’ll talk to her about it… She has to decide for herself what she wants to do.” After a moment of contemplation I made the choice. I understood that with these powerful kami she would be safe, but maybe the place held too many awful memories for her. Furthermore, she could decide to follow me without my knowledge and end up in the crossfire when a battle broke out.

Standing up, I looked at Suika, who remained seated, gesturing for me to go alone while she took out her purple sake gourd. It may have been a sign of her consideration; she did not want to disturb my time with Koishi. Nodding, I left her behind and walked along the engawa, towards the room where the three from the underground were resting.

On the engawa just outside the room I spotted the hell raven named Utsuho - an existence I had not been able to see as a girl before, due to her enormous and exceptionally dangerous powers that posed an existential hazard to those around her. However, now that she had lost her powers, the air surrounding her was completely different. I could sense her vulnerability, as she stared out at the sky blankly. When I approached, she turned to look at me, registered my presence with an exchange of glances, before returning to what she had been doing before.

She wore a kimono lent to her by the Arahitogami and two differently sized bulges could be seen on her back. They were the uneven remains of the wings that had been bitten off by Senka. I wondered if she was able to grow them back, as many Yôkai were, but I hoped she could.

“Tell me, human... what should I do?” She suddenly whispered. I would have missed it if I had not been right next to her. I did not understand what she meant by that question and glanced at her face from the side. Only then did I notice that there were tears glistening in the corners of her eyes, her entire figure appearing exceptionally fragile. Before, she had appeared larger than life to me, with her large wings, the galaxy cape and the fiery aura that surrounded her. Yet, she was smaller than Orin - just a little taller than Koishi - and all the additions to her body, such as the glowing eye-like dome on her chest, the control rod covering her right arm and the cement-like boot had made her seem bigger. She was thin, her arms and legs in no way looking like they belonged to somebody who had exuded such a powerful presence earlier. “I’m a failure. I vowed to protect Satori-sama, no matter what... I only had my powers, there was nothing more to me. But now Satori-sama is gone... and my powers are gone, too...”

She turned around to look at me, her expression one of overwhelming despair. Without thinking, I embraced her and petted her hair, something she did not seem to mind. Letting her tears flow freely, she nestled into my yukata, her pained cries muffled by the fabric. It was just like Koishi’s outburst during the day and I was reminded of her unexpected display of emotions.

“Why am I even still alive...” I heard her whisper between sobs and immediately pushed her to arm-length, staring deeply into her eyes with a firm and decisive expression. “Don’t give up on living. You did your best, but the enemy was stronger. That was all. But as long as you’re alive, you have the chance to change things. Koishi-chan is still here, so if you vowed to protect Satori, it should extend to her little sister as well.” I spoke without thinking, giving voice to my feelings in that crucial moment that was sure to define Utsuho’s mental state. If I let her push herself down the spiral of despair and self-loathing, it would end in self-destruction eventually.

“But what can I do?” She was surprised by my words and could only mutter another question.

“Live.” It was nothing short of an order, demanding of the girl before me to do what any living being did not need reminding of under normal circumstances.

Inside the room, just a meter next to them, Kaenbyô Rin was lightly leaning against the sliding door, listening to the conversation with tears in her eyes. She had heard it all, from the very beginning, as she watched the sleeping Koishi lying on a futon before her. She had harbored similar thoughts to Utsuho after losing her beloved mistress, but seeing the little sister before her, the kasha agreed with Kyôma’s words.

“You have fallen for a good man, Koishi-sama,” She commented with a little smile.

“I’m about done with cleaning here,” Tsubone stated and turned to her fellow wolf tengu. They were the only two of the tengu watch who had already recovered from the wounds after the battle, and had offered to stay and clean the shrine grounds. “How is it on your end, Honoka?”

“This is strange...” The tengu named Honoka murmured as she looked around. She stood before the corpse of the futakuchi-onna but seemed to find that something was wrong. “I could swear I saw Yasaka-no-Mikami rip out that one’s organs, but they’re nowhere to be seen. Did you clean around here?” Honoka had left the corpse for last and just covered the remains with blankets, because she had felt that something was eerie about it.

“No, we split the grounds from the main path, so that was all on your side,” Tsubone responded as she walked over, scratching her head. “Are you sure you weren’t seeing things?”

“I’m sure...”

