Ran Yakumo left the room quietly, careful not to make any noise. She closed the door and, walking down the corridor, arrived in the living room where Yukari was busy observing the remains of the apparently innocent rope that the clergyman brought. It was obvious it was not some just a rope, for as soon as Ran cut it (Yukari would have to remember to stay away from these tails), it dropped Chen before burning.
"Master, Chen is sleeping. She will recover quickly." Said Ran as she knelled in front of the youkai sage.
"Mmm." Said the almighty youkai sage in her infinite wisdom, clearly trusting her minion with informations about what happened to her minion's own minion.
"Master, what happened?"
Yukari sighed. "Ran, remember the incident with the rocket? When that woman from the Moon interrupted my invasion?"
"Of course." There was no way she could forget the sight of her mistress on her knees, begging for forgiveness. Each time Yukari would abuse her, she would remember that scene in details, her mistress' delicate dress getting dirty, her hands and knees touching the ground. Truly a moment of history to be remembered fondly.
"That woman tied us with something she called femtofiber fabric, and claimed the lunarians used it to seal Lord Daikoku."
"But you said it was the same as the shimenawa, right?"
"So you do remember it."
Yukari crossed her hands and looked at Ran, as if she was waiting for her. For a moment, the vixen struggled. And when she realized.
"You mean that rope was a shimenawa? But that man wasn't a priest, he can't use it."
"Ran, Ran, Ran..." Yukari sighed. "I said that the fabric the lunarians are using is similar to the shimenawa. I'm not saying they're exactly the same thing. For example, the shimenawa that god in the mountain is using is made out of rope, which is made out of wood. What that lunarian woman used back then was different, it was metallic. Conclusion?"
Ran was silent as she started thinking. Yukari called a rope a femtofiber fabric , not a shimenawa. Therefore, she saw a difference between the two of them. Moreover, the human was clearly not a Taoist priest, not even Buddhist, therefore sealing youkai was impossible for him. But there was a hole in that deduction : the man was clearly human, and after seeing that lunarian woman, Ran knew there was no way she would rely on a "tainted" human, even if it was to do her dirty work. But the fabric came from the Moon, that was obvious. But lunarians are too arrogant. Therefore... Therefore...
"He stole it from the lunarians?"
Yukari jumped at Ran and slapped before the vixen could react.
"NO! No. Use your head, fool!" Yelled Yukari. "The lunarians are living on the Moon, hiding from the Outside World. That human is from the Outside World. There is no way he could have walked to the Lunar Capital. Think again."
Ran bit her lip and started thinking again. The fabric came from the Moon, there was no possible mistake. And yet a human from the Outside World has it. Theoretically, it was impossible.
"Well," said Yukari, "while you're focusing on it, I'm going to talk a bit with our guests. Don't you dare give me a half-baked answer."
The Yakumo cellar was a strange room. The rest of the mansion was typically Japanese in design, even more than the Eientei mansion. The cellar being the only exception, as it was of European design. For the gap youkai, a room like that, protected from heat and cold, was perfect to store the various alcohol she kept, either as gifts or as trophies from the fools she outsmarted. The lack of opening meant that the air was warm but dry, but it also meant that staying for too long in the room would cause headaches. Nothing strong enough to cause pain to a youkai, but a human would be uneasy after a while.
The human she kept here, tied to a chair, clearly wasn't suffocating, but he wasn't looking healthy either. His hair turned white, with only a few one here and here who kept their original color. The man's face, pleasant but average before, was now distorted and warped from the horrible treatment he received, as his skin turned gray from the lack of sunlight. It was as if he has been locked in that room for years, and yet a simple statement defied logic, as he got captured only ten minutes ago by Yukari Yakumo, right after he tried to giver her that sealing fabric, only to panic and try to attack Ran when he recognized her.
"You're still alive. You're resilient enough to deserve my attention, human."
The husk of a man raised his face, meeting the youkai's eyes. His stare was unchanged, cold and calculating, but his eyes were sick and tired. The purple sage walked to the prisoner and stared him down while smiling.
"That thing you used. Did a huge blond woman gave it to you?"
The prisoner didn't answer. He just kept on staring at the youkai with the same cold eyes.
