sword, materialised in Kenny’s hands and he lashed out, striking cleanly to slice the spectral creature in half. It shimmered as the sword edge penetrated, but the katana passed harmlessly through and bit into the tiled floor with a clang.
The thing re-solidified and dead hands clawed outwards from the folds of its cape, the fingers flattening and elongating into gleaming, razor-sharp blades.
Kenny pivoted backwards and struck again, before slipping in the confined space and dropping to one knee. The creature flickered again, shifting its density round the blade, and closed in, slashing the air with its deadly claws.
‘May I observe that sir has neither the space nor the speed to harm me in here?’ Red Cape said. ‘I, on the other hand, have both.’
Kenny instinctively raised his arms as a furious whirl of flashing blades ripped towards his face. Head down, with eyes closed, he heard the scream of metal, like a buzz saw grinding against steel, and felt a tingling in his arms.
Opening one eye, Kenny saw Red Cape backing away, its claw-like fingers mangled and bent. His own arms were gleaming chrome, with the ragged shreds of his shirtsleeves dangling from his elbows. Without thinking, he had channelled the element of metal to transform his arms.
‘Sir has some tricks,’ Red Cape said. ‘But so do I.’ It flickered again, fading like a shadow, before re-forming with its ruined blades restored.
Kenny jumped up and swung the sword in a wild arc, missing the creature completely. Kusanagi sliced through the tiled wall, severing the copper pipes that ran across the divide. Water hissed into the cubicle, spraying the air.
‘That was careless,’ Red Cape said, wagging a scalpel-like finger.
‘Let it go,’ Kenny said, raising his voice over the fizz of escaping water. ‘You can’t hurt me and I can’t hurt you. Call it quits and get lost. Leave these people alone.’
‘Oh, no. The guilty come to me for punishment. No one is innocent – not even you.’ It thrust its dagger hand towards Kenny’s chest and he jumped back, slamming against the door. ‘Besides, I don’t take orders from gaijin.’
‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’ Kenny coughed, wiping water from his eyes. ‘If you had a nose, you’d know something was wrong by now. Hear that hissing sound? It’s not just water. Let’s see if you can dodge – this!’ He snapped his fingers, producing a single spark.
WHOOMPH! An explosion ripped through the toilet as the pocket of leaking gas ignited. The blast smashed Kenny through the door, still protected by his metallic form. He glimpsed shredded fragments of Red Cape burn into nothing.
With his eyes streaming and his ears ringing, Kenny staggered back into the coffee shop, shouldering open the door which was now hanging by one hinge. Everyone stared, open-mouthed. His clothes were in tatters and flames filled the passage behind him.
‘Wooh! You do not want to go in there!’ Kenny said, fanning his hands to clear the air.
Before anyone could respond, Stacey ran forward, grabbed him and steered him straight out of the front door.
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!
‘Hnh? Whuzzah? ’ Kenny pushed himself up on one elbow, his mind lurching towards wakefulness. Blinking his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, he fumbled for his watch.
04:09. In the morning.
He sat up. Stifling a yawn, he wavered between flopping back down to sleep or investigating the source of the noise. Drowsiness won and he slumped back on to his warm futon.
BANG-BANG-BANG! The front door rattled with the urgent pounding.
Fully awake now, Kenny jumped up and threw off the duvet. A strip of light blinked on at the base of his bedroom door and he heard his father, Charles, trudging along the hallway.
Scrubbing his hairline with his fingers, Charles unlatched the door. It slammed inwards, catching him on the ankle, and a Japanese girl in biker leathers stormed past him.
‘Oww! Kiyomi, what’s with all the hammering?’ Charles muttered, hopping and clutching his bruised bone. ‘Do you have any idea what time –’
‘Where’s Kenny?’ Kiyomi’s clenched jaw and the flash of anger in her eyes stopped Charles mid-hop.
‘Kiyomi?’ Kenny stood in his bedroom doorway. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Why don’t you tell me?’ She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
‘Uh, Dad. It’s OK,’ Kenny said, catching his father’s look of concern. ‘I’ve got this.’
‘Really?’ Charles said. ‘Not from where I’m standing.’
‘We need to talk,’ Kiyomi hissed at Kenny. ‘In private.’
‘Fine, but I don’t see why this couldn’t wait until the morning,’ Charles grumbled, pointing to the living room. Kiyomi marched past, with her boots still on.
Charles dipped his head closer to Kenny’s. ‘You two aren’t going to fight, are you? I mean, literally fight, as opposed to just arguing?’
‘Dad!’ Kenny said, throwing up his hands.
‘OK, just asking. I don’t need the place trashed.’ Charles stifled a yawn. ‘I’m going back to bed, so try to fight quietly.’
Kenny padded into the lounge where Kiyomi was pacing like a caged tigress. She rounded on him, stabbing a finger at his nose. ‘What have you done?’
‘Whu-? ’
‘Don’t act stupid with me.’
‘It’s not an act.’ Kenny jerked his head away from the accusing finger and ran through the hundreds of reasons Kiyomi might be angry with him. Had she heard about him tackling Red Cape alone? Did he forget to text her? Had he left the toilet seat up again? He had no idea.
Kiyomi grabbed a handful of his T-shirt, marched him backwards towards the sofa and pushed him on to it. ‘Sit down, shut up and hear what we have to say.’
‘We?’ Kenny looked around in bewilderment until he spied a fat, furry, raccoon-like animal waddling in from the kitchen area, an open packet of roasted-squid-flavoured crisps in its paws.
‘Hey, I was saving those,’ Kenny objected.
Poyo spat a mouthful of chewed potato on to his paw and offered it to Kenny.
‘Ugh. No thanks.’
‘Do you mind?’ Kiyomi snapped at the tanuki, who retreated back into the kitchen.
Kiyomi strode over to the balcony windows and stared out into the dark Tokyo night. ‘I just had a dream,’ she said, ‘or nightmare more like.’ A shudder ran through her slender frame and she wrapped her arms round herself.
Kenny sat up at once, fully awake. Dreams were not to be taken lightly; he had learned that the hard way.
Kiyomi continued, her voice flat and emotionless. ‘I’ve been to Yomi once, if only for a few minutes, so trust me, I know Hell when I see it.’ She shuddered again. ‘It’s a dark, desolate, empty wasteland infested with every kind of filth and vermin.’
‘This was your dream?’ Kenny asked, eyes wide with concern.
‘I said to shut up and listen.’ The city lights beyond the window sparkled in Kiyomi’s dark eyes. ‘In my dream, I was flying through the Land of the Dead, zipping over the earth until I came to this palace made of bone. It’s the only building of any