Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The shinigami made Ryuichi exceptionally nervous. He controlled the ship with dark magic, no sailing required, which meant he would just stand there on the deck, watching everyone with an ominous glare.
Ryuichi didn’t like it at all. All his senses were on high alert, just waiting for a surprise attack.
Satoru held a cup toward him. “Drink?”
Right . . .
Ryuichi shook his head. “No, thank you.”
Satoru knocked the drink back and grinned, then raised his hand and made his black drinking gourd vanish in a bright flash of light.
A shiver went down Ryuichi’s spine. Seeing that creature’s face as soon as he woke up this morning had made him want to jump overboard.
He kept trying to convince himself that Satoru might not be a shinigami. Maybe he was just so scary and weird that people assumed he was one.
There was only one way to find out for sure, and that was to ask Lord Inumagami. He seemed to be unafraid of Satoru, so perhaps Ryuichi’s theory was right. Perhaps everything on this boat wasn’t as it appeared to be.
Ryuichi found Inumagami on the other end of the ship. The yōkai pup sniffed the air, then came over to Ryuichi, putting his head next to Ryuichi’s hand. He knew what he had to do. He sat down and scratched the little lord behind his ears. Inumagami’s tail wagged happily.
“So what’s the deal with Satoru?” he asked. “Is he really a shinigami?”
Inumagami checked behind him to make sure no one was watching or listening to them. The crew seemed to be distracted by a game of cards, and Satoru now had his attention on the sea, as if he was keeping a lookout for danger.
After all, Orochi was still out there with his army. Who knew if he would show up, ready to drink their blood?
Inumagami saw that no one noticed them. He moved closer so he could whisper.
“They say Satoru was once human. One day, he and his friends decided they would enter the realm of the gods. So they waited outside a shrine, watching for seven days and nights.”
Ryuichi was already riveted by this story. He couldn’t believe that Satoru was once like him. A human who made mistakes.
“On the seventh night, they saw the local kami appear,” the little lord continued. “She collected her offering and then jumped back through the gate.”
Ryuichi nodded. He understood better than anyone that the gods could travel freely between the worlds, and yōkai could slip through at great personal risk to others. His mother, Haruka, was the one with the power to select who was safe enough to go between the realms.
That’s why she was so important. She kept the truly dangerous monsters away from the human world and sent her inari after those who took advantage of humans whenever she allowed them access.
Even the gods were afraid of her, because if she chose to deny them entry through the torii, there was nothing they could do.
The fact that he had inherited those powers was what made Ryuichi such a target.
“I take it they got in?” he asked Inumagami.
Inumagami pushed his head under Ryuichi’s hand to let him know that he wanted Ryuichi to continue scratching his canine ears.
“They did. Somehow the humans were able to slip through in the short time the kami opened her gate to collect her gifts. No one knows how they did it. But the story goes that when the other gods found out that she’d been unaware of the deceptive humans and had allowed them into their world, they stripped the kami of her standing.
And the humans were sacrificed as punishment. All but one.”
Ryuichi glanced over at the creature at the helm. “Satoru?”
“Yes. For his crime, he was turned into a shinigami and cursed to wander the realm, searching for his companions, who he’ll never find. It’s why he asks you to drink with him. So he can finally have a companion in this world.”
“That sounds so sad.”
Inumagami cocked his head to stare at him.
“Don’t be naive, young warrior. Drinking with Satoru will turn you into a shinigami too.
For us yōkai, it’ll obliterate our sense of self.
We’re creatures of spirit, and to take on another form would destroy us.
While humans can survive the metamorphosis, it keeps them trapped forever in the spirit world.
They’re no longer human. Each year that passes, they become a more twisted version of themselves, hungry for souls. ”
Now Ryuichi fully understood Inumagami had saved his life.
Inumagami glanced back at Satoru. “I mean, it’s still all rumors, mind you. But I wouldn’t bet my eternity on it. The shinigami are mysterious creatures, even by yōkai standards. It’s best not to get involved with them.”
Always avoid death. Best advice Koichi had given him. Don’t knock on doors you don’t want answered. Second-best piece of advice.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Ryuichi pulled his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them.
There was still so much he didn’t understand about this world. As soon as he felt like he was making any sense of it, something new appeared, and that caused him to question everything again.
If only he could find his footing in this ever-shifting landscape.
