“Tell us what you know,” said Ken, holding up the bloody pocketknife to the cat creature’s furry face, “or I cut off your other nine fingers.”

“H-hey, h-hey … easy now …” Clutching its bloody hand, the nekomata shrunk away from Ken. Its eyes flitted and jumped, nervously scanning the others in the meeting room. “I’ll talk … I’ll talk … If you promise to release me. I’ll talk.”

Ken flicked his knife, sending a spatter of blood onto the neokmata’s nose and whiskers. “Listen here. You’re in no position to negotiate. Either you talk, or I’ll flay your pelt from your body …” Ken ran his eyes over the creature’s torso. “And believe me. I know how to flay you so you’ll stay alive … until the very end.”

Jiro swallowed. He made a mental note never ever to do anything to Aya when Ken was around. This was one terrifying old man. Right now, though … Ken’s skills were a godsend.

“Now,” said Kaori with her arms crossed. “Why did you stab those council members? And why did you try to impersonate Aya?”

“Aya? Who is that?”

Ken lunged at the nekomata, and Jiro had to bear hug the enraged father to keep him from slicing off more of the yokai’s feline fingers.

“P-please control that man,” said the nekomata. It tried to roll away but pinned down as it was by Sheena and Tae, it could only babble and whine. “I r-really don’t know anyone by that name.”

“The young woman who you were impersonating.”

“Ah her …” the nekomata met Jiro’s eyes. It seemed to be considering how much to say. “Somebody told me to. A spirit. It brought me a photograph of the g-girl … and said to take her form. And then stab those people.”

“That’s it?” said Jiro. “You stabbed three people because somebody asked you?”

“W-well we had a deal.”

“Deal?”

The nekomata suddenly let out a blissful smile. “Condensed milk …”

“Speak so you make sense!” Ken brought the knife up to the cat creature’s neck.

“I-it’s true. Don’t stab me! You monster! Madman! F-fool! The s-spirit said it would g-give me condensed milk if I s-stabbed some bad people … one can for each person …” The cat creature licked its lips and sighed. “I suppose I won’t get my reward now …”

“Let me get this straight,” said Jiro. “You stabbed three humans. Because you wanted to drink condensed milk?”

The creature nodded and sighed. “The good spirit shared some with me. It was so sweet. So delicious.” The nekomata wets its lips. “I would do it all again for another taste ...”

Jiro rubbed his temples. Either this yokai was a very good actor, or it was a complete idiot. Like a simple animal, it had been tricked into doing wrong. Now that he thought about it, Umiko had been tricked as well. Tricked into stealing Aya’s boat …

Inside Jiro’s head, something snapped into place. “Umiko. The giantess I met in Sochi Bay. She said the same thing. Something about a good spirit telling her to harm humans … Hold on a second.” He sat down next to the furry creature. “You want some condensed milk, right?”

The cat perked up. It nodded its head eagerly.

“I’ll give some to you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. But first you need to tell us who told you to stab those humans. What kind of spirit was it? What did it look like?”

The nekomata looked at Ken and then back at Jiro. “Three cans. Three cans of condensed milk, one for each human.”

“Why you little furry—”

Jiro put out a hand to stop Ken. “Sure, I can do that. I promise. Three cans of condensed milk. And we’ll let you out of here without harming you. If you can tell us about this ‘good spirit’ of yours.”

“Promise?”

“I do.”

“Well …” said the nekomata, eyeing the others cautiously. “The spirit didn’t do anything to hide its appearance from me. And it told me its name too. So if you’ll let me free I guess I can tell you …”

“What was its name?”

The nekomata scanned their faces one last time. It wet its lips. Finally, it seemed to come to a decision. The cat creature opened its mouth … and burst into flame.

It was like someone had soaked the creature’s fur in lighter fluid and tossed a match. In a fraction of a second, the entire body was ablaze in a whirl of red and yellow heat. The creature let out a piercing scream, writhing and flailing on the floor. Tae and Sheena rolled off its body, trying to pat the flames off their scales and fur.

Acrid smoke billowed from the creature’s torso, eyes, and mouth. It was like someone had thrown a smoke grenade. The foul darkness filled the room, obstructing Jiro’s vision and clawing dryly at his lungs.

Jiro coughed and pulled his shirt over his face. “Yui, the windows! Open the windows!”