My temple throbbed. I moaned and squinted. Sven’s living room. That’s his bookshelf. Next to his lamp. It was the most organized bookshelf ever, with a separate shelf for history books, manga, and manhwa. Each text was lined up straight as a rod and packed together. Revolting. I couldn’t make out much else because it was dark.

  A single portable lamp clicked on. I was sitting in a chair. My hands were tied. Handcuffs? A table was set before me, and standing in front was Sven and the girl. Murder Girl was inspecting the hilt of a black knife, with a highly displeased expression on her face. My heartbeat accelerated as razor-sharp metal glinted.

  Sven was saying to her, “I don’t think she knows enough. A lot isn’t clear to me. This doesn’t feel right.”

  “F*ck that,” the girl growled. “She’s a suspect.”

  Sven looked at me and rapped his knuckles against the table. His shadowed face was slightly exasperated. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either you explain everything to me—or to her.”

  I yowled, “What’s going on? Why are you guys treating me like a criminal?”

  “Because right now, you are one!” Sven snapped. He fumed, though he also gave an evil eye to Murder Girl. “Don’t pretend. Alicia saw you trying to track me in school yesterday. In addition, I was informed the last person to try contacting Tommy, was you.”

  Alicia? Tommy? “Wait. Alicia—where’s Alicia?”

  The girl folded her arms. “You’re looking at her, dumba**.”

  I opened my mouth. I closed it again.

  Gods. What? What?!

  “I fed you milk!”

  “We know you’re one too.” Sven’s voice was firm. He sounded a little pained though. “I can’t believe you were hiding the truth from me for so long, but now that’s out in the open.”

  “What?”

  Murder Girl answered, with disgust. “You’re a Yōkai.”

  My mind whirled and my heart raced. I tried to put pieces together, fast. I’m going through changes—box in book—Sven yelled at Tommy—Frog-Eater with a book. “You think I stole a book, because I’m a yokai? I didn’t even know I was a yokai until three seconds ago!”

  Sven’s brows knit together. He frowned. “Two books. First, you stole Kojiki. Where are the items?”

  My head ached. I gripped my forehead and grimaced. “You know the whole good cop, bad cop routine is messed up when you think about it. Can you explain everything to me, first? What’s the deal with the book? Why do you want it? There’s nothing but a bunch of fancy-looking junk in it!”

  “They’re not junk.” Sven shot a look at Murder Girl, puzzlement forming on his face.

  Murder Girl—or Alicia, though that didn’t make sense—leaned closer. Her voice was low and cutting. “What did you do with Kojiki?”

  I gulped. “It had pages missing already. It had a locked box. I opened the box. There was a mirror and a spoon inside. And—” I broke off.

  Alicia’s eyes narrowed. Her knife twitched. The blade glinted in the light.

  I plowed on quickly. “I dropped the mirror. It broke. I put the spoon in the dishwasher after eating cereal. It bent. That’s it, I swear.”

  The girl’s eyes and Sven’s both widened. They shot each other a flabbergasted look.

  Sven slapped a hand to his face. He muttered under his breath. “Unbelievable.”

  “What?”

  “Are you telling me you accidentally broke a famous historical artifact and then stuck another one in the dishwasher?”

  “Historical? That collectible stuff?”

  “Cecelia.” Sven spoke as if I was hard of hearing. “Didn't you read the label? Those were government property. They are national treasures normally displayed at the Tokyo National Museum in Japan!”

  I had a very, very terrible sinking feeling in the bottom of my stomach. “Oh.”

  The two were silent. They stared me down, Sven wincing, Alicia both baffled and vexed.

  I squeaked, “Maybe I can fix the spoon? I used gentle cycle.”

  Alicia snarled. “Disgraceful. How could we have let someone this stupid steal right under our noses?”

  I whispered, holding back a whimper, “How much do I have to pay?”

  Sven’s face softened. The rage in him was draining out by the second. “These types of things don’t have a price tag, Cecelia. If I had to make a very rough estimate…” He pondered, eyes darting, then sighed. “At least three billion yen?”

  I couldn’t calculate. Not with my head pounding. “How many greenbacks is that?”

  “Two million.”

  Two—two million dollars?!

  What have I done with my life? I’ll never be able to pay that! I’m going to ruin Mom and Dad’s life!

  I swallowed hard. I croaked, “There must be something I can do.”

  Alicia slammed a fist onto the table. The desk shuddered. “Talk.” I flinched.

  Sven said, in a calmer tone, “We might be able to work out a deal so you don’t end up in jail for the rest of your life.”

  Jail? I don’t want to go to jail! What is this nightmare? I tried smacking myself in the face. “Wake up wake up wake up—”

  Sven seized my arms and wrenched them back. “You can start by telling us what you know.”

  My voice was high-pitched. “Only if you tell me what’s going on. I don’t know what you guys want!”

  “Right.” Sven turned to Alicia. “We’ll have to explain.”

