The front of the convenience store was all glass with sliding double doors by the front counter on the left side of the store. Fluorescent lighting brightly illuminated the store’s mainly white interior, accented with bright red and blue details. Stretched along the front windows were a long magazine rack, a dining counter, and an ATM and photocopier. The store was well stocked with drinks, food, snacks, and all the goods a household or tourist would need.
Yuriko stood behind the front counter, wearing a red and white, short-sleeve uniform shirt. A pinned name badge reads “Morimoto” with “Manager” underneath. In her late forties, she had wide-set eyes, a flat nose, and appeared younger than she was. The well-toned muscles on her arms showed the rigorous physical training she kept to.
Yuriko pulled the chicken karaage bento from the microwave and put it into a plastic bag. She handed it over to a young man, the second last customer in the store, along with another bag full of cold beer and snacks. He was part of a small army of seasonal workers from October through December who picked mikan, Japanese thin-skinned oranges, from the many orchards in the area. Many pickers were regulars at the konbini in the morning for breakfast and for dinner in the evening on their way to and from work.
“Thank you very much. Please visit us again.”
“See you tomorrow,” the man cheerfully responded.
The store’s automatic doors chimed open as he exited into the golden light of the setting sun. Climbing into his Toyota truck, he then drove south towards Odewara town, away from the store’s crossroads location.
Yuriko turned her attention to the last customer, who placed a grilled salmon and simmered vegetable bento on the counter. “You didn’t have to let him go first, Harumi.”
Harumi Suzuki was a wiry woman quite fit for her 70 years of age. She gave a slight wave of her hand. “It’s fine. He looked like he was in a hurry. By the way, I like what you have done with your hair.”
“Thanks. I wanted it to look less plain.” Yuriko had her stylist put a slight wave and curl into her black hair that ended mid-neck.
“Hmm…” Harumi’s eyes had a playful sparkle in them. “It does look good, but it’s going to take more than nice hair to make you into a starlet!” Harumi chuckled at her little joke.
Yuriko smiled, too. “I don’t think I’ll ever be that glamorous. I’m not much into makeup after my years in the army. Miki did say I should try to look more feminine, though.”
“How was her visit on the weekend?”
“It was a good visit, and she is doing well in university, but things are still a little distant between us.“ Yuriko rang through Harumi’s purchase.
“These things take time, dear. You two were apart for many years while you served.”
“I know. Our relationship is better.” Yuriko appreciated Harumi’s concern because Harumi was one of her first local friends. “A dinner bento today for you? Do you want it heated?”
“I’ll heat it at home. The daycare needed help today. I do love the children, but they do wear me out. No cooking for myself tonight.”
“You ran out of energy? I can only hope to be as energetic as you! Did you visit the shrine today, too?” Yuriko knew she walked up to Kumotawa Shrine on the mountain behind the store every morning. Harumi would visit the konbini for a chat before or after her walk. If Harumi missed a few days, Yuriko would phone to check on her.
“You flatter me. It would have been good to go, but it was just too busy.”
Yuriko handed over Harumi’s purchase. “Well, there’s always tomorrow. Enjoy your dinner.”
“Thank you. I’m going to enjoy my dinner in front of a Rin Rin Mystery special tonight.“ Harumi headed to the door with a wave. “You have a good evening, Yuriko.”
“You too, Harumi.” Yuriko had to squint into the evening sun to watch her leave.
Yuriko tidied up the around the store, and time quickly passed. The sun had just dipped below the train station roof across the road. It was a simple station, just a sheltered platform with a small office. Pink airglow provided plenty of light, and she noticed a few faint wisps of mist in the parking lot between the street and the store.
Travis Sanger, her partner, came out from the back of the store. He walked by to look out at the parking lot. He had a head of closely cropped blonde hair and a towering, muscled physique that barely fit in his store uniform. His height was just over two metres, and his build made him quite a bit larger than the locals. “The fog is early,“ he commented in his Japanese, which had a southern drawl to it. It looks like the forecast nailed it.”
