“BAB-BA-BA-BAM!!” From within the castle came a booming cry. The culprit was a one-eyed, two-armed, two-legged, and truly gargantuan golden mushroom. Even from the streets, its mycelium could be seen creeping across the castle walls. “I’M BIIIIIG!!” “A…a monstroom! A monstroom has eaten the castle!” “Look! There’s somebody up there!” Sure enough, floating before the monstroom castle’s single eye, looking down on the town, were two figures. “Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!” It was Geppei Amakusa, twirling the Ultrafaith Arrow in one paw. Tirol stood behind her, pouring out a bottle of sake, which Amakusa drained before tossing the empty cup aside. “See how they run and hide,” she sneered. “What miserable excuses for cats. Oh-ho-ho-ho!” “Oh-ho-ho—” “Shut up! Only I get to laugh!” “Here, Madame.” Tirol handed something wrapped in a purple cloth to Amakusa, at which she snorted before snatching it out of the girl’s grasp. She undid the binding, revealing the left arm of Yokan Yatsuhashi within. “Ironic,” she said. “That the arm which once protected this city should be the very thing that ushers in its demise.” She tossed the arm into the wind ahead of her. “Watch closely. Fantastique Action!” The Ultrafaith Arrow shot in the direction of the severed limb and pierced it! Immediately, an enormous golden light exploded from it, dazzling all who stood and watched in the streets below. When the light had faded, all that remained…was a massive golden church bell, hanging in the night sky! “Feast your eyes on the new great bell! Its power far outstrips all those puny little round ones.” “Madame, I’ve made you some earplugs.” “Oh? Fancy doing something useful for once. Very well, let me just put these in and— Sacre bleu! These are hard as rocks!” “They are made of solid gold, Madame.” “Well, what use are they, then?! You need to learn not to obsess over appearances!” So do you! Still, considering they were better than nothing, Amakusa plugged up her pointy ears and turned to address the city. “Moggies and pussycats of Byoma!” she declared. “The time has come! Harken to the sound that will unite all of cat-kind!” “OOOOOHHH.” Amakusa gestured with her paws, and the monstroom castle raised both arms above its head. “Rejoice! Sound the great bell!” BWOOOOM! The monstroom struck the bell with its right arm, releasing a devastating blast of sound that swept across the city, tearing roofs off houses. “Aaagh! Th-the sound!” “Don’t listen to it, Gohei!” yelled Senbei, his fur bristling at the loathsome tone. “It is the sound of the Matango! It’ll turn you into a monstroom!” But it was too late. Gohei’s face was already plastered with a blithe smile. “Wh-what a beautiful sound. All my worries are just melting away. The Matango…they were right all along. This world is fleeting… Nothing matters…” “Blast it! Listen to me, Gohei! Gohei!” Senbei gripped his neighbor by the shoulders and shook him hard, but Senbei brushed him aside. “Buh…bu-bu-buh…?!” His body overflowed with gold. Senbei averted his eyes from the blinding light. Gaboom! When he looked back, the only thing standing in the place of his neighbor was a newly created monstroom. “Bab-ba-ba-bam!” “G-Gohei!” And it wasn’t just him. As the wave of sound traveled through the streets, it transformed all who heard it. “Mush-a-room-a-mush-a-room-a.” “Mush-a-mush-a-room-a-room-a.” “Hey. That guy’s got his paws over his ears.” “That’s not allowed.” “Cease this madness, Gohei! You must fight it!” “Let’s see if he’s ticklish.” “Coochie-coochie-coo!” “Coochie-coochie-coo!” “Mya-ha-ha-ha?! S-stop! …Uh-oh.” Gaboom! “Bab-ba-ba-bam!” “All done.” “On to the next one.” … The great bell continued emitting its devilish tones. The streets glowed with golden light. Amakusa looked down at the city and laughed. At last, her fiendish plan had come to fruition, and all of Byoma was under her spell. “What has she done?!” Milo had headed into the mountains to collect some herbs for Yokan’s treatment, and when he crested the hill on his return, he couldn’t believe what he saw. “She’s learned to exploit the Ultrafaith Arrow so quickly! Maybe she really is a prodigy!” “The townscats don’t look so sad about it,” said Bisco. “Maybe they’re happier as mushrooms.” “We can’t just leave them like