Leaving your last class of the day that afternoon, you pulled out your phone and called Johnny, as per his text request from earlier. The line rang a couple times before he picked up.
"Hey, Y/N," your friend's voice came through your speakers.
"Hey, Johnny, what's up?"
"I have an idea, that might help awaken your powers."
"Your last one wasn't all that great," you pointed out with a hint of playfulness.
You could imagine the frank look on Johnny's face as he paused before continuing, "I wanted to wait for you to get your powers before introducing you to some people. But..."
"I haven't gotten them yet."
"Yeah. Do you have plans tonight?"
"Nope."
"Fantastic. Now you do. Meet me back at the café at seven. Bring whoever you like."
"Alright..." You agreed, wondering why he wanted you to meet him at his ruined café. "Can you ask Renjun if he'll come? I'd like for most of the group to be there."
"Renjun will be there," the Domeki assured you.
"Don't force him."
"I won't have to."
"Okay, thank you. I can ask Jeno and Yuta myself. That just leaves Sicheng..."
"I've got him."
"Thank you! Okay, so, seven tonight?" You confirmed the details.
"Yep, at the café."
"Nice, Taeyong and I will definitely be there."
"See you then, little lady."
"Bye, Johnny."
☆
When you returned to Lenticular Café that night, you were able to walk right in. No door. Looking around, you were able to fully take in the carnage from the night before: smashed tables and chairs, booths ripped out from the walls, holes in the floor and water spurting forth from them like fountains. It seemed as though not a single wall, piece of furniture, or square foot of the place had been spared. You were greeted by Johnny and Renjun, who didn't seem to be there against his will. They were standing in a somewhat clear and dry area by the front door, right near where you reckoned Renjun's host stand would've been normally.
"Hey, guys," you waved cheerfully to them, carefully stepping over the rubble towards them.
A 'woah!' came from behind you, and you turned just in time to see Taeyong falling to the floor, his foot having gotten caught on a cracked table leg. You doubled back to offer him a hand up, looking him over for injuries. With a pout on his lips, he held his hand out toward you. A splinter was in the palm of his hand.
With a sigh, you looked to Johnny, "Got any tweezers around here? Or tape, that'll work too."
"Some of my office supplies were protected by my desk," Johnny nodded, cautiously making his way back through the café.
He reemerged from his office with a roll of duct tape.
"Perfect!" You accepted it from him, ripping off a piece.
"Who else is coming, little lady?" Johnny asked, watching as you pressed it over Taeyong's palm.
"Both Jeno and Yuta will be here," you informed him, smoothing the tape down. "Did you ask Sicheng?"
"Oh, he'll be here too."
At your curious look, he further explained, "When he first started up at your folks' bookstore, he came by and introduced himself and left his number with us. I gave him a call."
You took hold of the end of the tape, suddenly ripping it in the opposite direction from how the splinter had entered your Nekomata's palm, "Thanks, Johnny."
Taeyong yelped, jerking his hand out of your grip. You triumphantly showed him the tape, a tiny piece of wood stuck to it.
"Oh, thanks."
A figure at the doorway caught your eye, and Jeno walked in, already yawning, "So what exactly are we doing?"
"Introducing the little lady to some people," Johnny explained, to which Jeno rolled his eyes.
"You're as useful as she is."
Before you could be offended, Sicheng walked in carefully stepping over the rubble. Apparently noticing the busted flooring and pipes, he bowed his head in apology, "Sorry about your pipes, Johnny."
"You did what you had to do," he shrugged back.
When Yuta had finally arrived, you all set off. As your large group moved through the city, you kept pace with Johnny.
"So, where are we going?" You questioned, tuning out the light conversations of the other men behind you.
"That's a surprise, little lady," he said with a ruffle of your hair.
"Who are we meeting?"
"That's—"
"Also a surprise?"
Johnny grinned down at you, "Smart little lady."
"Hey Y/N!" Your name was called out from the back of the group.
Johnny gave you an understanding nod, and you turned to drop to the back. It was Yuta who had called for you, and you fell into step with him, your eyebrow raised.
"What's up, Yuta?"
"Just wanted to chat," he shrugged. "How's school?"
"You sound like all my old relatives who have nothing else to talk about with me."
The kitsune chuckled, "Sorry. What do you want to talk about?"
"Do you know where we're going?"
"Nope. I have a hunch but telling you wouldn't be any fun."
"You're impossible."
"So I've heard."
