“Ah, well I’ve always been able to see them,” David said. “Takumi too, I think the one in here had been waiting for someone to hear him. He must have been satisfied when I acknowledged him. You should be careful though. Not all the ghosts you meet are nice.”
Tsubasa’s stare told them he remained unconvinced. David sought for something to say that might ensure their classmate would keep quiet, but the rest of their class began walking up the long curving exit ramp. Tsubasa followed David’s gaze to the giant cruise missile hanging from the center of the room, then shrugged, and headed off after the others. With the Matsumoto secrets somewhat safe for the time being, David and Takumi followed behind.
‘It’s a good thing Natsu wasn’t with us,’ David thought once they were outside the museum and following their guides through a series of parks. ‘She still freaks out when she sees Ryohei. She wouldn’t have liked the obake in there.’
‘Definitely. I think we should convince Tsubasa to let us borrow his mirror though. The other Matsumotos could benefit from being able to see Ryohei and other ghosts,’ Kou replied within David’s mind. He had kept quiet since the plane ride, but David could tell the young tiger was getting restless. They had both grown used to being able to transform every night. David missed the feeling of wind through his fur, and the increased senses were addictive. As they walked, Natsuki and Rie fell into step alongside them.
‘You don’t have fur. All you have is that peach fuzz you call hair.’
‘Dude, not cool. You have fur, and when we’re a tiger, I can feel it just the same as if I did have fur.’
The second years walked through a large park with several statues that their tour guides explained, and then viewed a bit of ground from the explosion excavated and preserved behind thick glass. David focused so much on trying to read every movement Tsubasa made that he missed most of the scenery. As they walked past a stand of trees, David froze as Natsuki, Rie, Takumi, and Tsubasa all stopped at the same instant. He saw Natsuki start to cringe away even as the rest of his classmates walked on, oblivious of whatever had stopped his friends.
David ran ahead. The ground fell away before them as concentric circles focused on a tall monument in the center of a wide clearing. Off to the side, the ruins of a building stood surrounded by grass and paved stones. As the rest of the second years walked down toward the center, listening to their tour guides, David realized what the others had seen before him. Throughout the entire area, there were translucent apparitions milling about in old uniforms and clothing from a different era.
Just ahead, Natsuki’s skin had tuned sickly pale with fright. She was just shy of bolting. Beside her, Takumi had closed his eyes in concentration as he focused on not turning into Reimi. When Natsuki had been his partner, Kou had transformed to comfort her whenever she had become distraught. As her new partner, Reimi would want to do the same, though having Takumi transform into a phoenix would be horrific for their covers as normal students. David stepped forward warily.
“Don’t worry, we will keep you safe,” David whispered from behind them. “They aren’t here to hurt you. Look, they are all just sad. I think they just want someone to recognize they were here, and not forget. Stick close to Takumi. Things will be fine.”
About halfway down the path, Tsubasa turned, his gaze sweeping the area everyone else would have thought vacant. When he turned past the girls, his casual eyes took on a knowing look. David was thankful his observant classmate did not wait to ask more questions, but instead followed the other students. Below, Moriyama gestured for them to hurry as the class lined up for a picture.
Before they could move, a little girl in an old-fashioned kimono appeared before them. She was small, cute, and as transparent at a light breeze. David hid a smile as Natsuki attached herself to Takumi’s arm in fear.
“Will you remember me?” the little girl asked in a barely perceptible voice, her words laced with sadness fostered by years of unanswered questions.
David noticed a tear glisten in Natsuki’s eye, and she nodded. With a radiant smile, the little girl danced away on the wind, disappearing among the trees. Although there were still many other obake about, Natsuki relaxed a little.
Realizing what she was doing, Natsuki extricated herself from Takumi’s arm. They made it to the center of the clearing for a picture before the epicenter monument without any of the other obake stopping them. Their guides soon led them out of the area.
The incident rattled David. It reminded him that this school trip could turn from a string of fun new experience to something far more dangerous if Chul Soon or one of his allies showed up. Resolved to be more vigilant, he continued walking with his classmates.
A short distance from the clearing, their guide led them up a long flight of stairs that ended before a fountain. A tall bronze statue rose in the distance, taller than the cascading water. Past the fountain, they walked through more ruins, statues, and monuments, closing on the giant statue of a man sitting, one hand raised to the sky, pointing with two fingers. As they approached the statue, David saw the same gray uniformed students he had seen throughout the tour, ten of them, standing before the statue as a photographer took their photos.
“That’s not a very big class,” Rie said.
“They’re from a small island way east of Okinawa,” Kenta replied from Tsubasa’s side as the class lined up.
Mizuki stepped forward to read a speech, and then led the class in bowing before the statue to pay their respects to those who had died. Once the ceremony was complete, their teachers and a grizzled cameraman arranged them by class before the statue so that he could take their picture. As they jostled into position, David noticed one of the gray uniformed girls staring at him. Instead of disappearing when he looked, she held his gaze. With long black hair, almond eyes, and an intense expression she was both beautiful and somehow different at the same time. Before he knew it, the camera flashed and she was gone.