“Let’s hope for a quiet night,” Yuriko replied. Travis was almost twenty years younger than her, in his late twenties, but he was great in a pinch and a genius with technology. They had served several combat tours together as part of the Joint Special Operations Force Command or JSOF, which included American and Japanese soldiers. They treated each other like family, and she trusted him with her life.
“Crossing my fingers.” Travis headed back to restock some shelves.
They were both working tonight because the Imperial Management Agency had predicted the fog would set in. It was a thick fog that formed out of nowhere to completely blanket the forested slopes and base of the mountain. Yuriko figured everything on the mountain below Kumotawa Shrine, some 408 steps up the mountain, was already engulfed in fog for the night. Eventually, only the top of the 380-metre-high summit would peek out of the fog.
Kumotawa Shrine commemorated Princess Chikako and her samurai vanquishing an oni army here five hundred years ago. According to legend, hundreds of samurai and ogres clashed here. An older shrine burned down during the battle, and Chikako rebuilt it and designated it an imperial shrine. It was dedicated first to Amenominakanushi, the primal Shinto god of creation, then to Inari, the god of harvests, and finally, Hanuman, the war god.
On sunny days, the store was busy with tourists passing through. The mountain was beautiful, and people climbed up the steps from the large vermillion torii gate behind the store. The steps passed through an ancient pine forest and under many torii gates before they ended at the big gate in front of the shrine grounds. After praying at the shrine, many visited the teahouse there, then hiked from the shrine to the peak of the mountain for a great view out to the Seto Inland Sea.
On foggy days like today, the locals avoided the mountain because legend said yokai would appear. Contemporary sightings of monsters, strange tracks in the dirt, and people disappearing on the mountain kept the legends alive. A warning sign about poor visibility and bears was even posted at the mountain's base, and the shrine closed early, which was unusual for any shrine.
Yuriko was glad visitors and hikers on the mountain had already left for the day, and business at the store was non-existent. She watched a black-and-white police car pull into the parking lot from behind the till.
Sergeant Goro Noguchi step stepped out of the car, adjusted his cap, and walked to a thick cement post at the crossroads. He unlocked the control box on it and lowered the attached yellow and black striped bar across the access road that ran up the mountain past the shrine. Yellow blinkers on the bar begin flashing. Locking up, he turned to walk towards the store. Goro was a few years older than Yuriko and was in pretty good shape but had a slight paunch under his blue uniform jacket.
The store’s glass doors opened with a musical chime to let Goro in.
Yuriko called out the customary greeting to any customer entering the store. “Welcome to our store!” With a smile, she added, “Good evening, Goro.”
“Good evening, Yuriko,” he replied. “Glad I came a little early to close the road. The fog will be thick tonight if it is already forming.”
“It’ll be a big Confluence tonight,” Yuriko nodded. “I’m hoping nothing will happen.”
“I second that. But, something feels different tonight...“ Goro reflected for a moment. “It was like this nine years ago when a pair of teens went up the mountain on a dare from their friends. The bloodhounds only found a ripped, bloody jacket and strange clawed tracks that vanished.”
Yuriko frowned, nodding in agreement. “This fog unnerves me too. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll keep an extra eye out for any trouble.”
“You’re good at this job,” Goro replied. “But I’ll drive by a few more times just to make me feel better.”
“It never hurts to have extra eyes looking.”
“Roger that.” Travis piped in from the middle of the store. His head appeared well above the shelves of the candy aisle since he stood much taller than them. “Good to see you, Goro!”
“Good evening, Travis,” Goro said jovially. “No snacking on the job!”
“I’m on a protein diet, “ Travis replied. “Cutting out the carbs and sweets for a bit. I’ve got to make sure my build matches that tough cop physique of yours.”
“You could lift two of me.” Goro chuckled. “I’m afraid I do too much driving on this country beat. You two train constantly. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t keep up.”
