Cryptotrappers!

Cryptotrappers- Kitsune Call

Wednesday 18. Sleep was rough on the first night. It's not that I'm not used to sleeping on the floor, I've fallen asleep every so often in a movie marathon. It's more the time difference. Eleven o'clock here would be the same as two o'clock in the afternoon back home, which is really jarring as a new bedtime. But my new way of living for the next few weeks would likely need me to get used to it, so I just had to deal with it.

I wasn't first awake, but I of course wasn't last. In fact, Sid had been setting up a pseudo Rube Goldberg contraption to wake Randy up for about an hour. It appeared I woke up just in time to talk him out of attaching a knife to a drill as part of the machine. So after we managed to wake up Randy, in no small part thanks to Seth and a bag of sawdust, we finally approached the main hall to see what today would bring.

"Everybody, we have our first objective. It's actually the primary reason I made this trip. In this area, in this specific town, sightings have been reported of a Kitsune, a nine tailed fox. Reportedly a man was attacked by it, so we can go and check it out. Personally, I'd like to go too, but someone needs to run this place and-"
"I'll stay." Randy suddenly interjected Eva's speech. "You go interview that guy, I'll stay back here."
He was maybe a little too enthusiastic about the whole affair and Eva was slightly suspicious of his behaviour, but eventually gave a smile and nodded.
"Well in that case I'll be joining you. We'll start packing now." Eva added, before guiding us to the new equipment area.

Along the way I caught up to Sid and Lucy, joining in on their conversation.
"So what do you think the chances are of him 'going to buy some frozen yogurt' while we're out?" Sid asked in what almost sounded like some sort of playful tone.
"Hmm..." Lucy responded in mock thoughtfulness.
"No need to rush back, right?" I added. Might as well let him have his fun. Besides, interviews didn't tend to be something to rush, in my experience. Just as long as he didn't start talking about watermelon skin, or else I think Sid might have had an aneurysm. So when we were fully set up and ready to leave, we got on our way, with Randy practically pushing us out of the door.

We had driven along for a while in our respective vehicles when we were stopped by a camped Police squadron. They approached us in Japanese but when they saw us step out of our vehicles they quickly changed to English.
"We're camped out here to monitor people in the area. Reports of attacks you see. Names and licenses."
I instinctively reached for my drivers license, before realising my mistake and instead pulling out my fake license.
"Yeah, I'm Dr. Pierre, that's my, sister I think? Ada, anyhow, and there we have Sid and our manager Eva Bairnsfather."
"Yeah, sure." one of the cops scoffed. "And I'm Doctor Foster, this is my colleague, Professor Plum. Real identities please."
It was then Eva grabbed the two officers by the shoulder and pulled them to one side. She mumbled something to them, and the officers returned back to talk to us shortly.
"Never mind us, you guys are all clear. Stay safe out there."

We drove off carefully, soon arriving at our interviewee's house.
"What did you say to those guys?" I asked Eva, still slightly in awe.
"Trade secret." she sharply explained. "I'll tell you if I ever end up retiring or if I take a Ningen punch, and you have to run the business."
"You have a hierarchy for who would replace you should the worst happen?" I asked curiously.
"Not really. Just you and then if you can't then probably Sid. I haven't thought about it too much." Eva quietly explained. I nodded and approached the others at the door.

We knocked but we were really not prepared for the man who would answer the door. The entire left side of his torso was wrapped entirely in bandages, from his fingertips around to his naval. He was shirtless but wore plain cotton trousers. All in all, he would have looked fine, were it not for the obviously recently stitched scars running down his left cheek. They couldn't have been made by anything but flesh-tearing claws.
"Now Mr. Akito here doesn't speak English, so I'll take the interview and relay it to you." Eva explained to us. "We've been given permission to explore his house and garden, so while I interview him, you look around the grounds. He was supposedly attacked near here, so I'll divide you up a bit. Sid, explore the neighbourhood. Talk to neighbours and the like. Exo, Lucy, check around the house. I think you know what I want you to look for."

I nodded and began exploring. Any signs of unnatural activity. I checked every nook and cranny, looking at anything. The mirror could be alive, or the coal poker. It was somewhat infuriating. Eventually I made my way to the bedroom, and Lucy and I began searching. It wasn't long until I came across a large tub in one of the draws and fetched it out to investigate. I showed Lucy the label on the front.
"Aloe Vera Gel. Is it important?" she asked.
"It would suggest that the man was burned by the attack. I'd know, I had to use some myself after a bad experience of 'mistaken identity' with the Wyvern. Probably what the bandages are covering." I noted. That revelation in mind, we proceeded in our search.

