Yuuusssss! This story is progressing so well :3 I've already actually planned ahead a bit in the plot, and for the sake of you guys not getting bored I can let you know that chapter eleven or twelve is when Umi finally meets Night Rikuo <3

The image up top made me laugh, so I decided to use it ;3

"One, two, go!" We all throw our cards down onto the table, and immediately there are cries of defeat as once again I'm the one to get a good card.

"Gwaaa, I lost!" Kiyotsugu exclaims painfully, holding his head in his hands.

"Damn! Katsumi-san and Rikuo-san won again!"

"Just take it! Take all the candy you want!"

I grin gleefully and stretch my arms out across the narrow table, scooping up some of the sweets and other Japanese treats happily. Who would've thought Kiyotsugu's new game of "Yokai Lore" could have been so beneficial to my sweet tooth.

Kiyotsugu collects up the cards weakly, watching me and Rikuo from the corner of his eye with envy. I don't know why but so far both me and Rikuo have been on a continuous winning strike, and what's even freakier is the fact that we keep getting the exact same cards.

I raise my head, half aware that Kiyotsugu had said something while I hadn't been paying attention; too distracted by the sweets.

"The legend of Mt. Nejireme? Never heard of it." Yura says with a small sorry, eating some kind of frozen treat she'd acquired from the generous Rikuo who unlike me was sharing out his sweets.

"Fufufu, well, I wouldn't have expected Yura-kun to know about it!" Kiyotsugu smirks knowingly, "only a yokai-maniac like 'yokai-sensei' would know about it! And today, we're going to hear about this incredible legend!"

I sweat drop, having should have expected our valiant leader to be in such a squealish mood on this trip. We are going to see someone who claims to be a yokai expert after all. I wonder just how much he knows anyway? I pop a boiled sweet into my mouth thoughtfully as Kiyotsugu suddenly grins.

"And that's why we have to brush up on our 'Yokai Lore'! Let's go! One more time!" He grabs up a card and holds it to his forehead, ready.

Torii and Saori groan in unison, slumping into their seats as I perk up. Another chance to win more candy? Sounds great!

...Oh god I'm turning into my dad. Maybe watching him play poker as a child wasn't the best thing for my brain.

"Come on! This is one of the yokai training methods I thought up! You can't tell me this yokai poker isn't fun?!"

"Again?~"

"You call it yokai trivia, but isn't it just Indian poker?" Saori and Torii both say boredly.

This doesn't seem to stop Kiyotsugu from going into the fine details of the game however, and while he talks my gaze trails to the window where the scenery outside is blurred and beautiful, like a smudged water colour painting. We've only been on the train for two hours, but it already feels like forever. I wonder how Barry will be?

I've already informed my aunt Haruhi that I'll be away on a trip with my school friends this weekend, and asked her to feed Barry. I can't even begin to tell you how ecstatic she was that I've already made such good friends that I can start going on trips with them.

I play with the hem of my winter dress as I continue to stare out at the green scenery, and then suddenly get Kiyotsugu's face in my vision.

"You playing too Katsumi-san?!"

I blink in surprise, and move back slightly to get more breathing space. "Y-yeah. I'll play another game."

I quickly pick up a new card face down from the table and hold it to my head, seeing that everyone else is already in position too. I give a glance over at Rikuo's card, who's sat on the row of seats on the other side of the train from us, and hold back a smirk at the sight of his card. Of course he has the same card.

"One, two, go!" Kiyotsugu yells enthusiastically, and we all throw our cards down once more.

Needless to say me and Rikuo win again.

"You guys have some serious 'yokai luck', don't you. It's not normal to win 20 times in a row." Shima says in a quiet disbelief as Kiyotsugu bangs his fist on the table, unable to raise his head and face his soul crushing defeat. I almost feel sorry for the guy, he has terrible luck.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Rikuo tries to defend himself, as if he were caught cheating, "It was just by chance! I'm normal guys! Normal, normal!" As if by luck, the food trolley comes rattling down our carriage and Rikuo immediately uses it to change the conversation. "Ah, I'll go buy something! What would you guys like?"

