CHAPTER 16

It wasn’t actually part of her nightcare routine, but Himiko decided to start making a habit out of patrolling at night.

The reason was simple: her boyfriend did it, too. She knew that he was an entirely different entity and all, so she could understand that he could do these nightly walks while still juggling school and all—and his grades were pretty good, too, Himiko was literally the only person in class who scored better averages than him—but she understood the gravity of the situation.

The problem: the local dragon vein, or leyline as they called it in the West, was blocked.

To be fair, neither she nor Kou knew if it was blocked. They only knew that something was wrong with it. Dragon veins were mostly relegated to the realm of myths, after all, and with little in the way of exploration, there weren’t a lot of laws or theories written about the thing that they could put into action to solve the issue.

Himiko even crosschecked with her parents, who were experienced exorcists themselves. Well, by technicality, at least. The onmyoji, like her mom, technically had purification and spiritual warfare as part of their job description, although this came about a lot later in their history. Add to the fact that they’re technically pagan to the Christians, and you’d have two camps: those who considered the onmyoji to be exorcists, and those who considered them witches.

As for the woman herself, she didn’t really care.

It also was still a fact that she traded knowledge with her husband, a former Christian witch hunter, and they both taught Himiko the subtle arts of exorcism from both the East and the West.

The end product was a faithless girl who could invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to expel demons and kept doubting herself regarding her own spiritual sensitivity.

“Did I misdetect?” she asked over dinner. “I’m usually pretty sure about my detection, but after the other night, I….”

“Is this about the one you had a fight with your boyfriend about?” Nadeshiko asked. Himiko nodded.

“And now with the leyline being blocked … I don’t know, I’m kind of losing confidence here.”

“What about this?” Nadeshiko sat across from Himiko, gently holding her hand. “Mom will help you check. I’m pretty confident about my dragon vein detection. It’s a must-have skill for the onmyoji, after all.”

“You sure? I’ll be taking up your time….”

“It’s better than leaving you all stressed at night like this. What if you can’t study?”

Himiko couldn’t help but grimace. It’s not like she was studying every night or anything…. “Can I ask for your help with it, then … Mom?”

Nadeshiko beamed. “Leave it to me!”

So she did—one night, after Himiko decided to spend some time to do a short patrol to observe the local nightwalker habits, Nadeshiko came along with her just to check the leylines in the area. Contrary to Himiko’s expectations, Nadeshiko was staring at the sky.

“Aren’t leylines located within the Earth?” Himiko asked. Nadeshiko, surprisingly, nodded.

“Correct.”

“So why are you looking … up?”

Nadeshiko only gave her an enigmatic smile. “Do you know the very first job of the onmyoji? Before we were involved in purification and exorcisms?”

Himiko thought for a moment. “Astrologers?”

“Correct. The detection of dragon veins is heavily tied to the very core of onmyodo, and that’s astrology. We must observe the natural state of the Earth, yes, but also be conscious of how it’s like up there. The answers lie not in the land or in the sky, but from understanding the Earth and celestials combined.”

“Can you even observe the sky like this, though?” The Tokyo nights weren’t exactly known for being dark or clear enough for stargazing, after all. Nadeshiko chuckled.

“I don’t need to observe the entire thing,” she said. “I just need to get a feel for when and where to look. I can just search the internet for a star map if I want to see everything, you know? Science is very neat.”

Himiko turned her head a little. “Actually, yeah, why didn’t you?”

Nadeshiko laughed. She kept observing the dark sky. “Some things you just need to see for yourself, Hii-chan.”

Their conversation faded into silence. Nadeshiko ended all that with a nod, a short bow, two claps characteristic of a prayer, and she gave Himiko a quick pat on the head.

“I fear that your boyfriend’s right,” she finally said. “Something is wrong with the local dragon vein. I’ll need to talk to Ten-chan about this.”

“So what do we do?”

“You don’t need to worry about it, you know? We’ll sort it out.”

Himiko knew that she could trust her parents—but these were the same people who were the center of a whole feud between the biggest onmyoji clans and cast out from the Hypatian Order. She could only imagine how hard it really would be for them to find proper help: a product of forbidden romance and a literal exile. “Kou-kun is trying his best. I want to try my best, too.”

“Your Kou-kun is a vampire,” Nadeshiko sharply noted. “They’re fundamentally different beings from us. Do not forget that.”

