CSC Special Chapter: The Holiday Demon

*****

Hisao

*****

Winter had come to our small town of psychics, and with it came the winter holidays. Even in a town smack-dab in the middle of Japanese countryside, Christmas is celebrated. Needless to say, Megugami High School's Community Service Club (i.e. us), was taking part spreading holiday cheer.

For the month of December, we've been helping out an orphanage with getting ready for a holiday party, partnering with a group of volunteers who were especially dedicated to instilling others the holiday spirit. It was just moving some stuff around and putting up the decorations. For the day of the party, we were going to dress up in Christmas colors and man the food stations. 

I was up on a ladder, draping red tinsel around the tree when I happened to look down to see Omoyo's attention elsewhere when she was supposed to be keeping the ladder steady. She was staring at a pair of ladies who appeared to be having a serious discussion right outside the room.

"Is something wrong?" I asked as I climbed down.

Omoyo shook her head and replied, "It's nothing." 

But Isaneko, who was knelt down, hanging some candy canes on the lower leaves of the trees said, "That's a lie. You sense something, don't you, Homura?"

She called Omoyo by her first name and stood back up.

One thing that was unique about our club is that all of its members have some kind of psychic power. Homura Omoyo, a bit tomboyish, had the power to sense other people's feelings. Aika Isaneko looks like a prim and proper girl, but hides a very scary nature and has the power to move things with her mind, a power called telekinesis. As for myself, I have the power to control psychic energy called psychokinesis. With this power, I could make force fields which I usually wore around myself like an armor, which I called Psy-Armor. There are a bunch of other ways I could use this power, but Psy-Armor is my main move.

Confronted by Isaneko's accusation, Omoyo, who's a year older than me and Isaneko, sighed in defeat.

"Fine," she said. She looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping and then dropped her voice into a whisper. "Yes, I sensed something. Those ladies outside had a really bad vibe hanging over their heads. Whatever they're talking about has them spooked."

"Do you have any idea what they might have been talking about?" I asked.

But Omoyo shook her head.

"There's no way I could hear them when they're all the way out there," she said. "I'm not Toshiro,"

Suddenly, a boy popped out from behind the tree and said, "Did someone say my name?"

He was Toshiro Mirai, the club president, and holder of the power to see as far as fifteen minutes into the future. Mirai looked pretty normal at the moment, but most of the time, he acted like a kid whose fantastical imagination turned into wild delusions. But although mostly nonsense is spouted out of his mouth, he's never steered us wrong.

Startled, Omoyo cried out, "Gah! Where'd you pop out from? Were you hiding there this whole time, skipping out on work?"

Ignoring Omoyo, Mirai told us, "If you're wondering what the Orphanage Director and the Assistant Director are talking about, it's the Holiday Demon."

I blinked. "The Holiday Demon?" I never heard about a holiday demon before. "What's that all about?" I asked.

"Ahem!" Mirai cleared his throat. "The Holiday Demon, a wicked scourge that shows up during the holidays. He targets those with holiday cheers to dash their hopes and turn their Christmases into days of darkness."

Me and Omoyo turned to Isaneko for translation.

With a sigh, she said, "Basically he's some jerk who gets a kick out of vandalizing places celebrating Christmas. A few days ago, a community center got broken into and had all their Christmas decorations wrecked. The day after that, a shopping district dressed up for the holidays at the next town over got their decorations torn off the walls and the tree smashed up. And the day after that, a kindergarten school got busted up. Those cases were on the news and the police think all three cases were done by the same person. It was the news people who coined the name, Holiday Demon. There's talks about him all over the Internet, and he's got quite a few fans cheering him on throughout the message boards, especially the ones bashing Christmas. He's all those guys ever talk about these days."

I stared at Isaneko. "You make it sound like you visit message boards that bash Christmas all the time. Do you visit those kinds of message boards all the time?"

To which, Isaneko responded, "No comment."

"Oh, man," Omoyo muttered. "All this talk about a guy ruining everyone's Christmas, that'd be some serious foreshadowing if this was a story in a book."

"It's more than just foreshadowing," Mirai said. "There's a huge chance that the Holiday Demon's coming here."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"From what the directors were saying," Mirai said. "I overheard everything that was said when I used my future sight on their conversation. Another kindergarten school at one of the neighboring towns fell victim to the Holiday Demon. There's videos posted on the internet. Take a look."

He pulled out his phone and showed it to us. On the screen, a terrible scene played out, of decorations torn off the walls and discarded on the floor. Of a Christmas tree toppled over and clearly stomped on. But worse of all was the scene of little kids, so little that they could be called babies, crying. I could feel a fire in me raise pressure to my heart and head.

Nothing described the scene better than what Omoyo had to say.

"This is just horrible."

"I know, right?" Mirai said as he put his phone away. "I took a look at all the cases the Holiday Demon might have had a hand in and saw that the trail he left behind was straight. No doubt, our town's next."

"I see," Isaneko said. "Thinking back, all the places the Holiday Demon struck were places that would take center spotlight in the towns they belonged to at this time of year, which would make the impact of his crimes very significant. So it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that he would target this orphanage next since it has always gotten a place on the newspaper for their holiday celebrations."

"But at this stage, even though the chances are high, they're not a hundred percent," Mirai said. "This town's fairly big with a whole bunch of community centers, schools, and shopping districts each with their own plans for big holiday celebrations."

I groaned.

"First we get those Halloween Nightmares who liked scaring little kids to tears, now we've got a Holiday Demon who's not shy about smashing up innocent kids' Christmas? Just what is wrong with people these days?"

*****

Yuna

*****

I am Yuna, Hisao's cousin and another member of the Community Service Club who had come to help the orphanage get ready for its Christmas celebration. I was on my way back to the party venue from the restrooms, when I noticed a group of children huddled together outside. They three boys and two girls, were all around five to six and looked like they were having some kind of important discussion. The worry on their faces got me both concerned and curious. Before I knew it, my feet carried me to them and I could hear what they had to say.

"Did you hear what the grownups said?" one boy said.

"Yeah!" said a girl. "Someone evil's coming to ruin our party! We can't let that happen!"

"We'll protect the party, just like that superhero!" said another boy.

It was hard to follow what they were talking about, but I would get no more out of the children. Suddenly, behind me, the door flew open and Hisao rushed out. He was likely headed for the restroom.

I heard someone behind me say, "Come on! Let's go!" And I turned around to see the children all run away.

I thought about going after them, but decided it was better to leave them alone. 

When I got back inside the room where the orphanage's party was going to be held, I noticed everyone else chatting in low voices and pulled out my phone which is what I used to communicate with others since I'm unable to talk. I typed in the question I wanted to ask and walked up to them.

After raising my hand in hello, I pressed play and the app on my phone read aloud what I had typed in a female robot voice.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, we were just discussing the recent rise of the Holiday Demon and the chances that he was going to show up here," said Mirai.

I looked at Mirai, my question so clear on my face that I didn't need my phone to convey it. He quickly told me a summary of the Holiday Demon's crimes and the concerns of the orphanage's director and assistant director.

Frowning, I wondered if that was what those kids were talking about. If so, then their discussion was starting to make sense.

Worried that those kids were going to do something dangerous, I quickly looked for the director and let her know what I had overheard. She thanked me for telling her after I had explained everything and promised me that she would do something about them.

But despite her promise, I couldn't help but be worried about those children. They remained on my mind for the rest of the day, when I walked home with the others, during dinner time, and finally at night when I should be sleeping. While I lied in bed, staring at the ceiling, they appeared in my head.

I blew out a puff of air, sat up and took a deep breath before closing my eyes.

I'm sure Hisao must have mentioned it earlier, but everyone in the Community Service Club had a psychic power. My power right now is the ability to sense the presence of other people and locate them. I know it doesn't sound all that impressive, unlike Hisao's Psy-Armor or Isaneko's telekinesis, but unlike their powers, mine had practically no range limits. There might be a limit, but I've never been able to discover what that is. For now, I just kept my senses up to the borders of town. So, in a way, I literally knew everyone in town.

But that's why, when I spread my senses out, I was immediately hit with a sense of dread.

