Revenge of the Akuma Clan

by Benjamin Martin

  Not long after, the students got off and found their way up to the ground level. Tantalizing smells from a bakery hit them as they left the escalator. David caught several of his classmates moving toward a shop across the way before the guides were able to herd them to the exit. When they emerged, they were in front of a busy intersection with the Miyako Hotel across the street.

  Once in the hotel they began the first of several planned ceremonies. Each one was well marked in the schedule booklet that every student had to carry. There were so many people they ringed the wide balcony on the upper level of the lobby. Mizuki stepped forward as the first designated representative, said a few words on behalf of the rest of the students, and bowed. The hotel manager then gave a speech about the hotel, asking the students to be mindful of the other guests.

  ‘This is the kind of thing I could expect on any school trip, except everyone’s so quiet. It’s so formal,’ David thought.

  ‘This otherness you feel, it is similar to what we feel near the ocean… but so much weaker.’ With the ceremony done, the students broke up by class. David continued his inner conversation with Kou as he met up with Takumi. Moriyama-sensei handed out keys and arranged David’s class into rooms.

  David, Takumi, Naoto, and Shou were all crammed into a small but well-appointed room. Teachers were interspersed along the hallway, with the girls separated into their own rooms. Once everyone settled, each class met to go over the next day’s schedule.

  ‘This is nothing like school trips back home. I can’t believe we are staying in such a nice hotel. And the manager! He accepted having almost a hundred students running around at the same time in stride, like he does it all the time!’

  ‘He probably does. I seem to have vague memories of various groups of students moving around together from the Zodiac Tiger. I am sure they get school groups through here all winter.’

  That night, Kou dreamt of snow, sucking David into the random firings of the animal part of their shared mind. For the first time, David saw himself standing beside Kou, both forms separate and real. Then darkness reached into their combined dream and he remembered no more.

  David and Kou were less than pleased to find Takumi attempting to wake them with his old violent method. It took all of David’s will to remind Kou that they could not transform and take a bite out of their well-meaning host-brother.

  ‘Think of what it would do to Reimi,’ David thought in his half-asleep muddle.

  ‘Exactly,’ Kou purred. ‘Fresh bird.’

  The feel of his tail twitching under the sheets woke him enough to wrap an iron control around Kou’s predatory instincts. He knew he should have avoided bringing up Reimi when Kou was so close to transforming, but with Takumi shaking him awake it was a near thing.

  Although they often got up at four at the Matsumoto Estate, David was normally able to rest his body by transforming into Kou at night. With all the students around, David was unable to let Kou take over, which deprived them both of the restoration they normal got from switching bodies. His classmates might freak out if they awoke in the night to see an adolescent tiger prowling their crowded hotel room. With a bit of concentration, David ensured nothing else transformed and the tail was quickly gone.

  Frowning, David pulled himself together and followed the others to the top floor for breakfast. The hotel served both Western and Japanese style breakfasts, so he took both pancakes and miso soup. Though Shou gave him an odd look, it was nice to get a taste of home, and the soup helped warm him.

  After breakfast and some quick packing, the second years met in the lobby for their farewell ceremony. The class bowed and thanked the manager for their brief stay. David followed Rie as everyone shuffled outside. Their tour guides met them just outside, leading the students to two buses. Smaller than their American counterparts, the buses were just big enough to fit all three classes.

  Class 2B split between the two buses. David was able to stay with his group of friends, while most of their not-quite-enemies ended up on the other bus. Mizuki, the class representative, and her cohorts’ exclamations of how happy they were to be on the good bus did not die down until the guides shut the door, drowning out their noise.

  David felt a pang as they drove through Fukuoka. A large city surrounded by low mountains, it reminded him of the valley back home in Arizona. Phoenix was a place that, according to the Matsumotos, he would never be able to see again. He remembered the pain he had felt when Masato Matsumoto had told him he could never return. He also remembered his slow acceptance. At least his family could visit. Sitting back, he listened to their new bus guide as she talked about Fukuoka and otherwise attempted to keep the students entertained. David’s thoughts centered on his family, and the email Jessica had sent just before he left for the trip. She had complained that all she had to look forward to was a trip to Catalina Island in California in the next year. Natsuki’s promise to send her souvenirs had barely consoled his little sister.

  ‘I’ll have to send a postcard later today,’ David reminded himself, settling in for what proved a long, if interesting, bus ride.

  The buses stopped once at a small park where the students were able to throw a few snowballs at the members of the other bus, though they were still low and the snow was scarce. The bus guide spoke throughout their ride, talking about various aspects of Kyushu as they drove south. Only Hidemi, Rie’s quiet, bookish friend took notes for their guidebooks. David rested, confident in Kou’s indelible memory. Eventually, they arrived in Nagasaki.

  The buses pulled over long enough for the students to jump out, and the bus guides led them up a set of wide high stairs to a restaurant overlooking a river. There they enjoyed crunchy fried ramen with a thick stew called “chanpon.” The restaurant served the food on round turntables so everyone could get to it. Groups of students sat around the large tables enjoying the food and chatting about the rest of the day to come as they watched the boat traffic in the bay below.

