Chapter 14: Midnight Sparring

For us, Friday nights are usually about patrolling or sleeping. But tonight, the air feels different. It feels charged, like the moment before a thunderstorm breaks. And the source of that electricity is sitting right in the middle of our living room.

Muji is vibrating.

He is currently in his orange tabby form, but he is not acting like a cat. He is pacing back and forth along the length of the sofa, his claws extending and retracting with a rhythmic snick-snick-snick sound that is driving me insane. Every time he turns, his tail whips around and knocks a magazine off the coffee table. Thwack. Another magazine hits the floor.

"Will you sit down?" I hiss at him. I am trying to watch a late-night rerun of a cooking show, but Muji's aura is so restless it is making the picture on the TV fuzzy. "You are making me nervous".

"I cannot sit down", Muji projects. His mental voice is tight, like a coiled spring. "I have too much energy. My muscles are twitching. I need to hit something. I need to break something. I need to run until my lungs burn".

"You chased a moth for three hours earlier", Yoshi points out from the top of the refrigerator. He is dangling one black paw over the edge. "Was that not enough exercise?"

"That moth was weak", Muji scoffs, finally stopping to glare at Yoshi. "It lacked honor. It just flew into the lamp and died. I need a real opponent. Someone who hits back".

Kenuji sighs from the armchair. He closes the book he was reading-yes, he actually turns the pages with his paws, which is a skill that took him three decades to master. "He is right. We have not fought a significant spirit since the School incident. Our spiritual pressure is building up. If we do not release it, Muji is going to accidentally blow up the toaster".

"I almost blew up the toaster this morning", Muji admits sheepishly. "I looked at it too hard and it started smoking".

"Okay", Yoshi says. He stretches, his black body elongating until he looks like a sleek shadow. He jumps down to the floor, landing silently. "Let's go. Sparring match. Tonight".

Muji stops pacing. His ears perk up. His tail stops twitching. "Really? You and me?"

"You and me", Yoshi confirms, his green eyes flashing. "And anyone else who wants to get dusted".

"Where?" Inoe asks, yawning from the windowsill. "We cannot fight here. If we break Naomi's furniture, she will cry. And if she cries, I will have to mind-control the entire neighborhood to make her feel better. It is a lot of paperwork".

"The construction site in Minato", Yoshi suggests. "The one near the bay. They stopped building it three months ago because they ran out of funding. It is just a steel skeleton. No walls. No security guards. Perfect arena".

"I am in", Muji says instantly. He is already running toward the window. "Last one there is a rotten egg!"

"I suppose I should come along to referee", Kenuji says, standing up and shaking out his fur. "Otherwise you two will kill each other".

"I am coming too", I say, hopping off the cushion. "I want to see Yoshi get beaten up. It is my favorite show".

"Hey!" Yoshi protests.

We sneak out the window. The night air hits us, cool and smelling of asphalt and ocean salt. We scramble up the drainpipe to the roof. We run across the power lines, five silhouettes against the glowing purple sky of the city. Running as a cat is one of the best feelings in the world. You feel weightless. You feel liquid. We leap across gaps between buildings that would kill a human, landing silently on concrete ledges.

We reach the Minato ward in twenty minutes. The construction site looms ahead of us. It is massive-a fifty-story tower of steel beams and concrete floors that was never finished. It looks like a giant, rusting ribcage rising out of the ground, waiting for a heart that never came.

We climb. We scramble up the scaffolding, higher and higher, until the noise of the traffic below fades into a distant hum. We reach the thirtieth floor. It is a wide, open expanse of concrete, open to the wind on all sides. The view is incredible. Tokyo Tower glows orange in the distance, a beacon in the sea of lights.

"Okay", Kenuji announces, his voice echoing in the empty space. "Transform".

Poof. Poof. Poof. Poof. Poof.

Smoke clears. We stand on the concrete in our human forms. The wind whips my white hair around my face. I tuck a strand behind my ear and lean against a steel pillar to watch.

Muji strips off his shirt immediately. He throws it into a corner. He is bouncing on the balls of his feet, grinning like a maniac. "Finally! I feel alive! The air up here is good!"

