Sliding his phone back into his pocket, Yoshigawa jumped onto the third step and bolted up, ignoring a chilly breeze that washed down the steps. "Come to think of it..." He realized it wouldn't be wise of him to go straight in, as numerous Shiki were likely awaiting.
"It's gotta be Shikis hiding in this park... but so many of them? What a pain. Still... whoever's behind this could be a problem, so it's best to deal with it now than have Naomi sent over!" He paused for a second. "Is her pack patrolling these parts? Or someone else's?"
Certain of what he'd do, Yoshigawa shifted his direction and dove over a railing to his right. He rolled up onto his feet in two front rolls and pat the grass below him, leaving an imprint of his palm. This mark released a toxin that oozed towards the sky. Though not traceable by just anyone, it'd alert Yoshigawa's watchdogs of his current location.
"They're gonna hound me to no end, but oh well... can't be helped." Yoshigawa messed his hair around with his free hand, then snapped his fingers and stood up, focusing on the current matter. He dusted some of the small grass that got on his black jeans and sniffed. After taking this precautionary measure, he ruffled his dark orange hair around a second time and advanced up the rocky path within the park. The eeriness could easily disturb anyone else, but Yoshigawa kept himself composed on his ascent.
"It's darker than usual here... a Gando Zone?! It's gotta be a strong Shiki controlling others." Yoshigawa unrestricted his Setsu side in order to heighten his senses. His eyes went from dark oak orange to green, emitting a glimmering green light that brightened his path.
Yoshigawa jumped from tree to tree, nearly stumbling into one, before stopping beside the large dark tree to scope out the area. "Good timing!" he told himself, laughing as he tapped the tree and looked around to make sure there wasn't anyone nearby.
"I almost ran into ya..." Before he could finish his sentence, the scent of fresh blood became stronger, reminding him of why he was there in the first place. The area ahead was denser and creepier. He felt eyes on him, confirming that he'd stepped into a territory that Shikis were attempting to claim.
"Aren't gonna take the bait?" He purposely stepped on twigs as he continued on to see if the entities observing him from the tree canopies would attack and give up their positions. Aside from tree branches rustling, nothing else happened, prompting Yoshigawa to press on. The further he went up, the sound of his shoes stepping over small rocks was replaced by the sound of crickets chirping as he was now on soil.
He leaned down low, crouching over, now closer to the area where the scent emanated from. Yoshigawa progressed steadily on all fours, until he felt the ground become muddy when he passed an area that didn't have many trees. Rain washed down over him, prompting him to get up and dash behind a tree ahead.
"Aw damn, my gloves... and look, those things became fans, followin' me..." Yoshigawa laughed at himself and grazed his hands together to remove the dirt once he was between two dry trees. "If an autograph is what you want, just ask! No need to be shy!" Yoshigawa yelled up to the treelines above, receiving no response. Water droplets continued dripping from the leaves that were above Yoshigawa. The droplets twinkled down, kissing Yoshigawa's cheeks when he took notice of a shadow moving up above.
Yoshigawa's expression became a serious one as he turned his attention back to the playground. He reached down and tossed a stick up to one of the branches above, causing some nocturnal birds to flock off as he moved his head around scanning the area.
"Luring me into a false sense of security?" he questioned, finally reached the last tree. He knelt down and increased his sight, since the humid weather created a fog that thickened with the rain coming down on the rubber ground of the playground ahead.
"Been a while since I used it for something serious like this," he snickered, internally agitated. "What's a good excuse to give them for why I wound up in this park? Maybe... I was driving by and... a lass lured me here? Then, she got eaten... but not by me, in the way I would've liked?" He sighed, preferring to not recall the fact he has to pretend to be a pervert in his estate.
An acorn dropped down on his head, as if nature itself were telling him to focus. He rubbed the back of his head and clapped his hands together, holding them against his forehead to block the strong rain coming down. Different areas were being filled with puddles of water. A few light posts made some areas visible, but all of them suddenly flickered, turning off one by one. Yoshigawa would have remained still if it weren't for a wet wind brushing into the bushes where he hid, prompting him to lift up his hood in order to avoid being drenched a second time. The hood pushed his orange hair in front of his eyes, so he pushed it to the side.
From his point of view, he only noticed a large shadowy figure and what seemed to be a long tail swaying side to side. "That can't be a lion... can it? Did a lion break outta the zoo? No... that tail isn't normal. That thing's easily eight feet... and reeks of negative Retsu."
