"Ah, the red elk," Niten admired from a distance as the boy guided his rather unusual steed out from a raggedy shed, "A hearty breed native to the northeast, how'd you come to meet each other?"
"He was injured," Ritsuki turned to the older man as he adjusted the straps, "We rescued him as a fawn..."
"Calf," Niten corrected with an amusing frown, "He's an elk..."
"Right..." the young man rubbed his head.
"Does he have a name?" they walked with each other up the narrow dirt path.
"Akai, we named him after the colour of his fur and his love for swimming."
"Huh, well ain't that neat...?" The man genuinely looked impressed, "Well then, come along."
They turned on their way up a mountain, the weathered roads and ruins of an abandoned town scattered all around them.
"Niten-san, where are you taking me?" the boy turned to his new friend curiously. He wondered why this town would be abandoned.
The man remained silent for a moment, seeming to think of an answer.
"Just... someplace I feel you should see..." he only replied vaguely, Ritsuki was rather dissatisfied but he would give him some benefit.
The man seemed trustworthy enough, though secretive about certain subjects. He knew about the Ritsuki's curse though he would not say how he came across such knowledge and insight.
They arrived at their destination, and though the building was weathered and ancient like the town below it still impressed a modicum of prestige. Ritsuki could imagine this was an old house of nobility.
"Come along, watch your head while we're in there though." the man turned to him with a flat expression.
"Why...?" Ritsuki frowned and grew alarmed, "Is there something inside?"
"No, it's just old," the man's face shifted into a crooked smile, "Old things tend to fall apart and hit you on the head..." he finished with a chuckle.
The younger man clicked his tongue, he noticed that Niten liked to joke to lighten the mood.
Leaving Akai by the door, the two made their way inside.
"What is this place...?" Ritsuki took note of the murals on the walls, his curiosity spiked with every passing moment.
"The old house of lords, over a thousand years ago this town must have been prospering. Ripe with life and potential..." the older man began to narrate.
Making their way through the empty halls and the old library, they arrived at an open room connected to a balcony overlooking the empty town below.
"But something happened here," his voice became deep and brooding, "Something terrible... It came from this very room, I can feel it."
They both remain silent for a moment, Ritsuki could see the man was balling his fist as he hung his head.
"You are angry..." He softly noted; the boy's words brought Niten back to it.
"I am..." Suddenly turning around, the man gestured to Ritsuki with an open palm.
"Now, that thing inside you; in myths, it is the Kishu-no-Seishin, the Spirit of Vengence." He then tipped the boy his head, "I see that you've made a deal with the devil..."
"What...?" the young man's eyes shifted wild as he unconsciously staggered backwards.
"Don't try to hide it from me kid, no point..." Niten moved his hand to rub his right thumb, "You're among the deceived..."
"N-no, no... I was not denying you, I was..." Ritsuki scratched his head as he blankly scanned around, "The devil...?"
"I'm afraid so..." the man shook his head before looking to the blinds, "Now then," he called for the young man's attention with a clap.
"Deep breaths and concentrate, if I can feel the evil inside this room; you should be able to as well..." he prompted with a gesture.
The boy was a bit hesitant at first before he commenced.
Looking down before he closed his eyes, he relaxed his arms to his side as he steadily took a breath. Niten had told him the trick to feeling disturbances was to attain an empty state of mind.
Being completely calm, the mind was able to more easily locate irks and negative feelings, or in this case: Evil.
His mindscape was a bit hazy at first, an empty black expanse like a starless night. He stood unmoving before he stiffened up as he felt a red miasma begin to trickle in.
Remaining focused, he pinpointed the source of the red misty tendrils and his body unconsciously turned about.
"Hah-!" Ritsuki cried as he opened his eyes, Niten took note of the short burst of flame that erupted from the young man's neck.
Short of breath, he looked down to see his hands had moved to the sword on his waist.
"Seems he's more volatile this time around..." Ritsuki heard the man comment behind him.
"What- huh, what do you mean?" he asked through his gasps.
"I have... known... a Spirit of Vengeance from my travels, a lone Ronin. The power he wielded was much more stable... tamed." The man simply shrugged.
"... I don't understand..." Ritsuki muttered to himself as his gaze uneasily turned to his open palms. Turning back up, the boy opened his mouth.
But before the boy could in turn ask a question, Niten brought up a pressing issue.
"You should probably tell your family that you're alright now, no?" he quickly brought to Ritsuki's attention, "They must be worried sick."
"Oh, right...!" Ritsuki gasped.
"Take care..." The man chuckled along as the boy quickly turned on his heel and began approaching the hallway that led down to the front door.
