Confronting the Flame Scorpion

“To think she was right there these five whole years, and I never doubted a thing!” Kazuya exclaimed. He remembered every morning and evening with Ms Kegawa, her smile, her friendly scolding, every minor grumble and hearty joke… It all felt like poison.

He fell to his knees on the deserted stage. The NYHPA members had evacuated, and so had the crowd. Only the injured Ginrei, Kenzō, and Inuko were with Kazuya now. He had already told them about Kasane’s kidnapping and that Matsuri Kegawa was the Flame Scorpion. But, even as he had relayed it, he still found it hard to believe.

“Kasane always said she was fishy…” He teared up, angry with himself for not noticing the patterns as his sister did. “If only I had listened to her! And Grandma Rin? What will she say when she finds out? She trusted Ms Kegawa so much, and yet she… That monster!”

He hit his fists on the floor. Ten years of grief over his parents and the recent discovery of his elderly neighbour’s betrayal crushed him. He broke into tears. Inuko watched him with drooping ears. She knelt beside him and embraced him, wrapping her fluffy white tail around him. Kazuya hugged her and wept.

“Alright, wipe away your tears,” Kenzō’s stern but brittle voice sounded. The pupils in his rainbow eyes had narrowed to slits, displaying the rage he tried to suppress. He was clenching his fists so hard that his claws were digging into his skin. “You can cry later! We have to save Kasane.”

Kazuya wiped away his tears, sniffling. He frowned, letting anger replace his grief. He thanked Inuko for her emotional support and stood up. He grabbed the pistol in his pocket and looked at the bag full of dragon scale bullets on his waist.

“I’ll hunt down that damned hag!” he cried. “I’ll throw her in prison and have Uncle Dairyū tear her apart!”

“That’s more like it!” Kenzō smirked, cracking his claws. He was still enraged by the circumstances and anxious about Kasane, but tried to maintain his optimism. He glanced at Ginrei, whose shoulder he had just bandaged. “Can you walk?”

“Of course, I can,” Ginrei grunted, getting up. He bared his fangs, just as pissed as Kazuya was over Kasane’s kidnapping, and terrified for her safety. “Don’t treat me like a helpless pup!” He snarled, channelling his worry into his rage. He released some purple fumes from his hands, which carried the burning wisteria fragrance characteristic of his magic. “I’ll teleport us to Kasane’s shop.”

The purple smoke enveloped the five friends. When it evaporated, they had teleported in front of Kasane’s flower shop, Blooming Haven, in Minato City.

The building was on fire. The firefighters had already arrived to contain it. Some police officers – Kazuya’s and Inuko’s colleagues – were there, too. Kazuya widened his eyes in horror. The scent of burning wood reached his nostrils. The blazing fire awakened the memories of his deceased parents’ bodies lying motionless on the stretchers. His mother’s body, with her arms lying limp, and her heart torn out… He covered his mouth, feeling nauseated.

“Kasane…” he whispered. “Kasane!” He dashed towards the shop. He elbowed through the police officers, showing them his badge. “Let me through, damn it! This is my sister’s house! Kasane!”

He advanced, his mind numb, his goal set in stone. The firefighters’ siren rang in his ears, the police officers’ murmurs and cries all meshed together in his mind, incoherent. He was about to barge into the burning building despite the officers’ and the firefighters’ warnings when powerful, clawed hands grabbed him and pulled him back. It was timely, for burnt debris fell right before Kazuya’s nose. The hands holding him belonged to Kenzō.

“Let me go!” Kazuya cried, tearing up again. He struggled against Kenzō’s grip and glared at the burning house. “I need to find Kasane!”

“Settle down!” Kenzō shouted. “If you run into that building now, you might die. Let Ginrei and Inuko handle it!”

As he said that, Ginrei and Inuko barged into the shop. Both of them had donned their canine forms. Ginrei was a white, nine-tailed fox with crimson eyes and as big as a draft horse, while Inuko was a horse-sized, fluffy white dog with golden eyes, resembling the Samoyed breed. Kazuya stared at them, dumbstruck. He’d never seen them as animals before, so the shock snapped him out of his panic.

“G-Ginrei and… Inuko?”

Only now did he realise what dating a canine yōkai actually meant, both for him and Kasane. No matter the attractive human forms Ginrei and Inuko had, they were animals at their core… or, at least, half-animal, in Inuko’s case. But that didn’t matter – their true forms were those of a fox and a dog. And yet, somehow, that didn’t disturb Kazuya. He considered Inuko too lovely to care about her feral side as a thunder dog.

