Snakes and KFC drop off

[En route, Higashi Ward, Fukuoka]

The pungent smell of freshly fried chicken in their KFC buckets permeated the car as Shamoji packed the buckets neatly in the trunk of the Lexus. Yata and a petite employee walked towards the car with more KFC plastic bags in hand.

Alex watched from the sidelines behind the veil, invisible to the young female employee who walked through him. She stopped for a moment to look around, shivering, while Yata feigned ignorance and winked at Alex.

"Today's weather is freezing," she said as her body trembled.

Alex knew otherwise. That cold damp feeling entering the body was walking through a passing being from the hidden realm.

"Let me check the temperature," Yata feigned ignorance and stopped for a while to check his iPhone. "Ah yeah, 7 degrees. No wonder."

Alex sighed in envy at Yata's capability to cover up, along with his ability to cross over the veil in his human form. The real human soul who was him, was stuck watching a spider being and a serpent being imitating human behaviours and reactions, like the best actors who won Hollywood Oscars.

Shamoji mastered the use of human conveniences to pre-order the KFC via the app and had the tools to pass off as a human. Perhaps humans and other creatures were alike in nature.

Alex has seen Shamoji's Gucci King snake wallet, fat with wads of 10,000 yen notes and a black ANA premium Visa credit card. Not to mention, a driving licence.

Ten buckets in the trunk and the petite KFC employee cheerfully offered another five in her hands. Yata was carrying another load of KFC buckets stuffed in the plastic bags. Colonel Sanders would be proud of the sales made.

Alex noted how she kept blushing each time she looked at Shamoji and shuddered.

Oh goodness, she liked him.

Good looking Shamoji may be, but that's a dangerous snake spirit worshipped by her kind. If only she knew, she might run screaming stark mad.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed a jittery yet neatly presented Japanese man with a greenish aura and shifty eyes walking past them on the opposite side of the road, slowing down to stare at them from the opposite road.

"Just a harmless snail yōkai. A Kijikui. He wanders around here as a human," Shamoji's voice whispered in his mind.

Alex jumped for a bit while Shamoji, in his human guise, seemed busy with packing the goods. How Alex wished he could multi-task like that.

"Snail?"

"Look at his shadow. It looks human in the human world, but in the hidden dimension, the shadow is a dead giveaway."

Alex glanced at Shamoji's feet. He has no shadows.

"You idiot, I can suppress. Yōkai can't."

Alex turned to the man, who quicken his pace in panic. There was a huge round shadow on the ground, originating from his shoes. A few humans walked towards him. His face turned pale, and he fled into a small street.

"Kijikui are timid," Shamoji said. "This one lived probably for two thousand years to take human form, but still scared of humans."

"How many yōkai are there around here?"

"Few out today. And they also avoid us if possible."

After Shamoji and Yata fully loaded the trunk, the employee bowed deeply and thanked shyly them in her pipsqueak cutesy voice for their purchases before scurrying away like a little mouse. A slam of the trunk and Shamoji gestured with his head for them to get into the Lexus.

Alex slipped through the open car window, only to have the smell of grease and chicken spices smack his nostrils with unfettered impunity. Almost like he was stuck in the KFC commercial deep fryer machine. He noticed two buckets fastened with the seatbelts on the seat next to his.

Nothing like Colonel Sanders' biggest fans - an enormous bunch of snakes.

"Alright, off to Omiya shrine," Shamoji pipped as he pulled out a fried chicken drumstick in a packet from his jacket to chew on with his pearly white teeth. "If you both want some, help yourself to a piece."

Yata grimaced at his offer and politely refused while closing the car door.

"Oh yeah, spiders sssuck their victims," Shamoji snapped his fingers while Yata scrunched his face at the veiled insult.

"You?" Shamoji pointed to the bucket and glanced at Alex.

"Oh, um, I don't feel hungry."

Alex thanked his lucky stars. Hunger was no longer an issue after death, but soul stones are if he wanted to use any powers. The smell of the greasy fried chicken was enough to turn him off for the next lifetime.

"Actually, we passed a few shrines. Why Omiya shrine?" Alex asked.

"Branch of ours. Heard of Ōmononushi and Mount Miwa?"

Alex shook his head. "Just the Suwa legend of the Mishakuji only."

