14 The Storm Gate

  [Player: Kazuki Arata]

  [Level: 3]

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

  [Kegare: 37%]

  [Objective: Ascend to the Grand Shrine]

  ---

  The underground chamber trembled with the raw, primal force of D's voice.

  "Ah-aaaaaaaah, aaaahhh!"

  The Kappa King arched backward, his iridescent scales shimmering under the fungal glow, webbed hands clawing at the air as he sang. His crown, now slightly askew, rattled against his scales with the crimson shards embedded in its frame glowing like smoldering embers.

  "From the land of the ice and snow!"

  The kappa horde swayed in hypnotic unison, their bulbous eyes wide with awe. Some slapped their webbed hands against the stone floor in clumsy rhythm, others gargled approximations of harmony. Water sloshed from the bowls atop their heads, pooling around their feet like a scattered audience.

  Kazuki stood at the center of it all, arms crossed, fighting a smile.

  D spun toward him, his cape of water lilies flaring dramatically. "This 'Immigrant Song'—it's magnificent! The hammer of the gods! The thunder of glory!" He thrust his fist over his head, his golden eyes blazing. "We are your overlords!"

  Fleet, perched on a broken stalagmite, clapped enthusiastically. "Wooo! Do the part with the screaming again!"

  Suzume sighed, flexing her bandaged hands. The healing mirror's magic had restored her bones, but her fingers still trembled. "We're supposed to be leaving," she muttered, though even she couldn't suppress a faint smile as D launched into another verse, his voice echoing through the cavern like a war horn.

  As the final note faded, D collapsed onto his throne, chest heaving. "Exhausting! But exhilarating." His gaze drifted to Kazuki, sharpening. "You're holding back, Cursed Prince. Show me your true voice!"

  Kazuki hesitated. The Kegare beneath his skin prickled, tendrils of black. But D's expression wasn't mocking; it was earnest, almost vulnerable.

  He closed his eyes and sang.

  Not Led Zeppelin this time, but a song his mother sang when he was young. Kazuki's father had been Japanese but his mother was from London, Ontario. Kazuki began,

  "September seventeen

  For a girl I know it's Mother's Day

  Her son has gone alee

  And that's where he will stay

  Wind on the weathervane

  Tearing blue eyes sailor-mean

  As Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain

  For a boy in Fiddler's Green..."

  The kappa stilled, their croaks softening to whispers. Even the dripping water seemed to hush.

  [Kegare: 32%]

  When he finished, D was silent. Then, slowly, the Kappa King reached out and brushed a webbed finger against Kazuki's forearm, where the Kegare veins pulsed darkest.

  "You're like me," D murmured, his theatrical cadence stripped bare. His voice dropped to a whisper, almost human in its rawness. "A prince of rot. A ruler of ruins."

  Kazuki flinched. "I'm not a king."

  "Aren't you?" D tilted his head, crown slipping further. "Loneliness is a throne, Kazuki."

  [Kegare: 27%]

  Kazuki looked away, but D gripped his shoulder, scales cool against his skin.

  "The Door called to you because it recognized you," D said softly. "It smells the decay in your soul. The hunger." His golden eyes narrowed. "But you... you sang to it. You didn't beg or bargain. You didn't even "fight. You sang."

  Kazuki met his gaze. "And you? Do you still want to feed the world to whatever's behind that Door?"

  “A world without music?” D said at last. “Without brothers who understand the ache of a crown?” He smiled, sharp and sudden. “I’d rather drown.”

  ---

  D insisted on a farewell banquet; a spread of bioluminescent jellyfish, candied algae, and river pearls that Fleet mistook for gumdrops. As they ate, the Kappa King piled gifts at their feet:

  "For the shrine maiden," D announced, producing a shimmering cape of overlapping water lilies. "A Water Lily Cloak! Impervious to blade and flame!"

  Suzume accepted it cautiously. As she draped it over her shoulders, droplets of water beaded along her skin… not from the cloak, but from her pores. "It... draws moisture," she observed, her voice slightly raspy.

  D winked. "A small price!"

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  For Fleet, he produced a perfectly round marble that pulsed with bioluminescent light. Fleet immediately shoved it into his mouth before spitting it out ("Tastes like a sad mushroom!").

  "A Luminescent Marble," D explained with a flourish. "It glows brightest when DANGER lurks! Though the greater the danger the hotter it gets. Nothing to worry about. Probably"

  Fleet's ears twitched nervously, but he pocketed the marble anyway.

  Finally, D approached Kazuki. The kappa audience in the Great Hall hushed and with solemnity, the Kappa King plucked a scale from the crown on his own brow. The scale gleamed crimson, like the Door, in the fungal light, its surface etched with patterns that seemed to shift when viewed directly.

  "For you, Cursed Prince... a piece of myself." His voice dropped its theatrical lilt again. "Wear it. When the darkness whispers, remember: even rot can bloom."

  [Kegare: 32%]

  As Kazuki took the scale, it warmed against his palm. When he hung it around his neck, he felt the kegare beneath his skin respond… not painfully, but as if recognizing a kindred spirit.

  Kazuki nodded. "Thank you... brother."

  D's answering grin was all teeth… but his eyes were sad.

  ---

  The forest surrounding Karasu Peak was a living tempest.

  Colossal cedars groaned under the weight of strong winds, their branches swaying under a sky choked with charcoal clouds. The air hummed with static - the heartbeat of the mountain itself. Fleet's fur bristled with a distant thunderclap, his ears swiveling toward unseen whispers.