Snuggling a fluffy dog that big wouldn’t hurt me right now… He thought. He imagined hugging Inuko’s dog form and sinking his face into her fluff to calm down. His muscles relaxed. I should totally do that after we rescue Kasane…

Ginrei and Inuko returned. They panted, and Inuko even had her tongue out. They shook their bodies to dust the ashes off their white fur. They looked at Kazuya and Kenzō. Ginrei opened his muzzle, and his deep, resonant voice flowed out of it.

“Kasane’s not inside,” he said. “Neither is the hag.”

“I sniffed around for their scent,” Inuko joined in the conversation, her voice still soft and upbeat despite her beastly muzzle. “It was the strongest near Kasane’s counter. They must’ve teleported from there.”

“Ugh, curse it!” Kenzō snarled and let go of Kazuya. “How the hell do we find them now?”

“Perhaps she took her to the Demon Realm?” Inuko tilted her head to the side and wagged her tail.

“Nah.” Kenzō crossed his arms. “Kasane is an Herbal Mage. Every demon would be after her if the Flame Scorpion dragged her into the Demon Realm. We were lucky last time because Ginrei’s barrier was hiding her.” He pointed to the fox with his clawed thumb. “Now, that barrier is broken.”

“But then, where is she?” Ginrei screeched, his nine tails bristling. The reminder of his barrier’s breaking and his failure to protect Kasane displeased him.

Kazuya put his hand on his chin, falling into his thoughts. He had completely overcome his panic and regained his investigative attitude.

“Ms Kegawa mentioned how the lava cover helped the Flame Scorpion, i.e. her, survive even a megatsunami back at Mt Unzen,” he muttered. “What if she was telling me the truth? In that case, she should’ve taken Kasane to a volcano, to stay safe.”

“A volcano?” Ginrei tilted his head to the side. “The only volcano here is Mt Fuji, and it’s a sacred place. A demon like that hag should have no access.”

“Unless she goes underground,” Kenzō said. “Mt Fuji is surrounded by wisteria blossom parks that deter evil yōkai. But demons can fester underground, especially near the crater.”

“And that’s where Ms Kegawa would be, as a fire creature.” Kazuya nodded.

“Alright, get ready!” Ginrei snarled, swirling his nine tails.

He exhaled some purple fumes that smelled like burning wisteria. He enveloped the friends in it and teleported them to a cavern in the crater of Mt Fuji. Kenzō wrapped them in Water Magic barriers so that the heat from the bubbling lava wouldn’t hurt them. In the cavern, Inuko sniffed the air. She pricked up her ears and barked at a certain cave entrance.

“Kasane’s and the Flame Scorpion’s scents are coming from there!” she cried.

She ran into the cave, and the friends followed her. Kazuya whipped out the pistol from his pocket and loaded it with the dragon scale bullets, ready for battle. Ginrei winced in pain and limped as he ran, for his injury continued to hurt. The venom still circulated in his body because, as a kami, Kenzō couldn’t heal him, another kami’s guardian, completely.

They emerged into a hot chamber deep underground, with lava flowing down the walls in small waterfalls. Giant, sticky green cobwebs ran through the ceiling, which Kazuya recognised as Ms Kegawa’s craft. A large cocoon hung down the centre of the ceiling, as though a wrapped human body. Kazuya felt his blood curdling.

“Kasane!” he cried, glaring at the cocoon in distress.

The cobwebs shook, vibrating as something walked on them. A gigantic body stirred in the shadows, hissing. It stepped into the light – an ugly red arachnid with eight spider legs, eight black eyes with white pupils like Ms Kegawa’s, two deadly pincers on her arms, and a long, flexible scorpion tail ending with a sharp tip, from which fiery venom dripped, marking burns on the stone floor at each drop.

“So, you, brats, found me…” A high-pitched voice of an old woman sounded from the arachnid’s mouth, mixed with a spider’s squeak. To Kazuya’s horror, it was Ms Kegawa’s voice. The Flame Scorpion’s mouth widened, her venomous fangs lurching forward. It was her style of a vicious grin. “Well, no matter… I did think you’d find me, smart as you are, honey!” She cackled, her eight eyes glowering at Kazuya, making him shiver. “I feel somewhat bad for Rin… But, like your late father, you tend to step into the wrong areas and witness what you’re not supposed to.” Her tail coiled, holding its tip menacingly. “I’ll have to kill you as I did him!”