“That’s strange... But it’s not like the organs would just stand up and walk away, you know? And why would they leave behind the body?” Tsubone asked half jokingly.

“Because that body was weak.”

Upon hearing the grotesquely dark and guttural voice the two wolf tengu spun around in shock. Before either of them fully realized what they were seeing, Honoka’s head disappeared with a crunching sound. The decapitated body stood for a moment longer, before toppling over lifelessly, spewing blood from the exposed neck. Tsubone sullied herself from pure fear and dropped to her bottom, looking up at the monster before her. It was a pulsating pile of organs, sprouting a number of tentacles, which it used to move around. A completely out-of-place piece of metal, shaped like a jagged maw, seemed to denote where its head was located. It opened to reveal what looked like a universe within, the same voice as earlier coming from its depths.

“I’ve never tasted tengu before. Refreshingly... different. A shame that I’ll only eat one for now.” For a moment hope glinted in Tsubone’s eyes, as her absolutely terrified mind conveniently concluded that the monster’s words meant that she would get to live. “Now, for you.” The maw turned to her and her mind went blank. “I like that body. But the organs are in the way.” The wolf tengu’s mouth opened to scream in horror, but a tentacle shot out and went down her throat, sealing the sound inside. “Shhh, it’ll just hurt a lot for a long time, so we don’t want anyone to intrude on us while we enjoy ourselves.”

Tsubone’s eyes darted all across the place, frantically searching for a way to survive this hopeless situation, as her body stopped responding to her commands. Why had they not noticed its approach before it was right behind them? Why did she leave her gear by the torii? Why did Honoka get the fast way out? Why... Her eyes rolled back in their sockets as she fainted, but the monster seemed to relish her fear and pain, and jolted her back to consciousness.

Immeasurable pain spread through her insides, as the tentacle reached deeper and seemed to split up, moving into her lungs and stomach, rupturing her body to seek its way through her arteries and veins. Her thoughts became increasingly muddled as her body convulsed from the unbearable agony. She cursed her very existence, cursing that she was born a tengu and possessed a strong life force that let her survive such torture - something a human would have died to long ago. Soon, her thoughts spiraled out of control and the only wish remaining inside her was to die.

Then, everything went blank.

“Excuse me.” I knocked on the door to the room and slid it open, finding Rin standing right in front of me. Her eyes were red from crying, but a smile graced her lips upon seeing me.

“Make her happy, Kyôma,” She whispered as she walked past me and pushed me into the room, before closing the door. I was not all the way there yet, or so I thought, but there was a tingling feeling in my chest upon seeing Koishi getting up from the futon while rubbing her eyes sleepily.

“Koishi-chan...” I was about to apologize for not being able to save Satori, but swallowed it down before my weak side could surface again. I had made up my mind to improve myself further, to live facing the future, and the reason for coming to meet Koishi was to ask whether she wanted to accompany me on that road or not. “I’m going with Suika, to find out what the enemy is planning. What do you want to do?”

“I want to be with you, Kyôma,” She responded, uncharacteristically serious in her tone, after a long pause. I understood that she was having one of her rare moments of conscious thought; she looked me in the eyes, her expression firm and unclouded, no hint of her usual empty gaze and meaningless smile. She was also not clinging onto me or seeking skinship, as she had been lately, sitting in front of me almost formally.

“Alright. If you’ve rested enough, we’ll be leaving,” I simply said.

“Where are we going?”

“Apparently to go meet a magician.”

“Oh, I know one. She calls herself a witch though.” Koishi was quickly reverting back to her unconscious self, as she picked up on the magician part and formed her own train of thought. “She’s really interesting. I wonder what she’s doing right now...”

“I wonder, indeed.” A witch-hat donning blonde girl responded upon her companion’s question regarding the fact that the capital city of Makai seemed to be completely empty. “If they were in Gensôkyô, we’d have seen some of them before coming here.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” The girl in a red and white miko outfit commented as they flew through the empty streets, not the hint of a demon in sight. The beings in Makai were different from yôkai in that they were all created by an existence that was all-powerful in this world. The goddess with the three pairs of devil wings was different from kami, more approaching the concept of the omnipotent God in Christianity. Or rather, considering what kind of place this was, the antithesis of that god.

