I stared at the clear open space, forgetting how to breathe.
There was no village anymore.
All the huts had vanished, leaving the space clear except for the bonfire in the center. And the villagers, they had been replaced by household items, everyday accessories and tools, with eyes, teeth and arms growing on them.
There was a futon, a saké jar, a paper umbrella, a kimono robe, a pair of zōri, a clock, a mirror and a chōshi present amongst others.
Tsukumogami! They were Tsukumogami!
They were like Burabura.
Tsukumogami were objects that obtained a soul after the passage of a hundred years. They became alive. They could take the appearance of humans, young or old, female or male; that of Oni; and also, the appearance of animals.
They were capable of revenge upon those that had been wasteful or threw them away thoughtlessly, but they never killed. They were harmless yōkai and at most tended to play occasional pranks.
It was known that they often meet with other Tsukumogami and throw noisy parties- the source of the "strange happenings". There had never been any Oni!
I understood better at that moment why "Boroboro" had stopped when the chōchin-obake had intervened.
For one long minute, time seemed to come to a standstill as the Tsukumogami realized my presence.
They were as astounded as I was.
No sound could be heard, not even that of wind rustling the leaves of the trees.
And then, I realized that the emakimono I had found in the forest was a Tsukumogami too, as the illustrations came to life outside of the scroll and I found myself confronted to seven awe-inspiring beasts.
'No!' exclaimed the saké jar- its voice matching that of the "old man" of earlier- and none of the Tsukumogami present tried anything against me. 'Listen!' it said, speaking to me. 'We're not evil or dangerous. We don't have any proprietor anymore and we have been vagabonding here and there in search of other companion beings until we came across of one another. We have established ourselves here to be far away from humans and it's true that we take all kind of forms to scare them away, but it's only to protect ourselves.'
'If we made ourselves pass for humans earlier, it was because we were intrigued by you for, you have a contract with a Tsukumogami like us,' explained the mirror. 'And also, we wanted your mission partner and you to believe that there's nothing for you to hunt in the region.'
Burabura appeared at that moment, probably wary that I would try something against the banded up yōkai. I patted its head reassuringly.
'I'm sorry for having been a bit brutal earlier,' said the futon, alias the Oni Boroboro. 'Your partner and you would have probably taken me down if I hadn't reacted.'
'It's okay,' I told it.
'Look at this, Tetsuō!' exclaimed a loud male voice, out of the blue, and I flung around to see the two members of the Shindō Organization Tsurayuki and I had encountered last evening, emerge out of the trees.
'A group of monsters to exterminate just for us!' sneered the boy Shinnosuke and his partner declared with a twisted grin, 'I feel like we're going to have fun!'
'What?!' I gasped, alarm bells going off in my head; my heart accelerating in my chest. 'No! Stop!' I told the two boys. 'You can't kill them. Tsukumogami are harmless creatures. They have established their home here. All that they want is to live in peace. This world doesn't belong solely to humans. Other creatures have the right in it to live too.'
'They are monsters!' the brown-haired boy spat at me. 'And we, we kill monsters!'
Very swiftly, his friend took out what resembled a marble out of his pocket and he sent it rolling on the ground. A kind of visible aura began to emanate from it and to my astonishment, all the Tsukumogami present, including Burabura, reverted back to their original form- losing the characteristics from after their mutation- and found themselves completely incapacitated on the ground.
'What did you do to them?' I asked in a panic.
'That marble is an artifact that neutralizes monsters,' replied the boy- Tetsuō- with snide. 'Unfortunately, it's extremely rare and can be used only once.'
'Stop that!' I said, placing myself in-between the Tsukumogami and the two of them. 'Leave them alone!'
Abruptly, in a blaze of anger, the spectacled boy kicked me in the gut.
I fell on all fours on the ground and I clutched at my abdomen in pain.
'You're defending monsters?! But I suppose that it's normal for a monster to protect other monsters!'
Letting out a snort, he moved up to his friend then and I caught sight of what the latter was holding in his hand.
It was the animated emakimono!
My insides twisted with dread.
'Tsk! What a horror!' muttered the boy- Shinnosuke -as he assessed the illustrations and to my stupefaction, he tore the scroll in the middle, then dropped the emakimono and the torn-off part, on the ground to stomp over them.
'No!' I breathed and scrambling on my hands and knees, I crawled up to the emakimono and shoved the brown-haired boy's foot off it, before I picked the scroll- as well as the piece that had been torn off- up in my hands, staring at them with anguish.
'You, you're really starting to annoy us!' the brown-haired boy growled, laying upon me a punch at the face.
The crushing blow knocked me flat on the ground. I held my face in pain, blood escaping the corner of my mouth.
I pulled the emakimono against my chest protectively.
'You're in for it! If you knew how much we have been wanting to sort you out ever since we've seen you yesterday!'
They lifted their foot to kick me and I cringed away, anticipating the oncoming pain when, unexpectedly, something shot past the faces of two boys, causing them to stumble backward.
It went too fast for me to see what it was, but I heard the metallic sound of a chain. The object ended its course into a tree, disintegrating part of the trunk.
Dazed, I stared at the fallen tree for a minute, before I followed the long chain attached to the weapon, up to the person at the other end of it.
That person was Tsurayuki Senryū and he muttered at the two startled younger males, 'Enough!'
These didn't seem to be breathing anymore.
When they found their tongues again, they exclaimed at the dark-haired male, 'What took over you?! You could have killed us!'