Yoshi keeps his leather jacket on. He thinks it makes him look cool. He cracks his neck, rolling his shoulders. "Rules?"

"Standard sparring rules", Kenuji says, adjusting his glasses. He stands in the middle, raising a hand. "Rule one: No lethal force. If you kill him, Naomi will be mad".

"Check", Yoshi says.

"Rule two: No throwing each other off the building", Kenuji continues. "It is a pain to fly down and catch you".

"Spoilsport", Muji grumbles.

"Rule three: First one to yield, or first one to be unable to stand, loses", Kenuji finishes. "Ready?"

Muji manifests his claws. They slide out of his fingertips, long blades of shining silver energy. He crouches low. "I was born ready".

Yoshi stomps his right boot. The concrete floor trembles. Green light glows faintly around his hands. "Come and get it, furball".

"Begin!" Kenuji shouts.

Muji explodes into motion.

He is a blur. One second he is standing there, the next he is right in front of Yoshi, his claws swiping for Yoshi's chest.

Clang.

Yoshi doesn't dodge. He raises a hand, and a slab of concrete shoots up from the floor, creating a waist-high wall. Muji's claws spark against the stone.

"Too slow!" Yoshi taunts.

Yoshi pushes his palm forward. The stone wall explodes outward, sending jagged chunks of concrete flying at Muji like shrapnel.

Muji laughs. He spins in the air, kicking the rocks away. Bam-bam-bam. He uses the momentum to jump onto a steel beam above his head. He hangs there for a split second, upside down, grinning.

"Is that all you got, Geomancer?" Muji yells. "I thought you were the heavy hitter!"

Muji lets go. He drops on Yoshi from above, spinning like a drill.

"Gravity Press", Yoshi says calmly. He claps his hands together.

The air around Yoshi shimmers. Gravity in a ten-foot radius intensifies by ten times.

Muji hits the gravity field. He slams into the ground hard. WHAM. It looks like an invisible giant just stepped on him. The concrete cracks under his body.

"Gotcha", Yoshi smirks. He walks toward Muji, who is pinned to the floor, struggling to lift his head. "Say uncle".

"Never", Muji grunts. His muscles are straining. Veins pop out on his neck. "I... do not... yield!"

Muji roars. His aura flares bright orange. He pushes against the crushing weight. Slowly, impossibly, he stands up. The floor crunches under his feet. He is fighting gravity with sheer physical brute force.

"He is a monster", Inoe whispers to me. "Yoshi's gravity field could crush a car. Muji is doing push-ups in it".

Muji breaks free. He lunges out of the gravity zone. He is fast again. He closes the distance. Yoshi tries to raise another wall, but Muji is too close.

Muji sweeps Yoshi's legs. Yoshi falls.

But Yoshi is tricky. As he hits the ground, he turns the concrete floor into liquid mud.

Sploosh.

Muji sinks up to his knees in wet cement. Yoshi snaps his fingers. The mud hardens instantly.

"Trapped", Yoshi pants, rolling away and standing up. "Now you are a statue".

Muji pulls. His legs are stuck fast. He looks down. "Cheap trick".

"It is called strategy", Yoshi says, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Something you would know about if you read a book once in a while".

"I don't need books", Muji growls. "I have claws".

Muji's claws glow brighter. They extend, becoming longer, sharper. He slashes the air-not at Yoshi, but at the ground around his own legs.

SHING.

He cuts the concrete floor itself. He slices a perfect circle around his feet. He jumps, pulling the heavy concrete blocks up with him like heavy boots.

"He is improvising", Kenuji notes, looking impressed.

Muji runs at Yoshi, the heavy concrete blocks on his feet making loud thud-thud-thud sounds. He jumps and delivers a flying kick. The extra weight of the concrete makes the kick hit like a wrecking ball.

Yoshi crosses his arms to block.

CRASH.

The impact sends Yoshi sliding back twenty feet. He skids toward the edge of the building. His heels catch on the lip of the floor. He teeters over the drop. Thirty stories down.

"Yoshi!" I scream.

Yoshi laughs. He grabs the steel beam next to him and pulls himself back to safety. "Okay. That actually hurt. Now I am mad".

