Road Trippin’

[En route, an expressway in Kitakyushu, Japan]

The booming bass reverberated from the dash equipped with Bang & Olufsen audio system ranting the shadow rap of the US group, Unaverage Gang, as the Lexus weaved in and out between the traffic of cars and large trucks.

"… Hard times and I'm headin down on long road

Mental scars and still bleedin with my eyes closed

Many scary stories that I'm leavin untold

Pages rippen, my decision watch it unfold…"

Hard times, Alex thought of how the chanted song lyrics fit his predicament. His eyes wandered to Shamoji in the driver's seat next to him.

With his rayban sunglasses, Shamoji repeated the rap line for line with one hand on the steering wheel on his speeding Lexus, while Yata tapped along in rhythm on the back of Alex's seat.

Had Yata and Shamoji been his human friends when Alex was alive, Alex would call this a typical bloke's road trip. Except the two were cooler than Alex's nerdy friends in his former life and equipped with a much nicer car. His imagination ran wild with the ridiculous image of a spider and a snake rapping along to human music, almost brought a smile to him.

A sudden pungent whiff of the dearly departed KFC fried chicken broke his thoughts for the moment as Alex ran his fingers on the switch by the car door and press down for it to air the car again. A breeze of fresh air from the forests lining the roadway wafted.

Alex turned to look at a passing car where a woman passenger shook her head, giving Shamoji a look of utter disapproval. A few honks rang out from frustrated motorists as Shamoji switched lanes like a maniac on the E3 Kyushu Expressway.

"What happens if the traffic police stop you for speeding?" Alex asked as he peeped at the speedometer and raised his eyebrow at the display. Shamoji was speeding at 220km/hr.

"The police? Nothing. They don't wander into the tollways unless the speed radar system triggers."

"The speed cameras might have caught us a few times already."

"Seen any red flashes?" Shamoji asked.

Alex shook his head. Any red flash would have pushed him to tell Shamoji as he recalled the flickering red flash from the Japanese speed camera once catching Takeshi doing over 10km/hr on the expressway.

"I rigged this car up. Technology from the hidden dimension trumps human tech by a long mile. See that display?" Shamoji tapped on the navigation system as he slowed the car at the first sight of the large tollbooth across the lanes leading on to the E2A Chūgoku Expressway displayed on a large street sign.

"Uh, huh? The GPS?"

"Blue dots appearing are police cars. No blue dots so far." Shamoji gestured at the screen.

"You see that human sign there?" Shamoji pointed at the human logo on a large green patch on the map displaying the route they were passing through.

"What's that for?"

"That's for haunted sites with plenty of ghosts," Shamoji said.

"No way! That's cool!" Alex gushed.

Yata burst out laughing at his reaction and kicked Alex's seat. "Oh goodness, you are too naïve!"

Alex raised his eyebrow at Shamoji, who pursed his lips tightly with a look of amusement.

Shamoji coughed politely with a serious expression on his face. "In honesty, that's an exercise park or a playground."

Alex sank back into his leather seat, folding his arms, feeling ridiculed as he watched Shamoji drive haphazardly with an occasional car honking at their car in indignation for cutting it off.

Stuck in a thrill seeking ride with a driver who drove like the stunt drivers in Fast and Furious movie series, Alex thanked his lucky stars that he is already dead.

"What if you get into an accident?" Alex asked.

The Lexus swerved narrowly to avoid a collision with the back of the truck and veered back into the empty right lane.

An accident would require documentation, court appearances and a lot of trouble which could uncover Shamoji as a fraud in human guise. How would do any of them handle it?

Yata burst out laughing. "Dude, we also rig anything we drive to stop an accident from happening."

"I mean, humans can still cause the accident."

"True, but those of us who drive cars know how to avoid a collision before it happens," Shamoji replied. "A car is child's play. You haven't seen what the hidden dimension has."

"What does it have?"

