Page 83 of Son of Shadows

“I’ll go fetch it.” Surprisingly, the red oni was helpful despite having tried to kill them a few hours ago.

He left, leaving the rest of the group in bewilderment as to why an oni would help them.

“You don’t think he has an ulterior motive?” Masaru asked the Ryukage, who had stayed remarkably quiet all this time.

Ryukage shrugged. “We all do, don’t we?”

Well, that was certainly something to think long and hard about.

Ryuichi watched as Yamaguchi wandered off. “What could be the harm?”

His father arched his brow. “You haven’t really met an oni before, have you?”

“Just the ones you ordered to kill me in battle.”

Ryukage at least had the decency to look sheepish at the reminder that he’d done his best to destroy his only son.

“I guess we’ll find out if there’s any harm, won’t we?” Yumi asked.

Masaru snorted. “I suppose we will.”

It wasn’t long before Yamaguchi returned with a big smile on his face.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

The gigantic oni was practically skipping toward them, dragging his “fishing boat” behind him like a plaything. “You’re not going to believe this, but I found it. Just where I left it.”

Much to everyone’s shock, his boat was fit to be a warship. The thing was huge!

Although, Ryuichi supposed it made sense. To an oni of this remarkable size, the boat was smallish.

And he was thankful for it. He’d hate to have to cross the ocean in a small fishing vessel. The last thing any of them needed was to end up drowning at sea.

“Things are usually where you leave them,” Masaru said sarcastically.

Yamaguchi pushed the boat into the water, and after taking a moment to make sure he hadn’t accidentally put a hole in it, he hit it with a confident slap. “She’s ready. Come on board.”

The shinigami looked less than pleased as Yamaguchi helped them board his “fishing boat.” And he tried one last time.

“Drink?”

No one was that stupid.

And once their group was settled, Yamaguchi pushed his boat out to sea and then climbed up on it himself.

Finally, they were off.

Ryuichi felt relieved, even if his father sat across from him with a miserable expression on his face. He assumed it was the man’s natural countenance to look angry and perpetually dour. No doubt it came from the “master of shadows” duties his father had overseen for centuries.

Now it was the World Eater he needed to worry about.

“Do we have a course set?” Yamaguchi asked.

“The portal to the human world,” Yumi answered.

“Why are you doing this?” Ryuichi couldn’t believe the oni was essentially joining their crew.

Yamaguchi appeared confused. “It’s what you do with a boat. You sail it.”