Chapter 47

The sound of birds chirping woke Yushiro up from his deep slumber on the grass. Feeling groggy, Yushiro rubbed his eyes and looked at the bright sky that stung his eyes for a split second and then slowly opened them more to reveal where he was. The place where he passed out from that attack. The very same one that destroyed a part of the forest and buried those two people along with it.

"That beam!" Yushiro cried, spinning around in circles trying to look for Shinobu and the other person that was with her. "It was lethal I could have sworn strange things started happening when that guy unleashed it. Where could they be?" Getting up, Yushiro froze when another indecipherable image appeared in his vision causing him to stumble back as he slowly blacked out again from the intensity of this particular sighting.

As Yushiro was about to succumb to his exhaustion, a large figure crawled up to him and screamed loudly. It was a goat from the neighborhood. Yushiro jumped and moved backwards from the animal standing in front of him. "Ugh go away!"

Suddenly Yushiro fell backwards through the bush and landed on something beneath him.

"Huh what's this?" Yushiro's heart dropped upon realizing the strange texture and shape of what was lying on the grass. 

The boy covered his mouth with his hand when he saw the dead body of a wounded man in front of him. It was a horrific sight especially in the middle of this secluded part of the neighborhood as Yushiro contained a portion of his incoming scream, letting out a cry that sent flocks of birds flying in the opposite direction.

Based on the bruises and cuts on the man's body he was attacked by one of those monsters, perhaps the same one that had been lurking around the neighborhood. The thought of possibly falling victim to some violent animal and ending up like this made Yushiro feel numb. "First I started seeing things after that beam and now this. What is going on?" 

Yushiro got up and ran back to his house afraid to look back. The last thing he wanted was for the dead body to follow him. Deep down, Yushiro was hoping to get to his room safely and hide from the abnormalities wandering the forest. To make matters worse, he was all alone and had spent hours lying on the grass unaware of his surroundings.

Once he got to his grandma's house, Yushiro quickly ran in and shut the door behind him. Panting, he pushed himself to dash up the stairs and head to his room at the corner. To his surprise those same colorful swirls that morphed into strange shapes appeared on the walls of the hallway sending another wave of fear his way as Yushiro stood there in disbelief. 

"I'm going to the bathroom." Yushiro nervously said to himself, this was a sign that he hadn't been cured and there was no guarantee he will be after splashing some water on his face to wake him up fully.

The tab started running as Yushiro repeatedly washed his face in a desperate attempt to regain his normal vision back. The boy stared at the mirror for a while to see if it would break into various shapes or remain the same. So far the mirror was still there with no changes.

Yushiro quietly got out of the bathroom and went to his room. He immediately sat on the floor staring down to recollect himself from everything that happened. The room was still spinning and he was still tired from all the running and processing he had to do. It's only been half a day and it's already bedtime. The effects are really that bad aren't they?

Against the wall was his backpack. There was something he needed from it as Yushiro crawled towards it, still feeling the pain in his head that was practically slowing him down. 

Taking out his pencil case, Yushiro placed it on the table and grabbed a sheet of paper from the drawer. Markers were laid out beside the rest of the items. Yushiro sat down on his chair taking note of every detail the moment Douma unleashed that iridescent ray. 

 "The ray covered a large distance and there were various colors circulating within it," Yushiro drew lines of blue, red and yellow above the trees in his drawing with annotations beside them. "For some reason, Shinobu seemed unaffected by it she just stood there looking directly at it." The marker in his hand fell on the paper as Yushiro's eyes widened in shock upon the realization that something unusual was going on with Shinobu.

But how could she have not passed out from it like I did? Does this mean that guy she's with did a spell on her because if so what are his intentions Shinobu could be in danger he's not even human! Analyzing his drawing, Yushiro's hands began shaking as he thought about Shinobu trusting someone who just obliterated a section of the forest. What was she putting herself in was completely out of the question, why she was hanging out with him in the first place was the bigger concern here. She did mention something about Atashi and a secret organization he went to that they were both tracking down it seems nobody else was aware of this and it sounded serious. His friends were involved in a dire situation that even investigation teams weren't aware of yet.

