The Seal Comes Undone

Part 1: The Coming Night

Authority Site-089 Perimeter

Overcast skies splay their greyed clouds over the Japanese dusk. A limosine slowly makes its way into view as it drives across green-painted tarmac, slowing into a halt before the security checkpoint.

Officer Taiko lowers his monitor to leer suspiciously at the vehicle. The data feed lists no expected VIPs or delegates who would be arriving in such gaudy transportation. The window lowers and the uniformed driver tips his cap in greetings. Taiko pushes the intercom button.dying male

"Please show credentials and state your purpose of visit."

The driver, clearly a civilian worker of a luxury transportation rental company, shoots back a mildly perturbed look.

"I apologize. I cannot present such access documents, but my…? Your…?" His face scrunches in confusion, before hitting on an appropriate referral, "Our boss states that such is unnecessary?"
to a
Taiko subconsciously feels for his holstered gun. "'Our' boss?" He looks to the back of the limo as a window lowers, and his eyes widen in shock and awe before its occupant. A sudden gale within his mind sweeps away all existing thoughts and emotions, replacing them with those of fogged adulation:

The shriveled face that bears such timeless wisdom, that elongated cranium which doubtlessly houses unparalleled knowledge and experience… The look of elderly mirth housed in that miniature, geriatric frame of such compact charm…

It could only be-!

Corridor en-route to Containment Cell 886

Initially irritated at their work being disrupted, the ire of Site-089's chief personnel would rapidly give way to joy and reverence; All stride with equal parts excitement and reverence behind an aged and shriveled humanoid, whispering to one another of what could herald such a visit from one as magnificent as He.

Site Director Genichi rubs his hands in solemn anxiety. "Grand Director, Permit my asking: I pray the new vestments are to your liking? We have spared no expense in the seeking of an elite tailor discrete enough to cater to your one-of-a-kind dimensions…"

Tap-tap-tap goes the strange not-human's new walking cane, lacquered of the most exotic (and expensive) of woods. Yet, two hollow sockets remain devoid of the Royal British crown diamonds… For now. The Old Man (hereby acronym'd as TOM) acknowledges Genichi's question with the flaring swish of a silken yukata sleeve, dyed in the deep blue hues of the Authority and emblazoned all over with the silvered lines of its triangular logo.

"It certainly fits well! Only the finest of silks, yes?"

Hiroji lowers his head. "Fit for no less than the Emperor himself." The entourage stops before a door, the numbers "886" prominently painted above an etiquette notice of do's and do not's.

"Excellent! Now, all of you, I command you to… leave me!" TOM thrusts his arms, dark blue sleeves billowing beneath shriveled arms. Just as the site personnel bow and step back respectfully he gestures with a circling finger, catching their attention once more.

"…Save for you, my personal candle! You may accompany me in."

"Oh?! Ohoh! Hoh! Hohohoho!" Said 'candle' claps his hands and taps his feet joyously, much to the envy of fellow audience. "To accompany milord all by my lonesome, privy to your private doings? Such a privilege! I am beyond words!"

Thus does one shuffle and another prance into a room bearing a shrine in its center. Fully aware for some time of the commotion gathering outside her cell, the resident Kitsune priestess has seated herself formally by the side of the shrine to receive guests, bowing before yet another entrance.

"Irasshaimase."

Shiomi-No-Sae's expression, however, was far from welcoming. TOM enthusiastically waddles in whilst ignoring her cold glare, dropping his cane on the floor and himself on a floor cushion.

"Why so sour, my foxy fox? Today's a big day! Heheeee!" TOM rocks his stunted body back and forth with gangly hands braced on the tatami, giddy as a little child.

"Oh! Oh I'm so excited I need another drink… Ah! How thoughtful of you." He rubs his spidery fingers in glee as his attending 'candle' helpfully presents a bottle of alcohol, and turns to Shiomi.

"Hey, foxy lady! Where are the cups for drinks? Don't you keep any in here? Are you going to serve your ultimate leader, or-?"

"'Leader'?"

The kitsune's voice cuts sharply through TOM's chortling glee, freezing him mid-rock as he narrows his gaze towards the seated shrine spirit.

"Have you forgotten, elderly one? Your power has no purchase upon another Yōkai."

"RPC-886! How dare you!" The 'candle', Senior Researcher Junichiro himself (with a lit candle glued to the top of his head, no less) leaps off his cushion in agitation, thrusting a finger straight towards Shiomi. "I'll have you penalized for your insolence!"

TOM flaps his arm at Junichiro, seizing his attention. "Calm down, candle-head! It takes more than such a remark to perturb a King, does it not?"

"Y-yes! You are right! Heheee!" Junichiro seizes himself and titters in a manner every bit childish as it was uncharacteristic, readjusting his candle and seating himself back down on the other cushion.

"Now, as I wanted to say…" The Nurarihyon leans forth and extends a long and shriveled arm, deftly snatching one of the teacups set into the shrine. He dismissively flings its contents over his shoulder, presenting the emptied cup for Junichiro to pour liquor in.

"…I want you to unbind yourself!"

Shiomi maintains her glare towards the opposite Yōkai downing cup after cup of sake, Junichiro refilling the teacup dutifully with the most rictus of grins. Five cups in, TOM finally takes note of her silence.

"Well? What are you waiting for?"

Shiomi near-whispers under her breath. "I will not abandon my duties for the frivolous waste of time that is following you around."

Junichiro leaps up once more, candleflame dangerously swaying to-and-fro above his head. "RPC-886! Watch your tongue! I will have your shrine relocated to the garbage dump for spewing such sacrilege!"

"Down, you stupid old dog, down." The annoyed (and hypocritically much-older) Yōkai flaps a hand once more, getting the crotchety human to sit back down. He irritatedly addresses Shiomi once more:

"I'm not telling you to completely sever your links to your shrine, woman! I know you Zenko-Kitsunes have a way to temporarily leave these wooden boxes to go on vacation!"

Shiomi remained silent. TOM grumbles, scratching at his elongated bald head. He decides to soften his tone and mannerisms, appealing to a sense of drudgery and boredom the kitsune must have doubtlessly developed after being contained below ground for so long.

"That is to say… A fair lady such as you deserves better than to be cooped up in this prison forever. So! I'll let you in on what will happen." He gets up, starting a puppetoid dance only a stunted body with gangly arms could accomplish.

"Hyakki-Yakkō! THE Night of Nights! Possibly ten thousand of us having the greatest time of our lives, dancing through human lands without a care! Two hundred years devoid of our mirth? I'd say Japan has been overdue for one! And who better to lead it than I, the very one and same to have started and led every one of them since forever?"

Fully enthralled as he seemingly was, Junichiro could only bring himself to whoop and clap away at the same tempo of the Nurarihyon's skips and twirls.

"Come! Be our tour guide AND guest of honour! You've explored all of Japan in the time that the rest of us spent snoozing before getting locked up in here, surely you know some great sights and spots for food and games the humans now have?"

"Food and drink? Parties and fun? Is that really all you can think of?"

"Eh?" TOM ceases his dance, finally taking note of the mounting disgust etched upon Shiomi's visage.

"Do you not already indulge yourself at great expense of the humans you rob in broad daylight? When I hear unceasing laughter in the distance, these endless shouts of made-up praises, the stench of alcohol accompanied with food splattered across the floor and the walls, I know it's you. The humans may forget as soon as you leave, but I remember." Shiomi readjusts her kneeling position, stiffening her back and tails in mounting anger and inhaling sharply.

"You take and take and take without giving back; Eating, drinking, wasting, stealing and learning secrets you never earned nor deserved. But it's never enough for you, is it?" She shakes her head with decisive finality.

"No. I want nothing to do with your debased 'fun' that makes light of human labors and exploits their devotion! My loyalty lies with the humans of this facility, not the pretender-king who cavorts through its halls without a care. I couldn't join you even if I wanted to, anyway; My mentors vanished before I was taught how to formally excuse myself from my shrine." Shiomi harrumphs and turns her nose up for emphasis.

Junichiro is stopped from reacting by a raised hand from TOM. The Nurarihyon quietly reaches into his robes, pulling out a thin smoking pipe-a kiseru. He holds it up, prompting Junichiro to hastily fill its well with tobacco then bow to light it with his head-candle.

"Aaaaaaaah, Kitsune…"

TOM's eyes roll straight up into their lids in deathly calm, the mask of his capriciously-joyful demeanour sloughing off. He presses the mouthpiece to his lips, sucking away. He exhales, spewing acrid smoke towards Shiomi and her shrine.

"…I forgot how much your kind are hopelessly in love with the humans. Are you sure you're actually foxes, and not, say… Dogs?" TOM sneers, his callously-rotten core bared. He swings his other arm across the air, the regal swish of silk contrasting against frustrated dismissiveness.

"Have it your way then, Registered-PRISONER-Code Eight-hundred-and-eighty-six! With most of the Dusk Gates sealed shut and the Nightlands becoming overgrown in all the inactivity my loyal subjects will need a home to live in for the time being. A place to enjoy themselves in, that we may sally forth into human settlements as much as we please! And what place better than these underground castles of this so-called 'Authority', hidden away from the rest of human civilization?" He sucks on his pipe harder, and gags.

"-Kaf-kak-MHM! …This site, and perhaps the other in the North will be turned into massive communal residences for us Yokai. I've got the humans all nicely trained-up to become our full-time servants and caretakers too, conditioned long enough by my visits that they couldn't possibly refuse an order as drastic as that. And as for you…" TOM freezes, withered eyes narrowing dangerously with kiseru pointed straight towards Shiomi,

"You, you, you you you… YOU can stay in your cell all you want, for everyone else to point and laugh at like a zoo animal! I'll have your door and walls changed to iron bars, even! Oho! Hee! Hoh! Ho ho! Hohohohoheho-!"

"Do you have anything worth saying beyond this point, old one? If not, I think it's time for you to leave."

Dismissing the icy-cold in Shiomi's voice, TOM grunts in irritation as he dabs at sweat beading across his temples; Formed not from his exertions, but the sudden scorching rise in temperature as if the room had begun turning into a baking oven. Swiping his cane off the floor and propping himself up, he harrumphs loudly.

"I was about done anyway! I've better places to be than this dump." TOM makes to leave, but not before spitefully emptying his pipe's ashes into the shrine's offertory box. "Typical shrine-squatting, human-fornicating, goody-two-shoes Zenko… Talk about a waste of time! At least your Yako kin know how to have fun…"

TOM is closely followed by Junichiro who takes one last time to spin about, his own face cherry-red in anger.

"You stupid time-wasting fox! Be grateful you're not getting your cell moved to the garbage pit! YET!" He blows a childish raspberry then stomps out after TOM, his fist shaking in barely-contained anger…

Bathed in silence once more as the temperature cools back down, Shiomi finally allows her strong visage to crumble, trembling where she sits. Slowly reaching out to the soiled teacup, she winces from knowing what is likely to happen, and whispers a silent prayer.

"Mishio…"

Site-089 corridor, outside the RPC-276 documents restoration and archival room

Ignoring the excited gossiping overhead, Junichiro leans by the side of the door. Arms crossed, waiting for his 'supreme leader' to finish business with the young acolyte who lives and works in that room:

"You want to undo the seal, don't you? You, you mean to release them all-"

"I said not to worry about it! Just… hand it over."

"I… I can't, I c-cant… Don't… Don't want-"

A moment of silence as Ashikaga Ai's final mental defenses are overcome, and-

"I apologize for the delay, Venerable Elder. Please, do what you must with these passages."

"I will! Thank you for your hard work. Now! That makes //one of you females in this site that will do as you're told!"//

The door slides open and TOM prances out, a clean A4 document in hand.

"Candle-monkey! To me!" Junichiro's dark scowl stretches back into the rosiest of smiles.

"Yes, your magnaminous magnificence!" The Senior Researcher mimics TOM's own movements as he dances after him, hands clenched into fists…

"Eheee…! There's still some time to kill before moonrise. Everyone! How about another party in your lounge?!" The crowd roars in approval.

"Hahaa! This is what I live for!" TOM breaks into a fresh bout of lanky skips and gangled twirls, site personnel whopping and cheering at his moves as they accompany their 'Grand Director' back to the lounge.

Amidst them, portly Doctor Kawada Ippei beams brightly. "Minoru! It's always a lovely time to be had when His Eminence graces us with his prescence, is it not?"

The same could not be said for the Senior Researcher, who by now had become stiller than ice. He reaches up and snuffs out the candle flame, slowly grinding out the sharp heat in his fingertips with great prejudice.

"Had enough of this act…"

Ippei blinks at his companion's unusual behaviour. "…Minoru, is everything okay?"

Junichiro rips the candle off his head and flings it to the floor. He swiftly reaches to an obliviously-cheering security guard's holster, unlatching and pulling out the service pistol in the blink of an eye.

"Bald chimpanzee, you die, NOW." The senior researcher dives through the crowd with a speed that belied his frail appearance, gun at the ready. He sees his target, thrusts gun arm through the crowd to take aim, and-

BAM! Goes the bullet, punching its way through ceiling plaster. Junichiro rights himself from being yanked back. He turns back in outrage at Ippei, who had just managed to seize his collar.

"Junichiro, don't! What has gotten into you?"

"Out of my way, you brainwashed penguin! Let go!"

By now, everybody else save TOM had swiveled their heads to stare at the commotion. Somebody screams.

"He's got a gun!"
"ASSASSIN!"
"Save the Grand Director!"

With no time to spare Junichiro tears free from Ippei and takes aim once more. BAM! BAM! Both shots veer far from their target, Junichiro's aim thrown off as he is swiftly tackled and buried under security. He gnashes his teeth in equal parts rage and horror as the gun is wrenched from his hand.

"Senior Researcher!" Admonishes Sec-Chief Hiroji, "Traitor! How could you do this?! You've betrayed the Authority you've worked decades within!"

"You fools! You idiotic puppets! He'll destroy everything we worked for! He's going to be the end of us all!" Junichiro attempts to reach out at the figure standing impassively before him, grasping wildly at the air. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you, you miserable, stunted, manipulating guttersnipe…"

TOM finally chooses this moment to turn about, in an ever-so-slowly manner of triumph, showing no concern at the attempt at his life, "…And what's all this now?"

Clack, clack, clack goes the walking stick, slowly, and surely.

"Grand Director, it is not safe-" Hiroji is silently waved off, compelled to step aside. TOM now stands before Junichiro, pinned down yet glaring up in defiance.

"Thieving monkey… Parasite!"

TOM beams widely, as if a great game had just come to a most satisfactory conclusion.

"Hoohooheheheeee. I was actually starting to wonder how much more you could take before you'd finally have enough. I can make all the other humans here twirl about in the palm of my hand, but to see one acting the monkey of his own volition? Now that's funny!"

"You-! You knew?!" Junichiro struggles in the grips of too many officers, his head forced back to the floor.

Without letting up his smile, he gives Junichiro a sharper squint. "Did you really think me nothing more than a bumbling idiot all this while, old human? I've lived more centuries than there is lineage in a single human's bloodline, I know when one is faking it. And there's always at least one of your kind wherever I go…"

TOM snaps his fingers, causing everybody about him to jump to attention.

"Everybody! Listen carefully!" Hiroji and his officers stiffen.

"I hereby decree this mischief-maker… Pardoned! He shall be… my Guest of Honour!"

Their response was silence, but the look in their eyes was no different than if TOM had just ripped a loud fart.

"But, Grand Director-"

TOM thrusts a hand up, silencing Hiroji. "To alleviate your concerns… You may keep him bound and under guard."

With said worries calmed, Hiroji nods and motions for Junichiro to be bound and brought back up.

"Party's cancelled, everyone! I've got something more interesting to do!" Ignoring the groans of his captivated audience, TOM turns to the forcibly-uprighted Junichiro, wrists ziptied together behind his back. "Come! Let's walk. You and I are proceeding to the lounge as planned! I'd like to have… an honest heart-to-heart. It's been so long."

Site-089's lounge

Moments earlier the scene of much wild celebrating, white labcoats trailing and orange jumpsuits flailing about in dance. Now deserted and silent, save for the private session between two elderly beings seated across the nicest-looking table hastily dragged to its center.

A waiter arrives to curtly present plates of exotic fishmeat and other luxurious platters. TOM rubs his hands in glee as ruby fluid pours into his wineglass. Junichiro glowers at the opposite end of the table, wrists remaining bound with vigilant guards seated by each side. TOM eyes each of them, gesturing out his latest command:

"Both of you! I command you to use your super-secret training to… ignore our conversation!" Both guards comply with fierce salutes.

TOM smiles and raises his wineglass. "Kampai." This prompts a guard to pick up Junichiro's and bring it to his mouth.

"Don't-get that away from me. I don't want any damn drinks."

TOM titters at the spectacle and takes a quick sip. "So! Be honest: What do you think of my power? To walk into any of your communes without any effort, immediately hailed by all within as King of Kings, Emperor Above All, Ruler Almighty and Unquestionable Leader? Is that not a power worth envying?"

"You're a disgusting parasite and a threat to us all. Everything 886 said about you was right."

TOM nonchalantly slaps strips of pufferfish flesh onto his rice, eating away without a care.

"Hmhm! Disgust and disdain! To be expected by the rare few who can see… Mhm, this fugu is delightfully tingly… Ahem! What if I told you it is just as much a burden?"

"I somehow don't believe that." Junichiro shakes his head, rejecting a guard's attempt to feed him.

"Is that so? What if I say there are things that you yet remain blind to?"

The Old Human sneers dismissively. "Like what?"

TOM grunts in displeasure. "…Like how I've repeated my name ten times to you? Slipped in one ear and out the other now, did it?"

Junichiro furrows his brows in confusion. When did he-?

TOM swishes his wineglass with a matter-of-factly flair. "That look on your face tells me everything. Alas, 'tis unsurprising…" He downs its contents and presents it to the waiter for a refill. "…There may be a scant few humans who see me for who I am such as yourself, but there yet remains some things of me that will always escape everybody's mind's eye." He downs his drink, taking his time to slowly savour the exhaled vapours.

