Paul numbly stared at Inari’s lifeless corpse… he couldn’t think, his mind refused to process the enormity of it. He barely even registered the sounds of Izumi and Tamamo trying to talk to him, demanding to know what had happened.

However, Angelic slowly standing up, jolted him out of his state of shock. With a wordless snarl of pure rage he lunged at her, jamming the barrel of his pistol into her mouth. His finger tightened on the trigger, about to send her back to whatever hell she’d crawled out of, when Tamamo placed her hand over his.

“No Paul-sama. We might need her alive.”

“What? Give me one good reason why...”

Paul froze, as a thought flashed through his mind. Looking at Angelic, who was staying very still, his eyes narrowed.

“You said your task was to bring Inari’s soul to Izanami… am I correct in thinking that’s where her soul has gone?”

“Yesh! Only ‘er body ish dead. ‘Er ‘oul ish in Yomi.”

Angelic jerked, shuddering, and as Paul took a step back, her eyes rolled up into her head. She rose, not so much standing but as if she was being pulled upwards by an unseen set of strings like some marionette.

“My doll talks too much… no matter, yes Inari is with me now!”

The voice that came out of Angelic’s motionless mouth was deeper than her own high pitched girlish one, it sounded as if it was coming from somewhere far away, malice dripping from every syllable like poison.

“The Goddess Izanami I presume.”

Angelic bobbed a curtsy like a puppet on strings.

“For an outlander your manners are impeccable.”

“Thank you, They do say that Manners maketh the Man... Now give Inari back.”

Paul’s voice fairly smoked from the heat of anger behind it. But Izanami just wagged a finger at him.

“No… she is my guest now. I will return her, maybe, if you do the following. You will destroy that annoying device of yours, and make sure that no-one else is able to build one. You will make certain all knowledge of it is erased, and you will seal Inari’s mine once and for all, so no-one else is able to find those crystals.”

Paul drew in a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled.

“I see… permit me a question. It’s been you, or your agents I should say, behind every move to destroy Inari’s mountain home hasn’t it? It’s been you spying on us, and interfering at every opportunity, even setting the Monster Hunters of Division Three on our trail. Am I correct?”

“Well done little mortal. You really are quite clever in a limited sort of way. Yes, I’ve been working towards my goal for centuries. My machinations are subtle and complex far beyond your mortal understanding... and then you and your silly little toy and your silly little faded goddess dare to defy me! You’ve almost ruined everything! But you think you can stop me? You who are only a small step above dumb animals. Well now you know you can’t!. You will obey me you stupid mortal!”

“No.”

For moment there was a disbelieving silence.

“What did you say? No? What is the meaning of this, no?

“I said No. No means no. As in no I’ll not obey you. No, I won’t destroy the mana generator, or blow up the mine, and No, like Hell will I let you win! I know what you’re doing, kidnapping divinities around the world, draining the magic from our world so that everything starts dying. It’s the same thing you’ve always done.. trying to destroy life itself out of a fit of envious rage.”

“I will make Inari suffer for your insolence you worm!”

Paul stepped forward until his nose was almost touching Angelic’s, and stared straight into her dead white eyes.

“No you won’t you withered, rotten bag of bones and corruption, because I am coming to rescue her, and all the others you’re holding in Yomi. And if so much as one hair of hers has been harmed I will make you wish you could die all over again, just to escape my wrath.”

Angelic did not move, but somehow Paul got the impression Izanami recoiled from him just slightly.

“Impossible, you can’t…”

“If you think that, then you haven’t been paying attention, and I know you have… Look at everything I have done so far, and now imagine what I can do when I am absolutely, well and truly, pissed off!”

Angelic’s face contorted in rage.

“You dare threaten me! I am Death itself, you wouldn’t dare...”

“If there is one thing you should know by now, is that you should never ever say ‘you wouldn’t dare’ to me.. because yes, I will dare, and more. Inari, if you can hear me, I am coming to rescue you. Izanami, you can’t stop me and I am going to make you suffer.”

Angelic’s mouth started to open again, but before she could say anything, Paul shot her in the hollow of her throat, severing the spinal column. As her body dropped to it’s knees like a puppet with it’s strings cut, he caught hold of her head, placed one foot on her lap and with a twist and a pull severed the last strands of embalmed flesh holding her head to her body. Paul lifted the head up while her body collapsed to the floor, thick black fluid slowly oozing from the ragged stump of her neck.

