"The last victim is near our academy..."
"R-Ray?" Ao called my name in concern and follow the direction of my gaze.
"Eh? Arazuka-Kun and Utaru-Kun?" Exclaimed Ao as she saw two of the five people with our academy's uniform gathering in front of the abandoned mansion's gate.
"You know them? You sure know and close to lots of people, aren't you?" As expected of one of the academy's beauty.
"It's not that I know them or even close to them, it's just that they're in the same class as ours, Ray. You're the strange one for not even knowing their faces," Scolded Ao.
Why did it become my fault?
I believe I have no obligation to remember all of the names of the academy's students, though.
*Sigh!*
Ao let out a heavy sigh.
"Seems like I'm the fool for asking you to remember their faces," said Ao with a shrug.
"Yes, Entama-San. You should not put any expectations relating any socialization activities from this man," Added Frostina.
The both of you sure get along well when mocking me, aren't you?
"I don't want to hear that from someone who failed to invite her 'Acquantances' into our club," I sarcastically answered.
!?
"That is..." I muttered as I recognize the face of one of them.
P-Princess!?
"Tachibana-San...?" Frostina muttered the current family name of the princess when she saw her face with a narrowed eyes.
"A test of courage... Huh... Well, not our problem," I continue to walk.
While inside of my head, there is a huge disaster happening as I can't stop worrying.
What the hell are you going together with those stupid-looking guys into that suspicious-looking mansion!?
What if anything happens!?
"Ray..." (Ao)
I know. I felt the presence too.
There is something... Inside that mansion...
But we can't let Frostina know we're going to check on-
*Honk!* *Honk!*
"Eh?" Frostina, Ao, and I exclaimed in surprise because of the sudden sound of a car horn sound.
It's a black and antique Porsche of the '80s.
The car is clean and has no scratched on it.
The car's window got slowly opened, revealing an old guy wearing a butler uniform.
"Young lady, you're supposed to be picked up by me. Why are you walking on foot?" Asked the old butler with a voice that is clear and pleasant to hear.
"B-Benson... I thought I've got permission from my mother to walk alone, though? I believe I've told her this morning," said Frostina without flinching.
But when I saw her calculating eyes that are clearly looking for other reasons, I immediately realize that she must be lying.
"I'm sorry, young lady. But the madam knows nothing about it," (Benson)
"Then maybe I forgot," said Frostina as she entered the car immediately.
Quite a bad girl, aren't you, Frostina?
"I hope you won't ditch your first day at the club, Lance-Kun," (Frostina)
"I won't. Just go home already, bad mannequin witch,"
"I'm not bad. I'm not a mannequin. And I'm not a witch," said Frostina coldly.
"Yeah, Yeah. I don't care, just go away already,"
""Hmph!"" We snorted on each other.
Hm?
I saw Frostina's butler staring at me with a strange look.
"Who is your name, young man?" Asked him.
"Ray. Ray Lance,"
"I see... Ray Lance, huh... I hope you'll keep on getting along with the lady, Mr. Ray," (Benson)
"Y-Yes...? Wait, no,"
"Benson?" (Frostina)
"Then please excuse us," said Frostina's butler as the car start to continue its way.
Lucky...
"Ray," Ao called my name as her face filled with concern. She is quite close with the princess in the academy and often plays and talks together.
"Yeah, let's go. I have a bad feeling with that mansion too,"
Ao nods as she agreed with my words.
The both of us approached the malicious-looking mansion that the princess and her 'friends' entered.
"That presence. It might be a rather dangerous yokai, don't you think...? That malicious aura it's emitting," (Ao)
"Yeah, I felt it too,"
The iron fence of the mansion is proof that the mansion had gotten abandoned for a long time. The way it's rusted and has no single padlock on it already tells us that it had no valuable things inside it.
In other words, no one lived here anymore.
Ao and I opened the fence and saw the mansion's terrace's grass that had grown tall enough that it had reached Ao's height.
Tama will feel insecure about her height if she saw these tall grasses.
Wait.
"Ray, these grasses are enchanted," said Ao as she touches one of the grasses. Purple powders drop from the grass she touched, the purple powders had a nice smell coming from them, it must be some kind of a medium for magic.
"Indeed... Some kind of sorcery I think. One used for attracting people, and make them confused once they've inhaled this. It's rare for yokai to use sorcery like this, but it's not that unusual,"
There are some reasons why Ao and I haven't rushed into the mansion yet. The first reason is that we could still faintly sense the presence of the princess and the others. The second reason is that the one inside the mansion is not a demon, but a yokai. Man-eating yokai couldn't kill or eat humans immediately after they captured them, unlike demons.
There is a difference between yokai and demons.
Yokai are considered as a part of the demonic race, We called all of them as demons back then. But nowadays, we split them into two categories, yokai are demons who didn't have a human form and couldn't kill humans immediately, while demons are those who could kill humans without any restrictions.
Since yokai who didn't have any human form lived in a different dimension from humans which is the reason why they couldn't be seen by humans, there are rules they need to follow in order to be able to eat a human. The one and the utmost rule is for humans to give up on their lives and survival chance, if a human still has the will to continue to live, yokai couldn't kill them, or to be more specific, they can't harm the soul of the human they captured who didn't surrender their soul to them.
When yokai had gathered enough soul and power for them to strengthen themselves and obtain a physical body, they became demons. Man-eating yokai emits a malicious aura like the one inside this mansion, but demons that had gained a physical form emits a different kind of aura. Demons emit a bloody aura that could make a normal human faint if they sensed it at a near distance from a demon.
While the last reason is, a yokai usually just captures their victims and lets them cower in fear. Their target is their victims' dark emotions such as fear, depression, and other kinds of dark emotions. The dark emotions that their victims emit gives yokai and demons power and strength, they could gather the dark emotions and transform them into demonic mana.
As we arrive in front of the mansion's door, I slowly approach the door touched the door's handle, and narrowed my eyebrows in response.
!?
"R-Ray?" (Ao)
The dense amount of demonic mana covered the whole mansion. The yokai who lived inside this mansion must have been inside this mansion for a very long time. The huge amount of demonic mana trapped inside the mansion must have allowed him to make this...
"It's a 'territory', the yokai inside this mansion might be a problematic one. Don't let your guard down, Ao,"
That's the reason why I could only faintly sense the princess's and the others' presence, huh...
"O-Okay," (Ao)
Territory.
Some strong Yokai and demons have the ability to distort and manipulate the space of the place where it had been living for a long time. When the place where he lived had gathered the dense amount of its demonic mana, the space of the room or the house it lived in could become manipulated and magically transform into a place according to the subconscious will of the yokai or demon.
Strong spider yokai might make a room into a huge cave filled with its webs, a strong sea yokai might make the victim felt like he/she got teleported into a deep sea. Yokai and demons that could make a 'territory' made a place that made them feel most comfortable and safest.
Those who possess great power could manipulate and willfully control their territory. They could willfully make active and inactive the ability, and they could make some big changes inside their territory.
The territory is one of the abilities feared by the onmyoji since it greatly gives disadvantage towards them while giving the yokai the absolute advantage.
I slowly open the mansion's door. When the door got opened, it just reveals an ordinary inside of the old mansion. Red carpet, huge stairs, and other statues in front of the huge stair.
"Remember, don't let your guards down,"
"Y-Yes! I know!" (Ao)
"Good then," I casually take a step and enter the mansion.
I entered the 'territory'.
The scene of the huge stairs disappeared.
"Eh? This is... A forest?" (Ao)