“If you ever want to, I’ll whip you into shape.”
“Maybe before my next physical.”
“Or maybe Yuriko could do it?” Travis winked at her.
Goro reddened a little in the face.
“Travis!” Yuriko sternly spoke. Her face also flushed a bit. “Maybe you should clean the toilet now.”
“Dang! I’ll get back to ordering these chocolate bars. Who knew there is so much matcha chocolate in this place.”
Yuriko sighed a little. Travis knew she had gone on a few dates with Goro last year. Goro was a good man but seemed shy around her, so she didn’t push the relationship.
“Sorry about that.” She knew Goro still liked her, but they were just friends. “Travis gets carried away.”
“It’s okay. He was joking.”
Goro went over to the coffee machine that ground beans for a freshly brewed cup. While waiting, he looked out the front window and came back to pay for the coffee. Yuriko rang it through and handed him his change.
Yuriko had to adjust to Goro buying food at the store while on duty. Police in Japan don’t usually eat or drink on duty, but here, in the American zone, things were different. This area in the south of Honshu, the largest Japanese island, had a mix of Japanese and American rules, and most American expats in the country lived around Hiroshima. The area was a special cooperative zone set up after World War II, part of a deal that spared Hiroshima from atomic attack. When the first atomic bomb demonstration over Tokyo Bay failed to dissuade the army faction from fighting to the death, the emperor, his ninjas, and the naval faction under Admiral Yamamoto led a decisive coup that ousted them.
“I’ll be back,” Goro called over his shoulder as he exited the store.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Don’t worry. You’ll know if anything comes up.”
“Take care.” He headed to his patrol car. Yuriko watched him drive out of the parking lot and down the road. The fog was already shin-high. Shadows stretched way out, and some areas were already in the twilight as the sun sank closer to the horizon.
Yuriko turned on the parking lot lights and the big red and white SuperQuickly sign above the front of the store. SuperQuickly was not Japan's biggest chain of convenience stores, but it was still well known. The place lit up the dark country night like an urban oasis of comfort and convenience. More than one customer had told her they were glad to see the store at night, especially if they had been spooked by something. A konbini was a place that was always open and trusted by the Japanese, making it an excellent cover operation for the IMA to gather information about unusual events.
Unusual events on the mountain were often real, including the legend about Chikako and other stories about yokai. Mount Kumotawa existed on a weakness in space-time. About once a month, the weakness could become so severe that the boundary between this world and other parallel worlds broke down. The phenomenon was called the Confluence. This was when crossover could happen for yokai, strange beasts not of this world. Some people who had vanished from our world had probably wandered into another world, never to return. Nothing strange happened during most Confluences, but someone needed to keep an eye on it. Before the konbini was here, this location was an inn at the crossroads, and its managers had been imperial agents for centuries.
Yuriko and Travis took advantage of the continued lull in customers to organize and restock the shelves. She worked the fridges while Travis continued with the aisles. A half-hour passed. When Yuriko looked up again, it was a solid white mist outside. It would have been entirely dark except for the diffuse glow from the store’s lighting.
Travis walked over to the front windows again. “Looks like we’re socked in. Visibility is probably about four metres. This Confluence is a big one.”
Yuriko joined Travis and thought she saw movement near the ground in front of the main doors. Looking more carefully, she made out the hazy form of a cat. Two glowing yellow eyes reflected light cast out through the store's windows. The cat stared at her for a few moments, then walked forward. The automatic doors chimed and opened to let the cat in.
The cat trotted in and sat in an Egyptian cat statue pose. It was a large grey cat with white paws. Meowing loudly at Yuriko, it gestured with its right paw towards the outside. The first time she saw this, she thought it was an accident. When the cat repeated its actions for the third time, it dawned on her it was trying to communicate.
“No way,” Yuriko said, her eyebrows raising. It seemed impossible, but the cat was making eye contact and definitely trying to get her attention.
