~~~

A trunk the size of a small province

with a door carved at the base

pulling Miho in and up an endless spiral of wooden steps

portraits of branches on the walls

sometimes twigs in over-sized yukatas

not their preferred choice, said Yuki, chunks of snow sliding down her long black hair,

they really had to be talked into it

not by me

the artists

though to be fair I was nearby, eyeballing them and

wah, the cave system

just as byzantine as I remember, come on

and Miho nodded

waltzed forward into the tunnel and

part of him knew what was ahead but the other part said no

her arm is elsewhere

portals are harmless

in fact, swirling only looks like it’s going fast when really it’s gradual

and he reached ahead for Yuki’s robe

hoping she would confirm it

but it was too far

his fingers

couldn’t extend beyond

Yuki, he cried

Yuki come back

I have a question about the portal

its swirling rate

but her ears were covered by patches of snow and the snow was crumbling

into pieces of

~~~

He woke up with another cry of Yuki, followed by a breath of relief when he saw where he was.

The room was quiet, the other side of the futon empty.

Probably to be expected, he told himself as he rolled onto the tatami and felt around for his yukata. It wasn’t anywhere nearby, so he rolled back and realised that he’d scrunched it up into a ball and used it as a pillow.

‘Old habits…’ he muttered, standing up and unravelling it.

Unlike the Jewel of Kai Ryokan, there was no balcony attached to the room, just a small window with a slide-across panel. He opened it and stared at a doppelganger room opposite, a naked middle-aged man sleeping on tatami next to a clump of hair wrapped in a blanket.

A married couple?

He poked his head outside and looked down, seeing a pink framed sign in the alley below.

Okay, maybe not married. Though, from what Kentaro 2 used to tell him about the pink sign places back home, it was odd for customers to pay for the whole night. Especially when they didn’t even get a share of the blanket.

Miho slid the window nine-tenths shut to keep some air flow coming in, then looked around the room. Apart from his bag and zori, there was no sign that anyone else had stayed in the room. Perhaps they hadn’t. There was a fair chance he was alone, that both Aya and Akira had given up on his lethargic pace and moved on to Suwa.

He put on his zori, thinking of the road ahead, the lack of anyone to talk to, the lack of petty bickering between Akira and Aya, the lack of…

Nope, it was no good.

Travelling without company had led to blue chicken and the fucking belt merchant and he wasn’t interested in going through that again.

He rummaged in his bag and pulled out the yellow-demon stone, throwing it up in the air and catching it. Something about its texture felt odd, but he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly it was. Smooth yet gritty? No, that wasn’t it. And it didn’t matter anyway, he wasn’t going to use it. Not when the other two demons he’d met had tried to kill him…

He dropped the stone back in the bag, laughing as he played back his line.

Not when the other two demons he’d met had tried to kill him.

Demons. In the flesh. Real.

One week ago he’d never even known they existed.

And now they were here.

Attempting to murder him.

Kuso…

He closed his eyes and isolated the three demons in a field of shadow, closing the darkness in around the pretty purple one and then the green yukata psycho until the only thing left was the smiling head of the okay yellow-skinned guy.

That’s better, he thought. One demon. Not murderous. But not completely trustworthy either. Keep for emergencies.

Now, back to the human world.

First plan of operation: find Aya, see if she’s okay.

Second: devour breakfast.

