1.61: Shadowpy“I shall… RuiRui.” Rickey blurbled, his voice wobbling like a shaken pudding cup. “Her emotions… sensed. Urgency… must act. He… hard to… devour. Will take… time.”

  “He’s holding on?” Rui snapped, wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeve. “You’re not just munching on his suit, are you? Go full power!”

  “W-WAIT—!” I lunged and grabbed Rui by both shoulders. “Rui, no! You’re not a murderer!”

  Rui stared straight into my eyes—… and they were overflowing.

  “H-He crossed a line, Susumu!” she sobbed. “He said it himself! He broke her! He was proud… proud that he did it!” Her voice cracked like shattering gss. “He’s going to pay! You can’t let him… you can’t let him walk away after everything he’s done!”

  Before I could answer, Natalia-sama stepped forward with her sunny, calming smile… like an angel descending specifically to de-escate crime scenes.

  “It’s been a while, Rickey. Good to see you,” she said gently. “But please don’t kill him. Could you just disable him for us? Pretty please?”

  Rickey wobbled like a getin mold having a breakdown.“Mmmm… like the sun… a star…” he murmured dazedly at Natalia-sama. “I… not specialize in… restraint…”

  He shrank slightly, his glowing aura dimming just a little, aggression sliding off his surface like melting honey.

  Ume stepped forward, bright and serene, her smile the embodiment of a kind assassin.“Do your best, Rickey. My people are born killers… we know how to hold back when we need to.” She pced a hand over her chest. “You can do it too. Your spirit is too gentle for the work you do.”

  Rickey quivered.

  “Ah… but then how… eat? Yakuza… feed to me… like monsters… other humans. So cruel… dark like Nyx… flowers wilted… deep in their souls… Yet they feed me… validate… my existence…”

  His sorrow resonated in the air like a low hum, vibrating in my ribs.

  I raised a finger, ready to attempt… some encouragement? “It might sound like an insult, but um… maybe you could… dispose of waste instead? I mean! I mean! It’s not intended as an… insult… just—maybe helping society by, uh, eating trash—?”

  Rickey stiffened, rippling.“Susumu says… eat garbage… Rickey? Insult… is it… Really?”

  “N-No!” I yelped, waving my hands frantically. “That’s not what I meant!”

  Natalia-sama patted Rickey’s surface. He wobbled excitedly, glowing brighter.“It’s not an insult at all,” she soothed. “It would genuinely help people. Does it matter what matter you absorb? Can you even taste things?”

  Rickey hiccuped a soft wobble.

  “No… no taste. Only… nutrition. Anything… I can absorb.”

  “Then that’s it!” I cheered, pumping my fist skyward like some ridiculous anime protagonist. “That’s what you can do, Rickey! You can help Japan be greener than ever! Even if people knew you existed… they’d love you for your service! They’d celebrate you! You’d be a hero!”

  Rickey quivered.“Cele… brate…? Acceptance…? Love…?”

  He shrunk again, glowing faintly like an embarrassed firefly.

  “I only receive… love… from Rui… Online… Poems flow… Love pours… Little star. She shows me… affection… for me. Her kindness… melts me softly…”A shiver rippled across his entire mass.“To… be… loved… Fut…u…re…”

  We all exchanged gentle smiles.For a moment…Even Rickey seemed to have a bright future ahead of him.He could stand proudly in society.He could have a pce in the world.He could…

  FWOOOOOSH—!!

  SPLAT—!!!

  Rickey exploded.

  Chunks of yellow and green slime sprayed in every direction… spttering the street, the sidewalk, the trees, us. I felt a warm glob smack the side of my helmet with a wet, nauseating shkplorp.

  Where Rickey had been—

  —stood Mitsuhiko.

  Perfectly intact.Completely untouched.His suit was immacuteThere was not a single wrinkle… not a single stain in sight.

  His cold eyes glinted like icicles sharpened to kill.

