Night had just fallen at about eight p.m. It was the perfect temperature to wear a light jacket. Karen and Sarah arrived at the big red torii gate with gold imperial crests that marked the entrance to the Kumotawa Shrine grounds. The shrine was halfway up the mountain, and they had just come down the dark path from the peak. They used their headlamps for the last part of the trail and helped a few descending tourists who would have stumbled in the dark without them.

  The torii stood at the end of the stone-paved pathway to the shrine from the base of the mountain. Unlike the unlit upper path, the path up to the shrine was lit by a single strand of dim bulbs for festive occasions. The last portion of the path up was lined with cherry trees, creating a tunnel of pink blossoms in the electric light at the moment.

  Behind the torii was a wide paved path that led to a large red gatehouse, two stories high, with a green tiled roof. On either side of the gate were two fearsome-looking Shinto guardian deities. Raijin, the god of thunder, was on the left side with his drums, and Fujin, the god of wind, was on the right side with his bag of storms. Unlike most Shinto Shrines, this one had a tall wall with ornate towers on it that ran all the way around the shrine complex. It was well fortified once the thick wooden doors were closed.

  Both girls wore blue blazers with white trim and grey pleated skirts, the uniform for Odewara High School. Karen had short blonde hair and was taller than her friend, who had long brunette hair. Each also sported a red armband on their left sleeve with the letters GGA to indicate they were authorized to carry their M4 carbines and perform community security duties.

  Karen texted the other pair of girls from the GGA who were on patrol duty on the lower trail. They were supposed to have been here already. She pressed send and heard a faint ding from a cell phone down the trail. “We’re here!” One of the other girls shouted up. From around a curve in the trail, the other two girls emerged at the head of a small group of shrine visitors.

  “Sorry, we’re late. We came up as fast as we could.”

  “You’re in time. Chiyo should be on in five minutes, so let’s go.” Karen urged. She grabbed Sarah’s hand and pulled her along. The other girls immediately followed as they also wanted to see Chiyo dance.

  The paths on the shrine grounds were well-lit by ornate street lamps, including the path leading to the small parking lot at the side of the shrine. Small shuttle buses would drop off and pick up people there to take them between the shrine and the SuperQuickly konbini at the base of the mountain.

  Normally quiet at night, the grounds bustled with people and many women wore kimonos for the Shunbun no Hi matsuri. The event celebrated the spring equinox, the spring planting, and Princess Chikako’s victory over the oni army 400 years ago. While the main shrine was dedicated to Amenominakanushi, a primal god of creation, there were also two smaller shrines there. The bigger one was an Inari or fox shrine for the farmers, and the much smaller one was dedicated to Hanuman, the god of war. On this weekend, families would also honour their ancestors by visiting their graves and cleaning them.

  As they neared the gatehouse, they heard traditional dance music filtering out through the open gates. The entrance, with its banks of red paper lanterns around it, appeared very festive. People were still arriving for the festival, and the little teahouse outside the gatehouse was full of people having sit-down refreshments.

  Past the gate, strings of lights and paper lanterns illuminated the grounds of the shrine. Both sides of the main path were lined with busy booths for festival foods and games. Visitors tried their luck at goldfish scooping, yo-yo balloon bobbing, or pop gun shooting. Other people were eating fried yakisoba noodles, chicken karaage, squid on a stick, or okonomiyaki pancakes. Children ran around with candy apples, paper trays of fried takoyaki balls, and chocolate-covered bananas.

  Sarah’s head turned to track a fried noodle booth as she walked by. “That yakisoba smells so good.”

  “You can get some later,” Karen reminded her. “We need to get to the stage.”

  Spotlights illuminated a raised wooden stage with a high roof. A local dance troop performed on the stage to pre-recorded music while a male singer belted out the spring planting song. They held branches of sakura blossoms in their hands and were dressed in colourfully patterned kimonos. A large audience around the stage clapped along to the beat.

  “You made it!” Ayako excitedly waved to the girls. She used her height to spot them in the audience. The girls gathered around her and said, “Good evening, sempai.”

  “Good evening to you, too,” Ayako replied to her juniors. She looked after them as their team captain, but she didn’t think she did anything special to deserve the adoration.