☆
Johnny slowly led you all further away from the inner city, out towards an area of nature trails. The cool night air was nice, and you weren't even bothered by the fact that you'd already been walking for almost twenty minutes with no destination in sight. Some others, were, however.
"Are we there yet?" Jeno asked from the very back, sounding a lot like a petulant child.
"Literally shut the fuck up," Renjun snapped at him from the middle of the group, right behind you.
"Exercise is good for the soul," Sicheng chastised the both of them half-heartedly beside Renjun.
"You've got to be shitting me—"
Johnny cut into their bickering, "We're a few minutes away. This might start looking familiar to some of you."
You looked behind you to Yuta with interest, wanting to see if he was going to comment on his hunch again. He made eye contact with you, raising his eyebrows knowingly for a moment, but ultimately said nothing.
Johnny suddenly took a sharp turn off the trail, the trees immediately thickening around you. A hand grabbed yours, and you turned to see that it was Taeyong, barely stabilizing himself. Of course it was your clumsy Nekomata.
"Watch your step, bub," you warned him softly, squeezing his hand for a moment.
"I am," he insisted, eyes glued to his feet and the forest floor.
The trees grew impossibly thick around you, leaves blocking out the light from the half-moon above. You made a move to take your phone out to use its flashlight when Johnny suddenly disappeared from in front of you. It was so dark at this point that you could barely see a foot ahead of you. You turned the flashlight on, sweeping the area in front of you. Johnny was nowhere to be seen, just more branches and leaves and trees.
"Wh—"
Your startled exclamation was cut off by Johnny's head suddenly popping seemingly out of nowhere.
You might have yelped just a bit. Taeyong, meanwhile, had definitely screamed, right in your ear. Wincing, you covered your ear with your hand that was holding your phone.
"Sorry about that, forgot to warn you guys about the cloaking charm," he didn't seem all too apologetic, bright grin across his face. "Come on in."
Then his head disappeared again.
As you were still petrified, a cracking of leaves and twigs neared until Sicheng was standing beside you.
"Here, I'll go in ahead of you, to show it's safe, okay?" He offered, stepping forward and holding his hand out until it suddenly disappeared. "See? And now I'm going to step all the way in."
Sicheng took another step and was gone from your sight. Your eyebrows shot up.
"Come on!" A disgruntled voice called out at you, Jeno, as impatient as before.
You squeezed Taeyong's hand again before letting it go and taking a hesitant step forward. As you were right in front of where you assumed the barrier to be, your foot caught on something, and you tumbled through it, sprawling unceremoniously onto the ground on the other side.
"Woah! You okay, Y/N?" Johnny's voice reached you, his hands supporting your arms to help you up.
"Fine," you mumbled, heat rising to your cheeks at the embarrassing moment you just had.
A giggle reached your ears, and you looked away from Johnny. Two men were there besides Johnny and Sicheng—and Taeyong, who was stumbling in after you, worry apparent as he latched onto you.
They were both rather tall, and the smaller of the two men had been the one giggling. You couldn't help but stare at him. He looked rather youthful, in addition to being breathtakingly beautiful.
"Oh, my apologies," he held a hand up to his mouth to stop his laughter. "That was rude of me to laugh at your misfortune."
"It was kind of funny," you admitted, brushing the leaves off yourself as best you could with Taeyong latched onto you.
You were aware of the rest of your group coming in behind you, and you took stock of the other unknown man there. He was built, his disinterested expression visible even in the dim lighting as he gave you a once-over.
"Hm," was all he said, taking his eyes off of you and putting them back on the man beside him.
Behind them was an old stone structure, a shrine that you hadn't known was even around here. It was crumbling around the sides, moss growing thick around the stone. Wildflowers grew randomly in patches, and the trees cleared enough to let all the moonlight illuminate the area. Despite not being too far from the city, starlight still glimmered over the clearing.
"You are the Lady Onmyoji," the first man made eye contact with you knowingly, light smile on his lips as he spoke.
"Uh, Y/N," you introduced yourself, shaking Taeyong off as you looked to Johnny questioningly.
"I didn't tell him," the Domeki held his hands up defensively.
"So you're an older Ayakashi, then," you returned your focus to the man.
"Yes," he confirmed with a nod. "I am Jungwoo, and this is my brother Sungchan. We are Tsukumo-gami, instruments that have existed for so many years that they develop a soul. We are those souls."
Out of all the Ayakashi you'd encountered, that had to be the wildest one.
"So... what instruments were you guys?" Renjun questioned, moving to stand beside Johnny.
"I was a flute, and Sungchan was a drum."
This time Jeno spoke up, "Wait, if you guys were instruments, how are you brothers?"
