We decided to walk home to cut off the carbs we consumed, according to Juwan. And since we are cutting carbs, he wants to take the long way back to the dorms, which is the road where the elementary school and the Northern Residential area are located.
But before that, we decided to stop by the playground in the park right in front of the mall. Juwan decided to do some pull-ups in the monkey bars. Hanzo and I sat on the swings as we wait.
"Three, f-four, f-f-five…." He counts as he struggles to pull himself up. He manages to do a couple. "Twelve!"
After that, he dropped down and he dusts off his hands.
"You done there Juwan?" I yelled from my seat.
"Yeah!" He replied. "Let's go!"
We got off from the swing and started walking.
"You know," I looked at Juwan. "This is where the guy was killed, right?"
He suddenly shivers. "Y-yeah. I do know that. But I still want to go this way!"
"That reminds me," Hanzo looks at me. "You haven't told me yet, but how did he die? Do you know? The news says that there are marks on his neck and that his cause of death was strangulation."
"Well," I began to think of the events that Kuroneko reported to us. "According to the victim himself, Kuroneko, one of the nekomata that's part of the Neko Patrol under Thanatos-"
"Wait wait wait, the victim himself? and Kuroneko (black cat), Neko Patrol, Thanatos, what's all this?!" Juwan's hands are on his head again, trying to process everything that I said.
"Promise, I owe you an explanation later, but let me finish my story."
He sighs. "Fine."
"As I was saying, according to Kuroneko's findings and the victim himself, the man was walking this path, when suddenly, the Ittan-Momen grabbed him from his foot and dragged him through the streets and into the grassy fields behind the elementary school. He was tossed around by the Ittan-Momen as if the victim was a toy, them finally, he was strangled to death."
"Poor guy," Hanzo says, a hand covering his mouth.
"AHHHHHH!" Juwan suddenly yells. We thought that he was scared, but we saw him on the ground being pulled.
I look to see that it was Ittan-Momen itself. The other end of him is wrapped around Juwan and it was pulling Juwan through the streets towards the elementary school.
"Juwan!" I yelled. I pulled out Kotengu's paper doll and summoned him.
"Kotengu! Go after Ittan-Momen!"
Kotengu shrieks and immediately launched off and followed them.
"Let's go, Hanzo!" I yelled. We began to run. "Get the salt ready!"
"Okay!" Hanzo began to rummage in his bag.
***
We arrived at the scene a few moments later and saw that Juwan was pretty unconscious on the ground, but Kotengu is being strangled.
"Kotengu!" I yelled.
He suddenly popped to smoke, before turning back into a ribbon, tying himself back into his paper doll. "Oh yeah, they can't die."
Ittan-Momen was there. It was a little long and has eyes and arms and hands on each side. He was laughing, staring at us menacingly.
We ran towards Juwan. Ittan-Momen charged towards us. I quickly pulled out a yellow talisman and threw it to the ground. The barrier appeared around us. Ittan-Momen just crashed into it. It tried to get in.
"Hanzo, he needs to wake up!"
Hanzo shakes Juwan. "Wake up Juwan! Come on!" Nothing is working.
Ittan-Momen began to stretch and wrap itself around the barrier. The Yokai was going to break the barrier by squeezing it. "Uhh, Hanzo, we seriously need to hurry! The Yokai is wrapping itself to break the barrier!"
There was no choice. Hanzo began to slap him. "Wake! Up! Juwan! Our! Lives! Are! At! Stake! Here!" He said those at every slap he did.
Finally, he woke up.
"Juwan!" I yelled. "The barrier is going to collapse, so get ready to dodge!"
Juwan got to his feet, still confused about what's happening.
As soon as I heard the barrier break, I yelled, "Now!"
Juwan did a roll to his left while we jumped.
We realized that because of that jump, our lives were at stake. Some of Ittan-Momen's cloth wrapped around us and began to squeeze.
***
[JUWAN'S POV]
Holy shit, what is happening right now?! This is too much to process! First, Kazu told me that he can see ghosts, and now, one is attacking us right now. And I can't even see it!
Right now, I managed to dodge whatever that thing is doing, but unfortunately, the two got caught. They were floating in the air.
Holy shit, what have I gotten myself into.
"Juwan!" Hanzo yells, gasping for breath. "Salt!"
He points at the closed jar on the floor. "Weakness! Throw!"
He wants me to throw the salt to the thing they call Ittan-Momen.
I set aside my fears and grabbed the jar. I hear faint laughter for some reason. Maybe it's the Yokai!"
Every second, they are slowly being killed, but I struggle to open the jar. It's pretty tight. "Come on, Juwan, you're an athlete! Opening this jar is easy!"
Finally, I opened it. I decided to throw it all in their direction. After that, the thing became visible and it was bubbling. It also screamed in pain as it dropped the two.
After that, the Yokai fled. leaving a trail of salt behind.
"Holy shit, that thing was long," I muttered to myself. "and I managed to put aside my fear for once."
On the ground, Hanzo and Kazu were grunting. I ran towards them and kneeled beside them.
"Crap, are you guys alright?!"
Kazu coughs. "Yeah. Thank you so much, Juwan. You really became our heroes even though you were afraid of those things."
"Yeah, man," Hanzo coughs as well. "We owe you one."
I took a deep breath. I'm glad they're alright.