I cautiously follow Taku, careful to not lose him in the dense part of the forest. I began to wonder how far we were going to be traveling as we entered a part of the forest I had never been to.

“Taku, are you sure this is the right way?” Taku waves his hand in dismissal.

“Of course it is! It's rude to doubt your friends, Rehn.” He tells me, voice pouty. He doesn't look back at me, too engrossed in his hand drawn map. I stay quiet after that.

The sun begins to go down around the same time I was about ready to give up. We'd been walking all day, without any breaks. Taku had given me a granola bar, sure, but that didn't do much to sate my hunger. My feet felt as though they were about to fall off, and I was sweating like crazy.

“Taku, I'm turning back if it isn't within the next five feet.” My voice was thick and heavy. My tired eyes quickly scan our surroundings as I wait for Taku’s answer. We were following a tiny animal trail. To our left was a ton of thick trees, like always, and to our other side was, well, more trees. However the earth was slightly more raised to our right than it was everywhere else. Large, tall grass took up the spaces between the trees on our right, blocking all view of what was beyond them. I didn't really care about it anyway, though.

“Awe, no you won't! You'll collapse before you make it back.” He turns and stares at me, his face harboring a large smile. He didn't look tired in the slightest. He smile fades slightly as he examines me.

“Yeesh, Rehn, you need to get more exercise if you can't handle this,” He comes closer, before stepping back and waving his hand in front of his nose. “Man, you stink!” I groan as I roll my eyes, causing him to laugh.

“Don't worry, we're here!” He suddenly stops and shoves his hands into the tall grass besides us, and quickly parts it.

“Woah,” is the only thing that escapes my mouth. My eyes are wide as I take in the view, all tiredness forgotten.

There was apparently a cliff beyond a layer of trees to our right, and the space below us was large and long, and few trees were around, allowing us to see for miles. I had never been able to look so far in the distance before, and I notice my eyes are slightly foggy as I try looking out to where the trees began again. There was also a small river leading into a large lake off the left of the clearing. I could tell that many animals resided here…

“Why is it so abandoned?” I ask Taku after a moment, my voice coated with concern. After a moment of no answer, I turn to look at Taku, surprised by what I saw. His usual happy demeanor was gone, replaced instead with a foreboding feeling of anger. His eyes were filled with pain and rage, his hands clenched tight, his usual smile replaced with a frown. It looked unnatural, and honestly terrifying.

“Taku…?” I ask hesitantly, he slowly turns to me. And in a split second everything about him changed back to normal.

“Sorry, Rehn. Yeah, there used to be many creatures living in this clearing, far from humans… But the demons found them. Now they reside here instead.” He told me, looking back at the clearing. The concern in my eyes stays as I turn to the clearing as well.

“I see… So what are we going to do to catch one?” I ask him, shifting from foot to foot. He turns to me and grins widely.

“Well, what's the best way to catch a demon in a sea of demons?” He begins pulling something out of his bag. I watch closely, and my eyes widen in disbelief as a strange black fishing rod was pulled out.

“How did that fit in there?” I ask him.

“Rehn, some things must remain a secret.” His grin only widened as he turns back to the gap in the grass.

“So… We're fishing for demons?” I watch as he gets the rod ready.

“Indeed we are, Rehn. Shall be interesting, no?” He pulls out a putrid smelling piece of meat from his bag. It was so bad that I had to plug my nose, and clamp my mouth shut. I don't need to speak, however, as Taku hooks it to the fishing rod and flings it into the valley below. Only then did I try to breath.

“Taku, what was that?” I ask, not sure if I really wanted to know.

“Rotten human meat.” He says with a straight face. My jaw feels as though it's going unhinge and fall.

“What!?” I shout, and Taku suddenly bursts out laughing.

“My goodness, Rehn, you're so gullible! Don't worry, it's just rotten bear meat.” He tells me, smile back in its place. I sigh deeply.

“ Where did you even get bear meat?” I wonder out loud.

“Hm? I know a guy.” We look out at the valley and wait.

It was around three hours later, the sun was completely down now, when Taku suddenly tensed and pulling on the demon rod.

“Quick, Rehn help me! We’ve got one!” Taku shouts, and I grab the rod as well, but even with both of us, it was a real struggle.

“It must be a big one,” I say, nervous. If it was a big one, it could very well get up here and devour us. Finally the struggle softens and we manage to pull it over the ledge. And we come face to face with a demon no larger than a squirrel.

“Well then,” Taku manages to say. The demon looked like a lizard, but with a dog mouth, ears, and paws. It’s eyes were all one color, an acid green. It opens its mouth and falls from the rod, showing that it’s tongue, and likely all its insides, was an acid green as well. Before we could say anything, the demon’s small amount of fur on its back lifted, and it started growling. The growl sounded ghost-like, and it made all the hair on my body stick right up, and goosebumps popped up on my skin as I started shivering.

“C-c-catch i-it!” Taku says, shivering as well. He pulls out a jar and rushes the demon, that stops growling as it runs from Taku, right towards me. I scream as it amazingly jumps from the floor onto my face.

“G-get it off, Taku!” I shout, trying to grab it as it ran around my head, but before I could grab hold of it, it runs down my shirt and runs around my chest. I find myself laughing and dancing around as I try to get out of my shirt.

“Rehn, hold still!” Taku grabs my shirt and tears off me, causing the demon to stop on my shoulder before hissing at him getting on top of my head. And then it starts… purring?

“What’s it doing?” I ask Taku, who quickly shushes me and stares at the demon in fascination.

“I think it likes you, Rehn.” He tells me, causing my eyes to go wide.

“Why would he like me?” I ask him, startled. However, Taku stays quiet for several minutes as he pulls out his notebook and starts writing in it, glancing at me and the demon every so often. Finally, he closes his notebook.

“Well, some people say that demons can foresee some future events, so perhaps you do something for him in the future,” he tells me, causing my to frown.

“What would I ever do for a demon?” Taku shrugs, when an insanely bright light comes out of nowhere and shines into our eyes, causing us both to yell.

“Surround the criminals!” I hear a deep-voiced man say, and footsteps follow. As my vision somewhat adjusts to the new light, I realize that we were indeed surrounded. I hear the demon on my head growl again, but he’s grabbed by one of the… Oh, crap. At closer look I realize that the ones surrounding us are the exterminators. They force my dem- the demon into a small cage-like box, before pointing guns at Taku and I. They were all wearing hazmat suits, so we couldn’t see their faces.

“Get on your knees, and put your hands to your heads!” The same deep voice from before shouts at us, and Taku and I don’t hesitate to comply. I look at Taku in the eyes as they handcuff us. Taku was hard to read, but the few emotions I could catch from him were regret, sadness, fear, and anger. Taku was always a complicated person, I thought to myself.

“You two have gone against the rules of the exterminators, and as said, we have every right to do whatever we see fit.” That made a chill run up my spine. But before we could argue, two exterminators come forward and lift their weapons. Nightsticks.

I shout as the back of my head is hit hard, and immediately darkness invades my vision. I’m sorry, grandpa…