  School had just finished for the year, which ran from April to March. Ayako would be in Grade 12 next year, and the GGA members unanimously voted her in to replace the outgoing president a month earlier. She had reluctantly taken the job and now had many additional responsibilities, including organizing the recruiting drive for new members during club week.

  “You totally look like a miko,” Karen admired. Ayako wore the traditional costume for a shrine maiden: a white robe, a long red pleated skirt, and sandals. Her long black hair was tied back into a ponytail.

  “A temporary miko. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid to help out Chiyo’s family on festival days.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you’re in school uniform or dressed as a miko. You look good in anything,” Sarah added. The other two girls nodded in agreement.

  The music ended, and the dancers finished their last moves to the audience's applause. They filed off stage, and Chiyo, Ayako’s best friend and another shrine maiden, walked up the stairs onto the centre of the stage. Musicians playing traditional instruments began to play a low-tempo beat with shrill notes from flutes. Several drummers then joined in, adding a slow, booming martial flair to the music.

  Chiyo looked beautiful under the spotlights, with the golden trim on her white robes glittering as she moved. She wore white face makeup, her lips were rouged, and her long hair was done up in a coif under a golden headdress with dangling strings of golden discs. The discs jingled as she performed slow and graceful moves with a ceremonial sword. The other shrine maiden next to her dressed the same and mirrored her movements.

  The music increased in tempo, and the drummers began to beat louder. A man in a fearsome oni costume burst onto the stage. He waved a big studded club around and yelled through his big red ogre mask with a long nose. The music became erratic and undulated as the dancers spun and twirled, pretending to let their weapons clash together. The drums boomed out rapidly as the mock combat continued. The audience was enthralled with the dance. With a final staccato beat, Chiyo thrust her sword through the ogre, who collapsed in a heap on the stage. The two shrine maidens, playing the role of Princess Chikako defeating the ogre army, did another slow circuit of the stage and then walked off to great applause.

  “Chiyo’s amazing,” Sarah said as she clapped. “I could never do that.”

  “This is the second time you’ve seen her dance, and she did it flawlessly,” Ayako beamed like a proud mother. “I’ve watched her for years, and that is still my favourite dance. The harvest kagura to Inari is really good too, but this is the best dance.”

  Karen’s stomach gave a loud growl. “Should we go to get something to eat now?” Karen asked Sarah. “I can’t believe my stomach’s growling before yours. You’re always the hungry one.”

  “Yakisoba and yakitori!” Sarah bounced with excitement. “I’m starving too. I was kind of saving my appetite for fair food. Energy bars on the trail just can’t compare.”

  “You all should enjoy the festival,” Ayako said. Thank you for all your hard work patrolling the paths tonight. There are a couple of hours left before the vendors start to close and pack up.”

  “I suppose you can’t join us,” Karen asked.

  “Sorry. I’m heading back to work at the omamori table. They’re always short-staffed staffed, and I apparently sell a lot of lucky charms.”

  A collective groan of disappointment rose from the girls.

  “We’ll stop by later,” Karen said, “You can never have too much good luck.”

  “I’ll see you at Chiyo’s house later tonight, anyway. So have a good time.”

  The girls wandered off as a group to hunt for food. Ayako headed back to the omamori table by herself with a bit of a sigh. It would have been so nice to join the girls, she thought to herself.

  A tall man wearing a long, black leather coat passed in front of her. There were many tall men here in the Hiroshima American zone, but this man drew her attention. He just looked unusual, and more than one sideways glance was thrown at him by other people. He had a bald head with a pale, narrow face, almost unnaturally so, and his build was equally slender. His head suddenly turned to face her as if he sensed her watching. Ayako averted her gaze, realizing she had been staring. When she looked up, the man had disappeared into the crowd despite being taller than most people. She then noticed a Japanese man in a brown jacket dash through the same crowd in the direction the tall man had walked. When she blinked, he, too, disappeared into the mass of people.

  I wonder what that was about, she wondered. She continued to the omamori table, where she promptly sold a charm for warding off evil.

