The forest would fall quiet, and Haruto noticed it slowly, first the crickets would vanish then the frogs near the water and the faint rustling of small creatures in the brush. Before long, the world settled into in unnatural stillness that left his ears twitching for sounds that never came.

He would stop along the narrow path, lifting his gaze to the trees, and while nothing appeared wrong the silence was suffocating around him. Forgive my intrusion, Haruto murmured softly to the trees, lowering his head in a small gesture. I mean no disrespect, and as if to answer him a shriek rang from above bringing the Rekishiya to freeze a chill running down his spine.

The sound would carry through the canopy in a long wavering note, avian and yet not. His eyes lifted slowly toward the dark branches overhead as old stories stirred in the back of his mind, a black cloud...an omen. He did not utter the name that came first to his mind as something above him shifted in the branches. Against every sensible instinct that told him to flee, curiosity kept him frozen in place.

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