The Oni Slayers: Chapter 2

Takuya set out for the noodle shop. Tokyo may be an ever changing city, but the streets of Chinatown are always familiar with its exotic lacquered roofs and tantalizing smells. He ran to the shop that was sandwiched between a grocery store and a hair salon. Bursting in from the door, Takuya surveyed the half empty shop for the brown haired man. The man was nowhere in sight. Takuya went up to the white aproned waiter and asked, “Do you know the man that sat across from me yesterday?!” “Hold it, kid! I get customers everyday, how am I suppose to remember who you are?” the waiter laughed. Frustrated, Takuya continued to talk to the waiter with flailing arms and a lot of hand gestures. “I do remember receiving an order of wonton noodles from a teenager in a green coat,” smiled the man. “Please I need to find this guy!”said Takuya now flushed in the face. “I don’t know a lot about Saiyou, but you can try the park. He could be sitting there ...” “ ‘kay thanks!” and Takuya rushed out the door. “Kids these days.”

Running quickly, Takuya entered the park. Following the paved cement path, he jogged and scanned the territory for the man in the black leather coat. Finally on a bench sat Takuya’s target. Wearing the long black leather jacket that reached up to his knees, it was unbuttoned revealing a tight black shirt and a silver belt. His shiny black combat boots and leathery pants shone under the winter sun. The man shifted his turquoise eyes to Takuya’s panting. “Hey, you with the long, swishy, black jacket thing!” Takuya shouted. Out of breath, he wheezed heavily and flopped onto the bench next to the man. “What business do you have with me?” the man calmly asked. “Oni ... murderer ... person died ... front of my house ...” said Takuya still trying to catch his breath. “How unfortunate I wasn’t there,” the man said. “What’s your name, Saiyou. You said you rid oni or something?” “You believe me now huh?” “Well ... can you get rid of it?” “Are you questioning my ability?” “Dude, I don’t even know you! How do you kill these things or find these things in the first place?!” Takuya’s voice rang scaring nearby pigeons. “They take on appearances as humans. If not, there are ways to get around in daylight,” explained Saiyou. That began to send chills down Takuya’s spine. What if his mother was an oni and was going to kill him tonight? “Bring me to the site where the murder happened.”

Going back home, Takuya found that the site had already been enclosed by yellow caution tape. The forensics had already cleared up the site and marked areas with chalk. “Hmm, there’s very heavy youki around here,” said Saiyou. “What’s youki?” asked Takuya. “It’s basically energy. Like smells, oni leave their youki. We can track it down.” “With a dog?” “Something like that.” Saiyou snapped his fingers and said, “Creature Summon, Aji.” A portal appeared distorting the space in front of them and a canine appeared. It looked like a gray husky only much bigger, a longer tail, slitted pupils and a black mane. “Aji, I want you to pick up youki around here,” ordered Saiyou. “Yes, master,” replied the canine revealing its sharp and long fangs. The creature slunk under the police tape and sniffed around for the special scent. It went around the area of the remains and made a turn around a nearby tree. Following Aji, the scent led to a cafe. Immediately Aji shape shifted into a German shepherd. A man in a black and white uniform came out of the store. Aji barked ferociously at the man. “Aji, come back here!” said Saiyou sternly. Aji bared its teeth and trotted behind Takuya. Pretending to pet its head, Saiyou watched the man’s expression. “Excuse me, please watch your dog next time!” said the man angrily and walked across the street. “It’s him, master,” said Aji. “Good. You may go back for now.” Slipping into the shadows, Aji disappeared. “Are we going to follow him?” asked Takuya. “If you’re too scared, you can go home. This job is for professionals,” warned Saiyou.

Determined to show courage Takuya followed Saiyou. The man in the black and white uniform walked into a dark alley and disappeared. Saiyou and Takuya chased the man’s footsteps only to see nothing, but a fire escape. “There’s nothing here. Maybe he climbed up the fire escape,” suggested Takuya. Ignoring Takuya’s words, Saiyou tapped the bricks of the walls and stopped for a moment. He kicked the wall with such tremendous force that the building shook. A huge dust cloud caught the unprepared Takuya in a coughing fit. The bricks parted away revealing an entrance and the crushed bricks on the floor molded into powder. The room they entered through the unorthodox entrance was empty except for an old man sitting in a corner. “Stand back,” ordered Saiyou. “Huh?” The old man quickly melted into a gelatinous blob and shot itself towards Saiyou in the form of droplets. The blob became thousands of tentacles attached to an open mouth. Saiyou pulled out two guns from concealment and pulled the trigger continuously. As the bullets pierced through the monster’s flesh, the viscous blood splattered onto the walls like red paint. The tentacles several inches away from Saiyou were about to clutch and squeeze his body into smithereens. Saiyou threw a grenade into the mouth of the monster and pushed Takuya out into the alley. The grenade exploded and sent debris flying in every direction. A blue protection charm was set around Takuya, but Saiyou was nowhere to be seen. The charm shattered into crystals and disappeared.

“Saiyou!” Takuya called out into the empty room. Surprisingly, the building had not collapsed yet. The grenade had destroyed a hole to a secret bar hideout of oni. Three oni surrounded Saiyou but he continuously fired at them. Leaping into the air, Saiyou did a back flip and pulled the triggers. The three oni fell like trees in a forest. One oni pushed spikes out of its tail and flung it at Saiyou. Saiyou leapt onto the wall and shot down the tail. He then fired the demon’s eyes into a pile of yellow mush. Drawing from his coat, Saiyou unfolded his concealed sword. While slashing the lesser demons, the injured spike tailed demon started charging blindly at Saiyou. Saiyou jumped onto its head and the stabbed it right between its missing eyes. Using all his might, Saiyou pulled the sword across the creature’s back splitting it in half. “Get me alcohol!” shouted Saiyou. Takuya grabbed a couple bottles of wine from behind the counter and tossed it in the direction of the fray. Saiyou cut the flying bottles with his sword spilling the contents into the open wound of the oni. He conjured an open red flame with his hand and threw the fireball it into the open wound. “Set the entire place on fire!” shouted Saiyou. Takuya tried smashing some bottles and frantically opened any available liquor containers. Saiyou fired the remaining containers with his gun and the alcohol spurted through the bullet holes. Takuya lit an entire box of matches he found under the bar counter and the entire bar was set ablaze. The flames caught onto the moldy curtains and crept along the walls. The two young men ran out into the city while police sirens rang through the streets.

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