The whole area seemed to reek of that peculiar scent.  Nothing that Masato could really narrow down, unfortunately.  The whole school seemed even more empty in the dark side, despite the sense of they were surrounded by some awful presence.  Masato himself was willing to face whatever was out there, but even he had the feeling that simply diving into the darkness outside the school walls was to invite suicide, especially for his companions.  His bloodlust was strong, but he managed to choke it back enough to realize that they were ill-prepared for journeying very far into this world, especially since it seemed they'd lost Goroi's trail.<br/><br/>"I smell a lot of weird things around here, Tatami.  I don't know if any of them are Goroi, but even if there are... I'd say we're massively outnumbered if not overpowered."  His fingers itched -- the more of those things that he smelled, the more he instinctively seemed to curl his fingers into claws.  Masato halfway dismissed it as another one of his more feral responses to violent situations, though more than anything he wished that he had his bokken with him.<br/><br/>Well... that and he wished Hikari's very delectable ass weren't within grabbing range.  He considered if perhaps they should go back and take the vulnerable girl home before deciding how next to proceed.  This place was agitating him beyond belief and he felt very distracted -- he wasn't sure if he was a help or more of a danger to everyone.<br/><br/>"... I told you I'd back you up, Tatami," Masato said lowly, his teeth still grinding together.  "But, as bloodthirsty as I am right now, I don't want to let my desire for violence bring us into a possible trap.  I can't even sense any trail coming through here, so we might be looking in the wrong place to begin with.  If you think it'd be better to head back and... re-strategize, I guess... I'm not going to argue."  Masato didn't know if he sounded afraid, but at this point he didn't care.  "That and... I have sort of a self-control issue... "