Third: Akira?

~~~

The lump below seemed to be dormant.

And the crumb next to it incredibly tempting.

Pro: big meal.

Con: human trap.

After umming and ahhing to itself for a good seven and a half minutes, the spider finally went with the daredevil archetype and slid down a line of silk onto what it called a deh di do, and what humans referred to as a table, then scuttled across its surface to the crumb.

This will feed my boyfriend’s family for a week, it thought, jabbing at its newly-claimed treasure and then freezing in abject terror as the lump shed its skin and rose up.

A giant eyeball appeared, staring directly at the spider.

Ah well, the spider thought, closing six of its eight eyes, at least it’ll be quick.

But it wasn’t.

An even larger shape emerged to the side and put a ba sa [cup] down on the table, giving the spider enough cover to make a run for it. Which is exactly what it did, sprinting back to the wall and up into its getaway crack in the ceiling.

‘Finally awake…’ said Reiko, taking a cloth off her shoulder and squeezing it.

Aya stared up at her with no emotional display whatsoever, her brain clearly filling in a lot of gaps, before giving a low energy nod.

‘You wanna tell me where you were all night?’

‘Out.’

‘That’s what you said when you came here….at sunrise.’

‘Did I?’

‘Out. Walking around. That’s it, all I got. Then you just sat down here and passed out. Not sure what’s wrong with the room I gave you…’

‘What time is it?’

Reiko stopped squeezing and spun the cloth in small circles in the air. Then looked back at the counter, her telepathic waitress sense correctly detecting the young man with the katana harassing the only other customer in the place.

‘Just a second…’ she said, strolling over to the young man and, without any hesitation, whipping him across the cheek with the cloth.

Surprisingly, he took it without reaching for his blade. More than that, he actually bowed and said, loud enough for Aya to hear, something akin to an apology.

‘Must be an empress or something,’ muttered Aya to the cup in front of her, which she belatedly realised was full of green tea.

Taking a sip, she watched the rest of the scene play out.

Reiko tilting her head at the ashigaru, shaking her head when he offered her a small bag of something, then whipping him playfully with the cloth and giving him a jar of what looked like broken-up twigs.

After bowing half a dozen more times, the ashigaru left, pausing briefly at the door and glancing at Aya. She hid herself quickly behind her cup, and closed her eyes, hoping that he wouldn’t get any dirty ideas. Then counter-hoping that he would so she could have the pleasure of watching Reiko whip him again, perhaps this time with a barbed tip.

Opening her eyes again, she saw the space by the door vacant, the panel closed and Reiko on her way over to her table.

‘Still sleepy?’ she asked, placing a bowl with mountain asparagus and bread next to Aya’s hand.

‘Recovering…’

‘A bit of food might help with that. Don’t worry, all part of the overnight package. I’ll keep some for your boyfriend too…if he ever gets up.’

‘You mean Miho?’

‘Sorry?’

‘He’s not my boyfriend. We’re just travelling together.’

‘Wait…his name’s Miho?’

‘I thought he told you that last night.’

‘Not that I recall. And I’m pretty sure I would remember. Miho…wow, his parents must really have a sense of humour.’

‘Actually, I think his father was drunk…when he wrote the certificate.’

Reiko laughed and said my second guess, then turned to the entrance as the door panel slid open again. Two ashigaru popped their heads in and were immediately told to get out. As was the trend in this izakaya, they obeyed, bowing a little more awkwardly than the last guy then sliding the door panel shut.

‘How do you do that?’ Aya asked, not bothering to hide the awe in her voice.

‘I told you. Magic.’

‘The other guy too…you whipped him in the face and he just bowed to you. Magic? No way. They’re scared of you.’

‘Well, that’s it. Magic is fear. Or superstition if you wanna be more precise. And with the festival coming up, people around here are more superstitious than ever.’

‘The festival?’

‘Especially ashigaru. Or some of them, at least. They know I have friends in the shrines and they worry that causing trouble here, with me, will cause them trouble with the spirits. Which is why I can get away with whipping the little bastards. Of course, once the festival’s over they’ll be calling me a bitch again, dishing out rape threats…some of them at least. The ones without a brain.’ She paused, looking over at the stairs. ‘Ah, I see your non-boyfriend is up and about. Time to dish up a second breakfast.’

Reiko walked off, giving Miho a little whip on the ass as she passed him and then putting a finger to her lips when he frowned in response.

Aya picked up her cup of green tea and took another sip, trying to think of a convincing way to say I walked around all night, no, I’m not tired.

It wasn’t easy, and by the time Miho sat down opposite, she gave up on the idea altogether and just asked him directly where Akira was.

‘No idea.’

‘He’s not in the room upstairs?’

‘Didn’t see him.’

She picked up a piece of mountain asparagus and took a bite, surprised at how soft it was.

‘Didn’t see you either,’ continued Miho, staring at the green stem being sucked slowly into her mouth. ‘Or your bag. Figured you might’ve left already.’

‘Not yet.’

Miho nodded, looking mildly confused at the green tea and food appearing suddenly in front of him.

‘Added to your room charge,’ said Reiko, smiling.

‘Thank you.’

‘Speaking of that, are you planning on staying another night? Or will you be heading north today?’

‘I’m heading north,’ replied Miho, his eyes on the steam rising up from his green tea.

‘Aya?’

‘Same. I think.’

‘You sure I can’t persuade you to stick around, work here for a while?’

Aya picked up the bread and held it to her lips, opening up a little and stroking the crust against her teeth. It was hard to tell if it was genuine reflection or the pretence of it, but she stuck with the performance for a full minute, almost two, before finally responding with, ‘it’s a nice place, but I can’t stay. Sorry.’

‘Well, it’s an open offer…if you change your mind.’

‘I won’t.’

~~~

I’ll be back soon

Don’t cry.

Don’t neigh.

Think of the relief for your back.

Misora held her finger to the horse’s head and transmitted all of these thoughts and a few more, then kissed the animal awkwardly on what she hoped was its cheek and walked back to the courtyard outside.

Ichiko the Stern and Kanae, Yuka’s even more novice replacement, were standing around the wooden bridge exit, the former making small talk with the Fujimi environmental protection officer-stroke-Shingen spy, and the latter kicking pebbles into the nearby stream.

‘All set,’ Misora shouted ahead as she approached them, her left hand instinctively dropping to the dagger in her belt.

‘Finished wiping away your pet’s tears?’

