Keiko sat down beside Ryuichi. “It’s not just the bad part of a person, Masaru. You’ve destroyed his balance. The very part that we need to keep us who we are.”
“How so?” It was clear the yokai was clueless.
Keiko let out a frustrated sigh. “You’ve never paid attention. Why did you never pay attention?”
“I’malwayspaying attention. My life depends on it.”
She gave him a pointed stare. “You look for the quick answers and to the shadows to protect your back. When will you learn?”
“I guarded that boy. Have you seen what Ryukage’s done to the countryside? They’ve torn up everything, searching for him. No one has been safe. Not to mention the fact that they’d already located the kid. They knew exactly where he was. Do you not understand that something had to be done, or all of you would have been destroyed?”
Koichi rubbed at the ache in his forehead. “So you gave them Ryuichi’s shadow?”
Masaru nodded. “Made sense. The Shadow Dragon wanted his son, so I gave him his son’s shadow.”
Shaking her head, Keiko looked as if she wanted to strangle him. “And what do you think the Ryukage will do when he learns of your deception?”
Masaru scoffed. “Even if he knows the difference, what will it matter?”
Keiko manifested a ball of light to show Masaru how Ryuichi had been behaving. “He’s fractured now. While his shadow may placate Ryukage for a time, he will know that he can’t open the gates without his son’sphysicalbody.”
“All you’ve done is enrage the beast.” Koichi clapped him on the back. “Good job! I always wanted to be sacrificed to an angry god. So glad you could accommodate me.”
“And to think that was what I was trying to avoid.” Masaru took the ball and threw it. It shattered against the wall into a million sparks that quickly fizzled out. “So my solution was a load of manure. What do we do now?”
“Gut him.”
Keiko glared at Koichi. “You really think that would work?”
“No. But it would make me feel better. At least temporarily.” Koichi closed the distance until he stood toe-to-toe with Masaru. “In the future, I suggest you discuss your half-brained notions before you execute them.”
“It wasn’t half brained.”
“It was stupid.” Keiko stood up. “Somehow we have to reunite Ryuichi with his kage.”
“How do we do that?”
She turned her attention to Masaru before she answered his question. “It’s not easy. The two pieces have to be physically together in order to reunite them. Since we can’t get the shadow back, we have to take him to it. So, thanks to you and your ill-conceived plan, we need a gateway to the kage-tenchi.” The shadow realm. “And those don’t grow on every corner.”
Koichi frowned as he considered that. “There’s a festival in a week.”
Masaru snorted. “So? There’s always a festival. How is that helpful?”
“It’s for Tsukuyomi... and the full moon.” The time when the veils between the worlds were thin and weak. When shadows were at their highest point. During a celebration of the moon god, when he’d be paying attention...
And it was the only time, during the Hour of the Ox, that someone could merge the two worlds together. Finally, something was working for them.
At least until Koichi spoke again. “But I should mention that there will be Noh players there.”
Masaru gasped as he finally understood what Koichi was trying to tell him. Whenever there was a festival for Tsukuyomi with Noh players, one of the moon god’s children appeared to participate. To offer support to their father.
Dreading that, Masaru sighed. “I hate to even ask this, but will it be Mizuki or Tsukiya?”
Keiko arched a brow. “Does it matter?”
“Yes,” he and Koichi answered in unison. Though they were twins, Tsukiya was the eldest. A nasty piece of work, he hated everyone and everything, especially his twin sister, Mizuki.
The only thing Tsukiya didn’t despise was a Noh play. In fact, he was so fond of them that he often wore the mask of an oni. And if he wasn’t wearing it, he had it hanging around his neck.