'And you, what are you doing?' retorted Tsurayuki Senryū, as he pulled his Kusarigama back to him in one swift movement. 'I've known your parents and I can tell you that they wouldn't approve what you're doing!'
The two younger boys' eyes widened at him.
'So, you recognized us?' demanded the ginger-haired boy.
'I've recognized the two of you immediately after you gave me your forenames. Shinnosuke Chiura, son of Shōgō and Otachi Chiura; and, Tetsuō Dairaku, son of Toshinari and Tsudzuna Dairaku. When your parents have been killed, you were around ten. We had seen each other at the funerals. Who else would have succeeded them in the reformed Shindō organization, other than their progenies? And I suppose that it's Naoyuki Kujō, the son of the ancient master, who is at the head of the organization now. I remember him. He was always ill and was hospitalized very often. He must be around twenty-two today. I know Naoyuki quite well and I'm sure that he wouldn't approve that you kill harmless creatures either and less, that you raise your hands on a girl.'
'She's not a girl! She's-'
I tuned them out when something caught my attention, all suddenly.
I noticed a blue light like a pine torchlight of the size of a basketball floating in the air several meters away behind of the two younger males.
A hitodama?
No. An Onibi!
Onibi were demonic flames that could suck out life if they came too close! They were known to be born from the dead corpses of human beings and animals, and were also said to be the souls of resentful people.
As I watched, abruptly, the Onibi dashed at Shinnosuke Chiura and Tetsuō Dairaku from behind.
Instantaneously, I jumped at the two boys, throwing them to the ground and thus, getting them out of the way of the Onibi.
'What the-' they began to shout, before their eyes fell onto the spirit which was now floating two meters above ground a distance away, seemingly preparing to attack again. But not alone.
Several other Onibi made their apparitions in that instant.
There were a good thirty of them of different colors, some red, others, yellow.
'What's going on?' exclaimed Tsurayuki, as he closed the distance between us.
The two younger males and I staggered to our feet.
I held my abdomen feeling a mild pain there.
'We've killed an Onibi yesterday morning,' replied Shinnosuke Chiura. 'I think that these are its friends which want to avenge it!'
I stared at the Onibi, then at Burabura and the other Tsukumogami lying on the ground, utterly defenseless.
'They're too many and we cannot fight here; they risk to take on the Tsukumogami.' I declared. 'I'm going to attract all of them onto me, away from here. And once they're grouped around me, you'll just have to take them from behind!'
'Shutsuki-' began Tsurayuki, but I didn't listen.
Stepping aside, I activated my Godai Shakujō and launched an attack onto the Onibi, to capture their attention fully onto me and also, to infuriate them.
Then, I darted for the line of trees and as I had planned, they all began to chase after me.
I ran as fast as I could, jumping and bending when I had to to skip the branches and uprooted roots of trees on the way.
As I arrived into a small open space in the forest, I came to a stop and swung around to stare at the Onibi which were on my trace.
They dispatched all around of me but they kept their distance, hesitating due to my activated Godai shakujō.
The pain in my abdomen flared at the moment and I sank down onto one of my knees.
My throat tightened; my heart palpitating.
There were really too many of them.
How many will I be able to take out- until Tsurayuki arrive- before one of them come too near and suck out my life force?
Five of the Onibi surged at me at once, causing me to blench, but I managed to impale them with my five shakujō.
What will happen if they attack in greater number?
As if they had read my thoughts, ten of them dashed at me at once.
Frozen, my eyes didn't close.
Just in the nick of time, Tsurayuki showed up and he took out all ten of them at once in a single shoot of his Kusarigama.
Shinnosuke Chiura and Tetsuō Dairaku accompanied him.
The brown-haired boy was armed with shurikens, while the spectacled boy's weapon was a crossbow, using for projectile the manifestation of his Reiki in the form of an arrow.
Shinnosuke Chiura threw six shurikens across the air and none of them missed their targets.
Next, Tetsuō Dairaku shot an arrow of spiritual energy and I was astonished to see the arrow split into several smaller ones which took out the remaining Onibi.
***
Later…
After the face to face with the Onibi, Shinnosuke Chiura and Tetsuō Dairaku had left.
The brown-haired boy had asserted, 'If it had been only the two of us, it would have been quite probable that the Onibi would have had reason of us considering their numbers.'
'It doesn't rejoice us to know that a criminal like you has saved our life but, to repay our debt on you, we're going to leave these Tsukumogami in peace,' had grumbled the spectacled one, before he had added, grumpily, 'But we're warning you, Shun Shutsuki! If they do anything bad, you'll be responsible. It's as good for you too, Senryū!'
As they had assured us, Burabura and the other Tsukumogami has recovered shortly afterwards.
Unfortunately…
'Here! Use this!' said Boroboroton- the futon yōkai- as it handed to me some paper, and a glue-like substance in a pot.
Making use of the materials, I glued the emakimono back together and saying a small prayer in my heart, I waited for the illustration to take life outside of the scroll.
To my relief, the creatures materialized in front of me, seeming completely fit and fine.
'Yokatta!' I said, shedding a few tears, and Kameosa, the saké jar exclaimed at Tsurayuki and I, ecstatically, 'It's thanks to both of you that we're still here at this moment and we intend to show you our gratitude the best way we know! Tonight's party will be in your names!'
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Shurikens - a Japanese concealed weapon
Reiki - Spirit energy