"Douma... that name sounds familiar." Shinobu was now studying the blonde male's features trying to recall where she heard his name from.
"Really?! I must be famous then!"
"Don't be so bigheaded about that."
The young founder was now jumping around in excitement. It's not the first time someone said that but it still touched his heart regardless. Where could Shinobu have heard about him he wondered.
"Oh yeah a friend told me about it. The shrine leader who takes care of everyone."
"You're lucky to have that person as a friend so keep the friendship!"
"O-of course." Narrowing her eyes at the overenergetic person beside her, Shinobu was starting to miss the time when she was alone at the port. There was a lot to deal with now and it was just the beginning. What have I gotten myself into?
Besides the young founder's status as a well-known shrine leader, there was something else that caught her attention, those captivating kaleidoscopic eyes he had. They were beautiful like gems she could see a myriad of colors in them. The fact that someone had such traits was out of this world, it was a fascinating sight.
"Are you on vacation Shinobu?" The purple-haired girl's admiration was cut off by Douma's question. She looked away feeling a little embarrassed for staring at someone's eyes for too long.
"Yes I'm staying at a friend's house. Another friend of mine was supposed to be here today but now she's not coming because of the storm. I can't leave because of the weather, people are advised not to go out so I'll be here for a while." There was a look of sadness in Shinobu's eyes. It must be scary to not be able to go home anytime soon especially during this chaotic weather event. Douma wanted to keep her company throughout her stay at Hasu Mountains to cheer her up. On one hand he thought this would be a great time to get to know her better instead of sitting around at the shrine. At least spending time with a friend would keep him occupied.
"Do you have any plans? I'm visiting some friends of mine," Douma looked up at the sky that was still rather normal but not entirely. "There's a storm coming you should start heading home it's not safe to be out here."
"I'll just stay here for a while." Shinobu replied looking at the flock of birds that flew past them.
"Alright stay safe." Douma wasn't sure if he will see her again. If things weren't complicated right now, he would show her around there was a lot to see at Hasu Mountains she'd love it. Now he was starting to get worried Shinobu was all by herself at the port, he was getting further down the path towards the last stretch of town. I hope she'll be OK. Maybe he could stop by town again tomorrow she must be staying around this area.
~~~
The line of restaurants and stores around this part of town wasn't affected much they were still in good condition just dark and empty.
On his left was a toy store with decorations and toys hanging from the roof and windows. Not a single scratch on it. Seeing the toys left like that tempted Douma to take one their designs were pretty and well-sculpted; bears, dragons and frogs with all kinds of patterns and colors. If Douma could he'd probably bring these toys as a gift the Tagami family would love it.
Douma continued down the path reaching the end of town.
The forest was denser with tall trees and larger bushes surrounded by vines. It looked like a completely different environment but the greenery was just that particular part, houses could be seen from where Douma was standing, a few caught his attention the most as he followed the trail leading to his destination.
After a few minutes of walking and sightseeing, Douma finally reached his destination. The young founder who came all the way from his shrine in the devastating storm couldn't wait to be welcomed with open arms.
Knocking on the door he stepped back and looked up at the tall tree beside the house, a bird was feeding its young in the nest fighting the force of the wind.
Someone opened the door, a familiar face one who sometimes visited the shrine and caught bugs together outside near the Cherry Blossom tree, great company.
"Douma it's you!"
"Hello Reiji it's been a while how ya been?"
"A little worried I'm surprised you managed to come all the way here in this storm it's dangerous. My parents are out of town right now and I'm not sure when they'll return. I just got a call from them before you got here. Atashi and Eiko are in the living room by the way." The teen in the straw hat made way for Douma closing the door behind him. It was quite dark and the wind's howls could be heard being the only sounds in the house.
Sitting on the floor was Atashi and Eiko looking at displays of bugs, coincidentally Douma was going to ask them something about last night's massacre perhaps they were well-informed about it based on their discussions about the frames they were holding.
"Hey Douma come join us." Atashi called, taking out more frames from the box.
"Atashi I see you're here too."
"Yeah it's a good thing those monsters didn't follow me here from Tokyo, I would've been a suspect by now did you see the cops back there?"
"Wait how did you get pass them?" Both Reiji and Atashi looked at each other confused nobody was allowed to pass the town without a valid reason and what reason could Douma give them he was just visiting.
"By turning invisible duh." Eiko placed the frame down and inspected the writing at the bottom of the glass.
"Not quite."
"What?!" The two boys yelled at the same time.
"Lemme guess you crawled under the stores?" Reiji asked curiously.
"That's right!"
"No wonder that part of town has a lot of rats there's nothing blocking them underneath."
"Really? I'm never eating there again." Atashi was at the verge of throwing up.
"You guys," A cup of tea was placed on the table beside Douma emitting some warmth around them. "Rats are everywhere there's nothing we can do about it."
"Thanks Eiko." The blonde took a sip of his tea the cold made his throat a little dry.
"No problem Douma."