It is night again. The human world has wound down after nineteen hours of school, work, studying, volunteering, cram schools, shopping, errands, cooking, and cleaning (and preparing to do it all again the next day). Long after humans have departed the cities that never sleep, the steel and cement flatlands buzzing with electricity and adrenalin, time has stopped in a tiny pocket of land in a mountain valley. Wisps of smoke above the treetops collect in the cold violet air. Without wind, they spiral and swirl together, in and out of each other, into curlicues and whirligigs, growing in number until they coalesce to form a giant cloud. At the top of the cloud a single, wet eye bulges out. It slowly blinks a vapour eyelid over its red-veined sclera. It searches the night sky, then scans the forest for a clearing. When it locates what it is looking for, it drifts toward the clearing. It hears whispers become murmurs, becoming words:

“Evening.”

“Evening? Pretty sure it’s later than that.”

A rustle in the grass. “And morning for some of us!”

An impatient sigh. “Yes, Sensu-sama, we know. Good morning, I guess, if that’s what you want to hear.”

“It is! So, what’s the plan today, gents?”

“Ahem.”

“And ladies. Or, whatever it is you are.”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m an umbrella.”

“Oh. I see. Is that plastic?”

“Yup! I’m trying a new look. You like?”

“It’s very … modern.”

“And yet you can keep your soul. Interesting.”

“I know! Aren’t you jealous? Yes, you’re jealous. I can tell.”

“Ahem. Back to the matter at hand. What did you have planned tonight? I’m so bored of chasing humans; this better be good.”

Other voices agree, offering their various opinions. The smoky cloud descends and settles on the grass, exposing a humungous red full moon in an indigo sky, the light of which reveals a cadre of monsters, varying in shape and size. Animal-like creatures, mostly, with a few modern-day appliances and accessories that have long been abandoned by human owners and became sentient over the years. A short, squat yokai with blue scales all over its body excuses itself between a pair of rice cookers to stand before the group on a large, conveniently placed boulder. It places a hand where its neck must be and makes a sound in the guise of a human clearing its throat for attention:

“Everyone. I’ve been thinking. The onsen is just up the valley. We walk around in our starkers all the time, and we’re always robbing humans of their clothes, but that’s it. Let’s up the ante. What say we strip some skin tonight?”

“Don’t we already do that?” says a dragon-looking demon.

“Not really. See, I hear a lot of humans are afraid of this thing called Titan, and for some reason people keep attacking it?”