The beating of wings took our attention back. We both scrambled to look out of the window at once, only to catch something huge and black, with an enormous wingspan.
"What the hell is that?" Lucy shouted, slightly awestruck. "It looks like a huge black owl!"
"Too far east for it to be Mothman at any rate, that's the USA." I pondered out loud. "But it's nothing normal, at the very least. We should chase it."
"Agreed."
With that, we both let up on our search of the room and dashed out the front door. I'm sure Mr. Akito noticed us, but we trusted Eva to cover for us. By this time the avian was out of sight, we just chased the general direction it flew in and hoped it would be enough for it to show itself to us. Through the park we ran, dodging Akateko as they dropped. This close, I could appreciate how free they looked in nature, nothing like the saddening red ball caged at the Gallows. Soon enough, we caught the shape of huge black wings again, clearly birdlike on a clear viewing of it. Tiring, we continued to run after it, keeping pace but never gaining, until eventually the shape began to descend. As it drew nearer, I saw arms, and legs, humanlike, with stilted sandales. It landed, around two feet in front of us and turned towards us.

Long, matted hair so black it was blue hung over a fairly average if pale human face. Actually, by all accounts, it was humanlike. It stood around our height, but towered over us through its stilted footwear. The clothing was typical for the area, and wings the colour of its hair folded behind its back. Around its waist it wore a simple leather belt, and on the belt hung an ornately decorated fan.
"What is it? Why do you follow me? I must be prepared for the festival!" the birdman irately questioned.
"Why did you approach us in English?" I rebutted. "You're clearly Japanese. So why did you assume we weren't?"
This had the Yokai stumped for a few seconds.
"I suppose it's because I all of a sudden began thinking in English. I was flying, to prepare for the festival, when suddenly my brain began thinking thoughts it didn't make, in English none the less. It repeated, again and again 'Those people can be trusted. You can talk to them. Go over and talk to them.' I'm not one for idle chit chat, and I must be going, so if you need anything, ask it now! I'm a very busy Tengu and I need to be ready by sundown!"
"One more question then." I bargained. "What is the festival?"
The Tengu looked intolerant but answered "The Fox Queen's Festival is a local festival for all Yokai in the area to come together and celebrate. A suitor is chosen by the Fox Queen, a marriage takes place and the suitor is sacrificed with a ritual stone dagger to Inari. Then we all celebrate and dance."
It clicked. At once, in me and Lucy, it clicked at the same time. We both looked at each other with the same fearful eyes. And we took off running.

If we ran to chase after the Tengu, then we really ran getting back. See, both of us had come to the same conclusion, and we were sure desperate to tell Eva about it. Maybe it was just the strangeness of yesterday evening, or something wholly different but we were both certain in our judgement. As we arrived back in familiar territory, we ran street to street looking for our cars. When we finally found the right house, we dashed through the door, and both began loudly explaining to Eva.
"Calm down, one by one. Don't talk over each other now." Eva stated fairly flatly. Just as I was about to open my mouth, the door behind us almost flew off its hinges as Sid burst through, red faced, and nearly collapsed on a table.
"Huge black bird... chased it... got away... ran nonstop... exhausted." the ruddy-cheeked bodyguard panted before fully collapsing in exhaustion. We turned away from him and began our explaination.
"Okay so we were exploring the room and we saw some kind of black flying thing from the window."I began.
"And we chased after it, eventually catching up to it." Lucy followed up.
"So we found our that it was a Tengu." I continued.
"And it said it was going to a festival today, the Fox Queen's Festival, where there'd be a wedding of the Fox Queen, the Kitsune obviously." Lucy added.
"I think... I'm going to pass out..." Sid interjected.
"So, putting two and two together..." I followed, ignoring Sid's interruption as Eva seemed to catch on.
"And therefore we need to get back as soon as possible." Lucy finished.
Eva looked very worried and very quickly said her goodbyes to Mr. Akito and followed us all to our cars. We drove tensely back to the shop, blowing past the police we passed earlier and drawing some minor attention but nothing major. Finally at the base, we threw the door open to dead silence. The lights were off, the shop abandoned.
"We were too late..." Eva mused. "Randy's gone..."