Torii and Saori both look at him with slight confusion, "but, the guy with the worst record is-" Saorii begins to say.

"It's fine, it's fine! I like doing this." He waves a hand encouragingly at them, and a smile plays at my lips as I watch him get from his seat.

He really is a nice guy, I'm so glad I'm friends with him~ I look across to see Tsurara agrees with my thoughts, as her face is that of pure bliss as she watches Rikuo order drinks for everyone.

"Hey Rikuo-san, I'll take grape soda if they've got some." I call out, waving a hand at him over the seat to get his attention. I see him nod, and turn back to the lady managing the cart. Before turning back to sit in my seat properly I catch Kana glaring at the back of Tsurara's head as she cheers for Rikuo, and wonder if there could be a love triangle beginning in our group. Or wait, would it be a love square?

It's obvious that Shima likes Tsurara, but she only has eyes for Rikuo. And now I'm suspecting that Kana also likes Rikuo and has realized that Tsurara shares her feelings. So now it all depends on who Rikuo likes to set this whole play in motion. Oh, I just love a bit of romantic drama!

"Katsumi-san, why are you smiling?" I turn to see Shima looking at me weirdly, and suddenly realize I've been smiling to myself this whole time.

"Oh! Um, just happy." I reply back lamely, immediately forcing down my smile as an awkward blush rises to my cheeks. How embarrassing, I've never spaced out that bad before.

He nods, still watching me with an obvious concern for my mental health, and I immediately feel like sinking into the crease of my seat.

A can of juice is slid across the table stopping directly in front of me, just as I'm sinking down into my seat, and I look up to spot Rikuo give me a friendly wave. I give him a thankful smile and sit back up again, loosening the blue scarf from around my neck so that I can fully enjoy my beverage. Seriously, I love grape soda but it's just so hard to find. If purple had a flavour it'd be grape soda.

We continue to travel on the train for another hour or so, and then when we disembark at the station we immediately head straight to a bus stop to catch the next bus to our stop. I can't say exactly how many stops we made till we reached our destination as there were so many new sights to take in, but before I knew it we made our way to the base of Mt. Nejireme.

Kiyotsugu is the first to get off the bus and scuttle off to pull out a huge map, leaving the rest of us to achingly make our own way off the vehicle with lots of yawns and stretching. The long journey had left us all sore and exhausted, despite having done practically nothing the entire journey.

"Fwaaah~ We're finally here~" Saori yawns and stretches her arms above her head as she steps down onto the pavement behind me, the hood of her jumper pulled up to hide her blonde hair.

I give my own shoulders a good roll to remove any stiffness acquired over the journey, and then double check the grey duffel bag slung over my shoulder. It would be terrible if I left anything on the bus right when we finally reached our goal.

Torii stumbles out behind Saori and nearly falls onto her, a clear sign that she too is sleepy and disoriented. Meanwhile Kana and Tsurara have both automatically magnetized towards Rikuo, and Shima is looking worriedly at a muttering Kiyotsugu as Yura admires the large mountain we've come to explore. I decide to join her, and step over to her also trailing my gaze upwards.

"So this is Mt. Nejireme." I say aloud with wonder, taking in the tree covered mountain with multiple rocky spires sticking out of it. Fog envelopes the higher points and gives its grand structure a more eerie appearance.

Yura nods, not taking her eyes from it. We both turn our gaze away however as with a flourish of paper Kiyotsugu finally puts his map away, and begins gesturing for everyone to follow him up the stone staircase that disappears into the trees a good distance up.

"Kiyotsugu-kun~ Where's the resort~? Where's the hot spring~?" Saorii asks impatiently as I join the group and we begin to ascend the staircase with bags in tow, Kiyotsugu leading the way.

