Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Haruki grimaced. “Enough of your complaining, Koichi! We’ll be there eventually.”
Koichi leaned over the side of the boat and let loose everything in his stomach.
Again.
Then once more, for good measure.
It’d been untold hours on this awful, bobbing-and-dipping thing. “I’m going to die. Haruki, give all my belongings to Ryuichi, when you find him. Tell him . . . tell him that he didn’t annoy me all the time.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “What belongings? You don’t own anything . . . other than getting on my nerves. That you own with great pride.”
“Not important,” he panted. “I need you to record my last—” Koichi ran to the side and barely made it before his stomach unleashed itself again.
Gods! This was so miserable. He really wanted to die.
“How much longer do I have to spend on this stupid contraption? Why did the gods put me on a boat? What were they thinking?” Koichi cried out.
“I believe you did that to yourself. This whole thing was your idea, if you remember.”
To Koichi’s eternal surprise, Haruki seemed completely calm about the whole situation. He’d expected constant attacks and insults over how he had borrowed the money and gotten them thrown onto a ship going to who-knows-where by a crew of mad yōkai.
Led by a feral wolf who had used his magic to paralyze them.
That spell had worn off, but Koichi would trade this motion sickness for being frozen like an ice cube in a heartbeat.
Koichi wiped his face with the sleeve of his yukata. “To spite me, Haruki. It’s all part of their plan. All the gods hate me.”
“The gods don’t hate you, and you’re making a mess of yourself. You need to calm down,” she replied.
“They hate me, Haruki. I’m telling you. It’s a conspiracy. One they’re all in on. Maybe you are too. Are you?”
“Yes. I’m part of a conspiracy to make you vomit yourself to death. Why are you being so stupid?”
Before Koichi could respond, Haru shouted orders to the crew. Koichi wanted to knock the lying yōkai overboard. When the boat first set sail, Haru had told them, “It’ll be a quick trip. You’ll blink and it’ll be over. Don’t you trust me?”
This wasn’t quick. The trip seemed interminable. He wasn’t going survive, which might have been Haru’s plan all along.
Torture. Nothing could be worse than what he was experiencing. He would have rather the wolf kill him quickly to make an example of him.
Oh, the misery!
Suddenly, Koichi felt another round of nausea coming on and fought to keep his food down. In a rare moment of kindness, Haruki seemed worried for him.
“Are you all right, Koichi? You appear rather unwell.”
Rather unwell? That was putting it mildly.
He gave her a stern glower before he tossed what was left of his stomach overboard.
Grimacing, Haruki turned her head so she didn’t see his indignity.
“Maybe I should just drown myself,” Koichi said as his body ached.
“Don’t say that,” she chided. “We need you.”
Haruki’s words would have been far more believable had they come out of anyone else’s mouth but hers.
Meanwhile, Ryuichi-kage was on the farthest end of the boat he could retreat to.
When Koichi had started being sick, the shadow boy started to dry heave.
Eyes wide, he’d rushed away and had yet to return.
Koichi hoped this wasn’t a sign that Ryuichi-kage was growing weaker.
He hoped that wherever Ryuichi was, he wasn’t in danger of losing himself.
Time wasn’t their friend, after all.
Koichi was pulled out of his thoughts when another member of the crew approached Haru, who was standing within earshot. “This whole plan is stupid. Really stupid. How could you even conceive of something this idiotic?”
Haru laughed. “So stupid it just might work.”
Those words angered Koichi. Of course, they were also brilliant. In fact, they were just the kind of words he’d tell doubters too.
As much as he hated to admit it, he and Haru were kindred spirits, who should have been friends, not foes.
The crewman, however, wasn’t impressed. “Not every stupid plan is a stupidly genius plan. Mostly, they’re just stupid.”
“There’s no such thing as a stupid plan that works,” Haru countered.
The crewman crossed his arms over his chest. “Hasn’t worked, though, has it?”
Haru smiled. “I have all the confidence that it will.”
Koichi wished he could take notes right now. Haru was a philosopher of the highest level. No wonder he was able to get the upper hand over him.
“And how are we supposed to kill him anyway? We don’t have that many soldiers on this ship.”
Haru grinned at his doubter. “We use the product, my friend.”