"It's a spiritual brotherhood," Sungchan finally said something, his voice deep and resounding. Very drum-like, you had to admit.
"We were instruments owned by the same family for generations before becoming Ayakashi," Jungwoo explained further. His voice and demeanor were light and pretty, much like a flute.
While all of this was very interesting, you couldn't forget the reason Johnny had brought you here in the first place, to awaken your powers. You didn't feel any different, and you had a feeling that any one of the many Ayakashi around you would let you know if you suddenly radiated Onmyoji energy or whatever. Jungwoo had called you an Onmyoji, but he was an older Ayakashi, and could presumably sense that without your powers activated, like Johnny and Kun.
Jungwoo stepped forward to delicately rest a hand on your arm, "Do not fret about your powers, Lady Onmyoji. They will come."
"When?" You whispered, voice cracking despondently.
That was all you'd heard for the past month: that you'd get your powers, that you were an Onmyoji; when you still weren't sure of exactly what that was, or what your supposed powers would be anyway. Jungwoo was still smiling, despite the Nekomata beside you bristling and getting tenser with each passing moment that the Tsukumo-gami kept his hand on your arm.
"When they are needed."
This was fucking ridiculous. You'd already needed them, several times. You were a Wraith magnet, why wouldn't they be needed?
"Okay, this is bullshit," Yuta snorted, wrapping an arm around your shoulders to pull you away from Jungwoo. "Y/N's been attacked by Wraiths, she's needed her powers before, and they haven't come. You're fucking useless, Jungwoo."
Sungchan seemed around ready to jump in and defend his brother when Jungwoo turned his gaze to the Kitsune, previously kind smile looking oddly cold now as he addressed him, "Was she attacked?"
"Yes, a bunch of Wraiths came to Lenticular Café and—"
"I wasn't attacked," you breathed out in realization.
"Y/N—"
"No, Yuta, I wasn't attacked. They didn't attack me," you stepped out from under his arm, addressing the whole group as all of your experiences came flooding back to you with a new realization. "The first time, they were only attacking Renjun for trying to throw them out. The second time, it wasn't even an attack, and they were just trying to get revenge on Jeno. And the last time, at the café when we were all there, they never tried to do anything to me. Once they got into the café, they weren't trying to get through Sicheng's water shield or anything, they were just standing there. It was like they were watching me."
A shiver ran up your back as you remembered the way their red orbs had seemed focused on you that night.
"They have not been needed," Jungwoo confirmed, his smile turning warm again.
"Each time you've had someone else there to protect you," Johnny added. "Me, Renjun, and Jeno the first two times. And then all of us the third time."
"It is not just that. She was never attacked. The Wraiths never tried to harm her," Jungwoo shook his head, turning back to you. "You said they were just watching you?"
"Yeah, it was... weird," you nodded.
"I see..."
After he had trailed, and everyone was quiet for a moment, Renjun cut in shortly, "Care to share what you 'see?'"
It was then that Sungchan entered the conversation, "Don't talk to my brother like that."
Renjun's hard gaze flicked over to the other Tsukumo-gami, fists clenched and one eye bright jade. With a terrifying sense of déjà vu, you knew you had to deescalate the situation before Renjun punched somebody else. Somebody much bigger and probably much more powerful than Jeno.
"Renjun," you said his name in a low voice laced with the slightest hint of warning.
It was Sicheng who came to the rescue, stepping forward to bow politely to Jungwoo, "Is there anything else we need to know about Y/N's powers or the Wraiths, Jungwoo?"
"Nothing that would be of use right now, I am afraid," the man in question sighed, hand inching up as if it were going towards his neck before he dropped it back down.
"Can't believe I'm awake for this shit," Jeno groaned, finishing his complaint off with a yawn.
"Then take a nap, featherbrain," Taeyong hissed at him.
"Thank you, Jungwoo. I think we should be leaving; nobody wants to have to deal with waking Jeno up," Johnny bowed to the two brothers.
"Of course," Jungwoo then turned to you. "Please, come and see us again, Lady Onmyoji. My brother and I are awful lonely up here. Johnny hardly visits anymore, and my other friends have not come by in so long, I had almost forgotten what they looked like."
Mind still focused on the last part of his statement, wondering who the other friends who hadn't visited him were, you absentmindedly answered, "Yeah, sure, I will. Bye."
Taeyong took your hand back in his to start pulling you back towards where you had all come from. The others gave their own goodbyes as well. It all faded into the background as you were guided back out, the shrine disappearing behind you.