The Crooked Silhouette

Chapter 5: The Misunderstanding

            “Tsk, I’m sorry. I’m not good in handling bugs.”

            Tatsu’s complaint brought Yagi back to reality. He looked at Tatsu scratching here and there over his body. Probably bugs have bitten somewhere on his limbs that he became so restless. “It was comprehensible since fauna in here recognise us, Dimensionals, than you, a Human. They may bite for their protection since you’re a foreign to them.”

            “It sounds discriminative,” Tatsu grunted in displease. He was clueless in handling bug bites, let alone avoiding them from biting him. He brought plentiful of insect repellent products but he brought none of them to The Dimension. It was extremely unexpected though.

            They hiked the sloppy path, unknowingly leading them deeper into the forest. Yagi knew how to return to his Valley which was by teleportation, but since they were allocated to abduct Humans, the skill was however shut off. Right after they arrived at The Forest of Eve before being sent to The Earth, Yagi once attempted on fleeing to his Valley, but he failed. He had no idea how Tsuya control that too. Even Mizugame, Oushi, Ohitsuji and Otome tried and foundered miserably. Since then, they needed to find the exit themselves.

            “It has been hours since we began our journey. The sky has slowly changed its colour,” Tatsu looked up, gazing at the cloudy purplish sky, “Even though I like the colour, it means night will fall soon. I dislike darkness, I must say.”

            The cicadas were already observed coming out from their nests. Yagi crossed his arm, thinking on the next step needed to be executed. “We should get out from here, but it seems like… we are nowhere but deeper into the forest.”

            “You must be kidding me,” The swift wind flowed almost immediately. “The sun has not set, but I already get chills.”

            Predicting from the thick shrubs and tall trees outgrew the shorter ones, Yagi confirmed their lost. They could have probably arrived at the profound of The Forest of Eve. Even the scent of The River of Adam was dense, indirectly signified that they have reached a foothill. Yagi respired to supply oxygen for his body cells as tough and durable body was one of his defensive mechanism to avoid casualty, especially when he had a Human to dispatch to.

            He knew. He believed to his intuition. This Tatsu was Tsuya’s weakness despite not knowing their actual relationship.

‘Yagi- Yagi’

            The feeble voice calling his name halted him middle way. Tatsu has nearly bumped into his back, but he manageably ceased. He was puzzled as Yagi did not seem to step on sharp woods or get spat by flying birds or such. He froze and frowned as if he obtained a foresight to get out of the woods.

            ‘Yagi? Do you hear me?’

            That voice realistically echoed in his head. Shaking his head strenuously to get rid of the articulation, he immediately realized something that Tatsu surely did not know. He looked around for nth time while Tatsu stood really close to him. Of course he would since he was not belong there and he barely identified anyone but Yagi, or if he fated to meet his friends there, he could only rely on these five individuals – four Humans and a Zodiac.

            “Yagi, what’s wrong?” Tatsu shook his hand. His heart pounded as Yagi responded nothing. “What did you see?” he sought affront, figuring out what Yagi has seen before him.

            “Wait for a while, Tatsu,” A hand gesture by Yagi fazed Tatsu from inquiring more. “Someone is calling me.”

            “I don’t hear anything but your breath and my heart beat.”

            Yagi turned to him, one brow raised, “You heard your heart beat?”

            “If it beats too fast.”

            ‘Yagi, please come here.’

            “Okay, someone has really called me,” Yagi pursed his lip. “But he used telepathy. Only I could hear it,” Yagi concentrated on the direction of the voice, “I guess he’s around here.”

            “Is he someone bad? Probably Tsuya The Spirit?”

            “No, he’s not,” Yagi crouched on the ground. He poked his index finger into the ground as he spoke. Tatsu could not comment much as Yagi suddenly rose and pointed to a direction, “He’s there. He’s one of us – The five Zodiacs. I know who he is. Let’s go get him.”