this!!” shouted Milo, causing Bisco to slink back, ears drooped. “She’s already said she’ll come after the Human Realm next! We have to stop her!” “Yeah, I know, I know! Don’t get your panties in a bunch!” “We have two options,” said Milo. “Either we use the Ultrafaith Arrow again…” “Not happenin’,” said Bisco, grinding his fangs, as he eyed the monstroom castle below. “’Sides, it won’t work. If two impossible powers collide like that, it’ll destroy the whole world.” “Then the only other option is to ask our feline friend to lend a paw.” “Yeah.” Bisco nodded. “That lord’s still got somethin’ up his sleeve; I know he does. Let’s go talk to him.” With no means at their disposal to help the transformed townscats, Bisco set off down the mountain trail with Milo in tow. Bisco now seemed accustomed to running on all fours, and it was difficult for Milo to keep up. The pair came to a cliff wall and rolled a boulder out of the way, revealing a hidden cave. “Yokan!” yelled Bisco, entering. “Got somethin’ I wanna ask you!” “Hey! Quiet! He’s still asleep!” The sound of dripping water echoed somewhere in the distance. Yokan Yatsuhashi lay on the ground, his eyes wide open. “No, he’s not.” “Yokan! Oh, thank goodness! You’ve come to!” Milo ran over to him and checked Yokan’s temperature with the back of his hand. “You’re well on the way to recovery, sire. I’d say another month at the most, and you’ll be—” “I…lost, did I?” Yokan sat up, grimacing in pain. “Yokan!” cried Milo, encouraging the lord to lie back down. “How do I yet move?” Yokan asked. “Why do I yet live? I recall a skewer through the heart, and then…” “It was your faith, Yokan. It harmonized with the Ultrafaith Arrow. Take a look.” Milo gently undid the bandages around Yokan’s chest, revealing the gaping hole in his torso…and the golden mycelium spread across it. “The mushrooms…saved me?” “It was your own determination, sire. The spores simply responded to it.” Then, Milo’s expression turned grave. “It’s just…well, they weren’t able to save your arm, I’m afraid.” “I see.” Yokan closed his eyes. It was not his dominant right paw he had lost, but that was no less an impediment to his unparalleled combat ability. The cornerstone of his style was using the claws of the nondominant paw as a second weapon, and without them, all his training was rendered meaningless. He stared down at the armless stump, where the golden spores had stopped the bleeding, but below the elbow there was nothing. “It seems the Catwisp Blade is no more,” he said. “Don’t say that, sire! Prosthetics are really nifty these days! We’ll bring you one down from the surface, and then we can…” “…” Bisco was silent as he watched. He knew his partner’s attempts at encouragement were cold comfort to the distraught Yokan. The lord’s arts were very similar to his own. They required intimate knowledge of the flow of life force around the body. A missing limb interrupted that flow, and that was why it was no easy task to recover from such an injury. Still… Bisco bit his lip… We need him back. We can’t beat Geppei Amakusa without him. “We need the Catwisp Blade,” said Yokan all of a sudden. Both Milo and Bisco were dumbstruck by his surprisingly decisive voice. “I may have lost, but I learned one thing in so doing. If I had fought using the real Catwisp Blade, with a soul untainted, then I surely would have won.” “Glad to hear it!” said Bisco. “Then get outta bed and let’s go beat her together!” “Don’t be ridiculous! He’s still got a hole in his chest!” “I’m afraid, Akaboshi, that the catwisps are no longer with me.” Yokan seemed truly ashamed to admit his weakness, but he laid himself down, wincing in pain. His eyes still burned with fire. “It can no longer be I who cuts down the wicked Amakusa. That task must go to another user of the Catwisp Blade, equally strong as myself.” “There’s another swordsman as strong as you in this country?!” “No.” ““Hey!!”” “Not yet, in any case.” Yokan’s scarlet eyes glimmered as he went on. “Time is short. I must train a successor by the time dusk arrives. I know of only one student capable of the feat.” Yokan slowly turned his gaze upon the fiery-haired Mushroom Keeper. “Akaboshi. You shall be the one to receive my arts. I trust you are ready?” “Wh-whaaat?! Me?!” “I see,” said Milo. “That