Intertwined Hands

Episode 1: Lilies Without Spring.

—(Wake up...) —(The girl...) —(Hi-Ka-Ri)

Tanuki woke up with a start and looked around.

He was still disoriented by everything that had happened.

Next to him, Hikari was still fast asleep.

"It's true... last night I helped her escape from Yomi..."

"Although I don't know what I'm supposed to do now..."

He spoke aloud, as he always did when he needed to distinguish himself from Echo.

Hikari woke up suddenly, with a big yawn.

"Boo-hoo! Good morning, Oka... I mean, Tanuki!"

"Good morning, Hikari. I see you had no trouble sleeping."

"I hadn't slept much for several days... I think my body just collapsed," she said, rubbing her eyes slowly.

"What do we do now?" she asked, coming too close, with a childlike excitement that unsettled him.

Tanuki cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Cough... Um... maybe we should look for some food first."

"Hmm... I guess we won't find any protein rations here..."

"Yuck! Of course not! I'll show you the wonderful and varied menu on the surface!"

Hikari looked at him with a mixture of doubt and disgust. She could already imagine the kind of "menu" he was referring to.

However, she was still surprised when Tanuki led her to what looked like a monster graveyard.

Huge bodies, bursting from within, were piled up in pools of thick fluids. Around them, small creatures resembling plump worms—with tiny legs and hands—fought each other for the remains.

"What... What is all this?" asked Hikari, horrified and fascinated at the same time.

"This? I call it the delivery room. The mothers explode, and the little ones come out to eat their remains.

"Nice, isn't it?" said Tanuki, with a beaming smile.

"Ha... sure. I guess you're going to eat the little ones..."

"Correction: we're going to eat the little ones.

"Although one is enough for both of us... unless you have a big appetite. In that case, we'll take two!"

With the loot in hand, Tanuki began to guide her to the remains of a bus that he had previously used as a hideout.

The structure, corroded by rust and the inevitable passage of time, was still reasonably stable and functional as a shelter.

"Welcome to one of my many shelters! Sorry about the mess! I didn't know we were having visitors."

Tanuki shook the deteriorated seats a little, kicked the trash on the floor, and spoke as if he were not entirely present.

This erratic behavior unsettled Hikari, who was concerned to see him acting this way.

She knew that so much torture and advanced corrosion had taken a toll on the lonely Telum's mind.

"First, cut them into smaller pieces so they cook faster.

Then we pierce them with a branch like this... or a piece of iron... or whatever you can find. And we place them over the fire.

"Now we just have to wait until the meat is cooked."

"What? No! I don't care, but I can't give Hikari raw meat."

"And that recipe would work better with some mushrooms."

"What do the bird-like creatures have to do with all this?"

"Tanuki... are you okay?" asked Hikari. She looked sad as she watched him lose himself in his ramblings.

"Yes... Don't worry. It's a bad habit of mine to talk to myself... haha... haha..."

Hikari knew he was lying, but she didn't want to pry further. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about it, at least for now.

Tanuki didn't seem like a bad person. Quite the opposite. But she couldn't be sure how trustworthy he was either.

"Well, I think they're ready. Bon appétit!"

Tanuki offered her a skewer with meat on it. It didn't smell good, nor did it look much better. The meat was yellowish, with brown tinges.

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and it was still dripping with a viscous, dark liquid. Hikari looked at it, and seeing that he was eating it naturally, decided to try it without further ado.

The taste was bitter. The texture: a pasty, viscous mixture, with an unpleasant crunch at the bottom.

The look of disgust on Hikari's face made Tanuki laugh, who had clearly eaten much worse things.

"Hahaha! Hey! Don't make that face at the chef! I put my heart into that dish! Hahaha!"

"I'm sorry... I don't mean to be ungrateful... but it tastes awful!"

"Haha, don't worry. Everything here tastes horrible.

"Or maybe I'm just a terrible cook. HAHA!

"If you want to vomit instantly, you have to try the humanoid meat.

"Why would I want to eat just to vomit?!"

The food tasted awful, but accompanied by trivial and warm conversation, the taste became bearable.

His mind and body were broken, but he found amusement in every unpleasant thing around him.

Hikari admired that about him. She felt that, in front of Tanuki, she could let go and be herself.

"Can I ask you something?" said Hikari, after forcing down the food.

"Sure."

"How long have you been eating these things alone?"

"Hmm... I don't know. A couple of months, I think... Why?"

"In all that time... did you never try to cook something delicious?"

Silence filled the room for a few moments.

Hikari stared at him. Tanuki, uncomfortable, began to look away.

"No..." he replied, looking away, with a hint of embarrassment.

"Unbelievable... So what did you do all that time?"

"I'm not really sure. But I traveled long distances and studied the local flora and fauna!" He gave a thumbs up, proud of himself as he said it.

"Well, that's very good... then we could use your knowledge to create delicious food."

Hikari's face radiated such a bright light that it seemed to blind Tanuki with tenderness and determination.

And the idea wasn't bad at all. It was certainly more productive than wandering aimlessly in search of ghosts.

Tanuki smiled excitedly, imagining the possibilities that lay ahead of him.

"Okay! But you'll be the head chef, and I'll be your assistant.

Then we can take care of finding more staff and opening a fast food restaurant on the surface.

We also have to think about the name of the restaurant and the signage.

But the most important thing is the location! A busy place with diners willing to barter fairly!"

Hikari gently took Tanuki's face in her hands and looked at him intently, bringing him back to reality.

"We'll think about that later.

First, let's find the ingredients."

Hikari's beautiful smile and big blue eyes drew Tanuki away from Echo.

Voices fell silent in her presence.

His confused mind felt as serene as when he rested by the river.

With a new goal in mind and their stomachs full, they began their culinary journey.

The forest rose like a cursed cathedral, its trees tall and grotesque, their bark black and cracked like burnt skin.

From the cracks, faint red lines seeped out, as if the sap were burning with an inner fire.

With each step, the air vibrated with a faint hum. The very presence of the red mist was more intense, concentrated, corrupting everything from within.

The ground was covered with low, reddish, fibrous grass that crunched underfoot as if its stems were small dry needles.

Some flowers had petals sharp as blades. Others looked like mouths: they snapped shut with a dry click if anything came too close.

There were plants that dripped poison, leaving burn marks on the ground.

In the shadows, small beetle-like monsters slithered among the roots.

Some had spiny shells, others multiple, glowing eyes that followed you as you passed.

Occasionally, one would pounce on another. In this world, nothing stayed still for long.

Everything was hostile, but not chaotic.

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This ecosystem was no accident. It was a new order, built to devour intruders.

The fog had rebuilt everything in its image, eliminating weaknesses, adapting every creature—plant or beast—to survive and hunt.

Hikari held Tanuki's right hand as they walked through that pavilion of death.

One of those beetles flew too close. Almost instinctively, she summoned a light gun and fired, pulverizing it on the spot.

"What's going on? Why did you shoot?" Tanuki asked, adopting a defensive stance.

"That... that thing flew toward me and I got scared!" she replied, breathing heavily, still trembling with the gun in her hand.

"Okay... but don't do that. You could attract something more dangerous."

"I'm sorry... it won't happen again..."

Hikari felt ashamed.

Tanuki seemed like an unflappable presence, but she was still not used to the surface.

She knew that everything there was systematically designed to eliminate humans, and she was barely more resilient than one.

"Now that I think about it... why don't you create a flying vehicle?

That way we wouldn't have to walk through this dangerous forest..."

"I can only create weapons. In Yomi, they designed mechanical weapons similar to the old ones, so that I could recreate them with my powers.

