Maniacal laughs echoed through the city streets. A woman in her late 20s stood in the center of the road, her laughs reaching the terrified ears of surrounding civilians as she stared into the sky with a large grin and wide, excited eyes.

“Yes! After all these centuries I’m finally free! Free to kill humans, free to destroy cities! I will destroy this world in the name of the yokai!” The woman continued laughing as the frightened civilians backed away, making room for police officers to push their way through.

“Freeze!” A female officer yelled, as she aimed her gun at the woman on the road.

“Hey boss… I don’t know if this is such a good idea…” A second, male officer next to the first mumbled. “I mean, that’s a person’s body right!? Can we really shoot a civilian like that!?”

“Keep your aim high, officer!” The female officer ordered. “That’s a yokai! Whether we like it or not, that person’s beyond saving, right now that body’s just a walking corpse!”

As the female yokai looked around, she saw the two officers with their aims trained on her. The yokai smirked, as she began taking steps towards the officers. “Weapons! Perfect, I can’t wait to rampage through this city and-”

Before the yokai could finish, she felt a sudden impact, before being blown back at extreme speeds after being punched directly in her right cheek by some unknown force. The yokai barreled through the air, smashing through the glass door of a streetside shop with the lights off, and as she crashed through the counter and slammed directly into the back wall, she weakly looked up to see standing in the street was a yokai in a young human’s body, wearing a black hoodie, a school backpack and a blue oni mask.

“You owe me one after this.” Kamui grunted to Sorin, who was floating beside him in spirit form.

“Owe you what!?” Sorin asked. “What can I even give you while you’re in spirit form!?”

“I get to drink a beer in your body. I can’t taste it unless I’m controlling the body at the time.”

“I’m underaged though!”

Kamui growled, then snapped at Sorin, completely ignoring the female yokai. “Fine! I’ll settle for a soda! Just make it happen, okay!?”

“Hey asshole!” Kamui and Sorin heard, as they turned their heads towards the female yokai, who was now standing up and stepping over the broken counter. “You’re a yokai too, right!? What, you wanna kill these humans yourself!?”

Kamui put up his fists as he prepared to fight. “Let’s just get this over with.”

The female yokai put up her own fists, as she dashed across the street with a sudden burst of speed, throwing a right hook towards Kamui, however the female yokai missed as her opponent weaved his head around her fist, then threw an uppercut that landed directly in her stomach, leaving her startled and giving Kamui the perfect opportunity to grab her head and slam it into the road below.

As the female yokai looked up out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kamui raising one fist, as his other hand pinned her head to the ground. “Just so you know, I’m about five seconds away from killing you.” Kamui threatened, causing the yokai on the ground to panic.

“W- Wait, you’re not serious are you!? You’re one of us, right!?”

“Five…” Kamui began to count down, and the grounded yokai came to a conclusion.

“Oh fuck no, I’m out of here!” The yokai screamed as a red spirit flew out of her body, flying into the sky and over the towers that surrounded the city streets.

As Kamui lowered his fist, the woman on the ground slowly looked around as she gained her bearings, then looked up and saw Kamui over her. “Oh my god… you’re another one of those yokai, aren’t you!?” She screamed, and Kamui quickly stood up, letting the woman go as she immediately ran towards the crowd in fear.

“Zero appreciation.” Kamui complained. “I dunno how you even do it, kid. The good guys never seem to get thanked in this world.”

Kamui looked around, then saw the two police officers, who now had their guns trained on him. “Call Moritoshi!” One of the officers yelled.

“He’s not picking up!” The other yelled back in a panic, as he clumsily typed into his phone with one hand while aiming his gun with the other. “I’ll call him again, maybe he was busy!”

Kamui glanced at Sorin. “We should probably leave before Hano actually gets here.”

Sorin nodded, and Kamui leapt over the crowd of civilians, running into the street and leaving the scene of the fight behind. As Sorin and Kamui ran further into the streets, they eventually ran into an alleyway, where Sorin entered his body, then quickly took off his mask and hoodie and placed them into his backpack. “That was pretty good.” Sorin complimented the yokai, who floated a few centimeters above the ground in spirit form behind him. “How did you know the human was still in the body?”