Yoshigawa studied the mass further. It was crouched beneath a large playground slide, so it wasn't easy to see. From its position and the sound of crunching, it was munching on something. He now spotted small black figures he could make up. To his shock, there were Shikis feasting on small human bodies, as the fresh pool of blood spread out from underneath the monstrosity. Yoshigawa immediately sprung out of the bush, the movement alerting the creature as the quills along its tail bent backwards, materializing into a long grey tail. It whipped up, pointing in Yoshigawa's direction, notifying the surrounding Shikis. Seeing there was no point in remaining in his position, Yoshigawa jumped out onto the playground.
"Okay, okay. You found me. Now what?"
It twisted its head back with a shrilling horse-like neigh. It had a slab of pale flesh between its rows of teeth. The closer Yoshigawa got, the more he saw. The slab was a portion of a young adult's disfigured face, torn from its cheekbone. Behind the beast, the individual's mauled body twitched, rising up like a zombie. It had now turned into a low-level Shiki, but before it could pass into the fading light of a nearby lamp post, the beast chomped on it, gulping the body up in two bites. The only thing left behind was one of the bloodied shoes, with part of the foot still inside.
Yoshigawa's inner heart gem spiked up, his killing intent now at a boiling point. He cracked his knuckles, as sheer rage and disgust filled him up. "How dare... you?!" Yoshigawa howled, gazing at the rumbling monster just ahead. It tried cocking its head aside to show off its muscular chest, but Yoshigawa had no fear as he took in the slightest movement the beast made.
The murderous energy ignited the humid atmosphere, as the beast stepped out of the darkness of the playground slides to let out a low belch. The light coming from the nearby lamp post reflected against the puddles of water that formed randomly along the playground. Shaking side to side, it grabbed a hold of the shoe and chucked it overhead. Yoshigawa watched it pounce up, devouring it in a single gulp as it crashed back down into the amassing puddles. The impact drifted water in Yoshigawa's direction, as a dozen of the lesser Shiki rushed him, only to find themselves outmaneuvered by Yoshigawa.
Blood stained the creature's brown mane and trickled down the Shiki's paws with each step it took. The impact caused the ground to rumble, its paws stomping down one by one; it had a set of six smaller legs between its main legs and its hind legs. These paws were sharper than the ones in the front and the back, as they served to tear its prey apart and pull the limbs into the Shiki's mouth, located at the center of its stomach. The Shiki's facial construction resembled that of a horse's, yet its cheek bones were far wider than a normal horse's. Complete with a curved smile that such a maniacal eyesore would have, it showed off its squared teeth that still had flesh sticking out of them.
"Is the pack assigned to this area not doing their job or what?" Yoshigawa asked.
"A pack... of food? Goigar ate those earlier," The Shiki teased, as Yoshigawa adjusted his left hand in his pocket.
"Ssssrrrrrrrrrrr," the large Shiki let out another bellow as its eyes adjusted to what was before it. The distance between Yoshigawa and the Shiki was about thirty feet. Yoshigawa strolled into the lighting of the playground, pulling his hand slowly out of his pockets.
The Shiki saw everything in a dark blue near Yoshigawa's pocket, and an even darker blue swirled around his fist, alerting the Shiki to fight. The Shiki burped, as a thick grey foggy substance blew out of its mouth.
"Arrrhhh... another meal has stumbled into Goigar's den!"
Remembering the partially eaten face of the victim, Yoshigawa's eyes shot open as his hair rose up. His irises flickered on, emitting a green electrical light. The creature dug its claws into the ground and prepared to lunge towards Yoshigawa. With an inflamed look, Yoshigawa simply uttered, "Disappear."
Retsu fluttered out, causing Yoshigawa's hair to blow back as he extended his arm out. A long green crystalized shard encased his arm and wires tangled along the fingers of his other hand coming out of his pocket. In a single thrust, the wires spread high up, disappearing into the misty sky and flickered on like Christmas decorations. Yoshigawa emitted his Retsu into them and the wires swayed around until they snapped, taking the form of a school of translucent green eels frantically swimming about, connected by the wires.
The rain whipped sideways as the Shiki slashed its tail back to the playground, smashing through two trees. Its tail broke apart into a set of four large quills that parted and came down on Yoshigawa from left to right. The ends of the quills enclosed, so Yoshigawa wouldn't be able to easily get through, but as the quills pressed against Yoshigawa, they were not only repelled, but shredded to pieces, seemingly by nothing.
"RRROOOOARRRR!!!" Goigar dug its paws into the ground, hunching over behind its powerful hind legs. The Shiki boomed straight towards Yoshigawa, dodging the sharp tendrils his eels shot down at it.
A thunderous flash of green light rose up into the sky like a flare that brightened the area for three seconds, attracting the attention of passersby in the distance. From afar, Takumi caught sight of it and abruptly stopped in his tracks. He then heard the thunder strike.