"I too, am a victim of my power. My origins: Who am I? Who was I, once upon a time? Was I born human and became cursed? Or was I Yōkai all along? Who knows! Even I have forgotten. I've tried diaries, you know. All attempts to track my life simply refuse to cooperate. So what left is there to the point of living, other than to live the moment? Do you understand what I mean? And yet…"

TOM slouches back into the velvet armchair, sighing wistfully.

"Do you know how tiresome it gets when everything goes your way in life, without having to invest a single smidgen of effort to get what you want? To live basked in luxuries undeserved and fake titles galore? Don't get me wrong, I still make the most use of it! I'd be a fool not to! But it all gets so tiresome sometimes, wouldn't you understand?"

He perks back up, finger raised for emphasis.

"But I'm not ungrateful, you know. You humans have given me a real gift, do you realize? A name that stuck! The closest to one, anyway."

This so-called name he toys with on the tip of his tongue, lolling its syllables about experimentally in his mouth:

"RPC-three-hundred-and-sixteen! RPC-three-one-six… Three-one-six. Three. One. Six. After centuries of being called an old man-THE Old Man-this is the closest I have come to acquiring a recognized name, and yet-"

With a loud stomp he leaps onto the table, thrusting wineglass up in the air.

"-I am more than a mere number! I am more and I will be recognized as such, one way or another! If not for my name, then for my deeds! Why do you think I lead the Hyakki-Yakkos among others? Among Yokai I am loved and remembered for it! Among humans I am accorded awe, fear, and true recognition!"

Junichiro regards the crimson spatters on the tablecloth and his labcoat with disgust. "So this is what you want, then? All this chaos you want to unleash, all this just for-for publicity?!"

"Hm… You could say as such. Let the ensuing festivities signal to Japan and the rest of the world that I exist! That we, the Yōkai, remain strong and plentiful, while all other legends and myths have died away in the centuries that have passed!"

"You self-centered wretch! You'll destabilize the world just for your personal entertainment! You'll plunge us all into chaos!"

RPC-316 chortles, dismissively flapping away Junichiro's insults and concerns. "Oh shush, that kind of reaction is purely on you humans. From the Fae of the West to us Yokai of the East, it's not our fault you've chosen to forget us into make-believe fiction. You only have yourselves to blame for reacting to being proven wrong!"

Junichiro jerks his chair, causing the guards to clamp down on his shoulders. "I wasn't just talking about humanity-it's not just about us! What you'll do will irreversibly damn the entirety of your own species at the same time. For everybody's safety, we can't let you do this. You will be stopped, one way or another!"

RPC-316 disinterestedly stares into his swishing wine glass. "So you say, but what have your leaders' efforts really amounted to against yours truly? A few recordings, some deaths and injuries among your kind? Is that the best your Global Directors can come up with?"

He slams the wine glass down, a menacing drawl manifesting in his voice. "Did you think you were the only one here clued in about me? That I did not know of your clandestine operation to 'pluck' my 'weed'? That explosion in a part of this site a month earlier that barely missed me and sent quite a few of your co-workers to the infirmary, was that truly a gas leak, or…?"

That silenced Junichiro quick enough. Actual assassins? There have been other attempts? Where are they now and why aren't they doing a thing about this?!

The Old Man slouches back into his seat, taking another sip of wine. "It doesn't matter how I learnt of it. What matters right now, to you, is that I could publicly reveal the details of this operation against me, and cause this entire site to instantly defect against the rest of your organization. You wouldn't want that now, would you?"

Junichiro grits his teeth as fingers rake their way across the whitening palms behind his back. The sweat of his anger mingles with cold fear.

"So here's my offer: Be my Hyakki-Yakko's human guest of honour! The one lucky mortal who gets a first-class ticket to partake in our festivities and goes home by the end of it all, and I won't speak the precious few words that will cause your co-workers-nay-possibly even ALL of Japan to declare war against your so-called 'Authority'. What is your decision?"

"Won't forever, or won't for now?"

316 cocks an eyebrow. Certainly not among the responses he was expecting. Junichiro readjusts himself upon his seat as much as the guards would permit.

"No one tastes absolute power then lets go of it willingly, and in robbing us blind of our wealth and secrets while making fools of us you've guzzled the entire chalice. And you've shown that you're more than aware that the walls are closing in on you. Regardless of what decision I say, sooner or later, you're going to invoke it in desperation to protect yourself. 'Live the moment', right?"

The Old Man chuckles darkly. "Insightful, aren't you? I like that! Times have changed indeed. Tell you what: I'll just focus on my party for now, but beyond that? No promises."

He then leaps off his armchair, twirling his staff towards Junichiro's guards. "Guards! Escort my guest of honour to my waiting carriage! It's time we start the festivities!" The guards salute and pull Junichiro up to his feet, escorting him at gunpoint.

Site-089 forest perimeter

Mishio yawns again, scratching her sides. A day of snoozing precludes a long night of work: Another city to visit, more refuse to scavenge, more humans to annoy…

M-Mishio…! You, you were, all along…

What happened in Tokyo's underbelly continues to haunt her. Ever since the slaughter she witnessed between mutating teenagers falling upon child-trafficking gangsters, then blue-hued butchers massacring said teenagers…

-were saying, all along, you were actually a-

The leader of those monstrous adolescents. Mari. Mutilated by those gangsters into a mockery of a kitsune, heart scarred over with hate, and yet took a fatal explosion for Mishio. She is yet alive in the hands of the blue butchers, and Mishio owes a debt that cannot be ignored.

…M, Mishio… k-kuh, kitsh… n…

And yet as much as she wants to disregard their advice, the stupid humans in the nearby anthill are right. She is one against many. But what could Mishio possibly do? She knows the butchers are the hidden hounds within an organization called the 'United Nations', but beyond that-

"…The hell is that sound?" Mishio irritably jams a finger into a fox ear and gives it a solid twist. She turns around to see just what the hell is going on with that approaching noise and freezes all deerlike at the approaching pair of brightly-shining eyes.

"Aaah… AAAH… AAAAH!" Mishio barely manages to throw herself by the side as an abnormally-long car thunders through, an old man's laughter barely visible above the roar of its engine and the smashing of foilage:

"HOO-HOO-HOOIIIEEEEEEEEEEE-"

Mishio gets up from the floor, and spits out a mouthful of leaves. Bewilderment gives way to fist-waving anger.

"YOU… ABSOLUTELY-STUPIDEST HUMANS! WATCH WHERE YOU DRIVE YOUR DAMN LO-ng car?"

Mishio scrunches her face in confusion and looks at the tracks of grass slowly rising back up and wildly swaying bushes, fragments of leaves and branches scattered all over. Don't humans keep their vehicles on the roads? Why is this one being driven recklessly through the grass and bushes and straight to… her Dusk Gate? She presses fingers to her temples, trying to make sense of what she saw.

"Think, Mishio, think…"

The stupid old balding human of a nemesis who won't stop picking on Shiomi, she saw him seated at the back of the car. There were guard-type humans sitting by his side, too. He did not look happy. He obviously wasn't in there of his own will, and he wasn't the one doing the yelling. So that leaves the front of the car…

Hang on. That voice. She managed to briefly see a shriveled twit waving his arms about in glee beside the driver, as well as what looked like an overly-elongated head.

No. It couldn't be.

"Out of my way, insolent animal! Didn't they teach you children any manners? Respect your elders!"

The Nurarihyon. The very same one who tripped her within that darker-than-black cave, making Old Fox Hakishi sacrifice himself to ensure her escape.

"You old, shriveled piece of shit… Just what are you planning?!" Without a second thought Mishio abandons her plans, and takes off after the car…

Outpost-089 clearing, adjacent to RPC-257

"ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"

Klaxons blare and boots thunder across burnt wood and gravel. Outpost sentries swiftly surround the limosine that had just smashed through the fencing, steam hissing from its hood with branches and dark foilage crammed through its grille. Enough rifles are levied at the trespassing vehicle to reduce it to a flaming wreck. A bereted captain brings up a megaphone.

"Everybody in that unidentified vehicle: Come out with your hands up! Any deviance will be met with lethal action!"

The doors gradually open. First to step out is the quaking limosine driver; A stranger unfamiliar to this place. Unidentified. Zero clearance. The guns remain trained, their wielders alert and cautious.

Next to step out are the two Authority Sec-Force members from Site-089. That was when the confusion started, outpost personnel giving one another confused glances.

Then stepped out Senior Researcher Minoru Junichiro, who has visited this outpost in the past, causing the confusion to grow furher.

But then He stepped out last of all, and it all finally made sense.

"False alarm! Stand down! Stand down! Shut the alarms! Inform HQ this is a VIP visit and to cancel response teams." The guns are swiftly raised away and the sentries scramble into inspection formation, saluting as if their lives depended upon it.

"Grand Director! Our sincerest apologies, we were not expecting this visit-" The captain notices and double-takes at Junichiro. "Why is Site-089's Senior Researcher bound and under armed escort?"

"Management dispute. We are here, among other reasons, to enlighten him to the error of his narrow-minded thinking!"

"Ah. Your Excellency is too kind. Am I to assume he is a flight risk? Does he need his guard doubled?"

Junichiro strains against his bonds. "Don't listen to him! Get a grip on yourself! He's going to-" A guard gags him, reducing his words into angry muffles.

"These two gentlemen have proven sufficient in keeping him… Contained! Do not worry, and focus on the task ahead of you!" 316 quietly gazes to the blackened scaffolding, envisioning the manor that once stood the test of time upon this hilltop clearing. He stretches his eyes further up, looking to stars barely glimmering through patches of cloud.

"A lovely dusk for a party, isn't it, Ozuka? Too bad you and the wolves are no longer around to stop me."

"Sir?"

The Old Man clears his throat. "Open the cave and make ready the preparations. Code Omega."

The Officer briefly stands still, frozen to the spot. He brings a hand to his head, steadying himself as a fragment of consciousness broke through before being suffocated once more.

"Sir? I… need the clearance phrase for that."

The Old Man nods. "Hyakki-Yakko. Do it, now."

The captain grunts, steadying himself. "…Understood." He pulls out a radio and speaks a list of orders.

A grinning 316 looks to Junichiro. "See? You Authority humans aren't the only ones who know how to make secret protocols!" Junichiro returned a glare that, if looks could kill, would have murdered the Old Man on the spot. It fails unfortunately, merely causing the Old Man to giggle.

"Don't be a sourpuss! Come, we are going down to where it all started… And where it ends."

Sun-touched passageway

Hssssh! Tok-tok-tok-tok-tok-

Junichiro stared with a mix of disbelief, anger and resignation, teeth bared as the final set of vault doors part before this intrusion.

KT-KLANGG!

The darkness beyond vanishes as the next set of floodlights turn on, illuminating the obsidian-encrusted passageway. The Senior Researcher's back is nudged with a rifle stock. Just one: The other guard was carrying a box of assorted tools for the so-called 'Grand Director'. Minoru Junichiro inhales and exhales, forcing himself to walk onwards, following the shriveled humanoid vigourously shuffling forth.

There they were at long last: The very final chamber before the massive seal itself. Scarred and damaged, its original engravings lost to so many furious blows yet no less imposing, the ancient brass disc large as a man continues to float in the air. Fragments of untarnished brass float beneath it, testament to the assault it recently withstood. Behind it: The gaping passage of frozen air, bluish-purple in hue that slows all who would attempt to cross it. And beyond that still he could see it: A living darkness, ebbing and lapping away at the edges of the lit floor like an ocean of smoky ink. The magic-made warden of this prison, forever ensuring its charges would reawaken, much less escape.

316 turns to the attending guard unpacking the box.

"Mat." The guard spreads a mat before the inner cave opening. The Old Man seats himself upon it.

"Candles." Six amber-hued candles wide as an arm are laid across the mat. Salvaged from the manor at its time of destruction, these candles bear an array of inscriptions carefully painted into their surfaces.

"Binder, then light the candles." The Old Man receives said item that Ai relinquished and flips through its pages, trailing a gangly finger across an estimated map of the dark beyond. "Hmhm, yes…" He turns to face Junichiro.

"There's a trick to this, actually. The strength of the release incantation is based on how loud the chanter can speak, which in turn determines how long the cave will remain unsealed. But even then it's not enough to allow everyone to get out now, is it? Fortunately, that's where improvisation comes in!"

The Old Man stretches his hand to the attending guard one last time.

"Megaphone."

Junichiro's eyes widen at the final object being taken out the box. "You have no idea of the fatal mistake you are making."

"Oh I know what I'm doing all right, human. Trying to change my mind in with an appeal of last resort? Where did your earlier fire go?" 316 chuckles mirthfully. "That's the point! You are powerless to stop us, just as your ancestors were, and theirs before them!"

The ancient Yokai turns on the megaphone on, and speaks. Circuitry amplifies his voice, blasting ritualistic syllables before the seal and beyond.

Junichiro winces and covers his ears as the cave trembles with powerfully-loud echoes. The brass disc vibrates with increasing intensity, almost as if it were a gong being struck harder and harder. The candleflames and the living shadow beyond - light and dark - pulse in synchronity with each sound the yokai makes. The zone of stilled air gradually vanishes as the chanting goes on, the bluish hue of its air fading into nothingness. The Old Man finishes and catches his breath, lowering the megaphone.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then the seal falls as gravity reasserts itself, causing a thunderous din as it slams onto the floor and scatters mighty dust plumes across the chamber. As if on cue what was left of the living shadows was finally dismissed in the mighty din, shrinking and disappearing as if it were all little more than spilled ink blotting away into a spongy floor.

RPC-316 lowers his sleeve from his face, and raises the megaphone once more.

"EVERYONE! YOU HAVE EIGHT MINUTES TO GET OUT!"

He motions to leave as Junichiro is escorted out, the sounds of stirring, and mounting commotion taking place in the ordinary dark beyond…

» Chamber of the Foxes «

» Chamber of the Earth-Spiders «

« Close »

"FOOLS!"

A nightmarish brawl thunders across this chamber, drowning out the furious bellow. A multi-limbed brute of a humanoid flings his three left arms out, attempting to capture the attention of senses glazed over in the heat of combat-frenzy.

"This gathering is an event beyond our choosing! There are more pressing matters than to fight each other!" Naturally, he is ignored. He does not flinch as a nightmarishly-gigantic spider slams into the wall adjacent to him, powerful piston legs swiftly launching itself back into the fray. Stroking his fiery mane of hair with three right hands he makes a guttural noise: A mix between snarl and grunt, revealing an array of flesh-stripping fangs between bone-crushing tusks.

"VERY WELL! Whilst you lot continue to clobber each other insensate, I shall deign to explore the surroundings, and find out what this situation is all about…" The Tsuchigumo turns to leave, lowering himself to crouch under the exit's archway. He pauses, and irritatedly looks at the gob of sticky silk adhered to his middle and lower right wrists. He raises two left eyebrows at the spiky-haired Tsuchigumo who had launched the line of silk.

"No, Jirumo! Our roiling blood demands this of us! This collective encounter has obviously been brought together by fate! Come back and FIGHT, coward!" The combatant rips back on the line, attempting to force the one named Jirumo into the chaotic brawl. Entirely unfazed, Jirumo points with two lefts even as he slides a foot in.

"Fool that you are, Bagoku! Your insult provokes me not! I am one with my fighting spirit…" He rams his feet onto the stone, and pulls back harder. Hurtling towards Jirumo, Bagoku spasms and shifts as skin gives way to chitin and he reverts into a monstrous arachnid, all the better to assault Jirumo with.

"…while you are a slave to it!" Without any misstep Jirumo sumo-grabs Bagoku, spins and flings him back into the melee brawl, smashing straight into three other Tsuchigumo assaulting one-another. He flicks his chin, harrumphing at the scratching sensation from the tarantula claw that failed to dig into his cheek.

"Go back to fighting the others, and waste my time no longer! I shall rejoin you senselessly violent lot soon enough with answers once you have all finally calmed down…" No longer delayed, Jirumo exits into the tunnel beyond.

» Chamber of the Crows «

« Close »

"What trickery is this?!" Yells a winged humanoid wrapped in wintery trapping. "Where are we? You Southern Rats will pay for what you've done to us!" Behind him gathers a massive crowd of fellow winterclad humanoids.

Approaching him is another snarling man-crow, armoured in the vestments of battle and pointing his naginata back. "You Ice-Dogs not only insult us, but also dare raise your peasants' tools against your superiors?!"

Behind this second speaker gathers a horde of winged humanoids clad in leather and layered wood-steel, bloodstained and glutted with the rush of battle. War banners are raised one after another revealing the emblem of a corrupted crysanthemum, dark feathers as its petals and a crow's eye for its center.

Barbed hunting spears sharp enough to disembowel boars with a single thrust are pointed, and arrows fletched to ride the northern winds into their targets are nocked.

"Watch your tongues, rats. We are at full strength."

Glaives and katanas still stained with the blood of their once-fearsome victims are drawn and a wall of Tanegashima rifles are brought to the fore, enough to massacre so much of the opposition.

"Likewise. Unlike you, we are armed for war."

Silence save for sparse breathing. The ping of a dropped coin alone could herald a bloodbath.

"Esteemed elders of both sides, If I may…"

The War Tengu general does not turn to acknowledge the non-combatant beside him. "Silence, Kuroma. Important people, with roles of actual importance, are conducting business."

"With all due respect, Dayoshi: Minister of Carnage…" Said general grunts, and turns to see the fellow Tengu by his side: Draped in the clean Edo robes of a non-combating advisor, a most prominently painted blindfold over his eyes. More importantly and despite this obscured vision, he gestures precisely towards so many other Southern Tengu, groaning in pain and nursing grievous wounds of a combat against an enemy that clearly fought with nothing left to lose.

"…Allow me to address our Northern bretheren." Dayoshi grunts, and lets the smaller Tengu take over. Kuroma walks slowly and calmly, stopping before the tip of the Northern Tengu's spear. After a period of silence, he speaks.

"We have war-wounded. Were this an ambush and trick as you suspect it to be, would we ourselves not be at full prime fighting condition?"