makes sense.” “Like hell it does!” shouted Bisco, grabbing his partner’s ponytail and yelling into his ear. “I ain’t never even used a sword before today!” “That is fine,” said Yokan. “The only weapons you shall need are right there on your paws.” Bisco looked down at his transformed hands. Indeed, the claws did look sharp. Sharp enough to slice through rock if need be. “I am afraid we can spare no leniency,” said Yokan. “I have a duty to my people as their shogun… Surely you do not mean to tell me you are frightened? That you cannot win a fight without your bow by your side?” “Keep talkin’, asshole.” “I must say, I thought you ‘Mushroom Keepers’ or whatever it is you called yourself to be made of sterner stuff. If you blind yourselves to the ways of other cultures, your traditions shall eventually lie in ruins.” “Now you’ve said it, Fuzzball!” Bisco bared his fangs and grabbed the lord firmly. “You’re on,” he snarled. “I’ll show you what Mushroom Keepers are made of. Don’t think I’ll go easy on ya just ’cause you’re missin’ a few parts!” “So you accept?” “How many times I gotta say it?!” “Excellent.” All of a sudden, Yokan’s serious face was replaced by a confident smile. And then… Crackkk! Faster than the eye could follow, he delivered a devastating headbutt to Bisco’s brow! To Milo, it looked as if Bisco had simply passed out in the blink of an eye. “Huhh?!?!?! Y-Yokan?! What was that?!” “That, my friend, was the Gurnard’s Head. It completely masks any trace of my intent, making it completely impossible to see coming, even by Akaboshi there.” “That’s not what I meant! I thought you said you were going to teach him the sword!” “All in good time, my fellow. This is a necessary step, I’m afraid.” Yokan looked down at the sleeping Bisco and closed his eyes. Focusing, he drew out the catwisp particles from the air around him. Reacting to his mind, the particles flickered scarlet before disappearing down Bisco’s earways. “While Bisco may be a fast learner, the ways of the Catwisp Blade are simply too vast to be taught in a single day. Therefore, we must finish this lesson within the landscape of his mind.” “Inside his mind?!” “It is a technique known as Dreamscale,” Yokan explained. “Using it, Akaboshi can receive the fruits of six moons of training in a single day. However, as you have no doubt surmised, the drawback…” “…is that it leaves you both defenseless?” “Indeed.” Yokan gazed out of the cave. Beyond the mountains, the monstroom castle strode through the town, backed by the golden light of dawn. It appeared to be heading straight for them. “It is coming for me,” said Yokan. “It will take some time to sniff us out, but when it does, we shall be powerless to fight it.” “You can count on me, sire!” exclaimed Milo. “I’ll distract Amakusa, and that walking fortress, too! You won’t have to worry about a thing!” “It shall not be easy, Nekoyanagi. You would be facing not only Amakusa, but that Tirol girl as well, who possesses no small power of her own. It is much to ask.” “Sire, you seem to be underestimating me,” said Milo, displaying a confident smile from out of nowhere. “This’ll be a piece of cake. I’ve already seen how it’ll go down in my mind. You see, there’s something we humans have that cats don’t.” “Hmm? And what, pray tell, is that?” Milo placed a finger to his temple. “Schools,” he said. “I may not be able to beat them, but I’ll keep them distracted! They don’t call me ‘Neko’yanagi for nothing!” Plop. A single drop of water tickled his nose, rousing him suddenly from slumber. His limbs were racked with pain. Wh…what’s going on? I can’t move? Cold earth touched Bisco’s cheek. He was lying in a side street somewhere. The pain felt oddly distant as he craned his neck to gaze at clouded skies. Out of the corner of his upturned eye, he spotted a cat dressed in an important-looking outfit. “…Chief!” the cat squealed, recoiling in shock at his gaze. “The pussycat’s alive! She looked at me!” “Still alive, you say?” The chief’s smart clothing identified him as an enforcer of the law, and the cats crowding around Bisco, his subordinates. “These swines’ resilience would be almost admirable, were it not for their thieving tendencies.” “It seems she only barely clings to life, Milord. We must bring her to a physician at