“Hello, kitty,” Yuriko said to the cat in a calm voice. Where did you come from?” She had always had a soft spot for cats. When she was a child, she had lost her beloved calico cat in a car accident. “I’ll come over to you.”
The cat just sat and watched her approach. It looked healthy, had no collar, and was totally unafraid. Yuriko crouched down. The cat did a long, drawn-out meow while pointing its paw outside again. It was strange behaviour for a cat.
Yuriko wondered why it was pointing. “Do you want me to go outside?” It was not like the cat could understand her.
The cat nodded and gave a “mrrrp” of acknowledgment.
Yuriko concluded this was not a normal cat. She would have been more alarmed, but she felt a sense of familiarity from looking into its golden eyes.
Yuriko spoke in a calm voice. “Travis. I think we have a situation. This cat is a yokai.” The cat did not seem dangerous, but she was glad for the compact 9mm pistol holstered at the small of her back.
Travis had stayed back to let Yuriko deal with the cat. “Gotcha, Boss. I’ll call it in.” He pulled out his phone while he moved towards the office at the back of the store.
Seeing Yuriko understood, the cat walked towards the front doors. Its tail was straight up with a slight curl at the end and swayed gently from side to side. For a moment, the tail blurred a bit, and Yuriko thought she saw two tails as a nekomata would have. When Yuriko blinked, there was only one tail again. Nekomata were demon cats from old folktales, but in this part of the country, cats were lucky, and she didn’t sense anything malign about the cat. The cat looked back at her, pointed its paw towards the outside, and meowed more insistently.
Yuriko was not sure what to do next. Going into the fog was not her first choice. Walking around the forested mountainside during a Confluence could walk you into another world or an encounter with something dangerous. Distortions in space-time gave people strange crawling sensations on their skin, distorted vision, light-headedness, mild vertigo, and a general feeling of unease. It was like a list of bad side effects from some medication. Radio communications and GPS broke down near a boundary, too, a sign to backtrack out.
“What’s out there, kitty?”
“Mrrrp.”
She needed more information. “Is it important?”
“Mrrrrp!”
“Does someone need help?”
“Mrrrrp!!”
“Is there danger?”
“Mrrrrp!!!”
She got the message. “Travis! I’m going to have to go outside. The cat says someone is in trouble.”
“What?” Travis yelled from the back of the store.
Yuriko turned her head to shout clearly to the back. “You heard me. The cat wants me to follow it. I think someone’s hurt out there. Bring my gear.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Boss. Strange enough to follow a cat, but I’m your only backup, and I have to man the fort.”
“I know.” Yuriko cursed a little inside—this was definitely not routine observation, and she was breaking protocol. “Call Goro back. HQ will send help, but it’ll be an hour before a response team arrives.”
She faced the cat again. “I need a few things, and then I’ll come with you.”
The cat trilled in assent and sat in the Egyptian cat pose again. She had doubts about this helpful cat or nekomata, but even so, it seemed benevolent.
Travis arrived at the front after grabbing their gear from the office. His assault rifle was slung over one shoulder, and his tactical vest hung on the other. In his hands were Yuriko’s assault rifle, Kevlar helmet, and tactical vest.
Yuriko put on the vest and tightened the side straps to secure it. The vest was fairly heavy as it was weighed down with rifle magazines, grenades, other gear, and front and rear ballistic plates. She was sure she looked odd having a tactical vest over a store uniform, but she didn’t care. She pulled the magazine out of the rifle, checked the rounds, and slapped it back in to ensure it was seated. Chambering a round, she slung the rifle over her shoulder. The helmet was next, and she plugged its headset cable into the radio on the vest. “Radio check 1 2 3. Radio check 1 2 3.”
“Coming in loud and clear,” Travis replied over the radio. He checked a hand-held tracking unit with a map display of the mountain. “You’re on the grid. GPS is working.”