I could find the children no problem. Just as I thought, they had snuck out of their beds and were headed towards the party room probably to protect it from the Holiday Demon. Outside the orphanage grounds, however, I could sense someone I've never sensed before lingering around. This person's movements were strange, as if they're purposely trying to avoid the two police officers guarding the perimeter of the orphanage. 

Like I said before, in a way, I knew everyone in town. The fact that I didn't recognize this person creeping about outside the orphanage made it obvious that he, or she, was the Holiday Demon. 

Not good, I thought. The Holiday Demon evaded the police officers' notice and was running along the perimeter of the orphanage. They were looking for a way to get inside. Chances were the Holiday Demon and those kids were sure to meet. 

Quickly, I threw off the covers and grabbed my winter coat and pants. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it in time, but I couldn't just leave those kids alone when I knew they could be in danger. As soon as I was dressed, I was out of the house.

I ran with all my might through the streets at night. The sky was completely black, but as long as there were street lamps shining light over the shallow snow that covered the roads, I was okay.

At times, I had to pause to catch my breath. But even with these breaks, I was pushing myself. I could feel myself getting a splitting headache, while my right side felt like it was being torn. Sweat drenched my hair, and I grew incredibly hot in winter night air.

I reached the orphanage, and then turned on my power. The police officers pstrolling the area were still at the main gates, and the children were outside the party room. As for the Holiday Demon, to my relief, I could feel his presence lingering by the back wall of the orphanage. He had not yet entered the orphanage's grounds.

Although that was a good thing, I couldn't help but feel confused. I tried getting to the orphanage as fast as possible, but it still must have taken me twenty minutes. That was plenty of time for the Holiday Demon to break in and cause harm. Why was he still waiting outside?

I made my way around the orphanage and soon had my answer.

I spotted two figures standing within the radius of the street light that stood by the wall. One was a man dressed from head to toe in black. The other figure wore Kendo armor over a long trench coat and khaki trousers. 

The first man had his head covered by a wool beanie hat while a reusable cloth mask covered his nose, mouth and chin. He had on a small backpack and held a baseball bat in his hand. 

Because I only sensed one person in the area, I was completely surprised by the apoearance of the second person. But despite the Kendo helmet completely covering the second person's face, I recognized him right away as Hisao. The space around him was all twisted as if he were covered in a rippling heatwave, a telltale sign of my cousin's Psy-Armor.

What's he doing here? I wondered. How did he get here before me? And where did he get that armor?

Hisao stood tall and firm in front of the guy in black, which, by process of elimination, I identified as the Holiday Demon. There was something strange and different about my cousin. With his hands resting on the sword stabbed into the snow, he appeared regal, like a chivalrous knight, which was the complete opposite of his usual, meek, modern-day nerd personality. 

*****

Hisao

*****

You all are probably wondering why I was standing outside in the dead of night, dressed in Kendo gear while staring down a guy that just screamed criminal by appearance. Well, it was simple.

Earlier, while streaming a reality ghost hunting show on my computer, I got a call from Mirai saying that it was an emergency and to get my butt to the orphanage. He said it would be a matter of life and death for the little kids, that they could end up like that guy we once saw in the river one day a long time ago, who was a victim of the murderous Piper.

At the mention of the Piper’s victim, I had a flashback to that day, and quickly left my house, taking with me one of many wood swords a relative had sent to my house as travel souvenirs. Mirai guided me through shortcuts to the orphanage, and we met just a few feet away from it. He was the one who brought the armor. 

"Quick!" he hissed. "Put this on! Hurry! Those kids are in trouble!"

I didn't have time to question him. I put the armor on and charged in the direction he pointed. 

Boosted by my Psy-Armor, I was behind the orphanage in the blink of an eye. I saw a guy in black head for the orphanage's wall and leaped right in front of him. The man jumped back in surprise and I rested my hands on my sword, treating it like a walking stick.

Mirai said that this man was the Holiday Demon. After thinking back to that video of his crimes and those crying children, anger once more stewed in my gut and I glared at the man with hate. I wanted to hurt him. But at the same time, I also wanted to hold back, afraid of going too far.

The Holiday Demon stared at me with bewildered eyes. But his surprise was quickly replaced with irritation.

He clicked his tongue and turned to leave, but I stopped him with a question.

"Why?" I asked.

He froze.

"Why did you do that to those kids?"

He threw back a question of his own. "What's it to you?"

"Answer me," I commanded.

The Holiday Demon clicked his tongue again and grumbled something about looking down on him like all the rest, beneath his breath. But then he started a rant.

"Every year, Christmas time, you got all these happy-go-lucky people walking around, going about their lives without a care in the world," he said. "And yet, here I am, stuck in a miserable dead-end job, no girlfriend, and I can barely even afford cup noodles! How come they all get to be happy and I don't?"

"That's why you decided to smash up those Christmas decorations?" I said. "That's why you decided to make those children cry?"

I was beyond angry.

"How utterly pathetic," I spat.

"What did you just call me?" the Holiday Demon said. It was his turn to get mad. I sensed it, and it egged me on to say more.

"You heard me," I said to him. "You are pathetic. I've met a few losers before, but you are by far the most pathetic. The things you did, the reason for them, if that doesn't make you a pathetic, petty loser, I don't know what would. You're just a sad, sorry excuse of a man."

"Why you little - !" 

The Holiday Demon snapped. He picked up his baseball bat and swung it at me.

I thought about using my sword to block his attack, but then I remembered that Mirai said that the armor I wore, including the gloves was as strong as bulletproof vests. That, combined with my Psy-Armor made me absolutely indestructible. So, I lifted up my left arm instead. The baseball bat connected with the pad covering my forearm, but I didn't feel a thing.

The Holiday Demon swung at me again, but I caught the bat with my hand this time and pushed it, and the Demon, away.

After stumbling back a few feet, the Holiday Demon shouted, "Just where do you get off calling me a loser, huh? Running around in that stupid getup of yours. Think you're some kind of hero? Well, you ain't! Just you wait. One day, you'll be in the same position I am in, struggling to make ends meet, just trying to survive, and nothing to show for it!"

"Maybe," I said. I couldn't deny that future could be waiting for me, but . . . "But you're wrong about one thing. I will have something, unlike you."

"And what's that?" the Holiday Demon asked.

I paused to take a deep breath before looking the Demon in the eye and replied, "Pride that I lived an honest life."

"And you think that makes living a miserable life like that okay?" the Holiday Demon shouted.

"Better than becoming a loser scumbag like you," I said.

The Holiday Demon flew into a rage again and attacked me. And like before, I used my arm to block each and every one of his attacks. Thanks to my Psy-Armor, I had a boost in strength and speed. I could easily beat this loser to a pulp. But I chose not to. Why, you might ask? I can't really say for certain, but perhaps, deep down inside, I just wanted to show that I was a better man than him, to myself, to anyone who might be watching, and maybe even to the Demon himself.

But with that said, I was still angry. I stopped myself from expressing my anger through actions, so instead, my anger was unleashed through my words.

"Do you really think that you're all that special?" I asked him. "That all the misery you've been through gives you the right to make others miserable? News flash, that's just arrogance!"

"Shut up!" he shouted. "Just what do you know about what I went through?"

He attacked me one more time, but this time, I swatted the bat away and then grabbed him by the front of his shirt. I lifted him off his feet and roughly pulled him towards my face.

"Right back at you," I hissed. "Do you even understand where we are right now? What those kids sleeping in those buildings behind me went through? They're orphans, children who lost their homes and families! Some were abandoned. Some saw their parents die right before their very eyes. And some had to be rescued from the abuse carried out by the very people who should be caring and loving them unconditionally. Can you even imagine what that's like? I sure can't. Just the thought of going through what they did sends shivers down my spine. And you think they deserve to be more miserable than you?"

I threw him to the ground and stood over him.

"Come on," I said. "You're not done yet, are you?"

I could practically see him grit his teeth through his mask. He got back up again and resumed attacking. And with each attack, I moved my arm to block him and push him away. I lost track of the time how long we went at it, but eventually the Holiday Demon reached his limits and collapsed onto the snow on his own while I still had some energy to spare but chose to stand back and rest my hands on my sword again.

For a while after that, neither of us said a word. The Holiday Demon just laid on the ground, gasping for air, while I stood, trying to catch my breath. When my heart beat slowed a little, I spoke.

