I recalled the joyful mother cats and their kittens. Yoru, Hainuzuka, the mermaids, and Shinozaki. My chest tightened. Nieshima could pin her unjustified anger on me or insult me as much as she liked. I just couldn’t let her leave. Not if she considered it normal to threaten ordinary ayakashi that were struggling simply to live. As an employee of Ayakashi Moving and Career Services, I had to stand my ground.
“Nieshima,” I said, “I don’t care how twisted your thinking has become. I don’t care if you’ve become a slave to your own judgmental attitude. I won’t let you hurt innocent people.”
“I’m hurting ayakashi,” she replied. “Not people.”
“…Is that right?”
I had to keep wasting time. I held up my transit card and posed like a Power Ranger. I used every ounce of my nonexistent acting ability to pretend I could fight.
“Wh-What are you doing?” shrilled Nieshima, her confidence cracking.
She’s clearly flustered, but she’ll freak if she finds out I’m bluffing.
“You really plan to cross swords with me—a miko of Aoeshima Island?” she snapped. “Fine. I admire your courage if nothing else.”
She shifted. Water jetted from her hand and transformed into a scythe, its curved blade pointed at me. Her jaw clenched. Based on how tightly she held the handle, she was spoiling for a fight.
“Full of yourself, aren’t you?” she scoffed. “I don’t care what the office harlot posing as a good little secretary has to say. You think you’re so special just because you gained a bit of spiritual power?”
“Do I really seem that full of myself?” I asked quickly. “Could you describe just how arrogant I look in one hundred words or less?”
“Shut the hell up already!” She sliced downward at me. But the reckless swing, clearly driven by emotion, didn’t scare me. I simply repelled the attack with another barrier. Then—
“Kaede,” a familiar voice said. “Good job stalling her.”
Nieshima’s eyes widened. The tap of leather shoes echoed from behind me, and I half turned to see Shinozaki surrounded by a constellation of will-o’-the-wisps. Amid their glow, he was a beacon of light beneath the night sky.
“Keiko Nieshima,” he drawled. “Eldest daughter of House Nieshima—a line of exorcists that hails from Aoeshima Island.”
He came to my rescue. I nearly collapsed in sheer relief. I didn’t lower my transit card though.
Nieshima clucked in annoyance. “Why does some lowly, one-tailed fox know my name?”
“Because unlike you, I don’t stumble heedlessly through life.” He sauntered toward us, selecting a will-o’-the-wisp and pressing it against his lips. “You’re a miko that uses low-level water magic. Although commonplace, your magic isn’t untraceable. And aside from exceptions like Kaede,” he said, glancing at me, “most spiritual practitioners belong to specific bloodlines.
“This is the territory of Lord Tenjin. Any miko familiar with Fukuoka should know better than to violate the law of this land. So our suspect was a low-level water user with no awareness of our domain. It wasn’t hard to trace you from there. After a quick call to a friend in Fukuoka’s public works department, I pinpointed your identity.”
“Are you telling me,” growled Nieshima, “that ayakashi and public servants are conspiring with each other?”
“We do the odd favor for each other in exchange for money. Well, you’ll understand when you’re older.” He winked. “Ayakashi are often much more knowledgeable about spiritual energy and local lore. When I reached out to the people of your birthplace, they told me everything about you. Although you were born in the main family, the water god Suijin didn’t select you as its miko. Your relatives treated you like a failure, and your little sister stole your birthright as the next head of the house.
“You failed the civil servant exam for exorcists, then turned your back on your family and found a job in Fukuoka. But you quit that job because you weren’t satisfied with your position. Now you’re haunting the streets as the passing miko.”
“Stop blathering like you know everything,” Nieshima snarled. “You have no idea how much I’ve suffered.”
“What does your suffering matter?” retorted Shinozaki as he halted beside me. “You never considered the thoughts and lives of your victims, did you? Even Kaede Kikui—whom you attacked for no good reason—has endured her fair share.” He placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, and my chest ached in response to his tender concern for me, his earnest defense of me.
“A special bloodline doesn’t make life easy,” he admonished. “You should know that better than anyone. Kaede, too, struggled to live a normal life because her spiritual energy made her an easy target for tanuki. Even so, she’s putting her strengths to good use, doing her utmost to help people in her own way. Why don’t you take a long, hard look at reality and give life your best shot as well?”
Nieshima’s face had darkened to a beet-red. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” she screamed. “What the hell are you telling me to do, exactly?!” A shockwave blasted toward us, Nieshima at its epicenter.
Shinozaki murmured under his breath.
Abruptly, the force rebounded on Nieshima. “Gah!” she cried, falling to her knees.
I stepped forward. “I’m sure you’ve suffered a great deal of hardship,” I said. “But if you keep sabotaging other people’s happiness, I’m sure you’ll live to regret it!”
At that instant, wingbeats reverberated through the night sky.
“He’s here,” Shinozaki murmured.
Looking up, I spotted a man alighting on the ground—a man with the wings of a predatory bird sprouting from the back of his business suit. They were large enough to envelop his entire body, and his hair, smooth and silver, fluttered with each gust. Otherwise, he looked like a handsome office worker in his thirties. He wore round, gold-rimmed glasses and an armband on one sleeve.
And a pure-white snake coiled around his right arm.
“Heed their words, miko,” the serpent said in the hoarse tones of an old man. “Did you not leave the island to take stock of yourself and discover your capability?”
Nieshima paled.
The handsome man bowed his head in my direction, taking no notice of Nieshima’s sudden trembling. “Good evening,” he said. “You must be Ms. Kikui. It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Rokuro Fukuda, and I’m a legal consultant.”
“Good evening,” I parroted. “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Kaede Kikui.”
His piercing gaze caused my skin to tingle. Even I could sense his spiritual strength.
“This is Dr. Fukuda,” said Shinozaki. “He’s the consultant who handled the resignation from your previous job.”
“I hail from Hokkaido,” Dr. Fukuda said. “I was Cikap-kamuy, the local deity, for a long time. But when everyone left the land that was under my protection, I moved to Fukuoka Prefecture with the coal miners.”
“That’s…quite a long journey,” I noted.
His large wings reminded me of an owl.
Wait.
The Japanese word for owl was fukuro. His name in reverse was Fukuda Rokuro.
Regardless, I could hardly believe that gods moved from place to place just like humans. His deific presence fizzed along my nerves, captivating me.
“My lord…” choked Nieshima on the verge of tears. “Why are you here?”
“Rumors of a miko affiliated with my shrine, rampaging in Fukuoka, reached my ears,” the snake answered. “How could I not leave the island?”
Nieshima clenched her fists, her face whitening further. Her quaking form reminded me of a young child anticipating corporal punishment. I could intuit just how severe her training had been.
“Your little sister surpasses you in ability, ambition, and raw spiritual energy,” the snake said. “She serves me well. Yet she still supports her older sister who fled the island in search of success.”
“I don’t need her pity,” said Nieshima through gritted teeth.
“Would you set aside your inferiority complex for one minute and try to understand how she truly feels? Right now, at the very least, you aren’t the strong older sister she longs for.”
Nieshima didn’t respond.
“Even though you left the island, you’re still one of my beloved miko,” the snake continued. “I won’t allow you to give up partway through your journey to wallow in despair.”
Covering her face, Nieshima sank to the ground and started to sob.
A moment later, the white snake unwound itself from Dr. Fukuda’s arm, then slithered over to Nieshima to peer into her eyes. The two of them conversed for a long while, their words too quiet for us to hear.
🍁🍁🍁