Yuriko checked the small helmet-mounted screen just above her left eye to verify she was on the map, too. She tapped the thermal camera on the side of her helmet to switch the display to a green-and-white thermal view.
“Ready to go.” Yuriko was slightly nervous but focused on the mission ahead. She had been in the fog before, but not alone. Her ability to put her nerves aside on a mission helped. It was a trait that had served her well in the army many times.
She took a step towards the cat. “Let’s go, kitty.”
The doors chimed open. Cooler air and wisps of fog entered as the cat walked out. Outside, it stopped and looked back at her. She turned on her helmet light, carrying her rifle at the ready position, and walked into the pine-scented fog. Seeing she was following, the cat began a fast trot towards the mountain access road.
“Boldness and honour, Boss,” Travis called out their special forces’ motto over the radio.
“Boldness and honour,” Yuriko replied.
The cat was a vague shadow in the beam of her helmet light. Yuriko followed about three metres behind, passing the torii gate that led up to the shrine, and soon found her feet on the mountain access road. She saw the cat’s head alertly scanning from side to side. It held its tail cautiously down so she knew something was up.
The cat was silent as it walked through the stillness of the forest. Yuriko’s heavy work shoes made a slight scuffling noise on the gravelled road surface. Her breathing stayed regular and sounded loud to her ears. She scanned from side to side but only saw the vague outlines of trees and the road's edge. After many minutes of walking, the cat slowed down. Yuriko checked her position on the helmet display. They had gone up the windy road for about half a kilometre. Looking ahead, a dim red light flashed distantly through the mist.
“Is that what you want me to see?” She asked the cat.
The cat meowed and headed up the road toward the light slowly and cautiously.
Yuriko followed its lead, dropping into a slight crouch. She switched to thermal to look around better but still only saw trees and brush. The source of the flashing light became clearer, and she realized it was the back LED light of a bicycle. The bike had hit a tree at a bend in the road. Its front tire was bent, and the rider lay prone near the bicycle.
The cat walked up to the rider and nudged him in the face to no response. It looked at Yuriko and meowed to urge her forward. Yuriko cautiously advanced. The rider was a man in black cycling shorts, a shredded blue top, and an askew helmet on his head. His back was a bloody mess. Something with four large claws had left wide gashes across his back. He was breathing, and she knelt to find a good pulse from the side of his neck.
“Travis. I have a man down. It looks like he was cycling down the mountain and got caught in the fog. Something clawed him, and he hit a tree while trying to escape. He’s lost a lot of blood. I’ll patch him up, but he needs an ambulance.”
“Roger. Watch your six.”
Putting her rifle down, Yuriko cut off the shredded shirt with her combat knife. She opened a pouch on the side of her vest and pulled out some large wound dressings and a can of spray foam bandage. The spray quickly bound to the blood and foamed up to stop the bleeding. She put the dressings on top and taped them down.
Yuriko heard the cat hiss and saw it facing up the road. The cat’s ears were flattened, and its fur stood straight up. She shouldered her rifle and scanned the road. She couldn't see anything, even on the thermal, which tripled visibility in the fog.
“Cat thinks there is something in the fog,” she whispered into the radio.
“Maybe you should retreat. Goro’s ETA is six minutes.”
She made up her mind to fight. “I’m going to hunt this thing. I can’t carry the cyclist and defend us.”
“Good luck,” Travis tensely replied.
Yuriko popped the bottom of a flare stick to activate it and tossed it onto the middle of the road. It burned with a bright reddish light. She put her back to a nearby tree to cover her back and shouldered her rifle. From there, she could cover the road and cyclist. The cat moved off into the trees. Yuriko’s world became the bubble of reddish-pink fog around the sizzling flare, devoid of other sound and wind. The scramble of clawed feet well up the road broke the silence. She killed her helmet light and gently exhaled to reduce tension. There was still nothing to shoot at. Without the glow from the flare, it would have been pitch black except for the flashing LED from the bike.