"Those kids must have gone through things worse than anything you or I could possibly imagine," I said to him. "But they still have a chance to learn how to live their lives for the better. They have a chance at a brighter future. And so do you, if you're willing to make a change."

I said no more and watched as the Holiday Demon picked himself up, turned around and slowly walked away. 

As soon as he disappeared into the night, I turned to leave, but saw Yuna looking at me from behind a corner of the wall. I was pretty surprised to see her and wondered if Mirai called her here. 

She stepped out of hiding and walked towards me. In her hand was her phone with a question already typed in it.

"Was it really okay to let him go?" the phone asked for her.

I nodded and said, "Yeah. Consider it giving him a second chance in the spirit of the holidays."

Yuna typed in a new question. "Even if he doesn't come back here, he could just cause trouble somewhere else."

"Don't worry," I said. "Mirai said he'd be keeping an eye on him. So whether he does something or not, it's the end of the Holiday Demon."

*****

Yuna

*****

Hisao's prediction of the future ended up being true. Although there are still troublemakers popping up in the news, the Holiday Demon was not one of them. I'd like to think that Hisao's words inspired a change of heart in him, but deep down, I had doubts that happened. But whatever happened to the Holiday Demon in the end, at least he was no longer causing trouble. And thanks to Hisao, and Mirai, the children of the orphanage got to have another wonderful Christmas.

Me, Omoyo and Isaneko got to attend the party as helpers. Our job was simply to serve the food and then later help clean up. We got to take part in some of the games and got real close with the children. Well, me and Omoyo got real close with the children at least. Isaneko always kept a certain distance. 

I easily spotted the brave kids who had planned to protect their home from the Holiday Demon and was relieved to see them enjoying themselves, safe and sound. Sometimes, I shudder to think what would have happened if Hisao had not been there to stop the Holiday Demon. Just knowing that fun moments like this party could be ruined by just one person really got me thinking just how precious stuff like this really were.

All in all, it was an incredibly fun time. It was just too bad that both Hisao and Mirai were not here to enjoy it with us. They apparently had more important things to take care of. Well, Mirai did at least, and he kind of forced Hisao to tag along. They've been gone for about a week.

I tried asking Isaneko if she knew anything, but she just flashed me a mysterious smile and said, "Oh, they're just doing our club name proud."

It wasn't until later on, when I was at home, scrolling through social media on my phone that I figured out what she meant by that.

I had found pictures of places in other towns which had been hit by the Holiday Demon. In the pictures, Hisao and Mirai could be seen wearing Santa hats over their usual clothes helping with the cleanup. There were pictures of them putting decorations back up on a Christmas tree, setting up tables, and even took part in handing out presents to little children.

Despite his faults, Hisao was good at heart. As I looked at the pictures, there was a warm sense of pride in my heart.

I was interrupted by a knocking on my door. When I opened the door, I found Hisao standing outside in his usual Aloha shirt.

"Come on," he said. "Dinner's ready."

I nodded and followed after him, closing the door behind me.

*****

?????

*****

On a cold winter night, a man wandered the streets of a city downtown where life still flourished during the late hours. Tall buildings glittered from the lights shining below while massive amounts of people walked up and down the sidewalks, admiring the highly decorated shop windows. Some went into restaurants while others came out of shops. There were couples everywhere, chatting, laughing, and even outright flirting in public.

It was the same every year, the lone man thought. And every year before this, the overall cheery holiday mood disgusted him. He wanted to ruin it, see it all darken by a shadow like one would find in a funeral. That was why, this year, he did some terrible things until he was stopped by some jerk who acted like a know-it-all hero.

"I suppose I should count myself lucky he didn't turn me into the police," the man muttered to himself. "Heck, I probably would've been beaten black and blue if he felt like it."

With some experience under his belt, the man was confident in his strength as a fighter. But that guy, whoever he was, toyed with him like a grownup would to a small kid. And that guy had the gall to lecture him.

As he continued down the street, he walked past boy and a girl, probably college students dating, They were overtly flirting in public. Normally, seeing something like that gave the man an urge to wipe the smiles off their faces somehow, but that feeling never came tonight. The man just watched the young couple walk away before resuming his own journey through the snowy night.

He just passed an alleyway when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Huddled against the wall was a boy. It was hard to tell how old he was, but he must definitely belong in elementary school.

What's a kid like that doing out here alone? The man wondered as he stared at the kid. Suddenly, that guy's words popped into his head, and he became incredibly irritated.

The man scratched his head furiously. And then he spun at his heels and marched.

"Hey!" He called out to the little boy, catching his attention.

On this night, a man began to walk the path of redemption and a boy would have his life changed for the better.

Merry Christmas!

 Hey, everyone!

It's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog. I just wanted to let you know that I've got something really special planned coming December. Consider it an early Christmas present from me to you. Think you can figure out what it is? That's right! You guessed it, it's FREE BOOKS!

Between December 6, 2021 and December 10, 2021, certain eBooks on Amazon will cost $0.00. That's ZERO-point-ZERO-ZERO DOLLARS!

First up on my list of Christmas presents is . . . THIS:

Silverwest Manor, Book one of the Silverwest Trilogy. It's one of my older attempts at writing a fantasy novel.

This book is about a boy named Marcus who moves into a distant relative's house, where he discovers that magic is real and that he's next the next family warlock. While trying to learn the ropes of his new job, trouble starts brewing in town and it's up to him and his new friends to stop it.

To buy the book, just click on the link below.

==> CLICK HERE <==

Next up, there's . . .

Quest for the Witch, Book One of the Eternal Witch Saga. This book's about a young witch named Alexandra who ends up forced into going on a quest for her teacher, the famous Eternal Witch. Follow them on their journey around the country, saving towns from the forces of darkness.

To buy the book, just click on the link below:

==> CLICK HERE <==

And finally, the last book in my sack of presents is . . .

Paranormal, a Ben and Co. novel. This is where it all starts for Benjamin Tao, a teen genius and talented stage magician, who somehow gets roped into a game of Cat and Mouse with an organization aiming to learn how to use real psychic powers for their own ends.

To buy the book, click on the link below.

==>CLICK HERE<==

So, remember guys. Make sure to mark your calendars down, bookmark this page, and don't miss this chance to get these awesome stories for FREE!

CSC Volume 2 Ch. 16

It turns out that Kyouko had come to apologize to Yuna for all the bullying she had done. Somehow, for reasons unknown to me, she had realized the error of her ways and wanted to make up for them. She also confessed to us all that she was the one who locked Yuna in that storage building in the first place. 

Omoyo was, of course, angry. But because of her power, she received a full blast of Kyouko's true feelings of guilt and repentance. Against such sincerity, Omoyo's anger was quelled before it could even surface and she grudgingly accepted Kyouko's apology.

But that wasn't to say that we all became buddy-buddy right then and there. Things were pretty shaky between us whenever Kyouko was around during our club activities or when we're just hanging out and chilling at the clubroom. There was always this awkward air that would make me withdraw from the others more than usual.

However, little by little, we got used to her being around until eventually, she became part of our normal every day. By then, days have passed. But although we were all living our normal lives, the same couldn't be said about the town. 

The arsonist was still out there causing fires, and the tension between the townsfolk kept growing as a result. All the fires could be called small and minor, but they're happening so frequently that people were afraid it was just a matter of time before someone got hurt. It was a miracle that no one already had been.

People have become more short-tempered because of the fear, with guys snapping at each other left and right almost every day. I've even seen a few fights break out on school grounds.

Understandably, Soushu became impatient with Mirai and us. She came by every other day to check if Mirai found out anything about the fires, only to leave disappointed when he said no. But eventually, she reached critical.

On her latest visit, which both Kyouko and Akira were present for, she slammed her hands down on the table hard and shouted at Mirai, "It's been weeks already! And you still haven't found even a shred of a clue? Are you even taking this seriously, Toshiro?"

Mirai calmly glanced up at Soushu with his right cheek resting on his balled-up hand. With his power, he must have known today would be the day the student council president would snap.

"I am taking this seriously, Naoko," he said.

"Then tell me who's the arsonist!" Soushu snapped. "Tell me what he looks like, if he's a he or a she, whether he's a local or a foreigner. Tell me everything you've seen!"

Mirai took one look of Soushu and took a deep breath.

