“Somebody …” said Ken, looking at his daughter lying on the tatami. When he spoke, his voice was deathly quiet. “Somebody explain what is going on. Or there are going to be big problems.”

Jiro looked again at the bound and gagged figure. Yes, her features were Aya’s, but the look in her eyes was that of a mad animal. The ropes were too tight for escape, yet the figure continued to struggle and writhe. Several times, she lashed out violently, slamming her head into the foot of the table. A trickle of blood ran from her hairline down her face.

Jiro looked at Kaori. She seemed just as confused. “Sheena? Tae?” said Jiro. “I think you better explain.”

“Yui,” said Sheena, “Bring us a kettle of hot water.”

Yui gave Sheena a defiant look but nonetheless shuffled out of the room. Sheena sat down on the wriggling figure, pinning her to the floor. Tae sat down nearby as well.

Sheena crossed her scaly legs. “This is your murderer. Or attempted murderer anyway.”

“There’s no way that Aya is the murderer!” said Jiro. “And she’s supposed to be in jail …”

Sheena let out a hissing laugh. “Human, you look but you do not see. This is not your girl, Jiro. This is a shifter.”

“A shifter?”

“There are certain kinds of yokai that can take on the form of another being,” said Kaori.

“I see,” said Jiro, with considerable relief. “Then we have ourselves an impersonator.”

Ken was looking at the women with a vacant expression on his face. Half of him clearly wanted to pounce on them for being so rough with his daughter. The other half seemed to be trying to understand all this unfamiliar talk of spirits and shifters. Jiro knew how he felt: that had been him, just a few short days ago.

The door slid open. Yui shuffled in carrying a kettle of boiling water. Steam billowed from its opening, and she gripped the handle with a wet towel to prevent it from scalding her hands.

“What’s that for?” said Ken, finally finding his words.

“This,” said Sheena, taking the kettle from Yui. “Will let us see what kind of prankster we’re dealing with.” She held the kettle over the imposter’s face. “Shift back,” she said. “And talk. Tell us why you did this. Or I burn you.” Sheena’s tongue snaked out and pulled aside the gag.

The Aya imposter looked at the kettle. For a moment, she looked like she would talk. Then she lashed out with her teeth and tried to bite Sheena’s tongue. She began to scream and toss more violently. It took both kaiju to keep the creature pinned down and re-gag her.

“Okay,” said Sheena. “You had your chance. Now you burn …”

“Wait!” said Ken, diving on top of his daughter. A small bit of hot water fell onto his shoulder. He yelped and patted it off. “You monster! You can’t just scald her!”

Sheena looked at the man. “Why not? This creature stabbed three humans.”

“What if … what if it is Aya?”

“Surely you recognize your own daughter?”

Ken shook his head and refused to let go of the writhing bundle.

“Kaori,” said Jiro. “Does a shifter always do a perfect transformation?”

Kaori shrugged. “Not always. It depends on the type of yokai. But most imitate humans they have seen … Assume their proportions, their hairstyles, even their mannerisms.”

“But surely, they can’t know everything?”

“That’s true …’

“I want to check something …” Jiro stepped forward. “Tae, can you hold down the shifter? I’m going to untie her bonds.”

It took some time to get the bounds free. Jiro pulled aside the cloth binding the creature while the two kaiju held her down. The body inside seemed identical to Aya’s. This Aya was even wearing the same shorts and spaghetti top that Jiro had seen in her apartment.

“What are you doing to my daughter?”

“Sorry, Ken. There’s something I have to check.” Then, without another word, Jiro grabbed Aya’s top and pulled it up over her face. Her breasts plopped out. Full, round, and cantaloupe-sized just like the ones he knew. But something was also different. These breasts were pale and white, not tan: this Aya had bikini lines.

“There’s your proof,” said Jiro. “Aya doesn’t like tan lines. She doesn’t have them up here”—he pinched the fabric of her shorts and pulled to reveal her groin—“or down here.”

For a moment, it look as if Ken would lunge at Jiro and wring his neck. But he took a deep breath instead. “Boy … after this is all through, you are going to explain everything to me. Why you know these things about my daughter. What you have been doing these past two days. But for now …” He reached over and pulled the spaghetti top back down. “We need to free my daughter. My real daughter.”

Ken grabbed the creature’s hand and pinned it to the floor. Then he showed the creature his missing pinkie finger. “See this? I cut it off myself. I know a thing or two about how to remove fingers, toes, ears. Eyeballs too. So either you talk now, and tell me why you were impersonating my daughter …” Ken produced a pocketknife and flicked it open. “Or I cut you to pieces. One digit at a time.”

“Woman,” said Ken to Sheena. “Remove her gag. If she screams instead of talking. Pour scalding water down her throat.”

Sheena nodded. She slid the gag off the creature’s mouth. This time, it did not scream.

“Now,” said Ken, holding the knife at an angle over the creature’s hand. “You have three seconds to start talking. Or I remove your finger.”

The creature turned away and made no move to speak.

“One …”

“…”

“Two …”

“…”

“THREE!”

There was a flash of silver. The severed finger joint rolled across the mat, leaving a trail of blood. The creature screamed, a piercing scream that reverberated all throughout the room. It began to buck and writhe again but could not overpower the two kaiju holding it down.

Sheena looked at the creature with a mixture of pity and disgust. “So now I poor hot water down its throat?”

“No, no, no!” said the creature. When it spoke, it had the whiny voice of a man. “Don’t pour. I’ll talk. I’ll talk. What the hell? Who actually cuts off the finger? You monster. Holy hells that hurts … ow, ow, ow. No, no. Not another finger. No more. I’ll talk. Just don’t torture me!” As it spoke, Aya’s features began to melt away, turning into a furry face with big eyes, whiskers, and pointy ears.

“Ah,” said Kaori. “So it’s a nekomata. A cat shifter. But that’s strange …” She cocked her head. “They’re usually harmless pranksters. What drove this one to attempt murder?”