The leader hisses, little tufts of snow cascading from his shoulders. "It could be a trick. Your 'wounded' could be acting, ready to spring into battle with weapons at the fray for all we know. Typical lies you Southern Rats love to make."

"Then it must be a very elaborate trick that some of us are willing to forego our limbs and wings, yes?"

The Northern Tengu speaker narrows his eyes and looks past Kuroma, noting the scene of agonies at the far end of the chamber.

"Were we to fight in this cramped chamber, both sides shall only slaughter each other with no clear victor in sight. It is clear that both of us have been brought to this location against our will or awareness. I implore you to take the wiser option, and leave."

Convinced, the Northern Tengu warily retracts his spear, nodding as a seldom-expressed sign of acknowledgement. With the blow of a horn, the Northerners take to flight and swoop out in a frigid gale.

"That's very good and all in getting them out of our sights, lesser 'minister'. What shall you do now about our wounded, I wonder?" Kuroma turns to regard Dayoshi.

"If there is time to take one out, there is time to take all out. And there is no time for such a thing. All who are capable, leave now. Any remainders worth saving shall be worried over later. Discard the unfortunate rest, especially those who have been grounded."

Dayoshi smirks. "Keep it up, whelp. I just might see why Enōzō keeps you around."

Kuroma says nothing in return, making to leave with the others.

A clay-hued boy wheels his wooden cart up to an imposing figure easily twice his height.

"Excuse me Mister human, do you want to buy some tofu? F-freshly made…"

The blue-clad human remains silent, holding onto his strange black stick and staring into the cave's opening. The boy, a Tofu-Kozo, stares into the man's masked mouth swearing he could almost make out mumblings beneath the face-cloth:

"Is this really okay…?"

"Um… Mister? You okay?" No response. "Well I'll j-just be on my way, then…" The boy lifts his little cart's handles back up and pulls into the night, following the stream of fellow little Yokai departing into the forests; Little wormy humanoids with little hammers riding their rotund mounts, lion-faced dogs, dark-feathered herons radiating pale-blue glows from their bodies, decrepit umbrellas and other living junk hopping about, and so many more.

"APPOSSHA! APPOSSHA!" Screams a red-bodied dwarf, gleefully running across the dew-tipped grass in circles and repeatedly tripping over his own oversized head without a care.

It is at this time that the entourage exits the cave. Junichiro's complexion grows ever so pallid as he holds his face in his hands (being unbound once he was no longer deemed a hindrance), his mind attempting to comprehend the inevitable surge in paranormal incidents the civilian sector will doubtlessly report. RPC-316, however, beams brightly before the moonlit exodus.

"A grand sight! However, these little ones of the 'Green Zone' are not the ones I am interested in… The more interesting ones from the 'Yellow Zone' should be coming out soon!"

And right on cue music begins blaring out the cave's mouth, heralding a massive parade of capering, cartwheeling and cavorting Tanuki; most in their native raccoon form, a bunch resembling comical animated objects sprouting racoon legs, and fewer still as human-mimics.

Next waltz out the cats; the grand majority of them being Bakeneko indistinguishable from normal cats, a few Nekotama with two tails. Immediately they make a ruckus of themselves; Yowling, swearing and clawing at one another, rolling, rubbing and stretching themselves all over the place.

Then comes the flash of light as the cave maw lights up into obsidian iridescence and out come the foxes, Kitsune cradling their young whilst looking about and remarking at the change in the very air itself, instinctively knowing something about the land has changed.

Junichiro scowls at the sight of so many fox tails waving all over the place, as if the two RP-Coded Kitsune he's used to dealing with weren't enough already. Worse yet, how would these react to any knowledge of 886 and 486? One fox of pale gold hair and seven-tailed fur in particular, an elderly gent in regal shrine clothing with Tate-Eboshi hat strides up to 316, hands held together and shrouded in voluminous sleeves.

"…This release is your doing, Old One?"

"Master Hitoshi-No-Hibari! If I am to say, yes?"

The elderly, rigidly-tall kitsune wrinkles his lips. "Then I am not surprised that you escaped the impossible, as usual." He gives a polite nod. "Our thanks for releasing us all. Now, is there a way out of here?"

"You flatter me! But, don't you want to see what's going on first?"

"Questions can come later. I and all others under me have important duties to attend to."

TOM flaps a hand. "Oh, Hitoshi, don't be a wet sock! All work and no fun makes one a dull fox! Stay a bit and have some fun for once like your Yako kin would, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you Zenkos to be away from your shrines!"

Hitoshi exhales sharply at said dismissiveness. "Our shrines aren't just 'work-places', they are our sacred links to Inari himself. As it is, we are merely pardoned for being away from our shrines by virtue of being spirited away against our will. Furthermore, Zenko candidates are not chosen based on our proclivity towards partying, now are we? Now, I shall repeat myself once more: May I ask where the nearest Dusk Gate is? I in particular have THE Grand-shrine to attend to."

TOM sighs with exagerrated exasperation, and rolls his eyes. "Well if you insist… Go to the broken fence over there and straight down the trail. Can't miss it." The Flame Tender of His Greatest Shrine nods and motions to his uniformed attendees, who bow their heads and dutifully follow him.

With that concluded for now TOM turns back to regard the cave opening and whistles lecherously; By this time a herd of giggling courtesans exit the cave, draped in a scandalous array of flowery kimonos that are either too loose or too short. Some titter away as their abnormally-long hair writhes and snakes across the stone and grass as if searching for prey, when not entangling with one-another in communion: Kejōrō. The others clutch onto what sewing or musical tools they were holding at the time of their vanishing, eyeing the few humans present with curious, almost predatory gazes as spidery legs emerging from their backs twitch with abductional intent: Jorōgumo. Amongst these, a few battered and wounded ones are being helped out by their fellow spider-women. Junichiro vaguely recalls they were supposedly captured slaves by another Yokai race and branded as their property, but which one-?

The latest gaggle of assorted Yokai leaving the cave scream and duck down as the mouth vomits forth a stream of dark, writhing black. A piece of this darkness detaches, settling on the grass before Junichiro. A black feather. He trembles, and dares himself to look closer. Wings. Thousands of them. Tengu. Same as the one from back then, who-

"Unlike the others, the both of you are alive because of your potential for amusing me, human twins. So, entertain me for a little longer; I want to see if you both scream and writhe the same way…"

Junichiro brings himself back from the brink of vomiting as he gazes down at a pair of hands and arms that were once sliced into so many useless holes, suppressing traumatic memories and a rage he thought withered into nothingness with the passage of time.

The first wave of this black tide is interspersed with white snowy robes, flying straight up into the sky and soaring away towards the last embers of the sun. The second wave of Tengu however, the very same ones that exploration reports list as armed for battle, continue circling the skies. The Yōkai below tremble, murmuring with trepidation. The aforementioned mutilated Jorōgumo shriek and cover their heads, begging their sisters to not let them be taken away once more.

Amidst all these who fly, one descends to approach the group on foot. A young man in a dark mockery of imperial court robes approaches, his eyes covered in a runed strip of cloth. Despite this blindfold he appears very much aware of his surroundings, as if he could see through the cloth. Junichiro could almost feel himself being picked apart by a phantom gaze, restraining himself from seizing his guard's gun to riddle this Tengu with holes. He speaks, voice as calm as the stance of a predator ready to kill.

"I recognize your voice, Nurarihyon. You have released us all. In gratitude, trouble us not and you will left to do as you please."

TOM maintains his charm in the shadow of this individual's ominous aura. "Eheh… Hm! Would any of you lovely crow-folk like to join us in-"

"We have no need for your parties. Our Emperor of the Night, and Day in due time, awaits." The Tengu turns to leave.

"Wait, just a moment. Could you do me this kindness, just to ask, and confirm if the Ōkami are truly-"

Kuroma pauses without turning. In his measured response, an almost-placable tint of regret. "The Guardians of the Divide are no more. Sow your havoc upon the humans to your heart's content."

Black wings reemerge from Kuroma's back, thrusting him far up into the air with a single powerful beat to rejoin his dispersing kin.

That unpleasant business conducted, TOM harrumphs loudly and readjusts his sleeves. "Tengu! Chasing after one of their own bearing such delusions of grandeur! I am the only 'King' the Yōkai will ever need!"

Meanwhile, having squatted down in a corner not too far away, Hakishi grunts warily at the ominous sight in the dusk sky and resumes scratching away at his head-ears. He knows he's forgotten something, but what?

"Oh!" The Wily Old Fox sees Hitoshi, his Zenko counterpart, striding back from the forest. But before Hakishi could call out he couldn't help but notice one little thing: The Flame Tender seems mildly upset, his stride coming to a fluid stop before the entourage.

"Old One… The Dusk Gate is locked. May I ask the meaning of this?"

"Hehee!" RPC-316 grins and reaches into his robes, pulling out a remote and beckoning the irate Kitsune (and the escorted Junichiro) to follow him to the gathered crowd. "You'd want to know, wouldn't you? Which is why I asked you to stay back!" He hops onto a stool then onto a table set in the middle of the field by brainwashed personnel.

"Everyone! I think you would all like to have a look at how Japan's changed!" TOM points the remote at the projector set up on the same table he stands on, powering it on and casting its blinding light into a massive screen. The crowd of Yokai gasps as they briefly avert their gaze from the bright shine of white, watching and murmuring in wonder as words dance within the light, giving way to vivid sceneries of moving pictures.

Junichiro's eyes nearly pop out their sockets in horror; RPC-316 is playing tourism videos of modern-day Japan to his fellow Yokai!!!

Part 2: Return of the Yokai

"What is that great glowing lance that thrusts into the sky? Majestic! Let's climb it!"

"There are lights everywhere! Such glows and colours! The night is almost as bright as day!"

"Unbelievable! There are so many humans walking out at night! What happened to the rules?!"

"What is that amazing metal tube that moves so fast?! I want to enter it! Let's ride it!"

By the time the video had finished, the crowd was more excited than ever.

"How thrilling!" Cheer the Tanuki among their wild applause. "This calls for the biggest of festivities!"

TOM holds his hands up, compelling the crowd to quiet down. He holds the megaphone up and speaks, the crowd hushed before his booming voice.

"Everyone! Despite the wonders you just beheld I bear grim news for all of you: Humanity has forgotten about us! While we slept in this cave, we became dismissed as little more than superstition and vague memories as humans boldly encroach into our territory!"

"What? It can't be!"
"Impossible! Unthinkable!"

"Do you not see the way they walk the night-time streets without any reverence nor respects paid to we, whom the night belongs to?"

"That's right!"
"The nerve!"

"But can it be helped? They forgot, after all! We have to help them to remember that it is we who rule the night!"

And as the crowd titters in excitement, TOM bows and thrusts his arms out. "And what better time to conduct such festivities… Than NOW, for aaaaaa-?"

The crowd bursts into a frenzy of excitement.

"HYAK-KI! YAK-KO! HYAK-KI! YAK-KO!"

TOM claps his hands, and signals for Junichiro to be marched before the crowd.

"You see this human? He is the avatar of everything that is wrong with the modern human world! Grouchy! Grumpy! Cranky! Miserable! All work and no fun! Believes only in cold, hard 'facts' and dismisses all else as hogwash! And worst yet… He thinks we were all off better not even existing!" The crowd boos and jeers.

"What say you now, old human? What say you now before all we who undoubtebly exist before you, unbound, unrestrained, free once more???" TOM holds the megaphone up to Junichiro.

"Go die in a fire." The crowd roars in laughter.

"You see? He's lost all sense of wonder-and humour-at the world! Let's bring it to him, folks! Let's show our Esteemed Guest of Honour what we Yōkai can really get up to, and bring excitement back into the mundane human world! But oh, no, We won't just be doing just any regular Hyakki-Yakko, folks…"

TOM clears his throat, the megaphone amplifying his noise-making.

"…We're gonna create the BIGGEST EVER to celebrate our return! We'll be performing through a series of Nightland routes I've prepared straight into the Emperor's Palace itself, showing His Highness that weeeeeee're BACK, and that no human can keep us away forever!

The crowd's roars grow ever greater in unbridled enthusiasm.

"Ohhh?" Hakishi's ears twitch as he watches from a distance. "A Hyakki-Yakko? Hmm… sounds like a good way to get these old bones of mine a nice exercise. Gotta check out whatever new drinks the humans have too - I MEAN - someone also needs to watch over the hooligans and rascals from getting a bit too wild, too, hee-hee!"

Hakishi springs to his feet, limberly skipping his way towards the crowd…

Among the raccoons in the crowd, a pack of children hop and bounce towards their rotund grandfather. "Nonoki-Ojiichan! Nonoki-Ojiichan! Please take us to the human places! We wanna see the lights and colours and sounds! We wanna dance in the palace and greet the Emperor!"

"Ho ho ho!" Nonoki laughs with paternal warmth. "Don't worry, my little darlings! I'll take you to all the best views! We'll sing and we'll dance, and lead the way for the others to come along! I'm sure His Highness won't mind sharing his seat with the lot of you, even!"

Amidst the Yako-Kitsune dressed in a wide array of neat or disheveled yukatas and kimonos in contrast to the rigid formality of their Zenko-Kitsune brethren, things were hardly different. Two brothers, Yuudai and Ietaru, Yako and Zenko, jostled.

"A-Aniki! a Hyakki-Yakko isn't the place for me to be in. Also, Master Hitoshi will not approve if I shirk-hieek!"

"Shirk-mirk!" Roars his brother in laughter, wrapping one arm around Ietaru's neck and fiercely rubbing a fist on his hair, provoking the aforementioned cries of pain. "You're always stuck to your dingy little shrine! You need to come out and unwind!"

"I-I don't think I'm ready for this. It's so sudden…" complains an adolescent Kejōrō in a full-cover pink kimono, the hair spilling down her chest arcing up to meet each other, their movements in tandem with the nervous twiddling of her fingers. Her shoulders are reassuringly weighed with the hands of her sisters robed in a colourful array of provocative kimonos, the multitudes of their hairs entwining and stroking onto hers; a comforting sensation among their ilk.

"Don't be shy, Megumi! It may be your first Hyakki-Yakko, but let your older sisters show you how we'll have fun like no other! It'll be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, trust me!"

A woman stands on a tree branch, garbed in the black robes of a Kabuki stagehand. She stares into the crowd with her spyglass, spotting various spider legs jerking up and down in excitement. The sigh of exasperation is the only emotion that seeps through her face-shroud, collapsing the spyglass and slipping it back in her robes. She slaps the trunk and rappels straight down from a silken line emerging from her palm, smoothly landing into a respectful kneel.

"Great Mother, The juveniles and the Unbound are readying themselves to attend the Night Parade. Shall I recall them?"

Comes the reply in a smoothly-serene voice, "You worry too much, sweet daughter among many. Not all of us are content to spin webs and wait for the right one to blunder in. Let these young ones be proactive, and use this opportunity to roam human streets together."

The attendee nods in her kneel. "I understand. Regardless, we must get you back to the manor with haste! You are not meant to be seen outside of it. We should be vouching on your behalf by the side of the angry Kitsune priest, the Nurarihyon must unlock the Dusk Gate-"

"Ssh. I sense something." A snow-sparkling sleeve rises into the moonlight, sliding down to reveal the supple hand of young maiden that belied her true age. Fingers rise, accompanied by gold-lined spidery legs coursing through the air, strumming the faintest of countless threads now coursing through the woods.

"Curious. Something-no, someone is weaving through the locked gate from within, entering this world…"

TOM takes one last bow before the cheering crowd, turns to regard his prized 'Guest of Honour' - and notices the two rifles levied at him. The Site-089 guards who had dutifully done all as he asked until now were no longer under his spell, attempting to steady their thoughts… and their aim. The crowd gasps in astonished wonder before these upset humans, blissfully ignorant of the lethal nature of the black sticks they point towards the Nurarihyon.

"Who… Who the hell are you?! You're no Grand Director! You're not a part of the Authority! What have you done?!"

"Took you both long enough!" Junichiro berates behind the safety of their firearms. "This is our last chance! Neutralize the old monkey before he initiates a Veilbreaker scenario-"

Before Junichiro could finish, one of the guards vanishes in a dark blur. The ground shudders with a mighty thump. Without regarding anything else Junichiro shakily slips off his glasses, looking at the blood splattered across their lens. Even in his blurred eyesight can he see it - a grotesquely oversized metal club tilted up into the air whilst carving a crater into the grass, lifeless and broken limbs barely showing beneath its towering mass. The direction it came from: The cave mouth.

The remaining guard spins about frantically attempting to ID priority threats, only for a long silken cable to launch out from the dark maw, splattering his torso before being pulling back, sending him screaming into the cave followed by a series of sickening crunches. Several Yōkai amongst the huddling crowd laugh and mutter nervously, knowing fully well what kind of beings are coming out now.

A multitude of dark, throaty and shrill giggles issue from the cave as the other dangerous and murderous Yōkai begin trailing out after the Tengu, from the deeper depths of RPC-257's 'Red Zone'.

"Seawater! Need seawater…! Meat! Blood! In no particular order!" Gasps a knife-carrying fishwoman with bulging eyes and slick skin-scales amidst many others, many of these Umi Nyōbō slithering effortlessly upon their slimy yukatas like so many oiled eels into the forest beyond even as others begin mingling their way into the gathering crowd.

"Hmg! HMNG!" Giant rotund arachnids with the heads of cows roll and lumber clumsily out of the cave, greasy pores hissing small plumes of sickening mustard fumes. Their bodies threatening to erupt as abdomens violently pulsate with toxic buildup, one could take it no longer and blows his bovine maw open, bellowing a violent gust of toxins into the air. "BLLLAAAAAAAAARP! …'scuse me." More than fully aware of the disgust and disdain levied upon them all, these Ushi-Oni sheepishly lumber-skitter their way out into the woods. Junichiro could not help but observe the grass of their passage rapidly wilting and yellowing.

Next to come out were the brutes instinctively hiding within the cozy dark of the cave's maw, now comfortable enough to proceed into the open air; thick barrel-chested giants sporting an array of horns and vivid skin hues of oranges, reds and blues: Oni. Many laughed and bellowed as they fann out across the site while smashing their way through the outpost fencing, but a sizeable chunk remains.

