17 Friend (10)

But there was a problem…

I had no idea where Kyoko was.

Even if I wanted to find her, there was nothing that I could do since I had seen her disappear into thin air before.

I knew that there was some kind of special dimension that she entered when she took care of her business and it was impossible for me to follow her.

So she was the one that I actually had the least information on.

As I stood there without an idea of what to do, I realized that it didn't matter what I did at this point.

After all, even if I wanted to find her, I wouldn't be able to find her in the end.

So the only thing that I could do now was…go back to school.

Since there was nothing that I could do, the only thing for me now was to do nothing.

With that thought, I turned back in the direction of the school and was going back to class.

But before I could, there was something strange that appeared in front of me.

I wasn't able to tell exactly what this thing was, but it looked very strange.

That was until it came closer.

When it came closer, I was able to see its true form.

It was a strange looking creature that was only half as tall as me, but it definitely wasn't human.

A tanuki, it was a tanuki!

Why did a tanuki suddenly appear out of nowhere and why was it coming at me?

It was clear that this tanuki was looking right at me with an inquisitive look. It was almost as if it was trying to figure out something as it looked at me.

Finally, when it stood in front of me, it said, "You can see me, can't you?"

I couldn't help being caught off guard when it suddenly said this to me.

There was a part of me that was debating whether I should ignore it or not, but it didn't give me the chance in the end.

It suddenly came closer and looked me right in the eyes as it said, "You can see me! I knew it! I knew that I felt a strange feeling from you!"

But then it revealed a confused look as it said, "But why do I feel that strange feeling from you?"

The tanuki came closer to me until it was almost right up in front of my face and it looked right up at me.

As it stood there in front of me, it even reached its nose up and started sniffing me. It was as if it was trying to find something specific.

After sniffing for a while, it suddenly revealed a look of understanding as it said, "That smell of blood! I knew that I didn't make a mistake! You must be a vampire, one of the western yokais!"

The tanuki revealed a wide smile as it said this before suddenly taking my hand and saying, "You should come with me, I'll take you to the rest of my friends."

I knitted my brows when I heard this.

I didn't like how this was developing, but I found that it had a strong grip in my hand and it was hard for me to break free.

This tanuki might seem harmless, but it was still a dangerous yokai in the end and it was much more powerful than a normal human. If it were to start attacking me…it would be hard for me to escape.

So I gave a cough and said, "I have some urgent business to take care of right now, so I can't come with you."

The tanuki was surprised when it heard this before looking up at me with tearful eyes and saying, "But you have to come with me, we're being attacked by those exorcists today!"

I was once again caught off guard by this, but I could guess who the exorcist the tanuki mentioned was.

The moment that I realized this, I also realized that this was most likely my one and only lead to Kyoko…

So there was a struggle inside of me as I decided on whether I should follow the tanuki or not.

The tanuki just held my hand without saying a thing as it looked up at me with tearful eyes.

It didn't seem like it would suddenly attack me since it thought that I was a vampire, but this was still a dangerous yokai after all. Not to mention that this tanuki was offering to bring me to a place that would most likely be filled with other yokais.

It had said that 'we're' being attacked today, which meant that there were other yokais that it was with.

After a long silence, I finally said, "Who else is with you?"

The tanuki's eyes lit up when it heard this and it said, "We're with the Master Oni, the one that fought Momotaro! I really can't respect Master Oni more than I already do, he really is what all of us yokai aspire to be!"

The tanuki didn't care about what I thought as it continued to talk about this 'Master Oni'.

It was clear by the way that the tanuki talked about this 'Master Oni' that it looked up to him, but this was a very bad sign for me.

This was a famous yokai, so there was no doubt that it would be powerful…

If I went there, it would be very likely that I would be discovered…

So I started leaning towards saying no to the tanuki.

But that tanuki didn't give me a choice in the end.

As it kept talking about its 'Master Oni', it became more and more excited until it couldn't control itself anymore.

It pulled me forward by my hand as it said, "You have to meet Master Oni! I'm sure that you'll see how great he is once you meet him!"

I wanted to say something, but I couldn't resist at all…

The space in front of us distorted and soon we appeared in a completely different world.

This world was just like the normal world, but it was quiet…too quiet.

It was as if every sound had suddenly disappeared.

This was most likely the supernatural plane where yokais lived.

This was not a place for a human like me.