“What?!” I exclaimed. “That’s her cooking? But her curry smelled heavenly! Is she changing her style for funsies?”

Rui shook her head. “No.” She smiled crookedly. “It’s just that probably her curry is different from the rest of her cooking. She’s making meals to suit the tastes of her vampire friends, so who knows what kind of ingredients she’s using or where she got them. Don’t worry, though. She shouldn’t put too many odd things in our orders.”

“That’s what I was going to say,” Akuchi explained with a laugh. “Ume marched right into the kitchen. She knew the cook would be overloaded. With her surreal energetic nature this time of night, she made the kitchen hers tonight.”

“Blud light, please!” A vampire nearby grinned at an Akuchi.

That Akuchi looked over her shoulder. “Oh... I wonder if they can fulfill that request.”

“Beer? Is he going to get drunk before the fight?” I blinked. “I don’t think that I would..."

“Um... it’s not beer. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Blood.” Rui explained with a laugh. “It has a lower platelet count for a discerning or dieting vampire. Many of them enjoy it. They brew and bottle it somewhere in Tokyo. They also make something called ‘Blu Blud’ too. That one’s for the higher aristocracy. Ume doesn’t much care for it, though.”

“Hey, don’t forget Blud Type Zero. You can’t beat it when you’re really counting your calories!” a girl vampire chimed in from the booth behind us.

“I’m not sure I want to know ALL the details..." I fidgeted and hid under my menu. “Would they have any of that? It would be unreasonable to assume they’d have it in stock…”

“I’ll check and see if Ume can offer a solution.” Akuchi gave me a little wave before moving on to take more orders. I pitied Akuchi for having volunteered for this.

“I suppose I’ll tell you a bit about our plan since our food will still take a while.” Rui smiled, tapping the table idly. “You see, Akuchi will be our bait as planned. We hope it will go well. I see no reason why it wouldn’t. We’ll have Akuchi call the culprit before we head over to his skyscraper. We could sneak into his building, but we’ve determined that if we can lure him out, we can gang up on him, and going that route the casualties will be lower. His capabilities are largely unknown, but we do know he has occult-related abilities, and he might be a yokai in the closet. Well, that and he’s capable of comitting murder.” Rui rummaged through her purse.

“Yeah, I understand.” I sighed. “So this is why having to deal with people with spiritual abilities is a pretty big deal, I guess. But how does Akuchi feel about the plan? Her life is seriously at risk.”

Rui smiled as she removed a folded piece of paper. “You get how important this is! Good. As far as Akuchi is concerned, he volunteered for service. He’ll literally do anything to impress you. That’s why he’s the one taking risks, but I think he worried about your safety too. No matter how you look at the situation, he’s a good guy even if he’s a pervert.”

“I know.” The side of my mouth wrinkled a bit. “What’s that in your hand? One of your files from your office?”

“Yes!” She grinned, snapping her fingers. “I hoped we’d be able to handle Noh-face with your own noh-face powers, but it went wildly better than expected, even though things got a little hairy. You mostly handled things yourself and I did my best. Anyhow, I was thinking ahead. After hearing your story, I was sure you’d be eager to take down this twisted man who’s behind everything going on in Tokyo. His name is Tao Mitsuhiko.” She unfolded the folder to display the same picture of his face. Now I had a name to go with his shitty unemotional face.

“Yes... but why are you showing me his face again?” My teeth ground.

Rui nodded, ignoring my question. “To know your enemy and so forth. Tao was the son of a fisherman up in Hokkaido. Their family was poor. His grandfather specialized in traditional handcrafted tatami mats. Back in those days, his family had some money and prestige, but when his grandfather passed the art died with him. Unfortunately, the industry for hand-woven tatami had already been steadily declining. So in effect, we have a poor fisherman’s son living in Tokyo high up in an opulent penthouse at the top of his building which hosts many company offices.” She flipped through the papers and pointed at the photo of a certain building.

I’d seen the building a few times in the past, so I recognized it too. It was an architectonic pearl of Tokyo's skyline, rising high into the sky. The fine lattice of beams looked like a cat’s cradle weaved by kami. It tapered to a near-point at the top, easily earning the label ‘tower.’

“How did he manage to gain control over that building?” I couldn’t suppress my curiosity and astonishment.