  A twisted sneer curled across Mitsuhiko’s face.“So foolish. Did you truly believe your pathetic little trap would work on me?” His cold gaze swept over us with disdain. “Ah yes… all of my true opponents finally show themselves. Let’s see…” His finger moved through the air as if reading a list. “A tiny girl. An insane sentai-obsessed otaku—I know that much. That trenchcoat you wore when you snuck around in… Your efforts to be… furtive were so entertaining I just ignored you.” His eyes nded on me. “Oh yes. That stupid boy Reiko spoke of. From the Amusement Park… It’s you, isn’t it?”

  I bristled. “You had Reiko on your arm at the Amusement Park. You acted like she was your possession. From the moment I id eyes on you, I hated you… but I decided that if Reiko-chan was happy, I would accept it. But you used and discarded her.” I was snarling now.

  Mitsuhiko chuckled lightly as he dusted his immacute suit, which somehow remained perfectly spotless even after Rickey’s demise.“Wasn’t she?” Mitsuhiko said thoughtfully. “Women are merely decorative. If a toy breaks, why not obtain a new one? Although I will admit that I was very fond of Reiko.”

  I seethed, clenching my teeth. “You bastard…”

  He gnced at Natalia-sama and Ume next, dismissing me.“And… what have we here? A vampire and a kitsune. Impressive on paper, but let’s be honest… Despite all your power, there’s nothing you can do against me.” He csped his hands behind his back with an insultingly rexed posture. In the same movement, the strange oblong object he held swung upward, pointing zily at us. “This fight you’ve picked with me will end tragically, I fear. Walk away, and I will forget this insult.”

  “You absolute freak!” Rui screamed, grief ripping her voice raw. “You killed Rickey right in front of us! What did you do to Akuchi? Damn you!!”

  She reached into her purse…and dread stabbed through me.

  “No! Rui—!” I lunged to stop her, but before I could reach her…

  He spoke.

  “I see. We have come to an impasse.”

  The air shifted.

  “NOW! STRIKE!” Rui roared.

  I surged forward, raising my hands to chop the back of his neck…

  …only for him to slide aside with serpent-like ease.

  At that exact instant…

  Shadows exploded from every direction.

  Fanged silhouettes materialized around us.

  Dozens.

  Fifty vampires, their forms darting in from the rooftops, the alleys, the surrounding darkness. Rui’s contingency pn had sprung, and in a split second…

  He was surrounded.

  Mitsuhiko bat an eyesh. He didn’t turn to face any of them, treating them as though they didn’t exist.

  “Ah… another halfway decent attempt,” he said lightly, raising the strange object he held skyward. “Come, my creatures.”

  His oblong device bzed with white light…

  … and the night tore open.

  Shaggy forms erupted outward, smming into the descending vampires. Cws. Fur. Tails. Canine faces with svering jaws.

  Werewolves.

  Dozens of them.

  They tore into Rui’s vampire forces with supernatural ferocity.

  Fangs met cws in a vicious bck-and-gold blur. Screams and roars filled the boulevard, echoing off stone and gss. Bodies crashed into cars, pavement cracked, trees snapped.

  And there he stood…Mitsuhiko…His back was still turned to us.He was completely unbothered.Supremely confident.

  I snapped back into the fight.

  I might’ve been the only one who had a chance here, since I was a human with spiritual power.

  Even if that chance was microscopic…

  My rage surged hot and sharp. I ran straight at him.My fists flew.

  Punches…kicks…wild, frantic strikes fueled by desperation.

  He dodged them all.

  Effortlessly.

  His movements were crisp, elegant, like a seasoned martial arts master sparring with a child.Every time I swung…

  He was already somewhere else.

  Every word he spoke stabbed deeper.

  “Your movements are obvious.”

  SWISH

  “You ck training.”

  FWOOOSH

  “You rely on emotion.”

  SWOOSH… SKID

  “You can’t do anything.”

