It had already been three days since we started hiding at the Kamo hideout, and I was starting to grow restless.

Not only was I nowhere closer to coming across the twelve shikigami of Abe no Seimei, I had no weapons, and still no way to use Onmyodo. I didn’t know where the hidden archives of the Tsuchimikado were, and Kia had been supposed to bring me there.

“So you’re looking for a weapon?” Nasa looked at me as she sipped from a small teacup. She was back in her elderly form.

“Please.” I bowed. “I can’t always rely on others to protect me. If I have at least a weapon, even without Onmyodo I can at least do something.”

Nasa pondered the question, then looked at me from the corner of her eyes. “For a weapon to be capable of dealing with kegare at the same time as humans, it has to be a shikigami or a tsukumogami, something with a spirit residing within it. Where do you plan to find something like that?”

I was stumped, and I averted my gaze.

“You don’t seriously think you can just waltz out the gate and suddenly a weapon will fall into your hands, right?”

“I… hadn’t thought that far.” I admitted.

Nasa sighed. “I know a place. But… humans aren’t looked upon very fondly there.”

I looked up. “That’s alright.”

She set her cup down, and drew a paper fan from within her sleeve. “Akira, Akiha, you two stay here. Where we’re going is not safe.”

Akira merely inclined her head quietly while Akiha pouted, her ears flopping.

I thought for a moment. “I could bring you along in origami form.”

“Really?” Her tail started swishing back and forth.

“No.” Nasa asserted. “Your spirit will be found out very soon. You’ll be safer here, kit. Origami or no.”

I scratched my cheek, offering my kitsune and apologetic smile. “Sorry, Akiha. You heard her. I won’t bring you anywhere where I can’t guarantee your safety either. I promise we’ll be back soon.”

Akiha nodded slowly, then transformed into her fox form and went to hide under the table. Sorry, Akiha.

Turning back to Nasa, I nodded. “Let’s go, then.”

The woman morphed into her younger form, then wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Whatever happens, never leave my side.”

I gulped. Why would she say that? Where exactly are we-

Snapping the fan open, Nasa waved it once, and foxfire bloomed out of it, a beautiful pink and white like magnolia flowers.

The flames came over me, and my vision went black, my senses tingling as if static was washing over me.

A sweet smell that left a lingering aftertaste in my mouth.

The slightly bitter undertones that gradually grew stronger, and eventually my senses were overcome with a biting sensation that screamed at me to run. Disappear.

My eyes shot open, my mouth already opening to scream and protest, but Nasa clamped her hand over it.

Her violet and teal eyes glared at me. “Keep it down.”

I peeled her hand away, my own still wide with alarm. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing. I hissed. “This place reeks of yokai and kegare.”

“That’s why I said the other two will be safer back in the house.” Nasa pulled me along as she walked. “Welcome to the spiritual market.”

We had materialised in a dingy, dark back-alley, with puddles of dark liquid on the ground. The air was dry and harsh, the smell of the impurities still assaulting me. I glanced upwards as we walked, and froze. The sky- the sky was a blood red, the sun a black sphere.

“What is this place?” I caught up with the fox spirit.

“We call it Dainisekai. The Second World.”

Huh?

“It’s a warped reality where beings with their life forces tied to spiritual energy can freely enter. Yokai, shikigami, tsukumogami, kami, kegare, and the likes. Be it impure or pure, nobody here attacks anyone, rather it’s a place of business and trade.”

“Such a place exists?”

“Humans cannot enter. They can only be brought in.” Nasa replied nonchalantly. “While you may not be the first to have been brought in, the moment we lose one another, you will have no way back to reality.”

Unease came over my heart like a thin film of ice, and I subtly drew closer to the kitsune, who laughed.

“Put this on.” Nasa handed me a piece of cloth. “It’s a cowl. I made it with foxfire so it’ll hide you from the impurities, somewhat.”

I pulled the hood over my head.

Emerging from the alley, we found ourselves in the middle of a dim street set up like a marketplace, with rickety stores set up along the sides of the road. The buildings took on traditional looks, and merchants were peddling their wares loudly.

None of them were human.

There were a variety of yokai and spirit beings milling around, but none paid us any extra attention as we walked by.

My fingers twitched beside my ofuda pouches. If we were to be attacked, I would have no chance of fighting back against any of them.

Almost as if on cue, a yokai we walked past turned to watch as we passed. She was in the form of a beautiful woman with raven black hair, but had eight eyes spread across her face, and when she opened her mouth to hiss at us, two fangs unfurled outwards, dripping with a liquid that sizzled as it hit the ground.

Jorogumo. A spider yokai.

“Do you see anything you’re interested in?”

I tore my gaze away from the yokai that was glaring at me, and ran my eyes over the different stores. There were talismans, weapons, some food, but nothing piqued my interest.

There had been a cart filled to the brim with tools and weapons, but they all looked way too big.

“Those are for ogres.”

My eyes widened. “They’re still a thing?”

“Never left. They’re just in hiding.”

We walked past another merchant, a yellow-furred kitsune with four tails, and I paused.

“Nasa-san.”

The fox spirit slowed and walked back next to me. “What? This isn’t a weapons store- ah, I see.”

She probably could already see my intentions from the expression I wore.

I nodded. “For Akiha.”

Bending down, I picked up the item that had caught my eye.

It was a thin fabric the shade of a light cream that had been folded and sewn into a five-petaled flower. Its colour darkened towards the center, and became a reddish-brown much like Akiha’s namesake.

“It’s not just a decorative piece,” Nasa noted as she took a closer look. “The cloth it’s been made with has a spiritual foundation. It can be enchanted and magicked any way you like.”

My mouth opened slightly. With this, I can plant a spell for protection… but would Akiha like something like that?

Nasa smirked at me. “I’m sure she’ll love it. You’re her master, after all. Any gift you give her will be something she’ll treasure for the longest time.”

“I hope you’re right.”

I turned to look at the store’s owner, who had been watching our interaction with rapt attention.

“Sorry, may I know how much this is?”

The kitsune’s eyes glinted, and he raised a single finger.

“Is that one hundred yen or a thousand?” I muttered, turning to Nasa.

She shook her head. ‘A million.”

I gaped at her, then turned to look at the merchant.

“We kitsune aren’t known as some of the world’s best swindlers for nothing, Ren. I should’ve seen this coming a mile away.” Nasa turned to walk away. “We’ll find something better.”

I looked down at the flower in my hand. No. This one feels right. The flower seemed to draw me in. I pulled my wallet out of my pocket, and withdrew all the cash I had within it.

“I have seven hundred thousand. Take it or leave it.” I’m in no position to bargain, but hopefully-

The fox scratched behind an ear, then snatched the money out of my hand, counting it with one while shooing me away with the other.

We started walking again, but the stores had gotten more dull, and it looked like I wouldn’t be finding a weapon that suited me.

Sighing, my footsteps had gotten heavier. I can’t keep doing this forever. I need a way to fight back.

“Ren-kun, careful!”

Nasa began to warn me, but as I looked up in surprise, I was too slow to evade the arm that had wrapped itself around my shoulders, a boy leaning in beside me and peering down at the flower still clutched in my hand.

“Hey. I heard that was worth a million yen. Mind if I take it for you?” He grinned.