There it was—the mysterious “product” Haru kept referencing ever since they boarded this boat. Apparently, it was Haru’s magical solution to everything that could possibly harm you.
Headache? Product.
Giant squid? Product.
Stubbed toe? Product.
Oni at the gate? Product.
What this product was, Koichi had no idea. But he couldn’t help but be curious.
Haruki could overhear their conversation too.
Shaking her head, she smirked at Koichi.
“It’s like dealing with a giant toddler who’s discovered a new toy, isn’t it?
He’s convinced this mysterious product is the solution to all life’s woes.
Troublesome neighbors? Use the product. Food sucks?
Add a little product. Crew member acting up? Dip him in a little product.”
He was amused that she was thinking the same way he was.
Haruki, however, didn’t share his amusement. “Why do I always find the most bizarre characters?” She turned back toward Koichi. “Do you even know what it is he’s talking about?”
Still sick to his stomach, Koichi groaned before he answered. “Absolutely no idea. Wish I did. This product sounds amazing. Do you think it’ll fix my stomach problems?”
“From the sound of it, it’ll fix all your problems, including your mental ones.”
Again, death would be preferable.
“Maybe we should steal some, then? I’m willing to test it.”
“I don’t know. He always has this sinister undertone when he mentions it. It could kill you.” She paused. “So maybe we should consider it.”
“I’ve heard worse solutions. Go be a dear and fetch some for me, please?”
The ship tilted, almost knocking Koichi off the side and onto his back. He groaned again. “Ugh, now everything’s spinning.”
He turned over on his side and saw Ryuichi-kage sitting still on the ground, surrounded by guards. He seemed to be holding his own, which was reassuring. That meant Ryuichi was still okay.
“C’mon, let me help.” Haruki took Koichi by the hand and led him below deck.
Her skin was surprisingly soft. Shockingly so. Koichi realized he had never actually touched Haruki before. Not that he’d wanted to. The constant complaints and threatening to kill him were a total turnoff. Though, to be honest, she no longer seemed so evil.
From the moment they’d reached her beloved yōkai realm, she’d actually been kind of nice. Except for the whining.
She tightened her grip around his hand. “I don’t bite.”
Not true. Verbally, she let blood. And he’d seen her do so physically too.
But today she was being kind, so he allowed her to take him off the main deck to the lower area. Then he quickly wished he hadn’t.
Below deck stunk, and he immediately became nauseous. Down here, it smelled like rotten yōkai socks soaking in rotten bathhouse water. Bleh!
Haruki helped him lie down on one of the futons. There, in the darkness of the ship, she sat beside him and took a deep breath. “Try that for a while and keep your mind off the rocking. I remember my first time on a boat like this. It’s never easy. Especially one that rocks as much as this one.”
Koichi was so shocked by Haruki’s unexpected act of kindness that he didn’t even reply. He did as he was told and made himself comfortable, trying to put his illness out of his mind.
He couldn’t speak for the waves, but his stomach began to settle down. The world that seemed to be spinning nonstop started to feel a little steadier, and before long, he felt a sense of calm he hadn’t felt in a long time.
In fact, the motion of the boat felt like being rocked gently to sleep. “I don’t understand,” he asked. “Why are you being nice to me? You’re usually . . .”
“Evil,” she finished his sentence. “You’re always saying that.”
“Sorry.”
Haruki shrugged, knowing it was true. She handed Koichi a cloth.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we’ve been traveling together for a while.
Perhaps it’s because you and that shadow child are the only two I can trust on a boat filled with yōkai who want us dead.
Or maybe all this rocking has made me go a little crazy. ”
Koichi opened his eyes at the change in her voice. Was she . . . crying?
With a sniff, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “You saved that little shop. I can’t remember the last time someone did something so sweet for me. Thank you.”
Koichi didn’t feel comfortable being complimented. He’d been trained to treat all nice comments as a windup before a strike, like a viper right before it went in for the kill.
He wasn’t sure what to say. She should be cursing him, not thanking him. “It’s a shame I got us in so much trouble over it.”
“I don’t blame you for what happened. I knew it was too good to be true. Nothing good happens to me, you know? Ever since I was little, it’s all been bad. Why would I ever think this time would be any different?”
Koichi was dealing with one of his few weaknesses—emotions. He wasn’t sure how to really comfort her. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been around tears.
