by Z. V. Hunter
I glared at whoever was inside out of habit, and my fingers tightened around the hilt.
"Scary. I'm sure whoever is in there is terrified."
The person inside the car kept their face in the shadows. "That necklace is most interesting. Is it for sale? I'll pay more than it's worth."
Lux's Spirit Stone warmed my chest, and I shook my head. "It's not worth anything."
The light changed, and I darted across the street and down the steps of the station, heart pounding and palms wet with sweat. When I turned, the Shade hadn't followed me.
"What was that about?" I whispered under my breath.
Lux hummed. "Whatever it was, you should've said I was priceless not worthless. Call me a family heirloom."
I forced myself to grin, even if a shiver trailed over my skin. Not like it was the first time someone expressed interest in the Spirit Stone. It was pretty, in its own way. Even those who couldn't see the pale golden glow saw a smooth honey colored rock on a thin chain.
The station bustled with movement, the surrounding Calamities shuffled about the platform, their forms ranging from animals that stood on two feet, to ones that looked completely human—though most of them covered their faces with a variety of different masks—to the tiny rocks with arms and legs—one of each—that hopped around to avoid being kicked.
Like a typical train in Neo-Tokyo, everyone ignored everyone else.
I noted a few curious glances as I shuffled onto the train, and a few Calamities sniffed the air. If they smelled I was human, they could attack. But I'd spent enough time in the miasma, and in Lux's presence, that I hoped my human scent was suitably masked. I scowled at everyone who looked too long and stood as tall as I could manage. I wouldn't go down without a fight.
When I stepped off the Calamity train and into Yoyogi Station, the green glare of my watch told me it was after three in the morning.
Too late to hit an izakaya, so I'd have to settle for a drink at home.
"You're going to get sloshed alone in your office again, aren't you?"
The long dark path toward the Meiji Shrine tempted me and twisted my heart, all at once.
Aki's face flitted through my mind: her bright smile and warm eyes, and my throat clogged. I might stumble back there and slump onto the floor. Soak in the place I grew up—learned to be what I am today, no matter how many detours I took along the way which was about a hundred—but that wasn't for me.
I might be the daughter of a woman who walked in the light, but my world consisted of darkness now.
"Go on. I'm sure she'd like you to visit now and then, no matter what you did. Pop in and say hello. I want to see her use that purifying magic on you again. See you scream."
I shook my head and barely paid attention to what Lux said. The Shade and the guy in the car sent a creeping chill up my spine. No one knew about Lux but me and Aki, and she wouldn't tell a soul. "Not tonight."
A body, bloody and broken, stuck half in and half out of the pavement near my place. I'd have to deal with it before it bit someone. For the time being, I hopped over it and nipped it in the back of the head with my iron soled boots in case it got the urge to grab me.
I nearly missed the woman hovering near my door.
Yeah.
Hovering.
Her feet didn't touch the ground, and she swayed like a strong breeze could blow her away at any moment. She wore modern clothes, a long skirt, and a button up shirt, modest and plain. Her dark hair hung in loose waves to her shoulders and covered most of her face. The only part that was visible was the overly large smile—like someone slipped her a vial of Joker Venom.
A Spirit Fog as thick as honey wound around her feet. It spread in smoky tendrils, leaking under the door of my office. No good. My apartment was right above it.
My hand instinctively shot to the broken sword at my hip—the other to a seal tucked into the inner pocket of my coat.
Lux's earlier taunting rang in my ears. Why the hell hadn't I gotten a spare sword?
The lack of a miasma told me one thing: this wasn't a ghost. It was a Calamity.
"Yuki, I know I give you a hard time. But I also know I'm your only friend, and as a friend, I'm going to give you some advice: run!"
For once, I did as Lux said.
4
MALEVOLENCE POURED FROM that Calamity. Even ghosts of murder victims aren't that pissed off—usually.