Halting before he passed the wooden frame, Ritsuki turned around to face his new friend.
"I still have a lot of questions, so I'd like to talk to you again. Will you still be here when I come back?" Ritsuki's expression was imploring and the man seemed to relent.
"I'm broke and homeless, kid... the abandoned houses here don't have rent," he admitted with a small shrug.
The boy smiled brightly at his response.
"Then thank you most kindly, Niten-san..." With a firm nod, Ritsuki made his way outside.
The boy made it back to Bizen by nightfall, keeping a mental map of the way to the abandoned village. He would ask Niten more about the Seishin - the Rider - when he goes back.
"Eh...? Momota, is that you?" the ageing eastern gatekeeper squinted, he raised his lamp to see the young man's face.
Ritsuki rode on Akai's back, he pulled down his bandana and presented himself.
"Eh... what are you doing out so late? Your mother's got half the town searching for you!" he placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head towards Ritsuki.
"We thought you had run away for some reason... or worse..." The old man marched up to the boy, "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I'm so sorry, Mister Yonaga..." Ritsuki probed his mind for an explanation, "I- must have been sleepwalking."
"You took your elk on a sleepwalk?" the old man narrows his eyes.
"Right, well... I slept on Akai and he must have-"
"Alright, alright I don't want to hear it." The old man waved his arms about then marched over to the gate and opened it, "Just go in and tell your mother, quickly... before she tares down the fishery too."
Nodding at the man's words, he had Akai push the wooden gate open with his horns and he was let inside. Then he thought about what the old man had said,
"Mister Yonaga?" he turned Akai around,
"Hmm...?" he looked up as he grabbed the gate.
"When you said they thought I had run away, or worse... What do you mean 'worse'...?" Ritsuki knit his brows curiously.
"Ah... I'm sure they'll tell you all about it." the old man waved off, closing the gate in the young man's face.
Townsfolk nearby looked up from their activity at the commotion to see that Ritsuki had come home, most would smile brightly at his return.
"Oh thank goodness... I thought the only handsome man in town had left...!" one woman exclaimed.
"Hey!" Her husband cried out in protest.
He waved and tried to keep up an honest smile, "I'm so sorry for troubling you, everyone..." he said to them with a bow.
All things considered, they simply seemed happy that he was back safe and sound, so Ritsuki was delighted as well. But everything he had been told by Niten...
"You'll find that you lose control at night," He warned him, "You should try meditation. I've been told it helps to focus your mind, and that is exactly what you need right now, focus."
"Start tonight, try to control the demon inside, before it controls you." Niten said with a shrug, "Otherwise, you'll soon have to explain your nightly disappearances to the people who care for you."
"Wouldn't it be better if they know?" the boy softly reeled his head and quirked a brow.
"Hah... depend..." the man shrugged, "I would personally advise against it, but you're free to decide for yourself. Though, I'll leave you with a word of warning..." Ritsuki nodded.
"If you do choose to tell them - if they love you - it's very likely they'll try their best to protect or aid you. Bringing themselves into the crossfire of this mystical secret war..."
"Oy, Momota-san!" Ritsuki was driven out of his thoughts when he heard the familiar voice of a boy call for him.
Looking up, the boy saw Hiroshi run towards him with a bright smile on his face, carrying on his shoulders the five-year-old Shota, his younger brother.
His lips turned flat when Akai came to a stop, Hiroshi had his younger brother pet the red elk while he turned his attention to Ritsuki.
"Thank god you're alright, Momota-san...!" he greeted properly with a toothy smile.
"Can you tell me where my mother is, Hiroshi?" he raised his brow, and the younger boy immediately pointed to where he had come from earlier.
"She was just questioning the street peddlers if they had seen you leave." he turned back with a worried expression, "She far too old for you to scare her like this, Momota-san."
"I know, Hiroshi..." Ritsuki smacked his tongue, "I'll make it up to her. For now, take your brother home, it's getting late."
"Roger that, Momota-san, good luck!" he cheered as his figure retreated towards their house by the bay.
Ritsuki straightened himself and guided Akai to head for the peddler's den in the second market, towards where Hiroki had said he would find his mother.
He swallowed a tough gulp and wondered how he would explain himself to her.
"Mother, have you seen my old hanya mask anywhere?" Ritsuki asked as he entered his mother's room.
"No, I haven't..." she stopped her cotton wheel, "Where was the last place you left it?" the old woman tilted her head.
"Hmm... I always keep it dangling around my belt. Anyways, I'll stop bothering, thank you..." He waved politely as he left, closing the door.
He sighed in relief as he stood in the corridor.
