Chapter Six: Kotogami: Tomohito Yagyou

 

 

 

Chapter Six: Kotogami: Tomohito Yagyou

 

THE following day dawned with Akari’s fever still high. Probably because she’d pushed herself yesterday. In the end, she had to admit defeat and allow Tomohito to call in sick for the next few days for her.

Mayoi made rice porridge for Akari and brought her books. She seemed determined to care for her mistress, despite her ongoing internal conflict over Akari’s inevitable and impending abandonment of her.

As a final rebellion, perhaps, Mayoi seemed to have selected only fiction novels and books on Kotogami for Akari to read. Feeling tested, Akari nonetheless read each volume. She was nervous about it at first, but soon found herself absorbed in her reading.

Oops. All that time she’d avoided stories, and now here she was, spending almost the entire day with her nose in a book.

“I never realized the West had so many yokai of their own.”

Akari closed the book on yokai tales from overseas that she was reading and exhaled through her nose.

Regardless of the truth behind them, yokai tales tended to pass into legend after centuries, and this seemed to be the case for both the East and the West. And then, inspired by these old “tales,” new ones sprung up. It was truly fascinating comparing similar spirits from both Eastern and Western folklore.

Munakata even came to visit her, which astounded Akari.

She planned to return to work tomorrow. At her bedside, after only a little small talk, Munakata asked her outright if she was really going to quit as custodian. When she nodded, he looked somewhat disappointed.

“I wanted you to stay on just a bit longer. With you here, it’s one less task for me to handle.”

“How self-serving of you. So you’re not going to try to stop me?”

“There’s no point pushing the issue. Kotogami are divine spirits. Dealing closely with them takes a certain level of preparedness and shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. I’m not here to coerce you into anything.”

Akari narrowed her eyes, suspicious.

“What? You look like you’ve got a hair stuck in your throat.”

“I’m just surprised to see you take something seriously for once.”

“You don’t know the first thing about me.”

I know you’re a military man, and I know you know far more than you let on. But Akari didn’t say that. She just smiled blandly. Munakata sighed. He could probably tell what she was thinking.

“Well, never mind. If you want to leave, I won’t stand in your way. But I warn you, sometimes the Association is forced to bring in people against their will. If we call for you in the future, you should be prepared.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

His pithy little speech had Akari immediately suspicious, but Munakata changed the subject.

“Just agree to wait until the end of the month to move out. Right now’s risky. I don’t want this Bookhouse going unmanned.”

“What do you mean, right now’s risky? Do you mean all the recent yokai disturbances?”

“Something like that. But we’ve got a lead. We should be able to crack the case soon.”

Munakata seemed as unmotivated as ever, but that was kind of his default state. Akari shrugged. She’d even brought up her suspicions about Sumimata Corporation to him, but from his lackluster reaction, Akari figured she must have been overthinking things.

They agreed that Akari would wait until the first day of the following month to move. She would be going back to work as usual until then.

∗∗∗

AFTER a good rest, Akari was feeling much better. She spent the first day back at work catching up on her own tasks and going around helping out the other employees.

She was wearing her favorite red-brown kimono with the colorful butterfly pattern on it and a red kimono sash. She was feeling pretty good, in fact.

“Miss Akari, shouldn’t you slow down? You only just got back from sick leave.”

Mitsuko, dressed in a mellow orange kimono with a pattern of yellow roses, peered meekly at her. Akari kept on handling the work she’d been tasked with as she responded.

“I’m fine. Actually, I’m glad to be here. Kind of an awkward situation at home…”

“Why, what’s happened? Did you have a quarrel with the…man you live with?”

Akari looked up at Mitsuko’s curious expression and groaned internally. She hadn’t meant to say anything about what was going on at the Bookhouse. Darn it.

“Well, not exactly. Actually, they took care of me while I was sick. But I made the announcement that I’m moving out, and there’s been a lot of sulking from the little girl who also lives there…”

Bringing up Mayoi would help to deflect things.

She didn’t want to talk about Tomohito, whom she could still barely look in the face. He’d mopped her brow during her feverish nights, and she also recalled that she’d opened up to him about some deeply personal things…

She must have been crazy to act so vulnerable in front of him, but the fever had clouded her judgment.

Her scar was a huge source of shame for her, and one of her secret reasons for never seriously considering marriage. She couldn’t believe she’d shown it to a man, even if he was a spirit. She’d made a huge effort to try to act normal around him since then, but it didn’t come easy.

Looking back on it now, she couldn’t understand why she’d been feeling so emotionally vulnerable. At least the bad dreams had stopped after that.

She was sure she’d be back to her normal self entirely after another day or two. She just wanted a grace period. That wasn’t too much to ask, surely.

Mitsuko watched Akari, who was blushing as she continued busily shuffling papers. Twisting her hands together, Mitsuko cleared her throat.

“Miss Akari, can I ask for your help with something?”

“You want my help? Really? Well, I know my taking time off inconvenienced everyone. I’ll do anything I can to help out.”

Mitsuko gave Akari a strained smile.

“There are rats or something in the gramophone clock warehouse. I’ve been told to go and check that the goods aren’t damaged and then to also catch the rats.”

“What? That’s a big problem. Who gave you the order? And why can’t they catch the rats by themselves?!”

“I…I just couldn’t say no…but I can’t do it by myself. Please help me…”

Mitsuko seemed to shrink in on herself, and Akari regretted her tone.

She knew better than anyone that questioning a male employee’s order never turned out well for the women.

Anyway, this was a good opportunity. Akari had been planning to probe Mitsuko for more info on the project she was working on.

“Of course I’ll help. Anything for you, Mitsuko.”

“Oh…thank you.”

Akari’s plans for the afternoon were made. Mitsuko smiled weakly at her, her hands shaking just a little.

∗∗∗

THE Sumimata Corporation’s goods warehouse was located behind the main office building.

It may have seemed extravagant to pay for warehouse space in an expensive business district like this one, but it was more efficient to dispatch the goods to rich patrons all over the city from a central location.

Akari had finished up her work in advance and arrived at the warehouse ahead of Mitsuko. As she placed her hand lightly on the door, she heard a heavy thump inside. She yanked the door open.

Tread carefully…, Akari thought as she stepped inside, her face tense.

Fumbling for the switch on the wall, she flipped on the overhead electric lights. Row upon row of grandfather clocks were suddenly illuminated in the gloom.

To kill time until Mitsuko arrived, Akari decided to quickly patrol the room. She figured she’d better wait for her colleague before they started actually setting any rat traps.

Also, if she accidentally made so much as a scratch on one of these clocks, she could kiss this month’s paycheck goodbye. Akari knew better than anyone else just how clumsy she could be. She’d better make sure to be extra-careful.

Some of the clocks seemed to be active. She could hear their pendulums swinging back and forth. Tick-tock, tick-tock. It would take hours to check over all of them by herself.

