This Must Be The Place and Other Stories

The Lost Defender of Sun Dragon Road

Shimoda, one of the eleven lost Defenders of Yan-shi, stood in front of Madame Kuniyaki's shop, his right eye closed, his left eye squinting. 

The thin twine he'd strung from the edge of the doorframe to the bottom of the orange canopy that arched over the front of the shop was still there. So were the tin-foil spikes behind the drinks machine. And the tiny fragments of tile he'd placed between the blue plastic racks of potato chips. 

Good. 

He knew he should have connected the canopy with the spikes, but that would mean attaching something over (or under) the doorway, and he'd yet to figure out how. Madame Kuniyaki's shop might have been cluttered with edibles, but it was irreproachably neat. She swept the paving stones in front with a rough straw broom daily and constantly straightened merchandise after customers left. 

She would, quite logically, find the connector and remove it, not understanding it was what kept her safe from the dark shadows of the Mang-hi. 

Shimoda switched eyes, closing the right one and squinting with the left one. Now, his Defender vision took hold. 

The twine -- which was actually coi-rope-- shimmered light purple, showing its powers of defence were unchanged. The tin foil spikes -- in reality Wakara teeth -- emitted tiny sparks of green. Shimoda nodded. The defences indicated there were no dark shadows looming in this end of Sun Dragon Road. Not at the moment, at least. 

Just as he crouched down in an attempt to see if the tiny tiles -- or shards of kwang star -- were still functioning at peak level, a flowery blue skirt and thick legs in heavy, plastic clogs blocked his view.   

"Good morning, Shimoda." 

Shimoda stood up and bowed. "Good morning, Madame Kuniyaki." 

Madame Kuniyaki was staring at him, her face almost expressionless, but she was clearly blocking his way into her shop. Something she normally did whenever he was unable to complete his daily inspections without being detected. 

He'd never entered her shop -- the dark shadows of the Mang-hi could only be kept at bay with defences on the outside -- and he did not eat packaged snack food. Too unhealthy. 

Madam Kuniyaki had no idea he was one of the eleven Lost Defenders, her only hope of survival should the Mang-hi decide to claim the road for themselves. If she knew, she would laugh, telling him the dark shadows didn't exist and the Mang-hi were only characters from a silly manga series.  

How little people understood what danger they were in. 

The series was, in reality, a message sent out by the artist Uehashi Doppo to those like himself, other Lost Defenders, informing them of their mission and how to accomplish it. It had been obvious to him the moment he'd read the first instalment. Uehashi Doppo had been indicating him! It was as obvious as the pink hairband on Madame Kuniyaki's head. The manga series was merely a necessary and clever trick to fool the average person.

Shimoda was not the average person. 

He was one of the eleven Lost Defenders. 

Madame Kuniyaki was still eyeing him warily, as if daring him to come any closer to her bright cans of Ramune soda pop. He couldn't blame her. In his experience, most people were concerned with protecting insignificant objects when the real danger lurked elsewhere. 

"Good day, and may you make many sales!" Shimoda said politely, bowed again and turned to leave. He would check the kwong star shards on his way back home after his rounds. No need for alarm. 

"Good day," Madame Kuniyaki replied, but remained standing where she was, watching him leave. 

Shimoda ambled up Sun Dragon Road, squinting first with his left eye, then with his right eye, at the narrow, colorful shopfronts,  making sure all of the detectors, warning devices and defence mechanisms he'd attached to them were still in place and functioning. In some segments, where neon signs or balconies where very close together, he'd managed to connect several of the individual defence mechanisms with each other, creating an especially strong electric barrier. Those points glowed particularly brightly when he squinted at them with his left eye.