Yokai (16 page)

Swallowing hard, she watched his
eyelashes, fluttering softly. Why, she wondered, did she have to
find him when she had so little time left?

Yumiko sighed. She had to get a grip.
She was terrible at being around people. Just being in the vicinity
of this guy was turning her inside out. Maybe he was just showing
her kindness. Maybe he didn’t even find her attractive. What did
she know? Shou seemed to be able to tell what Yumiko was thinking
and the best way to make her feel tiny. Maybe she was just really
easy to read. And when it came to Shou, she didn’t know what to
think either. She didn’t understand him, how he could do the things
he did, how he acted so entitled and arrogant. Was it all an act,
or was he really that confident in his abilities? Did he really
think he could be a formidable yokai hunter? Even Yumiko had had
her doubts growing up, and she’d dedicated her life to the
art.

She glanced back at Brian again, and
started when she met his open eyes.

“
Hey,” he greeted with a
slow smile. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Yumiko looked away as he sat up and
stretched. “We’re almost to Tokyo,” she said, not knowing how to
respond.

“
Did you crack open the
book at all?” he asked, watching her. She refused to meet his eyes
again, but she could feel his gaze on her, willing her to turn hers
to him, to face him. She refused to indulge him.

“
Not yet,” she said. “This
book...feels powerful. Almost forbidden. It wasn’t meant for my
eyes, for human eyes, at all.”

“
But you have to be
curious.”

“
Of course I
am.”

Brian grabbed her hand and squeezed
it, causing Yumiko to stiffen. A heat crept up her hand from where
his skin touched hers, and ran up her arm, warming her whole body.
She knew she had to be blushing bright red. Her own body was
betraying her when it came to Brian. “I’m right here, next to you.
You can trust me, Yumiko. I’ll be beside you when you open
it.”

“
Can
I trust you?” she finally relented, and lifted her eyes to
his. “I’m not sure that I can.”

He tilted his head. “You don’t mean
that.”

“
I know nothing about you.
And things you’ve said…it’s like your words have another meaning
beneath them. I don’t…I just don’t understand you.”

“
Then understand this: I
like you, Yumiko. I’m glad that I met you, and I want to be by your
side. I know that you don’t understand things, that you don’t
understand me, but just know that what I feel for you is real. And
I hope that you can return the feeling someday.”

Yumiko felt like her face was on fire.
“Brian, we barely know each other.”

“
Don’t tell me that you
haven’t felt a connection to me.”

“
I…” Yumiko hesitated. “I
don’t know what I feel.”

“
Then just enjoy being with
me,” he said. “And trust me when I say that I will never
intentionally hurt you.”

Yumiko didn’t know what to say to
that, so she focused on the book on her lap. With a nervous deep
breath, she flipped it open.

At first, the pages appeared to be
blank. Yellowed pages stared up at her, as if mocking her for the
trouble she’d gone through to procure the empty book. Her heart
sank and she wondered how she could have been so wrong. She could
have sworn that she’d felt something when she’d touched its
binding. She turned a page to another blank page, then another,
willing some sort of writing to appear, some hidden message. And
then kanji began to spread over the pages in flickering blue and
orange, as if they’d merely spilled into the book from some unseen
source. Yumiko stared as they fell into focus.

“
You’re seeing this too,
right?” Brian asked her, his voice full of awe.

Yumiko nodded and her eyes drank in
the words before her. It was a tale of Hyakki Yagyo – The Night
Parade of One Hundred Demons. Once every year, during the summer,
the yokai Nurarihyon led a precession of yokai across Japan, and
anyone in their path died. Allegedly. As far as Yumiko knew, there
had never been a Night Parade, but it was a popular folktale.
During this time, Master Mori and Yumiko made hundreds of
hand-written scrolls that were supposed to protect people. Yumiko
felt sort of strange indulging people in this manner, but people
seemed to appreciate the scrolls, even if it warded off evil that
wasn’t actually there. The tale before her presently, however,
wasn’t so much a recollection of the legend as a call to join the
parade. Yumiko blinked at the words as she realized that it
confirmed the Night Parade’s existence. This book was definitely
meant for yokai eyes only. And Madame Mori definitely did not have
this book in her library.

Flipping through the pages, Yumiko saw
many familiar stories, but written for yokai rather than human
consumption. It was strange to lay eyes on stories she was so
familiar with, but from such a different perspective. Rather than
reading a book on legends and myths Yumiko knew to be true, it read
like a strange, magical memoir of a community of people. Spirits
and monsters. It was only until she reached the back of the book
that she came across a legend that she’d never heard of before. A
prophecy.

“
What is it?” Brian asked,
when he saw Yumiko pale. He leaned closer, trying to read the
kanji, but Yumiko cleared her throat and read it aloud to him,
softly:

“
While the three great evil
yokai call their brothers to arms, plotting to overtake the world
and make it their own, only one common yokai prophecy stands in
their way. Yokai are a diverse people, and while many yearn for war
and domination, most are content with cohabitation with humans, and
even prefer it. Shuten-Doji insists that yokai can not live
together in harmony with humanity, and deserve to take their place
as rulers. But the words of yokai seers hold back a tide of yokai
from taking up arms, hoping that war in not necessary. Words of
peace. For, one day, a human girl will appear, one with a brave
soul and keen mind, and a will so radiant that she will melt the
heart of a yokai king. It is in her image that humans will be
represented. And upon her union with the yokai king, their bond
will extinguish the rage and fury of the great evil yokai and their
followers, letting the world prosper, ushering in a new era, one of
peace.”

Yumiko sat still after reading the
words, then reread them, letting the prophecy sink in.

“
So, good news,” Brian
said, nodding.