“I don’t forget that,” Himiko defended. “But he’s still doing his best to solve this. It’s already wrecked the air downtown and escalated to multiple nightwalker attacks. He’s fighting to make sure nobody gets hurt or even killed if possible because we both know that things will only get worse if this continues. I can’t just sit here doing nothing.”

Himiko kicked off a staring contest with her mother, who wasn’t budging at all. In the end, though, Nadeshiko sighed. “Where did you even get that stubbornness from….”

Himiko smirked. “It’s both of you, no?”

It was why Himiko started spending an hour or two each night to patrol the area. She never really realized it herself, but for an exorcist, her knowledge of the nightwalkers around her was rather minimal. She was so used to just seeing them as little nuisances that she never really took to observing how they behaved. She supposed it’s something like never really realizing how the ants in one’s own home behaved—they’re just there until they became too annoying to ignore.

What she did notice, though, was that Kou was right: she saw that one side of the neighborhood had more urban youkai than she would’ve liked. They were all moving away in one direction, somewhat avoiding each other, a bit of a rush in their steps for those who had legs.

The other side had nothing at all the entire night.

It was her first night out. Tomorrow was still going to be a weekday, so she couldn’t really skip classes … well, she could, technically, but she knew Kou would give her a soft smack on the head to complain about that when she got to school. That said, though, exploring a little further shouldn’t hurt, right? She’d risk it if she came across a police officer or something, but Shinjuku wasn’t exactly a stranger to delinquent schoolkids who were still out by night.

The patrols were already risky enough as was. As long as she kept it careful….

Himiko couldn’t help but notice that the migrating nightwalkers were all headed north … maybe northeast? She wasn’t sure if they’d be going towards Saitama, but there were a lot of youkai stories up there, anyway.

Huh. They’d probably go through Kita Ward, too. Could they just be going to Ouji? Was Ouji Inari Shrine alright, after all?

Was Ouji Inari Shrine involved in all of this?

Himiko pressed her temples as she crossed the night street. A secret night guardian in the metropolis made no sense, she’d have to be literally superhuman to be one. Like Kou. That said, though, she had to admit that Kou was right: the patrols did help her expand her perspective.

Also, knowing that Kou was probably doing the same thing that time kind of made her feel a little giddy. They saw each other at school every work day and she still missed him. She wanted to just snuggle up to him or talk about the night’s experiences with him in the library. She really wanted to introduce him to her parents. She couldn’t help but giggle a little at the idea.

They were already part of the same secret world, but now they have another thing in common.

“Oh—so it’s you.”

And that’s when Himiko turned back.

Behind her, illuminated only by the street lights and mainly hidden in the shadows, was a figure of a tall woman. She stepped into the light, revealing her bright blonde hair and an exposed blue yukata, showing the sarashi chest binder she used to wrap her chest—

And the one horn protruding from the right side of her forehead.

An oni.

“Thought something was fishy, so I just had to take a look myself,” the oni said. “You’re pretty close with that King of the Night fella, yeah?”

Himiko touched her choker. The oni shouldn’t be smack-dab in the middle of a human metropolis—this was her first time meeting one, even. “What are you talking about?”

“Are you seriously playing dumb?” the oni clicked her tongue. “Look, you’re an exorcist, yeah?”

Himiko gripped her little cross. “Yes. How can I help you?”

“So why didn’t you exorcise that vampire lover of yours?”

Himiko’s heart sank. “How did you—”

“Know? What, you think we just disappeared by day? It’s not hard to look human. The Absolutes made us do it. We got used to doing it. I just had a look at your, uh … what did you call it? Oh, yeah, your high school.”

Himiko seriously had no idea what she’s talking about—but this oni wasn’t really hiding the fact that she was hostile. Not only that, she had stalked Yanomori High School, which meant that she did her due diligence.

The question was, though, why?

“And is that supposed to be a threat?” Himiko was ready to pull her cross into action. The oni didn’t seem threatened, which either meant that she was strong enough or that she was unfamiliar with Christian exorcism. Given how rare oni sightings had become, Himiko really hoped it’s just the latter.

“Threat? Nah,” the oni flicked her wrist, popping a folded paper fan instantly on her hand. “But I don’t trust that damn vampire. He’s got no strength. I don’t trust anyone who talks big … and now I find out that he’s in cahoots with the enemy.”

With that, the oni struck.

Himiko was ready. This wasn’t a haunting—this was a threat. “Sancte Michael Archangele—”

She dodged just in time—the paper fan suddenly opened up, revealing edges sharp as blades, extending from the oni’s swing as if it was her own arm. In one swift move, the oni quickly adapted to the dodge, popping another fan in her other hand for another strike.

