Saving Touma

Chapter 2.A - Tengu

Six years earlier, at the Kujo Residence—Rustling noises from one of the quarters shattered the midnight silence, rumbling through the dark corridors of the mansion. 

Several men seemed to have been gearing up for a mission. That was the only plausible explanation for it. No one would risk waking up the kugyōs unless absolutely necessary.

Ryo, along with some other imperial guards staying in the nearby rooms, were awakened. He got up and peeked through the slightly open shoji to check what was going on and saw the men almost done suiting up. 

They weren't wearing their usual uniforms. Instead, they were dressed casually to don a peasant's look, perhaps to avoid standing out.

"Niisan, what are you doing here? Did I wake you?" the first man, a captain and apparently the leader, said in a startled tone as he opened the door and found Ryo standing in the hallway.

"Mission?" Ryo asked.

"Yes," the captain replied.

"Where to?" Ryo asked.

"Don't ask. We're leaving," the captain continued.

Ryo watched as his younger brother walked past him and disappeared into the darkness. Then, he heard a small voice calling him from the other end of the hallway.

"Ryo sensei!"

Whoever it was seemed to be drawing closer. Their voice sounded familiar. Ryo had heard it many times. But it wasn't anyone he knew from the Imperial Palace. Not yet.

"Ryo sensei! Wake up! We need to go back to the path!"

Finally, he stirred awake. Then, he felt a searing pain on the back of his head. It looked like he'd been knocked unconscious. 

Beside him was Shingen, frantically trying to pull him up and drag him away. Not far from them were human remains, partially buried, three of them, all bone-dry. 

They seemed to have been dead for some time. In the hand of one of the skeletons was a seal similar to his. He recognized it immediately.

That was when the memories of what had happened a couple of hours earlier started coming back to him. He remembered when Yukimura started calling out to Noboru, who seemed to have vanished without a trace. 

Everyone else was confused. How could Noboru disappear so quickly? Ryo initially thought Noboru was joking around and wanted to scare them, but Yukimura's hysterical reaction proved it wasn't the case.

"Yukimura, what happened?" Ryo asked.

"Noboru disappeared," Yukimura responded.

"Disappeared? What do you mean?" Ryo sought clarity.

"We were talking, and suddenly he stopped answering, so I checked on him, but he was gone," Yukimura explained, shaky.

"Did you hear anything?" Ryo asked, confused. He gave Yukimura a skeptical look, thinking that he must be in on the joke.

"No, I didn't, sensei," Yukimura replied, now more frantic than before, as anyone would be when they finally realized the gravity of the situation.

Moments had passed, and Noboru wasn't coming out. Yukimura's expression also didn't change. Ryo was finally convinced something bad had happened.

"Noboru, come out!" Ryo yelled, startling everyone.

Theywaited quietly for a response, but they got nothing. It was eerily quiet.