"Boss!" One shouted amidst the sounds of tearing metal, "Look what we found!" It was the limo driver held by the collar in one meaty grip, the torn-off roof of his car in the other.

"Hey hey wait no, I'm just a driver, please put me down NO NO-" Thrown into the air like a ball, his shriek was as brief as the explosion of his body against the mighty swing of a tree log crudely sculpted into the union of a baseball bat and battering ram.

"Har har! Dumb human warriors splatter nice and loud like always!" The thrower of the bloodied iron club grips it with one hand, effortlessly hoisting it onto his shoulders.

"DID SOMEBODY SAY… WARRIORS?" Thunders an ominous rumble from the cave, as one, then two, then five gigantic hands seize about its rim, drawing forth a monstrosity of a spider-limbed giant. It was none other than the sole evacuee of the Tsuchigumos: Jirumo himself, the half-consumed remains of the guard squelched in the bloody grip of the last remaining hand. He raises two left eyebrows and carefully sniffs the carcass.

"…This is what passes for a warrior now?" He gives it a quick tearing, spitting out the remains of a vest. "Pfah! This stiff black cloth gets in the way! Is it supposed to be armour???"

"Murderers!" Hitoshi berates, his shrine-robed disciples rushing up to his back. The orange Oni gang-leader wielding the iron club, Koma, sneers.

Jirumo raises his many hands in defense, flapping the part-corpse in his grip. "What? Me? It was either you lot or him who had to go! You're welcome for us saving your little weakling hides, by the way."

Koma concurs: "Who does the goody-two-geta fox think it is, scolding us? Koma squash you next and make hat from your tails, how about that?"

Hitoshi hisses, his stance unchanging even as several of his disciples begin combat stances. "You'll turn to cinders before you lay a hand on me, brute."

"You want to test that-"

"ENOUGH!" All parties jump before TOM's megaphone-amplified shout; With their attentions captured he lowers it, letting his natural volume do the work. "Get a grip on yourselves! A Hyakki-Yakko is a special time of truce between all Yokai! Good or bad, we celebrate ourselves for what we are, alongside the enriched livelihoods of the humans only we can bring-"

Hitoshi would hve none of it. "Three of said humans just died needless deaths and you still insist on throwing your party?! To shame and Jigoku with your Hyakki-Yakko, Nurarihyon! We are leaving for the Nightlands, immediately! Unlock the Dusk Gate!"

"Oh, put a sock in it, high-priest!" Jeers a Yako-Kitsune amidst the crowd. "Those humans were likely going to harm us in their agitation! I don't agree with what happened to them but the Tsuchigumo was right, it was us or them!"

"YEAH!" Jeer the crowd in unison, the desire to celebrate their release overcoming their worries.

"HAHA!" Jirumo throws his head back and bellows out loud, heartily drumming his chiseled abdomen with so many hands. "Such drama! This is why my kind settles disputes by combat: Simple and straight to the point!"

"Tch!" Hitoshi looks about for fellow agreers, only finding the quiet glances of the Zenko congregation behind him as his sole moral support. He spots a particularly-peculiar Kitsune waddling up- "Ah! Hakishi! Back me up-"

"Sorry. Not now." The Wily Old Fox waddles past a flabbergasted Hitoshi. "…You've got to understand, Hitoshi; we Yako may be hopping on this wagon for a fun time, but we've also got to supervise and make sure things don't get too out of hand. It's not going to be easy either, now that the Ōkami are gone."

RPC-316 chortles in glee. "Thank you for coming around to my side, Old Fox!" His eyes bulge ecstatically as the Oni bear his throne, retrieved at the same time they had left the cave.

"YOO-SHA!" TOM cries and leaps off the table in triumph, punching the air with his overly-long arm and landing in his chair. Junichiro does not fare as well, simply grabbed by his upper arms by thick burly Oni hands and held up in the air as some sort of trophy to be paraded about.

But before the party could well and truly begin, the ground suddenly quakes. Then it shakes, harder.

While everyone else steadies themselves wondering if it were an earthquake, Junichiro knew better. He clenches his jaws and motions for the megaphone from TOM who hands it over:

"You'd better enjoy what precious few seconds are left of your FINAL party, you idiots. Did you think the cave ended at holding Oni and Tsuchigumo? Your so-called 'Supreme Leader' has unsealed the entire bloody thing, and the WORST monsters at the back, in the place we called the 'BLACK ZONE', are finally waking up!"

As if in agreement a horrible chorus of screams blasts out of the cave at ear-bursting volumes. The earth trembles harder, threatening to split apart as the first wave of Black Zone entities, the eight-headed hydras known as Yamata-No-Orochis begin raising their many heads to split the cave asunder and ascend to freedom.

"Oh no! I'm such a fool! What have I done?!" RPC-316 seizes his elongated head in his hands.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no-" He suddenly thrusts into his yukata, pulling out a golden-knotted stick.

"Oh yes." TOM smiles a distinctively 'gotcha' smile towards Junichiro, and snaps the stick. A mote of golden sunlight escapes the knot, speeding straight into the cave entrance. A powerful gong sounds, drowning out the roars and seemingly pulling their cacophony back into the cave.

The seal is restored to life as it shakily rises and wobbles back into position, its darkness and blue-tinged air coming back into existence. Swept away are the wounded and maimed Tengu halfway towards escape, back into their chamber. Halted is the battle-lust of the Tsuchigumos, their communal brawl frozen in time. Calmed are the Orochis, their many heads slowly descending back into timeless slumber.

"I might have forgotten about this little bit of the ritual in my excitement to lead a Night Parade! Or, perhaps, I was waiting for this moment just to show you up? Either way, thanks for the announcement!" TOM raises the megaphone, yelling into the excited crowd. "I want to hold a party! Do I want to destroy Japan in the process, as this old human claimed?"

"NOOOO!"

"That's right! And now that only the meanest of meanies are trapped in the cave, we're all free to party the night away-"

"WAIT JUST A MOMENT!" Roars a voice louder than the megaphone. The crowd parts as Jirumo stomps his way to TOM, slowly but surely, seating himself down cross-legged for a face-to-face. "…Repeat that to me one more time: All is trapped within the cave, once more?"

"Yes!"

"Hrm…" Jirumo looks away in thought, sealing his lips and scratching his chin. "Sealed up and frozen, you say…?" He shrugs, an 'oh well' ode to the foolishness of his kin. "More humans for me to fight and eat! HAHA!"

"Would you not like to join our party, great spider?"

"Party…?" Jirumo rises to his feet, thrusting all six arms out in a power pose. "I am Jirumo: Devourer of Legends! The only parties I partake in are those celebrating the might, and taste, of the finest warriors! HA HA!" And thus does the only Tsuchigumo to exit the cave stomp off and leave the outpost, effortlessly plowing through fencing and foilage alike and leaving a path of tilted trees smashed aside in his passage.

Junichiro's elderly heart thunders away in his chest as he attempts to process the enormity of the threat he just observed. Gamma. Red-Purple.

Jirumo's declining being no skin off his nose, TOM readjusts his robes and merrily raises the megaphone once more.

"Now, everyone! With all that out of the way, let's get this party started!" The crowd cheers, a diverse assortment of Japan's unusual and supernatural; From the big violent Oni to little cheerful Tanuki, the gorgeous Kejōrō to the mishappen Umi Nyōbō, there was a little of everything in this crowd, more than enough to dominate the attentions of Japan's nightgoers.

"Hyak-ki Yak-ko! Hyak-ki Yak-"

"DON'T DO IT!"

"What now…?" TOM rubs his eyebrows in exasperation.

Hakishi blinks in bewilderment, recognizing the pitch of that scream. "Mishio? Mishio! There you are! But what's this…?"

"Who's this fox?" The crowd murmurs in regards to the disheveled mess running frantically towards them, from the direction of the sealed Dusk Gate.

"Aniki," Ietaru shakes Yuudai's shoulder, "I think she's one of yours? A Yako, that is-"

TOM scowls. "Tch! Who knew I was being followed? But the gate was locked, how did that rat get through?"

Delirious from a near-solid hour of non-stop running within the Nightlands that jaunted her for hundreds of miles to this location in Japan, Mishio finally trips, hits the grass hard, and skids a meter. Her burning chest heaves up and down for what must have been an eternity before she slowly pushes down on the ground, raising her disheveled prescence before the crowd. Eyes shaking with near-delirium, she unloads the memories of her recent trauma towards the crowd.

"TWO! TWO HUNDRED YEARS! TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF WARRING, FIGHTING AND KILLING EACH OTHER IN 'WORLD WARS'! THE HUMANS HAVE ONLY JUST CALMED DOWN, DON'T ENTER THEIR LANDS! DON'T PROVOKE THEM! THE HUMANS, THEY'LL SLAUGHTER YOU ALL!"

"What is she talking about? Humans are more dangerous than before?"
"Well, they have tried repelling a Hyakki-Yakko once or twice in the past with their Samurai."
"But those never did turn out well for them, did it? Hah!"

"These humans are not like the Samurai of before! You'll all-you'll all be killed! Two hundred years has passed since we were all in that cave…" Mishio pauses to pant frantically, "-Humanity has changed far beyond what you remember them to be! There are-"

"SILENCE!"

Catching his breath, TOM dials his megaphone back down. "Who do you think you are, you stray dog? After everything I've planned and performed to release the rest of the Yōkai while you have done nothing but savour your freedom, squat in your treehole and play games with these idiotic humans, you would deny us our festive victory over them? Who do you think we are, that we should, SLINK, into the night and hide away just like you???" The crowd jeers and boos in agreement, various salvaged trash and dirt flung Mishio's way.

Mishio shields herself. "No! …There are new humans, hidden defenders who stalk the dark slaughtering one another without a qualm! Like the… These… Blue Butchers! They'll cut down all of you here without any hesitance or remorse, even the Onis like so much wheat-"

"WHAT WAS THAT?" A blue Oni runs out the crowd. "Insult our might, will you?!" He barrels towards Mishio, outstretched palm wide as a sheet of paper ready to slap her to oblivion. Exhausted and her body strained to its limits, Mishio could not move out of the way in time-but she did not need to.

A massive conflagration erupts before the Oni, highlighting his azure features and forcing him to halt. The fire dissipates and Mishio is no longer there, swept off to safety in her granduncle's arms.

Hitoshi maintains his one-hand gesture, the other behind his back. He speaks with voice dangerously cold. "Choose your following actions carefully, Oni. I will not brook no further violence, especially towards my kin."

"Ubo! Come back! Not worth it." Heeding his boss' call, the blue Oni spits to the side and stomps back to Koma's side. TOM looks left and right frantically, watching his would-be Parade starting to fragment with as more cracks grow at the seams. Quite a few Kitsune, in particular, seem displeased by the near violence towards one of their own.

Hakishi lowers Mishio back onto the grass, stroking her forehead. He beseeches, as tenderly and yet as firmly as possible. "Deep breaths, Mishio, deep breaths… Now for what you said: You've been out for a while now, haven't you? You've witnessed what you talked about, haven't you? What you are saying, it is nothing but the truth?" Mishio nodded tersely under hoarse gasps. Hakishi observes the terror in her tear-filled eyes that only a direct experiencing could inflict, offers a comforting smile, and nods. He gets up, beaming with a massive grin towards the crowd as he holds his hands out.

"Everyone! My niece… Is one heck of a prankster! She's a great trickster, an unparalleled liar! She does the Yako name proud! But…" Hakishi's features darken, his proudly-jovial tone turning grim.

"…I know more than anyone when she's telling the truth, and right now? She is deadly serious. You may doubt her, but I, Wily Old Fox Hakishi-no-Sae, do not. So all of you, and especially you lot!" He points towards the startled young Yako foxes within the crowd, "You'd do well to heed this warning. Two hundred years may not seem that long when we're all having the time of our lives, but in the world of the short-lived humans it means far too much."

TOM watches in panic as several Kitsune in his congregation begin walking out. "Old Fox! You can't be for real, think of all the past times we've ran Hyakki-Yakkos together-" Hakishi does not let him finish.

"That reminds me, Old Man! To buy time in order to guarantee your escape, you tripped my niece, didn't you?"

TOM looks about with nervous laughs as some looks from several Kitsune turn downright venomous. "What difference does it make, Hakishi?! What difference did she make escaping into the world just to accomplish absolutely nothing? I'm the one who unsealed the cave! You're out now anyway even though you let yourself get caught to let her get out! What difference does it make, all's well that ends well, right?! Had she failed to escape she'd merely be another participant in this crowd-"

It is Hitoshi's turn to cut into him. "THANK YOU, kin of Hakishi, for speaking some sense! Some time should be given to studying the changes in the world before attempting something as brazen as a Night Parade."

Reactions sweep through the crowd as arguments break out:

+ "Aniki, BOTH the Old Fox and the Flame Tender have spoken against it!"

+ "P-please, I think I'd like to sit this out-"

+ "I'm starting to think this is a bad idea."

+ While the rest of the //Jorōgumo// speak in hushed tones of the commotion at hand...

"Well then," Huffs Hitoshi whilst crossing his arms before the sight of the remaining crowd, "Just understand that you may easily be walking to your deaths."

"Go choke on your seven tails you stupid old fox!" Shouts a voice among the paraders; one of Hitoshi's attendants takes offense.

"Do not disrespect the High Master-!" He is halted by Hitoshi's raised hand.

"Your defense of my name is appreciated, but what does that make me if I require protection from mean words?" Hitoshi turns to address his Yako counterpart. "Hakishi! Leave it. They've chosen for themselves what they believe in, as we all should. Let us hope it does not come to regret."

""Hiiiiieeekk!" TOM paws his bald head, trying to grasp at long-gone hair. Looking about as his remaining crowd murmurs in trepidation and dissatisfaction as a few others begin abandoning the congregation he spots someone-and his worries dissipate immediately, eyes bulging out in equal parts lechery and amazement at the approaching sight. He whistles as loudly and lustfully as possible into the megaphone, uncaring of any bewilderment caused.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Queen-and-Mother of the Spider-Brides!" All heads turn at the mention of that title, provoking a chorus of gasps and excited murmurs (or vulgar noises among others, especially the Oni).

The black-veiled handmaiden by the Silver-Stringed Mother's side could not be any more at her wit's end. Even with face shrouded she holds her shamed face in her hands. "Great Mother…! You should not be showing yourself before the unworthy sight of all these-these not-of-our-kind!"

"In all my old bones, I never thought I'd ever see your dee-licious beauty for a second time, let alone stepping outside your manor!"

Shame mixes with anger within the handmaiden as she recalls; the Nurarihyon managing to sneak through one of many hidden entrances while also eluding the countless traps, sentries and tunnels of the inescapable Stitched Manor remain a sore point of its spidery defenders' memory.

"Since you've broken protocol and come out in the open, why not debut those voluptuous assets of yours to the wider world by joining our parade? Your highness' curvaceousness will be the show-stopping centerpiece, guarant-EEK?!" The Nurarihyon shrinks back in his chair at the array of bladed spider legs now within milimeters of tearing his face off, the Great Mother's attendant among several others having swiftly leapt and coursed their way through to him past his Oni defenders.

Junichiro takes note of the inhuman speed it took for these combat-oriented spider-women to leap across the crowds, observing how the tabi delicately planted on his right shoulder barely presses into him. He looks further up, noting the strands pulling away on his captor-Oni's face suspending the assailant mid-air in leaning towards TOM.

The attendant lifts her veil, exposing a red brow and a glare of purest fury. "Insult our mother one more time and I will castrate you on the spot, you filthy little-"

"Daughters!" All those on the verge of eviscerating TOM freeze. "Do not hoot, nor play with monkeys. It is undignified. Unbecoming. And, most of all, unhygenic."

"Apologies, Great Mother…" The handmaidens swiftly detach from the snarling Onis and swiftly work their way back to the Jorōgumo queen. Her highness remains silent for a moment, gaze fixed towards the nervous gaggle of young spider-girls in the distance. She turns to address the suspended Junichiro, and it was by her gaze alone that he felt his chest gradually compressed of air.

"Elderly human gentleman. I beseech thee to inform me and my daughters who yet huddle within this congregation: What is the average lifespan of a human male today?"

Junichiro remembered to breathe. "On average majority, seventy to eighty years."

"And confirm to us that the brown fox's story is true: two hundred of said years have passed since we were all moved into this cave?"

"Correct." The elderly researcher watched as the Queen turned her face away, her emotions inscrutable and lips unreadable. Through the noise of the crowd, he barely makes out a whisper:

"…No survivors…"

The Queen snaps back to the nervous young ones in the crowd. "Did all of you hear that?"

No response. But it is obvious that with attentions undivided, they did. "I make myself clear; all of mine are forbidden from participating in this Night Parade. We have more important affairs to prioritize. The return to the manor takes precedence."

With chorusing mumbles of "Yes, great mother…", a herd of younger spider-girls begin shuffling out with heads bowed.

The handmaiden leans as respectfully close to the queen's side, whispering in her ear: "Dear Mother, I see three who refuse to obey. Shall I forcibly extract them?"

The queen's dark aquamarine eyes shift to note three jittery sets of spider legs sneaking off in the distance. "No. Let them leave. A different fate awaits those sisters. I sense they'll serve a greater purpose, elsewhere."

The handmaiden silently nods, stepping back behind her leader with veiled head bowed.

Emboldened by the exodus of the spider-ladies and a number of Yako kin, Hitoshi calls out once more. "Nurarihyon! There is no shame in admitting your assemblage was rash! It doesn't have to be today. Let everyone acclimatize to the new world, the changes in humanity, before seeing if it is safe to go ahead!"

Now being held by the waist (having complained enough times to his captor of sore upper arms), Junichiro crosses his arms and smugly stares down at the figure slumped in the palanquin. He pauses himself from making insulting remarks, hearing dark mutters coming from TOM:

"Reject my niceties, will you? Desert me, will you? Insult me, will you? I'll show all you ungrateful ingrates, heheh, heh, heh, hehehehehehe-!"