"I can also form some armor, shields, or force fields.

"I understand that... but why only weapons?

"What do you mean?"

"Your power allows you to shape what you imagine, right? From sheets of crystallized light."

"Yes... that's right."

"Then why do you only create weapons with complex mechanisms?"

"Because... I know how they work, and that's why I can recreate them. Weren't you paying attention?"

"I can modify my body at will."

"But I don't know exactly how each muscle, tendon, or ligament works."

"I just imagine what I want to achieve... and the mutation does its thing."

"If you just imagined what you wanted to do, wouldn't your power manifest it anyway?"

Tanuki's words were not without logic.

In fact, they left Hikari silent for a few moments.

She remembered that when she helped Tanuki escape, she didn't recreate conventional weapons...

But some of the drawings she had made herself.

Hikari decided to see if this possibility was viable for her. She raised her right hand and tried to create something like a bird.

The strange bird that looked like a paper airplane shot forward and crashed into a tree.

They both watched silently as the huge trunk began to crack...

and collapse with a monumental crunch.

The crash shook the forest. Several creatures stirred in the distance.

"HA! We'd better not try to fly in that yet," said Tanuki as he began to take Hikari in his arms.

"Now let's get out of here quickly before something comes looking for us!"

"I... I'm so sorry! I just wanted to try what you said! I'M SORRY!" She covered her reddened face in embarrassment as Tanuki carried her.

"Haha! Why are you apologizing? You didn't hit me! Haha!"

As Tanuki ran and jumped quickly to get away from the place, they could hear some creatures heading toward the source of the noise.

Could something as banal and abstract as one's own imagination shape the powers of the Telum?

How could this be subject to the biological complexity that their very existence had?

Hikari couldn't stop thinking about these things. He had devoured books on mechanics, weapons, and materials his entire life.

And all he had to do was imagine what he wanted to create?

(What a waste of time!)

As they continued walking through the forest in search of new flavors, Tanuki tasted leaves and plants that he believed would not be toxic to Hikari.

He could process toxins and poisons without any problems, but with her he had to be very sure.

Some plants and fungi caused her to vomit, have spasms, or sneeze spontaneously.

But after several attempts, they managed to gather a handful of specimens with strong smells and promising flavors.

"Hmm... now we might be missing some more... tasty protein," said Hikari, holding the plants they had gathered.

"That's more complicated... Almost all monsters taste pretty bad..."

"Unless..."

"What? No! That would be completely stupid!"

"What...? I don't understand..."

"Shut up! I'm trying to think..."

Hikari took Tanuki's hand again. Whenever he started to ramble, this seemed to be a subtle way to bring him back.

Tanuki's expression always became somewhat gloomy and sad when he noticed what Hikari was doing for him.

"Anyway... I thought maybe some fish-like monsters might work."

"Tanuki, I don't think that word exists..."

"That's true... that's what Doctor Roca used to call them."

"Roca? Who?"

"Tanuki! Where are the fish monsters?!"

"Usually in the water... but some come out for a walk."

Hikari narrowed her eyes.

She didn't know if he was serious or if he was caught up in his delusional world again.

"Well... can we capture one?"

"Maybe... and we could even experiment with your powers."

Hikari looked at him with a mixture of intrigue and resignation.

Tanuki's logic remained a complete mystery to her.

But so far, his ideas hadn't gotten them into any trouble...

So she decided to go along with him.

They walked calmly until Tanuki stopped for a moment to listen to something.

"What's going on? Is something happening?" Hikari began to look around fearfully.

"Silence... I think I hear something..."

Hikari swallows, anxious and fearful of the upcoming revelation.

"Water! There's a stream nearby! Let's go!"

"Yes! Hopefully it tastes better than that awful river from before."

"I celebrate your innocence, but all surface water tastes the same."

As they approached, they began to smell the dampness, the mud, and hear the soft sound of running water.

As expected, the river was also red. Like basically everything around them.

When they approached to drink, they could see the creatures that inhabited it.

Some crabs with huge claws, triangular shells with protruding spikes.

They were the size of a large hand. Tanuki picked one up with his claws and tried to bite it.

"..."

"It's hard..." He said this looking at Hikari. With the crab intact as he bit its shell.

"What if... I don't know... you break its shell?"

Tanuki tried to step on it, kick it, hit it, pierce it with his claws... but nothing worked.

"It looks like a rock with legs, the bastard!"

"Try it yourself!"

"If you couldn't do it, what makes you think I can?"

"Not with your hands, silly. Create a hammer or something to crush it!"

Hikari opened her eyes in surprise. She hadn't thought of that, but she tried it anyway.

She raised her hand and a hammer began to materialize in it.

With all her strength, she struck the crab. The impact sent out a bright flash that blinded them both.

When they looked again, there was no crab and no hammer... just a black stain on the ground.

"Oops..."

"Hahaha! What do you mean, 'oops'?!

"Mr. Crab might have had a wife, a job, children waiting for him at home!

"And you just pulverized him!

"His unfortunate eldest son will now have to bear the burden of the family..."

"Why are you saying these things? Now I feel bad!"

"Besides, you bit him first! You were going to eat him!" Hikari shouted, in tears, while Tanuki couldn't stop laughing.

Hikari begins to cry because of Tanuki's ramblings, who just laughs at what happened.

Before Tanuki could respond with another of his absurd comments, they both fell silent.

A soft, rhythmic metallic squeak crept through the trees.

It was a slow, repetitive sound... as if something heavy were swaying in the wind.

Tanuki turned his head slightly toward the forest.

"Did you hear that?"

Hikari quickly wiped her eyes. She nodded silently.

The creaking sound came again, louder this time.

"It sounds like... chains?" Tanuki said quietly, his body already tense.

"Do you think it's a trap?"

"I doubt it. Who would set a trap with noisy chains, and why?"

They moved cautiously among the trees. The vegetation grew thicker and more tangled, but there were no signs of monsters.

After a few steps, they emerged from the undergrowth... and saw it.

A rusty iron swing still hung from an old, twisted metal structure, leaning toward a small clearing.

Around it, nature had tried to swallow everything: roots protruded from the ground, carnivorous flowers grew between the cracks in the concrete, but it was still recognizable.

It looked like this was once a park for human children to play in.

Beyond, in the shadows, the outlines of sunken houses, collapsed roofs, and signs corroded by the passage of time could be seen.

"Is it... a village?" Hikari asked in a whisper.

Tanuki did not answer. He stood still, watching the swing that continued to move on its own.

(Play) —(Children!) —(Where?!)

(Raaawwrrr!!) —(Do you see them?) —(Useless!)

(Catch me if you can!!) —(Run!!)

(The girl!!) —(Chidori) —(Protect her!!)

"Tanuki!" Hikari took his hand again and looked at him with a worried expression.

"Ha... it's nothing, I just got distracted."

"Shall we explore?"

"Okay... But do you think it's safe?"

"Nothing is completely safe, but there are no dangerous creatures around."

The park opened up like the entrance to a forgotten story. Beyond the swing, barely visible among the red undergrowth and dark branches, was a cracked concrete path that seemed to lead to something else.

Tanuki and Hikari walked silently along what was once a school path. The painted lines were still visible in some places, eaten away by reddish moss and thorny vegetation that pushed its way through with no regard for human geometry.

Rusty playground structures blurred beneath the undergrowth. Broken slides, climbing frames fallen like purposeless skeletons.

Everything that was once color was now rust, ash, and a sickly red seeping through every crack.

A few meters away stood the remains of a two-story building: a school.

