What is Your Desire?

Chapter Two

Takehiko

As we reach the top of the steps we find the class gathered around a large stone statue of a fox in profile.

But unlike the dozens of Inari kitsune I've seen in my life, this one is different. Its lips are curled back to reveal a maw of sharp teeth, but it's not clutching anything in its mouth. Not a key or a ball or an ear of rice—nothing. And it's not adorned with anything aside from a thick red and white braided cord wrapped several times 'round its muzzle.

Well, that's...strange. And apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so.

"Mr. Minami, why does this fox shrine look different than the others?" one of my classmates asks as we join the others in front of the stone fox.

"Because, Miss Yoshino, unlike the others, this one is not an attendant of Inari. This statue serves as a prison for a fearsome kitsune who is said to have plagued these lands."

Our teacher consults his guidebook before continuing, "Kazumi preyed upon hapless travelers, granting them their heart's desire but claiming their hearts in return."

"Do they mean he literally ate their hearts?" Kotone asks in disgust.

"Probably more like some Casanova that stole the virtue of the ladies?" Ryousuke suggests as he winks at her.

She makes a face. "Yuck. Like some serial pervert? No thank you."

Mr. Minami adjusts his glasses as he examines the plaque a little closer before conferring with the guidebook again.

"It doesn't clarify. So one can only assume he literally ate their hearts considering he was a yokai."

Shō lowers his melon drink. "Gross."

Why do I feel like I've heard this story somewhere before...?

He turns to me. "Do you think that's why his mouth's bound shut?"

I just blink, turning to my friend. "What?"

He twirls his finger in a circle. "There's a cord wrapped 'round its jaw."

"Correct, Mr. Yamauchi!" our teacher says a little too enthusiastically. "That rope is said to bind the yokai within and prevent his escape."

Jingle. Jingle jingle. Jingle.

Shō shoots me a sidelong look over the top of his drink. "Good to know that the only thing keeping us safe from a heart-devouring yokai is a magic red jump rope."

***

As our class moves past Kazumi the not-so-friendly fox spirit and further up into the temple grounds, I search out a bin for my empty bottle, but there doesn't seem to be one in sight.

Jingle. Jingle jingle. Jingle.

"Oh don't tell me they've only got them back at the—"

A familiar melody drifts by carried on a breeze rich with the scent of sakura blossoms and wisteria. A song I can almost remember my mom playing just as I was falling asleep each night. The unmistakable strum of a shamisen and a voice...

Where is it coming from?

Jingle. Jingle jingle. Jingle.

I turn, the bottle slipping from my fingers to shatter on the stone at my feet.

Over...there?

Jingle. Jingle jingle. Jingle.

I step off the path into damp grass scattered with petals. Past the stone statute of Kazumi, the red and white cord binding his mouth shut fluttering in the breeze. And with each step, the voice gets clearer. The strumming louder. But is it the shamisen or my own heartbeat?

Jingle. Jingle jingle. Jingle.

I reach to push aside a branch of wisteria blocking my way and I think for a moment I hear Shō calling my name back by the statute. And I hesitate, and I almost turn back. But then the music changes into something that tugs at my heart and pulls me onward. Like it's got its hooks in me. Like I'm caught in a snare and I'm being dragged up from the forest floor into the sky at a dizzying speed.

Jingle. Jingle jingle. Jingle.

I shove the wisteria aside and enter the grove. And it's...

...like something out of a classic painting. A courtly youth playing a shamisen in a grove of wisteria as petals of sakura blossoms rain down beneath dappled spring sunlight.

Except for the fox tail swaying gently back and forth. And those ears as long as my hand perched atop—

His head.

I know exactly who he is without needing to be told. Kazumi, Devourer of Hearts.