Chapter Text
２０１８年３月１日
"A mere human daring to pass the grounds that belong to a God like me?"
The only thing Yūji could think of was a singular curse word he wouldn't dare to even mutter in front of his grandparent as he watched the four-armed deity in front of him. The behemoth of a man did not look pleased. Fuck.
.
.
.
"Itadori-kun, please! It's not everyday we get to do something like this! Please!" Sasaki grouses as she held the pink haired boy's arm, pulling at it and trying to make him follow her. Instead, Yūji does not even move an inch while she tries her hardest.
She mumbles something inaudible as she stops pulling, exhausted. "Iguchi! Tell him that he needs to go with us!" Sasaki snaps and turns to look at her other friend and club member who was observing the pair. Sasaki continues to cling onto Yūji's arm, who was staring at her movements with almost an smile of amusement.
"Sasaki, if he really doesn't want to go... Just let him stay here with the others." Iguchi tries to reason, but Sasaki being Sasaki, it will not work. "But now we got the perfect chance! We don't usually get to stay in a forest for like, two weeks! We're in like the middle of nowhere! Imagine all the spooky shit we could find!"
Just about a month ago, Yūji's homeroom teacher had announced a two-week camping trip at the Futakuchi campgrounds as their final activity before the graduation ceremony for everyone arrives. But with his grandpa in the hospital, Yūji was doubting if he should come with. In the end, his grandpa convinced him to go with his class to the camp, saying that he needs to see more of the nature instead of only sitting here by his bedside or just reading manga in his free time...
"Ughh, Itadori pleaseee!" She hangs on the e. "I bet there's a haunted shrine in this forest!" She begins to shake Yūji's arm. "Or there's cursed spirits out there." Iguchi quips.
Yūji sighs, damn, they're right about that though. And eventually... "Only one way to find out, when do you guys wanna head into the forest?"
"Yes! Thank you thank you thank you! We can't do it without you!" The girl hugs his arm before letting go, face full of excitement. "Yeah yeah, lets go before the teacher comes to us and gives us an task to do-"
So now the trio were walking in the forest, Sasaki had mainly been taking pictures of the nature surrounding them while both Iguchi and Yūji were looking around to try and maybe spot something interesting, maybe an cave or hole. Hopefully something spooky, but was only met with boring stuff.
But suddenly,
There's a temple bell in the distance, Yūji stops and turns his head towards the sound, but it sounds like it was everywhere.
Sasaki notices Yūji behavior and follows his gaze, only staring into nothing. "What'd you see?"
"Did you guys hear that too?" Yūji asks.
Both iguchi and Sasaki take a glimpse of each other before looking back at Yūji. "Hear what?" Iguchi asks, "What are you talking about?" Sasaki joins in.
Yūji turns to look at them like they were crazy. "But that was quite loud..."
"...Whatever. Lets continue!" Yūji says.
Twelve minutes later, and still nothing interested came towards them.
"Ugh, I don't think anything is here Sasakiii..." Yūji whines. "We should head back to the camp before the teacher starts to complain we went too far off or something and punishes us." Iguchi notes. But was earned a grunt from both the girl and the boy now. "We could try again tomorrow towards a different direction." A phone begins to ring, and it startled Sasaki. To which Yūji only snickers to her suddenly jumping from the sound. Iguchi takes his phone and sees who's calling him. "Senpai," He informs the pair before picking up the call. "You guys should head back before your sensei starts to worry."
Sometimes the trio should all thank their senpai for being so chill with them doing what counts as reckless things as activities for their occult club. "We were just heading back, does Suzuki sensei know we're away or..." Iguchi questions into the phone while putting it on the speaker. "Nah, but he will know soon if you guys don't return in like thirty minutes. Just get back safe. But I trust you guys with that." Sasaki eyes Iguchi and Yūji before replying. "We're on our way! Just please make sure Sensei doesn't catch up on the fact we've walked off-" Yūji joins the conversation. "-But why would he be even angry at us if we're doing club activities?" "Itadori-kun, I hope you're aware of the fact it's still school hours, even if we're at the camp, it isn't time for club activities yet." Whoops.
"It's fine we're heading back now, see you later senpai!" And Sasaki hangs up before Iguchi or Yūji could continue talking.
"Dude-" Both guys said.
The trio began to make their way back to the camp, following the same path they had taken to walk further into the forest. Sasaki continued to enjoy the nature while occassionally trying to look for anything they might've missed that they could explore later. And Iguchi just kept his eye on her and the time.
