Chapter One: Imperial Capital Panhandlers? No Thanks.
THE Imperial Capital was alive with stories again that day.
“Come one, come all! Come see, come hear! The spectacle, the sensation! The story of the incredible Narrators and the Kotogami word spirits, of magnificent and miraculous yokai of all varieties!”
Stories? I’d rather not.
So Akari Mitsukuri thought, heading home after a tiring day of work.
In the empty lot Akari had quickly averted her eyes from, a gaggle of children gazed starry-eyed at a puppeteer who had set up his traveling puppet theater on the back of his bicycle. It appeared his main trade was selling candy, but the children seemed more interested in the colorful cardboard backdrops and the story he was telling.
Now Akari couldn’t help but notice that there was evidence of stories everywhere she looked on the street.
On a wooden telephone pole, a foreign movie poster depicting a heroine gazing raptly at a silver screen heartthrob. On the door of a nearby bookstore, a flyer announcing: “Literary Compilations Now Available for Order!” Happy-looking customers were emerging from the shop, books clutched in their arms.
Everywhere you looked. Stories and books.
It was a tough world to live in for Akari, who hated storytelling of all kinds.
Of course, she could appreciate that many people seemed to get great enjoyment from these diversions. And she didn’t really have a problem with it, if that was how they chose to spend their time. But in Akari’s mind, a story was something akin to a lie, and that was something she couldn’t abide.
In this age of fanciful stories, Akari was a practical working woman employed at a trading company in the Imperial Capital.
These days, the general consensus remained that women belonged at home. So for a woman to go to work and earn her own money, well, that was something out of the norm. At the same time, however, such women drew admiring glances for the gorgeous modern fashions they could afford and the independence they represented.
But Akari wore a drab meisen silk kimono, and she only worked to survive. She had no other choice, having not a single relative. There was no glamor in her situation.
Hair tied back in a modern Anglish-style braided bun, Akari wore a simple, long kimono in a golden-yellow hue. Her kimono belt was pulled tight as she meandered along in sturdy boots. The kimono had a simple striped pattern characteristic of the type, but Akari liked the little flower petals in deep red and salmon pink that also adorned the material.
Beneath her feet, the ground was packed earth, but the city was rigged for electricity with lines crisscrossing the street. Most private houses even had electricity now.
The streets got muddy in the rain, though, and Akari had to be extremely careful about the long hem of her kimono.
“I fancy some grilled chicken skewers for dinner. I think I’ll pick some up on my way home.”
Akari’s thin, pinched face was lit with a smile. Payday tended to have that effect on her.
After obtaining a couple of grilled chicken skewers for her dinner, Akari reached her lodgings with a spring in her step. Only then did she realize the place was on fire.
She stood frozen as the building’s panicking inhabitants dashed past her, fleeing the flames.
The building was a blazing inferno. Everything she owned in this world was inside.
“It’s a Raiju!”
One of the rubberneckers yelled out, and Akari lifted her head. That was when she saw the huge beast perched on the roof of a nearby building, encircled by a haze of purple lightning.
The creature was huge and hulking, easily able to step over a single-story house in one bound. It was hard to make out the beast’s features, as purple lightning was streaking across its entire body, but its sides billowed in and out as it breathed like a living thing.
It had to be one of those beastly yokai the whole city had been talking about lately, Akari thought.
The Western disciplines of science—physics, biology, and so on—could never explain these creatures. Implausible though they might be, their existence was all too real. Yes…beasts, monsters, and demons were a part of the fabric of modern life.
The military was overwhelmed when it came to quelling the beasts, and the citizens could do little else but cower in fear of the attacks until they passed. There was certainly nothing Akari could do about this.
The police came running up then, firing at the beast’s thick hide with their pistols. But the creature barely twitched.
One of the police was yelling at the onlookers.
“Get a Narrator! Our guns are no good here. We need the power of the Kotogami!”