TOM whips up his megaphone once more:

"Now, everyone! We've waited long enough! Let's not let a few spoilsports ruin the mood and fun! The human world, its glorious sights and sounds that now play during the night, awaits! The festival of our return, the first Night Parade in two centuries, our grandest celebration yet before the Emperor himself begins… NOW!"

Drained of numbers yet no less sizeable whilst retaining the most enthusiastic of attendees, the mob bursts into cheer.

"HYAK-KI! YAK-KO! HYAK-KI! YAK-KO! HYAK-KI! YAK-KO! HYAK-KI! YAK-KO!"

The Oni roar and stomp their feat, pummeling their drum-bellies fiercely. The Tanuki who remain shift into kites and banners waving their exposed limbs about, held up by their ilk as they drift amidst human heads that bob about on disembodied wispy trails or upon elongated necks. Ghostly flames burst into life and cast a spectrum of colourful pale shades across the chorusing mob, worries giving way to excited cheer. TOM raises his cane, coaxing a fireball to drift into its hollow socket. He holds the light above to cheers, thrusting the staff forth to lead and conduct his parade.

Hitoshi huffs and rests his hands on his hips. "If it's any consolation, he's going to have to unlock the damn gate now."

Hakishi tilts his head with a smirk. "Unless he takes the parade out of here by foot to the nearest town?"

Hitoshi rolls his eyes exasperatedly. "Don't jinx it."

Yet as Junichiro is lifted past the two he yells out to them: "He's planning to betray you! Stop him!"

"Wait a moment!" Hakishi yells in futility, "What do you mean? What is he-"

But it was far too late for the foxes to take action as magical winds guide the mob to march faster than they could keep up. The parade surges through the car-shattered fencing, straight into the gate hidden in the woods.

Hitoshi scowls. "What now?! Must we follow right after the parade and get to the bottom of this?"

His question is answered with a violent flash of light as the last of the parade fully descends down the misty glade, then nothing. The lonely chirp of a cricket is all that breaks the night silence.

Everybody gazes into the woods for a moment. Hitoshi runs a few steps toward the opening and recoils before the traces of residual magical backlash in the air.

"No…! That little wretch!" He falls to his knees, hat knocked off as he holds himself in disbelief, several aides rushing to his side.

Hakishi peers into the hole. "What happened, Hitoshi?"

The Jorogumo queen raises a hand to quieten the sizeable crowd of daughters behind her. "I will answer on behalf of the Zenko: The Dusk Gate has been sabotaged, an act of petty spite. Until we can find a new one, let alone restore this one to working condition… We are stranded here, in the daylands."

Hakishi scratches away, his current worries of the implications temporarily replaced with another. "That's very bad and all, but I've got to ask: Has anyone seen where my niece went?"

Part 3: Blood-Soaked Dawn

What are the damages?

Preliminary estimates from Outpost-089's safety bunker are as followed, based on surveillance footage of Outpost grounds:
-The entirety of the Green and Yellow Zones (99.9~100%) have escaped.
-Well over half of the Red Zone (~70%) has escaped.
-The Black Zone populace briefly reawakened and attempted escape but is fully recontained.

Casualties?

Two ASF personnel from Site-089 and one civilian driver. All Outpost personnel safely evacuated to the safety bunker. Site-089's Senior Research Director continues to be held hostage by the anomalous assembly.

Can any Japan-based site be reached?

Self-imposed communications blackout. We can't scramble local teams because this 316-chuckleFUCK-excuse me-locked them all down.

Civilian communications are reporting anomalous disruptions from 257's congregation. We have multiple leads on their intents: Outpost earwitnesses, followed by civilian reports and social media details a trend of sightings approximating a progressing straight line: They are heading to Kyoto, intending to harass the Emperor.

Is the royalty at any actual risk?

The anomalous congregation is operating on outdated information; The Royal family moved to Tokyo in late 1868 decades after 257 was created, but Kyoto palace remains as a landmark… I confirm, royals are safe and under heavy guard at the Tokyo Imperial palace.

██, any luck getting a response team?

Local assets remain disrupted and non-responsive. Emergency MSTs ready to scramble from Korea. Busan to Kyoto ETA less than 30 minutes on highest-priority extralegal flight.

Hello all, just got back from a call with the Japanese Government! They are demanding answers on how we let things get this bad, do I say anything?

That remains classified until we resolve this problem and come up with a protocol to prevent repeats. Continue.

Let me just stress this out: They are PISSED. The Japan General Mystery Academic Committee, or JGMAC, is advising to declare everything short of a full public emergency. A nationwide SMS has been broadcasted for everyone to move indoors immediately, but as the nature of the emergency cannot be stated its effectiveness has been reduced. Both the government and JGMAC have also forwarded crisis calls to other organizations. They've lost faith in our capabilities as of this moment and for good reason as ██ can attest. Hangon, I just got a ping; One has just answered and is already assembling forces in Kyoto. That's quick.

Who is it? GoI? AoI? Private PMC?

One moment, tapping in… Oh, oh fuck no. Worse.

SYSTEM: ██ has uploaded file 'Response Transcript.mp3'.

Oh, hell. Those yoo-kays don't need to be stopped. They need to be rescued. Reselecting MSTs…

Hyakk-i Yakk-o! Hyakk-i Yakk-o!
To the human world we go!
Hyakk-i Yakk-o! Hyakk-i Yakk-o!
Parade through lanterns' glow!

Saiki, Ōita

A young girl looks out the open window of her riverside house, overlooking the Banjo river weaving alongside her city home and pouring out into the sea. A misty fog crawls across the embankment, the reassuring glow of civilization barely shining through. Yet, coming from the darker end away from the city, she could barely make out the sounds of chanting, strange lights bobbing in the distance…

"Hya-kki, yak-ko… Hya-kki, yak-ko… Hya-kki, yak-ko… Hya-kki, yak-ko…"

"Obāchan, what's going on? Is there a festival I wasn't told of?" The girl briefly leans back from the window and looks at the adjacent wall calendar. "…Obāchan?"

She turns about to see her grandmother, who had already abandoned dinner and dragged her chair into the adjacent room to prop against the doorknob.

"Hikari! Close the window, and the curtains, and lock it! Get away from the window! Hurry!"

Hikari takes what she felt would be another quick glance, her pupils shrinking at the sight of the rapidly-growing crowd as details begin to reveal themselves. The strobing pulses of red, blue, green balls of light in the distance, bobbing up and down as if in dance, casting their unnatural hues upon the silhouettes of a nonhuman crowd whose chanting grows ever louder:

"Hya-kki, yak-ko… Hya-kki, yak-ko… Hya-kki, yak-ko… Hya-kki, yak-ko…"

"HIKARI!"

Paralyzed by an instinctive fear, yet mesmerized by the unnatural allure, the girl is broken out of her spell by her grandmother's shriek. She quickly slams the window shut, grabs the curtains and-

BAM!

Hikari shrieks and stumbles back to the floor as an object suddenly strikes the window. Illuminated by the dining room's light, she sees the head of an old-fashioned umbrella leaning against the glass.

FWOOMP goes the umbrella, unfurling itself against the window as if gripped by invisible hands, blocking out the sights behind it. Paralyzed by the sight, Hikari watches as two black beady lines draw themselves horizontally upon the cloth. The upper, shorter one splits apart immediately, revealing a giant coconut-eye swiveling down to stare at the breathless girl. The lower, longer line takes its delightful time to separate, revealing a giant toothless smile, stretching from one end of the window to the other.

"Aah-aah…" The girl barely remembers to crawl back from the unnatural creature making eye contact with her.

Out shoots from the giant smile a big meaty tongue long as an arm, slamming into the glass with a big, wet THUD.

"LUBUBUBULUH-LUBULULULULUH! LILILILLLILILIIH! BRRLLLLLLL-" Goes the gleeful 'umbrella' before the two shrieking humans, slathering the window in turpid drool, its red cloth barely disguising the silhouette of the unnatural procession marching behind it…

Hyakk-i Yakk-o! Hyakk-i Yakk-o!
We'll give the humans a fright!
Hyakk-i Yakk-o! Hyakk-i Yakk-o!
We compare to no other sight!

Ōtoyo, Kōchi

A jogger frantically sprints down a road barely lit by starlight, each lamp post passed flickering away into lightlessness. One frantic footfall after another slams down on a foggy mist blanketing the road that did not exist moments earlier, running from a slowly-marching parade of inhuman things that continues creeping ever closer.

An object launches from within the crowd faster than a runaway train, past the frightened human and arcing back towards him. The face of a tittering courtesan, suspended by an impossibly long neck: A Rokurokubi.

"Oh my, Mister Human! aren't you bold to be running out in the night all alone~?"

"Bold and naive, to think he can outrun us!" Jeers one of several disembodied human heads who descend atop trails of mists: Nukekubi.

"AAH! Oh gods, oh gods-" The human stumbles beneath their gaze and successfully pushes himself back up, continuing to run before the mob at his heels.

"COME HERE!"

The human runner is winded, a massive hand seizing and crushing him in by the waist. He screams, failing at prying open the branch-thick fingers wrapped about him. He is quickly set upon by a prancing cavalcade of monsters, mishappen humanoids and other tittering things of the night, bobbing and dancing about him beneath the strobe of spirit-flames.

"The little mouse struggles yet in the big cat's paw!" Yowls a 'cat' atop the horn-headed brute's shoulder.

"Look at him!" Giggles several woman-like fiends. "So naked with but a single layer of rags! Simply scandalous!"

"A lot of nerve to run around alone at our time!" Shouts a man, his face blank of all features and hair save a single mouth threatening to split his skull in half. "Don't you know the night belongs to us?!"

"SILENCE!" Yells an elderly man's voice through a megaphone. "…Bring him, to me."

The captor snorts and grins, presenting the jogger before an old man bound to a wooden throne borne by fellow brutes. The shriveled humanoid strokes his wrinkly chin. "Tell me, human… Whom do you see before you?"

"A… A tiny old man… With a big head?"

Nodding sagely, TOM raises his megaphone. "What else can you tell???"

"Are you-are you the leader of this group?!"

TOM titters with satisfied mirth and turns to another captive human, draped in a lab coat. "Do you see, Dr. Grouch? Under my parade: My true identity, finally beheld by your fellow ilk! I'd let you take notes as is your job, but it appears that your hands are otherwise occupied! Heheheeeeee!"

Senior Researcher Junichiro struggles, fearless in countenance. "You stinking animals! You have me already, let him go!"

"No! Rules are rules!" TOM whips his megaphone back up. "This human has stumbled in the way of our grand procession! The audacity! Does somebody need to be taught a lesson?!"

"YES!" Chants the crowd in unison. The jogger is seized and brought before a motley horde of matted-hair ogres grinning ear to ear with bone-crushing fangs. One bellows his stinking breath enthusiastically in the jogger's face, dirty hair barely concealing eyes the size of oranges:

"Say the words, human!"

"The-the words?"

"SAY THEM, NOW!"

Junichiro shouts over the crowd towards the jogger: "What that idiot means is, there's a phrase that will get this mob to release you without harm! It won't work for me but it should for you! It goes as follows: KATASHIHAYAHG-!"

"NO HELPING!" Yells the Oni holding Junichiro, having stuffed an ungainly-huge finger in the old man's mouth.

With so many gleeful eyes and wide eerie grins hovering ever closer to him, the jogger recites a phrase he read about from long ago:

"KA-TA-SHI-HA-YA…"

The first line prompts derisive snorts. "That shouldn't even count!"

"E-KA-SE-NI-KU-RI-NI…"

"Yes, yes…"
"Oh, we're getting warmer!"
"You think he's gonna make it through?"

"TA-ME-RU-SA-aaa…?"

"He's forgettiiiiiiiiiiiing!"
"Not good enough! SAY IT AGAIN!"

"T-tame-tame-ru…"

The encircling horde prances and dances in cheer. "He's lost his nerve! We win! We win!!!"

"Hahahahahaha! Enough with the cruel games, put the poor thing out of his misery already!"

A slimy scaly woman slithers in, enthusiastically sharpening her knife. "Ohhh, oh! Are we going to kill him? Are we going to eat him? Let me have a calf!"

"No killing!" The darker Yōkai turn about in irritation. It is Yuudai, backed by the few other Yako foxes remaining with the procession. "You've had your fun!"

An Oni snorts loudly, and Yuudai relaxes his confrontational posture.

"That is to say… It would reflect poorly on us to be harming humans soon after our return?"

A moment of silence, then the jogger is flung at the fox. "Typical fun-ruiners…!"

Yuudai buckles for a brief moment, righting the jogger. "Apologies for our rowdiness, I hope this-oh, he's fainted."

He drags the jogger to the side of the road, composure finally giving way into slight shivers from being stared down by so many dangerous Yōkai at once. Clenching a fist, he utters under his breath:

"Old Fox! Damn you, pulling out like a coward and taking the others with you! This isn't going to get any easier…" With no choice but to go on, Yuudai runs after the parade and leaps back onto the mist platform…

From sun we flee, by moon we meet,
The night's all ours to feast!
To march, to sing, to laugh and to eat,
We'll dance like joyous beasts!

Awaji, Hyōgo

The cashier huddles beneath his table, chewing frantically on his storecap, heart beating faster than a running rabbit. The sounds of pandemonium within from his store reach him all too well; shelves being toppled, glass being smashed, packages being ripped open. But worse yet were the sounds from the looters; inhumane and guttural giggles, or those that sounded almost human, but not quite.

"You can see the alcohol through these bottles now!" What came next sounded like a mix of a man's laughter and a beast's roar, followed by the crunch of glass against molars the size of children's fists. "Delicious! MORE!"

What bewilders the young man next is the all-too-human tittering of… Girls?

The cashier looks up from his hat-chewing to notice a wave of hair trailing down the countertop, hanging before him like a forest of thin vines. His pupils shrink as the hair itself writhes and twists of their own accord, like so many worms looking for something to latch onto.

"Wasn't there a cute-looking boy about here…? Oh well. Oh look, what are these things? Help me out with this!" The mat of hair lifts up and curls about the glass panel in conjunction with others, ripping it off its flimsy hinges. The cashier does all he can not to scream as the panel is dropped to the floor before him, instantly webbing over with cracks. "Whoops!"

He dares himself to lean his head a little forwards, watching swarms of woven hair swiping and looting the cigarette shelf empty. He can hear the plastic wrappers being pulled apart, and a quick sniff-

"Tobacco! Tobacco looks like this now! How convenient, we don't need a kiseru to smoke these! Let's try some!" The laughter of what sounded almost like young ladies quickly dies off as their wooden footsteps leave the store, rejoining the chaos outside.

Trembling fingers grasp the inner edge of the cashier table. The sales clerk finally crawls out beneath his table, and the first thing he sees is an oversized hairy tomato sitting on the floor stuffing its face, piles of emptied mochi boxes scattered about it. It swivels about, a gigantic face with arms and legs plastered to it staring straight back at him, giant maw chewing up the last of the mochi.

"MAM-MAM-MAM-MAM-MAM. APPOSSHA." It casually flings the last shredded mochi box over its shoulders, gives a thumbs up at the diversity of mochi flavours, and satedly waddles out the store.

The cashier dares to take slow steps over the glass, hearing excited childlike-whispers at the back.

"I want the red one…! Help me get up higher!" A little yelp heralds the sound of collapsing toys within their cardboard frames. More cluttering sounds, and the cardboard is torn open.

"The parade's leaving, hurry it up!" It sounded like an old man. The cashier dares himself to peek over a shelf, seeing a bipedal, portly fat raccoon egging his little raccoon-grandchildren.

"But Ojiichan, Ojiichan! Look at these new toys!" One of them grips at a plastic string, revving a motor to shoot a little propeller up in the air to the amazed cheers of its siblings.

"Haha! That's amazing! Come on, now…" He finally succeeds in ushering his grandchildren to clamber all over him, waddling off into the departing mists beyond.

"Ex-excuse me…" Said elderly Tanuki shoots his head back in alarm, staring at the shell-shocked storekeeper. "You need to pay for-for these…"

"Oh! Oh yes, that's right… D-don't worry!" Grandfather Nonoki sheepishly waves back towards the flabbergasted storekeeper, "I'll repay you back after all this… Promise! A-after all this is done and once I figure out how the new currency works…"

The chaos we'll bring, the goods we'll take!
We shall claim all we see as we please!
In this night's parade, we dominate!
Humans! Ready to serve our needs!

Shoji, Osaka

Crowds of curious nightgoers gather. Shopkeepers peer outside their stores. Dogs bark wildly against straining leashes. All humans are reduced to stunned onlookers before the fog-blanketed parade surging past them all.

"Amazing!" Shouts a thick-glasses nerd as he records away. "Is this the latest achievement in hologram CGI?!"

A reporter shares his sentiments, speaking excitedly before her cameraman. "This is Kobayashi Fumiko, live in Shoji! What was supposed to be the weather forecast has been replaced by unexpected developments-we're looking at what appears to be a massive 3d parade!" The camera view shifts from her to the massive crowd of chanting monsters, stomping, slithering, floating and hopping past.

"Oh! What are you humans doing?" Asks a Rokurokubi, launching her head straight towards the camera lens. The footage jerks abruptly from the cameraman's shock, then righting the camera back up to see her neck weave back into the parade.

Having recoiled a bit, Fumiko regains her composure. "Aha! A bit too real, I think…!" She and the cameraman jolt once more, this time from the shriek of crumpling metal and shattering glass. The camera pans over to rows of parked cars and vans trampled flat, pressed over with footprints larger than an elephant's own. "Wait! Is those cars supposed to be crushed? Is that part of the act?"

While thoroughly enjoying this return to Japan, restless undercurrents and mutters echo across the Hyakki Yakko. Namely…

"The humans aren't scared of us!" Yokai heads and eyes swivel left and right before the crowd of mortals standing so obliviously by the sides of their parade, pointing their little hand-slabs so enthusiastically towards them all and flashing their lights away.