What was he supposed to do? He was trained in killing demons, not giving hugs.
He felt his stomach churn again. This time he couldn’t blame the boat.
Haruki gave him a kind smile. “You tried, Koichi. I don’t care that it didn’t work out.
You didn’t take me there because you had some ulterior motive.
You weren’t doing it so you could manipulate me or use it as leverage.
You did it because you thought it would make me happy and .
. . and . . . I’ve never had anyone do that.
I didn’t know what it felt like. To have someone care about me. ”
A single tear fell from Haruki’s eye and streaked down her cheek.
“I just don’t know what I’m doing, Koichi.
What’s the point of it all? When my sister died, I was happy she was gone.
What kind of sister thinks like that? I wasn’t upset.
I didn’t cry. The only thing I could think was, ‘Now’s my chance.
’ And yet, in spite of everything, the Ryukage doesn’t love me.
Not one bit. He never has. I’d hoped he simply needed some time after his wife died.
It was tragic. And I thought he needed to heal.
Then, when I started to think about it, I realized that .
. . that . . . monster isn’t the man I fell in love with. ”
She was crying harder now and struggling to speak through all the tears. “What do I do? The man I loved isn’t there anymore. And even worse, I know the man I loved would never accept me or anyone like me. My sister was amazing. She was special. She was always everything I wasn’t.”
Wiping at her eyes, Haruki drew a ragged breath. “A great guardian of the gates. A goddess with worshippers and power. I’m just an unknown deity who fell in love with someone she shouldn’t have.”
She gave him a hard, harsh stare. “Koichi?”
There was so much emotion in the three syllables of his name that he wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Yes?”
“I need to ask you a favor.”
“What is it?”
“Can you take my heart?”
What was she talking about? Take her heart?
“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to kill the divine. A missing heart is nothing. I’ll survive. But I can’t take this torture and pain anymore. Please. All you need to do is squeeze.”
She grabbed Koichi’s hand and pressed it against her chest, over her heart. He felt the strong beating of it, and that terrified him. He tried to pull his hand away, but she only tightened her grip. “Please, Koichi. Help me.”
“I can’t do this.”
Who could?
That only angered her. “How many have you killed with your sword and without conscience? You would end their lives and refuse to help me?”
“It’s not the same.”
Haruki’s eyes turned a vibrant shade of red before she reached into her chest and gasped.
An instant later, she pulled her hand out, and there in her grasp was her still-beating heart.
Stunned, Koichi stared at the red, bleeding organ that wasn’t supposed to be outside her body. The hole in her chest held a white light that quickly sealed the wound shut.
Her nostrils flaring, she handed her heart to him. “Do what you want with that awful thing. I never want to see it again.”
The hatch above them creaked open and a crewman shouted down to them. “Hey, get back up here! Now!”
Still glaring at her hated heart, Haruki nodded. “We’re coming.” And with that, she got up and left Koichi alone.
Ew! He looked at the warm, pulsating heart in his hand. Honestly, he was a bit surprised, given that he hadn’t known Haruki had one.
Now she really didn’t.
And she’d turned it over to him. He didn’t feel worthy of such a responsibility. Why would she trust him so much? He had no idea. He barely trusted himself to wake up in the morning, and yet fate had decided to hand him, of all people, a goddess’s heart.
And the responsibility of Ryuichi-kage.
The hatch opened again. This time a much jollier Haruki barged in. “We’ve sighted land!”
Unsure of what to do, Koichi slid the heart into his secret drink pouch. He wasn’t getting much use out of it anyway, and hopefully it would protect her heart.
Wondering what disaster would claim them next, he went topside, and there, sure enough, was an island in all its nasty, terrifying glory.
Black spires rose up from a massive castle that was erected on a hill in the distance.
It was surrounded by vicious-looking winged yōkai and an unmistakable sense of dread.
It reminded Koichi of the Ryukage’s castle.
He blinked as he stared.
Wait, could it be?
No, surely not. There was no way that was Ryukage’s home.
Was it?
“We’re going to swing around back and try to sneak in under darkness. Then the real work begins.” Haru began barking out orders to his crew, including one that made Koichi groan in despair.
“Now that our hostages are able to swim ashore, tie them up. We have to make sure they don’t harm themselves before I sacrifice them.”