once…” “Ridiculous!” roared the enforcer at his underling’s advice, before turning his cruel eyes on Bisco. “If any doctor laid eyes on her injuries, our unlawful use of force would be exposed!” “B-but she is merely a child, Milord!” “Yet the treacherous puss concealed a knife and made an attempt on my life… At least, that is what we shall tell the magistrate. Now kill her.” The police chief’s callous words left his underlings speechless. Meanwhile, on the floor, Bisco trembled with rage, ready to use his sharp claws to tear the corrupt police-cats apart. I’ll show you…! “What’s going on here?” Hmm? A voice like an arrow flew into the alley. Its bearer was a young, fresh-faced samurai with soot-black fur. …Yokan? “Whaddaya want, kid?” The enforcer’s lackeys all gathered between their boss and the newcomer. He looked much like the Yokan that Bisco knew, but much younger at the same time. “Don’t interfere with the chief’s arrests,” one of them said, “unless you wish to be thrown in the gaol!” “But all she stole was a single fish,” said the young Yokan. “Is it truly the way of our city’s police to harass a starving young puss?” “It doesn’t matter whether she stole one fish or all the gold in Byoma’s coffers! A thief is a thief, will always be a thief!” The constable’s underlings all brandished their swords in unison. “In the name of order, let no freedom go unpunished!” “You incorrigible fools…” In response to the police-cats’ furious words, Yokan placed a paw on his blade. As soon as the enforcer saw it, all the blood drained from his furry face. “Th-that sword! W-w-w-wait! Lay down your blades, mogs!” ““What?!”” “That golden hilt…it is Kintsuba, the treasured blade of the Yatsuhashi line, and mark of its successor, Yokan Yatsuhashi!” The enforcer fell to his knees. His underlings didn’t fully understand who they were dealing with, but they followed suit all the same. “W-we were just bringing this poor injured pussycat to a physician, Milord. My boys just got a little jumpy, that’s all. I’ll teach them some politeness, never you mind…” “I care not. Begone.” “Um. Milord? We needn’t bother Rakugan with news of this indiscretion, do we…?” “I said begone!!” The black cat’s roar caused the troublesome peacekeepers to leap into the air, scrambling for freedom, hiding their faces as they scurried into the streets. Soon, the only ones remaining in the alleyway were Yokan and Bisco, who was lying sprawled out on the ground. Yokan walked over and took a look at his face. “What barbarism,” he said. “I shall bandage you up presently, just wait.” “Wait?” came a woman’s voice. “I’ve been waiting all my life. Waiting to be free of this hell we call a world.” It was only after a few moments that Bisco realized that the words had come from his own lips. “Wait until they see my world…glittering, golden, divine. That’ll show them. That’ll show them all!” “Speak not,” said Yokan, “lest your wounds reopen… There. I have done what I can. I must bring you back to the mansion and have my private physician take a look at you.” Yokan hoisted Bisco onto his back, and his mouth emitted a brief grunt of pain. “Does it hurt?” “Shut up…” “That’s the spirit. What is your name, fair puss?” For a moment, Bisco felt an odd feeling of reluctance in his very soul. Then the words came. “Amakusa… Geppei Amakusa…” “Geppei, then. I shall allow you to convalesce at the mansion. Otherwise, I can send you to your home, if you prefer.” He whistled, calling Hokusai, his trusty steed. Yokan climbed into the saddle, with Geppei firmly on his back. Then the horse took off like the wind. Geppei Amakusa… Bisco pondered the girl whose eyes he saw through, turning her name over in his mind. So I’m relivin’ her past? Guess that’s kinda cool. There you have it. Never one to ask questions, Bisco settled in for the long ride. There was only one problem gnawing at him. Feels kinda wrong bein’ in a woman’s body, not gonna lie. Even a cat woman’s… However, Bisco’s finely tuned instincts were telling him that some important revelation lay just around the corner, and so he knew he would have to weather it no matter how uncomfortable he felt. Bisco took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and attuned his mind to that of Yokan Yatsuhashi’s old flame.
Chapter 99
15 min read