This company really doesn’t know how to efficiently utilize its personnel, Akari thought wryly as she gazed at the clocks. Then, something moved in the corner of her vision.

Akari turned. Mitsuko? But if so, surely the other woman would have announced herself?

“Ew, maybe there really are rats in here.”

What was she going to do? Akari was both uncoordinated and slow. There was no way she could capture a fleet-footed animal like a rat.

And who knew what kind of illnesses those critters had? Akari wasn’t in the mood to get bitten. Still, she had better find out what they were dealing with. She tiptoed quietly over to the corner and crouched down, trying to get a better look.

Something came scuttling toward her.

She fell on her butt, not even having time to squeal.

Sharp claws scrabbled at her kimono. It didn’t hurt, but the thing was on her chest and she couldn’t move. Its gray fur and doglike (or was it fox-like?) face seemed familiar to her, though… Akari’s eyes widened.

It was the beast spirit she’d fed half her sandwiches to in Hiyabi Park just a few days before.

Its grayish, purpleish eyes narrowed as it bared its fangs and snarled at Akari.

{Where is my grimoire? You…}

The beast’s snarl tapered off as it hesitated.

Akari couldn’t begin to process what was happening.

The creature seemed to have doubled in size since they last met.

And it was speaking a foreign language. It sounded like Anglish to Akari, but she wasn’t sure.

She could see intelligence, however, in its purple eyes. Tentatively, she questioned it.

“Did you come from overseas?”

{Oh, not again! She’s speaking a foreign language. There is so much about this land I find strange. Where am I?}

The beast wailed in plaintive tones, its tail drooping as it curled in on itself. Akari thought hard. She could barely follow what this thing was saying, but there was so much she wanted to ask it. She couldn’t let this chance slip past.

{Wait, I can understand you. Can you understand me?}

Akari dug up the Anglish she’d spent so many hours studying back at her all-girls school, and the beast’s ears immediately pricked up. Its claws flexed as it clutched at her kimono.

{Do you understand me?}

{I don’t speak Anglish often, but I can understand if you speak slowly.}

{You’ve brought back memories. I never thought I would hear my native language spoken again.}

{Anyway, please get off me. I want to talk with you.}

Abandoning all interest in checking out the warehouse now, Akari sat up and faced the gray-furred beast.

This was the first time in her life she’d ever felt thankful for the Anglish-language education she’d received at school. Oh, but she supposed it did occasionally come in handy at work when she had to check the spelling of promotional materials and so on.

She hadn’t spoken it out loud in years, though, and she felt quite nervous. The creature gazed curiously at her, its tail swishing this way and that. It was really quite cute.

{So, young girl who speaks my homeland’s tongue. Young girl who has brought me a taste of home. Tell me, what is this land?}

{You can just call me Akari. This is Sumimata Corporation… Oh, I guess that won’t make any sense to you… Anyway, this island is called Jipangu, and we are in a warehouse in its Imperial Capital. This is where I work.}

{…Ah-kah-ree… Imperial Capital… So this is not Angland. How did I get here?}

{You don’t even know why you’re here? What are you, anyway?}

Before they discussed anything else, she needed to know what she was talking to. But the beast seemed surprised by her question.

{You cannot tell?}

Its tail flopped back and forth.

{I remember living free in my homeland. Then the humans built metal birds with which to explore the skies, and my original powers became much greater. But then the metal bird piece I inhabited was loaded onto a boat and we crossed the ocean. Then I was forced against my will into the pages of a book—a grimoire.}

Akari didn’t know this word, grimwar. Given what Akari knew of the world of Narrators and Kotogami, though, this “grimwar” sounded almost exactly like a Kotogatari.

{And what name did they give you?}

{I recall being called…Raijoo.}

The beast’s pronunciation was clumsy, but Akari knew what it meant immediately, and she was flabbergasted.

Could it be that this beast was behind the recent Raiju attacks? But Akari had seen that spirit up close, and it was many times larger than this small furry beast. The two didn’t look anything alike. And this little one could carry on an intelligent conversation…

Akari hoped there had been some mistake, but the doleful-looking gray-furred creature continued.

{When I was sealed, I recall feeling that I was becoming warped. I recall fighting back. Then before I knew what was what, I had become like this. Ever since, I have been searching for the grimoire that sealed me.}

From this account, Akari had no choice but to acknowledge that it was in fact the same Raiju that had been laying waste to the streets.

Now what was she supposed to do?

The beast didn’t seem to have any memories of the destruction it had wrought. If it remembered attacking Akari back then, it wouldn’t be speaking so pleasantly with her right now.

Or maybe this was a trick, and it was waiting to see how she’d react? The beast peered up at Akari, who was kneeling before it.

{I was wandering in a daze, but your sandwiches gave me the strength to think clearly again. I wish to thank you.}

What a polite and well-mannered…Raiju.

It had the voice of an adult male, but its cut-glass Anglish accent gave it an air of sophistication. Akari would be happy to listen to the tallest tale imaginable if only it were delivered in such a silky voice.

The creature apparently possessed an innate power for destruction, but it had done nothing to her. She felt she knew the beast’s true nature.

{No thanks necessary. I’m glad it satisfied your hunger.}

{Your kind words gave me courage. I was…happy.}

Akari resolved to figure out this situation as best she could, drawing on everything she’d learned.

From the beast’s report, it seemed that it had come from overseas to the Yamato Empire, and then it had been sealed in a Kotogatari. Then something had happened, and it had escaped. Right?

{Wait, so you’ve been out of your book like that ever since we met in the park?}

{No. Right after we met, my grimoire’s owner appeared again, and I do not recall what happened then. I believe I was forced back into my grimoire. I tried to get out, and then before I knew what was happening, I found myself here.}

Akari wished she could speak to Munakata about this. This was so far beyond her capabilities. The best thing would be for her to smuggle the beast out unnoticed and get it to Munakata.

But without its Kotogatari, she couldn’t get it out of this building.

“Now that I think about it, though, isn’t there a good possibility its Kotogatari is nearby, maybe here in the warehouse…?”

A jolt of fear went coursing down Akari’s spine.

What would a Kotogatari be doing there? Sumimata Corporation HQ wasn’t a Narrator-controlled book depository. Nor was it a rich man’s mansion with a private library collection. It was a practical, modern-day goods company, with no need or appreciation for Kotogami.

But the spirit attack in the mansion with the grandfather clock…and the Raiju rampages taking place in locations favored by Kotogami, such as rich men’s houses and also…around locations where Sumimata Corporation’s rival companies had their offices…

Didn’t all of that point to this company’s involvement in the recent string of incidents?

{What is wrong, Ah-kah-ree? I cannot understand that tongue.}

Akari stopped rubbing her chin and snapped out of her pensive thinking.

