Page 45 of Son of Shadows

Yelping, the kitsune returned to his fox body and darted out into the street, narrowly colliding with Masaru.

“Hey!” Masaru snapped. “Watch where you’re going!”

The kitsune made a weird sound that Masaru obviously understood.

“Back at you!”

Yumi laughed.

Yeah. That was all so normal . . .

“What was all that about?” Ryuichi asked.

“You’re too young for such language,” Masaru said, patronizing him. “Be glad you don’t speak yōkai.” He glanced over to Yumi. “Sorry you had to hear that, my lady.”

“Me too,” she said in a low tone.

“Don’t be scared, Ryuichi-san.” Katsu offered him a smile. “Yōkai like comforts too. Not all of us take pride in our dens of darkness, or whatever it is you humans think we use for our lairs.”

Hayasaka nodded in agreement. “Kagemura is very similar to the towns you’d find in your human world. Back in the day, when yōkai could cross over, they returned to this realm and began feeling nostalgic for what existed on the other side of the portal. This town was built with that in mind, and it’s why it’s so profitable now that we can’t enter the human world anymore. It’s also why those who have human objects can sell them so lucratively.”

That made sense, Ryuichi supposed. “Why is there such a difference between the outskirts and inner town?”

“In short, your father. He used to keep a close eye on anything that made its way into our world. He taxed many who tried to bring human items in. Killed the ones who wouldn’t pay. So the greediest learned to shield their ill-gotten goods and hide them here, away from his prying spies.”

Hayasaka spun around and suspiciously took in the surroundings. “The thing you have to remember most about Kagemura: The creatures here are not the most law-abiding. And where there’s money and criminals, there tends to be more . . . well, money and criminals. Like attracts like, you see. Where there’s one, there’s many. At least until the new lord came and established his dominance.”

Ryuichi didn’t like the sound of that. “New lord?”

Hayasaka cleared his throat. “You’ll see, but rest assured, the criminals who used to run this town are no longer in charge. They live on the outskirts, which is why it looks as it does. The inner dwellings of Kagemura are no longer home to their ilk.”

Ryuichi’s thoughts turned to the memories he had of this world from his brief time coming here to stop his father, and the one memory that stood out the most. “My father lived in a castle of shadows, patrolled by screaming statues.”

Hayasaka snorted. “Your father . . . isn’t exactly what we would call typical, for either humans or yōkai.”

He had a point.

The five of them passed by several teahouses as they walked farther toward the center of town. Yōkai of all sorts—with all kinds of scales, tails, fur, talons, and everything in between—walked around, going about their day. Just like normal people would. Some were trading and selling items. Some were sitting with a steaming cup of sencha, and they were laughing with each other.

All very strange.

While Ryuichi had known there were a lot of yōkai in existence, he’d never imagined there were so many different kinds. Some as small as his fingers and others larger than the tallest tree, all walking around them, on the street and some flying overhead.

That they could be so varied and all live in the same small village was nothing short of a miracle. Yet they seemed to get along. The multiheaded dragons, the hundred-eyed blobs, the singing door handles . . . everything.

Two red-skinned oni were arm in arm, singing as they staggered down the street.

Masaru shook his head at the two of them and then nudged Ryuichi in amusement. “Reminds me of you and Koichi after one of his late-night sake sessions.”

“They’re not singing.” Those words were no sooner out of his mouth than the two oni began a boisterous song. Ryuichi chuckled. “Never mind.”

Hayasaka ignored their chatter. “Follow me. I know where to go.”

As they walked past several shops, Ryuichi scanned the area with his hand on his katana, expecting trouble at any moment.

He still didn’t fully trust Lord Hayasaka. Especially given that the tengu had already tried to sell him out to his enemies and had lied to him repeatedly.

This could just as easily be another trap.