A note was waiting for me when I woke up. This was becoming a too common occurrence for my liking. It was from Toshi, telling me that he was checking in on his father. Good.

I hadn’t dared to ask, but I was glad he was still alive. That meant that at least the clan’s hope wasn’t lost. Toshi hadn’t failed yet. Though I didn’t exactly know what would become of them if he didn’t get his fan back in time, I imagined that it would be extremely bad for everyone.

Since I didn’t have anything else to do, and I still didn’t trust myself to scale down a bare cliff face, I elected to continue reading the book instead. I wanted to know how the mystery ended, after all.

I’d just about finished by the time Toshi returned, his arrival no less agitated than the previous day, but holding a lot more impatience and mildly suppressed anger. He was panting heavily, and his eyes flitted around the cave.

“He’s not here, why isn’t he here yet? He should have come to rescue you by now!”

He must have been talking about Kaoru. I had to admit, I was a little surprised about Kaoru’s absence as well. Then again, I didn’t know how far away we were, and how easy or hard it might be for him to climb up that wall. Except… with his fox fire portals, she didn’t even need to do that. I figured she must have come home at night and probably suspected that I’d already been asleep, but by this time of day—probably around noon—she must realize I was missing by now. So as long as she knew it was Toshi who’d taken me, she ought to already be here.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, alert. This was about more than Kaoru’s absence.

“My father. He’s…” Toshi’s voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

I thought quickly. “Then let’s go to the manor right now and look for the artifact together,” I suggested. “It’ll be faster than waiting.”

He contemplated my suggestion for a moment, but then he nodded.

“I’ll fly quickly to let the elders know and gauge how much time we have. Wait here.”

Hah. As if I had any way to leave. Besides, at this point I wanted to do everything in my power to help him. I was certain that Kaoru would feel the same if she were here.

I freshened up while Toshi was gone, splashing cold water in my face while I considered our options.  

The fluttering sound of large wings announced his return. Damn, that was quick! I hoped that didn’t mean bad news. I ran out to the cave’s opening, only to find the same young tengu who’d threatened me before instead of Toshi. Katsuki. His eyes glinted menacingly in the light, and he took two steps toward me as if to test the waters. Instinctively, I took two steps back.

“Well, well, well,” he said, and all I could think about was how clichéed that phrase was. “He left the human on her own.”

He began circling me, like a hyena, his eyes trained on me at all times. I didn’t know if it was my curse that had gotten to him, or if Katsuki just really hated humans, but either way, I was smart enough to know that he wasn’t here to be my friend. Whatever his intentions, escape was not an option, not here in this cave so far above the clouds. Cold sweat began trickling down the back of my kimono. Backlit in the cave’s entrance, he looked more like a beast of darkness than a human. More animalistic, even demonic.

He faked an attack by lunging forward, his hand held like a claw, and I flinched back, giving him cause for roaring laughter. Oh, how I wished Kaoru was here right now. Or Natsu. Or Toshi. Any one of the three of them would do, really.

“What are you here for?” I asked, wishing my voice wasn’t shaking quite as much.

Katsuki laughed quietly. “Why, you, of course. I figured you would make a nice snack before I become the new head of the clan.”

Great. So not only was he after me, he was also just generally a bad dude, trying to take advantage of the situation.

“You’re planning to sabotage Toshi,” I stated.

“How clever my snack is,” he teased. “Almost a shame I’ll still have to eat you.” He laughed again, and it wasn’t a sane, well-adjusted laugh. More and more, he reminded me of a hyena.

I wasn’t completely certain how much my death might affect Toshi, or Kaoru, but it was very likely going to cause enough of a delay that Katsuki could swoop in and take over the tengu clan.

“You alone have no chance of beating Toshi,” I said, with more bravado than I was actually feeling. It wasn’t like I actually knew how any of this worked.

Katsuki kept taking casual steps toward me, and I kept backing away, further into the cave.

“Who said I’m alone? A third of the clan has already sworn themselves to me, the rest will follow soon and your Toshi can stick his progress where the sun don’t shine.”

Okay, new plan. Keep him talking. He clearly liked to boast; if I applied to that as much as possible, I might win enough time for Toshi to return.

“Without the fan, you won’t be anything more than any other tengu, and right now, Toshi is leagues ahead of you, with or without magical item.”

Provoke him. Provoke him as much as possible, so he won’t feel like he has a choice but to answer you. It doesn’t matter that you have no idea what you’re talking about. It just needs to sound like you do.

He spat on the ground. “I don’t need that fan. Once I’ve risen to be the chief, I can just go to Izumo and apply to the kami no kami for a new artefact for new leadership. And that’ll be it for human interactions.”