"Selfie!" Yells out a teenage girl as she skips about and turns her back to the parade, throwing up a V-sign with her free hand while stretching her phone out before herself and the spectacle. Ka-chak! Goes the phone as she stares enthusiastically into the screen, only then noticing the multitudes of black wavy lines engulfing her pink jacket. She looks down and sees hair slithing all over her body; lots of it.

"Aiie! What is this?" She turns around, seeing several courtesans giggle away as great trails of ropey hair extend from their hair to embrace her. "W-What's wrong with your hair?!" She pulls and forces herself free of their many embraces, falling flat on her face and running off without a care for her bloodied nose, leaving the Kejōrō to laugh before their prank.

Meanwhile, close by the long-haired courtesans, two of the Jorōgumo sisters have ceased their piddling divining acts and are now wide-eyedly taking in the wondrous sights and sounds. The eldest, however, continues to scry away…

"Finally! I've found a great spot for my powers! I can see into the future with the greatest clarity yet! I can see… I can see the summation of our future! The pinnacle, the apex, the very-"

The past-reading youngest sister interrupts her posing with some 'selfie-taking' humans. "Oh, shut up and get to it already!"

"You shut up!" The eldest sister irritatedly turns back to the rug-sized tapestry suspended across her four legs, an incomprehensible pattern to the untrained eye.

"Now, I can see-?!" She freezes.

"You were saying, you third-rate fortune teller?"

"Oh! Oh, oh-oo-o-aaa-" The blood draining from her face now paler than a geisha's, the oldest sister's eyes roll up her sockets.

The middle sister among the trio notices her expression. "…Oldest sister?! Are you okay?"

"Ooooohhhhhh…!" The eldest collapses. Her webbed tapestry falls and clumps upon itself, destroying the woven patterns and with it any chances of being read by anyone else with the skills to do so.

The youngest scoffs. "She fainted! Typical amateur, can't even handle her own power!"

Middle sister waves off further insults. "That's enough, we're not continuing with the parade like this! Help me carry her out…"

Having abandoned all sense of decorum, TOM chugs his tribute of sake straight from the bottle; one of many looted gifts from the onis. Junichiro limply turns to him once more, resigned to countless thoughts of the RPC Authority's humiliation before such a massive veilbreaking failure.

"Well. You've won. Half the planet by now knows your kind exists. Stop this madness already!"

TOM pulls the glass bottle straight from his lips with a loud pucker. "Did you not hear what I said earlier, human? The Emperor himself, or bust! And I mean what I promise in my parades!" Picking up his megaphone, he shouts and thrusts his staff forth: "FORWARDS! The next gate is close-"

"ATTENTION! YOU ARE ALL ORDERED TO STOP!" A different megaphone-assisted voice blasts out, freezing the procession in its tracks. On several metal-framed wheels, a small team of humans uniformed in pointy caps and blue outfits cycle in.

The human with the megaphone speaks once more, nervously taking in the sights before him. "This-this is an unlawful gathering not sanctioned with the city council, and has been accountable for property damage of-of everything in your path! You are all hereby under arrest, ordered to cease any further activity, and… And to wait for transportation to the local police district headquarters for your booking and charges!"

The crowd stands still before these measley critters who would dare stand before them. A chuckle, which leads to a titter, then onwards until a roaring cacophony of laughter breaks out.

The police begin unholstering their guns. "I repeat myself: Comply, or face the maximum extent of the law-"

The megaphone clatters to the floor, amplifying the sounds of striking the tarmac. Its wielder now soars through the air, a bone-shattering kick sending him striking the floor and unconsciously rolling across the ground. The other policemen wildly fire upon the purple-skinned giant now in their midst, only for their bullets to bounce off or barely puncture his skin. He snorts in derision, sweeps an arm, and flings his catch towards the other prey, bowling them all out of commission.

TOM's voice whips up once more, before the jubilant cheers of his parade. "Arrogant! How arrogant of you humans, to assume you can control the uncontrollable! My precious subjects: Let's show these humans what happens when we really have fun in our Night of Nights!"

If earlier was disruptive, now is it that absolute pandemonium breaks out as the parade bursts out in all directions, Yōkai actively forcing their way into shops, surging into open ones and tearing the shutters off those that were barricaded hastily, to the screams of staff and customers.

Koba roars in the triumph of havoc, his burly minions fanning out to squeeze into shops and pillage more tribute in the form of food and booze.

Junichiro thrashes about as he yells at the remaining humans frozen in place and recording everything, his Oni captor irritated at not being able to partake in the looting. "You idiots! All of you! Stop taking pictures! Run away before you get grabbed!"

Yuudai and the other foxes snarl in agreement. "That's right! Get away, before you die!" The bystanders just only get the hint, finally screaming and running off just as the foxes pounce after other straggling humans in a bid to get them to flee.

Onis now squeeze out of trashed stores, more and more bottles and crates of liquor in their arms.

"MORE DRINKS! MORE BOOZE!" Koba bellows, bursting and dropping beercans down his maw and a bottle of brandy onto TOM's eager hands. Crunching away, he spits balls of chewed aluminium shrapnel left and right, shattering windows and lamps to the laughter of his goons.

"New clothes! New shiny clothes!" Decrepit umbrellas, tea kettles, lanterns and other assorted living junk who had hopped into an electronic store now burst out the glass displays in shiny steel bodies. Fans, hot water pots, stainless steel kettles, lamps and other modern electronics hop out one after another, with one even taking the form of a refrigerator.

"W-wait for me!" The fridge cries as its top freezer compartment flaps open and shut with each breath, each hop a noisy bang on the floor.

"No! That's what you get for being an oversized showoff!" The rest laugh away, continuing to hop about in dance.

"Everyone! Sorry to ruin the fun so soon, but, glug-gug-gug… We've got a deadline to meet! It would be rude to meet His Royal Highness just as he is going to bed!"

The parade cheers in agreement at TOM's latest announcement, packing up and reuniting with their spoils… And crossing straight into a busy freeway. Oblivious of the concept of traffic safety, the parade ooh's and aah's at the sight of so many metal boxes screeching to a halt and several smasheing into each other. Horns are pressed and astonished humans exit their vehicles. In particular, the screeching blares and hysterical shrieks irritates the inebriated Koba to no end.

"Too many sounds… Too many humans! TOO MANY MOVING METAL BOXES! HRRAAAH!"

CRASH goes his club as it swings into a car, threatening to split the vehicle in half through sheer force as its driver runs for his life. His fellow ogres are roused by the screams, picking up other cars and flinging them like frisbees to clear the way.

"HAHA! BIG TOYS! Stupid humans go screaming inside!"

Countless other drivers begin reversing their cars in terror uncaring of smashing into those behind them, or outright abandoning them and running for their lives. Kubo roars in laughter at the sight of scattering ants. "This will teach you all: The night belongs to us! Ain't that right, king?"

Said 'king' couldn't agree more; TOM seizes over, flap-clapping away in absolute delight. "Hohohohoho! Hohohohohohoho! Such funny sounds the humans make when they are not worshipping my every other step!"**

"Where are the rest of the police?!" Junichiro looks about in bewilderment, seeing a news helicopter in the distance. "There should be-there should be riot police here by this point, unless… Unless…" A familiar standard operating procedure that hasn't changed at all over the decades.

Prior to engagement, all local law enforcement are to be ordered to withdraw and focus on evacuating civilians instead, allowing response teams to engage with full, unmitigated retaliation-

If the Group of Interest he thinks is the very same one behind the police's absence, AND has deduced by now that the next stop is Kyoto-

"RPC-316! Nurarihyon! Old man or whatever else you call yourself, this is your final warning to stop the parade! A bloodbath is waiting for all of you-"

With the snap of a finger, Junichiro finds himself gagged from any further speech.

"Zip! Not having anymore of these disruptions! Three stupid foxes and one overrated spider-whore being bad enough as it is…" Grabbing his megaphone once more he triumphantly thrusts his cane forwards, its hollow-framed pommel glowing brightly with inner ghost-flame:

"Onwards, my parade! Onwards, to KYOTO!"

Pray and beg, cry and wail,
You'll lament to no avail!
We'll whoop and cheer, the wolves are done,
Now nobody shall spoil our fun!

Tadasu-no-Mori forest, Kyoto

The chirps of crickets and sounds of distant traffic give way to rumblings. A foggy blanket spews out of thin air within the trees, heralding the entrance of the supernatural mob into this little forest in the middle of a big city. Gorged with food and plunder, trinkets and goods, wrath and dominance, the mood is festive and charged.

"Mighty, the scared little fox said! The humans are mighty!" The Onis roar in laughter, loudly slapping their purple-hued comrade on the shoulders.

Surging out between the trees and across the tiled pathways, the parade quickly finds themselves back onto human streets. Thronged with liquor bottles within his seat, a plastic toy crown put on his head, RPC-316 points downwards the street, the light in his cane shining towards their ultimate destination: Kyoto Imperial Palace.

The light of the streetlamps drown in darkly-pale mists as the crowd marches on; stores are smashed to a lesser extent, their goods being plundered sparingly in favour of reaching the palace.

"Look, Megumi!" A Kejōrō sister hurries out of a confectionary store, chocolate boxes and bars in hand. "New human sweets! These are called 'cho-co-lates'! They taste heavenly! Have some!"

Megumi unwraps a shiny magenta wrapper to reveal a brown droplet, giving it a try. Her hair jerks in response to the rich sweetness melting across her tongue. "Oh?! Delicious…!"

A sapphire-robed sister strokes her hair in wonder. "It says these come from an outside land named 'Belgium'! We must simply go there one day!" Megumi nods enthusiastically.

"We told you this trip would be worth it!"

Megumi laughs with her mouth full, having jammed in a square filled with a red fruity jam…

Unusual Horde sighted at Point Delta 5-5-9. Team Bravo, brace for impact. All other teams and divisions: Disengage from Points Charlie, Magna and Houston, and reinforce Bravo as soon as expediently possible.

To Kyoto Palace we go!
We'll give His Highness a show!
We'll caper and sing, such charm we'll bring,
He'll cry and hide, to our delight,
For this is our night of nights!
Hyakk-i Yakk-o! Hyakk-i Yakk-o…?!

The parade stops, an unusual sight before them.

Before the parade stands a barrier line of humans. Bearing thick dark blue armour, hands calmly joined behind their backs and a massive shield standing by their sides. Behind them is a gathering of many more standing amidst and atop gigantic metal-plated behemoths.

All are clad in dark blue garments. Every face is fully masked in helmets and visors. Vests and leggings throng with belts and pouches. There are no further distinguishing traits of these humans, save for two bright blue stripes diagonally descending across every one of these humans' right upper arms.

"HEY! WHO THE HELL DO YOU HUMANS THINK YOU ARE?!" An Oni roars out, swinging at the air before these gatecrashers. "Get out of our way!!!"

The mob descends into nervous tittering.

"Are these the 'modern-day samurai' that fox-girl tried to warn us about?"
"Why are they just standing still? Why aren't they saying anything?"
"Where ARE the other humans? We haven't seen any since we entered Kyoto…"

By the humans' continued silence, nervousness gives way to ridicule and mockery.

"Where are your bows and arrows? Call yourselves samurai?! Look at them, they aren't even packing spears!"
"Is standing still all that amounts to human might today?!"
"Boo! Scared yet, humans?"
"I bet those humans are tasty behind all those black layers!"
"I hope you're all ready to recite the sutra, or we'll come for all of you! Haha!"

Senior Researcher Minoru Junichiro buries his face in his hands and mumbles through his gag. "Greath jobf, hyou edeots. We'er ALL goinh to dai now."

Not that RPC-316 cared to listen; The booze-drenched Old Man could do nought but flap away his arms and giggle madly before the strange new spectacle before him. "O-hoooo! Hoo hoo hoo hoo! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-"

Command, is this all of them?

Affirmative. You have permission for a test fire. Give a warning shot.

Acknowledged.

BLAM!

The night parade's participants jerk all at once. A human standing on a massive black box of a vehicle remains still, smoke pouring from the front hole of the little metal stick in his hand.

"…What the hell?" Koba frowns at the loud noise that black-clad human produced. The Oni blinks, realizes what happened, and roars in laughter.

"HAHAHA! THE HUMANS ARE TRYING TO SCARE US OFF WITH LOUD FIRECRACKERS!" Koma's mirth temporarily disrupted by the shrieking behind him, he swivels his head to the left to yell at all the little sissies scared of some loud noise. "Hey! All of you, SHUT UP!"

With that said Koba swings his head to the right, to his silent subordinate. "As I was saying, DID YOU HEAR THAT?!"

No response.

"…Oi! Ubo! Why the hell aren't you saying anything-?" Koba slaps Ubo's blue shoulder and the other giant tilts forwards, hitting the ground in a wet thud, red lines splattering outwards from his head. Straight through it is a massive steaming hole, his very face caved in and blown out through the back of his skull.

Results satisfactory. Initiate maximum deadly force with great prejudice.

In a single fluid motion, the vanguard line deftly swipe and bear their shields to the fore. The bulwarks' adjoining rims click together in linkage, a hole in their sides slide open for the emergence of a rotary barrel, and upon the split-second whir of motors-

As if a thousand thunderclaps went off at once, the Blue Book Exterminator Battalion opens fire. The only 'fireworks' to be had is the explosion of the crowd's front into a wet crimson spray. Blue Book personnel standing upon their shielded APC platforms join in, full automatic rifles and mounted turrets contributing to the chorus of guns.

From front to back, the parade falls into disarray. Yōkai thrash about while standing in place as chunks are ripped and torn from their bodies, whilst others merely explode into bloody scraps of flesh and bone.

All merriment is abandoned. The feeling of confidence is gone. Confusion escalates to bewilderment, escalates to terror. It dawns in mere moments upon the Yōkai that they are not as unstoppable as they thought themselves to be.

"What is this impossible force?! What is happening?!"
"Aaaah! The humans-the humans are killing us!"
"AP-PO-POPOPO-PO-HIEEEEEK!"
"NO, stop pointing! Stop pointing your noise sticks-zguh-"

"I'm out of here! So long!" Screams a woman-like entity, taking flight to the air. Other Yōkai capable of doing so quickly follow suit.

She watches a Nukekubi's disembodied head screaming in terror as he flies higher and faster than her. He sharply gasps and spasms mid-air, the little cloud about his neck-stump dissipating. The life leaves his eyes and he falls lifelessly, collapsing back to reunite with his shredded body. With escape so close and no time to mourn, she prays feverishly that the humans below care not to look up.

She rises past the building skyline, and it dawns too late on her: The blue-striped humans are everywhere along the roofs as well, and all eyes are upon her and her levitating ilk.

Fliers sighted. Release dragonflies!

The tops of rows of black boxes thronging the rooftops explode open, spewing out a hail of droning needles. Steering wings flap rapidly to create metallic shrieks, these little missiles arc from their vertical rise and fly straight through the airborne Yōkai who thought escape was within grasp. They all shriek one after another, bodies impaled in hundreds of little lances.

"Agh-aah! Get-get out of me!" Having shielded her face, the aforementioned Yōkai rips as many winged skewers from her arms as she can. She notices too late the flashing green lights at the end of their bodies.

Pipipipipipipipipi-BOOM!

Body parts and bloody chunks rain down upon the parade below. Screams of terror intensify as the Hyakki-Yakko's cohesion collapses, Yōkai beginning to desperately flee in every direction possible. A bloody hand splatters on a girl's head, and just as it slides off, it is seized in coils of hair.

"Oh! Oh… No, this isn't a match…" Eyes dilated, breaths hoarse and shivering in shellshock, Megumi discards the hand. With so much ringing in her ears, the sounds of her world is reduced to little more than stifled moans and dull thumps reverberating through her body. She continues to rummage across the ground…

"Don't worry, sisters, I'll put you back together, just hold on… Oh! Look!" Megumi pulls up a lifeless arm, its delicately-manicured hand flopped down. "Sister Mai, Sister Mai! I found your arm!" She flops it before a pile of death, gore and shredded silk robes. "Look, your fingernails still have the green paint…"

She remains still. Awareness and reality slowly creeps back in as her eyes and her breath trembles ever more.

"Aaaah… Aaaaaah…!" Megumi shrieks, her prescence barely registered in this hell-on-earth…

"Ojiichan! What's going on? I'm scared!" "Why is everything so loud? Why is there so much blood?"

Several little Tanuki cry, clinging tightly onto their grandfather's body. He looks up and about frantically, watching as banners and lanterns fall to the ground, spewing blood amidst their dying spasms back into their original forms of raccoon-kin.

"Please! Humans, please, please stop your attack! My grandchildren and I, we're innocent!" Nonoki's pleadings are drowned out in the screams, the stampedes, the endless roar of thunder from the direction of the humans. Knowing his beggings were in vain, Nonoki steels himself for what he had to do next.

"Ch-children, get behind me… Don't worry, Ojii-chan will protect you all… Ojii-chan will keep you all safe. No matter what."

Backline is still too thick. Soften them up with mortars.

As he embraces his grandchildren one more time and felt their trusting tight hugs about him, Nonoki sees a bright arc of light and smoke sailing across his head. As if time itself had frozen in that moment forever Nonoki watches in horror as it slowly descends, then hits the ground. A bright flash and a bang, and all became dark.

Unusuals are breaking. Disengage formation: Advance. Begin selective targeting.

The shieldwall lifts and begins its brutal march, great metal hulks slowly rumbling forth behind them. Not once has their ruthless onslaught of overwhelming firepower relented.

The Onis barely fare better; their prodiguous girth merely delays the inevitable by seconds. Koba licks the blood gushing from numerous holes in his arms, his warrior fury coming to the fore. Adrenaline surging as his muscles tighten, he bellows a battle cry:

"The humans dare fight back! COME, EVERYONE! Let us repay their bloodshecksuhhguh-!" All Koba's yelling accomplished was to designate him a priority target. Their leader beheaded and torn asunder by the sheer volume of lead, the Onis too fall into disarray.

"Get behind!" An Oni yells whilst raising the only parked car in the street against the hail of lead. Terrified Yōkai flock to the shelter provided, huddling in fear before the hail of metal punching through metal, holes bursting open in their increasingly perforated shield. Not once did any pause to consider, let alone notice, the array of rectangular slabs lining the bottom of the car, each and every one of them bearing the following three words: FRONT TOWARDS ENEMY.

