Page 38 of Son of Shadows

Koichi was so relieved. But he also couldn’t believe it. Ryuichi managed to achieve something that miraculous with only Masaru’s help?

Impressive.

Then he smirked at Haruki.

“I didn’t know you spoke crow,” he said.

“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me,” she replied, raising an eyebrow.

The crow cawed again.

“He escaped with Hayasaka,” Haruki continued. “Masaru and Katsu too.”

Koichi picked up the crow and looked into its black, beady eyes. “Where are they now?”

The crow’s head tipped back and forth, considering the question. Then it flapped its wings, leaped out of his hands, and flew away.

Ryuichi-kage chuckled. “That is one rude crow.”

Koichi swore under his breath. He was so close and yet so far from knowing where to go next in search of his charge.

And then it dawned on him.

“Gentleman and demon,” he declared to his companions. “I have an idea.”

“Lady,” Haruki corrected. “The term is lady.”

He would allow her to keep her delusions. After the battle they’d just survived, they all needed them.

“It better be good,” Ryuichi-kage said.

Koichi looked at Haruki. “Where’s the dirtiest, slummiest, roughest part of the spirit world? The last place any of us should be?”

Shrugging, Haruki answered without hesitation. “Kagemura.”

“It’s not too far from here,” Koichi said. “Maybe that’s where Ryuichi and the others have regrouped.”

“What’s Kagemura?” Ryuichi-kage asked Haruki.

“It’s a sinister city, home to the seediest underbelly of creatures you could imagine. They specialize in stealing and selling novelties from the human world,” she explained.

“Why would Ryuichi go there?” the shadow twin wondered.

“Because a city of crooks is the best place to figure out where the Ryukage is,” said Koichi. “That was our mission. Even if it’s true Ryuichi somehow managed to close the gate, he would continue on that path nonetheless. Masaru would surely lead him there. It’s practically his second home.”

Haruki ran her fingers through her hair. “I swear, Koichi, if you bring me into some dingy bar just so you can get a drink, I’ll burn the miserable place to the ground, with you in it.”

“Don’t tempt me, woman.”

Haruki arched her brow. “You want me to kill you?”

“At least that way I’d be free of you.”

Ryuichi-kage still seemed puzzled. “The Ryukage is a demon-god, not a criminal. He would never socialize among lowly scum like that.”

“Of course not. But that’s where his minions would go. And if I made them an interesting financial proposition, they might tell us where they last saw the beast.”

Haruki laughed. “A human in Kagemura? Once they sniff you out, those diabolical yōkai will gut you on sight.”