Behind him he could hear Izumi being quietly sick. For a moment he stood, the golden light of the setting sun adding a surreal air to the scene. Paul was thankful that the carriage was empty, he had no idea where the other passengers had gone, if they’d even been there in the first place. But right now he had no desire to deal with the hysterics that would’ve been the result of everything that just happened.

In an almost normal tone of voice Paul spoke without turning around.

“Tamamo?”

“Yes Holmes-dono?”

“Can you use some magic to preserve Inari’s body for now? There is a lot to do, and I’m not too sure how long it will take, but I suspect rather longer than it would… ahh.. keep. I have a sneaking suspicion it will be a lot easier putting her back together if her body hasn’t gone off like spoiled meat in the meantime.”

“Yes Holmes-dono. I can do that.”

“Jolly good...and Tamamo…”

“Yes?”

“Knock off the formalities will you? It’s annoying.”

He could hear her swallow behind him.

“Yes Paul-san, as you wish. Might this one be permitted to ask a question?”

Paul sighed.

“If you’re about to ask what the plan is, the answer is ...there is no plan. Not yet anyway. And I am going to keep it that way as long as possible because I am quite certain that someone has been spying on us for a number of months now, and I haven’t found a way to prevent it entirely. But if I don’t know what I’m going to do next, then neither will they.”

There was a long silence, then a soft chuckle from Tamamo-no-Mae floated on the air.

“Paul-san, you have no idea how grateful I am that you were not the one hunting me oh-so many years ago. Because you scare me, and if Izanami wasn’t madder than a snake stung by a hornet, she would be terrified too.”

Paul chuckled, a sound devoid of any real mirth and as hollow as an empty tomb.

“Don’t worry. I am done messing around now and I have every intention of teaching her the meaning of fear. ”

-----------

Paul had no clear recollection of events after the train arrived. Whenever he tried to remember he would get snapshots, like photo’s taken and left scattered on the floor of his memory.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

From somewhere a sheet had been found to wind around Inari’s body. He suspected it was from the sleeper carriage and provided by the train’s staff. He remembered getting off the train at Kami, although they had to have changed trains at least twice before that, he had no memory of the rest of the journey. The last sliver of the dying sun was showing above the horizon, when he stepped onto the platform, painting the world in blood red hues. He remembered the shocked expressions on people’s faces as he carried Inari’s still form in his arms, his heart shattered inside him once again.

He remembered the pain he felt, looking down at Inari’s pale face, and thinking just how odd it was, that she was so light. But it was if he was writing about some character in one of his novels… he saw and felt everything, but in some way he was detached from it all, as if he was standing a short distance behind himself and watching events unfold.

Part of him recognised it as disassociation, his mind trying to protect itself, but mostly he just didn’t care. The focus brought by adrenaline had worn off, and now he was forced to face the reality of life without Inari.

Climbing the temple steps in the gathering twilight, the sunset only just staining the sky like a wound and the night drawing in before him, he felt a cold hand on his shoulder and glanced to one side. Beside him floated Kate. She said nothing, because there was nothing that could be said, but her eyes spoke for her. Paul nodded.

This time, the ending would be different he promised himself, but his traitorous heart didn’t quite believe it.

He was met at the top of the stairs by a hollow-eyed Shoko and Kiko who was half-blind with tears. For a moment, he blanked on what to say, how could he of all people console them in their grief when he’d never made peace with his own?

For a moment they stood, and then in a voice half choked with a thick clot of emotion, Paul spat out.

“Izanami attacked us, or rather her Herald did. She took Inari’s soul… It’s not over though. Not yet, not for her. Inari… Inari once said that Kami don’t die easily. I’ll get her back. I swear by all that’s holy, I will get her back.”

He walked past them and into the inner shrine. Kicking the doors at the back of the shrine open, he strode into the pocket of Celestial realm beyond, his boot heels ringing on the marble floor.

Gently he lowered Inari’s body down onto her chaise lounge, removing the winding sheet and tidying the folds of her clothing before, almost as an afterthought, he took down a gauzy translucent curtain of red silk, and draped it over her.

She almost looked like she was only asleep. Almost. But there was something lacking, not just the absence of motion but, now that he thought of it, Something he’d taken for granted but now noticed it’s lack. The sense of Inari’s presence, that subtle vital unseen radiance, was missing. And without that, no matter how alive her body looked, it might as well have been a plastic figurine.

Behind him he heard a soft sound, and turning beheld Shoko and Kiko standing, having followed him, staring with lifeless eyes, too shocked to show any sign of emotion.

