Yokai

by Dave Ferraro

  “We won’t,” Yumiko promised as they left.

  “Good night!” Reina called after them.

  As soon as they heard the curtain beads clink together, Reina wheeled on Yumiko. “I can’t believe he turns into a fox!”

  “Careful, he might hear you,” Yumiko teased.

  “Really?” Reina stiffened.

  “Probably not, but…” Yumiko shrugged.

  “He’s definitely cute though,” Reina said. “Even if he does go all feral once a month.”

  “He is,” Yumiko agreed without thinking, then blushed at letting her guard down. “I mean, if you like that sort of thing.”

  “That sort of thing. Uh huh,” Reina wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Well, he certainly seems into you.”

  “He does?”

  “Of course he does. Aside from his books, you’re all he seems to notice.”

  Yumiko tried to ignore the satisfaction Reina’s words brought her, but she couldn’t help but imagine his crooked smile, his flawed Japanese that she loved. She found him very likeable and attractive. Perhaps, if things were different, something could have sparked between them. But she didn’t have time for anything more. Boys were distractions.

  “Do you have any snacks?” Reina asked after a few minutes of silence.

  Yumiko caught herself still thinking about Brian and scolded herself. “I can get something from the Wadas, if you’d like.”

  Reina nodded. “Something sweet.” Her eyes widened. “Do you think they have Green Tea Ice Cream?”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Yumiko said with a chuckle as she ducked out of the room.

  She heard the music from the sake bar before she turned the corner into the room. She paused in the shadow of the doorway to watch the scene, as Mr. Wada wiped down a table, his head bopping slightly to the music. Mrs. Wada set a bowl of rice in the window and called out an order number, before disappearing back into the kitchen.

  Mr. Wada cheerfully sauntered over to the window and whisked the rice away almost gracefully, bringing the food to a patron on the far side of the bar.

  Yumiko walked over to the window and waited for Mrs. Wada to reappear, her eyes sweeping the room. A figure leaned over a small table nearby, far from the other patrons in the bar. Based on the dark brown hair, she assumed for a moment that it was Brian. She quickly decided that it couldn’t be him, however, if he’d left along with Madame Mori. She tilted her head, staring at his back and how the white t-shirt he wore stretched taut over his muscles. She admired his form, wondering who he was. Then she frowned, recalling seeing Brian in the dungeon, his naked back to her, and felt a blush creep back into her cheeks. But the image, it seemed, was burned into her mind. Once she’d conjured it up again, it was difficult to banish.

  “Daydreaming, Yumiko?” Mrs. Wada’s voice tore her from her reverie.

  Yumiko bowed her head lightly. “Sorry. I was just…thinking.”

  “About American boys?” Mrs. Wada asked innocently, a knowing smile on her face.

  “N-no,” Yumiko stammered, then crossed her arms. “Reina was wondering if you had any Green Tea Ice Cream?”

  Mrs. Wada smirked, then nodded. “I should have some. I’ll get two bowls.”

  “Thank you,” Yumiko said as Mrs. Wada disappeared once more. She turned to look back at the man and saw him lean back, revealing another figure at the table, albeit much smaller. Tanuki.

  Eyebrows shooting up in surprise, Yumiko took a hesitant step in their direction, wondering what on earth they would be doing together. As she neared the table, she heard Tanuki say “They’re all creatures of habit around here. It’s the same thing, day in, day out.”

  “Is that how you see us?” Yumiko couldn’t help but ask.

  Tanuki started, and the man turned around to greet her with a smile, dimples folding into the shadow of his scruff. Yumiko felt a shiver run down her spine that she tried to ignore, although she couldn’t squelch the delight she felt at regarding Brian.

  “Mr. Mathis,” she bowed. “I thought you’d left with Madame Mori.”

  “Brian,” he reminded her with a smile, leaning back in his chair. Yumiko tried not to notice his arms as they crossed over the white t-shirt. “I was going to leave, but I noticed Tanuki here, and came back in to chat for a bit.”

  “Oh? You two know each other?”

