Yuto felt as though the world had turned to liquid beneath his feet. The lacquered floor melted away into a whorling tunnel of blossoms and gold, colors bending and re-forming in impossible patterns. He grabbed instinctively for Koma but found only petals sifting through his hands. His lantern's glow warped, stretched, then steadied, casting faint light into total strangeness.
The descent halted. The silence that followed was so profound it pressed against his eardrums. Yuto looked around he stood now in a vast underground courtyard. Twisting roots wound through stone pillars, their surfaces inscribed with kanji older than memory. Pools of ink-black water dotted the mossy ground, each one reflecting a different fragment of the hidden city: a masked parade winding through night, a fox spirit singing in the rain, a shadow crouched before a shrine.
He wasn't alone. Koma's squat form appeared in a shimmer of blue smoke, looking paler than usual. The tanuki shook himself, eyes wide but tail bristling with pride. "First trial, Yuto! The Assembly wants to see what kind of courage you carry. Don't worry… much. I'm here—sort of. In a spiritual adviser capacity, I guess."
Yuto's nerves frayed, but he noticed his feet were dry despite standing mere inches from a pool. The petals in his hair did not fall, but drifted up, spiraling lazily toward the shadowed ceiling. It was as though gravity itself had forgotten its purpose in this place.
A sound snaked through the gloom delicate, almost musical.
On the far side of the nearest pool, shapes gathered: semi-transparent, their faces hidden behind faded festival masks. A feeling of unease pricked Yuto's neck.
He whispered, "What are they?"
Koma's ears flicked. "Memory spirits. Lost stories that drift between worlds and sometimes drag the living with them. Don't let their silence fool you. If you look too long into the pools, Yuto, you'll find yourself stuck in someone else's past."
The spirits beckoned with graceful, stunted hands. The pool lit up, showing the image of a boy about Yuto's age, hunched on a tatami mat, listening to parents argue in muffled voices. Yuto's breath caught—those voices, that room, felt like a half-forgotten ache, nagging at the edge of his mind.
"The Assembly wants you to face your hidden memories," Koma whispered almost gently. "If you run, you'll wander here forever. If you choose wrong, you might lose part of yourself."
Yuto steeled himself. He took a deep breath, focusing on the steady heat of the lantern and the scrape of his shoes on moss. He approached the pool and felt its cold air reach up for him, fingers of vapor trying to pull him in.
Suddenly, a voice familiar, and so close it pierced him whispered from the pool, "Yuto. Why do you always turn away?"
With a rush, memories surged: lonely nights waiting for his father's return, the ache of watching his mother's smiles fray around the edges, festival nights where he wandered the crowds unseen. His free hand shook.
The memory spirit closest to him stretched its shadowy hands, palm open. In its grasp lay a faded paper mask half phoenix, half dragon.
Yuto hesitated, then reached out, recalling what the antlered spirit had said: hearts brave the city's secrets. As he took the mask, heat flared in his chest a mixture of joy, sadness, and longing so fierce he stumbled.
The pool's image changed. Now he saw his mother, seated at the table, face in her hands—but something else was present: beyond the window, a flicker of silver light, as if a spirit watched too, unseen.
Koma's voice steadied him. "Remember, Yuto: pain isn't all you carry. Look closer."
He peered past the scene's sorrow. At the table's edge, child-sized hands left painted lanterns and scattered ink old tokens of laughter and hope. Yuto pressed a palm to the mask, and the watery vision shimmered, then receded. The memory spirits swayed, their forms softening as if in approval.
The spell slowly broke. Blossoms fell, their scent sweet and sharp, and the pools dulled to simple water. The spiral of petals below his feet grew solid again. Koma grinned in pride, tail wagging.
"You faced it, Yuto. Not many do their first time. You're closer to this city's heart than you know."
Before Yuto could answer, a new sound echoed behind them: bells chiming in the dark, sharp as warning. The next trial approached and with it, the shadow of the city's true danger.
Yuto's fingers tightened around the mask. He steadied his breath. Now, he knew: if he wanted answers, he would have to brave every secret, even those buried deepest inside himself.
End of Chapter 4