"Ah yeah, when you were on the cusp of life and death." Shamoji sat in the leather seat and revved the engine.

"You were there when I was stuck in the shrine?"

Shamoji turned to him and nodded as he turned the steering wheel to back out of the car park.

Right, Yata told Alex that the Mishakuji didn't like to communicate with living humans.

"Human priestly clans used to serve us," Shamoji said.

"What happened to those clans?"

"Modernisation, war and science. But they branched out on our behalf, so every Omiya or Suwa shrine, we are there under another name," Shamoji replied.

"Ōmononushi is one of you?"

"Yes, one of the oldest Mishakuji. He loves sake. Hates KFC - calls it human junk food. We love sake more than KFC but oh hey, tasty chicken is always good. Humans used to sacrifice chickens to us but darn Takamagahara came down with that dumb idea of no blood in shrines, so we get sake, and fruits we don't even like," Shamoji grumbled as he tore another chunk of flesh from the chicken drumstick with one hand and another hand on the steering wheel, driving the car through the quiet suburban neighbourhood.

Alex bit his lips to stifle a laugh at the truthful words - KFC is indeed human junk food. Jinwu's words were true, after all.

Another turn past the traffic lights, and the cars in front of them flowed through the train tracks down another row of houses and shops down a straight road. The traffic lights turn green each time their car passed through, making Alex wonder if Shamoji had anything to do with the traffic lights. The traffic moved too smoothly for a compact suburb.

A sharp turn into a gravel filled car park lined with trees as the Lexus pulled up to the parking lot.

A whitish fog surrounded the car in the hidden dimension as Alex made out serpent-like shadows. His eyes widened in surprise as he started counting the many shadows. Over thirty of them.

"SSShamoji, our KFCsss," they called out as Shamoji wind down the windows and popped the trunk open.

Alex stared at the serpentine tail reaching out for the top bucket stacked on top of the other. He snapped the seat belt open as it grappled with the KFC bucket clumsily, almost pouring the contents onto the car seat. Alex slid to the side and supported it while Shamoji turned around with a frown.

"OH FOR FUCKS SAKE, SABURO, JUST SHAPE-SHIFT AND TAKE IT WITH YOUR HANDS!" Shamoji yelled. "If you drop any, I AM NOT GOING BACK TO THE KFC SHOP!"

"We can still eat the dropped ones," came the defiant retort as the tail pulled back, allowing Alex to catch it in time. "Nothing gets wasted."

Priorities, Alex noticed, weren't about the potential of the chicken falling in an expensive car ruining its clean interior and leather couches, or the cost of the interior detailing to clean up oil stains on the leather seats.

The priority is not wasting KFC. The Mishakuji are indeed mad hatters.

"SABURO, SHUT UP."

"Ok, ok," Saburo said with his eyes rolled up, while his hands popped out of the smoky fog to grab the second bucket from the window.

Then a face of another silvery hair young man emerged, and stuck his head through the window, studying Alex with his reptilian grey eyes. His looks bore an uncanny brotherly resemblance, except for those twinkling eyes.

"Ah, that new human soul. Isn't he the one with Yasu Mawari's mark?" Saburo pointed to Alex.

"Oh, you were also there when I was at the… um… cusp?" Alex asked.

"Yes."

Saburo flashed him a smile and took the second bucket, passing it into the fog. Then he turned back to look at Alex as his hands, now empty, leaned on the side of the window.

"Hey human soul," Saburo said as he stretched his hand into the fog and pulled out a small bag. "Catch."

Alex caught it on his toss and examined the contents of the bag, where he found a small cloth charm and a few shiny soul stones.

"Um, thanks," Alex gave Saburo a slight bow and pulled the charm out of the bag for a closer look.

"For luck with Kanagayo," Saburo waved as he vanished into the fog.

"You need it," came his parting words.

"Heh. Good thing Saburo has taken a liking to you," Shamoji said. "his charms are very effective."

"So what's the charm for? To get Kanayago to give me the best weapon," Alex asked, rubbing the charm with hope about its powers.

"No. It is for your safety. Keeps you alive when you meet Kanagayo."

Alex frowned.

"Kanagayo will look beautiful, but her true form is a hideous hag. Don't get enthralled by her and you will be fine."