Yūji however was walking behind him. And he looks a bit around when he realized he was walking in the eared he'd heard that weird bell from.
When reaching the camp, the three of them blends back into the other students like they hadn't disappeared for over a hour or two. And luckily, they were just in time for an activity made by their teachers that we're at the camp.
Everyone continued to have a good time, time passes by, and it's almost 8 PM after everyone had dinner.
Most of his classmates were unpacking their stuff, but Yūji had already done that when they'd arrived. So currently he was a bit bored.
His homeroom teacher Suzuki Sensei turns to Yūji from where he was standing, inspecting the current wood they'd collected for the campfire. "Itadori-kun, could you please grab more firewood for us? We probably will need more for later." Yūji looks at his teacher before replying, "Sure thing, teach!" And then he begins to walk off, into the forest.
When first exploring it with Sasaki and Iguchi, they had not seen much at all. Except for the beautiful scenery of course. But not a single abandoned shrine or temple or what else you could possibly find in this big forest.
They had seen animals too.
Something catches Yūji’s eyes, a turquoise color on the ground, and he stumbles towards it with curiosity.
It’s a roof tile, seemingly old.
Why's there a dirty roof tile here? Is there a building nearby? Yūji gets more curious, and begins to head further into the forest. He's fine, he knows what way to walk back towards the camp with his compass. Surely.
Yūji continues moving forward, until something else catches his eyes, and it was similar to the dirty roof tile on the ground he'd seen a few minutes before.
But, it was a lot more.
It's a... tsuijibei wall? As he inches closer, he can more clearly see it. He turns to look to the side, eyes trailing along to wall that continued to follow through the forest. A big and long one at that—
Yūji gets closer, taking note of how the wall seems neglected. Moss covering at the bottom of the bricks and wood, indicating that it'll start spreading further onto the walls over the years if it keeps being neglected from cleaning. The tiles on the roof seemed rusty too, old, brown leaves sticking between the gaps of the now ugly green color, vines here and there... Did he just find an abandoned building? Ugh, he wishes Sasaki and Iguchi were with him now, imagine if they found this earlier!
That's when the teen decides to try and find the entrance of it. If it's truly a tsuijibei wall then it must have a gate. And just when Yūji thinks about it, he's reached the end of the wall here. But when he turns to look right, he can see it continues west- and there it was. The wall is connected to a large ...and closed gate.
Yūji frowns as he approaches it.
The wood looks neglected, edges decayed due to the fungal spread across it, and the rest of the wood looks wet and rotten.
He tugs at the handles, grimaces a bit as the gross texture of the orange rusty and dirty steel gets in contact with his skin. Rough beneath his fingers.
The teen lets out a huff, letting go of the handles, he wants to know what is on the other side...
The place looks large with how he had followed along the walls towards the gate, why is it abandoned?
Taking a few steps backwards and glancing above, he notes it does not seem like it would be easy to climb over the walls. Especially not with the tiles as the roof of the walls.
Yūji wonders if Iguchi could help him cross the walls...
Crack.
Yūji immediately whips his head towards wherever that sound came from, that wasn't him... It came from the right of where he's standing. He narrows his eyes.
Honey colored orbs scan the area in the distance, but can't see if there's a animal or anyone else in that direction. Maybe he could check it out?
Without a second thought, the teen was already moving towards the sound, walking next to the wall that was being withered away into nature. The more he walks, the more he came closer to the end of the wall, and still no new sound of it repeating. Maybe a bird?
He looks left, and was met with a miracle.
Yūji had spotted a mess in the walls, and it looks like it might be broken. A simple way in? Hopefully.
He inches closer to the broken mess in the wall, pieces of bricks, broken wood and mud were covering the ground around the hole, did a car ride into the wall or something? Why the hell is it so broken- and damn that wall is thick from the inside.
With silently observing the damage of the wall, it looks like it wasn't too old, but also not too recent. Yūji peeks, or rather, crouches down to look through it. The hole is large enough for him to creep through, and he can see the through the other side. And its... What the hell? Yūji scrunches his eyes as if that would improve his vision. The nature across the wall looks so well tended! Like a garden! What?
Mmm... He looks over his shoulder back, almost thinking as if his teachers would stand there catching him in the act of running away from camp instead of only bringing firewood—Oh right! The firewood! He completely forgot about it the second he saw that tile! But... He's alone. A sneak peek wouldn't hurt right? It'll be quick!
And he wants to cross those walls.
Yūji looks back at the large hole, before finally moving towards it—and eventually passing through.
