Chapter 54

The streets of Hayori Town were very quiet at this hour. Shinobu briskly walked past the empty stores even though this silence was expected at a time like this she was hoping to see the slightest sign of life somewhere. It was uneasy being alone at a place like this.

"I hope that freaky deer didn't follow me here." Shinobu kept a lookout for any strange animal or figure lurking in the dark corners. Occasionally the snap of a twig or leaf startled her. Luckily it was just a rodent.

Quietly, Shinobu checked her pockets there was a peculiar object in one of them.

"What's this?" The violette took out a folded slip from her pocket. "Hold on a minute this is the letter we're supposed to keep as evidence." Apparently, she had forgotten about it since the ride home. Both she and Douma were supposed to research further with the information it provided.

"Dammit! I could've shown this to her!" Now the idea had sparked in her mind but it was too late, the woman already drove off a long time ago.

Shinobu sighed in frustration and continued walking down the path to Reiji's house. Ugh I shouldn't blame Douma for this it's not his fault. Seriously the poor guy needs a break, everyone has been treating him like a punching bag. Looking up at the moon, Shinobu thought about how the shrine leader was feeling now he must be upset. Was she too harsh on him? Shinobu didn't know the answer to that.

"But he should've known better than to play with fire," Placing her hands on her hips boldly, Shinobu scoffed at the thought of pushing aside the misunderstandings between them. "What kind of idiot leaves people clueless about their actions? He doesn't answer my queries all the time so why should I care about his? Shinobu you're so mean! Yeah right stop underestimating us you flying weirdo!"

Suddenly a loud cackle erupted from one of the corners. Shinobu spun around and saw the faint outline of an animal, one that looked eerily familiar.

Oh no it can't be... Upon realization, Shinobu immediately stepped back from the bush beside the path nearly tripping over the uneven cracks on the floor.

The creature emerged from the bush, revealing a deer standing on two feet holding an axe. Beneath the deer's jaw was the bottom half of a frail face with lines of the person's cheekbones showing. It seemed the person or creature standing right in front of her was wearing the deer as a suit, but how it got it was the bigger question. That was definitely a real deer. Nobody walked around in animal suits this wasn't normal Shinobu was sure of it.

Don't tell me this thing followed me all the way here. Looks like I won't be getting home in one piece if I continue standing here I was so close. Shinobu took a few more steps behind her, the humanoid deer following her slowly letting out cackles and shrieks. This wasn't a prank it definitely wasn't.

Another loud cackle pierced her ears as the violette immediately took off in the opposite direction of Reiji's house. Even though she really wanted to sprint pass that thing she knew it was impossible that axe was waiting to strike. 

Her intuition was right, following closely behind her was the deer humanoid eyeing her movements with much precision. If Shinobu were to slow down the slightest she might get caught and that was the last thing she wanted to happen.

Please be a dream or illusion of some sort this can't be real. Shinobu pleaded, to her dismay there was no one else in sight she was the only one in town. She didn't even know where she was running to she took any path that came into view whether it led her to a darker area or a place shone by the moonlight. Even then the source of light didn't make things any better as the shadow of the deer humanoid towered over hers on the ground.

A sharp edge pricked the surface of her foot sending her to the grassy floor. 

"I tripped over a stupid rock," Shinobu gritted her teeth with fear in her eyes. The deer humanoid was closing in on her, holding the axe tightly. 

Getting up, Shinobu watched as the deer creature stood in front of her swaying the axe back and forth in an intimidating way. There was nowhere to go she would only meet a dead end. This was really unfortunate for a lone passerby like herself.

"Hey get away from her you maniac!" That voice, it was Reiji's.

The boy in the straw hat rushed towards them and slammed the rake into the deer creature over and over again. Tears of skin and blood could be seen on the shoulder of the deer creature which made Shinobu a little dizzy.

Holding her arm, Reiji carefully helped Shinobu adjust. "What is that thing? Are you alright?" Reiji asked panicked.