It occurred to me, as I pelted down the nearly empty street, that I probably spent more time with the ghosts of murder victims than was completely healthy.
I'd quit the police force to strike out on my own because of my unappreciated powers once Chief Akita found out what I could really do. No one trusted a Necromancer and Dark Mage to be a good detective, even though I helped them close a high profile missing person's case. The woman was alive when I found her—the guy who snatched her…not so much. I had the mark to prove it, but if I hadn't stepped in and done something he'd have killed her.
Unlike other forms of magic that draw Ame power from Takama-ga-hara, dark mages, and necromancers —I'm both, though that's not always the case—draw from the Spirit World and Yomi-no-kuni. That means to use magic, I can absorb a Calamity's power, called Makai. But in doing so it leaves a mark since humans are unfit to harness that kind of power.
The power of Yomi—I don't even want to get into what using that is like.
When I was small, I could use the spiritual power of Ame too.
Now I can't.
It was a slap in the face. Like looking at your favorite food while knowing that you could never eat it again. I might have gained Makai and Yomi power, but using it is a double-edged sword that hurts the one who wields it in the end. In other words, the only good thing about such power is the ability to see ghosts and Calamities, if that can even be considered good at all.
Hence my foray into being self-employed in a city with more Calamities than humans. Scratch that—the number is probably the same except for around Obon, the Festival of the Dead.
I have no clue about the population in the Spirit World. Fathomless, I'd guess.
The deserted street I charged down was empty of all things human and supernatural. Strange. Still, that didn't make me feel better. The malevolence of that Calamity followed me, and while I was limited to a physical body, it wasn't.
"You know where you have to go. You don't have a choice now," Lux said. In another situation, he would've sounded like he was enjoying himself. Now, his voice strained as much as my lungs did, gasping for air in the cold wet night.
My muscles burned as I ran. My shoes slipped and splashed on the wet sidewalk. Iron soled boots, no matter how thin the layer, aren't much for gripping soaked ground.
"I know!"
The only way to escape such malevolence was the protection of a large Shrine, properly cared for, and the only Shrine close by was Meiji.
I told you my luck sucked.
The malevolent force flew after me as I dashed down the street. Past the dark shop fronts of trendy clothing stores, a huge multi-level toy store, and the only thing still open—7-11. The bright florescent light was anything but welcoming now. If I ran in there, the Calamity would follow.
I darted past and moved toward what loomed beyond.
Yoyogi Park and the Shrine at its far side.
A few cabs honked as I disregarded traffic laws and good decorum to escape the thing on my heels—the thing no one else saw. Dawn was still far off, and there was no saying this Calamity would calm in the light of day.
Sticking around to find out wasn't an option.
The streetlights flickered as I went by, and the deep shadows of the park gaped at me.
Yoyogi Park isn't a place anyone wants to be after dark—not even normal humans who have no idea what sort of things walk among them. There's a reason the park closes officially at sunset. The mayor of Shibuya knows what sorts of things come out after dark. She's a Light Mage and can feel the darkness that hangs there.
Most of those in positions of power in the government have some kind of magic or another. The police are no different. Their ranks are full of Mages, Witches, Sorcerers and the occasional Conjurer. If conspiracy theorists found that out, they'd have a fucking field day.
Hell, the same creatures lurked there in the day. They hid within shadows and in the twisted branches of the trees. Beneath the feathers of the crows that infested it. A preternatural silence clung to the park and blocked the sounds of the city with a heavy cloak. While the green grass and appealing fountains and walkways looked friendly enough in the light of a summer afternoon, that faded with the warmth of the sun.
Now they were nonexistent.
There aren't gates to keep trespassers at bay, but no one outside a dumb kid on a dare would enter that place after closing, even if they didn't know why. The homeless didn't put up their blue tarp tents here. The salarymen getting off work just before the trains quit running at midnight would walk around the park rather than through it.
