Tailing the Kagenashi Clan

Kazuya Hattori parked his grey Honda Civic near the police department and got out. He walked to the glass doors, rolling the keychain on his finger, his other hand in his pocket. The Paranormal Department of the Tokyo Police Force was a lofty red building with a powerful barrier to deter evil spirits. Kazuya placed his keycard on the door’s sensor, unlocked it, and walked in.

“Oh, Hattori! Welcome back,” the front desk secretary, Nezumi, squeaked at him with a grin, exposing his two big teeth. He was a mouse yōkai, three hundred years old, looking like a thirty-year-old human of short stature, with grey mouse ears and a tail. He wore big, round glasses on his black eyes. He pointed to the second floor with his clawed thumb. “Chief Shinemori is waiting for you!”

“Cheers, Nezu!” Kazuya smiled and high-fived him, drowning the sorrowful memories from the car ride. He went up the stairs.

Nezumi was one of the many benevolent yōkai who had settled with humans. He helped protect the peace between humans and yōkai. On the second floor of the police department, the fruit of that peaceful coexistence met Kazuya: a 22-year-old police officer, Inuko Takeda, a human-and-dog-yōkai hybrid.

“Hattori Senpai!” she shouted, a mild bark mixed with her soft voice, and hugged the young man. Her fluffy white tail wagged furiously, and her doggy ears twitched. “Finally, I’m going to work with you! I’m so excited!”

Kazuya’s cheeks burned at Inuko’s embrace. As a half-dog-yōkai, she had a hard time controlling her emotions and was invasive of one’s personal space. Nevertheless, Kazuya admitted that her silky chestnut bob had a delightful scent, and her golden, canine eyes were as kind and generous as no human’s could ever be. Despite her clinginess, she’d be an optimal partner for the current case, he believed. Her tracking skills were top-notch, so she had already outranked every junior investigator despite having worked for only a year in the police.

“Y-Yeah, Miss Takeda, that’s great,” Kazuya muttered, gently extricating himself from the dog woman’s grip. “Uh, I… I should get the materials from the Boss.”

“Of course! Come in!” Inuko grinned with her fangs and pulled him into Chief Shinemori’s office. “Oh, Senpai, it’s such a strange case! We have practically no clues. It’s exactly for you! I can’t wait to see you in action!”

Her wagging tail knocked over a box of pens on the Chief’s desk. Startled, Inuko whipped around and caught the box in mid-air, but now her tail hit Kazuya on the cheek. Inuko let out a yelp, turning red from embarrassment. She put the box of pens back in its place and dashed to Kazuya again, who was rubbing his cheek.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Senpai! Are you hurt?” Inuko asked, her ears droopy and her tail lowered. Her worried pout looked lovely to Kazuya.

“It’s alright, Miss Takeda. Don’t stress over it!” He smiled timidly, scratching the back of his head.

A bathroom door built into the office opened. Chief Akechi Shinemori stepped out, adjusting his tie. He was a tall man in his early fifties, with ruddish hair and honey-brown eyes, dressed in a suit with a chief’s golden badge adorning his chest. His face was covered in ghastly claw marks from his past skirmishes with the kitsune yōkai of the Kagenashi Clan. The legend said he had confronted the kumichō, Genzaburō Kagenashi, but Akechi didn’t like talking about that experience. His frown lifted when he saw Kazuya.

“Oh, Hattori, you’re here,” he said in his usual stern tone. “Come, I’ll give you the details.”

He walked to his desk and rummaged through the folders. Kazuya and Inuko stood near him. Kazuya eyed Chief Shinemori’s scars. He wondered how his father, Jin Hattori, had felt in that fight. After all, he and Chief Shinemori faced Genzaburō Kagenashi together. Jin came out unscathed because Akechi Shinemori, his partner, protected him. Kazuya remembered the guilt his father felt over his friend’s injuries. His depression had lasted for weeks back then.

“There we go,” Akechi’s deep voice interrupted his thoughts.

Chief Shinemori pulled a thin blue folder out of the stack and opened it. It contained an image of the entrance to a hotel called Love’s Paradise in Shinjuku City. It was a famous love hotel in the red-light district.

“Mr Nobara was last seen here with Ms Hanayome, the top model,” Akechi said, pointing his finger at the hotel. “Naturally, we interrogated her. She claimed that she saw crimson mist spreading into the chamber, which made her dizzy. It smelled of burning spider lilies.” He looked significantly at Kazuya. “She and Mr Nobara lost consciousness. When Ms Hanayome woke up in the morning, Mr Nobara was gone.”

