Hyakki Yagyou

Chapter Twenty: Transgressions, Partner

“We're not punished for our sins, lad. We're punished by them.” 

- Jennifer Donnelly

January 15th, 6:55 pm

When the eyes turned completely black, a quiet yet strangely resonating scream rushed through the room. For the group, it was piercing and for the creature, it was the epitome of sheer irritancy. It was Yui. She backed away, crawling back towards the nearest wall behind Kayoko and Sanada, using her shaking hands. She had barely any strength in those slim and long arms of hers and as they were now shaking like tree branches during a heavy storm, a couple of times she failed and landed on the floor with her back, managing to get up again moving all the way until the same back had reached the coldness of the wood-and-concrete wall.

The rest of the group backed away as well and their reactions were a palette of sentiments. Ryu’s eyes had widened, pupils dilating in unnatural amounts and his arms instinctively went for Emi. He wrapped them around the petite girl and pulled back, caring very little about the pressure he was giving her lower ribs and stomach. He needed to get her away from that foul creature.

Emi’s heart, as usual in stressful and fearsome situations, started to increase its rhythm, increasing to an unhealthy and quite painful rate as she pushed herself back with her legs, prompted by Ryu’s reaction to pull her away and boy, did she just want to do that. She wanted to run away, if possible, from this thing. This thing she thought might have been their friend.

Abe moved in a slow and calculate manner, which was typical for her nature. She kept a cool, calm and collected face expression though by the way her pupils dilated and her heart missed a few beats, one could tell she too was scared. This was a turn of events she would not have expected even if a small voice somewhere in the back of her head was telling her this was a possibility. She would have dismissed it quickly. There’s no way this handsome but completely average young man could be inhumane… But that was when she remembered the funeral and the impression she had got from staring at his face.

At that time, she thought there was something odd about him but dismissed it as her imagination…If only she hadn’t done that…Perhaps this situation would have been completely different. But, there was no point in crying over spilt milk now. She needed to think, and think fast. But, somehow, her mind was blank.

Keita was the only one who stayed calm. Truth be told, he always suspected there was something about Aoyama that went beyond the human comprehension. He never bought that shit about being an average drug dealer who liked to play with his customers and make their life hell when they did not pay in time. Oh, no. This was just a charade and Keita was always dying to know what was hiding behind Aoyama’s mask. But this? No. He never thought it would be this.

Keita backed away ever so slightly, keeping his hands in fists as if he was ready to strike but, naturally, he was not. It was just a spontaneous reaction and he stared at Aoyama whose eyes were now back to normal. The only disturbing part of his face was now the grin that spread across his cheeks, revealing his strangely looking sharp and pearl white teeth.

Sanada was trying to keep his mother away from the creature. He held her hand, squeezing it firmly, trying to figure out what on earth they could do. How did this happen? With all the talismans scattered across the walls, all of them specifically designed to keep Chaos out, how did he get in?

That was when it hit him.

But, before he could react, Kayoko was already on it. Her face was angered and she let go of her son’s hand, pushing her own into the small pocket of her kimono.