Hanabi

Chapter 9: Infiltration

- I guess this is one of those times when I have to tell you this. Good job.

Tomomi smiled widely, holding the giant book on her lap and looking at Haruna on her side. Both girls were inside of Haruna's truck, parked near the antique shop, and it was getting dark outside.

They examined the book and already read all those pages about Oni several times, and Haruna looked positively excited about the new pieces of information.

- "Stronger under the moon, weaker under the sun", I never read or heard that before, but it does make sense. - Haruna read and commented, her eyes running over the phrases - Maybe that was the reason why that one you saw was so easily affected by Mami's commands and Suzuki's attack.

- I remembered that too...

- Suzuki did say that she needed one of grandma's talismans to make that Oni move away from Mami a year ago... I need to ask her about all of that again, maybe she remembers something else that confirms this.

- Yeah, please ask her again... I think we're onto something here, Haru.

- Definitely... the Oni killer, huh... - the shorter girl opened a huge grin that wasn't very characteristic of her, and with that Tomomi understood just how excited she was - So now we know that we're looking for a katana.

- That doesn't make things easier...

- I should've predicted that, really. Of course it's a katana. - Haruna actually rolled her eyes when saying that, and Tomomi laughed at her expressions - Am I wrong? It's always a sword, why would it be different now...

- The young adventurers looking for a magical sword to kill the evil vilain? - Tomomi continued sarcastically, and Haruna shook her head in disapproval, still facing the book. - I don't know what you're talking about, Haru, really.

- Kind of like that. But from what it says here, there's probably more than one... Look, it says "monks and itako in Edo and Osorezan forged the Oni killer, and later the knowledge was passed to others". We're talking about Tokyo and north of Aomori, these places are very far from each other.

- You're right... And if "the knowledge was passed to others", maybe someone knows about something here in Kansai too...

- I just have no idea of who we should ask, not even my grandma knows how to deal with this. We'd probably have to find someone older than my grandma, and that's kinda hard... for now the only possibility is youkai. Suzuki had no idea about this either.

- Or maybe we just need to find someone who has access to this kind of information. - Tomomi suggested, and Haruna looked at her like she was saying "go on" - I think we should speak to Rina-san, she probably knows a lot of people and places all around Kansai. Maybe she has a better idea of who to ask about some sacred katana. Maybe they don't know any "Oni killer", but maybe under some other name...

- Right... you're right.

- I just predict one little problem with this, Haru.

- Say it.

- If there is some important, sacred katana... There's a huge possibility that an object like that is in some museum. - they faced each other in silence for a moment - Haru, I highly doubt any museum would lend us a sword.

- You're getting too far ahead with no information, calm down. Let's think about it after we find out if these things still exist, first of all. I don't want damn Mami looking down at me and saying "It's fictional, I told you so".

Haruna mimicked Mami's tone and way of speaking in such a funny way that Tomomi burst out laughing. So, from Haruna's point of view, Mami sounded like a bored robot? That was new. She had no idea that Haruna could be a funny person.