            Both Yagi and Tatsu half ran to the course Yagi has aimed. Tatsu had to fasten his own pace since Yagi obviously had bigger steps than him. The road became harsh as Yagi led them to brave through the shrubs instead of the narrow pathway provided. He assumed Yagi was picking the shortest way to fetch the one calling him, expectantly a Zodiac.

            Minutes of going through bushes and bug bites till he could feel a few spot on his calves have swollen from getting bitten, he smelt water – it was a river, to be precise. He gazed upon the scenery before the eyes with the dim light remaining as the sun gradually dissolved. Unable to keep his gaping mouth shut, Tatsu moved forward and crouched by the bank. It shimmered naturally from the bottom as if the water itself had glitters. Watching its water up close, Tatsu just noticed it was translucent blue in colour.

            He only put a hand into the water for merely one second when it simmered his hand like boiling a vegetable on the stove. It was impossible for Yagi to not see it thus rapid action was taken to save Tatsu from The River of Adam. He never acknowledged The River of Adam would be dreadful to the entity. Perhaps it ingested a non-Dimensional creature that he burnt Tatsu once it detected the difference likened to Dimensionals.

            Tatsu was a real Human though.

            “Are you all right, Tatsu?”

            “Yeah, I’m just fine. Thank you for your fast reaction.”

            The sound of stirred shrubs alerted Yagi and Tatsu. The trees surrounding them did sway but it did not really foretell Yagi that they were watched from somewhere near. The breeze calmed a little to the point Yagi could not react as swift as how he did to Tatsu’s hand when an entity ambushed Tatsu from behind. He pinned Tatsu beneath him, huffing and puffing as his pounding heart gave him fright and courage almost simultaneously.

            The moment Yagi shifted to find the missing Tatsu at his side, the entity has already hoisted a medium-sized clay vase with the mouth facing downward. He was about to smash Tatsu’s head with is as Yagi came to the rescue by kicking him at the abdomen. He could not avoid it as Yagi was an attacker himself. He was thrown meters from Tatsu along with the vanishing vase.

            “Tatsu!” Yagi assisted Tatsu getting up from the ground. Dust and dirt soiled his clothes, but no lesion was visible. “Are you all right, Tatsu?”

            “You sure are a troubled parent, Yagi,” Tatsu brushed it off with a chuckle, “I’m gladly fine, no worries. I got some filth, and that’s it.”

            After ensuring Tatsu’s undamaged body, Yagi then shifted to the one duping them. He panted and rubbed his abdomen, likely hurting from Yagi’s sturdy kick. They literally glared at each other while posed in their appropriate fighting stance. The ambusher peeked at the stumbling Tatsu. His one hand upraised at his eye level while he fixated solely at Yagi.

            “It has only been four month I was declared as the new King of The Capricorn Valley, but I am totally aware of what your ability is,” His pupil enlarged as he was unable to see much clearer than before. The sun has fully set and darkness has taken over in their sight, “Mizugame of The Aquarius.”

            “I may be the weakest but I don’t give in that easily.”

            “Mizugame, I don’t want to fight you. I don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

            “I can’t help it. You started it first.”

            “Eh, I what?” a brow of his raised in confusion. “What’ve I started?”

            Right over his palm, Mizugame forged a vase consisted of water he gathered from The River of Adam. Surprisingly the water did not injure him like how it did towards Tatsu, validating Yagi’s assumption. The vase then hardened and grew larger in size as he still fixated on Yagi and Tatsu.

            “I never knew you had something up your sleeve,” Mizugame aimed the mouth of the vase towards Tatsu, “What do you want from Yagi, Tsuya?”

            Yes, yes. This was so-called Tsuya. Yagi groaned at Mizugame’s bluntness. “For your information, this is not Tsuya. His name is Tatsu, and he is The Human I fetched from The Earth,” he explained while ignored Tatsu whispering at him “I’m not a thing you could get by purchasing though.”

            “You must plot other plan than this mission, Tsuya! Then you pretend to not recognise Yagi, The Zodiac you yourself sent to The Earth to get him by your side!”

