“You made those snakes,” Tomohiro said.
“Yes.”
“How did you know where to find us?”
“Like I told Katie, we’ve had run-ins with the Yakuza before.”
“We?”
Jun motioned to the group around him.
I looked at Ikeda, lifting the motorbike helmet off her head.
She saw me looking and put the helmet on the ground, pulling back the sleeve of her jacket.
A ribbon of cuts ran up the inside of her arm.
“You’re
“Try to understand,” said Jun. “It’s not something to be afraid of, Yuu.”
Tomohiro didn’t answer, but I swore I saw his hands shaking.
“The power you wield—it’s not something to turn away from. We’re descendants of Amaterasu, kin of the imperial family. I know you’re afraid of it, Yuu. But we’ve all had the nightmares. We’ve all seen what you have seen.”
I looked at Tomohiro, but he looked away, his eyes cast down to the gravel. I wondered what kind of horrible visions haunted him at night. I shuddered, remembering the demons and shadows in the Taira painting.
“Some can bear it better than others. Some are more gifted than others. And you are gifted, Yuu. Incredibly gifted. Not many Kami can call on their power without sketching a single line.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t have to pretend with us,” Jun said. “We’ve all seen our drawings move on the page. We can help you.”
Tomohiro’s eyes filled with suspicion. I touched his arm to reassure him. Jun had always been kind to me, and now he’d rescued me again. I knew he could help Tomohiro control the power.
“It’s okay,” I said quietly. “We can trust him.”
“Because he’s your friend,” Tomohiro said, and the way he said it made my cheeks blaze.
“Yeah,” I said. I didn’t feel like explaining myself to him. It was 2:00 a.m. and we’d been kidnapped by Yakuza and freed by Kami. If he was jealous, he could deal with it.
Tomohiro looked at Jun for a moment. “What do I need to do?” he said at last.
Jun smiled. “We can help you, Tomohiro. Or rather, you can help us. We’ve been looking for someone with your ability for some time. So first, we’ll offer you a gift.” He reached his hand out to Ikeda, who shuffled in the pocket of her jacket for a small notebook and pen. Jun took them and walked toward us, placing them in Tomohiro’s hands.
“You want me to draw?” Tomohiro said. “Draw what?”
“Hanchi,” Jun said. “The Yakuza boss. Dead.”
The pen dropped from Tomohiro’s hand and hit the gravel below.
“Kill him?” I breathed.
Jun blinked, tilting his head to the side. “You need to send a message to the Yakuza. You don’t want them coming after you again.”
“Yeah, but—” I started, but Jun held up a hand.
“I’ve never killed anyone before,” Tomohiro said quietly.
“I didn’t even think it was… Can we do that?”
“Go ahead, Yuu,” Jun said. “The honor is yours.”
“Honor?” Tomohiro’s voice was shaking. “What honor is there in killing a man on paper?”
“You show a lot of mercy to the man who kidnapped you and Katie,” Jun snapped, and I saw Tomohiro flinch as Jun used my first name. Jun tucked his blond highlights behind his ears with force; he was getting frustrated. His eyes were dark pools of ice. “You think he would’ve shown you the same kindness? He’s been responsible for lots of deaths. As a Kami, you can exact judgment.”
Tomohiro dropped the notebook on the ground, disgusted.
“I’m not killing someone,” he said.
“Jun, that’s excessive,” I said. “What’s the point of killing someone?”
“I think you’ll see, in time,” Jun said. “The world is crying out for the judgment of the Kami.”
“What does that even mean?” I said.
“Japan was ruled by Kami a long time ago,” Jun said. “The major samurai families of Heian Japan? Almost all Kami.
Some were stronger than others, like me and Yuu.” I glanced at the kanji engraved on Jun’s arm. He didn’t even use paper or a pen to control the ink—what was he capable of? “The world’s falling apart, decaying before our eyes. The Yakuza are spreading across the country, spilling into other parts of the world—is that a world you want to live in? We’re destined to take it back, Yuu. We can rule Japan like gods, like the
“Are you crazy?” Tomohiro said. “Rule Japan? What the hell are you on, Takahashi?”
Jun laughed, but there was no humor in his voice. “I’m de-claring war on the Yakuza,” he said. “But war requires weapons. I’ll make them all pay for what they’ve done. They’ll beg forgiveness at my feet or I’ll wipe out every last one of them, whatever it takes until Japan is safe. The Kami will reclaim our place as rulers, the way it used to be. The ink wants blood. It always wants blood. Yours, or someone else’s.
Let us help you.”
“I told you,” Tomohiro snapped. “I don’t need h—”
“Stop acting like you’re human!” Jun spat. The comment stung me, and Tomohiro stumbled backward like he’d been slapped. “You think you’re so much stronger than your Kami blood? You think you can go around life with a blowtorch and it’s okay because you have a little candle snuffer? Wake up, Yuu! Before you hurt someone.” Jun looked directly at me. “Before someone gets burned. You’re a weapon, and you have to decide which side will wield you.”
I wanted to punch him. What the hell did he know about us? I’d seen the control Tomohiro had, the way he scratched out his drawings in time. But the image of the wagtail dropping midflight flashed in my mind, the horrible way it had attacked the other birds. I thought about the way Tomohiro’s eyes grew vacant when he sketched, how I’d pinched him and he couldn’t stop. How I lost him, how he couldn’t hear me.
The scars climbing his arm, the dragon spiraling into the sky.
“Stop acting like you’re normal,” Jun said, his voice softening. “The blood of Amaterasu runs in your veins.” He stepped forward, extending his hand. “You can be a prince in the new world we’ll create. Once we take control of Japan, with the emperor as our puppet, we’ll rule like we did before. We’re marked for this. You’re more than human, Yuu.
You’re superior.”
“Superior?” Tomohiro whispered. He hunched over, clutching his hand to his heart. I heard a splotch and looked down. Ink carved down his arms and dripped onto his sneakers. “Superior?” he said again, his voice trembling. “How can this be superior? My own sketches try to kill me. My dreams hunt me down. Being a Kami took my mother’s life from her, and it took my mother from me! How the hell is that superior?”
“We’ve all lost something. But it’s time to stop running from who you really are.”
“That’s it, then,” Tomohiro said.
So this normal life I’ve tried to create—it’s all an act. I’ve always known. Always known what I really was.”
“Gifted,” said Jun, stepping forward again.
Tomohiro shook his head, his whole body heaving with every breath.
“Evil.” He looked up, a darkness in his eyes.
“Tomo,” I said, but icy fear tingled in every part of my body.
“I’m a monster,” he said, raising his hand to point at Jun,
“and so are all of you.”
