Uzumi and the Seven Great Oaks Chapter 2: Earthquake

 

Earthquake

That was the day I discovered the world of Yokai and became a Seed. It was a normal day at the dojo, where I was practicing my turning kick technique, under the supervision of Master Chol.

Master Chol shook his head. “You’re not turning fast enough. When you get off your feet, make sure your already have momentum going through your posture.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re a third degree black belt now. I expect better of you.”

“Yes, sir.” I assumed a Junbee stance—a stance with both hands in a neutral position and feet spaced shoulder width.

“Good. Now perform form seven.”

I went through the motions of the form, finishing it with a yell.

Master Chol checked his watch. “You can go home if you want.”

“Yes, sir. I will live in perseverance, in the spirit of Taekwondo. Having honor with others, integrity with myself, and self control in my actions.”

“You are dismissed.”

I bowed to Master Chol. After changing into my street clothes, I left the dojo and walked through the crisp evening air. The seven oaks towered over the skyline. I checked my watch—I was due at the soup kitchen in fifteen minutes. I walked at a brisk pace to the kitchen, which was located several blocks away in the middle of the homeless part of town.

The kitchen was a small hole in the wall with a sign that read “New Yesterday Community Kitchen.” Not much of a catchy name, but this was a soup kitchen, not a department store.

I stepped through the door.

“Uzumi.” Beard, a gigantic black man, waved a ladle at me. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. Get your apron on and help us out.”

I grabbed my apron from my locker and put it on. “Is the rice cooked yet?”

“No.” Beard was stirring a pot of chili. “Get that started. We can’t have our chili night without rice.”

Thirty minutes later the first guests started arriving. They were mostly homeless people from the surrounding streets.

Two men in suits walked through the door about fifteen minutes before closing. They had the aura of Mafia. I sensed bloodlust coming from one of them, a big bald guy with sunglasses.

“We’re here to collect our dues.” The bald guy sneered.

Beard waved his ladle at him. “This kitchen has a deal with the cartel. We don’t have much money anyways.”

The bald man chuckled. “There’s been a change of leadership. The boss has decided that you guys aren’t exempt from protection payments anymore.”

Beard gripped his ladle with white knuckles. “You need to get out.”

I held out my hand. “Beard. Don’t go overboard. They’re the cartel. If you hurt them they’ll be all over us.” I walked around the serving counter and stood in front of the two thugs. “We can’t pay you. We don’t have any money. This is a soup kitchen. Please tell your boss that, even if it comes to threats, we can’t pay you more than twenty bucks.” I took a twenty out of my wallet. “Take this. And please leave us alone.”

Beard crossed his arms and nodded, though his eyes were still hostile.

The bearded thug grabbed the twenty from my hand. “Yeah. I’ll talk to my boss. If he gives the word, we’ll burn this place down.”

I clenched my fist. “Please leave.”

The bearded thug snorted, and then turned to leave. The other thug, a man who had muscles like the Terminator, lowered his sunglasses, glared at me, and then turned to follow the bearded thug.

Beard closed his eyes and shook his head. “The gangs in this city are getting out of hand. Why don’t the authorities do anything about it?”

I scratched my chin. “Maybe they have better things to do than investigate racketeering around a soup kitchen.”

“Pah. Get back on the line. We have mouths to feed.” Beard waved his ladle.

I waved at a homeless man with a long white beard and military cap. “Hi George.”

“Hi Uzumi.” He hobbled to the counter and got himself a bowl of soup.

After an hour, I found myself sitting on a bench with my hair net in my lap. Rubbing my temples, I tried to think of how to handle the cartel problem. The previous boss of the Ishi cartel was a friend to the homeless. He never asked anything of the New Yesterday Soup Kitchen. Now that he wasn’t in charge anymore, things were going to change.

I stood up. “Beard, I’m leaving now.”

Beard waved his hand. “Have a nice day, Uzumi. Don’t get into any fights on the way home.”

“What, do I look like a yokai to you?”

“I can’t be too sure with you.”

I sighed. “Bye.” Leaving the kitchen, I headed towards my small apartment on the third story of a dilapidated apartment block. When I got inside, I took off my coat and sat down on a shredded couch that had its stuffing leaking out of the edges. The TV in front of me was super-modern Samsung, seventy-inch. It was one of the reasons the rest of my furniture was in such bad condition.

I grabbed the controller of my PC Engine Five. For the rest of the night I played video games until it was time to get to sleep.

The next morning I got up early and prepared to go to school. New Yesterday Community College was just a couple blocks down the street, a rather urban campus that sat in the city’s North block. The buildings had been repurposed from a factory and several office blocks—you wouldn’t be able to tell it was a college campus if you didn’t already know.

I showed up to Thermodynamics II just before the lecture started.

A blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty wearing a gothic-style black dress sat down next to me.

“Hey Alice.”

“Uzumi.” She took out her laptop, which was covered in anime stickers. “Did you get the homework done last class?”

“Yeah.”

“Then can I ask you a few questions about problem nine?”