"Shima's Retsu?! That'll get attention from the Ikigai," he thought to himself, but didn't have time to question it. "You better be safe, Shima!" Takumi focused on the Night Stalker, who front-flipped over and turned to face him briefly.
Takumi swiped his left arm to his side protectively upon seeing that the creature released a series of sharp thorns that headed directly towards him from twenty feet away. Takumi knelt forward and started running towards the thorns. As the thorns came in close, he looked over to a trash can and stepped onto it, gaining momentum to run along the wall, narrowly avoiding the thorns that continued through the alley while Takumi was airborne. Although Takumi had avoided the spikes, a homeless man who had been sleeping soundly beside a large trash bin, wasn't as lucky. He was woken up by the sudden commotion and when he had turned his head, a single thorn pierced through his left eye socket and passed right through his head, as his body collapsed backwards and his life came to a swift end.
Takumi saw the man's body collapse as he was suspended in the air; though his sense of care was absent initially, he felt pity for a brief moment. Though he may have not known that pedestrian, he was well aware that the man could have had a family. With this in mind, Takumi took advantage of the fact that he was right above the Night Stalker.
The Night Stalker shot more thorns into the sky in an attempt to impale the Setsu, but Takumi slashed them away with his claws and came down with the pointed tip of his sharpened arm. He nearly landed a devastating strike to the top of the Night Stalker's head, but the creature abruptly stopped and made a u-turn onto the walls of the buildings ahead. Takumi smashed his arm down onto the ground, blowing chunks of debris up into the air. He quickly adjusted his sights on the Night Stalker, who now scaled the walls of the building like a spider once more.
It was headed straight for a little girl who was gazing out of her window, visibly spaced out as she was taking in the air. Seeing that the creature was headed up towards the little girl's window, Takumi yelled "WATCH IT!", startling the child. Confused where the voice came from, the little girl turned her head back and forth. She was just about to glance down, when the Night Stalker breezed past her windowsill, knocking her back as the curtains continued to violently whip about. Takumi quickly lunged up and landed on her windowsill, giving the child a scary glare that caused her to whimper and jump back when she was just about to stand up. "ACK!!!" she squealed, shutting her eyes.
After four seconds of silence, she opened her eyes and the first thing she noticed was Takumi's purple eyes, which complemented the golden moon behind him as he remained knelt on her windowsill. His presence gave her a strange sense of tranquility. The sounds of the busy street below made it a bit difficult for the girl to hear him as Takumi spoke. "This is more annoying than I expected..."
Takumi turned his head up, poking it out to see that the Night Stalker was jumping from windowsill to windowsill, getting further away. "Close this window, kid. Don't you know there's danger lurking in the night?" he growled as she noticed his fangs. A breeze blew through, causing her curtains to flutter, blocking Takumi's view. She ran over to the window to move it aside, but Takumi wasn't there anymore. She rubbed her eyes as Takumi dropped back down, having almost forgotten to do something important. He flashed a bright purple light out of his eyes, which enveloped her eyes, causing her to drop back and sleep. From within the home, her father heard the noise, but when he went to check, he only found her tucked in her bed as he went and shut her window.
Takumi swung onto a fire escape, which shook for a second, but settled right after Takumi climbed the ladder and jumped onto a balcony, making his way up. Though the Night Stalker wasn't in sight, Takumi could still sense the negative Retsu. He continued his way up easily, until he finally reached the rooftop. He was forced to jump back down to a lower ledge as the creature had shot out a series of thorns that flew overhead.
A single bat formed out of the Gumi Cafe overcoat Takumi wore. It sprouted out of his shoulder and flew up to gauge the Shiki's position. The Night Stalker looked over towards it and slouched up on its hind legs, bearing its rows of teeth. Its glowing yellow eyes suddenly heated up to a dark orange. A loud shriek came from the Night Stalker, who swiped its claws into the roof below it, causing gravel to soar up towards the bat, which maneuvered past the rocks and came down in an attempt to latch onto the creature's face. Before it had the chance, the creature turned away and bolted.
"SHHHREEEHHH!!!"
Takumi had jumped up, but upon being met with the altered shriek, he was forced to slap his palms against his ears. The Night Stalker took this moment to make it to the end of the building's ledge. Takumi forced himself to stand back up, ignoring the strong ringing, and elongated his black claws. Acting quickly, he swapped the tips of his claws in front of himself.
A clean purple line of Retsu was shot straight towards the Night Stalker in the form of exuberant flames that burned strongly, stimulated by the atmosphere that surrounded it. This flame only lasted three seconds before being extinguished, but it was enough to burn across the beast's right thigh in time, causing the creature to lose the feeling of it's right leg. "Now, I'll never lose track of you," Takumi smirked.
