Days began to fall into a more and more comfortable rhythm as the trio made their way to Ueno. Slowly but surely, Masami’s injuries healed up, and soon she was able to walk at near the pace she’d kept at the outset of the journey. Toshiro and Yasuko sparred daily now, usually followed by a stroll together through the woods. Masami was happy enough to let them have their alone time. She’d never admit it, but she needed the extra rest, and happy as she was for them, seeing them arm in arm reminded her of what she was missing.
Things got quieter the further they traveled towards the mountains. Many towns were boarded up and abandoned, or reduced to rubble. The larger ones sported newly-built walls and patrols made of terrified-looking militia. The people kept indoors as much as possible, dashing across the streets if they found a need to be outside. Masami, Toshiro, and Yasuko would find a place to sleep, restock their supplies, and move on. The wilderness was less eerie, Masami noted. Better to enjoy the calmness of nature than wallow in the fear of the villages. Neither Toshiro nor Yasuko could disagree.
After passing through the third such town, on the tenth day since leaving Kurume, the foothills began. The trio’s pace slowed considerably, as Toshiro and Yasuko would often have to help or even carry Masami up the steeper inclines. Going down was even worse. Masami spent the first night in agony after stumbling down a hill and bracing herself on her bad leg. From then on they were more careful, taking inclines slowly and deliberately. Masami grumbled about the loss of time, but there was nothing to be done about it.
The next night, as the trio searched for a reasonable place to camp, Masami felt Jiro press his presence into her mind. It never felt less strange, to have a second consciousness alongside her own. The tengu’s thoughts were heavy next to her own. She never tried to unravel them. Every time she had tried when she was younger, she had been unable to understand the workings of his alien mind. Besides, she thought, there couldn’t possibly be anything in there she would want to know.
Hey boss? There’s a weird presence in the air.
Great. Anything more concrete than that?
It’s not one of my kind. I think it comes from your world.
But it’s weird.
Yeah. Really weird. I can’t tell what it is, but it’s got some kind of fuzzy energy to it.
Where?
It’s all around us. You seriously don’t notice that? Ugh, the smell of it is sickening.
Masami slipped back to reality and glanced around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There was no movement, save for Yasuko laying out her bedroll next to Toshiro’s, and Toshiro preparing some of the food they’d bought in the last town. The treeline was empty.
Above us.
Masami looked up. At first, she saw nothing. But as she stared, she noticed a faint, wobbling light painting a patch of sky directly overhead. It shimmered, causing the stars behind it to twinkle and dance far more than their neighbors. Masami grinned.
Just means we’re in a place of power. This is a good thing, actually. Yokai hate places like this. We used them to our advantage in the war, you know. We’d find a protected haven and rest there for the night without worry.
Ugh. I don’t like it. Can we go somewhere else?
Live with it.
Masami shut the tengu out of her mind with a practiced coldness. Face softening, she turned to Toshiro, calling out “hey kid! Go ahead and light us a fire, will you? We’re under a kami’s protection tonight.”
Toshiro’s face brightened. “Really? You mean it? Oh please tell me you’re not kidding around, a hot meal would be so nice right now.”
“Knock yourself out. I’m going to go wander around a bit, see if I can’t find a place to leave an offering. Cook up some extra of whatever you’re making. It’d be incredibly disrespectful not to leave some food for the spirits.”
Toshiro nodded enthusiastically as Masami made for the edge of their small camp. She pressed her hand against a nearby oak and took a deep breath. Oh great kami, thank you for your protection. With her thanks spoken, she began to wander, mostly aimlessly, in ever-widening circles around camp. Finally, after nearly twenty minutes of searching, she found what she was looking for - a half-overgrown shrine at the base of a tall oak. She noted its location and made her way back to camp. Toshiro was grilling some jerky over a small fire while Yasuko watched. He waved Masami over as he saw her approaching, offering her a skewer.
“Thanks, Toshiro. You’re the best.” Masami devoured the food with precious little decorum. Noticing her two companions staring at her, she shrugged. “What? It’s been ages since we had any decent food.”
Yasuko was entirely taken aback, but Toshiro couldn’t help but laugh.
“Whatever. Eat your food how you want, and leave me to mine!” Masami was chuckling now too. “And hand me one of those skewers. I found a shrine, I’m going to go leave it as an offering.”
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Toshiro tossed another her way, quipping “make sure you don’t eat it on the way!” as she disappeared into the trees. She flashed him a bemused look, and then she was gone. Toshiro leaned back next to the fire, sighing.
“I’d kinda forgotten how nice it was to have a fire going out in the woods.” Yasuko had already looped her arm through his. Toshiro smiled softly as he felt her lean up against him. “Dad used to take me with him out into the forest around Amagasaki. We’d stay in the wilderness for a few days at a time, just wandering along old trails and living off the food he could trap or find.”
“That sounds very peaceful.”
“It was. He taught me how to light a proper fire and keep it going all night, how to roast meats and fruits and nuts... I really miss the simpler times like that, you know?”