“M..Mother… she’s dead?”

Paul draw in a deep breath, and slowly exhaled before nodding, then quickly added.

“Her body is… her soul is… not. She’s in Yomi, kidnapped in effect by Izanami. We’re going to get her back.”

Kiko looked confused.

“What happened? Why.. how? How are you going to ‘get her back’… she’s dead!”

Paul shrugged, and abruptly he felt a bone-deep weariness such as he had felt in many long years. He sat on the stairs at Inari’s feet, and sighed.

“It’s… complicated. Izanami has been behind everything, magic fading, the gods going missing, the falling fertility rates world-wide, the threats to this mountain… It’s all been her, draining life away slowly. Bringing magic back and revitalising the land really threw a spanner in the works for her, and she’s been working to undo all we’ve done back since then. I guess she just ran out of patience in the end. She took Inari’s soul down to Yomi, and is holding her hostage until I do as she wants.”

“What does she want you to do?”

Paul glanced dully up at Kiko, and shook his head.

“Doesn’t matter, she’s not getting it. Not that I could put the genie back into the bottle anyway I can’t unmake the mana generator… not when I’ve put the plans online. Huh! That’s a thought… she should’ve known it was impossible, unless… but I guess an ancient primordial Goddess might not understand how the internet works.”

Shoko stepped forward and sat down next to Paul, placing a small arm around his waist and leaning against him.

“You… you said you’d bring Mother Inari back?”

“I did, and I will. I just don’t know how yet.”

Shoko nodded, and tearfully smiled up at Paul, causing him to raise an eyebrow at her.

“Ok.”

“Ok?”

Shoko nodded.

“Ok. I believe you. If you say you will, then you will. Whatever you need, I’ll help… we’ll all help, right Kiko?”

Kiko nodded silently as Paul looked at her, then tremulously smiled.

“I’m with Shoko-san. You’ve done the impossible once already. If you say you’ll walk into the Underworld, and snatch her soul from the jaws of Death and bring Inari back to life, then I believe you Paul-sama. Anything you need, we’ll be here. Now.. what can we do?”

Paul smiled, genuinely smiled even if it was a little twisted, and nodded.

“Thank you… for a start whenever it looks like I’m about to go off into a blue funk of depression again, remind me that this ain’t over just yet. There’s still hope, and I’ve still got someone’s arse to kick.”

Shoko chuckled, the merry sound echoing throughout the shadowed hall. Paul ruffled her hair, eliciting a startled ‘Eep!’ from her then he sighed.

“Ok… first there needs to be a war council… and by the powers we are at war! Kiko, I’ll need you to start making calls. Summon your sister goddesses, see if you can find out where the hell Suz-metal has gotten to, and have Katsu and Katsumi come here. They’re the very definition of heavy hitters and I think whatever plan I come up with, we’ll need them.”

Shoko bounced up and down slightly on the step next to Paul.

“Oo! Me, me! What can I do to help!”

Paul smiled fondly.

“Ok, run and fetch Yuri and Yuko, we need guards on the shrine. While you’re at the oni village tell Tatsuo that they’re are on guard duty. I don’t know that Izanami will try anything.. but I pretty much spat in her eye and called her out, so she might… and at the very least once word gets out we are going to have an influx of people for various reasons…”

“Ok Paul-san!”

“Wait just a minute speedy! I haven’t finished. I also need my notebooks, and Tamamo-no-Mae and her… companion, Izumi will need a place to stay. Talk to Arakune and tell her Izumi will be helping her run the inn we proposed, she knows more about the customer side of the business, and tell Arakune she can get some practice in by helping set up accommodations for everyone. Got all that Shoko?”

“Mmhm! Should I talk to the oni first?”

“Yup, that’s the first priority, then note books because I might have thought of something else by the time you’ve done that, and lastly Arakune”

“Ok.. I’ll bring some food as well for you Paul-san. You don’t think so well on an empty stomach. Oh! I know.. I’ll ask Usagi-chan and Chihiro to run messages too, maybe even Sakura-chan can help a little even if she is only little…”

Paul abstractly nodded.

“Ok, sure… if your friends from school don’t mind lending a hand, sure. Now, go on, I’ve got a lot to think about.”

Shoko nodded and shot off. Paul glanced at Kiko who was lingering, raising an eyebrow invited her to speak.

“Um… Paul-san...are you sure of this?”

“Absolutely. There has to be a way. There are enough stories, and I’ve found that generally, there’s always a grain of truth in every story.”