Misora ignored the remark and did a long swerve towards Kanae, watching the latest pebble fly off into the water and skim once before sinking. ‘Another hour and we should be in Uehara. Hopefully no more salt merchant interactions along the way.’

‘I quite liked the last ones.’

‘Yes, they were very nice. Staring down the front of your yukata every time you looked at that bag of pink salt.’

‘All men do that.’

‘Okay, well, if that’s your standard.’

‘No, course not…I just thought they were nice. Friendly. Good to talk to.’

‘That’s the same description three times.’

‘Garrulous.’

‘Four times.’

Kanae tried an Ichiko move, folding her arms. ‘Hey, stop counting me…my words. You know what I meant.’

‘Relax, just a bit of mission humour.’ Misora put a hand on Kanae’s shoulder, making her flinch and half go for her belt. ‘No more counting from this point on, I promise.’

‘Are you going to stand around chatting all day or are we going to move?’ asked…no, demanded Ichiko, already a good few yards along the path that led back to the main road.

‘Move, obviously.’

Misora pulled back her hand and followed after Chief Misery, laughing to herself when she recalled the previous day and their surveyance of the ryokan massacre scene. Four ashigaru, stab wounds all over each body and Ichiko’s first response is, we should stab them again, make sure they’re not faking.

If she wasn’t sleeping in the same room as this woman and walking next to her all day then she’d find it even funnier, but as it was, she could only laugh sporadically, to herself, when she was alone.

Ah, if Atta Noe were there…they could laugh together…and paranoid or not, there wouldn’t be much Ichiko could do about it.

And not much she could do either.

Kuso…

Killing that girl…Yuka…just to go after one drunk ashigaru and a simple village boy. What was she thinking? No, not thinking…what was she feeling? Nothing? Would she have killed her, too, if she’d been the one in the way?

Misora nodded at Kanae, who had slotted in next to her and was saying something about salt merchants again, and looked left at the trees.

Atta Noe was probably halfway to Sunpu by now, paying for her crime with exile.

Either plotting her way back or…what?

Feeling pangs of guilt?

Did she even know what a pang was?

That was the question.

How human-like could a purple mist demon be?

Reaching the main road, Ichiko gave the hand signal for change, prompting the three ninjas posing as travel writers to switch to a two front, one back formation. After that, silence again.

Misora had no idea what the other two were thinking, and didn’t care as she was too busy conjuring up reasons why Atta Noe was actually the most compassionate being in Japan instead of the sociopathic monster she played the part of.

It wasn’t an easy case to make, and her face must have painted the struggle as Ichiko finally gave up on her own solipsism and told her direct that Atta Noe was on her way to hell.

‘What?’

‘Lord Imagawa is a notorious drunk, and his retainers are all sleazy manipulators. They’ll play with her like a little toy.’

‘I highly doubt that.’

‘It’s true, without Shingen’s protection, she’s nothing.’

‘Strange how you never said that to her face.’

‘Actually, I was just thinking,’ interrupted Kanae, catching up to them. ‘Is it possible to do anything harmful to a smoke demon?’

‘Yes, bore them.’

‘I mean…how do you hurt smoke?’

‘You trace it to its source,’ replied Ichiko, glancing left at a path leading off to a sparsely-decorated slope and squinting…then changing it quickly to a smirk. ‘And hurt that.’

Misora noticed Ichiko looking left and followed her line of sight to a figure slumped in the middle of the path. ‘Oh dear…that’s embarrassing.’

‘What?’ asked Kanae finally catching on and scanning the trees comically for a few seconds before spotting the same figure. ‘Wah, someone’s hurt. Could be one of those nice salt merchants.’

Both senior ninjas walked on, ignoring her.

‘Wait, shouldn’t we help?’

‘Keep your position,’ shouted Ichiko, without turning back.

‘But…they could be seriously hurt…’

‘Position.’

Kanae looked again at the narrow side path, the figure strewn across it not moving at all, and tried to conjure up enough steel in her heart to move on. The birds chirping didn’t help. Sounded like they were scolding her. After all, there was a very good chance that it was one of the salt merchants from the previous day. Or another person who’d turned the wrong way and been attacked by…

‘It’s a fucking bandit, you dolt,’ said Misora, grabbing Kanae by the sleeve of her dōbuku and dragging her forward.

‘Hey…’

‘See, it’s a side path. Plenty of cover for his friends in the trees.’

‘You mean…’

‘Most obvious trap in the world.’

‘…that’s a bandit, lying there?’

Misora kept dragging until Kanae was back in position and then let go, telling her, in future, not to be such a soft touch.

‘Lucky we haven’t come across any belt merchants,’ muttered Ichiko, shaking her head at her comrade and then turning back to the main road, mouthing a thank gods when she saw the sign for Uehara up ahead.

‘There’s still time,’ responded Misora, catching half of the jibe and filling in the rest.