{I’m sorry. Listen, I’ll help you find that book you were bound to.}

{Will you? That would be most helpful!}

The beast gave a little hop forward and Akari stepped cautiously back. Still, she was determined help in any way she could.

{Say, do you have any idea where your grimoire might be?}

{I feel it must be close. Otherwise, I could not be manifested here like this.}

The beast seemed to have cheered up greatly. It gave its ears a sudden firm twitch.

{Yes! It is close!}

Its face lit up suddenly, and Akari blinked as she looked around them. Then she heard slapping footsteps behind her—from traditional Japanese thong sandals—and she whirled around.

“Miss Akari. So you can see it after all.”

A soft, clear voice. It was Mitsuko Maruyama, standing there with a blank expression on her face. Akari hadn’t sensed her approaching and was taken aback. Then she blanched as she realized Mitsuko was staring right at the Raiju.

“Mitsuko? See…what?”

“You really are talented, Miss Akari. See how you’ve tamed the wild Raiju? You really do have the aptitude of a Narrator. I’m truly envious. And I need to use this stupid book to get it to do what I want. No fair.”

Did she just say…Raiju? No…

But Mitsuko kept muttering to herself, ignoring Akari altogether. Mitsuko was usually so docile, but now she was emanating a dark, ominous aura.

And she was holding a light-gray book in one hand.

{THAT IS MY GRIMOIRE!}

The beast snarled and made a sudden move toward Mitsuko, who tightened her grip on the book defensively.

{RAIJU. DOWN.}

Her voice sounded unnatural, sonorous.

The beast suddenly fell flat on the floor as if pushed down by some invisible force. It struggled and writhed against what seemed like an invisible hand, but its efforts appeared to be in vain.

Akari couldn’t believe the power of this strange Kotogatari book.

“The binding force is weakening. I’ll have to tell the bosses later. What a bother. Still, it has to be done. Wait…what time is it…?”

“Mitsuko, why are you holding a Kotogatari and handling a Raiju? And why did you really ask me to meet you here?”

Mitsuko gripped the spirit tome with a confident air as she looked around at the gramophone clocks. Then she turned her sharp gaze on Akari, scowling at her.

Mitsuko had her hair in a long braid tied up in a loop with a ribbon, which was a trendy style for young women at the time. She toyed with the braid, beginning to smile faintly.

“Ah yes, Miss Akari. How I have envied you.”

They were having two different conversations. All Akari could do was listen as Mitsuko’s odd behavior sent alarm bells ringing in her head.

“We joined the company at the same time, but you’re so competent at your work. You can speak confidently with the male employees, and everyone trusts you with their tasks. On top of that, you’re beautiful, and you can even speak Anglish. I’ve always found you so amazing. I did what my parents told me to do—I went to an all-girls school and got a job to learn about the world outside. I envied you so. I really did. You sparkled so bright, like the heroine of a story. You made me want to try my best too. But no matter how much effort I put in, you were always better than me at everything.”

“You shouldn’t compare—”

“Well, I do! I do compare!!!”

Akari shrank back as Mitsuko screamed at her.

Trembling and clutching the book’s cover with white fingers, Mitsuko continued.

“I wanted to be your best friend. I wanted to stand side by side with you and do all the things you did. I wanted to sparkle too! But for every skill I mastered, you mastered ten in the same time frame! When I burned down the company dorm, I thought things would change, but you figured out a solution all by yourself! And despite bragging that you didn’t need to get married, you went on to get engaged to an amazingly attractive young man!”

“Mitsuko, wait…you burned down my dorm?”

“You bet I did. Oh, I only meant to burn down the one building, but the Raiju was hard to control. Things got out of hand. I’m sorry for that.”

Mitsuko’s warped apology made Akari feel sick to her stomach.

It was clear there would be no reasoning with crazy Mitsuko. She still had the Raiju bound to her will, immobile. Akari was flooded with the feeling of unexpected betrayal.

Aware of the terrible danger she was in, all Akari could think about was why Mitsuko had done this. Meanwhile, Mitsuko was looking down at the book in her hands with a cold expression on her face.

“But you see the difference between us? You can use real Kotogatari, not cheap fakes like this one.”

“Fake? You mean…that’s not a Kotogatari?”

“Nope. Look.”

Mitsuko flipped open the book and showed its pages to Akari, whose eyes widened.

It was too far away for her to read any of the words, but she could see that the pages were crammed full of random words that seemed like gibberish. And it was all typewritten.

“The men in charge call them ‘Pseudogatari’. They contain warped, sealed spirits that people can easily control. The warping process itself tends to render them unusable, but we can get around that by playing a specific sound to trigger them. Anyone can use them, not just Narrators. Our company plans to mass-produce and market them, together with special sound machines.”

“They’re going to…sell spirits?!”

Akari was floored. This was monstrous, beyond anything she could ever have suspected. Mitsuko grinned and flapped the book in the air.

“No, no, not real Kotogami spirits. It’s just for sealing up random ghosts that are knocking around. And they tend to break down with repeated use. But it’s fine, they’re going to market them as disposable products. Management said they’re going to advertise them as anti-Kotogami weapons for everyday civilian use.”

Akari felt the hairs on her arms stand up as Mitsuko shrugged.

Warping and trapping spirits was abominable, but Mitsuko didn’t seem to feel the slightest pang of guilt about it. She seemed detached, uninterested. Had she no respect for the spirit world?

After Westernization had come to the Yamato Empire, Kotogatari and the Narrators became commonplace in society. It wasn’t so far-fetched to believe that humans would eventually try to use them for their own profits. But Akari was gut-wrenchingly horrified all the same.

After all, her own company was involved. Which meant that, however unwittingly, she was involved.

For some reason, Mitsuko was now blushing.

“Apparently, I have the kind of voice that resonates with spirits. So they had me sing a recitation recording for them. It was embarrassing, but I did it. They also put me in charge of that Raiju. Oh, I’ve been given ever so many important company tasks! They had me do something called a demonstration.

“I would go to rival company offices and cause havoc with the Raiju Pseudogatari in hand, just to show what it could do, you know? Like, Take that, have some thunderbolts, courtesy of Sumimata Corp! Oh, and at the same time it really killed public favor toward the Narrators. That was a bonus.”

“Our company is completely insane, isn’t it?”

Akari found the words tumbling out as she trembled with fear. But Mitsuko only nodded gravely.

“I think so too. They’re so lax. They spilled all their upcoming plans to me, a woman. And now they’re going to have an employee killed, just because the Narrators’ Association has started to suspect what we’re up to.”

Akari’s back stiffened. Kill an employee… Mitsuko was talking about her.

But she kept on chatting away, seeming oblivious to Akari’s suddenly deepening trepidation.

“They were all saying that it was worth it for one person to die, as long as they got to enjoy messing with those rival companies. They told me to get rid of you, since we know you’ve got links to the Narrators. That won’t do, you know, Miss Akari. Our company simply hates the Narrators and the Kotogami.”

