Detective Yuki

7. Noh mai

1. Noh mai

Unbeknownst, in the same area, the dark ship carrying the Ashman proceeded into a dimly lit port to dock. Now moored by lanternlight, a young man in a blue kimono was waiting for whoever was on the docked galleon. Supported only by the moon, the outline of a man could be seen jumping off the side of the ship and landing on the flimsy wooden boardwalk of the port.

 "do you have what I asked for, my good man?" the dark figure questioned the young man, who handed the yellow eyed being a bowler cap and mask to wear.

"Let us get a move on, shall we?. If all is well, I should be expecting company very soon" the masked individual suggested as the two moved over the boardwalk.

 "Life is a journey. The trick is to enjoy every step of that journey" the young man, named Namida replied walking up mossed stone steps to a small red residence set on a hillside looking over the sea, not far north from the bustling busy streets and illuminated backdrop of Naha, the capital city of the island of Okinawa, which is comparatively small by Japanese standards.

Brother Namida (1905-1990) was a benevolent soul in spectacles. Short with black eyes, and wearing his signature blue kimono with sandals, he liked nature and tradition rather than modernity and the forces of evil. He had been recruited by the Ashman from a Buddhist monastery in northern Honshu, and only ever seemed to speak in proverbs. His way of living was shaped by his former masters, the monks, who gave him the principles of non-violence and compassion for all living things. He joined the Ashman's ranks because Namida thought he could provide a good service for his soul by assisting another in need of guidance.

Meanwhile, back in Tokyo, the nation got its first brush with the new world order:

The date, August the seventeenth, 1925

Multiple reports are coming in of mythical creatures spotted throughout the empire and across eastern Asia. Shoals of koi fish twice the size of your average automobile spotted in Aomori bay, ghosts in Tokyo possessing everything from animals to brickwork coming to life and attacking the bloodthirsty shadow creatures that have ravaged the city for the last couple of days wherever they are hiding. Elsewhere, ravaging dogs burning like fire have been witnessed in the Korean colony attacking an army base near the capital Keijo, amid increased tensions between colonial authorities and Korean nationalist rebels seeking to disrupt the serene order of society there.

Not far south of Peking, civilians in china have been forced to evacuate their villages due to attacks by giant people and dragons turning many areas in eastern china to dust, and in the Taiwan colony, several towns have seen raids by small gremlins from the mountains coinciding with a shortage of food supplies in those areas affected. Finally, there is uncertainty in the near future between China and Japan as his majesty Emperor Taisho convened the imperial diet earlier this evening over the recent explosion at the Senbi Motors factory in Tokyo. Radicals in the diet are suspecting sabotage from China, but the Chinese ambassador has denied all knowledge that his country was involved in the explosion or the dramatic increase in violent crime in the capital.