarrassing for this moment.

But it was how he truly felt.

He looked to his friend, gauging his reaction. Issei only did one thing. He sat down next to Yuta with a complicated expression.

"Jesus…" he whispered to himself; however, Yuta heard him.

"I'm sorry." The words slipped out of Yuta's mouth by instinct.

Issei gave him a questioning look. "What, why? You don't have anything to be sorry about."

"I know, but I…" Yuta couldn't explain, because he didn't even know why. "Force of habit, sorry."

A minute or awkward silence followed; Issei took that time to take in everything that Yuta had told him.

And Yuta sat still, dreading whatever was to come; However, he truly had nothing to fear. Issei placed a hand on Yuta's shoulder and asked.

"How long?"

The question wasn't completely out of place. Yuta responded. "Around 10 years by now."

A shaky sigh left Issei. "Jeez, you've been dealing with that for nearly a decade?"

Yuta nodded. The conversation definitely wasn't going how he was expecting. He had expected Issei to break off their friendship in fear, but that didn't happen.

Rather, Issei stayed.

"I don't think I can really say anything that'll really help, you're better off using a therapist for that." He started.

It wasn't like Yuta hadn't thought about therapy; more so, he knew that no one—even a therapist— would truly believe him.

"But this does remind me…" Issei didn't want to be rude, but this incident brought memories that he had passed off as random.

"Every now and then I would see… strange creatures, I think. They would be hanging off people's shoulders or legs. I would call them Yokai, but I don't think that's what they are."

He tilted his head, attempting to remember the last time he saw one of those creatures.

"They would only appear for a second though, it's like, everytime I appear in their vision they vanish. I always thought they were just a trick of the eye or my imagination."

In truth, Issei has been able to see those creatures ever since he was five. However he would always brush them off because they only appear within the blink of an eye, and then disappear just as quickly.

"I think, what I'm getting at is," he slightly hesitated, just now realizing that he had no idea where he was going with his thoughts. So, he improvised.

"It might not be to the same extent, but you're not alone in this."

Yuta stared at Issei with a weird glance, a gaze that bordered on astonishment as well as relief.

"I mean, isn't this basically similar to the start of a shonen manga?"

And there's the usual Issei.

"Of course you would think that." Yuta muttered; however, the smile on his face told a different story.

He leaned back, staring at the distance. "You're surprisingly smart when you're not being a degenerate, you know?"

"Hey… I have a lot of other qualities besides being a pervert!"

"Like what?"

"Like—"

The pause that followed truly broke the odd tension just a minute prior.

"Pfft." Yuta's laugh broke the oncoming silence. "Hahaha!"

Issei smiled in return…

But he still had to defend his pride.

"I help you as best as I could and this is what I get as thanks? What a friend you are." Despite the jab, there was still a bright smile on his face.

When Yuta gathered his breath, he said, "Think of it as revenge, for when you called my sister a loli."

"Geh—- that was just a joke!" Issei defended. "I mean, I thought it was pretty funny!"

"It wasn't funny at all. You don't just call an actual person that!"

The two stared in silence for a second, before they both broke down in laughter.

Coincidentally when they finished laughing, the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the lunch period.

The two gathered their belongings before they entered the school building again.

Along with their first meeting, it was a day that neither of the boys will forget about.

Back to the present.

There was a strange silence as they walked to the local mall, luckily it was only a couple of blocks away from the Okkotsu's house.

Mrs. and Mr. Okkotsu walked in front, with Yuta's little sister walking between them.

From a couple of feet behind them the two friends walked beside each other. A good distance for the two to talk privately while also still being in their vision— if they turned their heads.

"So…?" Issei finally brought up.

Yuta tilted his head upwards, gazing at the sky in thought. "I don't know who she was, and…"

He straightened his head, just realizing something important. "I didn't actually get her name."

"That's…" Issei interrupted, the sheer disappointment in his gaze almost pierced through the black-haired boy. "How?"

"Let me explain, please." Yuta said with an agitated exhale. "It was when I was at the store a couple of weeks ago, I had gone to just get some school supplies, something for the new school year."

Issei nodded, urging for Yuta to continue.

"Then when I was browsing for some pencils, I bumped into a black-haired girl."

"Older or younger?" Issei poked Yuta on the shoulder.

"Older, I think." Yuta softly swiped at Issei's hand. "She had… black hair split into two long bangs in the back of her head, and her eyes were a bright gold… and honestly looked like the eyes of a cat, actually, I thought she was a cosplayer."

Issei almost stopped walking, his steps faltering for a second before he gathered himself. "What? Dude, that's something you start with, not end with!"

It wasn't as though it slipped his mind, but the entire figure of the girl hadn't left his mind even now.