“Mitsuko…you don’t know what you’re saying. You can’t commit murder just for the sake of the company. It’s deranged…”

“I know, Miss Akari, I know. They’re just using me like a pawn. But I can’t stop it, not anymore.”

Akari had tried to be brave, to call Mitsuko’s bluff. But now the other woman’s expression had gone blank again.

“When I first learned to use the Pseudogatari, I felt good. That’s one better than Akari could do, I thought. But once I finally had that achievement under my belt, I just had to find out that you’d gone one further than me again. You became the custodian of a Narrator office branch. Wow. You steal every one of my accomplishments out from under me, don’t you? I was so scared…so envious. I didn’t know what to do…”

Suddenly, the gongs of the clocks began sounding off, announcing the time. Bong, bong.

Then an unsettling melody began to play. Akari recognized it as the song from her Nue retrieval mission.

The music was clear, and easy to identify. She could make out Mitsuko’s singing voice now, through the gentle distortion of the gramophone’s speaker. It was sweet and somewhat beautiful, while at the same time chilling Akari to the core.

This was the sound trigger for the Pseudogatari Mitsuko was clutching in her hands.

The Raiju began to buck upon the floor.

It was writhing as if in pain, and streaks of lightning were crackling all over its body as it began to grow bigger and bigger.

Within seconds, it had assumed the fearsome hulking form Akari recalled from the day her lodgings burned.

Mitsuko’s face was still twisted with jealousy, but now her lips began to curl into a smile, even as her eyes filled with tears.

“So, before you can take everything from me…I’m going to make you disappear.”

“GRAWWWR!”

Akari turned her back on the roaring beast and started to run.

She had to act quickly, before the monstrous Raiju could get her.

If it hit her with one of its electricity bolts, Akari would be burned to a crisp.

“Now, Raiju! Kill that woman!”

Akari could hear Mitsuko screaming orders amid the sizzling of the lightning.

Akari had been right all along to be suspicious of the gramophone clocks, but she felt no satisfaction. She was going to lose her life as a result.

But Akari couldn’t give up. She had to run. She wasn’t dead yet. And she couldn’t bear the thought of dying in a place like this.

This crime went throughout the entire company, though. Even if she could make it outside, she might run into the company men. Or they might already be waiting outside to block her escape.

Chewing her lip, Akari felt the air begin to crackle against her skin.

It felt like static electricity, only stronger…

The Raiju leaped and landed in front of Akari, blocking her path to the exit.

It moved with the speed of light. Akari felt as if it had all happened within the blink of an eye.

Its black eyes were clouded, devoid of sentience. In its beast mind, Akari was nothing more than prey.

She knew it wouldn’t listen to reason. But she had to do something! She had to think! The beast had her trapped!

“Finish her, Raiju!”

Mitsuko shrieked her final command, and the Raiju roared, flashes of purple lightning rising from its massive body.

I’m done for, Akari thought, her mind oddly clear.

Thinking about it now, she wished she’d decided to stay on as the Bookhouse custodian. But she knew she would never have quit her day job. So in the end, she’d have met the same fate anyway.

She wished she could help the Raiju, bring it back to its proper form. But her words wouldn’t reach it now.

Akari covered her eyes with her hands, closing them.

Perhaps she’d been living on borrowed time since the first Raiju attack. Perhaps this was her destiny.

She felt the heat of the lightning. But the attack she expected never came.

Instead, a shadow appeared in front of her closed eyelids. It was so bright in the warehouse—the electricity of the beast illuminated everything like midsummer daylight. Someone was standing in front of her.

Akari opened her eyes, gasping.

He was standing protectively between her and the Raiju, his black hair flowing, his three-piece suit as crisp as ever. It was impossible, and yet it was really him.

“Tomohito?!”

He turned to her as she yelled out his name.

His face…his face was horribly burned. From the lightning?

His hair was black, not gold, so he wasn’t in his most powerful form. He was stronger than any human, but it was clear he was no match for the Raiju like this.

Even so, Tomohito smiled reassuringly at her.

“Mistress Akari, are you hurt?”

“Never mind me, look at you! You’ve been burned!”

“Ah yes, I see that you are unharmed. Good. I made it in time.”

“Tomohito, your face!”

Forgetting the danger they were in, all Akari could focus on were his burns. But Tomohito smiled, his voice as calm as ever.

“I made up my mind long ago to protect you. No matter what happens.”

He turned around again, and the Raiju stopped rushing and leaped back in alarm.

Almost as if it was afraid of him…

Akari blinked, unable to believe her eyes.

Tomohito was standing there badly burned and wounded, but the Raiju was cowering before him.

Mitsuko was staring with disbelief too.

“Who is that man? A Kotogami? What is it doing here?!”

“I am Mistress Akari’s servant, her guardian spirit. I am here to protect her, no matter the danger.”

“Idiot! This isn’t the time!”

As Akari yelled at him, his lower lip jutted out dejectedly. Wasn’t he supposed to be gravely injured?

“But I have a plan, Mistress Akari. I took the liberty of sneaking my Kotogatari into your work satchel this morning.”

Akari thought back to the start of the day, when Tomohito had thrust her bag into her hands at the door. His Kotogatari was surprisingly thin and light, and Akari often needed to carry a lot of heavy papers home from the office. There was a good chance she’d never have noticed his book in her satchel.

Meanwhile, Mitsuko was standing around, looking furious and confused.

“The male employees are outside waiting, you know!”

“Well, they were. But I put them to sleep.”

Mitsuko gaped at him, stunned, as Tomohito shrugged.

Akari was rooted to the spot as Tomohito eased his amber-colored Kotogatari out of her bag and placed it into her hands.

“Here. Please hold it open until this is over. Just like how we did it back at your dorm fire. That way I can keep my power going until the end.”

“Tomohito, what are you planning to do?”

“I shall protect you, Mistress. Just as I have promised.”

Akari felt a shiver run through her as the Kotogami avoided answering her question.

Then he smiled at her—the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.

“Mistress Akari, this is going to be a sight to behold.”

Taking her hands in his, Tomohito helped her open the book.

Gold letters instantly sprang from the pages, shooting over to envelop the Kotogami.

Akari watched in wonder. The flowing gold letters seemed stronger, brighter than they had during the dorm fire incident. They flowed in circles around Tomohito’s form as he began to transform.

His body was swelling, growing bigger and bigger. Sharp claws burst from his fingertips and toes. His black hair turned a shimmering gold, and two mighty horns sprouted from his forehead, parting his golden locks.

Filled with awe, Akari and Mitsuko looked on.

The beast standing before them now was known to every man, woman, and child in the Yamato Empire. It was the villain of countless folktales, a beast whose tyranny brought fury and pain down upon the ancient capital. Both feared and revered in equal measure, it was worshipped by the people as a deity—a god of destruction.