Its windows were black holes, devoured by plants that hung like vegetable intestines from the ceiling. The front door was collapsed, crushed by the trunk of a twisted tree that had pierced the wall. In one corner, the entrance sign still hung crookedly, illegible, corroded by centuries of humidity.

Inside, the desks were still there, broken and piled up. The sound of the breeze echoed through the place.

With every step they took inside, they heard the sound of more glass breaking.

As they walked through what used to be streets, the houses stood like skeletons from another time.

Some still had their sloping roofs, others were nothing more than collapsed structures where poisonous flowers grew like funeral tributes. Bus stops overcome by rust, tin roofs hanging from a single screw, and seats crushed by roots that pierced them like spears.

An entire bus lay overturned, half covered in black ivy, its doors open as if still waiting for passengers who would never arrive. Further on, the remains of rusted cars—many of them swallowed by the ground—appeared at intervals, as if time had slowly dissolved them.

The fog, though thin in that place, floated like an ever-present presence.

Every leaf, every broken wall, every defeated sign spoke of a world that tried to resist... but couldn't.

And yet, there was a certain peace in the scene.

There were no corpses or blood. Only the echo of a vanished humanity, and a new nature that violently reclaimed what was hers.

As they walked silently, Tanuki noticed that one of the houses had a hidden trapdoor in the floor.

He didn't expect to find anyone hiding there, but curiosity led him to want to know how these people used to think.

"What's that?" asked Hikari, noticing the semi-hidden door.

"I don't know... it looks like a hiding place."

"Do you think someone managed to survive here?"

"No. It's impossible... but maybe they left some kind of record."

Tanuki broke the lock with brute force.

The interior was another bleak scene: a large four-room space with reinforced walls and makeshift furniture.

Two bedrooms, a bathroom, a small common room.

In one of the rooms, on a large bed, four skeletons remained embraced.

Two adults and two children, intertwined, waiting—without knowing it—to be discovered one day.

"What do you think they were thinking?" Hikari asked sadly, squeezing Tanuki's hand tightly.

"I guess they just wanted to be together until the end..."

Tanuki gently let go of her hand and began to search the place.

"Come on, let's see if they left anything useful."

"What? Are you going to loot their house? Don't you have any respect for the dead?"

"It's not about respect." If you were going to keep something useful before you died... would you rather have it rot next to your corpse or have someone who really needs it use it?

"I guess the latter..." Hikari lowered her gaze. She knew he was right, but she still found it hard to accept.

"Look, there are clothes your size... they're in good condition. Put them on."

Hikari took the clothes. Before changing, she turned her head and looked back at the bed.

The bodies were now bones and dust, but they still had a look of love frozen in time.

"Thank you..." she whispered, not sure if she was thanking Tanuki, the skeletons, or both.

Episode 2: Simmering.

Both emerged from the old time capsule.

Hikari was now wearing tight pants, sturdy boots, and a jacket that, although old, fit her perfectly.

Tanuki, for his part, had chosen a loose-fitting jacket and less torn pants. They carried two backpacks: one with some clean clothes, the other for whatever they might find along the way.

"Aren't you wearing shoes?" asked Hikari, noticing that his feet were still bare.

"Nope. My feet are all weird... I can't get them back to normal."

"I see..."

"Are you mad at me?"

"Why would I be?"

"For reproaching you for taking things from the shelter..."

"Nah. I understand. But if we want to survive out here, we can't afford certain luxuries."

"That includes... respecting other people's lives and belongings."

"What do you mean?"

Tanuki didn't answer right away. His tone changed.

"If someone from Yomi finds us... we have to kill them on the spot."

"You understand, right?"

Hikari swallowed hard.

"Yes... I understand..."

At that moment, Tanuki stopped dead in his tracks. He stood still as a statue, his eyes fixed on a point ahead.

"What's wrong?" Hikari asked, concerned.

He didn't answer. Hikari turned her head and saw it.

A few meters in front of them, standing among the trees, was a humanoid creature. It was over three meters tall.

Its arms, long as whips, reached down to the ground. It was covered in thick, dirty black fur.

Instead of a face, it had a circular bone mask with four holes.

Inside each hole, red eyes glowed, moving independently, searching, observing... focusing on them.

The creature was watching them.

Still motionless, it began to flex its arms. In a grotesque gesture, they branched out.

From each elbow sprouted two more thin arms, like branches growing from flesh.

A single second was enough for Tanuki to understand: it was not a threat... it was a sentence.

"Hold on!" he shouted, quickly bending down so Hikari could climb onto his back.

She obeyed without thinking.

As soon as her arms wrapped around his neck, Tanuki burst into motion.

Just in time: one of the creature's many claws swept through the spot where they had been a moment before, cutting through branches, earth, and air.

The creature let out a sharp, hollow cry, like a broken war horn. It took less than a second to launch itself after them.

Tanuki ran with Hikari on his back, dodging blackened logs, protruding roots, and thorny bushes.

His steps were steady, his legs pushing hard, but the creature was faster. He could feel it breathing behind him, almost smell its metallic, old, unnatural stench.

"Tanuki! It's catching up!" Hikari shouted, turning her head slightly.

"I know... hold on tighter!"

Tanuki jumped over a ditch covered in red vegetation. And he began to descend a slippery slope. The branches parted violently as he passed.

One of the beast's claws almost reached him, but he managed to repel it at the last second with a quick flick of his sharp tail.

In front of them appeared what looked like an old, half-buried road.

A rusty bus lay overturned, covered with living plants that writhed slowly.

Without stopping, Tanuki leaped into the vehicle through the broken rear door.

The bloodthirsty monster crashed into the bus, knocking it several meters with the impact.

Tanuki took advantage of the second's advantage the creature gave them. He quickly cut away the plants blocking one of the windows with his claws.

He jumped, still carrying Hikari on his back, and ran as fast as he could downhill, hoping to find somewhere to hide.

The monster was unstoppable. It was already hot on his heels again, and any false move would mean death.

Tanuki dodged as best he could. Until Hikari created a sphere of light around him and propelled it forward with force.

The large sphere pushed its way through everything in its path: branches, small creatures, debris at high speed.

But the monster had no intention of letting them go. Its speed and dexterity were on another level.

With one well-aimed blow, it destroyed Hikari's sphere, sending them flying through the air.

The beast wasted no time and jumped on Tanuki, attacking him fiercely.

Tanuki could barely block or deflect the barrage of claws that threatened to tear him apart. Each blow pushed him closer to the limit.

Hikari, still trembling, raised both arms toward the sky.

Crystals of light began to swirl in the air in front of her, forming a giant sword with shining edges, as large as the monster itself.

With a quick gesture of her hands, she threw it forward with a sharp buzz.

The blade flew through the air at full speed and plunged into the creature's torso, impaling it from head to abdomen.

The blade did not stop: its thickness and power tore through flesh, bone, and organs, splitting the monster in two with a single accurate and lethal blow.

The beast let out one last breath... and collapsed without making another sound.

Hikari rushed toward Tanuki with a lump in her throat, fearing he was injured.

"Tanuki!! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine..."

"But that was... terrifying... and fascinating!"

"I'm glad you're okay... I thought you were hurt."

"Hey! I'm the one who's supposed to protect you! Don't take my job away from me!" Tanuki smiled as he ruffled Hikari's hair.

"Um, well, my protector was busy playing with an evil monster, so I had to take action!"

Hikari's shy but sarcastic response made Tanuki laugh. They were beginning to understand each other.

And they were also beginning to feel that they could trust each other.

