> Wave bye to Rumia. "We'll be back in a day or two!"
> "Come on, Kouyoshi! Let's go!" Head off!
> Rumia waves. "Bye bye!"
> You and Kouyoshi leave the schoolhouse, and walk away through the village. Everyone seems to be going about their business as usual; however, there are still people going out into the fields to harvest and care for the crops. Heading through the fields, you see the flock of sheep again. There's a very hairy black and brown dog with white paws herding them into formation, away from the forest. Somewhere at the end of the flock is a shepard, but you don't see him very well.
> No one pays the two of you much mind as you pass through the crop fields, eventually bypassing that and heading for the Forest of Magic. Youkai Mountain looms high above you, farther off in the distance. Even farther out are more mountains, a solemn reminder of what you'll have to be going through to get to the Chapel. You pass through one last wheat field, and enter the Forest of Magic.
> Even during the day, the Forest of Magic is ominously dark. Every now and then you see a faerie or three, and many, many hairballs. They're just hairballs with surprised expressions, for some reason. They're like dandelion seeds, floating through the forest. With the sunlight filtering through the canopy onto grassy floor, the whole forest looks very pretty. At one point, Kouyoshi says that it's because most youkai are nocturnal.
> A few hours pass, and the canopy grows thicker, until the sunlight has been almost completely blacked out.
> _
