Chapter XXXV—Unexpected Visitor

It was later in the day when Rōkura and Hans reached Lord Asher Boon’s mansion once again. While evading the City Watch was easy, it also required the two to remain far from their possible notice, which meant a long walk through the forests surrounding Shihon.

The oni felt like doubling over to retch. Hans noticed and he turned to her, looked on her with sympathy and a little bit of pity. “Are you all right?” he asked.

She nodded, leading the way up to the front doors. She lifted a hand to knock but hesitated. Why was she going to knock? Shinjiro was in there—probably dead. Her stomach roiled and an acidic feeling filled her to her throat.

Rōkura couldn’t bear to go in to find out he had died in their absence.

Hans approached her and put a slightly bloodied glove hand over her shoulder. It was her blood from earlier. All her bruises and wounds were completely healed, and the smears on his gloves now appeared like brown stains—nothing more than a little bit of dirt, perhaps.

“Would you prefer that I went in first?”

Closing her eyes, she shook her head, stealing herself for the news. She had to learn to accept what happened. They were fighters, assassins. Bad things could happen to them.

Would happen to them.

She had to be prepared for that.

Rōkura stood. “Thank you, Hans—but no.”

She turned and pushed the door open. They wandered down the halls until they found Lord Asher standing in his sitting room along with Sir Withersbee. Both of them had worried looks on their faces.

Rōkura’s heart beat faster in her chest as they recognized them coming in. She even spotted the healer sitting in the corner of the room.

“Hans,” said Lord Asher. “Rōkura. You’ve returned.”

Though Lord Asher was concerned, Sir Withersbee was beside himself with tension and apprehension. Rōkura could see this, and by where their glanced flicked, she knew Shinjiro was in the room at the end of the hall.

Why there was no one in there with him, she didn’t know. Were they allowing him to rest of was he…

She swallowed.

“Is he dead?”

“Ah,” said Lord Asher, “not quite.”

Rōkura rushed in the direction of the corridor, but Lord Asher put out a hand and she came up short. Narrowing her eyes, she looked at him with a furious question on his face.

“It is not as you think, Rōkura.”

She glanced down the hall, a slice of worry bleeding out her reserves of hope. “What do you mean?”

“It’s… him.”

“The god,” Sir Withersbee said, his tone gruff and deep.

Rōkura cut a glance toward the mustached servant, then to Hans, whose eyes were wide.

“He wished to see you both, one after the other,” said Lord Asher. “Rōkura first. Then Lord Bellefeuille.”

That meant trouble, Hans knew. If anything it surely spelled discontentment from Ogai-sama to make valuable time to travel between worlds to appear before them. He only ever did this when he was scheming, or delivering a dire warning.

Hans swallowed. “Steal yourself, Rōkura.”

She nodded.

This would be the second time she met Ogai-sama. The oni god was a completely stranger, and yet she knew him well enough to know she hated his personality. He was flippant, dismissive. Childish and immature.

And he’s a pervert.

Again, she glanced down the hall, then she nodded and strode slowly in that direction. As she approached, she almost forgot about Shinjiro entirely. But now that she thought of him, she wondered, is he in there with Ogai-sama?

While Rōkura approached, a subtle sound seemed to be emanating from the closed chamber ahead, like that of falling metal dust vibrating in the air.

At least, that was the best way that Rōkura herself could describe it. What she was experiencing was the overwhelming power of an awesome being.

Approaching the lacquered wooden doors, Rōkura glanced down at the door knobs, silver filigreed in gold. At first coming to the mansion, she had thought them beautiful, but right now she had never believed something so vane.

She put her pink hands over the knobs, turned them both, and then she flung them open.

Something rushed past her and she flinched, almost fell to the floor.

Blinking, she realized a bright light, yellow-gold, emanating from the center of a black void. This was what how it was when I died.

Looking about, she noticed something up ahead. A large, bulky item.

But that was not all.

She was naked.

Completely naked?

Rōkura narrowed her eyes as footsteps sounded behind her, ponderous, echoing from all around.

“Ogai-sama…” she said without turning.

There was a long pause.

“Hey kid,” he finally said, his tone flippant as usual, and yet relaxed, devoid of the immature energy like before.