“That yokai didn’t seem to be showing any special abilities, and the abilities she did show were pretty sub par.” Kamui explained, looking into the street, away from Sorin. “She was either a really shit yokai or she didn’t have complete control of her body. A yokai only has complete control once the human soul has up and left already, and so the most likely answer was that the human was still inside.”

Sorin looked at Kamui, impressed as he placed his backpack around his shoulders. “Wow, that’s some decent deduction. I would’ve normally expected you to just kill her without thinking about it.”

“Well, you know…” Kamui rubbed his shoulder, as he continued talking while looking away from Sorin. “You didn’t want me killing humans, and I made a promise not to. Even if you didn’t know a human was still in there, I still would’ve been breaking my promise, and I don’t break promises.”

Sorin stared at Kamui for a long moment, before smiling at the yokai. “Thanks, Kamui.” Sorin quickly rushed back into the street, fast walking past the yokai in front of him. “Now let’s go. I don’t want my mum worrying too much about me being out too late.”

A man in a button up shirt, with long messy hair and a stern expression watched the small phone screen that a drunk man was holding next to him. The sound of the phone was drowned out by the constant chattering of customers behind him, and the music that played throughout the bar. Pictured on the phone’s screen was a shaky vertical video of the blue masked yokai fighting in the middle of the street, slamming another yokai’s head into the road below. The video ended as the masked yokai leaped across the crowd and left the scene, and the drunk man pulled back his phone and smiled at the other man.

“Pretty cool, right?” The drunkard said, slurring his words. “Those yokai are super weird man. They’re even fighting each other now, how crazy is that!?”

“That fight happened in this city?” The stern man asked.

“Yeah man, they’re fuckin’ everywhere!”

“I see.” The stern man looked away, holding his chin as he began muttering to himself. “It seems Hajime was right… he wasn’t fighting at full strength, meaning that he is likely sharing that body with a human. I’ll have to do some more research and find out-”

“Hey!” The drunkard interrupted, catching the man’s attention as he turned back. “Who the hell’re you talking to? Talking to yourself like some kinda crazy person?”

“Ah… no, it’s just a small habit of mine. Please, pay no attention to me.” The stern man stood up, then began leaving the bar. “Thank you for showing me that video. I believe I am closer in my hunt for this masked yokai thanks to you.” As the stern man walked out the door and into the nighttime city streets, he muttered to himself, “Now all I need to do is find Kamui, then kill the boy.”

Sorin sat at his regular table, eating his lunch as across from him sat Hiro and Tia. His friends looked down at their respective meals, and Sorin glanced at the two occasionally, feeling as though he should be making conversation but not knowing exactly how. His mind ran through countless conversation starters, he could ask them about their lunches, but that would feel forced and likely wouldn’t last long as a conversation. He could ask Hiro about his samurai training, but the boy seemed to prefer keeping his samurai and student lives separate, and so Sorin doubted Hiro would say much of worth. He could ask Tia about her karate, or about Anna, or he could even ask the two if they wanted to hang out over the weekend. As his brain went through all the possibilities, Sorin failed to notice his eyes fixated on Tia, who soon looked up at Sorin, confused.

“You all good?” Tia asked, Sorin’s mind snapping back as he realised what he was doing.

“Huh!? Oh, yeah, I’m okay…” Sorin quickly shrugged off the issue, looking to the side away from Tia in embarrassment.

Hiro stared at Sorin, and carefully lifted the wet noodles into his mouth as his plotting eyes scanned his friend across the table. Sorin, you hopeless boy. I need to get you and Tia alone together, maybe then you can finally stop staring at her like a creep and finally ask her out. Hiro looked around the cafeteria, his eyes locking on to a bulletin board, with a blue poster depicting a large lake surrounded by forest, with a cliff overlooking the water and a waterfall rushing over the cliff’s edge into the basin below. Hiro’s eyes widened, as he stood up, drawing the attention of Sorin and Tia. “Let’s go somewhere this weekend!”

Sorin and Tia both stared at Hiro in confusion for a moment, before Tia asked, “Go where?”

Hiro pointed towards the poster, directing the others’ gaze towards the lake. “There! That lake!”

“Lake Idol?” Sorin asked. “It’s about half a day’s drive, and it’s kinda boring anyway. It’s just a lake, not really much to do there.”