Kazuya’s eyes widened, and his fists clenched. Crimson mist smelling of burning spider lilies was the signature of foxfire, often employed by the Kagenashi Clan. They were the only crime syndicate consisting of kitsune yōkai. Their leaders, whom Kazuya considered his parents’ murderers, were unique foxes. The founder of the clan, Ginrei, had been a white nine-tailed kitsune, wielding a purple flame of burning wisteria fragrance, the most potent of all foxfire. So, the current Kagenashi kumichō, Genzaburō, and his grandson and heir, Yukihiro, shared this distinctive magic, being of Ginrei’s blood. Their strength and cunning were unmatched.

“Are we sure Ms Hanayome’s not hiding anything?” Kazuya asked, running over Ms Hanayome’s report in the folder.

“She had the lingering scent of burning spider lilies on her, so that much checks out,” Inuko said. Thanks to her superhuman sense of smell, she could verify certain details others missed.

Kazuya finished reading and sighed. Ms Hanayome’s interview didn’t offer anything new other than what Chief Shinemori had already told him. He looked at the image of the hotel room after the crime. He employed his special magical power, inherited from his father, the late Detective Jin Hattori – the Absolute Sight. The pupils in his green eyes dilated, and his vision zoomed in on the picture. He looked for a spiritual trace the camera might’ve caught, and any other important detail. Inuko wagged her fluffy tail, admiring his focused, grim expression.

He’s so cool when he uses his Absolute Sight! She thought, pressing her clawed hands to her chest.

At last, Kazuya’s eyes returned to normal. He looked at Chief Shinemori.

“Did the hotel cameras record any footage?” he asked. “Have the staff been interrogated?”

“Yes, and yes,” Akechi replied. “Cameras showed no odd activity in or outside the hotel. The staff claimed that no one approached Mr Nobara’s private chamber or interacted with him and Ms Hanayome throughout the night. And no suspicious people visited the hotel.”

“How about the scent?” Kazuya turned to Inuko, “You couldn’t track down where it led? – Because the picture shows a foxfire trace, although subtle.”

“That’s the problem.” Inuko sighed. “The scent lingered only inside the room!”

Kazuya knitted his brows and placed his hand on his chin.

“They must’ve used teleportation,” he said.

“Most likely.” Akechi nodded. “But where have they taken Mr Nobara? We can’t prowl through all of their businesses. He might die if we dawdle.”

“We needn’t prowl through them,” Kazuya said. He looked again at the picture of the hotel room. “The foxfire trace is subtle, as I said. It must’ve been the underlings, those with one or two tails. Kenzō Kagurayama says such foxes can’t use long-distance teleportation. That power only emerges with their third tail. So, the Kagenashi foxes must’ve ganged up somewhere close to Love’s Paradise, in a quiet, dark area, to stay unnoticed, and teleported to the hotel. If we find their initial gathering spot, we can track them down.”

“Oh…” Akechi raised his eyebrows. He chuckled. “I know I scold you sometimes for being too close to that dragon boy of the Kagurayama Clan, but you do pick up some useful stuff from him.”

“Thanks, Chief!” Kazuya smiled, a scarlet flush in his cheeks. “Now, we need to find a large area near Love’s Paradise, quiet and dark enough at night.” He turned to Inuko. “Any ideas?”

“Well,” Inuko said, scrolling through the virtual map on her phone, “the only spot matching that description is Hanaka Park. But it’s a thirty-minute drive from Love’s Paradise.” She looked at Kazuya, anxious. “Is that close enough?”

“It’s perfect.” Kazuya smiled. “That’s our first destination, Miss Takeda. Let’s go!” He turned to Shinemori and said, “I’ll update you as we progress, Sir.”

“Good luck!” Akechi nodded. A flicker of concern ran through his eyes as he saw Jin’s son exiting his office with the young Takeda. “Be careful, you two!”

“Yes, Sir!” Kazuya and Inuko gave him a formal salute.

“You understand, Hattori?” Akechi glared at Kazuya with a mix of sternness and paternal care. “Don’t pursue any further than the case at hand!”

Kazuya didn’t answer or nod this time. He only looked at Akechi grimly and exited the office. Inuko bowed to the Chief, somewhat confused by the tension, and followed Kazuya out. Akechi sighed and leaned out the open window. He took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a drag. He exhaled some heavy smoke into the hot summer air.

“That kid’s dead set on the Kagenashi Clan,” he muttered. He saw Kazuya and Inuko walking out of the department building, heading to Kazuya’s Honda Civic. Akechi tapped his sturdy finger on the windowsill. “I hope he won’t be reckless, like his father. Those foxes are cunning. Any wrong step could cost us our lives.”