"That was ugly..." said Hikari, brushing off some dust.

"I hope we don't encounter any more monsters like that. We still have crabs to collect!" She raised her fist and looked at Tanuki with a big smile.

Tanuki couldn't help but smile too. Seeing how Hikari could move on after such a violent event was, for him, proof that she could really adapt to this horrible world and survive.

"Yeah! But we still have to figure out how the hell we're going to open those damn things up."

"I know! Create a plasma-bladed knife and slice them open like fruit!"

"I'm not sure I can do that specifically, but we'll see what happens!"

The journey now felt more relaxed. Hikari played by climbing trees, stretching to reach imaginary fruit, while Tanuki waited below, ready to catch her if she fell.

They crossed the stream by jumping on the rocks until, inevitably, Hikari slipped. Tanuki helped her out, soaking wet, and together they continued on their way to their temporary hideout:

a small house that someone had long ago converted into a bunker.

Inside, they found some pots, plates, cutlery... just enough to try something new.

"Let's do this. Imagine what you can make... I don't know... what do you like?"

"The flowers I saw in records of the ancient world," Hikari replied with great excitement.

"I don't know them, but great! Imagine a flower that gives off heat from its center!"

Hikari closed her eyes and extended her hands slightly, pointing at the ground. The crystals of light began to form a daisy.

The flower began to spin gently, and from its center, a subtle golden vapor emerged.

"Wow! I did it! And it's warm!"

"See? You didn't need to memorize complicated, absurd plans..."

"Now put it under where we hung your wet clothes and you're done!"

"You're much more ingenious... at first glance, you just look like a lunatic talking to branches..."

"You have no idea what a branch knows... what it has seen and heard..."

They stare at each other silently for a moment, before they can no longer hold back their laughter.

Tanuki and Hikari begin to set up a small makeshift wood-burning stove to hold the pot and its contents.

Taking out the live crabs they brought in their backpack is dangerous, so Tanuki reaches in with his left hand and quickly pulls it out with a crab clinging to his fingers.

Hikari bursts out laughing as Tanuki stomps on the creature, punishing it for its audacity.

Opening them is complicated, but Hikari decides to follow Tanuki's crazy ideas. From her finger, she conjures up a thin knife with a rapidly vibrating blade.

She manages to cut it in half and put its meat in the pot, along with practically everything else they found along the way.

Hikari stirs the food as if she were a witch making a potion in her cauldron.

"Welcome to the restaurant of the most renowned chef in all of Japan! Hiraki!!!"

As Hikari bows after her introduction, Tanuki applauds and whistles as if he were an expectant audience.

"Now, my dear diner... take your first bite..."

"Heh... me?"

"Heh... yes... you!"

Tanuki opens his mouth fearfully, Hikari puts the whole spoon in his mouth and looks at him with a cheerful smile, waiting for a response.

The food still tastes awful. But it was the perfect moment to do something he had been waiting to do for a long time.

"Wow! It really tastes fabulous!"

"Give me more!"

"Really?"

"Then I'll try it!"

Hikari opens her mouth and swallows a whole spoonful of food, truly confident in Tanuki's words.

Not knowing that she had just fallen into his trap. The food was awful: it was spicy, bitter, sour, and the crab meat had almost dissolved.

It was like chewing on tough leaves with a strange, half-set yogurt dancing in the middle of the broth.

"Yuck! It tastes disgusting! What's wrong with your taste buds?!"

"Hahaha! I knew you'd fall for it!"

"The truth is, it's disgusting... yesterday's fat worm tasted better..."

"Preparing something minimally edible will be much harder than I thought." Hikari covers her mouth in disgust as she looks at the result of her alchemical work.

"Anyway, it was fun. We should make an inventory of what flavor comes from what thing," Tanuki comments as he continues to eat with a disgusted look on his face.

"That makes sense... maybe we should have done that before throwing away the contents of the backpack..."

"How can you keep eating that?"

"If you take several bites, your tongue feels like it's dying of disgust and you can't taste anything anymore."

(Are you having fun?)

— ...

(Have you already forgotten about me?)

(Even though we said we'd always be together?)

(Don't forget... I see everything you see...)

Tanuki froze with the spoon in his hand, feeling Karazu's cold arms wrap around his neck as she whispered in his ear.

Hikari looked at him strangely. It felt different from other times when Tanuki dissociated. Seeing a tear roll down his cheek, she quickly threw herself on him to hug him.

It wasn't unusual for Tanuki to zone out for a few moments, but until now he had never done so in this way.

"Tanuki... Tanuki!!..."

"Hikari?" Tanuki looked at her, completely confused. What he heard and felt seemed too real.

"What happened? Why are you crying?"

"Oh... ha... nothing, just... forget it, I'm fine!"

"We have to prepare a list of materials!"

"Tanuki... if you need to talk about something, I can listen to you. I won't judge you or reproach you for anything... I'll just listen."

"You're the first person I've shared this with in a long time, Hikari..."

"And the last thing I want to do is overshadow your light with my nonsense..."

"I don't think it's nonsense if it makes you cry..."

Tanuki simply approached Hikari and hugged her tenderly, stroking her hair.

"I decide what's nonsense and what's not... not you... not Echo... not anyone else... just me.

"The only thing that really matters... is that you never have to cry over nonsense like me...

"Then... just promise me that if one day you can't handle that nonsense anymore, you'll let me help you carry it.

"You're so sweet that I want to squeeze you tight!"

"And you're incapable of keeping a straight face for even two minutes..."

"Yes... and that makes me charming too!"

The next morning, he found Hikari waking up with messy hair and puffy eyes.

Tanuki, meanwhile, was preparing breakfast.

"Good morning... What are you doing?"

"Good morning, sleeping beauty! I'm making breakfast."

"You're going to love this!"

Tanuki was cooking a strange mixture of different colors in a frying pan.

There were brown and red pieces and something green covering the whole mixture, which was the most striking thing about it.

"I don't mean to belittle your efforts, but it looks just as disgusting as everything else we've eaten."

"Well... I won't argue with you there, but believe me, it doesn't taste as bad as it looks!"

When he finished his masterpiece, Tanuki served two plates with equal portions of the strange food.

Hikari looked at it suspiciously, no longer trusting Tanuki's happy gestures as he ate.

"I put a lot of effort into this dish, Hikari... if you don't eat it, you'll break my heart..."

"Fine! I'll eat it..." Hikari frowned and ate a large portion of the scramble.

"Wow... I wouldn't say it's delicious... but it's not bad either!"

"I told you! Now you'll have to introduce me as the professional chef that I am!"

"What did you put in it? It doesn't look like what we used yesterday..."

"Eggs I stole from a weird little monster with feathers and lots of legs, some mushrooms, and... I don't know what that is..."

"What do you mean... you don't know what it is?" asked Hikari with a frightened expression.

"It was lying near some man-eating plants... maybe they're seeds, maybe they're the remains of something it ate... I don't know..."

"That's disgusting and disturbing... but it doesn't taste that bad anyway."

Tanuki smiled, really happy to see Hikari eating all the food with a smile.

After finishing breakfast, Tanuki prepared canteens while Hikari packed some pots, cutlery, and bowls into her backpack.

"So now what? What do we do?" she asked as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulder.

"We keep exploring. If we want to survive another day, we need to learn about our surroundings. And maybe we'll find more edible ingredients... or at least ones that aren't deadly."

They left the little house that had served as their shelter. The air was cooler that morning. The sky, always obscured by red fog, let out a few flashes of warm light.

