by Kat Cotton
We pushed through the hustle of people until we found a group sitting on the ground dressed in the same jackets as we wore. Shun waved to someone and they moved to make space for us on their mat.
The people around us ranged from teenage boys to old men. Not a lot of women, but a few around my age. I thought they’d question us being there but no one paid us much attention. A couple of men chatted to Shun as though they knew him already.
An old man handed me a can of something. I took a swig and nearly spat it out. Was that pure alcohol? My body heated as the booze hit it. It wasn’t even lunch time yet.
The mikoshi sat on a block near us, glowing with gold splendor. It really did look like a miniature pavilion with a tiny area in the center. I assumed that’s where the kami was supposed to go. If there were a kami. Which there wasn’t.
Damn. Just thinking about that my belly swirled again, and there was no convenient bathroom around here.
Red tassels hung off the corners and a phoenix rose from the ornate roof.
But that miniature pavilion wasn’t miniature enough for my liking. We had to carry that thing? If the kami box had been too heavy to lift, that thing looked a million times worse. Even with so many people to help lift it. No wonder no one cared about us joining them.
Near us, some kids rallied around a tiny little mikoshi. Why couldn’t I be on that team? That one looked light as a feather, and I bet the kami inside didn’t grumble and complain.
But, darn it, I missed that grumpy guy.
I wanted to get my phone out of my backpack and take photos but no one else was and I wanted to keep a low profile.
Yuki sat down beside me and handed me a bottle of water.
“You might need this,” she said. “It’s going to be hard work.”
Jin sat down beside her. “I wish I had my phone,” he said. “The renegade kitsune carrying a mikoshi. I never thought I’d see the day.”
Then he ducked before Yuki punched him.
The drumming intensified. Did that mean something? It seemed to match my heartbeat, getting louder and more frenzied while we waited. Added into that beat was the chit chatter of the kami.
I opened the water and took a few swigs then people started moving around us.
“We have to get to the front,” Shun said and grabbed Jin. The two of them rushed off while Yuki and I followed behind.
“Get in the middle,” she hissed at me. “Then we can let others do the heavy lifting.”
Rows of poles came out under the mikoshi and the team got into position. Shun and Jin had managed to get at the front but Yuki and I had to go further back. People boxed us in, their bodies pressing against ours.
With a lot of grunts and groans, we heaved the shrine onto our shoulders.
Suddenly, this wasn’t fun anymore. That mikoshi weighed a ton and it bore down on my shoulder as though I carried its entire weight. My body twisted and I couldn’t straighten back up. I couldn’t do this but there was no way out. Bodies squashed me from every direction, blocking me in so I couldn’t run even if I wanted to.
I didn’t have to worry about Yamaguchi. I’d die carrying this stupid thing.
Chapter 28
Yuki grinned as though daring me to complain. If she could handle it, then I sure could. I wouldn’t back down before she did.
We started moving toward the shrine. With every step, that pole jolted onto my shoulders. I gritted my teeth.
Bodies rubbed against mine and even in this cold, I worked up a sweat. I wasn’t sure if it was from the weight of the mikoshi or the worry about being discovered.
After a little while, we stopped. I assumed that was for the priest to do his thing but I wasn’t sure exactly what that thing was. I couldn’t see him, stuck under this shrine. All I could see was other people’s backs, sweat soaking through their jackets already.
Someone chanted and bells rang close by. I needed to see what was going on. I squirmed around until I could peer through a tiny gap between shoulders.
The chanting continued and I spotted an older guy in robes. Was he the priest? I should’ve asked about that before we started.
Then a bright light flashed around me. Just a brief burst, then Yuki clicked her fingers and everything went back to normal. The gasps died down around me before they’d even really started.
But it wasn’t a real normal, just one of Yuki’s illusions. She blocked anything Jin did from other people’s sight. Smart.
But that meant I didn’t know if what I saw was real or illusion. The chanting continued. There was drumming and bells and sweaty bodies.
I held my breath. If the priest started yelling that the kami was gone, Yuki couldn’t stop that. She couldn’t fool everyone forever.
Even though I couldn’t see Jin’s light any longer, I sensed something. A prickling of my skin, a slight buzzing sensation.
Then, for a brief second blackness, like someone had turned off the DVD player of my life. I gasped, not sure what it meant.
Just as suddenly, real life came back to me. The drums, the bells, the weight of the mikoshi on my shoulders. I sagged under the weight.
We started moving. Did that mean we’d gotten away with this? As far as everyone was concerned, the kami was in the portable shrine? We’d fooled the priest?
Yuki gave a curt nod.
We’d done it. Now we were just trapped carrying this shrine. I squirmed around, trying to get a better position. The only thing that saved me from complete collapse was that there were a few taller guys behind me and they took the brunt of the weight.
As we moved, the bodies around me stepped in time and the chanting started. “Wasshoi, wasshoi.” Just like Yuki had said. One wasshoi with every step.
I kept adjusting my position but nothing stopped the pain shooting down my shoulder. If I kept down low then the people around me took the weight but then we’d move and — bam — that pole drove into my shoulder again.
A cheer went up. We got a break?
