Beyond, With a Yokai

Chapter 1: Who Are You?

Despite the early wake-up, Yesenia didn't feel tired.
In fact, the higher they climbed, the lighter her body felt.
Her heart started beating in sync with the world around her.

At their first break, while everyone caught their breath, Yesenia and Svyatoslav wandered a bit away from the group to enjoy the view alone.

"Just look at that," she whispered in awe. "Isn't this one of the most beautiful things in the world?"
She turned toward him. "Next to these mountains, I feel like an ant."

She took a step forward, not noticing that one of her shoelaces had come undone.

In the next second, she stumbled—and fell.

Luckily, she managed to throw out her arm just in time, breaking the fall.

"Yesenia! Are you okay?" Svyatoslav was at her side instantly, helping her up.

"You didn't break anything, did you?"

"I think I just scraped my arm," she said, pulling back her sleeve. A small but nasty-looking cut glistened with fresh blood.

"How could you be so careless?" he exhaled, rifling through his backpack. He took out a Band-Aid and carefully placed it over her wound.

"We'll disinfect it properly once we're back."

Then he crouched down and tied her laces tight.
It wasn't like him to do something so thoughtful, so... gentle. But Yesenia appreciated the gesture all the same.

The hike was a success.
Yesenia took in as much of the scenery as she could, snapped dozens of photos to remember it by. And the air... it really was impossibly clean. She couldn't get enough of it. After this, the "normal" air back home would probably feel fake, filtered, second-rate.

But one thing stuck with her more than anything else.
Death had reached for her.
And yet, someone—something—stepped in just in time to pull her back.

Yesenia didn't want to leave.
She had melted into the moment, her soul in rhythm with the wind, the sky, the earth. But the guides weren't as enchanted.
They kept glancing at their watches, reminding everyone they had to be back before dinner.

The next few days at camp began to blur together.
The contests started repeating themselves, the same people kept winning, and the disco playlists never changed—creating the eerie sense of a loop she couldn't break out of.
Yesenia found herself counting the days until it was over, slowly losing interest in everything around her.

The one thing that kept her going?
Her relationship with Svyatoslav had noticeably improved.
He was finally opening up to her more than he ever had in the two years they'd known each other at school.

But there was something else.
Something that wouldn't leave her alone.

For the past few days, Yesenia had been noticing a guy in the crowd—someone she was sure she hadn't seen before.
Maybe she'd just missed him?
And what if she had? He looked like any other guy.
Except... every time their eyes met, he didn't just look—he watched her.
He held her gaze, always with that same amused smirk, like he knew something she didn't.

And that?
That was starting to scare her.

He was clearly older—definitely didn't look like a student.
That only made it worse.
And today, he even waved at her, as if teasing.

There was no way she could just walk up and ask who he was.
So instead, she tried to fish for answers from her roommates.

"He's pretty tall," Yesenia said, trying to sound casual. "Like, a full head taller than me. Definitely Asian. Looks older. He's got a lip piercing, and half his hair's always tied back. Maybe he's a counselor?"