Can you see it?

The next morning, I woke up early. I intended on doing some chores around the house as a way of saying thanks to the old man, but the lady had already taken care of it. I searched around the house, but I couldn't find the old man. I gave up and decided to go out for a stroll. That was when I saw him. He was in his usual haori and yukata, just sitting on the veranda. He was staring at the beautiful scenery before him. The trees, birds, ponds, everything. I didn't notice it yesterday, but this place is really beautiful.

He looked at me, and tapped the spot next to him.

"Sit down here boy, let's talk."

I complied with his instructions.

"So, can ya see it?"

I looked at the scenery and gave my honest answer.

"Yes, it's beautiful."

"Aw, shucks. I guess ya can't see it."

What's he talking about?

"Do ya believe in the supernatural?"

I wasn't one to put my faith in unseen gods, but after dying once, my way of thinking changed.

"Yes."

"Do ya believe in demons?"

"I don't know."

"I'll tell ya now. They exist."

Huh?

"As a matter of fact, the hot lady is a demon. Her name's Ehlaos. "

"Really." I said, albeit rather apatheticlly.

"Ehlaos."

I felt a chop on my neck, then I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in a large sealed room. There were paper talismans everywhere. The room was dark, and the only source of light were the candles placed at the four corners of the room. The door slid open, and the old man walked in, along with the lady.

"This blows, when I heard ya had white hair and silver eyes, I was sure you'd be able to see them."

"Huh?" I asked.

His expression changed. It was the first time I'd seen him look so serious.

"I asked if you could see it, and you said no, right? Well, it doesn't really matter. In a few days you should be able to see it."

I tried to take a swing at him, but when I got too close, he touched my forehead with his finger. Instantly, I froze. I didn't go numb, I could feel my body. The problem was that it just wouldn't respond. I couldn't do much as move my tongue. When he'd paralyzed me, he exited the room. All I could do was glare at the old man. I didn't know what was going on. What was happening? Was he going to use me for some occult ritual? Was I going to die? I had many questions, but over the next few days, I lost the energy to even think.

I was left inside the large room without food or water.

Day 1 - I was hungry, angry and irritated, I screamed, and kicked the walls, but nothing happened. I was also very thirsty.

Day 2 - my stomach began to churn, producing rumbling sounds in the process. My throat was dry and I lost the energy to even complain.

Day 3 - I was lying on the ground all through, I didn't even have the energy to stand up, much less complain. I thought I was going to die.

Day 4 - I was still lying on the floor. At this point, I'd begun to chew the tatami mat. I suffered repeated loss of consciousness like an endless loop.

Day 5 - My stomach stopped hurting, I could tell I'd lost weight, but I didn't feel like it. My head felt light, and I could think clearly. My breathing and heart beat became calm. My pulse was growing faint.

Day 6 - I was still on the ground, but I had lost all sense of feeling. My eyes were always closed, and I was in a state of constant meditation. I wasn't sitting crossed legged while chanting, I didn't suddenly become religious on the brink of death, no. I was still lying on my back. It was a technique I deviced. I'd consciously shut down most of my body functions in a attempt to conserve energy and water, but either way, it wasn't long before my body would give out.

Day 7 - I saw it. At first, they were just tiny black particles that looked like soot, they were constant oozing from my body, but then I began to see larger ones, I could see the creatures floating around inside the room. There were small black creatures floating around in space. They had different shapes and sizes. One of them was a small black sphere with a single large eyeball. I named it "eye". I didn't speak to it, but I think it could read my mind, or at least understand what I was thinking. He was my only friend in my dark lonely world.

I'd been seven days, but the old man showed no sign of opening the door. I was probably going to die, but I didn't give up. If I was going to die, then I might well carry on till the end. Just when I'd resigned my fate to the heavens, the lady showed up. When I first saw her, I would have sworn she was just a beautiful lady, but now I wasn't so sure. In addition to the thick soot-like substance coming off her body, she had a viscous black liquid dripping from her body. It was creepy. It was terrifying.

"Stay away from me." I said.

"My my, you can see it?"

So that's what they meant.

"Yes, I can."

She rushed out of the room, and called the old man. After a few minutes, she brought a large amount of food and drink. She brought me rice porridge, pork and vegetable miso soup, grilled mackerel, omelettes, blanched broccoli with sesame oil, pickled daikon and carrot with sweet vinegar, seasoned seaweed, natto, and oolong tea.

