After dropping of Ms. Unagi, Eva lingered for a moment to take in the view of Tokyo sprawling out before her. With a silent sigh, the Kitsune turned around towards the small torii behind her. While she would have loved nothing more than to watch the clouds part around the Fuji and be glad her idea to bring Hanako here had worked, there was still the issue of the angry Tengu at the shrine.

After a short stroll along the fox road, Eva returned and quickly crossed the shrine grounds. Once inside, she quickly made her way upstairs towards Komaki’s room where he had taken the intruder. Sliding the door closed with one of her tails, Eva sat down next to Toya to watch the two ancient yokais talk. Poking him with her forepaw, she whispered. “So what have I missed so far?”

“Not much really,” Toya quietly replied. “Komaki spent most of the time first calming the Tengu down so they actually could have a conversation, not a shouting match.” The Tanuki interrupted himself with an annoyed sigh. “And until just now they were trying to figure out just how out of date he is.”

As they fell silent, both of them listened more intently to the ongoing conversation.

“So how did you come to the conclusion your daughter is here?” Komaki inquired, seemingly about to pinch his nose, before bringing his hand down to stroke his chin.

“The old Yamauba[1] living near us divined her location.” The Tengu replied as he brought out a map so old pieces of it flaked off as he unrolled it. “She even used my newest map of Edo and her human knucklebones to confirm it.”

At the mention of human bones, Eva flinched away. She was trying to get her composure back when something small and hard hit her on the head.

While Komaki was moving on to inquire why the tengu had jumped straight to armed assault, Eva looked up. There sitting against the side of a wooden beam somehow, was Ratatoskr, with a tiny, squirrel sized bag in his paws. And judging by the peanut that was headed for her snout, it was filled with snacks.

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“How long has he been here?” Eva whispered to Toya with a quick nod upwards.

“Not sure, at least since I got back from bringing you and Ms. Unagi your tea.”

“Because your Kami must have imprisoned her here for whatever imaginary slight she could make up.” came the reply from the Intruder, snapping the Kitsune’s attention back to the conversation playing out before her.

“How did you get that idea?” Eva interrupted from the sidelines, her self control shaken by the accusation.

“So eager to defend your mistress are you little fox?” The Tengu replied with a snarl, his head snapping to the German. “But what other reason could there be for my little star to be away for so long.”

“So what would you do,” Komaki said, drumming his fingers on the small table between them to draw the Tengu’s attention back to himself, “if she was staying away from you of her own volition?”

“That’s impossible. She would never willingly miss one of our games of Go.” Came the immediate response as he crossed his arms defensively.

“Children can be unpredictable at the best of times.” Komaki replied, his gaze dropping downwards. “So assuming she didn’t return because she doesn’t want to for one reason or another, what would you do about it?”

“Take her back of course. The world is too dangerous to just let her wander around on her own so far from home.” The Tengu replied, slamming his fist on the table. “But this doesn’t matter because you are keeping her here against her will.”

As the conversation between the two old yokai began to turn circular due to the Tengu’s refusal to entertain the possibility that Karasuza might not be forced to stay someplace except her home, Eva could hear someone approaching slowly.

A moment later, Karasuza opened the door, a faint smile spreading across her lips as she spotted the locals. “Ah there you all are, I put the groceries away but-” when she spotted the Tengu, she choked on the rest of her words, a panicked expression on her face.

Before anyone could react, she hastily stumbled backwards.