"Leave that till later tonight!" He replies back cheerfully, not a pause in his stride.

I have to move aside as both Torii and Saori suddenly halt on the stairs in front of me, and chide together, "uwah~ I'm looking forward to the hot springs~" with dreamy looks on their faces as if they're already there.

On the inside I'm actually sharing their exact feelings. I love water and swimming, and the mere idea of relaxing in a hot open air pool made from nature is beyond exciting. Even now I'm getting goose bumps just thinking about it!

One hour later and we're still trekking up the mountain, with no sign of the alleged 'holiday house' in sight. I think I'm gonna die of boredom before we get there, forget about fatigue, if I see another tree I think I might go insane. I can hear Rikuo and Tsurara behind me sharing small talk, and Kana in front of me looks exhausted.

Just how much further do we have to go?

"What the heck?! It's all mountains and more mountains!" Saorii finally snaps from beside Kana, her body tense and slightly hunched.

"Well of course!" Kiyotsugu says over his shoulder as if it were obvious, "this is all part of training!"

I sigh as Kana quietly adds in that her leg hurts, and earns no reply.

Without warning an unnatural chill runs up my spine and causes me to shiver, immediately directing me to train my eyes on the thick dark trees surrounding us. Something suddenly doesn't feel right...

My stomach lurches as I miss the next stone step and the sole of my boot loses its grip. Before I know it my center of balance has gone haywire and I'm waving my arms out to try and grab onto thin air. There's a small in take of breath from behind me as I slip sideways and am caught by a firm grip holding onto my arm.

"Nice timing Rikuo-kun." Tsurara chimes from behind as I glance over through my pink hair to see Rikuo gripping onto me, looking extremely relieved and a little exhausted.

"Th-thanks," I say in slight disbelief, a little mind boggled at how Rikuo had suddenly gone from walking a few steps below me to straight by my side.

"Don't mention it," he breathes unsteadily, making sure I'm stable before releasing my arm with the duffel bag slung over my shoulder. "That bag probably caused you to lose your balance, I'll carry it for you."

I'm so disorientated I don't even get the chance to reply as he pulls the bag from its place and hoists it over his own shoulder.

"Are you sure you're okay with that?" I ask after a moment of watching him reestablish his baring's. That bag is seriously heavy despite how it looks, I tend to have a bad habit of over packing no matter the occasion.

"It's fine, it'd be dangerous if you fell over up here." He gives me a kind and reassuring smile, and I relax a little bit, but not enough to completely make me forget the real reason why I had tripped over in the first place.

"Come on Katsumi-chan, I'll hold onto you so you don't fall over again." Tsurara says with a smile as she hooks an arm through mine, giving a small tug.

"Tsurara-san I'm not that clumsy..." I sweat drop, still not entirely used to her calling me 'chan' yet. Though it is nice to know how far our relationship has gotten, she really is like a supportive little sister now.

"Hey guys what's that over there?" A voice from the front says aloud, and we all halt to follow the finger of Kiyotsugu pointing into the trees to our right. Tsurara's grip on my arm tightens as we squint into the fog, just able to make out a wooden structure between the trees.

"It's a little shrine," Kiyotsugu states with interest, "it enshrines a Jizou."

"Where?"

"The mist is quite thick, I can't really make it out." The girls complain as they shield their eyes, expecting it to help them see better.

As I continue to stare at it with intensity it soon becomes more visible to me, and I can make out the funny little statue sat inside as well as a stone with a carving sat next to it.

"Somethings written there."

"Yeah, can't read it though." Yura and Kiyotsugu exchange with shared interest.

"Wait here, I'll go take a look." Just as the onmyouji begins to stray from the path into the woods to get a better look, I read the stone aloud.

"It's 'Umewakamaru'."

Me and Rikuo both turn to look at each other in surprise, and then share an awkward smile. We said that completely in sync, how embarrassing.