“We can go camping! It’ll be fun!” Hiro leaned towards the two on the table, as a large smile came across his face. “C’mon! What’s not fun about camping!?”

Sorin stared at Hiro, before sighing. “Guess it can’t hurt.”

Sorin’s glance was drawn to his side, as Kamui began speaking in a sinister tone. “Hmmm, a secluded spot far away from civilization, yet has plenty of touring humans around nonetheless? Sounds like the perfect place to finally take over this body and go wild.”

Sorin glared at Kamui out of the corner of his eyes, before looking towards Hiro, placing a smile on his face. “Hey Hiro, you’ll be bringing your sword right? I mean, the lake’s gonna have a lot of people around but not much access to police, if any yokai show up we’ll be pretty helpless.”

Hiro’s eyes widened in realisation. “That’s true! I better bring it, just in case. Besides, if we don’t need it we can just leave it in the car.”

Sorin glanced at Kamui once more, now with a cocky smile on his face, as Kamui grumbled to himself, “Smug bastard.”

Tia woke up to an aggressive knocking on her front door. The girl begrudgingly woke herself up, walked to the front door of her house and opened it to see a smiling Hiro on the other side.

“G’morning! You ready to go?” Hiro asked enthusiastically, leaving Tia confused.

“It’s like… seven o’clock though…”

“Yeah sorry, I was hoping to get here earlier but Sorin hadn’t packed his bags yet.”

Tia looked over Hiro’s shoulder to see parked in front of her house was a small white car, and sitting in the back seat was Sorin, staring at the roof like a corpse. “Is Sorin okay?” Tia asked.

“Yeah, he’s fine! Just a little tired, but he’ll be okay once we get on the road!”

Tia stared at Hiro in disbelief for a moment, before turning around and walking back into her house. “I’ll get properly dressed and say bye to Anna.”

Hiro gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, then turned around and began walking towards his car once more.

Kamui stared at the corpse-like Sorin, and after a moment of pondering, the yokai began pushing against Sorin’s body, trying to force himself into the body and Sorin’s soul out, however his pushing seemed to not even bother Sorin in the slightest, as Kamui continued pushing with all his might. “Damn it! Why’s your soul gotta be so damn heavy!? Son of a bitch, even when you have zero energy I can’t seem to force you outta there!”

“Kamui… not now…” Sorin said lifelessly, right before Hiro opened the car door and placed himself on the driver’s seat.

“You all good back there?” Hiro asked. “I’ve got water, snacks and some soft drinks in here.”

Sorin thought for a moment. “Gimme a soft drink. That should give me some energy.” Hiro tossed Sorin a cold can, and the boy lifeless opened it and began drinking.

The rubber tires of Hiro’s car rolled against the gravel road below, transporting Sorin, Hiro and Tia across the mountainside road at high speeds. On one side was a steep, rocky mountain face, while on the other was a grand horizon, as the car drove above a dense forest down another steep slope beside it. Sorin stared out the window at the horizon, the only one in the car who knew of the red spirit of Kamui sitting atop the car’s roof, looking down at the vast landscape below him as a king would look over his kingdom.

“You sure did get your license early.” Tia broke the silence as she addressed Hiro in the driver’s seat. “Was that Moritoshi family pressure pushing you to get it out of the way?”

Hiro laughed. “Nah, I just love the open road. My dad used to take me and Hano on road trips across Japan, we went across so many mountain roads like this, so it’s great to finally be in the driver’s seat on one of these trips.”

“Sounds like you and your dad had a good relationship.” Tia followed up. “What was he like?”

“You know the dads in kung fu movies? Yeah, he was that. Strict, tough, always putting the family legacy first and never letting me skip a day of training. He could be a bit of a pain, but he’s my dad so I kinda have to love him.”

“I guess that’s true. And what about Hano? I haven’t actually met him yet, but from the way you talk about him he seems nice.”

“Yeah, Hano’s great. He’s got this cold, emotionless exterior that seems like he’s calculating your every move, but once you get to know him he’s actually a really nice guy. A good cook too, I couldn’t even boil water without finding some way to burn it, but Hano could pass for a gourmet chef if he wanted to.”

“Sounds like you two get along, I just thought that brothers fought each other all the time.”