"Alright," he said. "I'll tell you everything I've seen through my Magic Eyes. And that is . . ."

We all leaned closer to Mirai in anticipation. Soushu spoke for us, "That is?"

Mirai threw up his hands and shouted, "Absolutely nothing!"

"Wha-!?" Soushu cried out.

"Well, what did you expect?" Mirai said. "I can't keep my power up twenty-four/seven. And I can only see ahead by fifteen minutes. All the attacks being random by place and time also doesn't help. There's just no way for me to find the arsonist before he does something or catch him in the act."

"Gah!" Soushu shouted. "You're even more useless than the psychics spinning nothing but excuses to my dad!"

"Not true," said Mirai. "My psychic powers may have been no help, but I am not just a psychic. I am a psychic detective!"

We all looked at him.

"Uh . . ." went Akira. "Using psychic power to figure something out is the whole point of a psychic detective. If your psychic power is no good, how does that make you, a psychic detective, any less useless?"

"Because I do actual detective work!" Mirai said.

He got out of his seat and went over to the white board that was usually left standing at the side of the room. Written on the board were reminders of volunteer work scheduled in the following two weeks. But when he flipped the board over, we were all treated to the sight of an honest-to-goodness, real-life conspiracy board full of pictures and newspaper clippings tacked on by colored magnets and connected to one another by red string.

Mirai straightened his imaginary necktie, pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, and cleared his throat. And then, like a detective from a cop show, he gave us a review of his findings.

"Since the early weeks of summer vacation, this town has been plagued by multiple fire incidents," he said. "Because of the frequency of the incidents and a lack of evidence, police, fire fighters and mass media have concluded them to be the work of a serial arsonist. Yes, Detective Oota?"

I had raised my hand to ask, "How can a lack of evidence point to arson?"

"Good question, Detective Oota," said Mirai. "Simply put, apart from a fraction of the incidents, the police eggheads have been unable to identify a possible source for most of the fires. If these fires had been accidents, there should have been at least something to show how the fires were started. But there was nothing that could explain how most of the fires started, which points to the fires being made on purpose. That's what everyone else thinks, anyway.

"However, that still leaves the question of how the fires were started. If a person was the one making the fire, how'd they do it? With no clues, it's as if the fires just started out of nothing. And that's exactly what happened.

"As we all know, psychic powers are real. Among all the psychic powers known to exist, there're powers related to heat and fire manipulation. Only someone with those kinds of powers could have made a fire out of nothing."

"Yeah, we all know that," Soushu grumbled, showing us an annoyed scowl. "Can you please get to the point already?"

"Patience, Detective Soushu," Mirai said. "I'm getting to it.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yeah! Apart from the Shirogami Shrine and few other places, the fires are mostly concentrated in a region of town dominantly populated by Soushu supporters. This has led to the belief that the arsonist may be from the Yamimura Family, or a supporter of theirs who is picking a fight with the Soushu Family. The Yamimura Family is a known rival of the Soushu Family, and the conflict between the two groups has escalated into a feud. Basically, they hate each other's guts. 

"With that in mind, it'd be reasonable to think the Yamimura Family is behind the fires. However, Detective Soushu, the next leader of the Soushu Family, does not believe the Yamimura Family is behind the fires, only because of the fact that even just being accused of a serious crime like arson would be bad for the Yamimura Family's political efforts. And I agree with Detective Soushu's line of thinking and have found other things to make me doubt the Yamimura Family's involvement.

"First is the size of each fire, which sporadically varies with each other. You get a small flicker in one incident, and then a huge blaze in the next, and after that another small one. 

"Second is where each fire was started. Those are also random. Garbage dumps, trash cans, potted plants, and laundry being hung out to dry are obvious things to start fires on, but the arsonist has also started fires on roads, atop walls, and even around street lights. And it changes between all of that. You could get a garbage fire one day, and then the next a road fire, only for the fire after that to be back on garbage. 

"Third is the scale of danger to others, which ties in to the sizes of the fires and the places the fires started. That is also random. Take the shrine forest fire for example. Detective Yuna was nearly killed in that one, and the fire was huge, the biggest of all the fires."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kyouko shifting around uncomfortably in her seat. Even though we let bygones be bygones, the shrine fire was still a sore subject. Mirai didn't seem to notice and continued his presentation.

"But after that, there was a fire on a trash can that was really small and placed where it's impossible anyone could get hurt. And then the fire after that was no bigger than a candle light found on top of a recycle bin in front of the convenience store. And after that was a huge bush fire at the park which nearly burned a caretaker. A jogger was nearly hit by an explosive fire a few days later. Following that was another harmless small flicker."

"So basically all the fires are random in every conceivable way," said Omoyo. "Just what did you get out of that, Detective Mirai?" Her eyes lit up. "I mean Toshiro! I meant to say Toshiro!"

Mirai grinned slyly at her. She tried to deny it, but for a moment, Omoyo had been swept into the world of Mirai's childish play-pretend.

Omoyo coughed.

"Ahem! Anyway, can you finally get to your conclusion already, Toshiro?"

"Fine," said Mirai. "It's just like Detective Omoyo said: these fires are all random in every way possible, from the size, to the location, to how close someone got hurt. There are only two reasons I can think of for the randomness. Reason Number One, the guy's just so careless about the fires that he'll start one without much thought and see what fate dishes out. Reason Number Two, the arsonist isn't in control of his power. Personally, I'm leaning towards Reason Number Two as the most likely."

"So, you're saying these fires really are accidents," Soushu said. "Only they're PSYCHIC accidents. Not regular ones."

"Right you are, Detective Soushu!" Mirai shouted. "I see someone's on her way to being the next superintendent!"

"Please just stop the cop play-pretend already," Soushu said.

"Never!" shouted Mirai. "Anyway, like Officer Soushu said -"

Ah, Soushu got demoted. So much for becoming superintendent.

"- the fires plaguing our town really are accidents, and they're caused by a psychic with little to no control of his power. Historically, these kinds of accidents have happened before, and they were bound to happen again. That should be obvious for a town full of psychics. But thanks to those bogus rumors of arson targeting the Soushu Family, nobody thought to consider the possibility and the Yamimuras and Soushus are now at each other's throats more than ever.

"So, we're dealing with an amateur power user," said Soushu. "We may not know who that is, but at least now we have a better idea what to look out for. I guess you weren't so useless after all, Toshiro."

Mirai grinned proudly and replied, "Thanks. But I'm not done yet. I have more to add."

"What's that?" Soushu asked.

"I don't think our power user even knows he has fire powers," said Mirai. "Chances are he's starting the fires without knowing, which is a good thing."

Akira raised his hand and asked, "How is our arsonist not knowing what he's doing a good thing?"

"Elementary, Akira," said Isaneko. "Hey, Oota. What would you do if you found out you had powers that caused others trouble?"

I took a moment to think before answering, "I'd probably panic."

"Exactly," said Isaneko. "Our powers are connected to our mental condition. If our minds become a mess, so will our powers. That is especially true for psychics with no real control over their powers. If Mirai is right and our arsonist realizes what he's doing and panics because of that, his powers will go further out of control and cause greater damage than he's done before. He might even explode."

That kind of scared me. I never realized that powers could go out of control, and it worried me that it could happen to me.

"Anyway," said Mirai, "considering that our arsonist is not aware of his crimes, we can deduce that at the time all the incidents, he must have been going about his life like normal. From there, we can narrow down what kind of person the arsonist is. Here's what I came up with:

"Going by when the fires started, I believe the arsonist to be either high school or college age. No one else would be free around those times. Given that most of the fires are concentrated in a specific neighborhood where a lot Soushu supporters happen to live, his home's probably in or close by that area. And since the fires were scattered all over and outside the streets, I'd bet the arsonist likes to wander around the neighborhood when he's got some free time."

As he talked, my eyes started wandering and I spotted Akira shifting around in his chair. 

I wonder what's up with him, I thought. Could he be itchy or something?

And then, finally, Mirai's briefing concluded.

"That's all I got," he said. "I've got all my findings typed up in a word doc. It'll have a timeline of all the fires and where they happened, when they happened. I'll send them all to you later. And by later, I mean now."

I don't know when, but he had his phone in his hand. He pushed a button on the screen, and the next second, all of our phones started chiming, beeping, and whistling.

