Blade Song

Chapter 16- Reversing a Lie

The next morning, when we set out in our usual formation, I decided to walk beside Kiyoshi and Mitsuo, instead of trailing slightly behind them like I normally did.

"Good morning?" Mitsuo said, peering around the other side of his brother with a slightly confused look on his face.

"Good morning," I replied with a smile.

The confused look got worse, but he kept moving forward and didn't push it.

"Any chance we can maybe try jogging today?" I asked.

Kiyoshi laughed and shook his head. "Afraid not."

"Fast walking?" I tried.

"Sorry," he said.

I let out an exasperated sigh, turned around, and started walking backwards.

"Trying to keep it interesting?" Kiyoshi asked.

"I'm showing you how ridiculous this is. I could probably keep pace like this all day. Shouldn't you be working them a little harder? They're just going to stay soft at his rate."

He chuckled. "This is not a militia. They can stay soft if they want. They don't need to get any better where they're going."

I sighed again and turned back around. "I guess."

Mistuo glared at us. "Alright, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"What do I mean? You're happy, conversational, and not back there." He pointed to an empty spot in the trail a few feet back.

"She's decided not to murder me," Kiyoshi said.

His brother raised an eyebrow. "Was that on the table before?"

The fox shrugged. "Apparently, it was."

"You sound pretty calm about it," he said.

"Well, I did say she decided not to."

Mitsuo looked over at me, seeming more puzzled than before. I smiled back at him.

He sighed and shook his head. "Well, as long as you two know what's going on, I guess."

It was quiet for a minute before I turned to Kiyoshi again. "How's that whole fox illusion trick work? I've been wondering for a while."

A devilish grin spread over the fox's face and he put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Hey, Mitsuo, remember those shadow wolves from the other night?"

"Yes," Mitsuo said slowly, squinting at his brother. "What about them?"

Kiyoshi just smiled in reply.

Mitsuo jumped and gave a startled yell as soon as his eyes focused forward again. The fox burst out laughing.

"Will you act your age?" Mitsuo punched him in the arm. "You're over a hundred, for pity's sake."

He kept right on laughing while he rubbed his arm. "It's not my fault you're such an easy target."

His brother rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself.

"You see, I made him think a wolf was standing there. All I have to do is touch someone and sew a seed of the image or feeling I want them to experience. It's pretty effective when you don't know it's coming, but Mitsuo has been the target of my abuse for a good many years, so he's gotten kind of used to it. It works even better on lesser demons. I usually don't even have to touch them."

Mitsuo clicked his tongue and folded his arms. "You're telling me. I've lost count of how many times as a child I thought I'd found money, or something really delicious to eat, or almost peed my pants at some monster. And it was all because this idiot thought it was hilarious." He jabbed his thumb towards the fox.