Chapter 165
Navigating airports was hard enough for Ru when she was in countries where most everyone spoke English. Flying to Japan would’ve been completely overwhelming if Ivy wasn’t fluent in Japanese and Mandarin, especially when they had to switch planes in Shanghai. Luckily, the gentle-natured Keeper had managed to keep all of them in line and they’d made their way to Shizuoka Airport with little incident, though Rider complained about the lack of legroom on the commuter jet nearly the whole flight. Thank goodness for headphones, Ru had thought to herself.
The entire van ride from the airport to their hotel, a place Ru hadn’t even attempted to try to pronounce for fear she’d embarrass herself, her eyes were glued out the window. From the buildings, to the natural surroundings off in the distance, to the smiling faces of those they passed along the streets, Ru was fascinated. By the looks she was getting, so were the people staring back at her. Five tall blondes with blue eyes traveling together might’ve made some people think they were some sort of rock band or that they were filming a movie. This time, however, Ru didn’t mind the eyes focused on her. She smiled and waved at several people as they made their way to the hotel.
Their accommodations were out of the city a bit, closer to Mt. Fuji, and subsequently, the forest. Ru began to grow uneasy again, even though using her black power to explode several boulders and start a brush fire that challenged Lyric’s extinguishing abilities had definitely helped control it. Still, that had been the day before yesterday—by her calculations—and now she was on the brink of facing her demons, literally. She doubted she would get any sleep while they were in Japan, not until she knocked herself out on the battlefield, anyway.
Climbing out of the van, Ru breathed in the fresh air and stepped away from the noise of other disembarking passengers to peer out at the landscape. From here, she could see the top of Mt. Fuji kissing the clouds in the distance. Someday, she might return to visit the natural wonder, but for now, her focus was on the forest that lay between them. And even from several miles away, Ru could feel a massive amount of darkness breathing among the trees, using their canopy, their leaves and branches, to hide in waiting. A tightness filled her stomach and gravitated up toward her chest, blocking the fresh air from fully entering her lungs. Out of the blackness, a solitary heartbeat called to her. He was here. There was no way she could possibly escape her fate now.
“Ru!”
She turned to see four concerned pairs of eyes staring at her from the sidewalk. Ru looked down to see she’d gotten halfway across the parking lot without even realizing it. Luckily, there’d been no traffic, and as far as she could tell, her feet had never left the ground.
“Coming,” she said, turning around and heading back to her friends. Though their eyes asked a dozen questions, none of them voiced a single one, and Ru took her bag from Cutter, as he protested, and headed into the hotel, hoping she could stay awake all night. Falling asleep under the circumstances seemed extremely dangerous.
Aokigahara sprawled in front of her like the untamed wild it was, trees encroaching into the neighboring farmlands and open spaces as if the forest insisted on reclaiming what used to be hers. From this direction, it was difficult to tell where the forest began and civilization ended, though Ru thought for certain she’d know when she crossed the line.
She stifled a yawn and kept moving forward, one boot at a time, toward what might be her very last mission, if she had her way. Though she had fallen asleep for a few hours, for the most part, she’d gotten her wish and was able to stay up most of the night, with Cutter’s help, and the activity he’d chosen to occupy her certainly didn’t make her feel less worn out. The few hours she had spent in oblivion had been dreamless, as far as she knew. At least, if there had been dreams, they had been unmemorable.
Her friends surrounded her as they made their way into the forest. Cutter was in front of her, Rider behind her, and Ivy and Lyric on either side. She wasn’t sure if this was their own plan for protecting her or if it had been some secret directive from Sky, but she felt safe, if not a little ridiculous. She wasn’t any more important than any of them, after all.
Before Alfred, the codename Sky had given their team, even began to make its way through the thick trees, sounds of battle reached them, and occasionally, Ru would see blue lights flashing off in the distance or feel a particularly strong gust of wind. Lyric had informed them that the attack had begun almost four hours ago, and by now, if things were going as planned, they should be able to get to the portal without any issues. While Lyric was able to pick up strong vibrations of success from her sister, it was impossible under the circumstances to get a clear message. Sky was commanding a fair number of troops after all.
Ru had wondered if any humans might see what was happening here and alert the media, but Cutter told her not to worry about it. They had ways of making sure they didn’t end up on YouTube, and that’s all she needed to know. The rest was too complex. Since she was tired of trying to wrap her head around the intricacies of how Heavenly beings operated, she decided to let it go—for now.