“Akira, are you alright now?” I knelt next to the miko, who had been shifted to one of the shrine’s rooms for treatment by Akiha.

“Yeah, thanks to Akiha.” She smiled weakly.

“You’re still in no condition to fight, so take it easy, but,” I tried to hide the unease on my face. “We need to get out of here. The Tsuchimikado shrine isn’t a safe place anymore.”

“Oh, wow, I didn’t know that.” She muttered.

“If you can be sarcastic, you really must be fine.” I sighed. “I’ll let you do what you need to, but meet Akiha and I at the courtyard in half an hour, okay?”

The miko turned away, her eyes already turning red. She nodded after a while.

I turned to leave so that the miko could mourn the loss of her comrades in silence, but paused at the doorway.

“Akira. I’m glad you’re alive.”

Not waiting for her response, I left the building to join Akiha in the courtyard.

“Ren-sama, you look troubled.” Akiha’s tail swished nervously.

Smiling, I shook my head and placed a hand on her head. “My father told me to look for the twelve if I want to become stronger and go against my uncle.”

She nodded vigorously.

“But who are the twelve?”

We stood in silence, but neither of us knew what that number signified. Are they people? Onmyoji? Deities? Maybe it’s a place?

I sighed. “Whatever. What’s important now is making sure we don’t get caught. There’ll definitely be a target on our backs that we can’t get rid of. We’ll worry about looking for the twelve after we find a place to hide in.”

“I can help with that.” Another voice interjected, and I turned to see Akira walking towards us, having changed out of her miko uniform and into casual clothes; a pair of black shorts and a white buttoned blouse that was tucked in the front. Two ofuda pouches hung from her left waist, and a tanto was on the other. She had tied her hair up in a bun, and was carrying a haversack bag.

“That was fast,” I noted. It’s only been ten minutes.

“I don’t have time to grieve when there are more pressing issues at hand.” Akira refused to meet my eyes. “What’s more, the other priests, miko and kitsune gave their lives in accordance with their oaths to the shrine. They died with honour- ah!”

Her words turned into a small shriek of surprise when I grabbed her shoulders and forcefully pulled her into a hug.

“It’s okay to cry, Akira.” I said, patting the back of her head as I looked towards the shrine. “You don’t have to always be strong.”

Immediately, my shoulder became wet, and the girl in my embrace had started shaking.

“Yui… Hana…” She sobbed the names of the other miko that had left her behind. “Miya… Kyouko… I’m sorry… I wasn’t strong enough to protect the rest of you…”

My jaw tightened as I stroked her hair. Tsunawara Yui. Takane Hana. Hanno Miya. Saotome Kyouko. The four miko were only in their mid-twenties, and Akira was twenty. Yui and Miya, being part of the subfamilies, had been working in the shrine their entire lives, and Hana and Kyouko had come in the same year, when I was eleven. All four of their faces had become extremely familiar to me and it would be impossible to imagine the shrine without them attending to it, lighting incense, sweeping leaves off the courtyard, accompanying the higher ranking priests.

Akira’s crying softened, and after a while she peeled away from me, drying her eyes. Making sure her clothes weren’t messed up, she finally looked me in the eyes.

“Thank you, young master Ren.”

“Please, don’t call me that anymore. Just Ren is fine.”

She hesitated, then bowed at a forty-five degree angle. “Ren-sama.”

She let out a small laugh. “I was really just comforted by someone younger than I am, wasn't I?’

“Is there a problem with that?” I frowned.

Akira shook her head. “No, it’s just, you seem like you’ve matured, young mas- Ren-sama.”

I gave one last look at the shrine before picking my own bag up. “You have to grow fast when your entire family gets wiped out and you’re entrusted with the clan name and future of the Onmyoji, all over one night.”

Akira was silent, but I could sense the shock. She hadn’t been there to listen to my father’s message, after all. I gave her the summary of everything while we walked down the stone steps and out of the shrine.

At the foot of the hill, we bowed to the torii gate, and I laid a hand on it. I don’t know when I can come back, but… I swear, one day I will.

“Anyway, Akira. You said you can help with our hiding?”

The miko nodded. “It’s time for me to go home.”

I blinked at her. “Huh?”

“What, you think I just manifested in the temple and wanted to become a miko? I’m from a family of Onmyoji too, Ren-sama.”

“Okay, hold up. My father said not to trust anyone-”

“The Kamo should be fine,” Akira asserted. “We and the Tsuchimikado clan go way back.”

Akiha growled a little, expressing her discontent, and I placed a hand between her ears to calm her down.

“We’ll go.” I agreed. “But you’ll go in first, and only if it’s safe, then the two of us will enter. I trust you, Akira.”

Akira smiled. “I won’t let you down, Ren-sama.”

We started walking again, and there was a flash of light from Akiha, along with a puff of smoke. When it cleared, in her place was a small fox the length of my forearm, with beautiful russet brown fur and mismatched eyes.

“Akiha?”

The fox sprang up onto my shoulders, laying her head down while her hind feet supported themselves on my haversack bag. I smiled and rubbed a finger on her forehead. I’d thought the origami fox used to be comforting, but in just one night, she’s grown on me this much.

We got into a taxi, the driver not noticing the miniature fox perched on top of me.

“He can’t see you?” I whispered.

“Yeah. I’m glamoured.” The fox replied. It was a little weird seeing an animal speak, but I nodded and settled down as Akira gave the driver the address.

We drove in a relatively peaceful silence for most of the way, but as the car got onto a highway, the radio suddenly crackled with static.

Akiha’s ears shot upward.