He stared out at the wide blue ocean that was so much clearer than the waters he was used to. It was beautiful, reflecting the sunlight.
There was something about it that beckoned him. But the one thing he had learned here was that whenever something reached out and wanted you to plunge in, it was lethal.
Back away.
Not to mention it caused a deep sense of restlessness inside him. While he’d originally thought the source of that came from being nervous in his father’s realm, he was now realizing it was all the yōkai around him who made him wary. They gave him a deep sense that he didn’t belong here.
He felt like an outsider.
The yōkai were their own people, with their own culture and their own ways of doing things. No matter how similar it might seem to the human world, it wasn’t.
Unlike them, he hadn’t grown up here. And he wasn’t his father. While he had some of those powers, he couldn’t command them very well. No one would stop chasing him long enough for him to practice.
Heck, he’d even lost his own shadow. How can I be what both worlds need me to be?
He wasn’t a demon overlord, or even a shadow master. He was simply Ryuichi.
Mahōtsukai Ryuichi was something he created to bolster confidence. A shadow as much as Ryuichi-kage.
He feared that, in the end, he’d never have that degree of command with his powers. Or be the master of shadows and portals, like his parents.
If the yōkai hadn’t invaded the human realm, seeking him and burning his old school down, Ryuichi would have been satisfied with leaving well enough alone. He would have never come here.
Or would he?
In all honesty, it’d been like this back home in the human realm too. No matter how hard he tried, he’d never felt like he belonged anywhere. That he had any family or even real friends. He couldn’t shake the feeling in the back of his mind that he was causing more problems.
Back at his school, that feeling had been right. Hattori Hanzō had adopted him, treated him far kinder than anyone else ever had, and yet all Ryuichi had made for him was an endless series of headaches. Then he had brought shame and destruction on the Hattori clan.
Banishment was his punishment. A punishment Ryuichi felt he rightly deserved. Because he screwed up everything.
When had anything ever gone right for him?
What did a kid like him know about duty or honor? How could he ever defeat Orochi? Or even hold back the World Eater?
Ryuichi laughed at the very idea. What right did he have to intervene in the affairs of yōkai and gods?
Masaru appeared out of a cloud of smoke and affectionately squeezed Ryuichi’s shoulder. “You seem ill at ease. What’s on your mind, botchan?”
“Nothing.”
The expression in those white eyes said that Masaru didn’t believe him for one second. “A distracted warrior is a dead one, my friend.”
Ryuichi nudged him. “You’ve always said we weren’t friends. Just allies of convenience.”
There was that all-too familiar smirk. “Tomorrow we might be enemies. Tomorrow we might be friends. When you see the beautiful winter snow, do you cry knowing it’ll one day melt?”
He had a point.
Masaru sat down beside Ryuichi. “Allies of convenience today or friends for a lifetime. It doesn’t matter.
The future is always unpredictable, but today is beautiful.
Enjoy the moment—for every second is unique, and it’ll never be here again.
Life is fleeting, and every heartbeat spent worrying is a second you’ll never get back. ”
Wow. Masaru was a philosopher. Who knew?
“Thanks. But I have to be honest—this new side of you makes me even more nervous.”
Masaru laughed. “Embrace the chaos, Ryuichi. Swim with the stream of destiny. No one knows their fate, but everyone should enjoy their path. We could have perished in battle or at the school. We didn’t. We could have died when Hayasaka’s castle was attacked. Yet here we are.”
He jutted his chin toward the helm, where Satoru sat, his eyes still trained on the water.
“Now we’re on a ship with questionable company, sailing off to see your father.
Who knows what we’ll find? Maybe he’ll welcome us and be grateful we returned you.
Or perhaps he’ll be a foe who tries to kill us again.
We won’t know his mind or heart until it happens.
A good warrior prepares for the obvious, but a great warrior prepares for any and all options.
” Masaru paused and patted Ryuichi on the back.
“And he stays focused on the current battle he’s fighting and doesn’t worry about the ones to come.
You’ll never win today if you’re too focused on what might happen. ”
“So you’re telling me not to worry?”
“No. I’m telling you to worry about what you can change and what you’re doing. Don’t worry about the future. One way or another, it’ll come. And with any luck, it won’t try to kill you.”
“I so love your pep talks. They never fail to scare me.”