28 Shadows Under the Tide

  [Player: Kazuki Arata]

  [Level: 4]

  [Waza: Black Hand, Thread Cutter, Aura Sense, Dark Rider, Retribution, Eviscerate]

  [Kegare: 15%]

  [Current Location: Fishing Port, North-East Coast]

  ---

  Kazuki's first thought upon stepping onto the warped planks of the fishing port was that everyone there seemed human… human, with not a single horn, tail, or crow-wing to be seen. After so many weeks in the Yokai Realm, it felt uncanny to see no sign of yokai among the fish-scented crowd. That alone might have been enough to set him on edge.

  But he had more practical problems. He needed a boat.

  "Let's go," he murmured, keeping his voice low. At his feet, Fleet, in fox form, sniffed at the brine-stained wooden boards, wrinkling his nose. Kuro, in her black cat body, paced a few steps behind, tail flicking restlessly.

  They made for a strange sight; a young man wearing rumpled and torn blue and green layered kariginu hunting robes with a small fox and a black cat trailing after him like a miniature parade. Despite the occasional curious glance from the fishermen, nobody spoke to them directly. The men here were too busy tying off nets, gutting their catches, and haggling with early-morning fishmongers.

  At the far end of the dock, Kazuki spotted a single fisherman quietly coiling rope. The man had a lined face and broad shoulders. Something about his patient, methodical gestures made him seem approachable.

  "Excuse me," Kazuki said, stepping carefully around a wooden crate. He tried to keep his tone friendly. "We're…travelers. We need to head further down the coast. Is there a chance we could pay for passage?"

  The fisherman looked up at Kazuki, eyes going from him, to Fleet's bushy red tail, to Kuro's sleek black fur, then back to Kazuki's face.

  "You want a ride?" the fisherman repeated slowly. "Not much room on my boat, but I'm heading out in an hour or so to drop anchor in the next port. That's only half a day down the coast."

  Kazuki's heart jumped. "That's perfect. How much would you charge?"

  The man tilted his head, giving them a hard once-over. "Depends on how many of you there are. Are those animals…yours?"

  Kazuki fought the urge to glance at Fleet or Kuro. "They're with me, but they won't cause any trouble, I promise."

  The fisherman pursed his lips, eyes narrowing.

  Fleet's ears twitched. Kuro let out a little meow.

  "We can pay in coin," Kazuki said quickly. "We only need passage. That's all."

  Eventually, the fisherman agreed to a sum that left Kazuki wincing—they had just enough that he could still afford a meager inn if they needed to stay the night. But half a day's boat ride would cut so much time off their long overland trek that the price hardly mattered.

  "Come back in an hour," the fisherman said. "We'll set off then."

  Kazuki bowed in thanks. Fleet gave a tiny vulpine yip that was meant to sound polite. Kuro slunk after them, tail in the air.

  They spent the next hour wandering among the port's stalls where Kazuki bought some stale bread and watery soup. The three of them huddled near a small brazier, warming themselves from the morning chill rolling in off the sea.

  "Are you sure these humans aren't yokai in disguise?" Fleet whispered, his muzzle half-buried in his own soup bowl. "There's something about them..."

  Kazuki shook his head. "They're human." He tried to keep his voice down, to keep anyone from hearing his conversation with a fox. "But it's…odd, isn't it? To be surrounded by nothing but normal humans again."

  Kuro, her cat body balanced on a crate, flicked an ear. "They don't seem particularly interested in us, which is probably for the best." She paused, whiskers twitching. "Though the old tales say it's bad luck to bring a cat aboard a fishing vessel."

  Fleet shot her a look. "You car?"

  "I don't," Kuro replied, licking a paw.

  Still, that uneasy feeling wouldn't leave Kazuki alone.

  But everything seemed fine… until, at last, they made their way back to the fisherman's boat, moored at the end of a narrow jetty.

