I watched hostesses clamber into taxis one after another until only the mother cats remained. We then packed into a van bound for the night care center.
Light spilled from the windows of the nursery. Inside, kittens bounced up and down, mewing excitedly at their mothers’ return.
“Mama!” one cried.
“Welcome back!” another kitten cheered.
While some resembled human toddlers, others were still feline. All of them charged outside to their mothers, who they’d sorely missed. The hostesses caught the leaping kittens in their arms, their beautiful faces as fiercely loving as a mother cat’s.
“Did you have a nice time while I was gone?” one mother asked.
“Yep!” the kitten replied. “Mishter Yoru and I played shword fighting!”
I turned my gaze from the hubbub to the nursery’s entrance. In the doorway, I spotted Yoru in an adorable apron. He held a veritable litter of kittens, each the size of his palm, in both hands.
“Good work,” I said.
“You too.”
One by one, the mother cats climbed aboard the van again, cradling their kittens in the moonlight. The sight of so many loving mothers and children mewing cheerfully on their way home brought me to the verge of tears. I wanted to protect that normal scene for them at any cost.
After handing the last of the kittens to its mother, Yoru’s black ears drooped, and he nuzzled my shoulder. “I’m exhausted.”
I laughed. “So, on top of being a bodyguard, you also had to play nanny, huh?”
Yoru purred as I scratched him under the chin. “Yeah, I’m beat,” he said. “This is way too much responsibility for a tomcat like me.”
“You did great though. And it’s nice to be adored for working so hard, right?”
He nodded, begrudgingly pleased. His eyes sparkled as he watched everyone cramming into the van. “Speaking of which, I still have a little more to do,” he sighed. “I’ll meet up with you after I escort the other nannies home.”
“Good luck. I’ll give you some tube treats when you get back.”
“Thanks.”
I boarded the van as well, and we trundled back to the club. After we dropped the nekomata off at their nearby dormitory, silence finally descended over the vehicle.
“Well, that’s a wrap,” I mumbled. I slumped in my seat, watching Nakasu through the window. I saw employees and customers—humans and ayakashi alike—trickling home from various establishments. By all appearances, the night had passed without incident.
Just as I relaxed and began to consider going home myself, an unpleasant premonition pricked my senses. I withdrew my Hayakaken card from my pocket. The eyes of the mascot character were glowing.
Someone’s using spiritual power!
“Mr. Chauffeur!” I cried. “I need to head out for a bit!”
“Be careful!” he hollered. “I’ll let Shinozaki know.”
I leapt out of the van, still clutching my transit card, and raced in the direction my instincts pulled me. Weaving around exhausted drunks, I dashed into an alley.
A chill oozed down my spine.
Reflexively, I spun around and brandished the pass. “Hayakaken shield!”
Electrostatic discharge crackled through the air, and a thin barrier formed in front of me. Water drummed against it a second later. It’s the passing miko! I braced for action as the shield faded.
I couldn’t believe who stood at the opposite end of the alley. Her familiar face twisted my gut into knots. “Nieshima…?”
How could I forget my senior coworker from my previous job?
“Is that you, Kikui?” she asked. “What on earth are you doing here?” She seemed just as surprised to see me.
“I’m protecting ayakashi from the passing miko,” I said, still overcome with shock. “But I never expected you to be the attacker.”
Nieshima glared at me and clicked her tongue. “What do you think you’re doing, accusing me of something like that?”
“Well, um, you did just attack me, right? I’ve basically caught you red-handed.”
She didn’t answer.
“Ayakashi are already warning each other about you,” I said. “They know water is your MO and everything else you’ve done.”
“Seriously?” She snorted. “I don’t know anything about that. Don’t accuse me of something you can’t prove.”
“Like I said…um, I’ve basically caught you red-handed.”
She fell quiet again, pouting like a sullen child considering how best to deal with a resistant parent.
My heart twinged ever so slightly. Certainly, Nieshima had been a difficult colleague. Even so, she’d been leading a normal life, blending in relatively well at her job. Why had she turned to crime?