“We did encounter that gate guard, but she didn’t seem much different from last time. Well, aside from the fact that she was attacking us physically rather than with danmaku,” The witch remained aloof despite the tension in the atmosphere. She was used to danger and approached it with a gain of salt. Her name was Kirisame Marisa, a human seeking the path of magic, while opting to remain human, rather than transcending from it into immortality. “Well, according to the pattern, we’ll be encountering that maid first.”

“I wish I could be as carefree as you,” The miko stated with a sigh. However, she did not appear very tense herself, considering who she was. Hakurei Reimu, the inheritor of the Hakurei Shrine and considered the most powerful human in Gensôkyô. Her existence was something special in itself, and the fact that she was moving to discover the roots of the issue meant that a solution would soon be found. “The light disappeared a while ago, so whatever it was about must have been completed or interrupted. Assuming the worst, I hope we don’t return to our side to find the world in shambles.” Her expression suggested that she would consider it to be a great nuisance. “If that happened, I’ll be pissed.”

“Do that when I’m not around,” Marisa muttered while glancing away, looking troubled. “Oh, we should have brought Alice along.”

“Considering her past with Makai, we shouldn’t.”

“But she knows her way around this place better than we do.” Carefree was indeed the word that best described the witch’s attitude towards the situation.

“I don’t think she would have it in her to fight her old friends.” Reimu was showing slight annoyance at the fact that it was taking them that long to navigate the city. Normally, one would expect that flying above the roofs in a straight line would have saved them a lot of time. However, Makai was a strange world in which time and space was as malleable as a pure piece of gold. Reality could be warped by powerful beings, especially by the god residing in the large castle in the middle of the city. There was one path they had taken in the past, which led through the city but took them to the gates of the castle eventually.

“How long have we even been here?” Marisa suddenly asked. “I’m kinda hungry.”

“I don’t know, there’s no way to tell time here, but my inner clock says it’s been at least... an hour...” Reimu’s response drifted off as she realized what had been going on. “Damn, we’ve been had.”

“What do you mean?” Alarmed, the witch turned to her companion.

“Time has no meaning here. The fact that we’ve been here for an hour means a lot more time could have passed outside. The gate guard showing up was to confirm our suspicions that the goddess has something to do with it, so we would continue to press on into the city no matter how long it took. I should have realized sooner!” Reimu was angry, not just at the so far unseen enemy, but at herself for not noticing the trap. “Something big’s going on in Gensôkyô. Sorry, I’ll have to leave you behind, Marisa. Try to go back, if you can, I’ll go on ahead.”

“Ah, wait, Reimu!” However, it was already too late, and the miko seemed to disappear from existence. “There it is again, her cheat... Well, she’s serious now. Hope you’re ready, Shinki.” Marisa looked towards the tallest tower of the castle from where their enemy was most likely watching them.

“Let’s go,” Suika stated when she saw me and Koishi round the corner. Rin had decided to stay with Utsuho and ask the kami to return the hell raven’s power. The oni floated up into the air without another word, expecting us to follow.

“Uh, shouldn’t we say a word to the kami first?” I asked, reluctant to just leave without at least thanking them for their hospitality.

“Strike the iron while it’s hot, Kyôma,” Koishi suddenly interjected and I sighed in surrender. I understood the rush, but my manners from a proper Japanese upbringing clashed with the adventurous side that had been developing in me since coming here. Apologizing in my mind, I decided that I would return after all the things were taken care of and speak with them properly. Especially the fact that the arahitogami was a girl from the outside world and had come here not too long ago was a reason for me to come for a friendly visit, to talk about the things we surely both missed here.

“Alright then...” I floated up and followed Suika, when I suddenly felt a small but warm hand grasping mine. Next to me, Koishi had ascended as well and looked up to me with an affectionate smile. My heart skipped a beat at seeing her face filled with such an emotion, all of which was directed at me. However, once again, a certain oni decided to ruin the moment.

“My, such hot love.” Suika sniggered with a slightly obscene expression. “What did you two do in that room, huh?”

“We affirmed our love for each other.” Koishi’s face was once again her empty facade, just as her words stemmed from the world of her fantasy.

“No we didn’t,” I immediately added. “This is going to be exhausting...” I hung my shoulders in resignation and sighed. However, a determined expression replaced it soon after; I would bring Koishi redemption and drag O-hakuka before justice. At the time, I did not consider the fact that in this world, and among yôkai, this meant self-administered justice.