  She glanced at Tanuki, then frowned as her eyes swept the sake bar overall. “Wait a second,” she said, putting a hand on the back of Brian’s chair. She accidentally grazed his shoulder and pulled it back as if it had been burned. Trying to look as if the contact hadn’t affected her, she nodded in Tanuki’s direction. “No one here can see him. He’s not showing himself to mortals.”

  “You can see him,” Brian pointed out.

  “But I…” Yumiko let her voice trail off, then chuckled. “Of course. You have been touched by the supernatural too. You can see them also, can’t you?”

  “I can.”

  Yumiko let out a breath and actually smiled. “That’s…I mean, I’ve never met anyone else who could.”

  “It’s nice to know that you’re not alone,” Brian said softly.

  Yumiko met his dark eyes, and nodded. “How long have you known that you could see them?”

  Brian shrugged. “Oh, since almost right after I began changing. I’ve seen demons following people, specters passing through walls, and these pale scarves floating around the skies of Tokyo at night, swooping down every once in a while like live origami birds.”

  “Ittan-Momen,” Yumiko told him. “They are bolts of cotton, animated by spirits. They tend to wrap themselves around people’s mouths and necks, to suffocate them, or strangle them.”

  “That’s…” Brian shook his head and turned to Tanuki. “Does she ever talk about anything that doesn’t want to kill people?”

  “Not that I know of,” Tanuki said, and Yumiko glared at him, taking in the sake sitting in front of him for the first time. He was on his third cup.

  “You’ve been busy,” she observed.

  Tanuki allowed a slow smile to creep over his face. “I could be busier.”

  Rolling her eyes, Yumiko glanced back at Brian. “If you want to join us in the library, Reina and I are just about to have some ice cream.”

  “Thank you for the invitation,” Brian said, standing. “But I should really be going. I’m sure Madame Mori wouldn’t appreciate me keeping you girls up until all hours of the night.”

  “That’s my job,” Tanuki wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

  They both ignored him.

  “At any rate, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Brian promised, bowing. He glanced at Tanuki. “Good talking to you.”

  Tanuki let out a loud belch. “Yeah, sure.”

  “Goodbye,” Yumiko said, watching him dart out the door. She stared after him for a moment, thinking, until she heard Mrs. Wada call for her. She rushed back to the window to collect her ice cream. “Thank you.”

  “No problem,” Mrs. Wada grinned out at her. “And tell Reina that I know a boy I would like to set her up with. A nice boy, with good grades. He wants to be a doctor.”

  “I’m sure she’ll love that,” Yumiko said, forcing herself to sound enthusiastic. She bowed and turned back toward the library, Tanuki ducking between her feet.

  “What were you boys talking about?” she inquired, glancing down at him.

  Tanuki snorted. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

  “Did you know that he could see you?”

  “Of course.”

  “You didn’t say anything.”

  “And you didn’t ask.”

  Yumiko frowned at this as she pushed aside the beaded curtain and slipped off her sandals.

  “Hey, Yumiko?” Tanuki looked up at her.

  “Yes?”

  “Do you like me, even though I’m a yokai?”

  Yumiko nearly laughed off the question, but paused when she saw the serious expression on his face. With a frown, she sat down besi
de him on the raised floor, setting the ice cream aside for a moment. “Of course I like you, Tanuki. Why would you ever doubt that?”

  Tanuki looked away. “Well, you dispose of yokai for a living. And I know that what you went through…really made you hate my kind.”

  Yumiko blinked, and sat still, thoughtfully, as she absorbed what he was trying to tell her. “Tanuki, I know that not all yokai are bad. It’s the ones who mean harm to humans that I need to get rid of, to make things safer for people, so what happened to me never happens to anyone else, ever again.”

  “But…” he hesitated.

  “What?”

  “Have you ever stopped to wonder about the motives of yokai? I mean, you seem to stab first, ask questions later. Or better yet, you don’t question things at all. You see a yokai, do your duty, then leave them in the mirror world without a second thought.”

  “I think about it,” she said defensively. “I don’t just attack yokai for no reason. I didn’t attack you when I first met you.”

  “No,” Tanuki agreed. He shrugged. “Just…sometimes it’s not always black and white, Yumiko. Sometimes you may not understand the intentions of others. It’s not always apparent right away. I just…don’t want you to make a terrible mistake someday, one you’ll regret.”

