Iba raised a hand to recommend he stop. “That’s enough. You might not get away with a dislocated shoulder next time. I can’t fix broken bones.”
“I don’t particularly wish to continue this either,” Biku noted.
“I’ve got no interest in rape at a place like this, but I didn’t see any reason to stop these two from having their fun. Now that you’ve shown up, I think we’ll cut our losses.”
“Iba...”
“If you want to take this guy on, go ahead. Personally, I’d rather not injure myself before we’re done with our work here.”
Hiroshi fell silent, Yajima looked devastated, but they didn’t seem ready to oppose him. The two of them stared at the ground, sulking.
“Okay, we’re leaving,” Iba said. He spoke quietly, but there was something final in his tone. Iba turned and the other two followed him. Until that moment, when he turned his back to walk away, Iba had not once looked away from Biku.
“Thank you so much,” Ishida said after the three men had gone, his voice was full of relief. The girl had put her torn-off clothes back on. She sat on the ground staring vacantly down in silence.
“It was nothing, but I do have a few questions.” Ishida cocked his head to one side, suddenly suspicious. His eyes flicked briefly to the girl and back. He was still worried about her. Biku ignored the gesture and continued, “I overheard the men saying you were chasing a rabbit that had been caught in a snare.”
“Yes.” Ishida nodded. He started to look around for something. “Here,” he picked a small branch up from the undergrowth nearby, “I’m not sure if it’s a snare, but this was cutting into the rabbit’s leg.” Ishida and Emi had strayed from the path while trying to catch the rabbit when they stumbled across the three men. Ishida’s face was wrapped in bitterness.
Biku took the branch. The thread hung from the center; it had been tied in a loop. Part of the loop had been torn, but it still held the shape of a noose. So it’s you, Hosuke Kumon, Biku thought. He was in this area after all. He would have laid more than one rabbit snare. All Biku had to do was find one of them and wait until Hosuke came to him.
“I’m looking for someone. This snare is probably his work.”
A frightened look crossed Ishida’s face. “W..would that person’s name happen to be Hosuke Kumon?” he stumbled over the words.
“How do you know that name?”
“Those men...that was who they were looking for.”
2
Biku ambled through a forest of birch and silver fir.
The mountainside slanted off to his right. He scanned the area as he brushed through the knee-high undergrowth, mostly bamboo grass. If Hosuke Kumon had left even the slightest trace, he was intent on finding it. There was not much time. Like Biku, the other men were out here looking for him. He had to find Hosuke before them.
It was unclear how much information they had regarding his whereabouts. Most likely they knew as little as he did. He was almost certain that they were the same men that Gensai Sakuma had mentioned back at the Odawara coast. Gensai had warned Biku about a man with a scar on his jaw; that such a man was among them confirmed his suspicions. They had not been carrying anything, which meant that they had set up camp nearby, and they would be using that as a base to scout for Hosuke Kumon. There could be more of them back at the camp.
The question was whether they had made the connection between Hosuke and the rabbit. It was hard to be certain. He recalled the coldness of Iba’s stare. He had not looked away, even once. He might have caught on to the snare, and he would have his suspicions about Biku as well, having suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere. It had been pretty obvious that he was not a regular hiker. Who were they? They would want to know the same of him. Biku knew they were looking for Hosuke Kumon, but they would not know that he was here for the same purpose. That, at the very least, gave him the edge.
Why were they looking for him? They were probably here to recruit him, just as he was. Hosuke Kumon was one of a very small number of unlicensed, but incredibly talented Psyche Divers.
Increasing numbers of Rhododendron poked out from the steeply inclined undergrowth. Gradually, the slope began to level out. Biku spied something, what he had been looking for, a rabbit hung suspended from one of the trees, a thick nylon thread cutting into its neck.
“It seems we will meet after all.” A stunning smile spread across Biku’s red lips.
3
Ishida and Emi hiked across the narrow trail in silence.