But, nope, instead everyone started jolting the mikoshi like crazy. If the weight had been bad before, having that pole bouncing on my shoulder became a whole other level of hell.
Bells rang all around me and the drum beat became louder. The jolting and the noise and the movement of bodies became frenzied.
Yuki had told me before they did that because the kami loved it. If I told them the kami wasn’t actually in the mikoshi, would they give up? Then I could go home and ice my shoulder.
“Stop being so lazy!” a voice yelled.
Huh? Who said that?
“It’s my special day so keep on jostling. This is fun.”
The kami. My kami. I froze, not sure if my senses were addled but the person behind me slammed into my back then swore a lot. I stepped again.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“I told you. It’s my special day. All these people love me. Look at them, celebrating me.”
“I didn’t mean like that, you fool. I meant where have you been? After you were stolen.”
The kami didn’t answer and I almost screamed as the pole came down extra hard on my shoulder bone. I knew why that old man had been drinking his rocket fuel now. Anything to dull the senses.
“A place with no chocolate. I kept asking you but you didn’t answer. Where did you go?”
“Someone took you away. I’ve been looking for you.”
Before I could say any more, the parade slowed. We put the mikoshi on blocks and climbed out from under it. I shook my arms, trying to ease the pain. There was no way I’d go back to that thing. No matter what, no one could convince me to carry that weight for a minute longer.
I found Yuki and Shun.
“The kami is in the mikoshi,” I said.
“No way. How?” Shun asked.
“He can’t tell me. I don’t think he has concepts like that. But he’s definitely there. I could speak to him. He’s having a ball in that thing. So let’s all go home or maybe go for massages. That thi
ng nearly killed me.”
I stiffened, waiting to counter any argument that the two of them put up. But screw tradition and religion and doing the right thing. Nothing in this world would convince me to stay.
Shun put his arm around me. Gingerly, so he didn’t hurt my shoulder any further.
“That works for me. Maybe a long soak in the bath. Those fools can carry the mikoshi around for the next six hours.”
I grinned. We’d had a long day. Some sleep would be good too.
The three of us snuck away while the other mikoshi bearers filled up on drinks. We didn’t go back through the carnival atmosphere of the shrine grounds but down a tree-lined path running behind the shrine. That way was a lot less crowded although there were still food vendors and a few revelers sitting on blankets drinking and eating.
“Where’s Jin?” I asked, noticing that he wasn’t with us.
“Who cares?” Yuki said. “He did his job. We don’t need him anymore.”
“Hey, guys, we did it. We got the kami back in his rightful place without Yamaguchi suspecting a thing.”
I grinned. I grinned so wide because it was all over.
And then I looked up. Oh shit!
I shouldn’t have said anything. I jinxed us, for sure. Because the words had barely left my lips when two of Yamaguchi’s goons stepped in front of us. They did not look happy.
And, behind them, stood Yamaguchi with Jin beside him. That asshat had betrayed us.
Chapter 29
I broke into a run. Yuki and Shun’s footsteps thudded behind me then they overtook me. Great. They’d outrun me and I’d be the one caught and painfully tortured. I tried to force myself to go faster but some old man eating a fish on a stick got in front of me. Damn that man. While I tried to get around him, hands clamped down on my shoulder. I screamed as pain shot through my body. He’d hit the same spot already bruised raw by the mikoshi.
Then I got dragged away.
I struggled and yelled. Surely, in this crowd of people, someone would come to my rescue but everyone around me acted like nothing happened. They ate their barbecued corn and drank their beer without a second glance.
Come on, people, do your civic duty.
I screamed again and a hand clamped over my mouth. That meant he only had one hand to hold me. I squirmed to get away but even with one hand, that goon was way too strong for me.
Where the hell were my crows? They’d be really welcome right now.
The goon stopped, bringing me face to face with Yamaguchi. He took his hand off my mouth but still held me so I couldn’t flee.
“You talk to the kami?” Yamaguchi said.
Shun had been right. The old guy spoke perfect English when it suited him. His gaze seemed to cut right through me.
“Don’t be silly. I don’t even speak Japanese.”
Yamaguchi gave a chuckle even though his cold eyes never changed.
“Very funny.”
“She talks to him. I heard her,” Jin said.
When had he heard me? He bluffed. I’d call his bluff and get out of this situation. Wait. Damn. When they’d tried to steal the box, that’s when. Damn it. I should’ve kept my mouth shut but then he’d have stolen the kami back then. There was no way I could deny, when the kami had responded to me.
Yuki wasn’t wrong, Jin was a total dick.
Before I could say any more, the other goons returned with Shun and Yuki. I’d hoped the old man would be happy with me and let them go but it seemed he wanted all of us.
“Jin, you bastard son of a pig dog,” Yuki screamed followed by a heap of cussing in Japanese.
I thought the flash of light that followed was Jin’s doing until one of the goons screamed. I could smell his singed hair. Yuki got him with a fire ball.
“Tie the kitsune’s hands,” Yamaguchi said. “Then take them to the van.”
A van didn’t sound good. Tied and thrown in the back of a van was exactly the type of situation I wanted to avoid.
I screamed again but my screams blended into the sound of the crowd and the chants from the parade.