I swiped the notice away from my phone and went back to my game with plans to give the doc a quick lookover later. The others, however, seemed to take the time to read it thoroughly. 

For a few minutes, the room was quiet. And then -

"I gotta get going," said Akira. He abruptly got up, causing the chair to scrape its legs against the floor, grabbed his bag and rushed out before I could so much as say good-bye. It looked like he was in a great big rush.

Soushu left a few minutes after that. An hour later, while we walked home, I heard sirens from a fire truck blaring from far away.

<== Previous                                                                                        Next ==>

CSC Volume 2 Ch. 15

 *****
Hisao
*****

So, I'm sure you're all wondering what happened on my end after that time Shikouyama went wild, so let me fill you in.

First, after parting ways from Kyouko, I returned to the clubroom with drinks. The others wondered what took me so long, so I filled them in on what happened. You can imagine the shock and disbelief on their faces when they heard that Shikouyama had acted like a rabid animal and attacked Yamimura and me. Yuna asked if I was okay, but there was nothing to worry about since my Psy-Armor gave me perfect defense stats. Totally no damage.

After telling her so, Mirai butt in and said, "That's good to know."

"Still, it's weird how Shikouyama's been exploding like that a lot lately," Isaneko said. "He never had such a temper when we were kids. And to cause a fight at school of all places, even during summer vacation time when there are scarcely any students around. That's not what you'd expect a member of the student council to do."

"He's not the only one exploding a lot," Omoyo said. "I've been sensing rage and anger flaring up all over town, some of them from people I know who can usually reign in their temper."

"Aren't you overthinking it a bit?" Mirai asked. "It shouldn't be a surprise that everyone's been a bit more moody than normal lately, what with the Piper coming to town and now all these fires."

"Moody enough to be at each other's throats almost every other day?" Omoyo asked. 

"There's no mystery behind that," said Isaneko. "We all know that the Shirogami Clan's been pulling strings from the shadows to pit the Soushu Group and the Yamimura Group against each other. It's why Naoko wanted us to help find the arsonist, after all."

"Exactly," said Mirai. "The faster the fire demon is caught, the faster peace returns to my domain. To me, my familiars! My eyes in the sky!"

He suddenly sprang to his feet and spread his arms apart as if calling down lightning from the sky. We all glanced at him briefly and then turned away.

"By the way," said Omoyo, "I get how that idiot (Shikouyama) would go crazy over you and Yamimura just talking, but why were you hanging out with him anyway? After that duel you two had a few months back, I got to thinking that you'd rather keep away from him, six feet minimum. That's the vibes I keep sensing from you every time we spot him."

"Oh, we just happened to run into each other and then Shikouyama showed up," I said. I had decided to keep my meeting with Kyouko to myself. In case you're wondering, there was no deep meaning behind it. I just didn't want to add to the ginormous hassle of explaining everything to the others.

And . . . that was about it. The next couple of days, I haven't heard anything about Shikouyama or the fuss he kicked up. As far as I knew, Yamimura was still going to school like normal, and the student council went about their own business as usual. It was as if the battle that day never happened.

I was pretty peachy about things going back to normal in the blink of an eye, but I couldn't help but wonder how Soushu could sweep everything under the rug to that extent. After all, even during summer vacation, there are people coming and going from school, including teachers. It was probably better for me that I never asked.

Well, I say things have gone back to normal, but that just applied to me personally, and only on a surface level. There have been more fires popping up around the neighborhood and it's getting people mighty frustrated. My own parents have been really snappy at each other and me a lot more than usual, and I'm constantly nagged to be more careful outside as if I wasn't cautious of the outside world already, being a self-admitted scaredy-cat and all.

Overnight, if I looked out my window, I could see a group of people marching down the street carrying flashlights and long poles. They were the volunteer night watch formed by members of the neighborhood who couldn't take the fires anymore and decided to take matters into their own hands. Even without powers like Omoyo's, I could feel the tension in the air whenever they were around. It was so intense, I was afraid that they'd jump me if I ever got too close, which was why, whenever I saw them, I always kept my head down and keep as far away from them as possible.

All in all, the situation in my hometown has been downright depressing. It was never like that when I was a kid and got me thinking that things have been getting worse and worse as  I got older. Either that, or the town had always been this bad and I only just started to really notice.

As a result, I've started to read more and more fluffy, cute slice-of-life comics to stave off the insufferable weight of reality on my heart. I was in the middle of reading such a comic in the club room when someone knocked on the door. 

I looked up from my phone, but Yuna had already gotten up.

"Yuna!" Omoyo suddenly cried out. "Wait!"

What's got her all bothered? I wondered. But my question was soon answered when Yuna threw the door open.

Standing outside was Kyouko. As soon as she appeared, the air became heavy and thick, thick enough to cut with a knife.

What did she want? I wondered.

Frankly, I was a bit surprised she knocked on the door like a normal person, instead of stalking us with her invisibility power like usual.

"Well, well, well," said Mirai. "If it isn't the mischievous ghost. To what do we owe this pleasant surprise?"

He sounded pleasant enough, but that didn't stop Kyouko from acting all nervous. She rubbed her upper-arm while casting her gaze to the floor. After pausing for a second or two and then taking a deep breath, she spoke.

"I'm here to talk to Yuna," she said. To Yuna, she asked, "Do you mind if I talk to you in private?"

She spoke softly and hesitantly, which was out of character with how I've seen her behave so far. It was so awkward that it made me feel awkward.

I've never been good with that kind of feeling, so, out of reflex, I glanced at my phone. But I quickly forced myself to pay attention to Kyouko, keeping one eye on her in case she pulled any mean pranks again like before. Even though she tried to save Yuna that one time at the shrine, that didn't mean she had suddenly reformed from her bad ways.

Omoyo probably felt the same way I did, because she got up from her seat and said, "After everything you did, there's no way we're letting Yuna go off alone with you."

Yuna, however, raised her hand at Omoyo and shook her head. After that, she faced Kyouko again and took out her phone.

"It's okay," she typed for the phone's voice box to say. "I don't think she means any harm."

"But Yuna!" 

Omoyo raised a protest, but Mirai got in her way.

"Let them be," he said. "Don't worry. Nothing bad's going to happen, so my Third Eye decreed. Trust me on that."

Omoyo had a really troubled look on her face, but after a bit of deliberation, she sighed and hung her head in defeat. That was all the permission that Yuna needed, and she followed Kyouko out of the room.

After the door was closed, there was a moment of silence. And then Omoyo turned to Mirai and asked, "Hey, just what did you see with that so-called Third Eye of yours? You saw into the future right?"

Mirai stroked his chin thoughtfully while going, "Hmmm." He seemed to be pondering something. "Well, it would be rude to our third seer, but I suppose I can let you know what I saw."

And then he closed his eyes and held out his hands, waving them around an imaginary crystal ball while he mimicked the demeanor of a typical fortune teller. We were all ears as we watched and waited.

"I see . . . I see . . . " he moaned. And then his eyes flew open and he immediately dropped the act. "Well, actually, I already saw."

Omoyo and I lost our balance.

Ticked off, Omoyo shouted, "Cut the crap already and tell us! What did you see?"

With a grin on his face, Mirai said, "I saw a misunderstanding being cleared up."

<== Previous                                                                                         Next ==>

CSC Special Chapter: The Halloween Nightmares

*****

Halloween Nightmare

*****

It was that time of the year again: Halloween, my absolute favorite holiday. Although it started in the West, it was a major holiday here in Japan where little kids dress up in their cute costumes and go around at night to get candy from their neighbors.

Me and my buddies have our own little Halloween tradition that we all found really enjoyable. Every year, we would visit a far-off town that hold their own trick-or-treat event, don our costumes and the lie in wait for unsuspecting children to pass by. When a child shows up, we jump out of our hiding place and scare the living daylights out of them. Sometimes, we compete to see who could make the most children cry, which was itself, a reward to me for all my hard work.

We've never been caught. Grownups like police, parents and volunteer nightwatch have chased after us, but we always got away. There were a few close calls, but that just added to the thrill. 

Thanks to all that, me and my buddies earned ourselves a nickname: the Halloween Nightmares. We embraced that nickname with pride.

