I craned my neck to look over his shoulder, but the bike wobbled underneath us. He wasn’t carrying anything with him, but that didn’t mean anything anymore, not after I’d seen what Tomohiro could do without drawing anything.
Or more like what the power could do to Tomohiro.
But that was with my influence. So what were the chances Jun could do that? Pretty slim. No, there had to be some paper involved somewhere.
Jun was tall and I didn’t want the bike to flip as I shifted around, so I gave up and slouched behind him, resting my head against his shoulder to avoid the strong winds batter-ing my face.
Then I noticed the way his arms bent to grab the handlebars of the motorbike. At this angle I could see the muscular curve of his kendo-champion arms.
And I saw it on the inside flesh of his left arm, near his wrist.
A kanji carved into his own skin, fresh welts rising on the pink surface of the strokes.
Snakes.
The blood drained from my face as I stared at the carved kanji. It moved in and out of view, Jun oblivious to the fact that I’d noticed it.
It made me sick to think he’d carved it into his own skin, even if the wound wasn’t much deeper than a paper cut.
But he’d saved us. He’d told me to come to him if I ever needed help, and now I understood why. He’d figured us out a long time ago. Had we been so transparent?
We made our way south, the roads starting to look more and more familiar. The streets were almost deserted and I pulled my
keitai
out of my pocket to check the time. Just past 2:00 a.m., but adrenaline pumped through my veins as the lights of
conbini
and vending machines whirred past us.
I saw it in the distance when we stopped at a red light, the walls and tiled roof in shadow, away from the glare of the city lights. There was no mistaking what it was. The traffic light flicked to blue-green and we sped toward it.
Sunpu-jou. The castle at the heart of Sunpu Park.
Jun slowed down, the bikers killing their headlights and coasting forward as the castle rose before us.
A sign hung on the end of the bridge to keep cyclists out.
The castle always closed at night; if you stayed late at Suntaba for clubs, you had to cut through the southern or western bridges.
Jun stopped in front of the bridge to Sunpu Castle and shut off the engine.
“Here?” I asked. The others had already climbed off their motorbikes, twisting them around the wooden barrier placed to deter after-hours cyclists. Jun didn’t answer at first, lifting himself off the motorbike and waiting for me to do the same. I tugged at the straps of the helmet, shoving the heavy black plastic into his waiting hands. He hooked it around the handlebars. “You think we’ll be safe in the middle of the night in the deserted park where they first nabbed me? Are you kidding?”
Jun looked at me with curiosity, then pointed at the tall glass tower at the southern end of the park, its glossy windows dwarfing Sunpu Castle. “Under the nose of the police headquarters?” he said. “I think we’re safe from them here, yes. And who said anything about deserted?”
He turned to cross the bridge, and that’s when I saw them, the others dressed in dark shirts and jeans, clustered at the door of the castle and peering out at us. There were seven of them in all, parting to let the motorbikes through and into the courtyard. I stood there in the cool air, listening to the crunch of the gravel under the tires.
Tomohiro stepped toward me as I folded my arms across my chest.
“What the hell is this?” I said.
“That’s what I want to know,” he said. He rested a hand on my shoulder and it sent a jolt through my body to feel his fingers closing around me, to feel the warmth of the pads of his fingertips.
Ikeda and the other rider waited behind us.
“You need to get moving,” she said to us. “The Yakuza might not be far behind. We’ll be safe in the park for now.
Safer than out here, anyway.”
I peeked at Tomohiro, but he looked more unsure than I was.
Jun turned around, waiting.
We stepped forward and clambered across the stone bridge.
Fish bobbed up and down in the dark waters below, sending ripples spinning through the murky water.
Our sneakers crunched on the gravel as we passed through the giant doorway of the castle.
Ikeda and the other rider followed, pulling their bikes up to the others and dropping Tomohiro’s kendo bag beside the mini makeshift parking lot. Then a few of Jun’s friends pulled at the giant castle doors. The slabs of wood groaned as the doors ground shut.
“Are you allowed to do that?” I said, but no one answered me.
I looked at them, huddling around Jun like a timid goth following. They ranged in age, the youngest maybe twelve and the oldest in his twenties. They all wore the same dark clothes, the same grim look on their faces. Jun stood in front, his lean arms folded across his chest.