  *****

  Later that night, all four girls were seated on cushions set around a short square table in the middle of a large room that had tatami grass mats covering the floor. They had changed into pyjamas or sweatpants after taking quick baths to refresh after their long day. The kotatsu they were seated at had the typical blanket draped underneath that reached down to the floor. Their legs and feet under the blanket were toasty warm from the electric heater mounted on the underside of the table. Chiyo’s house had no central heating for cool nights like all traditional Japanese homes.

  One wall of the room held an alcove with a flower display in front of a vertical wall scroll of a brushed ink painting of a mountain. The opposite wall held a rack of naginata polearms in the corner and closets. The main entrance to the room was made of shoji panels. The paper walls let in light from the outside and opened to the back garden and the main hallway that ran the length of the long, rectangular house plan.

  “Thanks again for having us over,” Karen said to Chiyo. I can’t believe I’m staying over at your house, and it is at the shrine!” She sipped her soda and reached for another cookie from the assortment of snacks in the middle of the table.

  “Yes, thank you,” Sarah said. “I love how traditional this house is. My family lives in a concrete apartment. There’s no woodwork or shoji screens. I’ve always liked the grassy smell of tatami mats, too.

  “Please. You don’t have to thank me. We’re good friends now. I’ve lived here all my life, and it isn’t all that special. Like all old houses, it’s even a little drafty in the winter. Just ask Ayako.”

  “Why do you think I’m taking up most of the kotatsu right now? There’s nothing like cuddling under a cozy kotatsu after taking a bath.” Ayako then grinned while poking Chiyo under the table with her foot, causing Chiyo to playfully complain and poke her back.

  “I think you’re right.” Karen agreed. “We don’t have a kotatsu at home either, but this is better than curling up on the couch with a blanket.”

  Sarah asked. “You two seem like such good friends. How long have you two known each other?”

  Chiyo instantly answered. “It has been seven years. We met in elementary school. An older girl always used to pick on me, and Ayako saved me.”

  “Wow. Good memory.” Ayako sat up to look at her friend, “That hasn’t crossed my mind in years. It was quite the shoving match because she was a bigger girl. I fell in the end, but she ran off.”

  “We’ve been friends since.”

  “You two are so lucky,” Sarah said.

  “What do you mean?” Karen teased her friend. “What about me? We’re good friends, too.”

  “Of course,” Sarah protested while shoving her friend. “You’re so bad, but you’re my best friend.”

  The girls all laughed.

  “It was a great idea to have a sleepover, Chiyo,” Ayako replied. “It’s been a long time since we have done this.”

  “Mom and Dad were happy I was having more friends over, and I’m happy that everyone made it.”

  “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Karen said.

  “Me too,” Sarah added.

  “Does anyone want to play a game?” Chiyo asked.

  “Sure. That sounds like a great idea,” Karen said. “What do you have?”

  “I have a couple of board games or how about Hanafuda?” Chiyo replied. “You mentioned you were interested in it after seeing that movie about the girl playing the game.”

  “I’d like that. Those flower cards were so pretty,” Karen eagerly replied.

  “You girls realize that Chiyo is a Hanafuda shark?” Ayako teased her friend. “She pretty much beats me most of the time. Her mom’s even worse.”

  “Oooh. Shark away, sensei,” Karen laughed.

  The girls played a half dozen hands, ate snacks, and checked their social media feeds on their phones before getting ready to turn in for the night. Chiyo’s parents looked in on them once before they both went off to bed. Chiyo resembled her mother, Suzu, more than her father. Suzu had a kind face, something that Chiyo inherited, but with a more petite nose and a wider chin.

  Both parents looked exhausted after a long day of running the matsuri, even with junior priests helping with rituals and management. The girls then moved the kotatsu to the side of the room and opened up the closets on one wall to pull out rolled-up cotton futons and blankets. They set those up on the floor and then turned in for the night. It had been a long day for everyone, and the sound of gentle snoring was soon heard.

  *****

  Chiyo stirred in her sleep. Her face twisted in anxiety with her dream.

  The fog was like a living, billowing wall of thick mist that rolled down off the mountain. It seemed completely unnatural and stopped just past the edge of the SuperQuickly parking lot at the base. The temperature was cool, and thick overcast hid the sun. Visitors from the shrine were running and stumbling across the parking lot. A middle-aged man jostled a mother carrying her young daughter as he ran past her. Their faces all showed fear.