They walked cautiously through the tangled vegetation. There didn't seem to be any creatures nearby, although in this world you could never be sure. After half an hour of walking, climbing a long, steep hill, they came to a wide open space with large rocks and walls that looked as if they had been crushed by a giant fist.

From there, among reddish bushes, they looked down from above at a flatter terrain below them.

The landscape was amazing and almost impossible to conceive in a world like this. It was a beautiful, densely populated field of white flowers, with light sprouts like red antennae coming out from the center.

"Wow... What a beautiful place..." Hikari murmured, her gaze lost in the enchanting landscape.

"What is... this place...

Let's go down and see, but don't touch anything. They might be poisonous..."

They both descended the hill cautiously. If something is too striking, it is usually a deadly trap set by the ecosystem itself.

Tanuki began to touch the flowers, sniff them, and even taste them. He looked around cautiously, but there seemed to be nothing suspicious.

"They're... just ordinary flowers..."

"They're not common at all! They're beautiful and unique!"

"Can I pick some?" asked Hikari, clearly excited.

"Yes, go ahead... they're not poisonous."

While Tanuki pondered the matter, he leaned his back against an old concrete wall covered with moss and cracks. He turned slightly to look at his surroundings and frowned.

"What's that...?" he whispered.

There, under the vegetation, on a nearby wall, someone had drawn a mark in white paint. Two horizontal lines and one vertical line, as if crossing them out. Worn, but recent.

Tanuki approached the mark to see it up close, touched it with his fingers, sniffed the paint, and tasted it. Then he fell silent.

"What's wrong?" asked Hikari, approaching him.

"This is something vegetable... maybe a root or fruit with white pigmentation..."

"Who would do something like this and why?"

"Maybe some Telum marking a path?"

"No. We don't use this. We map everything digitally, we don't leave physical signs."

"Now I'm scared..." Hikari looked around as she held the flowers she had collected.

Tanuki took a step away from the mark, looked at it again, turning his head to one side as if trying to understand.

Then he began to examine the ground, looking for footprints or any trace that might give him a clue.

"There are footprints... bipedal... bigger than ours..."

"Could a human have done it?"

"Honestly, I can't imagine humans walking around these places."

"The people of Yomi often go out..."

"That's true, but I don't think they go this far with their noisy vehicles."

They both fell silent. The mark and the tracks were shrouded in mystery.

Tanuki turned to Hikari.

"Call me crazy... But I think we have to follow this trail."

"But if it's recent... That means whoever made it is nearby, right?"

"Sure. That's why it's worth following."

"Hopefully it's a human substation that managed to survive!"

"Or a wild Telum station."

Tanuki turned to Hikari after hearing this, staring at her for a moment to see if she was serious or not.

"There are no wild Telums, Hikari. We are created in laboratories."

"The scientists and guards at Yomi used to talk about the existence of wild Telums and their city..."

"Maybe they're referring to the same Telums that escaped from Yomi..."

"Maybe, but no one ever wanted to explain much about it to me..." Hikari carefully stored the flowers she had collected in her backpack.

"You know what, Hikari? Let's follow the trail!"

"It's no use just speculating, we have to go after whoever left the mark..."

"What if it turns out to be an alpha monster like the one we encountered before?"

"Then you just pulverize it with a cosmic ray of destruction and problem solved!"

"Got it! You hold it back and I'll disintegrate it!"

"But if I'm holding it back, won't you disintegrate me too?"

"Can't you regenerate? You'll be fine!" Hikari approached him and looked at him tenderly, smiling.

"I don't think my regeneration would help me in a situation like that..."

They chatted as they followed the suspicious trail. The surface had given them a wonderful landscape and an interesting mystery to investigate.

Little things like these were enough for them...

Episode 3: Hidden Gardens.

The sky was darker than usual.

The red mist crept lazily between the blackened tree trunks, as if observing them.

Tanuki and Hikari had been walking in silence for over an hour, following almost imperceptible marks on stones, bark, and fallen branches.

Tanuki crouched down next to a broken log, where the white paint appeared again.

This time, they weren't just simple lines. The shape was more complex:

three overlapping circles, like a symbol.

"This one is different from the last one," Hikari murmured, trying to interpret the drawing.

"It must have some meaning... I doubt these are just random marks."

Tanuki stood up and looked at the trees in front of them.

Although they had seen them as soon as they arrived, they still sent shivers down their spines.

Once again, they were in a forest of mother trees, or at least that's what Tanuki decided to call them...

Semi-translucent pods hung from their long, dark branches, as if they were fruits.

Inside, small humanoid monsters were forming.

They were not yet ready to be born, but their very existence was disturbing.

Deep in the forest, there was a different tree. Larger. Darker.

And its flowers... red as blood, glowed in the mist as if they were breathing.

Hikari swallowed hard and squeezed Tanuki's hand tightly, hiding slightly behind him.

"I don't like this place one bit..."

"Me neither... but I'm starting to see a correlation in all this."

"What do you mean?"

"At the previous location, we found white flowers... I've never seen anything like it."

"And now, this tree has more flowers..."

"Now that you mention it... I never saw photos of actual flowers in the records."

"I'm not surprised... I hadn't seen any either until now."

"Something doesn't quite fit..."

"What do we do then? Do we collect those too?" asked Hikari, staring at him, not with fear, but with curiosity.

"Well... we're already here, even though it looks dangerous."

"It's as if they were there on purpose. So that some idiot would come closer, pick a flower, and... BAM!"

"AHH! Don't scare me... you fool...!"

As she turned away, offended by Tanuki, Hikari noticed bloodstains on the ground.

They were small, but they led toward the large tree.

"Tanuki... look..." She pointed to her discovery.

Tanuki crouched down, sniffed, and cautiously tasted the blood.

"Is it human blood?"

"I don't know why you assume I know what human blood tastes like... But no. It's monster blood."

"So you do know..."

"No! But I know this blood is from a monster..."

"Although we haven't seen any for quite a while..."

"This whole thing gives me the creeps... Maybe it's from the ones hanging from the other trees..."

"What if the person who came before fed it to the tree?"

Hikari's eyes lit up, feeling as if she had solved the greatest mystery in history.

"Why would they do that? And as far as I know... trees don't have teeth. I think..."

"But you've never seen a tree like this before. Maybe it does eat..."

Tanuki sat at a distance for a moment, analyzing the situation.

He picked up a small stone and threw it near the tree.

But nothing happened. No matter how hard he tried to foresee it, he couldn't see any real danger.

"You know what? Let's look for those flowers and run in the direction where the trail continues.

If anything happens, you climb on my back and we'll be gone in the blink of an eye.

"We always end up the same way... We should install a little seat on your back," Hikari replied resignedly, taking his hand again to move forward.

They advanced with measured steps toward the enormous tree.

The sound of the wind gently rustled the branches, causing the pods to bump against each other.

Tanuki swallowed hard. He remained alert, his fur bristling and his gaze expectant.

Once in front of the tree, they looked at each other and nodded.

When Tanuki placed his hand on the trunk to cut a flower with his sharp tail...

Hundreds of eyes opened in the dark bark.

Huge black eyes with red irises stared at him intently.

The branches began to shake, and the tree's roots began to rise.

Several pods from nearby trees began to fall to the ground, bursting on impact.

From inside, the newborns screamed and moved, frightened and frantic.

"WAAA! Cut them quickly, what are you waiting for?!" Hikari shouted, tears in her eyes, jumping quickly into Tanuki's arms.

Tanuki cut several flowers with a single movement, handed them to Hikari, and they both ran off at full speed, leaving only a cloud of dust in their wake...

and the screams of chaos.