Like the last five Halloweens, we all gathered outside of a town a bit far from any city. Our scout, who we sent ahead of time, found us a dirt road we could take which lead to a spacious enough clearing in the forest. We parked our cars there and then walked the rest of the way into town, consulting maps and notes saved into our smartphones.

After reaching the town, we split into two groups and headed to places we agreed on hours ago. The place my group headed was a neighborhood by a road with a decent amount of trees and bushes for us to hide behind. And by decent, I meant that the place was practically a forest itself. 

Good, I thought. I'll have to remember to treat the scout to some drinks. He couldn't have chosen a better place, because places like that make it easier for us to get away because there's enough to obstruct our chasers and there's enough cover for us to throw off our costumes without anyone seeing. Underneath our black jackets, we all wore dress shirts and ties, because no one would suspect someone dressed for work to be up to trouble. I've lost count the number of times we managed to throw off the cops with our salaryman looks. No, wait. It was two.

We all huddled between a bunch of trees, just a few feet away from the road where the lamppost's fresh white light couldn't reach. It was so dark that I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. Sometimes I get all philosophical and wonder how I could be completely surrounded by darkness when there was such bright light nearby.

Some of us risked some light from our smartphone screens to make last-minute adjustments to our mask and to double-check the schedule. According to the timeline emailed to us, a group of kids led by some high school goody two-shoes should be showing up any moment now.

"Brr." The guy next to me shivered. He had on a shriveled, gray zombie mask. "Man, it's cold."

"Perfect temperature for a chilling Halloween," I joked.

Annoyed, our leader spun around and hissed, "Shush! I hear kids!"

We all shut our traps. Like our leader claimed, as I strained my ears I could hear the chatter of little kids get louder and louder.

Beneath my bloody clown mask, I licked my lips with anticipation. I couldn't wait to see some children cry. Seeing their tears would be like seeing priceless art, and their wails will be the sweetest music to my ears.

Clop! Clop! Clop!

Over the clamor of children, I could hear wooden sandals clapping against pavement. A boy dressed in a white and black hakama kimono soon came into view. Going by his height and build, he was an average high school kid, probably in his first or second year. In one hand, he held a flashlight, which he pointed into the trees. The other hand grasped what looked like a long roll of red foam, which I assumed was supposed to be a sword.

The guy lingered around, waving his flashlight right and left.

It was just like our spy said, I thought. 

Our spy had warned us that the volunteer groups in this town were especially security-conscious. Not only were many grownups patrolling the streets, they had all the kids do their trick-or-treating in groups with two or more supervisors. At least one supervisor's supposed to stay with the kids while the other scouted ahead to make sure the way forward was safe. That samurai's probably on the lookout for us. But I wasn't worried. We were so deep in the trees that he wasn't going to spot us no matter how much he looked.

Someone giggled.

"Shhh!" hissed our leader. "Quiet! He'll hear!"

Someone giggled again and he turned to us, his white oni mask coming in handy to reflect his irritation.

"Seriously, who's laughing right now?" he asked. "I know you're all excited, but reel it in or you'll ruin our fun!"

We all looked at each other. I know I wasn't laughing, even though I had a huge smile on my face earlier.

All around us the trees started rustling their branches, causing their leaves to applause with sound all around us. Weird thing was, I didn't feel any wind that would have caused them to shake like that. 

The sound completely covered the kids' chatter and I could only barely hear the samurai scout's whistle shriek. But one thing the leaves' rattling couldn't cover was the laughter that I now realized belonged to a girl who was practically right next to me, as if she were mixed in with the rest of the gang. Problem was, the Halloween Nightmares was a gang comprised only of dudes.

Not good, I thought. Did we get spotted?

I looked around, but I couldn't see anything or anyone. It was just too dark in here, which was a no-brainer because that was why we chose to hide here in the first place. 

"Whoa!"

Startled, I jumped up. "What is it? What happened?" I asked.

"Someone just pulled my leg!" cried the guy in the bloody wolf mask. He jumped to his feet and turned right and left. "I swear someone just pulled my leg from behind hard enough to make me fall!"

I took out a penlight, switched it on and looked where Wolf Mask pointed. I saw no one, but I could still hear a girl laughing close by. The trees ceased rustling and the girl began to sing.

"Kagome, Kagome. The bird in the cage, when, oh when will it come out? In the night of dawn, the crane and turtle slipped. Who is behind you now?"

"Just who's behind you now?"

I yelped and spun around. Someone had whispered in my ear behind me, but I couldn't see who.

I won't admit I was scared, but I did feel incredibly angry. Someone was messing with us. It should be us doing the messing. Not the other way around.

"Show yourself!" I demanded of the singer. "Come out here now!"

"Kagome, Kagome . . ."

The singer completely ignored me and repeated that old song. 

"Coward!" Wolf Mask screamed. "Why don't you come out here and show yourself? Or are you too afraid because you're so ugly?"

The singing stopped.

"Oh?" said Wolf Mask. "Didn't like that, huh? I must have hit the nail on the head. You must be so ugly, I feel bad for you- Ah! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Wolf Mask screamed. I screamed. We all screamed. 

One second Wolf Mask was hurling insults at the invisible singer, the next, he was high up in the air flailing his arms and kicking his legs out while screaming. We all screamed with him and then pointed our flashlights at him, but I couldn't see what was holding him so high up the trees. None of us could.

"Put me down! Put me down!" he cried.

Zombie mask was the first to calm down.

He shouted, "Hold on!" and went over to try and help Wolf Mask, but then fell down flat on his face. I thought he might have tripped over a tree root, but then he suddenly slid backwards as if being dragged away. But there was no one at his feet who could have done that. Zombie Mask disappeared into the bushes screaming. His screams quickly grew distant until I could hear him no more.

And then the laughing started again, but this time it was far more maniacal, as if a switch had been flipped turning the invisible lady from mere mischievous to downright insane.

"Aw man!" moaned Gorilla Mask. "Forget this! I'm outta here!" 

And yes, I'm just going to call each and every one of my friends by their masks. Got a problem with that? You can call me Clown Mask if you want.

"Hey! Hold on!" cried out Oni Mask.

But Gorilla Mask had already split from us and ran. He didn't get far, however and flipped in the air. Something invisible had him by his left ankle and pulled him high up the trees where he hung upside down, screaming. That was the last straw that broke the camel's back and finally got us running for our lives.

I scrambled for the road where the samurai kid with the foam sword was standing guard, not caring whether I'd get arrested by the cop that was sure to be with him. But I only made it halfway before I suddenly stopped. And no, I did not want to just stop right there. Something MADE me stop.  I couldn't move. No matter how much I mentally screamed at my legs, they wouldn't listen to me. It was as if I was suddenly hit with a freeze ray.

Up ahead, I could see the children all walking by in pairs. The samurai had gone, but a girl had taken her place. She was dressed in a white kimono and had some kind of white headband. Her back was to me, but I was sure that headband had a piece of triangle-shaped cloth. That kind of headband and the kimono were parts of a classic Japanese ghost costume.

"Hey!" I cried out. "Hey! Help me! Help!"

I tried calling out to the girl, but she did not seem to hear me. None of the children or the other adults did either. And I screamed my throat ragged, trying to get their attention. I was desperate and close to tears. But to my despair, they kept on walking without ever acknowledging me. And then, when the last of the trick-or-treating group was gone, I truly started crying.

The bushes beside me rustled and a girl in a blouse and blazer stepped into my vision. She had long, silky black hair, but that was all I could say about her. Her face was covered by an oni mask like our leader's, only hers was red. One other thing that set the girl's oni mask apart from the leader's was that the eyes of her oni mask glowed green.

She looked at me, and I looked at her.

She softly cackled, and I softly whimpered. I could tell she wore a big, wicked smile beneath that mask of hers, and that whatever she thought amusing was definitely not for me.

Slowly, she raised her hand, a gray and wrinkled mummified kind of hand with long, yellowing fingernails. Her slender fingers were wrapped around the black handle of a kitchen knife.

"Hey," she said. Her voice was muffled by the mask. "Want to see what color your intestines are? BECAUSE I SURE DO!"

She lunged at me, laughing. I screamed my lungs out and ran. But I didn't get far before I froze on the spot. 

