~~~

The temple was more of a call-in centre than an actual place of spiritual worship.

Laid out with only the most basic of furnishings.

A listening bench.

Totem sketches on the walls.

Bar counter complete with seven approved variations of monk-made wine.

Two drinking stools.

A back room for meditation and atavistic yelling.

And a balcony at the far rear, with a tied-up boat, perfect for lake reflections under a full moon.

Or any shape of moon really.

The mood of the place was matched by the lack of human activity, or animal activity – even the ants couldn’t be bothered with it - the slight breeze outside causing vibrations on the wooden structure responsible for the only noise audible to human ears.

Until, that is, the door panel slid open, in two centimetre shifts every ten seconds, and a grubby, exhausted-looking ashigaru poked his head in.

‘Seems quiet enough…’ Akira whispered into the space behind.

‘Check the beams at the sides,’ replied his mage comrade, voice basically just breath with word muons drifting around inside. ‘If they’re hiding in the main room, that’s where they’ll be.’

Akira did as instructed, moving forward and left alongside the wall, green katana out at a low-diagonal angle, eyes in hyper-scan mode.

The first beam was clear, no sign of any lurking Suwa.

Unless they were lodged in the slats by the ceiling.

He looked up, pointing his blade the same way.

Nope, nothing. Not even a rogue owl.

Looking back at the doorway, he whispered for Daiki to follow him in and check the rear, but it was redundant as the mage was already well on his way.

Ah, good, a pro-active comrade. Much better than the traumatised wretch from the castle. Or that weird, melancholic version at the giant superstition hole.

Akira re-adjusted his stance, then moved left towards the second beam.

Though, to be fair, that first corpse was pretty bleak. Twisted, skin stained blue, partially eviscerated…

He coughed, keeping it faint.

No, don’t wander off. The beam, focus on that. Then the boat. Then getting away from this cursed fucking region…Suwa and Shingen and lunatic demons…well, most of them.

‘No-one here,’ sounded out abruptly, so loud that Akira reflex-stabbed the tribute rug stretched out over the tatami.

‘Kuso…’

‘No broken boat either.’

Akira pulled his katana out of the rug and jabbed it vaguely across to the other side of the room. ‘Keep your voice down, you fool. They could be hiding outside.’

‘It’s fine, no one knows about this place. Or if they do they never remember it.’ Daiki moved to the bar and took one of the wine bottles off the shelf…and gasped in panic as the wooden slab tilted down and leftwards.

Reaching out his spare hand, he grabbed the nearest bottle that was about to slide off and then watched as the rest of them sailed off the edge and plunged down onto the floor.

Luckily, most of the area was covered in tatami so only half the bottles ended up smashed, but still...

‘What the queen of hell are you doing over there?’ yelled Akira, forgetting entirely about his own volume setting.

Daiki didn’t respond; he just clutched the two bottles in his hands and stared at the doorway. Then the back room entrance. Then the doorway again.

After two, maybe three minutes, nothing appeared.

No one charged in with their katanas out. And no one sneaked in with their katanas out either. No one dropped down through the roof or crawled up from the floor. No one poked their head in and said, ‘did I hear a party?’

‘I think we’re okay,’ concluded the mage, finally, putting the bottles down on the counter and taking out two cups from somewhere beneath.

Akira shook his head, and the tip of his katana, disappearing out the front door for another minute before coming back in and saying that somehow, no one in Suwa province is reacting to the loudest bottle smashing in recorded history.

‘Wasn’t that loud,’ mumbled Daiki, pouring out dark crimson wine into two cups and then downing both of them.

‘Yeah, right.’

‘And only half of them broke.’

‘Let’s just focus on getting that boat out, okay?’ Akira walked over to the counter, sheathing his katana on the way. ‘After you’ve poured another cup.’

‘As you wish, meijin.’

Daiki tilted the bottle over the first cup and filled it almost to the rim, then switched to the other one, his head lifting up halfway through and freezing a smile, completely oblivious as the wine spilled out over the top and onto Akira’s left hand.

‘Gods of-…’ stuttered the ashigaru, pulling his hand away. ‘What are you doing? Stop.’

It was loud enough, but not for Daiki it appeared, as his hand stayed at the same angle and the wine finally stopped leaking out only when the bottle was almost empty.

Realising that something was wrong, and probably to the rear, Akira spun round, pulling out his katana in the same motion and pointing it at the female figure in the doorway.

No, wait…he knew this one.

The izakaya witch.

‘You’re here?’ mumbled Reiko, her hand drifting slowly round the back of her waist.

‘Hands up where I can see them,’ shouted Akira, darting across to the tribute rug in three strides. ‘Daiki, check the back, quick.’

‘No, no, no, it’s just me,’ Reiko answered, giving up on the back grab and bringing her hands roofwards. ‘No others.’

‘Right. No one. Just came along all by yourself.’

‘I’m telling the truth.’

Akira shifted onto his other leg, keeping the katana steady. ‘What are you doing here then?’

‘At my own temple?’

‘You’re not a monk. And it’s sunrise. Why are you here?’