  Chiyo noticed that Ayako stood next to her. Both of them held their rifles at the ready and were urging the last of the people towards the train station across the street, where there was a waiting train. Rapid rifle fire sounded in the fog, followed by the explosion of a grenade. Yuriko, their GGA coach in full combat gear, emerged from the fog, shooting behind her as she ran. Ghost, her big grey cat, led the way.

  The rest of the girls from the GGA, the tactical squad from Odewara’s police department, were set up behind parked police cars to form a firing line. Their faces were all grim as if they knew this could be the end. Goro, the policeman assigned to patrol the mountain, checked his rifle. Travis, Yuriko’s partner, had a light machine gun set up on top of some concrete road barriers. He talked into a field radio and threw a smoke grenade past Yuriko to mark their position. Red smoke began to billow up into the sky.

  Yuriko reached Ayako and Chiyo and reloaded her rifle. “They’re right behind me,” she called out to everyone. “Hold your fire until I give the order.” She then turned to the girls of the GGA. “Stay low and stay calm. We have to break them here to buy time for our reinforcements to arrive.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Humanoid figures began to appear at the edge of the fog, apparently forming a line along the entire length of the parking lot. Yelling was heard in a strange guttural language, followed by strange howling noises. A horn blew. A line of small green humanoids with swords and spears came running out of the fog. Mixed amongst them were large, black-furred predators with sabre teeth that bounded forward on their six great legs.

  “Fire!” Yuriko yelled out.

  The wave crumbled under a deluge of rifle fire. The machine gun blasted away, taking down several of the fast-moving sabre-toothed beasts. A second line began emerging from the fog. Large red-skinned humanoids with horns on their head roared and ordered the line forward. The oni waved great clubs and swords as they advanced with this wave. Goblin crossbowmen appeared to shoot a barrage of arrows at the defenders. A policeman screamed with an arrow in his neck. Tall, pale men in black robes appeared. They pointed ornate staffs at the defenders to shoot a half-dozen fireballs upon them. Several cars were blasted into the air by deafening explosions. Flaming wreckage littered the parking lot. Policemen and GGA girls were scattered across the pavement. Some were wounded, and others were obviously dead from the way they lay. The machine gun continued firing along with ragged rifle fire from the survivors.

  Chiyo felt dazed and strangely numb and saw a jagged piece of metal sticking out of her abdomen, right below the chest plate of her body armour. She then realized that Yuriko was dragging her to cover as she fired her rifle with one hand. A slight turn of her head showed Ayako lying sideways on the ground, her face bloodied, her eyes blank and lifeless. Chiyo wanted to scream at the sight but found no voice.

  The machine gun then cut down several of the sorcerers before several fireballs landed around the position, silencing it. Fountains of dirt and asphalt erupted amongst the enemy, shattering their advance. A helicopter gunship strafed the parking lot with its cannon as it buzzed past. It did a tight turn for another pass and headed back to use rockets. What looked like a bolt of dark energy then struck it. Smoke began to billow from the engine, and it went into an uncontrolled bank right into the road behind her. The aircraft exploded in a great ball of flame.

  *****

  Chiyo’s eyes snapped open with a gasp from her. The ceiling of the darkened guest room came into focus above her. She was covered in a cold sweat, unhurt, and her pulse raced. That had been a very realistic vision, and she felt her abdomen to find no metal shrapnel sticking out. She looked over to see Ayako unharmed and stirring. Her friend was alive, and so were the other girls. She exhaled in relief and found herself filled with determination to make sure the dream didn’t come to pass. The visions were possibilities of what could be, and she had lived with them since childhood. Her mother, who had the visions until she was a young adult, said that the future was not predestined. A change to alter the future could be simple, like not getting off a bus, stopping to tie a shoelace or taking a left instead of a right. But what would she have to do, she wondered.

  Her heart still pounded when an intense feeling of dread exerted a palpable pressure inside her. She sensed it was coming from the direction of the honden, the shrine’s main hall where worship took place. Something was attacking the shintai. She had never felt this before, and it confused her.

  Ayako groggily opened her eyes. “…Why are you up, Chiyo? Everything okay?”

  “There’s something wrong with the shintai. It’s like… I’m feeling it’s in danger.”