  Alicia growled. “Make it quick.”

  Sven ran a hand through his hair. “Do you know about the auction?”

  “No. Maybe?” I recalled, faintly, the eagle-like staff member at the bookstore. She’d been complaining about rich people at an auction ruining books. “Was Kojiki going to be auctioned off?”

  Light flickered as he nodded. “There’s a major auction that’s going to be held in the city. Wealthy people from all over the world bid for the right to rent the national treasures of Japan. Normally, they receive the box that you saw, locked up, and the treasures stay in their homes to be admired. Nobody opens them. Then after a month the treasures are returned to the museum.”

  “That’s a thing?”

  A nod. “It’s like fine art. It makes a lot of money for Japan and also Japantown. This year, the powers-that-be decided to put the treasures in adaptations of historically significant books. For aesthetic reasons. The theme was: Cutting into the past, moving into the future.”

  “But that’s stupid,” I cut in, stammering as Alicia raised her knife. “Why would you put treasures in a manga?”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Exactly my thoughts.” Sven sounded miffed. “It’s a gimmick. Unfortunately, one truth about Japan that never changes is its poverty, and the Emperor—” He stopped. “That’s not important. What matters, is that a team related to Alicia and I were tasked with transporting the books safely from Japan to the auction site near Japantown.”

  “And there were problems?”

  “You think? Everyone was too lax. The first was Man’yoshu. Someone broke past the guards and took that book before anyone knew what was happening. A police report was filed. Incident Report PC962 83912. I wasn’t part of that—I had other work, but once I pulled it up for my ‘school project’ I knew I had to pivot and move fast. The percentage was too high.”

  One puzzle piece clicked. “Vi’s message—”

  “No sh*t,” Alicia interjected. “Keep up, won’t you?”

  Based on how she was treating me, I was slightly more convinced she was the cat.

  Sven went on. “Right in SF—extremely embarrassing—and everyone including Alicia and I were put on alert. The team moved several books to Kinokuniya for storage. Asian Art Museum didn’t have capacity.”

  My head was spinning as I attempted to follow. “What’s that have to do with me—”

  “Man’yoshu, Kojiki, Uji Shui Monogatari.” Sven ticked off each title with his fingers. “Three books stolen, each containing priceless and powerful treasures, and it’s my job and Alicia’s to find them. At first I suspected Tommy, but there is another thief involved.” He shot me a sharp look.

  I peered down at my arm, at the spot covered by the star where Frog-Eater had marked me. Being clobbered by a random girl was disorienting enough, but them treating me like this, while Frog-Eater said I did a good job, was more so.

  “Couldn’t any person have—?”

  “Look at the evidence. Only a local yokai could have taken Kojiki. The books do have defenses. First is the sheer amount of reiki they emit. Any human that touched them would be electrocuted to death.”

  Static shock. I wished I could browse those apartment books, to look up that term, but they lay tantalizingly out of my grasp. How come he knows stuff I’ve never heard of?

  Alicia picked up for Sven, dripping with contempt. “Assuming a yokai touched one, they would either intentionally want to rob the treasure inside, or be a complete idiot.”

  Sven bit his lip and shook his head slightly as if in apology to me. A bit late, that. “Inside the boxes are preservation particles. They also serve as physical proof of tampering.” He leveled his gaze at me. “If Alicia and I searched your house, would we find traces of silver dust inside? I wonder.”

  I gulped. That wasn’t glitter?

  Alicia jabbed her knife out. The blade stopped inches from my eyeball. “Too much explaining.”

  Ohmygodsohmygods.

  She hissed. “Where are the rest?”

  I made a mouse-like squeak.

  The cold steel of her blade descended on my cheek. Rested on my skin. “That’s not an answer. Where are the other artifacts from Kojiki and Uji Shui Monogatari?”

  I sat paralyzed. My breaths came out shallow.

  Sven warned, “Alicia.”

  Alicia’s voice was low. Her face was half-hidden in shade, her green eyes looming like orbs. “Just a small cut. It will make her cooperate—”

  “Alicia!” Sven shouted.

  The girl withdrew her blade, with great reluctance.

  I inhaled, deeply, and gagged at a whiff of sharp lemon and tuna. Definitely in Sven’s house. No one to help if I scream.

  Sven sat before me and steepled his fingers. “Tell us what happened in school with Tommy. Were you working with him? Against him? Which treasures did you take?”

  “How would I know about Tommy—” I changed track as Alicia’s lips twisted. “Kojiki was torn off. The other box had a big water pot. Plus two spoons. Uji had a dragon pitcher and a pedestal, some kind of stand. I don’t know where they are.”

  Sven’s eyes were narrowed. “What do you mean? You saw them, didn’t you?”

  “Frog-Eater.”

  “What?” Sven shot Alicia a look as the girl was equally taken aback. “What is that?”

