"But wh-"
His question was cut short with a frigid glare that shook him to his bones. The world stretched around him, presenting two paths before him. One, a road filled with familiar faces and possible safety….while the other, it was uncertain and littered with enemies abound. He could go back inside, let his Oba-chan fix things and see what she had to say….it would be the right thing to do. She had been a carrying figure that his childhood desperately needed….but if she was here and not having a heart attack at the very magical portal in his backyard then it could only mean she'd been hiding things from him this entire time.
And that wasn't even throwing in the confusing mix of emotions he felt for his estranged childhood friend turned debtor.
But, would that really be the best decision? It was very obvious that none of these two weren't able or willing to open his eyes to this aspect of the world for one reason or another...not like the monolith of a human before him. So even though the old coot had been quite the bastard, he was way more inclined to trust that man simply due to how upfront he was. None of this cloak and dagger stuff.
"Just...please go back inside." Back then, before his life went to hell, Aoki Himari had always been beautiful. Reserved and quiet, it had been a massive mystery as to why she even had anything to do with him even after the rampant rumors completely isolated him from a normal life. Hell, he'd actively avoided her in school just to help tamper down on the extremely lascivious gossip. How he was blackmailing her into being his intimate companion, like they were in a doujin. The amount of random well-meaning people asking if she was fine when right next to him, was staggering. Some even called the police on them once and they both had to explain that, no he was not drugging, blackmailing, kidnapping or hypnotizing her. It was somewhat humorous the first time but after the fifth time in one week? Things got old pretty fast. But that had been years ago, their relationship had deteriorated due to the massive debt he had inherited from his absent mother...and his own alcoholic tendencies. This was probably the first time in a long while that she had actually begun to sound like the girl that was his childhood best-friend. "It is not safe out here and we will explain everything, you just have to give us a chance."
"Why can't you tell me now?" Maybe he should've felt too guilty to poke his head out of his shell but, the streams of fog oozing off of them in a complex pattern had really tipped things over the edge. He could see it, azure energy flowing through structures within their bodies. Pulsating in a rhythmic fashion. Spooling down their sides and breaking off into thin strands that laid attached to strange paper charms, covered in tightly woven kanji, at the waist….or in the Himari's case, held tightly between her index and middle finger. Her guard up and trying to use their position to hide it from the stranger in their midst.
"This isn't for the ears of outsiders." Kiyoko flicked her piercing black eyes over to the still lounging senior citizen that honestly, looked a bit older than she did. Like in the comparison of just old to ancient.
"Oh?" He took a single step forward and both of them turned fully to him, a warning look mirroring between them. Energy swirled around those charms and something 'barked', but not audibly. Like something struck out against their streams of energy in a way that emulated what a hound's call would look like. Rippling through the air. "Then am I included? Because it's pretty damn obvious that you guys know exactly what's going on and you didn't think I needed to be brought into the big secret? How did you guys even find out so quickly about this?...Unless you've been watching me all this time?!"
The old woman didn't flinch, her eyes cold and resolute not even letting out a smidgen of guilt. And if she was there alone, maybe he would've thought himself too irrational...but his childhood best friend was simply too easy to read. Nose wriggling side to side, gaze sliding off of him with a upturned chin. Small things, something that even she probably didn't know she still did but they were like massive ringing bells to his ears.
"Please!" The woman he once considered his Oba-chan, the kind old lady that once sneaked him little treats and tried her best to keep him on the straight and narrow path, pleaded one final time. It seemed he was easy to read as well. "Please, do not do this. You do not know what will follow if you do. I swear on everything I have and am, that I will give you the explanation you deserve and require. Just, please I'm begging you, go back inside!"
But it was too late and she probably knew that as well. Tatsuo couldn't just let a chance like this slip through his fingers, a chance to finally take some control over his life. He'd always allowed other people to control him. Teachers sitting him down when the rumors were first getting started and telling him to just ignore them, 'friends' who ignored his own opinions and still brought alcohol to karaoke parties and even absentee parents who only ever acknowledged him long to enough to slap what being a 'man' was all about before falling back into their own vices. The list went on, at every pivotal moment in his life that he'd allowed others to dictate how he would continued forward. But what did that get him?
An undeserved reputation of a sexual predator, severe alcoholism and a debt so substantial that he wouldn't be surprised if it grew legs to strictly come after him one of these days. Hell even now, his decision to open the inheritance was taken away by the old monster watching on this drama lazily.
But at the end of the day, Iori at-least left the decision to enter completely on the shoulder's of him alone.
For that reason, for being the only to one truly give him a choice, Tatsuo did what needed to be done. His legs pumped rigorously, pack slapping against his back as he charged head first into the massive stain in reality.
Color bloomed across his vision, crashing against each-other in a storm of carnage. Paper charms tore and soul shaking barks that held a dark promise. A normal person, newly integrated would've been completely helpless under the combined attacks of two...whatever they were, and trussed up like prized hog to be dealt with later. And there wouldn't have been a damn thing he could've done about it. But then again, as he was finding out, having an old monster in your corner was a cheat beyond imagine.
Through that vision of fog and smoke, something 'other' struck out with the precision of a surgeon. Small in nature, it wove through the air and did...something faster than his mind could process that caused the deluge of attacks to pause before shattering like broken panes of glass. A soft whimper reminiscent of a kicked dog.
The two were stunned, blood dripping from their nose. Stumbling, they could do nothing as he practically fell into the portal. The last expression he saw were sorrowful but wrathful as well. In one breathe, he was breathing in the air of that city folk called 'country air'. Good for the body, some said. And in the next, his body slammed hard against damp stone. The air of mildew and staleness. Like no one had breathe it in centuries.
Groaning, Tatsuo rolled over and took a good look at his new environment. A long hallway, carved from some strange stone. Runic patterns etched carefully along every available surface. Pulsating in a purplish hue. Torches, burning a gentle blue, alighted his way forward. A single door, simple in appearance made every hair on his body stand on end.
Through his 'bloodline', a creature composed entirely of 'Ki' laid embedded into the structure itself. With too many arms and not enough legs, an elongated neck, hair that looked soaked through and a face that was entirely too human to be comfortable.
It smiled at him, a wide fanged tooth grin that promised a painful end.
"Visitors! At last."
In that moment, faced with a monster that only he could see, regret so pungent that it made his eyes water, filled him. Turning around quickly, that feeling only grew as he saw only a dead end. No portal or exit in sight.
"DAMN YOU, YOU OLD BASTARD!!"