“Sure. I mean, after class.”

Alice smiled. “Thanks.”

We listened to the lecture. After class, Alice and I walked to the cafeteria, where we got some food and sat down at an empty table. Alice took out her laptop and we spent thirty minutes going over the technicalities of problem nine. It was difficult, but something that was expected during an engineering degree. I was training to become a bio engineer and she was becoming an industrial engineer.

At that moment a black-haired girl wearing a hoodie and jeans bumped into our table. She staggered a bit, apologized, and then kept walking.

I noticed that she had dropped something. It was a wooden stick with paper bits attached to it, with a strangely magical vibe. I grabbed it and stood up. Just as I was about to tap her on the shoulder to give it to her, she twirled around and aimed a punch at my face. I caught her fist in my palm.

“Whoa there.” I held on to her hand. “Sorry. I just wanted to tell you that you dropped this.”

The girl appeared to be embarrassed. “I’m sorry.” She paused. “You caught my attack. Not many people could have done that.”

I furrowed my brow. “I’m a black belt in Taekwondo.”

“Hm.” She examined me. “You’re not a weakling.”

At that moment the glass of the cafeteria window shattered with a violent crash. Debris flew everywhere. The girl grabbed me and dove to the ground.

We both looked up at the same time. A small red stone clattered to the ground next to my stomach. It glowed brightly, shattered, and then like someone flicked a switch I saw a horrifying monster almost on top of me. I rolled out of the way in panic and leaped to my feet.

“What the hell?”

The monster was lizard-like, with a long black cloak covering its body, and a face with a white mask that had open, hollow eyes. Its movements were undular and creepy. It hissed.

The black-haired girl pulled out a katana and rushed the monster. She twirled in the air and sliced the monster’s left foot off. The monster screamed and clawed at the girl. The girl dodged and rolled on the ground, getting up in front of the sushi bar. She held her sword in both hands. With a look in her eyes that wasn’t exactly fear, she tilted her head. “You can see it?”

I pointed at the black lizard ghost monster. “What the hell is that?”

“Earthquake. I mean, a No-Face.”

“What?”

“Just get on the ground!” The girl rushed the No-Face and stabbed it in the stomach. Black goo oozed out and the monster screamed with a metallic screech that caused tables to rattle.

The girl tore the monster in half. She then leaned on her sword, breathing heavily. “Blergh.” She wiped her mouth, and then patted her pockets as if looking for something. “Did you see a small red gem?”

“Uh, yeah, I saw one,” I blinked a few times, “But it broke right next to me and then I could see … That thing.” I pointed to the corpse of the monster.

“You ate it?”

I shook my head, stunned. “No, why would I eat it?”

“You …” The girl sighed. “But the fact is that you absorbed it somehow.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I pointed to the monster. “What is that? Why did it just break into the cafeteria? And why did I suddenly start seeing it?”

The girl grimaced. “I have no idea. That crystal was beyond my knowledge. I’ve never heard of an ordinary human who gained the Seed Sight.”

“Seed Sight?”

“The ability to see yokai.”

“Yokai? As in ghost monsters?”

“Exactly.” The girl walked up to me and grabbed me by the elbow. “You’re coming with me. We have a lot of questions to answer.”

I was dragged by the girl out of the cafeteria. Sirens wailed in the distance. We walked to the library, then took the stairs to the basement. An elevator that looked totally out of place was embedded in the far back, in a room full of old files and drawers. The girl knocked on the elevator door.

“Um, what’s your name?” I fidgeted with my thumbs as the number on the elevator rose.

“My name is Reese.” The girl stares straight ahead.

“Where are we going?”

“The Underground.”

“So this elevator goes down?”

Reese continued to stare at the elevator. “Yeah.”

“Okay.” I stood in silence until the elevator doors opened. Reese pushed me into it and walked in after me. The doors closed.

“We’re in the basement. How deep does this thing go?”

“Deep.” Reese’s eyes had a sharp glare to them.

The elevator dropped for a minute—which is a long time for an elevator. It stopped with a jerk. The doors opened and I looked out upon an entire city.

“This place is huge!”

“Stay next to me.” Reese dragged me out of the elevator and into the street. “The naturals don’t take kindly to upsiders.”

“Oh my god. Is that a crow person?”

“Tengu. Please do no say that out loud where they can hear you.”

“Is that …” There were humanoid figures of all shapes and sizes. Most of them had some sort of animal feature, like horns, or beaks, or claws. They were wearing traditional Japanese clothing for the most part. The buildings surrounding me were all wood paneled. The lettering on most of the signs was Japanese.

“I knew New Yesterday had a significant Japanese population, but this is something else.”

Reese was silent. She seemed to be pondering something.

A gigantic castle rose above the city. It must have been at least twenty stories. Reese took me straight towards it. We entered, and the receptionist bowed to Reese. Reese grimaced.

“Where is the master?”

The receptionist raised her head. “In his office.”

“Good.” Reese grabbed me and pulled me towards another elevator. “I have something to show him.”