“Oh yeah, we weren’t always like this. In fact Hano used to hate my guts.” Tia looked towards Hiro in surprise, and Sorin glanced at his friend through the corner of his eye as the Moritoshi boy continued. “Yeah, Hano used to really hate me. I always looked up to him, but I think once my training started and my dad started to focus on training me a lot more than him, Hano began to kinda wish I was dead. Lucky for me it didn’t last too long, when I was about ten years old Hano and I had a sparring match, and he must’ve accidentally hurt me really badly, cause I had to go to the hospital.”

“Seriously!?” Tia cried. “What the hell did he do to you!?”

Hiro laughed again. “Not much, he just hit me a bit hard on the head. But after that I guess he must’ve felt really bad, cause he came to visit me in the hospital with a bowl of ramen he had made. I told him I really liked it, and ever since then he’s made ramen for me pretty much whenever he feels like it, which is pretty frequent.”

“I guess that’s why you always have leftover ramen for lunch at school.”

“Yep, that’s Hano brand ramen, the best made noodles in the Moritoshi family. Ever since then we’ve been super close, so I guess in retrospect it was good that he hit me on the head, otherwise I wouldn’t have such a great brother to always rely on!” Hiro paused for a moment, before looking at Tia through the car’s rear view mirror. “What about you? You’ve got an older sibling too, how’s your relationship with Anna?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty good.” Tia looked out the window as she thought for a moment. “We’ve always been close, Anna’s always kinda taken care of me throughout my life, even though she’s only two years older than me, and right now she’s basically my mum. Our parents passed away in an accident two years ago, we didn’t really have any godparents to go to though, so Anna dropped out of college so she could basically act as my guardian. It was right as she was turning eighteen so she could legally do it, so now she’s basically just taking care of me until I can drive and feed myself.”

The car went silent for a moment. Hiro hesitantly broke the silence with an apology, “Sorry… I didn’t know that your parents were gone, if I had I wouldn’t have brought it up.”

Tia looked towards Hiro in surprise, before smiling nervously. “Oh! No, it’s fine, I’m basically over it now. Well, not over it, that would be kinda shitty if I was, but it’s more like, I’ve got other things to focus on now. And besides, I’ve got Anna, and I think as long as I’ve got her I’ll be okay.”

Sorin stared out the window, as he focused on Tia’s reflection in the transparent glass, then said to the girl’s reflection, “We’re here for you too… if you ever need it I mean. I know you’ve got Anna and all but… I guess if she’s ever unavailable or something then you’re still not alone, cause we’re here.”

Tia looked at Sorin, then smiled at the back of the boy’s head. “Thanks, guys.”

As Sorin looked away from Tia’s reflection and back towards the horizon, his view was blocked, as Kamui’s head leaned downwards, smiling at him through the car’s window. “Damn, all these stories about great older siblings, and you’re the one left as an only child. So Sorin, how does it feel to be alone?”

Sorin quietly chuckled, then glared at Kamui as if to say, Shut up or I’ll roast you on the campfire we’re going to make.

The three reached Lake Idol, and after a brief moment of taking in the view, they quickly got to work and began building their tent. As the tent neared its completion, Hiro revealed a camera he had placed in the boot of his car, along with a tripod which he quickly set up and directed Sorin and Tia to pose in front of the lake. Sorin and Tia quickly obliged, standing side by side in front of the lake, and as Hiro turned on the timer of the camera, he rushed into frame, enthusiastically throwing his right arm around Sorin’s shoulders and inadvertently pushing Sorin closer to Tia. Sorin looked away nervously, before facing the camera, and as the timer ticked down, his nervousness in being close to Tia, the overwhelming enthusiasm of Hiro, nor the invisible to most Kamui laying behind the camera, showing Sorin his middle finger, none of these things could prevent Sorin from showing a genuine smile towards the camera. As the shutter closed, the photo was taken, and Hiro quickly picked up the camera, as the three crowded around to view the picture of the three, together.

“I’ll print off a copy for each of us!” Hiro said, as he placed the camera back into his car. “It’ll be the first memento of our friendship! The first of many, to be sure!” Hiro said in an intentionally cheesy tone, as Sorin and Tia laughed.

