His unsmiling face mottled with red and white, Yusuke stared down at them from the platform. The Shogun didn’t bother to look at them at all. That was not a good sign.

On the other side of Yumi’s legs, Ren gazed up at the Shogun, quivering like an excited kit denied attention.

Yumi yelled back at her brother, “I saved th—ah!”

Ren released her foot. Yumi struggled to remain upright on Kuro’s braided hands. Ren marched toward the Shogun, shoving aside the cowering Undesirables in his way.

“Ren!” Kuro screamed at his retreating back.

Ren took no notice. Kuro turned to tackle him to the ground, but he still had Yumi.

Yumi kneed Kuro in the neck. Kuro dropped her. She landed hard on her feet, hissing in pain. When she straightened, she glared at him, but Kuro was too busy holding onto his neck to keep his throat from collapsing.

“Er, sorry,” she said.

Kuro grunted. It was all he could manage at the moment.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“We were going to destroy the Night Parade!” Yusuke screamed. “We were going to save the empire! We were going to destroy the demons!”

“By killing hundreds of humans first?” Yumi yelled back.

“A small price to pay.”

“As if you have any idea what a small price is.” She stomped her feet. “Always overpaying for everything, because silk must become better quality if you pay twice as much for it!”

Yusuke jerked back as if she’d punched him.

Yumi clapped her hands over her mouth. “I can’t believe I said that,” she mumbled.

“About time, apparently,” Kuro said.

“Now is not the time.” Yumi shook her fists in front of her. If she continued like this, she’d be fretting. “The Night Parade is beating on the barrier.”

Human siblings. His litter-sister wouldn’t have hesitated to announce his deficiencies.

On the wall, Yusuke drew himself tall. “I let you pretend you were worth something.”

“I thought I was your precious little sister!” Yumi snapped back.

Kuro prodded her. “Good girl. Keep him distracted.”

She sent him a withering look.

The Shogun had no patience for sibling bickering. He coughed into his hand, and that carried further and louder than the onmyouji’s yells.

Yusuke turned to the Shogun. “We can still make this work. Just give me a moment.”

“It’s too late!” Yumi yelled back at her brother. “I activated the barrier. The Night Parade knows you’re here. Give up!”

“Then I’ll break the barrier.”

“Break it, and everyone dies,” Yumi said. “You, the Shogun, everyone. You can’t fix it in time for your plan to work.”

“Stupid girl, pretending you know anything about onmyoudo,” Yusuke snarled. “There’s still one way to deactivate it without breaking it.”

Yumi tensed.

“I just have to kill the person who activated it.”