The man fingered the necklace that he now wore. He liked it here, rather than in its pocket. He liked the way it felt against his skin. He could feel the power surging from it. And it reminded him of the person he stole it from. It was heavier and larger than a regular necklace. It was made of stone and it was meant for a statue, but that did not bother the man. The thing that pleased him most about the necklace was its former owner.

The guardian.

The pitiful human who had ruined his plans! But today his mission concerned neither the human nor the other artifacts. Today the man was tasked with something quite different. He smirked. This would be interesting. He had been made aware by his lord that a group of hunters had been alerted to his presence. He chuckled to himself, no doubt it was that foolish woman from Kitayashi. The one who had fought him in the caves. The one who had saved the boy. She had connections did she? That meant they were already on his trail. A lesser creature might be worried. The man was not

Good. Let them come.

Everything was proceeding according to plan. But the hunters were an unneeded complication. Things would be tricky, time was becoming more and more important in the equation. He would have to deal with the problem swiftly and tactfully. He was causing too much of a scene. Attracting too much attention One spirit or demon, wouldn't bring anyone together. Guardians were solitary folk, but the hunters, well... they had become a growing nuisance over the years. Rogues, they didn't have respect for the old ways. They did their business out in the street. got humans involved. Even the boy’s family did not do such a thing.

No respect. These young creatures have no respect.

He could feel them, hear them, smell them. There were five tailing him currently. The man let them follow him. He felt the weight of the two swords he'd stolen from the shrine guardian as they pressed against his legs from their hiding places on the inside of his robes. He led the hunters slowly towards the warehouse district.

This town was unlike the previous ones he’d visited, mostly industrial, so this was not hard to find. The few apartment buildings and entertainment complexes were relegated to the city center. Those were now well behind him. The neon lights of those businesses had all winked out of existence and now there was only the hard orange glow of street lamps, each of them getting farther and farther apart. The man loved the darkness. As it grew, so too did his strength. He could hear and feel things more and more acutely.

This group, these five… they were impressive. Each time he sent out a tendril of energy to probe them he felt it rebound off of their shields. They were protecting themselves. They’d had training. But truly, what were the years of mortal training to the time he’d spent in the beyond, a place where time itself had no meaning? They were so young. Foolish. Brave. He would soon disabuse them of these notions.

The wide street had now completely narrowed into an alleyway. The man slowed. The five must be behind him, on the road, for there was no place to hide. He could have turned to face them there. But it was still too open. Still not ideal. The hunters seemed to agree. And so the dance continued. The alleyway ended in a large gate seeming to block off a large group of run down buildings. Some kind of processing plant. The man looked over the gate towards the complex in front of him.

It was, of course, locked. But that need not matter

He pulled out the orb from his robe, the small metal ball seemed to shine even in the absence of light. He focused his power and energy into it, through it and it began to glow a burning bright red he opened his palms and it floated upwards. The man heard scuttering sounds behind him, and felt tensions rise.

The hunters were worried he was about to attack. But there was nothing for them to fear, this was still an appetizer. He was just going to have a little fun. The man closed his eyes and focused his power. The metal ball shot through the slats of the gate. The man now saw the world through a strange blurry set of impressions as he focused his consciousness, imprinted it, upon the floating inanimate object… searching… for the perfect location.

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Dark. Abandoned. Somewhere fit for slaughter. He passed building after building. Each one had a problem with it. Too much light. The whirr of machinery still in operation. Then he found it.

It appeared to be an abandoned warehouse of some sorts. The orb entered through a large hole in the corrugated iron siding. Inside were a long forgotten assembly line of machines lining the ground floor, most rusted and broken down. In the near pitch black they were merely large jagged shapes to the naked eye. But the man could see everything, for the blackness was where he thrived. All along the second story sides of the structure was a walkway, no doubt where a foreman would patrol to watch his worker bees. The man felt a heavy taint of death and despair here. Perhaps an accident? Perhaps just the soulness nature of the work itself? It did not matter. This… this was the place he would face them.

The orb dropped to the floor and began to spin and smoke. The man outside of the gate disappeared and reappeared. He became the man inside the warehouse, teleported instantaneously. He reached down, picked up the orb and pocketed it. He inhaled. The scent of decay and mildew. What a lovely thing. He sat in the very center of the warehouse floor, crossing his legs and forming a steeple with his thumbs as he lay his hands in his lap. He breathed in and out, focusing his energy once more.

Now, it was time to wait. The hunters would come to him. They would find their own way in. And here they would die.

***

"Is this it master!? Will it go fast? Is it LOUD!?"

Kira paced the exterior of the unmoving train excitedly, rattling off questions without waiting for any answers. We had managed to get her to wrap her tail around her waist and tuck it inside a white jumper. The jumper also served the dual purpose of covering up the rather erotic sight of her maid uniform which barely contained or covered any part of the cat spirit. I wondered, was she truly oblivious to the way she looked? Even with the jumper she turned heads with her cute face and large chest. I supposed she was still wearing the skirt, which showed off her legs. But at least we’d gotten halfway there.

Her ears were simpler. We’d given her a wraparound sunhat and tucked her ears in as well. This shaded her yellow eyes somewhat as well. What worried me most, however, was not that Kira would be discovered as a cat girl or draw attention to us just from her appearance, cute, sexy, cat or otherwise. No, what worried me was that she just couldn’t seem to sit still!

As if on queue the train let out a hiss and the doors slid open and Kira took off at a rapid clip towards the front. While she did so her short skirt rose up, flashing everyone on the platform with pink polka dot panties. Those were obviously Hana’s. At least she’d given her some. I smacked my forehead and looked at Hana. She gave me a shrug.

“We’d better follow her, I guess she wants to sit at the front!”

*

Once we were safely aboard I could breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed 2:00pm on a Monday was not a popular time to go to Okaino. Although when was, truly? And our trip would be short. Only two hours by slow train. Hana pulled out a laptop and began to do some accounting. Kira was looking out the window, her tail loose and wagging. I looked around our cabin, there was one old man in the far corner deep in a newspaper who did not have a good angle to see us (for Kira’s back was to him. I decided to risk it and let her tail wag free. I said nothing. Her ears, at least, were still securely fastened under the cap, that much was good at least. And she hadn’t tried to strip off the sweater.

I heard Kira gasp as the train began to move, her eyes darting back and forth as we picked up speed and the landscape began to open up before us. The small huddle of buildings that comprises the downtown core of Kitayashi was soon left behind us as we entered a world of pure green, rice field after field, punctuated by the occasional traditional tile roof and brick walled house or shed. I expected Kira to be her usual inquisitive self but instead she just watched, wide eyed and open mouth, as the scenery unfurled before us. I smiled. It was nice to watch it through her eyes.

A person can become jaded with experience.But to see her joy it reminded me of how magical it was to ride the train into Kitayashi as a boy. How it felt to leave the big city of Tokyo and get lost in the verdant green of the countryside where anything was possible. As cell reception worsened and gameboy batteries died I was forced to enter a world of my own imagination. I used to create whole worlds in the scenes that passed by on the train. Elves and Orks and Demons and Samurai, all fighting. Western and Eastern mythology from the T.V. and from manga all blending together to create my own new and magical worlds.

Kira’s tail whacked me across the face, interrupting my thoughts. I winced. Snapped back to reality. Well, the truth was, my reality was more magical and stranger than anything I could have ever imagined. I checked my watch. Ten minutes down, an hour and fifty left to go. I’d better try to take a nap. Okaino would come soon enough. And then I had to be ready. We were about to step into the unknown. I had no idea what we would find as we began our hunt for the summoner.

But I will find him. And I will stop him.