"You are over a fortnight old in our world. A lot of things to learn and it will take me months to explain everything…"

Shamoji narrowed his eyes at the road and pointed at a truck which was ahead of them at the electronic toll booth. "… Perfect. See what's on that white truck with the blue stripe on the container? Now I will show you something you don't know."

The mentioned truck seemed ordinary. No signs of dents or bumps.

"Nothing there," Alex said.

"Watch this," Shamoji stepped on the accelerator and switched gear as the engine revved up and the car windows rose, as the Lexus caught up with the truck.

"Keep your eyes on the truck driver when we pass."

Alex watched as they went past the blue container towards the front. His eyes grew bigger as he spotted a blackish shadow next to the driver as the Lexus passed.

*SPLAT*

Alex jumped at the strong vibration on the window. Something splattered on the window, but he couldn't see anything except the passing vehicles.

"Seriously, an idiot," Shamoji muttered in time for Alex to look ahead at the intruder.

A dark, wavy shadow was on the bonnet of the Lexus, crawling towards Shamoji like a predator waiting to pounce. Shamoji smirked at its appearance.

"WHOA, one fucking shinigami," Yata exclaimed before Alex could ask or react.

The shadow paused as though looking through the front window screen, only to spot Shamoji sticking his middle finger up. It reared up for a second and fled onto the road as Alex winded down the window to pop his head out to look back, watching it pass through several cars and back to the truck.

"Shinigami? Death note types?" Alex remembered the anime about a book and a shinigami.

"Yup, but nothing like the anime. Shinigami are soul collectors. They take only this form, not the clown-like anime form. That one is new to the job - it still can't tell the difference," Shamoji said.

"How do you know?"

"Certain aura attracts them."

"Don't tell me my aura attracts them," Alex groaned, pulling his cheek down in despair.

"Not your aura, mine. Mishakuji got the blackish bad luck aura as part of our destructive abilities," Shamoji scoffed at his dramatic reaction.

"Blackish aura like the ones I see on Kanghui, Yasomagatsuhi and Arahabaki?"

Shamoji nodded. "Called the aether element but we nickname it the bad luck aura and you ain't seen nothing yet until you witness Ōmagatsuhi's aura. That's Yasomagatsuhi's elder twin."

"The Kami of Disasters?" Alex mused. The postfix 'magatsuhi' referred to the word for disasters.

"GREAT disasters. We can see his aura for miles. It spares no one, not even us, if he unleashes it. We can only thank our stars that his aura consumes so much power that the vast amount of soul stones isn't enough to sustain for long," Shamoji said.

"So what happens if he can't sustain the aura?"

"He sleeps. So every few years, minor disasters by Yasomagatsuhi and most aren't that bad," Shamoji continued. "Takamagahara needs the both of them to keep the ecological balance in check."

Alex looked at Shamoji for a moment and tilted his head. "Something's wrong with my aura sight?"

"You can't see my aura because you are not skilled enough yet."

"But the shinigami…"

Both Shamoji and Yata snickered.

"The shinigami are innately good at detecting aether. Humans attract that element when their time is up. So that noob of a shinigami mistook me for a dying human." Shamoji shot him a big, mischievous grin before swerving around a slow old car with an elderly man driving.

"This man is an accident waiting to happen," Shamoji added.

Alex glanced at the car. "I don't see a shinigami there."

"You overthink things too much. Basic abilities like casual observation are still important. His vision is failing."

"You can spot human symptoms, just like that?"

"Even an observant human can. Saw how he is squinting, clutching the wheel with a forward slouch and driving so slowly?" Shamoji replied as they switched into a lane heading towards the tunnel.

Alex pinched his forehead at the troubling common sense that had escaped him.

"We are going to have fun when we go through the Kanmon bridge," Shamoji changed the topic as their car drove along the repetitive scenery of the hills.

"Huh? Why?"

Yata howled loudly in excitement, making Alex curious.

"Ready?"

"Hell YEAH!" Yata waved his arms about.

"What's at the bridge?"

"Wait and see." Shamoji winked and noticed Alex's fingers on the button to open the window. "Oh, and don't wind down the window."