1.16: Kindred Hearts“Are you really going to give up that easily, Oni?” I called across the room. “How long have you even worked on these murder cases you mentioned?”

  She didn’t answer. She kept sniffling, shoulders tight, staring down at the floor like her entire career had fallen apart. Being ignored always grated on me, even by someone terrifying enough to turn me into natto with a single kick.

  I sighed, rolled my noh-eyes, and forced myself to my feet. I crossed the office and stopped behind her desk.

  “Oni,” I tried again, quieter. “Am I really so bad? You were just stepping all over me. And I don’t even have my true face anymore. As horrible as it is… it’s mine. I’m sincerely asking you to help me get it back.”

  I bowed low… my final trump card.

  The motion finally broke through her fog. Her sniffling paused. She looked up with red, confused eyes.

  “You… you really want your face back? That ugly mug?! Why?”

  “It’s the only one I’ve ever had,” I muttered. Even I heard how idiotic that sounded.I tried again. “It’s who I am, as miserable as I was. Anyway, if I don’t find it before midnight, my humanity dies. Although I won’t actually die, I'll lose myself completely. Do you really want another yokai born tonight?”

  She exhaled sharply, plopped down in her chair, and spun once with her arms crossed.

  “It’s going to be harder, now,” she compined. “I thought my pn would work perfectly…” She muttered, annoyed. “You might have noticed that I’m a very pretty girl, myself. A cute girl like me is the perfect lure for a face-stealing monster. You following?”

  I kept my mouth shut about the narcissism vibrating off her like radioactivity.

  Rui muttered as she continued to spin, “I figured I could use my special scroll to trap it when it showed up… but I’m not actually sure I can contain something like that. I could practice on you, but you’ve not fully turned yokai. Short of capturing it, I’d have to somehow kill it. Then case closed.” She shrugged. “Anyway, we’re back to square one.”

  That… was her whole pn? Dear kami!

  I nudged her back toward the problem. “What about using me as bait instead of experimenting on me? How might that work?”

  She tapped her lips thoughtfully and snorted. “Pft. I guess that could be a backup pn. But the noh-face already has your face. Why would it want to have anything else to do with you?”

  “Well, actually…” I noh-frowned at her. “There’s been a voice sometimes whispering at me since my face was taken. Maybe it’s some kind of a connection. It keeps saying ‘tomorrow’.”

  “The deadline.” She nodded. “These sorts of things tend to have a Cinderel deadline. Spiritual body changes tend to lock in at the stroke of midnight.”

  I nodded. “Anyway… I think that maybe the noh-face isn’t done with me.”

  The oni nodded, her eyes narrowing as she tapped a little foot. “Hmmm… Serial killers have been known to return to crime scenes. Since we know where you were attacked, if we go back, maybe it’ll show up there again.”

  She jabbed a finger toward the photos. “You’re a huge, gaping wound in my theory, you know. I was sure that it only collects beautiful human faces. That face of yours was a true crime scene, noh-nuts.” She smirked. “Why did it even want that face? Did your features somehow mesmerize it? Does it have an attraction for yakuza too?”

  I winced, each word like a sword driven through my body.

  She sighed again, then suddenly brightened.

  “…Wait. Just maybe…” I excimed.

  She popped up from her chair.

  I blinked as I mulled something that occurred to me. “…Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Probably not,” she said cheerfully, “but go on.”

  I scurried back to the low table and spread the photos out again. My noh-brows furrowed as I checked each one. Then what was tickling at my brain became obvious…

  “Aha.”

  She waited impatiently. “What?”

  “My theory… Reiko-chan isn’t here.”

  Rui’s head snapped up. In the next instant, she vaulted over her desk and nded beside me.

  “Reiko-chan?” she demanded. “Do you by any chance mean… Tanimura Reiko?”

  I froze and nodded slowly.

  Her expression twisted… anger, grief, something deeper and older than both.

  “What did she mean to you?”

  Her voice wasn’t angry at me. It was too soft for that. Too wounded.

  “Oh—um—she was just a precious childhood friend…”

  The love of my life.

  ...

  My chest tightened. Fat tears poured out of my noh-face in a waterfall that immediately spread across the tatami.

  Rui watched the flood approach her shoes and leapt up onto her desk with a startled cry.

  “STOP CRYING! You’re ruining my office!” she snapped. “Cut it out!”

  “I—I’m sorry!” I bawled. “She wouldn’t have ever loved me, no matter what! I… I worked… so hard… I changed… myself so much… And all she wanted was—”

  I couldn't just stop crying like flipping off a switch.

  Rui dove off the desk like a masked wrestler and drop-kicked me ft.

  I hit the floor with a spsh. She nded on top of me, squatting on my back like I was the King of Red Lions.

  Her hand settled on my shoulder.

  “Stop crying, you big baby,” she muttered. “She probably wouldn’t have loved you no matter how close you thought you were.”

  …

  …

  Her voice softened. “But… I know how you feel. One-sided or not, love is love. And love is sacred.”

  She pressed a finger to her lips. Her eyes shimmering.

  “…I loved her too,” Rui whispered. “That’s why I want to kill the noh-face, myself.”

  The world froze.

  “You… you understand,” I choked. “UWAaaaaaaa!”

  I dumped her onto the wet floor and threw my arms around her. She stiffened…

  …

  … And then hesitantly returned the embrace, patting my back in the world’s most awkward attempt at comfort. But she tried. For both of us.

  We sobbed quietly into each other.

  Eventually she pulled back, wiping her face.

  “Noh-nuts, I need a shower, thanks to you.” She grumbled, huffing. “I’m soaked in salt water. If I don’t wash this off, I’ll rash like crazy.” She stood and brushed herself off. “Wait here. I’ll shower fast. And stop crying. Clean this up would you?”

  “But… the time—midnight—” I stammered.

  She waved dismissively. “We’ll find it. I swear it by my family name.”

  Then, more gently she added, “And… formal introductions. I’m Shinohara Rui, Spiritual Detective.”

  She pointed at me. “Now’s your turn. Tell me your name so I don’t have to call you noh-nuts forever.”

  I hesitated. Could I trust her? Could I trust anyone?

  But she loved Reiko. That made her the closest thing I had to family right now.

  “…Susumu,” I finally said. “Miyata Susumu.”

  She blinked. Then smiled in a soft, almost fond way.

  “Your parents must have expected a lot of you,” she murmured. “Nice to meet you, Susumu.”

  She turned toward the bathroom door, paused just long enough to give me a small nod, then slipped inside and closed it gently.

  I sighed.

  That’s the funny thing…They didn’t expect anything from me at all.My name was just a pun.

  Relwing