"Don't tell me that none of you replied to this text ad?" Arahabaki stared at them in disbelief.
What fucking retards.
"Might be a trap," Nurarihyon said as the two serpent yōkai nodded.
Paranoia had turned this bunch into morons, Arahabaki thought. Spells and curses can't travel over text messaging. Neither can yōkai nor ghosts. A simple reply could have led them somewhere, instead of overthinking in a dojo.
"What exactly are you scared of?"
"Geographical tracking," they answered in unison.
He frowned. "Turn it off, like I do then."
"We need the functions," Nurarihyon and Kuro answered, much to his chagrin.
Arahabaki palmed his face, incredulous at the three who were looking at him with curiosity. Dependency on human technology had infected all of them. Yet they worry about their digital gadgets being surrogates for tracking them.
Yōkai powers were far more adequate than a bleeping piece of circuitry in a metal box. He sighed. How times have changed.
"I am not sure if you all are yōkai or human now," he grumbled as he logged onto his mmorpg game to wile his time away for the reply.
"What do you use your iPhone for then?" Kuro asked him, while Nurarihyon spoke to the other.
Arahabaki eyed the slim, petite female before him and showed her the screen. The daughter of Yamata-no-Orochi who bore a resemblance to her father, even in human form. The tattoo on her neck was one of her serpent heads - a warning sign to both human and yōkai.
Kuro will be hard to mind-fuck with, judging by her male serpent companion who already has a bad boy image. An image which most female human and yōkai loved. That one was not interesting. A little sappy and boring from that deadpan expression.
Kuro is different. Nothing like getting a rise out of an expressive yōkai.
Arahabaki loved an entertaining challenge. Perhaps the fishing method is a good approach with this female. No harm in trying.
"Eve Online," he said. "Space game."
"Huh? Why this game? They are all texting in English... the game is in English," she commented.
He rolled his eyes and quickly typed an in-game reply. "Yeah, so? The world is bigger now. Even our planet isn't the only one with civilisations."
Yeah, those many centuries ago while negotiating for peace, Tsukuyomi had once told him that beyond Earth was a vast celestial space. That huge space was filled with many planets that had civilisations similar to Earth. Albeit different types of intelligent species, not just humans.
Tsukuyomi was the only god on that side he could tolerate enough to talk terms with. That god didn't care for Earth bound matters and never interfered with other side. Even killed a fellow god, as the rumours went. Mutual respect was earned on a two-way street and he found Tsukuyomi reasonable.
Arahabaki was bounded to the solar system and Earth as a guardian god. That much he knew. So what better way than to explore what he could not experience was from the humans' imaginations.
A small flash on the screen caught his eye. An incoming online message from a fellow player about trade in a locality. He quickly tapped on his screen to check his skill upgrades in Eve Online. With a few more taps, he checked the weapons system on his online ship. Time based games gave him a schedule to look forward to.
"Interesting...," Kuro commented as she watched him trade with another player. "Do you spend all your time gaming like that?"
"Tell you a secret..." he winked mischievously.
"Uh, huh?" She mumbled as her eyes trailed his online ship took off into the cyberspace world.
"Nurarihyon never detected me here because I was mostly gaming in one of the many Tokyo's Internet cafes. Not many Yōkai around in those parts except for the occasional akaname and wandering ghosts."
Akaname yōkai told him how favourably filthy the place was for them. And then begged him to spare them.
"Why would the akaname be in an Internet cafe?" She wondered.
"Because some of the humans actually live in some of them." Arahabaki said. "The poor. The homeless. Bottom of the rung, like I am."
Kuro chuckled at his words. "Better than me, you are still a god."
"Yeah well, you don't want to know what it is like to be an outcast god."
Interesting. Others would cower before him. Even Yamata-no-Orochi would approach him cautiously, unlike his daughter. Yet his daughter dared to converse with him like a fellow gamer.
Arahabaki could forgive the human gamer since he is masquerading as a human. But she should know better.
An iPhone beep was heard.
"Mine," Arahabaki said before they could react and added,"And we have a reply."
"What did it say? Is there a meeting place?" Nurarihyon asked hurriedly.
"Old Tsukiji market," Arahabaki said as he showed them the message. "Ox hour. Can it get any more boring than this?
Didn't that old belief about the ox hour, 1 to 3 am, disappear a long time ago? In the old days, Arahabaki used to watch those crazy jilted women sneak into the shrine during the dead of night, around that time.
Those women would dress up in all white and put on the ridiculous iron crown with three lit candles upright, looking like freaks. They would utter some silly curse on their lover and hammer nails into the poor tree.
Those curses were so amusing. Everything from wishing impotency or cursing the other woman involved. Well, one could see why the man dumped them. Crazy bitches.
The kodama, the tree spirit, was the poor victim of their nonsensical ritual. Nothing like watching a usually peaceful kodama swearing the crap out at those dumb women. Once in a while, Arahabaki himself would grant the kodama more powers to injure them, for entertainment.
Good old days. Ever since the late 20th century, that practice of madness had died out.
"Tsukiji barely has anything there ever since they moved out," Kuro muttered.
"Let's set off," Nurarihyon urged.
"Tsukiji? I won't be in such a hurry. More than ten Inari shrines to the surrounding, including old Namiyoke Inari shrine, three Sumiyoshi shrines to the back plus a Buddhist hall," Arahabaki mentioned with a smile. "If anyone wants to exorcise you three, that is a prime location with those gods."
"The Sumiyoshi are dragon gods...," Daija muttered.
"You are not a dragon god now. Are you?" Arahabaki sneered at him and pointed to Kuro. "You and her are just serpent yōkai with no relation to the Sumiyoshi dragons. They are not easy gods to deal with. War gods of the Sea. Escape to the waters, you both are finished."
Nurarihyon bit his lip.
"On land, you are faced with Inari. And that god has some war like capability. Dumbasses, it's a trap," Arahabaki yawned.
"Then what do you suggest Arahabaki sama," Nurarihyon asked.
"I only need one volunteer to follow. Can't go in empty without a contingency," Arahabaki winked.