  They'd barely set foot on deck when a loud crack split the air, followed by a shudder beneath their feet. At the stern, a battered wooden beam, one that supported part of the railing, snapped free, plummeting into the water with a splash. In the confusion, a sharp piece of metal lodged itself into the hull with a crunch. Seawater began to seep in.

  Panicked, the fisherman dropped the coil of rope he was holding. "No, no—pull us back in! Pull us in!"

  Kazuki and Fleet jumped back onto the dock, hauling frantically on the mooring lines to keep the boat from drifting. Kuro, fur bristling, scrambled ashore as well but the boat was already taking water. The fisherman, cursing, clambered across the deck to try and patch the hole, but it was no use. He had to beach it immediately before it sank at its mooring.

  The boat's keel scraped the sandy bottom of the shallows as Kazuki helped pull it onto a patch of rocky beach. With the tides lapping at its side, the hull hissed and groaned. The fisherman let out a string of expletives so colorful Fleet's ears pinned back.

  Kazuki hurried forward, trying to help.

  But the man was furious, shoving Kazuki's hand away. "Don't you touch my boat!" he roared. "You brought me bad luck, you and your beasts! That beam's been secure for a decade, and the very hour I take you on, it snaps?" He spat on the ground. "You can find some other fool to ferry you. I'm not risking my life in a jinxed boat with you aboard!"

  He wouldn't hear another word, throwing the silver down onto the wet sand and stomping off in search of a carpenter. Kazuki stood there, knuckles tight at his sides, as a pair of village onlookers gave him wary looks. Already, he felt uneasy eyes on him—like he was singled out for blame.

  [Kegare: 16%]

  Kazuki's vision shimmered for a moment, edges darkening. Something stirred inside him—not quite pain, but a heaviness, like sand settling in water at the end of a storm. He looked down at his hands and saw nothing visible, but he felt the kegare shifting beneath his skin.

  ---

  An hour later Kazuki tried a different fisherman; an older, kind-faced man with a smaller vessel, ironically named Fortune's Current. Kazuki, half-dreading a repeat of yesterday's disaster, offered him an even larger sum to sweeten the deal.

  "Alright, lad," said the old fisherman after some thought. "I'll sail at first light tomorrow."

  Kazuki thanked him profusely, slipping him the coins in advance. The fisherman's eyebrows rose at the generosity, but he took them. "She's an old boat," he warned, "but I know these waters like the back of my hand. Meet me before sunrise."

  That night, Kazuki paid for a cramped, musty room in the port's only run-down inn. Fleet curled up on the straw-stuffed mattress with him, while Kuro leapt onto a windowsill, tail swishing in the moonlight. Despite the stale smell and lumpy bed, Kazuki felt a small flicker of hope. Tomorrow, we'll finally leave. Our true journey will begin.

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  He drifted into a restless sleep, dreaming of giant nets under the sea and a chant that echoed without words. All the while he somehow knew… in the dream, the Eye of Izanami was watching him.

  At dawn, the three of them rushed to the docks, determined not to be late. Only…Fortune's Current was listing dangerously to one side, its bow half-submerged in the shallows. A group of villagers surrounded it, shaking their heads.

  "What happened?" Kazuki asked breathlessly, pushing through the small crowd.

  Someone gave him a dark look. "The hull got stove in. Loose cargo crate fell from the pier in the middle of the night, crashed right into her bow. Damnedest thing."

  The old fisherman stood near the wreck, tears in his eyes as he surveyed the damage. He shot Kazuki a pained glance, one that quickly hardened into something like suspicion. "You again," he said quietly. "It's you, isn't it? Stay away from me, boy."

  Kazuki's gut twisted. "I didn't do anything. I swear."

  But the man shook his head, face pale. "She's beyond repair. Get out of my sight."

  This time Kazuki didn't get the money back. As he turned away, he felt the gazes of the villagers pressing into his back like knives.

  ---

  They had no choice but to keep paying the inn for a place to sleep each night but Kazuki's money was dwindling fast. Every attempt to find another fisherman ended in stony refusals. Word had spread.