“What’s going on?” said Tomohiro.
“Yuu, I want you to know you and Katie are safe here.”
“What are you talking about?” I said. His voice was strange, his eyes gleaming. My heart pulsed in my ears. Something was off here. Way off.
“I want to help,” Jun said. “I’ve always wanted to help.”
“I don’t need help,” Tomohiro said.
“You need to trust me,” Jun said, “so I’m going to tell you everything about what happened.”
“You don’t need to tell us,” I said. “I saw the mark on your arm.”
Jun’s eyes widened for a moment, and he loosened his grip around his elbows, rubbing his fingers over his wrist.
“This?” he said, opening his arms to reveal the pale skin on the inside, the welts raised in the kanji for
snake.
“Yeah,”
he said. “I’m a Kami. Like you, Yuu.”
“You made those snakes,” Tomohiro said.
“Yes.”
“How did you know where to find us?”
“Like I told Katie, we’ve had run-ins with the Yakuza before.”
“We?”
Jun motioned to the group around him.
I looked at Ikeda, lifting the motorbike helmet off her head.
She saw me looking and put the helmet on the ground, pulling back the sleeve of her jacket.
A ribbon of cuts ran up the inside of her arm.
Shit.
“You’re
all
Kami?”
“Try to understand,” said Jun. “It’s not something to be afraid of, Yuu.”
Tomohiro didn’t answer, but I swore I saw his hands shaking.
“The power you wield—it’s not something to turn away from. We’re descendants of Amaterasu, kin of the imperial family. I know you’re afraid of it, Yuu. But we’ve all had the nightmares. We’ve all seen what you have seen.”
I looked at Tomohiro, but he looked away, his eyes cast down to the gravel. I wondered what kind of horrible visions haunted him at night. I shuddered, remembering the demons and shadows in the Taira painting.
“Some can bear it better than others. Some are more gifted than others. And you are gifted, Yuu. Incredibly gifted. Not many Kami can call on their power without sketching a single line.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t have to pretend with us,” Jun said. “We’ve all seen our drawings move on the page. We can help you.”
Tomohiro’s eyes filled with suspicion. I touched his arm to reassure him. Jun had always been kind to me, and now he’d rescued me again. I knew he could help Tomohiro control the power.
“It’s okay,” I said quietly. “We can trust him.”
“Because he’s your friend,” Tomohiro said, and the way he said it made my cheeks blaze.
“Yeah,” I said. I didn’t feel like explaining myself to him. It was 2:00 a.m. and we’d been kidnapped by Yakuza and freed by Kami. If he was jealous, he could deal with it.
Tomohiro looked at Jun for a moment. “What do I need to do?” he said at last.
Jun smiled. “We can help you, Tomohiro. Or rather, you can help us. We’ve been looking for someone with your ability for some time. So first, we’ll offer you a gift.” He reached his hand out to Ikeda, who shuffled in the pocket of her jacket for a small notebook and pen. Jun took them and walked toward us, placing them in Tomohiro’s hands.
“You want me to draw?” Tomohiro said. “Draw what?”
“Hanchi,” Jun said. “The Yakuza boss. Dead.”
The pen dropped from Tomohiro’s hand and hit the gravel below.
“Kill him?” I breathed.
Jun blinked, tilting his head to the side. “You need to send a message to the Yakuza. You don’t want them coming after you again.”
“Yeah, but—” I started, but Jun held up a hand.
“I’ve never killed anyone before,” Tomohiro said quietly.
“I didn’t even think it was… Can we do that?”
“Go ahead, Yuu,” Jun said. “The honor is yours.”
“Honor?” Tomohiro’s voice was shaking. “What honor is there in killing a man on paper?”
“You show a lot of mercy to the man who kidnapped you and Katie,” Jun snapped, and I saw Tomohiro flinch as Jun used my first name. Jun tucked his blond highlights behind his ears with force; he was getting frustrated. His eyes were dark pools of ice. “You think he would’ve shown you the same kindness? He’s been responsible for lots of deaths. As a Kami, you can exact judgment.”
Tomohiro dropped the notebook on the ground, disgusted.
“I’m not killing someone,” he said.
“Jun, that’s excessive,” I said. “What’s the point of killing someone?”
“I think you’ll see, in time,” Jun said. “The world is crying out for the judgment of the Kami.”