  “I can’t imagine how I would.”

  He looked so sad that Yumiko had to wonder where this was coming from, but before she could ask, he got to his feet and sauntered into the other room, a smile on his face, as if the conversation had never happened.

  Reina looked up as Tanuki glowed, allowing her to see him. “Oh, hey Tanuki.”

  “Hey yourself, Gorgeous,” Tanuki purred.

  Yumiko shook her head, but continued to watch him, for some indication of the source of his uneasy feelings. But before long, she was swept away by conversation and forgot about it herself.

  Chapter Eight

  A ten-year-old Yumiko sat in the hospital waiting room with her chin resting on her folded hands. She leaned forward, and slowly rocked herself. Was she cursed? Is that why terrible things kept happening to people around her? She needed to be stronger. For everyone around her, and for herself. And she should never get close to anyone again. It only put them in danger.

  Yumiko looked up and saw a man with a pink, glowing snake wrapped around his chest. A yokai. The man leaned over, trying to catch his breath, but the snake held fast, not giving an inch. Yumiko looked away and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see them. She didn’t want to.

  “Yumiko?”

  Opening her eyes, Yumiko looked up into Madame Mori’s face, who had come with her to the hospital. When they’d received news of her aunt’s attack, she had been in class. Yumiko had been learning to disarm men as her aunt was being attacked by a monster.

  Blinking back tears, Yumiko stood up to face her sensei.

  Mori watched her warily, and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Yumiko. Your aunt doesn’t have much time left. She would like to say goodbye.”

  Yumiko bit her lip to keep from sobbing. Or wailing. She bit so hard that she tasted blood. Her aunt had taken her in, following her mother’s abduction. Now, she had…no one. What would happen to her?

  With a brave face, Yumiko allowed Mori to guide her down the hallway to her aunt’s room, feeling like she was floating, or in a dream.

  She stepped up to her aunt’s deathbed and looked past the blood-soaked cloths on her cheek and neck. “Auntie?”

  Her aunt smiled back at her and held up a weak hand, which Yumiko took. “My girl. You’ve been a good girl, a joy since I took you in.”

  Yumiko couldn’t help the tears that slipped from her eyes. She wiped them away with her free hand.

  “I remember wondering what I’d gotten myself into when I brought you to your first doctor appointment,” her aunt said. “When they told me about how you were different…your defects.” She shook her head. “I still can’t believe your mother never told me about it. Your organs all switched around. The doctors didn’t know what to make of you at first.” She smiled. “And then all of your talk of creatures and monsters…it was a bit much to take.”

  “I’m sorry,” Yumiko said, lowering her head.

  “Don’t be sorry, child,” her aunt whispered. “The woman who attacked me wasn’t human. Her face...” She shuddered and closed her eyes briefly. “She was a monster, Yumiko. Some sort of demon witch.”

  Yumiko’s eyes widened.

  “You were right,” her aunt said. “There are things in this world, living among us, that we don’t understand. And I’m only sorry that I didn’t believe you.”

  She dropped Yumiko’s hand then, to cover her mouth as she coughed. She didn’t stop coughing for a full minute. The heart monitor grew agitated and beeped louder, until she withdrew her fist from her mouth, a trickle of blood escaping from the corner of her mouth.

  “I love you like a daughter,” her aunt said, smiling at Yumiko. “You were always special.” She swallowed hard. “You listen to Madame Mori now. She will keep you safe.”

  Yumiko frowned at this, but didn’t reply. “Auntie…”

  “Be strong, now, honey.” She looked past Yumiko. “I’m tired. I think I need to rest.”

  “Come along, Yumiko,” Mori said softly, gently pulling her from the bed. “Let your aunt rest now.”

  Yumiko followed Mori quietly from the room, until they reached the lobby once more, and Mori stopped.

  “You will work hard under my guidance,” Mori said. “And you will hide nothing from me. If you can agree to these terms, I will take you in, as your aunt has requested.”

  Yumiko looked up at Mori, with hopeful eyes. “Truly?”

  Mori nodded. “It will not be a luxurious life-“

  “I agree,” Yumiko cut her off. “All I’ve ever wanted was to train, to be strong.”

