February 17, 1914

"I need to talk to you about something," said Senjuro to James after the two woke up from another practice dream. "And now that we're alone, I can't hide it anymore."

Curious, James replied, "What is it?"

Deciding to not beat around the bush, he asked him, "Why is my brother infiltrating the dreams you're in?"

The question hit James like a ton of bricks. "I, um…"

Senjuro was insistent that he answer his question properly. "You can't lie to me. I've seen my brother running around when we were dreaming. Hell, I saw him in the last dream, and I know you've seen him before. Don't hide this from me, James-san."

James realized that he could not hide this from Senjuro even if he tried. "Okay, I'll come clean 'bout this. I should have told you sooner."

"You really should have. So, what's the deal with my brother?"

James sighed before asking Senjuro, "Remember what I said about invasive projections?"

"Is he one?"

"Yes," he confirmed with a nod. "Your brother Kyojuro is an invasive projection. He began appearin' as such about a month ago."

"A month ago? Why didn't you tell any of us?"

"I didn't say nothin' 'cause I knew you'd react badly. I mean, the whole idea sounds absurd, doesn't it? This whole concept of jumpin' into people's dreams would sound like the stuff of fuckin' mental asylums to most people."

Senjuro admitted, "Okay, that's a fair point, but still. You can't just hide that from me."

"I'm sorry," James said in a solemn tone. "Look, if you wanna walk away from this team, that's fine. I won't blame you after all this."

"No," Senjuro shook his head. "I won't quit. I want to see this through to the end. I've already come this far."

"Alright. That's fine. Just… Be careful if your brother shows up again."

"He knows about the mission."

"I know he does," James revealed. "He seems pretty mixed on it, so he might be hostile towards us. I hope he ain't too bad, but ya never know."

…

February 21, 1914

James was busy writing down a report early in the morning after going out on a mission and spending most of the night hunting a demon in a nearby town. As he wrote the report, Susamaru asked him, "How was the hunt?"

"The little bastard was sneaky," James replied before he yawned. "But I got 'em eventually. He didn't kill any humans tonight, but he did slaughter a whole bunch of farm animals before I finally found him."

"Farm animals… That's unusual for Japanese demons."

"This guy wasn't Japanese," James explained. "He was an American for sure. The Jackson brothers are gettin' more and more of their compatriots to come on over here to turn the tide of the war."

Susamaru sat down across from him at the table he was at and said, "You're serious?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Shit," she replied. "This war really is ramping up. I got a feeling it'll be at its conclusion very soon, or at least relatively soon given how long it's been going on."

"I got that feelin' too. It feels like everythin' is comin' together. All the pieces are slowly bein' put into place on this hypothetical chessboard, or perhaps shogi would be a more apt comparison given that we're in Japan."

"I'm worried," Susamaru admitted. "I'm scared that something's gonna happen to you. I don't want our child to be left without a father."

"I don't, either. I know that if somethin' ever happens to either of us, though, we got a whole network of people behind us. We ain't in this alone, Susamaru." He then reached over and kissed her before gently caressing her face. "I love you, and that will never change."

Susamaru gave a faint smile and told him, "I love you, too, James."

…

February 24, 1914

The whole team met up one last time to go over the plan they had worked out. As James stood up to begin drawing on a chalkboard in the Rengoku Estate, he told the group, "Tomorrow will be the big day. We cannot fuck this up, or else we'll all be in a shitload of trouble. The Saito Corporation is capable of doin' many things, and I'm sure huntin' down those who screw it over is one of those things. This man is our target." He then placed a photo of the target on the chalkboard before writing down information on it. "Watanabe Hideki. He leads the Saito Corporation's largest competitor, and he intends to build a hydroelectric dam in Korea as part of Japan's settlement, modernization, and colonization of the peninsula. The dam will be near the city of Seoul, or Keijo as the government refers to it. Our goal is to extract the plans for that dam and deliver them to the Saito Corporation so they can build their own dams. Word from Saito Yoichi himself says he wants to build a dam in Taiwan near the city of Taihoku, or Taipei as the locals call it, but his company has never built a dam before, and he fears that Watanabe's company will have a monopoly on hydroelectric dam construction throughout the Japanese Empire if they're not stopped."

Reiko then raised her hand and asked James, "Does Watanabe-san have any form of training for his subconscious?"

"It's unlikely," James replied. "But it's not impossible. Only fairly recently have people begun to use dreamsharing and dream infiltration in espionage. We should prepare as if his subconscious is weaponized and trained just in case, and to do that, we're gonna go deep into his mind. I'm thinking of doin' at least two layers, if not three, maybe even four. If we try to do everythin' in one layer, we might attract too much attention." He then began drawing a diagram of what he wanted to do on the different levels of the dream. "On the first level, we're gonna gain his trust to some extent. This level will allow us to explore how he populates his subconscious and with what. On the second and subsequent levels if necessary, we're gonna actually go lookin' for the plans. We need one person to stay behind on each level once we're in."

"I can stay behind on the first level," Tsuyoshi offered. "If any of these projection things try to fight me, I can hold them off."

"That's fine," James replied. "We'll figure that part out as we go. Now, the time dilation factor will be about 20 minutes to one minute due to how powerful the spell we'll be usin' is. Keep in mind that with every layer we go down, the longer we have to stay in order to initiate a synchronized Kick Event so every layer is penetrated. The train journey will take several hours at a minimum, so be prepared to stay under for a long time. Saito has bribed the entire crew of the train and bought an entire sleeper car, so we won't be disturbed."

"Looks like you got all your bases covered," Tokuhei said to James.

