Hiro walked over to one of the shelves along the wall and brought out his shinai, a wooden bamboo sword that he used when he was taking classes in kendo, gripping it with both hands as he swung it playfully around. “With your katana and my wooden sword, we can live our own manga comic book!”
Not wanting to be left out, Shogo quickly got up and dashed towards the small kitchen area as he took out a stainless steel cleaver from the knife block beside the unused hot plate on the counter. “I’m part of the manga team too! Let’s kill some yokai!”
Shinji looked down at the tatami mats on the floor. He couldn’t believe this. “Is this what you both want? To die?”
“Well, I would like some more food too. One meal a day isn’t enough,” Shogo said as he tried to spin the cleaver with his hand but it fell down on the floor. “Maybe we could find some extra food out there.”
“Shogo is right,” Hiro said. “We are slowly dying as we’re trapped in this building. I’m sure you could see all the scared people in their apartments, praying for help that will never come and all they can do every day is just wait for their daily ration of food that will probably run out soon. I’d rather die fighting than starving to death like some caged dog who’s scared of its own shadow.”
Shinji rubbed his chin. “Well, if you’re going to do this, then let’s do it right. I’ve got an old cuirass in one of my boxes, it’s part of an old set of samurai armor that grandfather gave me.”
“I remember that suit of armor,” Shogo said. “Where’s the rest of it?”
Shinji shrugged sheepishly. “I sold the rest of the set.”
By the time they had started down the stairs, all three youths had equipped themselves as best as they could. Shinji wore an old cuirass on his chest made up of rusted iron and leather while his katana was strapped to his side. Hiro had his bamboo sword and a small knife along with his kendo equipment that consisted of a face mask, shoulder pads, a chest protector made of molded plastic, and thick, padded gloves. Since there wasn’t much else, Shogo wore a white kimono as well as a rising sun headband over his forehead while carrying every knife from the kitchen after placing them in a plastic apron that he wore underneath.
The ground floor of the building consisted of a small foyer with stairs leading up to the apartments. Since there was no longer any electricity, the elevators were permanently offline. At night there was a makeshift barricade that blocked the front doors and was manned by at least two people at all times. All three of them had served separately as part of the night watch in the past few weeks since the most able-bodied men in the building were all required to put their time in for guard duty. The women would scrounge in the daytime for food and cook a community meal for everyone just before sunset.
As the three of them got down to the ground floor, they were immediately noticed by the two guards near the barricade who turned to look at them with a mixture of surprise and incredulity. Hiro recognized the two men staring at the. The first was a middle-aged truck driver named Takashi while the second was Goro who worked as a postman for the government postal service. Both of them were armed with long bamboo poles with knives that were bound with tape to form a makeshift spear. Takashi also had a red whistle which he wore on a necklace that he could blow into in case of an attack or for any other emergency. Luckily, the building itself had not been attacked so far.
Shinji, Shogo, and Hiro walked over until they were beside the two guards.
Shinji smiled at the two men. “How is everything this evening?”
Goro squinted his eyes as he looked at the three young men slowly from head to toe. “Why are you three dressed like that?”
“We’re going to go out there and kill some yokai,” Shogo said with obvious pride.
Both guards started laughing. Takashi clutched at his potbelly as if it was going to burst while convulsing with amusement. Goro just shook his head and chuckled while trying not to fall down from laughing as he leaned on his makeshift spear for support.
Hiro placed his hands on his hips in obvious displeasure. “What are you two laughing at? Can’t you see that we need to do something out there? We can’t stay holed up there forever.”
A voice from behind them called out. It was a heavy baritone that commanded respect. “What is going on here?”
All five men turned around as a tall, muscular man with a short haircut had walked out of the small office underneath the stairwell and began to address them. Genjuro had always been the tough guy of the neighborhood, and he had become the leader of the building guards pretty much by default because nobody dared to challenge him. No one ever knew what kind of job he had had, but a few of their neighbors who had seen him with his shirt off remarked he must be an enforcer of the yakuza on account of the many tattoos all over his body. The tenants felt safe with him around.
The two guards instantly bowed as Genjuro walked over to them. Shogo was also in the process of bowing until he saw both Hiro and his older brother just standing there defiantly so he quickly pushed his chin and shoulders back up and stood beside them.
Genjuro looked at the three young men. He had a hunting knife in a belt sheath on his hip. “Are you all planning to leave?”
Shinji straightened his shoulders as he wanted to look tough. “We’ve decided to make an expedition outside of the building to see what we can do to help and maybe to find a way to defeat the yokai out there.”
Genjuro nodded as if he understood. “Very courageous. Since all three of you are adults, that is your choice. But if you leave tonight, do not come back until sunrise.”
“What? What if we get into trouble out there? You have to let us back in if that happens,” Shinji said.
Genjuro shook his head slightly. “I am responsible for the defense of this whole building and everyone in it. I have seen the yokai attack apartment towers such as these when they pursued their victims from the outside and they ran into the buildings for protection. I will not allow the three of you to lead the yokai back to us here.”
“But that’s not fair!” Shogo protested. “You said you were sworn to protect us and we are tenants in this building too, you know.”