  “And you shall be,” Mori promised.

  Seventeen-year-old Yumiko sat up straight and snatched the dagger from her bedside. She looked around her dark room, wondering what had awakened her. She didn’t move for a minute, waiting for the disturbance to return, when she heard a soft knock on the door.

  Exhaling a sigh of relief, Yumiko slipped out of her bed and pulled a robe around herself on her way to the door, wondering who it could be. When she opened the door, Madame Mori looked in expectantly.

  “Sensei,” Yumiko bowed, opening the door wider. “Please, come in.”

  Mori smiled and stepped into the room, an envelope in hand. “I don’t have much time, Yumiko. I have a flight to catch.”

  “A flight?” Yumiko blinked, wondering for a moment if she was still dreaming. “What flight?”

  “I’m going to America. I have some colleagues there who may have answers to Mr. Mathis’s condition.”

  “I see,” Yumiko said slowly, watching her closely. “And you have to travel overseas to be able to communicate with them?”

  Mori chuckled. “Mr. Mathis isn’t your typical yokai. I think that in order to understand his condition, I need to become more familiar with lycanthropy.” She hesitated. “There is something very odd about it.”

  Yumiko recalled the item that Brian had turned over in his hands. “What was the item you gave him to look over?”

  “It was a mystical object made of silver. Werewolves are highly allergic to silver. Usually a blow of silver to the head, or a silver bullet through the heart is even enough to kill them. So, I made some calls, and apparently there are several different breeds of werewolves. I need to explore them all if I’m going to be able to connect Mr. Mathis’s affliction to something that the experts in this sort of thing are familiar with. It could be catastrophic if were-foxes began to infect Japan. Kitsune are one thing, easy to identify if you know how to look for them – but hiding in a man’s body to cause mischief once a month...” She shook her head. “It is very sly of the fox.”

  Yumiko released a deep sigh. “Okay.”

  Mori glanced around the room. “You still have no mirrors i
n your room?”

  “You know that I don’t.”

  Mori nodded. “Good. Keep it that way. And cover every mirror in the library.”

  Yumiko raised an eyebrow. “What? Why? Kagami won’t be coming for me for nearly a year.”

  “No need to show him any more than we already have just how much you have grown,” Mori said. She licked her lips. “And mirrors can only transmit images, not sounds. If you cover it, no one on the other side can read your lips, and they will not hear you.”

  Yumiko recalled her walk through the mirror world, how everything was silent when there should have been noise. She shuddered. “Okay.” She cocked her head. “Has something happened?”

  Mori smiled reassuringly. “No. I just have a feeling. It may be that I’m getting paranoid in my old age.” She shook her head. “Just promise me that while I’m gone, you will trust no one.” She grabbed Yumiko’s wrist. “And I mean no one.”

  “I promise,” Yumiko frowned, unsure, as Mori dropped her hand. Mori seemed to be hiding something from her, but why wouldn’t she just come out and say it? “Sensei?”

  Mori shook her head. “Don’t worry. I will be back in a few days.” She handed Yumiko the envelope she held. “See to it that Shou gets this. Put it into his hands directly. He will be wondering where I’ve gone, and what he should concentrate on while I’m away.”

  Yumiko nodded and accepted the letter. “As you wish.”

  Mori nodded and sent her one last smile before slipping through the door, and disappearing.

  ***

  The first thing that Yumiko did when she stepped into the library an hour later was to cover the mirror that hung near the door. She stopped to stare at it for a moment, wondering if someone was watching her, even now. Was Kagami assessing her skills? Searching for weaknesses to exploit? Or was he no longer paying attention to her at all, and wouldn’t for another eleven months, and twelve days? She shook her head, recalling the repositioning of mirrors each time she entered the mirror world. He was watching her, and waiting for his moment. She wouldn’t give him any more advantages.

  She was feeling more stressed this morning than usual. Mori leaving so abruptly had left Yumiko feeling uneasy. She had a terrible foreboding that something was about to happen, and that she wouldn’t see it coming. But it was most likely her nerves. Since Mori had taken custody of her, she’d never gone far, had certainly never traveled halfway across the world for days, leaving her alone.