[SDU] [Chapter 69 –
Zenith – Grave Mistake]
After spending some
time walking through the horrible destruction of Atomic City, I began to
realize how easily some human would be able to take out a live just like that.
It’s very scary knowing that someone somewhere has that kind of power possibly
even to this day. That also reminds me of something else. Yumiko was with me. I
voluntarily asked her to come and join me search for Ethereal and White. If I’m
not the stupidest person of all, I would have severed my ties especially with
someone who has literally murdered me for about six times now.
I would have done that
to be honest, but there was one thing that keeps making me think twice about it
and that was White’s trust toward Yumiko. I couldn’t quite grasp on what kind
of sick relationship does White and Yumiko has. From the outside, White
despises her so much that he can now tell when she’s lying or not. Yumiko love
to pester around him just for her own amusement and not out of spite. There
wasn’t any sort of romantic tension between those two but if they are then…I
might have to do something about that. Why? Because it doesn’t sound healthy.
And so, I asked her, “Hey,
Yumiko…”
“What is it twerp?”
Her response sounded lazy. She was probably tired of me or something.
“What do you think
of…White?”
“That guy?” Yumiko
chuckled a little and said, “He’s another toy that I can play with. I love
playing around with boys who are easily annoyed with me. It is simply fantastic
whenever I get to see that annoyed look on him. As far as I’m concerned about
him, I wouldn’t really care of what kind of situation he might be in. Whether
if he’s in a good situation…or in a bad one.”
“So you don’t have any
sort of feelings toward him? Even after pestering him for like…ever?”
“Feelings?” Yumiko
looked at me and gave a look that makes me think that something was going on
between her and White. “You don’t have to worry about me at all, shorty. I have
no feelings at all toward that time trickling trickster. Besides, I’m already
popular enough that I can even make my own choice without even trying to look
for one.” She said that confidently without a single stutter at all. She was
being serious and a bit…egotistic.
I let out a sigh of
relief and said, “Well…if that’s the case then…” I stopped momentarily and
retracted my sentences, “Never mind.”
Yumiko raised one of
her eyebrows as I looked away from her and trying my best to get out of that
conversation.
“Don’t get so tense,
shorty. I thought you were the one who dragged me into this.”
Recordia then flies
next to us after her excursion around the city was done, “Is something wrong?
Recordia is concerned about Yumiko and Zenith as Recordia asked that.”
Yumiko then rubs her
head with her finger and told her, “Everything is fine, little fairy. Now, tell
me if you see anything that we should avoid.”
Recordia nodded her
head and said, “There’s a couple of Yokai a few blocks away from our current
position. We might be able to avoid them if we take a different route,
suggested Recordia.”
“Can you tell what
kind of Yokai was it?”
“Recordia tries to
remember what it was and figured that…The Yokai that Recordia saw was a group
of Tsukumogami.”
“Suku-what?” I failed
to pronounce whatever that Yokai was.
Yumiko then corrected
me and explained, “Tsukumogami. It’s a type of Yokai. Tsukumogami are inanimate
objects that once they have served their owner/s for 100 years, they receive a
soul and therefore become alive and self-aware.”
“Household items,
huh…are they as dangerous as some other demonic ones like the Oni?”
Yumiko answered my
question, “They are usually harmless, though they tend to play small pranks.
Still, they have the capacity to get angry and can group up to take revenge
against those who threw them away or didn't treat them well. For this reason,
ceremonies were performed in Nihon to console broken and/or unusable objects.”
“Recordia also added
by saying some examples, The Karasaka-Obake is one of them. It is an umbrella
that has one eye and a leg and sometimes it would have arms and a tongue
sticking out of a mouth. Another example is The Bakezori, it’s a sandal that
has limbs and only one eye.”
Yumiko then continued,
“There’s also The Ittan-momen which is a possessed roll of cotton that flies
around at night. Then there is The Kameosa which is a possessed old jar that
usually contains sake or water that sometimes can take up humanoid features.
Let’s also not forget about The Chochin-obake, that one is a possessed lantern
that usually has one eye and a long tongue protruding from a hole in the
lantern acting as the spirit's mouth.”