The three sat around the orange light of the campfire, illuminating the small area around them in a warm, comforting aura, as the teens sat on logs, roasted marshmallows and talked to one another, telling jokes and stories underneath the dark blue night sky.

Tia stood up, stretching her arms into the air and releasing a yawn. “Well, after getting ready so early this morning, setting up the tent and gathering firewood, I think I’m just about ready for a really good night’s sleep.” Tia turned around, walking into their tent and waving goodbye to Sorin and Hiro. “G’night guys, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Sorin and Hiro both waved back, as Tia entered the tent, leaving the two boys sitting outside. The two sat in silence for a moment, the flickering of the fire echoing throughout the silent forest around. Hiro looked down at the flames below, and he breathed out a sigh. “Hey Sorin… I just want to thank you.” Sorin looked at Hiro, confused, as the young Moritoshi boy continued. “When I heard we were coming back here… and I might meet you again, I was kinda scared. I mean, it’s been five years since we last saw each other. A lot can happen in five years, and so I was scared that you might have new friends, that you’d have forgotten about our time together, or that you might be a different person to the guy I met all those years ago…” Hiro smiled, as he raised his marshmallow off the fire, placing it into his mouth and quickly swallowing it. “I guess what I’m trying to say is… Thanks for being that same guy I met five years ago. You’re still that same quiet, shy kid, who’s always been too nice.”

Sorin looked surprised at Hiro, before averting his gaze, looking at the fire below. “I’m not that nice. I only really help people when I need to, I don’t think that’s being nice..”

“You’re just as stupid as you were back then too.” Hiro chuckled. Sorin glanced at Hiro, slightly offended, however the boy continued and explained his statement. “It doesn’t matter why you help someone, the fact of the matter is that you’re helping them. Then again, maybe that’s me justifying some stuff of my own.”

Sorin thought for a moment, and as he continued glancing at Hiro he asked, “Hiro… why do you hunt the yokai?”

Hiro looked confused. “Excuse me? I mean, it should be pretty obvious. That whole thing about Hano and I failing to seal the yokai away, and it being our responsibility to protect humanity from our mistake? Did you miss that or something?”

“So is that it?” Sorin asked. “Is that the only reason you fight the yokai? Because it’s your ‘responsibility’ as a Moritoshi? Is there nothing else?”

Hiro stared at Sorin for a long moment, then at the fire, pondering on Sorin’s question. “I guess… there might be something else…” Hiro said, as Sorin paid close attention. “If I just saw this whole yokai hunting business as my family responsibility then… well that’s all it would be. It’d be a job that I do because I have to. I wouldn’t enjoy it, I probably wouldn’t even put my all into it, because I’d only be doing it out of obligation, not because I want to or because it brings me any satisfaction. But… that’s not really the case. I’m not saying that I like fighting yokai, but it does make me feel… good I guess. Like I’m doing something good by fighting these yokai.” Hiro laid back, staring at the night sky above, at the few white stars that glimmered above his head. “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. It’s kinda like that. Those yokai, they’re all monsters. They torture and kill people and get nearly no repurcussions for it. And not only that, but most of them seem to like it. They find joy in the killing and fighting. The innocent screams of their victims just motivate them more to commit these horrible… vile acts. Sure there are some humans that aren’t much better but… the fact that so many yokai find joy in this war just sickens me. And it sickens me even more to think about what’ll happen if they win. I fight the yokai because if I don’t then innocent people will die. Sometimes the pain they suffer at the hands of these yokai can be even worse than death. If I don’t defend these people then no one will, and the thought after a battle that someone got to live another day because of my actions…” Hiro smiled to himself, as he leaned down once again, and stared directly at Sorin. “Well… it makes me feel like a hero. With an enemy like the yokai, humanity needs a hero to defend them, and call me selfish, but I’d love to be that hero.”

Sorin smiled at his friend. “That’s not being selfish. That’s called being kind.” Sorin stood up, looking around at the forest surrounding the campsite. “I think I’m gonna go on a walk before bed. You can go to sleep if you want, I won’t be gone long.”

Hiro smiled, then stood up and began walking towards the tent. “Alright, be careful out there in the dark.”

“Hey Hiro.” Hiro turned, as Sorin grabbed his attention. “Thanks for being that same kid from five years ago.”