  “That’s where the kami resides, right? You’re talking to gods now?” Ayako awoke quickly, not quite believing what she was hearing.

  “Yes, it is where the kami stays while visiting the shrine, and no, I’m not talking to them. I feel that something is happening to the shintai. We need to check.”

  “Okay. Okay. Give me a second. Turn on the light, will you.”

  Chiyo stood up and pulled the cord to the ceiling light to turn it on. “Whaa…” Karen mumbled.

  There were running footsteps outside their room in the main hallway. The door slid open, and Suzu came in. She wore silk pyjamas, and her hair was dishevelled. Chiyo had rarely seen her look so serious. “Girls! You need to dress and head down the mountain. Chiyo, stay behind. I’ll need your help.”

  “Are you going to check on the shintai?” Ayako asked. “I’m going if Chiyo is going.”

  “I can’t ask you to do that. Dangerous things are happening. Cell phones and telephones are not working, and the shrine’s night guard is missing. My husband has taken the car to drive down to the SuperQuickly to alert them.”

  “Why are you staying then, Mother?” Chiyo frowned. “We should leave, too.”

  “I cannot. I must check on the shintai. Our family has been its guardian for five centuries. I’m sure you felt it calling, too.”

  “Yes. I did. It was strange.”

  “I’m so sorry you’re involved. There are things I have never told you, and I still have much to teach you.”

  Ayako cut in. “Respectfully. I ask to stay with Chiyo. I will not leave my friend."

  Suzu could see the determination in Ayako from her stance and look in her eyes. She sighed. “You two are like sisters. At least I know you can take care of yourselves. You must follow my instructions, though.”

  “Of course.”

  “Chiyo, I need you to get your rifle. We may need it.” Suzu walked over to the rack of naginata and took one from it. From the test twirl she performed, it was obvious that she knew how to use the curved-bladed spear.

  Both Karen and Sarah were awake now. With a minimum of arguing, they became the backups for the group, bringing up the rear. They followed Chiyo to her room to retrieve their rifles and web gear from her gun locker, and then Sarah gave Ayako her rifle. Ayako and Chiyo would lead and needed the guns.

  The house connected to the honden via a covered walkway, open to the air at the sides. It was an unlit passage, with dim light from a half moon and the brighter spots from the flashlights attached to their rifles. Ayako and Chiyo led the way with their rifles, ready to shoot. Their slippered feet barely made a sound on the polished wood floorboards. They arrived at the ancient wooden shrine building without trouble. They opened the sliding door with each girl checking one side simultaneously with practiced skill. Yuriko had drilled them well in shooting and tactics, including close-quarter battle.

  The interior of the main hall was spacious and open except for the red wooden pillars holding up the ceiling around the periphery. It’s red-painted walls and golden ornate trim that decorated the upper part of the walls. The flashlights illuminated a well-worn and polished wood floor as they panned them around the room. They each swept one half of the room and saw it was empty.

  “Clear,” Ayako called out.

  “Clear,” Chiyo called out.

  Suzu entered the room and turned on a light switch. It was immediately obvious that someone had broken in. The gilded double doors at the back of the room were ajar. They led to naijin, the inner sanctuary that housed the shintai. The lock in the central portion of the door lay shattered into pieces on the floor.

  “The shintai!” Suzu rushed forward to be blocked by Chiyo.

  “We enter first,” she said forcefully.

  Suzu was startled by her daughter’s firmness and nodded in agreement.

  Ayako and Chiyo kicked the doors completely open. The shintai was an unassuming round stone the size of a soccer ball inside a tall cabinet that resembled a house with a high peaked roof. It looked untouched. A man wearing a brown jacket with gashes in it sat on the floor against the altar. His hand pressed against his side, where his shirt was drenched in blood. A short ninja sword lay at his side.

  He weakly looked up at them as they entered. “Takashi Kato… imperial shinobi,” he managed to gasp. “Priestess Kimura, I have failed,” he spoke to Suzu. “A Bledikoza sorcerer is after the true shintai. I tried to stop him from breaking the protective wards.”

  “A pale one? They have not been seen for decades.”

  “I didn’t believe it myself until I saw one at the festival.”