“If you stay in the building then my duty to protect you stands,” Genjuro said. “But if you leave, you will not be allowed to risk the lives of others. So think about what you want to do very carefully.”
Shinji turned to look at Hiro and Shogo. “Let’s just go back upstairs, maybe this was a stupid idea after all.”
Takashi nodded in agreement. “Yeah, a very stupid idea. Better to go back to your apartment and stay safe. I heard that Mrs. Katsumi will be making curry for us tomorrow.”
Shogo’s eyes lit up. “Curry? Wow, I can’t wait till tomorrow! I haven’t eaten curry for months now and I miss it so bad!”
“No!” Hiro screamed. “All this talk about what we’re going to eat tomorrow is nonsense! We have to do something or else we will die anyway! I would rather die fighting!”
At that moment all six of them heard a wailing noise outside. As they all stopped talking and began to listen intently the shrieks continued. Hiro guessed that the sound was probably coming from the elevated highway near the train station, less than a block away.
Goro’s voice began to tremble. “Now you’ve done it, all this arguing has attracted the yokai. They’ll be coming here,” he whispered.
“Wait,” Shinji said. “That screaming didn’t sound like a demon, it was more like a woman’s scream.”
The wailing outside continued. Shinji was trying to place the voice in his memory because it sounded very familiar, like the voice of someone he knew. Takashi had crouched down underneath the barricade as his body began to shake with fright. Genjuro merely crossed his arms as he too continued to listen while Shogo had a blank look on his face because all he could think about was the curry he would be eating the next day.
Hiro was already in a fighting stance. “It sounded like a woman who needs help.”
Shinji snapped his f
ingers. “I know who it is! That’s Naomi from the neighboring apartment building down the street.”
Hiro remembered her. She was a young widow who recently lost her husband and she also just had a baby two months ago. The last time he had seen her was the day after the funeral when the three of them decided to pay her a courtesy visit. He had remembered growing up with her all throughout elementary and high school. Naomi was a beautiful woman, with a pale, oval face that was almost doll-like and had deep black hair that fell past her shoulders. She had been the crush of half the boys in school and many of them were disappointed when she married a cop right after graduation.
Shogo quickly snapped back to reality when he heard her name. “She must be in trouble! Should we go help her?”
“Wait,” Genjuro said forcefully. “My directive stands. If any of you go out there, do not come back until sunrise.”
“But she’s in trouble out there,” Hiro said. “How can you make up a rule like that and expect us to help her?”
Shinji grimaced as he looked at Genjuro. “Don’t you get it, Hiro? He doesn’t want us to help her. He wants us to stay here like cowards.”
Genjuro glared at the young man. He looked like he was going to hit him. “You ever call me a coward again. I will rip out your tongue. I have a duty to protect all the families in this building. I know Naomi is a good woman but I cannot jeopardize the safety of everyone to help her.”
“Fine then,” Hiro said as he held the bamboo sword in his arms. “If you don’t want to go, that’s up to you. As for me, I will go help her and if I die, at least I died trying to do something good,” he said before turning to look at the Nishimura brothers. “Are you with me?”
Shinji thought about it for a few seconds before biting his lip. “I’m with you, let’s go. I’m sure we can find somewhere else that’s safe after we help Naomi.”
Shogo was torn because he wanted to just sleep until it was time for the communal meal tomorrow. But then he realized that even if they did serve the curry, it would most likely be in such a small portion that it would just leave him hungry again. “I’m with you guys,” he said finally. “Let’s go rescue the lovely Naomi!”
Genjuro said nothing and merely observed as the three young men moved around the barricade and quickly sprinted out into the darkened streets of the city. Takashi and Goro had just stood there, feeling half guilty for not wanting to help out, yet they were partly relieved that someone else would do that foolhardy task for them.
The black and grey shadowed streets were illuminated by flickering yellowish lights coming from the fires on top of nearby skyscrapers, like gigantic torches in the night. As the three men started making their way upwards on a ramp that connected to the elevated highway, they could still hear Naomi’s constant shrieks that penetrated through almost quiet evening. All three still had their flashlights and were using them to light the path ahead. They passed by a number of abandoned cars along the road but didn’t linger as Shogo could see the outlines of twisted, decaying corpses still inside them.
When they finally saw her, it was apparent she was standing on the edge of the street, ready to throw herself down into the alleyway below. All three immediately broke into a sprint to try to get to her before she could make the leap.
“Naomi!” Shinji shouted as they kept on running towards her. “It’s us, we’re here to help you!”
Hiro was the fastest runner among the three of them and just as he got close to her, Naomi turned around, away from the ledge and knelt down on the ground as she covered her face and continued to wail. He carefully crouched down on one knee beside her. “Naomi, what is it, what happened?”
Naomi crawled on her knees to him and hugged him tightly. She was wearing a tattered blouse and miniskirt. “My baby! A demon took my baby!”
Just as the two brothers finally ran over beside them, Hiro pushed her shoulders back slightly so he could see her face. “Your baby was taken? How did you get out here?”
