Juwan and I hid behind the shed of the elementary school. We were waiting for Ittan-Momen's appearance. We've been here for almost thirty minutes and so far, nothing. I tried to summon
Kotengu to aid us, but it seems like he hasn't recovered from his injury last night, so it looks like it's just us.
"Okay, Juwan," I said, "Here is our strategy. You are the flexible one here, so you need to be the one in the field."
Juwan sighs. "Fine."
"Okay, good," I said. "All you have to do is throw salt to it. Though that thing is a long roll of cloth, so it can easily avoid your attacks, so you're perfect for this. You have a lot of stamina."
"Okay, okay, I get it," Juwan sighs again. He's still pretty scared of it after our encounter, so I get him. "How about you, tho? What will you do?"
"I'll go up to the rooftop of the school and support you," I pulled out a talisman from my sling bag, "I recently found out that I have a great aim too. It'll be easy for me to seal it up there."
"Oh, so you'll seal it?"
"Yeah! I'll try tho. Ittan-Momen is pretty quick and strong, so he would be a great ally if he's my Shikigami."
Juwan nods. "Alright, alright, good enough."
Juwan pulls out something from his pocket. It was a pair of earpiece. "Here, for easy communication. Good thing I decided to buy this in the anime store."
I took it and turned it on. I then inserted it in my ear. "Alright, I'll go up now."
Juwan nods in determination.
I sprint towards the school and ran through the stairs and reached the rooftop.
***
I observed the open grass field in the elementary school, one knee kneeling.
"Any sign of the Yokai?" Juwan asked.
I looked around the area. "Nothing."
"Oh, okay," Juwan deeply sighs. "To be honest, I am still scared."
"It's okay, just remember your motivation."
Juwan took another deep breath. "Yeah, you're right."
"Just curious," I said, "Did something happen for you to be this easily scared?"
"Actually, yes," I saw Juwan rest his back against the shed wall. "When I was a kid, I was bullied in Halloween. At that time, I was a little overweight and nerdy, well, I'm still nerdy now, so I was easily bullied back then. Bullies scare me every time they see me with their costumes, and I fall for it every time. And then this one time, they took it too far. They locked me inside a haunted house and operated the entire thing, that lasted for two hours."
Juwan felt scared again. He rubs the top of his head. "Fortunately, someone noticed and reported it to the authorities. The bullies were already in legal age at that time, so they were arrested, and found me crying in a corner of the haunted house."
"Damn, that's rough," I said. Now I totally understand his reasons. "Don't worry, Juwan. We're here to help you. One day, you'll drive out that fear of yours, especially with us on your side."
"Thanks," He said genuinely.
Somewhere in the area, we heard a male voice, screaming. I look ahead and saw that it was Ittan-Momen, yet again with another victim.
"Juwan, get ready," I said as I stand up. "Once he's in the area, go and attack."