Reiko watched as Daiki came out of his trance, and then smirked as the first thing he did was down the drink he’d just overpoured. Typical Daiki. Always time for a shōchū or ten.

‘Daiki, check the back…now.’

‘You don’t need to panic, it really is only me.’

‘We’ll see.’

‘I have no need to lie, ashigaru. And yes, I do have a dagger tucked into the back of my yukata. I want to be very transparent about that. But it is just for general protection. Nothing more.’

‘Drop it on the floor. Slowly.’ Akira half turned back, eyes on the back room entrance. ‘Daiki…’

The mage re-appeared, shaking his head.

‘No-one?’

‘Unless they’re hiding underwater. No.’

Akira turned back and nodded in tentative approval as Reiko pulled out the dagger from her belt and held it up vertically in the air, showing that she wasn’t going to throw it at anyone, then let it slip out of her hand and drop handle first onto the tatami.

‘Over to the wall, slowly.’

Again, Reiko did as she was told, keeping both hands up even when she was seated on the listening bench.

‘You’re doing the monks a favour?’ asked Daiki, walking up parallel to the ashigaru, who was trying to keep his katana straight and ready, but was clearly starting to feel the burden of the night’s activities.

‘Regretfully…’

‘For the festival?’

Reiko finally lowered her hands, nodding.

‘But…here?’

‘Someone has to do it. And I got the shortest straw.’

Daiki glanced at Akira, following the length of his increasingly shaky blade. ‘She’s not our enemy. It’s okay.’

‘Maybe. Maybe not.’

‘Trust me, I know her.’

‘And I don’t.’

Reiko coughed. ‘That’s not entirely true.’

‘Was that sarcasm?’

‘Just a note. That we have already met. And I allowed you to stay at my izakaya overnight.’

‘Probably to rob me while I slept…’

‘Nonsense. I could’ve done that while you were blind drunk.’

‘Gods, are you trying to get stabbed…’

Reiko opened her mouth to let out more facetiousness then clamped it shut fast when she saw the green katana moving closer to her neck. Then kept it shut until Daiki stepped in and put a hand on the ashigaru’s shoulder.

‘She is not a threat, I promise you. Put the blade down.’

‘Don’t buy it…’

‘Please, Akira.’

‘Too much of a co-incidence.’

‘Or not a co-incidence at all. Look, we’re all tired. She’s unarmed now. Let’s just get in the boat and go.’

Akira mouthed the words back to himself, expression still sceptical, green katana still arched aggressively despite his fatigue.

Not our enemy.

An izakaya owner.

In the heart of Suwa territory.

At a pebble-sized temple this early.

Oddly calm.

Did it make sense?

Not one bit.

But the boat was right there, and she did seem to be alone.

‘Fine, we’ll do it your way,’ he said, allowing the mage to shift his hand down to his wrist and guide the katana floor-wards. ‘But you have to knock her out first.’

‘What?’

‘Put her to sleep so she doesn’t run out and warn anyone.’

‘I won’t say a word,’ protested Reiko, raising her hands again.

‘Not talking to you.’

‘She won’t,’ agreed Daiki, bending down and picking up the dagger. ‘Duty requires her to stay inside the temple.’

‘If you believe that shit…’

Reiko coughed, half raising her hand. ‘It’s true, I can’t leave the temple grounds. Not without condemning myself to forty iterations of Hell in the afterlife.’

‘Forty what?’

‘And she’s my friend.’

‘Yours, not mine.’

Daiki breathed out, frustrated, and looked towards the back room entrance. No sign of any Suwa guards or back up. ‘The boat…let’s just go out there…and leave. No knocking anyone out.’

‘You’re worse than fucking Miho…’

‘I told you, she’s my friend. I vouch for her. She is not dangerous.’

Akira avoided looking directly at the mage’s face as he knew the dopey cow expression would annoy him, so he tried Reiko’s instead. Ah, she was good…not pleading, not desperate…sincere eyes…yet slight confusion at the same time, as in, what the hell were these two guys doing in my temple?

But then…every other muscle in his body was calling her a liar.

‘Look, if we get on the boat, they won’t be able to get us anyway,’ continued Daiki, tugging Akira lightly on the yukata sleeve. ‘It’s about four kilometres across to the northern shore, twenty if you run the perimeter. And we’ll have a clear head start.’

The words were true enough and, after the mage had repeated them a few more times, Akira said as much, telling Daiki to go out and untie the boat.

‘We go together,’ he answered, glancing at Reiko and mouthing I’m sorry about all this.

She mouthed back detach when you get the chance, but it got lost in the air between as Daiki was already walking the cynical ashigaru out the back entrance.

‘Detach, you idiot,’ she whispered, when the room was empty.

Outside, there were sounds of water splashing, moans of stop rocking the boat so much, keep it steady, then a return to quietude.

Reiko stayed on the listening bench for another minute or two, looking at the dagger that Daiki had surreptitiously left behind on the counter, running through the possible stories she could tell Misora.

One, lie outright, say she didn’t see anything.

Two, she came in, the boat was already gone.

Three, they were here when she entered, outnumbered her, but she managed to convince them she wasn’t a threat.

Four, she blacked out and woke up on this bench.