‘Great, I’m going to be staring off into space on the photo,’ David thought as they finished. A few classmates away, he caught Rie give him a look that made him feel oddly guilty. ‘She must have seen me staring.’
‘Of course she did,’ growled Kou. His inner tiger provided mental images of Rie’s curious glance. It was as if Kou was his personal TiVo, playing back every twitch of her features in exacting detail. Despite her neutral features, thanks to Kou David saw the muscle movements that marked her emotions shift from concern, to surprise, and then annoyance.
Rie left him alone as their teachers herded them en masse to the waiting buses. During the hour ride, David thought about the intriguing girl and wondered why she had stared at him with such intensity. It took a little persuasion, but as he had with Rie’s reaction, Kou recalled the strange girl’s face for him. The memory evoked a strange sensation in him, and he puzzled at it as the bus pulled away from an underground parking lot.
Later, their tour buses pulled off a scenic coastal road to the Kastella Cake Factory so they could shop for souvenirs.
“Kastella is supposed to be really good,” Takumi said from the seat beside him. “I hope they let us taste-test.”
“Let’s go find out,” David replied, sure they’d be safe enough in the rural tourist trap.
Inside there was a whole range of snacks and novelties from Nagasaki prefecture. Most items were individually wrapped snacks, a convenient way to buy for a group. Their teachers and tour guides followed a Kastella worker into a back room, leaving the students to browse and buy on their own.
“The teachers get samples and coffee,” Rie said as she and Natsuki appeared next to David. “Come on. Let’s go find something for mom and dad.”
Together, they tried the different varieties, all of them delicious, even when they strayed from the more ordinary flavors. With Takumi, they picked a few cakes while Natsuki bought her own for her parents and friends.
“Ryohei is going to be seriously frustrated,” David whispered as they sampled a lime cake. The f
amily’s ghost always looked on with a sense of loss when they ate in his presence.
“So lime or honey for the badminton team,” Natsuki asked coming over with two medium sized boxes. Rie turned to consult with her, and David returned to trying the various mini-squares of cake.
David rolled his eyes as Naoto walked by, his cheeks stuffed with cake. The gesture was lost on his classmate so he headed over to join Takumi as he followed Natsuki and Rie through a section of crafts.
“You’re not going to buy that, are you?” Mizuki asked from the next aisle over in a casually cruel tone. David peered around his host-brother and saw Hidemi holding a small fox. The quick look of anger that shot across the calm demeanor of his classmate shocked him. Kou played back the exchange for him again. She had indeed been at least interested in the little statue. Ahead, Natsuki started yelling at Mizuki for making fun of Hidemi. They got so loud, so fast, that Takumi had to drag Natsuki outside so that the shop employees would not kick them out.
David selected and paid for two items for his sister and dad, since food would not survive the post, and then hurried after his friends. Outside, David saw Natsuki’s temper was fading as she talked with Takumi a bit away from the buses. David started walking over, but the look on Takumi’s face made a half-formed thought whole. David covered his shock by turning and walking to the end of the lot, where a fenced observation point overlooked the sea. Kou purred as the sun began to fall below the horizon.
‘You finally put together all that tension between them. We’ve known for a while that they like each other.’
‘But it’s more than that isn’t it? Takumi does like her. All their awkwardness… We should get them to date.’
‘And you think you won’t still be stuck in the middle?’ As they pondered the issue of Takumi and Natsuki, David felt Kou’s animal instincts strain against their prolonged need to stay human. They had to fight to remain in human form as their instincts drove them to transform and run free as a tiger.
“Snap out of it. Your eyes are orange,” Rie whispered from beside him. “Sure, someone might just think it’s a trick of the light but you can’t transform with the whole class around you.”
“Thanks,” David said with a smile and a wink. “We needed a distraction.”
“Oh, you mean aside from your new Okinawan friend?” Rie asked with a quiet voice. Before he could answer, she turned, leaving him alone above the sea. He turned to call her, but felt a tug on his collar. In an instant, he was over the railing, falling toward the rocks beneath.
“Stupid owl statue,” David grumbled as their bus rode up a mountain road. Both buses of students had watched as Moriyama scolded him for playing on the railing. His uniform was full of dust and two rips. The little statue he had bought for Jessica had somehow scrambled up his back and tried to pull him to his death. It took more than a miniature owl to kill him, though from its screeches of ‘Die! Human, Die!’ he was sure it thought it had the upper hand. Still, he had to summon his Seikaku and smash the crazy little bird, no easy task among the pillars supporting the overlook where his classmates had been.
By the time he had destroyed the possessed souvenir, Moriyama had already started a search for him. Ashamed at the surprise attack, and angry at having to pretend he had lost his balance, he sulked all the way through their entry ceremony at the next hotel.
Unlike the last hotel, this one had an open tatami mat area like the flooring in the Matsumoto Estate. Instead of beds, there was a futon in the closet for each student. Like large quilts, the futons were little more than a layer of padding over the firm rush mats beneath. Since none of the rooms had their own showers, everyone had half an hour scheduled just for bathing at the community baths before dinner.