The only people who lived inside were under the protection of the Shrine—one of the most powerful in the city—and that's where I headed.
Once I made it through the rest of the park.
"It's slowed down. Probably doesn't like what if feels in here."
"Not helping," I said, under my breath, and thundered down the path that led straight through the center.
While I passed the entrance to the Shrine on my way home, my office was on the opposite side. I'd avoided the park to get there and took side streets instead.
Now, I broke one of my only rules to get away from the Calamity after me.
"You're going into the trees? You know what happens when you go into the trees," Lux said, and it sounded more like a warning than a threat—for once. "You could get lost again. It took you so long to find your way out last time."
I knew that, but I didn't have a choice.
The broken sword at my hip wouldn't be much good against the thing on my heels, and the seal wouldn't work unless I had a Spirit Stone or bottle to put it in. You can't use an everyday object for that kind of job. It must be specially made by a Priest or Priestess with strong enough spiritual power to contain such a thing. Then the paper seal goes on top.
My mother was one such person.
Unfortunately, I didn't carry anything on me.
The twisted shadows of the trees loomed ahead, and my heart pricked with fear for a memory of what happened last time I fell into the Spirit World unawares. The draw of another forest yanked as I drew close. The thing Lux warned me about.
The veil between the worlds thinned in places like this, even if there wasn't a Torii Gate to open it all the way. The distorted branches pierced it and covered the ground in a thick mist that made it easy to lose one's way. End up in the Spirit World.
Those branches tore at my trench coat and pulled at my hair. An oppressive silence, heavy as a wet gorilla, weighed on my shoulders.
Lux fell quiet, probably the most chilling portent of all.
Black tendrils crept through the fog after me, but I didn't slow. My boots slid on the slick mud, splashed through water, soaking both my leggings and my trench.
At that point, I no longer cared.
Then, the trees shifted.
It was so subtle a normal person wouldn't have noticed the change. The way the roots suddenly tangled on the forest floor. How the trees were no longer warped, stunted things, no larger than eight meters tall, but now rose in towering mangled branches far overhead and crowded closer together. How the darkness of the park faded faintly, letting the green of the moss and the brightness of the new leaves shine through. Or the faint fluttering outline of a pitch-black butterfly that floated on a nonexistent breeze.
"We could stay here. You never know what you'll find this time. Perhaps my sword is in a different tunnel. And I'm sure those friendly Mukade want to give you a hug after how you left them last time."
I blinked.
Shook my head.
The forest slipped sideways, and I was back in the park running for my life.
I skidded to the end of the trees and made it onto another path, smooth and easy to navigate. The heaviness pressed closer, and I spun and tossed what was left of my sword at it.
It hit, and the figure looked at her front as it passed through. The sword left a deep black hole, and she screeched and shot forward.
Okay. Not the best idea.
"What was that supposed to do? Piss her off even more? Good one."
"Shut. Up."
At the end of the path, I reached the long stretch toward Meiji Shrine. It wasn't paved, and my feet found better purchase on the loose gravel, though it slowed me down. Each step sunk into the muck. The huge cedars, massive Spirit Trees, towered as great wards on either side.
The Calamity behind me moved faster. No doubt it sensed where I was headed.
Her icy fingers scratched at the back of my coat and her smoky tendrils snatched at my ankles. Whoever she was, I'd royally pissed her off. Unfortunately, that's not a short list, so I couldn't say who it might be. Only that killing me seemed its main intent.
The great wooden Torii Gate hung over the end of the walkway, the huge wooden posts as thick as tree trunks. They didn't have a fence, so the word 'gate' is a misnomer. They were a gate to the Spirit World, but they were also protected.
A light shone beyond it, a great torch, bright and piercing the darkness all around. Fire has that advantage over electricity when it comes to matters of Calamities.
My heart flared.
"Well, she doesn't look happy to see you."
Maybe not, but I was ecstatic to see her. Assuming she let me in. After what I'd done, I wouldn’t blame her. If she threw me out, I'd know where I stood.