Narrator. Kotogami.
Even in the midst of the emergency, Akari’s face stiffened. That was when she realized she should probably flee, and her hand tightened reflexively around the oil-paper package she was holding.
The policeman was right—when it came to these beasts, only the Narrators and the Kotogami would be of any help.
Akari finally turned, meaning to escape from the situation, but her path was blocked by the crowd of onlookers. Their faces were a mix of fear, fascination, and burning curiosity.
And all the while, the Raiju’s crackling lightning streaks were indiscriminately striking all around.
With a crack like a gunshot, a nearby wooden electricity pole toppled to the ground, on fire.
The nearby onlookers all scattered as they fled.
Akari could finally run too. But her pace was so slow.
This wasn’t surprising. Akari had never been athletic, and she’d always gotten the lowest scores for physical education at school.
The Raiju crouched, then leaped down from the roof, sending streaks of lightning crackling from its limbs. Everything Akari had ever learned in science class was now running on a loop in her mind.
If the beast’s lightning was like natural lightning, it would seek the closest target. But lightning could travel faster than any human could run. And lightning could electrocute humans.
And what was more…
“I didn’t even get to eat my grilled chicken skewers…”
A sudden flash of orange light made Akari close her eyes.
Then she went flying.
But she never landed. Instead, she felt arms holding her, one around her shoulder and the other tucked under her legs. Akari opened her eyes in surprise and discovered that a strange man was cradling her in his arms.
Immediately, she blushed. Akari may have been a modern working woman, but she’d never felt the touch of a man and had certainly never been held in one’s arms before.
To further complicate matters, he had a gorgeous face. Akari could see it in profile, clearly lit by the glow of the fire and crackling lightning.
He was young. Late twenties, maybe. Still, plenty young enough.
His long black hair reached to his collar, giving him the rakish look of a philanderer. But his features were somehow refined.
His porcelain skin was flawless and his nose was perfectly shaped, straight as a knife. His smooth features gave him the appearance of a traditional Kyoto doll and signified good breeding. His eyes had a shrewdness to them, and they sparkled in the light of the inferno like glittering night stars.
The man seemed not entirely human to Akari, but then she noticed his expression as he was looking down at her. It was the relieved look of someone who had just saved the life of someone important to them—a very human emotion.
“Are you all right?!”
“I’m…I’m fine.”
Before Akari could ask him if he was all right, the young man put her down. Then he thrust something into her hands.
Akari took hold of the object—a Western-style book with a hard cover.
The book had a gorgeous amber-colored binding and was about as thick as one of Akari’s fingers. It was well made and looked to be of very high quality.
But before Akari even had time to read the title, the young man addressed her in tones of urgency.
“Please! Would you open the book? Just to the first page!”
“Er, the first page?”
As Akari looked up in confusion, she could see the Raiju over the young man’s shoulder, rampaging this way. Akari blanched. She had to get away from there.
But then the young man turned and started hurrying toward the Raiju, without any hesitation.
Wondering what in the blue blazes the young man was doing, Akari nonetheless opened the book in her hands.
Golden light immediately began to emanate from the pages, glowing as bright as the nearby inferno. Threads of this golden light, which Akari suddenly realized were in the shape of letters, rose off the page and streaked over to make contact with the young man, causing his hair to change color.
The next moment, the Raiju disappeared from sight. Then there was another loud crack like a gunshot.
As Akari stood dumbfounded, the book laying open in her hands, the golden-haired young man lowered his foot back to the ground.
The Raiju had been forcefully slammed right into one of the nearby buildings that hadn’t yet caught on fire.
Raiju were known for moving so fast the human eye could barely register it, but the young man had managed to kick the beast straight in the midsection. Akari only knew of one type of being capable of doing something like that.
The Raiju picked itself up and was about to continue its attack, when it paused. Something like fear passed across its hideous features, and it cowered. Then it turned and lumbered away.