Gravity auddenly went all topsy-turvy and lifted me off the ground. I was in the air for one or two seconds, and then I dropped to the ground. Rocks and pebbles dug into my back. But I didn't really notice. My attention was all on the masked girl hovering over me with a knife.

"Kagome, Kahome . . ."

She started singing again as she raised the knife over my head. My heart beat rapidly while my fright levels went over scale.

And then she screamed, and I screamed too. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

She brought the knife down and everything went black.

*****

Mirai

*****

I, Mirai, leader of Megugami High School's Community Service Club and pretend Demon Lord, stood over a man in black who laid on the ground with foam leaking out of his mouth. 

I turned my gaze away from him and faced the girl in a white kimono standing behind me. She looked incredibly refreshed. So much so that her cheeks were shining as she smiled radiantly.

"Don't you think you might have taken it too far?" I asked her.

But she, Isaneko, just replied, "Not at all," while keeping that beaming smile.

I didn't say a word and looked around at the other guys lying on the ground with their eyes rolled back, foam at their mouths, and their arms and legs twitching like dead bugs. It's easy to forget, but despite acting like a prim and proper teacher's pet most of the time, underneath that mask, Isaneko was a devilish sadist who would treat her own friends like toys if given the chance.

When she noticed my eyes on the knife in her hand, she held it up and said, "Relax. It's just a fake I made out of cardboard. See?"

She bent the knife in half and then tore it in half.

"As if I would risk being arrested by carrying around the real thing," she said.

I was more bothered by the fact she only thought to bring a fake because she didn't want to get arrested because it kind of meant that if there was no risk of a bad run-in with the law, she would have brought along a real one.

Confused? Okay, let me give you a rundown.

Us of the Community Service Club do volunteer work for the community. It's in the name. So, naturally, when a big holiday like Halloween came up, we volunteered to be part of a big trick-or-treat event the town hosts every year. During a meeting about the event, we all learned about the Halloween Nightmares, a group of losers who got a kick out of making kids cry every Halloween. A police officer who's been chasing after them came to the meeting to say that our town was the Nightmares' next target.

It really struck me as weird how a bunch of losers like that managed to evade the law every year, and I decided to try use my clairvoyance to pick up any clues. I can really only see up to a couple of minutes into the future with my psychic power (and yes, I have psychic powers), so I wasn't really expecting to find anything. But to my surprise, I caught wind of someone posting every juicy detail of the meeting onto a private online chatroom.

So they got a spy, I thought. They must have sent a mole to infiltrate the town to steal intel and use it to find their victims and avoid capture. It's how they've managed to get away with their heinous crimes every year.

But not this year. This year was going to be different, because this year, they've set their eyes on kids in MY territory. And as long as those kids were under my protective wings, I wasn't about to let those losers have their way.

So, I kept a psychic eye on the spy and let Isaneko and the others in on what's going on. We formulated a plan around their plan and decided to teach them a lesson that they would never forget. 

Well, honestly, I was okay with just getting the police to take care of them, but Isaneko insisted they needed to be punished, and that she be the one to do it. She was the one who made those guys fly around and dragged them across the ground, using her psychic power to move things with her mind. I hoped they didn't get hurt too badly in the process.

When my smartphone rang, I took it out of my pocket, swiped the answer button with my finger, and pressed it against my ear.

"Hello?" I said.

After a brief moment, I hung up.

"That was the student council prez," I said to Isaneko. "Yuna found the other Nightmares and pointed them out to the police. They're being sent to jail right now."

"Aw, that's too bad," Isaneko said, genuinely disappointed. "I wanted to treat those other Nightmares to some Halloween fun."

I looked at her astonished and said, "You still haven't had enough? After all that? The singing? The laughing? Using telekinesis to lift them in the air?"

Isaneko's smile faded and she gave me a puzzled look.

"Singing? What singing?" she asked.

"Don't play dumb," I said. "I heard you singing 'Kagome, Kagome', which really creeped out the Nightmares."

But Isaneko said, "That wasn't me. I didn't make a peep until I finished off that guy with the clown mask. I thought you were the one who did that."

"Please, Lady Isaneko," I said. "I may have many talents, but even I can't mimic the singing voice of a little girl."

"Well, if it wasn't you and it wasn't me, then who was singing?"

She and I looked each other in the eye in silence. And then -

"Kagome, Kagome. The bird in the cage, when, oh when will it come out?"

Isaneko and I looked around. Neither of us saw anyone or anything. We exchanged looks again.

"We should go and get the police so they can arrest these chumps," I said.

"Agreed," said Isaneko.

And then, together, we ran away as fast as we could. Behind us, I could still hear a girl singing.

"In the night of dawn, the crane and turtle slipped. Who is behind you now?"

A strong gust of wind blew by, causing the trees to shake their leaves.

"Who is behind you now?"

Poem: Memories of That Day

 Hi everyone.

Before we get to the poem, I just thought I'd take time to talk about what it's about. Now, normally on Saturdays (or Sundays) I would post the latest chapter of one of the stories I'm working on. But with today being an important day for America, September 11, I decided to put it off to next week and instead write a poem commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attack, filled with memories of a time when a certain writer was a kid.

Now presenting, Memories of That Day:

**********

Memories of That Day

It's been Twenty Years since That Day
That Day a Child is awoken
On a School Day morning told to turn on the TV
To see smoke rise from Buildings Great
To see fall Buildings Mighty

When brought to School,
To Gym Class, a Child went
But no Running, Jumping, Stretches on That Day
Just a Sitting, Cross-legged to watch more smoke rising
To watch a Nation turn a Point

Numerous People lost
Stories told with Horrible Ends
Peaceful Days no more
A War begins to Avenge

Since then, Letters the Child would write
To Brave Men and Women on Dangerous Ground
To send Support as a Fellow American as Americans should
With hope that War's End was soon.

But a Decade it took to find our one Enemy
A Decade it took, when a Great Man took Seat and put His thumb down
A Decade it took for the Fallen from Vanished Towers to be avenged

Our Enemy should have been one
But our eyes turned to Another
After years in a Nation, One Leader is Destroyed
When Another still Remained

But that Another is no more
And Ten Years After, the War That Day started is declared Over
It took Twenty Years, and the Child was a Child No More

CSC Volume 2 Ch. 14

From the very beginning, I, Kyouko Azamume, and Yuna Oota were enemies. It all started before either of us were born when Yuna's mother, who was also a member of the Azamume Family, turned her back on the family to marry some guy named Oota, a complete nobody with no powers. She pretty much turned her back on the Azamume Family, thus becoming a hateful traitor. 

Naturally, as a member of the Azamume Family, I inherited their animosity against the Ootas. So when I realized that the daughter of the traitor was going to the same school as me, back when we were elementary school kids, I decided to confront her over her family's arrogance against mine. But the cheeky girl didn't know anything about the Azamume Family. She even told me to my face that she had never heard of the Azamume Family before, and that really ground my nerves. I ended up challenging her to a contest to prove the Azamume Family's superiority to her. 

It was a ridiculous and childish thing to do, but I was just a kid back then. We all were. And it happened so long ago that I barely remember it anymore. But that childish antic of mine became a starting point for me and Yuna. From then on, whatever it was, be it a sport or a board game, or even just comparing test scores and grades, I challenged Yuna to them all. And I kept at it all the way to our middle school years.

But that all changed around the summer before this one.

That summer, I challenged Yuna to another contest. It was another ridiculous one so I won't go into any details about it. We made plans to meet at a certain place, at a certain time, on a certain day. But when that day came, she never showed up. And I waited hours and hours for her, like an idiot. It wasn't until the sun had set that I finally gave up and went home.

I didn't know why she didn't show up. Did she forget? Maybe she got the time or place wrong? These questions plagued me all of summer vacation.

I tried calling her, messaging her, and emailing her, but never got an answer. And I tried for days and days, and days. But all my efforts were fruitless. She either could not answer, or would not.

And then, when summer vacation ended and we were back to school, our homeroom teacher announced that Yuna had moved away. We, me an the entire class, were totally unprepared for the news and were shocked by it. Well, of course we were. She never told anyone she was going to move. Not even me.

For better or worse, my antics had made me and Yuna famous in the school. Thanks to that, when news spread of Yuna's abrupt departure, rumors started swirling around.