“What does that even mean?” I said.
“Japan was ruled by Kami a long time ago,” Jun said. “The major samurai families of Heian Japan? Almost all Kami.
Some were stronger than others, like me and Yuu.” I glanced at the kanji engraved on Jun’s arm. He didn’t even use paper or a pen to control the ink—what was he capable of? “The world’s falling apart, decaying before our eyes. The Yakuza are spreading across the country, spilling into other parts of the world—is that a world you want to live in? We’re destined to take it back, Yuu. We can rule Japan like gods, like the
kami
once did.”
“Are you crazy?” Tomohiro said. “Rule Japan? What the hell are you on, Takahashi?”
Jun laughed, but there was no humor in his voice. “I’m de-claring war on the Yakuza,” he said. “But war requires weapons. I’ll make them all pay for what they’ve done. They’ll beg forgiveness at my feet or I’ll wipe out every last one of them, whatever it takes until Japan is safe. The Kami will reclaim our place as rulers, the way it used to be. The ink wants blood. It always wants blood. Yours, or someone else’s.
Let us help you.”
“I told you,” Tomohiro snapped. “I don’t need h—”
“Stop acting like you’re human!” Jun spat. The comment stung me, and Tomohiro stumbled backward like he’d been slapped. “You think you’re so much stronger than your Kami blood? You think you can go around life with a blowtorch and it’s okay because you have a little candle snuffer? Wake up, Yuu! Before you hurt someone.” Jun looked directly at me. “Before someone gets burned. You’re a weapon, and you have to decide which side will wield you.”
I wanted to punch him. What the hell did he know about us? I’d seen the control Tomohiro had, the way he scratched out his drawings in time. But the image of the wagtail dropping midflight flashed in my mind, the horrible way it had attacked the other birds. I thought about the way Tomohiro’s eyes grew vacant when he sketched, how I’d pinched him and he couldn’t stop. How I lost him, how he couldn’t hear me.
The scars climbing his arm, the dragon spiraling into the sky.
“Stop acting like you’re normal,” Jun said, his voice softening. “The blood of Amaterasu runs in your veins.” He stepped forward, extending his hand. “You can be a prince in the new world we’ll create. Once we take control of Japan, with the emperor as our puppet, we’ll rule like we did before. We’re marked for this. You’re more than human, Yuu.
You’re superior.”
“Superior?” Tomohiro whispered. He hunched over, clutching his hand to his heart. I heard a splotch and looked down. Ink carved down his arms and dripped onto his sneakers. “Superior?” he said again, his voice trembling. “How can this be superior? My own sketches try to kill me. My dreams hunt me down. Being a Kami took my mother’s life from her, and it took my mother from me! How the hell is that superior?”
“We’ve all lost something. But it’s time to stop running from who you really are.”
“That’s it, then,” Tomohiro said.
Splotch, splotch.
“Destined to take over Japan, no matter the price, no matter the blood?
So this normal life I’ve tried to create—it’s all an act. I’ve always known. Always known what I really was.”
“Gifted,” said Jun, stepping forward again.
Tomohiro shook his head, his whole body heaving with every breath.
“Evil.” He looked up, a darkness in his eyes.
“Tomo,” I said, but icy fear tingled in every part of my body.
“I’m a monster,” he said, raising his hand to point at Jun,
“and so are all of you.”
“The human in you fears the Kami that f lows in your veins. Once you stop struggling, things will be easier.”
“I’ll fight this as long as I live,” Tomohiro hissed.
“And if you hurt others in the process?”
Silence.
“What’s a guilty man’s death compared with many innocents’?”
“Because!” Tomohiro shouted. “It’s not my choice to make!”
“You’re still talking like you’re not a Kami,” Jun snapped back. “It
is
our choice. It’s our responsibility to protect them.
When others get hurt because of your inaction—what then?”
My body tensed, looking for some way out, some way to end this. But doubt pressed against me. The kanji for
sword,
the dragon, the gun—they’d all tried to kill Tomohiro. What if he really was so dangerous he was unconsciously trying to stop himself?
What if he—the ink— What if it killed me, too? It was already seeping into my life in every way possible. What if—
I swallowed, my throat so thick I could barely breathe.
“What then, Yuu?”
“Then it’s better if I’m not alive.”