“What?” He shrugs, not understanding. “She runs around after little ankle-biters all day. She can run fast enough to get out of a burnin’ building. It’s not like it’ll actually kill her.”

Hino watches him strut on ahead through the dark woods, oblivious to the roaring flames and the sounds of crumbling infrastructure behind them. There are not many things in either of these worlds that Hino would say she likes, but she really liked that lighter. She is no longer sure she wants to be conversational anymore; sadly, her options are limited. “I think that human of yours has an infatuation with someone.”

Akki stops dead in his tracks. “A what?! With who? Since when? And who?!” He sinks to his knees, ready to transform on the spot. “Doesn’t matter. Bring ’em on. I’ve been dyin’ to fight for a long time.”

“An infatuation, Akki. A crush. He likes someone. You know what I mean, do you not?”

He thinks for a beat, then bursts out laughing. “You’ve got to be fuckin’ kiddin’ me,” Akki gasps, holding his sides.

Hino passes him now, heading deeper into the darkness. Her deep voice floats through the air. “I do not know. He ran out of Jibun Jishin the other night trying to chase someone down. Mistook it for a human at first. Have you not seen it? The yokai often posing as a human?”

“Uh, no,” Akki retorts. The glow of his cigarette falls to the ground and disappears. “How would anyone notice somethin’ like that?”

Only someone as thick as you would miss something like that, you obtuse fool, Hino thinks to herself. “Well, the rest of us have noticed it hanging around. Zaniel does not understand, of course. He can think whatever makes him comfortable, I suppose. I cannot blame him; it is quite lonely to think you are the only one who can do what you do.” She vaguely remembered what that felt like, centuries ago, when she first stumbled on the shores of Ryukyu in her new form. It was so much easier to get away with murder back then. Before forensics. Good times.

“So, what makes you so sure it ain’t human? I mean, Zaniel ain’t the sharpest egg in the box but maybe he just wandered into some chick’s dream of bein’ a superhero or somethin’. Ever think of that? Not that chicks dream about that kind of thing … do they?”

Hino resists the urge to claw his jugular. Not that it would do him any harm. It would just make her feel better. “Have you ever heard of a human bending this world to its thoughts and wishes, even if it means cancelling out yours, Akki? Ring any bells?”

“Uh … what?”