Yoshi's eyes glow bright green. The entire floor starts to shake. "Geomancer Arts: Tectonic Shift".

The floor ripples like a wave. Slabs of concrete rise and fall. It is like surfing on an earthquake. Muji loses his balance. He stumbles.

Yoshi creates a pillar of earth that shoots out of the floor, hitting Muji in the stomach. Muji flies backward and crashes into a pile of steel rebars.

"Enough!" Kenuji shouts. He steps into the arena, his psychic energy flaring purple. "Match over! Yoshi wins by ring out!"

Muji sits up in the pile of metal. He rubs his head. "I wasn't ringed out! I was just... resting".

"You were upside down in a pile of junk", Yoshi points out, walking over and offering a hand. "Good fight, Tiger".

Muji grabs Yoshi's hand and pulls himself up. He grins, a wild, happy look. "Yeah. Good fight. I feel much better. The itch is gone".

"You two made a mess", Inoe says, looking around. The floor is cracked, there are holes everywhere, and there is a pile of mud in the center. "How are we going to explain this if anyone finds it?"

"We won't", Yoshi shrugs. "It is an abandoned building. It is supposed to look trashy".

"Wait", I say.

I step forward. My skin is prickling. Not from the wind. From something else. A cold sensation on the back of my neck.

"What is it, Haruka?" Kenuji asks, seeing my face.

"Someone is watching us", I whisper.

The boys freeze. Muji's claws come back out instantly. Yoshi drops into a combat stance.

"Where?" Kenuji demands, scanning with his mind.

"Above", I say. "High above".

We all look up.

Perched on a steel girder on the floor above us-the thirty-first floor-is a bird.

It is a crow. But it is huge. Too big for a normal crow. And it is not moving. It is staring down at us with an intelligence that is definitely not animal.

And then I see it.

In the center of its forehead, hidden among the black feathers, is a third eye. A red, glowing eye.

"A Shikigami", Kenuji hisses. "A spy spirit. Someone sent a familiar to watch us".

"How long has it been there?" Yoshi growls. "Did it see us transform? Did it see our powers?"

"I don't know", I say. "But it saw enough".

Muji doesn't ask questions. He grabs a piece of concrete from the floor and throws it. He has a pitcher's arm. The rock flies like a bullet toward the crow.

The crow doesn't fly. It dissolves.

It bursts into a cloud of black smoke and feathers before the rock even hits it. The smoke swirls in the wind and dissipates.

"It vanished", Muji says, disappointed. "I missed".

"You didn't miss", Kenuji says grimly. "The master summoned it back. Whoever owns that crow just recalled it to download its memories".

Silence falls over the rooftop. The wind whistles through the steel beams, sounding like a lonely ghost. The excitement of the fight is gone, replaced by a cold knot of dread in my stomach.

"We have been compromised", Inoe says quietly. Her arms are crossed, hugging herself. "Someone knows about us. Someone knows there are five powerful Yokai living in Tokyo".

"Is it an enemy?" I ask.

"It is never a friend", Yoshi says. He kicks a piece of rubble over the edge of the building. We listen to it fall. It takes a long time to hit the ground.

"We need to be careful", Kenuji says. "From now on, we stay alert. No more flashy fights in the open. We check our surroundings. We protect the Hoshi family".

"Let them come", Muji says. He picks up his shirt and dusts it off. "I am just warmed up. If they want a fight, I will give them a war".

"Let's go home", Yoshi says. "I'm tired. And I smell like wet cement".

We transform back into cats. The transition feels safer this time, like putting on armor. As a cat, I am small. I can hide.

We descend the building in silence. We run back through the city, sticking to the shadows. Every shadow looks a little deeper now. Every bird on a telephone wire looks suspicious.

We make it back to the Hoshi house. We climb through the window. The house is warm and quiet. The TV is still on, playing the cooking show.

Naomi is asleep in her bed upstairs. Hajime is asleep in his room. They are safe.

We curl up in our spots in the living room. Muji falls asleep instantly, exhausted from the fight. But I stay awake for a long time, watching the window, waiting for the flash of a red eye in the darkness.

The game has changed. We are not just hunters anymore. We might be prey.