As he remembered, she was an older girl–perhaps by just a year or two– with long black hair split into two bangs on the back of her head.

Her eyes were a bright hazel-gold, and her pupils looked like that of a cat.

Speaking of cats:

"I thought she was a cosplayer because she was walking around with cat ears."

"You really should have just started with that." Issei poked at Yuta's shoulder again. The black-haired boy swiped at his friend's hand to stop– again.

"I know, I know."

"So, what happened?" Issei probed.

"I'm not going to go over everything she said, I don't think it's really that important. But it was something she said when I asked about the ears that stuck."

"You…" Issei hung his head low and gave a mock cry. "You had an older girl– who was probably a cosplayer– hit on you, and you say it's 'not important'? Dude, you're—"

Issei groaned, he truly felt anger at that moment (and a bit of jealousy). "You were given the opportunity of a lifetime! As if God had sent a miracle directly to you–in front of you! How did you fumble that?!"

Yuta had a genuine regretful look for a few seconds, though Issei didn't see it, as he was wallowing in his jealousy and misery–for a full minute.

"So?" Dragging his hands down his face, Issei decided to at least hear Yuta out. "What was it about the ears?"

Only just recovering from the small outburst from Issei, Yuta tried to remember what she had said. "When I asked about the ears, she responded with, 'You can see them?', and when I asked what she meant, she brushed it off, saying that it's just a fashion trend."

"That's totally not suspicious." Issei muttered. "So, she left after that?"

Yuta nodded. "She said that we'll see each other again but didn't actually give me any contact info."

That was another thing that stuck in his mind. She had walked away, stating "I'll see ya soon!" while waving with one hand and pointing at her nose with another.

The two walked in silence, neither knowing what exactly to say. However, a thought suddenly came to Issei.

He placed a fist into an open palm.

"Could she be a stalker?"

The idea somewhat made sense in his mind. But then again, he was thinking of the Yandere trope as it's seen in anime and manga.

So he was most likely completely wrong.

"I hope not," Yuta shuddered. "And besides, I don't think the yandere trope really exists like that in real life."

"You'd be surprised." Issei said. "Although it's a lot creepier than in anime."

Of course, it would be, stalking is a crime.

At that moment, the conversation changed. From a girl who flirted with Yuta to just random tropes and how they appear in reality. They talked for so long that they didn't realize that two members of Yuta's family had split off, leaving them with only one other person.

It seems that both of the boys had forgotten about a certain cursed spirit following Yuta.

"Ah! Actually." Finally, after a few minutes, the crux of their original conversation finally came to Issei. "I forgot to ask; how did you calm down Rika?"

"Ah, Rika, well…" Yuta scratched the back of his neck.

The memories of him publicly pleading with Rika to not get violent came to the forefront of his mind. Looking back at it, he probably looked crazy, to anyone else it would look like he was pleading and crying to thin air. A slight blush filled his cheeks remembering the event.

"It took a lot of begging, that's all I'll say."

"Rika? Isn't that the one girl you used to hang out with?" A young girl interrupted. Yuta spun around while Issei physically jumped.

Yuri Okkotsu. Younger sister of Yuta Okkotsu. Age 10, she stood at average height for a girl her age. Long black hair and dark blue eyes.

Or as Issei described her– 'if Yuta was a loli.'

(Despite his "revenge" on that day, Yuta still won't let that certain remark go, for as long as he lived.)

"Woah! When did you get here?" Issei asked, genuinely startled by her sudden (to him) presence.

She looked at him like he was the dumbest person in the world. "I've been with you two for a few minutes— A few minutes too many." She muttered the last part.

"Where are mom and dad?" Yuta asked, looking around.

"Neither of you two were paying any attention huh? Yeah, I thought so." Yuri shook her head with a sigh. The two were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn't notice that they split off from Yuta's parents.

"Mom and dad had already left to do their own shopping, and you two," She spoke with pure venom, "are supposed to be watching over me."

"We're being put to work as babysitters? Lame…" Issei said out loud, expecting to get a reaction from the younger girl.

However, that reaction was a lot more violent than he expected.

"Gah–! Ow?!"

She swung her leg directly towards him, a loud and solid noise echoed when her foot came into contact with the back of his leg.

"That actually hurt, what the hell?!"

He turned towards his best friend with a tearful gaze. "Yuta! You need to discipline your younger sister!"

In response, Yuta only shrugged. "It was your fault this time." His mind was too preoccupied with a certain question.

"What? Hey, wait, no, you're supposed to be on my side!"

"Ganging up on a little girl? How far will you go in your vile degeneracy." Yuri spat.

The brown-haired pervert knew what she actually meant in this context; however, her tone spoke of something else. "Why did you say it like that?" He asked in a whimper.