  After lunch, the students assembled outside again. David gathered with his friends as the second years broke up into four groups, each led by one of the bus or tour guides and a teacher. David scowled as he realized that since they were the smallest class they would be in their own group while the two other classes would be broken into three groups. Together, Class 2B turned a corner and found themselves at the bottom of a hill. Rising before them was a street that looked like the setting for a performance of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, complete with a church at the top. David raised his eyebrows in surprise as their guide started talking about how the area had been one of the first to open to foreigners.

  As they walked, David realized that most of the buildings housed touristy stores. A little old lady managed to attract a few of his classmates as she tried to sell odd trinkets and jewelry. Laughing David was reminded of Sedona, a little tourist town in northern Arizona. Sedona had the exact same mix of old buildings and peddlers.

  ‘I guess some things are truly cross-cultural,’ David thought as Moriyama ushered Shou and Tsubasa away from the old lady.

  The group spent the next hour walking around a place called Glover Garden. A collection of old merchant buildings from the 1800’s, it was unimpressive to David who had seen old style buildings with their tall thin doors before. For the rest of his classmates, however, it seemed to be a first. Despite the history around them, David soon found that the girls were mainly interested in hunting down the heart-shaped paving stones hidden around the property. David had never seen his host-brother go quite so still as when Natsuki pulled Rie away to go look for one of the stones.

  “What’s that all about,” David asked as the girls ran away.

  “Dreams of love will come true if you touch a stone,” Naoto answered, yawning as he looked over a railing to the bay below.

  David noticed that in addition to their other groups of classmates a few other schools were out and about the area. It was interesting to see how their school uniforms differed. As he watched, he thought h
e caught a girl in a gray uniform look at him, but when he turned back for a better look, she was gone. Shrugging, David followed his classmates toward the exit. The girls giggled behind them. The usual animosity between the class representative’s group and Natsuki and Rie’s friends was overcome by their common interest in the potential power of the heart stones.

  On the way back down the hill, Moriyama let the students peek into a few shops. Shou and Naoto appeared before David holding matching black key chains with “I love Badminton,” and “I love Track and Feild” respectively. One whole half of the store seemed devoted to the same design with different sports on everything from shirts to cups. They seemed proud to have found trinkets in English.

  “’Track and Field’ is spelled wrong,” David said, laughing. Naoto shrugged and smiled, heading off to pay at a register. David’s two friends had a kind of war going to see who could fit the most key chains and phone straps on their pencil cases.

  As the rest of his group looked through the stores, David found he was alone outside a cake shop. Turning, he nearly ran into a short Japanese woman holding a tray of cakes. She had moved so close to him without his noticing that the shock nearly made him summon his Seikaku. His heart racing, he covered his shock with a polite bow and moved away. The woman moved with him.

  “Listen but do not react,” the woman said. David peered down at her, unsure if he should head for Moriyama-sensei. Something about the woman seemed off.

  ‘She is standing too straight, too serious for a cake seller who has to bend over a register all day,’ Kou warned.

  David slid his foot behind him, moving into a fighting stance.

  “No need for that. I’m from a mutual friend. Continue your watch. We have reports that Chul Soon may be on Kyushu. He was your classmate. He knows about your school trip. Some of us think he may try to attack while you’re away from the Estate.”

  “Wait who are you? How do you know about…”

  “David,” Moriyama called. David’s teacher was at the bottom of the drive, the rest of his classmates around him and ready to go. David looked back, but the woman was gone. With a shiver, he headed after his group.

  Class 2B spent the next hour walking the streets of Nagasaki. They peered past restaurants and walked through what looked to David like a Chinatown. Moriyama and their tour guide led them across a small channel and through a gate with a sign proclaiming they were entering Dejima Island. The whole way he felt watched. His skin crawled. The cake lady had unnerved him.

  David and his classmates wandered through the reconstructed Dutch buildings of Dejima. Much of it was like a museum but there were enough hands-on activities to keep them interested. They even found a spot where they could play with old-fashioned badminton paddles made of wood and leather. As they walked, Takumi took pictures with one of the school cameras. As he stopped to snap a picture of an old school room, David scanned the rest of the tourists, hoping and fearing he might spot Chul Soon. Instead, he spotted a few of the gray uniformed students he had seen earlier in the day.

  “Where do you think they’re from?” Kenta asked from beside David and Takumi. Tall and beefy, the fourteen year old often went over-looked by David and his friends. Though he had seen him often enough in the library, David had rarely talked to the student council member, assuming he was one of Mizuki’s friends.

  “They’re from Okinawa,” Tsubasa answered. Tsubasa seemed like the least likely person to befriend Kenta. He was much, much shorter, and so thin he looked to be almost bone. David smiled. He knew Tsubasa from the badminton team. Although he was at a disadvantage due to his height, he was quick. His passive face watched everything with intelligence, be it on the court or in class. Kenta’s raised eyebrow was enough to get Tsubasa to continue. “I was looking at the hand generator display and a group of them came in. I guess one of them was into technology too and we got to talking. They’re doing almost the exact same trip we are. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see them a couple more times.”

