Unseen

Spirits Of The Sea Of Trees (Part 1)

Heck. Two days had passed since I knocked my head on the pavement, I haven't visited the forest since. That old lady is giving me weird death stares, I'm going to take a wild guess and suppose that means that she's worried about me. My birthday is tomorrow and so is the festival, though I am very doubtful that I'll be able to go. Yuki-san just recently told me that the fireworks might be canceled. The forecast hasn't been looking to good these days.

I slide down the hallway and scavenge the fridge for milk, I find leftovers from last night and throw them into a frying pan. I roughly reheat the fried rice and pour it all out into a bowl. Damn, them aroma is amazing!

I whack down breakfast, and pour myself some good ol' milk. Just on time, the clock strikes 9:00 and I am out the door before anyone catches me. Looking around anxiously for a glaring grandma, I make my way out to the bushes. 

Lead by instincts, I make my way to the giant Mongolian oak tree that marks the way to the river. The usual place that I would go to clear my head. I hopped along the rocks while accidentally splashing some unwanted water on my feet, making me almost slip and fall butt first into the stream of water.

Making my way to the other side of the river, I sat down on the soft, green grass that made my hands itch a little. The grass felt so cold despite the summer heat, I lie down thinking that I was still in my bedroom. Something feels off though, something is missing. A memory maybe?

I try recalling what happened the previous day and the one before that but nothing comes to mind. Why am I even here anyways? 

A gust of wind rushes by my face, it's cooling but I swear I could've saw someone run past me. A picture of a girl running along side me, smiling, strikes past my mind as I barely caught a glimpse. I squint my eyes as I recall what just happened. 

Nothing. 

I look towards the direction of where the wind was blowing and I follow it back to the sea of trees. The oak tree, that's where it's headed? A swirl of leaves surrounded the tree as I near my destination. Aimlessly, I circle around the tree until suddenly someone appears behind the tree, a familiar face.

"Yuki.....-chan?" She looks up at me, wearing a confused face, as she remained squatting down, petting a random rabbit that was there the whole time. A suspenseful silence was raised with just no reply from her, scary yet calming.

She suddenly sent the bunny of with a pat on its head, it ran of into the trees without a trace left. She stood up and stared at me, straight in the eye.

"花火、今晩。(Fireworks, tonight)" She said as she backed away slightly with a grin, "さらに、お誕生日おめでとう。(Also, happy birthday.)" Yujiro then vanished from my sight, walking through the thick forest leaves.

She remembers, my birthday. Huh, what a strange afternoon though, I thought the fireworks were cancelled? It's most likely to rain tonight, the forecast said so.

I tried to find the rabbit thinking that it'll lead me to Yujiro, following the path that first comes to mind, until I hear a strange, faint growl. I look in the direction that I think it come from, but I merely stare at it, not daring to go close enough to draw trouble too close.

I look away as I lost my train of thought, nothing came to mind so I carried myself back to the house. I shouldn't have gone too far, the tree seems close enough for me to find. Yet another growl comes by and I'm starting to freak out a bit. 

Again and again, repeatedly they gradually start to get louder. 

"誰もが樹海をここまで冒険しよう？(Who dares venture this far through the sea of trees?)" A deep voice startles me. I immediately turn around and try to find who was there, but I couldn't find anyone. I tried to run through the forest, but trees fell down everyone step of the way, blocking my path. Peculiar for a forest.

"誰がいるか？(Who's there?)" I manage to muster the remaining confidence I had just to speak that one line without stuttering. Damn, that was tiring.

"That voice. Surely you're not the boy that the faded spirit was talking about right?" 

"Seishin! That is no way to treat a guest! Almost no one would stray so far away from the path to wind up here."

"Uroko-san, with all due respect, he can't even hear us. Why bother with a child of the modern age? Go back to being a tree!"

"Both of you shut up. Maybe a little song will help you focus on your thoughts."

"YOU SHUT UP, YOUTA!"

"Why not all of you shut up and let me do the talking? If we try our luck, he might be able to hear us."

"Momoka is right, why don't we try?"

"I mean, if he could hear us then we have been trying for the last 45 seconds."

"I can hear you." With those three words I unleashed silence upon the atmosphere without my own consent, the words just slipped out of my mouth.

I had no idea why but for a few moments I felt that I was being stared at, but I could see anyone in sight. 

*******

I officially added subtitles for the peeps who can't read Japanese so........yeah. Took advice from gxnsiuck from the comments. Please be sure to check her/him out!

Also, almost forgot to mention, I edited some of the previous chapters while adding the subtitles so please check them out again. 
*'accidentally' drops hints*

Have a nice day/evening! If you're reading this at night... 

GO TO SLEEP!!!