“There’s only the public bath here,” Daiki said after David failed to find more than a toilet in their room. He had new roommates this time, and they all looked like they would have preferred a non-dusty roommate. “Umm. You’ll want to make sure you shower off well before you get in.”
“I’m looking forward to it. The hot springs baths are supposed to have healing properties from the minerals in the water,” Kenta added.
David had grown accustomed to the Japanese style of bathing while living with the Matsumotos. He was fine with showering outside the tub, then sitting in the warm relaxing water. It was nice after his long training sessions with the Matsumotos. The Plateau Hotel’s bath, however, was a bit of a shock.
There were two giant baths for the men and women, separated in different rooms. A long row of showerheads was against one wall complete with stools and soap so that each person could shower before going over into the pool-size hot tub. Although more than a little embarrassed, David soon realized that his other classmates ignored everything else around them, and that it was his western upbringing that made the experience awkward. Thick steaming fog made the whole process easier and the hot water was relaxing after the long day walking Nagasaki’s streets.
‘Let’s just hope kappa don’t live in hot springs. I so don’t need to fight an invisible water spirit while naked.’ For once, Kou agreed.
AMUSEMENTS
AND HISTORY
Of course, this time I made the wrong choice… again. I told myself I was pressured into it, but like most things we tell ourselves... Well, with a plan outlined, part of me was excited for the hunt. I could not help thinking there might still be a chance, if I could just get rid of him…
Although David had expected his classmates to stay up late into the night, chatting or trying to sneak out, it never happened. Sure, they talked for a bit, but after the busy day they had and with an even heavier schedule planned for the next day, they were all asleep just after the scheduled ten-thirty. Without being able to recuperate in their tiger form, David was having unfortunate flashbacks to the constant exhaustion of his first months of training. After scribbling out a postcard for Jessica and his father, and then redoing them in English, David drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, the students ate a large Japanese style breakfast with miso soup, rice, fish, and several local side dishes. They had another quick ceremony in the hotel’s lobby, and then were out the door and on the bus. David was able to secure the very back seat with Takumi. Since Natsuki and Rie were just in front, David took the time to tell Takumi about the woman’s warning and the owl attack. He almost stopped when his host-brother started laughing.
“What should we do? Maybe I should sneak off and try to lure Chul Soon out, if he is really here.”
“If he is on Kyushu,” Takumi whispered, “he’ll come for us. If you leave, Reimi and I won’t be able to keep the rest of our classmates safe. I know you want to go hunt him, but we can’t put the rest of our class at risk.”
They discussed other options, but soon their buses pulled onto a large ferry. As they crossed the loading ramp, David felt a heavy sense of unease descend upon him. It was not as bad as the flight, but he could see the ferry was still connected to the port. As he fought the roiling tension from Kou, their tour guides ushered them out of the bus and up toward the passenger areas. While they exited, Moriyama handed out packets of stale shrimp flavored snacks. Their use became clear once they were on the upper levels. Seagulls darted around the boat catching the snacks mid-air.
David remained inside as his classmates braved the cold to feed the gulls. Sure enough, as soon as the boat began pulling away, the tension shifted within him to an instant panic. It took a long time for Kou to withdraw, but David was able to recover enough to walk outside and join his classmates about halfway through the trip. On the weather decks, students and other passengers threw the shrimp snacks and in return, the birds twirled and dove through the air after them. The more adventurous birds would even fly in and pluck the snacks right from the screaming students’ hands. David watched in amusement, and handed his own packet off to Naoto, who was trying to lure the birds onto Shou’s head. Then he saw Takumi.
His host-brother stood alone and away from the
other students. His face was pale as he followed the birds. As David got closer, he realized Takumi’s strange appearance was not just from the intensity with which he looked at the other birds but that his eyes were a darker gray than the water running by swiftly below them. Startled, David realized that Reimi was very close to breaking through.
‘She must be able to sense the other birds around her.’ Kou’s lack of reply struck David, but he managed to turn his attention back to Takumi.
Although there was no mental connection between boy and bird, Takumi and Reimi could still sense the world around them while in the other form. Even if they were unable to access each other’s senses or talk, they could still see the world through the filter of their separate existences. Takumi had trouble describing it, and since David and Kou were connected, they did not have to worry about out of body experiences when they changed. Still, David could tell that Reimi wanted to transform and join the darting birds. Takumi’s hands were turning bright white with the pressure he was exerting on the boat’s guardrail. David checked to ensure no one was watching them, and then made a quick decision.
“Go around the corner and change. I’ll cover for you and hide your clothes,” David whispered.
With a look of great relief and gratitude, Takumi popped around the corner. David knew they were taking a chance, but he also knew that if the pressure Reimi was exerting on Takumi was half what Kou could do, then it was better to let them fly. As soon as David turned, he saw Reimi, the small gray phoenix. She looked up at him with wide deep eyes, the color bright red as if flames smoldered within.
“I know it’s been awhile since you’ve been able to fly, but be careful please! And no showing off. There are a lot of cameras over there. Make sure you’re back so Takumi can get changed,” David whispered. Anyone watching might have thought David had gone insane talking to a bird, but David knew Reimi was more intelligent than anyone but Kou.
Revenge of the Akuma Clan Page 5