Yushiro got another piece of paper and started drawing the large silverfish that was attacking the neighborhood earlier, he wanted to connect the dots there's a chance all of this was linked to each other in some way. 

"Shinobu and that guy, what was his name- oh yeah Douma that's right they were both finding that organization's headquarters which is located around here. At least that's what the Isamu couple told them but if it's really a secret why would it be sitting right beside town?" Scratching his chin with the marker that he used to color the drawing of the monstrous silverfish, Yushiro looked up at the ceiling wondering about this plan of theirs. "I think they went to the wrong place the Isamu couple and everyone else could only think of that building when they mentioned headquarters. Oh well."

At the top right corner of the paper was the storm he drew. Squinting his eyes at the drawing, Yushiro sat back figuring out where it came from. This was raising a lot of unanswered questions and the other drawings might be the key to solving them.

"Hmm let's see so we have a winter storm now that just came out of nowhere and experts can't seem to come to a conclusion about its sudden appearance. Coincidentally we have these monsters coming to Japan on a rampage. We never heard about them before until recently when the news published a few articles about their sightings in other countries." Yushiro's eyes were locked on the drawings of the red-eyed silverfish and the winter storm that looked like a spiral among the clouds.

"Could it be that these creatures came to Japan because of the storm? This seems to be the only explanation that makes sense there's no way these things were untraceable from the start they never set foot here at all." Writing down a few points at the side, Yushiro placed the other drawing beside the one with the storm and stared at it for a while. "Now we have a human with wings who can shoot rays that are more devastating than any equipment and machinery on Earth. That's something we should be worried about."

"If we take a closer look at the list of locations in Japan that are flooding with these bugs on the news, it seems only areas surrounding Tokyo have cases, Osaka's was just one of those aliens passing by in the water it was elaborated the day after. The humanoid fish disappeared after that and was never seen again. Other places like Hokkaido and Kyoto are fine it's just our area. There's definitely more to this."

Yushiro placed the two drawings together and packed his bag. "I have to go back to Tokyo, after the mission Shinobu will be heading back there I'm sure of it I can't leave her alone." Slotting the two drawings into a file, the boy pushed it neatly into its compartment and gathered the other items on his table. "Hopefully my findings will get us somewhere Shinobu probably knows a lot about these events too."

Outside a gust of wind slammed the window stunning Yushiro as he stared at the unfolding storm in shock. 

"Oh dear another big storm is coming I better make sure all the windows are shut!" Downstairs, Yushiro's grandma rushed to the kitchen in a hurry.

This storm was going to be just as bad as the one a few days ago. Yushiro watched the trees swaying vigorously and the snow accumulating on the ground. He could feel the chills in his room even though the window was tightly shut. 

All was quiet until a ringing sound erupted from his ears as the same darkness from the time he saw the ray fell again. The same colors and shapes started appearing in Yushiro's room, engulfing him in the dark murky clouds that covered the floor. Yushiro felt like he was being swallowed by this fog in his room.

Soon even the view outside his window started changing into a vivid color. The effects were still there which made Yushiro feel helpless there was nothing he could do to stop them. He'd just have to wait or get treatment.

Yushiro watched as one of his worst fears became a reality. A bloody hand rose from the bottom of the window and left a stain on the glass. It looked eerily familiar Yushiro had a feeling he saw that same hand somewhere.

That's when the realization hit him.

"W-what, that hand... this can't be happening that dead body climbed all the way here?! IT CAN'T BE!" Yushiro curled himself into a ball on the floor as he faced the bed and started shaking vigorously. The room was filled with his cries and screams Yushiro just wanted this to be over so he could move on. But they just keep coming when least expected.

Eventually the room returned to normal there were no more hallucinations and the window was shiny as brand new with nothing stained on it.

Yushiro got up and scanned his room for anything strange. Nothing out of the blue so far which lifted the burden off his shoulders. 

Checking his room one last time, Yushiro zipped his backpack and placed it against the wall on his table. "I'm sorry Grandma there's something I need to do I'll be back soon I promise." Yushiro sat down on his bed and watched the winter storm running its course. Thinking about how he was going to explain this to his grandma and parents in the most convincing way. "Now I'll just have to wait for the storm to end and then I'll make my leave."