Before they can even comprehend anything else, they are all vaporized.

"I'll kill you humans!" Another Oni cries out in equal parts rage and despair, grabbing the flaming wreck of the car and flinging it towards the advancing shields.

KZAP! A violent blue jolt of energy projected by the linked shields cushions the shock of the makeshift projectile, sending it hurtling backwards and crushing other fleeing monsters.

"You! Human!" Junichiro's Oni shakes the elderly man about. "Make the other humans stop-AAH!" The thug bellows as the latest salvo of fire blows chunks out his left cheek.

Clumsily swung like a club, Junichiro braces himself and hits the ever-increasingly-bloody road by his face and arm. He yells out before a sharp sting of pain, feeling something in his arm crack; With ankles seized and escape prevented he spies a shattered megaphone lying before him - TOM's - and an old, buried surge of violence overtakes the pain.

"Hu-human! Make them stop already!" The Oni lifts Junichiro back in the air, grasping him by his chest. All the monster got in response was a cold, hate-filled glare…

"No."

…And a shard of plastic puncturing his cyclopean eye.

"AAAAH!" The blinded Oni thrashes, one hand clumsily feeling its way up Junichiro's torso. It finds his skull, and begins to squeeze. "KILL YOU! KILL YOU! KILL-" The last thing Junichiro heard amidst his own screams of pain was the sound of incoming death blasting flesh apart and shattering bone, then all became dark.

"Down the roads! Every turn! It's every Yōkai for ourselves!" The Night Parade utterly annihilated, the remaining half of the former congregation begins fleeing in every way they can.

"What in the-?!" An Oni is crushed by a behemoth of a vehicle that bursts in from one lane, linked metal plates instead of black wheels bearing its hulk forth. Its frontal maw opens, and humans sealed in massive armour slowly step out.

Purge Unit on-scene and ready to reinforce. Clearance requested for advanced munitions usage.

"Permission granted. Release the piranhas."

"Your armour won't save you, humans!" Several Oni charge the 'Purge' soldiers. Their response is to calmly raise their hosed barrels, bathing their would-be attackers in violent, orange-white plumes of smoking liquid flames.

"Jigoku's fires, it burns!" The Onis and others caught in the great trails of flames flail, grasping and swiping away at a hellish inferno ravenously clinging to their bodies.

"It burns! Get it off! Get it off!" A highly noxious mixture of napalm and hyperconcentrated acids outlawed for use against humans on grounds of ethics, the 'piranha' eats through its targets chemically as much as it burns straight into them.

"Aaaaaah, AAAAAAAAAAAH-" Blistering and swelling, several Oni begin exploding violently, spreading their flaming remains soaked in the caustic mixture unto screaming bystanders.

Panicking humanoids with their robes in shredded, bloodied disarray run to a brick wall blocking another way out. "This way! We can break the door open and esca-"

Robotics Unit arrived at area of ops. Beginning combat data acquisition.

BRAKOOM! Explodes the wall, blasting the first wave of Yōkai to reach it in shrapnel and rubble. Smoke pours out as the whine of gears and pistons heralds the stomps of great metallic feet. The would-be escapees back off in disbelief before the metal beast stepping out to greet them:

"ATTENTION,-UNUSUAL-DISSIDENTS!" An ill-fittingly cheerful electronic voice chirps.

"YOUR-GATHERING-CONSTITUTES A-MAJOR-VIOLATION OF-THE ESTABLISHED PERCEPTION OF NORMALCY-! KINDLY COMPLY WITH-RESTORING NORMALCY-BEFORE THE COUNTDOWN: TEN, NI-*kzzt*-ONE, INSUFFICIENT COMPLIANCE ACHIEVED! WE REGRET TO INFORM THAT-LETHAL-FORCE HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED!"

In an instant the crowd is reduced into a screaming spasming mess, bathed in bright blue hues of miniature lightning emitted by the contraption on the automaton's left shoulder. It opens fire with its arm-mounted lead dispensers, drowning the crowd before it in a fresh wave of bullets even as rockets spew from it right shoulder…

"We'll flee this direction!" Supernatural stragglers run, hop, slither, limp for their lives. They run their way through an empty stretch of road, ignoring the series of little beeping discs lining it…

Siege and Emergency Constructions Unit on site. Fortifying.

A single rooftop operative pushes down on a detonator with a loud 'Click!'.

The discs erupt, spewing copious waves of a grey goo rapidly rising upwards. Would-be escapees scream, their knees, tails and other assorted lower bodies swamped and covered in a rapidly hardening substance.

"What is this?! What is this liquid stone?! It's rising, no! I can't-" And just like that their screams were muffled, drowned in the rising tide of hardening goo.

An insurmountable wall now blocks any further escape attempts down this street, countless victims doomed to suffocate within its grey embrace. Bright-blue-striped humans bearing bright blue hardhats calmly stride across its peak, and open fire at the remaining stragglers below.

And yet, despite the slaughter, there is still many more Yōkai yet remaining, still seeking a way out.

"Look! Over there!" One cries out, pointing a gangly finger towards a bridge in the distance.

"There are no humans this way! This is our way to freedom!" And so they run with terror in their hearts, death at their heels and hope in the horizon-

Prey has fallen for the bait. Commence orbital strike. Terra Invicta!

A star, shining brighter than the rest, plunges its way straight down to impact the bridge entrance with a mighty explosive slam. As a singlular column of solar fury it gouges its way across the last way out, a pillar of searing light leaving behind a continuous puddle of steaming, melted tarmac as it heads straight towards those of dashed hopes.

"Aaaah! The sun! The sun is falling down on us!"
"Night turns to day! Amaterasu opens her eye to punish us!"
"She who lights the Day intervenes! She acts in favour of the humans!"

Some fall to their knees to pray and feverishly supplicate. Others do so in despair and resignation.

"We were wrong! We were wrong to trouble the humans! We learn that now!"
"O mighty Amaterasu! We beg forgiveness for our hubris, and beseech you spare us your radiant wrath!"
"Mercy, O Sun Goddess! Mercy! Spare us, and never again shall we vex the humans! I swear this!"

The light continues to approach all, regardless.

"No! No! I don't want to die! I don't want to dieeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

And so do all screams fade away and all is silent once more, save the scorching billowings of star-fallen flames…

Unusual Phenomena exterminated. Excellent job everyone, simply stellar. Begin cleanup duties.

Aniki…!

"Ghah! Hnf, hrh…"

Yuudai jolts awake in a pool of his own blood, in between breaths of pain and the salted tang of blood upon his lips. His legs rack with in equal parts pain and numbness. He coughs as he tries pushing himself up, and collapses. It slowly dawns on him that past the pulses of painful throbs he has lost all feeling beyond his legs. Trembling wildly, he dares himself to look down… Seeing two bloody stumps where his feet used to be.

"Aaaah… AAAH!" Yuudai screams in equal parts horror and agony, clutching away at his bleeding stumps. It was by his flailing that he was noticed, and a human approaches him. His pupils shrink as he sees a gleaming knife unsheathed.

"No! Don't-don't come closer! How-how could you humans do such a thing?!" He is met with silence, said human calmly walking ever closer. Yuudai's attempts to push himself away ending in failure, he thrusts his hands out in surrender.

"Mercy… Mercy! We foxes aren't your enemies!"

The human says nothing.

"It's a misunderstanding! I was-I was trying to help-No wait, what are you-?!" Yuudai is kicked over and forcibly seized by his mauve-furred tails. He screams as a sharp stabbing pain slices through one, then two, then all three of them, dropping him to the floor. He flails about, seeing fresh sprays of blood from three fresh stumps.

"AAAAH! AAAAAEEEGGG-! MY TAILS! HOW-HOW COULD YOU?!"

Amidst his screams the human finally speaks; softly, disturbingly.

"Thanks for the souvenir." Yuudai is seized by hair, knife brought to his neck.

"Help me… Help me! Ietaru! IETA-!" The knife digs through his neck, and he is silenced for good.

As a mangled fox's tailless corpse is chucked unceremoniously into a wood chipper along with so many other dead bodies. Engineers tap away at a crumbling grey wall, the controlled swings of futuristic-looking hammers causing the hardened goo to carefully crumble to powdery dust. Submerged Yōkai are carefully worked around, leaving them encased in enough of the cement-like substance to ensure their immobilization… Whether they had survived their entombment or not.

A man in a clean white labcoat, sleeves rolled back restlessly paces about before the tappings, robotic prosthetics gleaming in the fires. One of several would-be Kejōrō escapees struggle in their cemented bonds, submerged hair writhing in place.

"You'll be in trouble when we get out, you tin-plated human!"

The man ceases his pacing.

"Trouble? Yōkai… Trouble, yes, trouble! No good, no good at all, all of you are trouble…" He turns to the one who spoke, raising his metal right arm. He flicks it into splaying open, exposing an array of torturous surgical tools and drug-filled needles. The Kejōrō is breathless as she watches his right eye and cranium fold open as well, an array of lenses and cutting lasers at the fore-

"…All of you are beyond redemption."

"W-w-what in Jigoku are you?! Get those things away from me! Aaaah, AAAH! AIIEEEEAAAGHYEAAAAAA-"

With the sort of metallic shrieks that only a dentistry found within bad nightmares could make, Professor Mamoru Junichiro sets to work on his open-field ocular-cranial vivisection, the manic pitch of hos voice sinking into a low tone of scientific obsessiveness…

"Nerve pathways link directly from tentorium cerebelli into bottom of scalp hair follicles… Motor function plainly observed in what appears to be hair-strands: Precise micro-instrumentation back at base is required to dissect said strands to determine nature of micro-musculature. Further study of such biology will open up avenues into research of advanced synthetic motor fiber systems…"

"M-monster!" Another imprisoned Yōkai yells in despair, falling upon deaf ears. "What kind of monster are you?!"

Professor Junichiro turns to his escorting guards.

"Find me crows. I want Tengu in particular."

"Professor: We have not sighted any instances of Homo Corvidae in this gathering."

"Oh? Too bad, that's too bad…" The Professor turns back to his paralyzed victim, threading an optic cable from his opened skull and into her punctured eyeball…

Across the street, Megumi does not cease in her wailing in between sputtering coughs from the acrid smoke filling the street. She shakes at bullet-riddled torsoes, trails of tears barely washing way the bloodstains splattered across her face.

"Sister Mai! Sister San! Sister Ine! Anyone! Please! Please wake up! Please wake me up! Please! Please tell me this is a bad dream! PLEASE!"

Two guards watch her impassively, maintaining a distance from her agitated hair strands. One has a shotgun barrel pointed in her direction, finger delicately resting against its trigger. "Do we put this creature out of its misery?"

"That one's in pristine condition: Unless she makes any move on us Professor J wants her untouched."

The soldier watching Megumi flicks his head at his compatriot's own charge. "Same goes for your animated kitchenware?"

A fridge trembles vividly, failing in its attempt to mimic an ordinary nondescript refrigerator. The other guard grabs its handles and flings both its upper and lower compartments open, exposing the sounds of fearful gasps and whimpers. For all the fun they made of the fridge earlier the other appliances have now fully crammed themselves into it, each and all clattering away against one another's bodies in terrified shivers.

"Christmas comes early for the Professor! He will want to open up these, too. Speaking of which, it's not a present if it's not wrapped shut…"

'Zzzzip!' goes the sound of duct tape as the frige's doors are plastered shut. Meanwhile, a group of soldiers rifling through heaps of gore cry out to the others nearby.

"We found the VIP: Hostage is safe and secured!"

A blood-soaked wretch lying low among the corpses is dragged out. Bursting back into wakefulness he thrashes about in complete agitation, swinging his arms out of the grasp of the soldiers lifting him out.

"Kaff kaff-Get off of me! 'Hostage'?! This is your idea of rescue?!?! You mindlessly violent, triggerhappy… Wait…" Senior Researcher Junichiro pats his blood-soaked body all over. He inspects his red-stained garments. Not even a single bullet graze touched a single piece of his clothing's fabric. With some extensive cleaning, his clothing would be as good as new.

He turns to look around; Deja-vu washes over him immediately as he beholds the Junichiro-shaped slab of intact flesh¹ that remains of his captor. Incredulous, he turns to face the soldiers once more as he massages the throbbing pain in his arm, remembering an experimental prototype that entered live testing shortly before he tendered his resignation.

"A.C.A…. Anti-Collateral Ammunition. It's been perfected, then…?"

A small oxygen tank is brought to the Senior Researcher. He slips on the mask with his good hand and takes a deep trembling breath beyond the fog of war, feeling the cool relief of clean air wash over his smoke-stung lungs.

"We call them VIP-Avoidance Rounds now, sir; V.A.R., An improved iteration of the A.C.A.s you mentioned. Furthermore, as you have demonstrated knowledge these freaks couldn't have possibly known…"

The soldiers stand to attention, saluting the living legend standing before them.

"Former Field Lieutenant Junichiro Minoru: It is an honour to meet you in person. Sir."

He scowls at the acolade, a chapter of a past he forsook. "There's no honour to be had with what I was back then."

He is quickly ushered to the white light of a field ambulance, waved over with a diagnostic scanner. His coat is removed, right arm compressed in a rapidly-hardening plaster tube, face cleaned and treated of grazes. He hears a voice he hasn't heard in a long time approaching the ambulance:

"…'Triggerhappy'! Ha! That's rich, coming from you!"

"…Schaffer." Junichiro turns to behold the elderly gentleman in military officer uniform striding towards him in youthful vigor. Assuredly a decade younger than the Senior Researcher, Andrew Schaffer carries himself with the vigour of another two less. He brings a hand to his head and throws it off, saluting Junichiro enthusiastically.

"As I live and breathe, the missing half of the Butcher Brothers! Looking awfully complete too, might I add? Your new employers hooked you up with some body-regrowing tech, I take it?"

Junichiro looks at his left arm and hand, using it to rub over his left eye and cranium. "My original employers. And yes, for what it's worth on my old body." He intentionally omits the anomalous nature behind his restored body parts, not wanting to sound unusually-compromising to his old compatriots.

"Well, shame you couldn't keep your combat prosthetics on. Even after 20 years of being obsolete they'd still give these monsters a run for their money!"

"I wouldn't be permitted to wear them constantly, anyway-" Junichiro sighs. "-nevermind all that. You've made it all the way to General? I remember when you were but a corporal under me."

Schaffer pats Junichiro on the back, at a spot not smeared in blood. "A lot has happened. You've been away for a long time former lieutenant, but your deeds continue to inspire us to this day! Follow me, let's show you how much we've improved in leaps and bounds. Film crew's not going to wait any longer!"

"Film crew?"

Lights... Camera...

ACTION!

[ Upbeat patriotic music, American military theme. A jeep drives into an urban warzone, stylishly swerving to a halt. The passenger door swings open, and out steps the General, confidently adjusting his collar and approaching the camera. ]

Hello there! I'm Andrew Schaffer, Four-Star General of Project Blue Book's Bureau of Ground Affairs. And I'm here to ask YOU a question: are you through with being afraid? Don't answer that just yet! I'm here to explain why you should even consider this!

[ He walks before a wall, which suddenly lights up in flamethrower discharge. A silhouette of a screaming woman can be seen, her hair thrashing about wildly. ]

For too long man has cowered at the shadows, at the dark things flitting in the corners, things who think themselves above us! Superior to us! Consider us lesser creatures, only worthy to be despised, eaten, or ruled over!

[ The camera pans away from the wall and back to the overall view of the street as the General continues to walk. A purple-skinned ogre crawls from the right side of the screen to the left, leaving a trail of guts and blood across the floor, his lower abdomen blown away. ]

(In Japanese subtitles) IMPOSSIBLE… IMPOSSIBLE! HOW COULD PUNY, LITTLE WEAKLING HUMANS DO THIS?!

No more! With the tireless efforts of Blue Book's Bureau of Ground Affairs we take the good fight straight to those things hiding in the shadows here on Earth or beyond; things who would keep us in fear, cowering away before shadows and holding us back from our true potential! And see why they hide in the shadows? Why they need to rule over us with fear? When we put our minds and our hearts together we become an unstoppable wave, exterminating all that would threaten mankind: the unusual, the bizzare, the monstrous!

[ A mob of Blue Book cleanup personnel chase after the ogre, who attempts to swing its arms to fend them off. It fails miserably, owing to its dying state. ]

(In Japanese subtitles) GET-GET AWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME!

[ The General finally breaks focus with the camera, turning to address the crew. ]

Woah there boys! Hold it right there for a moment!

[ The camera follows the general as he jogs up to the dying monster, its flaccid arms held down by the soldiers. ]

What do you have to say for yourself, you freak, you abomination of Unusuality?

(In Japanese subtitles) I-I SHOULD HAVE KILLED AND EATEN MORE OF YOU HUMANS…!

[ The general reads the words on the translator. Addressing the crew behind the camera, his expression beams. ]

Did you get all that? And there we have it! Let 'im have it, boys!

[ A chainsaw is revved up and impaled straight through the Ogre's eye, causing a fountain of vitreous gore to gush out. ]

AAAH! AAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

[ Unfazed, the General wipes away a fleck of viscera from his brow. The crew continues carving the monster apart, reducing its size into manageable chunks for the woodchipper. ]

Ha ha ha! Such enthusiasm, do you think you have what it takes to join the ranks? Join Project Blue Book now! What we do today guarantees a safe tomorrow… For all mankind!

[ PAUSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC END - END OF FOOTAGE ]

"Is it necessary to glamourize such carnage, General?"

Schaffer takes a swig from a fist-sized bottle of water. "It can't be helped, Former-Lieutenant. You know how things are with the youth these days; Lights and flashing sounds! Guts and glory! Action and explosions! Kids today are restless, dying to cut their teeth on a worthwhile cause! But only as long as it grabs their attention for long enough."

Junichiro winces at how Schaffer clearly learnt the wrong lessons from him. "We aren't supposed to be in it for… glory. This was never about glory for me and my brother- Wait. My brother. Is he here?"