Neither could bring themselves to speak. All they could do was silently move. Emi took the lead while Ishida followed closely behind. Each knew what the other was thinking, but the subject could not be broached. If they were to speak, they would have to discuss what had happened. It would be too obvious to try forcing a conversation about anything else. It was better to say nothing.
They were close to the mountain pass. The trail traced a gentle curve. Emi halted suddenly. She managed to hold back a scream; a muffled, cramped noise stuck in her throat. Ishida immediately saw the cause: a man stood on an outcrop of rocks before them, Iba.
“My apologies. There was still something we wanted to ask you.” Ishida started to back away, but his rucksack impacted against something hard. He let out a tense shout. Without his realizing, a huge mass of flesh had come to stand directly behind him. The thing was easily over two meters tall, covered entirely in black clothing. Thick muscles swelled underneath. The body emanated a vast, nightmarish sense of power; feral eyes, glaring behind matted hair, were trained on Ishida. Ishida’s urge to run dissipated completely.
Three other people appeared from behind the trees to either side while Iba clambered down from the rocks, Hiroshi, Yajima, and the last one appeared to be female. She wore a black veil over her face. The thin cloth was a hood, covering her head, with only an opening for her eyes, they were stunning. She wore the same black clothes as the man behind Ishida, a black shirt and black jeans, but it was clear that she was female from the swelling of her chest and the shape of her body. There was something deeply sexual about her. The line of her waist was enthralling.
“What do you want?” Ishida asked.
“We’d like to know who that man was just now. And, of course, what you were talking about afterward,” Iba replied.
“Uh, well...” Ishida pulled Emi in toward him. Her shoulders were trembling. She grabbed Ishida’s hand as he rested it on her shoulder, “...he was looking for someone called Hosuke Kumon, like you. That’s it. That’s all we spoke about.”
“I know there’s more,” Iba’s voice was quiet but it held a greater sense of power than Yajima’s angry shouting.
“Ab...about the rabbit. He said that the snare was probably Hosuke Kumon’s.”
“Interesting,” Iba said, his voice frighteningly gentle. Yajima turned his molasses-like gaze toward Emi, chuckling obscenely. In that instant she bolted from Ishida’s arms.
“Oh no, you’re not getting away.” Hiroshi stuck his leg out, tripping her.
She spun around and tumbled forward, the back of her head struck a rock on the ground with a nasty crack. She stopped moving.
“Emi!” Ishida screeched, his voice trembling in pain.
He made to run over to her, but the dark-clothed giant reached out from behind and grabbed hold of him. Its strength was unbelievable. Hiroshi crouched over her. He stood slowly, a narrow smile on his face.
“Shit. No more fucking this one.”
“What’d you say?”
“That she’s kicked the bucket, asshole.”
“Murderer!” Ishida howled with all his energy. He struggled in desperation, trying to get free, but he was unable to budge.
“A pity,” Iba said quietly, “now we’ll have to take care of you too.” The giant placed a hand over Ishida’s head before he had even finished the sentence. Ishida convulsed in agony as the giant’s nails dug into his temples and forehead.
“Don’t worry. We’ll bury you with the
girl.” An appalling grin formed to the sides of Iba’s mouth.
Ishida howled, but the scream came to a sudden stop. The giant, still grasping Ishida’s head, had twisted his neck. There was a horrific snap as Ishida’s head spun backward. His body faced forward, but Ishida’s tearful face stared at the giant’s chest.
4
The wind had shifted by nightfall.
A faint scent of pine merged with the smell of rocks and snow. Biku finished his coffee and replaced the pan. The rabbit roasting in the flames infused the air with a succulent smell. He took a skewer of meat and carried it to his mouth. It was cooked perfectly. He had used little seasoning, only some salt.
Although it was the beginning of July, the valley’s Rhododendron were still flowering here and there. It was still early summer. Above two thousand meters the desolate, bloody smell of flora and fauna becomes diluted, even in the mountains. All that remains is transparency, an absence of the sense of life desperately feeding off itself. The summer snow was a much better fit for the mountains than blood and mucus.