And much like her older brother, she only shrugged. "Because it's you."

"Is it truly 'bully Issei day' today?"

Ignoring his friend, Yuta turned towards his younger sister. "How much of our conversation did you hear?"

"Huh?" She looked up towards her older brother, not expecting the question. "Well, I mostly ignored the both of you until I heard someone bring up Rika."

"That's all?"

"Yeah? Why? Were you two talking about something bad?" Yuri narrowed her gaze towards her older brother.

"No, nothing like that." Yuta said, attempting to hide his relief.

She continued to give a quizzical gaze to her older brother. That was until she caught something from the side of her eye. A cutesy looking store.

"Hey, you idiots, stop right there."

"We barely started walking." Issei muttered.

She pointed towards the store right next to them. "I want to go there."

Yuta knew that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Alright, fine." He sighed.

They walked towards the store; the two boys stood at the entrance while the young girl walked through the small aisles.

It was a store that sold kids toys, and some merchandise from overseas for some reason.

The two boys stood by for a few minutes before Issei felt a sudden urge. "Hey, Yuta."

"Hm?"

"I gotta 'go' real quick." He pointed towards the nearest bathroom, one that was from a few stores across from them. Yuta almost sighed again, though he shook his head to stop himself.

"Fine, we'll be waiting."

"Alright, thanks." He began walking off. "I promise I won't take too long."

He quickly walked to the bathroom, realizing that he may have actually really needed to go. Yuta watched as Issei's footsteps quickened, only looking away once the brown-haired boy rounded the corner into the bathroom.

For the next few minutes, Yuta stood alone. He looked around, seeing his young sister enjoying herself, but Issei still hasn't left the bathroom. Was he alright?

"Oi." Yuri broke Yuta out of his stupor.

"Where's the idiot?" She asked, and Yuta knew exactly who she was referring to.

He tilted his head. "He went to the bathroom." He looked towards his younger sister, noticing that she left the store empty handed.

"You don't want anything?" He asked.

"The stuff here was cool but nothing I want right now, also, I don't have any money." She responded with a shrug and a shake of her head.

"You could always ask me; I wouldn't mind if it's only a couple of yen." Yuta offered, but surprisingly she shook her head at his offer.

"I wouldn't want to do that to you, that's your birthday money right?" She asked, although she knew the answer. "I can wait until my birthday anyways."

The two haven't really interacted all that much. Yuta- for the longest time- neglected interaction with anyone.

You'll only hurt them.

Someone like you doesn't deserve them.

Such thoughts plagued his head for years, with little to no sign of going away. His parents were also always busy with jobs and with taking care of Yuri, they trusted him because he was relatively a good kid. They thought he had moved on from the incident. But... well, the presence of Rika truly shows that he never did. When they asked, "are you okay?" or "how are you dealing?" he would respond- each and every time- with "I'm fine."

But (as mentioned prior) things changed when he met Issei. The boy who looked to be scared of the world slowly brightened. He actually talked to his family. He actually helped watch over Yuri.

He's doing better now thanks to just one friend, everyone noticed that.

But some things don't just disappear overnight.

A few more minutes passed as they waited for Issei to leave the bathroom. Yuri looked bored out of her mind, but when she looked to Yuta to talk (whine) about it, she noticed his face.

He looked unnerved. Gently scratching his hands and tapping his foot. Every other 10 seconds he would look towards the bathroom, before quickly looking around.

He felt anxious, Yuri may be young but even she could tell that.

So, as the responsible sister that she is, she believed that she had to console her anxious older brother. In the only way she knew how.

"Calm down, won't you?"

Her voice broke Yuta out of his stance, and he- unintentionally- snapped his head towards her.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You're looking around like a maniac, no, more like a housewife waiting for her husband who hasn't returned from his overtime."

"Eh?" Embarrassment filled the older Okkotsu. "That's not very funny." Even as his cheeks flushed, Yuta attempted to defend himself.

"What are you so worried about anyway?" Yuri asked.

"I-I'm not worried, I just..." His words died off, because he couldn't continue that sentence. He was worried, but to an exaggerated extent. "He's been in there for more than five minutes; how could I not be somewhat worried?"

Yuri shrugged. "Fair, but it couldn't be anything bad, maybe he just had some stomach problems, maybe he ate something bad last night and it's only just now settling in."

He took a few seconds to take in her suggestions. He truly didn't realize just how worried he looked until she pointed it out. He exhaled, attempting to calm himself.

"Yeah, yeah you're right." He breathed in and out. "But just in case..."

He walked away, moving towards the wall opposite of the bathroom entrance. Yuri sighed before following right after him.

He really needs more friends. She thought.

