1.18: Yokai CuriositiesRui led the way out of her office. I followed, already dreading the moment she stopped walking. And sure enough, she stopped exactly where I feared she would.

  Right in front of…

  THE ELEVATOR DEATHTRAP.

  She pressed the button casually. The cracked call light flickered like a dying firefly. My knees started knocking loudly enough that Rui gnced back at me.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I’m not going back in there!” I yelped. “I nearly died like forty-seven times today! Most of them were in that metal coffin!”

  She snorted. “Noh-nuts, this elevator was inspected recently. They haven’t leveled it because while the building is old, the cable is fine, the motor is fine. It screams a bit, yes, but honestly, I love it.”

  “You—love it?”

  “Oh, absolutely.” She beamed. “Old Screamy shrieks all the way up and down! Perfect aesthetic for a spiritual detective. It sets the tone beautifully.”

  “What kind of tone are you trying to set?! ‘Welcome to your doom’?!” I filed. “What clientele are you even trying to keep?! Masochists?! Haunted thrill junkies?!”

  “It’s called finding a silver lining in life,” she said, hands on hips. “In this case, a silver screaming lining.”

  Before I could argue, the elevator shrieked from deep below, metal scraping metal with a tortured wail. The gate rattled loudly, sending cold sweat down my back.

  Rui continued cheerfully, “Isn’t it wonderful? Once, when the maintenance guy forgot to oil the gate for a week, it got even louder. Absolutely beautiful mood-setting. I asked him not to over-oil it again.”

  She cackled like a witch.

  I pressed myself to the wall. “You—you’re actually a loli psycho, aren’t you?”

  “Yup, thanks for noticing! Now step inside or go back into my office and climb down the eighth-floor fire escape out the back. Your call.”

  I hesitated. She shifted into a sweet smile that could only mean danger.

  “If you’re not inside by the time the door closes,” she said pleasantly, “I will call you ‘noh-nuts’ all day long. No exceptions. No mercy.”

  The gate began rattling.

  The world snapped into sharp, total panic.

  “HELL NOOOOOOO!!”

  I dove headfirst into the elevator, misjudging my momentum and crashed straight into Rui, knocking both of us to the floor as the elevator lurched violently. The whole metal box smmed into the side of the shaft like it was in a bar fight.

  I screamed.

  She screamed.

  We both screamed.

  The elevator screamed.

  Everything screamed.

  It was like being trapped in a rolling drum full of angry metal ghosts. The world spun. My stomach flipped twice. I was so dizzy I couldn’t tell which way was down.

  When the doors finally rattled open on the first floor, we spilled out in a heap. Rui shoved me off her and staggered away, clutching her mouth.

  “Ufffff…” She looked like she might vomit.

  I already felt like I had.

  “Get off me, idiot!” she yelled, spping my helmet so hard my nausea evaporated.

  Fresh air never tasted so good.

  We walked a few blocks in silence. Rui’s back was stiff, which was fair. I’d used her ribcage as an airbag.

  Eventually, she spoke. “First, we need to board a bus. You have a transit pass, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Good. I wasn’t about to pay for you.”

  We waited at the stop together. When the bus arrived, two passengers stepped off… both with oddly distorted features. Just… subtly wrong. A little uncanny.

  Since Rui kind of mentioned it…

  Yokai. Definitely yokai.

  I didn’t stare. I didn’t dare to. My own face situation disqualified me from judging anyone.

  We boarded. Passengers stared openly.

  A sentai hero and a tiny girl wearing a bck shirt that boldly decred:

  I’m not weird.I’m just yuri.

  It was interesting that she had at least two variations of her bck shirt with the same concept printed on them.

  Rui’s chest was ft enough to act as prime advertising space, the perfect billboard. All she needed was some good lighting.

  I wondered if my company would pay her to wear corporate logos, then immediately realized: no, they’d want a bigger billboard.

  Only one seat was free. I stood, gripping a pole. Rui ignored me the entire ride, standing near me. After four stops, she rang the cord and we got off.

  We walked several blocks over from there, weaving through smaller streets until she pointed at a narrow five-story building squeezed between a undromat and a ramen shop.

  “This is one of Tokyo’s yokai roads,” she said. “Many cities have them. Different worlds stacked on top of ours… the human one.”

  “Is there… another death-trap elevator inside?” I asked nervously.

  Rui shrugged. “Pfft…. Such a drama queen.”

  Of course, there was an elevator. Modern this time, thankfully. She stepped forward.

  “If you jump on me again, I’ll kick you where it counts,” she said sweetly.

  I covered my helmet automatically.

  “Noh-brains.” She rolled her eyes.

  We rode to the fourth floor without incident. Rui led me to a door bearing a worn sign:

  Nagata Antique Shop

  “Are we shopping?” I asked.

  “No. Don’t touch anything in here. The clientele is… special. Some items they sell here can be dangerous.”

  She opened the door. A cheerful jingle pyed… unsettlingly cute in contrast to the atmosphere.

  The shop was far rger than expected.

  And far stranger.

  Mannequin-like creatures with human skulls and animal bodies filled one section. Shelves dispyed cquered boxes painted with yokai in grotesque poses. Creepy dolls stared from the shadows with gss eyes too lifelike for comfort. Portraits lined another wall, depicting horrors, spirits, strange hybrid beasts, and even cute creatures that didn’t belong anywhere near the others.

  A shelf full of beckoning cat figurines waved their paws faster when we passed. I jumped.

  Deeper in, the lighting dimmed. More disturbing objects appeared… body parts in sealed bags, some human. Ancient seals clung to the packaging like talismans trapping whatever essence remained inside.

  Cursed swords gleamed balefully from a rack. I sidled away from them.

  Rui continued through a beaded curtain.Except the beads…

  Were dried eyeballs.

  I winced, clutching my briefcase shield a little tighter.Rui strode through like she didn’t notice.

  At the end of the narrow tunnel, light erupted… light bright enough to stab through my vision.

  …

  …

  And when I saw the contents of the room and its sole inhabitant beyond the curtain of dried eyeballs, I was completely taken off guard.

  …

  Impossible!

  The shock hit me so hard I toppled forward and colpsed in the doorway.

  Relwing