Visual Kei

Though I hardly felt comfortable staying in the apartment, there was a strange feeling of mystery and danger lingering in the air as I followed Shinji and Emiko outside. It had begun raining suddenly, not uncommon weather patterns for a late springtime in Okinawa, but it added to the tug of intrigue and imminent catastrophe that slithered in the night, seeming to fill each shadow until it seemed bloated.

In the midnight hours, very few people walked the darkened streets. Shinji glanced at the sky momentarily, as if listening to something. Emiko kneaded her forehead with two fingers, but she seemed to also be concentrating. The two of them seemed to snap back to reality at the same time, nodding to one another in silent understanding. Shinji motioned for us to follow and slipped eagerly into the shadows of a nearby alleyway. Tossing me a quick glance, Emiko disappeared where Shinji had, and I followed suit.

That particular alleyway seemed narrower than the others I had been in while visiting Japan and significantly less inviting. Few lanterns were alight at this time of night, and the small passage was abandoned. Shinji led us through a network of these smaller streets before coming to a sudden halt. Just as suddenly, I heard someone jump down from one of the dark buildings and land on the concrete with only the clicking sound of heels on the ground.

“Sorry to drop in on you,” a familiar voice said smugly, “I thought I’d help you out.”

“We’d be grateful for any help we could get,” Shinji said though he did not relax in the least. “But why are you going to do that?”

“You wound me, Shinji! We’ve been friends for… what, forty years now? Won’t you ever learn to trust me?” He was silent. “And look, you’ve brought your lovely friend with you!”

Looking around Shinji as she addressed me, Umi smiled. I returned her smile uncertainly and put up a shield around my thoughts before she could properly read them in case she had that power. Her eyes lost their shimmer quickly; she felt my mental withdrawal from her. Shinji glanced at me, his eyes nearly overflowing with critical but ambiguous warning. This look vanished from his eyes, however, when Umi regarded him once more.

“I know where we can find your friends,” she said levelly, holding my gaze even as she spoke to Shinji. “I’m afraid I won’t be of much use in a fight, however.”

“Please lead the way,” Shinji murmured, barely audible over the pattering rain. “We will follow.”

“Yes, I’m sure you’re eager to see them. Come.”

As he turned a corner, I finally got a good look at Umi. Her hair now fell to the middle of her neck, the tips curling in toward her chin, and it was a dark brown with thick maroon streaks. She was wearing a vinyl body suit and platform boots with sharp, cruel heels. The choice seemed ill-planned, however. She had very few curves to her body except her breasts and it accentuated that fact. Somehow, she could still sneak through the night without making any noise, though.

Umi’s boyish form slunk through the shadows almost naturally, second only to Kiiro in doing so. She stopped us at a bend in the alleyway, her dyed hair clinging to her oval face as she closed her eyes in concentration. We all leaned against the building cautiously, hearing distant footsteps. Peeking around the corner, she nodded to us and we stepped out and into the small lot.

“Where exactly are we going?” Emiko asked.

“Be quiet,” Umi snapped, glimpsing at a nearby manhole, “and I will show you.” She shook her head after a long moment. “Stay close to Shinji, Alice. This is especially dangerous for you, do you understand me?” I nodded.

Without elaborating, she grabbed onto a pipe that ran up the building’s side and began to climb up it. The three of us followed in silence, carefully climbing onto the first tier’s balcony. Umi gave Shinji a curious look as he finally pulled himself up onto the ledge, but said nothing. She opened one of the windows and slipped inside. When I finally stood inside the building, I wanted to scream.

Like before, the Shinigami and his cohorts had led us to a hospital, and like the last one, it was abandoned. However, this one was much creepier.

For starters, the electric line was at least a centimeter thick and hung haphazardly out of the ceiling where the tiles had mildewed, decayed, and fallen. Most of the windows were shattered and the shards had fallen both inside and outside the building, littering the ground with glimmering slivers of glass. The door to the hallway was partially rotted and one of the hinges was broken, leaving the door at an awkward angle. The entire building smelled horribly of rot and mildew as if the building were a mummified corpse and all the horrible smells were trapped within. I covered my nose in an attempt to lessen the intensity of the scent, but it was of little use.

Shinji looked at me apologetically, his hand going to my shoulder to console me. I tried to collect myself. Umi ignored us both and, bracing her heel against the wall, tore the rusted hinge apart from the door, tossing it out of the way.

“Let’s go,” she said flatly, melting into the eerie shadows of the hallway. Looking at Shinji, I took a hesitant step into the darkness, also.