Standing next to the bookshelf, he pulled out one of the Tohikito Masato volumes and threw it on the ground before stomping down on it with his heel. I winced at the sound of the spine cracking. Books should never be treated like that.

“Now,” he said, stepping closer until I had no way of backing up any further. My hands were clutching the rough wall to my back, trying to grasp anything useful while I stared my doom in the face. “Say good night, human.”

“Katsuki!” Toshi.

I sighed in relief as the tengu’s head flipped around to the entrance, where Toshi made an impressive pose, his wings stretched out as far as was possible for him in the cave.

“Leave her out of this. Your fight is with me.”

Katsuki turned away from me, and I slid to the floor, my legs suddenly made of pudding.

I was safe. Toshi was here now which meant that it was all over, and we could go to the mansion where I could help him look for his fan.

Or so I thought.

Katsuki laughed and snapped his fingers. At his command, six more tengu filed into the cave behind Toshi. Damn, Katsuki hadn’t lied when he’d said that he had a number of the clan on his side. But how they had snuck in behind Toshi without him noticing, I had no idea.

Everyone stood still for a moment. Then, as if on silent cue, the fight ensued. Most of the tengu lunged straight at Toshi, but one headed toward me. He yanked me to my feet, probably under orders to keep me nearby as a last resort blackmail, but I wasn’t having any of that. Not when Toshi was fighting right over there as well. Adrenaline rushed through my body, giving me a second wind, and I used it.

First, I dug my heel into the tengu’s foot, then, when he winced, I shot my elbow straight back and then punched his groin, making him loosen his grip on me. I ducked underneath when he made another attempt to grab me, turning to him, and struck his nose from below with a flat palm. He fell backward, howling and cringing, undecided whether he should hold onto his groin or his bleeding nose.

Huh. Surprisingly, my martial arts classes had taught me something useful after all. Cool.

I turned to Toshi, hoping that I might be able to help him somehow, to relieve him of at least one more of his attackers.

As it turned out, I didn’t need to divert anyone’s attention. One of the tengu had seen my fight with his comrade and was already heading for me. I ran behind the table to have something between us. It gave me enough time to get a glance at Toshi fighting. He was holding his own—for now. But they were slowly overpowering him. Katsuki hadn’t even joined the fight. Instead, he was standing at the sidelines, watching, a delighted, manic grin distorting his face.

The tengu lunged over the table, and I evaded, but only just. Being in a Kimono didn’t give me as much mobility as my usual training gear. I could only take tiny steps, instead of lunges, so I grabbed one of the books, using it to whack the tengu’s arm whenever it shot toward me.

“Death,” I gasped, “by a thousand papercuts!”

It wasn’t the most original thing to say, and it certainly wasn’t helpful, and incredibly inaccurate, but I still felt it needed to be said at the time.

Then, I got my opening.

Fox fire flared up in the cave’s center, and I heard Kaoru chirp, “Toshi, you sly dog!”

Then she was inside, her expression turning from a knowing and amused smirk to grim acknowledgement. She shifted into a fighting stance without delay, and two of the tengu let go of Toshi to lunge at her instead.

My own enemy had been distracted by Kaoru’s arrival, and I used that to get behind him. Determined, I jumped onto his back, thereby disengaging his wings, and choked him by pressing the book’s spine against his throat. He thrashed around, but I held firm. Soon, he realized that his current plan wasn’t working, and he stumbled backward, smashing me into a wall. The wind was knocked out of me, and I felt my fingers growing weak. Yet, I still persevered, holding on for dear life. I didn’t know where this determination came from—maybe it was survival instinct, maybe it was the desire to help Toshi and Kaoru.

The tengu tried to bash me into the wall several times more, but his movements were getting weaker, slower, probably because I was still disrupting his air flow. Finally, his movements became haphazard flailing more than calculated defenses. We’d reached the kitchenette now, and I barely noticed his hands close around the kitchen knife, before I saw it glinting in the light and felt the agonizing burning in my side.

With a pained gasp, I lost the strength in my hands and released the tengu. I dropped to the ground, but I didn’t even feel the impact. My side was burning hotter than any fire I had ever felt, and it was pulsing in time with my heartbeat—racing fast. No adrenaline in the world could hide this pain from me. My eyes fell on Toshi and Kaoru who had all but beat their own opponents, the other tengu laying on the ground, or leaning against the walls, groaning or unconscious, and then, I lost my vision as a high-pitched screeching sound deafened my ears. First, everything became hazy, then, everything turned to oversaturated, colored dots. Then those dots lost their vibrance. It was like watching a TV on static. Finally, even they vanished and left behind only darkness.

Sounds remained for a moment longer as the screeching sound subsided, impossibly loud and yet dull, somehow.

The last thing I heard was Kaoru’s shout, reaching me through an ocean of haziness. “Misaki!”