"Not answering? Fine then, I'll guess." Said Yukari, while pulling her umbrella out of nowhere. "Now then, I'll take my first guess ... here!" And while talking, she stabbed the prisoner's foot with the blade located at the point of her umbrella.
"!" The man groaned as Yukari pulled out the bloody blade. From calculating, his stare became hateful.
"That is a nice look you have here. If you were a bit younger and less foolish, I might have used you as a lover. Maybe I could have kept you for several weeks. Pity I have no love for fools. Now, I'm going to ask something else. Are you the one who shot my dear miko?"
The prisoner didn't answer, but that slight twitch of the nostrils was a giveaway for an observant youkai.
"I see. I have to give you my thanks for this. My servant and her can't stand each other, and that house is going to be a living hell thanks to you."
Still smiling, Yukari spinned her umbrella again, pressing the blade on the prisoner's cheek, right under his left eye. She appreciated the suppressed terror in the man's eyes, that intoxicating feeling of power. And then the blade moved, cutting the man's face. And she slashed his face. And she slashed it again. And again. He groaned at first, but before soon, the man screamed as the youkai was disfiguring him.
"Raise your head, buffoon."
The prisoner obeyed, and Yukari appreciated her fine work. What used to be a man was now a mutilated, pathetic old abomination, a shadow of his former self. One of his eyes has been blinded during her frenzy, and the man was definitely terrified. The youkai sage liked many things, from ice cream to one-night stand in the Outside World. And yet, when she compared these pleasures with the very simple pleasure of crushing her prisoner's hubris and willpower, everything else was bland.
"Now, you are going to tell me what you were thinking when you shot my miko."
"'t'was t'let academy i-in..."
"One more time. Clearly."
"I-it was t-to weaken t-t-the border and let Academy in."
"Interesting. Who gave you the shimenawa?"
"Hu? I-I don't know, I swear!"
Yukari waved her umbrella, moving it left and right. The man's only eye was focused on it, waiting for the blade to strike again, and the youkai loved that.
"And yet you knew how to use it..."
"It was already like that! I was just told to bring it to you!"
"Fascinating. Last question, who hired you and what is your master's plan?"
"I don't know! I swear to God, I don't know! I'm just doing things, I don't know the whole picture!"
"Then you are useless."
And with that, Yukari Y̸ak̶umơ s̶̸t͏a̕b͡͝b̨͠ę̢̀d͡ ̴her͝ ͢͏p̴̛r̡͡i͢s̀҉̡o̸͜͠n̴ér̴̷͠ ̢̛r̛i͜g̸̴h̛͜͠t̀̕ i̢͢͞n ̡t͠h̡͠e͜ ̢͏c͡h̶ę͘s̶t. T̛͏̢h̶̶͜e̵̛ ̡̨́m̧̡a͡ņ͟͟͞ ̢͟d͟͡i̸̛͜ę̴́͡͠ḑ̷̷̧ ̷́͟i̢̡͝n̨͜s̨̧͝t̷͘͢͢á̴͘n͘͢͠͠͡t̴̸̨̡͜l͘͏҉͝ỳ͜҉.̸̛͟͡
A͠͝҉̶n͘͞d͢͜͡ ̨̛w͏͜͢͏i̶͝t̸̵̷̡h̡͟͡͞ ̶̧͜͝ţ̡́͞h̸͝ą̵͏̴̧t̵̛͘͜ , Yu̧͢͡k̸̢͢a͘r̸͝ì͢ Y͡aķ̴ùm҉o̸̴ s͡tab҉beḑ t̕h͡e man, but he jumped backward, trying to avoid the blade. It was in vain, and the youkai's umbrella's pointy end penetrated the man's chest, scraping against the ribs, and grazing the heart. Not enough to kill him instantly, but deep enough to cause an important bleeding that would lead to his death. Just another wound would have been enough to kill the prisoner, but Yukari was already bored and wanted to leave quickly and get something to eat. She got her answers, now all she had to do was manipulating the witch to do the rest for her and take it easy.
She opened another gap under her prisoner, severed the ties and let him slide in her gap. Already he was losing blood in her gap, tainting her world, tainting her body. Finally, out of patience, and out of laziness, the gap youkai spat her bloody victim in Misty Lake.
On the beach, a woman was standing, as straight as a pole, waiting for the man to reappear again. He would be dying, heavily wounded, but the woman knew exactly what to do and how to heal him.