The Aratama.

“Demon…”

Akari’s voice quivered. Her body was trembling.

It was beautiful and terrible at the same time. Standing in its presence filled Akari with a deep, visceral dread.

It was monstrous. Demonic. Akari wanted to run away.

She took a step back. Then she remembered what she was holding in her hands.

That’s right: the Kotogatari.

The golden-haired demon turned and looked over its hulking shoulder at Akari.

Its eyes were red, like burning coals. As they found Akari’s, she felt as if she’d been struck with a hammer. I know those eyes.

Her heart was hammering against her rib cage, but she fought against her fear, trying to think clearly. She realized Mitsuko had snapped out of her funk as well and was holding her hardcover book aloft.

“I heard the Kotogami were as strong as the famous legends say. You truly are amazing, Akari, manifesting a demon so infamous even I’ve heard of it. But I…I have this!”

Face twisting, Mitsuko roughly scrabbled through the pages of her Pseudogatari.

“Raiju! Destroy the Kotogami!”

The Raiju roared as Mitsuko yelled out an order, her voice quavering. Purple lightning streaked from the beast’s body.

As the thunderbolt ripped through the air, Akari cowered. But the demon simply stood there and took it.

Then it rushed, charging at the Raiju.

Face stiff, Mitsuko watched as the two yokai began a furious skirmish.

She may have been able to command the Raiju, but she knew nothing of battle. She was completely out of her depth.

There was a chance she would lose. Mitsuko knew it; it was clear in her frightened expression.

The golden demon swept its mighty fist again.

It should have dealt the Raiju a crushing blow, but for some reason its swing missed.

Instead, the Raiju sunk its fangs into the demon’s flesh.

Immediately, the demon shook the Raiju off, but a fang remained stuck in its arm. As the two women watched, the arm turned into golden particles that blew away into nothingness. Mitsuko whooped and jeered triumphantly.

“Oh dear, it looks like your Kotogami is already crumbling into dust! Just like what happens to the Pseudogatari once they’re worn out. The pages disintegrate and the spine collapses, and the spirit is lost forever. How long has it been since you gave that Kotogami a rereading?”

“A rereading? I haven’t… I’ve never…”

Akari had never read Tomohito’s Kotogatari. Not even once. Mitsuko curled her lip, giving the panicked Akari a disgusted look.

“Don’t try to fool me. Obviously you’ve read that thing’s Kotogatari, or you wouldn’t have been able to manifest it.”

It was too bad—Mitsuko had almost let herself believe she was stronger than Akari in battle.

But Akari wasn’t listening to the woman anymore.

The only Kotogatari she’d ever properly narrated out loud was Kansuke’s, and that was just the one time. She wasn’t even sure if you could call that a narration. It was more like a retelling of historical facts.

She was still reeling from the effects of direct eye contact with the demon’s burning-coal eyes.

Could it be true? They had met like this before, but only once. Unless you counted all the times she’d seen it in her nightmares…

Akari knew the golden demon from long ago.

On impulse, she dropped her gaze to the amber-covered Kotogatari in her hands. She was going to have to read it. Everything that had affected Akari’s life was written down on these pages.

She knew she couldn’t let the demon just crumble into dust like this.

With trembling fingers, she turned the page.

The fluid calligraphy was instantly familiar to her. She leaned in, focusing on the story it told.

Thus ended the demon’s long campaign of tyranny since ancient times, and it lost both its name and its head. It was sealed in a kubizuka as an Onigami, its deep grudge everlasting, and became known as the Golden Demon.

After many years, the enshrined demon soul met a young child. As wild as ever, its mind selfish, it nonetheless forged a bond with a human for the first time. The child performed a narration, manifesting the golden form of the demon and sealing it away as a Kotogami, thus marking the final entry in this Kotogatari.

……──

I gave it the spirit name of Tomohito Yagyou. But the village child always called it…

A demon, one of the two locked in battle on the day her village was destroyed. Little Akari’s much-longed-for childhood friend. She had called him…

“Mr. Demon…”

The gold demon paused mid-grapple with the Raiju, its body quivering.

Akari kept flipping through the pages, the memories coming back to her like a flood.

The book didn’t describe everything. But it sparked her memories, her childhood spent playing beside the kubizuka tomb of the spirit enshrined in the forest. The deep voice she heard from beneath the stones, the conversations they had together…

“Mr. Demon! Come out, come out and play!”

“…I cannot. I am only a head.”

“Hmph! Well, if you ever manage to get out, come and play with me. Deal?”

“Stubborn child. If you ever saw my true form, you would sob and shudder with fear.”

“Nope! ’Cause you’re the coolest, Mr. Demon! I just know it! Hey, if you get out, we can eat sweet bean candy together!”

“…All right, then. Although I doubt such a chance will ever come, if I do ever find my body again, I shall play with you.”

Akari bent over, a wave of nausea rolling through her.

She remembered now.

Her friend had always seemed so gloomy whenever she spoke of him coming out to play.

She recalled when it began. She’d climbed onto the mossy stone mound and heard a voice reverberating from beneath the stones.

“Is it fun for you, to sit on top of my head like that?”

Akari hadn’t known what a kubizuka burial mound was. But she was tickled by the talking rock heap. She started going there to play every day.

Even after she found out that the rocks housed the village spirit, she continued to visit “Mr. Demon” daily. It may have been one-sided, but she’d begun to consider him her friend, and she imagined what he would look like based on the things he told her about himself.

The tales he’d told her in his deep voice…they seemed fanciful, like fairy tales, but they excited her all the same.

She had finished reading the final entry in the Kotogatari now. She raised her head from the book just as the air was filled with a thunderous roar, and clouds of dust began to swirl.

She lifted her arm to protect her face as the golden demon went rolling, crashing into the ranks of grandfather clocks and sending them falling like dominoes.

The Raiju, too, seemed to have been dealt a devastating blow and was lying immobile.

“Oh!”

The gold demon struggled to sit up as it clutched its right arm, which was starting to drop gold dust particles too. If Akari’s reading of the Kotogatari wasn’t enough to stop the disintegration process, then that probably meant the book itself was reaching the end of its life span…

But the demon turned to Akari with a bittersweet smile.

“I wanted to disappear before you figured it out… Things didn’t go as I planned.”

Even in this monstrous form, that calm, polite voice was the one she knew so well.

As she listened to the kind voice, Akari was filled with awful regrets, her soul in turmoil. From its words, it was clear the demon remembered her child self, too.

“Why…why didn’t you say anything…?”

“How could I? I was your childhood nightmare.”

The demon frowned at her question. But she could read Tomohito’s expression now, at long last. He was filled with immense remorse.