  Ayako recognized the ninja from the festival, where he had been following the tall, pale man. “That was the tall man you were following earlier?”

  Takashi nodded. “I was assigned to protect the shrine after the incidents on the mountain. The fear that something is changing here is true.” The man grimaced in pain after talking.

  “Let me have a look.” Chiyo bent down and moved the ninja’s hand to see the wound. Blood welled up from a deep gash. So much blood. She gave a slight gasp as she had never seen an injury like this. “I need to lay you down,” she told the ninja. She then helped to ease him onto his back. She hoped he didn’t notice that her hands trembled slightly from nervousness.

  All the GGA girls had taken first aid, and Chiyo took the lead as she had advanced trauma training as the club medic. She steeled herself for what would come next and unclipped her medical bag to open it on the floor. She put on gloves and pulled out a pair of EMT scissors to cut Takashi’s clothes open. Her work progressed quickly; any nervousness went into biting her lower lip as she remembered the steps for treatment. She pressed a combat dressing with a clotting agent into the wound, even as blood burbled out, bloodying her hands. Takashi helped to apply pressure while she put another pad on top and wound a bandage tightly around his waist. Suzu watched her daughter work, nodding at how well she was working under pressure.

  “We need to keep the pressure on. He needs to get to a hospital.” There wasn’t much else Chiyo could do.

  “Thank you,” the ninja replied. “That’s a good dressing.”

  Chiyo stripped off her gloves, rubbed a bit of sweat off her brow, and looked at her mother. “Who are these pale ones?”

  “They are servants of Yamata no Orochi, the eight-headed serpent god of chaos. The myth told in the Kojiki about Orochi is partially true. Long ago, Orochi fought the gods here and tried to destroy man. The gods Susanoo and Amaterasu fought it and ultimately exiled it. Ever since, Orochi has desired to return to our world.”

  Chiyo frowned. “I see… I still have much to learn.” She knew her mother and father kept secrets about the shrine from her but had never expected anything like this.

  “I’m sorry, Chiyo,” her mother spoke sadly. “I told you about the shintai and would have told you these things in good time, but circumstances are pushing things forward. I wanted you to find your own happiness in life and not be burdened by our family’s past choices.”

  “Thank you, Mom.” Chiyo didn’t seem upset. “I still don’t know what I would like to do when I grow up, and I think I understand why you hid this. However, I saw oni and pale ones in a dream tonight.”

  Suzu frowned, and concern showed in her voice. “You had a vision about this?”

  “Not exactly, but I think the shintai was showing me a possible future of some sort with Bledikoza and oni in it.”

  Her mother nodded thoughtfully, “Your connection to the shintai is strong. The Bledikoza and oni must be working together.”

  “Beware the shadow stalker,” Takashi grimaced. “It’s real, not just a legend. It attacked from the darkness, and it had a long reach with its claws. These damn Bledikoza and their summoned creatures.”

  Suzu motioned Ayako and Chiyo to come behind the altar. She pointed her naginata at stairs that descended into the ground. “We have to go down there. The true shintai is in a cavern. I can’t ask you to go. It is certain to be more dangerous than I thought.”

  “I think it is a little late for that,” Ayako said. “You’re going to need more help. Let us lead again.”

  Suzu nodded. “I’m glad you’re here. I cannot imagine a better friend for my daughter.”

  “Ah. Thank you…” The compliment caught Ayako off guard. “So, what is so important about the shintai?”

  “You should know the truth too. The shintai protects us. You know this mountain connects our world to other worlds with the Confluence. When the fog comes, the thread of our world entwines itself with another. Which other world is a mystery as many are close to ours. Five hundred years ago, the connections lasted longer and selected fewer worlds. After Princess Chikako fought off the oni invasion, imperial sorcerers placed a spirit stone here at the shrine. The stone is said to be from the creation of the world, which is why the shrine is dedicated to Amenominakanushi. It weakens the connection and makes it unpredictable so that another invasion could not happen.”

  Chiyo’s jaw dropped when she realized the implication of her mother’s explanation. “We have to stop the sorcerer! The oni and pale ones were attacking us in my dream because the shintai was destroyed!”

  Both mother and daughter simultaneously felt dizzy and wobbled for a moment.