            No gap after speech. Mizugame dashed to Tatsu and again hoisted the vase to smack it at his head. The flaring eyes did scare Tatsu, but he refused to retaliate. Yagi’s reluctance brought him to kick Mizugame for the second time, but the vase was released from his grasp and befell near Tatsu’s face. It broke into pieces with some of them mauling him.

            “He is Tatsu and he doesn’t have any idea who Tsuya is!” Yagi gritted his teeth while disclosing Tatsu’s innocence. “Please don’t jump into conclusion and let me explain first!”

            “I don’t need it!” Mizugame forged another vase on his hand. This time it was bigger than the previous one, enough to fit Tatsu’s whole body. He lifted it up in the air with his both hand, “Let him go, Tsuya, and I will put this down!”

            The posture Mizugame was in was the one The Aquarius would perform when they were about to unleash one of their strongest power. Straight away Yagi figured out the consternation in Mizugame. He might get panic as he saw Yagi walking together with Tatsu, and misunderstood him as Tsuya, thus launching an ambush.

            “I’m sorry for intruding, Zodiac. I don’t mean to harm anyone here,” Tatsu came forward and confronted face-to-face with the trembling Mizugame. “My name is Tatsu, and I’m not the Tsuya you are afraid of. If you don’t want to trust me, please believe in Yagi. He is telling you the truth, and I don’t seem to benefit for deceiving either.”

            The face, the voice, the height, and even the body language did resemble Tsuya. But he said he was Tatsu? “You- You’re not Tsuya?” he dropped his vase which shattered to bits. “Then, who are you? How can you- look irrefutably analogous to Tsuya? Are you his twin on The Earth?”

            A long sigh escaped from Tatsu. “Your response intrigues me so bad that I myself want to see who the one you guys call as Tsuya.”

            The broken vases have vanished in the air as Mizugame cooled down and relaxed his ludicrous heartbeat. He watched The Human before him. This is Tatsu, he stuck to that mind-set. Other than those indifferences, he looked absolutely normal as a Human. The Human who was with Yagi was far kinder than Tsuya – Tsuya was too bad as comparison to Tatsu.

            “Told you he isn’t Tsuya,” Yagi jeered at the latter, developing guilt inside him.

            “I’m so sorry!” Mizugame practically bowed to Tatsu, “I summoned Yagi because I sensed him around, but I was initially shocked seeing him walking with you, guessed as Tsuya! I’m sorry for my recklessness! You may punish me!”

            Tatsu squinted at Yagi the teaser. “Yagi, you sure know who he is from the start, right? Why did you hit him? It must be painful.”

            An awkward silence overwhelmed them as Tatsu crouched and patted Mizugame’s head, persuading and ensuring him nothing would be done as a penalty. “I’m not Tsuya, as I said,” he repeated, “I am a no one here. My presence will bring either luck or disaster to you guys, so sooner or later I will rely on you. Besides, you were more to protecting Yagi and indirectly yourself – The more reason on why I won’t do anything to you.”

            He spoke very mannerly. He was demeanour and full of courtesy. His soothing words sedated both Yagi and Mizugame. Who is he, actually? How can he be so composed here? They were evidently bigger than him, and he has already witnessed Mizugame’s magical power and Yagi’s ability to regenerate by himself from the fight on The Earth. One word – abnormal. Nevertheless, he did not seem to get frightened by anything he has seen so far, putting aside the bug bites.

            “How- How can you be so contrasting to Tsuya?” even though Tatsu was so nice to him, a hint of fear still present in him. He might need to be more careful with Tatsu, “Are- Are you sure you don’t know who Tsuya is?”

            “I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve repeated that,” Tatsu rolled his eyes, “I don’t know whoever named Tsuya. Well, Yagi and you were so scared of him. Bring me to him then,” hands around the waist as a sign of manoeuvre.

            Another entity joined the whole chat room, calling “Tatsu!” with a very familiar voice, thus stunned the owner. He turned around almost abruptly just to see one of his missing friend running to get him to his embrace.

            “Hikari!”