I was in awe but only
for that moment, “These are all fascinating Yokai…I really want to know more
about them but we really need to get to the graveyard now…”
“Precisely.” Yumiko
agreed. “That is why I asked the fairy to fly first. Lead the way, little
fairy.”
Recordia does a salute
and leads to a better route that will avoid us from those living furniture.
-
After several minutes
have passed, we have finally got out of Atomic City which means that we are
already stepping on the area of the burial grounds of the dead. The Yokai
Graveyard is a sacred resting place for the souls on Nihon. It pays homage and
respects the fallen, Human and Yokai alike. Yes, it isn’t just exclusively for
Yokai even though they are basically a spirit to begin with.
“Woah…” I was in awe
of what I was seeing. “This place is huge…tombstones everywhere as far as my
eyes could see. How big is this place anyway?”
Then all of sudden a
mysterious voice spoken to us, “Just a couple of acres…”
I jumped a little and
took on a cautious move. However, Yumiko doesn’t seem to be surprised by the
mysterious voice at all. It was as if she knows it was there.
“What was that,
Yumiko?”
Yumiko sighed and
said, “A very annoying Yokai…”
“My, my…Yumiko…I
haven’t seen you for quite a while. It is so nice of you to come and visit me.”
A cat with two tails suddenly appeared behind one of the tombstones.
“Nekomata…” Yumiko was
displeased of the cat’s presence.
“You know that thing?”
I asked Yumiko
But then the Yokai clears
its throat and said, “This thing is not a thing. It is a ‘her’. My name is
Nekomata and welcome to the biggest graveyard in Nihon.”
“Is this place your
home?”
“No it is not, young
lady. I am actually stationed here on behalf of your blond friend here.”
“What is she talking
about, Yumiko?” I turned to Yumiko looking for the answer.
But then Yumiko simply
ignored me and talked to Nekomata, “Ferocious feline…always bothering me during
the important time.”
“It’s not like you
have a choice, Yumiko.” The cat was talking in a very creepy tone.
It was very suspicious
but since she is someone that Yumiko knows then I can trust her enough. Yumiko
on the other hand made a squint on her face as she listens to what the cat was
saying to her. She looked like she had a face of remorse or something. I
couldn’t really tell what it was as I was continuously distracted by Recordia
who was pulling me and showed me the names of the deceased people written on
their tombstones. Then as I turned my head around, I saw a big wooden house
standing beside the graveyard.
“What is that?”
Nekomata answered for
me, “That’s a place for people to take a rest once they have arrived her. It’s
like a shelter of some sort.”
“It’s a really huge
shelter…”
“Don’t worry about
that, young lady. You can go on and see it for yourself.” The cat smiled.
Then suddenly Yumiko
alerted me, “Zen!”
That was probably the
first time she ever used that nickname that White always use on me. It caught
off guard when I heard her shouted at me with that.
“What…?”
“I think we should
back…It doesn’t seem that White or your sister is over here.” Yumiko was
talking slowly to me.
“White, you say? Is
that a boy?” Nekomata interrupted us and said, “I believe I saw a boy together
with a lady carrying a huge rifle on her back just an hour ago.”
Yumiko was observing
Nekomata with full caution. But I didn’t see her facial changed because I was
focused on Nekomata at the time.
“We’re you trying to
trick me again, Yumiko? The cat says she saw them recently…”
She then whispered from
where she was standing, “But I’m telling the truth…” Her eyes were filled with
all sorts of fears.
Even after that, I was
too blind to even notice that her truth because of how much she had done to me
and White previously. I quickly made my way to the huge wooden ‘shelter’ and
what I found there was an empty building.
“White? Ethereal? Are
you guys over here?”
Then, I heard a
creaking noise that was coming from the old wooden floor. Someone was behind
me. I thought it was White or my sister but once I turned my back I saw a
person…but it wasn’t just any person…It was a person that doesn’t even has a
face. I quickly fainted out of being too shocked on what I have seen and my
vision begins to fade out as I saw the person getting close to me…Did I just made
a grave mistake for believing that cat? I can’t really tell because what
follows next was something I truly never expected.
TO BE CONTINUED
Comments
Post a Comment