"When it comes to this shit, you have to."

…

February 25, 1914

The day of the train ride had finally dawned on them, or, rather, the night of the train ride. As the whole group arrived at their scheduled station together, they all had the plan worked out fully in their heads as to how they would approach their target: Hideki Watanabe. As they walked away from the ticket booth and waited on the platform, James saw their target walk past them. Wanting to get his attention in a friendly way, he asked him, "Are you Watanabe Hideki, sir?"

"Yes," he replied, turning towards James. "I am. I'm surprised you recognized me."

"I'm a businessman myself," James replied. "I heard that your father passed recently. I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you," Hideki replied. "I went to his funeral a week and a half ago. I'm going to Keijo soon to begin work on a project he first proposed about two years ago when he was still healthy."

"I bet he would be proud of you."

"He would be," Hideki replied. As the doors of the train opened, he told them, "Have a safe trip."

"Same to you," James replied. He then turned to Susamaru and told her, "Okay, let's get on."

As the whole group got on board the train and walked to the sleeper car that Yoichi Saito had gotten for both them and for Hideki, James noticed someone else walking towards the same set of sleeper cars as then just ahead that he thought he recognized. As he focused his eyes on them, he soon realized who was on board with them, as did Senjuro, who said to himself, "Oh shit, Kanroji-sama is here."

James thought to himself as he looked at her, "Fuck, she's on the train with us. What will she do if she finds out about our unauthorized mission?"

By pure chance, Mitsuri happened to turn around at the last possible second to put her stuff away in her sleeping cot, allowing her to see James, Susamaru, Senjuro, Reiko, Tsuyoshi, and Tokuhei. Surprised to see them all together, she waved and said, "Hello, Colby-san!"

"Oh, hey, uh," James replied. "Hi, Kanroji-san… What, uh… What are you doin' here?"

"I'm on a photography mission," Mitsuri explained. "What about you guys?"

"We, um," Susamaru said as she walked past the group and stopped just in front of Mitsuri. "Well, we…"

"What is it? Also, why is Senjuro-kin with you guys?"

Senjuro replied, "I, um…"

"Okay, fuck it," James finally admitted. "Come up with us. We're in the next sleeper car."

Mitsuri, confused, asked, "What do you mean?"

"We're on an unofficial mission involving dreams," James told her in a quiet tone of voice. "Once we get situated in the next car, we'll explain more."

"Unofficial?" Mitsuri then grabbed her luggage and moved with them to the next sleeper car.

As they all entered the car, a porter who had been paid off by Yoichi told James, "Ah, Colby-san, welcome. I see you've brought your guests, though you seem to have one more than planned."

"She's fine," James replied, referring to Mitsuri. "She's a last-minute addition."

"Very well. Choose your cots and we'll be right with you."

"Thank you." As the group began stowing away their luggage, James found that Hideki was already lying down in his own cot. He turned to another attendant in the sleeper car and told him quietly, "Give him that drink from Saito-san."

"Absolutely, sir," said the attendant. He then went off to go make a drugged drink for Hideki that would put him in a state of deep sleep within the next ten minutes.

Mitsuri then turned over to James and again asked him, "What's going on? Who is that man?"

James whispered to her, "That's Watanabe Hideki. He's our target for the mission."

"You're going to ki-?!"

"Shhhhh," James said to quiet her down. "No. We're gonna enter his dreams to retrieve something for someone. We ain't gonna harm him or anythin', I swear."

"I can see why this mission isn't official," Mitsuri realized. "But if it's this important… You can count me in, I guess."

"Are ya sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright," James replied. "I'll give you a cut of the reward money then."

"No," Mitsuri insisted. "It's fine. Trust me."

…

Ten minutes later, Hideki had been knocked out by the drugged drink sent to him by James. Now that he was asleep and there were no more disturbances in the sleeper car they were in, James got up and pulled out a spell scroll. He told the whole gang, "Okay, I want everyone to lay down on their cots. Kanroji-san, you can rest assured that your pregnancy will not be affected, as you will not be pregnant inside the dream. Susamaru can verify."

"I was just gonna ask," Mitsuri replied. "Thanks for the heads-up."

He then remembered that Mitsuri was by now married to Obanai. "By the way, I'm sorry I keep callin' you Kanroji-san. I keep doin' that so I don't confuse you with your husband."

"It's fine," Mitsuri insisted. "It got too confusing at Pillar Meetings, too."

James chuckled. "Ain't that the truth." He then told the attendant behind him, "When I fall on the floor, pick me up and put me back into my cot, okay?"

"Of course."

James then gave the attendant a ten yen tip. "Thank you for helpin' us out."

The attendant bowed and replied, "Anything for a client such as Saito-sama."

James then turned back to the team as they all got back into their cots. "And away we go." He then opened the scroll before making a small cut on his finger with his mouth. After painting a line through the middle of the scroll, he used a match to light it on fire, carefully holding the scroll so the fire did not spread to the car itself. Once the scroll was fully burned, he dunked the contents into a bucket of water before declaring, "By the Grace of the Spirits, I ask them to put myself, Watanabe Hideki, Susamaru, Iguro Mitsuri, Reiko, Suzuki Tokuhei, Okuda Tsuyoshi, and Rengoku Senjuro into sleep, and allow us to walk in the dreams of Watanabe Hideki as if they were my own. I cast the Dream Creation Spell upon us!"

As soon as he finished the chant, James fell onto the floor, falling asleep in mere seconds. The attendant did as instructed and picked his sleeping body up, lying him down on his cot before telling a second attendant, "Make sure no one disturbs them. They're all asleep." The mission was now underway.