snowflake ☆ k.dy ☆ ayakashi series | ✔

prologue [five]

Bell Street had always been familiar to you, but this was getting ridiculous. You were there once again, only a couple days after your last visit, having been requested there by an unknown number claiming to be Jeno, saying he got your number off Jaemin's phone while he was in the shower. Jeno had neglected to tell you exactly why he wanted you to go to Lenticular Café that day, but you were there.

It was later at night, and the closed sign was flipped around at the door. The café didn't get many patrons anyway, but it must be rather serious for them to intentionally clear the whole store out. You'd barely opened the still unlocked door when three familiar figures were crowding you, immediately herding you back outside. Renjun was locking the door behind you four as Johnny slung his arm around your shoulders to start half-pulling you down the sidewalks. It was in the opposite direction of your parents' shop, an end of the street you weren't terribly familiar with.

"Well hello to you too," you scoffed at the treatment, trying to look over your shoulder to see if Renjun was caught up with you yet.

Johnny tightened his grip on you a little bit, forcing your eyes forward again, "Don't look."

"What the hell's going on?" You hissed.

Jeno was on your other side, walking practically shoulder-to-shoulder with you in the nearly empty sidewalks. A pair of footsteps was behind you, and you figured that was Renjun.

"You remember those Wraiths I fucked up?" Jeno whispered.

"Yeah?"

"They're back, and they remember us."

"Then why the fuck would you drag me out of the safety of my apartment to where you three knuckleheads and the Wraiths are?"

When nobody had answered your question, you glared at Johnny, "I swear to God if you brought me out here to try to get my powers to awaken again I will—"

"This wasn't the plan!" He cut off your threat. "I wanted to talk to you guys about something else, but then this happened. I did not purposefully endanger you this time."

"Alright," you accepted his words. "So what are we doing, exactly?"

Johnny suddenly stopped in front of a store, pointing at a mannequin with an oddly cheerful tone, "That would look so pretty on you!"

You looked at him with incredulous, wide eyes. What the hell was he doing?

Then the four of you were on the move again, and Renjun murmured behind you, "Trying to blend in."

"Can't they sense that you're Ayakashi? What's the point of hiding?"

"They've just reformed, they're a little weaker right now, meaning they can't sense as well," Johnny explained, taking a seemingly random turn down the streets. "We can probably slip away from them safely if we're careful."

"Got it."

And so the four of you hurried down the sidewalks, winding your way further and further away from the shop and into more heavily populated areas. You were starting to get dizzy trying to remember every twist and turn you took. Eventually, you gave up. You'd have to pull out Google Maps to get back home at this point.

Speaking of, it was getting late. You'd fed Tama before you'd come out to Bell Street, but you still had homework to do tonight as well.

"Hey, uhm, when can I go home? I've got some homework due tomorrow..."

"Renjun, how are we looking?" Johnny asked the boy behind you.

He did a short visual survey of the area around you, "I think we're good."