Business as Usual

Eien Akagawa

I heard the twins drive off as we ascended the steps to the shrine. While I couldn't hear the sound of Kizuna’s wrapped hooves on the stone stairs I could feel them through the ground. I winced as there wasn't anything I could do about it. I'd have to keep an eye out for anyone who could sense her.

Other than clan family members there were several characters that walked around Edo that could become a problem. Such as Sam Monitor from the British Isles. He had been stuck here and decided to make it his business to acquire items or people for those who could afford him.

Or even someone like Extli from the Aztec Empire who was technically an ambassador but was bored enough to cause trouble for anyone within range. It didn't help that he was blessed by their jaguar god which made him nigh invincible. If I had any say, we'd have nothing to do with their ilk.

I touched a pillar of the torii gate as I passed it. Beyond these gates was holy ground, which held safety from spirits and gods that held evil intent. The gods of heaven could speak here but I knew that none had spoken here since Norihisa made the shrine his home.

I let out a huge sigh and Kizuna looked at me quizzically. I looked down at Iroha who looked like she had stepped in something nasty. I checked my pockets and sighed again. He was probably going to be annoying without an offering.

“Okay, before we go in there, I want to warn you about Norihisa.” Kizuna walked beside me as we headed to the shrine building. "He's a bit of a degenerate so I don't know what state we might find him in.”

“A degenerate? Aren't the onmyōji basically holy people?”

“They don't have to be holy.” Iroha chimed in. "They don't even need to use their powers for good. They’re connected to the spiritual world, yes but they can use their powers as they like.”

I stepped past the offering box and opened the shrine door to reveal a scene of debauchery. All the doors were open and clothing had been strewn everywhere. Surprisingly, there were lights in the ceiling that ran off electricity. That was new.

“I think I'll wait outside," Iroha said, wrinkling her nose.

“Alright, see you in a bit." I turned to Kizuna. “Did you want to wait outside too?”

She looked disgusted but said, "No, I'd better go in. I want to see who I'm entrusting my life to."

I nodded and led the way inside, following the debris of clothing and empty sake bottles bottles. The trail of clothing led us to the inner shrine, where an article of clothing was covering the enshrined god. The god of heaven wasn't actually here, it was just an object blessed by them and treated as the god in their place.

In the corner on a western style mattress was Norihisa. His face was uncomfortably handsome which somehow made his long unkempt black hair work for him. His body was muscular which was somewhat uncommon for someone in his position. Thankfully his lower body was covered by an article of clothing. How many women did he have over? And why hadn't we seen any of them?

He was an infamous heavy sleeper so I kicked his foot which was hanging over the mattress. “Norihisa, wake up!”

His eyes shot open, bloodshot. “What!? Who- where!?” He began to sit up but then his face turned a sickly green color. He bent over the side of the mattress and threw up. Kizuna and I stepped back from the foul smelling pool of bile.

“Ooooh,” he moaned as he flopped back onto the mattress. “Eien, is that you?”

“It’s me. Think you’re well enough to get up?”

“I have a damn hangover that’ll end all hangovers,” he said with a slight slurring to his words. He wiped his face with his hand. “Why are you even here? It’s been months.”

“I need your help.”

That got his attention. He bolted upright and winced, holding his head. “Please don’t tell me you need me to help exorcize a god again. That was awful.”

“No, this time it’ll be a bit easier.” He slowly stood up and I held a hand over Kizuna's eyes. She slapped my hand away and looked at Norihisa with a raised eyebrow. “Do you have clothes you can wear? We have a lady present.”

“I had ladies present last night and they certainly didn’t seem to mind.” He looked around and fished one of the kimonos off the floor. It wasn’t his. It had a floral pattern of pink peonies on a white background. He turned towards us as he tied it off loosely.

“What’s this job that you want help with?”

“We need your help to get through the Great Barrier.”

“That,” he said, raising a finger. “Is actually a really easy request. Do you have my payment handy?”

“I’ll be handling the payment,” Kizuna interjected. “I’m the one who’s funding this.”

“Sorry but no,” Norihisa said. “Eien and I have an understanding. We each have a payment,” he said, making air quotes with his fingers. “That we give to the other when we need a favor.”

“I don’t have it with me. I’ll get it to you before we leave Japan.”

“You’d better.” He looked at Kizuna and inspected her with a hand on his chin. “You hired him? You couldn’t do better.”

“I know,” she said. She had her guard up and it was obvious. It was the normal reaction to Norihisa.

“I’m not going to flirt with you.” He shrugged. “So you can let your guard down a little.”

“You’ll excuse me for being on guard.” She waved at the room. “Considering this… hedonism."

“What about it?” He looked around with a confused look on his face. “Sure it’s a little messy but nothing to be ashamed of.”

“You have clothing over the enshrined god!”

“Psh,” he scoffed. “Sex is a healthy thing.” He held up a finger with a wide smile towards her. “Did you know that up north, there are still fertility festivals going on? This was in the spirit of that.”

“Speaking of,” I said, interrupting. “What happened to all the women that were here? They couldn’t have run off without their clothes right?”

“I think they went to the hotspring at the back of the shrine. Either that or they’re in the main residence building.” He sniffed the air and made a face. “Let’s relocate. The smell from last night is getting to be a bit much.” Kizuna and I politely obliged as the smell from his bile was becoming overwhelming.

“So, when did you get electricity here?” I asked as we walked through the shrine building. Electricity was something that was being slowly spread throughout Edo. There was a slight distrust of it as the gods didn’t have a hand in it. For as long as people could remember, the gods had given us everything, including light.

“Last month. That new company was quick. They had good carpenters too.”

Hey! We have trouble.”

Kizuna and I both quickened our pace to the front of the shrine building as Iroha spoke.

There’s a group of men here and they don’t look too happy.

“Norihisa, you have party crashers,” I said to him as he kept up with us. “Who’d you sleep with this time?”

“Well last night there were quite a few.” He started ticking his fingers. “Several from noble houses. Some from the clans and even one from the Isles of Britain.”

“You are an enemy of women,” Kizuna said as we exited the shrine building.

“Hey,” he said, almost offended. “At least we know it wasn’t Alice, the woman from the isles. These men don’t look like westerners.”

The men standing in the courtyard were wearing hakama and a stiff sleeveless vest. A pattern of the nobility was on the side of the chest. They had been about to head into the shrine building but stopped when they saw us.

“This makes our job easier,” a man in a topknot said. “Norihisa, our master wants you to have a beating for defiling his daughter.”

“That’s a very strong word,” Norihisa said. “I recall her being willing.”

“And for besmirching her honor.”

“Ah, now that I can’t really argue against. Eien?”

I sighed and pulled my katana from my belt and handed it to Kizuna, scabbard and all. These men had weapons but this wasn’t that kind of fight. And if I really needed it, I trusted that Kizuna would be able to get my weapon to me. Besides, I still had my revolver and jitte in case the fight devolved that far.

“Just my damn luck.”