The second he stepped foot across the broken wall, through the hole, a small surge of energy became noticeable to the teen, feeling like he was a bit under pressure. But it faded just fast as it began when he fully stepped onto the property. The hairs at the nape of his neck refused to settle however, like if someone was breathing against his neck. The hell was that about?
Probably nerves, so he decides to ignore it, Yūji’s curiosity will be the death of him sometime. But not right now. Surely not, he thinks to himself.
He glances back through the destroyed tsuijibei he just stepped through, the walls are thick... Yūji still wonders what could've happened what made a hole through it. But enough wondering about stuff he'll probably never know! He's got a place to explore!
And thus, the pink haired teen began to move further onto the grounds of the estate. The area is large, he quickly notices. And very well tended. A bit too well tended for it to be abandoned.
What if he's trespassing—walking on private property of a family or monks... However, the estate getting closer in sight immediately distracted him from his thoughts.
"Woah."
Yūji mindlessly began to walk further into the large gardens, eyes catching the estate well in the background as nature surrounded him. He steps over a tree root, and something tugged lightly at the back of his hoodie.
The action made Yūji glace behind him. But nothing was there, only the "entrance" he crawled from. Must've been an branch. and Yūji continues forward.
The estate is really nice… Yūji couldn’t help himself but get more curious, why’s there an estate in the middle of the forest of Sendai he’s never heard of? Were there monks here taking care of it? Wait—what if he really is trespassing—ah crap, well, he doesn’t notice anyone around so… maybe it’s abandoned? But the place looks too clean for it to be abandoned… well if he does run into a monk maybe he could ask! Or he’d be trouble. There was barely a noticeable change in the air, but far too thin for the pinkette to notice while he’s deep in thought debating to himself if he should allow himself to walk further.
Yūji can see the different types of trees that were here. Cedar, Cypress, Sakura—It blooms. Leaves following the wind that occasionally passes through.
There's a large pond, it's elegant, and clean. He could spot a few fishes from where he's standing.
He can see there's also a red painted, vermilion, wooden bridge connected from the other side, leading to a small island in the center of the waters, that had stone at the edge around it. Yūji could see the bridge's slightly arching shape with unlit lanterns at either ends.
The island in the middle of the pond only contains one single overgrown tree, accompanied by what it looks like... four weathered stone platforms and a larger stone platform in the center? It reminds him of a small table set. A small stone lantern near it, next to what it looks like an offering stone.
However—The bridge is not the only way to access the grounds in the middle. The teen saw stone through the waters, medium sized platforms you could hop over if you were careful enough to not slip and fall into the waters. Yūji wants to try reach the island that way if he can...
Yūji gets closer to the waters, eyes lingering on the glassy surface the Koi fish were swimming in, but soon noticed how his own view was a bit disorienting. Or well, something behind his reflection. It seemed wrong. But only for two seconds before a fish underneath the reflecting waters removed it.
"...Huh?" Whatever.
He continues to look at the pond, noting how water lilies lie on the reflecting surface—and is that a dock in the distance by the water? Not only that, it's not that silent, you can hear the water splashing against the rocks and waters under it. It's a waterfall? Damn.
The pink haired boy notices a path nearby, and since he doesn't see anyone around, he decides to walk on it. Curious where it'll lead him.
As Yūji walks further, he passes the stone lanterns accompanying him along the pathways, now that he notices—there's almost everywhere tōrō located, near the pond, beneath the trees, and now along the pathways. His pupils trails over the building connected to the gardens. It seems like it's a Shinden-Zukuri inspired mansion or some sort of architecture, it seems old-fashioned. It wasn't constructed like modern estates he'd seen at school trips. It more reminds him of the pictures in his history books at school. The wood of the central hall is dark, connecting to what it looks like corridors connecting to eastern and western side buildings. Maybe there's more behind it? He can't exactly see.
Every sliding door Yūji could see was closed. Maybe no one's home. Yūji stepped forward and his shadow followed, but for a second, something about its shape seemed wrong. And he did not notice it.
Yūji also quickly notices how the estate is bigger in reality than only just seeing it through the trees.
Cool.
Maybe he should head back before someone actually turns out to live here— but... A peek closer wouldn’t hurt anyone right?
And with that final thought, Yūji continued his adventure, looking around, and trying to listen for any extra steps nearby but was greeted with none. Maybe it really is abandoned? Just recently?
The path underneath him began to separate from the estate grounds, like he's entering a more secluded part of the property.
Yūji walks under a torii, it was the same vermilion color from the bridge he saw earlier... the gravel path began to turn into large, carefully placed stones with a bit of moss on it. The torii seems old.