"I don't know it followed me here." Shinobu replied with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Are you serious right now? Where's Douma?"

"Well he uh..."

The deer creature got up twisting its body in all directions. Both Reiji and Shinobu watched the scars and wounds on its body vanish. It was healing itself, this was a huge problem there was no other way they could defend themselves if anything they use to stop it wasn't going to be effective enough.

Letting out another cackle, the deer creature raised its arm that was now facing Reiji.

What's it doing? They both thought, little did they know the worse that was about to happen that very moment.

Reiji let out a bloodcurdling scream as the deer humanoid's hand had jumped out of its arm and latched itself onto Reiji's face attempting to crush it. Shinobu jumped back, the rake had fallen to the ground she wanted to pick it up but the deer humanoid was right there watching everything. The hand's movements were agile and rowdy, Reiji couldn't get it off him it was blocking his vision the only thing that was visible was the palm suffocating him.

There was only one thing Shinobu could do and it was risky but there wasn't much time left. With much force, Shinobu grabbed the hand and pulled it away from Reiji's face, she could hear his breathing steady which made her feel a little better about what she was doing to save him. Shinobu threw the hand to the ground, just as she was about to step on it the hand latched itself back to the deer humanoid's arm. The creature rubbed its wrist to ensure its hand was back in place, even if Shinobu tried to crush the hand in her grasp it wouldn't guarantee their safety this creature had many tricks up its sleeve and that gaze alone meant it was about to pull another one anytime now.

Both Shinobu and Reiji watched as the deer humanoid picked up the rake on the ground and broke the axe into two pieces. It shoved the top of the axe into the end of the rake and spun its new weapon around testing the waters.

"There's no time to explain we have to get out of here!" As the two friends ran off towards the last stretch of stores in town, the deer humanoid picked up its lightning-fast speed. This sudden agility surprised Shinobu and Reiji they didn't expect this unnerving creature to be able to run at such speed, now it made sense as to how the deer humanoid managed to catch up with Shinobu during the ride back. This kind of reminded Shinobu of something she encountered earlier.

Those plants... their movements were similar to this deer humanoid. Which means the animal must have been infected by the cells, it looks dead maybe the cells of that giant bug found it somewhere and settled in its mangled corpse. It can regenerate too, these monsters are creating an entire ecosystem of their own. Shinobu had to make sure she gets out of this mess there was a lot to uncover, it seems like the cells were trying to shape up an organism replicating a human. The human-like features that the deer creature had proved it. 

"Reiji this thing is one of those alien creatures."

"What are you talking about Shinobu? They switched forms?"

"Their cells have the ability to alter the appearance of other organisms. Once that happens they take control. Inanimate objects aren't safe from them either."

"That's really disturbing Shinobu you seem to have encountered all kinds of weird-looking creatures out there."

After what seemed like forever, Shinobu and Reiji reached a road beside the town. It's unlikely that numerous cars would be passing the road this late so the two friends decided to make a run for it before the deer humanoid catches up with them. By then they would have lost the creature.

"Hurry that thing is gaining on us!" Shinobu urged.

"There are headlights coming this way!" Without a second thought, Reiji grabbed Shinobu's arm and dragged her to the opposite of the road narrowly missing the vehicle.

The deer humanoid followed closely behind them before stopping in the middle of the road, staring at the approaching headlights getting closer. It reminded Shinobu and Reiji of the typical behavior of animals like deer when they come across bright lights approaching from a distance.

A loud crashing sound was heard. Both Shinobu and Reiji who had found a hiding spot behind a boulder looked up and saw the deer creature lying on the floor motionless in front of the car that collided with it seconds after they got to the other side.

Phew that was close. Both Shinobu and Reiji watched as two people stepped out of the car to see what happened.

"That's just disappointing." The man said, inspecting the lying corpse on the ground.

"What a shame, it met it's fate too early." Another voice belonging to a woman's added, both of them were wearing dark clothing that camouflaged with the dark of the night.