Rui shrugged and smiled. “Probably a combination of ambition, murder, theft and exploitation of yokai-kind.” Rui turned the paper back over to wave her hand over the man’s picture with his cold gaze. “I know little more of him and his past. There’s not much else I was able to find out besides the fact that what family he has are deceased, meaning you have to ask him directly about anything of his past and he certainly doesn’t share. All he ever told the press was what I’ve told you. All about his family being dead and how poor they were. He admits he never had friends and doesn’t want any.”

“So maybe his family died, and it drove him crazy and made him extra ambitious?” I whistled softly.

“Ambitious is right and an understatement. He’ll kill his rivals, anyone who gets in his way, and particularly anyone who betrays him. His empire was without a doubt built on blood. It’s my gut feeling that he killed his family to silence them. His family were probably a bit more than they seemed. They may have been specialists in the occult arts like mine.” Rui’s eyes narrowed.

I felt a chill running down my spine. “If you’re right, he’ll be hard to deal with. If he does the kind of stuff you do, I don’t think the police could deal with him. They couldn’t deal with Noh-face, let alone me.”

“Right!” Rui raised her finger heavensward. “They aren’t equipped to handle spiritual stuff. Even if they had guns, it wouldn’t help them much. A branch to deal with Yokai incidents doesn’t exist and never has.” Rui sighed. “That’s why my family’s legacy still remains important.”

“Water!” Akuchi grinned, slapping down two tall glasses filled with ice and water. “This is a bit more fun than I thought! It’s just for one night, so it’s not what I want to do for life, but it’s like playing a cute game.” Akuchi posed and winked. I tilted my head, blushing a bit. She had one hand on her hip, her breasts pressed together in the bosom of her uniform. A uniform which seemed to have become more revealing since the last time I’d seen it.

“You’re interrupting our war council, silly tanuki!” Rui wagged her finger. “Where’s the tea?”

Difficult customer... I eyed Rui, rolling my eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry. You were plotting the downfall of a rich tycoon. That’s right! My bad! I just thought you would be thirsty after all that talking.” Akuchi laughed, running fingers through her hair, or rather the waitress’. “The tea is still brewing. Ume is personally handling that duty as well. She says you love her tea.”

Rui grinned broadly. “Absolutely! It’s always worth waiting!

“Anyhow.” Rui directed her piercing gaze at me. “Where were we?”

“Oh, I’ll get everyone else their waters.” Akuchi scurried off. Meanwhile, a new strange odor gradually filled the air.

“The police can’t handle yokai activities,” I reminded her.

“Right!” Rui smiled brightly, toying with her hair. “The fact is, law enforcement are aware that they exist and operate, but the government has been suppressing knowledge about their existence for a long time. For a long time and even up to now, they’ve been employing the Buddhist and Shinto priesthood to deal with them. Who else can do it, right?” She wagged her finger. “My family is neither of those. Of course, we’ve always been Shintoists, but that never played a huge role. We use tools from all across the world we which we’ve amassed over the centuries. Fact is that supernatural beings exist everywhere, but elsewhere they’re known as fairies or demons or ghosts and such. All cultures came up with their own effective ways to deal with such beings. Exorcists, shamans, witch doctors, wizards, sorcerers, onmyouji... the list goes on for a really really long time, but we’ll use those as the prime examples. Some arts are more effective at managing youkai than others, but understand this. Yokai were born of the human mind.”

“What?!” I blinked. “We created them?”

“Yes. Our unused spiritual energy creates ghosts and souls. Those can create other types of yokai. For example, an old tree in the forest can live on beyond death in another form. Its consciousness transforms it into a yokai. People can make themselves into them or be made into them too, as you’ve experienced firsthand. Making a yokai is a simple question of addition or subtraction. If something is spiritually added or removed, it resolves into a new form. Regret, desires, willpower, losing crucial things. Anyways, yokai are beings of sheer consciousness. They exist outside the known parameters for sciences like physics or medicine.”

I looked at her with a blank expression. She sighed and tilted her head. “Ugh.. maybe this is too much to digest for now. The jade bracelet I gave you is imbued with the consciousness of my family. Think of it as a key. It activates your spiritual powers and gives you access to energies around you. These are forces that most humans know nothing about or can’t touch.”

I toyed with the jade bracelet, musing about her words. It didn’t seem particularly remarkable, aside from being a beautiful piece of jewelry. It clearly was ancient. “It’s a lot to think about.”

“Foci are keys, Susumu. They stimulate your creativity.” She smiled mysteriously. “Even what you wear can play a strong part in the flow of your consciousness and the strength of your spiritual abilities.”