Many of those rumors were ridiculous and not worth mentioning. But there was one rumor that was incredibly plausible to me and hit very close to home, cropping up on the same day as the announcement.

During lunchtime, stunned by the news that morning, I was numbly walking down the hall when I happened to overhear a group of girls gossiping.

"Hey, did you hear about that girl, Yuna?" one said.

"Yeah. She moved away. Her whole class was in an uproar because of how sudden it was. There was no notice or anything."

"Nothing? Really? Why? Did something happen?"

"Who knows? Maybe she finally got fed up with Azamume's childish antics. I know I would."

"Actually, I think I overheard a classmate of mine say that he saw Azamume waiting for someone by the forest. He said that she just stood around doing nothing for a really long time. What're the chances she was waiting for Yuna?"

"It wouldn't surprise me. Sounds like she got stood up though."

"Yeah. I always figured something like that would happen eventually."

The girls laughed, unaware that I was standing right next to them hearing their every word.

I was angry. Really angry. I was angry at those girls for talking about me behind my back, laughing at me behind my back. And I was angry at Yuna, because what they said made sense to me. I believed what those girls gossiped could be true. And the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that Yuna had stood me up, that she had upped and left me behind because she couldn't stand me anymore.

With the way she dropped off the face of the earth (phone service canceled, social media inactive, no email response), there was no way for me, or anyone else, to get in touch with her or find her. I had no choice but to give up trying to find her and confront her for what she did, and give her a piece of my mind. I put Yuna behind me, and moved on with my life. 

Or I tried to at least. Because just when I thought I was over her, there she was, appearing right in front of me as abruptly as she had disappeared a year earlier. It happened at a cemetery I had come with my dad to pay respect to one of his relatives. We were on our way out when she came walking towards us, down a road of graves. She was paler and thinner than when I last saw her, but there was no mistaking her. Dad knew about the rivalry between me and Yuna, but never paid much attention to it, so he didn't recognize Yuna as they walked past each other.

I decided to stick around, making up some excuse to my dad like I was going to see a friend, and watched Yuna as she stopped to pray at a grave with a group of people I didn't see before. And you know what happened after that.

**********

I was, again, at said cemetery, retracing the steps that Yuna and the Ootas took several weeks ago. I was unable to stop thinking about everything that I had learned the last few days, the revelation that Yuna's mom had passed away, and decided to come back to verify the truth of the matter. Oota told me the previous day that I should talk to Yuna about it, but there was just no way I could have a face-to-face with her. At least not yet.

Thus the trip to the field of graves. I left first thing in the morning, making up some excuse to the housekeepers that I would be hanging out with friends. Last time I came, I was driven by my dad. But this time, in order to keep my destination a secret, I took the bus. Both my house and the cemetery were at really inconvenient locations, so it took me two hours to get there, compared to forty-five minutes by my dad's car.

I should have done this a long time ago, but I was never able to find the time to, is what I told myself as I made my way to a certain grave marker among many, many others.

The sky was clear and vividly blue with a few white clouds drifting about like lazy fish. I could hear birds singing afar over the rustling of tree leaves. To my right, I could detect faint chatter. There was a couple on their way out. The man had a baby in his arms. Perhaps they were here to introduce the newest member of their family to someone who had departed. 

It was both a touching thought and a sorrowful one, but that's just the kind of place cemeteries are. No matter how bright and sunny it was here (and it was really bright and sunny), you just can't shake off this feeling of melancholy in a cemetery. At least that was my personal opinion.

"Oh! Here it is!"

I had finally found the grave stone I was looking for. It had the name of Yuna's mom carved into it as clear as day. 

If this were a comic book you were reading, you would probably expect me to go like, "Huh? No way! This can't be real!" But too bad. Nothing that dramatic happened. 

I just stared at it and thought, "So she was dead after all."

Well, I already knew she was dead. I heard as much from that conversation I eavesdropped. And Oota confirmed the fact just yesterday. But I just couldn't help but need some kind of concrete verification to dispel whatever shallow doubts I still had.

Still, now that I know for sure that Yuna's mom had passed away, now what? Just visiting her grave's not going to teach me anything.

I decided to linger for just a few more seconds to pay my respects to Yuna's parents and apologize for visiting them out of sheer curiosity. When I was done praying, I turned around to leave but then stopped when I saw my grandmother, the head of the Azamume family, standing right in front of me.

My mind went blank for a second and my jaw dropped.

I had to be dreaming I thought. There was no way that she'd be here, standing in front of me, right in the middle of a cemetery. 

My grandmother scowled at me. "What are you doing, gaping at me like an idiot? Have you forgotten how to give a greeting? I thought you were raised better than that, as an Azamume."

I flinched.

Nope, this wasn't a dream, I thought. That's definitely my grandmother, Karin, in the flesh. As always, she was a towering figure to me, always looking down with hawkish eyes while cloaked in an intimidating aura. Just one look is enough for everyone to know that she was the undisputed leader of the Azamume Family. She was basically really, really scary.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Since she's the elderly leader of the big and powerful Azamume Family, you all probably expected her to appear wearing something traditional like a kimono. Well, too bad. She always wore pantsuits, like the black one she wore right now. 

None of my family ever wore a kimono except for really special occasions. Our mansion's all Western-style too.

I snapped back to my senses from her outburst and quickly put two and two together to realize what her presence meant and mustered enough courage to confront her about it.

"You knew," I said. "You knew that Yuna's mom . . ."

"Died?" said my family's matriarch. "Of course I knew. Regardless of her crimes, she was still my daughter."

"Does Mom know?" I asked.

"She does not," Karin said.

"Why? Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell her? And why didn't you tell me?"

Karin replied, "There was no need to. When Nanami eloped with that man, she became a stranger to the Azamume Family. It is needless to concern ourselves with a stranger's death."

I looked at her in disbelief. "A stranger?" I said. "But you just admitted that she was your daughter."

She coldly responded, "I merely stated a fact. We had become strangers, but it's a fact we share the same blood. That's why it was unavoidable that I would hear of her fate, and the fate of her daughter."

"Just what the hell happened to her?" I asked. "What happened to Yuna?"

"It's really none of your business," Karin said. "But it would be better to tell you myself rather than let you scurry around like some rat causing chaos."

She slowly approached me and then brushed past my shoulder before stopping in front of the grave stone to stare at it.

"You've heard of the tunnel that collapsed last year, haven't you?" she asked me.

"Yeah," I said. "It was all the news would talk about last summer. I think there was a special TV show on it for the anniversary just a few weeks ago too."

"Nanami and Yuna took that tunnel while on a short trip to a nearby city," Karin said. "They were right in the middle of it when it collapsed and became trapped. It took several days for rescuers to dig them out, but by then, Nanami had already passed away. Yuna was the only one to survive. From what I was told, between witnessing her mother's death and being without food or water in total darkness for several days really took its toll on her both physically and mentally. Honestly, it was a miracle she's still alive after all that. 

"She was considered clinically insane for a short while, to the point she needed to take special medicine. But thanks to the dedication of the doctors who looked after her, Yuna was able to recover enough to be taken in by distant relatives of her father. She still has an extreme fear of dark places to the point of having panic attacks and the medicine may have affected her memories a little, but otherwise, she is able to function in society again. All's well that ends well."

I listened without making a sound, giving my grandmother my undivided attention. And when she was done, it took several minutes for me to let her story sink in. And then I spoke.

"Just how the hell is that a good ending?" I said. "Her mom's dead. She's mute. She has panic attacks in dark places. And you just mentioned that her memory's like Swiss cheese because of some medicine!"

"I didn't say that much about her memories," Karin said. "Though I suppose comparing Yuna's memories to porous cheese is appropriate."

"Whatever!" I shouted. I was just so angry that I even snapped at my grandmother. Normally, I'd be too scared to even correct any of her small mistakes.

The frustration got to my head and I could feel tears welling in my eyes as a result. Before my grandmother could see them, I turned my face away. That was when she finally spoke again.

"What will you do now?" she asked. "What is the plan now that you know what happened? Personally, I think you should finally cut ties with her. Us and the Ootas were never meant to cross paths again. We live in different worlds and it should stay that way."

I didn't say anything.

Honestly, I didn't know what I was going to do from now on. I didn't even know what I wanted to do. 

<== Previous                                                                                                Next ==>