Detective Yuki

6. Kojiki

1. Kojiki

After over an hour of continuous flying from the south of Tokyo, the seaplane could nearly scrape the clouds. This utterly fascinated the inquisitive Yuki, who stared down at the endless expanse of the Pacific beneath her. The scenery showed ripples of water glistening in the sunshine of early afternoon, but something came out of the blue to ruin the perfection in nature.

 "Yuki, what is that down there?" Aibo gazed at a column of smoke rising from the sea. 

"I am not so sure, quick!! Lower the plane!!" the reacted as the plane descended toward the smoke. It came to land on the water, within sight of what appeared to be a plane crash in the ocean, as Aibo had predicted.

"I will refuel the plane, and you find out if we found the Ashman, or what is left of him" Aibo suggested, taking the two cans in the back to refuel while Yuki went out onto the roof of the plane to investigate the wreckage. A moderate slick of oil and fire blemished the water, amid the floating remnants of the crashed aircraft. 

"this plane is very far away from land, so this is probably the Ashman's plane, but there is no sign of a body" Yuki examined.

 All of a sudden, something lunged out of the water, onto a large floating heap of former plane. Yuki felt slightly nervous as the pilot would have died in the crash hours ago, but this was no ordinary pilot. This individual had the shape of a human, but big yellow eyes and was covered in ash flakes, just as the attendant on the airstrip said. Yuki watched its actions, before Aibo burst out 

"did you find anything?".

This single voice alarmed the creature, which proceeded to step onto the water without penetrating into the blue deep, like a skater on ice. This sight was seen by the duo, who were enthralled by the possibility of such an event. The Ashman turned away from the two, looking to the west at the setting sun, then sped off into the horizon.

 "hurry, Aibo, back into the air, follow the Ashman's water trail" Yuki urged Aibo, speeding back inside the plane. 

After the propeller whirred, the plane skid over the water for several seconds before taking off, in pursuit of the figure. The seaplane continued to follow the speeding Ashman across the vast ocean, inconsequential to its destination. As the chase dragged on, the Ashman never slowed down, and the plane was nearly out of fuel, threatening Yuki and Aibo. The sky changed dramatically as the sun's rays were blotted out by a sky view of complete purple, followed by the crashing of green colored lightning into the sea, several bolts narrowly missing the plane.

"Yuki, what is going on?" Aibo quizzed his companion, who was looking down at where the lightning landed. One particular bolt smashed down onto the surface of the water, causing a large area of water to glow bright green and spark small jolts of electricity every which way. 

"this is very improbable" Yuki stuttered while the glowing water began to take form beneath the plane, sprouting out of the water like a snake from a burrow. The plane still was in direct pursuit behind the running Ashman, but the looming tower of water had other plans.

 "Aibo?!!!" Yuki whimpered as the water column grabbed the tail of the plane, stopping it dead in its tracks before swinging it around and throwing it a breakneck speed through the air, still in the direction of the Ashman, who once again heard the incessant whirring of a plane engine.

 Yuki and Aibo yelled in terror as the plane shot upward sky high, tearing through the air overhead. As a response, the Ashman growled under his breath, and opened his hands on the water, to where fire burst out into the sea, creating a thick oceanic mist to cover his trail.

"Yuki, where is the Ashman?" Aibo managed on the verge of nausea, while the mist shrouded the ocean and the Ashman with it. 

The seaplane continued to tear across the sky, Yuki and Aibo still cowered in fear as to what would happen when the plane comes to land, flying at such a speed Aibo could not control its movement. Yuki held onto the right side of the plane for dear life, but noticed an odd shape on the horizon, black and bowed. The Ashman sped through the misty depths, spotting the mysterious shape on the high seas, a dark ironclad ship with three tall steam vents pumping black smoke out of the top. He changed his direction in a flash, instead heading straight for the ship, a change noticed by the startled Yuki. Rather than smashing through it, the creature scaled a vast side of the vessel, clambering finally onto the deck, while he heard the faint noise of a plane divebomb and crash into the blue.

Two days pass, two bodies float on the water across a vast distance on favourable currents. Yuki drifts between the conscious and not, while Aibo was out like a light, snoozing near to Yuki. Dawn rose with an early sun over the Pacific, accompanied only by a gentle breeze across a featureless area of open ocean. Suddenly, Yuki felt herself rise from the water and float, the wind getting stronger as she moved, but unable to respond out of exhaustion and overwhelming circumstances. Some time passed, and the sensation of floating continued for Yuki, wondering if she was alive or not, but not opening her eyes to find out. Cold air wept across her as she felt herself land on a bed of fine grains, finally opening her eyes to the presence of a white looming spectre. She leaped upright, then looked around to examine her new surroundings. Yuki and Aibo were now on an unspecified beach at night, next to the unconscious Aibo.

"why did you save us?" Yuki asked the faceless glowing spirit, who pointed to a sand brushed mask and waterlogged note inside. Shuffling over to the mask, she handled the note with care, and soon understood the meaning of the riddle set inside. 

"Aibo, wake up!!. You need to see this" she urged the sleeping Aibo, who eventually came to, raking himself up off the darkened sandbank. 

"where are we?" he sighed, clearing his uniform of sand assisted only by luminous moonlight. 

"I think we are where the riddle wanted us to be" Yuki realized as the ghost dissipated into the darkness of the nearby forest.