  David shrugged, but before he could turn away, Kenta spoke up, saying, “Do you two want to come with us? I saw a big cannon around the corner and it looks like the rest of your group wandered off.”

  Looking around, David realized the others were gone.

  “Sure,” David said. Together the four walked off to find the old cannon, David alert for any sign of his enemy. Kou prompted him to speak so their observant classmates would not notice his search. “So why are you on the student council too, if all you’re interested in is the technology club?”

  “Because people asked me to. Not everyone wanted Mizuki, and even those that did decided it might be better if she wasn’t the only voice for our class,” Kenta said with a laugh. They spent about half an hour exploring the various paths, models, and rooms before they found the rest of the class. An enthusiastic guide had pulled them into a presentation on the second floor of one of the buildings.

  Since time was limited, Class 2B stopped for lunch at a convenience store and took one of the local streetcars to their next stop. David just had enough time to choke down a tuna sandwich outside the museum’s entrance. The other groups seemed to have spent their time more efficiently, and had already eaten by the time 2B arrived with their shopping bags.

  Inside the Nagasaki Bomb Museum, David wandered through the exhibits with Kenta, Tsubasa, and his friends. The instant they passed the ticket counters, David felt out of place. The old style clock near the entrance, stopped at the instant the bomb went off, sent a chill through him that stayed past the strikingly lit ruins and twisting towers of steel. There was an aura to the place. It spoke to a part of him he had never been aware of before. Each piece in the bomb museum evoked a deep sense of sadness and loss. Despite the burnt lunch boxes, human hand fused to stone, and other horrible things, the tone was not anger, but instead a will to show the price paid in war. David felt the importance of ensuring such weapons are never again used.

  As they wandered through the museum, their group began spreading out as his friends moved to different exhibits. David followed the sound of someone speaking English and shivered as he entered a room with low benches and videos of survivors telling their stories.

  “It’s like there are ghosts telling us their stories,” Kenta whispered as he left the remaining group to watch one of the videos. Beside him, Takumi tensed as David moved toward the corner of the room. Like David, he could see that it was not just the old-timers’ stories that made it feel like there was someone else there. In the corner they were approaching, a young man, almost transparent, stood looking through a wall, a sad expression on his face.

  The obake looked up at them as they came closer but made no move to attack. With a jerk of his chin, the obake gestured to a video of an old man talking about his lost comrades.

  “Don’t forget what you saw here,” the obake’s wilting voice said in English, his tone pleading for someone to hear him.

  “I won’t,” David whispered. With a sudden look of surprise, the obake turned its long gaze on David. The apparition stared back with a curious look, as his western features grew ever more defined. Then with a solemn nod, the apparition disappeared, just as the obake that had attacked Natsuki had disappeared when David pierced it with his Seikaku.

  “What did he say? I didn’t catch the English,” Tsubasa asked, cutting off Takumi before he could ask the same thing. Together David and Takumi turned on their lone classmate.

  NAGASAKI GHOSTS AND KASTELLA CAKE

  Such a large part wanted to give in. I guess that is why I was so unhappy. Spending every minute in struggle is taxing. Every second was a test straining nature against desire. It was easier to let myself be carried away by instinct, but every hour I refrained was proof of the possibility. Still, I always chose to succumb. The constant anger aimed at myself then, was because deep down, I knew all I truly had to do was make a different choice…

  It was harder than David thought it would be to find a secluded place in the museum. It took
five minutes of prowling the first floor before they found an alcove isolated enough to pull Tsubasa aside.

  “You can see ghosts?” Takumi hissed once they were alone.

  “Sure, I’ve been able to see them for months. Apparently, you can too. How come? I figured it out by accident,” Tsubasa said. He turned the same curious stare he always had while researching motors, gadgets, and computers in the school library on David. “What did the obake say before he disappeared?”

  “You’d better go first,” David said, reminded that he was supposed to keep everything to do with samurai and spirits secret. Tsubasa just stared back. “Fine, the obake asked us not to forget what we saw here. He must be the one who died while standing before the window. His friend was standing right next to him yet he survived. The ghost wanted to make sure someone would remember what his friend said in his video message.”

  Tsubasa stared back at them as if expecting more of an explanation, but shrugged his shoulders. David might have sighed in relief but something about the boy’s look said he had not given up on getting answers.

  “You know I’m in the electronics club right? Well we are always building stuff, playing with circuits. Well a year ago Kenta and I decided to try to make x-ray glasses. You know, kids’ stuff. We ended up with a kind of mirror that had an electrical current running through it. I had it at home, and when I looked in the mirror, I caught a glimpse of an old man. When I looked up, my grandfather was standing right there.” Tsubasa turned and gestured as if his grandfather would show up right next to them all. “He had died about a year before that, so it scared me, but three times since I have seen ghosts, and even talked to them. Kenta didn’t believe me, but we still worked on it together. I guess once you see one, you can see them all. So what about you two?”