The vegetation slowly disappeared as they advanced, as if the ground were devouring everything that had ever wanted to grow there.

The ground no longer crunched under their feet. Now it snapped and oozed.

Their feet sank with each step, forcing them to move slowly, as if something invisible were holding them down from below.

A thick layer of moisture covered their skin and throats.

The wind had turned into a soft, cold breeze.

All they could hear was the sound of their footsteps on the water... and a faint moan.

Almost imperceptible. Like a whisper carried by the air.

In front of them, the swamp opened up like a poorly closed wound.

The stagnant water looked like burnt oil. Thick. Motionless.

Some twisted roots emerged from it like clenched fingers, and small bubbles exploded from time to time, releasing a pungent, sweetish stench that forced Hikari to cover her nose.

Tanuki stopped.

He slowly turned around, observing the deformed trees, the fallen undergrowth, the long shadows...

"Where are we now...?"

"You ran too fast and now we're lost!" said Hikari, tapping him lightly on the chest while he was still carrying her.

"Yes, yes... sorry... I was scared by the eyes on that tree."

"This place is scarier than the last one..."

"Don't put me down!" Hikari clung even tighter to Tanuki, hiding her face.

They moved forward cautiously, stepping where the mud allowed, dodging roots floating like dead snakes.

Finally, they reached a slightly higher area, where Tanuki was able to put her down so her shoes wouldn't get wet in the water.

"Did we run in the right direction?"

"The trail was lost in the water, but... I think it led us here."

"I'd say this is the place... look!" Hikari pointed to something that caught her attention.

In the distance, on a partially submerged plain, they could see plants with shiny bulbs. They emitted a faint, almost sickly glow.

Like eyes about to close, but still visible under the dark waters.

"What is that? Another weird plant?"

"I hope so... because if they're eyes, we're really screwed..."

"Do you see any marks there, Hikari?"

"No... what if you transform your left eye to see better?"

"To be honest, I'd rather not use my abilities. I don't want to accelerate the corrosion any further."

"I understand... sorry for suggesting something so inconsiderate." Hikari lowered her head, a little embarrassed. For a moment, she had forgotten the risk Tanuki was taking.

"Don't worry about it. What worries me now is not knowing which way to go..."

As Tanuki sat down for a moment to catch his breath, they both watched as a sinister figure walked through the darkness of the swamp.

It was tall and thin, practically just flesh and bone.

Bones protruded haphazardly from its head, forming a structure reminiscent of a Japanese sugegasa.

Its black skin hung down from its back and arms, forming a long flesh coat made of hanging scraps that swayed with each step.

Its disproportionately long fingers held a large black branch that it used as a cane.

Every so often, it would stop, bend down slowly, and pick up dark roots emerging from the water, then store them inside the empty head of a huge snake, used as a bag.

Its legs were thin and abnormally long.

They did not end in feet, but in sharp extremities like bone stakes.

And its face...

Covered by a mask: a bone piece without eyes or mouth, a figure without a defined shape, completely devoid of expression or meaning.

Tanuki immediately embraced Hikari and covered her mouth.

Alpha monsters always wore bone masks. Sometimes they had human faces... other times, like this one, they had none.

They stood motionless before the creature's imposing presence.

The monster slowly turned its head toward them. Although it had no eyes, they could clearly feel it staring at them.

Tanuki quickly stood up, holding Hikari tightly.

They were ready to run.

But the monster simply ignored them.

It crouched down again and gathered more roots from the water, as if its presence were nothing more than another shadow in the swamp.

"What is it doing? Why isn't it attacking?" whispered Hikari, terrified.

"I... I don't know..."

"Maybe it didn't see us... it doesn't seem to have eyes..."

"If it didn't see us, it certainly heard us..." Tanuki kept his voice low and tense. "But it doesn't care... Why?"

They both watched it in silence.

When the monster finished gathering the roots, it turned around and began to slowly walk away along the same path.

"Let's follow it..."

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Hikari pulled on his clothes, her eyes filled with tears.

"I need to know what it's doing.

And while we're at it... let's collect those glowing plants."

"Waaa! You have no idea how much I hate you right now!"

They tried to follow the creature from a safe distance. The sound of water as they walked made it impossible to be stealthy.

Nevertheless, they remained protected by the deformed and dying tree trunks around them.

Tanuki stopped dead in his tracks. Hikari, still by his side, imitated him without asking questions.

They both looked in the same direction.

The monster had led them to its lair.

Standing in front of a partially submerged clearing, surrounded by what, at first glance, looked like mounds of flesh.

But it wasn't dead flesh. It was moving. It was pulsating.

Some shapes trembled as if they contained something inside. Others emitted a wet, high-pitched sound, like the hiss of a drowning creature.

The alpha figure walked among them with an almost solemn calm.

He did not look around. He seemed focused on his task.

In one hand, he still held the black branch, used as a cane.

In the other, a dark root that he took out of his makeshift bag.

He looked at it for a few seconds, as one might examine a flower before placing it in a vase.

Then, he bent down with impossible elegance and slowly sank the root into one of the mounds of flesh.

The body reacted with a slight, almost pleasurable shudder.

And the root began to spread inside, embracing tissues, absorbing fluids, merging.

"What are you doing?" Hikari whispered, covering her mouth in shock.

"I... I have no idea..." Tanuki was speechless; he had never witnessed a spectacle like this before.

The alpha turned its head gently.

And although it had no visible eyes, they knew it had noticed them.

It watched them for a few seconds.

Without moving. Without making a sound.

And then... it went back to what it was doing.

Another body. Another root.

Same ritual.

More than a monster, he seemed like a gardener. A sculptor.

A mad doctor in his nightmarish operating room.

Sometimes he would stop in front of one of the more developed bodies.

He would caress it with a bony hand, lightly tearing the bruised skin, as if assessing its maturity.

Then he would nod slightly, as if satisfied.

And he continued.

His movements were methodical. Almost delicate.

Nothing he did seemed random.

"I think we'd better... Take the plants and leave, right?"

"Yes... This gives me a really bad feeling..."

They both retraced their steps so they could collect the shiny plants.

Tanuki turned to look back. And there it was. Watching them leave...

Tanuki and Hikari moved far enough away so they no longer felt the pressure of the invisible eyes watching them.

The swamp swallowed the silence once more.

"Okay, let's just collect a few flowers and get out of here..." said Hikari, still trembling.

Tanuki nodded. They cautiously approached the submerged plants, the bulbs glowing with a faint light, trapped just below the dark water.

Hikari reached out to touch one.

And then, the plant suddenly contracted, as if a nerve had been pricked. The bulb closed in on itself and sank just a little deeper, hiding.

"It hid! Did you see that?" said Hikari, looking at Tanuki.

He didn't answer right away. Instead, he crouched down and looked at another nearby plant. It was also retracted. He touched it gently with his fingertip: nothing. He left it alone. Then he tried another one to the left: also closed.

"Hikari..."

"Hmm?" She was focused on her delicate extraction of the plants.

"These plants... react when someone touches them."

"Yes... I just said that," Hikari looked at him with disdain, feeling that she had been ignored.

"I don't mean that. Look!"

"They're retracted, as if they had been disturbed recently."

They looked at each other in silence for a few moments.

Tanuki stood up and looked at the plants around him. Several were closed, forming a subtle but visible path between the submerged trunks, receding in an irregular line toward the mist.

They took each other's hands again to follow the path. It was unclear.

But the flowers, as if they had memory, marked the passage of someone else before them. Someone who, without knowing it, was guiding the two Telums.