  "It's watching us," Suzume said, her hand resting on the hilt of the Shirayuki Knife. "The mountain..."

  Kazuki said nothing. He could feel it - something was watching from above. Not the mountain itself, but something perched upon it.

  As they trekked, Fleet had resumed his mostly human form and walked with Suzume. Sometimes he held her previously injured hands and sniffed them.

  "Fleet, where are you from?" she asked. "Do you have fox-yokai family?"

  "Other kits to play with? No... or, well, I don't think so. Maybe. I remember one little fox who looked just like me. And when I moved left, he moved left. When I moved right, he moved right. He was very fast!"

  "Fleet… was that a mirror?" Suzume asked gently.

  "A mirror! Yes! It was a mirror! He was in a mirror - a big mirror at the back of a big bright room that smelt like beautiful sandalwood!"

  "Wait." Suzume's voice was sharp. "That yokai that broke through the wards and came into the village shrine, while I was healing Kazuki... the little fox with blue eyes. That was you, wasn't it?"

  Fleet froze. His tail tucked between his legs. "...maybe?"

  Suzume's voice softened. "I struck you with a ofuda. You shouldn't have survived."

  "I didn't!" Fleet yelped. "I mean—I did, but... it changed me." He gestured helplessly at his humanoid form. "One minute I'm a fox, the next I'm... this! With thumbs! And opinions!"

  Realization dawned on Suzume. "The Reishin surge during Kazuki's purification... it awakened you."

  Fleet nodded, ears flattening. "I didn't mean to spy! I just... saw that other fox in the mirror and I wanted someone to play with."

  Suzume's expression was unreadable. "You've been human for weeks. And yet you fought beside us. Why?"

  Fleet scuffed his foot against the moss. "Because... you didn't leave me behind. You or the Prince."

  For a long moment, Suzume stared at him. Then, gently, she placed a hand on his head. "You're braver than you look, little kit."

  Fleet's tail wagged once, timidly.

  ---

  At the mountain's base lay a village forgotten by maps. Paper lanterns swayed in the storm winds, their light guttering like dying fireflies. The houses were old, very old. Their wooden beams were strong but grey and slightly warped by age, wind and rain.

  The villagers bowed as the trio passed, their eyes averted. Offerings of rice and salt sat at every doorstep.

  "They're afraid," Kazuki muttered.

  "The Grand Shrine's power is waning," Suzume said grimly. "Without purification, the corruption spreads. Even here."

  As they crossed a crumbling stone bridge, an old woman grabbed Kazuki's sleeve. Her fingers were stained black, her voice a rasp.

  "Turn back, cursed child. The Storm Gate smells your rot."

  Kazuki pulled his arm back, stung, but the woman ran away, as if she had delivered her attack and so could retreat.

  The Crimson Scale pulsed warm against his chest, and for an instant, Kazuki saw black feathers drifting on the wind.

  "Kazuki?" Suzume's voice pulled him back. "What is it?"

  "We're being watched," he said quietly. "Have been... for a while."

  ---

  The stairs to the Grand Shrine were hewn from the mountain's bones; a jagged ascent of rocky steps, each carved with fading prayers. Wind keened through the cliffs, carrying the cries of crows.

  Suzume took the first step. "Ready?"

  Kazuki nodded.

  They climbed.

  The higher they rose, the heavier the air became with the ozone tang of impending lightning. Fleet's Luminescent Marble flickered wildly, its light visible from his pouch.

  At the thousandth step, the storm broke.

  Rain fell hard, in sheets, mingling with the sweat on Kazuki's brow from the climb. As water struck Suzume's cloak, the petals quivered; not repelling the moisture but absorbing it.

  The pressure of being watched intensified. Kazuki could feel eyes from above; patient, calculating.

  Then…

  A single black feather spiraled down, landing on the stair before him.

  Time seemed to slow.

  Above, a shadow detached itself from the storm clouds.

  Kazuki looked up, the movement stretching into eternity. The rain parted around a descending form, each droplet reflecting the creature's silhouette in miniature - wings outstretched, talons gleaming, the merciless curve of a beak.

  Thunder cracked, and the world snapped back into motion.

  The Karasu Tengu landed before them, his black wings slicing the rain. His mask - a crow's beak covering the top of his face. In one hand, he held a straight thin katana that shimmered with a blue light, its blade etched with kanji.

  "Fujō no mono," the tengu called to Kazuki. "You are unworthy. The Grand Shrine is forbidden to you."

  Kazuki stepped forward. "Let me pass."

  The tengu's blade flashed, pressing against Kazuki's throat. "Your presence defiles this mountain. I can see it with my own eyes. Turn back, or I will carve the rot from your flesh."

  Suzume yelled out. "Stand down!"

  Fleet's muzzle lengthened and he bared his teeth, a growl rumbling in his throat.

  The tengu didn't flinch.

  Lightning struck the cliffs above, with a shockwave and a blinding flash. In the chaos, Kazuki's vision blurred - the kegare surging, the Crimson Scale of the Kappa King searing his chest where it hung, and for a heartbeat, he saw the world through the tengu's eyes:

  A boy cloaked in shadows, his soul fraying at the edges. A ticking clock of decay.

  Then the moment passed.

  "I'm not your enemy," Kazuki said, blood trickling where the blade had kissed his skin.

  The tengu leaned closer, his crow-mask inches from Kazuki's face. "No," he hissed. "You're something far worse.."

  ---

  [New Achievement: Never Rains but it Pours]

  [Next Chapter: Feathers and Swords]

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