Standing up, she walked over to the counter and picked up the dagger. Rolled the grip in her hand a few times. Then placed it on a hidden shelf underneath.

Number two seemed to be the best shot. She got here, boat was already gone. Three was more truthful, less risky in terms of telling the thing, but ultimately more risky as the inevitable question would be, why didn’t they kill you? Or why didn’t they knock you out?

Gods, maybe I should’ve just let the ashigaru whack me on the head?

Wouldn’t that have been easier?

The cup on the counter, half full of temple wine, gave her nothing, no answers, no guarantees so she picked it up and drank it dry.

Okay, number two it is.

Hopefully, it’s Misora who does the interview and not-…

‘You’re here?’ a familiar, slightly robotic voice asked, the sound floating across from the back room entrance.

Reiko steadied herself, controlling the urge to grab the dagger and throw it pre-emptively at Ichiko’s face.

Instead, she poured out two fresh cups of wine. ‘You been out back?’

‘Where’s Kanae? The boy?’

‘Interesting response.’

‘Nearby?’

‘Hopefully not.’

‘What?’

Reiko paused, taking a sip of shōchū, tasting it. ‘I’m sorry…Ichiko…I know she’s your protégé, but that girl is far too annoying to function around.’

‘You left her alone?’ asked Ichiko, moving with one hand on her belt dagger towards the front side of the counter.

‘She’ll be fine. And so will I now that I don’t have to listen to her drone on about that fucking ant. She’s not going to forgive you for that, by the way. Said something about finding the ant’s family and training them to attack you when you’re asleep.’

Ichiko pulled out one of the two stools, hovering for a second with her hand still on her belt, then finally relented and took a seat. To complete the picture, she placed both hands flat on the table and studied the bottle of temple wine.

Keeping her left hand under the counter, Reiko pushed a cup across. ‘Drink?’

The ninja glanced at the intruder, peered down at its still swirling surface…

‘It’s temple-approved.’

…then went back to the bottle.

‘You’re right. That girl is unsalvageable. Ignorant. Insolent. Brain like a sponge. Bizarre fascination with protecting animals…yet eating meat for every meal.’

‘I’m glad you see my side of it.’

Ichiko gave up on the bottle and switched to the liquid in the cup, a single bubble popping on the surface.

‘What are you doing here anyway? Where’s Misora?’

‘Checking the treeline.’

Reiko nodded, taking a sip of her drink. ‘I assume you saw the little jetty out back, before you came in.’

‘What of it?’

‘Well…there is a slight chance…that they took a boat from here.’

Ichiko stared forward, one hand perched on the edge of the counter.

‘The monks usually keep a boat outside, tied up. But it’s not there.’ Another sip of the wine, a cough. ‘Could have been taken out hours ago. Or days ago.’

‘I see.’

‘No definite way to tell.’

Ichiko flicked at a splinter then left the counter and wrapped her right hand round the whole circumference of the cup. Stared down at the bubble-less surface.

She doesn’t drink, thought Reiko, edging her left hand onto the grip of her dagger. And she’s being nice. Amiable. Something is not right here.

‘I did notice the space where the boat had been tied up.’ Ichiko raised the cup, spinning it in a little half circle. ‘There were wet patches near the base of pole.’

‘Wet patches?’

‘Tiny little tears crawling down the side.’

‘Must’ve been recent…’

The cup stopped, swaying one way then the other, Ichiko’s head tilting in unison. ‘Could have been them, could have been you…’

‘Me?’

‘…putting cypress leaves out for old friends.’

The last words came out poetic, painted in deathly red and Reiko processed them instantly, her hand gripped on the dagger and pulling it out, preparing to swipe across at neck-height…

…then stopping as a flying wave of wine crashed into her face.

The room turned off, then on again, blurred with water lines, a flash of yukata sleeve, something cold entering her neck, something strong pulling her down head-first onto the counter.

She tried to speak, but blurted out globs of blood instead.

Tried to slice the dagger in a low-defensive block, but…

Tried to…

Couldn’t…

‘There, there, don’t flail,’ said the soothing voice of her attacker, pulling the blade from Reiko’s neck and letting the blood flow out. ‘In the red circle, we relent. In the green void, we accept. In the white space, we bow.’

‘Miso…’ Reiko slurred, coughing up more blood, the remains of the temple wine running a solitary stream into her eye. ‘She’ll…’

‘In the red circle, we relent. In the green void, we accept. In the white space, we bow. Say the words, traitor, and you may be saved.’

‘Mis…’

‘In the red circle, we relent. In the green void, we accept. In the white space, we bow. Say them.’

‘She…’

‘The words, traitor.’

More blood, out of her body, over the counter, the wine washing over her eye, forcing it shut and

Reiko tried to raise the dagger with her thoughts…to stab Ichiko in the mouth…to stop her parroting that ritualistic nonsense but

it was done

the temple turning liquid, melting, evaporating, dissipating

void blackness creeping in at the sides

flesh tentacles

from Misora’s naked body

reaching out

perhaps not real yet

void

black as night

calling to her, guiding her in

away from all this witch chaos

all these fucking