Kiko nodded slowly, her gaze lingering in the shrouded form of Inari. Then she stood up a bit straighter, her aura going from barely perceptible to a full golden glow as her chin came up.

“I’ll find the answer. If it is anywhere, it will be in Archive’s scrolls. There must be way into Yomi that doesn’t involve dying, and primordial goddess or not, Izanami must have some weakness we can use against her. I will also see if I can find how to reunite body and soul once the connection has been severed.”

Paul smiled tiredly.

“That’s the spirit, call in the troops, and then get to researching.”

“On it!”

Kiko hurried off, leaving Paul alone with his thoughts.

He wasn’t certain how long he was alone, minutes only possibly although it felt like a lot longer, when a pale blue light spilled across the floor, along with wisps of mist creeping in mouse-like across the floor. Paul looked up, and Aimi-chan was standing by the doorway, tears flowing down her face.

Paul held his arms open, and with a rush the ghostly girl was in his arms sobbing. Paul held her, stroking her long black, and currently dripping wet hair.

“Shhh, shh.. it’s ok…. It will all be alright I promise.”

Hiccuping past her tears Aimi-chan spoke, her voice reedy and echoing slightly.

“I..I.. I’m sorry Paul-san.. I’m sorry… I didn’t.. I couldn’t...I should’ve been there! I could’ve helped!”

“Don’t blame yourself Aimi, there was nothing you could’ve done. We were up against the Goddess of Death herself, and her Herald. You would’ve been more at risk than I was. She would have dragged you along too.”

“N..no… I can’t.. I can’t enter yomi. I’m cursed to be stuck here in the mortal world. Because of… you know..”

“Right, of course...I forget sometimes you are a yūrei.”

For a moment or two Aimi sat damply on Paul’s lap, clinging to him. Then she sighed.

“Shouldn’t we be preparing the rites for her?”

Paul blinked, then shook his head.

“No… because she’s not staying dead. Not if I can help it.”

Aimi frowned, then nodded.

“Ok… if anyone could it would be you. But.. well you should offer her food at least, so she’ll have something to eat in the afterlife. If she eats the food of Yomi, she won’t be able to leave.. I think. I know that’s so for normal spirits, I don’t know about Divine spirits though. Come to think of it… I don’t know what rites you’d perform for a dead Kami anyway.”

Paul frowned, and then slowly nodded.

“I think I read something like that once too…Kind of like the fae and Underhill. Alright, can you catch up with Shoko and tell her to bring a meal for two. Then come back here pronto and keep an eye open for anything spectral trying to sneak in. I think you’d be better at that than me.”

Aimi-chan grinned, somewhat disturbingly toothily, and nodded.

“Ok Paul-san. Mission Accepted. Ghost recon, on patrol!”

With a swirl of chill mist she vanished, leaving Paul chuckling in her wake. Thinking aloud as he circled the hall, finding and lighting sticks of Inari’s favourite incense then placing them in the copper braziers before putting one at each corner of the chaise lounge with it’s shrouded form.

“That girl really does play far too many video games… but I am glad she’s around. Hmm.. maybe I should make .50 cal versions of those anti-magic rounds for her sniper rifle. Might need them, what do you think Inari…?”

Paul stopped, silenced by the lump in his throat as he realised that out of habit he’d been thinking aloud to Inari…

“Aw.. fuck. Sorry… not that you can hear me anyway, but I know what you’d say if you could. Inari… if this doesn’t work.. if...if I can’t get you back. I think I may just join you instead. Sorry Kate… but I’m at my limit here. I don’t know how much more I can lose and still keep going… although not before I kick that rotted bitch’s arse that is.”

Paul sighed…

“And here I am. Talking to myself again. That’s not a good sign.”

A ghostly laugh echoed through the hall, and for a moment the tendrils of perfumed smoke seemed to create Kate’s mist-like form, floating in front of him. Paul smiled wryly..

“Ok love.. not totally talking to myself then. But talking to the dead is hardly the hallmark of sterling sanity neither. Crap.. that’s another thing I’ll need to figure out… is it even safe for you to follow me into hell like I’m proposing? Would that put you at risk, or the opposite. Would you be more solid in the lands of the dead?”

There was a vague motion that could’ve been a shrug or a swirl of the incense laden air. Paul sighed and shook his head.

“Dammit… I have more questions than I know what to do with and I need answers. You know what Inari? If I pull this off, you owe me a bloody vacation once this is over!”