The firelight flickered over Biku’s pale cheeks. The whiteness of his skin resembled waxwork. The outline of his face was elegantly slender. Under the right circumstances he could easily impersonate a woman, and no other woman would compare. Gay men would either drool over his looks or burn with jealousy. To call him beautiful would be an understatement, Biku’s handsomeness was otherworldly, there was something darkly bewitching about him as the orange firelight reflected in his glistening, dark pupils.
He watched the flames and waited, confident that Hosuke Kumon would find him. He had set up camp where he found the rabbit snared in a trap. He was eating the rabbit. I wonder how he’ll react. Biku felt a strange anticipation. Whenever you’re ready. Biku was fully prepared.
He sat in the center of a Sacrosanct Barrier, a circular area with a ten-meter radius. Biku had evoked it himself, leaving strands of his hair at the four cardinal points around him, north, south, east and west, each exactly ten meters away from the center. The hairs functioned as anchor points surrounding Biku in something like a spider web of psychic energy. Biku would be alerted the moment someone crossed it.
He sat, biding his time as the wind whistled through the darkness above the canopy of silver fir. Then, as he reached for another skewer of rabbit, Biku noticed something--a figure standing in the darkness to his right. He felt a sudden chill of fear, but it dissipated almost as soon as it arrived. He had perceived a sudden assault of tremendous lethal energy. It seemed to originate from the shadowy figure, but he immediately recognized it as his own. Whatever this shadow was, it had deflected Biku’s energy back. He had literally jumped at his own shadow. This tiger had caught him off guard.
The dark figure just stood there. It had not been there when Biku had arrived. The figure had somehow managed to penetrate this far into the psychic web without touching it. Why couldn’t I sense him? The answer was clear. Ahh... Biku nodded to himself. The black figure was to his northeast. The northeast led to the kimon, the gate of the devil. It was the Sacrosanct Barrier’s only flaw. Coming from the northeast there would be a corridor wide enough for a man with his arms spread to cross. The shadowy figure had come directly through the devil’s gate. In order to seal the corridor, Biku needed to place another anchor point, another lock of hair directly at the north-easternmost point of the barrier, in the direction of the devil’s gate, but he had neglected to do so. It was no coincidence that the temple of Enryakuji had been built to the northeast of Kyoto on Mt. Hiei. It was there to protect the Imperial Dynasties from the kimon.
Even accepting that the barrier Biku had evoked was flawed, it would still take more than mere luck to navigate this far through it unnoticed. The probability of someone navigating ten meters without giving themself away was close to zero, especially in the mountains where the narrow path was full of obstacles, even more so in the dead of night. Had this man just been lucky? Impossible, Biku dismissed the idea. The dark figure had done it--he had skillfully steered himself through the narrow passage.
“You must be Hosuke Kumon,” Biku said.
There was no reply. A part of the shadow twitched; a sound of scraping travelled through the darkness. The shadowy figure seemed to be scratching its head. The bulky form stepped forward. The man walked up to the fire, positioning it between the two of them. He came to a stop.
The man in the firelight was covered in a thin layer of dirt. He was about the same height as Biku, 178 centimeters. Despite this, his build was far more bulky. He stood with a slight slouch. He looked like a physical laborer, the type with a story, there was always one like him. His eyes regarded Biku with something of an odd spark in them. He had an impressive beard. He probably had not shaved since withdrawing into the mountains.
His clothing, his skin...everything gave the impression that he had absorbed the mountain to his core. He looked exactly like someone would if they had been wandering lost in the mountains, but at the same time he did not betray even the slightest hint of fatigue. If anything, he was overflowing with a peculiar sense of energy, but the energy did not seem to be anything animal. It was transparent, as though someone had taken a chunk out of the mountain and chiseled it into human form.
Biku attempted to channel his energy toward the man, but it was as though the man had no physical presence. It was not that he hid himself with magic, more that his form had blended with the mountain. Like the mountain air, the man’s aura was crystal clear. To discern his presence in the darkness would be no simple feat.
