Chapter 30

Rook, Mochi and Shin were downtown where their mother was struck. Rook went over the scene and paused to it. "Why are we even here? This was MONTHS ago!" Shin protested.

"Yeah… and I can see everything that happened. Residual energy is still here, not to mention, when something traumatic happens, curse energy lingers. It's what those bastards have been feeding off of for the past few months." Rook explained as he hooked his thumb to the alleyway. There were curses lingering, waiting for nightfall to feed, some were doing so bluntly before them.

"The energy is still here?" Mochi asked.

Rook nodded as he walked around for a moment, on the streets he would appear to be a teenager high on something. But, in his mind, he was filtering out scents that has come by here, until he found what was needed. He could pick up his mother's scent, then that of the powder used. "Of course it would be that fine…"

"Rook?"

"The powder used on mom was very fine powder, think of that dimontaious earth that uncle Eso uses in his garden every so often, it kills bugs with shells. The stuff he uses is almost like the same consistency of cornstarch. But a lot lighter, harder to get rid of, harder to get off of you"

"You smell the poison they used on mom?" Shin whispered.

Mochi instantly covered her mouth.

"It's too little to affect you and it need direct application." Rook explained. "If anything, this just marks the guy who did the deed. If I can get a piece of that bastard I would be happy" Rook said.

Shin agreed full heartedly.

Rook took the lead as he followed the smell. Yet there were hints of curse energy among the path. But, as Mochi said earlier, this energy should have long since dissipated. It was MONTHS ago, and there is no way an energy like this no matter how traumatic should be lingering.

Something was up.

Rook came to a pause suddenly before he turned to his siblings. "I can't help but feel this is a trap"

"A trap?" Shin asked. "After we did nothing for months? Is that even possible?"

Rook didn't think it was, at the same time, he refuses to underestimate the man who harmed his mother. Rook has also been reading up on Kenjaku in the library and has been speaking with his uncles on the matter too. There is nothing good to say about him, the same went for Oji too, yet Rook found there was nothing redeeming about Kenjaku.

If he can plan far advance, say a thousand years for example. A few months passing since the attack is nothing, he may have something in place.

"Why do you think it is a trap?" Mochi asked of him.

Rook explained that as much as he sees what has happened before him, the trail given should have been long gone. "At the moment the trail is made by the one who hit mom with the poison, that trail should cease to be. At the same time… the one who attacked mom, had no curse energy."

"Heavenly restrictions…" whispered Mochi.

"Yeah," Rook said and sighed. "But the thing is… I can still smell the bastard… he didn't leave this area…"

"Where?" Shin asked of him.

Rook peered down the street, the trail went down, turned right, then left before ending at a bar. "I know where he is, and he hasn't left. Let's plan this out."

He knew not to rush into it, at the same time they have to keep a low profile or this will reflect badly on their mother. They took a break at a small ramen store where they whispered and spoke of their plan. The bar is well known to the humans, and yet, from where Rook stood, he smelt blood.

"So the bar is associated with… bad people…" Rook said in a round about way. "So the problem, if we are to get this bastard, we don't know how many humans he may have at his beck and call. He has heavenly restrictions and humans respect the strong or they get their faces punched in." he put bluntly.

"So if we fight him, he is going to pull others into the fight…" Shin said without doubt. "I do sense curse energy there too…"

"Probably lowbrow sorcerers who couldn't cut it in the big leagues. At the same time bro, your technique…"

Shin shied away from it, he refused to talk about it for the moment.

"Then we need to be cautious about this. Mochi, as powerful as you are…"

"Fire bad, I got it" she said sarcastically. But then pause as a smile came to her lip.

Snap

She snapped her fingers once, but a small spark was made and a firefly came from it. She sent it on its way and then waited. "Ooo bugging the place, I like it!" Rook said with great confidence.

They waited about ten minutes. Mochi was able to see through her shikigami but it was a very small focal point. "The place appears to be packed, at the same time… it's a little hard to judge how many…" she said. Mochi went silent for a moment longer. "Hmmm… I can't quite make heads or tails of this place, I can sense a lot of people, but at the same time, there are about ten sorcerers there. Nothing on the radar about their abilities so I wouldn't see them as much of a threat…"

"The point is, we're down two techniques." Rook protested. "We can't use fire to cause a scene, and Shin is working on his. I can take down a good portion of the bar solo, but we don't know fully what we are walking in to."

His siblings agreed, but then Shin paused. "We do we do if we get our hands on this guy?" he asked gently. "Rook… as much as we want this ass to suffer… are we going to take his life?"

Rook has been thinking of such a thing for a while as well. He has never thought about taking a life, since he is always trying to save lives. Even with curses that appear to have people trapped within them, he wants to save them. But to kill…

"Didn't Oji say something along the lines of, get over it?" he asked in a cold tone. "Perhaps… we need to do just that as well."

He could tell Shin and Mochi were not certain, hell, even he wasn't certain. But the fact remains. If this man lives, he can do it again. He could come back and attack their mother or someone like her. Why give him the opportunity? As cold hearted as it was to think so, Rook's mind was made up.

This man must die.

"Mochi, can you see anything else?" Rook asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "The firefly went out, someone snuffed it in an ash tray"

Rook began to think as he got another ramen to eat. In fact, he has already eaten six bowls since arriving and he doesn't remember eating them. He paused for a moment as he peered at his ramen. "I'm eating, right?" he asked bluntly.

"You're the one who ordered your sixth bowl" Shin said bluntly.

Rook shrugged as he somehow grabbed his bowl of Ramen… and pounded it down as if it were a drink. He placed the bowl to the side as he went deep into thought again, before he stared at his bowl once more.

"Can I order some more?" he called. He turned to the staff as they appeared rather… mortified. "Huh… is it something I said?"

"Bro, in all honestly I am with them… are you even chewing at this point?" Shin asked.