  After the second day, the inn's owner began raising his prices, muttering darkly. By the third day, the entire fishing port wanted nothing to do with him. Men on the docks stopped speaking whenever he approached, turning their backs. Street vendors refused to sell him fish.

  Hungry and exhausted, Kazuki slumped on a bench near the pier one evening, watching gulls swoop over the darkening water. Fleet hopped up beside him, fox ears down, unsure of what to say. Nearby, Kuro sat grooming herself, but her tail occasionally flicked in irritation.

  "This is ridiculous," Kazuki muttered, voice ragged. "Two accidents. That's all. It can't really be—" He cut himself off. *Could it be?* A cold prickle spread along his spine. All the talk of curses reminded him of his own Kegare, the creeping darkness inside him. I can't be causing these accidents... can I?

  Kuro's golden eyes slid toward Kazuki. "We might starve if we stay. If no fisherman will have us, there's only one other option."

  Kazuki looked at her sharply. "Steal a boat?"

  She let out a throaty purr. "They believe you're cursed. How many more nights before they come for you in your sleep?"

  He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes watching false-light flash at the pressure. When Kazuki had left Suzume and Karaba back at the Grand Shrine of Karasu Peak he had thought he was embarking on a grand quest to discover the truth of why he was here in this world. Instead he was stuck bleeding money in a dirty fishing village. Fate, or bad luck, had blocked every normal route.

  "I'm…not a thief," he said at last.

  Fleet nudged his knee gently. "Kazuki, why don't we just borrow a boat? I'm sure the boat wouldn't mind if we… ask it nicely?"

  Kazuki said nothing, biting down on his lip. The hush of the sea waves and the smell of fish guts carried in the night air.

  ---

  Long after midnight, Kazuki found himself creeping through the shadowed dockyards, cloak pulled around him to hide his face. Ahead, Fleet padded silently in his fox form, ears perked for any sign of guards. Kuro was a sleek shadow, her cat form nearly invisible but for the faint gold glint of her eyes.

  They'd targeted a small, unremarkable boat—little more than a sturdy fishing skiff with a single mast. It wouldn't travel quickly, but it was enough to sail along the coast with two or three people. No owner was in sight.

  Night fog slowly rolled in, blanketing the pier in a damp hush. Kazuki's heart pounded. With the thick clouds overhead blotting out the moon, everything was a smear of gray shapes and half-seen outlines. A single lantern glimmered near the wharf.

  Now or never.

  Kuro leapt on deck first, her paws making no sound at all over the tide. Fleet followed by leaping to the gunwale, balancing with his fox tail out for counterweight. Kazuki climbed aboard last, stifling a hiss of pain when a splinter of wet wood dug into his palm.

  He cast a final glance at the darkened port. We really are stealing a boat. Not my proudest moment.

  The mooring rope was tied securely. Kuro flicked her tail, and a faint ripple of yokai magic shimmered over her cat form. She extended a single claw, slicing cleanly through the thick rope as though it were thread. Fleet, paws braced, carefully pushed them off the dock.

  For a moment they just drifted... peacefully... in the night.

  "Kazuki," Kuro whispered suddenly, "can you sail?"

  He stared at her, alarmed. "Nooooo. Uh, can you?"

  Her cat eyes flashed. "I'm a cat," she said with mocking sweetness. "I don't do manual labor."

  Fleet's ears perked up. "Maybe I can sail! How do you know if you can sail or not?"

  A sinking feeling spread through Kazuki. "None of us know how to sail," he said, flatly.

  But it was too late. The current tugged the boat away from the dock. The gentle waves rocked them, and the night wind fluttered the small sail as Kuro shifted to human form and hastily pulled on a rope. To Kazuki's relief, it seemed that at least the boat would drift away from shore. They just had to hope they didn't smash into the rocky breakwater.

  "This is an awful plan," Kazuki muttered.

  Slowly the boat drifted out, away from the lights of the port, into deeper water. The swirling fog swallowed them. Kazuki felt a subtle shift inside him. The darkness within pulsed once—and he could have sworn that, for just a moment, the water beneath the boat shimmered with faint black veins.