  I gritted my teeth so hard they touched the interior of my mask. A scream tore from my throat as my frustration peaked…

  —and the jade bracelet fshed.

  Power surged through my limbs.I grew… just a bit… my muscles tensing with leftover yokai strength from my noh-face days.

  Mitsuhiko’s cool expression narrowed, just slightly.

  “Ah… so you have some spiritual power. Interesting.”

  I swung a kick……fast, sharp and filled with all my fury…

  And he vaulted over me like it was a children’s gymnastics routine.

  “You can’t prevail,” he said calmly. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”

  Every word hit its mark.

  Still… I didn’t stop.

  Natalia-sama lunged next.

  Her body burst into its vulpine form… gold and white fur rippling, her teeth gleaming like carved ivory. She thundered toward Mitsuhiko, her jaws widening to take his head clean off.

  Her fangs snapped shut.

  … On empty air.

  He simply wasn’t there.

  “No matter how hard you try,” he murmured, “you too will fail. Perhaps it’s time to end this foolish game.”

  And then…

  Ume made her move...

  She shrieked… a sharp, beautiful, terrifying sound and unched herself forward with blinding speed.

  His shadow expanded beneath him, stretching like a monstrous pool.

  “Come, my faithful guardian,” he said softly.

  Ume’s fists struck.

  And connected.

  She was so fast, even his smirk faltered.

  Blow after blow…She unleashed a blur of cws, kicks, and vampiric precision.

  He staggered.His boots skidded.For the first time…he was pushed back.

  Ume flipped midair, her skirt fluttering, and brought her legs down on him like a guillotine.

  CRACK—!!

  The pavement split.A crater formed beneath him.She pinned him, her legs crushing downward…

  And then…

  He was gone.

  When he reappeared he was smirking.Totally unscathed.It had to be a trick of the shadows.

  Ume’s heel struck nothing but empty air.

  A heartbeat ter—BOOM—!!

  Her kick bsted the pavement apart, rubble erupting like shrapnel. Stones rained down around us in a chaotic cascade.

  “U-Ume?!” I shouted—

  … but before she could recoil, the crater beneath her shifted.

  Like it was alive.

  The shadows writhed…

  Her body dropped suddenly… as if the ground had liquefied into quicksand.

  “UM—!!”

  Natalia-sama surged forward in her full fox form, jaws wide, her fur bristling. She snapped at Ume’s arm to pull her free, but—

  SCHLORP…!!

  —she vanished too.

  Face-first.

  The pavement didn’t crack or crumble… it simply opened and swallowed them like a hungry maw. One moment they were there. The next…

  Gone.

  Rui and I stared at the gaping wound in the street, our breath caught in our throats.

  My mind bnked.

  Then—

  “UWAAAAAAH!!”I dove after them, smming my fists against the shattered pavement hard enough to split the skin beneath my gloves. Dust bsted upward as I frantically cwed at the stone.

  “Ume—! Natalia—! Hold on—!!”

  My fingers scraped uselessly against the jagged cement.

  That’s when I heard it.

  His voice.

  Smooth.Cold.Amused.

  “Now for you… foolish little one.”

  My blood froze.

  I turned just in time…… to see Rui’s feet sink into the pavement like it was a dark, swallowing tide.

  “RUI—!!”

  She cwed at the surface, nails skittering across smooth stone…There was nothing to grab.Nothing to hold onto.

  Her eyes locked with mine…desperate, fierce.

  “Susu! Get him! You can do it!” she shouted, her voice echoing as her lips slipped beneath the surface…

  And her hair followed, disappearing into the abyss.

  “RUI!!! DAMN IT!” I screamed.

  I sprinted to the spot where she vanished and hammered my fists into the pavement, chips of concrete flying with each desperate strike. My breath tore ragged from my chest, panic surging hot and violent.

  “GIVE ME MY FRIENDS BACK!!!” I roared, voice cracking under the force of it.

  My fists kept pounding…… again… and again… and again—

  until the ground trembled beneath me.

  Relwing