“No one will rescue you,” Yamaguchi said. “It’s not the Japanese way.”
That didn’t stop me from trying. You couldn’t drag three people off in broad daylight and throw them in a van without people noticing.
Yuki’s screams joined mine. She squirmed as they tried to tie her. The rope turned to snakes but that didn’t deter the goons.
“Your kitsune tricks won’t work on us,” the goon said.
Then Yamaguchi threw something at Yuki. It exploded at her feet in a cloud of orange smoke. She gasped then slumped. If the goon hadn’t been holding on to her, she’d have fallen to the ground.
Even when she regained her feet, she didn’t seem like her usual self. Her normally rigid posture had gone all slack as though her bones weren’t strong enough to support her.
Shun struggled to get free. I wasn’t sure what he could do. He’d said he could eat dreams but that wouldn’t work here. Yet, at the host club he’d been convinced Hokuto had told the truth. Not in a trusting way but in the way like he had some method of determining the truth. I wondered if he had other powers. Now would be a good time to reveal them.
Yamaguchi laughed and I shuddered from the sheer cruelty of the sound.
“You want to run? You want to fight? But you work for me. Don’t be a fool.”
Shun kept his gaze on the ground as he nodded.
Of course, Yamaguchi didn’t need strength or magical powers to subdue him. He had a hold over Shun and Yuki that forced them to work for him. Even if they got free of the goons, Yamaguchi knew where to find them. He had us in a stranglehold. From the way Shun’s body drooped, he knew it too.
But Yuki? What kind of hold did he have over her? Jin had said kitsune had to keep their promises. Was that it?
Yamaguchi shouted orders in Japanese.
“What’s going on?” I asked Shun.
The goon jerked me. Pain shot from my shoulder again. I stomped on his foot. It might not have done any damage to him but it made me feel better.
The look of horror on Shun’s face made me stop fighting.
“To punish us, they’re removing Yuki’s life force,” he said. “She has a thing, a star ball that holds all her power. Yamaguchi took it from her when she started working for him, and she’s been enslaved to him ever since. Now he’s going to destroy it and he’s taking us along to watch.”
“But she can fight him, right?”
Of course she could fight him. She was Yuki, fierce and fearless. There’s no way she’d let Yamaguchi overpower her just because he held a stupid ball.
“It’s her life force,” Shun said. “It’s her essence. Without it, she has nothing.”
And Yamaguchi planned to destroy it? That seemed awfully merciless. I was about to explain to Yamaguchi all about agency and individual rights when Yuki let out a piercing shriek. Not a scream, not anything that human but a sound that almost shattered my heart.
I pulled harder to get away from the goon. As I twisted, I saw Yuki’s face. I’d known, in theory, that she was a fox or some kind of fox spirit or whatever a kitsune was but I’d never connected that to her being an actual animal.
As the goon dragged her though, that animal side started to unfurl.
Her nose became pointier and her face sharper, more fox-like. The whole time she whimpered like a beaten dog, trying to free herself.
People began to gather to watch. How could they watch this and take no action? Ring the cops at least. But would the cops help us?
“Will she die?” I asked Shun.
“She’ll live but she’ll become nothing, worse than nothing. A shadow.”
My stomach clenched and my body became heavy.
I might not like Yuki. She might’ve been a total bitch to me ever since I arrived and we’d never be friends but there was no way someone could just remove her life force. I wouldn’t let them.
“You can’t do
this,” I screamed. “Let me go. Let Yuki go.”
I twisted harder now, trying to tear myself out of the goon’s arms. People around us looked over but pretended they didn’t see a thing. Gutless. But I had to do something, I needed help. I was the descendant of a god, that must count for something.
Then I saw them, a cloud of black in the sky. My friends had come to help.
Chapter 30
The crows descended with a cacophony of cawing. That noise changed to short, sharp cries so aggressive, I flinched from the sound.
They fluttered around me, swooping at the goon holding me. He let me go, trying to fight them off but there were too many. They came at him from all directions, pecking and thwacking.
He yelled and cried out but I stood back and watched. Soon, blood run down his face. Those crows weren’t playing around.
I wanted to run but this was no time for running. I needed to stand my ground.
“You will not destroy Yuki’s star ball or any other part of her,” I told Yamaguchi. “You’ll let her free.”
He laughed. This time I didn’t let that hideous laugh overwhelm me, though. I put my hands on my hips and looked him square in the eyes.
“Laugh all you like, old man. I’m not your bitch. I’m a God.”
The old man cackled and threw something at the goons. As a cloud of orange smoke plumed around them, the crows rose into the air. Damn it. They were my crows and he had no business attacking them like that.
The goon came at me. I widened my stance and stared him down. That goon wouldn’t put his hands on me again.
I had no idea what I could do. No weapons, no powers except crows that had been rendered useless. All I knew is that I wanted the power. I wanted him to be afraid of me, very afraid.
A wind whipped around me, stirring the branches on the trees overhead. The crows cawed and even the drumming from the festival seemed to recede.
My stomach churned but in a whole different way than it had earlier. Something rose inside me and my body quivered. It seemed like my skin became too small for this power I felt.