The humidity of the swamp was left behind as they carefully made their way through roots and hardened mud. The ground slowly transformed from dark mud to firm, cracked earth, with moss clinging to the rocks.

The cliff walls began to rise on either side, covered with strange vegetation that seemed to merge with the stone itself. Among cracks and crevices, huge carnivorous flowers slept camouflaged. Their petals, barely perceptible, perfectly mimicked the color and texture of the rocks. Forming lethal mouths hidden in the stone.

In the center of each flower, a small luminous, spiral-shaped bud danced to the rhythm of an almost imperceptible breeze. They seemed fragile, almost innocent...

Until a bat-like monster with wings like enormous human hands emerged from the darkness and approached confidently.

The little flight turned into a silent drama. When the creature opened its head in half to show its fangs and devour the little flower, the plant quickly enclosed it with its petals, trapping the animal in a brutal and swift closure.

The monster struggled to escape, but the flower absorbed it, slowly disappearing into the cliff, leaving only an echo of muffled screams.

Tanuki and Hikari stood still, watching the moment with a mixture of horror and fascination.

"Juju!! Did you see that?" Tanuki exclaimed, amazed by what he had just witnessed.

"Yes... I feel a little sorry for the poor thing."

"Don't. That 'poor thing' could have attacked you and carried you off to its nest."

"That's true... now I feel silly for feeling sorry for it. JUM!" Hikari crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks as she usually did when she was upset.

"Haha... Let's go! Just avoid touching the killer flowers."

As they moved forward in silence, the ground became steeper and rockier. Near the edge of the cliff, Tanuki noticed something.

"Look! Another mark! I was right, this was the way!"

"It's different too, it looks like a cross with a circle... too bad we didn't see the previous one."

"Now that I think about it, maybe you were right about this too..."

"About what?"

"The person ahead of us is marking places with strange flowers or plants... right?"

"That's the most likely explanation. They're flora I haven't come across before."

"Then the next flower is..."

"Don't tell me..."

Both of them fixed their gaze on the beautiful little flowers swaying in the jaws of that deadly plant.And between the rocks, dozens of those tiny dancers of light watched them, as if waiting for the next misstep.

"Tanuki..."

"Yeah?"

"How are we going to climb up...?"

"Climbing..."

"Let me rephrase... how am I going to climb?The little chair wasn't such a bad idea, huh?"

"You're a really annoying backpack... adorable, but annoying..."

Tanuki planted a firm foot in the crevice and started climbing.

The dancing flowers surrounded them from the edges of the cliff, hidden among moss, stone, and teeth. Every step demanded focus. Every foothold, a quick assessment.

"Don't look down or you'll fall..." Tanuki said, focused on the rocks.

"I'm not looking down! I'm not looking down!" she replied, gripping even tighter.

Just a little higher, one of the glowing flowers danced within reach. Tanuki carefully stretched out his arm. He focused, and with a swift movement of his claws, cut the stem.

The plant snapped shut with a wet clack.

"Wow! I'm fast as hell, damn it! Next one!""It almost bit my hand!""Huff, huff... this is exhausting... Don't stop! Keep moving!"

"That's it, boy! You got this!"

"Tanuki! This is not the time for rambling!"

"Right, right... focus. No chatting..."

He repeated the process two more times, precise and without hesitation. He handed the flowers to Hikari so she could store them in the backpack along with the rest of the harvest.

"Done. We got the trap flo—"

A sharp screech cut him off. A monstrous bat, with wings like human hands and an inverted head, was diving straight at them.

"Shoot it, Hikari!"

"Yes!"

Hikari raised her arm. Two rings of light spun around her wrist. Her palm glowed for a few seconds, and from it, a crystalline light stake shot out.

The projectile hit its mark. The monster flapped wildly and plunged into the void with muffled screeches.

"Great job, attack partner!"

"Thanks, pack partner."

They could already see a small resting spot at the top. Just a few more meters to go before they could sit and catch their breath.

Once at the top, Tanuki let himself fall backwards onto the nearest rock, breathing heavily. His body was drenched in sweat, mud, and effort—but even so, he smiled with satisfaction.

"I knew it..." he murmured, looking at the mark painted on the stone."I knew this was the way. I'm the damn best tracker and explorer Amaterasu ever created."

"I have to admit, you really are amazing when it comes to anything involving the surface," Hikari said as she carefully took off the backpack and sat beside him.

Tanuki sat up a bit and touched the mark on the rock with one claw: a small spiral next to two parallel lines, clearer this time. It looked recent.

"I'm more and more convinced this is a treasure hunt!"

"Do you think the person making these marks knows we're following them?"

"Hard to say... This route isn't one a rookie would take," he replied, looking toward the far end of the cliff.

"The smell of dampness gets stronger down there... and that over there—see it?"

He pointed to an opening farther below, half-hidden between dry roots and wet stone. It wasn't an ordinary cave. A thick mist was pouring out from within, mixed with white specks that floated like suspended spores.

"That's probably our next destination, right?" Hikari asked, uncertain.

"Yeah. But first, let's catch our breath..."

"We should've brought something to eat... I'm already hungry."

"Me too... if we find something small, we're eating it, no questions asked."

"That's gross... but we don't have many options either," Hikari muttered, pouting as she rested her head on her knees.

The cave entrance was narrow, but wide enough for them to pass in single file. Tanuki went first, senses sharp. As they moved forward, the shadows closed in around them, and the air grew denser, filled with a strange scent—damp, yet sweet and metallic at the same time.

And then... they saw it.

Everything inside the cave seemed to defy natural law.

The mushrooms didn't grow from the ground, but from the ceiling—massive, colorful umbrellas hanging upside down, their stalks stretching upward like floating roots. Some glowed in soft lilac and sky-blue tones, and the air was filled with a faint bioluminescence.

Tiny insects crawled along the walls. Pale creatures with long legs and completely inverted heads, as if nature had shaped them from a mistake.

Some of them climbed upside down, defying the logic of space. Their movements were twitchy, spastic.

"What is this place...?" Hikari whispered, her voice muffled by awe.

"I have no idea... but I see food walking on the walls..." Tanuki replied, moving forward cautiously.

With a swift motion, he caught what looked like a centipede—its head was upside down, and its gecko-like legs stuck out in every direction, twitching erratically.

"Bon appétit... if it's not toxic, I'll catch one for you too."

"You have no idea how much I miss station food right now," she said, looking at Tanuki with a mix of disgust and curiosity.

"It's not that bad... kind of crunchy, but doesn't taste awful." With another quick move, he caught one of the creatures again.

Hikari decided the best approach was to chew and swallow as fast as possible. If she gave it even a second of thought, she'd probably throw up.

"It... doesn't taste that bad... but I don't want any more..."

Farther in, the walls seemed to widen, as if the cave itself were breathing. The plant-like forms still grew upside down, but they also twisted and curled, opening like flowers made of flesh and fungus, decaying in slow motion.

Tanuki paused for a moment, alert for any strange sounds.

But all they could hear was the faint drip of moisture... and the occasional click of insect jaws they couldn't see.

"This small space kind of scares me..." Hikari murmured.

"Same here... escaping could get tricky..."

That's when they noticed what had to be the next objective. Something that clearly stood out in the glowing blues and greens of the environment.

The only mushroom in the place that grew upright. It glowed with a faint white light, its shape nearly perfect. The tip of its translucent cap held a bluish liquid inside.

They looked at each other and nodded.

They approached to collect the mushrooms carefully, expecting something to appear out of nowhere and ambush them...But nothing happened. Which was both comforting and slightly disappointing to them both.