The Night Stalker stumbled over, as the stinging sensation spread through its entire leg from the opening. It was as if dozens of needles were picking at a scab, repeatedly making the wound deteriorate. The irritation drove the beast mad as it desperately crawled off in struggling limps. With Takumi walking and getting closer, the beast looked down to the long drop below, where cars passed and people moved through the street, enjoying their night life.
Takumi's purple eyes glimmered as he telepathically told the beast, "You won't survive if you jump off this time." Instead of waiting for him to get any closer, it leapt off of the ledge and landed on the ledge of another building, its claws saving it from falling down into the oncoming traffic below. Kicking with one leg and its tail, it managed to push itself back up onto the ledge using its hind legs; after establishing its balance, it jumped up to another ledge and onto another rooftop.
Takumi sighed, resuming the pursuit he thought had ended. He could have caught it then and there, but wanted the Night Stalker to give up on its own accord. Takumi's Setsu side made him subconsciously crave the chase instead of just ending it. He dashed to the end of the ledge and in a single quick step, jumped up, before gracefully landing down. He glanced down to the trail of orange blood that the creature left behind, making sure not to step on it. If the beast bled out, it'd surely die. "Gotta figure out where this thing came from..."
Following this trail, he stopped at the end of the rooftop and scanned the area. An ominous wind whipped his bangs back as he caught sight of a swirling portal. The Night Stalker limped towards it and Takumi jumped down, landing on his knee. He was about to rush at it with the intention of completing the hunt, but his Setsu senses told him to quickly lunge back, which Takumi did.
A series of daggers shot down, stabbing into the ground just in front of him. "Huh?" Takumi paused, before evading a second round of daggers raining down on his position by hopping backwards. Scanning these, he noted that they were sturdy and weren't actually made of metal. "Formed from Retsu. Whoever is greeting me has skill."
A passing cloud soon darkened the entire rooftop. Aside from Takumi's glowing purple eyes, a set of red glowing eyes were just on top of an electrical conductor. "Who's up there? You better think again if you wanna get in my way," Takumi said, angered.
The entity's form became clear as the cloud finished passing. A black fur coat, and pale scaly skin complemented by the moonlight. The entity's scruffy red hair elongated past his shoulders as its skin suddenly shifted to red.
Takumi rose up to his feet. His sight went from the being's shoeless feet to its face. The character raised his index finger up and greeted Takumi, "Why hello there, Setsu scum." The voice echoed, followed by a wet breeze washing up against Takumi.
Over at Yoshigawa's end, the Goigar had been slain, its body nothing but withering black chunks spread around the playground and the ground below it, a boiling mixture of colors. Other Shikis crept out from the surrounding tree lines, creeping towards Yoshigawa. Catching his breath, Yoshigawa slid the back of his hand across his forehead and sighed in relief, lightening up. However, right after he stepped off of the Goigar's severely burned back, he was met with a sharp pain in his gut, one that made his stomach crunch up. Saliva blew out of his mouth as his body convulsed, before he was flung up against a concrete wall. Sirens blared in the distance within the mist.
There was nothing Yoshigawa could do to rip himself out of the wall, as his hand twitched. His lower body grew limp. He breathed slowly, pressing one of his hands to his gut, and looked on to five silhouettes hidden underneath the strong fog as rainfall continued to pour.
"Agh... who's the little puss that caught me off guard?" Yoshigawa groaned slightly, as his vision blurred when one of the five individuals approached him. "Oh man... five v one, sweet."
Those five hastened their steps, headed to slay the Rikuto, but to Yoshigawa's relief, a number of Setsus rained down, landing between him and his attackers; it was the Ikigai. Among them, Yoshigawa recognized a very familiar face.
"Naomi? My darling..." The other Ikigai dashed, clashing against the cloaked Strays. Each Stray quickly took off and were followed by the Setsu that'd arrived, while the Ikigai who looked back to Yoshigawa gave him a relieved smile.
"Shousa, we will go on ahead and completely secure this area."
"Sure, go for it," Naomi responded with a thumbs up, making her way to Yoshigawa, who tore himself out of the indented structure he was in.
"Gosh- they almost did a number on you" She reached for his cheek.
"It's embarrassing to have you see me like this."
"That's what I'd like to say... this uniform is really tight on me!" Naomi commented, glancing down to her new Shosa uniform as Yoshigawa blushed, but kissed her forehead upon the young woman pouting.
"Congratulations on becoming a Shousa. Who would've thought we'd run into each other like this on your first night?"
"I know, right?! You have some explaining to do. Where are those lemon cakes? You bought them right?"