Schaffer sighs and pulls out a cigar, unwilling to lie to his role model. "Why, yes… Yes he is."

"Where is he? I have to-I have to see him. I have to see him." Senior Researcher Junichiro Minoru pulls himself away from the group. He limps his way across the acrid flames and fumes of the broken street, past Blue Book soldiers putting dying Yōkai out of their misery, past corpses being forcibly stuffed down grinding woodchippers-

"Mamoru! Junichiro Mamoru! Where are you, show yourself-"

It doesn't take long to spot the only other lab-coated figure dancing in the distance, bloody prosthetics gleaming against the fires. Twirling under the rapture of so many dead Unusuals, filled with rapturous bliss before so many new presents: Survivors, to cut apart and glue back together, pull apart and stitch back together, tear apart and fuse back together; Over, and over, and over, and over and over and over and over and over and over-

The dancing old man freezes. A familiar voice is registered by his biological and mechanical ears. He slowly turns around to see a haggard, bloodsoaked and slightly older man reaching out to him, looking a little too similar.

"Mamo… Mamo. It's me, Mino…"

Yet in all the pain Minoru has experienced up to this point, from his manhandling by fellow site personnel to his manhandling by the Yōkai then his subsequent injuries, none of them hurt as much as the following words that came forth of the cyborg's lips:

"Who are you?"

Senior Researcher Junichiro Minoru of the RPC Authority blinked in stunned silence. "…I'm your brother, Mamo! Can't you recognize me? After what happened to us so long ago, how the Authority retired us as invalids in our state at the time, we-I took us both to Blue Book seeking revenge against the thing that hurt us… We'd work as a team. I'd-I'd do all the fighting outside in the wild, then I'd drag back everything I killed to you, to cut open and study-"

Professor Junichiro Mamoru of Project Blue Book loudly shuttered his robotic right eye. "How do you know these things?" With celebratory dance routines halted he now takes a stiff step towards this alleged brother, and another, and another.

"I know it because I lived it, you fool! We BOTH lived it!" Minoru finds a pair of hands gripping his shoulders, his left seized particularly tightly by a robotic one. Clenching teeth through the pain Minoru stares straight into his brother's eyes, his angry-distraught gaze met with a blank one.

"Liar."

"What nonsense is this, Mamo? Snap out of it!" Minoru's shoulders are shaken harder. His left shoulder begins to hurt from the rising pressure gripping into it.

"Impostor. Impersonator. Doppelganger!" Blue Book personnel move in to intervene, seperating the two. Pulled back for his safety Minoru continues to reach out to Mamoru.

"Mamo! Stop it! It really is me!"

"No, it can't be! It can't beeeee-" Mamoru's voice takes on an electronic squeal, a clash of conflicting memories within his half-robotic brain going haywire.

"-this can't be too much flesh this can't be you are not he he lacks an eye just like me lacks an arm just like me lacks the legs just like me just like me just like meeeee-"

A loud bang echoes out within Mamoru's cranium as if some fuse within exploded. Like an overloaded robot he shuts down, head slowly bending downwards as he remains limply standing. A fine plume of smoke begins ascending from vents within Mamoru's metallic cranium. Minoru looks on, paralyzed in utter shock. Schaffer sucks hard on his cigar and expels a plume of smoke with a sigh.

Minoru remembered to breathe, his face turning red in anger. "What have you done to my brother!?"

"What did WE do to him? You should be asking about what YOU did to him! After your sudden tender of resignation and return to the Authority because of some uncharacteristic crisis of conscience, you left us all high and dry, more importantly your very own brother! The way he'd threw fits asking for you, thinking you were still with us! He wouldn't recognize you had left, he wouldn't work until he was convinced you were still around… He'd begin shutting down abruptly!

"I was promised he would be well-taken care of, that he would be left in good hands!"

"And in good hands he has remained ever since! But we ARE a paramilitary shadow organization, not an old folks' home, and he and his talents were too good to go to waste! So we've kept him at doing what he does best to earn his keep, even if he doesn't even realize it."

Schaffer steadies himself to spill the beans behind the Professor's malfunction, to his enraged brother.

"We've had to… Make adjustments to his neural programming, you must understand. Suppress certain parts of his mind. Alter some of his memories and perceptions. As such he now toils for us steadily and enthusiastically without your continued supervision, helping to bring further light to the enemies of man-"

Junichiro cuts him off with angry finger-pointing. "You've tampered with my brother's brain! By the Kami, none of this is the Blue Book I was proud to serve!"

Schaffer curtly answers Minoru with calm composure. "With all due respect, former lieutenant: Your actions may have been a major source of inspiration towards us, but it isn't that we who have changed for the worse after you left: It is you who have stagnated. We've retained, nay, improved our edge by whetting your brother's mind while you've allowed yourself to grow rusty poking at things in a lab instead of doing what you do best in the field. We all make what choices we have to and we've respected your decision to leave and find a new life for yourself but I'm sure if your brother were, he'd wholly approve of what we had to do to him…"

Tired, in pain and unable to do anything about what he just witnessed, a defeated Junichiro Minoru slowly lowers his accusatory point. Despondent and powerless he turns about, shuffing past the ruins, the flames and the carnage. No one moves to stop him.

"Former Lieutenant!" Schaffer yells out. "Where are you going?"

"Home. Authority Site eighty-nine. Taking a taxi."

"Straight back to a confidential site in a civilian cab?"

"Frankly? I couldn't care less at this point."

Schaffer squints and frowns at the response. He lets it go, shrugs his shoulders and shares a hearty chuckle with his men.

Now by the side of the half-melted bridge, Schaffer shares in a bounty of celebratory beer brought in by the film crew. Chilled bottles are snapped open and Schaffer taps frothy glasses with the captains of the participating units. This includes the captain of the Purge Unit still in his massive suit of armour, delicately holding his own beer with an oversized thumb and finger.

A hoarse, pained voice in Japanese cuts into their cheer.

"Naze-da…?"

Guns are reached for faster than the mood is killed. Schaffer puts on his translator; a headset with an optic-feed glass fits over his left eye and a microphone hanging close to his mouth; he already knew that meant "Why?", but for the following potential conversation…

"Show yourself." Schaffer mutters into the translator. In a perfect replica of his voice it repeats his words, albeit translated: "Jibun-o-misete."

Nonoki slowly limps into the light of a street lamp, burnt and wounded. Cradled in his arms are scraps of little limbs and bloody gibbets of flesh; the remnants of his grandchildren.

"Why… Why would you do such a thing…?"

"It's an illusion!" The captain of the Robotics Unit exclaims, scoped goggles jammed beneath tufts of blonde hair and a beanie cap whirring away at the sight. Schaffer doesn't need any advanced tech to note the lack of a blood trail the entity would otherwise be leaving in its limping drags.

The general waves off the film crew and captains to stand down before the pointlessness of an armed response. He approaches the tanuki and crouches down to meet the creature eye-to-illusionary-eye, addressing it with none of the joviality and friendliness reserved for fellow humans.

"I understand you are quite hurt, and confused, and all-in-all bewildered by what just happened. A little birdie told us all of you yoe-kais have been sleeping away peacefully, stuck at the bottom of a cave for at least two hundred years."

"That we were…"

Anger creeps into Schaffer's voice. "So tell me this: Right upon waking up your first brilliant collective idea is to trapize out of that cave, straight towards human civilization, throwing a massive destructive party across Japan?!"

The translator flawlessly preserves Schaffer's furious tones and inflections into its converted output. Its speaks louder than his voice, ensuring he is effectively addressing the stilled Tanuki in real time without delays.

"…Showing yourselves before thousands of clueless humans who, until now, believed you were all just superstitions and made-up myths? Steal from us? Trash our property? Attack us? No no, that's not how things work anymore!"

Nonoki lowers his head, staring silently at the remains of his grandchildren. "But, but the old laws…"

"To hell with your long-dead laws!" Schaffer screams, causing a few bystanders to flinch. "You outdated monster equivalents of Japanese hillbillies no longer own the night! Besides, would it have even killed any of you to keep your heads low, find out how things have changed?! Now the grand majority of you are dead, we have many traumatized humans to strongarm into non-disclosure agreements, many more to convince it was some sort of elaborate human terrorist attack…"

Schaffer catches himself, stands up, and paces about the illusion.

"New age, new rules! Hurt any part of humanity, you hurt ALL of us. Had you all just hid away in your little dark caves we would have been willing to let the eggheads at the Authority handle the lot of you with their soft-gloved pampering methods, but alas…"

"My grandchildren were innocent. None of them deserved to suffer like this."

"Suffer? From where I'm standing it looks like they all died instantly. Hm. For whatever condolences it is, you weren't meant to have survived whatever it was that killed them. Now kindly show yourself-your REAL self-so that we can helpfully put you out of your misery; Swiftly, and painlessly, and let you rejoin them in… Whatever afterlife you believe in."

"You were right to kill."

Schaffer blinks and re-reads the feed. "An unexpected surprise: I'm glad you're coming around to our point of view!"

"You were right to kill the deserving. And yet, in your zealous lust for murder you killed so many more who weren't."

Schaffer rolls his eyes. Of course it was too good to be true.

"You think you are heroes and guardians of oblivious cattle, but all I see are mass-murderers drunk on the self-righteousness of slaughtering acceptable targets."

"You mean to morally lecture us now, ignorant of the horrors we fight across this planet?"

But at this point, the raccoon was no longer listening.

"Your overreaction this night will cost you dearly. I swear it!"

Nonoki's illusion throws down the gore it was cradling; Assorted chunks of flesh, guts and fur splatter across the ground before dissipating. He finally looks up, newfound hatred and rage burning in his eyes.

"Very well. You want a monster? You've earned it. By the lives and blood of my grandchildren that seeps through my paws and into my soul I swear this: I will make you all pay. All of you, standing here, will come to regret this very night!"

Schaffer snorts dismissively and gives the illusion a kick, his blood-scabbed boot passing firmly through it. It didn't hurt to try, after all. "And just how exactly are you going to go about it, Unusual? Wail on us with your fwuffwy widdle teddy bear arms?" This provokes laughter from the crowd behind the pair.

"Like this."

"BEHIND YOU!" The Robotics captain shouts out as a film crew member abruptly jerks his standard issue sidearm up to his temple, the hammer pulling back, and-

BAM!

The Purge Captain's massive mechanized hand slapped him hard enough to send the aim off - and him to the floor.

"MY NOSE! HE GOT MY FUCKING NOSE!" The filming crewman thrashes about in agony, the fingers covering his face rapidly soaking in blood. While the rest of the crew frantically tend to his mangled face Schaffer snatches his dropped gun, wielding it alongside his own.

"It's hiding in the heat!" Yells the Robotics captain once more, readjusting her goggles. The other captains slam down their own visors, goggles and helmets, scanning the terrain for any sign of the Unusual.

Bereft of the youngins' gizmos, Shaffer merely squints. Amongst the steaming trails of smoke lining the road, he spots a particular set of wispy smoke trailing from bloody footprints. Another instantly presses down on the road, accompanied by an ever-so-faint grunt.

"Invisibility, huh?" He and the captains open fire simultaneously. A cry of pain echoes out, and Nonoki slumps at the edge of the bridge, clutching a new hole or two in his body.

"Give it up, Unusual! You are hopelessly outclassed!"

His body scalding against the searing concrete, Nonoki moans as a set of armoured footprints grow ever-so-closer, imperviously stomping its way across the molten tarmac. He looks despairingly to the tattered makeshift bag slumped by his side. A little youthful face of a raccoon pup barely pokes out, its expression a mix of fear, trust, and peace.

"N-nuh…"

Filled with a terrible new resolve, a grandfather's despair changes to defiance.

"Never."

Nonoki grabs the bag and throws his charred body forth, rolling through the gap in the bridge and plunging into the watery darkness below…

While the events at the molten bridge takes place, the cleanup crew across the street find themselves dealing with their own intruder problem.

Surging out of the shadows and leaping across flames, a squad of four attackers clad in dark-blues and blacks come charging in. The sentries at the outskirts and alleyways all lie insensate; Beaten, choked, knocked out and restrained with masterful swiftness and alarms unraised. A guard looks up from shoveling flesh and sees these ninja-like figures running straight towards him, vaulting over the APCs and running across the walls.

"What the-who-? ALERT! INTRUDERS!" A fired ball of goo impacts his face. He frantically claws off the smothering goo to breathe, only to be swiftly tripped and knocked out hard on the ground.

By the vivid glow of the fires is revealed the black lines of the triangle-imprisoned cube upon their dark-blue vests: None other than the Authority's sigil.

"IT'S THE DOGCATCHERS!" A Blue Book operative yells the mocking slang for Authority agents, right as a taser-fortified fist flies into his face. Even as he crumples down the others get up, drawing batons to charge these intruders. Their movements are clumsy with attacks slow in comparison to these experts in CQC, but with each swing countered and another lunk felled or restrained, time is bought for the compatriots frantically scrambling to swap their live ammunition for non-lethal rounds.

Megumi continues to cry whilst embracing what is left of her sisters with her blood-soaked arms and hair, uncaring or unnoticing of the commotion let alone the barrel cocked at her head.

"No more funny moves or the freak gets it-!"

Without pause an agent amongst several runs atop the wreck of the claymore-rigged car and fires a grapple claw, seizing the shotgun's barrel and slamming it away from Megumi's head. He leaps from the wreck while reflexively dropping the spent grapple gun, driving his taser fist straight down towards the bewildered guard's face.

The other guard is slugged in a hit-and-run, finding himself swiftly wound around in rope whose end is flung in the air. He turns to see the agent who sucker-punched him running away and apparently abandoning the fight. He fails to notice two things in exchange: The end of the rope now swinging from a lamp post, and the next agent running towards him leaping up to grab it, pulling down hard and helplessly suspending him in the air.

Megumi's sobs softens as she slowly raises her head, finally facing the human crouched before her with hand outstretched. He tries to find within himself to speak with soft words, encouraging words; But the sound of encroaching guns being re-chambered will not grant that luxury.

"COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!"

"I… I…" Clinging to her sister's arm, Megumi feebly reaches out with her other shivering hand. She is quickly seized and dragged forth from the gore-pile that was once her sisters.

The black-clad human quickly extends a reel of cable and a velcro-strapped harness, wrapping it tight about Megumi. "Hold still - I know you don't understand what's going on - Just stay calm and hold still, and we'll be out of here…"

The velcro snags on her hair. Pain jolts through the numbed Kejoro, stinging its way up into her scalp."Stop… Not like that-it hurts…!"

"You're outside your jurisdiction! Last chance: Surrender!"

The agent glances in the direction of approaching boots, and works to strap Megumi faster. He does not hear her complaints, or has chosen to ignore them.

"We're ready!" One among the other three agents call out, having pooled their resources to tie up the heavier fridge and its contents. "Signal for evac!"

The agent finishes his work with Megumi and fires a flare in the sky. Its lilac light burns vividly and in response the roar of great motors bursts out nearby, foregoing stealth for speed.

Smoky capsules are hurled to the ground before the approaching horde of blue stripes, scattering the agents and their rescuees in prismatic smoke. Sensors go haywire and targeting systems fail, with several soldiers resorting to firing blind. Vorpal sounds echo with the swing of massive blades slicing through the air, growing all the louder. Large grapple launchers connected to their rescue targets are aimed to the sky, and fired.

A black silhouette swings sharply into the open air of the streets, the magnetic grapples latching onto its electromagnetic receiver. Megumi and the fridge are pulled into the sky as their rescuers cling onto handles located around the cables. Caught in the sudden jerk, Megumi slips, and lets go of the green-nail-polished arm of her sister…

"Aaaah…" As she ascends, her hands and hair reaches out to the falling arm. "Sister Mai… Sister Mai!" Pulling itself free, Megumi's hair subconsciously tears apart the velcro holding her in place, to her agent's alarm.

"What are you doing? Don't undo the straps! You'll fall!"

"SISTER MAI! AAAH!!" Megumi shrieks, maddening grief compelling her to tear her way out faster and starting her plunge to the ground. Almost about to seize the falling arm with her hair, Megumi jerks back in place as her ankle is seized. She stares blankly, watching the arm fall. It strikes the tarmac below with a wet splat, the bloody splatter enough to shake Megumi back to reality on what was about to be her own fate.

Having thrown himself from the ascending chopper and now hanging on by his last grapple shot, the agent strains as he holds onto Megumi's life by one hand.

"I-I'm sorry!" Megumi sobs profusely while covering her face, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-!"

"All right! Just… Hurry up and get back into your harness!" He screams, muscles threatening to tear from holding onto the grapple and the girl. The last fragments of his strength come from knowing his companions have already entered the stealth chopper and alerted the pilot of his issues as the vehicle dips back down to fly at a low height, its ascent stalled.

"Y-yes…! I'm sorry, I'm sorry…!" Megumi swiftly seizes about his body and holds on tight as he retracts the grapple, slowly rising back up to the harness flopping in the wind. She hastily clambers back in and the velcro is resealed - only to fall back apart, its stitchings damaged in Megumi's earlier outburst.

"Shit!" Thinking quickly the agent quickly wraps the grapple cord about an uncomplaining Megumi, and fastens it tight. Just as he reaches for the cable handle, the chopper is forced to turn before slamming into a T-junction, causing the two to impact hard against a window. The agent's grip is jolted, and he seizes the next closest thing - the wrapped cord.

His body jerks down. The cord is slackening with his weight. Knowing that holding on will doom them both, he does the only thing he knows will save at least one of them.

He lets go.

Megumi shrieks as she watches the human drop, falling and falling down, slamming unto the road below and coming to a rolling stop. Blue-striped APCs brake and soldiers swarm over his unmoving body, the sight of them growing ever so smaller in the distance…

Megumi stares blankly, the realization creeping in that her outburst likely killed, if not doomed her rescuer. "No! I-I didn't mean to-I, I, I didn't…! My fault… I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…"

The Kejoro sobs as her cable retracts towards the chopper…

page revision: 150, last edited: 30 Nov 2021 02:10

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