“Hosuke Kumon, right?” Biku repeated.
The man nodded. They stared across the firelight. Hosuke’s eyes were pools of glass. His expression was difficult to read; Biku was unable to tell if he was angry or enjoying himself.
“So you’re the one that’s been following me.” An enormous sense of power resided in his eyes.
“Yes,” Biku answered, returning the stare, “For nine days now.”
“Hmm.” Hosuke crouched and reached out for one of the skewers. “Not easy,” he muttered to himself as he took a bite of the meat. His teeth looked shockingly strong. He swallowed the meat and licked his fingers as he scanned the area. “This was yours too?” He was referring to the Sacrosanct Barrier Biku had evoked.
“You picked up on that, I see.”
“Impressive,” Hosuke said with genuine admiration. Of course, Biku knew that Hosuke Kumon, the man that had just strolled through the barrier’s blind spot, was no slouch himself.
Then, the two of them noticed something. Something else. Something was coming closer through the darkness. A faint sound, something heavy trampling through grass...something large brushing against the branches of the shrubs and still approaching. A strong, animal smell wafted into the air.
“Ah, a bear,” Biku stated. He did not try to stand. He poured some coffee into the pot on the stove and placed it on the ground in front of Hosuke. “How about it?” His sharp eyes focused on the man, watching for his response.
His question had been purposefully vague; he could have been asking if Hosuke wanted coffee or he could have been asking if he was afraid of the coming bear. Biku wanted to see how this strange man would react. His reaction would allow him to judge the extent of his talents.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Hosuke took the cup in his hands. Nothing in his expression had changed. Casual acceptance, that was the extent of his reaction. Usually the mention of a bear was enough drain the color from a man’s face. “Delicious,” Hosuke muttered, taking a sip, “it’s been a while.” He looked directly at Biku. He seemed to be smiling under his beard.
So, he’s testing me too, thought Biku. Just as he was using the bear in an attempt to gauge Hosuke’s capabilities, so was Hosuke ready to test Biku in his own way. Alright then. Biku smiled for the first time, his red lips pulled into a tight line. The smile was enough to make anyone shiver, cold and seductive in equal measure. It was the kind of smile you might see gracing an image of Buddha, an
expression of cunning. The sound of the creature continued to approach through the darkness.
“Strange, isn’t it?” Biku said.
“Indeed.” Hosuke sipped at his coffee taking no apparent notice of the danger.
They both knew that it was almost unheard of for a wild bear to approach them like this. All wild animals, bears included, have an instinctive fear of humans. In almost all cases, if the animal notices their presence first, it would choose to avoid them. Bear attacks occur mostly when they are caught off guard. This happens when the two have wandered close without noticing each other. Even then the bear will choose to turn away if there is enough distance between them. A little closer and the bear will enter into a staring match. Even then, the bear will still look for a chance to get away. The worst-case scenario only occurs when someone stumbles right in front of a bear, particularly if the bear has a cub with it or the person surprises it by shouting out.
In Honshu, home to the Asian black bear, such human error is responsible for the majority of bear attacks. The mountains are bear territory and humans are the trespassers. The fact is that animals fear the invading humans. But this bear continued to approach them, that was the strangeness Biku referred to. There was no chance that the bear had failed to notice them. They had a campfire.
There were a few possible scenarios. The first was that the bear was on the verge of starvation, a possibility if the bear was old and no longer able to hunt; it would be drawn by the smell of the meat. There had been cases where bears had stuck their heads into hikers’ tents while foraging for food.
Another possibility was that the bear had been wounded. If it had been shot by a poacher, but the bullet missed its vital organs and the bullet was lodged against a nerve, the bear would be in constant pain. That would impede the bear’s judgment, and the pain would make it difficult for the bear to hunt. Hungry, injured, and full of anger...those factors combined would give rise to the most dangerous type of predator in the mountains. If the bear approaching them was in that state, the two of them were in extreme danger.
The Psyche Diver Trilogy: Demon Hunters Page 6