Perhaps she had mellowed with age, but when Akiko had found her son that evening, she - sharing the collective sentiments of the Bizen townsfolk - had simply welcomed him back with open arms.
In her youth, Ritsuki remembered his mother as being the disciplinarian of the family.
"Now where did I leave that mask...?" he was unaware of the supernatural circumstance for its disappearance, so he continued a vain search through the house.
It was when he came back out of the storeroom that he heard a knock on the front door.
"I'll get it..." he called for his mother to hear, dusting himself off from the cobwebs and soot, he walked over to their front door.
"Who is it?" he prompted their visitor.
"It's just me, Momota-san." Ritsuki knit his brows in impression, he had not known Hiroshi could be capable of low volumes.
Sliding open the door, he greeted his self-proclaimed disciple.
"What are you doing here? It's an hour and a half long walk from town...!" Ritsuki tried to scold the younger boy.
"I know what you're gonna scold me, Momota-san, but hear me out first...!" Hiroshi said as he bit his lip.
Exhaling deeply, Ritsuki pinched the bridge of his nose before silently closing the front door behind him as he walked out.
Under the late evening sky and the September new moon, Ritsuki took a seat on a pile of firewood while Hiroki sat cross-legged on the ground nearby.
"Alright, I shall listen, what was so important that you couldn't wait for tomorrow to tell me?" he gestured with his head for the boy to proceed.
"It's... the bay, Momota-san..." Hiroki admitted, though with great hesitation.
"What about the bay...?" Ritsuki could see the boy's apparent unease and understood the implications.
"You know how it's not uncommon for people to go missing in the channel?" the boy instead posited, earning him a flat look.
"People go missing from all over the channel and the surrounding villages," he wagged his finger with small nods, "The waters can be surprisingly violent these past few months, they already told me about this Hiroshi."
"No, I-" the young boy smacked his tongue, "It's not just the waves and waters, Momota-san." he exasperatedly stated.
"You're being uncharacteristically nervous..." Shifting in his seat he leans forward slightly, "Why is this so...?"
"Folks and fishermen don't just disappear at random from the towns," Hiroshi moved to grab a stick nearby, "There's a pattern,"
Using the stick to draw on the ground, the young boy began to list his findings.
"Once a month, someone disappears into the night from either one of the three nearby fishing towns."
"Mmm-hmm...?" Ritsuki nodded along, rising from his seat to crouch beside the boy.
"It always happens after midnight, and during a new moon, and the body is never found..."
"Ronight's a new moon," Ritsuki noted as he looked to the sky, then turned to regard the boy with a look.
"And you're concerned someone might go missing tonight?" The young man's mouth turned flat.
"Yeah..." Hiroshi turned up, his expression anxious.
The young man then got up to his feet and hummed in thought.
"What do you think, Momota-san...?" Hiroki dusted himself off as he stood up as well.
"Me...?" Ritsuki gave a heavy sigh, "I'm not sure what you want me to think Hiroshi..."
He then turned instead to the young boy and gestured.
"Though I'm curious; what do you think yourself?"
"Demons..." the boy promptly responded, and Ritsuki subconsciously stiffened at the word, "I think this is the work of demons, o-or at least evil spirits...!"
"Demons...?" the young man dryly asks.
"M-Mabuchi-san thinks so too, and so does the chairman's son... They convinced me to come and tell you about it because, well... you're the strongest guy in town and-"
"Hiroshi..." the young man sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose once more, the boy had tried to volunteer Ritsuki without his consent again.
"B-but I have proof, Momota-san...!" The young boy suddenly declared, catching Ritsuki's intrigue now, "Yesterday evening, I fished out a severed human hand from the lake. It was all bloated and oozed this nasty yellow liquid, it almost made me vomit...!"
"You kept the severed hand?" Ritsuki asked, obviously very repulsed, "Do your parents know about it?"
"I keep it in a jar down at the fishery, I haven't told them about anything." the boy innocently declared, even sounding proud.
"Dear goodness, Hiroshi..." he stifled a long groan.
"Come have a look and you'll believe me." He pleaded with his balled fists.
"And even if no one is fishing in the bay during a new moon, someone goes missing from one of the towns anyway." The boy threw his stick away and folded his arms.
"If Momota-san won't do anything, I will...!" the young boy declared and turned to march away.
"Wait," Ritsuki quickly stopped the boy, looking past Hiroshi towards the dirt road and approaching night.
"Maybe I can't stop you from going," the young man conceded and released the boy, "But I won't let you go back down that mountain alone."
Hiroshi looked irritated at first at being held back, but soon brightened up as soon as Ritsuki declared he would help him.
"Let's go find Akai, then you can take me to see this severed hand..."