“I was in my apartment on the second floor when I placed her on a chair at the balcony,” she sobbed. “The sun was setting so I felt it was still safe as I began to prepare her baby formula but as soon as I turned around and looked at her, there was a woman in a kimono standing over the balcony railings. She just took her in her arms and jumped down!”
The two brothers looked at each other in astonishment as they thought about what she said. Naomi started crying harder as Hiro allowed her to rest her head on his shoulders.
Shinji’s eyes were wide open in shock. “B-But I thought the yokai could not venture out in daylight. I thought they only came out at night.”
“Maybe it was because night was about to fall,” Hiro said to him. “Perhaps the yokai who took Naomi’s baby had just woken up?”
“I ran out of my apartment building to try to find her,” Naomi said. “But nobody was willing to help because they all said that it would be dark in a few minutes so I kept searching. I thought I saw them but they were gone again!”
Hiro was scared but he did his best to comfort her. “Where did you last see her?”
“I-It was getting dark but that yokai wore a red kimono, and I think I saw a glimpse of her near the university,” Naomi said.
Shogo nodded. “The Showa University? That’s not too far from here, maybe just three or four blocks away. Let’s go take a look.”
“Hold on,” Shinji said. “It may be close by but it would take us far from our apartment building. If we have to run back, it will be a long sprint if we need help.”
Hiro looked up at him. “Forget our building! You heard what that fool Genjuro said. We won’t be allowed back inside until sunrise so it’s better we find the baby and then go find a safe place where we can hole up until the next day.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Shogo said as he pulled out the cleaver from his plastic apron. “Let’s go find her baby and bring them back the next day. We will be hailed as heroes and shame the others who didn’t help. Perhaps we may even get a bigger share of that curry meal tomorrow!”
Hiro looked at Naomi. She seemed a little bit better now since their arrival gave her some much needed hope. “Do you want to stay here and wait for us while we find your baby?”
Naomi made a slight smile as she shook her head. “No, I think I’ll just go with you three. I feel safer when we’re together.”
The Showa Women’s University was a large compound that also had a school for every level up to high school. It had largely been abandoned at the start of the Glooming and now its shadowy entrance loomed before the four of them. The campus had consisted of several rectangular buildings that surrounded a large athletic field in the center of the compound. There was an eerie quietness to the whole place as they walked past the unattended gate and into a small, tree lined street before turning left to the main building entrance.
Shinji stopped in the middle of the small street and looked about. There were other buildings that housed different halls and dormitories all around them. “Do you know which block that yokai went into?”
Naomi shook her head slightly. “All I saw was a glimpse of her red kimono as she took my child and went past the gate where we just came from.”
Shogo frowned. “We could be here all night if we search all these buildings one by one and I’m already hungry.”
Hiro looked at him with a slight annoyance on his face. “Stop thinking about food and look around for clues.”
At that moment, all four of them heard a loud cackling coming from the inside of the Hitomi Memorial Hall. Shinji instantly drew his katana while Hiro pushed Naomi behind him as he readied his bamboo sword. Shogo started to make chopping motions in the air with his cleaver.
“Shogo, stop that,” Shinji hissed.
“Oh sorry,” Shogo said sheepishly as he stopped playing with the blade. “I thought that yokai was near us.”
Hiro pointed at the hall. “The sound came from that big building in front of us.”
Shinji squinted a
s he adjusted his glasses. “The sign on the building says Hitomi Memorial Hall, must be an amphitheater or something.”
Naomi was shaking. “M-My husband took me there once to see an orchestra playing, it’s like a concert hall.”
“Oh, I’ve never been in a concert hall before,” Shogo said. “Then again, I’ve never been in a university like this either. I didn’t even take the exams because I knew I would flunk them.”
Shinji glared at his brother. “Will you shut up about where you’ve been already? Nobody cares!”
As Shogo began to make faces at Shinji, Hiro placed his hands on Naomi’s shoulders. “I’m going to go in there, wait for me out here,” he said to her.
“No, no!” Naomi cried. “If my baby’s in there, I’m going with you!”
“Let’s all go in there,” Shinji said. “The more of us against that one yokai, the better our chances of beating it.”
All four nodded. Since he was the best armed among the group, Shinji led the way, followed closely by Hiro and Naomi as Shogo brought up the rear. The building’s entrance had glass walls that were shattered and its pieces were all over the foyer as the four of them entered. Naomi kept close to Hiro since he had given her his flashlight so that he could grip his bamboo sword with both hands. Other than the wreckage at the front, the rest of the outer areas seemed intact as they made their way to the double doors leading into the concert hall itself. The doors were slightly ajar and they all noticed that there was some sort of illumination seeping out. Silently positioning themselves by the sides of the doors, Shogo and Hiro immediately pushed the doors forward as Shinji stood by in a fighting stance, ready to draw his katana.
As the doors gave way, all four of them gasped. The concert hall had a high ceiling and they could see an elevated stage towards the far end. Strange balls of floating fire seemed to be magically suspended in mid air above them, bathing the entire area in a flickering yellowish light. Both the acoustically enhanced side walls and the floor were painted in cream colored white. The audience area had multiple rows of empty blue and black padded seats so they made their way along the aisles.
Canticum Tenebris (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 2) Page 4