  Ayako steadied her friend and Suzu. “Are you two okay? What’s wrong?”

  “We must act now,” Suzu replied. “The shintai is under attack again. Some of the magical wards around it have broken.”

  *****

  Sarah stayed behind to help the wounded ninja apply pressure, while Karen acted as a guard. Ayako led the way down the stairs, which curved down and ended up in a straight tunnel that led deeper into the mountain. The walls were hewn out of the rock, and they were barely wide enough to fit two people side by side. Both the walls and floor were roughly finished and uneven.

  Suzu whispered, “The tunnel goes straight for thirty metres, then curves right and ends up in a cavern. The stone is in there. We will have to kill or incapacitate the sorcerer. He can wield deadly magic in an instant, so treat him like he has a gun.”

  “I understand.” Ayako grimly nodded. She had never fired her rifle to kill anything until three months ago. None of the girls had. They had fought a mukade, a monster centipede, back then, and now it was a person. She wished that Yuriko, their coach and a combat veteran, were here. She would act, but she didn’t like the way things were developing.

  The three silently walked down the tunnel, trying to keep the element of surprise on their side. Soon, Ayako saw a blue glow ahead. She killed her light and motioned for the others to stop as she crept forward. The low chanting of a single voice could be heard from the cavern.

  She quickly neared the end of the tunnel, still hidden in the shadows. The tunnel ended in a roughly circular cavern that was 25 metres across with a high ceiling, but the walls and ceiling were very rough, protruding and receding randomly. Boulders and rock formations were scattered about the cavern except in the middle, which had been cleared except for a large round stone. The stone was as tall as a man with the charred remnants of a Shinto ward, a straw rope with zig-zag paper streamers on the ground around it.

  Above the shintai, the sorcerer had conjured up a bright glowing orb of blue light. The sorcerer was near the shintai, making ritualistic motions with his arms and chanting. It was the tall, pale man seen earlier, but in the blue light, he looked alien.

  He had drawn a magical circle on the floor in white chalk around the large stone. It had five points, like a pentagram or the five elements of Onmyodo imperial sorcery. Ayako crept into the cavern to get a better vantage point and hid behind a large boulder. She could only see the sorcerer and not the shadow stalker. The cavern was full of shadows, so it could be in any of them, she figured.

  Chiyo and her mother joined Ayako behind the boulder. They put their heads together.

  Suzu looked at the two girls. “Remember. You will have to shoot him. You cannot hesitate. This is life and death. Remember, spells are cast mainly by thinking. A twitch of his finger is all it takes for him to burn you or worse.”

  “Yes. Mother.” Chiyo determined she would change the future. Ayako nodded in agreement.

  Both girls began to aim their rifles around the boulder, going for center-of-mass hits. The man’s chanting reached a crescendo. There was a loud zapping noise as a surge of dark energy with glowing purple edges enveloped the shintai. Crack! A fracture appeared on the stone.

  Both Chiyo and her mother staggered as a sudden dizziness hit them. Being attuned to the shintai at this close range affected them badly. A clang sounded. Suzu’s hold on her naginata shifted, and the bladed tip struck a rock.

  The sorcerer’s chanting stopped. He looked right at them with a maniacal glare. A bolt of glowing dark energy lanced from his hand toward Ayako. Ayako fired two snapshots at him simultaneously, her aim off due to the distress of her companions. The bolt struck the rock next to her, scattering rock chips in her face. It was fortunate that nothing hit her eyes. One of her shots grazed the man’s arm while the other went wide.

  The sorcerer ran for cover and shouted. “Slay them!”

  Ayako saw a fast-moving dark form emerge from a dark patch on the wall. It looked vaguely like a hunched humanoid with very long arms. The light seemed to bend around it, and its outline blended against the shadows on the walls. One thing she did see clearly were the three long dagger-like claws at the end of its arms.

  The stalker ran at Ayako in two great lunging bounds. Its long, clawed arms stretched out in front of it. Ayako rapidly squeezed off two shots and leapt away from the boulder and her companions. At least one shot struck home while the beast raked the air where she had been.

