A hush met Yuto as he crossed the threshold into the Assembly's chamber. The vast room pulsed with quiet power its lacquered floors mirrored the glow of floating orbs, and cherry blossoms rained continuously from nowhere and everywhere. Shadows moved just out of sight, shifting shapes formed from fog and candlelight.
Koma padded by his side, suddenly subdued. "Keep your head up. Don't show fear. Or, at least, not too much."
Yuto clutched his lantern, heartbeat thundering as spirits emerged from the gloom. An elegant woman whose long, silver hair trailed like mist; a fox-faced man in ceremonial robes; squat, heavily tattooed creatures who whispered in old dialects; and at their center, a translucent figure whose antlers branched like living wood eyes full of aeons.
"You bring a human, tanuki?" sang the antlered spirit, their voice weaving between command and melody.
Koma bowed deeply. "A human in possession of both the lantern and old dreams. It's as the prophecy said." He nudged Yuto forward, and dozens of spirit eyes focused on him studying, judging, searching for secrets he barely understood himself.
Yuto tried not to flinch. "I… I found the lantern after the blackout. I've been dreaming of your city for weeks," he forced out, his words oddly steady despite the trembling in his hands. "I didn't know where else to go."
The fox-masked spirit glided closer, expression unreadable. "Dreams are rarely accidents, child. What do you remember of your wandering?"
Fragments slipped through Yuto's mind: laughter ringing under the torii gate, the warm rush of running with invisible friends, a shadowy figure always just beyond reach. "Not much. Only that it felt like… like coming home."
A soft ripple passed through the chamber; surprise, perhaps, or approval.
The antlered spirit regarded him kindly. "You have crossed an ancient boundary, Yuto Arai. When a human dreams our world and walks our roads, the veil between is changing." Their voice grew somber. "The balance between realms is threatened. Tell us: do you wish to meddle in the affairs of spirits?"
Yuto's throat dried. He thought of his mother asleep in their dark apartment, of Haruka's quick-typed messages, of the ache that had haunted him since the first dream. He could not look away from their gaze.
"If I can help, I'll try," he managed, lantern flickering as he spoke. "I don't want anyone spirit or human to be lost in the dark."
Silence. Then a heavy nod from the Assembly's leader. "The trial begins, then. If you have the heart to brave the city's secrets, you may find your answers and save both your worlds."
Koma let out a slow sigh. "Not bad, kid. Not bad."
The chamber's doors swung wide and the ground beneath Yuto shifted, spiraling downward with him at its center. Petals whirled in his lantern-light as the voices chanted words that buzzed inside his skull like an ancient riddle.
With a pulse of magic, the trial began. The ancient city waited, and Yuto's true journey as Mediator between two worlds had only just begun.
End of Chapter 3