“There is no need for you to fret over what happened. I opted to be called forth as a Kotogami in order to protect you. But I let you come to harm, and I let your village be destroyed. Now that we have met again, all I want is to be wonderful again in your eyes, to somehow make amends…”

Akari couldn’t follow what he was saying at all. But the demon seemed so earnest.

“In place of the family I stole from you, you have Mayoi and Kansuke. In place of your lost village, you have the Bookhouse. In place of that sweet, innocent heart with which you narrated my tale…well, there is no way to restore that, I’m afraid. But everything else will be perfect, as long as I disappear. The demon is always slayed at the end of the story, is that not correct? An appropriate fate for the monster who laid waste to a village.”

“You did this to…repay me? You waited around like this for me to grow up, for twelve years?!”

“Yes. This is the end of my at-will manifestation.”

“But I was so afraid of you…”

The demon showed something like a clumsy smile as the emotional words spilled from Akari’s lips.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? I used to take such joy in the terror of humans. But I’ve never been able to forget that look of horror on your face.”

Akari was starting to cry now. The contrast of the demon’s fearsome form and its soft words was too much to bear.

The demon reached out its hand toward her, but its arm was already crumbling into gold dust. Its face twisted in frustration.

“Despite it all, I really wanted to be narrated with your words…”

Akari felt her chest aching with a pain that was mostly sadness.

He had wanted to return to her what she had lost, or at least provide her with replacements, and he had planned everything out so carefully to achieve that goal.

Ah, but he was so inhuman. She was so terrified of him as he stood there smiling at her with his demon face, even with both of his arms now crumbled away to dust.

She recalled the things he’d said on that night when she’d spiked a fever. He’d been talking about himself, after all. And yet, he hadn’t blamed her for forgetting him. His regret had spurred him to try to fix things.

And all the while, Akari had kept talking about how much she hated stories.

There was so much she didn’t understand, but she felt she was beginning to.

“So, Mistress Akari…please run now. Even in my current form, I believe I still have what it takes to defeat that malformed beast.”

Akari hesitated, heart-struck. Was he saying goodbye?

“Remember when you said you’d be lonely without me? Was that just a lie?”

“No. I was a hundred percent serious.”

He seemed confused by her question but answered readily. Akari felt anger bubble up inside her, then burst out.

“Then stay the course! Like a tenacious, unmovable demon! …Idiot!”

“But, Mistress Akari, you fear me…”

“Oh yeah, I fear you! I do, but you’re still my Mr. Demon! My friend, who I thought was the coolest! Who I longed to play with! You want to be wonderful in my eyes? What’s wonderful about bailing on me now?!”

The red-coal eyes widened as Akari glared, shaking with emotion.

Her tears spilled down her cheeks and plopped onto the cover of the Kotogatari in her hands.

It was anger that was making her body shake. Anger over the audacity of this demon…and her own naiveté.

In that moment, Akari made up her mind. About everything that was going to happen from then on, about her entire fate.

Be brave, like a woman. She’d seen that saying somewhere.

“So watch this!”

“…Mistress Akari?!”

She slammed the Kotogatari shut. Closing a Kotogatari ends the current narration that is manifesting the Kotogami and allows a Narrator the opportunity to narrate anew.

Usually, the power manifested in the Kotogami will last until naturally expended, but for this demon, who had already exhausted its life span, it would serve as a self-destruct signal.

The demon’s red eyes opened even wider, and then the golden particles that made up its form began to disappear.

“Miss Akari, are you seriously discarding your own weapon…?”

Mitsuko snorted derisively, but Akari ignored her, immediately reopening the Kotogatari. Mitsuko’s face fell.

Her mind running a mile a minute, Akari took a deep breath.

She didn’t know if this would fix what had already disintegrated. But she knew that you could re-narrate a Kotogami. So surely all she had to do was start over, narrate again, and he would be healed. Right?

The first time she had narrated the demon, she had simply read what was written, never thinking any deeper about it. She also didn’t know how this demon had managed to remain manifested for over ten years. He had said that her narration had brought him happiness. She would narrate again in hopes that he would be spared. Just one more prayer.

As an adult, she understood now.

“You are a fearful sight to behold. Those horns, those fangs, they are just as they were described in the folklore of my village. You are the physical embodiment of all the world’s evil. You can steal lives with a mere swipe of your arm. But you also spent peaceful days playing with a child. You were a faithful, if annoying, servant to your mistress. You have a good heart and a desire to right the wrongs you caused. You are so much more than what you were!”

Yes, the demon tale she narrated twelve years ago was correct. The truth was horrid, shocking.

But the Kotogatari did not contain the entire story. Only Akari could tell the truth about the creature standing before her. She had to tell his real story. Whether in written or spoken words, that power lay only with her.

If she could just tell the story over…

She’d opened the book to the final page. It was fresh, blank. She stroked it with her fingers.

Glaring up at the rapidly disappearing demon in front of her, Akari began to speak in a loud, clear voice.

“Demon of gold, you symbol of corruption,

you crystallization of evil!

Your hubris and wickedness led you to losing your head,

and still your wrath endured!

Until you befriended a human child

and awakened inside yourself a desire

for goodness, and happiness, and peace!”

Yes. That was how Akari saw him.

A spirit with a terrible demonic past, who saw human suffering as insignificant, until he met a child who insisted on seeing the good in him.

How he frustrated her, and yet, she still wanted him by her side.

“…The Aratama Tomohito Yagyou!”

If this didn’t work, Akari was happy to die right then and there.

If this merely provoked the demon, then let him slay her.

After all, one shouldn’t manifest a Kotogami lightly. One must always be prepared for the consequences…

The half-crumbled Kotogatari in her hands was suddenly giving off waves of heat.

Red and gold streaks were rising off the final blank page.

The streaks shot past the Raiju, stopping the beast in its tracks. They blew past Mitsuko, who was standing wide-eyed with disbelief. They wrapped themselves around the disintegrating demon and manifested a new body for him, a body shimmering in gold. Then the streaks disappeared.

Standing in front of Akari now, in the form of a slim and handsome young man, was the Kotogami Akari knew as Tomohito Yagyou. But he wasn’t wearing his familiar three-piece suit. Instead, he was clad in a gorgeous kimono, the likes of which any woman could only dream of wearing. Not to be outdone by the kimono’s splendor, his hair fell down his back in a swoop of the brightest gold. A single, slender horn rose high from his forehead. He had been completely renewed.

His eyes were a glittering ruby red.

He was beautiful, bewitching, extravagant. The shining, dashing demon of a child’s wildest fantasies. He was just as Akari had always pictured when she was a child.

She felt weak, exhausted. But she spoke his name.

“Tomohito…”

He turned to her, golden hair flowing. His solemn face suddenly crumpled as he began to cry.

“Mistress Akari, why? Why did you narrate me anew?! Now I can’t disappear in a noble and heroic way as I always planned!”