Looking ahead, Rōkura realized what that object was. It was a bed.

And in it lay a man.

Shinjiro.

She turned, found him in the shadows as a silhouette with stark red eyes. Had she not been an oni herself, she might of thought him a demon or a monster. “I see you undressed me again.”

“Hmph,” he scoffed, then came into the light. His smile was devious and contained knowledge far beyond that of any being Rōkura had ever seen. Before his obnoxious attitude had hidden a lot of his features from her, but now she saw it.

Felt it.

The power of a god imitating off of him.

“Mortals shall only appear in their natural forms among the gods. At least…”—he spread his hands—“in our own realms. You may bring nothing of any pride her among me, Child. You are humbled.”

Swallowing, she nodded as he looked at her body.

Then his eyes flicked up above her shoulder. Rōkura tuned, glanced toward Shinjiro in the bed, his form also mostly a silhouette, as he was outside of the orb of light.

She looked up at it, gestured. “New decorations?”

Ogai chortled slowly, like a mountain rolling over an expanse of hills. “You can say that.”

“What is it you want?” she asked, turning. “Ogai-sama?”

“You are different, I see. Less confused, for certain. I hint of… disrespect.”

It was true, and that he was so aware, frightened her to her core. Rōkura said nothing as she looked up at him. He was tall, head and shoulders above her, and like before, he wore a fine set of silken trousers and a jacket, but this time they were blue with a white vest underneath.

“Oh, little Oni-kun.”

“Why is Shinjiro here?”

Ogai glanced up toward the bed as if he had quite completely forgotten all about it. “Ah, yes. That’s right.” He paused. “He’s dying, you see.”

“Can you save him?”

 The words came out of her mouth before she even thought about them.

Ogai smiled indulgently. “I am a god, am I not?”

There was no need for him to be here, and she knew that he didn’t care about saving Shinjiro. He wanted something.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said, tapping his temple.

Her eyes widened, her heart skipping a beat. “But… but you said you didn’t have omniscience!”

“And I would tell you the same now. It’s written all over your face, Kid. Hmmm.”

“What do you want?”

“Oh… nothing. Really, this a conversation I planned to have Hans with. I only want to tell you, Rōkura-kun—that you should be careful.”

It was a threat, surely.

What else could it be?!

“Now turn around and send Hans in to see daddy.”

She almost snorted with contempt and laughter and dread at such a strange way to address himself so casually.  Ogai lifted his nailed finger and poked her in the forehead. She jerked back and blinked, rubbing the spot. “Ay!” she hissed. “That hurt.”

“Hmm,” Ogai smiled.

“What did you do?”

“I just unblocked part of your mind.”

Her heart lurched. “What?! Really?!”

“I like you, Rōkura-kun.  For now—I prefer the carrot over the stick.”

Rōkura froze and so Ogai took her by the shoulders and turned her around. He began to march her into the blackness. “Do not worry.” He pushed her and she stumbled forward. The blackness swallowed her, then suddenly faded, along with the dying words of Ogai-sama. “He will live…”

Rōkura blinked in the midday sunlight streaming through the windows in the hall. Then she glanced toward her right and saw Lord Asher and Hans leaning to peer down the corridor at her.

She walked to them, her heart thundering inside her chest. She could barely breath. I have unblocked part of your mind…

And Shinjiro!

“What happened” Asher asked.

Hans swallowed visibly.

“It was Ogai.”

“We know that!” Hans said. “What happened?”

She touched her forehead where the pain still lingered slightly. She felt… dizzy and disoriented. “He said that Shinjiro would live.”

They breathed more easily. “Really?” asked Lord Asher in surprise. “My past impression of Ogai-sama was…”

“More tension-filled?” suggested Hans?”

Asher nodded. “Indeed.”

“Well…” Hans said with a relieved sigh. “This is good. My turn I suppose.”

Rōkura nodded.

Despite the heady situation, the threats and everything, Rōkura’s heart was soaring with relief and hope for Shinjiro, and an intense wanting for her memories to return to her.

Hans was feeling more cynical however. He would not be making a show of this unless he wanted to do just that—make a show of things. So, he wishes to make a point. Very well.

Breathing in deeply, he turned to them, “Be back in a moment.”

Rōkura nodded. “Mm!”