Threat Elimination (4)

"Why aren't we going to that fun place?" Arahabaki asked as he plopped down on my sofa.

I passed him their book. He gave me an odd look and took it. 

"What am I looking for?" He asked as he flipped it open to the content page. 

His eyes pored through as he muttered what he read, "Capture of an Oni… a Tengu… Sojobo will like this… oh there's even how to catch a snake yōkai, let's see that page."

He grinned at me and turned the pages. "Hmm… this spell won't work on you or Daija. Let alone a Mishakuji. Just an ordinary snake soul capture from, let's say, a living viper."

"Flip towards the end of the book, there's a lot of Emishi type spells there," I said. 

Arahabaki looked at me with suspicion. Then he leafed back to the content page in the opposite direction. "Heard of the utsurobune legend of Hitachi in 1803?"

"Yeah. They found one or two young women around 18 to 20 years in a mysterious-looking boat. Either by the coast or the fishermen out in sea. Both tall and beautiful, with skin was as white as snow and long hair below their waists. One story has the hair in red and the other in black. Both could not speak Japanese but only in an unknown language. The women were dressed differently and held a box which no one would touch," I replied. "So why bring it up?"

"Well…," he paused as he thumbed through the pages and then showed me the page with a picture for a bit. "This is not Emishi. These gibberish markings are actually from ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the utsurobune. Made up from the imagination of the artist. I don't know what type of idiots that group are. But it seems like a human is conning his own fellow dumb shit humans with made up shit."

"Just out of curiosity, what's with the utsurobune legends - you appear well acquainted with it," I asked. 

"Oh, what happens when you see something for the first time and it is extremely strange?," he asked as he continued looking through the book. 

"Describe it within my context, I suppose."

"That's what the people did. And as the story spread, it became a twisted fantasy. Now the humans have idiots who think aliens from outer space visited, and the utsurobune is an UFO," Arahabaki snickered. 

"What were they?"

"The Russian or may British people? The descriptions were so outrageous that it had us gods laughing. Circular boats were not unusual until the local artist drew a dome covering in it together with inspired windows from a western ship he saw. Early descriptions of the boat were no way as crazy as the ones we see in the ukiyo-e prints," he replied. 

Then, with a look of amusement in his face, he added, "the more fantastic it sounds, the more it attracts the gullible. Exact same selling point for whoever masterminded this book. A few party magic tricks and the morons are sold into it. The local population has not changed from what I can see."

He continued turning the pages and then halted at one. "Now this is the one you should worry about."

"Summoning netherworld spirits," I read aloud. 

"But Yomi-no-kuni doesn't release them once they are inside."

He nodded. "This is an attempt to portal straight to the netherworld. These crazy motherfuckers are suicidal. Even the gods will hesitate to do such a thing unless… well, to get rid of me."

"How did you escape? Legends say only Izanagi-no-Mikoto escaped…," I asked in curiosity. 

"It is a secret among us surviving Emishi gods. We can… make ourselves incompatible when convenient and necessary. Think of a European plug trying to fit into a Japanese socket and bingo - that's how," he winked. "If there was a way to shove us into Yomi-no-kuni, they won't be sealing a few of our kind."

"So what does the humans need to do to open the portal."

"A young girl, virgin and past her first menstrual period, is required. Old ways - young pure marriageable maiden, that's what we know. They will kill her and when Death or his minions come, force open their portals. That's suicidal because there is no direct connection to Yomi-no-Kuni if the ritual is performed by humans.There's a border and the deep chasm before the netherworlds of other religions," Arahabaki smirked. "That was what old Calamity said." 

"You would have been to that border," I laughed.

No wonder, he could escape. Arahabaki just couldn't get past the said chasm. That's why they could not imprison him for eternity in Yomi-no-Kuni.

"Um. No. Gods are different. Portals of the gods open to certain areas which the portal of Death can't reach. Be a god and you will understand how it works."

Or maybe not.

"So why is it a concern, then?"

"There are other things lurking in that chasm which you, yōkai, don't want in this world or Kakuriyo. We are not affected but it will be hell if you are."

***

"You should have asked the kodama," Arahabaki said casually as the kodama started complaining to him. 

Daija and I rolled our eyes at his swagger.

The ass kissing kodama only spilt the beans easily to him because he is a god and we are not. Of note, some were indeed captured, but we knew nothing of their fates. 

He casually walked through the tall grass and looked up at all of us on the branches. "Nothing much here. Just a few spells at the bottom of the trees, as written in that weird book of theirs." 

Never was the temptation so great to wring a neck of the divine. Just a few spells would alert the humans of our presence. 

Arahabaki walked up to one gnarled tree, squatted down and rubbed off the markings. An energy shield lighted up and then faded. 

"Nothing to it. Just dumb chalk marks. Some rain can easily take it away." He looked up at the dark night skies with the pinkish cloud overhead. 

A small drizzle started with a smile on his face as he snapped his fingers. A few energy marks lighted and then died into obscurity. The spells over the forest were broken. 

He glanced at the darkened kominka, studying it for a while.

"The first floor spells aren't difficult to pass through. But there's a lot of trapped ghosts and yōkai around there. Their energy is very strong," he said. 

A strange bluish glow emanated from the kominka and Death appeared in front of Arahabaki. The damn grouchy black aura felt angrier than usual. 

"Why did you summon him?" I asked Arahabaki as Daija stared at Death. 

"I didn't." Arahabaki looked at the hazy blackish Death.