  “Exactly. How would I know? Maybe the lady wanted to cook a big meal? Someone super into copperware?”

  Sven shook his head like he was recovering from a bad hangover. “Those spoons aren’t for cooking. They were for calligraphy. That pot was an inkpot. Stand is for a brush. The only thing you’d use for a meal is the pitcher.”

  “…I ate cereal with an ink spoon?” Ohhh. That’s why they were shaped funny.

  Alicia muttered, “She’s trying to distract us.”

  “I’m not, I swear!”

  Sven cupped a hand to his chin. “What lady? I was certain Tommy had Uji Shui Monogatari. Did Tommy tell you where—”

  “I don’t know! There was only me and the woman at the pool!” I rose out of my seat struggling in the handcuffs. Sven put a hand on my shoulder and forced me down, firmly.

  My lips curled. My chest thumped. How long are they going to keep me here? Hours? Days? Sven is going to lose patience soon. Then Alicia will introduce me to her stabber.

  The girl looked like she wanted to already. Her eyes narrowed like slits. “Explain.”

  “I went to find Tommy and this woman was already there. Blond hair, blue eyes, white fur jacket. She had a bell tied around her ankle.”

  Sven looked at me as if I’d sprouted a second head. “There’s no one like that in this city.”

  Alicia growled, “She’s lying.”

  “I’m not! That’s what I saw!”

  Sven turned to the girl. “Let’s run through public databases and IDs to be certain. She may be misremembering. Panic does that to people.”

  I stammered. “She was holding Uji Shui Monogatari. She had it after she ate the frog. Big ol’ frog with a lily disc and long legs.”

  Sven paled white as a sheet. He stiffened. “She ate—?”

  Alicia hissed and sprang back. She leaned against a wall, crouching low to the ground. Her eyes bugged out.

  “Yeah. Crazy, right?” What’s up with her?

  Sven’s muscles were tense. He stood up, rigid, and rubbed his face. “God. I don’t know how else to tell you, but what you saw was not a frog. It was a kappa. Another type of yokai. Tommy was a kappa.”

  Dead silence. My jaw dropped.

  “That’s why we couldn’t find the book. Tommy must’ve hidden it inside himself.” Sven let out a tight exhale.

  Alicia had recovered somewhat and arrived back at Sven’s side. She looked disgusted, but I couldn’t tell whether it was at me or Frog-Eater or the world in general.

  Sven’s face was filled with concentration. “The more important question is, how did that woman open the boxes? Tommy shouldn’t have had the key.”

  I answered before I could stop myself. “It wasn’t that hard. All I needed was to tug it off. Are you sure the locks weren’t messed up? Like with the spoon I bent?”

  The two froze. They met each other’s gazes, pupils expanding.

  Alicia muttered, “Sh*t. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Sven said to me, softly, “Say that again? What did you do with the spoon?”

  “Uh.” I wasn’t sure why they were having trouble with what I said. “I bent it.”

  Sven let out a slow breath. “This is bad. This is very bad.”

  “What?” When they didn’t answer, I laughed nervously. “Are you seriously worried because I bent a spoon?”

  “A metal spoon, Cecelia. Like those metal locks. You’re dangerous. You are openly admitting to collaborating with this woman, correct?”

  “I didn’t have a choice!”

  Dangerous? Me? Is this a joke?

  Sven sighed, deeply. He kneaded his hair with his hands and shut his eyes. When he opened them, they were determined. Like he’d made up his mind. “I believe you. Here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to go to school and forget everything we’ve told you. You’re going to stay away from me and Alicia. You’re going to resume your life as if nothing has happened. When we solve the case and catch the thief, we will explain you were coerced. You don’t have to do anything. The important thing for you to do is stay away from us.”

  “What?” My voice rose and Alicia’s knife hand twitched, but I didn’t care. “You can’t tell me to forget everything and walk away! What about the stuff I broke? Can’t you help me with that?”

  Two million dollars. Two million dollars plus.

  Then, there were the questions I had. The answers I was bursting to know.

  Sven drew himself up to his full height. He glowered. “That is a problem. However, you did break them. I can’t do anything about that. I suggest you prepare early and work out the consequences yourself.”

  “What? Bro! You can’t do that—!”

  “Oh yes, I can!” Sven shouted. His fists clenched and he shook. I shrank back.

  Quieter, Sven said, “This is for your own good. This isn’t a game. The situation is extremely dangerous and if you are involved in any way, it will only become worse for yourself. Especially with what you can do. Do you understand?”

  I kept my chin up to him. I didn’t say anything.

  Sven averted his gaze. He folded his arms and spoke to Alicia. “Let’s take her back to campus. I know you two probably hate each other by now, but you’ll have to tolerate—”

  “There’s no need for that.” Alicia cracked her knuckles. She leaped onto the table.

  Sven was faster this time, grabbing her arm, but it was a second too late.

  The butt of a knife crashed against my skull. Darkness.