Yumiko could hardly think, the roaring
in her ears had grown so loud. “Unless that human girl is going to
be devoured by the yokai king to solidify the union.”

“
Devoured?” Brian frowned.
“No. You’ve got this all wrong.”

“
Do I?” Yumiko stared at
the page in front of her. “It seems clear to me. I’m this girl.
Kagami is the yokai king. I was chosen for this fate, to save the
world. How can I…how can I deny the world this peace?” She looked
to Brian helplessly. “For the world to prosper, I must
die.”

“
You’re reading into
things,” Brian said softly. “Look, let’s take this apart piece by
piece with what we know, and…” He stopped and stared at Yumiko.
“Are you…?”

He reached over and ran a finger over
her cheek, and Yumiko was amazed to see his finger come back
wet.

Yumiko swallowed hard and swiped at
her eyes angrily.

“
Yumiko…”

“
What?” she snapped,
turning on him. “What does it matter? All of the hard work, all of
the preparation I’ve done?” She laughed bitterly. “None of it
matters. I have to go through with this. I can’t even fight Kagami
unless I want to see the planet burn at the hands of
Shuten-Doji.”

She’d been so caught up in the book
that Yumiko hadn’t realized that the bullet train had come to a
stop until people started to pass them on their way up the aisle to
the doors.

“
We’re here,” she mumbled,
standing and joining the throng of passengers exiting. She didn’t
wait to see if Brian followed, although she knew that he was behind
her. She made sure that she regained control of her emotions,
breathing deeply several times, and letting each breath out calmly
and evenly. By the time she stepped out onto the platform, she was
able to turn and face Brian again as he rejoined her.

“
Are you okay?” he
asked.

“
I’m fine.”

He watched her, but didn’t push the
subject.

She turned on her heel and began
walking away from the train station, Brian falling into step
alongside her.

“
So, what now?” Brian asked
after a few minutes of walking.

“
I don’t know,” she
answered honestly, too tired to come up with something. She eyed
the host club that Shou worked at as they passed by, wondering what
he would make of the prophecy.

The sky growled overhead and Yumiko
looked up, just in time for the rain to begin pouring.

She gasped, then jogged along the
street, squinting through the sudden deluge.

“
Well, this sucks,” Brian
said, keeping up with her. “What else can go wrong?”

“
You’re tempting fate,” she
said, then laughed when she looked at him sideways. His hair was
flat against the top of his head and dripping into his eyes. His
yellow t-shirt was soaked through.

“
You look just as wet, you
know,” he told her, raising his voice to be heard above the roar of
water as it pelted the pavement.

Ducking under the awning of a
convenience store, Yumiko ran a hand back through her hair to try
to smooth out some of the excess water. She watched the rain hit
the pavement, windshield wipers furiously whisking the water aside
as cars passed them. It was dark and with her clothes wet, she was
suddenly much colder than she’d been a moment before. She wrapped
her arms around herself and glanced at Brian to see how he was
faring. He was also watching the rain, water droplets still running
down his face and collecting over his lips. She stared at him for a
moment, thinking about how breathtaking he looked, then glanced
down, and noted that she could see his skin through his wet shirt,
clinging to his chest and abs like paint.

“
Maybe they have an
umbrella here,” he suggested, and she looked up from his body,
meeting his steely blue eyes, which watched her with humor. And
maybe…hunger?

She turned away and glanced into the
convenience store. “Perhaps.”

“
Or we could wait out the
rain.”

She turned back to him and he was
suddenly much closer than he had been a moment ago. “We could get
sushi. There’s a place just up the street.”

Yumiko smiled. “Are you asking me to
dinner, Mr. Mathis?”

“
Brian. And
yes.”

She blinked, and swallowed hard. “I
shouldn’t. I have my-“

But she was cut off as he leaned in,
so close that their lips nearly touched. She held her breath as she
felt the heat radiating from his lips, and her eyes flickered up to
his own, which were so beautiful that she couldn’t help but lean
in, and complete the connection.

His lips were soft and tender, and her
heart beat loudly in her ears as they consumed her. For a moment,
there was nothing but his lips, but the two of them. And then he
deepened the kiss and she let him, feeling that if she couldn’t get
closer to him, she would drown. She felt one of his hands in her
hair, and another fitting into the small of her back, and she
leaned into him, touching his chest through his wet shirt. A shiver
ran through her body at the desire that rushed through her
veins.

When he pulled back, Yumiko was both
glad and regretful. She looked at his lips, yearning to meet them
again, but he turned away and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m
sorry,” he told her. “I couldn’t help myself.”

“
Neither could
I.”

He smiled, his dimples making her
heart skip. “I’m going to get an umbrella. I’ll be right
back.”

She nodded and turned to gaze out into
the rain again, her thoughts not far from the kiss. She had never
been kissed, and the sensations were much more intense than she’d
expected. She didn’t think it could be like that with just anyone
though. It was just…she liked Brian. A lot. She’d wanted him more
than anything just now. She’d let somebody in, and the world hadn’t
fallen apart around her.

She smiled to herself, feeling content
and happy, even with the weight of the book still in her hands. And
then she looked across the street. And froze.

The woman who stood there in the rain,
not bothered at all by the downpour, was staring at Yumiko. She
wore a gray kimono, her hair sopping wet.

Ame-Onna.

The woman smiled at Yumiko before
lifting a hand to her lips and taking two quick licks of rainwater,
as if she couldn’t help herself. She then turned and disappeared
down an alley.

Without thinking, Yumiko took off
after her. A car honked angrily as she ran in front of it, briefly
illuminated by its headlights before it narrowly avoided hitting
her. But she barely noticed. She sprinted down the alley she’d seen
Ame-Onna slip into. And watched as the yokai stepped into a mirror
leaning against a dumpster.