The cave had no optional paths or ways to get lost. They could only keep walking, marveling at every bizarre thing they saw along the way.

"Now that I think about it, the monsters that attacked us at the cliff had their heads upside down..." Hikari pointed out thoughtfully.

"Good observation... maybe there's something in here that causes that mutation?"

"What if our heads turn upside down?!" Hikari squeezed her cheeks and tilted her head to the side dramatically.

"Haha! I don't think that'll happen... though we'd have to walk on our hands," Tanuki replied, mimicking her for a moment.

The cave's exit wasn't abrupt—it was gradual, as if the darkness itself didn't want to let them go just yet.

The bioluminescence slowly gave way to a more familiar reddish light, diffused and filtering in from somewhere between the cracks.And then… they appeared.The remains of crumbling columns. Rectangular stones covered in black moss that had once formed a path.

The air changed. It was drier, warmer, with a faint scent of old earth and sweet flowers.

"What is that smell?" Tanuki murmured, stopping.

"I don't know... but it smells nice," Hikari said, her eyes bright, as if stepping into a fairytale.

In front of them, half-hidden among roots and tangled branches, stood a ruined torii, so ancient it seemed more like part of the landscape than a human structure.Only one of the pillars remained, along with a fragment of the horizontal beam, covered in black lichens and gently swaying vines.

Beyond it, worn stone steps climbed a small rise, flanked by twisted white trees whose branches cast no shadow—rather, they seemed to point toward the sky.

And then they saw them.

The flowers.

Large, black, and star-shaped, with thin petals that trembled in the wind.They completely covered the wide space, surrounded by ancient statues broken by time.

The atmosphere had something... dreamlike.As if the world had paused for a moment, just to watch them bloom.

"It's beautiful... but it feels sad and lonely at the same time..." Hikari said, gazing at the scene with nostalgic eyes.

"Clearly, we need to gather black flowers... but this place... it's way too quiet, don't you think?"

Hikari moved closer to Tanuki and grabbed his hand tightly. Something about the atmosphere felt desolate and unsettling.

Their footsteps echoed softly over the carpet of fallen petals.There were no insect sounds. No wind. Only a faint murmur, as if the place itself was breathing slowly.

"Tanuki, look!" Hikari shouted, pointing to someone lying on the ground.

"What? What the hell is that?!"

The figure on the ground looked human, but their skin was grayish, and from their eyes, their head had begun to grow outward into horns.The horns had multiple piercings, from which hung various charms and symbols tied with braided cords.

A cloak made from some creature's fur covered most of their body, and in their hand, they held a large staff decorated with ornaments, a knife at the tip, and more dangling charms.

Tanuki ran toward the body without letting go of Hikari's hand. He knelt beside the stranger, quickly checking their neck.

"They're still alive... barely."

"What happened to them...?" Hikari asked, her voice trembling.

That's when they noticed it.

The black flowers, once still, began to release a faint mist from their centers. An ethereal dust glowing like tiny floating specks.Hikari inhaled it first without realizing. Her eyes widened, her body wavered... and she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Hikari!" Tanuki caught her just before she hit the ground. She was still breathing, but her eyes were moving beneath her eyelids as if she were dreaming too fast.

Tanuki blinked. The air felt heavier. He felt tingling in his throat, in his arms. Everything was getting brighter… and farther away.

The voices in his head began to stir. His surroundings slowly warped.

"No... I don't... have time for this..." he muttered, squeezing his eyes shut, clinging to the ground as if he might fall off the world.

But the world was already coming apart.

The broken statues began to move… not really, but along their edges, as if blinking into another direction of space.The torii seemed whole again… only upside down.The flowers grew toward the sky, not from the earth, and their petals formed endless spirals.

A voice, soft like an old song, whispered in his ear:

"Is she my replacement?"

Tanuki turned abruptly, but no one was there.

Hikari was still beside him, but now her hair was longer. Her skin was pale. Her eyes were empty.

"Why did you leave me alone...?" her figure murmured, reaching a hand out to him.

Tanuki crawled backward, the flowers seeming to bite at the ground where he stepped.

And in that instant, he saw himself—just a child, covered in blood.

"Why do you keep running? You already know how this ends..."

Karazu's figure, dressed in white, appeared holding the boy's hand and looking at Tanuki with sadness.

"No… not now..." he muttered, his voice cracking, struggling against the rising panic.His mind, already damaged, was starting to fracture again.

"Just give up... you'll be the one to kill her anyway...Better to let her die here..."

(Who?) — (The girl!!) — (Hikari)(Noo!) — (Karazu…) — (How much can your body endure?)

"You too, Echo? Do you all get together just to mess with me..."

Tanuki collapsed to the ground as he tried to lift both the stranger and Hikari.The voices and hallucinations combined were too much—even for him.

"Tanuki… come to me... let's walk together again..."

"You... you're not... Karazu!!!" Tanuki screamed with rage as he struggled to get to his feet.

As if ripping himself out of a deep sea, he crawled forward with effort, grabbed Hikari with one arm, and lifted the unconscious stranger with the other.

The world kept shaking.

But his legs kept walking.

"Where are you going?... Are you going to abandon me again?"(I wanted to help you!) — (We couldn't!!) — (What happened to Chidori?)(Who?!) — (Okami-001) — (Don't let her fall)

"You killed Mogura! Inu! Yagi! Neko! And everyone around you."(Don't kill her) — (Protect her!!) — (You're so gentle)(Hi-ka-ri) — (AHHHHHHH!!) — (We need a little chair)

"Shut up already!! I... can't... leave her here..."

And before he too collapsed, he reached for the shadow of one of the fallen statues... where everything turned genuinely dark.

And the mist, for the first time, covered them to protect them.

The silence was thick.

Tanuki slowly opened his eyes, his head still resting against the cold stone. His whole body felt heavy, as if he had been swimming against an endless current.

Next to him, Hikari slept deeply; her breathing was calm and steady. A damp cloth covered her forehead—one he didn't remember putting there.

Tanuki got up with difficulty. His legs trembled, but most importantly, Hikari was safe.

A few meters away, squatting, was the humanoid being he had rescued from the flowers.

He silently watched the ground. His large, wound-covered body was partially wrapped in pieces of plant cloth and braided cords. He had drawn a simple symbol on the earth with a stick: a circle with three marks radiating from the center, like branches.

Tanuki looked at him, silent.

The being lifted his head and met his gaze with small, dark, calm eyes. He made no sound. He only raised a hand, brought it slowly to his chest, then extended it toward him.

A gesture of gratitude... or recognition, as Tanuki could interpret.

Still dazed, Tanuki repeated the gesture. The nomad seemed satisfied and leaned back, taking something from a wooden bowl beside him. He carefully brought it over and offered it.

A thick, warm liquid with a strange but not unpleasant smell. Tanuki hesitated for a few seconds... then drank.

The taste was earthy, strong, but not repulsive. Something in his stomach relaxed. The being nodded slowly and let out a subtle smile.

Hikari began to move, and Tanuki immediately turned toward her. Her eyes fluttered open—tired but lucid.

"Hikari! Are you okay? How do you feel?"

"I'm... dizzy... but fine...""What happened?" she asked, still dazed.

The being stood up with effort, took his staff adorned with bones and symbols, and walked over to one of the black flowers. He bowed with respect, almost devotion, and plucked a flower before quickly returning to them.

It was clear who they had been following...But who—or what—was he, really?

There was no doubt he was much more intelligent and evolved than the rest of the surface inhabitants.And, apparently, he was not hostile.