  ---

  The first hour was pure anxiety. They fumbled to angle the sail, adjust a rudder, and keep the boat pointed parallel to the coastline. Fleet's fox claws scrabbled at the deck as the boat's shifting motion threatened to toss him overboard. Kuro shifted back and forth from girl to cat and meowed insistently for Kazuki to “do something” though she never said exactly what.

  But eventually, the night wind gentled. The boat stabilized. They found themselves bobbing along in a relative hush, with only the faint hiss of waves. The port lights disappeared behind them, a distant glow swallowed by the fog.

  Kazuki exhaled, arms aching from wrestling the mast. "We…we did it."

  Kuro hopped up onto a crate. "No sign of pursuit. Maybe we're safe."

  A pregnant silence followed. None of them could quite celebrate such a dubious 'victory.'

  He settled near the stern, forcing himself to keep an eye on the horizon. The black ocean spread endlessly around them, waves glittering when the moon peeked through the thinning clouds. Slowly, he relaxed.

  Then Fleet, who'd been curled on a coil of rope, lifted his head. His ears twitched. "Does anyone else…hear that?"

  Then they heard it too; a deep, resonant sound, like the toll of a submerged bell, muffled by water but impossibly loud. It vibrated through the hull of their small craft, making the wood shudder beneath them.

  Fleet's ears flattened against his head. "What was that?"

  Kazuki scanned the fog-shrouded waters around them, heart racing. "I don't know."

  Kuro had gone completely still, her golden eyes wide. "This is bad," she hissed. "We shouldn't be here!."

  Another deep toll sounded, closer this time. And with it, a new sound—a low, rhythmic chanting words that Kazuki didn't understand but remembered not from the Yokai Realm but from a funeral he went to for his father's mother years ago in the human world. Buddhist sutras, recited in a voice deeper than any human could produce.

  "I've heard stories of this," Kuro whispered. "Monks who drowned at sea, transformed by their pride into vengeful spirits that chant forever, calling others to join them in the depths."

  "There!" Fleet yipped, his claws scrabbling on the wooden planks as he pointed with his nose.

  Through the fog, a massive round shape was visible just under the water's surface, pale against the black water. At first, Kazuki thought it might be a small island or a large rock. Then it moved.

  The surface of the water bulged upward as the shape rose, water cascading off a dome-like surface that Kazuki realized with horror was a head—hairless, smooth, and impossibly large, its skin glistening wet and black in the faint starlight.

  It rose and rose until it blocked out the moon.

  Then two enormous eyes opened, glowing with an inner phosphorescence that cast a sickly green light across the fog-bound waters. They scanned the water slowly before fixing directly on the small boat and its three terrified occupants.

  The chanting grew louder, the sutras rolling across the water like physical waves that rocked their tiny craft. The massive head, revealed a cavernous mouth that opened to reveal not teeth, but a dark void that seemed to swallow what little light there was.

  "Umibozu," Kuro whispered, her voice barely audible over the droning chant.

  The ocean monk. Guardian of the depths. Destroyer of ships and the souls who sailed them.

  As the massive yokai rose ever higher from the depths, water streaming from its mountainous shoulders, Kazuki felt a familiar darkness stirring within him. The Kegare, responding to his fear, eager to be unleashed.

  His vision shimmered. He could see black veins spreading underneath his skin where his hand gripped the wood of their boat. The Umibozu paused, as if sensing something familiar in the air. Then its chanting paused. In the sudden silence, its enormous eyes blinked once, slowly, deliberately. The waves stilled. The sea held its breath, as if waiting for judgment.

  One webbed hand broke the surface beside them, dripping seawater and black sludge as it formed a dark mudra. A wave surged in its wake, tipping their boat violently sideways.

  And then the Umibozu began to move toward them—silent, unstoppable, and far too close.

  ---

  [Achievement Unlocked: The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea]

  [Next Chapter: Kissing the Deep]

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