Third person POV
A bit later, Akira, Hachi, and Htet found some traces of the four missing travelers' clothes, and some traces from their backpacks. "Huh? Those are from their clothes, right?" Hachi asked upon examining the pieces of clues.
"Might be," replied Htet back.
Furthermore, the three of them found some claw cuts on trunks of some of the nearby trees.
"Are those Yamauba had any claws, too?" Akira asked.
"Might be," replied Htet back.
And then, the three detectives found a trail of unusually strange footprints on the grass and dirt off the hiking trail.
So, the three young detectives followed the trail until, they went deeper and deeper in the forest and finally, to the front of the caves of the Yamauba. There the three found four people, two men and two women, unconscious in the front of the caves. The three saw that the clothes and backpacks of those 4 people matched closely with the traces they had found earlier. Also, they found some makeshift and primitive-style cooking equipment as well, indicating that those yokai would use them to cook the four humans alive as food for them. Akira and Hachi were shocked to see that, and they and Htet tried to get closer to the caves, but an invisible, magical barrier prevented them from entering the Yamauba caves' premises.
"Huh? What?" Akira was taken aback, before touching the invisible barrier.
"Is there a barrier here?" Hachi asked.
"This is worse than I thought," Htet responded back.
Akira and Hachi then looked at him.
"Recently, some of the Yamauba had evolved into witches and started utilizing magic to protect themselves and attack their prey more effectively," Htet replied while being horrified at the Yamuba's evolution.
Though they were shocked at that fact, Akira and Hachi got that and understood that.
The three of them heard and saw the Yamauba coming back with some leaves and other herbs, so they fled and hid somewhere behind the trees. As the Yamauba entered their cave home through the magical and invisible barrier, Akira, Hachi, and Htet began to devise a plan to rescue the four helpless souls.