While I was stuffing my mouth with food, the old man showed up. I wanted to punch him in the face, but I didn't have the energy for that. Also, when I saw just how much of that black smoke he was emitting, I changed my mind.

"So, can ya see it?" he asked jokingly.

"Huh?! Is that all you have to say for yourself, do you know what you did to me? Just in case you've forgotten, you deprived me of food and water for seven days. Do you know what that's called? Attempted murder!"

"My bad, my bad, sorry."

"Tch. I don't need your apology, you scummy old hermit."

"That's harsh."

He tried to take one of my omelettes, but I struck him in his hand with my chopsticks.

"I swear to god, you'll pay for this."

"Hmph, fair enough."

After that, he stood up and left the room. I couldn't care less, so I continued stuffing my face with seven days worth of food. When I'd finally finished eating, I took a nice long nap. By the time I woke up, it was evening. The door of the room was opened, so I walked out and decided to explore the house. After a wandering around the compound, I came across a building that looked like a dojo, when I opened it, I saw the old geezer training. He'd taken off his haori, and his yukata was only covering his waist below. His chest and hands were full of scars. He was training in a dojo, but his weapon or weapons weren't what one would usually expect to see. They were two naginatas with a pitch black blade that reflected no light. The way they absorbed light made them look like black holes. He lifted both arms up in front of him, while holding the halberds, then he swung. His arms were outstretched like he was hugging someone, but when he swung, they sliced through air with a faint whistling sound. If any opponent took a slash like that, they'd be disemboweled instantly, but he didn't stop there, with his arms crossed, he turned his wrists, lept foreward, and opened his arms. Another faint whistle could be heard as he sliced through air.

I hate to say it, but it was pretty cool.

"Hm, heya, Ya snot nosed brat."

"ya damn geezer."

"ya wanna learn spearmanship?"

" no thanks. "

I'll admit, the idea of swinging those blades did seem pretty cool, but I couldn't have the old man getting full of himself.

"Fair enough."

"..."

I only stared at him blankly while he continued doing practice swings.

Although he was old, he was surprisingly agile, and strong too.

"Say, old man, how old are you?"

"Ya really are a snot nosed brat through and through, ain't ya?"

"Answer the damn question."

"Well, if you must know; I'm one hundred and eighty two years old."

"Huh?!!"

"Is it really that surprising?"

"Question, if you're that old, why aren't you dead?"

I thought he would snark at my comment, but he gave me a chop to the head. When I look at his face, his expression had changed. He was looking something at a distance. Minutes later, a man and a woman carried a child up the stairs into the compound. The child was shaking violently, while foaming at the mouth. The old man went to a separate hall, where the child was taken, and I followed suite. The child was laid on the floor and the man who carried him was consoling his wife who was crying. When I looked at the boy, I saw what looked like a lizard with hair along it's back, and big buldging eyes. It was gripping the boys neck tightly. The sight of the creature terrified me.

"Old man?"

"Mmm, you can see it?"

"Yeah."

"He's been like this for days now. We took him to the hospital, but the doctors said there was nothing wrong with him."

"Please, we don't know what to do. Help us, Toshio-sama."

He brought out a wooden knife, and pointed it at the creature. Then the black spot coming off the old man, began to flow towards the knife. It converged at the tip, and then he sliced. He moved his hand from the left to the right, and immediately, the creature's head sliced open, then it's body burst and turned into black soot too.

"He should be fine now." the old man said.

"Really?"

"Are you sure?"

While the people were still asking questions, the boy began to cough, after several seconds of coughing heavily, he returned back to normal.

"see." the old man said.

"Thank you very much sir."

"Thank you so much."

"Don't sweat it."

"Old man?"

"Oh, this is Mr and Mrs Abe. They run a restaurant downtown."

"Nice to meet you." I said, bowing lightly.

"Oh, is he you're apprentice?" the woman asked.

"Nope, this little brat is my great-grandson."

"oh my. You never told us you had a great-grandson."

"He-he-he. Well, ya never asked."

"What's your name, son?" the man asked.

"Junichiro Amamiya." I said.

"Well then. Junichiro, I happen to have a daughter around your age. You should come see her sometime, I'm sure you'll like her."

"Ok." I said. I planned on just ignoring them until they left, besides, the idea of playing with a 12-year old girl gives the creeps. I'm not a pervert, unlike somebody in the room.

After some small talk, the couple left with their son. I wasn't interested in their daughter, but what the man said got me thinking. Summer break was coming to an end in two weeks, knowing the old man, I was probably going to attend school here