That petulant, tearful face. Akari had come to know it so well over the past two months they’d spent living together. Feeling relieved, Akari held up the book.

It was such a thin volume, but it felt so heavy in her hands.

“You came to me in my loneliest hour, and you were by my side as a Kotogami, even as I claimed to hate stories. And that is the true tale of the demon I love.”

A tale that was precious to her. And she wasn’t about to let it disappear on her.

Tears falling down his face, Tomohito tried to say something. But he was drowned out by the bonging of the grandfather clocks’ gongs.

“Why?”

The sound was deafening, but Mitsuko could somehow still be heard, her voice hard and cold.

“Why can you do it all, Akari? Why can’t I? What is it about me that isn’t enough?”

As Mitsuko’s shrieks rang out, the Raiju seemed to jitter and twist in pain.

Mitsuko fixed Akari with a glare dripping with hatred and malice.

“Why can’t I do the things you can do?!”

After Mitsuko’s enraged scream, the Raiju instantly began to swell, crackling streaks of electricity arcing in every direction.

Tomohito grabbed Akari by the arm and pulled her aside, just as a thunderbolt struck the floor right where she had been standing.

With a thunderous roar, the Raiju threw itself against the wall of the warehouse. It rebounded, still writhing in agony, rampaging this way and that.

“Why, why, whyyy!!”

As Mitsuko continued to screech in a voice that could shatter glass, the lightning arcing from the Raiju’s body struck the grandfather clocks, and tongues of flame began to leap from the wooden casings. Staying here any longer would be suicide.

Akari gazed down sadly at Mitsuko, who was crouched on the floor clutching at her head like a madwoman.

“Tomohito, can that yokai be stopped?”

Tomohito looked back at her, hesitation in his ruby-red eyes.

“It’s been badly warped. It should disintegrate on its own before much longer.”

“Hey, I managed to fix you when you were about to disintegrate, didn’t I? I can’t just leave the poor thing. No more than I could have left you to turn to dust.”

Akari raised an eyebrow at Tomohito, whose eyes sparkled.

“Then shall we kill the girl? If we cut off the source of the power, that will be the easiest solution.”

“No. Don’t ever suggest such a thing again. Or it’ll be ‘Mr. Yagyou’ for eternity.”

“Don’t even joke, Mistress…”

Tomohito pouted. But what a thing to suggest…

Was his moral compass still that of a demon? Akari hoped not. She’d narrated him anew, but a hint of his old wickedness was still with him. Perhaps that was his true nature, though.

Still, she’d decided to accept him for all that he was. Now, she looked up at him slyly.

“Or perhaps…you’re simply incapable of stopping the Raiju?”

“…Incorrect. I could crush that girl in a second. And I could slay that yokai with ease. So stopping them would be easy…”

The demon Tomohito Yagyou grinned, sharp fangs poking between his lips. Then, he leaped.

“No, nothing could be easier!”

He sprang toward the Raiju, lighter on his feet than in his previous form.

The air was beginning to grow wavy from the heat of the flames. As he closed in on the yokai, the demon Tomohito was grumbling to himself.

“The history written in my Kotogatari may be incomplete, but I have been placed in a Kotogami category that few belong to! A simple thing like this is…well within…my capabilities!”

Grunting with effort, Tomohito reached out and grabbed hold of the lightning streaks emanating from the yokai.

His golden hair floated in the air behind him.

“Lightning isn’t reserved just for Raiju, you know!”

Ripping the sparking lightning bolts to one side, Tomohito bared his fangs and grappled with the Raiju.

With one eye on him, Akari ran over to Mitsuko, who was still slumped on the floor.

“Mitsuko!”

Akari called out her name, and the woman looked up at her blearily, still mumbling to herself. Her eyes narrowed in hatred. She raised her hand high to strike, but Akari tripped on a shard of broken wood and went flying.

Mitsuko’s swing went wide as Akari fell on top of her, pushing the other woman flat.

Her hand was stinging. She must have gotten it caught on a wood splinter.

But no matter. She’d managed to keep Tomohito’s Kotogatari open—that was the important thing.

“Are you…all right…?”

Akari was genuinely concerned that she’d hurt Mitsuko, but Mitsuko responded by grabbing her hard around the back the neck.

Then, with a grunt of effort, Mitsuko flung Akari to the floor and climbed on top of her.

Pressed flat against the ground, Akari tried to fight her off. The other woman was crying, hot tears falling and splashing on Akari’s cheeks.

“Why can’t I do the same things you can do?! Why, when I’m trying my absolute best…”

So it was all Akari’s fault—that was what she was saying, right? Akari shook her head.

“Because you’re not me, Mitsuko.”

Mitsuko stopped snarling and looked down at Akari with surprise, panting like an animal that had been wounded in an unexpected counterattack.

Akari’s eyes were burning as she looked back up at her former friend. She felt on the verge of tears too.

“Listen, Mitsuko…I’m the one who was jealous of you. You’ve got a normal family, and you’re good at your job. But I can’t be like you. I can only be me.”

It was true. Akari thought of Mayoi breaking her back to perform feats that were beyond her ability. She thought of the poor Raiju, warped into a form that was not its own. No matter the regrets we may have, no matter how much we wish things were different, we can’t become what we were never meant to be.

Mitsuko frowned, not understanding.

“But I don’t want to be like me.”

“It’s up to you what kind of person you are. We can make the most of the lives we have. You have to live in the best way for you, Miss Maruyama.”

“I don’t get what you mean. You’re not making any sense. I don’t know what I want to be. There’s nothing to me. I’m an empty husk.”

Mitsuko’s eyes were blank, her heart closed. Akari found she had no more words of comfort to give.

Akari was always the pragmatic type, just getting by the best way she knew how.

But there was one more thing she could say.

“Fine, then stop focusing on your own life. Delve into the world of stories. You can learn about so many different points of view. If you want to be like me, then that’s my advice. It was a story that made me the way I am, after all.”

Just like how there were different interpretations of Kansuke Mishima. Like how there were different sides to the demon Tomohito Yagyou.

No human soul or Kotogami was ever truly good or bad, black or white.

And for all her talk of hating stories, Akari had been supported along the way by characters from books.

She knew, almost certainly, that this wasn’t the answer Mitsuko wanted.

The other woman gazed into Akari’s eyes, her pretty face still twisted.

“You really are something else, Akari. If only we could have talked like this about so many things before…”

Mitsuko’s eyes were still unfocused, and she seemed to be babbling, but there was a hint of the old Mitsuko there. She let go of Akari’s neck. Akari started to slowly sit up, but Mitsuko suddenly shoved her back down again.

Head clunking against the hard floor, Akari winced. Just then the debris beside them began to move.

It was a pile of broken grandfather clocks that had been reduced to wood scraps from the earlier blast. It shifted and toppled onto the two women, Mitsuko’s body bearing the brunt of the impact.