And just a minute after, Issei left the bathroom with a relieved expression. He looked towards the store that they were at previously, but seeing neither of them there he looked around. He only needed to look forward to see the two of them waiting.

He walked up to the two while scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry about that." He said, clearly embarrassed. "Guess I ate something bad last night."

"See? I told you." She looked towards her older brother with a teasing smile.

He looked at her, and then hung his head down with a sigh. "Yeah, you were right. I give."

"Hm? You two were talking about something?" Issei asked.

"Nooope." Yuri said, ending off with a pop in the 'p'. "C'mon, let's go, we still have some time until mom and dad are finished with shopping."

She began walking. Issei looked towards his friend with a questioning gaze. On the other hand, Yuta looked away, embarrassed. He knew Issei was going to ask so he shook his head with a sigh and followed after his younger sister.

"I definitely missed something." Issei said to himself, before following after the siblings.

The rest of the day wasn't much, but to the three it was entertaining. They found a shop that sold anime merchandise and another that sold video games.

As the day neared its end, the family + the friend left the mall and walked home.

At the Okkotsu house, Yuta's mother kept the door open after the rest of the family said their goodbyes to Issei.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for the night? I haven't seen Yuta smile that much in a while."

A little embarrassed of the prospect that he meant that much to Yuta, Issei shook his head with a smile.

"Maybe some other time, I gotta get home." He hopped onto his bike. "Bye!" He waved off.

Yuta's mother waved him off, closing the door behind her.

They spent a total of five hours at the mall, and they left at about eleven to twelve in the morning. Currently, the time is nearing the end of the afternoon.

He rode his bike home. The sun just started its descent, signaling that the evening was near. It was fun, and in the back of his mind he kept a note to remember to ask his parents if he could have a sleepover at Yuta's, or vice versa.

With a smile he pedaled faster, preparing to cross the local bridge.

But as soon as he neared the bridge, he felt something change.

It was a hard feeling to describe, almost as if the air around him began to shift.

He got off his bike and moved down the hill, nearing the river that flowed beneath the bridge and across the town.

That strange feeling grew as he neared the river, but when he got to the river, that feeling stayed at its current tempo.

He looked across the river and turned his head both ways. Nothing changed nor was anything out of the ordinary; However, that feeling in his head grew when he looked towards beneath the bridge.

He looked down at the river, unintentionally staring at his reflection; however, instead of his reflection, something else stared back at him.

Serpentine emerald-eyes on a large crimson figure stared directly at him. In most people that would bring fear, seeing such a monster in their own reflection, but at this very moment the reflection felt like it was a part of him.

Never before had he felt something like this, and honestly, he doesn't want to feel like this again.

He looked towards the area beneath the bridge again, that feeling in his head growing as he did. When he looked back towards his reflection, the strange figure was gone.

"Do I really want to do this?"

He didn't question what was happening, he only questioned whether or not he should continue any further. His rational was screaming at him to leave. Grab his bike and just pedal as fast as he could across the bridge.

He instinctively knew that he would be uncovering something dark if he moved towards the area under the bridge.

Curiosity killed the cat, after all.

"I'm not doing that." He muttered. He didn't want to find out what was wrong with that area beneath the bridge, he just wanted to go home.

So, he walked up the hill and picked up his bike. With as much strength as he could muster, he pedaled over the bridge.

But before he could successfully pass the bridge, right at the last meter, the air visibly shifted. His eyes widened.

"What-?!"

He disappeared not a second later.

His ignorance of sorcery brought this upon him.

This could have been avoided if he had simply gone towards another bridge.

That crimson figure showed its true self in the river's reflection. It growled at the area that the boy had once been before disappearing; however, had anyone else been there they would have heard that it didn't simply just growl, it talked.

It spoke one simple sentence.

"Welcome to the truth, Issei Hyoudou."

(A/N)

Skinwalker Issei finally at it...

Nah I'm just kidding, hopefully I didn't make him too OOC. I want him to be different but not too different, y'know? As I explained to a friend, this Issei would be the type who would go on the school roof during lunch to read ecchi manga in solitude and in peace, compared to canon Issei who would unironically wear an ahegao sweater everywhere. It's not much of a difference, but it's still a difference.

Also, if you're reading this after April 17 then you're probably wondering what happened. Well, I decided to rewrite the last portion of the chapter, the two main reasons being;

1. I felt like I rushed the chapter, so I wanted to fix it.

2. After doing a bit of reviewing and thinking, events of the previous version (of this chapter) didn't fit with the overall plans of the story- the way I was planning it go. So, I expanded upon the last half of the chapter to fix that.

Anyways, that's all for now, reviews are appreciated!

With much appreciation,

-An Idiot on the Internet.