“Emergency broadcast from the Onmyo-ryo, emergency broadcast from the Onmyo-ryo. As of this morning, the head of the Bureau, Tsuchimikado Mado and his family have been found murdered in their residence, the Tsuchimikado shrine. The survivor of the incident, Tsuchimikado Joman, an adopted brother of the Tsuchimikado family, has succeeded his brother as the Bureau head, and has given a report on what happened that night. All Onmyoji and civilians alike are to keep an eye out for a woman and an eighteen year old boy, named Kamo Akira and Tsuchimikado Ren. The woman has long black hair and a birthmark on her right ear. The boy has short black hair and was last seen wearing a black and white jacket and beige pants. Any notice of them is to immediately be relayed to the Bureau.”

A growing sense of unease and tension had risen in the car, and the driver glanced at me in the mirror, gulping visibly. He then turned subtly to look at Akira, who did have a slightly red patch of skin on her ear.

His hand moved, but before he could do anything, Akira had her knife pressed to his throat.

“It’s not like an Onmyoji to be doing this,” She muttered with discontent. “But I can’t have you going around talking. Drive if you don’t want to die.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat at the aggression, since Onmyoji were supposed to protect the general populace, but I held my tongue. While it wasn’t the right thing to do, it was what had to be done for us to not get captured and killed.

The driver gulped again and muttered an apology, returning his hand to the steering wheel. His face had gone pale, and beads of sweat were tracing down his face.

When we reached the location, Akiha turned back into her human form and snapped her fingers, foxfire shooting into the driver’s head.

“He won’t remember any of this.” She said proudly.

Akira nodded with approval. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Akiha and I stood around a wall, keeping lookout for other Onmyoji while Akira went to the house’s gate. It was a large estate, built in a traditional Japanese style, with plants all over it, and a wooden finish.

She didn’t even have to knock before the gate opened, and somebody ran out excitedly.

“Mistress! Mistress Akira’s home!”

Mistress? No way, is Akira the heir to the Kamo clan? If she is, what the hell is she doing becoming a miko at our shrine?

Akira had a hushed conversation with the person who had received her, and after a while, stuck her head around the corner at us.

“It’s safe. They haven’t betrayed us.”

My shoulders slumped. I hadn’t been aware of how tense I had become. Akiha and I walked towards the house.

The woman standing there was short in stature, and looked to be in her eighties, at least. A caretaker, maybe. It was obvious that she was hiding her powers; though their levels seemed low, the spiritual energy within her seemed more like a raging sea than being in a dormant state. Is she compressing it on purpose to make it look like she’s weak?

She had her hands on her hips as she surveyed us. “So you’re the clan heir, Tsuchimikado Ren, huh. Wait sorry, the way things are right now, it’s more accurate to say you’re the clan head.”

I sputtered in confusion. “H-huh? What’re you saying-”

“Your uncle’s not a pure-blood Tsuchimikado. While he can take on the role of Bureau head, he cannot become the clan head. That’s your role, and yours alone.”

I was dumbfounded.

The woman turned to Akiha. “You’re his kitsune, then. Nice to meet you.”

Finally regaining my wits, I bowed as appropriate. “Sorry for the tardiness. Allow me to formally introduce us. Tsuchimikado clan head, Tsuchimikado Ren, and kitsune guardian Akiha.”

The woman returned the bow. “Kamo Nasa. I’m Akira’s wet nurse. Anyway, you guys better come in quick.”

She ushered us into the estate grounds before raising her hands in a seal I didn’t recognise, muttering something under her breath. A moment later, a translucent blue dome appeared from the ground up, covering the entire house before becoming transparent.

“Nobody outside can see or hear us now.” She turned with a warm smile. “Would you guys like some tea? Then we can talk.”

I bowed again. “Thank you for the hospitality, Nasa-san.”

The elderly caretaker told Akira to help settle us in while she prepared the tea, and then walked away, while Akira brought us to the other side of the estate.

“I told you she can be trusted.” Akira said.

“She?” I arched an eyebrow. “Is there nobody else here?”

Akira shook her head, sliding a shoji screen open. “This isn’t the main Kamo household, but one of our hidden strongholds. It’s rare for any member of the family to come here, and given our situation, Nasa-san will notify us if any Onmyoji does approach.”

I set my bag on the tatami floor. It was a guest room, since there were four sets of futon folded and stacked against the far wall, along with a low mahogany table and a cupboard.

“Nasa-san should be waiting for us in the tea room. Anything you guys want to bring?”

I looked over at Akiha, who shook her head.

“Keiichi… Is this friend you speak of, by any chance, Matamura Keiichi?”

I froze.

The miko and fox spirit continued walking for a while longer before realising that I had stopped.

“Ren-sama? What’s wrong?” Akiha asked, her left ear slanting downwards.

“Your face is pale. Did something happen?”

I couldn’t talk well. My chest felt like it was being constricted. I fumbled for my phone.

“I,uh, I have to make a call. You guys go ahead first.” Forcing myself to speak, my voice sounded distant.

The two shared a worried glance before continuing down the hallway, and I stared at my phone screen.

The familiar repeating melody rang in my ear.

Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Please don’t let anything have happened to you.

“Yo, it’s Keiichi. If you’re hearing this, I’m dead! Just kidding. I’m busy right now, leave a message.”

The beep of the voicemail sounded soon after, but my hand had started shaking again, my phone suddenly increasing in weight. My throat felt dry, and swallowing saliva felt like trying to push a stone down it.

My voice cracked. “Oi, Kei… call me back. Please.”

My grip tight on my phone, my footsteps echoed hollowly as I continued walking.