  Both combatants landed and twirled towards each other again. Ayako rapidly fired off two more rounds at the stalker’s upper chest even as the talons raked towards her again. Even up close, she could barely make out the dull, lumpy skin on the stalker, but she could see two darker patches on its head that were eyes or something. Jumping back to avoid the claws, Ayako stumbled and fell as she tripped on the rocky floor. She landed hard on her back while never losing her aim on the stalker. She didn’t have time to panic, knowing the next shots could be her last.

  Two more rapid shots struck the creature even as the claws came down. One at the base of its stumpy neck, while the second hit it through the face. A metal blade point stuck out of the creature’s chest at the same time. Suzu ran forward to spear it from behind, blocking Chiyo’s aim at the same time. The naginata thrust pushed the creature off to the side, so its claws barely missed Ayako. Suzu withdrew the naginata as it hit the floor and stabbed the creature again. The stalker shuddered and died with a gurgling rasp.

  “Mother!” Chiyo leapt between her and the sorcerer with her arm straight and palm up. “Spellshield!”

  Another bolt of dark energy crackled and flared against the protective spell, which appeared like a circular blue glow in front of Chiyo. Some of the dark energy penetrated, and Chiyo felt her hand go numb.

  Ayako recovered and fired at the sorcerer, who cursed and grunted in pain as a bullet struck him in the shoulder. The room plunged into darkness as the wizard light went out. Running could be heard, but Ayako couldn’t risk shooting blind.

  “Light,” Suzu said, and a globe of bluish-white light appeared above her. Ayako saw the sorcerer flee into the entrance tunnel. She stood up to chase after the sorcerer. Chiyo was right behind her, holding her rifle by the pistol grip with her one good hand.

  Ayako managed to get one shot off as the sorcerer turned the corner in the tunnel. “Karen!” she warned. “He’s coming out.”

  They reached the corner, and Ayako managed to get a shot at his legs as he ran up the stairs. Karen shouted from upstairs, “halt!” Then, they heard two more shots. Both of the girls ran to the top of the stairs. Sarah was still aiding the ninja, and she pointed towards the front.

  Karen stood by the offertory box at the front entrance to the honden. “Damn. That guy is fast. I swear he leapt and climbed the four-metre wall to get out of here.”

  “At least you’re safe,” Ayako said. “That guy can shoot lightning out of his hands. Keep watch. We have to go back down to check on Suzu and the shintai.”

  “Got it.” Karen looked Ayako over. “You’re going to need new pyjamas.”

  Ayako looked down at herself and saw her pyjamas were torn and covered in dirt. The claws had come closer than she realized. There were also a couple of bruises on her back that were now aching.

  *****

  Back down in the cavern, they found that the dark stalker had melted into a gooey puddle of slime with bones sticking out of it.

  Suzu was examining the shintai. “It is damaged, but we managed to save it.”

  Chiyo’s face relaxed. “That is good. I hope the future has been changed.” Her numbed hand also felt tingly, and she could move her fingers again.

  “The Imperial Management Agency will need to send sorcerers down to repair the wards. I’m not strong enough to do it myself. I fear things will never be the same from what Takashi said.”

  ”I’ll help to protect it, too, Mother.”

  “We all will,” Ayako said, then looked at her friend. She wasn’t surprised that magic worked near the mountain due to the Confluence, but in retrospect, she should have figured that Chiyo would be able to practice magic, too. “That shield you put up. When did you start learning magic?”

  Chiyo looked back sheepishly. “I wanted to surprise you. Mother started teaching me after the fight with the mukade. She knows defensive magic, and I’m still not very good at it.”

  “It was a good surprise today. And it was good enough.” Ayako paused to think for a moment, putting a hand on the back of her head. “Still. I just can’t believe I just fought another monster and shot a person.”

  “I know. I feel the same way. It’s hard to believe we just did all those things.” She looked at Ayako’s face, which showed no emotion. “You’re hiding your feelings, aren’t you?”

  Ayako looked back at Chiyo with the slightest smile. “Maybe a little. You can read me pretty well.”

  “You’re not feeling guilty, are you? That man would have killed us if he could.” Chiyo had seen a terrible future and knew their actions were correct. She hugged her friend. “You were great and did the right thing. Remember, I can see the future.”

  “I guess...” Ayako hugged her friend back. “I would act the same way again if I had to. But why does this keep happening to us?”