Both Shinobu and Reiji felt bad about the situation they didn't expect this to happen, explaining would probably do it but from these people's reactions there was something off about them, like they knew the creature.

"This thing's a broken wreck," The woman picked up a blinking device hidden underneath the deer's fur and crushed it.

"Whoever thought it was a great idea to track our targets with these freakshows must be the clown of the year." Crossing her arms, the woman smiled and waited for the man's response. 

"You got that right, but don't you think you're missing the point of our agenda here?"

"Oh my Kaito don't you get it? These creatures that we've been assigning tasks to are too stupid to carry them out. Leave the job to people like us who can deliver and retrieve." With a sly smile, the woman spun around a large bag that appeared to be carrying a weapon about the height of a door. The thought of its lethality sent shivers down Reiji's spine, what has he and Shinobu gotten themselves into? They had to get out of here fast, these people were dangerous.

The woman looked in the direction of the boulder. Something was amidst about it and she was going to find out.

"Now that the one and only tracker's toast how are we going to find those meddling kids?" A spite of venom could be heard in her voice. "They keep interfering with our plans, Mr Moikawa wants them gone for good, we bring them back as captives or get rid of them no questions asked we only have two options here."

Shinobu's breathing became fast. These people came all the way to assassinate them, but why? How did they know about them?

And then the gears clicked. The vehicle back at the mountain and plans that they didn't want people to know about. Of course, these people were working under that secret organization why else would they be wearing these masks and suits. They came all the way here to find them with that tracker they implanted on that deer creature. Hasu Mountains has become a site for their operations. Something had to be done and both Shinobu and Reiji couldn't stay here any longer. These assassins were hunting them down.

"Listen Akira, it's not my fault the tracker's gone. If we bring them back as captives, Mr Moikawa will get answers, if we get rid of them we can continue on with our tasks." Kaito sounded annoyed, if Reiji was dealing with someone like Akira, he too would be annoyed she was too cunning and intrusive.

"According to Mr Moikawa and the others working directly under him, there's a heavenly being with these kids. Sounds like something a five-year-old made up I know, but can you imagine how bizarre this case has become?"

"Well guess that explains why our plans have been fumbling lately. These kids are just way too smart."

"Oh you and I won't go easy on them I'm sure of it. That heavenly creature is too afraid to face us. It must be a gimmick to scare us there's no way those brats have such a thing in their game of let's say, hide and seek just like this one." Akira took out a large scythe from that bag and slammed it onto the ground creating a large crack that split the crushed spot into pieces.

Shinobu and Reiji watched in horror as Akira continued crushing the rocks, greenery, and infrastructure standing close to where they were hiding. She was very skillful the impact was brutal.

"Well what else could have turned the central part of Tokyo into ice ruins? There's something strange going on here maybe those kids really have befriended an extraterrestrial who knows." Kaito responded dryly.

"Don't test my patience Kaito, I know those meddling kids are here the tracker-

"Too bad it broke now stop stressing yourself over something unimportant that's not our priority right now."

"Are you saying Mr Moikawa's orders are irrelevant? You probably didn't know but he doesn't want any more witnesses to our operations and if we let them go now it's not going to look very pretty for us. That's what he told me and he's expecting you to cooperate with us on this." Akira glared at Kaito who was starting to feel uneasy.

"Got it, you should've told me earlier though."

"It's not my problem if you're unaware."

 Kaito watched his partner Akira walking towards the last boulder. That must be where those two kids are hiding, I wouldn't want to be in their position now. 

"I found you, game's over!" The scythe split the boulder into several pieces.

To Akira's surprise, nobody was there. "Ugh they were right here I'm sure of it!" Scanning the area in disbelief, Akira was hoping to find something that would give her a clue of where Shinobu and Reiji could be hiding but with the current state of the area they were at there was no way anyone could find a spot.

The sound of faint footsteps caught her attention, Akira turned to the direction where the sound was coming from and smiled sinisterly. "Oh you can't escape me I'll always be one step ahead of you no matter where you hide." Akira sneered coldly.