“—defende nos in proelio—”

Himiko ducked, narrowly avoiding the second strike. She pulled her choker, hard, undoing the quick-snap that kept it in place. She could feel the cross growing hotter in her hand.

“—contra nequitiam, et insidias diaboli esto praesidium!”

With that, Himiko was armed.

Himiko’s mind felt full. She wasn’t a believer, but she had long recited words of prayer, and she had to admit that there was an odd sense of comfort that always washed over her whenever she did. Her father called it reverence. Her mother called it zen.

Himiko herself called it her zone.

The world went silent—in front of Himiko was nothing but the oni, preparing a third strike as follow-up.

Himiko peeked and saw the oni’s leg swinging onwards.

The follow-up was a feint.

Himiko reacted by throwing a punch as hard as she could against the striking leg. The oni yelped at the sudden strike, but decided to return the punch to Himiko’s head.

She felt the air change and dodged again. This time, she’d come close enough: she raised her cross and showed it right in front of the oni’s face.

“Satanam, Divina virtute, in infernum detrude. Amen!”

The cross shone, and before the oni could react, she was blasted away screaming.

Himiko brought the cross closer to her own person again. She had never truncated the Saint Michael prayer before, as she never had to physically altercate with nightwalkers, but it was good to know that it worked just fine. No holy sword was stronger than the Prince of the Archangels’, after all.

“You—”

The oni got back on her feet. Himiko drew a deep breath. “Pater noster, qui es in caelis….”

The oni growled, showing all her fangs. “I won’t kill you. I’ll snap all your limbs and show him your mangled body!”

“Sanctificetur nomen Tuum.” Himiko didn’t even respond to the threat. She clasped the cross with both hands, allowing the renewed spiritual shine to cover her proximity as well. “Adveniat regnum Tuum.”

The oni bellowed as she jumped—closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

Himiko stared her in the eye.

BOOM.

Another wave radiated off of the cross, pushing the oni back with enough force to entirely bounce her back from her pounce. She found her footing, however, landing smoothly. She grunted to herself.

“Fiat voluntas Tua, sicut in caelo et in terra.”

Himiko could feel the energy condensing—forming a nearly-solid wall between her and the oni. The oni seemed to realize this and gritted her teeth. “I swear, I’ll get to you and—”

Crick. Crick. Crick.

Himiko actually paused. The oni as well.

Was that a cricket?

No, it’s not a crickety night. The temperature didn’t feel right. The air, too. Heck, the season wasn’t one for cricket nights at all. To begin with, Himiko rarely ever heard the sound of crickets since moving to Shinjuku.

The oni was looking around. She was equally confused.

Crick. Crick. Crick.

The sound was definitely there. Not only was it there, it actually sounded like it was inching closer…?

Crick. Crick. Crick—

And then it landed between them: an insect.

A bug with wings and eight legs—the size of a small dog.

A mushiyoukai.

Himiko screamed.

To her surprise, the oni was too.

There was no mistaking the terror on the oni’s face as she flinched away from the barrier of the Lord’s Prayer, away from Himiko, away from the gigantic insectoid creature—

Which opened its wings and started flying.

Himiko didn’t even think. Her brain had shut down entirely. She swung her cross in the general direction of the monster, her eyes closed, and jumped her prayer—“Libera nos a malo! Amen! Kyaaaaaaa!!”

Her eyes were shut, so she couldn’t see anything, but she did smell something burning. Wait, not quite—not smell. It felt like a smell, but she could tell that it wasn’t something she captured with her nose. Was this what Kou was talking about when he mentioned the nightwalkers’ ‘smell’?

Slowly, Himiko opened her eyes again. In front of her, raining like golden dust, were spiritual particles: the life essence of a mushiyoukai that was no longer there.

It was only then that she realized that she was panting. The oni across from her was, too.

“Y-you alright?” Himiko reluctantly asked. The oni was confused for a second, but then blushed very hard and tried to hide her face.

“U—uh-huh,” she mumbled. “Y-you?”

“I—I’m good, thanks.”

“Th-thanks. I hate those things.”

“Me, too.”

The two just stood there awkwardly. Himiko collected her thoughts and slowly controlled her breath. Right, the oni tried to ‘snap all her limbs’ and ‘show’ Kou her ‘mangled body’. That was surprisingly easy to forget.

“So, what’s your deal?” Himiko finally asked. The oni scratched her head.

“You know,” she sheepishly said, “I’m not sure anymore. What’s your name?”

*