Her hair shone red in the light of the fire she held, and her eyes burned with a deep intensity that felt as familiar as my own reflection.
"Idiot, duck!" she cried as I drew near.
No time for pleasantries. At least she didn't tell me to leave.
I ducked.
Rolled.
Felt the unnatural breath of that Calamity brush my ear and heard the words that it spoke. They raked across my brain like bones over glass.
"Give him to me."
Then I was under the Torii Gate, and the most powerful Priestess in Neo-Tokyo stood in front of me and threw a ball of spiritual light as bright as the sun at the malevolence. The blast hit, and the Calamity burst into fragments of shadow and dissipated into the night.
Then she turned a glare more powerful than her own magic on me. "Yuki. It's been a long time."
5
AKATSUKI YAMAMOTO—OR Yamamoto Akatsuki, if you want to get literal—used to be my best friend. She lived in a nearby apartment, and my mother noticed her strong spiritual power when she brought Akatsuki a cat that had been hanging around the Shrine. The cat was a woman who'd been cursed into that form.
Akatsuki—Aki for short—lifted the curse and changed the woman back. She'd been five at the time. Kids are like that. They use magic without realizing how it works.
After that, my mother took her in and trained her to be what she is today—a mighty warrior in the fight to keep Neo-Tokyo safe from darkness. Aki took over the Shrine when I didn't.
Also, there was that time I tried—and failed—to make a Calamity Weapon. Mimi, one of our fellow Shrine Maidens—young acolytes that help care for and protect the Shrine—died in the process.
Things have been tense ever since.
I can't say sprawling in the mud and gravel while she glared daggers at me felt good. Far from it. But I couldn't complain about it either.
"Thanks. I needed a little help with that one. My sword broke," I said and climbed to my feet.
Aki didn't offer to help. She put her hands on her hips and shook the rain from her hair. She wore a pink and white polka-dot rain slick over her pajamas and her boots matched. I bet there was a Hello Kitty somewhere as well. I swear her tastes hadn't changed since w
e were six.
"Get inside. I'll have to purify you before you set foot into the main house," she said and the flame of anger that seemed to fill her a moment before flickered out.
She was always like that, all bluster and raw strength then—poof—it faded away.
Lux snickered, though it sounded strained.
"I don't have to go into the main house. I can stay in one of the outbuildings. The storehouse or the. . ." The look she gave me; those dangerously narrowed eyes and the way her mouth split into a slight grin made me shut up.
"Or you can do as I say and get your ass into the purification pool. Do you think I wanted to be woken up in the middle of the night, on a new moon nonetheless, by the wards going crazy?"
As I walked toward the Shrine proper, I glanced into the trees overhead and noticed the thin wire that hung there. It wasn't visible to normal humans, and the bells that hung from it made a sound that only those with a certain amount of either power or training could pick up.
"It only woke you? What happened to the girlfriend?"
Aki shot me a dark look, and I pinched my mouth shut.
"Asking another woman about her love life is a terrible idea. I thought you knew that by now."
"You'd think," I muttered under my breath.
Either Aki didn't hear me, or she chose to ignore it. Either way, it suited me.
There are two types of holy buildings in Japan: Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples. As a rule, Shrines are usually louder, color-wise, than Temples. They have stark white buildings with bright orange-red roofs and columns. The fence that surrounds most Shrines painted the same garish color that doesn't seem to exist anywhere else in the world except as a lipstick—one I'd worn on occasion.
Temples, on the other hand, are built of dark somber wood. The only splashes of color came from the gold inlaid over it.
Meiji Shrine looked more like a Temple. The buildings were plain, unadorned wood laid out in a familiar pattern that included the main Shrine, several smaller outbuildings for storage, and the living quarters. Dark blue ceramic tiles covered the deeply sloped roofs. Rain poured off them in heavy sheets.