“I do.” She sighed.
“Right, of course. I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. We will fix what can be fixed.” Yasuko gave Toshiro’s arm a light squeeze. “Besides, it is not as if life is all bad now.”
Toshiro grinned, leaning down to plant a kiss on top of her head. He was as surprised as she was, acting on impulse.
“Sorry, should I... not do that?”
Yasuko shook her head without thinking. “No, it is fine. Nice, even.” She nearly whispered the last words.
Masami returned not long after to find them asleep, curled up against each other. She put aside the twinge of longing for Kohaku and threw her own blankets over herself. The night was peaceful, and she slept well despite herself. Farther off in the woods, a spirit accepted its offering.
All of them were reluctant to leave the shrouded copse the next morning. But their goal still lay far ahead of them, and haste was imperative. They had already lost days to Masami’s injuries. So they hurried on, each saying a final thank you to the kami who had kept them safe for the night. A cool wind followed them all morning as they walked, soothing against the warming sun. Soon, they were out of the treeline and onto the winding path up into the taller hills. Ueno was no more than two days out by Masami’s reckoning. It lay at the peak of one of the smaller mountains in the range, a peak they could all see. The tangible closeness of it spurred them on, and for a time, spirits were high.
An hour or so after their midday break, clouds began to roll overhead from beyond the mountains. Another hour after that, the rain began. It poured in a terrible deluge, soaking the travelers through. With not even the canopy of the woods to grant them shelter, they were left cold and wet. The nearly black rain seemed as though it would never relent, and the clouds only became thicker and darker as time went on.
Yasuko noticed the figures first. They were dreadfully subtle, shadows against the hillside who seemed to form before her eyes. As she called out to her companions, Masami drew her sword.
“Great. Dustlings. Look sharp, everyone. They’re not terribly dangerous alone, but don’t let your guards down.”
Toshiro and Yasuko each drew steel of their own. The three of them backed against one another, forming a defensive ring. But the creatures did not approach. Not at first. They simply sat, waiting, as more of their brethren drizzled down from above. Masami glanced up. She was sure she saw something moving within the darkest of the clouds. A giant arm, or a serpent perhaps. She grimaced at the thought. If there really was a monster up there, it would be massive. Unkillable, maybe.
She had little time to continue the thought. Something triggered the Dustlings’ killing instinct, and within a moment they were upon the trio. They charged and swarmed and writhed, but were cut down with relative ease. Masami, Toshiro, and Yasuko formed an impenetrable wall of steel around each other. The creatures never stood a chance. The Dust which made them up was kicked high into the air, swirling around the battlefield.
And then it began to recoalesce.
Masami growled as one of the Dustlings she carved through reformed moments after being bisected. She heard Toshiro yelp as another formed above him. Yasuko cut it out of the air before it could land.
Jiro! Why aren’t they dying?
Because you aren’t killing them. He spoke dismissively, as though Masami had just asked him the color of the sky.
Ugh. Fine. I thought doing this the normal way worked temporarily at least.
Yes. Very temporarily.
Alright then, time to eat up.
Masami’s left arm began to sprout its signature claws as she shouted “cover me, I need to start destroying their cores!”
Toshiro and Yasuko closed around her flanks, though neither was sure what she meant. That is, until she began tearing the charcoal stones out of the nearest of the creatures, and crushing them in her left hand. One by one, the Dustlings were stilled. But even when Masami had destroyed them all, a thin cloud of Dust lingered in the air. The three of them ran out of the center of it, but it followed them. Even at a full sprint, they could not shake the cloud off of them.
Toshiro fell to the ground, rendered unconscious. As Yasuko and Masami ran back for him, they saw the cloud thickening around his face. They did all they could to fan the cloud away, to drag him from it, but it would not leave him be. Not long after, Masami slumped to the ground as well. Yasuko fought bitterly to remain conscious. She could feel the Dust invading her mind as it probed at her. The world began to sway and change. The sky swirled with a maelstrom of Dust as the ground seemed to give way before her. And then she too fell unconscious.
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Suki did not know what to make of the three unconscious travelers. Her nose twitched as she approached them. They smelled of demonsmoke, strong enough to make the fur of her tails stand on end. The older woman was especially rank. Though they all seemed human enough, that woman’s arm did not belong. Questions could wait, Suki thought. For now, it would be best to get them out of the demonsmoke rain. So she dragged them, one by one, up the hill, to the outcropping of stones where she liked to sleep on her travels.
They all had blankets on them. In fact, they were very well-prepared, Suki thought. What a strange happenstance that they should have succumbed to the weakest of the demons. Suki laid their blankets over them before setting about lighting a small fire. A snap of her fingers was all it took to light the tinder. She rummaged through the travelers’ packs to find a pot and began boiling it. From her own belongings she produced an ornate teapot and a small wooden box containing a potent-smelling tea. As the water came to a boil, she filled the teapot and dropped in a pinch of the tea leaves. All there was to do now was wait.