Hiro smiled at Sorin, and the two temporarily parted ways, as Hiro entered the tent and Sorin left into the forest.

Sorin wandered through the dark forest, carefully stepping over branches and roots as his vision adjusted to the darkness and he maneuvered his way through the maze of trees. Kamui floated effortlessly behind, gazing and admiring the countless pillars of wood that surrounded the two at every angle.

“So are you trying to reenact some sort of horror movie or are you just an idiot walking through the forest at night?” Kamui asked with his usual sarcastic tone.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you.” Sorin responded, as he stopped in his tracks, turned around and faced Kamui. “What’s your end goal?”

Kamui looked at Sorin, confused. “My what?”

“Your end goal. You know, once you take over my body or whatever, what is it you plan to do?”

Kamui thought for a moment. “I mean, I guess that’d be pretty obvious.” Kamui began slowly floating around Sorin, emulating a bored, circular pacing. “I’ll take over your body. Force your whiny little ass out of it. Go around, kill some humans, earn back my rank in the yokai army and help us fight to win the war. Then once the war’s over, I can just sit back and relax, living it up without any fear of being persecuted by humans anymore.”

“We both know that’s not happening.”

Kamui glared at his human host. “Excuse me? The hell do you know? You’re just some stupid kid who’s never even been in a proper fight, like you’d know how the hell war or armies work.”

“You’re a traitor to the yokai. That fact is as clear as day. There’s no way they’re accepting you back into their army, not after fighting Hajime and being fully prepared to kill him.”

“So what do you propose? That I turn over a new leaf and let you keep this body or something?”

“I propose that we join forces with Hiro.”

Kamui stared at Sorin in disbelief. “What do you mean?.”

“Right now you’re on the run from both humans and yokai. If we keep going like this then both of us are eventually gonna get killed by one side or the other. But if we team up with Hiro, then we could potentially convince the humans that you’re an ally. We’ve already got the groundwork, word of a yokai in a blue mask that fights other yokai has been spreading around the city. If we convince Hiro and the other humans that you’re an ally then we could potentially be safe from at least one side of this war!”

“Better idea.” Kamui proposed. “You give me the body for a day. I kill Hiro, then we go back to the yokai, hand them the head of a Moritoshi on a silver platter and they accept me back into the army.”

“You know that’s never happening.”

“And you know that I would never stoop so low as to betray my people then go and associate myself with the enemy! I’m a yokai soldier, always have been, and even if I’m technically not at the moment, I still have my pride as a soldier.”

“You’re already helping me fight yokai in the streets!” Sorin yelled. “How the hell is this any different!”

“This is different!” Kamui snapped at Sorin, as he flew close to the boy’s face. “When I fight yokai in the street, you are holding a knife to my throat and forcing me to fight for my survival! That is different to willingly fighting with the enemy, and then proclaiming that I’ve sided with the humans! And besides, I haven’t killed any yokai yet, once I kill another yokai, there’s no going back from that.”

Sorin began to grind his teeth in frustration, as he stepped towards Kamui in anger. “Why can’t you just stop being so stubborn about this!? What’s so important about your pride, shit like that won’t matter once you’re dead!”

“And why can’t you just use your goddamn head!? Not all yokai are bloodthirsty animals, but if you wanna see them that way then at least fucking commit to it! You can’t just see my entire race of people as a bunch of evil demons and me as the exception! I’m not the exception! I’m just like any other yokai you’ve seen on the news or in person! The only difference is I’m stuck with some dumbass kid who still refuses to accept the fact that there’s no easy way out of this!”

Kamui floated away from Sorin, looking away from the boy. Sorin turned, preparing to leave the forest and head back to the tent, however he was stopped as he heard a voice. “Sorin Trace?” Sorin turned, looked around and seeing a man in a button up shirt, with long messy hair, standing amongst the trees and staring at the boy.

“Y- Yes?” Sorin answered hesitantly.

“My name is Takoika.” The man said. “Come with me.”

Takoika turned around and began walking away, however Sorin, confused, did not follow. “I’m sorry… I should really be heading back towards my tent…”

Takoika turned back towards Sorin. “I apologise, I’m afraid I didn’t make myself entirely clear. I’m a yokai. Come with me or die.”