Who are you?

Part 37

Shiori woke up on another tree. The past few nights have all followed a pattern. She would fall asleep and wake up in the middle of the night outside with the seal active on her body. She would then do her best to go back to her room unnoticed.

She wanted it to stop. But she didn't know what to do. She tried to nullify the sleeping drug and stay awake the whole night, but despite being sure that there was no trace of it in her body, she would still fall asleep.

She increased the number of security seals in her room, but she still couldn't stop it. She tried drawing some seals on her body so whoever it was wouldn't be able to find empty space for putting the seal one night. When she woke up outside without the seal, luckily with the seal on a paper in her hand, she quickly deactivated the seals on her body and put them there herself.

At this point, she had come to accept this. Whoever was moving her had an objective, and she suspected it had something to do with the creature. Each night, she would wake up in a different place, so the objective couldn't be related to an area, but every night without fail, a few minutes after she would wake up, the creature would pass by her.

Did he have a route he followed? She couldn't tell since the path mainly seemed random to her. He would usually just go around in circles but not on the same exact path. She knew that if she wanted these outings to stop. But she knew that she had to do something. But she wasn't sure what she needed to do.

She was too scared to just walk up to the creature. She knew that she absolutely stood no chance of defeating the creature if it chose to attack her. But despite the creature's aura, she hadn't seen it attack anything.

Sometimes, it would chase away the shadows if they came too close to the edges of the temple. But the shadows were always quick to speed away from his path if they felt him close by.

It was a strange experience, but Shiori had come to observe the creature fondly. The creature always had this faraway look, as if it were acting on instincts. It never reacted to Shiori's presence.

Shiori was sure that the creature had sensing capabilities since it could detect the shadows getting close to the edge of the temple from the other side of the temple. Yet it showed no indication or interest in Shiori or the animals in the forest. It also never entered the temple or got too close to it. The first few nights, Shiori would just observe the creature from wherever she woke up. It was hidden and not daring to move.

She would then follow it with her senses. But she was slowly becoming more daring. She started small, staying hidden but following the creature from afar—far enough to not be in sight but enough to follow the creature accurately without strain. The creature showed no reaction, so she became more daring.

She slowly closes the distance between them enough to have the creature in sight while also using the natural terrain to her advantage. She tried to stick to the branches and used the high vantage point to her benefit since the creature always had its head downcast and never looked up.

Shiori did her best to recall all the things she studied in psychology. Her knowledge was by no means vast on the subject, but she knew the basics. It was not enough to notice details like a specialist would, but it was enough to get a read—similar to the situation with the hunter a few months ago.

It was hard to get a reading on the creature when it wasn't doing anything besides walking. There were no interactions or dialogue that she could use to her advantage, but there were still a few things she learned.

He was capable of emotions, the most prominent one being anger. In the moments just before he would dash to the shadows wandering around the edge, his chakra would spike with anger, and his face would twist in anger. He would then move faster than her eyes could follow.