‘They do not realize who they follow,’ the old man said. His voice was tired. ‘I have been unable to lure the yūrei out. Fighting a war, I did not want to fight, just because one monster has found high walls behind which to hide. I have sent letters, but the new government does not understand the true history of Japan yet. There is no room for my kind of warrior anymore, no room for the Jitsugen Samurai.’
‘Do not despair young warrior,’ came the deep, growling, and powerful voice David had heard only once before. Just as when Kou spoke in tiger form, David heard the words as if they were from himself. Yet this was not Kou’s voice, it was older and more powerful. ‘Together you and I shall go defeat this abomination. Then you may relax, reassured that another will come if your suspicions about who is behind this are true.’
David was struck by the desire to call out to the old man, but he disappeared. Before him, a large black-haired stallion looked down with deep, intelligent eyes before his perspective shifted back toward the castle. Together the two animals surged forward. They ran past men of both sides unopposed. Finding their way through high twisting walls, his enhanced vision took in the rifles pointing through slits all along the way. The horse and golden tiger somehow made it unscathed to the giant keep. Already several buildings around them were on fire, but the main structure was intact. Imperial Guards were everywhere, sorting through the new supplies and helping the injured from the recent sortie. David wanted to turn from the arrow and sword wounds, but his body took in the sights with sickening clarity, the scent of blood straining the tiger’s restraint.
The horse and tiger did not stop until they were at the top of the highest tower, a feat given the steep staircases. There, in a room that overlooked the siege below, stood an unassuming man. As the horse reached the floor, the man turned. His skin was translucent and his eyes were dark orbs. David remembered the way Rie had looked after her possession, his stomach twisting at the memory. The yūrei smiled wickedly, its lips a vicious curve of ripped flesh. Taking a sword from a dead guard, he attacked.
By the time the yūrei had made it across the room, the horse was gone and an old man was standing in his place. A bright sword, a Seikaku, was in his hands. The battle was fierce. David had been studying swordplay for months. He had seen Masao Matsumoto wield the blade faster than he could follow, yet here was something so beyond that it was inconceivable. Both moved with inhuman speed. But even as they fought, the memory began to fade from David’s mind.
Blinking, David was back where he had been before the vision. Kou purred loudly within his mind, yet nothing else seemed to have changed. With a frown at the Zodiac memory, he followed Rie toward the same walls Kou’s predecessor had entered with the old man.
Inside, little was recognizable from the memory. The wooden structures were new, rebuilt after fire, and modern souvenir shops and museums replaced old battlements. As they approached the keep, their tour guide talked about the hundred wells, the history of the place, and local legends. He smiled to himself when they spoke of the siege during the Satsuma Rebellion and the destruction of the keep from fire.
‘The old horse, he must have been Saigou Takamori, the leader of the Satsuma Rebellion. They arrested him, so he likely defeated the yūrei and lived. I wonder if their duel is what really destroyed the old keep,’ Kou thought.
After walking through a wide tunnel with thick wooden support beams, they exited into an open space before the main keep. There, each class once again lined up for a group photograph. This time, David did not see the Okinawan girl.
‘If only our classmates could see our Tiger Armor. It’s so much cooler than the plastic those guys are wearing.’
‘If you had reason to wear your Tiger Armor then we would both be in trouble, wouldn’t we,’ Kou replied, chuckling a little within David’s mind.
‘We might need it if Chul Soon shows up.’ That thought killed their mood as they moved toward the keep.
It was an interesting exercise, David thought, walking up the narrow steps and among the exhibits within the keep. The whole interior of the castle had been converted into a museum. As he wandered, David compared the pictures, relics, and recreations to what he had seen in the Zodiac Tiger’s memories. Kou helped make the comparisons by calling up specific images from the newly accessible memory. At the top, David met his classmates as they crammed into a narrow space with wide views of the castle grounds and Kumamoto city beyond. With the railings ringing the center staircase, the top floor was nowhere close to what he had seen in the vision. Beside him, Natsuki and Takumi smiled together as they looked out at the walls and turrets below.
Slowly, so as not to draw their attention, David brought his hands to his face. As soon as he had them in focus, David quickly snapped a string of photos with the school’s Canon D6. As soon as the first one went off, David could see Takumi begin to turn. Loud, high-speed shots clicked off, and David wondered if his ears had started improving. Before Takumi could register what he had done, David hopped the closest railing and ran down the stairs with a wide smile.
‘Let’s put some of our hard-earned speed to use.’ Kou growled in pleasure.
David and Kou had decided to make it their mission to get Natsuki and Takumi to start dating publicly so that they could move past all the awkwardness. While they obviously cared about each other, Takumi and Natsuki were touchy whenever David did something that might bring their”relationship“to the attention of the rest of their classmates.
‘I don’t get why they don’t just start dating,’ David thought has he weaved between the other museum-goers, Takumi hot on his tail. David cleared the entirety of the stone steps outside only to land before their homeroom teacher. Berating him for running, Moriyama-sensei led him to the giant tree to wait for the rest of the students. David gave Takumi an orange-eyed wink as he handed the camera to Moriyama. The camera was there for the official scrapbook. After viewing a few of the pictures at David’s insistence, Moriyama smiled and laughed. Takumi looked murderous, but David was off the hook.
Since they had spent the whole morning on the ferry and at Greenland, the students only had an hour at the castle. As they got back on the bus, Takumi whispered, “I’ll make you pay for that.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not like you were kissing or anything. Though you should have. I’m sure she would have liked it,” David whispered back. A pained look of embarrassment washed over Takumi’s usually stoic features.
‘He can fight ōkami, obake, and oni yet he cannot even consider telling the girl he likes how he feels. You should be careful or he might realize you’re putting the attention on him so that he doesn’t ask you-’ Kou’s thought was cut off as their bus left the castle. Another long ride on their way to the next hotel.
‘That’s not why I’m doing it. I mean it’s not like I have any potential girlfriends or anything. Not that I’d even want one.’
David and Kou continued their internal discussion as their tour guide told them about the areas they passed through. Beside him, Takumi remained deep in thought, while the rest of the bus listened, studied, or played with their friends. For his part, David’s thoughts drifted back to the girl in gray.
At the next hotel, there was an actual open-air bath so they had an hour and a half before dinner to work on their homework and bathe. The boys were given the first forty-five minutes, so after stowing their bags they headed back downstairs to shower, then headed out to the huge bath. Unlike before, where the bath was inside, this time they had to run naked through the frigid night air to get to the water. Once they made it in, they found the water barely warmer than the air.
With such