“Why are you doing this?” I asked
“No reason,” she replied. “I just mistook you for a creep and splashed a bit of water on you.”
“Based on how my Hayakaken card reacted, you definitely attacked me with spiritual energy. Why? Aren’t you an ordinary human? You’re not an ayakashi, right?”
“Did you just call me ordinary?” She glared at me. “What the hell do you mean by that? You think you’re better than me just because you have a little talent?”
“Wh-Where is this coming from?!” Evidently I’d hit a nerve. My mind raced, searching for a way to right the blunder. “I don’t think I’m better than you at all. I-I was just making sure you weren’t a tanuki.”
“A tanuki?! You knew the company had become a den of tanuki?!”
“Well, um, I guess you could say that…” I muttered, keeping my answer vague.
Nieshima nodded. “Aha, I see now,” she said, smirking. “You work for my family, don’t you?! They sent you there to sabotage me! To make sure I couldn’t accomplish my objective and earn my freedom!”
“Uh, I don’t know the first thing about your family!”
“Or maybe,” she hissed, “you seduced that tanuki, bled him dry, and then tossed him aside like yesterday’s garbage! How revolting!”
“You think I could pull off being that kind of temptress with this face?!”
“Men just love country bumpkins with a heart of gold, after all!”
“You’re roasting me now?!” I exclaimed.
“I’ve been holding this back for a while now!” She jabbed a finger in my direction. “You were pretty popular outside the office too! Our clients were always fawning over you as well, weren’t they?! And you have spiritual powers on top of all that?! Is this some kind of stupid joke?!”
“No, um, I…”
Popular outside the office? I’d only done what was necessary to restore our company’s reputation.
Fuming, Nieshima pointed at my Hayakaken card. “And while we’re at it, what the hell is that amulet supposed to be?! That’s all you need to defend yourself from my spiritual energy, huh?! Are you mocking me?!
“Not in the slightest,” I said. “I don’t have any knowledge or experience as a miko. My new boss turned this into an amulet that even a complete novice can use.”
“Liar!” she screeched, her face bright with rage. “You can’t function as a miko with no knowledge or experience! Worst of all, you’ve sided with the ayakashi. Unbelievable…” Her shoulders quivered, and a vortex of water began to swirl around her.
“Nieshima…”
Paradoxically, her anger helped me regain my composure and better comprehend the situation. Little by little, I was beginning to understand: Nieshima perceived my actions as an assertion of dominance. After all, a normie like me shouldn’t even have spiritual energy, let alone be using it for work. Whatever I said, I realized, would only fan her agitation.
I tightened my grip on the Hayakaken card. Shinozaki would arrive any minute, drawn by its signal. I needed to ensure that Nieshima didn’t escape before then. I gulped. From the alleyway, the hustle and bustle of Nakasu’s main street sounded like a different world.
“Nieshima.” I took a deep breath. “Do you hate ayakashi?”
“Ayakashi don’t belong on the Near Shore,” she said. “What’s wrong with banishing those that won’t leave our realm?”
I’d worried she wouldn’t answer the question. But fortunately, she’d taken the bait. I needed to buy as much time as possible.
“I think they do belong here,” I said, trying to project a calm demeanor. “But you must have a reason for thinking otherwise, right?”
“My reason hardly needs discussing. Those without community and purpose get weeded out; it’s a dog-eat-dog world. Isn’t that exactly what happened to those tanuki not too long ago?”
“That’s because they were criminals, not because they were ayakashi…I think.”
“They committed crime because they’re ayakashi. Don’t mix up cause and effect. Their kind have no place on the Near Shore.” She lifted her chin with a sneer. “If they insist on living here despite that, they should keep to the fringes of society. And if that sounds unpleasant, they can always go to the Far Shore.”
“What if an ayakashi was born and raised on the Near Shore and doesn’t cause any trouble?” I asked. I remained wary of the water cycling around her. “Should we still banish those ayakashi from our realm? Is there any reason to attack an ayakashi that hasn’t committed a crime? One that’s simply working hard and doing their best to survive?”
“Seriously?” she repeated, folding her arms and sniffing derisively. “What’s so impressive about an ayakashi working?”