Stay calm, don’t focus on one spot, Yuriko thought. Her ability to stay cool under pressure had developed after her first real combat years ago. The thermal couldn’t see anything but the same trees and bushes. She focused on her hearing for the slightest sound.
Minutes passed. Yuriko’s breathing stayed light and regular, and her heart seemed to beat too loudly. Her finger was ready on the trigger. The tree trunk provided reassuring pressure to her back, and she peered behind to ensure it was clear.
That’s when it came for her from the side. A bright green splash on the thermal burst out of the brush eight metres away. The beast made a great bound into the air with long, knife-like claws out front. Large fangs in its long jaws would finish anything the claws sliced. Its wolf-like head with curved horns and a scaled ruff was furry, but it had the body form of a lizard.
Yuriko snapped a poorly aimed burst at it while rolling away from her tree. A couple of the rounds struck, and a howl sounded as it crashed into the tree where she had been. The trunk cracked under the heavy impact of the three-metre-long beast.
Yuriko completed her roll in a kneeling position to fire again. The tiny green image blurred with her adrenaline-fueled reactions as the thermal wasn’t designed for close-in fighting. Still, she centred her rifle on the bright green and emptied the magazine into it on full auto. Continuous muzzle flashes from her rifle illuminated the fog and beast. A great howl of anguish rose as the rounds smashed into the wolf creature’s head and chest. Not the best kill shots, but some of them went deep. The bloodied beast staggered towards her. Yuriko ejected the magazine from her rifle and pulled another from her vest. She slapped the magazine home and pulled the charging handle back to load the first round.
Yuriko put another long burst into it even as it swiped weakly at her. Its slitted eyes closed, and the last snarl faded from its vicious jaws. She flipped her helmet light back on and put another shot into it as she approached to make sure it was dead. The brownish wolf-lizard resembled a hybrid out of mythology.
The cat yowled a warning. It jumped out of the brush onto the back of a second wolf-lizard, which was about to pounce on Yuriko from the side. The cat leapt clear after momentarily distracting the beast.
Yuriko pivoted and fired a short burst at its head. The steel core bullets struck hard, but she saw a couple glance off the sloped skull. The beast snarled and leapt at her. Yuriko fired another burst that struck its chest and body in the air as she dodged to the side. A talon raked the shoulder of her vest as the creature passed by. The beast staggered on landing. Off-balance, too, Yuriko twisted to bring her rifle around even as it pounced again. Yuriko acted on training and instinct at this point. Fear did not register. She held her ground and fired a long burst at the creature as it leapt. The shots struck home, and the beast knocked her flying on impact.
Yuriko went down hard and lost her grip on her rifle. A little dazed, she saw the gun near her and grabbed it. She staggered upright while aiming it. The second wolf-lizard lay unmoving on its side. She shot another burst into it, and the rifle ran dry. Muscle memory mechanically ejected the magazine and grabbed a fresh one as she scanned around. Yuriko could only hear her ragged breathing, even as silence descended again on the forest. Her heart jumped when she felt something against her leg before she realized it was the cat purring and rubbing against her.
“Whew!” Yuriko said. “I think you saved my life back there.”
The cat happily received a pet on the head and rubbed against her hand as if they were good friends. Yuriko quickly scanned the area again. The cat’s relaxed behaviour reassured her it was safe. She wondered why this mysterious cat had shown up at this moment, then went on to more immediate matters.
Yuriko looked over the wolf lizards again. She was sure she had seen them in old paintings from the feudal era. They were referred to as okaminakuma, an uncommon monster in this area. This was the second monster encounter she had during her two years here. Before that, there had been nothing since the Takamatsu Incident nine years earlier. Something felt different now. During the feudal era, there were regular sightings and samurai battles with yokai, something that had not happened since.
Tomorrow, she would go to the shrine, toss some coins into the offertory box, and give prayers to the gods for making it through with just bruises. But first, she needed to call Travis to update him on the situation.