“Mitsuko?!”

Mitsuko crumpled like a broken doll, even as Akari tried her best to hold her up. Then she felt something nudging her hand. Mitsuko was trying to give her the gray book.

As Akari grabbed hold of the cover, Mitsuko’s eyes rolled back in her head.

“Mistress Akari!”

“Never mind me! You just focus on capturing the Raiju!” Akari yelled back across the room at the demon Tomohito, who was looking at her in panic.

Mitsuko had given her the book. She couldn’t waste this chance.

Akari ran her fingertips over the book’s plain gray cover. She had taken possession. But far from standing down, the Raiju only continued its rampage.

Shoving the wreckage away, Akari laid Mitsuko down carefully on her back. Then she grabbed the book again and began flipping through its pages.

She could only make sense of one or two pages. The rest seemed to be a combination of random printed characters that didn’t even form coherent words.

It was clearly a mass-produced product, cheap and flimsy. Akari felt her chest constrict with pity and anger.

Mitsuko had said these books were designed to be disposable products. But the beast wreaking havoc in front of her now was a natural soul, not meant to be disposable, nor was it meant to be sold as a product.

If the book disintegrated like this, who was to say whether the Raiju’s spirit would be released again? What if, instead, it remained wild and violent, untethered? Or what if it disappeared without a trace, exterminated? Like the Nue had been…

Then that left only one option. She had to give the beast a decent narration. Right here, right now.

She didn’t have much to go on, but the beast had given her a few hints about itself. It had told her that it had been forced into half-formed shape when it was sealed within the book.

And it had originally come from overseas, from Angland. Also, it had the power of electricity.

“Mistress Akari, I have captured the beast!”

“Great job, Tomohito!”

Tomohito grinned, gold hair flying, red eyes sparkling.

Then he flung the Raiju onto the ground before Akari. A little too violently, but Akari decided to overlook it.

It seemed as though the yokai had expended all its fighting energy. Even so, lightning still sparked and crackled over its body, intermittently making its skeleton visible.

Akari got to her feet, holding both books. She looked down at the Raiju.

She’d been reading about the similarities between Eastern and Western yokai only recently. She remembered being surprised how many features they had in common.

She was still afraid to narrate. But she knew she had to. If she didn’t narrate, all would be lost. She had to give it a try.

If she could narrate with an open heart, tell the tale of its homeland…then maybe that would bring it back.

So, as Tomohito watched, Akari began to narrate the tale of the electricity-wielding beast from the faraway land.

 

“In the West, there lived a type of beast similar to the Eastern Raiju. Originally, these creatures lived in the hills. They were flying spirits, whirling freely in the skies. But then mankind invented airplanes. The beasts were fascinated by these metal birds the humans built. They loved to tinker and fiddle with the metal parts. The humans studied these creatures and noted their characteristics: a love for machinery and a mastery of electric power. They named them Gremlins.”

The beast at her feet stirred and stiffened at the sound of her words.

But before it could move, Tomohito had leaped protectively in front of Akari.

At the same moment, Akari began to speak louder.

“Western beast, wielder of electricity!

Newly identified by the humans

and noted for your love of mechanical parts!

Appreciated by the humans for your helpful tinkering,

your advancement of human mechanical knowledge,

born of your mastery of thunder and lightning!”

“The Gremlin… The Gremlin…”

But Akari was stuck.

She didn’t know the creature’s name. She flipped through the pages, but it wasn’t written down anywhere.

She couldn’t complete the narration.

The electricity running over the beast’s skin seemed to sputter and falter. Tomohito’s shoulders slumped in resignation.

But then the beast’s eyes found hers, intelligence shining from within the purple orbs.

{You may name me yourself.}

Akari didn’t hesitate. She knew what to call the beast. She would use the reading of the character for lightning. She raised her voice again.

“The Gremlin Rai!”

The arcs of electricity suddenly began to glow with an intense power, as if building for an immense lightning strike. Akari closed her eyes against the sudden increased brightness, Tomohito pulling her protectively against his chest.

But the lightning strike never came for her. Instead, it streaked past her, leaving darkness in its wake.

Wincing, Akari opened her eyes. Something was shimmering in the dim light of the flames. Shining…silver.

It was the hair of the young man standing in front of her.

He was slim and wiry, dressed in black and silver Western-style clothing. He had Western facial features too, very handsome, with glittering purple eyes.

His most striking feature, however, was his sharp, triangular ears, which poked beastlike through his silver hair.

Akari was taken aback, although she’d been picturing something like this to begin with.

How odd that he came out looking like this, she thought.

The young man walked up to her, his gaze intense.

He touched her politely on the arm, the same arm that was cradling the gray Raiju book.

“I am a Gremlin, and my name is Rai. I belong entirely to you, Mistress.”

“Er, excuse me?”

The young man was speaking perfect, unaccented Japanese, and his manners were unexpected.

But the next moment, golden-haired Tomohito had shoved his way between them.

“How dare you touch Mistress Akari without permission. You exist only on her mercy.”

“Which is why I am hers. She named me and entered into a contract with me. I shall serve her until this body turns to dust.”

The silver beast, Rai, seemed utterly calm, as if caring nothing for Tomohito’s hostile tone.

Tomohito huffed, eyes widening.

“A contract?! Mistress Akari, permit me!”

Akari had been watching their exchange without really paying attention. Now she yelped as Tomohito grabbed her hand and turned it palm up. Ouch, her splinter wound! She’d forgotten all about it.

“No! Then a contract has been forged! With blood, yes, not tears like mine… Ah, wait! Then she and I are contracted eternally too?!”

Akari had the feeling she was in for a world of trouble as she watched Tomohito snarling at Rai. But for some reason she couldn’t get her thoughts in order.

She clung to Tomihito’s kimono, her knees almost buckling. It was so hard to breathe…

Yes, it was really hot inside the warehouse now. Akari realized the flames were licking their way up to the ceiling and growing closer.

Wait, is Mitsuko okay? Akari whirled around, looking for her.

At that exact moment, there was a mighty crash, and the warehouse’s iron door blew inward. Then Munakata burst through the opening, dressed in his military uniform and riding on the back of a werewolf.

“Well, you’re alive at least…but what the devil has happened in here?!”

Munakata scowled at them, a Kotogatari clutched in his free hand. He looked back and forth between the still-bickering gold and silver Kotogami pair, and then at Akari, who was standing beside them looking exhausted.

She looked back up at him. He seemed half relieved, half annoyed. And somehow kinda blurry…

“Oh, hi. Do you think you could wrap things up here?”

The room was starting to go dark around her. As Akari felt her eyes closing, the last thing she saw was Tomohito and Rai, both black-haired once more, staring down at her with alarm and concern.

She sank into darkness, clutching both of their books tight against her chest.